Drifter's Darling (Culpepper Cowboys Book 12) Read online

  In an instant, Linda’s expression switched from stern and demanding to compassionate. She reached out to rub his arm. “Life get away from you a bit?”

  “You could say that.” Life would get away from him if he didn’t run with everything he had to avoid it. Why couldn’t things just stay the way they were, the way he was comfortable with?

  “Well, under normal circumstances, I would support any man’s bid to go off in search of himself,” Linda went on. “But in this case, you’ve got someone else’s happiness riding on your shoulders.”

  Evan didn’t need to ask to know what—or rather who—she was talking about.

  “I’ve never seen Elvie O’Donnell take such a shine to a man,” Linda went on. “Folks all over town are talking about it. No one quite knows what to make of it, mind you, since you’ve been so shy about getting to know people.”

  “I’ve never been very good at talking to strangers,” Evan admitted. Or half the people he knew, if he was being honest.

  “You do just fine with me.” Linda smiled, putting Evan a little more at ease. “And you do wonderfully with Elvie. I saw you two at supper in the diner last night, you know.”

  “Did you?”

  “Yep. I instantly got a feeling about the two of you.” Her look turned sly. “I don’t often get those feelings, but every time I have, I’ve been right.”

  Evan loosened into a fond smile. “I don’t doubt it.” A moment later, his path to a good mood was covered in brambles again. “You have no idea how much I wish I could stick around and make your good feelings come true, Linda.”

  “So why don’t you?” She shrugged as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Because…” Could he risk telling Linda? If he could tell anyone, it was her. Then again, if he told her and she laughed, of all people, that would hurt him the most. In a matter of days, Linda had become like a second mother to him. “Because there are people out there who are trying to find me so that they can shove me into a position I’m not ready to be in.”

  As truthful as his explanation was, Linda still frowned in confusion. “I can’t say I know what you mean by that. But are you sure it’s bigger than love?”

  Evan’s eyes went wide. “Bigger than love?”

  “Sure. And don’t you go telling me that you’re not falling in love with Elvie. I’m old. I’ve seen things. I know what I’m seeing.”

  Evan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Is it the same thing if I admit that I want to stick around and fall in love with Elvie? That I want to have a future with her?”

  Linda sighed in exasperation. “Then do it.”

  “I can’t.” He huffed a breath and ran a hand over his face. “I can’t put her through that.”

  “Through what? Through whatever position it is you say people are trying to put you in?”

  “Yes. That.”

  “What’s so difficult about it anyhow? And don’t you go getting all shifty on me with your answer, young man.”

  There was enough teasing in the way she pointed her finger at him that Evan laughed instead of getting upset. He shook his head. “It’s embarrassing.”

  “Evan, I’ve been putting up with Chris and Chastity for the past six months. Nothing could possibly be more embarrassing than that.”

  He had to admit she had a point. “Okay, I’ll say this much. My great-aunt Cassie put me on the spot about something. She…she wants to change my future.”

  “I see.” Linda crossed her arms, thinking. “So what kind of future do you want?”

  It wasn’t what he expected her to ask. In fact, it was a question that no one had bothered to ask him at all since Aunt Kissie passed. It was the one thing he wished people would have asked.

  “Honestly?” he began, reaching deep down into his soul. “I want a simple life. I just want to work, preferably with my hands, on the land. I want simple things—love, friendship, family. I’ve never been the smartest apple in the barrel, but that never bothered me. I want the kind of life where, fifty years from now, I can kick back on my porch with a lemonade, look at the things I’ve built, and feel satisfied.”

  Linda’s smile widened. “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. And I’m sure that Elvie O’Donnell will be on board with it too.”

  Evan sighed. “That’s exactly the problem. Thanks to my great-aunt, I’m not going to get that kind of life.”

  “How so?”

  And there they were, back to all the things he couldn’t talk about. He scrubbed his face. He needed to shave, but there wasn’t really time. He had to get on the road as soon as possible and get as far away from his aunt’s lawyer as possible. He’d said as much as he could to Linda.

  “Mrs. Culpepper, thank you so much for all your hospitality and advice and, well, caring.” He swiped his jeans from the top of the dryer, where he’d put them when Linda came in. “But I really need to get going.”

  As he stepped past Linda, she stopped him with a hand to his arm. “Are you sure?” she asked, deep concern in her expression. “I hate to see you make a mistake that could cost you a lot of happiness down the road.”

  “I’m sure.”

  But was he?

  “I’ll tell you what,” Linda went on before he could get away. “Do just one thing for me.”

  He was loathe to promise anything, but he still said, “All right.”

  “Talk to Elvie about whatever this is. I know you love her, even though it happened quickly, and I have a strong feeling she loves you too. If you were married, you would be taking all of your troubles and concerns to each other anyhow. Do it now. I don’t have to know what this thing you’re running from is, but she does. If you love her, you’ll tell her.”

  Evan swallowed. Linda was absolutely right. About a lot of things. He did love Elvie, surprising though it was. Without Aunt Kissie’s legacy, he would have dropped down to one knee last night and proposed to her. All of that meant that he honestly and truly owed her the truth and an explanation of that truth.

  “You’re right.” He blew out a breath, then leaned over to kiss Linda’s cheek. “You’re as right as my own mom would be if she was standing here talking to me.”

  “Of course.” Linda winked, a relieved smile brightening her face.

  “I need to talk to Elvie.”

  “You go on and do it then.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Evan took his jeans and hurried out of the room. He would talk to Elvie, but he was still going to pack. He was still going to leave Culpepper. There was no way he could stick around with Andrew Ball nosing about. But at least he wouldn’t leave without giving Elvie an explanation.

  5

  “Poor baby,” Elvie cooed to a dachshund who was having a bad day. Weiner’s owners had brought him in after a scuffle with some barbed wire out on their ranch, and for the last half hour, Elvie had been stitching up the results. “You’re gonna feel bad when you wake up, little guy, but I promise you, you’ll be back to chasing butterflies in the fields in no time.”

  “You always did have a squishy soul,” Doc chuckled, helping her bandage the last of poor Weiner’s wounds.

  Elvie gave her twin brother a wry look across the veterinary operating table. “You have one too, you just like to keep it hidden for some reason.”

  “I do not,” Doc argued even as he scratched behind Weiner’s ears and bent down to give the sleeping dog a kiss.

  “Ha!” Elvie took a step back from the table, peeling off her gloves and tossing them in the trash. “I’ve seen the way you have long, personal talks with horses.”

  “Horses understand,” Doc insisted, scooping Weiner into his arms and carefully moving him to the crate where he would sleep off the anesthesia. “Horses give better advice than people.”

  Elvie giggled. It was worth every bit of hassle she’d had to go through to work side-by-side with Doc. Everyone always assumed twins were close, and where she and Doc were concerned, it went double. As he came over to
the sink where she was scrubbing her hands, he hip-checked her to push her out of the way.

  “Maybe you just like horses so much because you’re a horse’s a—”

  The sharp buzz of her cell phone in her pocket cut off her joke and exploded her good mood. She huffed and dried her hands, then reached for the phone.

  “I swear to God, if this is Andy again…”

  One glance at her phone showed her it was. She growled in frustration, then tapped the screen to read his full message.

  “We really need to talk about this.”

  It was the twentieth message he’d sent that day, and it wasn’t even noon yet.

  She quickly typed back, “There’s nothing to talk about, it’s over,” then thrust the phone in her pocket.

  “What’s all that about?” Doc asked, stepping to her side and drying his hands as well.

  “It’s just Andy,” she sighed. “He needs to leave me the heck alone.”

  “He does realize the two of you aren’t engaged anymore, right?”

  “He must. It’s pretty obvious.” Elvie moved to tidy up the table where she’d stitched Weiner’s wounds, even though Isaac, their vet assistant, would come in and clean the room thoroughly. “I didn’t think he was all that broken up when I called things off.”

  “What man wouldn’t be devastated to break up with you?” Doc followed her out of the operating room and across the hall to the office they now shared. He might have been joking, but he sounded pretty serious.

  “I guess it’s a blot to his precious lawyer image to have a woman break up with him.” Elvie shrugged and plopped in her chair, opening Weiner’s file to make notes about his surgery.

  “Are you sure that’s it?” Doc crossed his arms and leaned against the bookshelf by the door.

  He knew her too well. And he’d probably been filled in on the whole Evan story by Nancy, who had called Elvie after the date that didn’t have a happy ending to get all the scoop. Elvie had been perplexed enough to tell her sister-in-law everything, and she wasn’t really surprised that that everything had found its way to Doc’s ears.

  She sighed and tossed down her pen in the middle of making a note. “No, I don’t think that’s it. I think Andy is fishing for information about Evan. That or trying to warn me away from him in some weird way.”

  “Of course he is.” Doc shrugged. “Any guy would do his utmost to wreck the next relationship his ex gets into just on principle.”

  Elvie’s brow flew up. “Would you?”

  “No,” Doc admitted with a lopsided grin. “But guys like Andy would.”

  “Even if he knows he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting back with me?”

  “Even if.”

  Elvie shook her head. She picked up her pen again but couldn’t find her focus. “I don’t believe Evan is any sort of crook or criminal,” she said instead.

  Doc’s expression grew as serious as he got. “If he is and he’s pestering you, I’m going to tear his kidneys out through his throat and make a soufflé out of them and force feed it to him through his nose.”

  Elvie smirked. “What delightful imagery. Good thing you won’t have to follow through on it. I genuinely, honestly believe Evan is one of the nicest, sweetest guys I’ve ever—”

  Her phone buzzed again.

  With an exasperated growl, she jerked it out of her pocket. Andy. “What now?” she demanded.

  “You don’t want to get involved with him. Come meet me for lunch and we’ll talk about it. My treat.”

  “What’s he say?” Doc asked.

  “He wants to buy me lunch and tell me why Evan is bad news.”

  “Yep.” Doc chuckled. “Definitely trying to undermine things with the new guy.”

  Elvie shook her head and typed, “NO!” into her phone, then put it face-down on her desk. She held onto her anger for a split-second, then sighed. “Granted, I do think there’s something big Evan isn’t telling me.”

  “Secrets are bad,” Doc warned her, pushing away from the bookshelf. “You need to get whatever that is out on the table as soon as possible.”

  “I know, I know.” She waved Doc off as if he was being a pest, but really she appreciated him looking out for her. “Trust me, I plan to do whatever it takes—and I mean whatever it takes—to get him to confide in me.”

  “That’s my sis.” Doc grinned and came over to the desk to give her a peck on the cheek. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some horses out on the Norton ranch who are expecting me for coffee.”

  “Tell them I—”

  Before Elvie could finish, Tina stuck her head into the doorway. “Your friend Evan is here to see you, Dr. Elvie.”

  Elvie sat straighter, her heart suddenly racing. Her gaze zipped to the vase of roses that still sat on her desk. Twin sensations of excitement and alarm raced down her back, sending butterflies through her gut and lower. “Send him back.”

  Tina nodded, winked, then disappeared. Elvie exchanged a smile with Doc…except that Doc wasn’t smiling. He was back to crossing his arms.

  A moment later, Evan appeared in the doorway. He wore an anxious look that had Elvie on high alert.

  “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?” he asked, jaw tense.

  “Not at all.” Elvie stood and walked to the doorway. She greeted him with a squeeze of his thick arm and a kiss on his cheek. Doc didn’t move from his spot. “Evan, have you met my twin brother, Doc, yet?”

  “We met briefly at the rodeo,” Doc said, not uncrossing his arms.

  “I remember.” Evan nodded respectfully. Elvie had the feeling he and Doc were involved in some sort of male dance of dominance or display of authority. She would never understand that whole thing.

  “What brings you by the clinic so early in the day?” she asked, hoping to diffuse the situation.

  Evan pulled his gaze away from Doc and focused on her. “I need to talk to you, if that’s okay.” He peeked sideways at Doc, almost as if he was asking for permission. “It’s important.”

  “Okay.” Elvie didn’t move. Doc didn’t move either. She stared hard at him, willing him to get the message and clear out.

  At last, Doc cleared his throat and swayed toward the door. “I’ll just be up front.”

  Elvie arched a brow. “I thought you said some horses were expecting you for coffee.”

  “They can wait.”

  He strode out of the room, shutting the door behind him. That much was generous of him.

  Elvie turned to Evan. “So what’s going on?”

  “I’m leaving,” he said so suddenly that Elvie went dizzy.

  “What?”

  Evan let out a breath and moved to where he could sit on the corner of her desk. He took her hand and pulled her over with him. “It’s a long story. I have to keep moving.”

  “This is because of Andy, isn’t it?” She frowned. Looks like she was going to get to the bottom of things immediately.

  Evan winced and rubbed the back of his neck and generally looked like a fox that’d been cornered in the henhouse. But to his credit, he said, “Yes.”

  One simple word, but if made Elvie feel so much better. He wasn’t going to lie to her or find some way to weasel out of things. She shifted to sit on the edge of her desk beside him. “Okay, tell me what’s going on.”

  Evan let out a long breath, then sucked another in. Clearly, whatever it was, he didn’t like it. She reached for his hand. Whether that was what gave him the confidence or not, he said, “Mr. Ball, Andy, has been searching for me for over three months now.”

  “Why?” Elvie shook her head. “I mean, I know he’s a lawyer. Trust me, I know.” She rolled her eyes. “But he’s a civil lawyer, specializing in probate, not a criminal one. I didn’t think civil lawyers chased people.”

  “It’s not chasing, exactly. He’s been looking for me because I’m the sole beneficiary of my great-aunt’s will.”

  His words were simple, but they caused pieces to fall into place i
n Elvie’s mind like a cascade. “What’s so bad about a will that you have to hit the road for three months to avoid—”

  She didn’t know why it hit her. She didn’t even know if she was making the right connection. But all of the news articles, all of the tabloid stories, they all suddenly made sense.

  She twisted to face him more fully. “Oh my gosh, Evan. Are you the missing Kissie Lips heir?”

  The second he lowered his head, she knew she’d guessed right.

  A moment later, he raised his head and met her eyes. “I’m leaving. I can’t face this just yet.”

  “Why not?” As far as Elvie could see, there was no harm in inheriting what must have been a fortune if it was all over TV the way it was.

  Instead of answering, Evan stood and took her hands. “I want you to come with me.”

  Shock propelled Elvie to her feet. “Me? Come with you?”

  “Run away with me,” he clarified. “I have to run, but I can’t leave you. I…I know it’s fast, and maybe there isn’t any logic behind it, but I think I love you, Elvie O’Donnell.”

  “Love me?” Elvie could only whisper the words. Mostly because she felt them so deep in her heart that spoken any louder, they would be too powerful. “I think I love you too, Evan.”

  The anxiety that had been pinching Evan’s face throughout the entire conversation lifted to pure joy. “Is this crazy or what?” he said through an epic smile.

  “No crazier than running away because of a will.”

  Maybe it was the wrong thing to say. Evan’s face fell again. He gripped her hands tighter. “Please come away with me, Elvie. There’s so much more that I have to tell you, so many more layers to this thing. But if that lawyer gets ahold of me too soon, it could ruin my life.”

  She wanted to ask how. She wanted to demand that he sit down and calmly spell out the entire story, all the reasons why a little thing like a will could cause so much stress. But just like all of the injured, frightened animals that she’d treated over the years, she could see that a soothing touch and time were the only things that would heal whatever was going on with Evan.