The Wild Caruthers Bachelors

“Don’t do it,” Hunter said.

“Don’t do what?” Nate asked. Though he knew what his brother was talking about.

“She’s practically family,” Hunter said. “Marcus is like a second dad to us. Don’t mess with her.”

Too late. Nate recalled every detail of the weekend that he and Kinley had spent together; a part of him didn’t want to ever forget it. Another part didn’t believe it could have been as good as he remembered. But he knew it was. Then he remembered that silly little handshake she’d limited him to this morning at the bank and the rush of energy that had gone through them when they’d touched.

“I’m just looking.”

“Make sure that’s all you do,” Hunter said.

He clipped his brother on the shoulder with his fist. “I don’t take orders from you.”

“You do now. Ferrin really wants this wedding to be special. And that means not letting you, Ethan or Derek screw anything up. So be good.”

“When have any of us ever been good?” Nate asked. He wasn’t going to mess up Hunter’s wedding. As much as he was against marriage himself, he really liked Ferrin and thought she was perfect for his brother. Hunter hadn’t enjoyed being single the way the rest of the Carutherses did. His college girlfriend had been murdered and suspicion had fallen on Hunter for a good ten years before the real murderer had been convicted. So the only women Hunter had dated were those looking for a thrill...until Ferrin came along.

“I won’t do anything to hurt your wedding,” Nate promised.

Hunter reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “I know you won’t. You’ve always looked out for me.”

“Someone had to,” Nate said. He loved his brothers and had always been the one to stand up for them.

“You two done over there?” their mother asked.

“Yes, ma’am. I was just saying how much I liked the mandarin filling,” Nate said, luckily recalling the last cake he’d tasted.

“That’s the one I am leaning toward as well,” Ferrin said.

“Honey, that’s my favorite, too,” Hunter said, giving his fiancée the sweetest, sappiest smile Nate had ever seen. What the hell had happened to his brother?

“Then it’s decided,” Kinley said. “I have your other preferences marked down. Are you happy with this bakery? We can have one of our specialty bakers from Beverly Hills fly in and talk to you as well.”

“We’d like to keep it local as much as we can,” Ferrin said. “Hunter and I want this to be as authentic as it can be.”

Kinley made some notes in her notebook, her hand gliding across the page. Nate couldn’t help remembering the tomboy she’d been and the time he’d caught her sitting under one of the scrub oaks out in the pasture crying because her teacher said she had the worst handwriting in the class.

He shook his head. Where had that old memory come from? He had spent hours under that tree showing her how to write until her handwriting had been passable. It wasn’t that he’d had the greatest handwriting, but Nate had never liked to be second best at anything. So he’d practiced a lot, and he remembered how grateful little Kinley had been that he’d helped her.

The women had moved to leave the room, but Ethan and Hunter hung back. Hunter just shook his head, but Nate noticed that Ethan watched until Kinley had rounded the corner.

“Dang. That Kinley sure has changed,” Ethan said. “She makes a man—”

“Don’t. She doesn’t make you anything, Eth.”

Both of his brothers turned to stare at him, and Nate knew he’d showed his hand without meaning to. But he wanted her. She had been his once and he knew himself well enough to know that he was going to try to make her his again. He didn’t think it would last longer than it took her to plan Hunter’s wedding, but damned if he was going to let any other man—especially one of his brothers—make a play for her.

“The lady might have something to say about that,” Ethan said.

Nate shrugged. “We’re having drinks tonight.”

Ethan put his hands up. “Fair enough. I was just saying she sure isn’t the girl who used to follow us around on horseback.”

“No, she isn’t,” Nate agreed. He thought of all the changes he’d seen in Kinley and how much he appreciated each one of them. She’d been a party girl once, but she’d matured past that and he could see that she was stronger now. She’d changed and he acknowledged that he hadn’t really, but one thing he knew for sure was that he still wanted her. And he was pretty sure they weren’t finished with each other yet.

There had been something in her eyes when he’d shaken her hand earlier, maybe attraction, maybe something more. Whatever it was, he was hungry to explore it.

* * *

Ferrin was a marked contrast to the bride Kinley had been working with that very morning. They were in the office at the bakery discussing a few details. Where a true bridezilla would never take any of the first things that Kinley offered, Ferrin pretty much did. Her mom was a professor at UT Austin and wasn’t able to make the cake tasting, so Ferrin did ask if Kinley would mind very much if they waited to finalize the cakes until her mom drove over on Saturday to give her opinion.

That was a very easy yes. Food was easy, Kinley thought, or it should be most of the time. It was a little bit funny to see all of the Caruthers brothers sitting around trying cake and pretending they cared what it tasted like, because even Ma Caruthers—as she’d always insisted Kinley call her—knew her boys weren’t interested in cake flavors. They were here because Ferrin had asked Hunter to give his opinion and had suggested his brothers might want a say as well.

It was sweet.

The bond between the Carutherses was one of the many things that Kinley had always envied about them. Being an only child hadn’t been a burden, but it had been lonely. Her parents both had demanding jobs that kept them away from home most of the time. She’d spent a lot of her childhood alone or tagging after the Carutherses. Now she was planning a wedding for Hunter... It was almost too much to be believed.

She made a few more notes. “Ferrin, what’s your schedule like for the rest of the week? I’d love to get your dress selected. I have some designers that I like to use who are in New York and Beverly Hills, but also I have a friend from London who is just starting out. Her dresses are exquisite and I think they would flatter you.”

“I’m teaching at Cole’s Hill Community College on Thursday and Friday morning. But I’m free in the afternoon,” Ferrin said.

“That’s fine,” Kinley said. “I can forward you the look books so you can go through the sketches and photos before you start narrowing down your choices.”

Hunter came in as they were talking, and Kinley was very aware that Ethan and Nate were right behind him. She wasn’t sure what they had been discussing, but given the way all three men stared at her...she guessed she’d been the topic.

“Hunter, y’all are free to go. We are going to be discussing the dress, and I want to surprise you on the big day,” Ferrin said.

“Sounds good to me,” Hunter said, coming over and giving her a kiss before leaving the room with his brothers behind him.

“Do you want my opinion?” Ma Caruthers asked. “I know you have your mother and you might want to make the decision with her.”

“I’d love your opinion,” Ferrin said, then turned to Kinley. “Tell me more about what will happen after I look at the designs in the books. Pretty much my entire bridal experience has been limited to episodes of Say Yes to the Dress. And I don’t know how much of that is real or not.”

“Well, once we have an idea of the type of dress you want, I’ll get samples in similar styles shipped to us and then we’ll arrange for you to try on all the different dresses until you narrow it down to a designer or a type of dress you like. Then someone from the designer you’ve chosen will be assigned to you to come out here and fit and measure the dress properly,” Kinley said. Finding the perfect dress was really Kinley’s favorite part of the wedding planning service. She was naturally organized, so the other parts of her job were easy and almost routine. Every wedding had food and cake and wine and music. But it was the dress and the theme that the bride selected that set each wedding apart.

“That sounds...exhausting,” Ferrin said. “Also a little daunting.”

Kinley walked over to the bride-to-be, who was a few years older than she, and put her arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry about anything. I will be by your side the entire time and we are going to plan the wedding of your dreams.”

Ferrin turned and hugged her, and for the first time since she’d gotten off the plane in Texas, Kinley was glad she was here. Ferrin was the kind of bride that made her glad she was a wedding planner.

“Thank you.”

“Told you you’d be in good hands with this one,” Ma Caruthers said. “She’s always had a good head on her shoulders.”

“You’ve been wonderful to help me so much. I really appreciate it,” Ferrin said to her future mother-in-law.

“Well, I never had any daughters and am hoping that you are going to give me a granddaughter one day. Thank you for letting me help out,” Ma Caruthers said.

Kinley felt the heat in her chest and cheeks as she blushed. She hadn’t considered anyone besides herself and Nate when she’d made the decision to keep Penny a secret from him. He was wild and not ready to settle down—she wasn’t sure he ever would be—but his mother and father...they were nice people. People who wanted a grandchild.

And they already had one.

Kinley excused herself and left the bakery. Guilt weighed heavy on her shoulders as she walked to her car. It was hot on this summer afternoon, and she wished she could blame the heat for the feeling in the pit of her stomach. But she knew the truth. She’d let the secret of Penny go on for too long. There was no way to casually introduce her daughter to the Carutherses without them getting angry—justifiably so. She realized she might have bitten off more than she could chew by agreeing to come to Cole’s Hill.

Now she was stuck between a rock and a very hard place. She could either stay here and hope that no one noticed Penny and that the guilt that had started to grow inside her would be bearable, or she could quit her job and run away from life.

She knew which option she wanted to choose. But she’d never been a coward, and she didn’t want Penny to grow up thinking that she could run away from her problems. Kinley was going to have to figure out how to tell Nate he had a daughter, and she knew the sooner she did it the better it would be for everyone.

* * *

Nate had half expected Kinley to cancel on him and had gone to the Bull Pit with Ethan to have a drink while he was waiting for her to finish up with her afternoon appointments. What was it about Kinley that always made him feel on edge? With most of the women he dated he usually fell into a comfortable feeling pretty quickly. He knew what they liked and how to give it to them.

But not with her.

“Dad wants me to go to San Angelo to check on one of our mineral contracts. It’s set to renew, and he’s not sure if we should renew it or sell it,” Ethan said. He was the family lawyer but also worked for a big-time law firm. He used to work in Houston but now handled his clients from his home office here in Cole’s Hill. “Then I’m probably going to fly to LA and be back a few days later.”

Ethan had a woman in Los Angeles. They all knew it but he never mentioned her, so Nate had figured she was either casual or married. And since he didn’t want his brothers nipping in his own business, he’d never asked.

“Sure thing. We aren’t doing anything major this week. Mitzi is looking for men for the Fourth of July bachelor auction... She’s suckered a few of those astronauts into doing it and has a theme of American Hero for this year’s event. She wanted Hunter, but since he’s off the market he promised to get a friend from Dallas.”

“Then why does she need me?” Ethan asked.

“Well, we all know lawyers are sharks, so it must be that she remembers your gold buckle rodeo days and wants to have you as a cowboy in the lineup.” Nate liked to rib his brother about being a lawyer but he’d be welcome at the auction.

“How about I just make a large donation and sit on the sidelines?” Ethan said.

They all felt about the same way when it came to participating in events like the charity auction. “You can’t. One of the Carutherses already did.”

“Derek? He’s a doctor—he should be used to this kind of thing,” Ethan said.

“He is and he likes the attention, so he said yes as soon as she asked,” Nate said.

“You?”

Nate shrugged. “I have been dating her off and on, so she was willing to let me out of it.”

“Well, damn. Okay, I’ll do it,” Ethan said.

“Good,” Nate said. He thought it would do his brother some good to find a woman here in Cole’s Hill whom he liked instead of driving to Midland whenever he wanted to hook up. Or whatever Ethan did over there.

“So when’s your date with Kinley?” Ethan asked as he took a swallow of his beer.

“We’re having drinks tonight,” Nate said.

“Drinks? That’s not a date,” Ethan said.

“Isn’t it?”

“Hell, no. You and I are having drinks and this sure as hell isn’t a date,” Ethan said.

“Damned straight,” Nate said. “I’ve never had any problems turning drinks into something more.”

“None of us have,” Ethan said. “Can you believe Hunter is getting married? I thought...well, I guess we all thought that he was never going to find a woman who’d trust him.”

“I know,” Nate said. He didn’t like to think about how many times he’d defended his brother in places like the Bull Pit and in boardrooms whenever someone had brought up Hunter’s past. Gossip had it that their family had bought Hunter’s freedom, but the truth was the cops never had enough evidence to charge him with murder. Not that that had made any difference in the court of public opinion. “I’m glad to see him so happy. Damned if I could have ever seen any of us as married, but being engaged looks good on him.”

“It does. Ferrin seems to be an important part of his new life. And I’m going to deny saying this if you bring it up, but he seems like a new man now.”

Nate had to laugh at that. Hunter was a new man. A man freed from the past and the guilt that he’d carried for ten years.

“Guilt did weigh on him. That’s why I lead a free and easy life. The only thing that weighs on me is the family business, and to be honest I like a good tussle in the boardroom, so that’s not really a big deal.”

Ethan laughed. “You said it, brother. Speaking of a business, Dylan Gallagher has a Cessna he wants to sell us. He’s thinking of buying a big jet.”

“What does he need a jet for?”

“Apparently, he has a lady friend on the East Coast he wants to visit,” Ethan said. “I’ll drive over and look at it this afternoon. It would be nice to have it as a backup for the older one we’ve been thinking of getting rid of.”

“It would be. Ranch assets are your domain, so if you think we should buy it, I’ll agree with you.”

“Wish all things with you were this easy to settle,” Ethan said.

Before Nate could respond, his phone beeped and he glanced down at the screen to see he had a text message from Kinley. Nate finished his beer and stood up. “I’m easy to get along with. You’re the troublemaker.”

Ethan’s laughter followed him out the door. He left his pickup in the parking lot at the Bull Pit and walked across town to the restaurant where Kinley was waiting for him. The sun was setting as he came around the corner and he saw her standing to the left of the entrance. She was backlit by the sun, which silhouetted her curves and seemed to highlight her reddish-brown hair. He stopped for a minute as he realized that he didn’t want to screw this up.

He’d hurt her with the way he’d behaved when she’d called him from Vegas, and this was a fresh start. The kind of thing that he needed with her, because no matter what he’d said to her on the phone, one weekend hadn’t been enough to get her out of his system.

Three

Kinley had a rushed dinner with Penny and her nanny before leaving to meet Nate. Tonight was important, and she needed to be stronger than she’d ever been before. She’d dressed carefully, choosing a gray cap-sleeve dress that nipped in at the waist before ending at the knees. She’d paired it with a piece of costume jewelry she’d purchased at a vintage shop in Melrose the year before her mom had died.

Wearing it always made Kinley think of her mom. She touched it like a talisman, trying to glean a little of her mom’s courage before Nate showed up. She was scared.

She’d made the only choice she felt she could make when she’d decided to have Penny and to raise her daughter on her own. But circumstances had changed, and it was time to make another choice.

She pulled her phone out of her purse for the tenth time since she’d texted Nate that she was waiting for him at the Peace Creek Steak House, not because she expected him to respond, but because she felt so vulnerable just standing there waiting for him.

She heard a group of people approaching the entrance and looked up to see Bianca Velasquez walking toward her. Her mom had cleaned the Velasquez home way back when, and Bianca and Kinley had been really good friends. She smiled when she noticed Kinley, waved her friends on and came over to give her a hug.

Her friend had thick black hair that she wore long and falling around her shoulders and olive skin Kinley had always envied. She was wearing a pair of slim-fitting white jeans and a flowy navy-colored blouse.

“I didn’t know you were back in town,” Bianca said.

“I didn’t know you were, either. I thought you were still in Spain,” Kinley said. Bianca’s young husband had recently died in a fiery car crash, leaving the window with an eighteen-month-old son to raise. Kinley and Bianca kept in touch by email and had a lot to share since they both were single moms.

“I recently moved back. Mom and Dad were really persistent. And I missed Texas,” Bianca said. “Do you have plans tonight? You can join us.”

“I’m only back for a few months to plan Hunter’s wedding,” Kinley said. “I’m meeting someone but I’d love to catch up sometime.”

“Me, too. I’m looking for a job, believe it or not,” Bianca said in a sort of self-effacing tone. “I have your number, so I’ll text you and we can find some time to meet up with our kiddos.”

“Sounds great,” Kinley said, hugging her friend and realizing how nice it was to see Bianca. The combination of secrets and guilt had been weighing on her, but seeing a friendly face, making some normal plans, made her feel better.

Bianca waved goodbye before going into the restaurant. Kinley felt someone watching her and glanced up to see Nate at the end of the driveway, walking toward her. He hadn’t changed since their earlier meeting; he still wore dark jeans paired with what she knew was a designer shirt and hand-tooled, custom-made leather boots. He walked like a man who knew his place in the world. He was confident and sure, and a part of her truly resented him for it.

She’d been struggling to figure out her place her entire life. She might not have been aware of it when she’d been younger, but these days it felt like a yoke around her neck. Like she’d been carrying it for too long. Part of it, she knew, was the burden of what she had to tell him and her own uncertainty about how to do it, but she knew another part was the fact that she felt like she was always running to catch up.

Probably that could be traced back to living two different lives for most of her upbringing: the weeks in town with her mom at the Velasquez home and the weekends on the ranch with her father.

“Nate, I’m glad you could make it,” Kinley said. To her own ears, her voice sounded too bright. Like she was trying to force out a happiness she didn’t feel. But she put a smile on her face, determined to keep it in place until she actually could smile around him.

“It was my idea, so I wasn’t about to say no.” He winked at her as he reached her, putting his hand at the small of her back to turn her toward the entrance.

She moved forward, trying to ignore the pulsing that had started as soon as she felt his hand on the small of her back. His hands were big and hot and made her very aware of the last time he’d touched her there.

They’d both been naked and he’d rolled her onto her stomach in that big king-size bed to give her a massage, which had ended with him deep inside her as she’d climaxed again and again. A shiver of pure sexual need went through her.

It had been a long time since any man had touched her save for her ob-gyn, and Kinley, who had been too tired to think of dating before this, now thought that might have been a huge mistake.

She wished she’d had at least one other man since Nate so she’d have some sort of buffer. He reached around her to hold open the door, and she was both elated and disappointed that he broke contact.

She stepped inside, waiting a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior. She was losing control of herself, which would mean loss of control of the situation if she didn’t pull herself together.

She skimmed the bar and spotted a booth in the back that looked like it would give them some privacy from the other patrons in the steak house.

“I see a spot,” Kinley said, walking toward it quickly, not giving Nate a chance to touch her back again.

* * *

Touching her had been a mistake, because as he watched her walk through the bar, images of the last time he’d touched her back ran through his mind. He remembered the afternoon sunlight shining into their room and how creamy her skin had looked against the white hotel sheets. She had freckles on her back, and he’d taken his time to touch and caress each of them before he made love to her.

A jolt of need went through him, and he knew whatever lie he’d been telling himself about meeting up with Kinley to clear the air was paper-thin. He wanted her. And pretending that there was anything other than that motivating him would be a mistake.

She slid into the booth she’d spotted in the corner. It was darker back here, lit only with an electric fixture mounted on the wall that was made to look like a gas lamp. The bulb flickered like a live flame. They had more privacy than he’d expected.

He started to slide in next to her, but she shook her head and gestured for him to sit across from her. He sat down on the hard wooden bench, hoping it would cool him down, but it didn’t. Instead his legs brushed against hers under the table, and every time he inhaled all he could smell was her perfume. It was some kind of flowery, summery scent that made him more determined that they should spend the summer together.

He was a temporary guy and she was here temporarily; it should be easy enough for both of them. But his gut warned it wouldn’t be. It couldn’t be. First of all, her job was going to bring her into contact with his family—a lot. Second, her dad was his foreman, and Nate didn’t want to do anything to compromise that relationship. Plus—and this was the big one—he was pretty sure that Kinley had already written him off.

So he was going to have to figure out how to convince her that he was more than a wealthy playboy. Was she worth it?

Even as he asked himself that question, he knew the answer was yes. There was something in her big chocolate-brown eyes that made him determined to figure out what he needed to say or do to claim her as his own.

“What are you drinking?” he asked. His voice sounded almost too loud in the quiet intimacy of the booth.

“Sparkling water with a twist of lime,” she said.

“I can’t order that at the bar or they will laugh me out of here,” he said.

“Then I’ll order it. What do you want?” she asked. He noticed that her tone was all business, and he realized that while he was thinking this was the first step to renewed intimacy, she wasn’t.