I love to cook. So is it settled? Youre coming to my place.
When?
Two hours.
Good, I have a few errands to run while Im in town. His heart lighter than it had been in days, he smiled into the phone. Ill see you then.
His world might have turned upside down, but the one person he knew he could count on and trust was Rachel.
Chapter 3
Why didnt you tell him over the phone? Landry Adair asked.
Rachel glanced around her beautiful apartment, decorated with homey touches and cheerful artwork, unlike the estate shed grown up in only a few miles away. The home her parents left her was large, sprawling, lavishly decorated and made her feel achingly lonely. She only lived there when she entertained others of the socially elite.
Any other time she stayed in her apartment in a quaint, older section of San Diego. The apartment was just the right size for a single woman.
Realizing that she was stalling, Rachel sighed.
Like I said, I started to tell him while we were out riding, but...well I got sidetracked. Hed kissed her and every thought of telling him that shed been spying on him had flown out of her head. By the time she could think again, they were back at the barn and his mother was there. And I refuse to tell him over the telephone. Ill tell him tonight.
At least we made good progress on the plans for Elizabeths baby shower. Dont forget, we need to get together soon with Georgia to finalize them. Why dont you come out to the ranch later this evening?
Rachel knew they needed to finish planning, but she had a different commitment for the evening. Noahs coming to my apartment tonight.
Thats interesting. Landrys bright blue eyes sparkled as she swept the long brown hair with the soft gold highlights back from her forehead. Howd that come about?
He asked me out to dinner. I thought it would be better if we had dinner at my place.
I didnt know you two were dating.
We werent. This is a first. I could have gone out to a restaurant with him, but just couldnt. If he gets angry, and were here alone, its just me, not a roomful of strangers staring.
Landry chuckled. And if he walks out, you dont have to worry about finding a ride home.
Something like that. Rachel paced across the floor of her living room, her cell phone pressed to her ear. The sun shone bright through the ground-level windows of her town house apartment. The sky was crystal clear and the harbor, with the mix of motorboats and sailboats, couldnt have been more beautiful. Still, those things didnt hold her attention. All she could think about was the fact she had to tell Noah that she had been spying on him for Landry and her brothers.
Georgia Mason, Carsons fiancée, had been the one to notice the similarity between her stepmothers and Noahs facial structures and cleft chins. Until shed pointed it out, none of them had seen it. They knew Noah as their cousin. Landry, Whit and Carson had decided it would be best to keep an eye on him. If he was the long-lost son Reginald Adair had been searching for almost four decades, had he known and was he aware of the inheritance his father had left him? They wanted to be sure he wasnt some gold digger looking for a way to claim money that didnt belong to him.
When shed hired Noah to give her riding lessons, Rachel didnt know much about him. Spying on him seemed harmless and a way to help her friend and the family she cared so much about.
What she hadnt counted on was falling in love with the kind and gentle man who knew his way around horses more than he did around humans. He was patient with the animals, and with her and all her questions. She hadnt told him she already knew how to ride, pretending shed only done so on the rare occasion and that she was nervous around the large animals.
Theyd ride out for hours, several times a week, stopping to rest by the creek shed found him skinny-dipping in earlier that day. God, shed wanted to join him, to feel his naked body against hers.
With the whopping lie between them, she didnt feel she had the right to slip into the water and seduce him. Hadnt she already tricked him into revealing so much of his heart and soul to her?
His comment about not knowing who to trust had struck far too close to home.
Rachel couldnt go another day without confessing. If he refused to see her again, it was the price she paid for not being up-front with him to begin with.
Why do you have to tell him? Landry asked.
Id rather he heard it from me than finding out from someone else.
Whit, Carson and I wouldnt tell him.
Not intentionally. Rachel couldnt risk it. And she wouldnt feel right being with him when a lie stood between them.
Look, Rachel, since I was the one who roped you into spying on him, I should break it to him.
No. That would make it worse. I own up to my mistakes. The sooner the better.
If thats the way you want it, Landry conceded. Just promise youll let me know how it goes.
I will. Rachel ended the call and glanced at the clock, her heart ratcheting up a notch. One hour and thirty minutes before Noah arrived.
She hurried around the apartment, straightening bright yellow and red throw pillows, dusting surfaces of the rich mahogany antique curio cabinets and occasional tables. Some of them had come over from Europe with her great-grandmother. Shed found them hidden in the attic of her estate, collecting dust. They would never have matched the elegant, modern furnishings of the larger estate. But they were perfect for her little apartment. Shed pulled them out of the attic, lovingly repaired what was broken and moved them into her apartment, giving them the home they deserved. And shed collected over the years. She liked that her furniture had seen many generations of use. With a final swipe of the dust cloth over her already immaculate living space, she admitted it was as good as it would get.
* * *
Later, with less than an hour to spare, she began preparation of their meal.
She knew enough about Noah to realize he wouldnt be impressed with Cornish hens or a pilafhed want a hearty supper fit for a man who worked outside all day long. Steak, baked potatoes and a fresh green salad would do the trick. Thankfully, shed been to the grocer that morning with Noah in mind.
Pulling the ingredients from her refrigerator, she prepared a marinade in a rectangular dish and laid the steaks inside to soak. She covered the dish and left it on the counter to give the steaks time to warm up to room temperature for when Noah arrived. Shed fire up the grill on her balcony and have it hot and ready to go when Noah walked through the door.
Rachel loved to cook but had very few occasions to do it. She stayed busy with her social obligations, organizing charitable events and philanthropies. The money shed inherited from her parents gave her a hefty cushion to live off of the rest of her life, if she chose not to work another day.
Shed gone to college and graduated with a degree in International Business with a minor in Marketing. It helped her run the charitable foundations her mother and father had started and set up to run in perpetuity.
As much as she enjoyed helping others, shed love nothing better than to cook and care for one man. As soon as shed started going to Noah for riding lessons, shed begun to see that he was just the kind of man she wanted. The kind of man she could see spending the rest of her life with.