by Tina Leonard
She thought about Santana’s surprise marriage proposal, which he hadn’t mentioned again. She would love to wear this dress to marry Santana.
She pushed the unlikely thought away.
This dress—and shop—were simply magic beans. Sierra had likely borrowed what little money she had for this gown—and maybe even for this crazy idea of a wedding dress shop. Women who married in Star Canyon usually opted for something practical, like a skirt and jacket or a dress, and went to the justice of the peace.
Light music tinkled somewhere, a delicate chime that called to her. Emma smiled at the dress. “I believe in magic,” she said, “but your owner doesn’t. If you’re going to bring her good luck, you’d better get on it.” She smiled at the fancy of her thoughts. “I’m going to call you the magic beans dress.”
Silly to be talking to a gown. She was just occupying her mind. And she told herself the sudden urge to try the gown on was ridiculous, a waste of time.
She had no reason to need a dress for a wedding. She and Santana were the farthest thing from a couple.
Her deepest secret that she’d never shared with anyone, though, was that she was in love with him. Had been forever.
If there was anyone who needed magic, Emma supposed, it was her.
Besides, who would know?
She reached for the gown.
Chapter Fourteen
The front door unlocked and opened, and Santana walked in, his face strained. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she said, putting the dress back on the rack, glad he hadn’t caught her trying it on. He took a chair, sighing tiredly. “Did you go to the station?”
“I did.”
She went to him, and he pulled her into his lap. He held her against his chest, and she nestled there, content to be in his arms. She remembered how difficult it had been to go into her father’s room and clean his things out. Sometimes that wistful nostalgia even caught her at the clinic, when she was among his favorite patients. “It was hard, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
He wasn’t going to say anything else, but Emma understood now that she’d been lost in a fantasy. She wanted more from him than he could give at the moment. Or maybe ever.
“Did you find Sierra’s ornaments?”
That had been the last thing on her mind once she’d seen the gown. “I’ll buy some,” she said brightly. “Tomorrow.”
“Thanks.”
She didn’t know what else to say. He was quieter than he normally was. Something was definitely wrong, but she sensed he didn’t want to talk about it. “Jack Pearson was in the store tonight.”
“Why?” Santana asked, his tone sharp.
“I think he uses the back door to ramble around the shop.”
“Why would he want to hang out in a wedding dress shop?”
“I have no idea.” Emma shrugged as they locked up and left the store, slowly walking across to the Midnight Grill. “He startled me, and I didn’t think to ask too many questions. I was pretty focused on getting him to leave so I could lock the back door.”
Santana’s hand shot out, capturing hers. “He didn’t do anything to upset you? Frighten you?”
“No, not really.” Emma decided to skip the fact that he’d actually creeped her out. “I just wasn’t sure why he was there.”
“Probably because he loafs around town with nothing better to do than get in trouble, while True does all the work.”
“True thinks her brother hung the stars.”
“He didn’t. I’ll talk to him.”
• • •
“You have to go way back when the town was first founded,” Mary told them as she handed them menus they knew by heart, “to know that the Pearsons have always been slightly weird. Different, if you know what I mean.”
Santana had asked Mary if she’d seen Jack hanging around the square, and particularly Sierra’s shop.
“Their families came from California,” Mary said, “and before that, Australia. Came here with just about nothing, the early Pearsons did. They never forgot that, either. Felt like they didn’t fit in. The only one that never drove me straight up a tree is True, but then she’s from the Stafford family, and the Staffords are good people. Never really understood why True’s mother married a Pearson. Angel Stafford was a good woman. Think she could have done better, if you ask me,” Mary whispered. “Now what’ll you have?”
They ordered without looking at the menu, and Mary left.
“Are you worried about Jack?”
“I’ll mention to Sheriff Lee that he was in the shop. He shouldn’t be getting into businesses on the square.”
“Don’t you think it was a one-off maybe, since Sierra’s shop is empty?”
“It’s full of her stuff. She’s got all kinds of Sierra booty squirreled away in there. For all we know, Jack’s been selling it. That wedding dress you were holding—”
“Putting away,” she said.
“Right.” He winked at her. “I wasn’t suggesting you were going to try it on.”
She had been about to do just that when he’d returned. Emma looked at him. “So what about it?”
“I guess Jack Pearson could sell something like that, for example,” he went on, apparently done with teasing her for the moment, for which she was grateful.
“I guess,” she said thoughtfully. “I don’t know what he was doing. He said he was checking on me, to see why someone was in the shop. I wondered if maybe he was planning on grabbing some of Sierra’s stuff, but I suppose a single wedding dress could disappear just as easily.”
His hand covered hers suddenly, warming her. “You could talk me into a private viewing, by the way.” He raised a brow. “It’s hard for a man to concentrate in a brightly-lit shop when anyone can walk by and look in the window, but I promise you, something about seeing you holding that dress made me want to…”
“Try it on yourself?” Emma teased.
“Babe, you’re asking for a spanking later.”
Mary set drinks on the table, waved to some newcomers, and dashed off.
“I’ll look forward to that,” Emma said demurely.
“A spanking?”
“If you don’t lose your nerve,” she said, all sweetness.
“My nerve is not what you have in mind, I’m pretty certain.” He massaged her fingers with his, then pulled away—as if he’d suddenly realized he was acting like they were more than just friends.
He sipped his beer as if they hadn’t gotten lost in the momentary teasing about the wedding gown. Which they had, and it had felt right. Emma knew it.
“Don’t back out now, big boy,” she said softly. “I can feel you trying to, but I promise you’ll like spanking me more than your wildest fantasies have ever allowed you to imagine.”
• • •
Santana’s breath hitched hard. Heat flared inside him, ran all over his body. She’d read his mind about backing away from her.
She was deliberately luring him—and he liked it. Against his better judgment that eluded him every time she got near him, and every time he thought about her, fantasized about her. Hell, resistance was futile, because sometimes, he forgot why he was resisting.
So since the lady was offering, a nice gentle, thorough spanking it was going to be. And then, he was going to make love to her the way she deserved: inch by slow scorching inch, all night long.
• • •
Nick sat in his penthouse overlooking Uptown, staring out the huge windows and seeing nothing. He was barely aware of the three couples circulating around him, and the sophisticated brunette who was trying to engage him in conversation. Her hand was on his trouser leg, warming his thigh.
His mind, goddamn it, was on a blue-tufted pixie of a girl with a sassy mouth and saucy personality back in Star Canyon. Or wherever she was.
His not-cousin. He wanted a family, a real one, so badly it hurt. His father, damn his mercenary and greedy hide, had handed him exactly what he wanted, in the most roundabout way
. The last thing on his father’s mind was cementing family relations. He was interested in cementing power and the fortunes of the Marshall name. Politics was calling, and nothing said salt-of-the-earth more than a huge ranch.
Sonny Dark’s misfortune had been all gain for the Marshall side.
Only his father hadn’t calculated that Nick lacked the necessary ingredient for going in for the tiger-like kill. And Nick didn’t need more money or land, and he wasn’t interested in politics.
He was interested in family.
The twist was, Sierra was the last thing on earth he should ever want in a woman. The very last thing. But she sure as hell was no sister figure to him. They had no blood, no common background, had never shared a roof, except in Lightning Canyon, and even then he’d actually slept in his damn car.
He had never wanted a woman the way he wanted Sierra.
And she wasn’t interested in him, not one bit. Nor anyone else, as far as he could tell. He shouldn’t be thinking about her—not a thousand times a day—especially when there was a beauty right beside him, her hand edging dangerously close to her target. But he wasn’t going to sleep with her. It wouldn’t help.
He’d become infected somehow with the Dark eccentricities, and all he could think of was a woman with tats and a face piercing he shouldn’t want at all.
But she’d invited him into her bed. Oh, she’d fibbed a little and told him there were two beds in the room at Miss Sugar’s—but there’d only been one. She’d been more subtle about her invitation than the brunette who’d just scooted herself up against his side, pressing into him to get his wandering attention.
He couldn’t forget Sierra’s invitation.
She was right. He was a boring chickenshit, because a man who wasn’t a boring chickenshit would have jumped right into bed with her and enjoyed all the sass he could handle.
And thinking about that was the first time he’d had an erection all evening. Disappointing the brunette—what was her name?—he got up and went to pour himself a whiskey.
• • •
“Tell his royal highness to get his dumb butt back here or we’re going to take the ranch over like squatters,” Romero said. “How does he think cattle and horses get cared for? Magic elves?”
“I agree,” Cisco said. “Whatever made Nick go off, tell him to fix it. Does he really pay you?”
“Just got a check,” Santana said mildly. It had been generous, more generous that the job was probably worth. Maybe a little guilt money. “You sprung yourselves on him, remember?”
“We have no formal offer of employment,” Luke said. “We are, in fact, squatters. I say we break into the house and live life like we used to.”
“I think that would be against the law.” Santana wondered himself if Nick planned to come back, or if he was going to be more of a hands-off owner. “He didn’t say much to me when he left. It was Sierra who moved you guys in on him. Be thankful for that.”
“And meanwhile, has anyone heard from Sierra lately?” Cisco checked his phone.
“I saw a credit card charge in Montana.” Santana knew that would stir up his brothers, and he’d been none too pleased himself.
“You’re tracking her credit cards?” Luke stopped what he was doing. “She’s going to be pissed if she figures that out.”
“I’m not proud of it, but I was getting worried.” He leaned against a sawhorse. “Looked like she stopped to buy food for Joe.” He still couldn’t believe she’d taken his dog. That dog she said he needed to keep his head from lodging up his butt.
Maybe that ship had sailed.
“If we know where she is, why don’t we go talk to her?” Romero demanded.
“Because nobody dragged me home when I left, and nobody impeded your travels when the three of you wanted to hit the white sands of Mexico.” Which was another reason why he loved thinking about Emma about a hundred times a day: She was steady, she was sane. She had her clinic, and that was always going to be her touchstone, right here, in Star Canyon. He didn’t have to worry about her going off on an expedition to find herself.
Although finding her wearing the wedding gown last night had been a shocker. To be honest, after his visit to the station, he’d been so screwed up he’d been ready to put an end to their relationship, jump in his truck, and hit the highway. See if he could outrun the pain.
Then he’d seen Emma looking like a goddess, and everything inside him had rushed to life. Even now, he wished she was here. It was staggering how much he needed her.
She said she wasn’t expecting anything from him, but that wasn’t fair. Emma Glass deserved a man who was a stayer, a man who would never leave, a man who would wake her up every morning with a hot kiss and some hotter lovemaking.
“So, what’s up with you and Dr. Glass?” Romero asked. His brother lounged near an empty stall. “Somebody said they saw her trying on wedding dresses. Something you need to tell us?”
“I wasn’t trying on wedding gowns,” Santana said, “why are you asking me?”
“Town grapevine says the two of you were locked in a hot-and-heavy,” Luke said, “which we neither confirmed nor denied. But we did wonder.”
Cisco grinned. “It’s good to see you happy, bro.”
“Now, wait a minute,” Santana said, “when wasn’t I happy?”
His brothers guffawed, leaving the barn. “Hey! I’ve been happy my whole life! Nothing’s changed!”
They didn’t turn around. “I’m a ray of sunshine,” Santana muttered to himself. “What the hell do they know about my happiness?”
• • •
Emma closed up the clinic and drove to the small library on the square, which was run by Honey Martin, Captain Phil’s estranged wife. Phil and Honey lived in separate houses, but Emma had high hopes that one day they’d reconcile.
In the meantime, she wanted to do some research on supernatural phenomena, and though their library was small, Honey managed to collect some gems over the years. The library was her passion. She even had a couple of free “tiny” libraries she’d scattered around the more far-flung parts of Star Canyon, so that folks who couldn’t get into town often had something to read. Where there was a person, there was a reader, Honey liked to say.
Honey was also Star Canyon’s resident expert on woo-woo—that being Honey’s label for the constant investigation she liked to do into what others privately called silly. Or mystical. Or communing with the spirits and ghosts. Honey just let everybody tease her and went on about her business with a smile. Those who believed in otherworldly matters thought Honey was an angel. Tonight, Emma was looking for guidance, and here in Honey’s sanctuary, she hoped she’d find it.
“Hello!” Honey called as soon as Emma walked in the wide doors of the library. “Come for a gossip, or a book?”
“Both. Maybe some advice.”
“If it’s relationship advice, I’m the last one you should ask.” Honey smiled. Her silvery-gray hair shone under the hanging lamps over the circulation desk. “I hear you’ve been hanging out with a certain Navy SEAL.”
“Some,” Emma said, hedging, and Honey laughed.
“What can I help you with?”
Everything that had happened in Lightning Canyon had stayed on her mind since that night. The discussion about ghosts. Mystical wedding gowns that twinkled. She hadn’t imagined that. Sierra had recovered from her fever quickly in Lightning Canyon—and she had a feeling it had less to do with Miss Sugar’s homeopathy than something else. “What do you know about supernatural occurrences?” Emma asked, feeling slightly embarrassed for asking.
“That they happen every day. What variety are you curious about?” Honey pulled a book toward her, opening the well-worn tome to a spot with a wisteria-printed bookmark inside. “They happen all the time. Let me lock up. It’s closing time. Read that page and see if it answers the questions you have.”
“Over time a thing becomes a talisman if enough people imbue it with their belief system,” Emma read.
Honey turned off a few of the overhead lights in the large room and drew a lamp closer to Emma’s and her seat. “A thing can be wished into being,” Honey said. “But your question is, if something happens because of magic, is it real. Or did you just want it that bad that you made it happen.”
“That’s exactly what I want to know,” Emma said, surprised. She thought back to that night in the wedding shop, and Melly Shelby’s gown. The gown hadn’t held any mystical powers for Miss Shelby. And no wedding dress, enchanted or otherwise, was going to solve Honey and the Captain’s issue that kept them apart—whatever it was—nor would a simple dress and a good fairy tale change anything for Mary. So why had she seen what she had? “Have you ever had a vision?”
Honey smiled. “One doesn’t necessarily share their visions freely, do they? Especially if one is the steady, make-no-waves librarian.”
Emma looked at her. “So you do believe in visions.”
Honey nodded decisively. “I certainly do.”
“I mean, outside of drinking or taking pharmaceuticals.”
Honey giggled. “Why in the world would I confuse the two?” She grew serious. “A true vision changes a person. You never forget it, but more importantly, it changes your life.”
Emma’s breath caught. “Why?”
“Because a true vision makes you want to deserve it,” Honey said. “You know that’s your way, so to speak. If it’s not a true vision, it sort of melts away. It’s hard for people to change, so sometimes only a real vision will make it happen.”
Sierra didn’t believe in enchantment, claimed she didn’t believe in anything. Sierra was looking for something—or she’d be here in Star Canyon right now. The dress and the shop had just been a momentary illusion of permanence. Sierra didn’t want the shop, the dress—or Nick.
Emma claimed she wasn’t looking for a permanent man in her life, either. The clinic kept her plenty busy, at least that’s what she’d always told herself.
But had she dreamed Santana into her arms? Because honestly, that’s what it felt like, a wonderful dream she never wanted to wake from.