Maya walked out to the rental car she’d picked up that morning and drove to the grocery store. When she pulled up, she noticed several people congregated near a newspaper vending machine. Several of them looked up, and one of them did a double-take then looked away. Maya didn’t hesitate as she walked through the door, merely smiled and continued on. Maybe he’d thought she was someone he knew for a second.
Batson’s Grocery was quiet except for the occasional sound of grocery carts being stacked together and the elevator music playing through the public address system. The faint scent of bleach filled the air as she walked up and down the aisles of the small, locally owned grocery store pushing a shopping cart. She glanced out the large plateglass windows at the front of the grocery store and noticed the crowd was dispersing. Two women remained, looking into the grocery store, staring straight at her and whispering to each other.
In the checkout line, a little woman with reading glasses perched on her nose stood behind Maya. In a kindly voice she said, “They’ve put two and two together, young lady. Or three and one as the case may be.” The little woman had to be in her seventies and could not have stood much over four and a half feet tall.
“I’m sorry, ma’am? Were you speaking to me?”
“Yes, dear.” The woman held out her small hand to shake Maya’s. Her grip belied her age. “I’m Evelyn. A friend of Grace, Juliana, and Teresa’s.” She gestured to the window. “Those busy-bodies out there. They know why you are in town and who you are with.”
“You’re a friend of Grace’s?” Maya asked as she placed everything on the conveyor belt for the cashier.
“Yes. Both Grace and Teresa used to work at Stigall’s with me. I was the bookkeeper for many years. Of course, I know about their family situations,” she said in a confidential whisper, “and I thought you should be warned.” Evelyn pointed at the women, who were still staring in the window. “If those two should try to be friendly with you, be wary. They are very vocal and unkind in their opinions of the way Grace and Teresa live their lives. Rosemary Garner, too, I suppose, but they’ve learned to steer clear of her. You should avoid them if you can.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll bear that in mind, ma’am.” Maya paid the cashier after the total for her groceries was rung up.
The older woman smiled at her and said, “Call me Evelyn. I’m practically family to Grace and her bunch. I wish you well, Miss Daire. Oh! And I’m so glad you’ve suffered no ill effects from the rattlesnake bite.”
Maya smiled at her, remembering the small-town newspaper reporter who had shown up at the hospital the day of the rattlesnake bite. That must be how Evelyn had known her name. Word got around fast in this small town, even over mundane things, it seemed. Could she have been the topic of discussion at that newspaper vending machine? She bid the helpful woman good-bye and took her bags to the car.
After placing them in the trunk, she went around to the door. A piece of notepaper was folded and wedged between the molding and glass of the driver’s side window. She looked about as she slid it free. No one was standing nearby, but she felt a tingle go up her spine. She wondered if someone was watching her. She unfolded the paper and read it.
You would do well to return to the city from which you came, Ms. Daire. We have no need for more women of loose moral character infecting our beautiful town. What you are doing is wrong, immoral, and disgusting. You should be arrested along with all the other women living in bigamous and polygamous marriages in Divine for leading men of integrity onto the path of destruction. This is the only warning you’ll get. If you stay, you’ll regret it.
Maya’s first impulse was to wad the note up and throw it into the air over her shoulder, disregarding the threat. This was America and she and her men weren’t hurting anyone. She knew as long as they conducted themselves with decorum nobody could do anything to them. That didn’t mean the stranger who left the note wouldn’t act alone though.
Holding the note by its edges, she went to the trunk and dug through the shopping bags until she found the item she was looking for. She carefully slipped the note into a zip-up sandwich bag then placed it in her purse. It gave her the heebie-jeebies to see that they knew her by name, and alternately pissed the hell out of her that the writer of the note didn’t have the balls to sign it.
She climbed in the car and thought about texting one of the guys. It was three o’clock and she knew if she let them know now they would worry about it the rest of their workday. There wasn’t anything she could do about the threat except go home and continue on with her day. She was cooking supper tonight and wanted to get an early start.
She backed the blue sedan out of the parking space, taking a moment to look around at the other cars in the parking lot. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, no stalkers lurking. She gave herself a mental shake.
One of those two women had probably tucked that note into her window, expressing their moral outrage, hoping to intimidate her. They didn’t know Maya Daire very well if they thought she was going to slink away like a whipped puppy with her tail tucked between her legs. She didn’t value their opinions, and what they thought wasn’t going to change her plans. She was staying in Divine, and she was going to socialize with whomever she damn well pleased.
* * * *
“There you are,” Frank Reeves muttered as he sat hunched in front of his laptop computer, staring at the online newspaper article featuring Maya. The unlucky girl had tangled with a rattlesnake and made the front page of the small-town newspaper. It hadn’t occurred to him until yesterday that if he was going to set up Google Alerts for her, there was always the possibility her name might be misspelled “Dare” instead of Daire. Such had been the case, as he looked at the caption that went along with the article. It was just his luck the small-town newspaper reporter had gotten it wrong. But that hadn’t stopped him from finding her. Nor would he be impeded in bringing her ass back to San Marcos where she belonged. Right beside Morgan Daire, six feet under.
Chapter Seventeen
Maya was checking the bubbling casserole in the oven when a knock sounded at the door. Boone got up from the couch where he’d been doing paperwork for the ranch and answered it. She closed the oven door and looked behind her as Ethan waved and said hello to her from the doorway and murmured to Boone. He slipped outside with Ethan, and she went back to slicing a tomato for a salad.
She smiled as she rinsed the knife and laid it aside. The casserole needed at least fifteen more minutes. Richard was in the shower and might need assistance with lathering up or rinsing off. Or toweling dry.
One of her favorite new hobbies was sliding her hands over Richard’s hard, soapy body. The shower was still running as she walked down the hall, hoping she wasn’t too late. In light of the fact they were going out of town the following morning, she looked upon this escapade as “getting while the getting was good,” as Richard would say.
Boone had needed to get his paperwork done, and so she’d behaved herself and allowed him to work when she’d really wanted to climb in his lap after he’d gotten home. Kendall was expected home any moment. Her heart raced at the thought of a little alone time with one of her men.
She slipped into the steamy bathroom, removed her clothing, and pinned up her hair. She could hear Richard humming to himself as she watched him lather up through the translucent shower curtain.
“Would you like some company?” she asked as she peeked around the edge of the curtain.
Covered from head to toe in soap suds, Richard turned to the spray to rinse his face and looked back at her. His long dark eyelashes were wet and spiked together. He grinned and nodded as he reached for her bodywash and bath sponge.
Quietly, Maya watched him as he lathered the sponge with his big hands. It made her hot and wet to think of his soapy hands sliding all over her body.
“Supper is in the oven, and I wanted to spend time with you since you have to leave in the morning.”
Richard caressed her shoulder, massaging her
tense muscles. He kissed her and murmured, “I’ll miss you.”
He didn’t go on and on, but the warmth and emotion were there in his words and his eyes.
“Me, too.”
Their slick bodies slid together as he kissed her again. He slid a hand down her back to cup one of her ass cheeks and held her close to him as he tilted his head and deepened their kiss. As she parted her lips, his tongue penetrated and slowly stroked hers, making both her heart and her pussy throb. Richard was an excellent kisser, alternating between stroking her with his tongue and smooching her lips gently. He was going to get whatever he wanted with his kisses because she was putty in his hands.
There was nothing quite as overwhelming, in a positive way, as their hands loving and touching her body all at once. She hoped she never grew accustomed to it. But she also loved and craved the time she spent alone with them. What she needed from Richard when they were alone together was different from what she felt for them as a group. In contrast to his formidable size and strength, what turned her on about Richard was his tenderness and the caring way he had with her, which made her feel immeasurably precious. She appreciated their differences more with each passing day.
Thinking of their little group reminded her of the note tucked into her purse. She was determined to not ruin the mood tonight and decided to give them the note in the morning.
Maya slid her hands up his torso and stroked the short strands of dark brown hair at his nape. The timer was set on the oven. Hopefully Boone or Kendall would hear it if she didn’t return to the kitchen in time.
“Do you have any condoms in the bathroom, Richard?”
“Medicine cabinet,” he murmured against her neck as he brushed his warm lips under her ear.
* * * *
Taking out his bandana to wipe his sweat-soaked brow, Kendall looked around at what he’d accomplished that day. He remembered what the JWB had looked like the day they’d arrived two years before.
The rickety old ranch house had been uninhabitable after sitting unoccupied for thirty-plus years. The fields and pastures that now sported grass ready for baling and herds of Hereford cattle had been left fallow, and mesquite trees had gotten a prolific toehold, even around the house itself. In the last two years they’d done a lot—root-plowing and bulldozing the mesquites, cross-fencing the pastures, purchasing and maintaining breeding stock, and making the house habitable.
It was unfortunate the house had been leveled in the storm, but he didn’t miss it all that much. It hadn’t been near good enough for Maya to live in. With satisfaction at a job well done, he tipped the water bottle and splashed water on his face then took a long drink. He dried his face and grabbed his cell phone as it rang.
He glanced at the number on the screen and chuckled as he answered the phone, “Mom!”
Josie Warner’s familiar, soothing voice responded, “Can someone please tell me why I have to hear that my son is in love from his cousin’s wife? I just got off the phone with Grace and she tells me that Maya Daire has got you wrapped around her finger.”
“Well…” The statement was mostly accurate.
“It’s good to hear that she’s moving on with her life, Kendall. I always wondered after Morgan’s passing if the two of you wouldn’t wind up together.”
“But, Mom, it’s—”
“That it’s the four of you is no big shocker as close as you boys have always been. Grace tells me that Maya fits right in down there.”
Kendall smiled that his mom made that news seem almost run-of-the-mill. “She does.”
“How is the ranch?”
“Hard, hot work but it’s looking good. How is Aggie Rose?”
“Your sister is just fine, from what I can tell. She’s about as good at keeping in touch as you and your bothers. But you know her. She’s an aggie all the way to her maroon blood, still loving Texas A & M. It looks like she’s going to finish early.”
“Yeah, she keeps telling me she’s going to open her veterinary practice in Divine after she gets her degree. I can’t wait, because vet bills are expensive. Did she tell you if she’s coming for a visit here soon?” He thought Maya would adore his spunky little sister Agatha Rose, affectionately known as Aggie Rose.
“With the schedule and hours she’s keeping? I wouldn’t expect to see her until Christmas time. I’ve never seen a more focused student than Aggie.”
“That’s good because I know you were relieved when the three of us barely managed to squeak by with our diplomas in hand.”
“But you’re good boys.”
“When are you coming for a visit?”
She snorted. “When I hear you have space for visitors. How is the house coming?”
“We’ll get started in a few weeks.”
She giggled and speculatively said, “Oh! You’re too busy romancing the beautiful widow?”
Laughing, he replied, “Something like that.”
She turned more serious and asked, “Richard doing okay?”
“He seems to be doing great. Maya has been good for him, I think.”
“I’m happy to hear that. How is my eldest doing?”
“Boone is still working at the Rockin’ C Ranch with Richard. I imagine they’ll both come on fulltime at our ranch sometime next year. He’s crazy about Maya.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Maybe we can all be together at Christmas. Oh, Kendall, that’s another call on the line I’ve been waiting for. I have to let you go, sweetheart. Tell the boys I love them and to call their mother, Okay?”
He responded affirmatively and she made a kissy noise in the phone and ended the call. He drove home and when he pulled up he noticed Ethan standing on his front porch. He greeted Ethan as Boone came out the front door.
“I’m glad you’re here, Kendall. We wanted to give you guys a heads-up.”
“About what?” Boone asked as he leaned against the doorframe. Kendall joined them on the porch.
“Grace got home a few minutes ago. She was a little shook up because someone ran her off the road between Divine and Morehead.” Ethan’s eyebrows were drawn together as he said it, and Kendall could see the stress in the set of his jaw.
“Is she okay?” Kendall couldn’t begin to imagine how that news must have affected Ethan.
“She’s lying down right now. She was having a few contractions here and there, but she’s attributing them to dehydration. I came down to let you know about it. With this damned blog that’s updating daily about the girls, we don’t want to take chances with them or Maya. Has anybody said anything to her?”
Kendall shook his head as he regarded Boone. “Not that we’re aware of. Do you think the incident on the road and the blog are connected?”
Ethan shrugged as he leaned against the porch railing. “I don’t like to take chances where Grace or the others are concerned. We think it would be better to warn the girls and try to be with them if they have to go into town.”
Boone said, “Richard and I are going out of town with Chance and Clayton for a couple of days tomorrow morning, but Kendall will be here with her.”
“Maya told me she was running by the store after she dropped in on Dr. Guthrie this afternoon,” Kendall added.
Ethan smiled faintly. “Yeah, Grace mentioned that to us. She found out Maya has obstetric nursing experience, and I think she’s bound and determined to have Maya working at Dr. Guthrie’s by the time Rose Marie gets here. She really likes Maya.”
Kendall chuckled and said, “I think the feeling is mutual. Maya says she feels like she’s known them a long time, especially Grace. Do you want us to send Maya down to check on her?”
Ethan looked up at both of them and appeared to waffle for a moment. “Yeah. If you don’t mind. The contractions worry me a bit. She insists it’s just the little upset plus being too thirsty that’s causing them. I’d understand if you want the night to yourselves, with the two of you going out of town. That delicious aroma tells me she’s got your supper ready.”
&nbs
p; Kendall shook his head. “We’ll eat real quick and be up to the house. Knowing Maya, we’ll have to make her stay to eat before going up there.”
“I don’t want that,” Ethan replied. “Eat supper. I know it would help Adam and Jack to worry less about her if someone with experience looked in on her.”
Boone asked, “Was the car damaged?”
“No, not at all. She said it was a black SUV, similar to Jack’s, that ran her off the road. She had a bumpy ride but coasted to a stop in the ditch on the side of the road. That little BMW of hers is a solid little piece of machinery, which is one of the reasons we picked it out for her.”
Ethan departed a minute later and they went inside. Kendall groaned as the succulent aroma permeating the house filled his nostrils and caused his stomach to rumble hungrily. Maya was nowhere in sight. Kendall peeked in the oven and smiled as he saw the source of the aroma. A homemade chicken casserole from the looks of it.
Boone opened a cabinet and was pulling plates down as Kendall checked the timer, which was ticking down with two minutes to go.
“Wonder where they are?” he asked as he searched for potholders in a drawer.
Kendall blessed Grace and Teresa again for setting them up with all the kitchen basics. Everything they’d owned for use in a kitchen, little though it was, now resided in the pile of rubble that used to be their ranch house.
Boone replied, “Richard was taking a shower when Ethan knocked.”
The answer to his other question rang down the hallway as they listened to the melodious sound of Maya crying out in pleasure from the bathroom. Kendall glanced at Boone and couldn’t help the smile crossing his face that probably mirrored the big one on Boone’s face.
“Damn, I love that sound,” Kendall murmured as he opened the oven. His cock swelled as he imagined her in the shower with Richard, trying to catch her breath.
Boone’s voice sounded a little deeper than normal, signaling he must be thinking along the same lines. “For being the soft-spoken one, Richard sure is stepping up and claiming what he wants.”
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 17
