Mike wiped his hand over his eyes in a gesture of tiredness and exasperation. “It was harrowing. At the first pain Samantha decided she wanted the babies to be born in Chandler, Colorado, that she wanted Mom there. No one could reason with her, and then…well, she started to cry, so Blair and I loaded her and your boys into the jet and took off. Sam was calm throughout the trip but Blair and I were frantic. What if the kids were born during the flight and they needed something we didn’t have? Sam kept saying that we shouldn’t worry, that the boys were going to wait until they could see their grandmother. Dad and Mom were waiting at the airport with an ambulance. As soon as we got to the hospital, Sam’s water broke and the kids popped out like champagne corks.”
Mike paused and grinned. “You would think that the birth of my children would be a private time, but Mom, Dad, Jilly, Blair, and I plus two nurses were all in the delivery room. I expected someone to pass a tray of canapés.”
Kane wasn’t fooled by his brother’s tone. Mike was more than pleased that his sons had been born into the arms of his parents; he was pleased that his family loved Samantha as much as he did. “Sam’s okay? Kids okay?”
“Yeah, great. Everyone’s fine, but—”
“But what?”
“It’s a madhouse at the hospital. Relatives I’ve never heard of are showing up there.”
Mike didn’t have to explain to Kane that he wanted his wife and his sons to himself, that he wanted to be alone with them, because Kane knew how he felt. For two weeks after his sons were born, his wife’s family had hovered about them until he felt suffocated. His mother-in-law was one of those women who believed men shouldn’t change diapers, so Kane had rarely been allowed to touch his tiny sons. It wasn’t until after she left that he was able to pull his wife and his children into his arms and feel them, touch them, hold them.
Now, looking at his brother, he knew the frustration Mike was feeling and the jealousy that was eating at him. He could picture Mike standing in the hospital room doorway watching one relative after another peer down at his newborn sons and thinking that they had spent more time with the children than he had. Kane used to worry that one of the babies would give his first smile to someone other than him.
Companionably, Kane put his arm around Mike’s shoulders. “You know what I’d like more than anything in the world? I’d like to get my boys and bring them out here. This group is just women, and I’m sure they’d spoil them to death.”
“Yeah?” Mike said gloomily. “Want me to bring them back here?”
“I was thinking that maybe I’d go to Chandler and get them.”
Mike was so involved in his own misery that at first he didn’t understand. “Wait a minute. You want me to stay here while you go back?”
“Twenty-four hours, that’s all. And, besides, I want to see my new nephews. Are they as ugly as you?”
It was an old joke between them that never failed to produce a smile. “How would I know what they look like?” Mike said with a sigh. “The relatives won’t let me near them.”
“Why should they?” Kane asked. “You did your job, and they don’t need you anymore.” Laughing at his brother’s expression of gloom, Kane moved away. “I’m serious. I need…a break from this.”
“A break? You’ve only been around those women for a few days.” Mike quirked an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
Kane gave his version of the past few days, telling Mike how lovely Ruth was and how flaky the duo was.
“How about the mystery writer? Sam loves her books and wants to meet her.”
After a moment of silence Kane nearly exploded in a barrage of invective as he told about her nearly shooting his foot off, running under an enraged horse’s hooves, and being an all around pain in the neck. “Everywhere I look, there she is. She spies on me when I’m with Ruth, calls me Cowboy Taggert, and asks if I count by pawing the earth.”
Mike had to bite his lips to keep from laughing.
“It’s not funny. The woman is insane,” he said, then told Mike about Cale’s fit after she’d killed the snake. “They’re healed now, but I had three scratches down the side of my face where she clawed me.”
“Couldn’t have been too deep if they’ve healed so quickly.”
Mike and Kane rarely disagreed. Their mother said it would be like having a fight with your shadow, so now, at Kane’s look, Mike backed off. Twenty-four hours wasn’t long, and the way things were now, Sam wouldn’t know he wasn’t there. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for him to be away for a whole day. “You’re on,” Mike said. “We’ll meet you in Eternity tomorrow evening.”
Chapter Eight
When morning came, I was glad this was going to be my last day on the trail ride. I hated being a failure, but I hated being hated more. For a few minutes I lay in my sleeping bag and thought about the entertaining stories I’d tell my editor when I got back to New York. I’d get my revenge by making an entire publishing house laugh at my escapade in the wilds of Colorado. Better yet, I’d write a book that would make the world laugh at the big cowboy and his lust for the two-faced woman.
Feeling a great deal better about myself and about life in general, I got out of the hated sleeping bag, tugged at my jeans—is there anything worse than sleeping in your clothes?—picked up my kit of toiletries, and headed for the stream to see if I could scour some of the grunge off my face. With the way my luck was running, I’d probably pick up a fungus from the clear mountain water and die a terrible death.
I’d just finished scrubbing when I heard heavy footsteps behind me. It was either our fearless leader or the last remaining dinosaur.
As usual he st
opped near me, no doubt glaring down at me, just waiting to tell me I was doing something wrong. I ignored him as long as I could, then turned to look up at him, but was surprised to find standing there a man I’d never seen before.
“Oh!” I said, startled. “I thought you were someone else.”