“That’s the hat Rusty just bought,” Beau said with a chuckle. “What happened, boss?”
“Being called on her lies got the hat flung in my face,” Cash said. “I’m starved.” With a grin, he turned to Tracy and asked, “Are you in the kitchen earning your keep?”
“Yes.” Tracy laughed. “I heard it was either that or feeding the chickens.”
When Cash winked at her, it was like a slice of dessert before the meal. The salads, spaghetti and meatballs dinner with sides of pizza and breadsticks was the best Tracy had ever eaten. Guests and wranglers arrived and everyone else was starved too. People were treated to oodles of food on tables covered with cheerful bucking bronco tablecloths. Jacob and Jeff took seats at the table where Tracy sat next to Cash and Jacob showed them some of the photos he’d taken during the camping and fishing trip. When Cristen beganserving up slices of blackberry pie for dessert, Beau helped her.
Cash leaned in close to Tracy and asked, “What would you say if I suggested we eat our pie on the balcony at my house?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I’d say yes.”
“Good.” Cash could get lost in those turquoise eyes and sultry voice. Get lost? Hell, days ago he’d started walking headlong into a faraway place he’d never been before because of this woman. Lost? Yeah. Turning back? No. Not yet anyway.
“If I remember correctly, you’re going to show me something on the balcony that no one else has seen.”
“That I am.” He stood up at their table and pulled out her chair for her. When they started to leave the dining area, she asked about the pie. “There’s plenty more in my kitchen.”
“Where are you two headed?” Donna asked.
“To do some research on Cash’s farmhouse,” Tracy said without skipping a beat.
“I’ll tag along,” Donna said. “To you know…assist.”
“Nope,” Cash replied over his shoulder. “We’re good.”
Tracy giggled under her breath. “You’re so big’n bad, Cash Cooper.”
“Gotta be, running a ranch like this.” Instead of heading into the back of his house, he walked her toward the cabins and then with distance between them and the guests in thedining area, he headed down the side road. “We’ll go in through the front door of the house.” When she cocked her head in a questioning manner, he said. “Plausible deniability.”
“That I was alone with you inside?” she asked as they reached the wraparound porch.
“Yes. For your reputation’s sake.”
“I’m a big girl. I can handle my reputation, Cash.”
“Which up to now is spotless,” he said as they climbed the three steps to the porch.
“Is something about to change?”
“Only when and if you want it to.”
Tracy arched a cinnamon brow and her full lips twitched with a smile. A couple of racy images of Tracy flashed across Cash’s brain. He tapped down his desire and opened the door to his house. They stepped inside where light from a six-foot-tall decorative window above the front door lit up the two-story foyer. Tracy stared straight ahead at the wood and wrought-iron staircase ascending to the second floor.
“I love that gorgeous horse carved into the banister at the bottom of the staircase,” she said, then looked to her left and to her right.
“Thanks, it’s original to the house.”
Cash had upgraded and modernized the house over the last few years since he’d inherited it from his Uncle Clarence. Exposed wood beams that greeted them in the two-story foyer could be seen beyond in the expansive living room and wide hallway to both sides and under the staircase. An interior decorator had kept the rustic charm of the home and implemented what she’d called a neutral palette. In the large open area off to the left, an overstuffed, cream-colored sofa with big blue pillows and chairs to match beckoned folks to relax and forget it was the formal living room. A dining room that could easily seat twelve or more boasted a crystal vase on the center of the gleaming mahogany table under a sixteen light dimmable wagon wheel chandelier with crystals that reflected the sunshine from large windows.
“Wow,” Tracy breathed softly.
“Come on,” Cash said and headed down the hardwood floor of the hallway.
They passed open double doors to his den filled with leather furniture, a flat-screen TV, and a fully stocked wet bar. On the other side of the hall were matching double doors to a library with built-in shelves full of books. In an oblong room was a pool table with cue sticks mounted on the wall. He pointed out his office which had not changed as much as the rest of the house. He still used his Uncle Clarence’s desk and leather chair. The oil painting above the fireplace seemed to have caught Tracy’s eye and drew her into the room.
“Is that you, Cash?”
