Calder Storm (Calder Saga 10)

His pace never slowed until he reached the room he shared with Laredo. He unlocked the door and walked in. Laredo stood near the foot of his bed, buckling his belt. Sharp blue eyes skimmed Trey. “I guess I don’t have to ask where you were last night,” he remarked idly.

“I guess you don’t.” A raw and restless energy carried Trey past Laredo.

“Did you take her to breakfast already?” Laredo eyed him curiously.

“No. She headed off to the arena first thing to get some early morning pictures.” Trey swept off his hat and dropped it on the bed, then turned to the opened suitcase on the luggage rack.

“And you couldn’t change her mind,” Laredo guessed. “That explains why you’re here earlier than I thought you’d be.”

Trey tossed a clean pair of jeans on the bed, added a shirt, then paused in sudden decision. “I’m going to marry her.”

A soft, barely audible whistle came from Laredo. “Does she know that?”

“Not yet.” Trey rummaged around for a pair of socks and shorts.

After a short run of silence, Laredo asked, “Do you mind a piece of advice?”

It was rare that Laredo ever offered any, once claiming that Trey got enough of it from others and didn’t need it from him. It was part of the reason Trey always felt easy in his company. It was like having an older brother or an uncle, someone who would listen without making judgments.

Still, Trey felt he should warn him. “You aren’t going to talk me out of it.”

“I wouldn’t try,” Laredo replied calmly. “But I would suggest that before you go rushing her off to the preacher, you take her to the Triple C. It’s a big and empty stretch of land. Not at all the sort of place that appeals to women. Most have a hard time handling the loneliness and isolation of it. It seems to take a special breed of women to thrive on it.”

“You’re thinking of Laura,” Trey said, remembering that his twin sister had grown up on the Triple C. It was her home and she loved it. But it also bored her.

“Actually, I was thinking of the stories I’ve heard about your father’s marriage to Tara and how much she loathed living on the ranch. I got the impression life was pretty miserable for both of them. And you can be sure neither of them thought when they got married it would end in a divorce.” After a small hesitation, Laredo moved his shoulders in a careless shrug. “Like I said, I’m not trying to talk you out of marrying your lady—just making sure you look at any problems square in the eye first.”

“I will,” Trey replied as a thread of unease ran through him.

A drifting of clouds marred the sharp blue of the midmorning sky while below a breeze rolled an empty paper cup across the infield. Most of its grass was flattened, trampled by the constant traffic of vehicles and pedestrians.

The high-pitched shouts and laughter of children at play caught Sloan’s attention. Turning, she spotted a family next to a pickup camper. The parents, both in cowboy gear, were seated in lawn chairs, having coffee, while a pigtailed girl in cowboy hat and boots chased her little brother, swinging a loop over her head with the clear intention of roping him.

Sloan snapped a picture of the action even though she knew it wasn’t one she would ever use. Mostly she took it because it resembled nothing she had ever known.

Turning away from the scene, she snapped on the lens cap and switched off the camera. The sun was too far up in the sky to provide the kind of angled light she wanted, signaling an end to her morning’s work.

It was moments like this, when she was at loose ends, with nothing to do and no particular place to go, that Sloan disliked the most. Keep busy, she thought. The phrase had become her mantra.

Not for the first time, she

found herself wishing that Trey had come along this morning. The early quiet of the grounds, the sparkling dew on the grass, the whisper of the breeze in the trees—she would have liked to share it all with him. Yet there was always a chance that he wouldn’t have been impressed by any of it and his lack of interest would have spoiled her own enjoyment. So she told herself that it was just as well he hadn’t come with her.

Although Trey had said he would join her, she debated whether she should wait for him or head back to the motel on the off chance he might still be there. A second later the decision was taken out of her hands when she saw his tall, familiar shape coming toward her. Joy, all heady and light, swept through her with a kind of beauty that she had never experienced before.

“Perfect timing,” Sloan called and quickened her own steps to shorten the distance between them. “I just finished up a few minutes ago.”

Not a single word of greeting was offered. Trey let the moist heat of his kiss do all the talking, the driving insistence of it bending her backward over his circling arm. Her heartbeat lifted and quickened, stimulated by the earthy contact. Only the camera, hanging from the strap looped around her neck, kept her from being molded to his length.

Almost reluctantly he ended the kiss and lightly rubbed his mouth on her forehead, a disturbed heaviness to his breathing. “I never realized I could miss you so much in just a couple hours.”

“I missed you, too,” Sloan admitted, although until that moment she hadn’t realized how true it was.

A horn honked somewhere nearby, and the sound acted as a reminder that they were in a public place. His encircling arms loosened their hold on her as he drew back, his hands settling on the points of her hips.

“Did you get the shots you wanted?” His velvety dark gaze made a slow journey over her face.

For a moment Sloan couldn’t think what he was talking about. Then she remembered. “Maybe. Although I didn’t have the conditions I hoped I might.”