Oklahoma Moonshine (The McIntyre Men #1)

by Maggie Shayne

  Kendra rubbed her cheek. “Yeah, about that—”

  “They sent me your ashes.” Kiley yanked a leather pouch from her purse and threw it. It hit Kendra in the chest, releasing a little puff of dead person dust on impact, before plopping unceremoniously to the floor between them. “Who the hell have I been carrying around with me? Who have I been talking to and crying over?”

  Kendra was staring at the pouch at her feet. “Some homeless chick one of the other residents was banging. When I read about my own demise, I figured it was a chance…” She glanced over her shoulder at him. He really had to leave, he thought. “A chance at a fresh start. And I took it.” She turned her back to Kiley, making a circle, looking around the living room. “I like what you’ve done with the place. Cute curtains. Nice TV, too. You have cable?”

  Rob was stunned, even though he knew he shouldn’t be listening to any of this. Holy shit, she’d deliberately let the world think she was dead?

  “You had to know they’d notify me,” Kiley said.

  “You and Dad, yeah.” She was inspecting the kitchen now, hands in the pockets of a brown leather jacket that was completely unnecessary tonight.

  “Dad thinks you’re dead, too?” Kiley asked.

  She didn’t answer.

  “You faked your own death?” The words came out before Rob could stop them. He lowered his head. “Sorry, sorry, I’m going.”

  Kiley glanced his way briefly, and there was something pleading in her eyes. He held up a hand, nodded, and went into the kitchen, letting the two of them have the living room to themselves.

  “I can’t believe you did this, Kendra.”

  “Better than the alternative,” she replied.

  “You could’ve found me, told me.”

  “That’s what I’m doing. Or didn’t you notice?” She looked around again. “How the hell did you manage to scam the money to buy back the place?”

  “Shut up, Kendra.”

  Kendra shot Rob a look in the kitchen, then nodded once, like she got the message. He was still too close, he thought. He ought to go outside. He reached into the fridge for a beer to take with him, and knew it was true. Kiley had tried to scam him out of half the money to pay for the place. Not for the first time, he wondered how she’d managed to raise the other half.

  “Look,” Kendra said, lowering her voice a whole lot. “I’m not gonna mess up whatever you’ve got going here. I just…I need a place to crash. Just for a few days.”

  “No.”

  Just like that. But she was family. Rob clamped his jaw. This was none of his business. Why the hell hadn’t he gone outside yet? He closed the fridge, opened his beer, and headed for the door.

  Kendra lowered her head, blinked fast, like she was holding back tears. “Well, where the hell am I gonna go, then?”

  The door was open and Rob was halfway out. But he stopped where he was and cleared his throat. Two eerily similar gazes, one green, the other as blue as a summer sky, snapped his way. “Um…there might be an empty room at The Long Branch,” he said.

  “If I could afford a room, I wouldn’t be standing here begging my heartless sister to take me in,” Kendra said, her voice all soft and needy.

  Kiley’s eyes flashed with something, some kind of recognition tinged with anger. “Don’t Kendra. Not here, and not him.”

  Rob wasn’t real sure what was going on, but the air between the two sisters felt like shredded glass. “We don’t charge family,” he said. “I’ll make a call.” He picked up his phone from the coffee table and glanced at Kiley. “I’ll go outside.”

  “No, Rob. We will.” She swallowed hard. “And I’m sorry about all this.” She grabbed her sister by the arm, and marched her into the kitchen and right out the door. But she didn’t close it behind her. Instead she said, “Wait, here.” Then she came back inside, pulled the door closed behind her, and walked right to him. “I didn’t lie to you about Kendra. I thought she was dead.”

  “I got that.”

  She nodded. “Rob, no one can know she’s alive. I don’t know why she did what she did, but there had to be a reason. She’s my sister. I have to protect her.”

  She was looking down, her hair falling in ribbons he wanted to touch. He put his hands on her shoulders and she lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “It’s not just you, is it? Your whole family is full of secrets and lies.”

  She held his gaze. There was naked honesty in her eyes. At least, that’s what he thought he saw there. God knew it was what he wanted to see.

  “We were not…nice people. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted to change, to become…different. But I didn’t even know what that meant until I started spending time with you and your crazy family. But I feel like I’m doing it now. I’m becoming the person I want to be.”

  He held her blue eyes, his hands resting lightly on her hips. “That was real, wasn’t it? That was your truth.” She nodded. “I appreciate that you trusted me with it.”

  “I’m gonna need to trust you with a little bit more, Rob. She’s gotta stay dead for now. Just until I figure out what she was hiding from, and what to do with her. If not, she’s gonna be in a lot of trouble.”

  “I don’t like dishonesty. I never even considered breaking the law.”

  “I’m not asking you to lie or commit a crime. Just…don’t say anything. Just give me some time.”

  “I don’t like lying, Kiley, and I’m not very good at it. But I want to trust you and I want you trust me back.” He took a breath, made up his mind. “Yes. I’ll keep your sister’s secret for now. And I think I can convince my brothers to do the same if she takes a room at the saloon. Cause I’m not gonna lie to them about who she is, Kiley.”

  “I won’t ask you to. And thanks. That’s pretty amazing of you.”

  “You’re welcome. Now maybe you can take a moment to realize you’ve just been given a miracle. Your sister is alive.” He smiled at her. “She’s alive, Kiley.”

  She smiled too. “Yeah. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

  “It is.” His eyes kind of got stuck in hers. At some point his arms had crept around her waist and he was holding her kind of close to him.

  “So are you gonna kiss me or what?” she whispered.

  He was still smiling when he answered by hugging her tighter, and covering her mouth with his. She tasted sweet, like he’d dreamed she would. And she kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm as he was feeling.

  Enthusiasm, hell. He had unicorns dancing around in his brain, poking holes in his sanity.

  Then she pulled free of him, sent him a long, lingering look as she backed across the kitchen to the door.

  Rob watched her go through it, and she didn’t close it behind her. The two sisters walked away out toward the barn.

  His head was spinning. She wanted him, too. That made this whole thing way more serious, and therefore scary. But good scary. Roller coaster scary. He wanted to jump and click his heels, but since he wasn’t a leprechaun, he just muttered, “Hot damn,” and left it at that.

  The rest…well, hell, the rest was a knot to be untangled. But she was starting to open up to him. And that made all the rest okay.

  He called the saloon to see if his brothers could find Kendra a room.

  * * *

  Kendra shook a cigarette from a pack in her purse and lit up, blowing smoke into the night air as she paced away from the house.

  It was dark, the wide sky full of stars, crickets singing like a chorus. The air was a warm kiss on Kiley’s face. Rare thing, a humid night here. There was rain in the air.

  “Place hasn’t changed a bit, has it?” Kendra asked, rubbing her arms and looking around as if she’d missed it.

  “What is this, Kendra?” Kiley stopped walking and tried again to swallow the lump in her throat. She didn’t know what the heck had just happened between her and Rob, but it had felt very important. And she couldn’t even bask in it, much less analyze it right now, because of Kendra.

&n
bsp; She wanted to hug her sister again and weep for joy that she wasn’t dead. But it would be kind of like hugging a porcupine and hoping not to get stabbed. So she stood there in front of the house where they’d lived together, grown up together, raised hell together, and she stared at her sister in the darkness. It felt like looking at a stranger. She was so cold, so hard.

  “What do you think it is?” Kendra asked.

  “I think you heard the place was being sold and came here to try to get your hands on it.”

  Kendra started walking away from the house and around toward the back. “Is the boulder still there, down by the river?”

  “Where would it go?”

  She shrugged, took another puff. The smoke made a little cloud around her head.

  “Tell me why you came back,” Kiley said.

  “Same reason you did. I was homesick. I just…wanted to see the place again. I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “You didn’t come to buy it?”

  “With what?” She puffed, blew angrily, shook her head, her dead straight strawberry blond hair punctuating the motion. “I don’t have enough to buy a fucking cup of coffee, Kiley. I’m broke, and I’m hungry and I’m homeless. And my own sister won’t take me in. What the hell am I supposed to make of that?”

  “You’re lying.” Kiley knew for a fact her sister had money. She’d stolen it from that oversized, lovesick Dax. She glanced at the car, a late model Prius and said, “You’ve got wheels.”

  “Borrowed.”

  “Has it been reported stolen yet?”

  “Borrowed,” Kendra said again. “God Kiley, you’ve changed. What are you, some kind of princess now? Big shot landowner? How’d you get the money to pay for the place, anyway? Or is he the one who bought it?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  “What kind of game are you working here, sis?”

  Kiley shook her head. “It’s not a game.”

  “No?”

  “No.” She truly had changed, though, Kiley thought. She felt it like never before, maybe because of the stark contrast she could see between her and Kendra now that her sister was right there beside her. The pictures she’d been painting of her future life used to seem like impossible dreams. But she didn’t see them that way anymore. They were goals now. She could get there.

  Her sister was looking at her, waiting, so she tried to gather words to explain what was happening to her. “I’m trying to make a life here, Kendra. A normal life, like a normal person. I’m going to earn an honest living with this place.”

  “Sure you are. You and Mr. Moneybags in there, right? And you just happened to partner up with the richest family in town?”

  Kiley’s body went cold. She stood very still and said, “How do you know anything about Rob or his family?”

  She shrugged, puffed, blew more stinky smoke into the fresh night air. “Look, I don’t care what kind of game you’re running on him. I’m not gonna try to cut myself in and I’m not gonna mess it up. I got my own stuff going on. But I’m not leaving, either.”

  “Why? What the hell do you want here?”

  One last puff, then she dropped the butt into the grass and crushed it with her heel. “I want to be with my loving family. You know, like a normal person.” She smiled slowly, her eyes moving over Kiley’s face, and there was a threat in them.

  The screen door creaked. Kiley heard Rob’s footsteps, soft in the grass. He came out a little ways, but not too far, and called, “Jason says the fella using my old room just checked out. It’s yours if you want it, Kendra.”

  The dark look vanished and Kendra’s smile was so bright it lit the darkness. She pivoted and walked quickly back to where Rob stood. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know men like you still existed. She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed his jaw.

  Kiley stood where she was, seething, but saying nothing. She felt like she’d grown roots.

  “It’s no problem,” Rob said. But he took a sideways step away from her. “If you head back toward town—”

  “I know where it is.” She shot a quick look Kiley’s way. “I saw it on the way out here. Hard to miss.”

  He nodded. “They’re expecting you.”

  “I’ll repay you, somehow.” Then she hurried back to Kiley and hugged her hard.

  Kiley stood stiffly, trembling. It hurt that the embrace was just a part of the picture Kendra was trying to paint for Rob’s benefit. It wasn’t real. Kendra didn’t love her, didn’t care about her. Probably wouldn’t have bothered letting her know she was alive, if she didn’t see some profit in showing up and revealing herself.

  That was the part that worried her. What on earth did Kendra have to gain by showing up here in Big Falls now?

  Kendra stopped hugging and took a step back, her face cold and hard, her back to Rob. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

  There was a chill in those words. Then she plastered her big, fake smile on, turned around and walked quickly back to her car. A few minutes later, she was backing out of the driveway, turning and heading down the road.

  Rob came closer. Kiley couldn’t seem to move. She just stood there, watching the two red taillights fade in the distance, completely shocked.

  He came up to her, put his hands on her shoulders, rubbed them up and down a little. “Are you okay?”

  She forced herself to stop gazing sightlessly into the darkness, shifted to meet his eyes, and was struck again by how kind they were. And how beautiful. They were the brown of dark chocolate. “She’s bad news, Rob. She’s very bad news. You shouldn’t have put her anywhere near your family.”

  He lifted a hand as if to touch her. “My family knows a beautiful con when they see one.”

  “They do?”

  “We do. We’re decent looking, rich, and single. You think she’s gonna be the first?”

  She blinked fast, shook her head.

  “Did you think you were?”

  “Robby, that’s not…that’s not who I am. Not anymore.”

  “I know that. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  She lowered her head, saw the cigarette butt in the grass, felt dirty and polluted. Crouching, she picked it up. “I’m not proud of my past, Rob. I haven’t been…a good person. I’ve done things, illegal things. But I want to change. I’m…I’m trying to change.”

  He nodded. “You’ve already changed,” he said. “Look, maybe I don’t know who you’ve been. But I think I know who you are.”

  She shook her head.

  “You’re Kiley Kellogg, co-owner of the Holiday Ranch of Big Falls, Oklahoma. Entrepreneur and all-around good person. And you need to get some sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  “About what?”

  “Dragging you into this mess with my sister?”

  “I might’ve been. But that kiss in the kitchen kind of melted me into a puddle at your feet.” His fingers threaded into her hair, and he leaned in a little bit.

  “I thought I was the one melting,” she whispered. She felt the pull of him, the way her body swayed closer as if drawn by his gravity. He kissed her, just a soft brush of his impossibly soft lips over hers. Then he straightened away, took her hand, and tugged her further away from the house, all the way out toward the end of the driveway. He clasped her shoulders, turned her to face the house and said, “Notice anything different?”

  “It’s dark outside, Rob. How am I gonna notice—”

  “Wait right here. Do not move from this spot.” Then he ran inside. She heard his feet pounding up the stairs and frowned, wondering what he was up to. Then suddenly, the attic light came on, and its stained glass window came to life.

  He came running back out about the time her tears made those jewel toned light beams turn liquid. “How did you…where was…my God, Rob, it’s beautiful.”

  “Found it in the attic. Thought I’d surprise you by getting it fixed and…” He stopped and stared down at her. �
��I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you. Thank you, Rob. I don’t…I don’t know how I wound up here with you. How I deserve…you’re just amazing.”

  “Glad you think so.” He held her against him, one hand stroking her hair. “If finding things in the attic earns me this kind of gratitude, maybe I should mention that I also found a boxful of little girl books, an old guitar, and—”

  “Guitar? You found my old guitar too?” She let go of him and ran into the house, straight through, up the stairs and into the bedroom closet. In a flash she’d tugged down the stairs and was in the attic, looking around at all the stuff.

  “Over there,” Rob said. He was partway up the ladder, and he pointed.

  She ran to the corner, picked up the case, brushed off the dust. “The case has a tortoiseshell pattern to it under all this grime. I wonder if the guitar’s still okay?”

  “The place has been warm and dry, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be.” He nodded at her to proceed.

  Biting her lip, Kiley flipped the latches and opened the hardshell case. Inside, her precious Gibson still gleamed. She took it out and cradled it in her arms. “I didn’t have the chance to take it with me.”

  “It’s special to you.”

  She nodded. “It was my mother’s. It’s the only thing of hers I had. Until I got her ranch back.”

  “You didn’t have an easy start in life, did you, Kiley?”

  “Does anybody, really?”

  He shrugged. She adjusted her grip on the instrument, brushed her thumb across the strings, and made a face at the discordant sounds they made. “Probably needs all new strings.” She replaced the guitar in the case, and closed the lid. “I really like you, Rob. A lot.”

  He smiled. “I like you back.”

  “I don’t want to screw up our business stuff,” she said.

  “I don’t want that either. But at the same time, I don’t want to pass up what could be…something important. Something special.”

  “You think this might be…something like that?”

  “I’m thinking it might be, yeah.”

  Her smile was impossible to tame. “I’m glad I’m not the only one.”