by Lori Wilde
She was guilty all right.
He turned his attention back to Emma. She had wavy auburn hair that hung to her shoulders. Auburn hair was his personal favorite. Or rather, it had become his favorite in the past few minutes. Emma also had his favorite color eyes—hazel. Again, his propensity for hazel eyes was a recent discovery, but still, he really liked that shade. A lot.
Eyes like Emma Montgomery’s seemed to change color every few minutes. At the moment, they were a steely gray—sharp, intense, not missing a thing.
The back door to the house flew open and banged against the outside wall.
“I can’t take it anymore, Nathan,” Leigh hollered from the open door to the kitchen. “I swear if you send Emma home, you’ll no longer be my favorite brother.”
Nathan grinned and winked at Emma. “Is that a promise?”
“Ha ha. Now stop tormenting us and help unpack Emma’s car. You two have to go to work tomorrow. You can’t stand around here all day yammering on the basketball court.” Without waiting for his response, Leigh headed over to the small yellow compact car parked in his driveway.
“Guess she told us,” Nathan said, waiting for Emma to precede him to her car.
“You know, we don’t have to do what she says,” Emma pointed out. “I mean, you don’t have to give me a job...if you really don’t want to.”
Nathan knew that. Just because Leigh might have concocted some sort of scheme didn’t mean he was going to fall for it. Oh sure, he’d let Emma work at Barrett Software. He’d even let her live in the apartment once they got it straightened up. But that was all. He wasn’t going to fall for Emma Montgomery, no matter how hard his sister tried.
“It’s no problem, Emma,” he assured her. “We’ll work something out.”
Feeling more in control of the situation, he headed toward the car to help. “Hey, Leigh, hold up. The garage apartment is full of junk. Emma will have to stay in the house for a couple of nights.”
Emma had been walking along next to him, but now she stopped.
“I’m turning into a real inconvenience,” she said. “I feel terrible about this.”
They were close enough for Leigh to hear them, and his sister answered before he had the chance.
“Emma, stop being so polite to Nathan. It will make him think even higher of himself than he does already, and none of us wants that. The whole town adores him. Everyone goes gaga over him, so don’t puff up his ego anymore, or he’s apt to float away.”
Nathan nudged his sister. “Hey, remember, kiddo, I’m helping you out. Don’t bite the hand that’s saving your tush.”
She rolled her eyes at him, looking more like a six-year-old than a young woman about to graduate from college.
“You know I love you,” she said. “But you also have more than your fair share of self-confidence. You don’t need Emma telling you how great you are.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “You’ve got the ladies of Honey to do that.”
Emma gave him an inquisitive look. “You do?”
Before Nathan could make even a token effort to rescue his reputation, Leigh jumped back in.
“All the ladies in town are besotted with my brother. They chase him relentlessly.”
“No, they don’t. Not exactly.” He ruffled his sister’s hair and grabbed a couple of suitcases out of the car.
Leigh turned to Emma. “Trust me. That’s exactly what they do. They. Chase. Him.”
Nathan shook his head and headed toward the kitchen. There was no sense wasting his breath fighting with Leigh. When she got going, there was nothing to do but hang on for the ride. He could hear the women talking as they followed behind him. His sister discussing him was never a good thing, so he decided to change the subject.
“Emma, you sure you don’t want to take the summer off?” Nathan asked. “You could laze around on a beach somewhere.”
“I really do need a job this summer. If you don’t think—”
“Nathan, you’re upsetting Emma,” Leigh said. “Stop being rude and assure her that you have a job.”
“I already told her I’d work something out.” He set down the suitcases and stared at his sister. “In case you’ve forgotten, up until ten minutes ago, I didn’t know you intended on bringing someone home with you. All you told me on the phone last night was that you’d caught a ride with a friend.”
If he’d expected Leigh to look contrite, he would have been disappointed. She glared at him.
“Get over that, Nathan. Jeez. It’s like ancient history. So I surprised you. Big woo. Now accept that Emma is here and give her a job.”
“Leigh, do you always push your brother around like this?” Emma asked.
Nathan pinned Leigh with a direct look. “Yes. She does.”
“Oh, you poor baby. I’m so mean to you.” Leigh leaned over and gave him another kiss on the cheek. “You adore me, and you know it. If it weren’t for me livening up your life, you’d fall into a big pile of computer code and never come out. Admit it—you’ve been bored while I’ve been at college, haven’t you?”
He pretended to consider her question. “Bored? Have I been bored? My life has been restful while you’ve been gone.”
“Your life will be restful when you’re dead, too, but that doesn’t make it a good thing.”
Nathan laughed. Truthfully, he was glad Leigh was home. Sure, she was a pain at times, but she also was a lot of fun.
“One of these days, I’m going to move and not give you the forwarding address,” he teased as he picked up the suitcases and headed inside the house.
“Won’t happen. Now figure out what you’re going to do to help Emma.”
As he led the way inside the house, he debated which of the two open jobs to offer Emma. One was in personnel, and Emma struck him as the type who would be good with people. The other job was as his assistant. His current assistant was on maternity leave, and he was desperate.
“My assistant just had a baby, and I need someone to fill in for the summer. Barrett Software is working on an easily customized accounting package for small businesses that we’re going to demo in Dallas in six weeks at BizExpo, one of the biggest tech shows in the country. The time frame is kind of tight, and the program still has some problems, but if we make it, we’ll get a lot of publicity. I really need help keeping everything moving. Sound like something you could do?”
“Of course, Emma can do it,” Leigh said with a huff. “She’s amazing. Unbelievable. Incredible.”
Emma sighed. “Leigh, so help me, if you say I can leap tall buildings in a single bound, I’m heading back to Austin.”
“Har-de-har-har,” Leigh said. “You two are just a couple of comedians. Here I’ve gone to all this trouble to help both of you, and you don’t even seem to appreciate what I’ve done.”
Nathan winked at Emma. “Do you believe this? She’s playing the martyr.”
“Doing it well, too,” Emma said.
Nathan smiled at her, liking the auburn-haired beauty more and more. He was still looking at Emma when Leigh snorted.
“Fine. Laugh all you want. But there’s going to come a day when both of you will thank me for this. Trust me.” With that, Leigh flounced up the stairs, carrying one of Emma’s suitcases with her.
Emma had come to stand next to him. She smelled like flowers—rich, luxurious flowers, probably due to her shampoo rather than any perfume. The scent was too unintentional to be perfume.
But something about that scent tantalized him more than any expensive perfume ever could.
“Was that a promise or a threat?” Emma asked.
“Sometimes with Leigh, it’s hard to tell the difference,” he admitted.
2
“Want to come to the movies with me tonight? It won’t be any fun, but I guess you can come if you really want to,” Leigh said from the doorway.
Emma looked at her friend, who showed about as much enthusiasm as a dental patient right before a root canal. “Are you sure you want me to come? You
don’t seem too happy about the idea.”
Leigh leaned against the doorjamb. “Like I said, it won’t be fun. In fact, it will bore you to death, and you’ll probably end up being mad at me for bringing you. But if you truly, truly want to come along, then it’s okay with me.”
Emma laughed. “Wow, Leigh, that’s truly one heck of an invitation.”
A smile lurked around Leigh’s mouth. “Yeah, I know. It truly sucked. And I don’t mean it that way. You’re my friend. I like spending time with you. I’m thrilled you’re here.”
Emma sat on the comfy, queen-size bed in Nathan’s guest room. Just from looking at Leigh, she could tell the younger woman was plotting and planning. Funny how she’d never noticed this side of her friend before, but Leigh did indeed have a wide devious streak in her makeup.
“What movie are you going to see?” Emma asked, knowing she wasn’t actually being invited along. But she couldn’t help wishing the invitation were sincere. It would be fun to get out for a while and see the town. Nathan had headed into his office an hour ago, and frankly, Emma would feel weird wandering around the man’s house alone. After all, they had just met this afternoon.
Leigh broke eye contact and shrugged. “I’m not really sure. Something gross and gory.”
Emma laughed. “If the movie is gross, then why are you going?”
“My friend likes that sort of thing.”
The pieces of this puzzle weren’t fitting. “I thought you told Nathan you were going to the movies with someone named Sara,” Emma said. “Sara likes gory, gross movies?”
Leigh’s attention fixed on the drapes behind Emma. “Yeah, she’s strange that way. But I know that’s not the sort of thing you like, so my feelings won’t be hurt if you say no.”
By now, Emma no more believed Leigh was going to the movies with a girlfriend named Sara than she believed in Santa Claus. She took a couple of T-shirts from her suitcase and put them in the dresser drawer. Then she faced Leigh. “Fess up, who are you going to the movies with? It’s a guy, isn’t it?”
It took a second or two, but finally Leigh laughed. “How did you possibly guess?”
“How could I possibly not guess? A rock could have figured out what you’re up to. You’re a terrible actress,” Emma pointed out.
“Nathan believed me.”
Emma didn’t think so. Nathan had raised one eyebrow and looked more than a little amused when Leigh had told him of her plans. But all he’d said was that Leigh should bring Emma along since she was her guest. No doubt he’d figured Emma’s presence would put the kibosh on any romantic interlude Leigh had planned.
“What’s his name?” Emma asked.
“Jared Kendrick. He’s great. I’ve known him for years, but we’ve never gone out before. I heard he was in town, so I called and asked him out.” Her expression turned pleading. “Will you be too miserable if I leave you here alone? I’m an awful person, but I really want to go out with Jared. The man is serious eye candy.”
Emma laughed at Leigh’s description. “Okay, so he’s good-looking. But what kind of person is he?”
“A very good-looking person,” Leigh said, then relented and added, “relax, he won’t do anything that I don’t want him to, if that’s what you’re asking. But there isn’t much most women don’t want Jared to do.”
As much as she wanted to pretend to be shocked, Emma couldn’t be so hypocritical. She was lusting after Nathan even though she’d only just met the man. Although her instincts told her he was a good guy, she knew almost nothing about him.
“I have no interest in standing in the way of true love,” Emma told Leigh. “Have a nice evening.”
Leigh grinned. “Thanks, but it’s not true love. Not at all. Tonight is about having fun.”
“Should I tell Nathan you’ll be home late?”
With a vehement shake of her head, Leigh said, “No. Don’t say a word. You don’t know how my brothers act. They watch me like hawks. If you hadn’t been here, Nathan wouldn’t have gone into the office. He would’ve stayed home and stared at me all night.”
“I don’t believe you,” Emma said. “Nathan seems like a man who has better things to do than babysit you.”
Leigh sighed and sat on the corner of the dresser. “You would think so, wouldn’t you? You would think those bozos would accept that I’m grown up and leave me alone. But nooooo. My brothers drive me crazy. Okay, maybe not Chase. Not anymore. But Nathan and Trent still do.”
“Why did Chase stop?”
Leigh patted her chest over her heart. “Chase fell madly in love. He got married a couple of weeks ago, and he’s currently away on his honeymoon. That’s why I’m staying with Nathan. Normally I stay with Chase when I’m home from school, but I don’t want to be anywhere near Chase’s house when he and his bride, Megan, return home.”
Intrigued despite herself, Emma asked, “Why not? I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having you around.”
Leigh groaned. “Pu-lease, it’s not them I’m worried about. It’s me. I can only take so much lovey- dovey stuff before I go into sugar overload. Plus, it gets embarrassing. Everywhere I go, the two of them are fooling around.” She shuddered. “He’s my brother. Ick.”
Emma laughed. “I understand. So falling in love has put Chase out of the babysitter business. But Leigh, Nathan didn’t seem too concerned about you going out tonight.” She gave her friend a meaningful look. “Trust me, he didn’t believe your story about Sara any more than I did. No one would believe your story.”
“Yeah, well, he pretended to buy my story because he wanted to go into the office. You wait, when he gets home, the first thing he’ll do is ask you if I went out with a guy. Then he’ll get all huffy and macho and tell me off when I come home tonight.” She grinned. “If I come home tonight.”
Emma wasn’t comfortable with lying. “If he asks me where you are, I’m going to tell him the truth. I won’t cover for you.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t have to. This town is like gossip central. The CIA should come here to study espionage. I swear, two minutes after anyone spots Jared and me together, bam! Nathan’s phone will ring over at Barrett Software. You can’t get away with anything in Honey. Nada. No one can. No wonder Trent rarely has to arrest anyone. Peer pressure keeps everyone in line. It’s a terrible place to be when you have a burning desire to run amok.”
Emma would have to take Leigh’s word on that one. Although she’d lived in lots of places while growing up, none of the towns had been small. They’d been huge cities, like L.A. or New York or Houston. She’d never had a problem disappearing into the crowd. Even though Austin wasn’t as big as L.A., it was a fairly big city. And the university was large, so she didn’t stand out there, either. She had friends, but she’d never become the object of gossip just for going out on a date.
She couldn’t help sympathizing with Leigh. Living in a fishbowl like Honey with overprotective brothers couldn’t be easy.
“Why don’t you just level with your brothers?” Emma suggested. “Tell them you don’t like them meddling in your life. They love you, so I’m sure they’ll take your feelings into consideration.”
Leigh laughed, loud and long. “Emma, no offense, but you don’t know doodly about brothers, especially Texas brothers. Those boys won’t back off no matter what I say. I’m their baby sister. They feel it’s their duty to protect me, whether I like it or not. To them, it’s a matter of honor.”
“That’s sexist.”
“Naw. Not really. I feel it’s my duty to protect them, too. For instance, if one of them hooked up with some bimbo and looked like he might let his hormones lead him down the aisle, I’d have to step in.”
As an only child, Emma simply couldn’t relate. That kind of interference would bother her. A lot.
“Well, if you feel you can butt into their lives, then I guess you can’t complain when they butt into yours,” Emma said.
Leigh snorted. “If it was an emergency, I’d butt in. But not for any o
ld reason in the world, which is what my brothers do. Butt in for absolutely no reason. Like my date tonight.”
Emma nodded, finally understanding Leigh’s point. “I see. Tonight’s date is no reason for your brothers to be alarmed.”
When she turned toward Leigh for confirmation of her theory, the younger woman was clearly aghast at what Emma had said.
“No reason? Yikes, I hope not. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to go out with Jared. Shame on you for even suggesting such a thing.”
Emma laughed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to jinx your plans.”
“That’s okay. Nothing can ruin tonight.”
When the doorbell rang, Leigh grinned at Emma, her blue eyes dancing with excitement. “Wish me luck.”
Although Emma wasn’t really sure wishing Leigh luck under these circumstances was a good thing, she still complied. “Good luck.”
“Thanks. And sorry to jump ship on your first night in town. But Nathan should be home pretty soon. Then you can go back to staring at him like he rode up on a white horse.”
Emma felt like the air stuck in her throat. “What?”
Leigh raised one eyebrow, a gesture reminiscent of her brother. “I’m not the only one here who likes a little eye candy. Just keep in mind, Nathan’s a natural charmer. Don’t take him too seriously.”
Before Emma could say anything, Leigh waved and slipped out of the bedroom. Emma wanted to sprint after her and tell her she was all wrong, but what would be the point? She had stared at Nathan like he was a bowl full of chocolate bonbons and she was on a diet. She definitely deserved Leigh’s warning.
Not wanting to risk bumping into Leigh and her date, Emma took her time unpacking. She left most of what she’d brought in the suitcases on the chance she might be able to move into the garage apartment soon. Once she was done, she wandered around her room for a couple of minutes, until the silence in the house made her antsy.
Then she gathered up the research material she’d been reading and headed downstairs. The family room had caught her eye on the five-minute tour Leigh had given her of the place. With its cream leather furniture and paneled walls, the room tugged on Emma’s aesthetic side. Entering, she couldn’t help thinking the dark-blue throw pillows were the exact same shade as Nathan’s eyes. Except Nathan’s eyes were warm, and inviting, and... Oops. Enough of that. Emma curled up in one of the overstuffed chairs and refused to think any more about throw pillows and Nathan’s eyes. She had work to do, so she settled down with her pile of research material.