Bailey, Debbie - Stephanie's Homecoming [Men of Kinsey 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Debbie Bailey

  Zachary was sitting on the couch holding something in his hand.

  “Have you ever seen this before, Turk?” he asked, holding up a man’s gold watch with the name B. Thompson on the back.

  “Where the fuck did you find this, Zachary? That’s my brother, Brian’s watch. I gave it to him five years ago for graduating university,” Turk said.

  “It was underneath the truck, and at first I thought it had been accidently dropped there, but it was placed too far under to have been an accident. He placed it there, or someone who wanted to implicate him did.” Kane took the watch and handed it back to Zachary.

  “I haven’t heard from my brother in some time. He’s had some difficulties in the last few years, and he and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye, but he’d never do something like this.”

  “We need to find him right away, Turk, and see if he knows anything about this. I know you think Jenny is involved, and I’m beginning to think so, too. But she’s had to have some help. No one around here would help her with something like this. Maybe she talked Brian into it, I don’t know, but until we find him, both of them are suspects in my book.”

  Turk saw look of sadness on Kane’s face. He knew Kane didn’t want his brother to be involved, just like Kane didn’t want Jenny to be involved, but with finding the watch and some of the statements made by Jenny, they seemed to be the only two people that could have any connection to this.

  Zachary stood to leave and handed Turk the watch before saying, “Find your brother, and get to the bottom of this. I think he left the watch as a message to you, Turk. Maybe he’s in trouble and needs your help, I don’t know, but whatever he’s involved with, we need to fix it and do it fast. If there is another incident like this and we have proof that he’s involved, I won’t give you any heads up, I’ll just go after him. But because I trust both of you, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.”

  Turk thanked Zachary, shook his hand, and showed him to the door.

  Coming back into the living room, Kane was just hanging up his cell.

  “Why the change of heart where Jenny is concerned, Kane? She’s been after you for years, but you’ve never taken her seriously.”

  “From the conversation I had with Zachary while you put Steph back to bed.” Running his hands through his hair in frustration, Kane sat on the arm of one of the chairs.

  “Zachary told me that about six months ago, Jenny and a couple of her friends had gone into the city to buy a wedding dress. A fucking wedding dress, Turk, for our wedding. The crazy-assed bitch apparently has been planning to surprise me with this huge, wonderful wedding. When the hell did I ever give her any indication that I would marry her? Every time she’s mentioned it, I put a kibosh on it immediately. I’ve never wanted a relationship of any kind with her, and she knew it. When I first met her, years before I met Steph, she had asked me out a couple of times, but I wasn’t anywhere near ready to settle down then, and that was all she seemed to talk about to anyone who’d listen. If it is her behind all this, I’m gonna kill the bitch. I don’t want Stephanie running again, and if all this scares her enough, I’m afraid she might bolt.”

  * * * *

  “Well, thanks for having such little faith in me, Kane.”

  Both men turned at the sound of Stephanie’s voice.

  “Whatever is going on is not going to scare me enough to run. I made a promise to both of you that I would come to you before it got that far. I know what I did all those years ago wasn’t right, and all I can say is that I’m older now and a hell of a lot stronger, baby.”

  Walking over to where Kane was seated, she placed her hands on either side of his face and lifted it so that he was looking at her.

  “I love you both, and nothing is going to come between us. If Jenny is involved, then she needs to have some serious psychiatric help. To carry a torch for a man who has told you repeatedly he doesn’t want you, and to even plan a wedding, it just isn’t sane, Kane.” Steph turned and looked at Turk. “And you…find your brother first before you jump to any conclusions. Someone could be setting him up, or there could be an explanation. Until you talk to him, you can’t pass judgment.”

  She gently kissed Kane’s forehead, moving to head back upstairs. But before she got too far, Turk took Stephanie by the hand and pulled her into his arms. Quickly wiping away the moisture that had developed at the corner of his eye, he smiled down at her and asked, “Where did you come from, sprite? And how did I get so lucky as to have you love me?” He looked at Kane and saw that he, too, had tears in his eyes.

  “Steph, come here, baby,” Kane said quietly as he stood, turning toward her. He reached out a hand to her, and as she moved to take it, he pulled her hard against him.

  “If I had seriously thought that Jenny was a danger to you, I would have dealt with her long ago. She just seemed to be more of a pest to me every now and then, not anything serious to worry about. I had no idea the extent of her delusions until Zachary told me about her wedding plans.” He kissed her gently on the lips and sighed, leaning his forehead against hers.

  “We will fix this, angel eyes. But until we do, you are going to have a bodyguard with you at work.” Raising his finger to her lips before she could protest, he said, “It won’t be Turk or I, because we’d be too much of a distraction, but we will have two of our best men watching out for you. You won’t even realize they’re in the office. Turk or I will drop you off and pick you up every day. Whoever is doing this is dangerous, baby, and I won’t give them another chance to get close to you.”

  Cuddling up against Kane, Stephanie sighed and agreed that as long as she was able to continue her work at the paper, they could have her guarded.

  “But I’m not going to hide from her, Kane. She may be a suspect, but until we have proof, we need to act like everything is normal, and that means there are going to be times that we run into her. This is a small town, and if she’s as deluded as we think, then seeing us out together might push her right over the edge.”

  “You are quite the little fighter now aren’t you, angel eyes,” Kane said proudly, kissing her cheek.

  “I allowed her to take me away from what was mine years ago. I’m not going to let her do it again.” Stephanie started to walk out of the room, but as she got to the doorway, she turned and said, “You’re mine, boys, and anyone who thinks they can take you from me has got a hell of a fight on her hands. Now, I’m going back to bed to get a couple more hours sleep. There’s nothing that can be done until morning, so why don’t you two come and make me feel warm and safe between you.”

  Stephanie couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of these two very large men as they practically tripped over each other trying to get to her.

  Chapter 9

  “I’m not having anything to do with your fucking insanity anymore, Jenny,” Brian snarled at the woman who had lied to him every step of the way. He didn’t have anyone else to blame but himself for getting into this situation. He’d fallen for it because he needed the money to get himself out of trouble with his bankers. But there was no way he wanted anyone to get hurt. When Jenny had come back to her apartment last night, he couldn’t believe what the fucking crazy bitch had done. And when he noticed his watch missing from the bedside table, he wanted to strangle her for what she had done. Pretending to be the big bad stalker was one thing, but torching trucks was a whole different thing. He knew that at the first chance he got, he was going to head out to find Turk and let him know exactly what Jenny was up to, and his part in it as well. He just hoped that Turk could forgive him for his stupidity.

  He would continue to keep his eyes and ears open until he could get to his brother, but until then he wasn’t going to let Jenny out of his sight, if possible. She was a danger to Kane and Turk’s woman, and after seeing his brother’s face when he looked at her, he knew that Turk loved her very much, and his brother deserved all the happiness he could find.

  “What are you thinking so heavily ab
out, handsome?” Jenny said, giving him an annoyed look. “Look, Brian, maybe I shouldn’t have torched her truck last night, but dammit, she’s fucking my man.” Her face went bright red, and he could tell he was in for another of her diatribes about how she and Kane were destined to be together and yadda yadda yadda.

  Turning to face her, he hugged her to him to try and calm her down before she went on overload, saying, “I’m sorry I got so worked up about it, sugar. I just don’t want Turk to get hurt, that’s all.”

  “I would never purposely hurt your brother, Brian. I know how important he is to you, but if he stands between me and my goal in getting her claws out from Kane, then I’m sorry, but he’s…oh what the hell do they call it…oh yeah, he’s collateral damage.”

  Collateral damage…hell, this psycho bitch was bent on destruction, and it doesn’t matter who gets in her way. He needed to keep her occupied and as calm as possible until he could get to Turk.

  “Hey, sugar, why don’t you and I head into the city for the night? We’ll have a nice dinner and see a show or something. What do you say?” God he hoped he could get her mind busy with other things for a while.

  “I can’t leave now, Brian. That woman is practically living with Kane and your brother, and that is unacceptable. My friends have already started asking questions about why she’s there. I’ve got to get her away from him before I’m a laughingstock.” Jenny walked over to the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle, poured a shot of whiskey, and downed it before turning back to face him. Her demeanor calm and cool again.

  “Why don’t we have dinner at the diner? It’s doesn’t matter if Turk sees you here. You’ll just tell him that you met me a few months ago and we’ve been dating. He’ll probably be jealous as hell, too, and it will also deflect any suspicions from us regarding the truck fire.”

  Fuck, he had to think fast. Going to the diner with her was a huge mistake unless he could get a hold of Turk first. He needed to get into town alone for a while. He hadn’t realized before just how out of touch with reality Jenny was when it came to Kane Bryson. Jealous of him? Not fucking likely.

  “Sure, sugar, we can do that. I just need to go into town to pick up a few personal items. I want to get some new jeans, as well, so why don’t you go have a nice, long bubble bath while I’m in town, and then when I get back I’ll take you wherever you’d like to go.” Smiling his best, he just fucking hoped she bought it.

  “A nice, hot bubble bath sounds delicious. But don’t take too long in town because we want to get to the diner before it gets too crowded.” Jenny smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and headed back to take her bath.

  Grabbing his keys and cell phone, he headed for the door, dialing Turk’s number as he headed out, hoping to get to Turk before all hell broke loose.

  * * * *

  Turk grabbed a cup a coffee and was just about to head out the door when his cell went off. He only gave a few friends and family his cell number because he hated using it. Picking it up, he recognized the number right away. Brian…

  “Well, little brother,” he said unhappily, “looks like you got yourself into a bit of trouble?”

  “Turk, I need you to meet me at Jackson Point right now. Shit’s about to hit the fan, and I want no part in it,” Brian said quickly.

  “What the fuck are you doing with that crazy bitch, bro?” he practically yelled into the phone.

  “Just meet me there, and I’ll explain everything. I gotta run. I’ll see you in about ten minutes.”

  The bugger just hung up.

  What the hell is going on?

  “Was that our friends checking in?” Kane asked as he came into the kitchen.

  “No, it was my brother. I’m meeting him in a few minutes to get to the bottom of this whole shit pile with your little Jenny,” Turk said.

  “She is not now, nor has she ever been my little anything, ass wipe, and you bloody well know it.” Turk felt bad for teasing Kane about Jenny. He knew that Kane already felt like shit for not seeing how fixated Jenny was becoming, so he didn’t need to be bugged about her.

  “Sorry, bud, just a bad joke. I’m worried about how deep Brian is involved with her, though. Shit, we haven’t seen each other much over the past few years, and this is not the way I wanted a reunion with him to go.”

  “Go find out what he’s into, and we’ll deal with it. If he’s calling you, he obviously wants to let you know what going on, right? So don’t worry about anything until you talk to him.” Turk had lucked out when he’d met Kane. No matter what kind of mess they had found themselves in, Kane always was able to get him to see things in a calm and rational manner.

  “Find out what from whom?”

  Both men turned at the question coming from their woman.

  Looking at her made his heart ache. That’s the only way Turk could describe it. Not a bad ache, but the good kind. It made him feel like his heart was about to burst because of the strong feelings he had for her.

  And he hated that his brother was involved in this whole mess.

  “I’m going to meet my brother, baby. He says he wants to talk to me about this thing with Jenny.” He didn’t want Stephanie to worry, but they’d promised her the truth in everything, and he wasn’t about to go back on his word with her.

  “Apparently my brother has been hanging with Jenny, and we think he was the driver on the bike that first night. He wants to talk to me, so I’d better head out; I told him I’d meet him in about ten minutes out at Jackson’s Point.” Stepping forward, he pulled Stephanie into his arms and just held her for a minute before turning and quickly striding across the yard to his truck.

  Turning to Kane, Stephanie smiled and said, “Well, I guess you get to take me into the office today.”

  “What, no myriad of questions? No demanding of answers?” Kane laughed.

  As she walked over to stand beside Kane and placed a hand on his cheek, she smiled up at him and said, “I made that promise to Joe and Helen, remember? I trust you and Turk to protect me, so as long as you keep me in the loop, I’ll try to let you guys handle everything. Now grab your keys and get that cute ass of yours into the truck so you can take me to work.”

  Kane grabbed her around the waist and pulled her hard against his body, whispering in her ear, “You are quickly earning punishments, angel eyes.” He smiled, reached behind his back, and pulled out his keys. “Let’s get you into work before I drag you upstairs and spank that gorgeous ass of yours for being such a smart-mouth.”

  Laughing, she grabbed her bag and headed for the truck as Kane punched the security code into the system and ran ahead of her so he could open the door for her.

  “Such a gentleman, Kane Bryson.” She smiled and took the hand he held out to help her in.

  “My mama raised me right, angel eyes,” he said softly and kissed her hand before telling her to buckle in and closing the door.

  * * * *

  The moment Steph walked in the doors, people were on her. Since Kane’s men wouldn’t get there until tomorrow, he would be watching over her at work today. Stepping back and letting go about her work was harder than he thought it would be. Even though she was probably safer here than anywhere else other than their home, he still didn’t like her being too far away from him.

  He watched her answer all the questions asked of her without a thought. Some of them were just common sense things. But she was patient and listened to everybody.

  Shayne, her assistant, diligently followed behind her, taking notes and making sure that every hour or so she had a bottle of water. It was such a little thing, but it showed Kane that the kid not only liked his job but cared about his boss. Hmm, he might just have to have a little talk with the young man.

  Around one o’clock, he noticed Shayne glance at his watch, and then when the next person came to ask for something, he told them that unless it was life or death to come back in an hour after they’d had lunch. He then closed the door, walked over to where Steph sat going over some files, and
pulled them away from her. Kane had to hold back a laugh at the look she gave him. It probably would have scared half the young men he knew, but this Shayne kid leaned over and said something to her then pointed over at him.

  Kane waved and headed into her office.

  “So, angel eyes, this kid giving you trouble?” Kane growled.

  “I don’t give Miss Morrison trouble, Mr. Bryson, I give her balance. If I didn’t make her stop, she would forget to eat, and I’m sure you’d be pissed right off with me if she passed out on you.” Shayne smiled and left the office.

  “Damn, that kid is good.” Steph smiled as Shayne headed out to grab his lunch.

  “He’s a good kid and makes sure you are well taken care of.” Kane came around and sat on the edge of her large desk and pulled her up to stand in front of him.

  “So, baby, do you want to head over to the diner? Turk called, and he’s in town, so he’ll meet us there when I call him.” Kane nuzzled the side of her neck, and when she opened her eyes, three of the women from the fashion department were all standing outside the glass door of her office giggling like schoolgirls.

  Without a word, she pulled out of his arms and headed to the office door and flung it open. “Okay, ladies, come in and meet him and then go to lunch, but remember, you can only look. No touching, this one’s mine, and I am very possessive.”

  All three women came in, and she introduced them to Kane. Leaning against her desk, he was impressive, but when he stood to his full height, he was magnificent. Arms crossed over his chest, the only thing he said to them was, “Ladies…” and Stephanie swore all three of them had orgasms. After hustling the women off to lunch, Stephanie couldn’t help but laugh as she grabbed Kane by the hand and headed for the diner.