Tend My Heart Read online

  Never mind how many times I pulled calves right next to him or drove the tractor when one of the men was too hungover to handle the noise and bouncing of the big machine.

  “Stop it, Penny,” she mumbled. She put her hands together over her head and dove into the deep end of the pool.

  When her head popped up out of the water she heard the lifeguard whistle. “No diving,” he said pointing at her.

  “Sorry.” Embarrassment had her jackknifing under the water and swimming the length of the pool. This time when she surfaced she lifted her head and started doing laps without looking left or right. She spotted a mother with a toddler in the baby pool. Penny felt quite safe with the bored lifeguard watching her. Churning through the water should have allowed her to empty her mind but, no, Mr. Blue Eyes popped up every time her brain wandered. I don’t have any idea what color the lifeguard’s eyes are, so why does Mr. Blue Eyes push everything out of my mind? Ten laps later she decided that was enough exercise for vacation. She walked up the steps and headed for her chaise where her towel was neatly folded.

  Penny noticed the heat in the lifeguard’s eyes. She also saw a tanned, shaggy haired man notice. The man snapped his fingers and said, “Eyes on the prize, Jerry.”

  Jerry grinned and laughed. “They were.”

  Penny dropped her eyes to hide her grin. Two in one day. Cool.

  Clayton cruised around the pool deck and smiled at her. “Enjoying your stay, miss?” he asked Penny.

  She smiled back at him. “Yes, I am. You work here?”

  “You could say that. I married the owner.”

  Penny laughed. “Nice work if you can get it.”

  He grinned. “Enjoy your stay,” he said and walked on.

  Penny lay back and slathered sun block all over her chest, arms, face and legs. She felt like a fish about to be baked in aluminum foil. But Mr. Blue Eyes wouldn’t leave her alone. Who knew daydreams could be so vivid, so real? He was charming and witty and worked as a private eye. He needed help with a case. A dangerous case involving an international kidnapping and a…jewel thief. She sighed.

  “Well, well, look what we have here.”

  Penny’s eyes popped open. Confused by her short nap, she blurted, “Did you find him?”

  “Find who?”

  Suddenly remembering her town meeting with Mr. Blue Eyes, and pushing her daydream ruthlessly to the back of her mind, she rubbed her eyes. “No one. Forget I said anything.”

  “You were dreaming. Must have been a good one.”

  Squinting into the sun, she said, “Why do you say that?”

  * * *

  The man stepped around the chaise she lay on. He’d probably seen a few bikinis in his time but hers seemed to fascinate him. She watched as he slowly circled her with his eyes focused on her fire engine red bikini. The cross-cross design highlighted her breasts and the ruching across her stomach emphasized her flat stomach. She knew. She’d studied it before buying it. The man sat down on the empty chaise lounge next to her.

  “That’s better, isn’t it?” he asked.

  She had tracked his progress around her and was finally able to see him with sun shining on his face. It’s him. “It’s you, the man from town.”

  “Sounds like a spy novel. ‘The Man from Town,’” he intoned in a deep voice.

  “Maybe a private investigator novel.”

  “Okay. Have it your way.”

  “I think I’m still half asleep. Why did you think I was dreaming?”

  “You sighed. A long, drawn out sigh…of pleasure.”

  She felt her cheeks go pink. “Quite an imagination you have there.”

  “It was quite a sigh.”

  She frowned. “Let’s change the subject.” He grinned. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Cash Wallace from north Florida.” He stuck his right hand out.

  She took it. “Penny Sykes. From south Alabama.”

  “I thought I heard a serious hint of Southern.”

  “I’ve spent some time up north.” She didn’t know why she was defending her lack of a thick Alabama drawl.

  “Good heavens, why?”

  Now what? Do I tell him my father shipped me off on shopping trips to my aunt’s place in New York? Tell him I was sent to boarding school in Connecticut for four years? “I worked to get rid of my accent. It sounds, I don’t know, not very smart.”

  His eyebrows rose at that.

  “I…spent a couple of summers on a farm. I didn’t like it. I wanted to leave that behind me.”

  Now he frowned. “Don’t like dirt under your fingernails, huh?” He spread his fingers and appeared to check their cleanliness. He held them up so she could see them. “No dirt here.” And he winked.

  She laughed. Slipping into her new Daddy-did-me-a-favor attitude she said, “No, no dirt under your fingernails. Points to you.”

  He shifted around and lay back on the chaise. She watched in appreciation of the long legs, flat stomach and arms that could lift her in the air without effort.

  “So, what brings you to Barefoot Bay?” he asked.

  The conversation rolled from there. Cash told her he had grown up on a farm to which she replied, “I hated every minute of my visits. Dirt, cows and columbines creating nothing but dust.” She sounded convincing to herself. Cash mumbled something about selling commodities. Whatever they are. He lived in north Florida in a house built in 1888 and was fixing it up as he had time.

  She was tickled pink with her vacation find. Any luck at all and he’d be just as tickled by her pretty, pink—and clean—fingernails before he left the resort and she had to decide what she was going to do with all the money her father had left her. She thought she had it figured out. Try on the girlie persona and see if she could make it work. Fulfill her father’s dream for her. To live a useless life spending money.

  Yeah, that’s not going so well.

  Besides, now she had a real by God farmer who was sexy, warm, funny, built and willing and eager to take her to bed and color her world.

  Now what was she going to do?

  * * *

  Cash returned to Dixie’s place before lunchtime. On the drive, he contemplated what he had learned. Penny didn’t like farms or ranches. But that story didn’t ring true for him. She was too centered and down to earth to be high maintenance. His assumption that she was lying was the only explanation he had for lying about what he did for a living. He didn’t believe her. So, a lie for a lie. He’d come to the beach to look at the female scenery and ended up at the pool looking for her. Why? She wasn’t a gorgeous blonde with a killer body. Well, she had the body. And her brunette was right on her. She looked good. Great. Damn. She is gorgeous.

  Now what was he going to do?

  When he opened the door, Dixie stood in the kitchen staring into the freezer. Brand was nowhere to be found, thank God.

  “What’s up, girl?”

  She shoved the freezer door closed. “Nothing good for dinner, that’s for sure. Brand and I have been holed up for days and haven’t been to the store.”

  He winced. “Please. Don’t say holed up and Brand in the same sentence.”

  Dixie laughed. “You’re such a big brother sometimes.”

  “I’m always a big brother.”

  She sobered up. “I know. You need to take some time off from that. All of us can take care of ourselves.”

  Not likely.

  “That’ll be the day.”

  “No, I mean it. You don’t have to rush off to help whoever has a problem. You’re stretching yourself too thin. Between the cows and the crops, brothers and sisters—”

  “Dixie,” he warned.

  She sat down at the table. “Look, you’re here for four days, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Instead of staying here, you should check in at the Casa Blanca Resort & Spa. They have massages, a wonderful restaurant and even a small farm! You’ll love it, trust me.”

  Cash thought back to why he’d decided to
visit Dixie Rose practically unannounced. He’d finished up one evening and was so tired he’d wanted to lie down in a cow pasture and sleep for a week. He was exhausted. Working a farm and cattle herd was hard work. Lonely work. Which was why he was looking to get leg shackled. Too bad the beautiful brunette staying at that resort hated farming. I have enough time to get married by the end of the year even if I indulge in a vacation fling first. A very satisfying fling if the brunette was up to it.

  But he couldn’t let Dixie know he already had plans to spend time at the resort. “You just want me to stay there so you can have Brand stay over here.”

  “He’d stay over even if you stayed.”

  Anger flashed through him. His vision clouded. And he realized what she’d done. “You think that’s going to convince me to leave you here alone?”

  “Cash. I live here. I’ve lived here—alone—for almost eight months. I’m a big girl now.” She got up and held his face. “I love you. Go stay at the resort. Have some fun. Relax. Believe me, when your four days are up you’ll be looking for ways to extend your vacation.” She kissed his cheek.

  He scoffed.

  “I’m going to find Brand and drag him to the grocery store. If you insist on staying here, with Brand, you’re welcome. But I think you should take me up on the resort thing. Because, baby, you need it.” She swung a bag over her shoulder and sashayed out the back door.

  “Damn.” He hated when one of his siblings was right. Especially Dixie Rose. Even if she didn’t know it wasn’t because of her boyfriend. She was the youngest and had no right to be more perceptive than him. Hah! He knew he needed a vacation. He was here wasn’t he? And he could use a fling. It had to be a fling since he was a farmer which Penny hated and he’d lied to her. Not an outright lie. After all he did sell commodities. Did it matter that they were milk and sorghum he raised himself? He didn’t think so.

  Still.

  Penny was at the resort. He was at Dixie’s. Kind of hard to have a fling when someone lived on the other side of the island.

  It was just his luck he hadn’t unpacked his car. And the fact he brought his car instead of his truck? Just icing on the cake. No explanations needed.

  Was he really going to do this? Hell, yes!

  He hurried out to his car and opened the trunk. He fished around until he found the crystal dog he bought Dixie and grabbed some notepaper from his laptop case. He went back inside, wrote a note, put the note and the little dog on the kitchen counter, returned to his car and pointed it at the other end of the island. Dixie would laugh when she read the note that simply said, “For some ungodly reason, I’m taking your advice.”

  Chapter Three

  “How long will you be staying, Mr. Wallace?” asked the fresh-faced young man at the check in counter.

  “Four days,” Cash said. “To start.” Get out of my head, Dixie Rose.

  “How would you like to pay?”

  Cash tossed a credit card on the desk. He clenched his teeth as the desk clerk ran it through the machine and didn’t relax until the card was accepted. He’d had to charge some farm supplies a couple of weeks earlier and wasn’t sure of the limit on the card. He sighed.

  “Well, what do we have here?”

  He turned and looked into the whiskey brown eyes of Penny Sykes. She stood hip shot with a cover up (barely) over her bikini. It was good to see that bikini again, he thought.

  “You have one Cash Wallace,” he said sotto voce, “who was thrown out of his sister’s place due to the fiancé staying with her.”

  “Not enough room?” she asked.

  “Too much big brother.”

  She chuckled. “Sounds serious.”

  “She was.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yup. She thought I’d crimp her style.”

  Penny looked him up and down. “What crimps your style?”

  He grinned. “Not much.”

  “Mr. Wallace? Your card.”

  He turned his attention to the desk clerk and signed the registration paper.

  “Here’s your key. I’ll have someone come out to help you with your bags.”

  “No need. I only have the one.” He lifted his duffel and shifted his laptop bag higher on his shoulder while the clerk explained how to get to his room. “Thanks,” he said when the clerk told him to enjoy his stay. He turned back to Penny.

  “I’ll show the way. You’re just down the hall from me.”

  “Well, isn’t that serendipitous.”

  With a cute smile, Penny swiveled and walked to the elevator.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later Cash and Penny were in his room and gazing out the sliding glass door to the beach below. Cash had his hands in his pockets. It was that or they’d be all over Penny.

  “You want to?” Penny asked.

  Cash gulped. Clenched his hands into fists. He glanced over her.

  “Huh?”

  She grinned. “To go to dinner later?”

  “Oh. Sure. I’d love to.”

  The look in her eye said she probably knew what he’d been thinking about.

  “Knock on my door when you’re ready. Say, 7:30?”

  “Seven thirty it is.” He led her to the door. His hand almost reached the doorknob before she dragged a fingernail—a long, deliciously pink fingernail—up his chest. A shiver raced up his spine.

  “You just going to shove me out the door, handsome? Or are you going to make me miss you?” She leaned in.

  “Um.” He hesitated a fraction of a second before putting his hands on her hips. He pulled her in slowly, as slowly as the smile that bloomed on her face.

  He touched his lips to hers once, twice. She opened her lips and, as far as he was concerned, invited him in.

  His tongue swept inside her mouth. Her hands slid up his chest, around his neck and tightened. Her tongue slid around his. He heard a muffled groan but didn’t know if it was his or hers. Capturing her in his arms, he changed the angle and the tenor of the kiss. Her breasts pressed into his chest. He pressed his hips into the cradle of her thighs and lost his concentration.

  She pulled back and giggled. “Sorry,” she said looking down between them. “I’m still wet and chilly.”

  She opened the door and slipped out.

  Cash leaned against the door but it, too, was cold. He stood up straight.

  “I think I’m going to miss you more.”

  * * *

  “Damn!” Cash snatched up his keys and strode into the hall. In the nick of time, he stuck his hand in the rapidly closing door and went back to retrieve his door key. “I’d leave the udders in the field if they weren’t attached.”

  Now capable of unlocking his hotel room, he trotted downstairs and went to the front desk. It was empty. He waited, one foot tapping until a young man came out. Good. I need to have time for a nap.

  “May I help you, sir?”

  “Yeah. Are there any men’s clothing stores around here?”

  “If you drive straight into town you’ll find Kaufman’s Department store on the right.”

  Cash was on his way before he’d finished talking.

  “But you’d probably prefer… Oh, well.”

  Outside, Cash muttered, “Can’t make a woman believe you’re a commodities broker if all you wear are jeans and khakis.” He drove toward the town and found the store right where the desk clerk said it would be. One step inside and he realized he should have specified a store rooted in the current century.

  “May I help you?”

  The perky blonde batted her eyelashes at him. She wore a yellow double-knit pants suit and over-large plastic glasses studded with rhinestones. She had rings on many fingers. She looked like someone else’s grandmother.

  “Uh,” he started.

  “I’ll bet you’re looking for something for your mother.”

  “No, ma’am. Sorry. Is there another store…”

  She tittered. He didn’t think he’d ever heard someone actually titter.
r />   “I love playing with you young men,” she said and gave a real laugh. “We usually get a few youngsters who get lost on their way to the men’s shop.”

  Youngster? I guess thirty-five is young if you’re as old as…nope, not even gonna guess.

  “And the men’s shop is…?”

  “Two more blocks.”

  “Thank you. You are as lovely as a daisy.”

  “Why, thank you. Come again, and soon. Toodles!” she added as he swung open the door.

  Cash escaped and made his way to the real men’s store. He managed to find some light gray slacks and a pale blue shirt in his size. Satisfied, he went back to his room, showered, shaved and finally believed he’d get to Penny’s door on time.

  “Next time I want a nap I’ll set an alarm.”

  Checking his watch, he hot-footed it down to Penny’s room and knocked. He waited, then knocked again. Finally he heard her on the other side of the door.

  “I’m going to unlock the door but you have to give me a minute before you come in, okay? I took a nap after my massage and am running late.”

  He put his hand on the knob and a smile on his face. “Sure, I’ll give you a minute before I come in.”

  “You don’t sound very convincing.”

  He wiped the smile off his face. “No, really. I will.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He heard the lock click, counted to three and opened the door. He was just in time to see a heart-shaped derriere disappear into the bedroom. Perfect timing.

  “That wasn’t a minute,” Penny said from behind her now closed door.

  “Really? My watch must be fast.”

  She scoffed and said, “I’ll be out in ten minutes. Ten whole minutes.”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  Since he knew that ten minutes could mean anything from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, he wandered the room and admired her suite. It was nice. Maybe he should have gotten a suite. Would she think he was cheap? Wasn’t it funny they both ran late because they were napping? Wasn’t it great she had fulfilled a teenager’s fantasy by running across the room practically naked?