One More Taste (One and Only Texas #2)(17)

Knox was standing again, bedside, his legs hip-width apart, his hands in his pockets. “I don’t want to forget to tell you that my sister will be joining us for dinner tomorrow and staying overnight. But she doesn’t eat breakfast either, so don’t get any ideas.”

His sister. Excellent. With any luck, she would provide yet another window into Knox’s soul.

“One last thing.” He paused as though selecting the perfect words. “I’m looking forward to the meal tonight.”

Emily was, too. A little too much for her own good.





Chapter Four

A second day as a Briscoe Ranch owner, a second day spent under Ty’s watchful, enthusiastic tutorship. The patience and acting required of Knox to allow Ty to believe he was still top dog at the resort was draining, though Knox had passed the hours in eager anticipation of the visit from his sister and another meal from Emily. The first night, she’d hit it out of the park with a foie gras dish unlike any he’d ever sampled. The fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about the meal, or the wild boar hash she’d tried to ply him with that morning, or tonight’s meal, for that matter, suggested that perhaps his sixth sense had been right about her. As far as diamonds in the rough went, Emily was a remarkably polished one.

After dark, an hour before Shayla was set to arrive, he set out from his office in a golf cart across the resort grounds. Happy guests strolled about, taking in the resort’s gardens, splashing in the pool, and enjoying cocktails at the candlelit pavilion as an acoustic guitarist plucked out a jazzy tune. For all Ty’s faults, he’d built one hell of a resort. Knox could hardly wait to make it even better, bigger, and more luxurious. He’d transform the magic of the resort into profit in a way that Ty had never accomplished.

Smiling at the thought, he parked it at the end of the paved road, then walked up and over the hill where his truck was parked just beyond the resort’s eastern border along a fire road. It was a hike, for sure, but that had been as close to the property as his dad’s truck would get that morning. One of these days, Knox would have to make a trip to San Antonio and purchase a second car. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t afford one, but his stubborn streak demanded that he give his dad’s ghost a little more time to get used to the idea of his truck parking at the resort.

Beyond the fence demarcating the edge of the property, he spied the truck. The twinge of relief he felt was undeniably silly, but a part of him was grateful the truck hadn’t decided on its own to randomly lose braking ability and roll away.

He looked the truck in its headlights, as though they were eyes. “What do you think, Dad? How am I doing so far?”

It wasn’t until he was even with the front bumper that he noticed someone sitting on the lowered tailgate. His anger was swift and unreasonable. He stormed in her direction. In response, she smiled and lounged back, propping her hands on the truck bed behind her.

“Whatever you were going to say, don’t,” he said. A hell of an opening line. What was it about Emily that made him fly off the handle like that?

“So this really is your truck. Hmph.”

He attempted a calming breath. “How did you know I’d parked here?”

“I saw you walking from this direction this morning and I came to investigate.”

“This is none of your business.”

Her smile fell. “That’s true.” She hopped off the tailgate. “Were you talking to your dad just now?”

He closed the tailgate. “Nope.”

“Right.”

She smoothed a hand along the side of the truck bed. “Why park here? Is it that you don’t want your employees to see you driving this old truck?”

He bristled at the accusation of vanity, but if she were trying to bait him into baring his soul, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Oversharing with his personal chef wasn’t on his agenda for the day.

He brushed past her and unlocked the driver’s door. “Think what you will.”

She strolled his way, feigning casualness, though her eyes gleamed with her usual sharp intensity.

His heart rate took on an erratic urgency. Here it comes, the wrath of Emily. At least she wasn’t holding a bowl of soup.

She stopped before him, nose-to-nose, and narrowed her eyes. “What are you smiling about, all of a sudden?”

Smiling? Him? Preposterous. “Why are you here? Don’t you have a dinner to prepare? My sister’s coming, in case you’d forgotten.”

But Emily wouldn’t be swayed off course. “You won’t let anyone see you in this truck. Your first day, the day you and Ty finalized your deal, you arrived in a fancy car with a driver who pulled right up in front of the main entrance for everybody to see. All I could think about when I was watching you was how cocky and full of power you were. It was quite a show. But this truck … It’s old and the paint’s deteriorating and it doesn’t have any bells or whistles. It’s the opposite of powerful and showy.”

She’d been watching him that day? “If you’re accusing me of parking here out of vanity, then—”

“That’s just it. On the surface, it looks so vain, except that I know how sentimental you are. This truck means everything to you. It’s either the exact same truck I saw in old family photos at your house, or it’s the same make and model. And yet you park it out of sight. I don’t get it.”