“All right.”
“Wonderful!Then?—”
“Cuthbert, if we hold these events, we have to make a rule,” Emmy Lou said.“Women are not allowed to grab at Brian’s clothes or pinch his tush.No button popping, no pocket ripping.None of that.”
“Certainly not!”Doobie looked offended at the very idea.“Well, then, I guess our mission is accomplished, Eloise.Come along.”
Eloise didn’t move.She stood gazing at Quinn, a dreamy smile on her face.“Save me a dance,” she said.
“Sure.”
“Oh,thank you.”She sighed and clasped her hands together.“I’ll be counting the hours.”
Doobie snorted and took his wife’s arm.“Don’t make such a big deal out of it, Eloise.It’s just a dance.”
“Just a dance?Just adance?I think not, Cuthbert.”She kept her gaze fastened on Quinn as her husband dragged her to the entry hall.“Why, dancing with Brian Hastings is more important than winning best garden of the year, more important than giving birth to our darling Primrose, more important than ourwedding night.Which reminds me.I know you think you’re a great?—”
“Thanks for the coffee!”Doobie called as he hustled his wife out the door.
After they left Jo grinned at him.“You’ve done it again.First Dick, and now that weasel Doobie.Thanks, Quinn.”
“I loved it, Eloise’s tush fetish and all.”Emmy Lou gathered coffee cups.
“Don’t remind me about that part,” Quinn said.
“Oh, she’s harmless,” Emmy Lou said.“But he’s not.Can you believe he had the nerve to say you were like a daughter to him?Just last week when you asked for an extension on your loan he said you might as well sell out and go back east, where you belong.Quinn, you were magnificent.”She smiled at him.“Brian Hastings couldn’t have done it better.Well, he might not have spouted all that nonsense about electrical outlets, but otherwise, good job.”She left the room carrying the tray.
“Doobie really said that to you last week?”Quinn wished he’d been a little rougher on the guy.
“Well, to be fair, I am pretty far behind on my payments.”
“Listen, Jo, I?—”
“Nope.”She held up both hands.“I shouldn’t have brought it up.Forget I said anything.”
Quinn gazed at her.“If you say so.”He longed to get his hands on her books.Okay, he’d rather get his hands on her, but she’d put the skids on that program.But if he could look over her accounts and have her explain the ranching business to him, he knew he could help.
“Don’t you need to call your office?”
“Guess I do.”
“While you’re doing that, I’ll go down to the barn and check on Clarise and Stud-muffin.See you in a little while, then.”
“Right.”Quinn noticed she hadn’t suggested he use her office phone, probably because she didn’t want him in there, period.So he made his call on the phone in the hallway.
As he was hanging up, Jo came in and hooked her slicker on a peg by the door.
“Everything okay at the barn?”he asked.
“Great.”She looked damp, pink and very kissable.“How’s your office?”
“No problems.What’s next on the schedule?”
Jo shook her damp hair.“It’s still raining.I called the vet before breakfast, and she can’t come out to inseminate Lullabelle and Missy until tomorrow.”She looked at Quinn.“We’re sort of at loose ends today.”
“What do you usually do when it rains like this?”
“Oh, paperwork in my office.”
