Fannin's Flame Read online

  Kelly’s eyes went wide, and Fannin was relieved that Helga didn’t speak enough English to understand. “Shut up, Last,” he reiterated, this time his voice steely.

  And then Last did shut up, his eyes first on Fannin because of the tone and then sliding to Kelly’s mortified expression. “Oh, brother,” Last said. “Aha. I have once again allowed my philosophical side to get the best of me. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go attach myself to the towing hitch.”

  He left. Fannin felt Kelly looking at him, but he couldn’t look at her—not with her mother standing next to her and Kelly’s red lace burning in his pocket like the world’s worst-kept secret.

  SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS were easily solved once they got back to the house. Helga slept in quarters in the main house and Kelly would sleep with her mother. Only Mason remained at the big house, with Laredo, Tex and Frisco Joe having vacated the premises upon their marriages.

  “You are staying awhile?” Helga asked her daughter, comfortable with chatting now that they were in her room and could speak German.

  “Only one day,” Kelly replied. “I don’t have time off, and Julia’s been out sick.” She started to say that Fannin had ordered a personal assistant, and she’d chosen to fill the job since it was a Friday and wouldn’t hurt for her to be gone, but as far as Helga was concerned, Kelly was here to see her.

  “Oh, I miss you,” her mother said.

  “For Christmas, I have three days to spend with you. You’re going to come to my house,” Kelly promised.

  “Three days?”

  “Julia’s sick and has been taking extra days off to get her Christmas shopping done. The office hasn’t been that busy. So she said I could take three days over the holidays.”

  “How will I get to Diamond?”

  “I’ll come and get you. Don’t worry, Mother. You just tell Mason you need to come home for Christmas. We’re going to do lots of baking.”

  “Baking.” Helga smiled. “It will be nice for a change to cook for someone who likes what I make.”

  Kelly frowned. “I know you’ve been homesick.”

  Her mother nodded. “Yes. I’m getting used to it here. But the boys are wild.” She gestured with her hands. “They are too long without good women.”

  Kelly winced. “Is Fannin wild?”

  Helga shrugged. “They’re all bad boys. Except Mason. He’s good. Sometimes.” She laughed.

  “Sometimes?”

  “I think so. He’s so quiet, his heart is all bottled up inside him.”

  “I love you, Mama,” Kelly said, her insides aching for her mother. Even though Helga was speaking in a scolding tone about the brothers, Kelly could see that her mother cared about them, like rowdy chicks she wanted to keep under her wing.

  Of course, that’s probably not what they wanted.

  “I feel bad that I sent you here, Mama, and that you’re not happy. We have other ladies at the agency we could send. Why don’t you come home and stay with me for a while? We’ll find you another job that you’ll like better. Maybe even one in Diamond?”

  “I can’t.” Helga looked down at her fingers. “The lady next door is going to have a baby. She’s a real nice girl. Mimi.”

  “I remember seeing Mimi’s name. She’s the one who called about a housekeeper.”

  “Yes. She’s over here all the time. I take care of her father when Mimi needs help.”

  Kelly frowned. “You’re not really supposed to be doing two jobs, Mama.”

  “I don’t mind. I like Mimi.” Helga sighed. “I think Mason is in love with Mimi. I think she’s in love with him, too.”

  “But she’s married to someone else?” Kelly asked.

  “Yes, and having a baby.” Helga’s eyes glowed. “A Christmas baby. I should be here to help her.”

  “You should be home letting me take care of you,” Kelly said sternly, realizing for the first time just how much work her mother had to do at this ranch. “Mama, listen, I got a letter from Dad’s estate—”

  Helga held up a hand. “I don’t want to talk about your father. He left me and you alone in Ireland. I made my way here. I learn English, I get some jobs, I raise my daughter. I do not want to talk about your father. He never tried to see you after we left Ireland. I do not care about him.”

  “Mama, he left me his house,” Kelly said miserably. “I think I may go see it someday.”

  Helga sniffed.

  “You’ve seen Germany, Ireland, much of Europe,” Kelly said. “I’ve not been out of the country since I was a little girl. I want to see where my father lived. I’m sorry, Mama. I know that’s hard for you. But I just need to know who I am.”

  “I know who you are. You are my baby,” Helga said sternly.

  “I know, Mama. But I need to connect with my roots.” She clasped her mother’s hands.

  “Your roots never came to you,” Helga said stubbornly. “You are like a potato. You grow your own shoots.”

  Kelly dropped her gaze. Her mother could have such a one-track mind. She loved her dearly, but she could definitely see how Helga and the Jefferson men might butt heads. “You go to sleep, Mama. I’m going to stay up and read for a while.”

  Helga got into her bed. “Thank you for surprising me with a visit. It’s a long way for you to drive. Good thing Fannin came along to rescue you.”

  Kelly sighed. “Good night, Mama.”

  Joy, who Kelly had been holding, jumped up beside Grandma, recognizing where peace, comfort and warmth existed. Kelly went into the sitting room of their quarters and peered out the window. Outside, she could see men—she counted six—standing around a metal barrel with a fire blazing inside it. They were warming their hands over the fire and arguing. At least they looked as if they were arguing. She turned out the room lamp, made certain she was secured behind a drape and peered out again.

  Fannin appeared to be the object of much of the conversation. Everybody was talking at him, and he just nodded or shook his head. He didn’t look too happy, either. Once, she thought he glanced up at the window where she was, but then he shook his head, and she realized there was no way he could see her spying on him.

  She should never have done what she did with him. She should just get up in the morning and make a graceful exit.

  Her mother wouldn’t understand that at all.

  One by one the brothers left the burning barrel. Only Fannin remained behind, the keeper of the flame. Kelly took a deep breath, then decided to put her conscience to rest by talking to him.

  Hurrying downstairs, she slipped outside. Fannin hadn’t moved from his spot. Obviously he was deep in thought.

  “Fannin?”

  He raised his head. “Hey, Kelly.”

  That didn’t sound promising. She stood beside him, her heart quivering inside her. “Fannin, I owe you an apology.”

  He looked up. “Good. I owe you one, too.”

  She didn’t think she could bear it if he said he was sorry for what happened between them. And yet, of course that’s what he was going to say. How humiliating! The trick, then, was to make her apology and get out before she could hear those words of rejection.

  If there was anything she didn’t need in her life, it was for her one and only fantasy to go crashing to pieces.

  “Fannin, I should have told you Helga was my mother. I should have been honest with you.”

  “I would have liked to have known. Everything might have turned out differently.”

  That was all the chance he was going to get at saying he was sorry for their interlude. “Fannin,” she said briskly, “I came out here under false pretenses, so I’ll leave in the morning. I’ll send someone else in my place. Someone who better fits your request. We have plenty of perky, cheery blondes with great sense of humor.” She’d go through every application if necessary to find him a perfect woman.

  “Don’t bother,” he said. “I placed the order under false pretenses. I didn’t really have a job for you to do. My brothers made me feel like I c
ouldn’t be successful with a woman, so I ordered a woman with all the perfect qualities of everything I wanted. And then you came along.”

  “Well, isn’t it funny how life works out sometimes?” Kelly said brightly.

  He didn’t smile, and she decided this wasn’t one of those made-to-order humor moments he’d wanted.

  “I deceived you,” he said, “and I apologize. And then I took advantage of you—”

  “No, no,” she said swiftly, “I took advantage of you. Clearly, I had the advantage in the advantage.”

  “You did not,” he said. “You were a perfect lady. I practically dragged you off by the hair, just like my brothers said a woman liked.”

  “And did you hear me complaining? Not one bit. In fact, you may have even noticed how eager I was to shed my—” Kelly stopped, realizing she didn’t want to say what she’d been about to say.

  “Clothes. You didn’t shed your clothes. I distinctly remember pulling them off of you.” Fannin shook his head. “I am no gentleman.”

  “Oh, but you are,” Kelly said. “Fannin, believe me, I thought you were every bit a gentleman.”

  “Not to take my housekeeper’s daughter in my truck. I just hope the condom held. You know, I couldn’t see in the darkness, but it might have been dodgy.”

  She frowned. “What does dodgy mean?”

  “It means I couldn’t examine it in the darkness. I don’t know for certain that it held.”

  “Oh.” She waved that away. “It had to. Nothing else could go wrong in this affair for me. It would be way too…corny. If you had ever told me that I would run over a dead deer, send my car into a ditch and then make love in a truck, I would have said, ‘No way.”’

  “I know you would have. I took advantage of the fact that you were clearly in shock.”

  “I was shocked,” Kelly murmured, “but only that you wanted me as bad as you seemed to.” The crackling blaze sucked away her words. She should have known he had been responding to goading from his brothers. “Why is there a fire in this barrel, anyway?”

  “We’re burning trash.”

  “This close to the house?”

  “The hoses are closest here.” Fannin didn’t look up at her. “Besides, we’ve done this ten thousand times. We do it often, so the fire doesn’t get too big.”

  “I see.” Rural life was clearly not something one just made up the answers to. “Hey, I’m going back inside.”

  For the first time, he looked at her. “Kelly, I really am sorry that I wasn’t honest from the beginning.”

  “Neither was I.”

  “Yeah, but your dishonesty was a lack of information. Mine was outright deceit. You’re the perfect made-to-order woman, by the way.”

  She stared at him. “I am?”

  “Well, yeah. You’re happy with darts and wine, you don’t get supersqueamish about running over dead animals and you like making out in a truck. I couldn’t have asked for a better date.”

  Her mother was right. These men were too wild for her. “Um, thanks, Fannin. Guess that’s all the time we have for apologies now. Think I’ll turn in so I can get up bright and early—”

  His hand shot out to catch her arm. She held her breath as his gaze burned into hers. “So, when were you going to confess to being a virgin?”

  Chapter Four

  If there was anything Fannin was angry about—and he didn’t have much to be angry about because he’d deceived her just as much as she’d deceived him—it was that Kelly obviously hadn’t planned to tell him about her virginity, which she’d allowed him to take as if it didn’t matter to her.

  It damn sure mattered to him.

  “It just wasn’t in my repertoire of conversation,” Kelly said. “It’s not in the short list of things to say after sex, Fannin.”

  “I want to know why. Why did you do that? Are you husband-hunting? Did my order seem too convenient?”

  “You’d be the last man I’d marry,” she snapped back. “Really. Do you think my mother would approve of you?”

  He frowned and let go of her arm. “So why did you do it?”

  “Look. There wasn’t a reason. I just wanted to. I won’t bill you, if that’s what you’re worried about. That would just be too weird, wouldn’t it?”

  Rubbing his hand over his chin, he considered the firecracker redhead in front of him. She looked mad enough to ignite a barrel fire of her own. “Do you like me?”

  “I did for about five minutes,” she said. “That feeling has swiftly passed.”

  This was the moment where he should turn aloof and act like a Cro-Magnon man descendant. She had her reasons for what she’d done; clearly she didn’t intend to reveal them to him. It bothered him, not knowing that underlying reason.

  Because he really, really wanted to do the whole thing over again. Only this time, not in his truck but in a bed, where he could see every inch of that glorious body.

  Too bad that wasn’t going to happen.

  “What are you looking at me like that for?” she asked stiffly.

  “I just can’t believe you’re Helga’s daughter.” What bad luck—the first woman he’d been attracted to in forever, and she was the daughter of the woman he was supposed to get off the ranch!

  “Well, I am. Now you know.”

  Mason pulled up in his truck, reminding Fannin of the unpleasant conversation he had to have with his brother. A matter which wouldn’t endear him to Kelly, that was for certain.

  “Mason, can I talk to you a minute?”

  Mason slammed his truck door and ambled over. “Hi,” he said to Kelly.

  “This is Kelly Stone, Helga’s daughter,” Fannin said.

  “Helga’s daughter. Well, welcome to the ranch! I didn’t know you were coming out.” Mason beamed. “Helga’s really worked out for us.”

  Kelly gave Fannin a very wry glance. Fannin shrugged.

  “Are you here for the holidays?” Mason asked. “We’d love for you to stay.”

  “She’s here for a short visit,” Fannin said quickly. “Kelly’s got a very busy schedule.”

  Kelly blinked at Fannin’s tone. He couldn’t have said any more plainly how he felt about her presence at the ranch.

  “Well, that’s a shame. With Christmas being next weekend, things are really going to be hopping around here. And I’m sure your mother would love to have her daughter here with her. Everybody wants their loved ones around at Christmas.”

  Kelly saw Mason’s gaze flicker, ever so quickly, to the house on the adjoining land. Mimi’s house. Kelly’s heart turned over inside her. “Well, I’m going to turn in,” she said. “Good night, Fannin. It’s nice to meet you, Mason.”

  Mason tipped his hat to her. “Pleasure’s mine.”

  Kelly walked away, making it inside the doors and toward the stairwell before Fannin’s voice stopped her.

  “It’s about Helga, Mason. They’ve asked me to talk to you about her.”

  The window was open in the kitchen, cracked to let cool air in and probably to let the cooking smells out. Helga had always said she didn’t like to smell food after it had been cooked and eaten. Kelly crept close to the window.

  “They don’t want Helga to be the housekeeper anymore.”

  “Tough. They don’t live here. I do. And as far as I can remember, they come here every night to eat in the main kitchen with barely a word of complaint.”

  “They do complain, just not in your hearing. Look, Mason, the truth is, we’ve all been tiptoeing around this for a year. Helga isn’t the one who put the curtains up, she’s not the one who held everything together during the big storm. The Lonely Hearts ladies did all that.” Fannin took a deep breath. “Mason, you’re not going to want to get this wake-up call, but Mimi hired Helga to keep you from hiring a housekeeper you might fall for.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Kelly shivered, realizing she was eavesdropping on a highly personal disagreement. She excused herself by thinking the best thing she could
do was to protect her mother—and to do that, she needed to know the score.

  “What are you talking about, Fannin?” Mason asked.

  “The first woman to come in this house was Annabelle and her baby, Emmie. Mimi panicked, realizing that a sweet young housekeeper with a ready-made family might be all it took for her to lose you forever. So she hired Helga. To keep you, you know, fed and taken care of. So you wouldn’t feel lonely. And you know what, Mason? It’s worked.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “Have you had any real dates? Have you gone out with anyone? What do you do all day? Moon after Mimi, who’s gone on with her life, if you haven’t noticed. And eat Helga’s cooking.”

  “And your solution to this is?”

  “Let’s send Helga over to Mimi’s, where she belongs. Mimi needs her. We don’t. The boys want to be alone.”

  “We need a housekeeper.”

  “No, Mason,” Fannin said quietly. “You need to put the past behind you and move on. We’re all a year older since the big storm and the e-mail that brought the Lonely Hearts ladies out here. Four of the brothers are gone. They were the lucky ones. They found ladies they loved. The rest of us, we’re just sinking in quicksand.”

  Kelly gasped. “Butt-head!”

  Fannin glanced up. “Did you hear something?”

  Mason shook his head. “No. Just your opinions wearing me out. I’m tired. Can we do this later over a family council or something?”

  “I guess. Thing is, Mason, you’re not the only one with needs around here. ’Night.”

  “Hey,” Mason said. “How’d Kelly end up here, anyway? I don’t remember Helga mentioning she was going to have a visitor.”

  Kelly strained to hear Fannin’s answer.

  “Long story, bro. Not that interesting. See ya in la mañana.”

  “I’ll give him not that interesting.” Kelly scrambled to her feet and shot up the stairs to her mother’s quarters before Mason could catch her spying.