Page 4 of Hard to Love
“Oh, you had plenty of opportunity.” Her tone was teasing, and she placed her smaller hand in his. “You were just in a snit.”
Unlike Delaney’s handshake, Greer’s skin against his shot a smooth burn up his arm and into his chest, as if he’d just gulped a shot ofCasa Dragones. And just like the sipping tequila made a man want another drink immediately, he wanted to touch her again. “Men don’t have…ah…”
Jesus, she’d short-circuited his brain.
“I think the word you’re looking for issnits.”
“Well,” Delaney said with bright cheer, “I’m glad you two are already such good friends.”
Alex realized he was still holding Greer’s hand, and he dropped contact as if her fingers had suddenly become fangs.
“Let’s get started,” Delaney said. They all settled around a rectangular worktable, with Delaney and Greer on one side and him on the other. “So, from our phone conversation, you already know Prophecy Boot Company is a family business. But I thought you might be interested in a little of the shop’s history.”
“Sure.” Anything to keep his focus on business instead of feeling personal—intensely personal—impulses he shouldn’t toward Greer Maddox.
Delaney turned to Greer, passing the conversational baton. “Prophecy was originally settled by my family some six generations ago. The first bootmaker had been taught to make military boots during the Civil War, a time when thecraft wasn’t particularly sophisticated.”
His mouth twitched up. “Yeah, wearing the same shaped boot on both feet doesn’t sound like the ultimate in comfort.”
She beamed at him as if he was a student who’d just aced his first spelling test. Why that should make a ball of pride pulse in his chest, he had no idea. “Well, he was lucky enough to marry a woman with good fashion sense, and she talked him into not only creating boots that were made to go on each foot but to also make them pretty. She drew the designs—birds, flowers, whatever caught her fancy—and he made them.”
Which was pretty damn cool. The Maddox family could claim they invented the modern cowboy boot.
“Whenever he could find pretty leather, he began making christening gifts for some of the local children. And as those kids grew up, something interesting happened. They lived good lives, happier and healthier than most people did back in that day. They made good marriages and their spouses seemed to live longer as well.”
Hell. When he’d spoken with Delaney over the phone, she’d mentioned the prophecy boot concept to him, and of course, he’d heard rumors over the years about Whit Maddox and his loco claim that he made fortune-telling boots. Alex believed that about as much as he believed hisabuelacould tell the future by floating an egg in tap water. People would fall for any kind of bullshit.
Whatever. He didn’t have to believe what they were slinging in order to work on their leather. “So this has always been a family business, but isn’t Delaney’s last name Shields?”
“Name has nothing to do with it. There’s only one prophecy bootmaker in each generation. And Delaney is it.”
“Why not your brother or you?”
“Because neither of us have the special ability it takes, and Delaney does,” she said simply, but her expression tightened, so slightly he almost missed it. But he missed very little. In his old world, his oldfamilia, missing a detail could get avatokilled. “I’m actually a glassblower with my own studio here in town, but my brother and I are still part owners of PBC. And if Delaney and I like what we see and hear today, you’ll also meet my brother, Cal. Now that you know a little about our family, we’d love to hear a little about you and yours.”
Oh, no way in hell. They were not up for discussion. So he avoided her open, friendly blue-eyed gaze and slid his focus to Delaney. “I brought my portfolio. You said you were looking for an excellent leather tooler and that’s what I came to talk about today.”
“Let’s take a look at what you’ve got,” Delaney said, saving him from going down a path that had nothing to do with his ability to work leather.
He zipped open the case. “I brought a few samples, pictures of past projects, and some additional sketches. As you can imagine, I don’t get to keep most of the pieces I carve.”
“Hmm.” Delaney was already sifting through his drawings.
Greer, on the other hand, immediately leaned across the table and snatched up a piece of leather dyed a burnt sienna and tooled with an intricate oak leaf pattern. She held it to her nose, inhaled deeply, which lifted her breasts until Alex could see the rounded tops over the braided tie neckline of her shirt.
Alex wanted to squeeze his eyes closed, but he averted his gaze to the tabletop. So help him God, if he got out ofhere with a contract, he would stick a branding iron in his eyes if that was what it took to keep from eyeballing this woman.
From the corner of his eye, he saw her stroke the piece over her cheek, her eyelids drifting low like a woman being touched by her lover. When she smoothed the leather across her lips, her head sank back as if she was about to orgasm from the sheer tactile pleasure.
Alex shifted in his chair, trying to drum up a little airflow to cool the sudden sweat storm along his spine, because a business meeting was the dead last place he needed to be getting turned on.
When Greer finally opened her eyes, they sparkled, and a light flush touched her cheeks. She stretched the leather flat on the table and began tracing every line, every swirl, every curve with a sensual focus. Would she learn a man’s body the same way? Dipping into the concave spots, bumping over the skin and muscle?
“Greer?” Delaney’s one word was sharp, probing.
Neither of the women was paying a cent of attention to him. Something was going on here, and he was way out of the loop.
“Hmm?” she responded, never looking away from the piece of leather she continued to caress.
