by Starla Kaye
Sitting back in the seat, he heaved a frustrated breath. He wished he could help Doug find peace, but he doubted that would ever happen. He only knew pieces of what Doug had survived that final day in the alleys of Denver. In truth, he wasn’t sure he could handle knowing all of it.
At least Doug had the Graysons, the whole dysfunctional family did their best to love him in their own ways, and Doug knew it. He gave them back what he could.
Doug would defend any of them with everything he had, probably even die for them if that were necessary. Doug was the best of the lot, but he had serious trust issues. Understandably, from what Camden did know about his early years. They all had issues, but Doug had really dark ones. So did Hunter. Their oldest “brother” was damn intimidating, almost scary at times.
He pushed thoughts of Hunter away. A problem for another day. Figuring out what to do about Doug was his current concern.
Doug was darn good at putting on a show for the ladies, melting them with the heated look he could get in his eyes or that crooked grin of his. He didn’t have trouble finding someone to share a night with him, to temporarily satisfy his sexual hunger. He had shallow relationships, had trouble letting anyone get close to him. But Camden wished he could find a special relationship with one person who could truly love him. Doug needed someone who could love him in spite of his secrets, in spite of his occasional surliness. Someone who could see the goodness inside him and convince him that he was capable of love. Unfortunately that was one hell of a wish. There wasn’t a chance of that happening until Doug let go of his past enough to give someone a chance.
In all the years that he’d known Doug, his friend had only let others surface-deep into his life. He and Samuel were the exceptions. But even they were only trusted with some of the painful secrets that haunted him, not all of them.
“Are you going to get out of that truck or sit there all day?” Samuel Grayson asked through the closed window of Camden’s pickup.
Camden shoved aside everything he’d been fretting about for now. He turned to look at the grizzled, white-haired cowboy and motioned him away. “Move back, old man, and I will.”
He grinned at the irritated look tossed back at him. Beneath the irritation, which he knew was all for show, was the familiar warmth at seeing one of his “sons.” And it made him feel good, really wanted. He owed this man more than he could ever repay. All of the Grayson siblings did.
“I heard the new librarian was at the dance,” Samuel said casually as Camden climbed out and closed the truck door. “Pretty little thing, I hear.”
For well over seventy, Samuel still stood tall and imposing. They were at eye level with one another and Camden knew the older man was hinting for gossip. “You ‘heard’ a lot, didn’t you? What exactly are you after?”
Samuel’s forehead creased with annoyance beneath the wide brim of his hat. “I heard you and Doug made plays for her, that she turned you both down. You two losing your touch?”
“Hell no. The lady was tired that night, that’s all.” He wondered who had told him about the incident. Victoria? Probably. Despite her no longer being officially part of the family, she remained good friends with Samuel. “I figure I’ll give her a little more time to get settled in. Then I’ll go calling on her.”
“What about Doug? He got his eye on her, too? Even after she wouldn’t dance with either of you rascals?”
He remembered how Doug had teased him about betting who would get in her bed first. In truth, he’d been surprised that his buddy was showing so much interest in her. He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know if he’ll pursue her. He said something about it, but she’s not his usual type.”
Samuel gave him a concerned look, turned serious. “Victoria told me she’s been hurt by some man. She didn’t know the story, but I’ve a feeling that she’s going to guard her new friend like a hawk.” He met Camden’s eyes with a warning. “I don’t want to hear that either of you boys has hurt her. So you best be careful if you do decide to go after her. You tell Doug, too.”
Evidently that was all he’d wanted to say, because Samuel turned away. “If she makes the foolish decision to go out with one of you, I expect you to bring her out to the ranch. I want to meet this gal.” With that he headed toward the main house.
Bring her to the ranch? Neither of them had ever brought one of their women out to meet Samuel. Because neither he nor Doug had never gone out with a woman who could possibly be the “marrying kind.” Marriage wasn’t in the cards for either of them. Doug had his reasons, although Camden held a faint hope that he could change his friend’s mind. With the right woman, Doug could make a good husband. He was almost sure of it.
He knew Doug was worried that he might turn into the abusive kind of man his father had been. His old man had taken his frustrations with life out on his son, until Doug finally stood up to him. Then he’d been kicked out. Doug’s life had gotten worse until…
Camden had never seen any signs of Doug developing an abusive side. He had a temper at times, could be moody as hell, but he’d never physically fought back with any of their “brothers,” even when a couple of them probably deserved it.
He, though, had been seriously soured on marriage by witnessing his parents’ hellish relationship. Right up until the day his mother walked away from him and his father. Even though he’d been away from his dad’s influence for eighteen years, he worried every day that he’d become like his dad. There was no way he’d ever want a decent woman to face that kind of horror. Maybe he should forget about pursuing Rose.
CHAPTER THREE
It had been a week since Rose had finally gotten the boxes she’d brought with her unpacked. She glanced around the living room and studied the small grouping of framed family photos on the battered antique bookcase next to the entertainment center, still empty of TV or stereo. She seldom watched TV anyway. But she often looked at the photos. Her parents had lived in Denver her entire life and were disappointed she hadn’t found a job there. But she couldn’t do that. It would have been like returning home a failure.
They’d had such high hopes for her one day making it as a prima ballerina with a major company. As teachers on limited salaries, they’d saved every penny they could to get her the best lessons, to financially support her when she’d gone off to New York for both a struggling dance career and to attend college. They’d also planned to pay for college for her two older brothers, but both had joined the Marines and were making careers of it.
She should be heading out the door to go open the library, but she stood blinking back tears of loneliness and looking at the photos of her brothers, Eric and Thomas. Each was on his third tour to the Middle East. Every time they accepted another one she and her parents worried if they would come back. But they were both decorated heroes, successful. And she… Well, she’d failed to reach her dream. Taking a job here was the first step in building a new future.
After meeting and talking with a number of young mothers recently, she had a new dream still in the developmental stages. Just because she couldn’t be a prima ballerina, leaping and dashing elegantly across the stage, didn’t mean she had to give up everything to do with ballet. She could teach, even here in Evergreen. Maybe.
Giving a good-bye-for-now glance at the family photos, she scooped her purse and keys off the crate end table by the only chair in the room. The house was still pitifully empty. She needed to go furniture shopping soon. She definitely needed to get a better bed.
She stepped out the front door and gaped at the big, dualcabbed pickup truck parked behind the Jeep she’d borrowed from her brother Thomas. Camden Grayson leaned casually against the shiny black truck. She hadn’t seen or heard from either of the Grayson brothers since they’d wanted to bring her home after the dance. It had been a very awkward time. So it was a surprise to see one of the brothers again, a pleasant surprise.
“Mornin’, pretty lady.” He straightened and flashed his award-winning grin.
His smile
warmed the sad and lonely places within her. “What are you doing here?”
She didn’t want to let him know how glad she was to see him. His head was big enough already. There didn’t seem to be a woman—married or single—in town that didn’t have a crush on him. On his more broody, competitive brother Doug, too. She hadn’t really noticed his broodiness, not when he’d been trying to impress her with his wicked smile and teasing ways that night. But she’d heard that there was a sad, emotionally wounded side to him that he tried to keep hidden. That was the side that drew her. It was that nurturing problem she had. She wanted to kiss his boo-boos, listen to his troubles, and make it all better. Which was absolutely stupid!
“Came to see Doc and get done with that annoying sling,” Camden explained, pulling her back to the present. He raised his left arm and grinned. “See all better.”
A twinge of pain crossed his face for just an instant. She suspected that Doc whoever hadn’t really given approval of losing the sling, but that Camden had insisted on it. Typical stubborn male. Instead of wanting to “kiss his boo-boos,” she wanted to shake some sense into him. But she managed to say, “Glad to hear it.”
He straightened and moved his gaze up and down, clearly taking in everything about her. She wore what she considered her librarian uniform: a simple dress that reached her knees, sensible flat-heeled shoes, and her hair pulled back with a clip at her nape. Okay it was totally B-O-R-I-N-G. A man like him wouldn’t be at all impressed.
Yet he surprised her by smiling. “You look good enough to take home to meet Mama.” Sadness flickered in his expression for the barest of seconds before he shook it off. “Not that I have a mama, at least I haven’t had one for a very long time.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of the peculiar compliment. “Thank you, I think.”
She turned to lock her door and then walked down the porch steps. Heavens but he was a man worth a second look, a third, a fourth. All right she could stare at him all day, dream of him all night. She’d almost stopped having the pair of hunky cowboys show up in her nightly dreams. Now, with this renewed sight of him, at least Camden would be there again. Probably Doug, too. She hadn’t forgotten anything about how he looked. Once more the idea of being so attracted to the two men bothered her.
“I’ve been thinking about you, too, darlin’,” he said as if he’d read her thoughts. He strolled closer, tipping up the brim of his Stetson. His blue eyes were warm, filled with promise.
Filled with promise? What was she doing? She didn’t want to get involved with another man for a good long while. Her ex-fiancé had ruined her on romance, on believing in love. Men were too much trouble. They fed you lines, made you hope, then…
She heaved a sigh and held out a hand to stop the cowboy. “Thinking and dreaming is one thing. Reality is another. I’m a realist now. I’m not interested in—”
The stubborn man ignored her signal to stop. He strolled right into her personal space, even took her shaking hand in his. Then he went a step further and lifted her hand so he could kiss the back of it. She shivered all the way to her toes. He noticed, of course, and grinned.
She jerked her hand free, although she continued feeling tingles throughout her body, particularly low in her woman’s place. Her voice was quivery as she said, “How can I make you understand that I’m not—”
He reached out to cup the back of her head and she gulped down the rest of her complaint. As he slowly lowered his mouth, her eyes widened and her heart thudded. By the time his lips met hers, she was almost faint, barely breathing.
He held her tight against his tall, muscled body, and she quickly became aware of his amazing package. As he plundered her mouth with his tongue—a very talented tongue, she felt every long, hard inch of what had to be a spectacular shaft. She moaned, couldn’t resist rubbing against it, trembling with longing. Oh how she wanted…
When his hands moved lower and kneaded her bottom, pulled her tighter to him, she moaned even louder. He absorbed it with his mouth, still doing wondrous things to hers. It was as if she’d never been kissed before. She didn’t want to stop. Yes, she did. But only so they could…
The rumbling engine of another pickup truck pulling into the driveway behind Camden’s truck jerked her out the haze of lust. She shoved away from him, face flaming at being seen all but ripping off his clothes and taking him right down to the ground in her front yard.
A glance up at him showed that he appeared as dazed by what they’d been doing as she felt. But as the other truck’s driver’s door opened, he put an arm around her shoulders and tucked her possessively against his side.
“Thought you were going to see Doc,” Doug said as he glared at Camden.
“Did.”
“So instead of coming back to the ranch and helping with moving the herd today…” Doug didn’t finish the thought, simply continued glaring.
“You’re not at the ranch, either.” Camden’s fingers dug into her arm.
Doug moved closer, his body appeared taut. “Supplies,” he bit out.
“Um…I need to get to work.” Rose tried to wiggle out of Camden’s hold. She didn’t like the way the brothers were bristling, posturing. Another big reason not to get tangled up with two men.
And then suddenly it was over with.
Camden let out a sigh and dropped his arm. “Sorry about that,” he said and gave her an apologetic look. “Doug and I don’t usually do this. Go after the same woman, I mean.”
“Go after the same woman?” she repeated, confused and strangely pleased at the same time. Worried, too.
“Camden,” Doug said the name as if it were a warning.
Camden shrugged. “I figure the little lady deserves to know that we’ve both got her in our sights.”
She looked from one cowboy to the other. Doug didn’t deny what Camden had said. Camden appeared completely comfortable with the idea. And now she was annoyed.
“Does the little lady—a term which I hate, by the way—have any say in this?” She stepped farther away from Camden, made sure that Doug stayed equally far from her.
Camden shrugged and seemed amused by her dislike of little lady.
Doug remained quiet, but looked determined.
She rolled her eyes at them and then strode to the Jeep to unlock it. She started to climb in but stopped to say huffily, “Move your damn trucks.”
Camden smirked, but Doug scowled. “Language, darlin’,” Camden explained. “Bro doesn’t approve of women cursing.”
“Damn is hardly a curse word.”
Doug’s scowl darkened and she heaved a put-upon sigh. “Fine.” She looked pointedly from one of them to the other. “Move your blankety-blank trucks!”
* * * *
Camden had stayed away from Rose for three days, but she’d been in his thoughts. He had decided to let Doug make his move on her, and he’d decided that if Doug was really serious about her, he would back off completely. But Doug hadn’t made a move to see her again. Why the hell not?
Because Doug was pig-headed stubborn, no doubt having decided she was better off not having anything more to do with him. Idiot! If ever a man deserved to find happiness, it was Doug. He’d survived a hell that Camden didn’t think he could have. Doug needed someone who could make him smile, really smile, not that forced kind he gave everyone. Camden had a feeling Rose might be able to do it.
Although he hadn’t gotten close to her these last few days, he had managed to observe her from a distance a couple of times. He’d spotted her coming out of Bert’s Diner one morning, helping the elderly Fayeanne Reynolds to her car parked out front. She’d listened attentively to the woman capable of talking a person’s ear off, and she’d smiled kindly at her. Another afternoon he’d driven by the library and spotted her visiting with a young mother and her twin girls. The girls were hugging books to their chests and smiling in adoration up at Rose, who smiled back at them. She had a great smile.
Well, since Doug wasn’t going to make a mov
e, he was. Which was why he was parked here in front of the library. But he wasn’t sure what to do now. He’d never been shy around women before, never hesitated to go right up and ask one out. Still, he couldn’t seem to open the truck door and climb out.
Maybe he’d go in and check out some books. Maybe he’d ask her who her favorite authors were, maybe check out books by them. Not that he had a library card. He rarely read since it was always a challenge. Being dyslexic sucked, but he’d adjusted to it years ago. Even so, this was probably one big stupid idea. He should just forget it and head on back to the ranch.
Someone tapped on the passenger side window of his truck and he jerked in surprise. Seeing Rose looking curiously at him made him forget everything he’d been worrying over.
He lowered the window. “Hey, pretty lady. What’re you doing here?” Too late he remembered that he wasn’t parked in front of the hardware store, where he usually went when he came into town, but in front of the library.
Her eyes danced in amusement. “I work here, remember?” She leaned down and looked in at him. “What are you doing here?”
Being an idiot. “I was in town running errands. I thought I might check out a book or two.” Was his face red? It sure felt hot.
“Come on in then. I’m running a little late this morning, but I’ll be glad to help you.” She straightened and the light breeze fluttered her hair around her face. She brushed it away.
He’d never seen her hair out of the pullback thing she did. “I like your hair this way.”
She gave a small smile and said quietly, “Thanks.”
Victoria pulled up next to him in her Mustang and looked curiously from Rose to him. Damn! He didn’t like the amusement in her eyes. The speculation. He had to get out of here.
“Another time,” he said, capturing Rose’s attention again.
“What?” Her brow furrowed.
He refused to look at Victoria. He turned the engine on again. “I’ll check out some books another day. I need to get back to the ranch.”