Designs on the Cowboy Read online

  Luke had been right. When they reached the kitchen, the carpenter was standing back and admiring his work. “Looks good, don’t you think?” he asked the brothers.

  “It does,” Dylan agreed. “Nothing like it was before, that’s for sure.” It was almost as if it was a completely new room. After seeing what Glory had done with his bedroom and the cloud bedroom, he was eager to see how the kitchen would look when they were done.

  “It’s ready for the appliances?” Luke asked Ned.

  “Sure is. I’ll stick around to give you a hand.”

  “Getting the appliances loaded in the back of a truck is going to be a trick,” Dylan said, thinking of the size of the refrigerator.

  “We’ll get it done,” Luke assured him.

  Two hours and several trips later, his muscles aching, Dylan stood with Luke in the kitchen. “I never imagined anything like this,” he admitted.

  “She does a damn fine job,” Luke said, leaning back against the doorframe that opened into the new hallway. “I never realized she was so talented.”

  “Erin didn’t doubt it.”

  “Maybe you should do something about it.”

  Dylan looked at him. “About Erin?”

  “Your head is thicker than I thought.” Luke straightened and started for the door, but turned back. “Don’t screw this up.”

  The last thing Dylan wanted his brother to know was that he’d formed an attraction to Glory. If that was what it was called. “There’s nothing to screw up,” he answered, hoping that would be the end of it.

  Luke nodded. “Yeah, and pigs fly.”

  “You’re imagining things,” Dylan answered, but Luke was already out the door and headed for his truck.

  With a sigh, he looked around the room that Glory had designed. “It’s great,” he said to no one. “Now what?”

  * * *

  GLORY PULLED A plate out of the plastic dish drainer and began drying it, while her grandmother scrubbed a serving dish from supper. She never would have thought she would enjoy washing and drying dishes, but since returning to Desperation and moving in with her grandmother, she’d discovered that not only was it somehow relaxing, but she enjoyed the talk they shared while working.

  “You haven’t seen my dad back in town, have you?”

  Louise’s hands stilled in the water, and she turned her head to look at Glory. “Seems no one in Desperation has seen hide nor hair of him.”

  Nodding, Glory stared at the rim of the plate in her hand. “I guess that’s a good sign. I had a feeling that once Mom left, he’d move on. He never struck me as someone who really enjoyed living here, except for the attention.”

  The tick-tock of the old clock on the wall could be heard in the silence as Louise took her hands from the sink and dried them on her apron. She didn’t immediately look at Glory, but when she finally did, her eyes were filled with contrition. “There were things I did and didn’t do when you were growing up that I thought at the time were right, but they weren’t.”

  Glory put the plate on the countertop. “It didn’t have anything to do with you.”

  Louise sighed. “It did. I should have found a way to stop your mama from marrying him, but Sherry has always had a stubborn streak.” Sucking in her bottom lip, she closed her eyes. “Maybe it’s time we talk about all of it.”

  She took her grandmother’s hands in hers. “I don’t mind if you don’t want to talk about it. I was only wondering—”

  “We’ll talk about it,” Louise said with a decisive nod. “I want to. There are things that have been left unsaid for too long.” She untied her apron and pulled it off. Then she moved to the well-used kitchen table and pulled out a chair. “Sit,” she said, and took her usual place.

  Glory did as she was told and settled on the chair to her grandmother’s right. Feeling as if she’d just opened Pandora’s box, she thought an explanation for why she asked about her father might be in order. “I never understood my dad when I was growing up, but I think I’m finally beginning to, thanks to the time I spent in Texas with my mom.”

  Louise nodded again. “I’m glad for that. The two of you needed to make your peace.” Tears glittered in her eyes. “I only wished I could have...”

  Placing her hand on her grandmother’s, Glory shook her head. “This is too hard for you, Gram.”

  Her grandmother’s blue-eyed gaze changed to steel when she turned her head to look at her. “No harder than it was for you to grow up with the father you had.”

  Glory felt the old ache. When she tried to pull her hand away, her grandmother clasped her fingers around it. “I don’t think—”

  “I should have stepped in when I started suspecting that although Glen might have been a good husband, he was a devil when it came to anyone else, especially you.”

  Glory shook her head. “It wasn’t that bad—”

  “Don’t you stand up for him! He doesn’t deserve it.”

  Glory dared to meet her grandmother’s gaze. “I did all right. It could have been worse—much worse—but it wasn’t.”

  Louise leaned forward. “Your mother didn’t do anything about it, did she?”

  “No.”

  “But she knew.”

  Fear and relief fought for release, but Glory couldn’t speak, so she nodded.

  Squeezing Glory’s hand, Louise sighed. “I never thought he was the kind of father he should have been. I should have gone to Sherry—”

  “She would have told you that you were imagining things.” Glory bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t spoken. She loved her mother, but she had only just begun to forgive the woman who had not been her ally in the war with her father. “We’ve talked about it, Gram. Mama and I. She couldn’t feel any worse.”

  “That makes two of us,” Louise replied with a heavy sigh. “I only want you to have the best, Glory. That’s all that matters to me now.”

  “Thank you,” Glory said in a whisper, and then she smiled. “It wouldn’t have been nearly so bad if he’d let me have my art. And a horse. I wanted a horse so much.”

  This time it was Gram’s turn to pat Glory’s hand. “And there was no reason to deny you that. He had the money, and if he hadn’t, your grandpa and I would have taken care of it.”

  “He nearly came undone when he found out that Papa made me the saddle.” As soon as it was out of Glory’s mouth, her eyes began to sting with tears. She couldn’t tell her grandmother that she’d sold the one thing that had meant the world to her, but it had been the only way she could raise the money to pay off the back taxes on the shop building. She had no regrets about doing that, but she did miss the one thing that connected her to the best part of her past.

  “He hurt you, didn’t he?”

  Sniffing back the tears, Glory shrugged. “He expected me to be who he wanted me to be, not who I was. And I did what he wanted me to do, believing that a daughter did as she was told. By the time I was a little older, I didn’t think about it. He gained attention because I was popular. I understand that now.”

  A tear slipped down her grandmother’s cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I could have told him I didn’t want to be a cheerleader or any of the rest, but I didn’t. I don’t think Mom realized how I felt. She thought I was happy. But it’s over. So let’s talk about something happy, okay?”

  Chuckling, Louise wiped the tear away and then stood. “Let me put the coffee on. It’s going to be a long night.”

  * * *

  “IT’S HARD TO believe this is the same kitchen where we fought over the sand plum jelly every morning,” Luke said, tipping his chair back on two legs.

  Dylan frowned at him and set his coffee cup on the table. “Don’t let Glory catch you doing that.”

  Luke’s eyes widened, and he settled the chair sol
idly on all fours. “Dang, Dylan. Can’t a guy get a break? Don’t tell me you’re getting to be a nag.”

  Dylan grunted. “I just don’t want to have to explain how those marks got on this new floor before the rest of the fixing up is finished.”

  “A little whipped, are you?”

  Luke’s smile put Dylan’s teeth on edge. “Nope. But there’s no sense in upsetting the decorator before the job is done.” As he pulled out his chair to sit at the table, he heard the sound of a vehicle turning into the lane. “I wonder who that is. Glory said she wouldn’t be here until the afternoon.”

  Luke stood and walked to the window over the sink. “Looks like our sister’s decided to pay us a little visit. When was the last time you heard from her?” he asked over his shoulder.

  Dylan joined him and watched the motor home pulling a horse trailer drive past the end of the lane and on around the house. “Not since that day at Lou’s when Jeff mentioned Erin had bought that saddle that Abe had made.” He didn’t say anything about calling their sister later that day. There was no need. “She has a habit of turning up like a bad penny.”

  Luke snorted and turned to him. “And never with any warning.”

  “Right.” Returning to the table, Dylan sat and reached for his coffee cup. Taking a sip, he felt torn about his sister’s sudden and unannounced arrival. On one hand, he wondered if she had Glory’s saddle with her. He’d decided to buy it from her, no matter what she wanted for it. On the other, he had to hope she’d lost the ability to read him like a book. She’d know immediately that there was something going on with him, besides the usual. That was the last thing he needed. She’d be like a dog with an old bone and keep after him until he opened up and admitted— What? Even he didn’t know what was going on inside him when it came to Glory.

  While he tried to wipe all thoughts of Glory from his mind before his sister walked in, Luke joined him at the table. “Do you think she’ll be okay with all the changes that have been made?”

  Dylan grunted as he listened for his sister to announce her arrival. “Since it was her idea that they needed to be made, but I’m the one paying for it, I can’t see why she’d have any reason to complain.”

  “True, but—”

  The screen door on the porch squeaked, followed by the sound of boots stepping inside and the door banging shut. Erin had often said it was as much her house as it was Dylan’s, so it was no surprise to him that she didn’t bother to knock. It was true that they all shared ownership of the house and the ranch, and Dylan had never thought it a problem until Erin had threatened to sell the house only weeks ago. Because she was the oldest, she had the power, but they’d never butted heads until that night.

  “How lucky can a girl get?” she said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “Two good-looking guys with coffee. What could possibly be better?”

  Luke got to his feet and picked up his petite sister, swinging her around in a circle. “Having a wayward sister home again is better.”

  Erin laughed and slapped a hand on her cowboy hat when it started to fly off. “And here I thought I was just dizzy from seeing you two. Now put me down.”

  “It’s always a pleasure to have you home.” Dylan gestured toward the cabinets when Luke set her on her feet. “Grab yourself a cup and take a load off your feet, big sis.”

  Planting her hands on her hips, Erin glared at him. “Are you saying I’ve gained weight?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, just trying to rile you so you’ll wear out that orneriness you always bring home with you.”

  The next thing he knew she had her arms around his neck and had pulled him down to give him a noisy kiss on his cheek. “Think that’ll help?” she asked.

  “Maybe. How long are you planning to stay?”

  After letting him go, she gave him a playful shove. “As long as I can irritate you and before I wear out my welcome.”

  He swallowed his chuckle and shook his head. “Not long, then, I see.”

  “Okay, you two,” Luke said, taking his place at the table again.

  “I know I shouldn’t say this,” she said over her shoulder, while pouring a cup of coffee, “but this place looks fantastic.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” Luke said.

  Turning around, she looked directly at Dylan. “What about you? What do you think?”

  Not wanting her to think it was a big deal to him, he shrugged. “It works.”

  “It works?” Erin sighed and sat on the chair Dylan pushed out for her with his foot. “That’s the thanks I get for getting you some help?”

  “I didn’t ask for any help.”

  She opened her mouth, obviously ready to argue, and then shut it. Lowering her head to stare into the cup of coffee in front of her, she said, “You’re right. You never do.”

  Luke looked from one to the other and filled the sudden silence in the room. “Why do you two always leave me out of these things?”

  Dylan refused to be the one who answered. Erin had meddled in his life. She’d proven that she hadn’t had any faith in him. Not that there had been any reason for her to. Sitting back in his chair, he crossed his arms on his chest and said nothing. She could do the explaining. He only hoped she didn’t give all the details.

  It took only a moment for her to shake her head and turn to Luke. “I ran into Glory down in Texas when she was living with her mom, and she mentioned she was coming back to Desperation and starting a new business.”

  Luke glanced at Dylan. “And?”

  Erin hesitated for a second. “I hired her to do some decorating here and fix up this place.”

  “That’s it?”

  Dylan watched as she shrugged but didn’t look directly at Luke. “Pretty much,” she answered.

  Luke didn’t seem to notice her evasion or Dylan’s relief. “She’s done a terrific job. You should look around, Erin. Right, Dylan?”

  She shot to her feet. “Great idea! Where do I start?”

  “Upstairs,” Dylan answered.

  “What about there?” she asked, pointing to the new hallway that had been part of his bedroom.

  “Sorry, nobody can go in there.”

  Erin’s eyes narrowed when she turned to look at him. “Nobody?”

  “Nobody. Not even me.” Dylan pushed away from the table and stood. “I’ll take you upstairs and show you around. I think you’ll be happy with her work.” After he rinsed his coffee cup at the sink, he headed for the dining room and the stairs.

  “Dylan?”

  He ignored her and kept going. By the time he reached the upstairs landing, he looked back to see her starting up the steps. “This second story is pretty much finished,” he told her as she reached the top step. “I’m pretty sure that you’re going to like what she did to your old bedroom.”

  “Dylan, I’m—”

  “This is what you wanted, wasn’t it?” he asked, turning toward her. “Everything looks different.”

  She nodded. “But I’m not the one who has to like it.”

  “Then there’s not a problem. I like it.” In fact, he hadn’t realized how badly he needed the changes. But Glory seemed to have somehow known.

  Erin looked around the second-floor hallway. “She definitely does good work.”

  “I won’t argue with that. Do you want to see what else she’s done?”

  “No. I don’t need to right now. I’ll take a longer look in the morning,” she answered, in an offhanded tone. “Now, why is it you really wanted me to come upstairs?”

  He squinted at her through narrowed eyes, wondering how she always knew what he was up to. “I want to buy that saddle.”

  “I figured you would.”

  Not sure how she could have known that in advance, he ignored it. “I’ll give you what you paid plus ten per
cent.”

  “I don’t know...” she said, her nose scrunched as if it wasn’t a decent offer.

  “Twenty percent.”

  “And if I say no?”

  He was losing what little patience he had. “How much do you want for it?”

  She named an amount.

  “That’s all?”

  “That’s what I paid for it. I never intended to make a profit.”

  All he could do was stare at her. Somehow, she was always one step ahead of him.

  “What are you going to do with it?” she asked. “If I sell it to you.”

  He shook his head. He’d only thought about how to get it from his sister. “I don’t know yet.”

  Erin put a hand on his arm and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

  He watched her walk down the stairs and felt more confused than ever. They’d fought like cats and dogs as kids, but he’d been her biggest ally and had always looked after her because she was so much smaller than him. Even grown-up, she had to stand on her toes to reach five feet tall. She’d needed someone to watch over her. As far as he was concerned, she still did. But somehow it was always Erin who came through for him when he didn’t know he needed someone.

  He still hadn’t decided what he would do with Glory’s saddle, once Erin gave in and sold it to him. He wasn’t even sure if he would tell her he had it, and he sure hoped she wouldn’t ask Erin about it.

  Chapter Eight

  Erin settled on the new sofa in the living room and leaned back. “You’ve done an amazing job, Glory. Not that I expected you wouldn’t. But I have to say I was— What is it that people say? Pleasantly surprised? Yeah, that’s it. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the kitchen yesterday. But that’s putting it mildly. It’s wonderful.”

  Embarrassed by the praise, Glory ducked her head. “You have no idea what it means to me to hear that, but also to have the opportunity to do it. I always loved this house from afar, but never dreamed I would be doing what I’ve done here.”

  “Everything has gone okay, then?”

  “Of course,” Glory answered. “Why wouldn’t it?”