“And likely more desperate, too,” Adam said. “Having started with nothing and then being tossed back there after having a taste of the high life—no pun intended—that could make a man desperate down to his soul.”
“Which was why we really don’t like the idea of exposing anyone in Lusty to this crazy bastard,” Will said.
“You’re not thinking that it’s your fault this idiot is headed this way?”
“Adam, be real. If not for our being here, he wouldn’t be headed this way.”
Adam shook his head. “Y’all have a few things to learn about being Texan—and about being Texan Kendalls. The first thing you have to get over is this ego thing y’all have going. That boy is bat-shit crazy, and likely the seeds for that were always in him. You signed him as a client. Why wouldn’t you? You were in business. Everything that’s happened has been his doing, not yours. And hiding when folks come after us?” Adam stopped speaking and looked from him to his cousin, with one eyebrow raised.
Will exhaled. “Yeah, yeah. That’s not how Kendalls do things.”
“And you’ll find that it’s not the Benedict way, and that Jessops are like that, too.”
“All right, then. I guess the only thing we can say is thank you.” He looked at Norm, and let his gaze skim over Jacqui. Timing. This wasn’t the best time to be starting a relationship with Jacqui. They already cared about her more than just a little. No way in hell did he want her getting hurt the way Cheryl had.
“Don’t even think about it, slick.”
How had she realized what he was thinking? Adam was chuckling. He narrowed his gaze at Jacqui. “I thought I was slicker.”
“Yeah, you were, until you had that very obvious and knee-jerk thought. You want to end things now, it better be because you’ve decided I’m not worth the trouble, and not for any other reason.”
“How do we know if you’re worth the trouble or not? We haven’t had you yet.” Norm looked right at her when he said that. It occurred to Will that this was way too much information for their cousin Adam. His snickers reminded him of the same kind of teasing they’d get back home from their cousins there.
“You keep it up, slick, and you’re not going to—not for a long, long time.”
Norm had the grace to look sheepish. Then he ran his hand through his hair—they shared that gesture. In the next moment he pulled Jacqui into a hug.
“Sorry, sweetheart. The last couple of hours have been a bit crazy.”
“I can cut you a little slack. Just watch your mouth.”
Norm looked ready to say something right back to her, and then appeared to think better of it.
Adam got to his feet. “I’ll touch base with Jake and Dad. We’ll put our heads together. Probably, Wilde will get picked up in New York within the next couple of days. I don’t know if he’ll actually make it as far as Texas, let alone find our little town. But if he does, we’ll be ready for him.”
Will got up to show Adam out. As he watched his cousin walk to his car, a sense of family and belonging settled on him, despite the circumstances—or maybe because of them.
“Sure reinforces our decision to sell the arts and entertainment portion of our business, doesn’t it?” Norm’s voice brought him back to the table.
“Yeah, in spades.”
“Well I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m just a little miffed at having our dance cut short. I’d never danced like that before, and I wanted more of it.”
Will met Norm’s gaze and then turned his attention on Jacqui. He understood what she was doing, and why—not that he doubted she enjoyed being between them.
She was trying to get their minds off what they couldn’t do anything about—at least, not tonight.
“Things got pretty hot on the dance floor,” Will said. “You sure you want to go there again?”
“Yes. I’m sure. I want another couple of dances before we call it a night.”
“I don’t fancy going back to the community center.” He knew the dance would go on there for another couple hours, at least. But he no longer wanted to be a part of a larger crowd.
“Did I see a sound system in your living room? And a floor? I do believe there’s a floor in that room!”
And then Will saw what he’d missed. Yes, Jacqui was trying to take their minds off things, but she was also making a move, and that made her nervous.
“Why Miss Jacqui, so you did.” Will went over to her and gently eased her into his arms. Norm moved in, and they had her sandwiched between them. “Maybe another few dances…and another few kisses. If you can take the heat.”
“Oh, there you are…you’re back, slicker than ever. I can take the heat, New York. I’m just not sure about the two of you.”
Will chuckled. “You will be, sugar plum. You will be.”
Will decided, as he and Norm led Jacqui into the living room, that his words had been as much of a vow as they had been a riposte. And between them, he and Norm were going to do their best to make Jacqui Bethune melt.
Chapter 8
“So…um…how ticked are you?”
The words made Jacqui come to a stop. She didn’t think she’d ever seen either her aunt or her boss look repentant before. She’d expected Nancy to be here—she owned the store after all, and it was just a few minutes shy of opening time. Holly’s presence was a bit of a surprise.
She hadn’t seen either woman yesterday, nor had she called either of them. “I’m not ticked. Well, not at the two of you, anyway.”
“Uh-oh.” Repentance vanished in the blink of an eye. In its place, a look of vengeance transformed two otherwise somewhat genteel southern women into the very embodiment of fierce Valkyries. Rather than riding over a battlefield to collect the dead and deliver them to Odin, Jacqui had no doubt either of her best friends was capable of riding across Texas fields to vanquish anyone who hurt her.
“What did they do? They’re going to wish they hadn’t when I get through with them!” Holly nodded, arms akimbo. “And to think that Alan and Duncan were annoyed at me for wanting to protect you from those two…those two…”
Since Holly seemed at a loss for words, Jacqui gladly supplied two. “Perfect gentlemen?”
“Perfect gentlemen?” Nancy frowned, and then she and Holly had a bit of a stare off. Jacqui laughed, and continued on into the store. She set her purse behind the counter and then went over to where her best friends stood.
“And to answer your question as to what they did? As you likely know, I went back to their place when we left the dance early—Sheriff Kendall arrived shortly after we got there. Then when he left, I complained about only having once danced with the two of them, together. So they took me into their living room, put some sexy music on their sound system, and danced with me again.” Jacqui sighed, and then she pouted. “Then they kissed me, just like they had at the community center, only this time, those kisses lasted longer and had me begging for more. And then…they said good-night, escorted me out to my car, and waved as I drove away.”
“Oh.” Holly looked at Nancy. “Well that’s good, isn’t it? You said you didn’t want to rush into anything…um…horizontal, especially not on the first date.”
“Yes, it’s good. I guess. But it was supposed to be me calling a halt to things.”
“Ah.” Nancy nodded. “A classic case of frustrated libido and wounded feminine pride.”
Jacqui could see that neither woman was taking her complaint very seriously. And really, could she blame them? She nodded. “Exactly.” Then, “What is it about getting horny that seems to short circuit the brain? I’m a reasonably intelligent woman, one who generally gives more than a nod to logical thinking. And here I am, feeling like I want to stomp my feet and throw a hissy fit.”
“Sex,” Nancy said, “has been the downfall of many a smart woman.”
“Amen, sister,” Holly said. Then she sighed. “But I have learned that done for the right reasons, and with the right men, it all more than balances out.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done it for the right reasons and with the right men.”
“Maybe you will,” Nancy said, “very soon.”
“Maybe.” The emotions coursing through her when she thought of Will and Norm were still too new, too tentative for her to talk about, even with her best friends. At once exciting and terrifying, she realized that what she already felt was so much more than she ever believed she could, or would.
“So what happened? And who is Rick Wilde? That’s the name that Norm said at the dance. He didn’t mean the Rick Wilde? That actor who starred in those two movies a year or so ago?”
“The very same. I don’t have all the details, but apparently, Wilde was a client of theirs.” She told them what she knew, mostly because she sensed it was all about to become common knowledge, anyway.
“The guys are pissed, just thinking about that asshole showing up around here. Adam told them to chill. That leaving isn’t how Kendalls do things.”
“Jessops are like that, too,” Nancy grinned. Then her smile sobered. “For the size of the town, we really are hip deep in cops of one form or another. Adam and Matt are damn good at their jobs. And then there are three FBI guys and one DEA agent hereabouts.”
“Not to mention that most of the women in town have guns, and will arm themselves at the drop of a hat.” Holly nodded. “And having some crazy ego-centric drugged out Hollywood has been heading here to get revenge on those two? From what I’ve learned, it’s so…well, so very much like Lusty.”
“Isn’t that the truth? Matthew and Steven both tease me that all was calm and peaceful here until I came.” Kelsey Benedict stood just inside the archway that connected Nancy’s Book Nook with Lusty Appetites. In her hands she held a tray with a pot of coffee, some cream and sugar and a stack of cups.
“My cousins actually have the stupidity to say that to you?” Nancy shook her head. “Bless their hearts.”
“That’s what I say,” Kelsey grinned and came right up to the counter. She set the tray down and began to pour. Footsteps drew Jacqui’s attention back to the archway. Tracy Alvarez-Kendall came in. Her tray held saucers of cream puffs and a lot of napkins.
“Of course sometimes, if I’m really ticked, I offer to leave, and they can have their old boring lives back.” Kelsey’s eyes were laughing. “You have no idea the kind of pampering that simple sentence gets me.”
“So…a party?” Jacqui looked at the new arrivals and then at her best friends. Apparently, neither Nancy nor Holly seemed surprised to see them—even though it was Monday, the one day in the week that the restaurant closed.
Then the bookstore door opened, and four more women came in. “Are we late?” Ginny Kendall led the way, followed by her sister-in-law Tamara, with sisters Carrie Benedict and Chloe Jessop close behind.
“No, you’re right on time,” Nancy said. “And it’s not so much a party we’re having as it is a strategy session.”
“I’ll take some of that coffee, please Kelsey. My babies kept me up most of the night.”
Kelsey snickered. “Which ones, the older ones or the younger ones?”
Ginny grinned. “If it had been the older ones, I wouldn’t need the caffeine for stimulation.” Then she looked at Jacqui. “So, girlfriend, what’s going on? Adam was very quiet about leaving the dance early and then visiting the cousins. I did hear him whispering to Jake, but since I understand they’re in full out ‘protect the womenfolk mode,’ I let them be. I figured you’d know as much as anyone.”
Jacqui began to understand the look on Adam’s face Saturday night when she’d mentioned hearing about a couple of incidents involving the “womenfolk” of Lusty. Of course, that didn’t stop her from filling the women in on the situation—or as much of it as she knew about.
“So we need a good solid plan,” Kelsey said. “First, though, you have to promise to keep us all in the loop,” Kelsey said. “Your men don’t know enough yet to try and keep you in the dark about what’s going on—and if they do, well, you can just set them straight. Right?”
Jacqui didn’t know how she felt about having William and Norman Kendall referred to as her men, but she pretty much agreed with the principle of complete disclosure.
“So we’re dealing with an immature, egocentric, testosterone riddled young man bent on proving to the world that his failures are not his fault. Do I have the gist of it?”
Carrie’s assessment sounded right to her. Jacqui nodded. “He tried to sue the guys when they severed their contract, but of course, there were no grounds to bring suit against them as they were perfectly within the parameters of the contract to do so.”
“No, Preston would have made that contract iron-clad,” Ginny agreed.
“He’s angry—as witnessed by the fact he beat up someone connected to the guys. As to how far he’ll get? Will and Norm both said the guy isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I’m having a hard time believing he’ll be able to get his sorry ass from New York City all the way to Lusty, Texas. And if he does, I don’t know what good we’ll be against him.”
“You’re so young and naïve.” Tamara put her arm around Jacqui. “We, too, were once young and naïve. So let us give you a crash course—the benefit of the knowledge we have gained from our brief, but exciting history here in Lusty.”
Jacqui felt her jaw drop as they outlined their own adventures, and then the adventures of those women not present. By the time coffee had been drunk the store had opened, they’d been joined by a few more women curious about the topic of discussion—and then eager to give their opinions, too.
By the time the meeting broke up, Jacqui’s sense of calm had all but vanished. If everything she’d heard that morning could be believed—and she knew it could—they could all be in for a shit load of trouble.
* * * *
“So what you’re telling us is, we can’t let Jacqui know what’s going on at all?” Will Kendall looked around at the men who’d wandered into the Sheriff’s office a half hour before. Adam had called him and Norm down, on the pretext of updating them on the case.
Wasn’t really a pretext. They had been updated.
He met his cousin, the sheriff’s gaze. “That can’t be a good idea. We’re just getting started, the three of us. Jacqui Bethune is…” Will looked at Norm. Norm shrugged. Hell of a thing, to try to describe your woman to other men without giving a negative impression.
“I imagine she’s work, just like every other woman in this town is.” Jake Kendall said that, and a close look at the man reveal he was a bit uncomfortable with the admission.
“Thank God there’s not an electronics wiz among them,” Matt Benedict groused. “They might have bugged this office!”
“Fuck, don’t even go there. We’d have to sweep the office on a regular basis.” Adam shook his head.
“The actions of a guilty conscious,” Will said, pointing at the sheriff. “Adam, be reasonable, here. She’s going to ask. Now, I can say, ‘the case is ongoing and Adam assures me they’re doing all they can.’ Yeah I can say that for a day or two. But as the weeks go by, she isn’t going to believe that’s all we know.”
“We’re not going to lie to her, guys. Jacqui is a sensible, logical woman.”
“They’re the worst kind,” Steven said.
“You’re still stinging that Kelsey was able to divert your attention so the rest of the womenfolk could head over to the clinic the day Ramos came to town,” Adam said that with a straight face. Will was beginning to think the men of Lusty didn’t much like their women.
“Of course I am,” Steven agreed. “Y’all wouldn’t let me forget that for at least a year.”
“Only because you had that wonderful afternoon intimate encounter with our woman,” Matt said. “And because teasing you is fun.”
“We’re just trying to prevent you from finding out what it does to a man when his woman insists on grabbing the sword from his hand and charging the dragon,” Jordan Kendall said.
“It’s hell,” Morgan Kendall agreed, “for a man to realize his wife insists on standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Yeah, I know. Equality and all that. But men are built differently. Every damn one of us would rather take the hit than endanger our wives.”
“I only have one question, then.” Norman looked at each man, cousins of a sort, every one of them. “Now you’re wanting to help us. Saturday night, you just wanted to fuck with us.”
“Well, yeah. We’re cousins. That’s what you do with cousins, isn’t it?”
The general consensus was a yes. Will laughed. “All right, I get all that. Yes, we want to protect Jacqui. But I’m positive that once we explain our plan to her—provided of course, that we do have a plan—she’ll keep out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs.”
Silence greeted that statement. Then Grant Jessop said, “Andrew, do you remember believing in Santa Claus? And that our sweet woman would be sensible enough to steer out of harm’s way?”
“Vaguely,” Andrew replied. “I think the terror I experienced when I heard she’d gone into a house where an armed kidnapper already had a couple of hostages scared those memories right out of me.”
The men then proceeded, one after the other, to tell the same stories he suspected Jacqui had already heard—and alluded to on Saturday night. Only the stories the men told involved an accounting of how many gray hairs they’d grown, and how many years had been, they were certain, frightened off their otherwise healthy life spans by the women they loved taking what they considered foolhardy and needlessly reckless chances.
He and Norm sat side by side on Jasper Jessop’s desk, listening to how much these men really loved their women.
“And if you think that’s bad, don’t get us started on Grandma Kate,” Adam said.
Ever man there shook his head, his lips pursed as if the fear he didn’t speak of was simply…unspeakable.
“So what you’re all saying,” Will said, “is that this town is filled with women of strength—women of courage who will fight to protect you all as fiercely as you’ll fight to protect them.”
Love Under Two Extroverts [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 8