“Kabara and Associates, how may I help you?”
“Sorry, wrong number,” he muttered.
Why did that name sound familiar? He was certain he’d heard it before…or seen it? He pulled out the phone book and looked up the name in the business section. Kabara, Michael, Attorney at Law. The same name circled in the yellow pages.
Colton frowned as he replaced the book. He knew she was a liar. He knew she was up to no good. So why did he find it so hard to believe she was serious about the harassment suit she’d threatened?
It weighed on his mind until he made up an errand to run in Boulder. He’d just stepped from his car when he saw the man Kendra met the night before enter the law offices of Kabara and Associates. So, she had met with a lawyer.
“He can’t know…I’m not sure I want to hire you yet…money won’t be an issue when this is all done.”
But it still didn’t make sense. She had to know by now that he didn’t have any money. She’d seen his car, knew he didn’t go out, and he certainly wasn’t grilling steaks every night. Suing him would get her nothing but legal fees. Even if she won, he couldn’t pay her anything.
Was she going after Joel? Was he the one who couldn’t know?
Colton returned to the ranch, plagued by more questions than he’d left with.
Chapter Eleven
Colton stormed out the back door of the guesthouse in time to see Noah and Cody dart inside the barn. Completely focused on catching the boys as he entered the barn, he didn’t realize Kendra was in the hayloft until he heard a smothered laugh.
“What the heck happened to you?”
He scowled up at her. “Your brother.”
“Joel?”
With her grinning gaze fixed on his hair, the deliberate misunderstanding only fueled his anger. “Your other brother. Those snot-nosed little shits—when I get my hands on them…”
He resumed his mission to find said little shits, and Kendra climbed down the ladder to race after him. She caught his arm outside the back door, but he jerked free.
“It’s all in good fun—”
“All in good fun?” he exploded, rounding on her and reaching up to pull at the lock of now-purple hair that fell across his forehead. “Look at this! This is two washings already and it’s not coming out.” He bent slightly so she could get a good look. She lifted a hand and ran her fingers through the strands. His scalp tingled and he jerked back.
“You could shave it.”
He stared at her, dumbfounded. Shave it? The suggestion was as outrageous as the dye bath he’d received less than a half-hour ago. He’d been on his way to talk to Kendra and so preoccupied with his thoughts that he’d forgotten the caution he’d adopted the past week to survive the all-out prank war that’d developed between him and the boys. With school finished for the summer, they now had plenty of time to cook up their hair-brained schemes.
He didn’t mind the shenanigans—enjoyed giving as good as he got, in fact—but this had caught him completely off guard. Not only because of the color, but the permanence of it that didn’t register until he’d stepped from the shower to find his hair still purple.
Eyeing Kendra, knowing he’d have seen the damn bucket if he hadn’t been thinking about her, his frustration redirected itself.
“Shave it?” he asked with quiet fury. “Sure, let’s do that. While we’re at it, let’s shave their bratty little heads, too.”
“Come on, it’s not that big a deal.”
He growled his disagreement and stalked away. Kendra dogged his heels while he searched each barn in furious silence. He was about to tell her not to worry about refereeing when he saw the boys sneak into the riding arena. An abrupt switch in direction accidentally tripped Kendra.
He caught her arm, set her straight on her feet with a mumbled apology, then shoved open the arena door. The boys had been stopped by Joel, but the bang of the door against the wall made them all jump. At the sight of Colton’s purple hair, Joel burst into laughter.
“What did you two use?” Colton demanded of the boys.
Cody took a step back behind Joel, reminding Colton to tone down his anger. Noah, however, stood his ground, and Colton acknowledged a brief flash of admiration for the kid’s courage.
“We mixed some stuff,” Noah admitted.
“What stuff?” Colton took a step closer.
Kendra stepped between him and her brother, and Colton scowled. As if he’d actually hurt him, what did she take him for? Noah looked to Cody, who lifted a shoulder.
Noah squared his shoulders. “Some Easter egg tablets we found in a drawer and hair dye.”
Colton frowned. The tablets explained the color, but the dye didn’t explain the permanence of it. He turned to Kendra. “Doesn’t it take awhile for that stuff to set?”
“How would I know?”
“Well, I just figured…”
“I’ve never colored my hair,” she stated.
“It does,” Joel confirmed. “Take awhile to set, that is.”
Colton and Kendra looked at him in surprise.
He shrugged and grinned. “I rebelled a little in high school.”
“If it takes awhile to set, why didn’t it wash out?” Colton asked. “I showered right away—and it came off my face.”
“Mostly,” Joel said with a chuckle. He quickly choked it back and turned to Cody. “What else was in it?”
“Paint.”
The reply was so soft, Colton wasn’t sure he heard right. “Did you say paint?” Both boys nodded, and his anger flared again. “What the hell were you two thinking?”
Kendra laid a hand on his arm. “Calm down—”
“This is calm!” he roared. He shook off her hand as his words echoed in the vast expanse of the open arena.
“Oh, grow up,” she exclaimed. “It was a joke—a bad one I admit, but still a joke. It’ll wash out or grow out—be a man and deal with it.”
Indignation welled up and he opened his mouth to argue. She fixed him with a hard glare. ‘Be a man,’ echoed in his head. From the corner of his eye, he caught Joel’s smirk and clamped his mouth shut.
Kendra turned to Noah. “As for you, not only will you apologize, but this stops now. Pranks are one thing, but you went too far this time. No more, do you hear me?”
Her brother shot Cody a glance before nodding.
“I can’t speak for Cody,” Kendra continued, “but you are grounded for a week—”
“A week?” Noah whined.
“A week. No TV, no games, nothing. Instead, you’ll work. Whatever Colton tells you to do, no questions asked. And if he can’t find anything, I will.”
Noah kicked the dust. “This sucks.”
“Not as much as two weeks would.”
Geez, she’s tough, Colton thought with a twinge of guilt. Noah’s lips thinned, but the kid wisely remained silent this time. Hell, Colton was afraid to say anything right now.
“Same goes for you, young man,” Joel said to Cody, who nodded solemnly.
“Sorry,” Noah mumbled.
Colton knew Noah didn’t like him, and hadn’t expected the apology without some prompting from Kendra.
“Yeah, me, too,” Cody echoed. “I’m sorry, Colton.”
As if he could stay mad now. With a heavy sigh, he nodded.
“Where’d you get your ingredients?” Joel asked.
A sheepish smile lifted the corners of Cody’s mouth. “Mom’s paint from the flower boxes.”
Colton pictured the flower boxes located on the front porch of the main house, edges outlined with purple paint, overflowing with violet colored pansies. He ran a hand through his hair. Yep, that’s what he looked like—a friggin’ pansy.
“And the hair dye?” Kendra prompted.
“We bought it the other day,” Noah said.
Premeditating little shits.
“Looks like it’s time for bed—now,” Kendra said.
Neither of the boys said another word on their way out. Kendra
followed.
Once Colton and Joel were alone, Joel burst into unrestrained laughter and clapped him on the back.
“Buck up buddy—it’s really no worse than standing bare-assed naked on your sidewalk.”
The hell of it was, Joel was right. It didn’t get much worse than that.
****
With the purple in his hair having faded to what could pass for a reddish tinge by the end of the week, Colton finally left the ranch on Sunday for church. His mother invited the boys along with him over afterward. Though Noah’s resentment remained obvious, he wasn’t surprised when the kid barely hesitated at the chance to leave the ranch. While he’d gone easy on the kids, Kendra had kept Noah pretty darn busy the past week.
The boys rode home with his mom and Colton detoured for a visit with his dad before joining them at the house.
When he returned, he found his mom out on the porch with a cup of coffee while the boys played on his old swing set. A plate full of crumbs sat on the table with three empty milk glasses.
“Cookies?” he asked hopefully.
“Yes, you want some?”
“Of course.” She laughed and started to get up. Colton waved her back into her chair. “I got it. You want any?”
“I’m good. Pour yourself some coffee, too, though. We need to talk.”
He joined her a few minutes later, a little uneasy after her mysterious warning. “Is everything okay? Something with Dad? No one said anything while—”
She quickly sat forward, shaking her head with a reassuring smile. “No, no, Dad’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Colton breathed a silent sigh of relief. He took his first bite of double chocolate chunk cookie and groaned in ecstasy. “You outdid yourself with these.”
“The boys liked them, too.”
He watched across the yard where Cody, Dustin and Noah had struck up a game of catch with a neighbor kid whose backyard bordered his mother’s. His attention shifted when his mother set down her cup and commented, “That Noah’s a little talker.”
Colton chuckled. “Must be you. Kid doesn’t give me the time of day other than to dump purple dye in my hair.”
She laughed. “I wish you’d taken a picture of that.”
“Oh, I’m sure Joel got one somewhere along the way.”
“I’ll have to ask him to email me a copy.”
He ate another half cookie in one bite. “You do that, because I won’t.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Anyway, when we sat down with our cookies and milk earlier, Noah was curious about your father. I explained what’d happened and he told me about his own parents, poor boy.”
He knew Noah had lost his father when he was young, and that his and Kendra’s mother had died two years ago, but didn’t quite understand why his mother wanted to talk to him about that.
“He told me all about his sister, Kendra and his brother Robert,” his mother continued.
“You mean Joel.”
She gave him a patient look. “No, Robert.”
Colton stiffened in his chair and leaned forward.
“Exactly what I thought,” she said softly, even though Colton hadn’t said a word. “He was in the middle of telling me how much he likes Joel better than Robert, and how Robert apparently followed them from New York to California and scared his sister when all of a sudden his eyes widened and he switched the subject. Started chatting about school and how much he liked it here.”
“Did you say California?” Colton asked with a frown.
His mother nodded. “Once he realized what he’d said, he looked scared out of his mind, Colton. I got the impression he wasn’t supposed to mention a word of any of it.”
Another brother. Did Joel know about this Robert? And how did he figure into the whole situation?
Their conversation was cut short when the neighbor boy was called inside by his father, and Cody, Dustin and Noah ran back over to the porch. After a few more cookies, Colton and the boys said their goodbyes and left.
On the drive back, just as they turned into the ranch drive, Noah surprised him by asking, “How’s your dad?”
Colton met Noah’s eyes through the rearview mirror for a brief moment. The kid’s question held a note of childlike sincerity that was impossible to fake. “He’s doing fine, Noah, thanks for asking.”
“Do you miss him? Your mom said he’s been in the hospital a long time.”
“Yeah, I miss him a lot. I miss not being able to do things with him like I used to. That’s why I go see him every week.” That, and the other reason. He sighed inwardly and tried to ignore the guilt.
Noah nodded solemnly. “I miss my mom, too. She used to take me to the park before she got sick. We used to swing together and play on the slide.”
“My dad did that with me when I was little, too.” Colton smiled as good memories washed over him. Oddly enough, they didn’t evoke the usual tide of shame. Absently, he murmured, “I’d forgotten about that.”
He parked the car and they started for the house. Colton put a hand on Noah’s shoulder. When he looked up, Colton said, “Thank you.”
A moment of understanding passed between them and Noah smiled at him sincerely for the first time that he could remember.
“Noah,” Kendra called from inside. “Get changed quick, we’re leaving in just a few minutes.”
Colton frowned as Noah dashed inside. They were leaving? The disturbing information his mother had relayed sent him rushing inside after Noah. He pulled up short at the sight of Kendra in a pair of jean shorts and a tight black tank top covered with an unbuttoned short-sleeved white shirt.
She glanced up from the backpack in her hands. “Are you coming along?”
Tension eased from his shoulders as he recalled Joel mentioning a hike for this afternoon. But, what else was he supposed to think after finding out they had another brother who was looking for them? With facts straight from Noah’s mouth, now he had confirmation something was not right with these two…although physically, there was nothing wrong with her. His gaze traveled down her bare legs, to a new pair of hiking boots.
“Colton?”
He snapped his attention back up to her face, where her shining mass of wavy hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Even with all the questions running through his mind, he couldn’t deny his physical attraction to her. The smart thing would be to stay home and try to dig up some answers.
“I’m coming, I just need to change.”
He could do just as much digging on the hike, right?
Right.
****
Kendra sat in the back seat with Colton and Dustin on the thirty-five minute drive to Estes Park, the town where Britt and Joel first met. She was thankful for Dustin between them because as it was, Colton’s arm stretched along the back of the seat left her hyper-conscious of his fingers inches away from her shoulder. Imagine if their bare knees rubbed against each other with every sway of the vehicle as Joel navigated another hairpin curve?
She attempted to focus her attention on the breathtaking views as they wound back and forth along the sides of the mountains, but the turns only made her more nervous. Then Britt distracted her with information about the town and the Rocky Mountain National Park, and she became intrigued.
Her interest increased as they began the hike from the Bear Lake Trailhead to Black Lake. Noah peppered the air with endless questions about the rocks and trees and plants along the trail. Kendra couldn’t help but laugh as Cody and Dustin enthusiastically competed to see who could answer first. Joel began keeping score, much to their delight.
In an effort to keep her attention off Colton’s lean body and muscled calves, she listened and laughed at the boys’ game while focusing her gaze on anything but him. After awhile, though, everything but the breath-taking scenery faded into the background.
It didn’t matter that her legs began to throb or that her lungs tightened from the altitude, nothing took away from the wonder that sprang forth time an
d again when they rounded a corner on the trail, revealing another viewpoint of the wild valley below.
JBM Ranch was in just such a valley, but this vantage point gave her a new appreciation for the peace and quiet so different from New York. Birds twittered and soared on the wind currents, lakes sparkled deep emerald green hundreds of feet below, and the sun filtered through the canopy of trees overhead. In the open, the rays streamed into the valley, bringing life wherever they shone. The vast beauty made anything seem possible.
Her hiking boot caught on a rock in the path and she stumbled, barely catching her balance in time to keep from sprawling on the ground. A pair of boots appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She jerked her chin up in surprise.
Arms crossed over his chest, Colton grinned down at her, clearly amused by her gracelessness. Heat flared in her cheeks, and she gave thanks for having kept her footing at the very least.
“Hey,” she said self-consciously.
“Hey, yourself.” He didn’t move out of the way. “We thought you were lost.”
“Why?” Looking past him, she realized they were the only two in sight. “Where is everyone?”
“About ten minutes up the trail.”
Her eyes widened. “They are not.”
“You need to tell someone when you stop to rest.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know—that’s why you got left behind.”
“No, I didn’t stop to rest. I just…” She paused, glancing first at him while searching for the words to explain, and then out over the pristine valley with the next mountain rising majestically on the other side. “I think I fell in love.”
“What?”
She laughed at herself, waving a hand over the view before them without looking away from the sun-kissed landscape. “With this—all of it. The mountains, the streams, the lakes down there in that amazing shade of green…”
She faced him again, wondering if he could possibly understand. His eyes were trained on her, the exact color of the lakes she’d just professed to have fallen in love with. Her breath caught in her throat until he blinked, then frowned.
“As pretty as this all is, it’s dangerous, too.” His voice was rough, as if he were angry all of a sudden. “Not only could you get lost, but you could slip and fall over the edge of the trail if you don’t watch where you’re going. And it’s not good to get separated from the group. Mountain lions are known to attack single hikers.”
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