Fannin's Flame Read online

Fannin was such a traitor! She couldn’t believe she’d ever thought he was a gentleman. Good thing she knew now exactly how he felt about women, about her mother—even about her. First thing in the morning, she was going to talk to her mother about leaving this horrible place.

  Obviously, it was no place for a lady.

  IN THE MORNING, everyone gathered at the breakfast table to eat.

  Sauerkraut and sausages.

  “Mmm, my favorite,” Mason said. He tucked in heartily, much to Fannin’s annoyance.

  To his greater annoyance, Kelly looked like sunshine. She wore a canary-yellow, long-sleeved dress that made her hair shine. Her blue eyes never met his gaze, though, and that bothered him.

  She was playing aloof, probably.

  He resolved to be more aloof, too. Like his brothers, who were currently staring at their plates in dismay.

  Kelly, on the other hand, had his total concentration.

  He wanted her in a bed. Bad.

  Last night’s conversation with Mason would mean Helga would leave, at least their house. He might not ever see Kelly again after this week.

  Taking an absent-minded bite of sausage, he wondered if she was wearing a thong today. The red lacy thing Last had discovered on the ground was now tucked away in Fannin’s closet, a secreted jewel he was hoarding.

  He should return it, but why? Wasn’t he old enough to develop a panty fixation? Probably past time, anyway. Every one of the brothers had their sin. He was keeping Kelly’s thong for the memories, if nothing else. His only virgin.

  Frowning, he chewed at something he’d picked up off his plate. Scalps were prizes in olden days. Ladies were reputed to keep lists of men they conquered. Men supposedly notched their bedposts. He wondered if keeping a thong ranked as a trophy.

  Last cleared his throat and shoved his arm. “You’re eating your napkin, bro,” he said.

  Fannin spat what he was chewing onto his plate. Damn if Kelly hadn’t laid a napkin near his plate, with one edge flapping over his breakfast. He’d scooped it up with some sauerkraut and chewed away, most of the napkin hanging from his jowls.

  Kelly was staring at him, her hand arrested over the stove. His brothers were grinning.

  Except Mason, who looked thunderous.

  “Ch, ch.” Helga gave him the naughty-boy sound and retrieved his napkin, taking it into the laundry. She came over and tied a fresh one around his neck. “Do not eat,” she said in her thick German-accented voice as she pointed at the napkin under his chin.

  Kelly merely returned to washing dishes in the sink.

  “You need table manners,” Mason told him sternly.

  “That’s it.” Fannin tore the napkin off his neck, tossed it on the table and left. Being babied by Helga was too much. He had his mind on her daughter, and she was treating him like a child in front of Kelly.

  Kelly appeared at his elbow, trotting to keep up. “Fannin, my mother means well.”

  “I know.” But he kept walking.

  She stopped him by putting a hand on his arm. He didn’t look at her, too irritated and uncomfortable to make eye contact.

  “Fannin, maybe we should start over.”

  He glared at her. “Like, you’re going to grow a new hymen and this time tell me you’re a virgin?”

  “Like, maybe you’re going to be honest about wanting a woman and not a personal-assistant-slash-companion?” She returned his glare.

  “What exactly did you have in mind, then, as we start over?”

  “Let’s tell each other the truth from now on.”

  “That would be novel.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Listen, buster, I can be just as sarcastic as you.” Pointing to her hair, she said, “Hair this color has a reputation for a reason. How about you give me a chance before my temper sets on fire?”

  He sighed. “Shoot.”

  “All right. I heard you talking to Mason about let ting my mother go.”

  “Okay, that’s embarrassing, but…what can I tell you. It happened. I’m sorry. It’s the way my brothers feel.” He was sorry for the pain that crossed her sweet face, but she wanted honesty.

  “You don’t like her, either, do you?”

  “Kelly, I try. But it’s hard when she treats us like children.”

  She looked at the ground. “You’re right.”

  He felt bad, but the situation wasn’t pretty. “Kelly, I wish I’d known who you were. I wouldn’t have touched you.”

  “Thanks, Fannin, you ass. That just makes me feel so much better. You don’t like my mother and you wish you’d never had sex with me.”

  “That’s not what I said. I’ve thought of what happened between us a lot. That was more than what I thought I was going to get when I e-mailed the Honey-Do Agency, believe me.” He softened his tone. “But, Kelly, I wouldn’t have touched you if you’d told me who you were, and you knew it. Or you would have been up-front with me.”

  “You’re right.” She lowered her gaze for just an instant, then looked back at him. “I’m sorry, Fannin, not only for not being truthful but also for my mother. As part of the Honey-Do Agency, I need to be professional here.”

  “Okay.” He wondered where she was going with that. “I can offer you two options, now that I’m aware you’re unhappy with your employee. I can talk to Mama and let her know she needs to try not to make you all her children. And whatever other changes you’d like her to make. You’d have to tell me exactly what needs to happen, because she’s my mother and I think she’s an angel. Stubborn, but an angel.”

  He felt really bad about that. The brothers all felt that their mother had been an angel, too. Frowning, he wondered if Last wasn’t the only member of the family who saw life through the rose-colored glasses Mason always teased him about.

  “Or I can talk to Mama and Mimi about Mama going to work next door. Your choice. Whichever option you think would work best for your situation.”

  He admired the hell out of her for taking the bull by the horns. “It might be best if you referenced Mason on that one. I’ve done my part, which was to be the bearer of bad news. And since I’m the one who has defiled the daughter and dumped on the mother, I’d say my work here is done. Or it better be.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to Mason.”

  She turned and walked away. He watched her, canary yellow moving at a fast pace, swing, bang, boom. She was a big lady, with hips he wanted to sink his teeth into. And other things, too. When they’d been having their honest chat, she’d met him eye to eye, boot toe to boot toe.

  He liked that. It made him think of all kinds of rowdy sexual positions he could get into with a woman built for him.

  Too bad it was all so damn wrong. His order might have been placed and it might have been filled, but it was wrong on every level.

  He stared out at Princess, who was at the other end of the pasture from Bloodthirsty Black. “Yeah,” he said to his brown-eyed pet, “I know what it means to have the right thing under your nose, and not be able to do a damn thing with it.”

  KELLY WALKED AWAY, her heart pounding. Whatever might have been possible between Fannin and her was never going to happen now. If it hadn’t been bad enough that Helga was her mother—and she had to give Fannin credit that he’d tried to be kind to Helga, but what man wanted a napkin tied around his neck?—Kelly hadn’t been honest from the start.

  Fannin was right, and she knew it.

  Professionalism was her only alternative at this point. Cool, calm professionalism.

  The first thing she had to do was talk to Mason. And then her mother, who wasn’t going to understand. She was only being a good mother; overnurturing was what Helga knew from the old world. Still Kelly understood that the brothers wouldn’t be comfortable with that.

  She turned to sneak a glance at Fannin as she stepped up on the porch—and was startled to see the cowboy staring back at her. Even across a half acre of land, she knew he was watching her.

  It made her nervous. Clearly, he didn’
t like her.

  Professionalism, she reminded herself—and then a swift exit.

  “Hey,” Archer said as he walked out onto the porch. “Kelly, lend me your keys.”

  “What for?”

  “I’m gonna go hose the deer guts off your car.”

  “Eeew. That’s a job I’ll let you do. Thanks.”

  “I have to. Your mother’s already out there with a bucket. That woman can spot dirt a mile away.”

  “Mama!” Kelly gasped. “Where is she?”

  “We parked your car around back. Where’s your keys?”

  “Bandera had them last!” Kelly took off at a run. Sure enough, Helga was busy with a towel, a sponge and a large bucket of water that steamed in the early-morning chill. “Mama, no! Stop!”

  Helga straightened. “Why?”

  “Because.” Kelly blushed. When she’d told her mother about the run-in with the deer last night, she hadn’t thought her mother would try to clean it up! The brothers had towed the car home, and she’d been too happy to ride to the ranch with Fannin. “It’s not necessary, Mama,” she said in German. “Archer’s going to take the truck to the car wash.”

  “I’ll clean it.” Helga frowned and went back to scrubbing.

  Of course she would think it was wasteful to take the car to a car wash when she could do the job herself. Kelly looked at her mother’s set face and her red, chapped hands and wanted to cry.

  Before she realized what was happening, Fannin strode to her mother and gently removed the sponge from her fingers. He tossed it into the bucket, which he then emptied. “Go upstairs and change,” he told Helga. “Get Joy, and the three of you go shopping. Day off.”

  “No. Not day off,” Helga said.

  “It is now,” Fannin said with quiet determination. “Spend a day with your daughter, Helga. You deserve it.”

  Kelly flashed him a grateful glance. “Yes, Mama. Come on. You deserve a holiday.”

  “Christmas is next week,” Helga stated.

  “Yes, but—” Kelly glanced around, her eyes lighting on a heavily pregnant woman walking across the field toward the Jefferson house. That had to be Mimi, who she’d heard about from Julia. “But we need to go baby shopping, right, Mama? First Christmas for the baby.”

  Helga saw Mimi and brightened instantly. “Yes.” She turned and walked into the house.

  Kelly closed her eyes briefly with relief. When she opened them, Archer was getting into the car and Fannin was hosing out the bucket. Everything was going on as normal. There was just a little extra work for them to do because of Kelly and her mother…work that didn’t need to be added to her load at the ranch.

  Fannin didn’t look her way.

  Kelly’s heart constricted. So be it, she thought. I completely understand. “Thank you,” she said. “Mama will enjoy a day off.”

  He grunted and tears came to Kelly’s eyes. They needed help—but they weren’t getting it. It was all wrong.

  She went to find her mother.

  MIMI WATCHED FANNIN put away a bucket, sponge and hose. “Isn’t it cold to be washing a car?”

  “Maybe. How are you doing, Mimi? Feeling good?”

  She put a hand over her very large stomach. “I’m not supposed to be walking much, but I’m going stir-crazy. I wish I could get out. I’d like to ride. I’d like to do anything.”

  “It’s not much longer,” he said, comforting her.

  “I know. And I’m glad about the baby. You know that. It’s just inactivity has never been my thing.”

  He grinned at her. “I know. How’s the sheriff?”

  “Having one of his good days. That’s why I decided to get out and see the outdoors for a minute.”

  Of course, what she really wanted was to see Mason, God help her. She was nervous as could be, more nervous than she’d ever been in her life. Her husband Brian was in Houston, working a big legislative case. He had to be gone; she understood that. Brian had said he’d be back in time for Christmas, in time for the baby’s birth. Nothing would keep him from her side, he’d said.

  Mimi knew Brian meant it.

  Still, she was nervous. “Where’s Mason?”

  Fannin looked at her strangely. Was it pity she saw in his eyes?

  She held her ground, staring right back. As if she had every right to ask where Mason was. There’d been a subtle shift in the Jefferson men’s behavior toward her, ever since she’d become pregnant. Almost as if they felt she shouldn’t hang around Mason. But they’d always been friends and they always would be.

  “Mason’s…inside,” Fannin said after a moment.

  “Thanks.” Mimi hated feeling as if she didn’t belong to the clan anymore. She knew they still loved her, but there was a strange distance in the air that had never been there before.

  “You know, Mimi—”

  Mimi whirled to stare Fannin down. If he said a word about her wanting to see Mason, she was going to grab that hose and give him a washdown he’d never forget. It’s really best if he doesn’t mess with a big, fat, nervous pregnant woman. “Yes?”

  Fannin sighed. “Nothing.”

  “Are you sure?” she snapped.

  “Positive. Lasso those hormones, sister. I need my head a few more days, anyway.”

  Mimi gave him a black look and stomped away.

  Chapter Five

  Fannin watched as Mimi left, then he turned to put the hose away. Fiery women, Mimi and Kelly. “Wish I’d seen that coming,” he muttered.

  “Seen what coming?” Kelly asked, walking past him to her car.

  “You, for starters. Do you always sneak up on people?”

  “Only people who are standing right next to my car.” She opened the passenger side door, helping her mother in. “Is Mimi having a boy or a girl?”

  “How would I know?” Fannin demanded.

  “Because you live next door, and she might have told you,” Kelly said reasonably. “Mama doesn’t know about the sex, either.”

  “What?” Fannin looked guiltily at the German housekeeper, but she was settling Joy into her lap.

  Kelly looked at him curiously. “Mama doesn’t know the sex of Mimi’s baby.”

  He stared at her.

  “Oh,” Kelly said with a frown, “you weren’t thinking I told my mom about us—”

  “No!” He didn’t want to talk about sex, not with her mother between them, even if Helga didn’t understand what they were saying. His skin felt like it was hiving. “Don’t even mention it.”

  “I didn’t. You did.” She got into the car and rolled the window down to talk across her mother. “Thanks for washing off my car.”

  “It’s fine.”

  He earned a frown from her for that answer. She rolled the window back up. He walked around to her side of the car and tapped on the window.

  She rolled it down.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  “Shopping.”

  “I know. Where?”

  She glared at him. “Does it matter? In the grand scheme of life?”

  “Not really.”

  “Well, then I don’t need to give you an itinerary, do I?”

  He sighed, scratching his head under his hat. “Will you call if you get lost?”

  “Thank you, but I think I can find my way around a small town.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t going far, another relief, although he couldn’t say why. “Can I talk to you when you get back?”

  “Topic?”

  “I’m not really ready to discuss it. I need to formulate my thoughts.”

  She frowned. “That sounds serious.”

  He glanced at Helga. “I’m sorry about everything.”

  “I am, too. If you are, then I most definitely am.”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll leave after I take Mama shopping.”

  “I understand.”

  “By the way, have you decided about what you want me to tell her?”

  “We’re trying to make a family decision ab
out that. As of now, no. Let’s just leave it through Christmas.” It would be unfair to make any changes before the holidays.

  “Mimi looks awfully big. When is she due?”

  “Anyday now, I think.” He stared down at Kelly, wondering how eyes like hers could be so blue. How could red hair be that crisp and vibrant? It looked so soft and yet the color was so shiny. You wouldn’t miss this woman—she was simply dynamite. “Have a good time,” he said.

  “Goodbye,” was her reply as she rolled up the window.

  But she stared at him a second longer than it took for the window to roll up—and in her gaze he saw sadness.

  He’d put that sadness there.

  Sighing, he tapped on the window again. She rolled her eyes, but she obliged him.

  “Kelly, under the circumstances I probably shouldn’t say this, but…you…I mean, I can go with you, if you’d like. Chauffeur the two of you. Carry packages. Joy,” he said, his words rambling so that he wouldn’t say what he really wanted to say, that she looked deliciously pretty. He thought about the hidden thong, and his face felt very flushed.

  “It won’t solve anything.”

  He sighed. “I don’t want to solve anything. I’m trying to establish a set of good manners where you’re concerned.”

  Slowly she opened the door and stood to meet him, face-to-face, the way he liked. He was glad his request for petite had gone unfilled.

  “I’ll ride in the back seat,” she said. “You need to get to know Mama better.”

  This was a battle he wasn’t going to win, he could tell. He wasn’t even going to reach for a weapon—she’d gun him down. Kelly was going for safety. With Mama squarely up front, Kelly was protected from further advances from him.

  Which just flipped on his Determined switch.

  This lady didn’t know it yet, but she hadn’t seen the last of his romancing.

  “THERE THEY GO,” Last said as he watched Kelly’s car pull down the drive with Fannin at the wheel. “A jackass, a redhead, a minidog and a housekeeper from hell. Where’s Sorriest Home Videos when you need it?”

  “Fannin sure is making a project out of Helga,” Archer said. He sat at the kitchen table, not doing much, along with Calhoun and Navarro, while Last spied.