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Yes, leaving Jillian to his mother for a little while might be worth it. If nothing else, perhaps Kaitlyn might pick up some tips on how to handle the self-important woman herself.
And why that mattered to him was yet another thing he shoved out of his mind.
Chapter Fourteen
Maggie Rafferty was,Kaitlyn had decided, the most amazing woman she’d ever met. And she’d met a few, photographed a few, some with well-known, if not quite household, names. But she’d stack Maggie up against any of them. And then stand back and watch with enjoyment as the pixie-haired blonde blew up their pretensions.
“I know it must be so hard for you,” Maggie was saying to Jillian now, so sympathetically Kaitlyn couldn’t believe the woman didn’t realize it was put on. “You stand out so here, and I know there are a few people in Last Stand just like you expected to find, people who disdain big-city women like you.”
“It’s true,” Jillian exclaimed, seemingly oblivious.
Kaitlyn saw something flash in Maggie’s eyes, something akin to bright blue steel. “I’ll bet you can’t wait to get back home.”
“I’m always happy to get back to civilization,” Jillian said, clearly blissfully ignorant of the insult.
“Why, bless your heart,” Maggie said.
Indeed.Kaitlyn was Texas born, and she knew perfectly well those were not the kind words they appeared to be to those who didn’t know better. She didn’t see how anyone could miss the slicing blade just beneath the surface of Maggie’s too sweet expression.
Yet Jillian flashed her most charming smile, as if delighted to find someone here in this hick town who understood her pain. Then she looked at Kaitlyn. “So did you get some lovely shots of our handsome subject?”
Kaitlyn grimaced inwardly. She’d already told Jillian that Rylan Rafferty was one who would require a slow workup to the more personal aspects of this. He wasn’t the type who would pose flamboyantly for her lens, looking forward to his image splattered on glossy pages and screens across the state and beyond.
“Not yet. Getting there,” she muttered.
She wondered again why the woman had taken this project. She was clearly not happy being here, and it was not the kind of thing she usually did. She said it was to expand her résumé, to show she could do any type of article and make it a hit.
“I want to go viral in every area,” she’d explained once, as if having the most hits on a page were some sort of hard-won championship.
Jillian now made a show of quashing her impatience. “I have to go to Austin. I’ll be there through the weekend.” Kaitlyn wondered who was in town, what person who could help Jillian on her career path had arrived in the capitol. “You’ll have to call a ride-share in the morning, assuming they even have those here.”
“She could take the stagecoach,” Maggie said sweetly.
Jillian’s head snapped around to stare at the older woman, which was a good thing because Kaitlyn nearly burst out laughing. Maggie’s glance flicked to her for a moment. Just long enough to wink. With Jillian’s head safely turned, Kaitlyn grinned.
“No need, we’ll loan her a horse,” came a deep, masculine drawl from the entry to the hallway the blond brother had emerged from yesterday. Judging by the kick of her pulse when she spun around and saw Ry there, leaning against the entryway wall with one shoulder, his ankles crossed, arms folded across his chest—that broad, powerful chest—she was surprised she hadn’t sensed he was there. Like some helpless prey when the big cat was on the hunt. She wondered how long he’d been there, how much he’d heard.
He wasn’t looking at her, he was focused on Jillian. Of course. Yet…his expression, that narrowed gaze, was not the usual rapt admiration she generally saw from men when they looked at the sexy blonde. Instead it was as if he were jabbing at her exactly as his mother had been. Belatedly, his words played back in her head. Loan her a horse?
Hehadbeen jabbing at Jillian.
But then he shifted his gaze to Kaitlyn and her breath caught. And driven by something she didn’t quite recognize in herself and reverting to the Texas drawl she tried to restrain when she was elsewhere, she said, “Well, now, I’d like that.”
The slow, upward tilt of one side of his mouth was like the sun coming up. To her, at least. She didn’t know when making this man smile or laugh had become so important to her. She did know it made her feel as if she’d accomplished something significant. And sent her pulse rocketing off all over again.
“We’ll see she gets back to the inn,” Maggie said briskly. “And back here in the morning, if you want to leave right now.” Kaitlyn had the strangest feeling those last three words were more of a suggestion than anything. She doubted Jillian had picked that up, however. And apparently so did Maggie, because she added, “You head on to the city.”
Kaitlyn heard “where you belong” echoing in the air as if Maggie had said it. She had to stifle a smile and look away from Jillian. Jillian seemed oblivious again, and merely said a cheery goodbye as she left.
“Good,” Maggie said, then looked at Kaitlyn. “Now you can stay for dinner.”
Kaitlyn blinked, startled, and in that moment Maggie turned and vanished into the kitchen.
“You can translate that into she won’t take no for an answer,” Ry said helpfully as he shoved off from the wall he’d been leaning against and walked over to her. “So you might as well save the energy and give in.”
And so that evening Kaitlyn found herself sitting at the Rafferty dinner table with everyone except Chance and Ariel, who were off to pick up two dogs for his rehab program for MWDs. And, Keller said with more than a touch of satisfaction, to show Tri off to those who’d thought the dog would never make it.
“I wish I’d had a brother like you, who would have…stepped up,” she said to Keller impulsively. She didn’t even know why, except that it was true, and there was something about this family that invited such things. And she couldn’t really regret that she’d blurted out the words, not when Keller looked embarrassedly pleased and his mother and Sydney delighted.
