by Melody Anne
“Okay, then. I’ll leave you to it. This smoke from your little bonfire thing is hurting my delicate skin.”
Without saying anything more, the woman turned and walked away, most likely to find the broomstick she’d come in on.
“What in the hell was that?” Sage asked as she came to stand by Grace.
“That’s my hell. Kitty Grier, so far the worst client I’ve had,” Grace said with a shudder.
“Damn, Grace. You really need a new job.” Sage laughed before taking the nearly empty cup Grace had been holding and replacing it with a full glass of pure goodness.
“You know what I need,” Grace said before taking a long swallow.
“Forget about her. Let’s go back to relaxing,” Sage wisely told her.
Soon, Kitty was forgotten, so Grace resumed her position in the chair and closed her eyes. She would eventually get one day—just one, that’s all she was asking—when there was absolutely zero drama.
Unfortunately, today hadn’t been that day.
Cam felt as if he were in a trance. His eyes were drawn to this incredible woman, and he was hopelessly captivated by every little thing about Grace Sinclair. The way she tipped her head back and filled the air with the sound of her contagious laughter—it stopped him in his tracks. And he wasn’t the only one who was spellbound.
Surveying the room quickly, he found many admiring eyes. Endearing was the word for her. As she sat back in her chair, unconscious of her charms, she twirled her long strands of hair in her finger and tilted her head to the side, eyes wide while she listened intently to the conversation bubbling around her.
It had been so long since he’d held her in his arms, sunk deep inside her body. Their coming together again was inevitable, and it was the last thing he should be thinking of at this moment. Something bad was going on in her life, and he needed to focus on helping her. But who said he couldn’t offer up a little temptation along the way? They had once been good together. He was positive they could be that way again.
“You and Grace have sure been spending a lot of time together,” Jackson said as he followed Cam’s line of sight and smirked at the target just before taking a swig of beer.
“Yeah,” Spence added. “Having little kissing sessions in the hallways of hospitals, catching her from falling at her apartment, even staying the night and nursing her back to health. Hmmmm.”
“Shut up, both of you,” Cam grumbled, pulling his gaze from Grace so he could focus on his brothers. He knew that if he let them get too out of hand, he’d be saying something he shouldn’t—something he wouldn’t be able to take back.
Yes, he wanted Grace, but his feelings ran much deeper than that, and those feelings were for him to think about and analyze. They weren’t to be put on display for all the world to see, especially not for his brothers.
“What? We just want to help you out,” Jackson said far too innocently.
Michael joined the group. “What am I missing?”
“We were just telling Cam how good Grace looks and how we noticed they’ve been spending a lot of time together,” Spence piped up.
“And she belongs to me, so back off,” Cam told them. Hell, he couldn’t lie to his brothers. The situation would only grow worse if he did.
“Didn’t you tell me earlier you were simply trying to help her with a case?” Michael asked.
“I am trying to help her with a case, but there’s . . . history between us. The situation isn’t exactly black-and-white,” Cam said. “Enough, okay?” He was really hoping they would now drop their line of questioning.
He could hope, but that had never gotten him anywhere.
“Just throw her over your shoulder and take ownership,” Jackson said with a laugh before looking over his own shoulder to be sure his wife hadn’t heard him say that.
“Mighty big words, Jackson. They’d have more impact if you didn’t look so worried right now,” Spence said, grinning widely. “Talk about whipped.”
“You’re one to talk. I would love to know what Sage would think about some of the comments you just made, big brother,” Jackson fired back.
“Okay, truce. Our wives would kill us,” Spence said. “I’m not ashamed to admit it—not in the least.”
“You know what? I didn’t ask for any of your opinions, and I certainly don’t want them,” Cam said between clenched teeth. Then he zeroed in on Michael. “Why have you been so secretive lately?”
Michael froze before looking around, acting even more suspiciously. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he finally said.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you around much. Where have you been?” Jackson asked.
Now all the brothers were gazing at the youngest Whitman, who was shifting in his seat.
“Is there a girl involved here, Mikey?” Spence asked.
“No,” Michael shouted before lowering his voice. “I don’t want a girl. I like being single,” he finished.
“I don’t believe you,” Cam said. Obviously something was up.
“I’m done with this conversation. You guys need to get a life of your own if you’re so freaking worried about the love lives of other people.” Michael stomped off.
“He’s got a point,” Cam said. Then he hotfooted it toward the cooler, where he grabbed a fresh beer and decided he was better off sitting by the fire to brood, alone, until the steaks were done.
“WOW, IT APPEARS as if two of your sons are pretty upset,” Joseph Anderson said with a congratulatory clap on Martin’s shoulder.
The two old men had witnessed the brotherly banter and they were grinning like fools though trying to remain hidden by the large oak tree in Spence’s backyard.
“Yep. I knew setting that file on Cam’s desk would do the trick. Grace kept on shooing him away and he wasn’t moving fast enough for my liking,” Martin said. “But now I’m also curious about what’s going on with Michael.”
“I have to say, you learned from the best, but you might just be exceeding me when it comes to matchmaking,” Joseph replied. He had to struggle to keep his naturally booming voice low.
“I’m just glad you were able to make it down this weekend. I have a lot to fill you in on,” Martin told him.
“Yes, phone calls get mighty old after a while,” Joseph agreed.
“What are you two doing hiding behind this tree?” Maggie asked, making both men jump.
“Quiet, woman, or you’re going to get us caught,” Martin warned her, holding a finger to his lips to silence her further.
Maggie jerked her arms across her chest and let out a huff. “Don’t you shush me, Martin Whitman, or I’ll smack you.”
“Are you three insane? You’re starting to draw attention to yourselves over here,” Eileen said in exasperation as she approached with Bethel. “How are we supposed to sneak away for our secret meeting if all eyes are on us?”
“Maggie started it,” Joseph grumbled.
“I most certainly did not,” Maggie replied haughtily. “And a gentleman would never shush a lady.”
“You’re right, darling,” Martin said. “We weren’t being very inconspicuous. Let’s go back to my place and get to planning. We’ll give Cam and Grace a little more time to pull themselves together, but if they don’t start moving faster, we might need to poke them along. We also need to start making plans for Michael. I can see something is up. I want to know what it is.”
The group began moving toward their cars.
“What is going on with Michael?” Bethel asked. “I must have missed something.”
“He’s been disappearing for weeks at a time and he’s being very secretive about it,” Martin grumbled. “I just don’t like it, especially after the display tonight.”
“Well, don’t you worry about it, Martin. We’ll get it all worked out,” Eileen assured him with a pat on the back.
“Of course we’ll figure it out. I have no doubt of that with you all here,” Martin said, and he gazed at Eileen long enoug
h that a slight blush suffused her cheeks. “Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?”
“Oh, Martin. You’re such a flirt,” Eileen said with a youthful giggle, instantly shaving twenty years off her age.
“Only with you,” he told her with a wink that made the blush turn into a full-blown flush.
“You two done flirting? It’s cold out here,” Bethel growled, but she softened her remark with a smile.
“We weren’t flirting,” Eileen insisted as they reached the car and climbed into the backseat.
Maggie chuckled. “Oh, come, now, Eileen, it’s more than obvious that the two of you have been flirting for years now.”
“You girls just hush. I don’t want Martin to hear you, and he’s about to open the driver’s-side door.”
“Maybe the two of you need some meddling done on your behalf,” Bethel offered. The wheels were turning behind her eyes as she looked at Maggie.
“Don’t you dare!” Eileen snapped, and playfully slapped Bethel’s knee.
Then they couldn’t say anything more, because Martin and Joseph climbed into the car. The women hoped the two men didn’t notice the sudden silence.
“Hold on, ladies. We’re going to take the back way home,” Martin said with a laugh.
The group of lifelong friends had been through thick and thin together, and they were just barely tapping the surface of their adventures.
After a couple of hours, the crowd had thinned slightly, but the music had been turned up, and the party seemed to just be getting started. Grace knew she should try to sneak away, catch a ride back into town with someone, and let Cam figure out later that she was gone. But for some reason she didn’t want to. What she wanted to do was enjoy the slight buzz drifting lazily through her body, sit by the glowing fire, and have Cam sitting right next to her. Her mind began to wander.
That most likely wasn’t the smartest thing she could be doing. But why should she be smart all the time? Wasn’t it okay to be naughty once in a while? Everyone thought Grace was the experienced one, the person who had the world in the palm of her hand.
She’d grown up with a wealthy family, in a beautiful home, and she’d traveled. Man, how she’d traveled. She’d gone to Europe, Australia, Japan, Russia, and so many other places, she couldn’t even name them all. And she’d done most of it alone because she’d been running, either from her parents or from the ache in her heart after men had betrayed her. But one thing was for sure—Grace was sick and tired of running away.
Yes, she’d grown up with money. But she’d also grown up without love. She had thought she’d found love with the Whitmans, and she knew she shared a kindred love with her best friend, Sage, but Grace was so much more careful now when it came to such a crippling emotion.
Because aside from Sage and Grandma Bethel, Sage’s grandmother, no one else she had ever loved and who had professed to love her in return had actually stuck around—not even Cam.
Maybe she had rejection issues, to use shrinkspeak, and maybe she had issues with being controlled. But the reality was that it didn’t matter what psychological problems she had or what she was afraid of. Because reality didn’t lie, and the reality was that people she loved eventually always disappeared. Her heart couldn’t handle any more bitterness or despair.
So it was much easier to put on a face, be the life of the party, and let the people around you think you were an unstoppable force. It was much easier not to get hurt when you wore a mask.
“Are you in a food coma?”
Grace was too relaxed at the moment to even tense up at the sound of Cam’s voice. He sat down next to her and lowered the back of his lawn chair, then turned on his side so he was facing her. Even though there were people milling all around, only the glow of the fire cast any light on the two of them, and the scene felt intensely intimate.
And with the crackling fire and the slow country song “Who I Am with You” playing, Grace felt her eyes drift a little as she looked at the boy who had turned into such a fine-looking man. Her resistance was zilch at the moment. She really should have tried to catch a ride home.
“I don’t think I’ll need to eat for at least a week,” she finally said when she realized how long she’d gone without answering him.
“That was nothing. You’ve been to one of my dad’s feasts,” he said with a laugh.
Grace grinned in response. “Yes, I have, and you’re right. I don’t understand how people can prepare that much food, let alone eat it all.”
“It’s ranching country. We get hungry,” he said with a wink.
“Camden Whitman, you sit behind a desk all day. If you’re not careful, you won’t be able to fit there with all the food you’ve been stuffing into that belly.”
“Hey! I work out,” he said as he rubbed his impressively ripped belly. “And I love cattle roundup time.”
“Yeah, I have to admit, I missed that when I was in the city. I even missed the smells here, if you can believe that,” she said with a fond smile.
“I certainly believe it, Grace. I was away for seven years during college, only home for the holidays and part of the summer. I missed little old Sterling like crazy. It’s insane, really, to miss this place when there’s so much more world out there, but I think when you know home is somewhere else, you can never be happy no matter how glamorous or important you think your life is.”
He sounded so uncharacteristically serious. Grace really wanted to ask him what the story was behind that last statement, but they weren’t in a place in their lives anymore where she could sit and talk to him for hours about their hopes and dreams. She’d once known this man better than she knew herself, but that was a long time ago.
“I didn’t know where home was for a really long time. That was pretty dang hard. After we left here, even though my parents based themselves in Missoula because of my father’s company, we traveled the world. Then I was on my own, and I traveled even more. I honestly didn’t think I would ever return here. I don’t know why I did, really . . .” She looked away now, unable to look Cam in the eyes anymore.
“You came back because you know this is your home, Grace.”
She didn’t even try to fight it when Cam reached out and grabbed her hand. What troubled her was how right it felt in the security of his palm.
She’d always felt safest when she was with Cam. How she wished she could turn back time. Turn back the horrors she’d faced over the years, turn back the last time she and Cam had said good-bye, turn it all back so she wasn’t this empty shell she feared she had become.
“I don’t know, Cam. I love being with Sage again, but she’s in a different place in life than I am. Maybe I shouldn’t have come back.” She knew she’d hate herself in the morning for this moment of weakness, of opening up to a man—especially if that man was Cam.
“You’re where you belong, Grace. I assure you of that. Sage adores you and so does my entire family,” he said, squeezing her hand. “What happened while you were away? What won’t you tell me?”
“I don’t want to do this, Cam,” she said, feeling tears choke her throat.
“I swear that all I want to do is help you, so if you just tell me your story, you can get it off your chest and it will help with this case hanging over your head,” he said with such warmth in his voice that Grace found herself unable to hold back.
“I can’t talk about this here,” she whispered. “I don’t want anyone to overhear us.”
“But you will talk to me?” His voice showed a hint of excitement, and hope glinted in his soft eyes.
“I can’t seem to keep fighting you on it, so, yes, I guess I will talk to you,” she said. The strangest thing happened once she’d gotten those words out—a weight she hadn’t known was there lifted from her chest.
Maybe Cam was right.
“Let’s go to my house. It’s just over the hill and we can talk all night if you’re up to it,” he said, standing and reaching out a hand.
“Your house?” sh
e said, her stomach tightening. “I don’t know if we should do that.”
Red flags waved and loud sirens clanged inside her mind.
“Come on, Grace. I don’t want you changing your mind in the time it will take to reach your place,” he said with a laugh. “I promise not to bite you the minute we walk in the door.”
And with that, he gave her no other choice. Without even letting her say good-bye to her hostess and best friend, he led her around the front of the house and practically stuffed her into his car. The motor was revving and they were heading down some tree-lined back road she’d never been on before. Within minutes were pulling up to Cam’s place.
She’d never been to his place before, and as the beautiful three-story log home rose before her, Grace felt her insides stir. She wasn’t strong enough to be alone with Cam here.
When she’d left New York, she vowed to quit making mistakes. And she kept making them. So after Cam opened her car door and helped her climb out, she was berating herself all the way up the path to his front steps. Grace had zero doubt that she was making the mistake of her life by coming to her onetime lover’s home—where they’d be all alone.
Cam saw a stern-looking man staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. He had to play this one carefully. No, play wasn’t the word he wanted. He’d finally managed to win a modicum of Grace’s trust, and he wasn’t going to blow it because he couldn’t keep his pants zipped and his constant erection where it belonged.
Dammit! It really sucked being a man. A little romance, a little wine, and the right words—that was probably all it would take, and he’d get her into his bed in no time flat. But that would make him just as big an asshole as the people who’d treated her so poorly that she was afraid to be open and honest anymore. And what if he was one of those people—one of the many who had made her feel that she needed to hide who she really was? He couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t one of them, and it scared the hell out of him.