Page 87 of Knox
“I’ll look forward to that.” She came around the counter. “I’m Ruby Jane.” Went to hold out her hand, then pulled it back. “Sorry. I arrived just in time to make cinnamon rolls.”
“And I arrived in time to eat them.”
A deep voice, even deeper laughter, the kind that rumbled through a woman’s body. She turned, half expecting Knox, and startled at— “Wyatt Marshall, goaltender for the Blue Ox—?”
He had shoulder-length dark hair still wet from a morning shower and tucked behind his ears to fall in unruly tangles. A smattering of dark whiskers, and whiskey-brown eyes that looked her over, a tug at his mouth. “Yeah. Actually. How did you—?”
“I’ve been watching your games for the better part of two weeks,” she said as he walked toward her. Bare feet, low-hanging faded jeans, an open denim shirt to a sculpted chest. The saunter of an athlete, or maybe the cockiness was simply embedded in the genes of the Marshall men. He was taller than Knox, but his muscles had nothing on Knox, whose weren’t honed by the gym but by the hard work of everyday life.
“A fan,” Wyatt said, coming up to her and sliding onto a stool. “I like it.”
“Maybe you could explain how the Oilers’ right wing slapped in two goals last week. Taking a little nap there between the posts?” She winked, but Wyatt’s grin faded.
“Listen—”
“Calm down, Wyatt, and button your shirt,” Gerri said. “This isn’t a locker room. Kelsey, honey, do you want some coffee?”
Kelsey slid onto the stool next to him. “I can’t believe I slept so long. I didn’t even hear you guys come in.”
“We got here late last night. Wyatt picked me up at the airport in Helena, and we drove over. I saw my room was occupied, so I slept in the den,” Ruby Jane said. “Although I had to kick out Knox.”
Yeah, he’d been asleep when Kelsey had sneaked away last night, although the sight of his eyelashes soft against his cheeks, his strong face in repose made her want to stay.
Oh, she’d wanted to stay.
The thought swept her up as Gerri handed her a cup of coffee and nudged a bowl of popovers her direction. She handed Wyatt a cup of coffee too.
Wyatt helped himself to a popover, grabbed some honey, and filled the pastry. “Ma, no one cooks like you.”
Gerri grinned. “I know they’re your favorite, Wy.”
What would it be like to have a family like this? People who felt as comfortable with each other as they did in their own skin?
“Is Ford going to make it?” Ruby Jane asked. “I haven’t heard from him in a few weeks.”
“I don’t know,” Gerri said. “You never know when Ford will turn up. I can’t keep track of him.”
“What about Reuben?” Ruby Jane asked.
“Tate and Knox are down at the airstrip right now. Gilly is flying them in for the weekend.”
“Oh, fancy, his own private pilot,” Wyatt said, waving his hands.
“Who happens to be his fiancée and his jump plane pilot,” Ruby Jane said. She was taking the cinnamon roll dough from her mother as she cut them and put them into a round pan. “We really need to pin them down on a wedding date. Three years is simply too long to date.” She looked at Kelsey and winked, as if she knew what she might be referring to.
She’d never had a boyfriend…ever. She didn’t know what to call Knox.
In her mind, four days felt like a lifetime.
And crazy fast for her to feel so connected, so…
She sighed.
“Do you think Coco…” Wyatt shook his head. “Never mind.”
And just like that, all the air sucked out of the room, Gerri focusing on her rolled dough, Ruby Jane looking up, something of sadness in her face. “Wyatt—”
“It’s no big deal. She’s got a different life now. It’s good.” He smiled—something so forced it pained even Kelsey—slid off the stool and walked over to the coffee pot.