by Gigi Moore
“Hey, Maia, if you’re not up to anything in particular, want to accompany me on a tour?”
Maia came out of her daze and glanced up from her sketch pad as Jesse paused near the rock by the pond where she sat. “A tour of what?”
“The ranch. I want to show our latest employee the lay of the land.”
It wasn’t until he said this that Maia noticed the man bringing up the rear behind Jesse.
At Jesse’s mention of a new employee, the man stepped forward, proffering a big, capable, and strong-looking hand.
Maia bypassed the hand to stare up at the man to whom it was attached, and her jaw unhinged at the same time his did.
Did she look like she’d seen a ghost? If her look of shock in any way resembled the not-so-stranger’s expression then she must.
“Have you two already met?”
“No,” they chorused before Maia stood up from her rock, cleared her throat, and glanced at Jesse. She immediately noticed his frown and attempted to clear up his confusion.
“Our newest employee just seems a little…familiar to me.”
“Probably because his big brother the doctor treated your raccoon bite.”
“Oh.” So he was Thayne’s brother. Finally seeing him in the very real, gorgeous flesh flabbergasted Maia.
This was the man from her vision, and her vision hadn’t done him a bit of justice. He not only looked just like Thayne, he was just as devastating up close and personal. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought the brothers were twins except that the not-so-stranger stood perhaps an inch or two shorter than Thayne’s six foot two. She supposed they could still be fraternal twins instead of identical, but Thayne’s brother also looked several years younger than Thayne’s thirty-five years, though not quite as young as her twenty-seven years.
“Are you going to let my arm fall off?”
Maia closed her mouth before any flies could get in and looked the not-so-stranger in his eyes. Their color was captivating, gem bright like two sapphires framed by long, lush lashes.
She also noticed the teasing twinkle as he grinned and arched a brow.
She averted her eyes from his, taking in the rest of his chiseled face instead.
He didn’t have the dimples that Thayne had, but his smile remained irresistible nonetheless, the most beautiful, straight white teeth she had seen this side of Hollywood. His lips, too, were the fullest, most kissable lips she had ever seen on a white guy.
Maia decided his and his brother’s ancestors must come from some region of the world once conquered by the Moors or Hannibal. Italy? Sicily? Where did the Malloys come from, however? Maybe their dad had been Irish and their mother Italian.
It surprised her how very little she knew about Thayne when she usually made it her business to grill guys with whom she went out. Her exhibitions of interest in casual acquaintances, however, were a fatal charm and one of the main reasons men thought more than a fond affection existed between her and them.
Desiree once told her she was a stalker victim just waiting to happen.
“I’m sorry?”
“I said, ‘are you going to let my arm fall off?’”
Had he just used a line from one of her favorite movies? Would a man like this watch a blaxploitation chick flick from the ’70s? Did he even know about Mahogany? He didn’t look old enough to have been around when this movie came out, but it had come out almost a decade before she was born, so what was her point?
Goddess, she was babbling in her head!
“Well?”
“Oh…no! Of course not!” Maia shook her head. “Sorry for my rudeness.” She put her hand in his, felt the energy right away, and immediately knew he was as gifted as her and Thayne if not more so, or at least differently so.
Her breath hitched in her chest as she shook his hand, and she didn’t miss his own slight intake of breath.
Had he felt the energy, too, or did he react to something else, maybe attraction? Goddess knew, she certainly felt attraction, and it frightened her. Attracted to two brothers? There was a definite precedent in her family, with both her older sisters hooked up with a pair of brothers.
Maia, however, wasn’t her sisters.
“Cade Malloy, at your service.”
“Maia Jensen.”
“Maia is my sister-in-law and The Double R’s resident artist among other things.” Jesse pointed his chin at the sketch pad in her free hand. “What are you working on today? Or should I say who?”
What had she been working on before they dropped by? She couldn’t even remember, and when she lifted the sketch pad for Jesse and Cade’s inspection, the charcoal depiction of Thayne’s face, shaded by the brim of a classic Stetson, made her heart stutter.
He must have dwelled heavier in her mind than she thought for her to have drawn this portrait without even realizing it.
Maia had experienced similar fugue states in the past. She’d start sketching or painting a person, place, or thing and suddenly her Muse and rote would take over until she’d reach a zone.
“Wow, that’s a great likeness, except for the menacing glare.” Cade laughed.
“Reminds me of Clint Eastwood in one of his spaghetti westerns,” Jesse commented.
“So, uh, Cade, you must have made quite an impression for Jesse to hire you on the spot,” Maia said, changing the subject. Their descriptions of the picture made her vaguely uncomfortable, accurate though they might be.
Did she see Thayne as menacing? Maybe subconsciously she considered his intensity and gravity a threat to her emotional well-being, a threat to her footloose and fancy-free ways.
What good was footloose and fancy-free without someone with whom to enjoy it, though?
Jesse clapped Cade on the back. “He’s got the kind of background and experience we’re looking for. Don’t let the inappropriate footgear fool you.”
Maia gazed down at the black, scuffed motorcycle boots on Cade’s feet at Jesse’s joke and wondered what mode of transportation he preferred—organic or machine. She could easily see him on either a horse as a spaghetti-western cowboy or a motorcycle as an Easy Rider biker.
Right now she thought he seemed more urban than rustic and looked like he’d be right at home in a concrete jungle like New York, her old stomping grounds.
She remembered Thayne mentioning that he was originally from Los Angeles, which matched Cade’s purely cosmopolitan vibe. It remained to be seen how good a cowboy he was, but Jesse had pretty good instincts about people and their abilities, so Maia didn’t really doubt that Cade could do the job for which he’d been hired and that he’d fit right in at The Double R.
She didn’t have a chance to ponder whether his being around on a regular basis would be a good thing or not before Jesse said, “So, Maia, you game to help me show him the ropes?”
Was Jesse feeling sorry for her, trying to keep her mind off of her single status? Had Tamara put a bug in his ear to “hook up my little sister”? Did they all suspect how badly things were going with Thayne? Maybe they figured she wasn’t good enough for a doctor like Thayne, so they’d try the next-best thing and throw him at Thayne’s brother.
Maia shook her head at her, until recently, alien paranoia. She was, after all, seeing Thayne tonight, and she had every intention of laying her cards on the table to find out exactly where she and he stood. This was, of course, one of the many reasons she had become a Wiccan, wasn’t it? To make things happen, bring her will to fruition.
The obvious sex magick sizzling between her and Cade, however, greatly concerned her. Would she unwisely succumb to it? Could she trust herself to spend the afternoon with him, to not be tempted by his allure, even with Jesse between them serving as a buffer?
Maia glanced at Jesse’s smile and reassessed that last thought. Jesse acted more like a matchmaker at the moment than a buffer. He acted like she had when she’d been on her mission of getting together Desiree, Carson, and Sam.
Karma was certainly a bitch.
/> * * * *
Cade knew Maia Jensen the minute he saw her. She was The One, his and Thayne’s little African-American princess to protect.
He wondered about the date that would be keeping Thayne out late tonight and remembered himself encouraging it, saying anyone had to be better than Tiffany. Maybe he’d been a little hasty, though. He hoped that Thayne wasn’t serious or on his way to being serious with Ms. Don’t-Wait-Up-For-Me.
What would Cade do if the relationship did prove serious? He couldn’t just sit back and watch an unendorsed romance blossom right under his nose and do nothing about it. He didn’t think his parents or other powers that be would be too happy about that.
What could he do?
Never one to sit on his hands when something needed to be done, Cade mulled his dilemma the entire afternoon in Jesse and Maia’s company.
They went from one end of the ranch to the other, meeting with the other ranch employees and guests, finally sitting in the bleachers for a spell to watch one of the scheduled performances at the Old Western town with the rest of the ranch guest audience.
Then it came to him.
“What are you doing tonight?” He didn’t turn his glance from the staged shoot-out unfolding before him—nice stunts and effects—but felt the tension floating off Maia sitting beside him.
“Um, actually, I have a date.”
He turned to her then, drawn by the hesitation in her voice.
Had she made up the date, trying to let him down easy and circumvent him asking her out, or did she actually have a date?
Cade was a second away from outright asking her with whom—what were the odds, after all, that she and Thayne had a date on the same night the day after his revelatory dream and they weren’t going out with each other? It would have been a nice coincidence but too easy, and nothing in Cade’s life had ever come easy, at least not so far. Not to mention, Maia didn’t really seem like Thayne’s type. In the end, Cade decided to take another tack besides direct interrogation. He didn’t think Maia would take too kindly to it, and he didn’t want to be disappointed if she said her date was with someone else besides Thayne. “How serious are you?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Of course it is, if I’m interested.”
“Are you?”
He didn’t miss the way her voice cracked on the question and gave her one of his most winning grins. He’d been told he had an arsenal. “Of course I am. What man wouldn’t be?”
She looked confused for a moment and Cade pounced. “I know you find me attractive.”
“You certainly are full of yourself.”
He laughed, enjoying her spirit, just like he’d sensed in his earlier wet dream. She was everything he had envisioned and more.
Cade knew why his parents, or Fate, or whomever, had deemed a ménage a trois between him, Maia, and Thayne necessary. The little spitfire needed at least two men to keep her in line.
Like I need Thayne to keep me in line?
When he thought about it, a threesome was actually the perfect relationship for him.
Thayne could take care of Maia’s emotional, feminine needs, Cade decided, and he could take care of her physical needs. Not that Thayne wouldn’t be getting into the physical, sexual action, too, but Cade was perfectly happy leaving the sensitive communication parts strictly in his brother’s hands.
“I’m not full of myself. I just know what I see.” Cade reached out to caress her naturally full, bee-stung lips with his thumb. “And I know what I feel,” he added for good measure.
“Sex magick?”
“You’re a Wiccan.” He had noticed her sterling silver jewelry—the ankh she wore around her neck, the Goddess ring on her right index finger, and the dangling moon earrings—mentally adding yet another item to the pro side of why she was perfect for him and Thayne.
“I…yes. And you?”
“Me?” Cade raised his eyebrows. “Not so much.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Going to use that to eliminate a perfectly good mate?” Oh, shit! Had he really said that? He hadn’t meant to, didn’t want to give her any ideas. He just needed to get close enough to her, to bring her into the fold to let Thayne work his charm on her, not to make her think this was leading anywhere serious, at least not with Cade.
“I wouldn’t do that. You’d have to be completely unsuitable for me in other ways.”
Cade grinned, feeling her warming up to the chase. “Such as?”
“Well, arrogance for one. It’s a totally unattractive trait.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“Hmm, we’re going to have to see about changing your mind on that.”
“You can tr—”
Cade had bent his head and buried her retort beneath his hungry mouth. It surprised him when she breathlessly parted her lips and let in his tongue to stroke hers, but then either reaction—acquiescence or resistance—only confirmed what he knew to be her contrary nature.
She let him go a little deeper, groaning low in her throat before suddenly pulling away. She stared at him, espresso eyes opened wide as she panted. “What was that for?”
“Don’t you know, Little Maia?”
“I’m not little.”
“Yeah you are, but you’re just right for me and…” He almost slipped and said Thayne but stopped just in time. He didn’t want to scare the woman away, but from the expression on her face, he might already have. Damn.
Maia used the lull to stand. “We’ll have to finish this another time. I’ve got things to do.”
“Places to go, people to see…a date to get ready for?”
“That’s right.”
“Make no mistake about it, Little Maia. We are in no way finished.”
“I…I have to go.” She squeezed by him to exit the bleachers, excusing and pardoning her way by the rest of the spectators in their row until she was clear of all the obstructive knees and toes and could trudge down the stairs.
Cade watched her retreat, appreciating the smooth sway of her generous hips.
Yeah, she was little, a shorty as the homeboys would call her, but stacked in all the right places and just right for him, as he’d told her.
Jesse made it back from getting snacks just in time to catch the tail-end of Maia’s great escape. “Where’s she off to?”
“Getting ready for her date.” Cade smiled, already planning his next move to get Little Maia right where she belonged—with him and Thayne.
Chapter 5
The Lively Horse Ranch
Atoka County, Oklahoma
The news wasn’t as promising as Prentice had hoped for, not at all, especially for what he paid the private investigator.
The man was supposed to be one of the best, according to the glowing recommendations that Prentice had received. So far, Prentice found that the PI worked fast and discreetly. These two facets alone almost made up for the dearth of intel.
Prentice wondered if maybe he wouldn’t have been better off gathering the information himself. He certainly had the means—if not necessarily the time—with miracles like the Internet and his gifts. However, his burgeoning gifts remained one of the main reasons he didn’t go out on his own, half-cocked.
Where his gifts were concerned, or at least as far as their new dimension, he felt like a fledgling, untried and inexperienced. He wanted to try and take things a little slow and see how best to utilize what he had acquired. Of course, practice would probably suit him a lot better than just sitting around contemplating. He hit a wall, however, when it came to figuring out on whom he could safely practice without fear of reprisal, since the end result wouldn’t be very pleasant for the one on whom he practiced.
The homeless came to mind, of course, but it wasn’t every day that one came across a gifted homeless person.
Prentice tended to believe that someone with gifts similar to his should never be homeless or downtrodden in any way,
but then weaklings abounded in the world in every class—gifted and ungifted alike—those whiners who couldn’t handle the gifts with which they’d been blessed. Instead of trying to control their talents, manipulate them to suit their goals and needs, these pathetic creatures inevitably gave into their gifts. They surrendered their purpose and self-control to the Fates or buried themselves in alcohol and drugs and left themselves vulnerable to the elements, relying on the kindness of strangers.
Good luck with all that.
Prentice didn’t like leaving anything to Fate or relying on the kindness of anyone, especially strangers. He didn’t believe sincere benevolence existed in the world, especially didn’t believe in helpfulness done for no reward. He considered selfless paragons of virtue like Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and their ilk anomalies and not the norm.
Regardless of his need to devote more time to his multimillion-dollar investment firm, he’d known he had to make the sacrifice, his current road trip way overdue and much needed.
Though the PI had so far been unsuccessful in locating either of the Malloy brothers—“The younger Malloy seems to have dropped off the face of the earth since he quit working with LAPD, and I can’t find any references to the older one at all”—he had been able to locate the aunt with whom Thayne and Cade had grown up—Aura Lively.
How the PI had managed to gather so much information on the aunt and not the nephews themselves remained a mystery to Prentice. Unless the brothers were aware of his interest and were deliberately shielding themselves? How was this possible, however, when he had just learned about their existence from his parents only recently?
No matter, he’d figure it out shortly.
For now Prentice glanced down at his lap, where the dossier the PI had built over the last couple of weeks rested. For the umpteenth time since he had received the file, he took in the fine-boned features of the old woman in the picture clipped to the cover of the report.
Her seventy years remained evident in the long, wavy, silver-gold hair on her head and the lines on her face. Despite her advanced years and widowhood, however, she lived an active life, still riding as often as she could, working alongside the cowboys she employed at her ranch, and just generally living up to her surname to the fullest.
