Chapter Eighteen

Bethany took a deep breath as she looked in her mirror. This was as good as she got. She had spent an hour getting ready, much longer than the usual five minutes she would normally spend, and still she seemed to be lacking something.

She was wearing her long floral skirt that hung just past her knees and was made of a silky fabric that blew around her legs if the breeze hit her. She had on a light pink v-neck t-shirt that clung to her thin frame and emphasized the tiny bumps on her chest that were her sad excuse for boobs. Suddenly she wished she would have bought a pair of those breast inserts that Helen had held up for her yesterday. At least then she'd have a chest worth looking at while she was dressed.

She had taken the time to put some curl in her long brown hair and had even put make up on her face including foundation, eye shadow and lip gloss. This was as good as she got.

Normally she wouldn't have bothered with doing any of this just to go visit Nicole but if she was going to be seeing Andrew then Bethany wanted to look her best. She realized now that she had been mean to him yesterday but truly the man must realize that lying to someone was also mean? Or maybe things had been different back in 1875 and a man was expected to just tell a woman anything he thought she wanted to hear.

Bethany sighed, grabbed her purse from the table by her bed and then made her way down the hall and the stairs and out onto the porch.

"Where you going?" her papaw Silas asked as he stepped out of the barn and stopped her on her way to her car.

"To Nicole's," she replied honestly. He grunted.

"Them cowboys are at Nicole's."

"I guess you're right," Bethany replied with a shrug. "I hadn't even thought of that," she lied.

Her papaw just shook his head and gave her a stern look, "Then what's all that paint on your face for?" he asked and Bethany blushed beneath the rouge on her cheeks.

"It's called make-up, papaw. All the girls are wearing it nowadays."

"You better use that brain in that pretty little head, girlie," he warned as he clicked his tongue.

Bethany smiled, "You don't have to worry about me, papaw, she promised and he gave her a satisfied grin and walked back toward the barn while Bethany quickly climbed in her car and headed for Nicole's before she could change her mind.

***

Cavanaugh pushed the lawn mower back into the building and stretched out his arms and back. It had felt good to do some real work and earn a sweat after being idle for so long. He pulled off his sweat covered t-shirt and used it to wipe his face clean. He looked over at the truck and realized that Ian was not yet cleaning it. Instead his brother appeared to be asleep in the porch swing.

Cavanaugh rolled his eyes and started toward the house, deciding that he needed a drink to cool off and then he would get started cleaning the truck himself. He would rather be kept busy than simply lay around all day. He hadn't always been like that. He had looked for every excuse in the world to take a day easy back when Leah, Susie and Timothy had been alive because that had given him more time to spend with them.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts and decided that he would go and check on Nicole while he was cooling off. He was sure that he had hurt her this morning and he really didn't want to hurt her.

He was about to walk into the house when Andrew burst out the door, bouncing and fidgeting with every single movement he made, "Is she here yet? Is she here? She should be here soon!" he exclaimed.

Cavanaugh shook his head and ran his hand through his sweaty hair, "Is who here?"

"Bethany, his lady friend," Ian replied as he peeked at them through cracked eyelids.

"Ian, you're supposed to be cleaning the truck," Cavanaugh stated pointedly.

Ian nodded, "I'll get around to it." he replied, stretching even further out in the swing and sighing as he began to rock.

"She's not here yet," Cavanaugh replied, turning his attention to Andrew. "And you shouldn't be so happy to see her anyway. You acted like the damn woman had ripped your heart out and handed it back to you just last night."

Andrew ran his hand through his dark hair and wiped his palms on his thighs, "I just went about wooing her the wrong way is all. I gotta make sure I don't compliment her so much."

"Correct me if I'm wrong--" Ian began.

"You usually are," Cavanaugh muttered causing Ian smiled, though he never opened his eyes.

"But aren't women supposed to like compliments?" Ian finished.

Cavanaugh rolled his eyes, "Not when you give them out like a politician giving out handshakes at election time," he replied, "They want what you say to come from the heart and really mean something."

"It did mean something and it did come from my heart," Andrew stated defensively. "She just didn't seem to believe that anything I said was true."

"So how are you going to convince her that it is true?" Ian asked and Cavanaugh chuckled when the man raised his brow without ever opening his eyes.

"I'm not sure," Andrew replied as he scratched at his head. "But I'll figure something out."

Cavanaugh just shook his head and went into the house, leaving his brothers to discuss wooing women on the porch. Cavanaugh had never been a wooer. He was a one woman man through and through.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass before filling it with water from the tap. He had to admit that indoor plumbing was awfully nice. Especially being able to use the bathroom in the comfort of home instead of walking all the way out to the outhouse.

Cavanaugh walked into the living room, hearing the music playing loudly from Nicole's computer. Cavanaugh realized he liked the woman's taste in music as he listened to a song about gunslingers, brawls and 'taking it outside' blared from the speakers.

He heard Nicole's voice upstairs singing and found himself smiling as he walked up the stairs to find her. He found her in the bedroom he'd been using. She had pulled the blankets and sheets off the bed and was currently replacing them with clean ones. Cavanaugh chuckled silently into his hand at the sight of her. She had taken off her robe and slippers and she was dancing in her bare feet and shaking her backside as she sang along to the music, holding a hair brush to her mouth and acting as if she was singing to an audience.

"If both of us walk out that door one of us ain't coming back!" she sang loudly and then she looked up into the mirror behind the bed and let out a scream when he waved at her in the reflection.

She spun around, tossed the hair brush to the side and covered her heart with her hand as her face flushed bright red, "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded.

Cavanaugh smiled as he crossed his arms over his bare chest and leaned back against the door jamb, "A minute or two," he replied honestly. "You sing real good," he added.

"And I thought Ian was the charming one," Nicole said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Cavanaugh pushed himself off the wall and rubbed the back of his neck, "Naw, he just thinks he is," he replied. "I wanted to talk to you actually."

Nicole frowned at the seriousness in his tone. She nodded as she began stretching the clean sheet over the bed, "Okay," she replied.

Cavanaugh crossed the room and took one side of the sheet, helping her slide it over the mattress, "About last night." he added.

He saw the dread on her face and then she turned and grabbed a blanket, "Cavanaugh...."

"It felt good to me too," he admitted.

Nicole's green eyes were wide as the blanket she had tossed in the air, fell down over the bed, "Oh," she stated blankly.

Cavanaugh began to fix the blanket over the side of the bed he was standing on and shifted his feet awkwardly, "I just don't want to hurt you. I'm not sure I even want to move on and if I did want to I'm not sure I could. Honestly I never gave much thought at all to it until I met you so maybe that's a step in the right direction?"

Nicole stood there in shock. She tried hard to focus on his words instead of on the way his tight muscles worked while he fixed the bed. He had sweat clinging to his tanned skin and gleaming in the sunlight coming through the open window.

Words. Words. What had he said? That he wasn't sure he wanted to move on but that she made him think about it? That was positive wasn't it? She looked up and saw that his blue eyes were watching her closely as if trying to judge her reaction, "Cavanaugh, I won't lie, I had sworn off men after what I went through with my last boyfriend a long time ago but then you came, well. 'poofing', into my house and suddenly I didn't want to be alone. But I know that you have some things to work through so no pressure, okay? If anything happens between us great but if it doesn't then that'll be okay too." Nicole knew she wasn't telling the complete truth but she wasn't willing to be any more vulnerable than that just now.

She realized that Cavanaugh seemed relieved as he tucked the blanket under the pillows, "Where did you learn to make a bed so nice?" Nicole asked, looking at her messily made side and his perfectly smooth, professional side.

"Leah was a stickler for the beds and when she was carrying our children she stayed real sick so I learned how to make the beds to give her one less thing to worry about," he replied.

Nicole smiled, "She was a lucky woman."

Cavanaugh just shrugged and looked around the room. Being in a bedroom with the woman who seemed to heat his blood so easily wasn't really good for his self control. He shoved his hands deep in his pants pockets as Nicole scooped the dirty sheets and blanket into her arms.

"Can I ask why you swore off men?" he asked.

Nicole just shook her head as she headed toward the bedroom door, "Let's just say I learned that just because a man says he loves you that doesn't mean it's true and just because a woman says she's your best friend doesn't mean she really cares," Nicole replied and then without giving him a chance to reply she left the room.

Cavanaugh suddenly wanted to punch whoever had hurt Nicole that way right in the face. Why would anyone lucky enough to have a woman like her be stupid enough to throw it all away?

***

"She's here! She's here! She's here!" Andrew exclaimed as Bethany's red car pulled into view and he bounced from foot to foot on the porch.

"Maybe not acting like a hyperactive puppy seeing his first meaty bone would be a good idea there, Andrew," Ian scolded with a grin and Andrew stopped bouncing though his fingers began tapping on his thighs because the energy had to come out somewhere.

"Bethany's here?" Nicole asked as she stepped onto the porch and saw her car.

"Yep. She called a long time ago and said she was coming," Ian replied.

"And you didn't tell me why?" Nicole asked as she put her hand on her hip and glared at him where he lay in the porch swing.

"Because that would have involved getting off his lazy backside," Cavanaugh replied as he too stepped outside.

"I'm resting up. Have you seen how dirty that truck is?" Ian asked without opening his eyes.

Andrew ignored them and stepped off the porch when Bethany's car came to a stop.

Bethany let out a deep breath as she looked up at Andrew through her windshield. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man was practically bouncing with excitement. Excitement over seeing her? That was a first.

Andrew felt like his heart was going to blow up in his chest. He had never been good at waiting for what he wanted and he fought the urge to run to the car, jerk the door open, yank her from inside and just drink in the sight of her.

Then the door did open and Bethany stepped out and Andrew nearly collapsed right there. Just seeing her, just being these short ten feet away from her, caused that whirring in his brain to still and the tapping of his finger on his thighs slowed.

"Hi, Andrew." she said quietly.

Andrew took a step toward her, "Hi, Bethany," he replied. "I uh.. If I tell you that you look real pretty will you get mad?"

Bethany blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear, "No, I won't get mad." she promised.

He grinned from ear to ear and winked at her and Bethany suddenly felt as if there was no air to breathe, "In that case, you look beautiful today." Bethany shifted her feet and shrugged one shoulder, "I did my hair and...."

"Shhhh," Andrew stepped forward and put his finger against her lips, "Just smile, nod and take the compliment," he urged. Bethany eyes went crossed as she tried to look down at his finger on her mouth. That finger was setting her lips on fire.

"Good luck with that, Andrew," Nicole called out from the porch. "She never has been very good at taking compliments."

Bethany was thankful for the distraction because it gave her an excuse to pull away from Andrew and walk toward the house. Andrew made it hard for her to think. Hard for her to breathe. Hard for her to remember that truthfully he was not the kind of man her family would want her with and that he was a charming womanizer who would hurt her in the end.

"Andrew was getting somewhere. What did ya interrupt them for?" Ian whispered as he stood and put his lips to Nicole's ear.

Nicole fought back a laugh as his breath tickled her skin, "Do you remember Baby?" she replied. "Bethany's papaw would be happy to shoot me with her too if I let Andrew work his magic on Bethany right here under my nose."

"A gun pointed at my face never stopped me from going after what I wanted," Ian countered.

Before Nicole could respond Cavanaugh started chuckling, "Yeah but a gun pointed at your ass gets you runnin' these days don't it?"

Nicole snorted with laughter and Ian glared at them both, "Why don't you try getting shot in the ass?!" he demanded.

"No thanks," Nicole replied.

Cavanaugh nodded, "Yeah I believe I'll just stay away from other men's women and be just fine."

"You've been shot in the butt?" Bethany asked quietly as she stepped on the porch.

Ian grinned and leaned toward her with a wink, "Sure have. I even got a scar, wanna see it?"

"Of course she don't," Andrew grumbled as he pushed his way in between Ian and Bethany.

"Yeah, Ian." Cavanaugh said with a good natured grin. "What are you trying to do, kill the woman?"

Nicole rolled her eyes and motioned for Bethany, "Well come on in, Bethany. It's getting close to lunch time so I'll make us all some sandwiches."

***

"I have to go now," Bethany said nearly an hour later as the five of them sat on the back porch beneath the shade of an oak tree.

"Where ya going?" Andrew asked as he tapped a rhythm on the arm of the swing with his fingertips.

"I.. uh.. I have another appointment to go to for the wedding," Bethany replied picking at her skirt.

Cavanaugh noticed the way Nicole tensed up beside him. They were sitting side by side in a set of wooden rocking chairs and he looked over to see that her face was a mask of indifference yet her green eyes appeared sad.

"Does that mean you'll be spending more time with that Helen woman?" Andrew asked with a sharp edge to his voice.

"We're going for the final cake testing," Bethany replied with a nod.

"When is the wedding?" Nicole asked, her voice blank.

"Next weekend," Bethany replied without meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry I mentioned it. I really shouldn't have..."

"It's been almost five years, Bethany. I'm okay," Nicole countered but Cavanaugh could tell that she was lying. He wasn't sure exactly what was wrong but it was obvious to him that she was upset by this wedding.

"I'm coming with you," Andrew stated as he stood up.

Bethany shook her head, "No, not this time." she replied.

Andrew's eyes narrowed, "You better not let them people talk to you the way they did yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" Nicole asked, "Did Helen try to start her crap with you again?"

"No, they were just joking around," Bethany assured her as she stood up.

Andrew stepped forward and shook his head angrily, "They were not."

Bethany frowned. Was he really that worried about her? Did he care? And if he did then why? He barely knew her and there was no way that she could actually be his type. She wasn't anyone's type, "I'll be fine, Andrew, I promise." she assured him. "I'll be going now. I'm sorry I mentioned it, Nicole. I'll see you when you come back to papaws again."

"I'll see you then," Nicole replied with a forced smile, "And please don't let them be mean to you."

"I'll be fine," Bethany promised. She walked off the porch and started around the house when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and saw Andrew following her. She stopped suddenly and he nearly collided with her before managing to sidestep and smile at her sheepishly.

"Can I come with you?" he asked as he fidgeted from foot to foot. "Please?" he added.

Bethany shook her head, "No. I think it would probably be better if I went to this alone."

Bethany was shocked when she saw the disappointment on his face, "I want to spend more time with you," he stated with what could only be described as a whine.

"Really?" Bethany asked with a shocked laugh.

Andrew frowned and nodded, "Yes. Really."

A breeze kicked up and whipped Bethany's skirt around her legs and Andrew's eyes were drawn toward the movement. He stared at her exposed lower legs, just the way he had found himself staring all day. Ladies these days sure showed a lot more skin and Andrew had to admit that he liked it. Bethany's legs were smooth, soft and ivory pale.

His eyes went back to her face when she cleared her throat, "Okay."

"Okay, what?" he asked as he crossed and uncrossed his arms several times.

"I'll come pick you up this evening and we can do something. That is if you really want to," she stated with doubt.

Andrew bounced up and down with happiness, "Yes! Yes I want to!" he exclaimed.

Bethany nodded, "Okay. I'll see you this evening then."

Andrew took her by the hand when she tried to turn away and pulled her toward him. Bethany felt her breath catch in her chest and her heart skid to a stop when he lowered his face toward hers and then brushed a feather light kiss to her cheek.

"I'll see you then." he whispered. His heart was thundering and his legs suddenly felt weak beneath him. He had no idea what the feeling in his heart was since he had never felt it before but he liked it.

Bethany turned quickly as a blush covered her cheeks and walked as fast as she could toward her car, nearly tripping over her feet several times as her legs shook.

She backed out quickly and watched in her rearview mirror as Andrew faded into the distance. Her mind was racing. Andrew was incredibly hot. He was charming. He was funny. He was sweet. And miraculously, somehow, he seemed to truly be interested in her.

With the promise of this evening still fresh in her mind, Bethany was sure that the next few hours with Helen would be much easier to get through.