A Very Lusty New Year [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Gareth had no idea that Carl meant to bilk money from those two rubes. He thought his big brother was actually working on helping to finance his research and development—working to finance his “dream.”

  As if.

  It didn’t bother Carl’s conscience one little bit that his brother truly believed he was behind his dreams and goals one hundred percent. He didn’t let himself think what Gareth would say when he found out the money he thought had been secured for his future was gone.

  Because when he discovered that little nugget, Carl would be gone—with enough money to finance his own project. A man could live like a king for the rest of his life on one of those Caribbean islands with the kind of money he was asking the Jessops for.

  * * * *

  “Stand up, please, daughter, and let me get a good look at you.”

  Anna Cooper gently set her cereal spoon down, pushed her chair away from the dining room table, and stood.

  Her mother’s frown was nothing new, a facial expression that Anna no longer cared to change. She couldn’t however, completely eliminate the way her body braced, as if ready to receive a vicious blow.

  Clara Cooper had never hit her daughter physically. If asked, Anna figured her mother would be horrified at such a suggestion that she ever would.

  After all, using physical force was such a common thing to do.

  But she’d wielded her tongue better than some surgeons wielded a scalpel, and deep inside, Anna knew she had the scars to prove it.

  “Really, girl, how do you expect one of your bosses to be interested in courting you when you don’t even dress to advantage? That outfit is so loose on you that it makes you look like a bag lady.”

  Anna nearly opened her mouth to remind her mother that Clara had chosen this blouse and skirt combination not even a full year before. Experience had her biting her tongue, instead.

  The truth had no place in Clara Cooper’s world.

  She’d hoped that upon her mother’s return from her two week spa vacation to the news that Anna was indeed employed that she’d be content and leave her alone.

  Am I never going to learn? Clara Cooper doesn’t even understand the meaning of the word contentment.

  “I don’t have time to change this morning, Mother. This is only the beginning of my third week. I don’t want to be late. Perhaps you would be kind enough to set out what you think I should wear tomorrow?”

  It was the only argument and response Anna could use that would placate her mother—though only temporarily. She did give thanks that her tone just bordered the sarcastic. Clara had no sense of nuance and as expected, the dig went over the woman’s head. Anna took her seat to resume eating her breakfast, and had the devil’s own time not laughing when she saw her father’s lip twitch.

  As much as she’d given up on her mother’s ever approving of anything she did, she’d also given up on hoping her father would come to her defense and shut the woman down.

  Edgar Cooper had chosen Clara as his wife, and Anna knew that despite outward appearances, he truly loved her. She wasn’t quite as certain that affection was returned, but she was mature enough to know that a private relationship didn’t show its inner workings to the world.

  Anna thought she was out of the woods, but her mother apparently wasn’t done with her yet.

  “You’ve been alarmingly sparse with the details of this so-called company you work for, Anna. How do you know they’re even legitimate—or respectable?”

  “I checked at the library. There’s an article about them in the Lone Star Business Journal, and several articles in which they’re mentioned in the Dallas Daily News over the last couple of years.”

  “Ah, good. At least you’ve ascertained the men have prospects.”

  Anna cringed inwardly. She hadn’t checked on the company for the reason that her mother presumed. She’d checked to make sure they were reputable....Anna frowned. Perhaps there was more of her mother in her than she’d care to admit.

  “I know the address,” her father said. He set down his paper and took a tone that was—well, if not placating, at least gentle. “No one gets space in that building without meeting the most rigorous of standards. It’s managed by LTT, one of the wealthiest and most respected management entities in the entire state of Texas.”

  Anna tried not to choke as she swallowed a spoon full of egg. She recognized the reference, LTT, but had had no idea that Craig and Jackson’s families were that well off.

  Of course, it didn’t make any difference to her. She liked the brothers, perhaps more than she should. And she really liked working for them. She’d been making good progress sorting through their boxes, getting a filing system set up. She only had a few more boxes to go, and then she was going to take the next step. She’d been making a list of their investments as she’d been sorting through them.

  Step two would be looking into how many of those recipients of the Jessop’s investment actually lived up to their contractual obligations and submitted reports and, where appropriate, payments. This would give them a full picture—and spotlight any investees that had failed to comply with the terms of their contracts. Of course, she’d suggest this action to Craig and Jackson and get their approval first.

  Maybe she’d contact their uncle, the one who managed the Lusty Town Trust. He could likely tell her if there was a particular kind of wording she would need to use when sending out the “friendly reminder notices” of failure to comply.

  Her mother’s annoyed sigh pulled Anna back to the moment.

  “Well, then.” Clara sat back as Josie entered the dining room and filled her mother’s coffee cup. Not even acknowledging the servant, she turned her attention to Anna, nodded once, and said, “Yes, I will feel better if I take things into my own hands.”

  Anna had no idea what outfit her mother would deem more acceptable as rich-husband luring bait. The truth was every garment she owned, except for a couple of soft nightshirts, and a pair of blue jeans she kept well hidden, had been purchased under Clara’s direct supervision.

  Since she’s forever telling me how fat I am, how does she think an outfit will work as husband bait?

  Anna pushed that thought away. There was no rhyme or reason to Clara’s thought processes. But it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when her mother discovered she didn’t have anything even the least bit alluring in her closet.

  No, on second thought, maybe not.

  More than likely Anna had a lecture in her future about buying such ill-fitting and dowdy clothing. Clara would never take ownership for the state of Anna’s closet.

  Anna sighed with relief twenty minutes later when she left the house. Traffic was always interesting, heading into the city. But she had plenty of time, and used the relative quiet of the commute to put thoughts of her mother right out of her head.

  Anna was awfully good at denial.

  Like most large cities, parking could be an expensive proposition in downtown Dallas, as could the finding of a space to park in the first place. It was because of the latter she appreciated the brothers Jessop had provided her with her very own spot, as a perk to her position, in the small reserved lot beside the office tower.

  Anna had always intended on working for a living, even though in fact she didn’t need the money. She couldn’t justify an adult not being gainfully employed, whether one had means or not. She did understand that part of the reason for that belief fell at her mother’s feet. If Clara Cooper had a job, she might be too busy to try to micromanage her family’s lives.

  No, for Mother, father and I are her job.

  She’d never defined the situation in quite that way before, but as she thought about it, she realized she was right. In that case, Anna guessed she could understand her mother’s fixation. Anna took pride in doing the best job she knew how to do. She had believed she’d gotten that trait from her father, but maybe she got some of it from her mother, too.

  She nodded her good morning to Frank, manning the se
curity desk. He touched his cap in turn, adding a smile. There were two other guards who sat at that desk, she’d learned. David and Howard traded off shifts with Frank. The desk was manned, twenty-four-seven.

  She liked the routine she made for herself—greeting the guards, sometimes with words or, when it was busy, just a nod. Then going to the penthouse elevator, using her key, and quickly taking refuge from the morning noise inside the tiny conveyance. Sometimes she arrived ahead of the Jessops, but not always. Still, she’d come to think of the office—the entirety of the space that belonged to C & J Jessop Inc.—as hers.

  She felt more at home here every day.

  This morning she arrived first, and so headed to the tiny kitchenette to put on that first pot of coffee. She’d read in one of those women’s magazines that more and more female office workers were refusing to do the mundane chores like making coffee or ordering in lunch. Anna thought that was all just plain silliness. What did it matter what a body did, if one was gainfully employed?

  The coffee began to brew, sending that wonderful aroma into the air. Anna went to her office to look over her agenda for the day. She hadn’t been sitting very long, when a ping sounded, telling her the door to the offices had opened. The familiar cadence of two male voices reached her ears, and Anna smiled.

  It occurred to her then that this part of her morning routine probably ought to give her pause. The moment she heard the Jessops or—if she arrived last—saw them, everything within her settled down and smoothed out.

  It was almost as if she needed them in order to feel whole.

  Dangerous thinking, that. Yes, it was, but she didn’t know what she could do about it. Rather than think about it, she put her attention on her work.

  “Good morning.”

  Anna looked up, shocked to see that nearly fifteen minutes had passed. Both men stood by her open door.

  “Good morning! I heard you come in but got caught up.”

  “That’s a concept you don’t have to explain to us,” Jackson said.

  Craig stepped in and set a cup of coffee on her desk. Fixed the way she really enjoyed drinking it—with cream, yes, and a half spoon of sugar besides—it was just one of the many things her bosses did through the day that let her know they were very much aware of her.

  “So, what do you have planned today? I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve nearly finished the boxes.”

  Anna grinned. “I have, yes.” She’d ordered a second filing cabinet for the main office, and a smaller one for her own. She wanted to have the ability to lock away documents for the time when they decided to begin adding to their staff—something they’d told her they fully intended to do.

  Anna outlined her idea with regard to matching income to projects, and then following up on those that hadn’t paid.

  “Uncle Martin is going to love you,” Craig said. “Uncle Nick just grins when we’re grilled by his brother about our ‘lack of control.’ But Uncle Martin sometimes sends us scathing looks.”

  “Why don’t we give him a call later today? Then he can get in touch with you and the two of you can get to know each other. I’ve a feeling you’ll bond immediately over order and filing systems, and no, Bella, that is not a dig. Not at all.”

  Anna smiled. “I know it’s not. After all, you hired me to organize the two of you.”

  Craig laughed. “We did, and it’s been the best business decision we’ve ever made.” Then he gave her a look that made her stomach flutter and her blood heat. “I imagine your folks have a whole ‘to-do’ over Christmas.”

  Anna was used to the men’s seemingly constant non sequiturs. The holiday was still couple of weeks off. “In fact, Mother likes to dine at their club on Christmas Day.” Anna shrugged. “The last couple of years, I’ve begged off. It’s a much older crowd that gathers for that.”

  By the smile that crossed the men’s faces, one might have thought she’d just given them good news.

  “Well then, since we have to head back to Lusty for Christmas, we thought you might like to come with us. We’d be staying over, and I can assure you that not only our mother, but our grandmothers would ensure that you’d be well chaperoned.”

  “I think I’d like that. Thank you for the invitation.”

  “The excursion won’t be work related,” Craig said. “You know that, right?”

  “Yes, I do know that.” Since that first luncheon there had been others, and Anna was fully aware the men were interested in her in the exact same way her mother wanted her to scheme to make happen.

  The tug of war inside her—wanting to take a few tentative steps toward a personal relationship with these two compelling men, versus her determination not to do what her mother wanted—was near to tearing her apart.

  “You look troubled.” Jackson’s voice dipped, taking on a tone that did amazing things to Anna’s insides. “You don’t have to come to Lusty, Bella. No is a perfectly acceptable answer.”

  The last thing Anna wanted to do was open her mouth and start trying to explain about her mother. If I ever start that I might just fall apart and need emergency psychiatric help. “I want to come...it’s just that things at home are complicated.”

  “Is there anything we can do to help you make things...less complicated?”

  “I don’t know. I’m beginning to suspect that the only one who can do that is me.”

  She almost felt as if the brothers understood her. They nodded, and then Craig said, “Just remember we’re here for you, if you need us.”

  Anna was left looking after them as they headed back to their own desks. If I need them? Anna understood she needed them so much, it was more than a little scary.

  Chapter 5

  Craig was first to emerge from his bedroom, freshly showered after their workout in the downstairs exercise room. He barely spared a glance at the view outside the enormous picture window as he made his way toward the kitchen.

  He didn’t exactly mind living in one of the penthouse suites in the Kendall Plaza, but he did miss the simplicity of Lusty. More, he missed the convenience of living in a house as opposed to this downtown Dallas high-rise.

  Behind him, a door opened and closed and a voice said, “It’s my turn to cook supper, isn’t it?”

  He grinned as he looked over his shoulder at his brother. As usual, Jack had just towel dried his hair, and, since it was on the longish side, he looked like a hippy.

  “It is, but I really don’t want to eat pizza again.”

  “I can’t help it if you got the cooking gene, and I got the telephone ordering gene,” Jack said.

  Craig laughed, because it was a running joke not only between them, but their parents and brothers, too. He opened the fridge and pulled out the package of steaks he’d had delivered earlier in the day. He also took out the salad fixings and set them on the counter. He gave Jack a pointed stare.

  His brother sighed, and searched out the cutting board and a sharp knife. “You know, if she were here, Mother would be shaking her head and telling us we need a wife.”

  Jack’s quiet assertion drew Craig’s attention.

  “I know. It’s killing me, too. Everything that is Jessop and Kendall in me is screaming that we should just claim her. Tell her she’s ours and start making a home with her.”

  “Remember what great-grandfather Warren wrote in his journal? About that shimmering moment the instant he laid eyes on his Amanda as she got off the train in Waco?”

  “That passage actually came to my mind the first time we saw Anna,” Craig said. “Because I stepped into the reception area, and when her eyes met mine it was as if I’d finally found the missing piece of myself.”

  “Exactly.” Jack pointed at Craig with the knife. Then he sighed again, an indication of how tense he actually was. “Is it because I’m so anxious to do just that—claim her and begin our lives together—that I think something is bothering her, or—”

  “No, something is definitely bothering her, especially this last week.” It to
re at him that Anna was struggling with a problem of some sort, fighting a battle that he had no knowledge about—and therefore with no way to help her.

  “I used to believe myself to be in possession of a great deal of patience.”

  “You and me both.” The phone rang. There were phones in several of the rooms in the suite. Since Craig was standing closest to the one in the kitchen, he answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Your mother wants to know when she can meet your Anna.”

  Craig grinned. News sure as hell traveled fast in the families. It had only been a couple of days since he’d had Uncle Marty call Anna to discuss the project she’d outlined. “Hello to you, too, Dad. Jack’s right here. How about if I put you on intercom and then you can grill us both at the same time?”

  His father Terrence laughed. “Always efficient, Craig. Do that.”

  “Hey, Dad.” Jack spoke to their dad but his gaze locked with Craig’s.

  He didn’t think he’d have to explain his grilling crack to his brother.

  “I’ll repeat my question for your benefit, Jack. Mother wants to know when she’s going to meet your Anna.”

  “We’re working on it,” Jack said.

  “Marty says she’s a bright girl, and that she sounded downright fierce when she discussed the possibility that the two of you had been taken advantage of by some of your clients.”

  “If I know Uncle Marty, he would have subtly suggested that the two of us have been cheated left, right, and center,” Craig said. He had completely discounted the fact that his uncle, Martin Kendall, was one hell of a shrewd trial lawyer. A Kendall family trait, that. Craig would be hard-pressed to say who had the biggest go-for-the-jugular killer instinct in the courtroom—Marty, his son Preston, or his daughter-in-law, Samantha.

  “He did admit to, in his words, taking her measure. And then, of course, he came over and talked to us.”

  “We’ve invited Anna to accompany us to Lusty for Christmas,” Jack said. “We also assured her that arrangements would be made to see she was well chaperoned.”