by Tina Leonard
“You wouldn’t have been looking, and neither would I. It was only when Nanette tossed her sippie cup that my mind started working. I thought, Gosh, that child acts like Mason. Stubborn! Hope she’s not learning bad habits from her uncle. And then I realized they had the same nose. That didn’t really sound an alarm for me, because noses change as people age. Mine, for example, used to be somewhat smaller and now it’s aristocratic.”
“Is that what you call the bump in the center?” she asked with a smile. “And perhaps the scar over your left eye is a mark of royalty?”
“All from the bull-riding House of Glory,” he said proudly.
“So back to baby makes three,” Esme prodded.
Last ran a playful hand along her bare back, so Esme caught that hand in her own. “I like you,” he said, and Esme closed her eyes. “We could take a shower together,” he suggested, “and you could check me for injuries.”
She bit his finger lightly. “No. The story.”
He sighed. “It was something Bandera said one day. You know he lives in Mimi’s old house with his wife Holly. And one day he was watching Mason carry Nanette across the lawn and he said he wondered why Mason was such a dunce. Now, we’ve all wondered that many times, so I didn’t really pay attention, although Bandera said something about not being able to see that which was under his nose. As I do most of my brothers when they’re cryptic, I ignored him.” Tentatively he looked at Esme. “I don’t know. It was just a strange thought that crossed my mind. I realize the possibility is one in a billion. It would require a certain set of unusual phenomena to line up.”
Esme allowed Last to hold her close, his arm around her waist. She had never known this much intimacy with a man. He wasn’t really trying to make love to her. It seemed that he was more enjoying talking with her, being with her—while checking out her erogenous zones occasionally—in a sort of “we’re friends” way.
She liked it very much. “Phenomena such as?”
“Mason pulling his head out of his butt, for starters. You have to understand, my brother has made a lifestyle out of keeping us on the path of respectability. It takes extreme suspension of belief to think that he might have gone in the very same direction he preached to us to avoid.”
“With how much success?” Esme asked doubtfully.
He gave her a light spanking, which went right through her flimsy gown with a delicious smack! “As much success as any overly rigid, overbearing brother should have had. Have I ever told you how much I love the feel of your posterior? It’s just the right size for my hand.”
“Last!” Esme giggled. “I’m more worried about Valentine, to be honest.”
“Why?” He bit her neck in the slightest manner, just enough to send chills along her skin.
“I wanted her to like me. You brought me here, and she’s the mother of your child.”
“Mason really whaled me over getting Valentine pregnant. It didn’t matter who she was, it was that it had happened after all his lectures on the use of condoms. If he and Mimi had a child, you can imagine the consequences.”
“All the brothers ragging on him forever?”
“That,” Last said, positioning himself against her before settling into the cushions with a contented sigh, “and the fact that he could no longer run from himself and his own damnably annoying Code of Behavior.”
Esme smiled. “I would think he’d have really needed a rigorous set of rules for eleven wily boys. You obviously got out from underneath his eye enough to learn to climb trees.”
“And other things. However, he was not Saint Mason. We knew it, and he didn’t want us to.” He sighed. “Though I always felt some pity for him, me more than the other brothers. I couldn’t imagine being a boy one day and then waking up to find that you were no longer one of the pack but the head of the pack.”
“It sort of makes me sad for Mason the boy,” Esme said.
“He had Mimi to keep him going, and did she ever.” Last smiled, and Esme felt his genuine amusement. “It would be Mimi’s best gag if Mason didn’t recognize his own daughter.”
“I don’t think so,” Esme said. “I think he’d be heartbroken. Your theory can’t be right, Last. Why would she keep it from him?”
“Dunno.” Last ran a lingering hand along her bare back. “Did I ever tell you that you’re beautiful, like a marble statue only tanner?”
Esme blinked. “For love.”
“Yes, my love,” he said, snuggling close to her, his erection at her back again.
She flipped over to look at him. “Mimi would keep it from him for love. She would want Mason to love her for herself, not because she had a child by him.”
“Oh.” Last investigated the ties at the center of her slinky bodice. “Valentine and I didn’t get married because we didn’t love each other. So I suppose you could be right. Love is very important. Critical, even.”
Esme looked up at him, searching for the real Last, the one who didn’t like to express his true feelings.
He had a tie undone that revealed some of her skin, which seemed to effectively blow his concentration away from the conversation.
She took the ties, pulling them back together. “You said something about love.”
“Did I?” He looked confused. “I think I said that Mimi wants to be loved by Mason.”
Esme sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to get the answer she wanted to hear. “I think you may have a Mason-revenge thing going on. You’re mad at Mason, so you’re imagining this whole improbable thing.”
“Probably,” he said, “but it kept you still for a while.” He kissed her neck and ran a hand up under her gown. “You’re soft.”
“Aunt Esme?” Amelia said, and Esme gasped as Last flung the blanket over her. Fortunately the lights were dim enough that her niece hadn’t seen anything, but it had been too close. How quickly Last could make her bend to his sexy will!
“Yes, honey?” Esme said.
“Hi, Mr. Last,” Amelia said. “I heard you fall on the ground. I was wondering if you were all right.”
“You heard me?”
She nodded. “Curtis and I have a bedroom right beside Aunt Esme’s. But we would have heard you howl if we’d been at the back of the house. You were kinda loud.”
Esme stood, wrapping a blanket over her shoulders like a shawl. “Last is feeling much better.”
He sat up. “Hey, how did you know it was me?”
“Aunt Esme has never had any other man outside her window,” Amelia said simply. “And Curtis heard you climbing up. It scared him ’cause he thought you were a bear, so he peeked.”
“Oh.” Last shook his head. “There are no bears here. At least, none that I’ve ever seen.”
Amelia nodded. “Aunt Esme won’t mind if you use the front door.”
“Thank you, Amelia,” he said, nodding at Curtis, who came to stand beside her, his eyes huge behind his glasses.
Esme looked at Last. “I’m going to put them back to bed. Make yourself comfortable, and we’ll see you in the morning.”
“No.” Last stood, and Esme could see it was an effort. “I woke them up and scared them. I’ll put them back to bed.”
The children stared at him hopefully.
“I have been told stories by one of the greatest storytellers on Earth,” Last told the children proudly. “You may have seen the greatest show on Earth, but your childhoods are not complete until you’ve heard Maverick the Great’s Impressive Lies, Chicanery, Hoodwinks and Outright Untruths.”
“Wow,” Curtis and Amelia said.
“Can he put us to bed, Aunt Esme?” Amelia asked, her gaze fascinated. “I’ve never heard a story by Maverick the Great.”
“I’ve never heard Impressive Lies,” Curtis said. “I want to hear that one first!”
“Wait until the children share those with the judge,” Esme said with a wry smile for her kids. “Yes, you can let Mr. Jefferson put you to bed.”
“You sit in the rocker in the room
and listen, too,” Last told her. “You could learn a thing or two from Maverick the Great. He was quite the magician in his own right.”
“Yes, Aunt Esme, sit with us,” Amelia said. She looked at Last. “Who was Maverick the Great?”
“My father,” Last said proudly. “He believed in education, whether by chicanery or other means—anything to get his twelve boys to pay attention. That makes him great.”
“Ah,” Curtis said. “We never knew our father.”
“Well,” Last said thoughtfully, with a glance toward Esme, “I have not seen mine in many years.”
“What happened to him?” Amelia asked.
Last shrugged. “That story doesn’t end with any more of a conclusion than yours does, unfortunately. I don’t know what happened to him. But I know that wherever he went, he thought about us.” He ruffled their hair and pulled off his boots. “Not every story has a satisfactory conclusion, you know, or a happily ever after.”
Amelia was silent for a moment. “If you did know, would you be happy?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. What I think is that you and me, we’re probably a lot alike. We understand that life is not always a fairy tale. But sometimes we get Mary Poppins instead. You have your Aunt Esme to teach you about flying and mixing reality with dreams.”
“Who did you have, Mr. Last?” Curtis asked, his voice quavering.
Last wrinkled his lips for a moment. “I was lucky. I had my father, then I had Mason. Sheriff Cannady rode shotgun on me, and old Doc Gonzalez made sure we had all our shots and vitamins and so forth. Nothing can replace the love of a father, I guess,” Last said, “but sometimes we have to be happy with what we’ve got.”
“We’ve got you,” Amelia said. “Even if you are telling a whopper about Maverick the Great.”
Last grinned. “Oh, no, I’m not. Hang on to your stuffed animals and blankets, kids. I’ve got a treasure trove of stories just waiting to be told.”
ESME FELL ASLEEP in the rocker, and Last fell asleep between the kids, his hat still on his head. In the morning, when Esme awakened, she couldn’t help but smile at the family picture they made.
She thought her sister would approve of Last and of him spending time with her children, in spite of the hoodwinks and chicanery issues. She understood he liked to remember his father and that telling stories to her children helped.
Her parents would be moving here very soon, and that would give the children even more adults to look up to. As little stability as they’d had in their lives so far, their new situation was a blessing.
She was very grateful to Last. More than grateful, even. For just an instant, she’d thought he was going to tell her that he loved her.
He hadn’t, and her heart felt compressed from disappointment. But as he’d said, not every story ended perfectly and sometimes one simply had to be satisfied with the conclusion.
She didn’t want to be like Mimi, never getting her man. The very thought put an ache in her chest. It would be better never to allow herself to fall for the cowboy at all, if she was only going to finish her life’s story with a broken heart. She knew there were lots of men on the planet, but that cowboy was special.
She went downstairs to the kitchen, putting a kettle on to boil. His brother wasn’t keen on her; she had two children to raise. Last didn’t seem to mind the children. In fact, he appeared to want to be around them.
But would he want to do more than spin yarns for her little family?
“Hey,” Last said, coming up behind her to pull her against him. “What are you doing up so early?”
“Letting you sleep,” she said, her heart beating more quickly. “I imagine you’re very sore from your fall.”
“Yes. It’s not every day I get beat with a broom.”
She smiled. “It’s not every day a man chooses my window as a means of communication. Telephones are more modern.”
“Besides climbing trees,” Last said silkily, “I came here last night to ask you some questions.”
“Really?” She turned to face him. “You’re not just a voyeur?”
“No.” Crossing his arms, he leaned against the kitchen counter. “I applied to the high school to teach Latin, since you gave me the bright idea.”
“Good,” Esme said, “you’ll be wonderful. Anyone who can tell such wonderful stories will be a great teacher.”
“And speaking of wonderful stories,” he said, “while I was applying, Mrs. Carrol happened to mention that you have references from Harvard. Harvard, of all places.” He looked at her, and Esme’s breath held tight. “Now, why wouldn’t I have guessed that a magician would be a Harvard grad?”
She turned away. “If you already know, why do you ask?”
“Because it seems as if you’re keeping things from me. And I can’t figure out why you wouldn’t share that you’re highly educated.”
“I told you that I was working on a thesis,” she said.
“But you never mentioned Harvard. Your omission gives me pause and, frankly, makes me suspicious.”
Esme sank into a kitchen chair. “The truth is,” she said, taking a deep breath, “after we left England and moved to California, my parents sent me to Harvard to get me away from the circus. Because of my grandparents, who were small-time magicians, it was my dream as a child to be a performer. My parents wanted me to have something more lucrative to fall back on. So I went to college and I graduated and then I came back home. My sister was the one who got married and had kids. The perfect family. Me? Even with the Ivy League degree I…will always love the circus. It’s part of who I am.”
“Ah,” Last said, “even now you’re not ready to settle down. And so another audience member is hoodwinked by the sexy and supersly Poppy Peabody.”
Chapter Ten
“But that was then,” Esme said.
Last remained unmoved.
“You offered to help us,” she reminded him.
He nodded. Why did her background, her love of disappearing acts make a difference now? Because he’d wanted to believe that he’d swept her off her feet?
She had the broom.
The Curse obviously wasn’t working for him. Right now all he felt was betrayed. “I feel deceived,” he said, “although I know that may be unreasonable.”
“Yes,” she said, nodding, “particularly as we both mentioned up front that neither of us wished to be tied down.”
“I know,” Last said. “I’m confused by my own motives.”
Esme looked at him. “Isn’t that typical for Jefferson males?”
“I am generally atypical.” He crossed his arms. “The problem is that you slept with me, Esme Hastings. You even seduced me. And I liked it.”
“So now you want to change the playbook.”
He gave her a slanted brow. “I do.”
She looked at him. “But you’re not in love with me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You do rattle my cage consistently. I take that as a sign that I should be paying close attention to you.”
Esme laughed, turning around to take down two floral teacups. “You are a strange man, Last Jefferson.” She poured tea, keeping a wary eye on him. “Though you are a handsome devil.”
“That’s better.” He considered her. “I have decided that I will wait for you to seduce me.”
She handed him a teacup. “And if the wait is long?”
He shrugged. “The best things in life are worth waiting for.” A frown crossed his face. “Whoever said that didn’t have you standing in his kitchen in a frothy nightie.”
She blinked. “Part of your appeal is that you really seem to like me.”
“Trust me, I do.”
“Why should I seduce you, Last?”
“I’m easy.” He winked. “I won’t make you chase me too hard. But I do think you should pursue. My brothers found their women and—bam!—it was like love hit them upside the head. But I am willing to wait on you.”
“I see.” She put her teacup down. “I’ll
think about it.”
“I’m going now,” he said. “You see I’m leaving.”
“Yes, I do,” she agreed. “Should you leave from the second-story window?”
“No,” he said. “And next time I come by you’re going to have to invite me in to see some of that magic your niece and nephew brag about.”
She walked close to him, looking up into his eyes. “Here,” she said, “this is magic.” And she kissed his lips in such a manner that goodbye was nearly impossible.
Yet he had to go if he was ever going to know for sure that she cared enough about having him in her life to come after him.
“Tell me again why The Curse doesn’t work for you?” she asked after they’d ended their kiss.
“Because I don’t need to be hit by Cupid to know my feelings. I’m not as hardheaded as my brothers.”
“Ah.” She nodded. “I was becoming concerned. Between the seal and the tree, I worried that you didn’t actually have quite the thing for me you thought you did.”
“Maybe I don’t,” he said smoothly. “Guess we’ll find out when you pursue. If I turn you down, you’ll know.”
“What would be the point of my pursuit?” she asked. “If neither of us wants a relationship?”
“Because we could shack up,” he said. “If that judge wouldn’t complain about you keeping house with a cowboy—”
“He’s not going to,” Esme said. “He’s a friend of my parents.”
His throat dried out. “What are you talking about?”
“He wanted to declare my parents the guardians because he knew them so well. He did not know me. My parents have since explained to him that the children are totally happy. They talk to them every night on the phone. They have also explained that they are moving down here and it would be best for the children if I were the legal guardian.”
Last stared at her. “So you actually don’t need me at all.”
Esme slowly shook her head. “Not if helping me keep the children was why you’ve been hanging around.”
He scratched under his hat. “Hell, I don’t know why I’ve been hanging around.” He looked at her. “You mean you don’t have to go back to California to prove yourself a fit guardian?”