He grimaced. “Sounds wretched.”
“You have no idea. And my mother is relentless. I have an inheritance coming to me from my grandmother’s estate when I turn thirty. All that’s necessary for me to get my money sooner is to be married or to have my parents’ permission. But my mother has convinced my father not to let that happen.” She lifted her chin. “So I’ve decided I’ll do whatever it takes to get out from under their roof. This job is the first step toward my liberation. Alexis isn’t afraid of my mother. This is real employment with a real paycheck.”
“But it won’t last long, surely.”
“No. The garden part will only take a few weeks. After that, Alexis wants me to do the walls in the childcare center. I’m saving every penny so I can rent an apartment.”
He put the back of his hand to her cheek and gazed down at her in concern. “You don’t look good, honey. Maybe you should go home.”
Brooke struggled to her feet. “Absolutely not. I won’t let Alexis down.”
He sighed. “When do you quit for the day?”
“Around four.”
“How about afterward we grab some food and take a picnic out in the country...find a quiet place where we can talk?”
“What if someone sees us and asks questions?”
His grin was remarkably carefree for a man who had recently tangled with the Goodman matriarch. “Let’s live dangerously.”
Gus peered through the French doors and frowned when he spotted Brooke Goodman getting chummy with Austin Bradshaw. He’d have to nip that in the bud. Austin was on his radar as the perfect match for Alexis, even if neither of them knew it yet.
Impulsively, he strode out to the parking lot and climbed into his truck. There was one person who shared his goals, one woman who would understand his frustration. He drove out to Rose Clayton’s Silver C Ranch feeling more than a little regret for all the years of bitterness and recrimination that lay between him and Rose. She had hurt him badly when he was a young man. Betrayed him. Broken his heart.
Still, five decades was a long time to carry a grudge.
The only reason they were speaking now was because they were both determined to keep their grandchildren from hooking up. Wasn’t that what the kids called it these days?
Hell would freeze over before Gus Slade would let his beloved granddaughter Alexis marry a Clayton.
Rose answered the door almost immediately after his knock. She had aged well, her frame slim and regal. Chin-length brown hair showed only a touch of gray at the temples. Her gaze was wary. “Gus. Won’t you come in?”
He followed her back to the kitchen. “I found a good prospect for Alexis,” he said.
Rose waved him to a chair and poured him a cup of coffee. “Do tell.”
“His name is Austin Bradshaw. Architect. Widower. Did some work for me a few years back...a handsome lad.”
“And what does Alexis think?”
Rose’s knowing smile irritated him. “She doesn’t know my plans for the two of them yet, but she will. I need some time, that’s all. As long as you keep Daniel occupied, we’ll be fine.”
“You can rest easy on that score. I’m sure there will be any number of eligible women bidding on him at the bachelor auction.”
Gus drained his cup and leaned his chair back on two legs. “Did Daniel actually agree to the auction thing? It doesn’t sound like his cup of tea.”
Rose’s face fell. “Well, I had to coax him. I did point out that he and Tessa Noble would make a lovely couple, if she bids on him.”
“I agree. Makes perfect sense.”
“Unfortunately, Daniel gets quite frustrated with me when I try to give him advice about his love life. He has come very close to telling me to stay out of his business. Imagine that. His own grandmother.”
Gus snorted. “The world would run a lot more smoothly if young people did what their elders told them to.”
Rose went white, her expression agitated. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, old man.”
Her demeanor shocked him. “What did I say, Rose?” The change in her was dramatic. He felt guilty and didn’t know why.
“I’d like you to leave now. Please.”
Her startling about-face stunned him. He thought they had worked through some of their issues. After all, she had wronged him, not the other way around. Was she implying somehow that she had been manipulated by her father? Gus had worked for Jedediah Clayton. To a sixteen-year-old kid, the ranch owner had been both vengeful and terrifying. Yet that hadn’t stopped Gus from falling in love with the boss’s daughter.
Gus had finally made the decision to leave the Clayton ranch. He’d spent four years on the rodeo circuit, saving every dime. Then he’d returned to Royal, bought a small parcel of land and gone back to claim the woman he loved.
His world had come crashing down when he discovered his childhood sweetheart had married another man. Even worse was Rose’s crushing rejection of the love they had once shared. The long-ago heartache was still vivid to him.
He had married her best friend.
But now he was confused.
“Go,” she cried, tears gleaming in her eyes.
He caught her hands in his and held them tightly, even when she tried to yank away. “Did your father do something to you, Rosie?” His heart sank.
Her lower lip trembled. Suddenly, she looked every one of her sixty-seven years. “None of you cared,” she whispered. “I was a prisoner, and you and Sarah never saw through my facade.”
“I don’t understand.” His chest hurt. He couldn’t breathe.
“He threatened me. My mother was desperately ill. He was going to let her die if I married you, refuse to pay for her treatments. So I had no choice. I had to pretend. I had to choose my mother’s life over my happiness. I had to marry another man.”
“My God.”
Rose stared at him, her eyes filled with something close to hatred and loathing. Or maybe it was simply grief. “Go, Augustus. We’ll continue our plan to keep Daniel and Alexis apart. But please don’t come to my house again.”
* * *
Somehow Brooke managed to work on her mural hour after hour without passing out or giving up, but it wasn’t easy. The episode with her mother had upset her deeply. She felt wretched. Even now, her legs trembled and her stomach roiled. Her life was a damned soap opera. Why couldn’t her family be normal and boring?
She paused in the middle of the day to eat the peanut butter sandwich she had packed for her lunch. The club had a perfectly wonderful restaurant, but dining there would have meant changing out of her paint-stained clothes, and Brooke simply didn’t have it in her today. So she sat on the ground with her back to the wall and ate her sandwich in the shade.
She half hoped Austin would show up to keep her company. But clearly, he was very busy with the new project. She saw him at a distance a time or two. That was all.
On the one hand, it was good that he didn’t hover. She would have hated that. She was a grown woman. Still, she’d be lying if she didn’t say she was looking forward to their picnic.
By the time she finished a section at three thirty and cleaned her brushes, she was wiped out.