Branded

by Candace Havens

  Cole pulled on the knot of the tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons on the white shirt, exposing a rather kissable neck.

  Kissable neck?

  Aliens had taken over my brain. I’d become a pod person. Or Bethany had rubbed off on me. I’d never met a more boy-crazy girl.

  “Thanks,” Cole said tightly.

  I held out a hand and pointed at Adina. “You come with me.”

  Her eyes flashed with terror.

  “Oh my God. Stop looking at me like I’m going to cut you up and have you for dinner,” I joked. But neither of them smiled. “Adina, please. I can help with the dress problem. I have something I can loan you that will help.”

  “Really?” She jumped up and tossed the other dress on the bed.

  Cole put a hand on her shoulder. “No,” he whispered. “We appreciate that you’re trying to help, but your grandparents have already been more than generous. And we can’t accept any more handouts.”

  I snorted. “Handouts? I’m letting her borrow a dress, or whatever the hell she wants, so her big brother will leave her alone. I don’t know what happened to you, but she seems like a perfectly charming human being.” I held out my hands to Adina. “You and I are going to be fast friends, lovely girl. And I always share my stuff with my friends. Now, let’s go raid my closet and find you something fun to wear. After all, it’s friggin’ summer break. We should be festive.”

  I winked at her, and she giggled. A wonderful sound. And if I stuck it to her asshat brother, even better.

  Cole gazed lovingly at his sister, as if he were having a hard time staying stern. I had a feeling he hadn’t heard her laugh much lately.

  I wanted the lowdown on that story, but for now, I’d settle for that smile on his sister’s face. As I pulled her into the hallway with me, I glanced back to find Cole watching me.

  Heat pooled in my lower regions. Oh hell. I was in trouble.

  Big, big trouble.

  Chapter Three

  “Oh, I love having young people in the house again,” Grandma said. She handed Cole the bowl of mashed potatoes. As he stretched to reach it, his shirt pulled tight against his abs.

  Hand trembling, I put my fork on the table so I didn’t accidentally drop it. What was it about this guy that affected me so? Okay, he was Adonis in the flesh. And there were those abs, but it was obvious he didn’t care for me. He talked to everyone during dinner, and absolutely charmed my grandparents. But he had ignoring me down to a science.

  Asshole.

  “I’d like the potatoes,” I said as he sat back in his seat.

  “The what?”

  “Po-ta-toes,” I said over enunciating and speaking slowly.

  His eyebrow shot up.

  “You know the white fluffy stuff there.” I pointed to the bowl.

  He stood and reached for them again. His shirt pulled up just enough to expose a little skin. How many hours a day did he work out? Those abs were superhuman.

  Grandpa started asking Cole questions about one of the horses, and Grandma and Adina were in a debate over dark versus milk chocolate. I didn’t know what kind of hardships Cole and his sister had been through, but my grandparents treated them like family.

  I shouldn’t care, but I didn’t understand why Cole hated me so much.

  After dinner, Grandma asked Cole to help straighten one of the pictures in the family room. It was up above the fireplace, and once again, I was treated to him stretching to fix it as he stood on the ladder he’d brought in from his truck. I had the perfect view of his ass.

  “Is that better?”

  “Yes. Now come down from there and eat some cookies,” Grandma demanded.

  “Yes, ma’am. But let me put up this ladder first.”

  “Callie, go open the front door for him,” Grandma ordered. I did as she asked, waving him through the door and following him out.

  “We just met. Why do you dislike me so much?”

  He shoved the ladder into the back of an old white truck. It was a Ford, the one we used down by the barn to haul feed and hay. Was he the new foreman? God, none of this made sense.

  “What are you talking about?” He tied the ladder down with some rope. The wind picked up and my thin sweater was no protection against it.

  “Well, you called me princess, you didn’t want me to help your sister, and you think I’m a snob.”

  “Why does it matter to you what I think? You don’t know me. You don’t plan to know me. Why would you care?”

  I rolled my eyes, more at myself than him. He had a point, except that I don’t like being judged, and I adored his sister. “You’re staying in my house. My family obviously likes you. And I care about them. You’re right. I don’t know you. But you’re down the hall from my room, and maybe I want to understand why you treat everyone else so kindly, but I get Asshat version two-point-oh.”

  He shoved a hand through those dark waves of hair and then threw open the door to the cab of the truck. “I have work to do.”

  “No. You have cookies to eat.” It might have been the dumbest thing I had ever said, but it made him laugh.

  And damn, if that wasn’t a glorious sound.

  “The cookies are going to have to wait. I’ve got to make sure the guys moved the cows to the right pasture and fed the horses.”

  That was the foreman’s job. “How long have you been the foreman?”

  “About two months. Tell your grandmother I said thank you for a lovely dinner. And let Ads know I’ll be back in a few hours.” With that, he jumped in the truck and left.

  I watched for a few minutes as he made his way down the long drive.

  He’d been the foreman for two months. Something wasn’t right. He was too young, and so not the foreman type. Not that there was one. A type, that is. There was something edgy about him, but he was also smart. I’d been able to pick up on that during dinner. When he was talking about the horses, it was almost as if he was scientific about it. And Grandma had mentioned he’d modernized the barn. So, not a typical cowboy.

  Later that night, I was reading in my bed. After my nearly five-hour nap on the plane, I wasn’t so tired. I heard something out in the hall. About to investigate, I peeked my head out the door. Cole was going into his room across the hall.

  I gawked at his backside. Dear God in Heaven, his ass was made for jeans.

  He turned, as if he knew someone was watching him, and I shut the door a little too quickly. It slammed.

  Dammit.

  I heard him chuckle, and I wished to hell the sound didn’t make me smile.

  …

  Groggy, I pushed the covers aside and then wrapped back up in them. It was too chilly out there. I’d turned down the air conditioner because the comforters had been so warm last night. But now, I had to get out of bed.

  A knock on the door had me poking my head out again.

  “Come in.”

  The door opened slowly, and Ads peeked inside.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey. Um, your grandma asked me to check on you. She wanted to see if you were ready.”

  I yawned. “Ready?”

  “Something about the country club dance and a dress.”

  Ugh. I hated the country club. My grandpa loved golf, and my grandma was a fanatic about tennis—swore that was how she kept her figure. But I couldn’t stand most of the people there. It was a constant game of one-upmanship. A game I never played. I didn’t care how much money people had. I was more likely to be friends with one of the wait staff or the guys who cleaned the pool than I was the kids whose families had memberships there.

  “Um. Yeah.” I pulled the covers back over my head.

  “I heard those dances are beautiful and they have lobster and stuff to eat.”

  That was true.

  “I don’t think I’ll go this year,” I said. I was a grown woman. I could say no to one party. There would be many over the next few weeks. My grandparents loved to entertain, and so did their friends.

>   “Oh.” That word came out as a sad sigh.

  I sat up in bed. “What’s wrong?”

  She smiled, but it was fake. “Nothing. I’ll let her know.”

  “Hey. Wait. Tell me the truth.”

  Adina chewed on her lip. I did that when I was nervous.

  I patted the bed for her to sit by me. “You don’t ever have to be nervous around me. We’re friends,” I said. She might be three years younger, but I’d enjoyed talking to her the night before. And she played a mean game of chess. She’d beaten my grandpa twice, which meant she was wicked smart. He didn’t let anyone win.

  “It’s weird being here,” she said. “I always feel like I’m going to say the wrong thing or act like some kind of hick.”

  I laughed. “Trust me, you’re in a house full of hicks. My grandpa and grandma started all this with nothing. They were about as far from this as you can get. He worked on an oil platform, and she painted houses for a living and worked at a store learning design. So everything you see, they made for themselves. He always says to remember where you come from, but set your sights on where you want to go and who you want to be. Now, you don’t worry about anything. Everyone just wants you to have a good time.”

  She pulled her knees under her chin. “Oh, I’m super grateful. Trust me. I feel like we’re taking advantage, though, and so does my brother. Your grandparents let Cole take over Uncle Charlie’s job on the ranch so he could support me. After Mom died a few months ago, Uncle Charlie was taking care of me while Cole was at school. And then he got hurt…”

  I shook my head. “Wait, Charlie is your uncle?” I didn’t even know he had any family. He’d been at the ranch for the last ten years. He was a fixture. One of the kindest men I’d ever met. They called him the animal whisperer. Hard to believe he was related to Cole.

  She nodded.

  “I didn’t know he was hurt. Is he going to be okay?”

  “Yes. He gets to come home after therapy, but that isn’t until end of summer. He’s in Chicago getting a new prosthetic for the leg he lost under the tractor.”

  Wow. They’d really been through it. And poor Charlie.

  “Your grandpa… I don’t know what we’d have done without him. Cole let him help Uncle Charlie, but he refused to take your grandpa’s money to help him take care of me. He quit school and took over the foreman job so everything could stay in the family.” She blew out a breath. “He doesn’t understand how guilty that makes me feel every single day of my life. That school isn’t going to hold his scholarship forever. He swears taking a year off won’t matter, but…” She paused as if she realized she’d said too much.

  Cole had been in college? Snippets of his conversation with my grandfather last night flashed through my brain. They’d been talking cattle shares and efficiency markers. I’d just figured he’d been on ranches all his life.

  “Oh. Wow. Sorry about that,” she said. “I don’t have many friends here, and I guess I’m suffering from diarrhea of the mouth.” She blew her bangs out of her eyes. “I better go tell your grandma about the party.”

  “Hold up.” I grabbed her hand gently before she could get off the bed. My mind whirled with the information I’d just received. Her brother had given up everything to take care of her. That was no asshat. That was an amazing human being.

  Why did he hate me? And why in the hell did I care so much?

  “What’s the deal about the country club party? Why did you sound so sad when I said I wasn’t going?”

  She shrugged.

  “Tell me.”

  “Your grandma wants Cole and I to go, but I’m scared. I don’t think those people are going to be as nice as you guys. And I really have nothing to wear to something like that.”

  “Truth?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re right about some of the people there not being very nice. But you’re also right about the lobster. And the shrimp. That’s some good stuff. Then there’s the people who work at the country club who are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. And they always have hot boys helping out.”

  She gave me a shy smile.

  “I’ll make you a deal.”

  “Okay,” she said, but she had a wary look on her face.

  “I get to play fairy godmother. Dress you up like my own personal Barbie, and you can go with me. I’ll be bored, so you can keep me entertained. Deal?” I held out my hand to shake.

  “Deal. I’ve never been a Barbie before.” She glanced down at her chest. “I don’t really have the boobs for it.”

  That sent us into a fit of giggles.

  “Come on, Barbie, we have some shopping to do. Oh, and don’t tell Cole about the Barbie thing. As far as he knows, we’re doing a spa day and you’re borrowing some clothes.”

  She frowned. “It’s not taking advantage, right?”

  “God, no. Geez. Tell your brother to chill. It’s like I have a little sister. I’m excited. I’ve never had any siblings. So the more you let me meddle in your life, the happier I’ll be.” I wiggled my fingers at her.

  “You’re pretty much the coolest person I’ve ever met,” she said.

  I snorted. “How’s that for cool.”

  “What’s going on?” Cole’s deep voice from the doorway made us jump.

  I slapped a hand against my chest. “Holy hell, man, announce yourself. You nearly scared the crap out of me.”

  He glanced at where my hand was on my chest, and I realized I was braless, and very, very cold. It was a few seconds before he glanced over to his sister. “I’ve been looking all over the house for you,” he said.

  “My grandmother sent her to check on me. Was there something you needed?”

  He glanced back at me and our gazes locked. For a few seconds, I could have sworn I saw desire there. Not that I’m an expert on that sort of thing. It could have just as easily been disgust. And then a mask slid over his face, making me wonder if I’d imagined what I’d seen.

  “Ads, you’ve got chores today. I need your help with the tack, and then we have to go to the feed store.”

  “I was on my way to the barn,” she said. “I was just checking on Callie first.”

  “If I help down in the barn, can she have the afternoon off?” I asked.

  “What?” they said that the same time.

  “I’m trying really hard not to be offended here, people. I know how to work. How do you think I earned money around here? I worked in the barn during the school year, and at the feed store in the summer.”

  “You worked?” Ads asked.

  I gently kicked her ass off my bed. “Don’t sound so surprised. In case you haven’t noticed, everyone works around here. I hated housework—still do—so I always chose to work with the livestock and horses. I can muck stables with the best of them.”

  Cole coughed from the doorway. “That I’d like to see.”

  “That’s it. Both of you, out. I’ll meet you in the barn in thirty minutes. And, Cole, consider this a contest. If I win, I get your sister’s company for the afternoon. Wherein we do girly shit, and you have to drive us wherever we want to go.”

  Ads held her fists on her waist in a Wonder Woman pose. “Girl power.”

  “Jesus. Contest, girly crap. What are you doing to me?” He rubbed his temple as if he was in pain.

  “Ruh roh. Looks like Cole overloaded.” I did my best Scooby impression, which is pretty bad.

  That sent Ads into a fit of giggles. It was such a delightful sound that even her brother smiled.

  Shit. A girl could lose her mind in that grin.

  “I’m glad my pain brings you so much joy,” he grumbled, but he wasn’t very convincing.

  That sent her into another fit. She was laughing so hard she fell on the floor.

  “You’d better go before she explodes from laughing so hard. Who knew you were so hilarious?”

  Ads was rolling on the floor. He shook his head as if he were watching a freak show.

  “We’ll see you in
a bit,” I promised.

  He turned to walk away, then stopped and glanced back at his sister. But he wasn’t smiling. The sadness in his eyes stole my breath away. As if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  Holy hell.

  He did.

  That tiny girl rolling around on my floor was his responsibility. That he’d given up everything for her told me so much about him.

  I’d only known him for fifteen hours, and already I wanted to do something to help with that burden, even though he thought I was an evil, lazy princess.

  This is none of my business.

  No. It wasn’t. But it didn’t matter. Something about Cole and his sister tore at me. Their troubles made mine insignificant.

  Damn if I didn’t want to make this the best summer they’d ever had.

  Chapter Four

  In the barn, I opened the stall doors and led the horses out into the corral. She made Addy smile. Those grins of my sister’s had been in short supply, especially since Mom died. Callie made her laugh out loud.

  Hell.

  She didn’t have to be nice, but she was. It was easier for me if I thought of her as one of the rich debutantes around town. But she wasn’t. Callie was different.

  No makeup and wearing a tank and crazy short shorts, she was still gorgeous.

  I don’t know why I was so pissed off. I should be grateful for her taking an interest in my sister. But that meant I had to spend more time with her, and it was already tough trying to forget how she’d felt in my arms when she’d tripped getting off the plane.

  A contest for mucking out stables? Princess might talk a good game, but she had the soft hands of someone who had never done much work. She went to an Ivy League school, and I had a hard time believing she even knew where the feed store was, let alone had worked there.

  Yeah. No way in hell she’d ever mucked a stall.

  …

  The three of us sat on the bench seat of the old truck heading into town. Amarillo didn’t have much, but there were some chain restaurants and a mall. Normally, we ordered everything we needed online or took trips into Dallas and Fort Worth. It was only a forty-five-minute flight. But there wasn’t time for that. I’d already determined that my closet could handle both Ads’s and my needs for the Country Club Summer Formal. But I still wanted to get our nails done and to find something special in the way of bling to go with her dress.