Tempting the Texan

by Maureen Child

  “In here, Lulu.”

  Smiling, she walked into the great room and found Miranda curled up alone on one of the overstuffed couches. The twinkling white lights were blazing and the Christmas tree was lit against the gloom of the December day. It should have looked cozy. Welcoming.

  Instead, Lulu took one look at Miranda and said, “Oh, honey, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” She shook her head and plastered a very unconvincing smile on her face. “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”

  “Okay,” Lulu said, dropping her black leather bag on the nearest chair before walking to join Miranda on the sofa. “Now I know there’s something wrong. I’m here to pick up you and Irina for a fun-filled Christmas-shopping day at the Courtyard. The other girls and the camera crew are already there waiting for us.”

  “Oh God, I completely forgot.” Miranda smoothed the wrinkled-up tissue in her hand and used a corner to dab at her eyes.

  “It’s no reason to cry,” Lulu said, trying for a little humor. It failed miserably. “Sweetie, come on. Things can’t be that bad. Just tell me what’s wrong. Do you need me to go bitch slap someone?”

  Miranda gave a short, choked laugh. “No, but thanks for the offer.”

  “Not a problem.” Lulu paused and looked around the empty room. “Where’s Irina?”

  Waving that aside, Miranda said, “She’s not here. She went with Kellan to Nashville for the weekend.”

  “Well, that’s interesting.” She tapped her finger against her chin, then stopped and demanded, “Wait a minute. Did Kellan make you cry?”

  “No,” Miranda muttered in disgust. “Kellan made me furious and that made me cry.”

  “Man, I hate when I do that. It always makes me even more mad, which makes me cry harder. Vicious circle. So what happened?”

  “What always happens when one of Buck’s kids comes anywhere near me. Arguing. Name-calling. Tempers.” Grimly, she shook her head and said, “I should just leave Texas altogether. That would show them all.”

  “Uh-huh.” Lulu wanted to be supportive, but she needed more information. “Why?”

  “I can’t tell you, damn it.”

  “Why not?”

  Miranda huffed out a breath and ground her teeth. “It’s a secret. It’s Buck’s secret.”

  “Well, now I’m intrigued.” Settling in, Lulu swung her hair back from her face, propped her elbow on the back of the sofa and stared at her friend. Miranda was always the composed one. The one of them who knew who she was and where she was going. She never failed to be coolheaded and rational. Seeing her like this was a little unsettling.

  “How does a dead man have secrets?”

  “If anyone could, it’d be Buck.”

  “Just tell me, Miranda. It’s clearly upsetting you. So share.”

  Miranda watched her for a long minute, considering. Her eyes were still teary, but the expression on her face was pure frustration. “Can you keep a secret, Lulu? From everyone?”

  Lulu didn’t even try to laugh that question off. Miranda’s gaze was straight and more serious than she’d ever seen it before. So she looked into her friend’s eyes and said solemnly, “I’m a good friend, Miranda. I’m your friend. You can trust me.”

  She continued to study Lulu for another few seconds, as if deciding whether to continue or not. Then, decision made, she sighed. “I believe you. And maybe you’re the one person I can confide in. Especially since you have no attachment to any of the people involved in this whole mess.”

  “You can tell me, Miranda.”

  Nodding she said, “Thanks for that. Okay, you already know that I got a letter from Buck, after he died, telling me to come here and about the will—”

  “You mean about leaving you everything and ensuring his children will hate you? Yeah. I know.”

  “In the letter, he also said I could share this with someone as long as that person wasn’t from Royal—which is why even Irina doesn’t know what I’m about to tell you.” Miranda gave her a weak smile, but at least the tears had dried up. “The thing is, I’m putting up with all of this crap and I’m not actually Buck’s heiress.”

  Okay, whatever she might have expected, it wasn’t this. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” Miranda snapped, “this is pure Buck. Even dead, he’s pulling strings.” She took a breath. “He said I’d be receiving three letters. So far I’ve only got the first one.”

  “And what did it say?” Lulu was caught up in the secrecy of the whole thing. She’d had no idea people actually did things like this.

  “He wants me to be the steward of his estate. Temporarily.” She tore at the tissue, deliberately creating flimsy pieces of confetti that pooled in the lap of her black skirt. “I’m supposed to work with Kace—”

  Kace, the yummy lawyer, Lulu thought and wondered when she’d see him again.

  “It’s going to take several months to straighten all of this out. Months where I get to be insulted, gossiped about and driven to total craziness.” She shook her head fiercely, as if denying the whole mess. “But here’s the really hush-hush part, Lulu. In the end—” she threw her hands up “—his kids are going to inherit after all.”

  “What?” This just kept getting stranger.

  “Oh yes. Torture Miranda for months and then they all get their reward. Damn Buck anyway.” Her eyes fired. “For example, Kellan’s going to get this ranch, though he doesn’t know it yet. And I can’t tell him—so I have to put up with all of his bull, knowing that he’s got no real reason to dish it out. Sophie and Vaughn will be inheriting a huge chunk of the estate, too, in spite of the way they’re treating me, like I poisoned Buck to get all his money.”

  “This is so weird.”

  “Tell me about it. And before you ask,” Miranda added, “I’m doing this because Buck left fifty million to my charity, to compensate me for seeing this through. The damn man knew I’d put up with anything to see Girl to the Nth Power fully funded.”

  “Wow.” Lulu laughed shortly. “I don’t even know what to say to all this.”

  Miranda laughed, too. “That’s a typical reaction to one of Buck’s plans. You know, his kids hated me before and this isn’t helping anything. This whole thing is driving me nuts. I loathe secrets and Buck knew that, damn it.”

  “Your ex really wins the prize, doesn’t he?” Instinctively, Lulu took Miranda’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’re not alone in this anymore, Miranda. You’ve got me. And when things get tense, you can dump all over me, I promise.”

  Her friend laughed a little and gathered up the confetti from her skirt. She blew out a breath. “Thank you. Seriously, thanks. It really helps having you to talk to.”

  Lulu gave her a quick hug and said, “You know what else helps? Shopping. Why don’t you go freshen up your makeup and we’ll go meet the girls?”

  “Right. Okay, I won’t be long.”

  When she left the room, Lulu sat alone, her mind buzzing. She’d keep her friend’s secrets, but she had to wonder if all superrich people were crazy, or if it had just been Buckley Blackwood.

  * * *

  Kellan wasn’t sure why he’d wanted Irina with him on this short business trip. Hell, he didn’t even know why he was planning on going back to Royal. Ordinarily, he’d have stayed in Nashville, gone back to his normal life. But now nothing seemed “normal” anymore.

  It was a short flight to Nashville from the Dallas airport, just under two hours. But rather than fly commercial, Kellan preferred his private plane. Usually, he got work done during the flight, burying himself in reports, prospectuses and plans. But today was different.

  Today, he had sipped champagne with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. If he felt a stab of guilt over that, because it seemed disloyal to Shea, he suppressed it. The two women couldn’t have been more different, and it was as i
f he was only now realizing that.

  Irina had a strength that Shea, in her more sheltered life, had never been forced to develop. Irina went her own way while Shea had done what was expected of her. At that notion he did feel disloyal, so Kellan shut those wayward thoughts down and focused on Irina.

  “This place,” she said, doing a slow turn on the teakwood porch floor, “is amazing. The house itself is beautiful and the grounds...” She shook her head a little and glanced over her shoulder at the yard, with its manicured lawn and surrounding trees. “It’s like a painting. But...don’t you get lonely here?”

  “I’m not here often enough to get lonely,” he admitted.

  She choked out a laugh. “So you own a three-story house on five acres of land and you’re not here often?”

  He knew how that sounded, but he shrugged it off. “Most often, I simply stay in town at the Heritage Hotel. It’s more convenient for work.”

  “Then why—” She waved both arms, encompassing the house.

  “I guess you can take the boy off the ranch but you can’t take the ranch out of the boy.” It was a glib excuse, but one he’d used before. Kellan looked at the house, with its wraparound porches, elegant lines, and knew that buying it had been more of an investment than it was a true expression of him looking for a home.

  He liked Nashville—hell, he owned half the buildings in the city—but it wasn’t home and never would be.

  Maybe he hadn’t consciously admitted it before today, but the truth was, Texas was home. Royal, Texas. And more than that, his home was Blackwood Hollow. Funny that it had taken him this long to acknowledge that simple fact. Shea’s death had chased him from Texas.

  But now it was time to go back and fight for what was his. The question was, did that include Irina?

  “Well, it’s beautiful,” she said and turned around to lean on the iron scrollwork railing. She lifted her face to the sunlight and sighed a little, simply enjoying the moment.

  And Kellan enjoyed the view. She took his breath away. Punched at his heart and shook him right down to his bones. Irina wore a pale yellow dress with a full skirt that kicked around her knees paired with mile-high heels that did incredible things for her already gorgeous legs.

  All he wanted to do was take her inside to the master bedroom and lose himself in the wonder of her for a few hours. But when she turned her head to him and grinned, he felt another hard jolt and knew that if he gave in to temptation, they’d never leave the bedroom all weekend. He had other plans.

  When her cell phone rang, Kellan’s thoughts shut off as Irina’s features went tight and worried. Without glancing at the screen, she said, “That’s probably Sheriff Battle.”

  Kellan hoped so, if only because hearing that Dawson Beckett had been dealt with would ease her anxiousness. He got up and went to her as she pulled the phone from her purse.

  “It is him.”

  “Well, let’s hear him out. Put him on speaker, Irina.”

  Nodding, she answered and said, “Sheriff, you’re on speaker so Kellan can hear you, too.”

  “That’s fine. Irina, I wanted to tell you that Beckett’s been warned off.”

  She looked up at Kellan and he could already see worry draining from her eyes. “What happened?”

  “That detective friend of mine in Dallas had a talk with Beckett. Told him in no uncertain terms to stay away from you.”

  “Will that work?”

  Kellan dropped one arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. If it didn’t take care of the problem, Kellan would have a “talk” with the man and end this once and for all.

  “It will,” the sheriff said, “because Beckett’s got a couple of legal problems at the moment already. He has a court date coming up in a week or two. So, if he bothers you again, he was told we’ll add the attempted blackmail to his list of charges and that won’t go over well with the judge.”

  She smiled and seemed to sag against Kellan. “That’s wonderful. Thank you so much.”

  They could hear the smile in the sheriff’s voice. “Like I said, it’s my job and I’m happy to help.”

  “Thanks, Nate. We both appreciate it,” Kellan said.

  “Not a problem. Now, enjoy Nashville and I’ll see you when you get home.”

  Home. There it was again, Kellan thought as Irina disconnected the call. Royal was home and it was resonating with him in a way it hadn’t in years. Why now?

  Even while he thought the question, he knew the answer was Irina. She had drawn him back into his family, into his hometown. What that meant, he wasn’t sure—and didn’t want to think about it now.

  “I’m so relieved,” she whispered, tucking her phone back into the tiny brown leather bag she wore draped on one shoulder. “I can’t believe it. He’s really not going to bother me again. Dawson, I mean.”

  “No,” Kellan said, holding her shoulders and turning her to face him. “He won’t.”

  “Thank you. For helping me with this.”

  He slid his hands up until he was cupping her face with his palms. He looked into her deep green eyes and something stirred inside him. “Dawson Beckett’s out of your life, Irina. This time for good.”

  She took a deep breath and smiled. “I can’t even grasp that. Not really. He’s always been on the edges of my mind. Always a regret. A worry that somehow he’d find a way to reenter my life.”

  “Let it go now. Because you can,” he whispered, and bent his head to kiss her. A slow, soft brush of the lips that had her sighing and swaying into him.

  That unidentifiable something stirred within again and Kellan broke the kiss in response. He steadied himself and even then, the stars in her eyes when she looked up at him were nearly blinding.

  They’d crossed a line in their relationship by coming to Nashville. Things were different here. They were different. Right here, right now, they were just two people with no past, no future. They had this weekend and it lay before them like a gift. Kellan was determined to appreciate every damn minute.

  “I feel so good,” Irina was saying and pulled away from him long enough to do a quick spin that lifted the hem of her skirt halfway up her thighs.

  “Look good, too.” He winked at her and she grinned, stealing his breath again.

  “Thank you for bringing me here, Kellan.” She looked out over the grounds, then back to him. “You know, since I came to this country, I’ve never been outside Texas. This has made a lovely first trip.”

  “We’re just getting started,” he said and took her hand. “We’ve got a lot more to see.”

  “We do?”

  Looking into those beautiful green eyes of hers, he could happily lose himself and everything else in the world that wasn’t her. And Kellan wanted more than anything to keep that smile of anticipation on her face. There was so much he wanted to show her. Share with her. And no better time to start than now.

  “One tour of Nashville,” he said, tugging her along behind him, “coming up.”

  A few hours later, they were in a crowded bar, with flashing neon on the walls and country music streaming from speakers. Waiters and waitresses moved through the crowd like dancers, delivering drinks and laughing with their customers. And Irina took it all in with a big smile.

  “You like country music?” Kellan asked. “I thought I knew everything about you and now you’re throwing me a curveball.”

  There was still so much he didn’t know, Irina thought. Like just how much she loved him. How much she wished they were any other ordinary couple out for the evening. But they weren’t. There were secrets between them. And a ghost. And seven years of mistrust.

  She’d been going along for the last couple of weeks, taking the days and nights for what they were. But she’d always known that things would change. This time with Kellan would end again, as it had so many years before. And when it was done, she wan
ted these memories. Wanted to be able to soothe her broken heart by drawing up images of him.

  Deliberately then, Irina pushed all of those thoughts aside, because for tonight, she wanted the fantasy. She wanted to believe.

  “I’ve lived in Texas since I came to this country from Russia,” she reminded him with a smile. “So yes, I do like country music. In a lot of ways, the music itself reminds me of folk songs I grew up with, and that’s comforting. I am a little surprised that you like it, though.”

  Both eyebrows winged up and mock insult was stamped on his features. “I’m born and raised in Texas, honey. Country music is sort of rooted into my blood.”

  Her smile softened until it became almost wistful. “That must be nice.”

  “What?”

  “Growing up in one place. Feeling that connection.” She sipped at her vodka again, then set the glass down. “My father died when Olga and I were very young and our mother moved us all over Russia while she looked for work. Being in Royal was my first try at developing...roots.”

  “Funny. I always thought that roots just tied you down.”

  “No, they anchor you,” she said, wishing he could see his home as she did. “You can go wherever you want, but there will always be a place where you belong. Where people know you and are happy to see you.” She looked at him. “People in Royal have enjoyed having you back home. Your brother and sister especially.”

  He snorted. “Not Miranda.”

  She had to laugh at that, too. He and Miranda were truly oil and water, and it was a shame, because she thought if there weren’t so many obstacles forcing them to see each other in the worst lights, the two of them might be able to be friends. “True. But Miranda is only there because your father wanted her to be.”

  “And we’ve circled around back to Buck,” he said, sipping at his scotch as he leaned back against his chair.

  She hated that every time his father came up in conversation, Kellan shut down. Yes, she knew that Buck hadn’t been a perfect father. She knew that now, more than she ever had before. But at least he had cared. And Irina wondered if Kellan would ever accept that. Especially once he knew everything.