LITMIR.BIZ

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out to see the Texan, Nell was sure of it. She felt a sense of regret for what she might have felt for Tyler if he hadn’t made his lack of interest so apparent. But that was just as well. Margie had made it obvious that she liked Tyler, and Nell knew she was no competition for the older woman. On the other hand, she was pretty tired of letting Margie use her for a doormat. It was time to say so.

      * * *

      Her sister-in-law and her nephews, Jess and Curt, were already packed and waiting when Nell parked the Ford Tempo at the steps of their apartment. The boys, redheaded and green eyed like their mother, made a beeline for her. At seven, Jess was the oldest. Curt was five and already a contender for a talking marathon.

      “Hi, Aunt Nell, how about taking us to hunt lizards?” Curt asked as he clambered into the back seat a jump ahead of his taller brother.

      “Never mind lizards, nerd,” Jess muttered, “I want to look for arrowheads. Tyler said he’d show me where to look.”

      “I reminded him,” Nell assured the older boy. “I’ll go lizard hunting with Curt.”

      “Lizards make my skin crawl,” Marguerite said. She wasn’t quite as tall as Nell, but she was equally slender. She was wearing a green-and-white striped dress that looked as expensive as the diamond studs in her ears and the ruby ring on her right hand. She’d stopped wearing her wedding band recently—just since Tyler came to the ranch, in fact.

      “Well, if I get a lizard, he can live with me,” Curt told his mother belligerently.

      Nell laughed, seeing her brother in the small boy’s firm jaw and jutting chin. It made her a little sad, but it had been two years since Ted had died, and the worst of the grief had worn off. “Can he, now?”

      “Not in my house,” Marguerite said firmly. After her husband had died, Margie had taken her share of the ranch in cash and moved to the city. Margie had never really liked ranch life.

      “Then he can live with Aunt Nell, so there.”

      “Stop talking back, you little terror.” Marguerite yawned. “I do hope all the air conditioners are working this time, Nell. I hate the heat. And you’d better have Bella stock up on Perrier—there’s no way I’m drinking water out of that well.”

      Nell got in under the wheel without any comment. Marguerite always sounded like a conquering army. It was annoying and sometimes frankly embarrassing to have Margie ordering her around and taking things for granted. Nell had taken it for a long time, out of loyalty to her late brother, and because the boys would suffer if she didn’t. But it was hard going, and until just recently she’d taken a lot from Marguerite. It was only when Marguerite began making a dead set at Tyler that Nell had started talking back. And now that she’d gotten the hang of it, she rather liked not being talked down to and told what to do. She stared at her sister-in-law coldly while the boys argued in the back seat about who got the middle and who got a window seat.

      “The ranch is mine,” she reminded Marguerite quietly. “Uncle Ted is in charge until I turn twenty-five, but after that, I’m sole owner. Remember the terms of my father’s will—my brother got half and I got half. Uncle Ted was executor. Then when my brother died, you got his share of the ranch in cash. As executor, Uncle Ted keeps control until I come of age. You don’t give orders to me, and you don’t get special consideration just because you’re an in-law.”

      Marguerite stared. It wasn’t like Nell to fight back so fiercely. “Nell, I didn’t mean to sound like that,” she began hesitantly.

      “I haven’t forgotten what happened nine years ago, even if you’re trying to,” Nell added quietly.

      The older woman actually went bloodred. She looked away. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t believe that, but I really am. I’ve had to live with it, too. Ted despised me for it, you know. Things were never the same between us after I had that party. I still miss him, very much,” she added in a soft, conciliatory tone, with a glance in Nell’s direction.

      “Sure you do,” Nell agreed as she started the car. “That’s why you’re dressed to the teeth and finding excuses to suffer the heat at the ranch. Because you miss Ted so much, and you want to console yourself with my hired help.”

      Marguerite gasped, but Nell ignored the sound. She pulled out into traffic and started telling the boys about the new calves, which kept the older woman quiet during the drive home.

      As usual, when Bella saw Marguerite coming in the front door, the buxom housekeeper went out the back door on the pretense of carrying an apple pie over to the bunkhouse. On the way there she ran into Tyler, who looked tired and dusty and half out of humor.

      “What are you doing out here?” he asked, grinning at the older woman with her black scowl.

      “Hiding out,” Bella said grumpily, pushing back strands of salt-and-pepper hair while her black eyes glittered. “She’s back,” she added icily.

      “She?”

      “Her Majesty. Lady Leisure.” She shifted the pie. “Just what Nell needs, more people to take care of. That lazy redhead hasn’t lifted a finger since poor Ted drowned in a dry wash. And if you knew what that flighty ex-model had done to Nell…” She flushed as she remembered who she was talking to. She cleared her throat. “I baked the men a pie.”

      “You baked me a pie,” Nell muttered, glaring at her housekeeper as she came out of the back door. “And now you’re giving it away because my sister-in-law is here. The boys like pie, too, you know. And Margie won’t spoil her figure with sweets, anyway.”

      “She’ll spoil my day,” Bella shot back. “Wanting this, wanting that, make the bed, bring her a towel, cook her an omelet… She can’t be bothered to pick up a shoe or carry a cup of coffee, no, not her. She’s too good to work.”

      “Don’t air the dirty linen out here,” Nell said shortly, glancing at Tyler.

      Bella lifted her small chin. “He’s not blind,” she said. “He knows what goes on here.”

      “Take my pie back in the house,” Nell told her.

      Bella glared at her. “She’s not getting a bite of it.”

      “Tell her.”

      The older woman nodded curtly. “Don’t think I won’t.” She glanced at Tyler and grinned. “You can have a slice, though.”

      He took off his hat and bowed. “I’ll eat every crumb twice.”

      She laughed gleefully and went back inside.

      “Aren’t you late for the camp out?” Nell asked curiously.

      “We canceled it,” he replied. “Mr. Curtis fell into a cactus and Mrs. Sims got sick on the chili we had at lunch and had to go to bed. The rest figured they’d rather watch television.”

      Nell smiled faintly. “Oh, well. The best laid plans… We’ll try it again on the weekend.”

      Tyler studied her quietly, his eyes narrowed in thought. “About this afternoon…” he began, holding Nell’s surprised gaze.

      But before he could say another word, the door behind Nell swung open.

      “Why, Tyler, how nice to see you again,” Marguerite said laughingly, pausing in the doorway.

      “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Regan,” he replied dryly, and there was a world of knowledge in the pale green eyes that swept lazily down her slender body. Marguerite couldn’t take him in with that strategic pose. He knew too much. But it was amusing to watch her try.

      Nell wanted to throw herself down in the dust and cry, but that wouldn’t have done any good. She went back inside, giving up without a struggle.

      Marguerite gave her a curious glance, but Nell didn’t even look at her. If she wanted Tyler, she was welcome to him, Nell thought miserably. After all, she had nothing to give him herself.

      Supper

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