Tempting Fate

by Stacy Finz

  She found a spot in front of the Lumber Baron Inn, a Victorian B&B that took up a quarter of Nugget’s business district, such as it was. The hotel was decked out in holiday decorations, as was the entire square. Lights, boughs of holly, and big red bows flocked with a smattering of leftover snow. She suspected the garland and ribbons would be coming down soon, since it was mid-January, and she would’ve stopped to take it all in but it was too cold to loiter. There were a lot of memories in this square. Farmers’ markets, festivals, and concerts. In high school, after a game, they’d all pile into someone’s truck and meet at the Bun Boy, where they’d blare music and eat burgers at the outdoor picnic tables.

  Back then, she and her family had been the closest thing to royalty this town ever had. And she’d been the reigning princess, the girl most likely to have everything. Beauty, wealth, and the Rosser’s Rock and River Ranch. A rusty laugh bubbled up in her throat, because all of it was gone. Look at me now. Dull, poor, and alone.

  A blast of welcome heat and a Dixie Chicks song hit her as she entered the restaurant. Gabe had already claimed a table—she didn’t know how he’d beat her here—and waved her over.

  “Did you fly?”

  Again with the obnoxious grin. “Nope, I’m just faster than you.”

  She took off her scarf and jacket, draped it over a chair, and took a quick look around.

  “Doing a little recon?”

  The man didn’t miss a trick, and it was kind of spooky. Retired from the Navy, he and Logan owned a private security firm and still did a lot of top-secret missions for the government.

  “Just reliving my misspent youth.”

  She watched Gabe scan the long, intricately carved bar. According to rumor, it had been salvaged from a Gold Rush bordello. But people around here liked to make up colorful stories, so the bar could’ve come from Ethan Allen for all Raylene knew.

  “So this was your stomping ground, huh?”

  She shrugged. “It sure didn’t look like this.” Back when she was a kid, the place smelled of cigarettes and cheap beer and looked like an old-man bar. Now it resembled one of those gourmet tap rooms on Nob Hill. Lots of dark wood paneling, period wall sconces, red velvet curtains, and pleather banquettes. Yet they’d still managed to retain the saloon’s cowboy vibe. A vibe that reminded her too much of her father.

  “Sophie and Mariah take pride in the place, that’s for sure.” Gabe perused the menu. “You hungry?”

  “We’re gonna eat in less than three hours.” It was potluck, which, knowing the good folks of Nugget, meant enough casseroles to fill the grange hall. The evening would likely prove to be the most trying dinner of Raylene’s life, depending on who attended.

  “Yeah, so what’s your point?”

  A server came to the table. No one Raylene knew, thank God.

  “You want coffee, a cocktail, or a glass of wine?” Gabe asked her.

  A vodka tonic. She sat on her hands so they wouldn’t shake. “Coffee’s good.”

  Gabe got coffee as well, and a plate of sourdough bread and butter for the table. The waitress quickly returned with their order and left a carafe of piping hot caffeine in the middle of the table.

  “How much did Logan pay you to be my minder?”

  He tossed his head back and laughed. “Ah, Ray, you really have to work on your self-esteem.”

  She couldn’t help herself and flipped him the bird. “Seriously, I don’t need a keeper.”

  “What, you don’t like my company?”

  She was probably the only woman on God’s green earth who didn’t. Though to be truthful, he was funny. And good-looking, if you liked muscular men hopped up on cockiness and attitude. She’d had enough of those to last her a lifetime.

  “I don’t mind the accent,” she said. “The rest of you, I could take or leave.”

  “A: I don’t have an accent, you do. B: Logan didn’t pay me.” His lips curved up. “He threatened to break my legs if I didn’t keep an eye on you.”

  She shook her head and emptied a couple of packets of sugar into her coffee.

  “According to Logan, and town gossip, you’ve got quite a history here. You mind filling me in? I’d like to hear your side of it.”

  “Uh, no.” She sipped her coffee while he stared at her with those chocolate brown eyes of his, waiting for an answer. It wasn’t any of his business. “People here are batshit.”

  He leaned closer to the table. “People around here?” He lifted his brows in a not-so-subtle jab at her own sanity. “I know you tried to screw Logan out of his inheritance, and there’s something about you having a drunken meltdown at the Gas and Go the last time you visited town. ‘Do you know who I am?’” Gabe laughed. “Please tell me you didn’t really say that to a cop, Ray.”

  “Did you suggest coffee to torture me?” Raylene didn’t want to talk about it. She’d spent the last couple of years trying to forget the things she’d said and done.

  “Just trying to figure out what went down.”

  “Well, don’t.” She reached for a piece of the sourdough and shoved it in her mouth. If he was buying, she was eating.

  Someone got up and put a few quarters in the jukebox and an old George Jones song came on. George had always been one of her dad’s favorites. He’d played “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Why Baby Why” so many times Raylene knew them by heart. He might’ve been a son of a bitch, but he’d always had good taste in music.

  The door swung open and the only person who could make this day any worse strode in. He took off his hat and searched the dining room, skimming over her. For a second, she thought she was safe. Then, just as quickly, they locked eyes and she felt a trickle of sweat roll down her back.

  She calculated how fast she could get to the door without causing a scene and took a deep breath.

  “Stay cool.” Gabe put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ve got you covered.”

  Chapter 2

  Gabe had heard twenty different versions of the story, each one more elaborate than the next. Despite its many configurations, he’d basically discerned the general gist. And it wasn’t good. By all accounts, Raylene Rosser was a wackjob. But she was also his best friend’s half sister. Gabe and Logan had been through thick and thin together. BUD/S training, two wars, and too many tight situations to count.

  So when Logan asked him to look after Raylene during the wedding festivities, he reported for duty. No questions asked. That didn’t mean he was siding with her against his new neighbors. All it meant was that he’d give her a broad back to hide behind when things got socially dicey.

  And things had just moved to DEFCON 1.

  “Kiss me,” he whispered.

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  He’d only said it as a joke to defuse the situation before she made it any worse. Already people were starting to murmur among themselves, obviously anticipating a showdown. Lucky Rodriguez stood there, still as a statue. Gabe couldn’t tell if Lucky was planning to kill Raylene or was simply stunned to see her, though it was no secret she was in town.

  Raylene grabbed Gabe and covered his mouth with hers, fisting his shirt in her hands. Her lips were full and soft and giving. And without thinking, he kissed her back. When she twined her hands around his neck, he felt his body leap to attention and tried to shut it down.

  They were in a public place, and Raylene was Logan’s sister—not to mention nuts—but she tasted good and felt even better. Small, compared to him, but the woman had some curves. Her long blond hair tickled his neck, and her firm breasts, breasts he distinctly remembered being much larger the first time he’d met her, smashed against his chest.

  “Is he gone yet?” she asked.

  Gabe snapped to attention and slowly turned his head to look. “Yep.”

  And just like that, she pushed him away. “Thank God.”

  He glanced a
round the room to find that most of the diners had gone back to their meals and private conversations. Nothing to see here. But by tomorrow it would be all over town that he and Logan’s crazy sister had been sucking face in the middle of the Ponderosa. He’d come to learn that that’s how it worked here in Nugget. Everything was up for public scrutiny. They were probably over at Owen’s barbershop talking about it now. He didn’t care what the townsfolk thought, but Logan was protective where Raylene was concerned. To say he’d be pissed was an understatement.

  “A little extreme, don’t you think?”

  “It was your idea, not mine,” she protested.

  “It was a joke, Raylene. Something to lighten the tension.”

  “Well, it worked.” She shrugged.

  “What happens the next time you run into Lucky?” With a population of less than six thousand, it was bound to happen. Besides, Lucky and his wife, Tawny, were invited to the wedding.

  She huffed out a sigh. “You know about it then?”

  “Ray, this is Nugget.” He pinned her with a stare and she turned away, unable to hold eye contact with him.

  “I’m only here for a few days, a week at most.” Long enough to find Levi’s Gold.

  “Okay.” He pushed his empty cup away and reached for his wallet. “Just don’t turn Logan and Annie’s wedding into your personal drama.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.”

  Right. The first time he’d met her, she and her husband stood in their driveway, embroiled in an epic screaming match in front of the entire neighborhood. He and Logan had had to pull her out of there before one of them went to jail. Granted, the ex was a real jerkoff. But Raylene was no angel. “Good, because it would really suck if you did. Let’s go.” He handed her her scarf and jacket.

  She followed him out to the square. His SUV was parked in front of the police station, and he took the long way around so he could walk Raylene to her truck. “I’ll meet you at the farm.”

  She nodded and unlocked her door.

  He trailed her to the main road out of town, but she hung a right instead of a left, heading in the opposite direction of Logan and Annie’s house.

  “Goddammit! Where the hell is she going?” Hey, it was her business, he told himself. The woman could drive wherever she wanted.

  Back at the farm, Gabe found Annie at the kitchen table studying a seating chart. “Do you think it’s a bad idea to put Owen next to Donna?”

  What did Gabe know about seating arrangements? “Maybe. Where’s Logan?”

  Distracted with her chart, Annie motioned toward the living room, where Logan was messing with a set of speakers.

  “What you got there?”

  “They’re supposed to work with voice control. But they’re pieces of shit.” Logan lifted his head. “Where’s Raylene?”

  Gabe hitched his shoulders. “We were both headed here from town, but she must’ve forgotten something, because she went the other way.”

  “Back to Nugget?” The farm where Logan and Annie lived, which was also the home of L&G Security, was fifteen minutes away from town.

  “It looked like she was headed to Reno, but who knows with her.”

  Logan pierced Gabe with a look. “Why Reno?”

  “Beats the hell out of me. She probably needed something she could only get in a big town, like a lobotomy.”

  Logan checked his watch. “She’s cutting it close for the party. It’s a forty-five-minute drive each way.”

  “She’s a grown woman, Jenk.”

  “I know, but being back here…it’s hard for her.”

  Gabe sprawled out on the couch and rubbed a spot out of his new boots. “She had a couple of run-ins in town. First, she overheard Donna and Ethel talking about her at the Nugget Market, and while we were getting coffee at the Ponderosa, Lucky came in.”

  Logan put down the speaker and gave Gabe his full attention. “What happened?”

  “Nothing, really.” No way was he telling Logan about the kiss or whatever the hell that was. “It got a little tense, then Lucky left.”

  Logan let out a breath. “Lucky and Tawny decided it was better if they didn’t come tonight, but they’ll be at the wedding.”

  “There’ll be enough people that Raylene can avoid him and vice versa. When’s your mom and Nick getting in?”

  “Not until tomorrow. That might be weird, too.”

  Ya think? “Jenk, why’d you have to invite her?”

  “She’s my sister. Her mother’s a damned space cadet, and I’m all she has. I couldn’t leave her out even if I’d wanted to, which I didn’t. She’s come to rely on me.”

  The truth was Logan was the softest badass Gabe had ever known. The man was one of the best spec op warriors in the business, but he cried watching a Hallmark movie. Last summer, Logan assigned himself the job of being Raylene’s guardian, which in Gabe’s opinion was a full-time gig.

  “All right, I’ll try to run interference as much as possible.” He got to his feet. “I’m grabbing a shower over at headquarters. Anything you want me to do before I leave?”

  “Nope, Annie and I have everything under control.” Logan began fiddling with the speaker again.

  On Gabe’s way out, he stopped in the kitchen to check in with Annie. “You have that seating situation handled?”

  “I think so. Gia will help me as soon as she gets here.” She gazed out the window. “I hope the weather cooperates.”

  To Gabe it felt too cold for snow. “I guess you couldn’t wait until summer.” He patted her stomach and grinned.

  “Nope.” She hugged him and her whole damn face glowed.

  “I think you and I should run away together.”

  From the other room came a crashing sound. “Fuck you, Alexa.”

  Annie rolled her eyes. “He’s been at it all day. Whatever happened to turning the music on by hand?”

  “I’m out of here, before he starts shooting the thing. See you in an hour.”

  Gabe let the screen door slam behind him, got in his truck, and took the driveway to the end of the property where he and Logan had built L&G from the ground up. It was a small compound compared to many security firms, but it was efficient as hell, with an indoor shooting range, a gym, a wing of small offices, and a big-ass conference room. They used a landing strip outside of town when they needed to get to assignments fast, which was pretty much always.

  The rest of the sixty acres Annie farmed, and she sold much of what she grew at a farm stand on the main road. The setup was unusual, to be sure, but it worked for them, and Gabe had come to love rural life. He could fish, hunt, and hike whenever he wanted, and the nights in his small apartment felt like camping with the convenience of electricity and indoor plumbing.

  And the Sierra Nevada was the most beautiful place on earth. Mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, and trees as far as the eye could see. In four hours he could be in San Francisco, and it was less than three to Sacramento. And there was gambling and women just across the Nevada state line, an easy drive from Nugget.

  The whole arrangement had turned out perfectly. Best of all, it had made it possible for Logan to have both of his dreams: Annie and L&G. They’d remodeled the old dilapidated farmhouse on the property and had transformed it into a real home. And soon they’d be bringing their first child into the world.

  Gabe had been elected godfather.

  He spent the next twenty minutes in the locker room shower, practicing his Marlon Brando impression. Then his thoughts drifted to Raylene and the kiss. It hadn’t lasted long, but the woman packed a punch. She was also pazzo, as his Italian grandmother liked to say. Crazy as a fucking loon. Hot, though. Big blue eyes, full red lips, and an ass that wouldn’t quit. Under normal circumstances, she’d be his type. For a night.

  Any more thoughts of Raylene got cut short by the ringing of Gabe’s phon
e. He hopped out of the shower, reached for a towel, and managed to grab his cell in time to take the call.

  “Moretti.”

  “You mind bringing an extension cord when you come back?” It was Logan.

  “Roger that. I’ll be over in a few minutes. Anything else?”

  “Nope. Just get your ass over here.”

  Gabe quickly dressed. He’d brought over everything from his small apartment in town, that way he’d be close and on hand to help with any party preparations. Most of the time—when he wasn’t on a mission—he lived out of the office anyway. But with the holidays and Logan’s wedding, they hadn’t taken on any new projects. It would be nice to have a few months off to catch up on paperwork. And to sleep, something he didn’t get much of with the frenetic pace of the job. But he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  He searched the equipment room for an extension cord and drove back to the house, noting Raylene’s truck was still MIA. Where she’d disappeared to was beyond him. Frankly, he didn’t want to know. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to bail her out of the can. According to the big mouths in town, she’d nearly gotten arrested for the crap she’d pulled a couple of years ago. Her old man had gotten a life sentence for his overarching role, which included killing a cattle rustler and trying to pin the murder on Lucky Rodriguez. Ray Rosser had died in prison. That’s how Logan had learned the whole sordid story about his paternity and had come into his inheritance, which included a nutso half sister.

  The kitchen was filled with people and about a hundred casserole dishes when he got inside. Donna, Brady Benson, and Emily McCreedy were rotating pans in the oven as Samantha Breyer was checking off a list. All this for a freaking potluck. If Gabe ever got married, he was eloping. Between his Irish mother and his Italian stepfather, he had a bazillion siblings, half siblings, stepsiblings, and relatives. Weddings in the Moretti family were like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This nearly rivaled it.

  “Hand me that extension cord,” Logan called to Gabe across the room. “Annie wants to project a slide show of all the work we did on the farm.”