Love Under Two Adventurers [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Rebecca grinned. “She did. Came in handy a time or two, during the adventure she and her men went on.”

  “An adventure that has something to do with that gold coin. Do you know what I’ve just figured out?”

  “What?”

  “There’s as much of your family story not told here, as there is revealed.”

  “I knew you had brains as well as beauty,” Greg said.

  Rebecca hadn’t heard the door open, but she smiled when Greg joined them. He put an arm on each of their shoulders, standing between them and looking down at the collection under glass.

  “You’re just sayin’ that because you want to get into my pants. I’ve heard how you Texan boys work,” Cody said.

  Rebecca laughed. That was the most lighthearted thing Cody had ever said.

  “Well then, you can’t feign shock when I do,” Greg said. “So, what do you think of our collection so far?”

  “Pretty impressive. This is likely the largest collection of photographs by Jeremy Jones anywhere.” Cody nodded. “I find his work, and the way he shows the emotions of his subjects to be absolutely captivating. Seriously, man. This stuff is fabulous.”

  “We think so, too,” Greg said.

  Rebecca turned to her men. “I’m starving.”

  “What a coincidence. We’ve been invited to have lunch with Grandma, at the Big House. You okay with that?”

  Greg had addressed his question to Cody, who nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m starting to get used to your family.”

  As they headed out, Cody stopped at one more photograph. This one was a little more modern than the others he’d viewed, and not, of course, taken by Jeremy Jones.

  This photograph showed a woman in military uniform, standing on the porch of a large house, her arms folded, as she talked to a group of men who were sitting with their attention riveted on her.

  Cody used a single finger to lightly tap on the image of the woman. “I have a feeling your grandmother was as much of a firecracker in her day as Amanda Jessop-Kendall was,” he said.

  Rebecca grinned. “Was?”

  “Don’t let Grandma Kate’s age or her sweet smile fool you,” Greg said. “She is for sure no one’s little old lady.”

  Cody nodded. He looked from Rebecca to Greg. “I’ll make sure to remember that.”

  * * * *

  “I never really moved beyond being competent as a cook,” Grandma Kate said. “My boys would tell you that their fathers were both far better in the kitchen than I ever was.”

  “That doesn’t appear to be a regret for you,” Cody said.

  “It’s not. We, each of us, have our different talents, don’t we? I was never one to think that just because a person was born female, that they had to automatically follow a set pattern—much to my own mother’s disappointment.” Kate smiled at Cody. “And, too, I think, because I came of age just before the war, and because it really was an age of so many new things, and so many changes, that I dared to reject the common expectations put upon me.”

  “It can be a terrible thing to be a child who has to live under the weight of parental expectations,” Cody said.

  “Yes, I do believe it is.” Grandma Kate patted Cody’s hand. “At least I found it to be so.”

  Greg sat back and enjoyed the way his grandmother interacted with his lover. The woman has a talent for reaching people. For the first time—likely because he’d been so recently reminded by that photograph of the woman Kate Wesley Benedict had been when she’d arrived in Lusty—he realized that talent must have made her one hell of a good nurse administrator for the Convalescent Home.

  Rebecca and Aunt Bernice came back into the dining room, pushing a tea cart loaded down with a coffeepot and what looked like pecan pie.

  “I was hoping there’d be pie,” Greg said.

  “Darling, I did remember your sweet tooth,” Bernice said. “I don’t know whose in the family is worse—yours or Henry’s.”

  Greg grinned. “I heard Henry is addicted to Tracy’s cream puffs and éclairs.”

  Kate said, “I can’t blame him there. Our Tracy is a wonderful pastry chef.”

  “Tell me, please, that I’m in time for dessert.” Jake Kendall came into the dining room, his ever-present briefcase in hand, and a large smile on his face.

  Greg laughed outright, and Cody shook his head. Rebecca said, “Why don’t you and Adam tell Ginny that y’all don’t want to be on that diet?”

  Jake made a point, Greg noticed, of kissing Grandma Kate, and then Bernice. He said, “I love your pecan pie, Auntie.” Then he sat down beside Kate, and thanked Bernice when she served him a generous slice of the dessert.

  “I’ll confess this sin to her when I get home tonight— even before dinner. Mostly, though, I guess we don’t tell her because we don’t want to hurt her feelings. She’s spent a lot of time looking up recipes that are low fat, and low carbohydrates, and high protein.”

  Rebecca shook her head. “Low fat and low carbohydrates? What’s left?”

  “Water,” Greg said, and laughed because Jake had said the same thing at the same time.

  “Seriously, I’ve barely cheated on this diet she has us on, and really, I do feel as if I have a bit more energy than I did. Adam feels the same way, although he doesn’t crave the sweets the way I do.”

  “No,” Cody said. “His weakness is bacon and breakfast sausage.”

  Jake’s grin was quick. “He told us about that breakfast y’all fed him the other day.” He took a moment to savor a forkful of pie. “That is so good.”

  “Thank you.” Bernice resumed her seat and fixed herself a cup of coffee.

  “Did you bring the papers I asked for, Jake?” Kate asked.

  “I did, of course.” He set his fork down and bent to his case. He handed a file folder to Kate.

  “Aside from the fact that I wanted to enjoy your company for lunch,” she said, “I had something I wanted to discuss with you.”

  Greg knew she was talking to him. “What, Grandma?”

  “Some years ago, your grandfathers and I set up a special foundation, and endowed it with most of our personal money. We named it for our late daughter—Maria’s Quest.”

  “Good God. I’ve heard of that foundation!” Greg blinked. “Hell, I’ve worked with people from that foundation! I didn’t know that was yours!”

  “It’s not something I publicize, of course. That’s not the point, is it?”

  Greg thought of all the places he’d been, all the causes he’d taken up over the years. Maria’s Quest had been busy in just as many areas, funding projects to help to build schools, enable villages to become self-supporting—Greg couldn’t name all the ways he’d heard of that foundation helping others. Often, he’d found himself working alongside people working for that agency. He’d always been impressed not only by the scope of the work the charity managed to sponsor, but by the caliber of people devoted to its goals.

  And to think that it had been his own grandparents who were behind it! Then he thought of the question she’d just asked. He didn’t think it was necessarily a rhetorical question.

  “No,” he said. “That’s not the point at all.”

  Kate nodded. “I’ve appointed different people, in different places, to administer portions of the foundation. I think it’s beneficial to have someone with boots on the ground, and who knows what’s needed. Of course, I’ve been keeping an eye on it, all these years, with Jake’s help.”

  “Your foundation does good work, Grandma Kate,” Cody said. “It makes a difference in the world.” He looked at Greg and said, “I can’t think of anything more important than making the world better, even if only in small ways.”

  “Thank you, Cody. I think so, too.” Grandma Kate took a moment to enjoy a sip of coffee. “The thing is, I think what’s needed now is a fresh approach. Younger hands on the reins, as it were. The foundation needs someone at the helm who’s willing and able to travel, to see the needs of others, firsthand. Someone who
’s already done a fair amount of humanitarian work in places where the hours are long and the labor hard. We can’t solve all the problems of the world. But we can do our part. Gregory, I’ve long thought that of all of my grandchildren, you would be the perfect person to oversee Maria’s Quest.”

  “Me?”

  “Who better?” Grandma Kate spread her hands as if telling him a self-evident truth. “You have a powerful curiosity about this world, and you’re already involved in so many, varied projects. I know there’ve been more than a few times when you’ve pitched in, helping our staff. Now, I won’t misrepresent the job to you. This position would require you to spend some time off and on during the year, doing administrative work. There’s an office in Waco, and a staff of thirty there who do most of the paperwork now. But you’d still be able to travel, still be able to be ‘hands on,’ which I think would be only a benefit—for the foundation, and for you.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” All these years he’d said he would never settle down, and he’d meant it. But settling down in his mind was staying in one place all the time and doing the same thing for the rest of his life.

  You thought you’d never get married, too, but you’ve changed your mind on that one. Only because there’d only been one woman in his heart, and he’d convinced himself he didn’t deserve to get married, to be happy.

  Because of Daniel.

  “I don’t expect you to answer me right away. Take as long as you need to think about it, and to discuss it with Cody and Rebecca. And, sweetheart?”

  His grandmother waited until he looked up and met her gaze. “No is a perfectly acceptable answer. You know I mean that.”

  He could say no, and his grandmother would never treat him any different than she ever had. Her love didn’t depend on conditions. Her love—like the love of his parents, and all his family—was completely unconditional.

  Why didn’t I ever acknowledge that to myself before now?

  When she handed him the folder Jake had given her, he automatically took it. “This should answer any questions you have. In the meantime, I’m here if you want to talk about it further.”

  He looked at Cody, and then Rebecca. This wasn’t a decision he could make on his own. He met his grandmother’s eyes. “We’ll talk about it. I’ll let you know.”

  “Take your time, sweetheart. There’s no rush.”

  Except, really there was. Greg felt as if he’d been living in limbo all of his life. Maybe this offer was the very thing that would help him change all that—if, indeed, after all these years, change was even possible.

  Chapter 19

  Lusty was a small town, not a crossroads, and turned out to be bigger than she’d guessed. That surprised Caroline because she’d found practically nothing online when she’d done her research. Shouldn’t a place this big at least have been represented by a bigger dot on the map and a few websites on the Internet?

  She’d found her way here, eventually, after about two and a half hours driving around, complete with a couple of side trips. She’d found Crawford, Texas, and wasn’t that a hoot? But she’d taken a wrong turn to get there, so she’d doubled back once she had.

  There’d been a bit of a garage sale in one of the small communities. A couple of neighbors had all sorts of things out on tables, offering them up for whoever had the price to pay. There’d been a pair of men tending the tables, and the smell of beer had surrounded them both.

  Caroline laughed out loud thinking about her little role playing, earlier. She’d looked over their goods, and put on a disappointed face. They didn’t even know that I was playing them.

  “What’s the matter, sweet thing? Don’t see what you’re looking for?”

  “I was just hoping there’d be a gun. I thought I was brave enough to travel all on my own, but a couple of times I was sure someone was following me! The woman at the hotel said I should get myself a gun. But I don’t know where to look. I was hoping that my finding you here was a sign from God.”

  “Well, now. You wait right here. I can fix you right up.”

  He’d told her what sort of gun it was, of course, but she couldn’t remember. She’d been glad to fork over the two hundred dollars for the thing, and for a box of ammunition. He’d shown her how to use it, too. And she’d made sure the clip was full.

  She didn’t need any more lessons, or any practice. How hard can it be? She’d watched folks on TV fire guns all the time. They took the safety off, they aimed, and they squeezed the trigger.

  It had been a bigger jolt than she’d imagined, even though that smelly man had held his hand under hers to help, but she knew she’d manage just fine, when the time came.

  Best of all, they would never be able to trace the bullet or the gun to her!

  Caroline slid her glance for just a moment to her purse that sat so primly on the front seat beside her. The gun was right there, and no one even knew!

  The cops would never guess it was her, because she’d never used a gun before.

  She’d used a baseball bat on her parents and she’d hit Brady with a car. She rubbed her head, and tried to think. There had been another couple of faithless bastards, too. What had she used on them? Well, whatever it was, they’d deserved it.

  She let the disturbing thoughts go as she entered Lusty. Caroline drove slowly through the small town, her gaze sliding from left to right as she traveled along Main Street. There were other streets that branched off of Main, too, with names like Elm and Oak and Masterson. She turned right down one of the streets at random, surprised when she could see at least three blocks of houses stretched out before her. She turned right again. All of the houses appeared to be well kept, with tidy yards. Many had fairly new cars or—more often—pickup trucks parked in their driveways.

  The homes were all made of brick, and she didn’t see a one that needed painting, or fixing up.

  There has to be money here.

  “Maybe I’ll find me a boyfriend right here in Lusty.” She pulled her car to the curb for a moment, a sudden idea seizing her. Rather than hope someone in town would willingly tell her—in a gossipy, “just between us girls” kind of way—where that slut artist could be found, maybe she could just ask for Directory Assistance.

  The car she’d rented came complete with a built in GPS device, and the rental agent—a nice young man but definitely not the kind she was looking for—had shown her all the spiffy features that this car, and the device, had to offer.

  One of the things the device could do was surf the web.

  She went to a telephone directory site and put in the information required. It took her a few moments for the information she wanted to download, but then, finally, the screen pinged, as a list scrolled onto the screen.

  Caroline blinked at the list of names and phone numbers. “There sure are a lot of Jessops in this town.” There was one R. Jessop, but that one was a doctor. “Well, that didn’t pan out. I can’t very well phone each one and ask if they’re the boyfriend-thieving whore I’m looking for. Hmm.” And, with that many folks who had to be related to her, likely referring to her as a slut or a whore when she inquired wouldn’t be a good idea, either.

  “Maybe I can pretend to be a friend—no, an acquaintance. Yes! Just like I did with that old desk sergeant at the police station in Seattle. ‘Becky said if I’m ever in Lusty I should look her up.’ That sounds good. But where? Where shall I ask?” She pulled her car away from the curb, and made one more right turn to bring her back to Main Street. There was a traffic light, which turned red for her. She let her eyes scan what she could see of Main Street. Would she try the Lusty Glow Day Spa for her fishing expedition, or the restaurant, Lusty Appetites? Which one would have the most gossip-friendly women? The light turned green, but there was no one behind her. She sat there, thinking, deciding. The light turned red again, and she knew she’d have to move, as soon as it went green.

  “Restaurant first. Then, if I strike out, I’ll head to the spa. Somebody’s bound to know
Ms. Rebecca, the famous artiste.”

  Decision made, Caroline prepared to turn right when the light changed. A pickup truck drove past and Caroline focused on the people riding in it. My God, that’s her!

  And wasn’t it just like a whore to be sitting between two handsome men?

  The light turned green, but instead of turning right, as she’d been going to, she turned left. There wasn’t much traffic, so Caroline held back, kept her speed down, but kept that pickup truck in her sights.

  Fate was shining on her, and it would be only a matter of time before she finished what she’d started back in Seattle.

  Caroline smiled as she followed Rebecca Jessop right out of town.

  * * * *

  Rebecca looked over her shoulder. Greg hadn’t moved from the love seat in the great room. He appeared to be reading every bit of information that had been in the thick folder Grandma Kate had given him.

  She turned back to the counter, where she was peeling potatoes. Cody looked up from the stove.

  “Our boyfriend’s been pretty quiet since we left your grandmother’s,” he said.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.” They’d tried, each of them, on the ride back to the cabin to get Greg to tell them how he felt about the offer. What did he think about it? But he’d demurred, saying that he needed to read everything in the file, first, and think about it some before he discussed it with them.

  As if the decision was only his to make.

  Rebecca wished she knew what was going on in Greg’s head, but she honestly didn’t have a clue. She hadn’t spent that much time with him over the past few years—or, in fact, as much as Cody had.

  “What do you think he’s thinking?” she asked him.

  “The truth? I have no idea. Greg can be pretty emotionally distant, sometimes. Daniel really messed up his head and his self-esteem. Maybe someday he’ll see that what he had with Doctor Montrose was, in essence, an abusive relationship. Maybe then he’ll be able to fully forgive himself for something that really didn’t need forgiving. A man treated me the way he treated Greg? I’d have walked, too, and a hell of a lot sooner than Greg did.”