Knox (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey)

by Becca Fanning

  They drove along for a while and took the turn to Homestead Farm. The drive up to the house was rutted from the rain and traffic that had clearly been on it lately, but it was fine. And in minutes they stopped outside the old farmhouse.

  The old farmhouse stood in an open patch of land with the mountains to the left, ringed by their ridge of forest. In the bright, but gentle sunlight, the house looked grand, like a stately old lady. But when the eye got used to the site, there were telltale signs of neglect and disrepair.

  Weeds clustered around the steps leading to the wraparound porch, and some of the paint was peeling on the wooden slats that made up the walls. But the house also has signs of being loved. Next to the front door a wooden plate had been hung. It too, was somewhat faded, but it still clearly pronounced for anyone to see, that the Swayers lived here, and that love was to be found under this roof.

  Willow stood behind her Aunt as Vanessa knocked on the door. Rosemary was hanging back in the front garden, sizing the place up. There was a flower bed along the front of the house, but it was thick with weeds and this late in the season, only a few flowers poked their heads out of the mess.

  “Well I’ll be…” Rosemary said putting her hands on her hips and turning to look at Willow.

  Willow looked at her sister and then up the drive, where the sound of an engine alerted her to another vehicle pulling up. It was a silver truck.

  “It can’t be,” Willow said walking back down the steps to Rosemary. The sisters proceeded out to the truck together.

  “Well blow me down with a whisper,” Tyler said as he emerged from the driver’s seat. “You never said you were coming here.”

  “You never asked,” Willow said eyeing him. “Are you stalking us?”

  “Nope,” Tyler said smiling and shaking his head, “We’re just interested in the land.”

  “Uh huh,” Rosemary said eyeing them both with great mistrust. “Well we plan on buying it.”

  “So do we,” said Kyle.

  “May the best man, or woman win,” Tyler said.

  “Thanks, we intend to,” Willow said and turned sharply on her heel. Rosemary followed suit and they marched back to the porch and up the stairs, just as a middle aged man opened the door. A man and a woman stood behind him. They were dressed formally, her in a pencil skirt and blouse and him in a suit.

  “Thank you,” the woman said and shook the middle aged man’s hand. “We hope to be hearing from you.” And with that she and the suit pushed passed Aunt Vanessa, Willow and Rosemary and walked out to the yard. Willow watched them get into a black SUV and drive off. She hadn’t even seen it parked under a huge tree on the edge of the drive. Rosemary flicked her phone on, swiped through some pictures and finished on one of most recent snaps. She leaned toward Willow, showing her the image of the license plate she’d taken earlier. Willow’s eyebrows raised in anger and surprise.

  “Bastards,” she breathed.

  “Well hi there,” the middle aged man said extending his hand. “I’m Malcolm from Unreal Realtors, here’s my card.” He handed a small square of cardboard to Willow. She looked at it, distractedly, still mostly glaring after the departed SUV. There was a graphic of a triangle and a square that were supposed to represent a house and his name and details printed on it. Yup his name was Malcolm alright.

  “Hello there yourself,” Aunt Vanessa said, springing into action as the still young for her age aunt, who is up for round four on the grab a husband game. “I’m Vanessa Marsh, and these two lovely young ladies here are my nieces, Willow and Rosemary Davenport.”

  “I am so pleased to meet you,” Malcolm said. He had a round boyish face that was quite line free under a thatch of grey hair. His smile was really dazzling and his handshake firm and mercifully dry. His clear, sharp blue eyes sized them up in a second. Willow could see his attention gravitating to Aunt Vanessa as though he were an errant asteroid and she a big shining sun. “And you’re here to look at the house,” he said. “Well, let’s just wait for those two gentlemen and then we can all go on a tour together.”

  “Oh goody,” Rosemary whispered to Willow. It was meant to be sarcastic, but fell short. Anyway Willow didn’t mind Tyler and Kyle hanging around. Maybe when Aunt Vanessa bought the place she could convince her to rent a parcel of the land to the boys, after all the hotel and restaurant wouldn’t need the full farm. And it would be a great residual income, something show biz folks were always thinking about. After all, no one could sing and dance forever.

  The tour was quite long. Willow and Aunt Vanessa looked at every room with the eye of people who have a plan, and want to see how the floorplan fits. The house was a double story with six bedrooms upstairs. They were huge and all en suite. Downstairs was a TV lounge, a den, a dining room, and a massive well-appointed kitchen with an herb garden just outside the door. There was also a massive living room with doors that opened onto the porch. It was truly lovely.

  At the end of the tour they found Sally-Anne Sawyer sitting quietly in the swing chair on the porch. Aunt Vanessa waved to her and Sally-Anne beckoned her over. Willow and Rosemary followed.

  “Well Vanessa, I thought you’d come by,” Sally-Anne said turning a wrinkled face to her. She smiled and patted her grey hair. “I still think my Charlie should have married you all those years ago, and not that horrible stick insect he did marry.”

  “That is real kind of you, Sally-Anne,” Vanessa said, “But we both know Charlie hates the theatre and it’s my life.” She smiled and so did Sally-Anne.

  “So, I’m giving up the old place,” Sally-Anne said sadly. “Can’t keep it up. Not without my darling Hank by my side. And my daughter Annabelle, she’s decided I have to go live with her in Vermont.” She said it like it was a dirty word. “I don’t want to live in Vermont. But anyway, I suppose that’s the way of the world. One minute you make the decisions for your kids, and the next they’re making them for you.” She shook her head. “Time is a bastard.”

  “Amen to that,” Vanessa said taking a seat next to the old woman.

  Feeling that they were intruding on this conversation, Rosemary and Willow melted away.

  Malcolm was talking to Tyler and Kyle over by the far corner, and they silently sidled over that way.

  “It’s a lovely piece of land,” Tyler said. He was looking out from the porch across the fields that started almost from the back steps.

  “That it is,” Malcolm said. “We can take a drive around it if you like?”

  “Not necessary,” Kyle said. “We both worked this land when Mr. Sawyer was still with us. We’re cow hands by profession.”

  “Is that so?” Malcolm asked. Though he smiled, Willow got the impression that he really didn’t care what other people did for a living. “So will you run the ranch as a ranch or do you have other plans, should you decide to purchase of course?”

  Tyler regarded the man for a moment, “We have plans.”

  Just then Malcolm’s phone rang, an annoying jangle in the still air, and he stepped aside to answer it.

  Willow and Rosemary reached the porch railing and stood looking out over the land. Nothing but rolling grassland stretching all the way to their own fence which was far in the distance and not visible. The theatre was on a parcel of land that could be called a plot. It was big enough for the theatre, the small house they all lived in, as well as the gift shop, and the outdoor area where people could have a picnic on fine days. But it was a small piece of land compared with this. They would only need another slice and it would be enough.

  “It will be perfect for us,” Kyle said his gaze out across the field. “All that space.”

  Tyler smiled, “And that, my friend, is why I brought you along. You get my vision, unlike my brother.”

  “Jesse has other things on his mind, “Kyle chuckled. “Now, we just have to win the bidding war. You think Vanessa’s gonna make an offer?”

  Just then Tyler caught sight of Willow and Rosemary so close by, and he looked right at them. />
  “You know, eavesdropping is rude,” Tyler said.

  “It’s hard not to hear you,” Willow said plaintively. “So what are your plans for this place?”

  “What are yours?” Kyle asked.

  “We want to open a themed hotel and restaurant, you know expand our theatre,” Rosemary said. Willow thumped her in the ribs.

  “Ouch!” Rosemary protested, “What? I didn’t think it was secret or anything!”

  “It’s not!” Willow said hotly. She wasn’t sure why but she didn’t want to tell them anything. What if they thought it was lame?

  “Oh now I know you!” Kyle exclaimed and threw his hands up in the air. “You’re those dancing girls. You do that show about cowboys and outlaws. I saw it once, it was cool.”

  “You saw the show?” Rosemary asked flabbergasted.

  “Sure,” Kyle said. “Our buddy Ryan is big on theatre.”

  “And you liked it?” Willow asked. “It’s very tongue in cheek.”

  “That’s what’s so cool about it,” Kyle said. “Thought I recognized you.”

  “Have you seen the show?” Willow asked Tyler a little shyly. Suddenly what he thought of her work was important to her.

  Tyler smiled broadly and shook his head. “Sadly I have not had the pleasure,” he said.

  “Well you could come and see us perform tonight,” Rosemary said, a little too hopefully in Willow’s opinion.

  “Speaking of which my dears, we have to go,” said Aunt Vanessa who had come up behind them. “It was such a pleasure seeing you boys again. Do come to the show tonight. That performance begins at seven pee-emm sharp. Tickets at the door.”

  She flashed them a brilliant smile, and sashayed around the porch to the front steps. Rosemary and Willow nodded to Tyler and Kyle, and then followed her. Willow was all a dither. Why did Kyle think there was going to be a bidding war? Would they be able to even get into the war if there was one, and how on earth would they win it? Maybe Aunt Vanessa’s friendship with Sally-Anne would play a part in her decision of who to sell to. But then again, maybe not.

  It was a silent drive home for the ladies, each lost in her own thoughts.

  Willow thought about Tyler. She thought about the effect he had on her. How he made her feel when he smiled at her. And she thought about how much this expansion meant to her Aunt Vanessa. If she was going to have to outbid Tyler for that farm, well then she was going to have to bring her A game. And for that, she would have to put that really strong attraction she felt for him, way in the back of her mind. She would have to put it so far away that it would leave her head clear to think. No feelings, this was business. No she was wrong about that, this was family.

  The Outlaw Theatre was a converted old barn. Naturally, it had been added on to and changed, but in the end what it was, was a rustic theatre experience. It was a place where the audience sat on plastic seats, with their feet in the sawdust, and watched people sing and dance on a stage, that was everything from a saloon, to a high street at noon, to the inside of a bank.

  The cast and crew of the theatre were a solid bunch, who had worked together for a great many years. Vanessa was in charge of everything, but instead of being a megalomaniac about it, she welcomed input from everyone.

  Willow and Rosemary had grown up in this place, with the lights of the dressing room mirrors in their eyes. They had worn stage makeup before they had ever put eye shadow and lipstick on to go out. And they had done it all together. They still shared the same dressing room trailer out back.

  Willow regarded herself in the mirror. The matinee had been a good crowd. A whole bus load of Japanese tourists had disgorged its photo-taking cargo, and the theatre had twinkled like a starry night sky with all the cameras clicking away. Usually Aunt Vanessa didn’t allow such things, but she was feeling generous today, and anyway the tour guide said they might have a revolt on their hands if they said no to photos. So it was photos during the show and then more after, where Willow, Rosemary and the rest of the cast, posed for a shot with each tourist.

  Now as the crew reset the stage, Willow sighed and held a facial wipe up to her face.

  “Should I even bother?” she asked. “I mean we’re on again in two hours.”

  Rosemary was industriously wiping her face clean. “And what else are we going to do for two hours? I’m not going to go home to wash the dishes that’s for sure.” And she sat back and placed her stockinged feet on the counter top.

  “Good point,” Willow said and began to wipe the heavy makeup off. She gingerly peeled her false eyelashes off and placed them in their plastic container. “Do you ever get tired of this?”

  “Of the show, or performing?” Rosemary asked. She had picked up a magazine and was leafing through it.

  “Both I guess,” Willow said watching her sister in the mirror.

  Rosemary shook her head, “I get sick of the show sometimes. But show biz? Never! I want to go all the way to Hollywood. What about you?”

  Willow smiled. One half of her lips still had red lipstick on, and the other was now clean. It was a strange effect. “Nope, I love this place. I just don’t know if I want to still be squeezed into a corset, and pretending to be Big Nose Kate, when I’m forty. You know what I mean?”

  “Totally,” Rosemary said. “Maybe we could branch out a bit. Take a Shakespeare play and turn it into a Western or something? What? It could be fun!”

  Willow laughed, “Oh sure. But which one to choose? Not A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that would be too weird. The Tempest? Twelfth Night?”

  “Hell no! King Lear! But we have to speak in old English accents,” Rosemary laughed putting on a rather bad accent herself. “Do you think Aunt Vanessa would go for it?”

  “No,” Willow said and shook her head. Her face was clean now and she reached up and undid the clips fastening her hair on top of her head. The strawberry blonde curls tumbled around her to below her shoulders.

  “You are so pretty,” Rosemary said cocking her head on one side. “I hope that Tyler comes tonight so he can ask you out on a date.”

  “Rose!” Willow protested, “He wants the Sawyer’s land too. He’s the enemy.”

  “No he’s not,” Rosemary laughed. “He’s just a guy who wants to buy a farm. And he’s got the most perfect ass, ever! Did you see it, so perky in his jeans?” She growled making clawing motions with her hands. “Makes you just want to squeeze it!”

  Willow threw her eyeliner at her. It bounced off Rosemary’s arm and she picked it up.

  “You can’t say you didn’t notice how hot he is,” Rosemary said handing it back.

  “I noticed, but we need the farm more than he does,” Willow said.

  “Whatever,” Rosemary said and picked up her magazine again.

  Willow sighed. She had noticed Tyler, but she wasn’t going to let that get in her way.

  “So who was the guy I saw you talking to after the show?” she asked Rosemary.

  “Oh him?”

  “Yeah, so spill the beans,” Willow said.

  “None to spill sister dear,” Rosemary said casually. “He saw the show and asked me out for coffee tomorrow. His name is Dave and he has the most intense greyish eyes, it’s weird but in a good way.”

  “Good. So are you going?” Willow asked.

  “Maybe,” Rosemary said. “I said I’d call him tomorrow.”

  Seven p.m. rolled around and Willow and Rosemary were backstage again waiting to go on. The opening number was quite a complex musical number with a lot of dance moves and characters running on and off stage. Willow and Rosemary and the rest of the female cast, were dressed as prostitutes in corsets, pantaloons and petticoats with their hair in ribboned pigtails.