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Johanna settled into the cedar rocker beside Amie and the cats, reluctant to go into her cabin. Inside, she had nothing to do but pace around, unable to sleep because of this crazy, upside down day. “I don’t have a choice but to go with Stone and the dogs.”
“Sure you do.” Amie kicked off her sandals and stroked her toes over the kitty at her feet. “Tell my grandmother no, that it’s not fair to play with your life this way. You know as well as I do that you can find homes for those dogs all on your own.”
“True enough, and of course I’ve thought of that. Except any...unease...I feel doesn’t matter, not in light of what’s important to Mariah. She’s dying, Amie.” The reality of those words still stole her breath for a long, humid moment. “How can I deny her anything, even if the request is bizarre?”
Amie blinked back tears and looked away, her sleek black ponytail trailing over one shoulder. “I refuse to accept she’s going to die. The doctors will buy her enough time so she can pass away at a ripe old age.” Her throat moved with a long swallow before she looked at Johanna again, her eyes cleared of grief. “Mariah can be reasoned with...unless you don’t really want to say no.”
An ugly suspicion bloomed in Johanna’s mind. “Or is it you who wants me to walk away so your cousin loses?”
Amie’s perfectly plucked eyebrows arched upward. “That wouldn’t be very loyal of me.”
“Yet you’re not denying anything. What’s really going on?” She hated to think Amie could be so coldly calculating, but then she’d always had the sense the woman wanted more power in the family business.
The former beauty queen spread her hands. Long fingers that had once played the piano to accompany her singing now crafted high-end jewelry. “I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I want my family to take me seriously.” Her hair swished over her shoulder, the porch light catching on the gems in the Aztec design of her hair clamp. “I’m just weighing in with my thoughts on this whole ‘test’ game. This is not the way to decide the future of our family legacy.”
“What’s your test?”
“Gran hasn’t told me yet. Or Alex, either, for that matter.” Amie scrunched her nose. In frustration? Or at the smoky scent of a bonfire launching an acrid tint to the night breeze? “But after what she set up for Stone, I’m not hopeful mine will make sense. I’m just trying to protect us all.”
Johanna thumbed a knotty circle on the armrest. “How is talking to me going to accomplish that?”
“You’re the only one who has ever come close to getting through the walls Stone puts around himself. I just hope you’ll make sure he’s okay.”
Johanna sat up straighter. “Excuse me?”
“Be sure he doesn’t crack up over this.”
“Crack up? Stone? He’s rock-solid—no pun intended.”
Amie clamped Johanna’s arm in a surprisingly strong grip. “I’m worried about him, okay? He doesn’t have a support system like I do. My brother and I can tell each other everything. Stone is our family, but he’s never let himself get close to us. And I’m worried about him right now.”
There was no denying the sincerity in her voice.
“That’s really sweet of you.” Johanna felt bad for assuming the worst. “I do care about Stone, even though we can’t be together. He’s a strong man. He will grieve for Mariah—we all will—but he will haul himself through. He always does.”
Even as she said it, she couldn’t ignore a niggling voice in the back of her mind reminding her that Stone’s childhood had been very different from her own or that of his twin cousins. His grandmother had been his only bedrock of support.
Amie’s hand slid away. “Just keep what I said in mind. That’s all I ask.” Cradling her cat in her arms, she stood. “Good night and good luck with your trip.”
“Thank you...” She had a feeling she would need luck and more to get through the coming week. She needed a plan and stronger boundaries to protect her heart.
“Anytime,” Amie called over her shoulder as strolled down the steps as though she were taking a runway scene by storm, leaving her shoes behind, her other cat following her into the night.
Scooping up her junk mail, Johanna shoved to her feet. She needed to start packing now if she wanted any chance of getting to bed at a reasonable time. Not that she expected to sleep much with her brain whirling a million miles an hour.
She’d tried to make this place her own, with everything from sunflowers in the front yard to a quilted wreath on the door. Hokey? Maybe. But she’d dreamed of hokey and normal as a kid listening to the rain rattling along the tin roof of their trailer.
She pushed her way inside. The scent of freshly waxed floors and flowers greeted her, but not even a cat or dog of her own. So many times she’d wondered why she never chose a pet for herself, just took care of other people’s....
Wait.
Her nose twitched.
Waxed floors and...flowers? She didn’t have any inside, not even a floral air freshener.
Patting along the wall, she found the switch and flipped on the light. A wagon wheel chandelier splashed illumination around the room full of fat stuffed furniture in paisley patterns, a girly escape for a tomboy in a dusty, mucky profession. She spun to scan the room, her eyes landing on her shabby chic sofa.
Where a man was sprawled out asleep.
Her gaze skated from the boots on the armrest, up muscular legs in jeans, past a Diamonds in the Rough belt buckle, to broad shoulders in a blue flannel shirt. For a second, she thought Stone had followed her here. A straw cowboy hat covered the man’s face as he snored softly.
Although once she looked closer, she realized it wasn’t Stone at all. It was his near twin. His cousin Alex was asleep on her sofa, with a fistful of wild daisies on his chest.
As she saw him waiting there for her, she couldn’t help but think, Amie and Alex didn’t tell each other everything.
Three (#u72d34d13-40c7-5cc5-97a4-021f60838f20)
Johanna swept the cowboy hat from Alex’s face. “What are you doing in my house?”
He peeked out of one eye lazily, scrubbed a hand over his face and yawned. Stretching, he sat up, keeping his hold on the daisies, apparently in no hurry to answer her question.
Alex rarely rushed. Yet he always seemed to get crazy amounts done. He was a fascinating individual, like all the McNairs. And while he’d been in her cabin often, she hadn’t expected to see him here tonight.
“Well?” She hitched her hands on her hips. “Do you have anything to say for yourself? I locked the door, so you’re breaking and entering.”
“As your landlord,” he drawled, his voice like Southern Comfort on the rocks, smooth with a bite. Stone spoke in more clipped, bass tones—like boulders rumbling. “I used my master key. I own the place.”
She’d known Alex as long as she’d known Stone. She’d met all of the McNairs when her father took a stable hand job here during Johanna’s third-grade year. Where Stone was the outgoing, bad-boy charmer, Alex had been the brooding, silent type, a tenacious rodeo champ even as a kid, breaking more bones by eighteen than any pro football star.
After she’d ended her engagement to Stone, she’d realized Alex’s resolute nature had hidden a longtime attraction to her. Six months after the split, Alex had made his move by asking her out to dinner. She’d been stunned—and not ready to consider dating anyone. He’d taken the news well. Or so she’d thought. She was beginning to grasp how persistent, patient and downright stubborn this quiet giant could be.
With that in mind, she should have realized their grandmother’s plan would not go over well with Alex. “Even though you own my rental cabin, I didn’t realize landlords slept on the sofa,” she joked, needing to keep things light. Her emotional well was running on empty. “Do you have a specific reason for being here?”
“I’m making sure you don’t fall under my evil cousin’s spell again.” He swung his legs to the floor and thrust out the fistful of daisies.
Roots straggled from a couple of the stems. He definitely was a unique one with a charm all his own. At another time in her life she might have been tempted.
She took the daisies from him. “You’re trying to persuade me by giving me flowers?”
“Consider it elaborate bribery,” he said with a self-deprecating grin directed at the raggedy bouquet.
“You stole them out of the garden by the back deck,” she shot over her shoulder as she stepped into the kitchen area to get a large mason jar.
“The garden belongs to me.”
“To your family.” She slid the flowers into the jar and tucked it under the faucet.
“Same thing.” His smile faded. “Are you okay with this trip?”
“Your concern is sweet and I do mean that.” She smiled, then jerked as water overflowed from the jar and splashed onto her hand.
“My motives are purer than Amie’s were out there on the porch.”
“You heard her?”
“I did, since you always leave your windows open rather than use the air conditioner.” He stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing his boots at the ankles as he extended his arms along the back of the couch. “You would be wise to remember she’s the most ruthless of all of us.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say.” She placed the flowers on the end table by the floral sofa, a perfect match for the rustic charm of her place.
“I only mean that you’re my friend.” He reached for her hand and tugged her down to sit beside him. “You and Amie don’t have that kind of relationship. She’s thinking of the family. I’m worried about you.”
Johanna looked into his eyes, the same unique shade of light blue as Stone’s. Though born three years apart, the men could have been twins. Alex was actually better suited for her. They had more in common. Alex ran a family ranch, whereas Stone was the king of the boardroom, such a workaholic he’d made it clear he had little room in his life for white-picket dreams.
Yet, as she sat here inches away from this incredibly sexy cowboy who’d just given her the sweetest flowers, she could only think of how much she’d wanted Stone to kiss her earlier. And Alex left her lukewarm, and it wasn’t fair to keep stringing him along.
She touched his wrist. “Alex, we need to talk about—”
The front door opened with a knock in progress, no real warning at all. Johanna jolted, nearly falling off the sofa as she turned to face the intruder.
Stone stood in the open door, scowling, holding a handful of purple tulips.
* * *
What the hell?
Standing in Johanna’s doorway, Stone cricked his neck from side to side, trying to process what his eyes told him. His cousin Alex sat on the sofa with Johanna. Close to Johanna. So near, their thighs pressed against each other and before she’d jolted away, she’d been leaning in, her hand on Alex’s arm.
And there were fresh flowers on the end table.
Stone strode inside and tossed the tulips—ones that he’d pulled out of a vase in the lobby of the main lodge—onto the end table beside the daisies that looked remarkably like ones in the garden by the deck.
“Sorry to have interrupted...” Whatever had been about to happen. His pulse hammered behind his eyes; his head pounded in frustration over a hellish day that was spiraling down the drain faster and faster by the second.
Nibbling her bottom lip, Johanna rubbed her palms along her jeans. “At the risk of sounding cliché, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“What does it look like?” Stone smiled, somehow managing to keep his tone level in spite of the jealousy pumping through him.
“That Alex and I are a couple. We’re not.” She glanced at Alex apologetically.
That apologetic look spoke volumes. His cousin had been trying to make a move on her. His cousin—as close as any brother—had fallen for Johanna. The thought stunned and rattled Stone into silence.
Alex stood, a gleam in his eyes just like when he’d reached the boiling point as a kid—just before he decked whoever had pissed him off. He leveled that gaze at Stone and slung an arm around Johanna’s shoulders. “Who says we’re not a couple?”
She shrugged off his arm. “Stop riling him up on purpose. You two are not teenagers anymore.” She jabbed a finger at Stone. “That goes for you, too. No fights.”
“I’m just looking for a straight answer.” Stone spread his arms.
Johanna went prickly. “What this is or isn’t doesn’t concern you.”
“Sure it does,” he said, his tone half-joking, but his intent dead serious. “If you’ve been seeing each other and didn’t bother to tell me, that’s damn inconsiderate of my feelings.”
Alex snorted. “Your feelings? You’re joking, right?”
Stone resisted the urge to punch Alex in the face and forced reason through the fog. “You’re yanking my chain on purpose. Why?”
“Just making a point. Johanna is important to this family and not just because she was your fiancée. If you hurt her,” Alex said softly, lethally, “I’ll kick your ass.”
Fair enough.
They had the same goal: protecting her. Stone respected that. He nodded curtly. “Message heard and received.”
Johanna whistled sharply between her teeth, like when she called a horse. “Hey, boys? Don’t I get any say here?”
Stone shifted his focus from Alex to her. “Of course. What would you like to add?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m completely capable of taking care of myself. Thank you both for your concern, but I need to pack for this trip tomorrow.”
“Of course you can look after yourself,” Stone said, gesturing for Alex to go out the door ahead of him. Then he took that moment’s privacy to lean toward Johanna. “Just wanted to bring the tulips and say thank-you for caring about my grandmother’s happiness.”
She went still, most likely in shock, her hand drifting down to rest on top of the purple tulips. He used her moment of distraction to kiss her, just once, on the mouth, but good God, even a brief taste of Johanna was more potent than...anything. After seven months without the feel of her, his body shouted for more.
For everything.
Desire cracked like a whip inside him. He pulled back before he lost control and pushed his luck too far. “See you in the morning at the landing strip.”
He closed the door behind him, the night sounds of bugs and owls, the wind in the trees, wrapping around him. He sucked in two deep breaths to steady himself before facing his cousin again.
Alex leaned against the porch post, tucking his hat on his head. “I meant what I said in there about kicking your ass.”
“How serious is it? Whatever the two of you have going on?” What the hell would he do if his cousin was all-in? Or worse yet, if Johanna harbored feelings, too?
“If you care so much who she’s seeing,” Alex said ambiguously, “then do something about it.” Without another word, he shoved away from the post, jogged down the steps and disappeared into the dark.
Stone stood on the porch, the smell of the tulips and the feel of Johanna still fresh in his senses even though he’d left her and the flowers inside. But then she’d been in his thoughts every damn second since their split.
His cousin was right. Stone was still attracted to Johanna, and it was time to do something about it.
* * *
Stone’s kiss still tinged her lips and her memory.
Johanna hauled her suitcase out from under the bed and tossed it onto the mattress with a resounding thump. What the hell had he been thinking, kissing her like that? Although he hadn’t lingered. Some might call it a friendly kiss. Except they had this history together....
Need coursed through her, hot and molten, with just a splash of sweetness, like the scent of the tulips she’d brought with her into the bedroom. They rested under the lamp, purple splashes of color on the white table.
She’d tried her best to tamp down her attraction to Stone these past months, which was easier to do when their paths rarely crossed. How would she survive a week of time alone with him?
She dropped to sit on the edge of her bed, the white iron headboard tapping the wall. She tugged one of the purple tulips from the bunch and skimmed it against her mouth lightly. She knew he’d certainly stolen them from a vase in the lodge, and she couldn’t help but note how both cousins had snagged the closest flowers at hand. They could drape women in jewels from their family business, yet they still understood the value of a well-timed bouquet.
