On the fifth morning they loaded back up into the truck headed for Austin.
The drive through the Hill Country was as beautiful as all of the previous ones had been, and Alice quickly realized that it was a view that she would never get tired of no matter how many times she saw it. They had turned off the highway and were travelling down a rutted dirt road, and Alice watched as they passed more cows and this time a few horses.
"Where are we?"
"At my family's ranch, we're just coming up on the house now. I hope you don't mind, I've not been home in a while and I had to visit."
Then Alice saw it. It was a two story white limestone house with a tin roof and it had a huge wrap around porch. Rainer drove to the back of the house where there were a few other smaller buildings, and as she got out of the truck she noticed that there was a sharp drop off behind the house to a beautiful valley below. It was very similar to the view they had had in Fredericksburg.
Rainer was a few steps ahead of her on the back porch and turned back towards her as she stopped to admire the view.
"It is a beautiful view, isn't it?"
Alice nodded as she pulled her eyes away and followed him up the back steps.
The kitchen was a modern work of art. All of the appliances were stainless steel, the granite counter tops were a warm honey tone, and there was a large table over to one side of the kitchen that took advantage of the breathtaking view.
"There's a restroom just around the corner if you need to freshen up." He pointed the way as he headed up the stairs two at a time.
It didn't take Alice long and by the time she had returned to the kitchen there was a man about her age sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. When he saw her his eyes grew wide in surprise.
"Hello." She smiled. He was a handsome man who was tall and well-built with sandy brown hair and the same blue eyes as Rainer.
"Hello, I don't mean to be rude, but who are you and why are you in our house?"
"Rainer..." She made a motion towards the stairs where he had disappeared.
"Rainer?"
"Yes, I'm guessing that he's your brother."
"You're with Rainer?" he said, looking even more surprised.
"I'm his research assistant and I am travelling with him, but I wouldn't say I was with him." Her eyes narrowed. She knew she wasn't his type, but did he have to show his surprise so readily.
He whipped out his phone and started texting. When he was done he looked back up at her. Then his phone started going crazy and his thumbs started flying.
Rainer came down after a few minutes more. "What's he doing?" He whispered in her ear, causing her to jump. He had snuck up behind her and was watching his brother, and she could feel his warm breath in her ear.
"I think he's texting, but I can't imagine that anyone has that much to say." She refused to look up at him. She knew if she did she would be lost. She could feel his heat at her back.
"He seemed shocked that I was with you. I mean I know I'm not your regular type but....I told him that I was not 'with you' and that I was your research assistant, but that didn't seem to matter."
She could feel Rainer grow tense behind her.
Next thing she knew the backdoor flew open and a beautiful tall slender woman with the fairest hair Alice had ever seen came flying through it. She stopped as soon as she saw Alice, her mouth rounded in an oohh expression.
Her glance bounced off Rainer and went straight to the man at the table. They exchanged a look that Rainer understood because he walked over to the man and took his phone from his hand.
"Alice this is my very rude brother, Caleb. I don't know what happened to him along the way, but I'll be sure to let our mother know that he didn't offer you a drink or even a seat at the table." He turned to the pretty woman and gave her a warm smile. "This is my sister-in-law Dana, she's married to my other brother Quinn."
He then looked down at the phone and started to scroll through the comments, his face becoming stony. It was obvious that he was upset at what he was reading. Alice had learned to read the look when they had argued in San Antonio but his anger then hadn't come close to his anger now. Rainer was a sight to behold when he was truly angry, something that she didn't think happened very often.
"Its fine Rainer, I'm not thirsty and if I had wanted to sit down I would have."
Rainer ignored her as he started typing his own text into Caleb's phone.
The backdoor opened again and a very tall man with blond hair and Rainer's eyes walked into the kitchen. He had been wearing a white cowboy hat that he took off and laid on the counter as he quietly took in the scene, noting Alice then Rainer. He seemed to immediately pick-up on Rainer's anger and Alice's discomfort.
He held out his hand to Alice, taking her small one in his large one. He had a firm but gentle grip. "Hello, I'm Quinn."
"Alice," she greeted. Dana and Caleb were still staring openly at her as if mesmerized.
Quinn poured himself a cup of coffee while shooting her covert glances.
Rainer was still texting, obviously trying to undo something his brother had done.
"Rainer and I are not having sex, we aren't even dating. I am honestly just his research assistant," Alice said, wanting to clear up any miscommunication that seemed to have happened.
Caleb started to choke on his coffee, Quinn spit his out, and Dana turned bright red.
Rainer just looked at her with a little smile as he threw the phone back to Caleb.
The room was silent until Caleb read what Rainer had written. "You really told Mom that I was rude, didn't you?"
"Well you were," Rainer said his bad mood forgotten.
Just then Caleb's phone rang and he sent his brother a look that would kill a lesser being.
"Yes, Mom," he said as he took the phone with him out the back door.
Just then Alice heard a baby crying. "That will be Fiona up from her nap." Dana walked over to Alice despite the crying baby and took her hand. "I'm sorry if we were rude. We didn't mean to be, but Rainer has never introduced us to any women before, even ones he works with, which I don't doubt that you do," she added hastily, looking at Rainer. Then she walked over to him and gave him a hug and dashed up the stairs.
Alice took a seat at the table an admired the view while Quinn and Rainer started to talk ranch business.
*******
Dana had just finished changing Fiona's diaper when the phone rang. She looked at the number and saw that it was Lizzy and quickly answered it, taking time to close the door as she did so.
"So tell me everything," Lizzy demanded.
"Hold on let me close the door, Rainer got angry when he caught Caleb talking about her, so I don't want him to hear."
"Rainer got angry. He never gets angry, cold, but not angry."
"He was livid." Dana sat in the rocker with Fiona.
"Hmm interesting, what is she like?"
"Not at all what I would have imagined Rainer to go for, she is tiny not more than five foot but she's got curves in all of the right places. Her hair is brown and short like a boys and she has hazel eyes. She doesn't look much more than twenty."
"Well we don't know what his type is, do we? It is not like he has ever introduced us to any of his girlfriends in the past."
"I don't think she is his girlfriend."
"What makes you say that? She must be special if he brought her to the house," Lizzy insisted
"I quote, 'Rainer and I are not having sex, we aren't even dating. I am honestly just his research assistant', Dana whispered into the phone.
"She didn't say that really, did she?" Lizzy sounded like some of the air had been let out of her balloon.
"Direct quote, word for word."
Lizzy was silent for a while. "Well, he brought her to the house so that's something. He could have given her the day off and come by himself."
Just then the door to Fiona's room opened, its squeaky hinges making it sound like something out of a horror movie, and Rainer was leaning against the jam watching Dana steadily as a guilty flush stole up her neck and into her face.
"Who ya talking to?" he asked casually.
"J-J-Just Lizzy," Dana stuttered.
Rainer took the phone from Dana.
"Hey sis, how are you?"
Dana couldn't hear Lizzy, but Rainer gave a smile at something she said. "You should remember her Lizzy, you walked right past her in the dining room the morning you gave me the keys to Brian's truck."
That must have driven Lizzy nuts because Dana could definitely hear her now.
"The reason I didn't introduce you was because I was interviewing her. You see we had only met briefly the night before, and when she mentioned that she was a research assistant for a magazine I just had to hire her. My deadline has been cut from six weeks to three, so I need all of the help I can get."
Lizzy must have said something funny because Rainer laughed. "Thank Brian for the use of the truck."
Rainer handed Dana back the phone and took his two year old niece from her.
"We'll be downstairs when you and Lizzy are done with your heart to heart."