Forever Buckhorn: Gabe

Honey stepped up with some folded paper towels soaked in cool tea. “This’ll help. I’m fair-skinned, too, and it’s always worked for me.”

Misty leaned close to watch as Honey patted the towels gently in place on Elizabeth’s bare shoulders. Gabe realized that Lizzy wore a shapeless white cotton dress, so long it hung to her ankles. He looked closely and could see by the soft fullness beneath the bodice that she wasn’t wearing a bra. His heart skipped a beat.

She’d said she never went braless, and her breasts were so firm and round, he believed her. The sunburn must indeed be painful for her to go without one.

To distract himself, he looked around the room and settled on smiling at the baby. At his attention, Amber flailed her pudgy arms from her pumpkin seat on the table, gurgling and blowing spit bubbles. Gabe laughed. “Sorry, kiddo. I’m too sweaty to hold you right now.”

Elizabeth watched as he reached out and tweaked the baby’s toe, and he knew she was planning on putting that into her little notebook, too. He scowled.

Morgan stepped in through the kitchen door and went immediately to Misty, lifting her into a bear hug that led to a lingering, intimate kiss. The way Misty continued to flush at her husband’s touch always tickled Gabe. Morgan had been well and fully tamed.

He turned and hauled Amber out of her chair and against his chest, then nuzzled the baby’s downy black hair. Amber squealed as he settled her in the crook of his arm.

Only then did Morgan notice Elizabeth. One dark brow shot up. “Hello.”

Misty shook the dreamy look off her face and smiled. “Morgan, this is Elizabeth Parks, a friend of Gabe’s.”

Morgan’s enigmatic gaze transferred to Gabe, and Gabe felt his face heat again. “She looks done to a crisp, Gabe. I suppose you weren’t…ah, paying attention to the sun? Had your mind on…other things?”

Gabe stiffened and said, “You know I can’t hit you while you’re holding the baby. Care to give her to her mother?”

“Nope.” He kissed the baby’s tiny ear and with a grin turned to Elizabeth. “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”

She nodded. “And you, Sheriff.”

“You’re joining us for lunch?”

“Oh. No, please. I just… I’m sorry to impose. Really.” Her attention flicked nervously to Gabe as all his interfering relatives assured her she was no imposition at all. “I just had a few questions, if you have the time.”

Morgan pulled out a chair. “Questions about what?”

Gabe stepped forward before she could answer. “Lizzy, I’d like to talk to you. In private.”

She stalled, staring at him with a guilty expression.

Sawyer nudged him aside. “I’ve only got fifteen minutes left before I have to see a patient. You can wait that long, can’t you, Gabe?”

He wanted to say no, he damn well couldn’t wait, but he knew that would only stir up more speculation. So instead he took the cool towels from Honey and began placing them on Lizzy’s shoulders. A thought struck him, and he looked at her feet, set together primly beneath the long skirt. She wore thick white socks and slip-on shoes.

He gave her an exasperated look. “Your feet are burned, too, I suppose?”

Not since he’d met her had Lizzy been so withdrawn. She kept her wide eyes trained on him and nodded. In a tiny voice, she admitted, “A little.”

Gabe knelt and very carefully pried off her loose loafers, then peeled the socks off her feet. Like a wet hen, Lizzy fussed and complained and tried to shoo him away. He persisted, despite Morgan’s choked laugh and Sawyer’s hovering attention.

Her feet were small and slender. Looking at how red they were, Gabe had the awful urge to kiss them better, and instead looked at her with a warning in his gaze. “You should be at home, naked, instead of running around all over the place, asking your crazy questions.”

Honey gasped. Morgan guffawed, making Amber bounce in delight. Misty smacked Gabe’s shoulder.

But Sawyer agreed. “He’s right. Wearing clothes right now is just going to aggravate the sunburn. Taking cool baths and using plenty of aloe, and some ibuprofen for the pain, is the best thing you could do for yourself right now.” He glared at Gabe. “Of course if baby brother here had remembered that not everyone is a sun worshiper with skin like leather, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

Gabe gritted his teeth. “I’m well aware of how delicate a woman’s skin is. I thought she had sunscreen on. Besides, we weren’t really out in the sun that long.”

Lizzy stirred uncomfortably. “Gabe’s right. This is my fault, not his. I guess I hadn’t counted on the sun’s reflection off the lake being so strong.”

“Water does magnify the sun,” Sawyer agreed, then propped his hands on his hips and asked in his best physician’s voice, “Are you burned anywhere else?”

Lizzy shook her head and at the same time said, “Just my legs.” But as Gabe started to lift her skirt she slapped his hands away. Her tone was both horrified and embarrassed. “Don’t even think it!”

He grinned. She was behaving more like herself, and he was vastly relieved. He didn’t like seeing her so quiet and apprehensive. “Sorry. Just trying to see how bad it is.”

She scowled. “Mostly on my knees, and you can just take my word on that, Gabriel Kasper.”

Morgan leaned back in his seat, both brows lifted. Everyone stared at them, transfixed. Gabe remembered what he was doing and came to his feet again. How the hell did he keep ending up on his knees in front of her?

After setting a platter of sandwiches on the table, Honey said, “Join us for lunch, okay? What would you like to drink? I have tea and lemonade and—”

“Oh, no. Really, I didn’t mean to catch you at a bad time.” Lizzy reached for the towels on her shoulders, meaning to remove them. “I can just come back another time if you agree to a short interview.”

Gabe let out a gust of relief. “That’s a good idea. Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”

But Lizzy hadn’t even gotten the first towel removed before everyone rejected her intentions and insisted she stay. Hell, they begged her to stay, the nosy pests.

Well, they could do as they pleased, Gabe decided, but that didn’t mean he had to stick around and take part in it. “I’m going to go shower,” he announced, and of course, that was just fine and dandy. No one begged him to stick around! Irritated, he stomped out of the room, but before he’d even rounded the corner, he heard Morgan start chuckling, and before long, they were all laughing hysterically.

Everyone but Lizzy.

CHAPTER FIVE

ELIZABETH BIT her lip, not sure what was so funny. She hoped they weren’t laughing at her, but then Honey gave her a big smile and said, “Gabe is so amusing sometimes.”

Elizabeth had no idea how she meant that, and she didn’t ask. She cleared her throat and said, “I’m doing a thesis on heroes for my college major. I’ve been working on it for some time, and I’d just about finished, then I heard about the boating incident here last summer and decided to add Gabriel to my notes.”

Morgan tilted his head. “What boating incident?”

That set her back. His own brother wasn’t aware of what had happened? But Misty waved a hand and explained to her husband, “I’m sure she’s talking about Gabe saving that woman and her children, right?”

Elizabeth nodded.

“That was right after our wedding. Morgan wasn’t paying much attention to what happened around him back then.”

Morgan gave his wife a smoldering look. “You’re to blame for that, Malone, not me. Can I help it if you’re distracting?”

Honey laughed. “Stop it, you two, or you’ll embarrass our guest.” She sat herself on her husband’s lap, and Sawyer wrapped his arms around her. “Gabe is a real sweetheart, Elizabeth. We just enjoy teasing him a little.”

Elizabeth could attest to the sweetheart bit. From what she’d found out so far, there didn’t live a finer example of the term lady’s man. She cleared her throat. “So you do remember the event?”

“Sure.” Honey settled comfortably against her husband’s wide chest. To Elizabeth’s amazement, Sawyer Hudson managed to eat that way, as if having his wife on his lap was a common occurrence. He quickly devoured three sandwiches, which was one less than Morgan ate. Misty and Honey each nibbled on a half. Since they were insistent, Elizabeth took a bite of one herself. She hadn’t realized she was hungry until then.