When It's Right(30)

Does Gillian realize the kind of effect she has on me?

He shifted in his seat. She stiffened, then relaxed when he didn’t do . . . whatever it was she thought he’d do to her. Nope. She still saw him as a possible threat. Well, he aimed to fix that. Immediately.

“Blake thinks you’re beautiful,” Justin announced over a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes.

Gillian’s eyes flew open at Justin’s announcement. She stared at him as he watched her.

“He can’t keep anything to himself, can he?” Blake asked.

“No,” she confirmed. “He also repeats words he shouldn’t, so watch your mouth.”

“You have to eat extra vegetables for each bad word,” Justin said.

“I found that out last night. She’s tough,” Blake eyed Justin.

“On Mondays, she takes me to the ice cream place, and I get to have two scoops.”

“Tough and nice.” Blake caught the haunted look in Gillian’s sad eyes and leaned down close to her ear. “Let me guess,” he whispered. “Ron was home on Monday nights, and you needed a place to hide out. Justin got ice cream, and you got a little peace.”

She nodded, sat up, and shook the cold towel off her back. Blake took it off her chair and went to heat it again. He came back with her plate filled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes. He put the hot towel on her back again and went to get his plate, while Dee joined them at the table.

Justin chatted about everything under the sun with his normal six-­year-­old enthusiasm. Blake watched Gillian mindlessly eat her food and drink her coffee. He learned something about her this morning. She was slow to wake up and didn’t mind sitting around half naked. One hell of a pretty picture. One that morphed into something completely inappropriate in his mind.

“Blake?”

Her voice brought him back to the here and now. The image of her naked in his bed slipped away, but not the heat pooling in his groin. He shifted to get more comfortable. Fantasizing about her was one thing, but doing something about it crossed the line. He owed Bud better than that and would keep his promise to watch over her.

He followed her gaze out the window to Bud, in the corral with the sick horse. Bud tried to coax the horse to go to his food and eat, but every time he got close to the animal, the horse shied away and ran around the corral.

“What’s he doing?”

“Trying to get the horse used to him. Old Boots won’t eat well, and he won’t let anyone get near him. We’d like to take care of him, but he’s making it hard. We don’t want to push him, because he’s been sorely mistreated. Bud thought it best if we take it slow.”

Like I’m trying to remember to do with you, sweetheart.

“Blake, does your mother still make those nice quilts?” Dee asked.

“She made me one for Christmas. It’s on my bed at the house. Why?”

“I thought I might give her a call and see if she could help me put something together for Justin’s room. Maybe I’ll invite your parents over for supper one night.”

Blake didn’t miss the wheels turning in Dee’s sharp mind. She wanted to enlist his mother’s help in setting him up with Gillian. The two of them liked to conspire to find him a wife. He’d be thirty in a ­couple of years, and maybe it was time to settle down. Well, he didn’t need their help, or want it, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying. The idea of Gillian meeting his parents didn’t put him off in the least. In fact, he welcomed the idea. If Gillian saw him with his family, she might actually begin to trust him.

“Call her, you know she’d love it. Dad will love it, too. Anything to keep her busy.”

“Dee, Grandma.” The name stumbled off her lips. “You don’t have to go to any trouble or contact Blake’s mother.”

Justin saw Dee’s watery eyes and frowned. “Why is she sad now?”

Dee wiped the tears from her eyes and tried not to make Gillian uncomfortable. “Oh, I’m just being sentimental. Your sister was sweet enough to call me ‘Grandma,’ and it just made my heart so full it spilled out my eyes.”

“Your heart’s full of tears?”

“No, honey. My heart is full of love.”

Gillian fidgeted, looking for an escape. This was getting to be too much for her. Blake sympathized, despite the fact this was good for her.

“Um, I’m going up to get dressed. Ah, Grandma, if you wouldn’t mind doing my hair when I come back down, I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course, dear. No problem. Then we’ll go on our tour of the ranch. Maybe we’ll let Justin feed some apples to the horses.”