To Love and Cherish Read online

  “I guess it was fun having a famous actress for a mother,” she continued conversationally. She led Shelby into the dining room. “I’ll bet you had everything you wanted.”

  “Everything,” Shelby said dully, remembering the lonely vacations at camp, the holidays with only the household staff for company, the birthdays without a cake or a party, childhood illnesses that a nurse got her through because her beautiful mother couldn’t stand to be around sick people.

  That deep sadness was still in her eyes when she looked up unexpectedly into King’s dark, impassive face and felt the ground fall out from under her. Her heart jumped wildly, and sensations ran through her slender body that she’d never felt and couldn’t begin to understand.

  “Rough night?” he asked pointedly.

  She averted her face and took a seat at the table as far away from him as the china table settings would permit.

  “I slept very well, thank you,” she said softly.

  “Damn you, what does it take to get through that steel webbing you wear around your emotions?” he growled, catching her shoulder painfully to jerk her around.

  She looked up at him, and her lower lip trembled, her whole body trembled with the force of the fear he aroused in her. Her eyes misted with tears as they met his, feeling his hand tighten on her soft flesh with a sense of panic.

  His touch burned, excited—her eyes were drawn unconsciously to the bronzed glimpse of his broad chest where his blue silk shirt was unbuttoned. A shadowing of dark, curling hair was visible under its thinness, the hard muscles of his arms emphasized by the tight fit as his powerful legs were outlined by the close-fitting blue cord slacks he was wearing. There was something sensuously masculine about him, even though he gave the appearance of a man who was totally devoid of passion. Shelby wondered idly if he was as cold as he seemed to be; if that was the reason he’d lost the woman he cared for.

  “You’re hurting me, King,” she breathed, finally aware of the vice-like grip he had on her thin shoulder.

  He loosened his hold, although he didn’t move his hand. “I’m not surprised,” he said in a goaded tone. “You’re like porcelain to touch. A strong wind would blow you all the way back to San Antonio.”

  “Fat models aren’t in vogue this year,” she murmured absently.

  Surprisingly, his chiseled mouth turned up imperceptibly at the corners. “Aren’t they?”

  Her eyes searched his, but she couldn’t read them. “King…?”

  His gaze dropped to her soft mouth, studying it with an intensity that was disturbing. “You aren’t wearing makeup,” he observed, frowning as if it surprised him.

  “I only wear it when I have to,” she said quietly. “I…I don’t like artificial things.”

  That seemed to surprise him even more, but before he could pursue it, footsteps and voices sounded in the hall.

  A minute later, Danny came in grinning, followed by Jim and Kate Brannt, to find King and Shelby sitting quietly apart at the table.

  When breakfast was over, Danny threw down his napkin. “Well,” he said, “I think Shelby and I will head on over to town and get a good seat before the parade gets underway.”

  “Oh, but hell, no, you won’t,” King said pleasantly. “We’re all going together. And I thought Mary Kate Culhane was expected,” he added narrowly.

  “Now, look, King…” Danny began hotly.

  “Danny, you know Mary Kate always goes to the fiesta with us,” Kate Brannt told her son gently. She smiled. “Besides, Mary Kate’s been so looking forward to meeting Shelby.”

  That, Shelby thought, sounded ominous. She had visions of having to fend off a jealous rival as well as King, and all of a sudden she wanted to develop a migraine and forget the whole thing.

  “You’ll enjoy the chili cookoff, Shelby,” Jim told her over his coffee cup. “Best damned chili in Texas comes out of it, and they even supply the water to put the fire out with!” He laughed.

  “Jim’s one of the judges,” Kate explained. “He doesn’t have taste buds any more, they’ve all been burned off.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Shelby smiled.

  “The most fun, though, is the river race,” Jim told her. “You’ve never seen such a conglomeration of floats. Everything from life rafts to surfboards to inner tubes. Good thing the river’s down this time of year, before the floods come. There are some rapids on the race stretch, and when the river’s up, it can get dangerous.”

  “Yes, I know,” Shelby said demurely. “I used to live in Georgia with my aunt, and there is always a race of some kind on holidays near the Chattahoochee River. I’ve been down that in an inner tube. I’ve even shot the white water on the Chattooga River in north Georgia, where it’s the most dangerous. I’m a veteran river rat,” she added with a glance at King that spoke volumes.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” King murmured, and Shelby felt a tingle of pleasure at the genuine surprise that registered for an instant in his dark face.

  “I could say something to that,” Danny said with pointed reference to King’s remark, “but I won’t. Mary Kate said you were over at their place yesterday.”

  “I was. Pretty girl, Mary Kate,” King added. “Sexy as hell.”

  “I don’t like sexy women,” Danny said loftily. “They cause gout.”

  King’s eyes narrowed calculatingly. “You don’t think Shelby’s sexy?” he asked.

  Danny looked caught out. “Of course I do,” he said quickly. “But not like Mary Kate. I mean…damn it, King!”

  Kate Brannt’s dark green eyes met her youngest son’s accusingly. “Please don’t use hard language at my breakfast table. It gives me indigestion.”

  “King does it all the time,” Danny protested.

  “Kingston also gives me indigestion,” Kate replied. “And he knows it,” she added with a speaking glance at King.

  King smiled at her. It changed him, made him look less formidable, more human; and dangerously attractive.

  “Blame Dad,” King told his mother. “He taught me how.”

  Jim Brannt glowered at his son with blazing dark eyes. “The hell I did!” he burst out, and everyone laughed.

  Three

  Mary Kate Culhane was as slender as a wand, had green eyes, and the personality of a seasoned game show host. She wasn’t pretty, but she was vivacious and as friendly as a puppy—to everyone except Shelby. Her first sight of the younger, darker girl was enough to make her green eyes glow like emeralds. She was polite, but there was ice under the smile she gave Shelby when they were introduced.

  “So you’re Shelby,” Mary Kate said, her eyes nipping at the younger girl, looking for faults and turning darker when she found none. “Danny says you’re a model.”

  “That’s right,” Shelby said quietly.

  “What do you model?” Mary Kate persisted.

  “Clothes, mostly,” the younger girl said with a calm that seemed to make the other catch fire.

  “You don’t dress like one,” Mary Kate replied with a cattiness that only another woman would catch.

  “Thank you,” Shelby grinned.

  That brought a stunned look to the other girl’s face, and an amused smile to Danny’s.

  “I shouldn’t think you’d take to ranch life,” Mary Kate renewed her attack. “Being used to San Antonio and night life and all. This must be awfully dull to a city person like you.”

  King had moved out into the hall and was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette while he waited for his parents to catch up. He watched the exchange with unreadable eyes.

  “Why would I find it dull?” Shelby blinked.

  “Because there’s no night life!”

  “I’m not a vampire,” Shelby said kindly.

  Mary Kate’s tanned face burned suddenly, and King stepped forward before she could continue.

  “I think it’s time we got on the road,” he said, “or we’ll miss the damned thing.”

  “Oh, lovely, I’m looking forward to introdu
cing Danny to some of the new set here,” Mary Kate cooed, and took possession of Danny’s arm as if she were conquering a town. “Danny, remember old Coach Garner? Well, he’s still coaching the band. Do you remember…” and she led Danny out the door, toward the elder Brannts’ new luxury compact car.

  As Shelby started toward it, too, King suddenly caught her arm and pulled her toward his sleek black Porsche.

  “But, the others…Danny!” she protested, pulling futilely against that steely grip.

  “Never mind Danny,” he said curtly. He opened the door on the passenger side and put her inside.

  “King…” she protested again as he got in beside her and cranked the car.

  “Just sit still and hush, Shelby,” he said coolly. “No way could Dad cram all five of you into that car, despite what he said. I think we can bear each other’s company into town, can’t we?”

  She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “I suppose.”

  “What do you think of Mary Kate?” he asked as he pulled smoothly out of the driveway, not waiting for his parents to get inside their car and follow.

  “She’s lovely,” she said quietly. “Danny’s age, too, isn’t she, or just about?”

  He frowned. His eyes slid sideways, appraisingly. “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  He scowled. “Is that all? My God, I thought you were at least twenty-four!”

  “I feel twice that, sometimes,” she said in a subdued tone, her eyes going dark and sad with memory.

  “You’re barely old enough to leave home,” he growled.

  “I left home when I was fourteen,” she recalled, cringing inward at the memory of why she’d had to go.

  “Fourteen?!”

  “I went to live with my aunt in Georgia,” she murmured. “She had a home in the mountains, with a stream out back, and lots of mountain laurel and rhododendron….” She remembered suddenly who she was talking to, and the enthusiasm went out of her voice.

  “Don’t stop,” he said. “And what?”

  “And deer,” she continued. “We used to sit on the back porch and watch them drink from the stream. One was a nine-point buck, and my cousin shot him one November. I cried because he was such a beautiful animal.”

  “Your cousin?” he taunted.

  “No, the deer!” she corrected. Her eyes touched him suspiciously. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a suspicious twinkle in his dark eyes.

  “Why did you leave home?”

  “I…didn’t like Hollywood.”

  “Oh? Most girls would have loved it. Especially with a movie star mother and plenty of money to buy things with,” he prodded.

  “I suppose,” she said tightly.

  “And plenty of stepfathers to spoil you,” he added.

  She felt a tremor go through her slender body. She wrapped her fingers around her forearms, clasped across her chest, and hoped he wouldn’t notice the sudden paleness of her face.

  “Yes,” she said tightly. “Plenty of stepfathers.”

  He glanced at her. “But not to spoil you,” he guessed quietly. “Were they why you had to leave home, little girl?”

  She bit her lower lip. “Please, King, please…!”

  “Oh, hell, forget it!” he lashed out. He concentrated on maneuvering the turn onto the main highway, his eyes darting right and left as he pulled out smoothly, not even jerking her as he shifted gears on the powerful sports car and accelerated.

  “You worry me to death, the way you bottle things up inside you, Shelby,” he said after a long silence. “You’ll have ulcers one day.”

  “It’s my life,” she said softly.

  His jaw tautened. “Doesn’t Danny care that you sit and let yourself be whipped to death by the world at large?”

  “I don’t need protecting,” she said with a tiny smile.

  “Don’t you, honey?” he asked roughly. His dark eyes burned over her for an instant. “You’re as vulnerable as a butterfly.”

  “Not so vulnerable,” she murmured, remembering how her life had been all those years ago.

  “Then why won’t you fight back?”

  She smiled. “I’m hardly a match for you, am I?”

  Something alien flared in his eyes for an instant. “Not at your age, no.”

  Both her thin eyebrows went up. “I didn’t realize you were so old.”

  He only smiled, if a slight turning up of his chiseled lips could be called that. “You’d be surprised.” He glanced at her. “Have you and Danny set a date?”

  “Why bother?” she asked. “You told me you weren’t going to let us get married.”

  “Sarcasm, Shelby?” He did smile then. “That’s a change.”

  “I wasn’t being sarcastic.” She stared at him openly, her eyes touching every hard line of his face. “King, why don’t you want Danny to marry me? Is it because of my background, or because of me?”

  His face hardened. “Remind me to tell you all about it someday when we’ve got more time.”

  She wanted to tell him that it was all a farce, that she and Danny would never have that kind of relationship. But she’d promised Danny not to tell.

  “I’m not like my mother,” she murmured, and didn’t even think he’d heard her.

  He pulled into town, quickly whipping the sleek, low car into a parking space just off the street. All around, parade members were getting ready. Band players in Mexican dress were practicing on their instruments. Children in colorful Spanish costumes were dancing around the streets where traffic was already moving at a snail pace. It was truly a festival atmosphere.

  King cut the engine and turned toward Shelby. His dark eyes met hers levelly and held them for so long that her complexion went dusky.

  “You’re just like your mother,” he corrected gruffly. “You’re her image.”

  “That’s the outside,” she replied.

  “That’s all there is,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “I’m glad you’re so sure of that.”

  He lit a cigarette, glancing out the windshield to where the local high school band in its colorful Mexican uniforms was lining up in formation. Further away, the Brannt’s little white compact car was just pulling into a parking space across the street.

  “Parades,” King growled. “What a hell of a waste of time.”

  “Don’t you like music?” she asked curiously.

  “I like a military band or a symphony orchestra. You haven’t had to suffer the brass section of this outfit,” he grumbled. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to. There’s an air show out at the airport. I’m going there instead.”

  “An air show?” She didn’t realize how her face lit up at the mention of it, or how big and bright her dark eyes became. King looked at her as if he’d only just realized that she was beautiful.

  “Don’t tell me you like airplanes, young Shelby?” he murmured.

  “My father…my real father,” she corrected, “was a pilot. He used to take me up when I was only four years old. He could do anything with a plane,” she laughed, remembering. “Barrel rolls, spins, dives…and he didn’t even have an aerobatic license. If the FAA had ever caught him…”

  King frowned. “What happened to him?”

  The laughter left her dark eyes all of a sudden. She turned them out the window. “He…he found mother with another man. They had an argument, and he drank heavily that night. Early the next morning, the police came to tell us that he’d crashed his plane into a mountain. Apparently he’d taken it up when we thought he was in bed asleep.” She sighed and felt a prickling of hurt at the memory. “It was a long time ago.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Ten.”

  “But you still love planes.”

  “He loved them.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “He was the only person I cared about for a long time. He was larger than life. Every time I go up in a plane now, I remember him. It’s almost like being with him again when I fly. I’ve had my gro
und training, but somehow I never got time to get in any hours of flight training.”

  “My God, you’re a puzzle,” he said heavily.

  “Do you fly?” she asked.

  “I have to, honey,” he replied quietly. “I spend a lot of time traveling on ranch business.”

  She nodded, idly watching the smoke from his cigarette curl up in thin gray spirals. His brown fingers drew her attention. He had beautiful, masculine hands—tanned and strong and square-tipped, with dark curling hair on the backs of them traveling up into the sleeves of his shirt.

  “Do you really want to watch the parade?” he asked her suddenly.

  She shook her head, and her heart ran away with her.

  “All right, then.” He cranked the car and reversed it.

  Danny and Mary Kate Culhane were coming across the street as King pulled out into it. He pressed a button on the door and the window powered down. He called to Danny.

  “We’re going to the air show,” he told his brother. “We’ll be back in time for lunch.”

  Danny’s eyebrows went up and Shelby could have sworn his eyes were dancing. “Sure,” he said. “We’ll see you then.”

  Mary Kate Culhane had a death grip on the younger Brannt’s arm. “Have fun!” she called, with a smug, confident look on her peaches and cream complexioned face.

  King didn’t even answer her. He turned the car and sped down the road toward the airport. “I must be crazy as hell,” he muttered.

  “If you don’t want me along…” she began.

  “Shut up, Shelby,” he said flatly. He scowled over his cigarette. “Just because I’m taking you to an air show doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind, so don’t get ideas.”

  She sighed. “I didn’t expect that you’d change it,” she agreed. “But thank you for this.”

  He only went faster, his face like a thunderhead.

  The air show was everything Shelby expected it to be. She watched the pilots stall out and do rolls and spins until her head ached, and her neck felt as if it was going to break. But it was delicious, every minute of it.

  “Oh, I wish I was up there with them!” she breathed, her eyes bright with challenge and sheer joy.