Texas Hustle

by Cynthia D'Alba

  His brother grinned. “Like the time you got caught naked in the hayloft with a girl?”

  “Give me a break. We were five. And, yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”

  Reno pretended to turn a key on his lips. “Your naughty past is safe with me.”

  “We better get back. We’ve been gone a while.”

  “Let’s take the long trail home. I want to check out that private swimming hole. I might need it.”

  Darren laughed. “Good idea. Think we’ll need to post a schedule? We’ve never had so many women here with us.”

  “Hell, it’s KC and Drake I dread coming across. Those two cannot keep their hands off each other.”

  Some time later, they rolled back into the compound, a little dirty and a lot tired but both wearing matching grins.

  “That was freaking awesome,” Reno said.

  “And I thought you didn’t like that old four-wheeler at home.”

  “Ha. Fooled you. Magda and I are going to take them out a little later, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Sure. I’m not sure how comfortable Porchia is with these anyway. Why don’t I leave it here at your cabin? That way you don’t have to come get it.”

  “Appreciate it.”

  Darren left the machine but took his helmet. Two men arguing caught his attention, so he turned toward the fight instead of his cabin. He’d known this was coming. It hit a little sooner than he expected.

  In the open area behind his cousin Jason’s cabin stood Jason and Marc Singer. Jason’s brother, Cash, stood off to the side watching. Darren sidled up alongside Cash.

  “Any blows thrown?” Darren asked.

  “Nope. War of words at this point.”

  “Hmm. Think there’ll be a fight?”

  Cash looked at him. “Hoping for one?”

  Darren shrugged. “Been a while since I’ve seen a good one.”

  “About a year,” Cash agreed. “When Reno beat the crap out of the guy who drugged Magda.”

  “Yep.”

  Jason whirled toward his brother. “This is your fault,” he said, pointing his finger at Cash. “You’re the one who invited this…this…traitor.”

  Cash and Darren both turned toward the traitor, Marc Singer.

  “Hey. Not my fault you and Lydia broke up,” Singer said.

  “You didn’t have to bring her here,” Jason growled.

  “What’s the difference?” Marc said. “We live in a small town. You’re going to be seeing Lydia with me or someone else. The men in this town aren’t stupid. We recognize a prize when we see it.”

  Jason drew back his fist, but Darren wrapped his arms around him to keep the blow from hitting the sheriff.

  “Not a good idea, Cuz,” Darren said. “And besides, don’t you have a date here too? How’s that going to look to her if you’re back here fighting over another woman?”

  Jason’s jaw tightened. He struggled out of Darren’s hold. “Just stay away from me and Kat,” he said and stormed away.

  Cash and Marc high-fived. Darren frowned.

  “What are you two up to?”

  “Not a thing,” Cash said.

  Darren knew a lie when he heard it, but he had his own love life to handle. Getting involved in whatever those two were up to wasn’t on his agenda for this weekend.

  He let himself into the cabin and closed the door with a quiet snick. The place was silent and still. Porchia wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. She’d mentioned a nap. The door to the bedroom was ajar. When he looked in, his heart bottomed out.

  Porchia was lying on her side, eyes shut, mouth slightly open. Her long blond hair fanned over a couple of pillows. The late afternoon sun threw shadows around the room, but not on Porchia. Golden rays of sun fell across her body like small spotlights aimed to highlight all her gorgeous features.

  He watched her sleep for longer than necessary. Her beauty was stunning. But her looks were only a small part of what made her special. She was also smart, clever, funny and sarcastic. Honest as the day is long, as his grandfather used to say. People loved her for all that.

  Darren loved her for all that and more.

  He’d find a way into her heart.

  Somehow.

  Chapter Six

  Porchia waited until she heard the front door close before she opened her eyes. She tucked her hand under her cheek. It was difficult, if not impossible, to walk on a hardwood floor in cowboy boots without making a sound. She’d heard Darren coming down the hall, even though it had been obvious he was trying to be quiet.

  Staying motionless while he’d stood there had been hard. She wasn’t even sure why she played opossum, except that the memory of how he tasted when he kissed her and how wonderful his rough palms felt as he tenderly held her face during that kiss had wrapped her mind in confusion. The memory sent her heart leaping as though it’d been replaced with a Mexican jumping bean.

  She rolled to her back and beat her fists on the bed. Damn it. If she had to be attracted to a Montgomery, why couldn’t it have been someone older with a professional career, like Jason Montgomery? Someone her parents couldn’t object to.

  And better yet, why should she care what they thought? At thirty-two, it was past time to stop trying to fit herself into the mold her parents wanted.

  Of course, if Porchia had set her sights on Jason, Lydia Henson would have injected her with some deadly, untraceable poison.

  And let’s face it…Porchia liked Jason. Hell, she liked all the Montgomery men, but it was only Darren that made her heart race like a stoked engine.

  Last December, Porchia had overheard Sarah Jane Mackey bragging about her Marry Darren project, which had included trying to get pregnant by jabbing pins into all the condoms she could find at Darren’s house. The other girls at the table had given Sarah Jane high fives. Porchia had wanted to give her a kick in the ass for being so stupid. Of course, Porchia clued Darren into the scheme but apparently, that hadn’t stopped Sarah Jane from trying to get back with Darren, thus her bidding at the auction.

  Except Porchia was here with him, not Sarah Jane, and that thought made her chuckle. When she thought about how close Sarah Jane had come to trapping Darren, or hell, even the thought of him marrying any woman, her stomach would roll and she’d get physically ill.

  She had to admit that her feelings for him went beyond friendship, a long way beyond, if she were being honest with herself. What she was going to do about that was the million-dollar question.

  Okay, she couldn’t lie in this bed any longer. Time to see what the rest of the campers were doing.

  Her breath caught when she opened the front door. It was later in the day than she’d realized. The sun had fallen to behind the horizon. The warmth of the day had been replaced by cooler evening air. Not grab-a-jacket cold, but not shorts and sandals warm either. Wheeling around, she headed back to the bedroom.

  After changing into a long-sleeve T-shirt, jeans and a pair of sneakers, she returned to the front porch to assess her clothing in comparison to the temperature. As she did, she noticed Darren and Reno at the fire ring layering on small limbs as fire starter in the pit.

  Every time Darren picked up a stick and leaned over to set it down, the denim across his butt pulled tight, giving her a yummy view. Maybe she could find lots and lots of projects for him that required him bending at the waist.

  She laughed to herself. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. His ass was simply too tempting.

  The two men began stacking heavier logs that would be added to the fire later, and Darren’s biceps tested the boundaries of the arm band on his T-shirt with each movement. The sight of his shirt stretched taut over thick shoulders made her tingle.

  She swallowed against the lust bubbling up. Damn. She didn’t know of another guy in the world who rang her bell like Darren Montgomery.

  She went over to where the two guys were working. “Fire tonight?” she asked.

  Darren looked up and the warmth of his smile slamme
d into her. She shoved her sleeves up to her elbows, trying to cool off. His smile was mighty powerful and did little to stem the lust brewing in her gut.

  “Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” he said. “Have a nice nap?”

  “Remind me not to drink with your mother again.”

  Both guys laughed.

  “Yeah, Mom’s got a few years of practice on you,” Reno said.

  “Need some help?” she asked. “What can I do?”

  “Not a thing,” Darren said, then put his arm around her shoulders.

  That arm should have felt heavy and uncomfortable. She should have shrugged it off her, but did she? Of course not. It was as if she’d lost total control of her traitorous body.

  “Where’s Magda?” She looked around. “And everyone else.”

  “Some are in the lodge. Some are in their cabins sleeping off the early morning start.”

  “So, fire tonight?” she asked again.

  “Family tradition is to let the youngest Montgomery plan dinner on the first night,” Darren said. “That’d be Adam, and he chose hot dogs and s’mores.”

  “That sounds fun. How’d that get started?”

  “It goes back to when Dad and Uncle Lane were little,” Reno said. “Dad said the entire family was always so tired by the time they got here and got set up, and no matter what Grandma fixed for supper, everybody wanted something else. She got mad one year and said the kids could decide what they were having. Dinner that year rotated among the three kids and the tradition stuck.”

  “Three?” Porchia frowned. “I thought there were only your father and Lane.”

  “We have an aunt,” Darren explained. “I haven’t seen or talked to her since Grandma Montgomery died.”

  “You’re kidding. What happened?”

  “Honestly? I’m not sure. There was some disagreement about my grandparents’ estate. You know Lane is the oldest, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Then Dad and then there is Aunt Cora. She was the baby, younger than Dad by almost fifteen years. When Grandpa and Grandma died, she thought that since she was the only daughter, she should get everything.”

  Frowning, Porchia said, “I don’t understand. Why would she think that?”

  “No clue. Dad and Uncle Lane were both married and getting their ranches going. Aunt Cora was single and in college. She still had a bedroom at home in her parents’ house. I guess she felt like her brothers had already moved out and she was still living there, so she was entitled to inherit the house and all the belongings.”

  “Interesting logic.”

  “Yeah. Except Uncle Lane was executor of the state. He had control over what happened to everything.”

  “Apparently,” Reno said, picking up the story, “there was quite the feud between Aunt Cora and her brothers. She packed up and moved to Montana to finish college. She sent them each a registered letter from a lawyer instructing them to send her one-third of the estate to her in cash via the lawyer. Plus, if they needed to communicate with her, they should go through the lawyer but to never contact her directly again.”

  “Yikes.”

  “Exactly,” Darren said. “Dad said he and Uncle Lane went to Montana, but she wouldn’t see them or speak to them. They did meet with the lawyer, who they said was actually a pretty nice guy. He suggested they give her some time and she would cool off and things would get back to normal.”

  “And?” she prompted.

  “I guess too much time passed,” Reno said. “Years passed. Christmas cards were returned unopened. The lawyer died and Aunt Cora just seemed to fade into the past.”

  “I remember the year the Christmas card came back saying she’d moved and there was no forwarding address. Remember that, Reno?”

  “Yeah. It’s one of the few times I remember Dad crying.”

  “That’s awful,” she said. “Have you ever tried to find her? I mean, gosh, with the internet and the programs that will search for people, I’m sure you could locate her.”

  “I haven’t. Have you, Darren?”

  Darren shook his head. “Nope. She really hurt Dad and Uncle Lane, and I always felt like I’d be doing something behind Dad’s back if I looked for her. Besides, if she wanted to contact them, Dad and Uncle Lane aren’t hard to find. I don’t even know if she still has the Montgomery last name.”

  The story hit Porchia hard. She’d never given much thought to how her physical and emotional distance from her parents might be affecting them. She believed herself to be the injured party.

  Her entire life, she’d felt like they’d shunted her out of town to protect themselves and not her. But she’d only been fifteen. Young, scared and embarrassed, her view of life had been completely self-centered. Was it possible that her family felt like the Montgomerys toward this lost sibling? Even though she saw and spoke with her parents, were they waiting for her to bridge the gap in their relationship?

  “Hey,” Darren said. Putting two fingers under her chin, he turned her face toward his. “You got awfully quiet. You okay?”

  “Sure. Sure. I was just thinking about your aunt and all she’s missed.”

  Darren gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Sorry. We didn’t mean to upset you. We’ve lived with the story our whole lives. I guess we didn’t realize how it might affect others.”

  She gave him her best smile. “I’m not upset. Really.”

  “Good.” He pressed a soft kiss on her lips. A million fireflies lit up inside her.

  “Well,” she said, pulling out from under his arm. That simple touch of his lips had scrambled her brains. Having carnal desire as her driver always seemed to land her in the ditch. She needed to put some space between them to give her brain time to recollect and take control. “I should probably head to the lodge and see what I can do to help with dinner.”

  Before she reached the lodge steps, Travis and Cash Montgomery came out carrying a huge metal cooler between them.

  “Need some help?” she asked, hurrying forward.

  “Nope,” Cash grunted out. “Too heavy.”

  Darren and Reno met their cousins and the four men maneuvered the enormous ice chest into the fire-pit area. She heard the wham as the chest dropped heavily on the stones.

  Starting back up the lodge steps, she glanced over her shoulder. The top had been opened on the chest, which she could now see was loaded down with ice and an assortment of drinks. It had to weigh a ton. She was glad they’d turned down her offer since she’d have been no help at all.

  Female voices echoed from the rear of the lodge. Following them, Porchia found herself in a cavernous, stainless-steel kitchen. Envy oozed from every pore. It rivaled any professional kitchen she’d ever seen.

  The stove was a ten-gas burner, two-oven monster that covered a good five feet of wall space. Her mouth salivated at the thought of owning one like that.

  The stainless-steel refrigerator of her dreams dominated the far wall. With one wide refrigerator door and three doors to the freezer section, storing and retrieving items for her bakery kitchen would be so much more convenient.

  All the countertops were stainless steel, and right now, were covered with foodstuffs that needed to be stored and refrigerated.

  “Oh my. I’ve died and gone to heaven,” she said, dramatically clutching her hands to her chest.

  Nadine laughed. “It’s been updated since we were last here. The old refrigerator used to hum and vibrate loud enough to be heard in the bedrooms upstairs. Speaking of which, come over here.” Nadine took Porchia’s wrist and pulled her off to the side of the room away from the other women.

  Porchia frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m so sorry,” Nadine replied in a low voice. “Jackie wasn’t thinking when she assigned you and Darren cabin five. She didn’t realize that you two aren’t a couple. Darren explained that you’re good friends and that you’d helped him out at the auction.” She squeezed Porchia’s fingers. “Thank you.”

  “Darren and I are good friends,�
� Porchia assured her.

  “Yes, well, I appreciate your keeping him out of Sarah Jane’s clutches.”

  Porchia’s eyes widened in surprise.

  Nadine patted Porchia’s hand. “I know all about that little, er, witch.” She glanced toward Jackie, and back to Porchia. “Jackie told me everything. Anyway, I’m afraid Jackie and I have put you in an untenable situation and I am so sorry. There are only four bedrooms in the lodge and they’re all in use this weekend. But come Monday, if you want to move into one of the rooms here, you’re more than welcome.”

  “Nadine. It’s fine.” Porchia smiled. “Really. Darren has already volunteered to sleep on the sofa, and given that it’s cushy and long, it’ll make a great bed.” She didn’t add that they hadn’t settled the sleeping arrangement yet, but she didn’t want to give his family any embarrassing information or have their imaginations work overtime…like hers was.

  Nadine gave a sigh of relief. “Okay then. But come Monday, there’ll be some empty rooms in the lodge if you want one.”

  “Thanks, but we’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “Hey, Mom. If you two are over there gossiping, you have to share with the class,” called KC. “And if you’re over there to avoid all the work over here, you’re busted.”

  Nadine laughed. “We’re coming back.”

  After all the sacks were empty and the food stored, Porchia helped load up trays of hot dogs, buns and all the necessary condiments to transport to the fire pit area.

  When she carried the bags of chips outside for the dinner picnic, she was surprised to see how dark it’d gotten outside in the time she’d been in the kitchen. Someone had started the fire Darren and Reno had laid. Its orange flame shot up against a black backdrop. One of the guys had set up a net tent over the only picnic table in the area to protect the food from various flying insects. Porchia put the chips inside the tent on the table and went back out to join the others.

  The night air had a sharp coolness that made her glad she’d put on long pants and sleeves. She made her way over to Darren, lowering herself into the chair he’d set up for her. Beside her, he was whittling the end of a stick into a sharp point. Each stroke of the knife made the tight muscles in his arm tense and jump up. There was something so sexy about forearm muscles. They made her want to swoon, or lick them, or maybe swoon while she was licking them.