Southern Spice (Southern Desires Series Book 1)

by Jeannette Winters

  As they protested under their breath, she heard Derrick say, “If you don’t have enough work on the ranch, I’ll find you some.”

  McLean only shook his head. “We have plenty for tomorrow.”

  “You should have plenty for the week,” Derrick said, glaring at McLean.

  McLean turned back to Casey and said, “Casey, if you find you need anything, you can always reach me on the two-way on the wall over there. I’m never far.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Derrick clench his fist. Why was he so angry? He was acting like he was jealous. But of what? She was only feeding his crew. Did he expect her to sit in the house and not speak to anyone? I guess so.

  Casey didn’t want to stand there and be told what she could or couldn’t do. She was no child, and he was not her boss. As she got up to walk out of the kitchen, the pain in her leg shot all the way up her thigh. She grabbed the chair for support but couldn’t hold back the scream that escaped her lips.

  Derrick flew to her side and once again swooped her up into his arms. McLean must not have left yet as he came rushing back into the kitchen.

  “What the hell are you doing to her, Derrick?” McLean shouted.

  “One warning only. Get out of my house, McLean,” Derrick barked.

  She could feel the tension ripple through his body as he held her against him. Surprisingly, McLean didn’t budge nor did Derrick.

  The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Never before had she had two men protect her. If she wasn’t in so much pain she might have even enjoyed the attention, but right now she needed their egos to calm down so Derrick would put her down. “It’s okay. I just twisted my knee. That’s all.”

  “Do you need to go to town to see the doc?” McLean asked.

  “She said she’s fine,” Derrick said angrily.

  She wanted to smack Derrick for not taking her to one that morning. He had made it seem like there wasn’t anyone to give her immediate medical attention. As though the doctor was tied up with other patients. Why would he mislead her like that? What did it gain him? “No, thank you, McLean. Derrick is taking good care of me.” I hope my acting skills are holding up because that’s complete bullshit. And McLean probably knows it too.

  He assessed the situation then said before heading back out of the kitchen, “Have a good night then.”

  Once alone she turned her attention to Derrick. “If you don’t mind, I would like you to put me down,” she demanded.

  Derrick ignored her request again. Instead, he carried her up the stairway to the room he had taken her to last night.

  “You have two choices. Take those pants off yourself, or I’ll rip them off like the last pair. Either is fine with me.” His voice was cold and hard.

  Casey felt her stomach flip-flop. Maybe she was too quick to dismiss McLean. “Why?”

  “Because your stubborn little ass is doing your knee more damage than good by spending the day on your leg. If you don’t let me wrap it again, you might not be walking on it for months.”

  She wasn’t sure if he was doing this out of kindness or if he just didn’t want her there any longer than a week. Either way, Casey could not stand the pain much longer and reluctantly unbuttoned the jeans and slid them over her hips until they dropped to the floor. She tugged the edge of the T-shirt as far down as she could. Thank God it’s long or this would be even more embarrassing than it already is.

  “Lie on the bed, and for God’s sake, don’t look at me like that.”

  Like what? “I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Nash.”

  He laughed softly. “You think that’s fear in your eyes? I wish it was that easy.” She watched as he made his way to the door.

  Is this some kind of game? See if he can get me back in his bed then leave me there? “Where are you going?”

  “I need to get the salve and a new wrap. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be here when I get back.”

  Casey knew what was good for her, and being in this house with him surely wasn’t it. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be here when I get back. Who does he think he is? He was arrogant and demanding and grumpy as all heck. No matter how tempting it was to get off the bed to show him he was not in control of her, she knew pushing his buttons to prove a point wasn’t going to be worth the price. One week, Casey. That’s all it is. You can do this.

  When Derrick returned to the room their eyes met briefly. He showed no hint of surprise that she had obeyed his request. Maybe that’s because he scares the hell out of everyone and they are too afraid not to obey. Let my knee feel better, Mr. Nash, and you’ll see, I’m not usually so compliant.

  When he finished with her knee, he stood up and walked to the door. “I agreed to let you stay here for one week. But this is my ranch. Stay away from my men. And if you’re smart, you will stay away from me as well, unless you want me to explore what I see in your eyes.”

  Derrick closed the door before she could set his arrogant ass straight. How dare you think that I want to . . . well, damn. This is going to be a long week.

  Chapter Four

  “Jack, I don’t care what I promised or how much of an inconvenience this is for you, I want her out of my house.”

  “Derrick, did you come all the way into town just to tell me this?” Jack asked as he rocked back on the wooden desk chair.

  “Why else would I be here?” Derrick shot back.

  Jack set his chair straight and leaned forward with his arms resting on the desk. “We’ve been friends a long time, Derrick, so I’m going to say it straight up. We don’t have options here. I know you don’t take kindly to strangers. Heck, you don’t even take kindly to your friends, but these are desperate times for our town.”

  “I have a business to run. You can’t expect me to sit around here babysitting some woman while she pretends to give a crap about what happens.”

  “Derrick, I never asked you to stay. Go back to New York. McLean is obviously very capable of handling everything, so I’m sure he won’t have any complaints about keeping an eye on Miss Casey while she’s here.”

  Derrick didn’t miss the smirk on Jack’s face as he spoke. They had a long history of pushing each other’s buttons. But they weren’t kids anymore, and he didn’t find Jack’s insinuation funny.

  “I don’t pay McLean to play babysitter.”

  Jack looked at him sternly. “Then I guess you’re hanging around here for a while, because you can voluntarily allow Casey to stay at your ranch, or you can consider it a direct order from the sheriff’s office, but we need FEMA right now whether you like it or not.” He stood up and walked to his office door and held it open. “Now if you’ll excuse me, unlike you, I have people in this town who are counting on me.”

  Derrick got up and headed toward Jack. If it hadn’t been for their friendship, he would have gladly broken Jack’s nose again. The first time had been one night after the flood that had destroyed his heart and life, and all he’d wanted was to drink himself to death. But Jack had refused to let that happen. Sometimes, buddy, I wish you had.

  Before leaving Jack’s office, he said, “We both know I can’t be counted on.” Then brushing past Jack he walked out the door and climbed into his Ford F350.

  Derrick didn’t drive away. Instead, he sat there, looking down the street. Part of it was practically gone as though the buildings had never existed. The other side was completely untouched. It never ceased to amaze him how destructive and powerful wind could be. This storm had left Honeywell in a mess, but there had been no loss of life. They would recover, rebuild, and move on like it never happened. I hate how much I still miss them. I’m sick with what could have been. What should have been.

  A rapping noise echoed through his truck, over the noise of the radio and air conditioning. Only one person had ever proven themselves to be that damn persistent. Sissie. The one person who made it her job to know everything about everyone. She never forgets an anniversary or birthday, even if you didn’
t want to celebrate. Many folks found it comforting. Derrick didn’t want any reminders, as all it did was put the spotlight on what he no longer had.

  Derrick should have left as soon as he knew the ranch had been untouched. Now people like Sissie were going to get the wrong impression from his presence. It had nothing to do with the town. They didn’t need him, and he sure as hell didn’t need them. But as long as Casey was staying at the ranch, he wasn’t going anywhere. And when he returned to the ranch he planned on setting her straight on exactly whose house she was invading. No way was he going to allow a replay of what he found yesterday.

  The tapping continued. Throwing his truck in reverse and running over her toes was out of the question. At least not so close to the sheriff’s office.

  He was tempted to turn up the volume on the radio but instead he shut it off. Being a cold-hearted bastard came naturally to him, but he’d never been intentionally cruel, or so he believed. That didn’t mean he was about to pretend to be happy for the interruption. Stone-faced he turned to meet Sissie’s smiling face, still by the passenger’s side door. Nothing she had to say would be what he wanted or needed to hear, yet he found himself hitting the button to roll down the window. “What can I do for you?” His tone lacked any warmth.

  As usual, she ignored the blunt signs and smiled at him, saying, “Thank you for opening up your home to everyone yesterday. I know it wasn’t easy for you, but you did it anyway, bless your heart.”

  There was no one gullible enough to believe any of that had been his doing. Especially not after the lengths he’d gone to in the past to make sure they knew no one was welcome under any circumstance. So why was she by his truck pretending as though she thought otherwise? What did she want?

  “I hope y’all got the information you needed because there won’t be a second time.” Derrick had worked hard to lose his southern twang, but just a few days on the ranch and it was already slipping back. He had to get back to New York before it was too late. No matter how the words came out, the message was loud and clear.

  Sissie didn’t even blink at his snide remark. Instead, she reached into the truck and touched his arm. “It looks like it’s gonna be another scorcher again today. Hope you and that lady friend of yours have a mighty fine day.”

  Before he could correct Sissie, she turned and walked away from truck, leaving him heated under the collar and not from the temperature. Casey was not his lady friend, not anything to him except an inconvenience. If it wasn’t for that stormy night, their paths probably wouldn’t have ever crossed, and that was more than fine with him. Nothing had been the same since he’d seen those headlights coming toward him. If only I listened to McLean when he said to stay in New York. I should leave now.

  “No, everything is under control. Because of power outages, I am staying in one of the ranches that was not affected by the tornado.” Casey could hear the doubt in JT’s voice. He wasn’t so convinced. One slip up and he’s going to ride my butt forever. This second-guessing is making me crazy. I know my job and do it damn well. When is he going to see that?

  “Maybe I should come down there and give you a hand,” JT said.

  You mean micro-manage every little thing I do? Heck no! “As I said, things are going as expected. There is no need for you to travel all this way. Besides, there is no air conditioning and the heat is close to unbearable. Mr. Nash has only limited space available, and we wouldn’t want to inconvenience him any more than necessary, would we?”

  Casey felt she sold that quite well. JT might be great at his job, but one thing she learned right away: he liked the comfortable life, and she couldn’t imagine him roughing it. No air conditioning was something he had screamed about at a car rental place one day because he thought it wasn’t cranking out fast enough. She was positive he wouldn’t consider coming if it meant him living in sweltering heat night and day.

  After a brief silence, her wish came true. “I expect daily updates and can be there at a moment’s notice if things get out of control.”

  “You’ll have my report tomorrow morning.”

  She felt her entire body relax once she hung up the phone. He shouldn’t irritate her as much as he did, but there was something about the man that made her skin crawl. It wasn’t the sound of his voice as much as the look in his eyes when they were face to face. If he wasn’t her supervisor, she would avoid him totally. But all she could do right now was have as little contact with him as possible. None would be preferable.

  Part of her couldn’t help but laugh. JT thought he was so damn tough, but he was a bully. Maybe she should have let him come and stay at the ranch. She would love to see Derrick put JT in his place. There was no way JT was going to mouth off to Derrick and get away with it. So tempting, but I don’t think I should rattle either of their cages. Somehow I know I’ll come out the loser.

  Sitting there worrying about what might happen wasn’t going to get the townspeople what they needed. Thankfully the replacement laptop and cell phone should be waiting for her in town. Only one problem, she wasn’t in town.

  Although she was up early, Derrick had already left. Not surprising as he had a ranch to run, but she needed to find a way into town so she could retrieve the items. I’m not here on vacation. I need to help these people so they can rebuild their lives.

  Casey loved what she did even though she understood all she could truly help them with was replacing lost possessions. Thankfully, paperwork was all she needed to help with. Too many times there was a loss of life, and she would never get used to that. No matter how hard she tried to relate, she couldn’t. She was fortunate to never have personally known anyone who had died. Yet. All she could do was empathize with their situation.

  The house phone rang next to her, and without even thinking she picked up the receiver. “Collins here.”

  “Just the person I was looking for. This is Sissie. We met yesterday, but I’m sure you don’t remember.”

  Oh, how can I forget? You’re the outspoken, not shy one. “Yes, I do. Did you have more questions?”

  Sissie’s laughter echoed through the telephone line. “You will learn quickly that I always have questions. Most of them I should never ask but do anyway.”

  Casey didn’t doubt that for a minute. Although Sissie was bold and brazen, she could tell she was also good-hearted and really meant well. “What can I do for you today?”

  “I just ran into Derrick and told him how much we all appreciated him opening his ranch yesterday. The power is slowly being brought back online, but it’s gonna be another scorcher today.”

  Don’t do it, Casey. This is not my home. I have no right saying what can or can’t happen here. He is barely tolerating me staying here already. If I push my luck any further, I might find myself back in the ravine. Casey was very tempted, though. Derrick knew she needed to get into town, yet he went and never even asked if she wanted to go along. Not only did she need to locate her package, but she needed to shop for some clothes. He was kind enough to leave her a fresh set again this morning, but whomever they belonged to probably wouldn’t like him lending out every last item. Thankfully he hadn’t brought her any panties or bras, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in need of them. Going commando was not her style.

  “Since you don’t seem to have any clothes, I thought maybe you would like me to shop and bring you some. I mean it’s gonna be hotter than hell out there today, and why would you want to leave the comfort of all that air conditioning if you didn’t have to.”

  Oh, you’re good, Sissie. Very smooth. Casey’s firm stance began to crumble. This was exactly what JT said. That she couldn’t separate her job from her emotions. But how could she? People were suffering, and she could help. Even as she debated in her mind, her mouth was already open. “If only I had my computer here I would love to have you all come back.”

  “Well, now you’re talking. I know you have several boxes that were delivered to Sheriff Bullard’s office this morning. Derrick has already left, and
it looked like he was empty-handed, so why don’t I bring them to you?”

  Sissie really was the eyes and ears of Honeywell. That scared Casey a bit, but right now she didn’t mind being on the receiving end of the information. She just had to remember to watch her words if she was within earshot. She was supposed to keep a low profile when on an assignment. With Sissie hovering around, it might prove difficult.

  Casey couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Not only did Derrick not bother to ask her if she needed anything, he couldn’t even bring her the delivered packages. When he returned, she had every intention of calling him out on that. Common courtesy doesn’t seem to run through his veins, but someone has to tell him how damn rude he is. Might as well be me.

  Then she thought better. Her words had gotten her in trouble a time or two already. Maybe it was time to play a different hand. Smiling to herself she said, “Sissie, there’s still so much information I need to provide y’all and enough leftover food here that would only go to waste. If you’re willing to bring me everything that was delivered, I think we can make this a very productive day for both of us.”

  “Of course, I’ll bring that over to you right away.”

  Casey remembered a few more items she truly wished she had on hand. Not that it would help her with her job, but in this sun and heat they were a necessity. “May I add a few things to the list?”

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you. How about some deodorant and lip balm? I lost all my personal belongings as well in the storm.”

  Sissie chuckled. “You got it, hon. I’ll bring you some face cream too, as I know I wouldn’t want to be without mine.

  “If it’s not too much trouble, can you ask around and see if anyone else is available to umm . . . to review yesterday’s presentation? It’s so much more convenient for me than setting everything up in town.” Of course, I’ve never been in town to know that for sure, but it’s close enough to the truth to almost be the truth.