There was a pause in all sound, a slight tensing of the air that had him shifting uncomfortably.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m going to get her up here in a moment, but you don’t have to worry over breakfast. She wants to eat something, let her cook it.”
Knox about cleared the doorway when Lydia spoke up, catching him at the last moment. “Knox?”
He turned to find her looking unusually fidgety, almost nervous like.
“I know it’s not my place, but…well, this is the first woman who has stayed over.”
“I wouldn’t make too much of it, Lydia. Her house got vandalized and she just needed a safe place to rest. I’m going to be heading over there this afternoon to taken care of it for her so she can stay there tonight.” Knox paused and then added for his conscience. “If she wants.”
“I see.”
The look in Lydia’s eyes said she saw too much, making Knox uncomfortable. Damnit. She is not going to be moving in here. It would only lead to trouble, more trouble than Amanda already led to. Her moving back into her house as soon as possible would restore order to his house faster.
That’s what Knox wanted out of life. Order, structure, control. He might never have loved Sharon the way Cody had, but he’d appreciated all the qualities that had making her a perfect fit in their family. Amanda has none of those qualities.
Worse, he knew she would never learn them. A man could hope to tame a vixen, but he’d be a fool to think he could ever turn her into a paragon of womanhood. It would be best for everybody if she decided to return back to her house, but he’d promised Jace not to push. That doesn’t mean I’m going to pansy around my own house just to make the girl feel welcome.
Bracing himself, Knox entered his bedroom to find Amanda just where he’d left her, sprawled out naked across his bed. The bed sheet twisted around her like a seductive veil. It drew graceful lines over her body, hiding the most enticing parts in its shadowed folds. How much fun would it be to unwind that present?
Knox clenched his teeth and bit down on the urge. So he wanted her, any man with a functioning dick who walked into this room would want Amanda. Whether or not they remembered she was nothing but trouble was what separated the boys from the men. Knox had become a man a long time ago.
* * * *
“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”
The low, husky voice prodded at Amanda in the most annoying way. She didn’t feel up to responding. Instead, Amanda used what little energy she could muster to roll deeper into the soft, warm mattress engulfing her in the safe and comfortable scent of her lovers.
“Come on, sunshine, get up.”
“Go away!”
She had to speak this time, the ruthless little bastard bounced her world, trying to jar it back toward reality. Amanda stubbornly clung to the shifting edges of her dreamland, unwilling to let go of the peace and simplicity of sleep.
“You want just five more minutes, don’t you, baby girl?”
“Yes.” Good. He’s willing to negotiate in five minutes…that’s all I need…
“Too damn bad,” the voice barked a second before he ripped her dream world to shreds.
Amanda shrieked as the sheet whipped around her so fast it left a slight sting along her body. The cold air hit her warm skin even as piercing shards of sunlight lacerated the darkness. She screamed in outright outrage at the inhumanity of whoever dared to disturb her.
Knox. She should have figured that out minutes ago.
“Time to get up.” He tossed the sheet dangling from his hands onto the floor and without another word started to saunter out the door.
Aye, aye, Captain Jackass! Amanda bent over and wrenched the sheet back onto the bed. Sticking her tongue out at Knox’s back, she rolled the sheet right over her head and fell backward. Cocooned in the warmth of sleep remembered, Amanda waited. The solid thumps of his footsteps came to a sudden stop and she could sense him turning around.
Thud…thump…thud…thump.
Beneath the sheet, the air grew hot with the release of her pent up breath. Under her ribs her heart kicked into high gear, sending flurries of nerves out with each pump of blood. Her whole body felt on fire as she tensed in anticipation of what the man looming over her intended to do.
“What are you doing?”
The growled demand sent all the butterflies trapped inside into a flutter and she couldn’t help but smile. If he needed an explanation, then he wasn’t half as smart as she assumed. Amanda knew Knox was a bright man, bright enough to figure out when he was being insulted silently. Amanda rolled, presenting him with her back.
“So, it’s going to be like that, is it?”
She clenched the pillow she held tighter as if it had the weight to anchor her in the storm she could sense brewing overhead. Let him crack thunder, she’d show the stupid bastard lightning struck from the ground up.
“You sure you want to play this game with me, baby girl?”
Oh…In a dramatic display, she reared up. Clutching the sheet like a cloak, she rose right up on top of the mattress to boldly confront him nose to nose.
“Listen up, Dumbo.” She projected, making sure he knew he didn’t intimidate her one inch. “The name is Amanda. If it’s too many syllables for your little masculine brain to remember, then just go with Mandy!”
With that, she collapsed back down on the bed, rolling to her stomach. She fully expected to be ripped right out of the bed. It actually kind of disappointed her when nothing happened. He still stood there, a dark, heavy shadow across the sheets and she could almost see his outline shiver as he fought for control.
Control was important to Knox, she’d already figured that out. After last night’s performance, she also learned he was most fun and most dangerous when unleashed.
“What about your job?”
“I’ll call in. I got the days.”
“I’m not supporting you if you get fired.”
That whipped Amanda’s head right out from under the sheet. “Excuse me?”
“I’m just letting you know the rules of this game. You can spend any and every night in any and every one of our beds, but don’t expect to be compensated.”
It took a moment for that one to sink in just because it was so insulting. He knew it, too. She could read the anticipation gaze. Knox wanted her mad, well she would get even instead. She just had to figure out how.
Ah, just smack him.
And what? End up stretched out beneath him moaning how much more you want, because that is what he’s going to do. And how much more humiliating would that be?
Even as the idea occurred to her, she knew Knox’s game. They weren’t going to play his game. They were going to play hers, once Amanda figured out what it was. She certainly couldn’t do it with the Grand Master Asshole looming overhead.
Without a word to him she rolled off the bed while sweeping up the sheet with her. Wearing it like a gown she glided off toward the bathroom without a backward look at him and slammed the door.
* * * *
Knox flinched slightly at the bang of the door hitting its frame. You called the girl a whore. Right after he promised Jace he wouldn’t chase her away. A broken promise to his brother didn’t bother him half as much as the look he saw in her eyes. He’d hurt Amanda and he didn’t mean to do it.
Damn woman, I warned her about playing this game. Of course she hadn’t listened. He already learned Amanda ignored all signs and so she got burned. Damn if he would apologize for it. She already knew what kind of ass he could be and she still toyed with him. Well, she wouldn’t make that mistake anymore.
Knox sighed. He might as well just admit it. He had a problem. He liked Amanda Johnson, couldn’t stay away from her when she was near. He liked her a lot, and that fact irritated him into being a bigger ass than the girl deserved. He probably should just apologize. As he stared at the door he tried just to say the words.
“Amanda, I’m…I shouldn’t…”
Okay, so that’s not happening. Besides the idea of what Amanda would do with an apology, a real, formal apology made Knox a little nervous. He’d make it up to her in some way or maybe he’d just do her the favor of staying out of her way for the rest of the morning and hope the shower helped calm her down.
* * * *
Amanda had not calmed down by the time she finished showering. She still wanted a piece of Knox’s hide, intended to have it once she found some clothes and armored herself. And just where the hell are my clothes?
She tore apart Knox’s room, delighting in trashing it as she looked for her bag. Truthfully, she went a little further than necessary just out of spite. Looking through Jace’s room at the other end of the connected bathroom didn’t produce any different results except he wouldn’t have to waste an hour cleaning tonight.
That consideration didn’t negate the fact she still had nothing more to wear than a towel, an annoyance quickly blossoming into an outrage. She knew Cindy had packed some clothes for her. She saw Cindy give the bag to Cody and it had been on strapped to the back of his saddle…Ah, crap. Those bastards probably left it out in the barn just to keep me naked.
Well if they thought she wouldn’t walk out to the barn, proud and regal in nothing more than her towel…they were right about that. Damnit! Left with only one door and one hope, Amanda prayed she’d find her clothes in the last bedroom at the end of the hall. Expecting a guest room or an unused master bedroom, Amanda was unprepared for what waited on the other side.
Sweet, feminine, perfumed air wafted out as the knob slid from her hands and the door rolled back on its hinges. Wow. Amanda stood stock still in the doorway stunned by the enormity, the elegance of the room.
Twice as big as any of the other bedrooms, it housed a bed that could only be so big for one single purpose. Canopied in lace, it sat directly across from the door and took up almost half the wall. Night tables covered in soft, pink fabric with delicate, floral-painted, porcelain lamps centered on them banked either side of the bed.
Light flooded the room from windows set in all three exterior walls. Twinkling, glittering crystal vases, perfume dispensers and Q-tip jars cast a rainbow of soft colors across the floor as sunlight fell across the vanity tucked under one set of windows.
Feminine and frilly, this went beyond being a girl’s room. It was a room for a true princess. Sharon. The realization this room belonged to her, even years after her death, made something sad and savage twist through Amanda. Jace’s confession of love drifted through her head, but instead of filling her with warmth as it had moments earlier, it drenched her in a cold reality. He might love her, but he worshipped Sharon.
How can I ever compete with a ghost? Amanda couldn’t. She couldn’t compete with this. This room wasn’t stale or musty. There were no cobwebs or gathering dust to proclaim this a shrine to a mistress so long forgotten time had been allowed to overtake it. This was an open wound, still bleeding, still keeping imprisoned what belonged to it.
That is exactly what the Reese brothers are, prisoners of the past. How much more evidence did she need? They kept a room as homage to their lost love. They kept her mother basically under the same roof. It proved they were capable of great love, even as it showed the position had already been filled.
No man will ever love me like this. Amanda wasn’t that special. Just the opposite.
“What are you doing?”
Amanda’s head snapped around at that piercing shriek. She almost got bulldozed over by Lydia as she came rushing down the hall in a frantic frenzy. Not shockingly, her screams of protest as she charged Amanda drew Knox’s dark shadow to the den door.
Heat flooded her face and she stumbled over her words as well as her feet as she got out of Lydia’s way. “I’m just…looking for my bags.”
“Well, they’re not in there,” Lydia snapped. “I told you not to go snooping!”
Amanda’s legs didn’t move, frozen with fear and humiliation. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Get out of there.”
Lydia shoved her right through the door and slammed it in her face. Amanda stared at it in horror. She’d never meant to cause the woman that kind of distress.
“What did you do now?”
As bad as Amanda felt, she still tensed as Knox’s dark growl hit her. Turning, she squared her shoulders and faced him. Amanda might not be ready for this confrontation, but she wouldn’t buckle under it. “Nothing for that woman to go all psycho about. I was just looking for my clothes.”
“That woman,” Knox growled back, “is the mother of our deceased fiancée, and I’d think even a woman of your class would know to show some respect.”
Amanda’s jaw dropped and then snapped back with an audible click. “A woman of my class?”
“Yeah, one that doesn’t know where her clothes are.”
“Well I guess that makes us a matched pair considering you’re the type of man that hides a woman’s clothes from her.”
“Your clothes are in the guest room,” Knox snarled. “That’s what you are here, a guest. Let me show you where you belong.”
Amanda clenched her teeth and bit back just what she wanted to say. Couldn’t the man show at least one second of softness? Apparently not, and she hated herself for doing it, but she followed in his shadow. She had no choice if she wanted to wear anything other than terry cloth.
Silently brooding the whole way, she followed him back down the hall, past the doorway to the kitchen and through the living room until Knox brought her to a stop in front of the door tucked into the far corner of the living room. He threw it open to reveal a small, orderly, sterile looking bedroom.
With a grim look, Knox left her standing alone in the cold, clinical-style room. Jackass! The man was certifiably cruel. Amanda might have made a mistake in entering Sharon’s old room, but it was an honest mistake. She certainly hadn’t meant to trespass or cause any harm. Of course the jackass hadn’t give her any opportunity to explain. No. He’d treated her like some gold-digging slut who needed to be put in her place.
Amanda had enough.
Chapter 35
“So I wrote, ‘Thanks for last night. Had a wonderful time.’ Then I lathered up the lipstick and gave the paper a big old kiss, slid a twenty into it, folded it over and wrote ‘Knox’ on the top in big, bold letters.”
Amanda paused to take a swig of her beer. She didn’t care too much for the bitter taste, but tonight she needed just a little liquid fortification. All day she’d been obsessing over the details of her morning misadventure at the Reese brothers’ ranch. Half the time she felt justified and almost giddy at the idea of what kind of response her departure would cause.
Other times, though, she wondered if maybe, just possibly, she’d completely lost it. That’s why Amanda had dragged Cindy out for a beer right after work, even though Cindy never drank. She needed an objective person’s opinion.
“You’re insane.” Cindy stared at her as she shook her head.
“Ah what the hell do you know,” Amanda shot back. “If you woke up with your lover telling you he isn’t going to compensate you, you’d probably kill him.”
“No. I’d want him to suffer a long time before he got that release, but at least crushing his balls in a vise would be kinder than screwing around with his head.”
Amanda glared. “I’m not screwing with anybody’s head.”
“No.” Cindy exaggerated the word, making it into a joke before she leveled a straight look at Amanda. “So, what do you think happened if Lydia found that little love letter?”
“She’d steal the twenty.”
“Amanda!” Cindy’s eyes widened.
“I’m sorry.” Amanda hunched her shoulders. She didn’t want to be sorry. “But just because the woman lost a daughter doesn’t mean she isn’t a bitch.”
“Well you’re screwing the men who belonged to her dead daughter. I think that gives her some right not to be welcoming,” Cindy shot back.
Am
anda wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That’s so unfair. Just because I’m sleeping with her daughter’s former fiancés, I have to be nice to her no matter how horrible she is to me?”
“Yep.” Cindy smirked. “That’s the way it works.”
Amanda glared at her beer. “What bullshit. I lost my mother and my brother and I don’t see anybody going out of their way to be nice to me.”
Cindy snorted. “Why do you think I’m your friend?”
“Tonight? To hide from Tony, or am I keeping you from a bed and a pair of handcuffs?” Amanda smirked.
Cindy stilled. “We are not discussing that.”
It might have been wrong of her, but Amanda perked up at the sight of her friend’s distress. “Why not? Don’t want to admit you liked it?”
“He took advantage of me,” Cindy snarled. “I was cuffed!”
That deserved an eye roll from Amanda. “Still made you come, didn’t he?”
Amanda couldn’t look at Cindy as she delivered that punch, but twirled her bottle between her hands across the unsmooth, pitted surface of the table. The bottle clanged and swirled off as she jerked under the impact of Cindy kicking her in the shin.
“Ow.” She shot a dirty look at Cindy.
“What about Knox?” Cindy sneered. “You come for him?”
“You’re such a bitch.”
That brought the obnoxious little twist back to Cindy’s lips. “You want to say no, but you can’t.”
“No I can’t. I just hope he’s paying for it now.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Why should I tell you?” Amanda straightened her empty beer bottle.
“Amanda.”
She cut a hard glance at Cindy, thinking now maybe she should have just drank alone. “What?”
“What did you mean by that?”
“Nothing.”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to figure it out.” Amanda watched morosely as Cindy settled back into the booth, thinking aloud. “You left an inflammatory note right there in the middle of the living room and apparently not just to piss Knox off or horrify Lydia, so that means you expect the other brothers to find out about it, right? Nobody else in the house.”
Kansas Heat Page 32
