by Camryn Rhys
“Sullen?” Her amused tone didn’t erase the tension on her pretty features. “I’m just trying to get a quick wash-off before the guys come down to the river.”
“You’re all cranky.” Mattie squeezed her daughter’s hand. “I can tell.”
“I’m not cranky. I’m just…I’m tired.”
“It’s more than tired.”
Jamie’s breath came out fast and she yanked her hand away. “Jeez, Mom. Seriously. Leave it alone.”
“Is this you being cranky about your little friend losing her job, still? Brady told me you were—”
“Stop it!” The quaver in her voice shook Mattie deep, and when her daughter stopped walking, she stopped, too. Jamie sank back against one of the white trees and leaned over her legs. “Just. Stop.”
Mattie’s heart twisted at the tears in her daughter’s voice. She stepped forward, but Jamie swiped at the air. Her features were twisted in a silent sob, and when she sucked in a breath, the sadness came with it.
“Will you just… Stop?” Jamie blinked at her, all red eyes and tears.
Mattie clenched her fists against her chest. “Fine. But tell me what’s wrong.”
Her daughter’s thick, dark hair swished back and forth as she shook her head, strands getting caught in the tree bark. “I can’t tell you. If I do…” Her voice trailed off. “I…just can’t.”
“Jamie.” Mattie stepped forward and caught her hands as they came up to fight again. “You have to tell me what’s going on.”
“I…I…” Her daughter’s eyes were round, desperate, red. She blinked and looked away, around. “I slept with Kyle last night.”
Mattie couldn’t help a momentary internal squeal, but something was off. This wasn’t the I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-my-mom-about-sex embarrassment. There was something else going on. She tightened her hands and pulled Jamie towards her.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about sleeping with Kyle.” She smoothed Jamie’s ponytail to one side, pulling the strands away from the tree and her daughter fully into her arms.
“What?” She yanked herself back. “Are you…don’t…Mom! I mean, apart from the fact that you think he’s married, I can’t believe—”
“He—” Mattie froze. Married? “I didn’t…I didn’t know that.”
“He’s not married anymore.” Jamie sighed. “He got divorced, but Brady thinks he’s married still. That’s why he hired him.”
“Why he—” She clapped her mouth shut and put a hand over her lips. Oh God. What have I done?
“That’s the whole reason he got this job. So there wouldn’t be any…well…” She waved her hands toward the campsite. “This. This is exactly what he was trying to avoid. Now things are awkward between us and I don’t know what to do. But we can’t get away from each other, because… This stupid trail ride.”
Mattie looked around the thickening woods, trying to find somewhere for her eyes to rest. Brady’s insane quest to force Paul into recovery was impacting more than just Charity Keller. Something had to be done.
“Well, now you’ve told me, and we’ll worry about your brother.” She nodded, trying to convince herself that somehow magick hadn’t screwed this all up beyond repair. “It just can’t happen again out here. For the sake of the business.”
Jamie’s forehead wrinkled and she bit the edge of her lip. “Not that easy.”
“Why not?”
“Because now I have…feelings for him, which is just—” She barked out a laugh. “I hate feelings.”
Mattie rocked back and forth from toes to heels. Magick had screwed up this situation beyond repair. First Brady, then Paul, and now Jamie. Sharp heat burned its way up the back of her throat and she choked back tears of her own. Maybe it’s time to put the magick away. For good.
“Jamie. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do this to me. It’s just life.” She hugged herself with bare, pebble-skinned arms. “I either have to confront Brady about the stupid rules, or I have to—” She stopped, flipping her eyes up toward the sky.
Mattie pushed out a long breath. Her children had been dealt their share of hard knocks in the last several years, and she was tired of it. She had half a mind to try contacting her aunt Sarah and ask for the forgetting spell. It was the one spell Mama had written about, but never transcribed. Too dangerous, she’d always said.
But she wanted happiness. She wanted it for Brady. And for Paul. And for Jamie. And maybe this was the only way. If they could all just forget. Make new lives.
A tear leaked out the corner of her eye and she brushed it away, plastering on a smile. “I’ll tell you what. You go down to the river, and I’ll talk to Brady. See if maybe I can relieve you, and we can tell people that you…I don’t know…got food poisoning or something. I’ll finish out the trail ride with Kyle and it will be like nothing happened.”
“I love you, Mom. But I need to fix this myself.” Jamie sniffed and shook her head. “I just…it’s not going to be much fun. And there will be fallout, all over the place.”
“I’m not sure why.”
“Because there will be. Trust me.” Jamie’s brow furrowed hard. “I’m going to go down to the river. I’ll see you at dinner.”
When her daughter walked away, Mattie couldn’t help the pang of guilt that threaded its way through her system. All the way through. This was all her fault and she was going to fix it.
Chapter Fourteen
Jamie slipped on a new t-shirt, careful to wear the green staff uniform she’d forgotten that morning. She felt around under her sleeping bag and found the last energy bar. Her stomach was growling something fierce.
When she unwrapped the bar and bit into it, there was a bitterness that put her off, and she shoved it into her pocket with a long sigh. There was no getting around the fact that she was hungry. And the food smelled amazing. As always. Wafting down from the campsite toward her isolated tent.
But Jamie wasn’t about to go up there. Not with her mother still around, and Kyle there, too. It was going to have to wait.
She slipped out of her tent and jogged up to the corral. The light was starting to get a little low in the sky, but once she’d made it into the clearing, she could see her brother more clearly. There were still a few people hanging around, but none of them seemed to be talking to Brady, which was understandable. On his best days, he could be severe.
Today, he seemed almost angry.
Jamie called his name, but he didn’t look up. She pounded on the wooden pole he was leaning against, and he grunted at her.
He had a lead rope in his hands and was pulling on a tight knot. “These people. They think someone is just going to come along after them and clean up their messes all the time.” His voice rose a bit on clean up their messes and she stifled a laugh. Her brother was a strange, unassuming blend of hard cowboy and confirmed hermit. Even his face was a conundrum. Sometimes hard, sometimes hidden. Inscrutable, Mama called him.
Jamie climbed up the posts to sit on top of the corral. “You should make them do this work, then. It’s the only way they’ll learn.”
Brady glanced over at the group who’d crowded around Lana.
Lana. The sour taste reappeared in her mouth. She still couldn’t put her finger on what it was she didn’t like about the blonde chick. Probably because there was so much dumb stuff to put her finger on.
Not the least of which was the way she seemed to move her attention so quickly. First, Paul. Then Kyle. Then Ray. Then Jim. And the only reason she hadn’t been throwing herself at the other guys yet, was probably because she was picking through the herd to find the best stock.
She’d certainly hit the jackpot with Paul. Or with Kyle. Attractive guys, and not total idiots. Ray wasn’t half-bad. And Jim was a lawyer, so he probably had money. Although, he seemed dumb as a rock, like most men.
But Lana had steered clear of Brady after that first encounter. Maybe she could sense he wasn’t picking up w
hat she was putting down. Whatever the reason, her brother was clearly unimpressed.
“How has she been?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the group without looking up.
Jamie shrugged. “It was good that Paul left, let’s just say that.”
“Has she found a match?”
“Not yet.”
“None of the guys have worked out?”
“She appears to be reserving judgment until she’s sampled a little of everything we have to offer.” She found herself smiling. That was so something Kyle would say.
Strange that she knew that.
“Well, she’s trouble.”
“You keep saying that.” Jamie kicked at Brady’s shoulder. “Do you have a thing for her?”
He snorted, laughed, and kept tugging on the rope. “Dream on.”
“Well, you ask about her enough.”
“Fine.” Her brother smacked the rope against her leg. “Then let’s talk about Kyle.”
Jamie winced and rubbed at her calf, steadying herself with her other leg around the post. Something rolled through her when she heard his name. It was a strange, hungry feeling. Dammit, she needed food. “What about Kyle?”
“How’s he working out?”
She glanced toward the campsite, where there was a little smoke, undoubtedly from the chuckwagon. “In what way?”
Brady dropped the rope against one thigh. “What do you mean, in what way, Jame? There’s only one way.”
“Right. The cooking.” She nodded. “He’s good.”
“Better than Charity?”
“I don’t know.” She jumped off the edge of the corral and landed hard beside her brother.
One of the near horses looked up and snorted. She walked over and petted his neck. He was still slick from the saddle and she looked over his back, toward Lana and the men gathered around her.
“Hey, Troy. Weren’t you guys supposed to brush down the horses?”
Troy looked up, and so did the other two. Their eyes flipped back down, immediately, and they nodded.
“Sure, Jamie,” Troy said. “We’ll do it now.”
“And why don’t you do this?” She grabbed the rope from Brady’s hands and tossed it across the corral. It landed at Lana’s feet. “Check all the other lead ropes. Make sure there are no knots.”
Lana looked like she might protest, but her mouth snapped shut. She picked up the rope, giving the whole world a nice eye full of her cleavage.
Jamie was tempted to roll her eyes, but Brady was watching her too closely.
“Yes, ma’am,” Lana said with a salute. She started in on the rope and kept giving the guys the side-eye.
Lord help the man who gets stuck with her. He’d never be able to trust her around other men. Ever. And if they didn’t learn this the easy way around her on the trail, they’d learn the hard way later.
“Walk with me,” Brady said, with a lift of his chin. He stooped under the middle plank and out of the corral.
Jamie followed suit, heart in her throat. That low rumble of his was never a good tone of voice. It usually meant trouble.
“What did Mom say to you?” he asked, taking the path down toward the campsite.
Jamie slowed her steps. “When?”
“When she followed you down to the river.”
“She thought…” She was afraid to keep answering the question. She couldn’t tell Brady what their mother had learned, or the outburst that’d led her to say it. They were still too fresh, the stupid feelings.
“She thought what?”
Jamie tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it wouldn’t go down. “She thought I needed to talk about Charity.”
Brady’s sigh was long and overdrawn, and he took off his cowboy hat in the process. “Charity again.”
“I didn’t, by the way.”
“Didn’t what?”
“Need to talk about Charity.” She stopped, pulling her brother to face her. They were getting too close to the camp site.
He raised one thick eyebrow. “You’re finally laying that to rest?”
“I’m not saying I’m wild about the stupid rules you have.” She looked down at his boots, afraid that if she kept looking in his eyes, he’d see something that would give away her secret.
“Stupid rules?”
“I think it’s dumb that you make rules about what adults can do with their own bodies when everyone is consenting.” Jamie opened her mouth to continue, but Brady snaked his finger under her chin and pulled her head up to meet her eyes.
“Jamie. You’ve got this all wrong.” His forehead creased and she mentally prepared herself for another lecture. But his eyes went soft. “I’m running a trail ride where my little sister and my little brother are required to be there because they’re staff. These people are out here looking for a good time. They’re not here for their soul-mates. I don’t care what Mom thinks.”
He released her, but the earnest look on his face didn’t change. “The rules are there because my siblings are not on the menu.”
Jamie felt tears rise up again and she tried to hold her breath to keep them at bay. She’d never heard Brady talk so much in her life. Or be quite so emotional. She’d always known he loved her, and he would protect her if she needed it, but to see him lay his heart out like this… She stepped toward him and slid her arms around his waist. “You could have said.” She let a tear slip down the side of her nose, but went back to holding her breath.
Brady hugged her, slipping his hand under her ponytail and pressing her head into his broad chest. “You’re my sister, Jame. These guys are animals. I know you’re not much for all the love stuff, so I don’t push this. But the rules are there to protect you. You fall in love with somebody out here, you’re not going to get in trouble, and neither will they.”
“But what about Paul?”
“That’s a different story.”
She squeezed him and stepped away, looking up into his silvery blue eyes.
“You fired Charity, but she was in love with Paul.”
Her brother crossed his arms and the scowl came back. “I know you were mad about her. And you think I’ve been harder on Paul than I should. But he’s not in a head space where he can say no to sex.”
“You don’t think he cares about Charity, then?”
“God, no.” Brady laughed, but there was no joy in his features. “He hasn’t said a word about her since she packed her bags.”
Her chest tightened, locking down her breath for a moment. Had Charity lied to her? Or was she just oblivious? Either way, was it worth trying to take Kyle’s job when the whole idea of Charity and Paul together might be dust in the wind?
“Have you been talking to her?” Brady’s voice cut in before she could answer herself, but it was a question that required a response.
“I talked to her. It’s not a big deal.” She brushed her fingers against his t-shirt like he had a fly on him, but Brady narrowed his eyes.
“She told you that Paul still has a thing going with her?”
“No.” Jamie pushed on his arm this time. “No. He’s fine. She’s my friend, Brady. She’s just calling me for support.”
“I don’t give a shit what Paul does in his free time. But that girl is trouble.” He glanced up at a crack in the brush and he whispered, “Speaking of trouble.”
She followed his eyes and saw Lana’s long, lithe body slipping through the woods, not far from them.
She had one of the Cheyenne guys with her—Jamie still couldn’t tell them apart, they looked so much alike—and she was pulling his shirt and pawing at him, like she thought they were alone.
Brady rolled his eyes and leaned against one of the trees.
Jamie was pretty certain that Lana saw them, although, she couldn’t be sure about the guy with her. The woman had no shame.
“She seems like a liability waiting to happen,” her brother said, keeping his voice low and following the couple with his eyes. “We should start vetting the c
lientele.”
“Mom would never go for that,” Jamie said with a short laugh. “She thinks Fate brings everyone here.”
His face dropped into serious lines, and he pulled his brows together. “Mom is a little deluded when it comes to Fate, I think.”
“Hey, let her believe what she wants.” She nodded toward the pawing couple. “Maybe Lana’s being here has a purpose, too. You never know.”
“Don’t tell me you’re buying in, now.”
Jamie found her eyes wandering toward the campsite, which was barely visible through the trees. The campfire had been lit and most of the clients were milling around the tables, probably where Kyle was preparing food. She should get down there.
But Kyle.
Jamie couldn’t face him yet. She still had too much to figure out.
She turned away, back toward the corral, just as Brady stepped down the path to the campsite.
“You’re not coming?” he asked, thumbing toward the food.
“I’ve got to make sure they brushed down those horses first.” She gave him a tight smile. “I’ll be there in a bit.”
But she might just stay with the horses until dark. She didn’t have the words for Kyle yet. Maybe she never would.
How do you tell a guy you slept with his sister? Kyle couldn’t stop the thought from floating through his head when the big cowboy came clomping into the circle of his makeshift kitchen with a scowl on his face.
Maybe he already knew.
Or maybe he was always scowling.
“You know this Lana chick?” Brady asked.
Kyle’s body locked up and his breath caught in the lie that was about to come out of his mouth. He just couldn’t keep lying to everyone. He swallowed and nodded.
His boss shook his head. “I just caught her giving head to some guy in the woods.”
“Really?”
Brady’s body language was tight, coiled, like he was ready to pounce. He sneered back at the pathway. “And she’s not even trying to hide it.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. I know.” He rested a hand on the edge of the prep station and glanced around the campsite. “I shouldn’t be talking about this in front of the other clients, though.”
