“I’m going to have some pecan pie,” Duncan said. “And a cup of coffee, please.”
“Are there any of those chocolate éclairs that Tracy makes?” Alan asked.
Ginny grinned. “There are indeed. She just finished making a full batch just before y’all came in.”
“That’s what I’ll have, then, and coffee, too, please.”
Ted groaned. “Total temptation. I’ll have whichever one of those two delicious-sounding desserts you decide I should have. We’ll be here all afternoon if I have to choose between them myself.”
Ginny grinned. “You won’t be disappointed, sir. Dessert will be right up.”
Alan met Ted’s gaze. “I don’t think Mary Ellen Potsy is stupid—but she did seem to think that she could get away with things that others couldn’t.”
“She made a play for us shortly after we hired on to her place. The woman certainly has no lack of self-confidence.” Duncan shuddered.
Alan chuckled even though at the time, it sure as hell wasn’t funny. He’d gained a whole new respect during the two months they’d worked at Potsy Stables for the plight some women suffered with handsy bosses. “It was a damn good thing the feds moved when they did. I thought we were going to have to file a sexual harassment suit against her.”
Ted snorted. He leaned forward on the table, his arms folded. “I had hoped to talk the two of you into helping out again—as soon as I figure out where the woman’s landed. But I have a feeling that this time, you’re going to turn me down.”
Ginny arrived at the table just then, her tray loaded. In short order, everyone had their dessert and coffee. She’d served Ted an éclair. Judging by the way the man’s eyes lit up, that was what he’d really wanted.
“Thanks, Miss Ginny.” Duncan grinned up at her, and then turned his attention back to Ted. “We regret having to say no, because we each would like to see that episode put to bed for good,” Duncan said.
“It bothered us more than a little that when it was all said and done that the man who’d killed those beautiful horses had gotten away clean. But we’re looking to settle down here, Ted. We’ve met someone, and we don’t want to leave.”
“You’ve met someone?”
“I told you when you called that Lusty was our place.” He wondered if Ted would remember a rather raucous night at a nightclub back in Kentucky, and a conversation they’d had when they’d all been a bit drunk.
“Ah, yes. Now that’s interesting. Well then, I’ll keep the two of you informed with whatever progress I make. I know you didn’t take the Potsy woman’s threats seriously, but when I find her—and I will—I’ll let you know where she is.”
Thoughts of the people he’d come to know and respect here in Lusty had Alan raising one eyebrow when he looked at Duncan. When his friend nodded, he looked back at Ted. “We appreciate that. But we’re not the only ones you should keep informed, since you are still of a mind that crazy woman will try and do something where we’re concerned. So after we’re done here, we’ll take you over to meet one of Miss Ginny’s husbands, Adam Kendall. He’s the sheriff of Lusty. We really ought to let him know what did happen and what might happen—even if there’s only a slight chance that it will.”
As the words left his lips, Alan had a thought that made him shudder. From the tales he’d heard of what all had occurred hereabouts over the last couple of years, the fact that there was only a slight chance was probably akin to waving a red flag in front of the bull known as karma.
* * * *
They must be back at the ranch by now. Holly returned her attention to her work, and tried very hard not to feel let down that they hadn’t stopped by to say hello. Or give her a kiss—or two or three.
Holly shook her head and then laughed at herself. Nancy had left just a few moments ago, it was nearly one thirty, and she had three and a half hours left to her work day. Once she got into updating the cataloging program, she knew those hours would fly.
And then she could go home, have a shower, get dressed—and then drive out to the ranch.
She’d be staying the night because Chase, Brian and Carrie were off on their honeymoon trip.
She’d heard from Ginny how those two cowboys had surprised their wife at Lusty Appetites on Sunday, telling her she had just one day to pack her bags.
Carrie had apparently been over the moon, and fine with the very short notice. Holly thought of her sister, Becky. She doubted she’d welcome a similar surprise as graciously. Knowing how long her younger sibling needed to acquire just the right wardrobe accessories to attend a single social event…well, Becky Lynn Bethune could be a force of nature if she was ticked off.
Her niece Jacqui, now, would as likely throw a few things into her backpack and be ready to go in five minutes. Jacqui had no patience for people who put on airs, or for ones who were smooth talkers. The blame for the latter could be laid right at Holly’s brother, James Robert’s, door.
Too many broken promises and too many insincere declarations by her brother had wounded Jacqui deeply. She hoped someday the rift between parent and child could be—well, if not healed completely, at least patched up.
Holly shook her head. The ball was firmly in her brother’s court in that relationship. He really needed to make the first move.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and it didn’t take long to lose herself in some of the myriad details that were like bread and water to a dedicated bibliophile.
“Did you ever see anything sexier in your whole life than our woman, lost in her work?” Alan’s voice nearly made her jump. She hadn’t even heard them come in.
“Nope. Never,” Duncan said.
She’d snapped her head up, and then felt her smile bloom as she looked from one handsome hunk to the other.
“I thought you’d gone back to the ranch.”
“Without stopping in for a taste of you? Never.” Alan met her gaze and then crooked his finger.
Holly didn’t care if the gesture was arrogant, or not. She wanted to do what he’d just demanded of her. It didn’t take her very long at all to get up, round her desk, and meet them halfway. As she approached him, he moved his hat to the back of his head—out of the way.
Alan slipped his arms around her and brought her close. She felt the press of his hard muscles against her very hungry body. Her insides melted when she also felt the ridge of his erect cock nudging against her stomach.
“Hello, honey. I’ve been wanting to taste your lips again since we dropped you off last night.”
Holly slid her hands up his arms, and then kept on going, winding her arms around his neck. She let her fingers play in his soft golden blond hair, melting a little more when his blue eyes took on that impassioned look. “Yes, please. I really need to taste you, too.”
Alan covered her mouth with his, his kiss soft and playful as he slid his lips against hers. His tongue snuck out, stroked her bottom lip, and she opened to him, giving him complete access, letting him do whatever he wanted.
Apparently he wanted to taste every bit of her mouth.
His tongue brushed against her teeth and stroked the roof of her mouth, before settling down to some serious rumba dancing with her own. His flavor, familiar and tasty, had become like a heady wine in her blood. I could get drunk on his kisses. Within her, fires so recently lit, passions so recently discovered, began to swirl and eddy and grow.
I think I’ve found my happy place. Being held by either one of these men and kissed by them.
Alan lifted his mouth from hers and placed tiny butterfly kisses on the corners of her eyes and lips. “Mmm, delicious.” Then he nudged her gently.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to go from Alan’s arms into Duncan’s, to nestle up close, slide her arms around his neck, and stretch up for his kiss.
Darkly delicious, daringly decadent, Duncan melded his lips to hers and took her deep. Hot and carnal, his kiss ignited her fledgling arousal into a burning flame. She moaned, and couldn
’t stop herself from rubbing against his denim-covered cock.
“Shh, baby. Do you need me to take care of you?”
Before Holly could beg Duncan to do just that, another voice acted like a bucket of ice-cold water on her arousal.
“I think you’ve both already taken care of her really, really well, and I can only say, holy smokin’ hot cowboys, Aunt Holly!”
Chapter 15
“Jacqui, what are you doing here?”
“Getting a real education. You think you know someone…” The quick comeback was accompanied by twinkling eyes and a laughing mouth.
Holly had nearly forgotten what a smarty-pants her niece could be. Even under the circumstances, though, she had to admit that she’d really missed Jacqui.
Alan and Duncan both moved as soon as the younger woman had spoken, likely in response to the way Holly’s body had jolted at the unexpected interruption. They stood on either side of her, each with an arm around her, and both smiled down at her niece.
Alan stroked Holly’s back, a nice, reassuring caress. “Introduce us, honey.”
Despite the appearance of awkwardness, Holly had no problem doing just that. She wasn’t at all ashamed of being with both of these men, and she really didn’t care—well mostly—if her family knew about it, or not. Even so, she just introduced them by name—mostly because at thirty calling any man her boyfriend sounded…well, juvenile.
The guys waited until Jacqui held out her hand, and then they each gently and politely shook it.
“We’d like to stay and visit, but we do have to get back to work,” Alan said. He bent down and kissed Holly, a sweet, chaste kiss—far from brotherly but not nearly the kind of kiss she really wanted—not the kind he’d already given her just a few minutes before. “I’ll call you tonight.” Then he nodded to Jacqui. “It was nice to meet you. I imagine we’ll see you later.”
Duncan, too, gave Holly a less than satisfying kiss—but under the circumstances, she really did appreciate their restraint. “See you later, sweetheart.” He nodded to her niece. “Miss Bethune, it was nice to meet you.”
Jacqui turned to watch Alan and Duncan as they left the library. “Nice butts.” Her comment had been spoken in the voice of a woman who truly appreciated such things.
Holly was a bit surprised by the sudden flare of territorialism she felt.
“Yes, they are. Very nice.” Holly nearly blurted out that they looked a lot sexier without the denim, and only just caught herself in time.
Jacqui turned around and met her gaze. “I bet they look even better, naked.”
The words came out before she could think. “That, my dear, is something you’ll never know.”
“But you do.” Laughing outright, Jacqui closed the distance between them. She threw her arms around Holly and hugged her tight. “You have no idea how happy I am about that fact.”
Holly hugged her back. Despite the poor timing, she really was happy to see Jacqui. A tiny sob escaped her niece, and just like that, Holly was right back in mamma bear mode where she’d been pretty much for the last seven years.
Holly was the one Jacqui had turned to for comfort, right from the first moment she and her dad had moved into the Bethune mansion.
Holly eased the young woman back just far enough that she could meet her gaze. “What’s wrong, Jacqui?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” Holly took Jacqui’s hand and led her to her desk. The chair Nancy had used earlier as they’d perused Holly’s computer for book dealers was still there. Once Jacqui was sitting, Holly focused on her anew. She didn’t, of course, believe for one minute that everything was all right. “I thought everything was going well at home.”
“Sure it is, if you don’t mind being a bit player in the Becky Lynn Bethune Show.”
Holly knew her younger sister was perhaps a bit more egocentric than was healthy. Their mother didn’t help things, either. Wanda June Bethune wasn’t a bad woman. She simply wanted her daughters to have the same brilliant social life she had enjoyed as a young debutante.
Holly hadn’t aspired to being a deb and neither, apparently, did Jacqui. So of course Becky got the lion’s share of the mother love in the Bethune home. That in itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was Becky reacted to her mother’s fawning attention as if it was her due, and—as her niece so rightly inferred—as if she was the star of the whole darn show. Holly had noticed a couple of years before that Becky treated Jacqui more like a servant than a niece.
Holly had thought she’d taken care of that issue back then. Certainly, after the way she’d admonished her younger sister, outward appearances had improved. And, in recent months, Jacqui seemed to have found her starch.
“I know Becky can be a pain. But I thought you had her number?”
Jacqui sighed. “She was a lot easier to handle when you were there, Holly.”
Holly nodded. That had been the one thing she’d been concerned about, moving from Georgia to Texas. However, she’d convinced herself that since Jacqui wasn’t a child any longer, everything would be fine.
Holly had reminded herself, when she’d accepted the offer to work at the Lusty Library, that at twenty-one years of age her niece was an adult, entitled to make her own decisions and her own choices.
Apparently, that meant following her aunt across the country. Holly didn’t believe for one minute that Jacqui Bethune had come to Lusty just for a visit.
“Does your dad know where you are?”
Jacqui snorted. Then she shrugged. “I told him I was going to go and visit my best friend for a few days. If he’d bothered to ask me who and where, I would have told him. Instead, he handed me a fistful of cash and told me to go and have fun.”
“And your grandparents? They’re going to be worried when you don’t come home in a week or so.”
“What makes you think I won’t be going home in a week or so?”
Holly laid her hand on Jacqui’s shoulder. “Because I know you. I bet that Beemer of yours is packed to the roof with everything that you consider essential to live.”
Her niece blushed. “Can I stay with you? For a while, at least? I’ll look for work, and get my own place. I know this is a small town. But I’m sure there must be someplace that’s hiring…”
“Yes, you can stay with me—for a while.” Holly puffed out a breath. “When I close the library this afternoon, we’ll grab dinner at the restaurant.”
“The restaurant? As in, only one in town?”
“Yes, but it’s very good restaurant.” Holly figured she and Jacqui had some personal hurdles to clear, first. “You can stay, but I want you to call your grandmother—and your grandfather, too.” Lord knew sometimes her mother forgot to communicate with her husband, so notifying both of them individually was likely the best plan.
“Not a problem. I think they’ll be glad to not have to deal with me for a while. I know we complicated life for everyone when Dad and I came to live there, even if he didn’t give it a second thought.”
Holly felt her one eyebrow go up. “And you’ll be very glad not to have to deal with them, too. As for that complication—I consider your having come to live with us one of the best things that ever happened.”
Jacqui blushed. “Thanks for that.” Then she sighed. “Right now, the household is in a tizzy. As you know, the South Harbor Charity Event is in just two weeks. That was the reason I finally decided to hell with it and loaded my car. I am getting sick of hearing how Becky Lynn is going to be the belle of the ball—from Becky Lynn.”
Because Holly really understood the benign neglect her family had subjected Jacqui to practically from the get-go, she really had nothing she could say to that.
Instead, she simply handed her niece her cell phone, and listened while she made the calls.
* * * *
“You want me to pitch my tent tonight? I don’t mind. I wouldn’t want Miss Holly to be embarrassed with the idea that I
was just down the hall.”
Alan looked up at Ricoh and shook his head. “No, not tonight, but thanks for the offer.”
Ricoh frowned. “You didn’t go and have a fight with that sweet woman, did you?”
Alan stopped saddling his horse and stroked the gelding’s neck as he shot his foreman a look. One of the things about Lusty—every last man was protective of every last woman, kin, or no. “No, dad, we didn’t have a fight with Holly. Her niece showed up unexpectedly at the library when we stopped in earlier on our way out of town. We both figure Holly’s going to be busy tonight, getting the girl settled in.”
“That could but a major crimp in your social life. Is she young?”
“Relatively. Jacqui is twenty-one.” Alan wouldn’t deny being a little miffed at having their evening plans interrupted. But he was also wondering if something was wrong back in Georgia. If so, Holly was bound to be upset. That bothered him more than anything else.
“Not much you can do when family comes callin’,” Ricoh said. “That’s one problem I’ll never have. And that is not necessarily a good thing.”
Alan knew that Ricoh Stone had grown up in the system, and lit out on his own when he’d been just nineteen.
They finished saddling their mounts. Duncan had already headed out toward the back pasture a few minutes before. On the agenda for the afternoon was the planned move of the cattle over to fresher pastures.
There were only sixty head, an easy enough herd for the three of them to manage.
They’d led their horses out of the barn when a sound caught Alan’s attention. He looked up as a ratty old truck came down the lane. He hadn’t ever seen the vehicle before—something that he just now realized in the few months they’d been in Lusty was a very rare occurrence indeed.
The man who emerged from the truck was as unfamiliar as the vehicle he’d arrived in. Wearing worn jeans, a white button-down shirt and battered hat, Alan pegged the guy, age-wise, to be in his late forties, early fifties. He presented a clean, if tattered appearance. As he approached, he nodded.
Love Under Two Wranglers [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Ménage Everlasting) Page 13
