Gabe grinned. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“I’m willing to park Belle with you if she’s willing. I have to warn you though. Belle’s as stubborn as a mule.”
“So am I. Flora says it’s my most endearing trait.”
“Who’s Flora?”
“My mother. I have a cook and a housekeeper if Flora forgets the chicken. Also, I think having someone her own age around will be good for my sister. Most of her friends are animals. We have a menagerie at our place. Belle’s not allergic to animals, is she?”
“Lord, no. That’s Cole, my oldest brother. And only to cats. We all grew up with lots of critters. Give Belle a horse or a dog, and she’s happy as a pig in slop.”
Gabe laughed. “Then she’ll fit right in. Shall we go back and tell her our plans?”
Looking pained, Sam hesitated for a moment. “Let’s wait and surprise her later.”
Chapter Two
Belle wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened. She blamed all the antibiotics for turning her brain to mush. But here she sat in a helicopter headed for Texas with a man she barely knew, albeit a very attractive man. And a kind one. She had to admit the flight in the chopper was less daunting than a road trip. Even so, she’d slept off and on for a good part of the time they’d spent in the air.
Rousing from her doze, she looked around, trying to get her bearings. “How much farther?” she asked Gabe. Because of the noise, they had to use headphones and mikes to talk.
“We’ll be setting down in a few minutes. Are you tired?”
“Not so much tired as stiff. Are you sure that your family won’t mind having a surprise houseguest?”
“They won’t mind, and you’re not a surprise. I called ahead so Suki could shoo the chickens and pigs out of the guest room.”
Belle wasn’t quite sure if he was teasing or not. She knew very little about Gabe except that he was Sam’s friend and insurance agent. “Who’s Suki?”
“The housekeeper.”
“Is she Asian?”
“Some on her mother’s side, I think. She’s mostly a mixture like the rest of us. Suki’s barely over five feet tall, but she’s been ruling over the wild mob in our household for several years.”
“You have a wild mob?”
“It seems that way sometimes. You’ll soon have everybody straightened out.”
Belle chewed on that for a while. Sounded like a zoo at his place, and what she needed was peace and quiet. Growing up with four brothers was like living with a wild mob, too, and she often retreated to her hidey-holes to escape the madness. While she adored her brothers and enjoyed people, she also enjoyed solitude. Since she’d left home for college, she’d lived alone, except for an occasional roommate, until she’d married Matt.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Wimberley. Exactly where is it in relation to Austin?”
“About forty or forty-five miles southwest. You were asleep when we buzzed the governor’s mansion a few minutes ago. Didn’t I hear Sam say that you’d gone to the University of Texas?”
“Only to law school. But except for occasional forays downtown to Sixth Street, I never ventured far from campus and my apartment. I pretty much kept my nose in my books.”
“A high achiever, huh?”
Belle chuckled. “You’ve got my number. I’ve always been competitive. But with four brothers, what can you expect? Hustling was how I kept up.”
Gabe smiled and turned his attention to piloting the chopper.
She saw a small town ahead, nestled among rolling hills and with a rocky river running through it. From her viewpoint, it looked like a picturesque village from a movie set.
“That’s home,” Gabe said, nodding toward a place at the edge of town.
She spotted their destination: a large stone house on a hill surrounded by a number of outbuildings. Horses grazed in a pasture, unfazed by the noise of the rotors, and she noticed several other animals as well, including what looked like a llama.
Gabe landed on a pad near a barnlike structure located a couple of hundred yards from the house. A Jeep Cherokee approached as they set down. And by the time the helicopter engine died, a burly man climbed from the vehicle and waved.
“That’s Ralph,” he told Belle. “Suki’s husband, come to collect us.”
Gabe hung up his earphones and climbed from the chopper. “How’s it going, Ralph?”
“Can’t complain. We had rain yesterday.”
Gabe helped Belle from her seat. “Belle Outlaw, this is Ralph Sanderson.”
Belle offered her hand. “Mr. Sanderson.”
“Just Ralph will do, Ms. Outlaw.”
His callused hand took hers in a no-nonsense grip. He had a sweet smile and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She judged him to be in his late fifties, maybe a bit younger.
“Just Belle will do, Ralph.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Belle’s legs wobbled a bit, and Gabe helped her to the Jeep’s front passenger seat while Ralph got their luggage and stowed it in the back. In contrast to the snowstorm that felled her, Wimberley’s weather was gorgeous: clear, sunny and mild.
She rolled the window down as Ralph drove them to the house, and caught a lovely scent. “What’s that smell?”
“Good or bad?”
She smiled. “A sweet odor.”
“You must mean the Texas mountain laurels,” Gabe said. “They’re in full bloom.”
“Oh, yes, I remember now from when I lived in Austin. The little trees with the purple clusters. We don’t have them in East Texas. I always thought they smelled like grape Kool-Aid.”
“Never thought about that,” Ralph said, “but, you know, I think you’re right. What part of East Texas are you from, Belle?”
“A little town named Naconiche, right smack in the middle of the piney woods.”
Ralph nodded. “Been through there. Beautiful area. I grew up in Fredericksburg myself.”
“Heard of it, but I’ve never been there,” Belle said. “Gabe, I don’t think I know where you grew up. In this area, was it?”
“Mostly. My first few years
