Kansas Heat

by Kansas Heat (lit)

  * * * *

  Knox watched Amanda storm off, dragging his brother by the wrist. That was one severely pissed off woman. So much for the points he’d earned by giving her the necklace. He should have known Amanda wouldn’t be so overcome by jewelry. Hell, I did know. I just hoped…

  “Well, this night is turning into a peach,” Jace sighed. He could feel the heat and strength of his brother just behind him. “I can’t tell which one of them is more likely to actually take your head off when we get home.”

  Knox scowled. “Cody didn’t seem upset.”

  “He was stuck on shock. You know that’s not going to last, and you better hope when he snaps out of it, Cody doesn’t tell Amanda just where that necklace came from.”

  “It came from a jewelry store,” Knox growled, turning on his brother as Cody’s truck engine roared to life in the background.

  “It should be interesting to see how Amanda takes that reassurance,” Jace snickered. His eyes tracked something over Knox’s shoulder, and he had no doubt it was Cody’s truck spinning tires and gunning down the drive.

  “It’ll work out, Jace.” Knox sure as hell hoped so because he’d honestly thought he’d done good. They had to have dates and he wanted her to have the necklace. In pieces it had sounded good, but Knox worried now as a whole it sort of looked bad.

  “It had better.” Jace sighed. “Now you want to explain to me just how we came by these dates tonight?”

  Knox didn’t want to talk about that, either. “It’s the way we did things with Sharon, and I just thought…”

  “You could have just asked.”

  “What’s done is done.” Knox didn’t handle guilt well, actually at all. He felt more comfortable with anger. “I know for the future, okay?”

  “Yeah, for future reference, don’t make a date without clearing it with your girlfriend first, and don’t give her jewelry once belonging to your dead ex-lover. Those are pretty good rules to learn.”

  “Let’s just hope she doesn’t find out I slept with my date,” Knox muttered. Might as well get it all out there and let Jace explode privately.

  “Excuse me? Just who the hell is your date?”

  “Melody Winters.”

  Knox said it as if those two words were the trigger to an explosion that would scar him. Melody Winters was known around Humble as The Body. A former Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and now cheerleading coach over in Dodge City, Melody was physically the most perfect woman who had ever lived in Humble. She knew it. She liked to rub it into not only the women’s faces, but the men’s, as well.

  Not once had she ever gone out with a single man from Humble, but for Knox. It had only ever been about the sex. Good sex, though, could be addictive, and Knox admitted Melody and he had gone through a phase.

  “Why?” Jace whispered. “Why in the world did you pick her?”

  Knox scowled at Jace, feeling bad enough without his brother’s look. “I didn’t think Amanda would still be in the picture when I made the date, okay?”

  “Who the hell did you pick for me?” When Knox didn’t answer quick enough, Jace’s eyes widened and his head started to shake in denial. “Oh, please tell me it’s not…Julie Brown?”

  “Yeah,” Knox dragged the word out, feeling that damn weight press even harder against his heart.

  Julie Brown was just as bad as Melody Winters, if for totally different reasons. Julie Brown had it all, looks, money, intelligence, and she ran her daddy’s ranch. Perfect in every way, but one, she hated Cody. Jace was in the number one position when they had tried to strike up a relationship with Julie. Love developed, at least on Julie’s part, and at the time, Knox thought on Jace’s part, too.

  Then Cody had entered the picture and everything had gone terribly wrong. Cody and Julie had been a cataclysmic disaster. Even though the relationship failed, Julie made it clear Jace was welcome in her life and in her bed anytime he wanted.

  “You know there is a real special place in hell with your name on it.” With that, Jace turned and stormed back into the house, leaving Knox to stare off into the sky.

  Please, God, I’ll give you anything if you fix this one little thing…

  Chapter 44

  Amanda glared through the glass at the swirling mass of elegantly dressed women. The black, crisp lines of men in formal dress cut through the fluid flow of skirts and the sparkly wave of jewels. Before her eyes played out the fairy tale party of princesses and princes, and there she stood, the toad on the outside.

  Her prince had already worked his way through almost half a bottle of Jack. What had gotten into Cody, she didn’t know. He’d roared away from the ranch barely saying a word to her. Refusing to look in her direction since they’d entered the fancy ball, he’d then abandoned her for the bar.

  Abandoned was a good way to describe her night. Knox was working the main ballroom with The Body. Amanda’s jaw clenched, and the sudden need to be violent rolled over her. Melody Winters, the bastard just had to bring the best looking woman to ever be born in Humble.

  Though, that was nothing compared to the threat of Julie Brown. While both women had made it clear to Amanda they’d already had their turns in the Reese brothers’ bed, only Julie truly seemed interested in earning the privilege again. At least with Jace, Amanda’s fingers curled into fists.

  Just where had Jace and Julie disappeared to? She’d been standing there on the balcony, watching the party for nearly thirty minutes and hadn’t spotted either of them. Which just went to show how lame she was, all dolled up and standing out here like a lost little girl.

  Being disgusted with herself only soured her mood even further. Maybe it was time to read the writing on the wall and take her exit. The brothers might have dressed her up, but she’d been a fool to read anything more into it than them trying to save themselves embarrassment.

  If a single one of them actually wanted her here, then they wouldn’t have all ditched her. It would serve them right for her to return the favor, but then again, it wouldn’t serve her need to make them suffer. Walking off in a pout really wasn’t much good if nobody was around to appreciate the exit.

  Chin tilted up, Amanda decided to go find somebody to appreciate it. Knox had his hands full on the dance floor, but this time with somebody’s eight-year-old daughter. The little girl stood on his shoes, staring up at him with an all too obvious crush in her big brown eyes.

  With Knox playing the good guy and entertaining the kiddies, Amanda couldn’t really cuss him out the way she wanted. Cody, though, sat undefended and half slumped over at the bar, inspiring no sympathy at all. Whatever Cody’s problem, Amanda didn’t care.

  Coming up alongside of him, she didn’t even wait for him to pointedly ignore her. “Please don’t make your brothers have to carry you out of here tonight.”

  Not a word. Cody just lifted his glass and tipped back the rest of his shot.

  “I’m really going to make you pay for this attitude tomorrow.”

  Finally his gaze shifted toward her. Not his chin though, just a quick outside the corner of his eye look before he poured himself another.

  Amanda sighed. Whatever funk had gotten into Cody, she knew it began with the name Sharon. He’d never been this bad before, but Cody did have his moments. Maybe something about the formal tonight triggered them. None of his sad story gave him an excuse to act like this to her, but it did give her one for letting him off, for the moment.

  “Fine. Do you at least know where Jace is?” If any of the brothers might be susceptible to getting her out of this nightmare, it would be him. Knox would just babble on about responsibilities or some such shit.

  Amanda could be so lucky for Cody to be as talkative. He just shrugged and downed another shot. Rolling her eyes at his obnoxiousness, Amanda didn’t even ask him for his keys but dug them out of his pocket.

  It didn’t seem worth the breath to tell Cody he wouldn’t be driving anywhere tonight. Leaving him to his misery, Amanda went in search of Jace. Thankfully
, it took less than five minutes to find him in the gaming room.

  A public setting and one where he didn’t press himself up against Julie Brown. Unfortunately, he hadn’t swapped her for a twelve year old, and the woman sat right beside him, all too close. Even from a distance, Amanda could see the other woman trying to lure Jace with sexy little looks and the way she bumped into him as she anted up.

  Julie was after Amanda’s man, and she didn’t care if Amanda knew it. The look Julie gave her as she approached the poker table said it all. Julie Brown might be sophisticated, intelligent, strong in many ways Amanda would never be, but Amanda had one thing Julie didn’t—Jace’s love.

  He glanced up at her, greeting her with his special smile, the goofy one he wore only for her. It schooled itself in a second to a more appropriate grin, but Julie saw. The narrowed annoyance in the brunette’s gaze only made Amanda feel even better.

  “Jace, I need to talk to you for a moment, if you can spare it.”

  “Of course.” Folding his cards, he nodded to the rest of the men at the table before giving Julie a quick look. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”

  Not if Amanda could help it, but she kept her smile polite as Jace escorted her away from the table. Apparently afraid she’d come to harm him, he started murmuring the second they were out of ear shot.

  “If you’ve come to bitch at me, I just want to say, I had no idea—”

  “It’s not that,” Amanda snapped, keeping her voice in a whisper. She wasn’t about to be reduced to some jealous-girlfriend status. That would be a weak position, and Amanda wanted the high one.

  “While, we will be getting to the subject of Julie Brown later. Right now, I just thought you might like to go catch Cody before he falls off his bar stool.”

  “What?” Jace brought them to a stop near the door to the gaming room. It lead out into the lobby and right across from the ballroom, but the double set of solid wood doors managed to keep the noise out of the dimly lit man’s den. “Cody’s drunk?”

  “Drunk?” Amanda smirked. “He’s half way through a bottle of Jack, and I’d say well on his way to closing the night with a good, old-fashioned stomach pumping.”

  Jace cringed, glancing at the doors before focusing a hard look on her. “Has he said anything to you?”

  “To me?” Amanda could have laughed if the truth didn’t hurt so much. “Not a word. Not a single one since we left the ranch. In fact, he won’t even look at me. I have to tell you, I’m about to get in his truck and take my ass home because this is bullshit.”

  “Amanda—”

  “Don’t ‘Amanda’ me,” she cut him off, not interested in being soothed. “And don’t think I mean the ranch when I say home because I don’t make my home with men who go out on dates with other women, much less with men who can’t even manage to speak a civilized word to me. I’ve had enough.”

  “Don’t.” Jace grabbed her arm, stopping her from matching actions to her words. “Look, it isn’t Cody’s fault he’s in the shape he’s in.”

  “No? Somebody forced half a bottle of whiskey down his throat?”

  Jace didn’t waste his time arguing her point. “And it isn’t my fault I have a date. I didn’t make the damn thing.”

  “Oh.” Amanda got it now. “You’re going to put this all on Knox.”

  “I’m not putting anything anywhere it doesn’t belong, but I am asking you to give me a chance to explain everything. I’ve earned it, haven’t I?”

  He might have, but Amanda wouldn’t let herself be duped by her soft spot for Jace. “Fine, you can have your chance, but I’m not going back to the ranch until this is settled.”

  “Thank you.” Jace’s hand fell away from her arms as his lips kicked back toward silliness. “You know I’d kiss you now if we weren’t—”

  Amanda cut him off with a quick brush of her lips against his. Over and done with, she assured him before he could object. “Nobody saw.” Nobody but Julie. “How about I play your hand while you go take care of Cody?”

  “Uh?” Jace looked nervously back at the table, probably at Julie. “You know how to play poker?”

  “I can hold my own.” Amanda smiled. “After all, you know how much I like to win.”

  Jace could take her challenge anyway he liked. Amanda knew a good exit line when she said it. She also knew how to put a little wiggle into her walk when a man watched her.

  * * * *

  Julie Brown was a woman used to getting her way. She wielded power with ease, accustomed to being in control. There had been a time when Jace had considered her the ideal woman. Actually, he still did. Everything Julie did, she did with grace. Like an Olympic fencer, she could parry and thrust with the best of them.

  Amanda, on the other hand, was a street fighter. Wild and untamed, she came at her opponents full force and unrelenting, bent on total destruction. Nothing called to Jace like Amanda’s passion. Watching her strut across the room, knowing she intended to go to battle over him, it made Jace itch to shed his civilized skin and unleash the primitive male inside.

  He controlled himself, just barely, but if Amanda pushed too much harder, she’d find herself stretched out over this game table being ridden hard and fast. Everything else had gone to hell tonight, why should he be the only sane one in the group? Because he really didn’t want Cody to end up with a stomach pumping.

  Not that Jace would waste his time tending to the baby of the family. That’s why they had an older brother. As far as Jace could reason, Knox had made this mess. He should clean up some of it. Finding Knox didn’t turn out to be too hard, given Knox found him.

  Stepping out of the crowd filling the ballroom before Jace could even wade into it, Knox didn’t bother with a proper greeting or even the appearance of one. Snatching Jace’s arm, he started pulling him along into the lobby.

  “Have you seen Amanda?” Knox glared as he looked around. “She was on the balcony not ten minutes ago and now I’ve—”

  “She’s playing poker with Julie,” Jace cut off Knox’s tirade before he started going down some dark path. His plan worked. The tension in Knox instantly eased.

  “Oh.” Knox released Jace. “Well then, I guess I’ll—”

  “Go take care of Cody,” Jace finished for him. “Because the way I hear it, he’s downing a whole bottle at the bar.”

  “Yeah, so I noticed.” Knox snorted. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

  Jace stared at Knox in amazement. “I don’t know? Take him home before he—”

  The shrill scream of a woman yelling, “You son of a bitch!” pierced through the roar of the ballroom, silencing it within a matter of seconds as a second voice roared out.

  “Go fuck yourself!”

  Cody. Jace groaned and glared at Knox, who scowled back before giving in with a muttered obscenity. Shoving his way back into the crowd, Jace assumed Knox thought he would follow. Not my problem.

  He hadn’t set any of this into motion, but Jace would pay for it. Well, not tonight. He could start paying tomorrow because right now, he was going to join the ‘crazy club’ and do just what he felt like doing.

  Turning, he shoved his way back into the gaming room as the shouted curses increased. It sounded like the lady had found herself a champion, which meant Cody had somebody he could hit. Knox better hurry his ass up because Jace surely did.

  Completely unconcerned and willing to meet Amanda’s reaction with any force necessary, Jace walked right up behind her and ripped the cards from her hand. Dropping them on the table, he met Amanda’s startled gaze with a curt command to the whole table.

  “The lady folds.”

  “Jace!” Amanda’s indignant gasp barely registered. Nor did her struggle as he latched onto her arm and yanked her right out of her seat. “What are you doing?”

  “Jace?” Julie rose with them, concern apparent on her face. It bothered him enough to pause and give her an appropriate goodbye.

  “I’m sorry, Julie, there’s been a famil
y emergency. Is there any way you can find a ride?”

  Julie smirked. “Yeah, sure.”

  So he was a bastard and both women thought it, Jace didn’t care. With barely a glance at the rest of the shocked observers, Jace dragged Amanda across the room. He knew she struggled to free herself, but it didn’t cause him any problems as he shouldered through the door into the lobby.

  The sounds of an all out battle in the ballroom assured Jace Knox hadn’t gotten there in time. Ow! The sharp toed kick Amanda delivered to the back of his calf actually did hurt, reminding Jace he had his own fight to tend to.

  “Let me go!”

  Amanda wrenched hard on her arm, pivoting at the waist and using her entire body to break his hold. Stumbling backward on her heels, Jace didn’t give her any chance to follow the move with an escape. With a snarled obscenity expressing his annoyance, he turned and put a shoulder into her stomach.

  Amanda’s screech echoed the much louder screams coming out of the ballroom, but nobody really paid them any mind as they joined the exodus flowing out the main door. Jace found it surprisingly easy to abduct his woman given the chaos erupting all around them.

  Men’s shouts, the crack of wood splintering, glass being smashed and the screams of women panicking, it all drowned out Amanda’s demands and pulled any attention away from the scene they made as he carried her off to his truck. Whatever Amanda had to say, he didn’t want to hear it.

  This night had gone completely to hell. All Jace ever wanted out of any night was to be with Amanda and end it with her snuggled up to his side. That’s just what he would get tonight, even if he had to play Cody and Knox’s game and command it. Amanda heeled for them, and she could damn well do the same for him.

  No amount of profanity or litany of tiny punches pelting his back would change Jace’s mind. He was taking her home, to his ranch and his bed, no arguments allowed.

  * * * *