Since the direct approach might scare her away, he settled for leaning in and giving her a light peck on the forehead.
"Tonight was great," he said, resting his hands on her shoulders.
Given that the sundress left that part of her bare, the gesture might have been misguided. Melissa"s skin felt warm and smooth under his palms, taut with vitality. Steven tightened his fingers, briefly and almost imperceptibly, then withdrew, letting his hands fall to his sides.
"Thanks," he said again, grinding out the word.
He saw the heat flash in her eyes, the knowing, a desire that might even match his own, and everything inside him soared.
It was inevitable, he realized. Written in the stars.
Right or wrong, for better or for worse, at some point, he and Melissa O"Ballivan would would make love. make love.
Whoa, you big dumb cowboy, said the voice of reason, causing Steven to sigh. said the voice of reason, causing Steven to sigh. You just You just met met the woman yesterday. the woman yesterday.
Once, before Matt became a part of his day-to-day life, Steven would have countered the voice with a resounding So what? So what? living, as he had, by the philosophy that he-who-hesitates-is-lost, especially when it came to beautiful women and the opportunity to bed them. living, as he had, by the philosophy that he-who-hesitates-is-lost, especially when it came to beautiful women and the opportunity to bed them.
Melissa certainly qualified as beautiful, and that was the least of it. He sensed a vastness within her, a fascinating inner landscape he yearned to explore.
In time.
"Go inside," he told her, smiling down into her eyes, "you"re shivering."
"Yes, I really should," she agreed, shivering harder.
But she didn"t move and neither did he.
They just stood there, looking at each other.
Finally, Melissa rolled up onto the b.a.l.l.s of her feet and touched her mouth to his, the contact light and brief, over almost before it began.
The kiss electrified Steven, left him confounded.
In the next moment, a wistful little smile playing on her lips, Melissa turned and hurried back through the gate, up the walk, across the porch, finally disappearing into the house.
Steven, wondering what the h.e.l.l had just hit him, still still didn"t move. didn"t move.
Then he heard one of the truck windows open, with a whirring sound, turned to see Matt looking out at him, rubbing his eyes once with the heels of his palms and then grinning sleepily. "Melissa kissed kissed you," he said. you," he said.
Steven chuckled and rounded the truck, climbed behind the wheel.
"She did," Matt insisted, as they pulled away from the curb. "I saw saw Melissa kiss you." Melissa kiss you."
"Okay," Steven said, adjusting the mirrors. "She kissed me. It was no big deal, Tex. Just "good-night.""
"Melissa likes likes you." you."
"I like her, too."
"I bet she doesn"t go around kissing everybody everybody she likes," Matt went on. she likes," Matt went on.
"Go back to sleep," Steven responded, with a smile in his voice.
Matt giggled. He was wide-awake-so much for his usual tendency to sleep through anything. "Are you going to ask Melissa out for a date?"
Steven suppressed a broad grin. They were on the main street of Stone Creek now, headed in the direction of home.
Such as home was.
"You"re five," he pointed out. "What would make you ask a question like that?"
Matt gave a huge sigh. "I know what dating is," he said, very patiently. "I watch TV. Guys on TV give lots of women roses and take them on dates, in limos. At the end of the season, the guy has to decide which one of them is a keeper and gets down on one knee and gives her a ring."
"And you watched all this stuff when? when?" Steven asked. In their household, television was strictly monitored, especially the "reality" kind.
"Mrs. Hooper has this big set of DVDs. We watched all of them."
Mrs. Hooper had been Matt"s babysitter back in Denver. Steven had worked a lot of nights, tying up loose ends at his old law firm before making the move to Stone Creek.
"You didn"t mention that at the time," Steven said dryly. Once they were past the city limits, he shifted gears and sped up a little.
"You never once asked me if Mrs. Hooper and I were watching smoochy dating shows on TV," Matt informed him.
"You"d make a great lawyer, you know that?"
"I don"t want to be a lawyer," Matt said. "I want to be a cowboy." A pause. "I just need a horse, horse, that"s all. You can"t be a cowboy without a horse. So, when are we going to build the new barn?" that"s all. You can"t be a cowboy without a horse. So, when are we going to build the new barn?"
Steven laughed and shoved his left hand through his hair, keeping his right on the steering wheel. "When I"ve had a chance to get some estimates and hire a contractor," he answered. "Until then, you"ll just have to be patient."
Another sigh.
"What?" Steven asked.
"I was just wondering something."
"And that would be-?"
"Are you going to ask Melissa out on a date?"
Now it was Steven who sighed. "Guess what?" he said. "That just happens to be none of your darned business, buddy."
"How am I ever ever supposed to get a mom if you won"t go out with women?" supposed to get a mom if you won"t go out with women?"
"I do do go out with women, Matt." go out with women, Matt."
"Okay," Matt conceded. "You went out sometimes when we lived in Denver. Denver. But this is But this is Stone Creek. Stone Creek."
"And we haven"t even been here two full days," Steven said reasonably. "Give me a chance, will you?"
"So you"ll do it?"
"So I"ll do what?"
Matt sounded exasperated. "Ask. Melissa. Out. On. A. Date."
Steven laughed again, harder this time. They were b.u.mping their way over a country road now. Their turn-off was just ahead and he switched on the signal, even though there was no one behind them. "Do you ever give up?"
"No," Matt replied, without hesitation. "Do you?"
Steven sighed. "No," he admitted.
"Because a Creed never gives up, right?"
Steven didn"t answer.
"Right?" Matt persisted, through a yawn.
"Okay," Steven said. "Yes. That"s right."
"And you"re going to ask Melissa to go out with you, right?"
Steven stopped the rig near the tour bus, shut off the engine and turned in his seat to look back at Matt. "If I say yes, will you shut up about it?" he asked, not unkindly.
Inside the bus, Zeke began to bark.
"Yes," Matt said, and Steven thought his expression might have been a little smug, though that could have been a trick of the light.
"Promise?"
"Promise," Matt confirmed. "But you have to promise, too."
Steven got out of the truck, went to open Matt"s door and began unhitching the kid from his safety gear. "All right, I promise. But if she says no, that"s it, understand?" He lifted Matt into his arms. "You don"t get to pester me about it until the crack of doom."
Matt squeezed his neck. "Melissa won"t say no, won"t say no, Dad," he said. "She Dad," he said. "She likes likes you, remember? She you, remember? She kissed kissed you." you."
Steven sighed. It sure felt good to be called "Dad," though.
Reaching the bus, he opened the door and stepped aside just before Zeke shot out of the interior like a hairy bullet.
"One other thing," Steven said.
Matt yawned again, watching fondly as Zeke ran in widening circles, barking his brains out. "What?" the boy asked, sounding only mildly interested.
Steven set him down, and they both waited for the dog to do his thing.
"When it comes to dating," Steven said, "three"s a crowd, old buddy. You"ll have to stay home with a babysitter."
Zeke raised a hind leg and christened the left rear tire of Steven"s new truck.
"Okay," Matt agreed solemnly. "It"s a deal."
When the dog was finished, Steven reached to switch on a light. Then the three of them went into the flashy tour bus with a silhouette of Brad O"Ballivan"s head painted on the side.
Within a few minutes, Matt was washed up and in his pajamas, his breath smelling of mint from a vigorous tooth-brushing session at the bathroom sink. Steven tucked the boy in and pretended not to notice when Zeke immediately jumped up onto the mattress and settled himself in for the night.
Smiling slightly, Steven stepped out of Matt"s room, remembering his own childhood. In Boston, he wasn"t allowed to have a dog-his mother said the antique Persian rugs in Granddad"s house were far too valuable to put at risk and besides, animals were generally noisy-but on the ranch outside Lonesome Bend, the plank floors were hardwood, worn smooth by a century of use, and the rugs were all washable. n.o.body seemed to mind the occasional mess and the near-constant clamor of kids and dogs banging in and out of the doors.
There had been a succession of pets over the years; Brody and Conner each had their own mutt, and so did Steven. His had been a lop-eared Yellow Lab named Lucky, and when he arrived in the spring, right after school let out, that dog would be waiting at the ranch gate when they pulled in.
The reunions were always joyous.
The goodbyes, when the end of August came around, and it was time for Steven to return to Boston, were an ache he could still feel, even after all those years.
Of course, Brody and Conner had looked out for Lucky while he was gone, but it couldn"t have been the same as when Steven was there. Brody had Fletch and Conner had Hannibal, and that made Lucky odd dog out, any way you looked at it.
Summer after summer, though, Lucky had been there to offer a lively welcome when Steven came back, and the two of them had been inseparable, together 24/7.
His throat tight and his eyes hot, Steven tried to shake off the recollection of that dog, because he still missed him, no matter how much time had gone by. Lucky had been one of the truest friends he"d ever had, or expected to have.
Steven cleared his throat, then set about locating the drawings he"d been working on intermittently since he decided to buy fifty acres, a two-story house and a wreck of a barn outside Stone Creek, Arizona. Over the last several weeks, he"d redesigned the house a couple of times, and come up with what he considered a workable plan for the outbuildings, too.
Looking at the sketches, all of them scrawled on the now-scruffy yellow pages of a legal pad, Steven figured he was ready to hire an architect and start getting estimates from local contractors. Not that there were likely to be all that many in a community the size of Stone Creek.
He flipped through the pages, checking and rechecking. Somewhere along the line, he"d learned to multi-task-a part of his mind was still back there on that sidewalk in town, face-to-face with Melissa O"Ballivan, who might as well have zapped him with a cattle prod as kiss him, even quickly and lightly, the way she had.
The effect had been about the same, as far as he could tell. On the other hand, he figured a real real kiss probably would have struck him dead on the spot, like a bolt of lightning. kiss probably would have struck him dead on the spot, like a bolt of lightning.
And then there was Matt, campaigning to marry him off ASAP, preferably to Melissa, but if that didn"t fly, the kid was bound to zero in on another candidate without much delay.
Roses and limos and engagement rings offered on bended knee indeed, he thought, smiling. he thought, smiling.
A ringing noise jolted Steven out of his musings. He checked the caller ID panel on his cell phone-he didn"t recognize the number-and answered with his name.
"This is Brody," replied his long-lost cousin. Brody"s voice was so much like his twin brother"s that Steven might have thought the call was from Conner, if it hadn"t been for the opening announcement.
Relief and temper surged up in Steven, all tangled up. "Where the h.e.l.l h.e.l.l are you?" he demanded, in a ragged whisper. If it hadn"t been for Matt, he probably would have are you?" he demanded, in a ragged whisper. If it hadn"t been for Matt, he probably would have yelled yelled that question. that question.
"It"s good to talk to you again, too," Brody said, employing the exaggerated drawl he used when he didn"t give a rat"s a.s.s whether he p.i.s.sed off whoever he happened to be talking to. Which was all the time.
Steven let out a long breath, and he had to press it between his teeth, since his jaw was clamped down hard.
"You still there, Boston?" Brody asked.
The old nickname, once a taunt, enabled Steven to relax a little. And relaxing made it possible to work the hinges on his jawbones so he could open his mouth to answer.
"I"m here," he said. The second time he asked Brody where he was, he managed a civil tone.
Brody chuckled before he replied, "Now, cousin, if you followed the rodeo the way you used to, you"d know I"ve been out there on the circuit. In plain sight, you might say."