Burned by a Kiss Read online

  “She doesn’t know I called you. But I think it’s best if I walk you through some things, since you’re—”

  “New to town,” Nick finished, when Santana had been unable to say the new owner of our ranch. “I get it. I appreciate you meeting me.”

  They finished their food, and Santana waited for the check. Mary’s cheeks turned a bit pink as she handed him the slip.

  “I’m sorry as hell about my mouth earlier, Mary,” he said.

  “Don’t think another thing of it,” Mary said quickly.

  Nick handed her a credit card. “I’m buying. It’s the least I can do.”

  “That’s not necessary—” Santana began.

  Mary grabbed the card. “What a courteous thing to do,” she said, hurrying off with his plastic.

  Santana drummed his fingers on the table, unable to look at the man he’d invited to town. He thought about Emma again, and how stunned she’d looked by the new turn of events.

  “You didn’t have to move out so quickly,” Nick said. “According to the trust, you had another six months.”

  “It was better this way.” He rose, thinking ties to the past were sometimes better cut quickly and efficiently. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”

  • • •

  Emma was surprised when Santana showed up at the clinic just as she was leaving. “Hi,” she said, acting as if her heart hadn’t just started beating weirdly.

  “Thought I might take you to dinner. If you’re available.” He cleared his throat. “I’d sure like to.”

  She swallowed, not certain why he was asking. He’d been so distant today at lunch. “Any particular reason?”

  “Sierra asked me to,” he said, and right then, Emma knew this wasn’t a romantic dinner request.

  What was new about that? “I have to pass. Thanks, though. I’ve got to exercise the dogs, feed the cat, tend the glass menagerie.” She stopped, blushing. “God, that sounds nerdy. I really didn’t mean to say that.”

  He smiled, for the first time since she’d seen him that day. “Come out with me. Sierra will chew my ear off if you don’t.”

  “Make a girl feel good, why don’t you?” She hopped in his truck when he unlocked the passenger side door. “So you’re going to help me walk animals, give me a chance to shower, and then take me to dinner because your sister asked you to? It’s a lot of work for a simple dinner.”

  “Yeah, well. Sierra says I owe you a meal because I was such a jerk at lunch.”

  She pulled down the visor so she could look at herself, winding her hair up a bit tighter into its typical ponytail. “I didn’t think you were a jerk. Things have changed in your life, and I understand. Anyway, I’m used to you being sort of out of reach.”

  He took the road toward her house. “Out of reach?”

  “Yeah. You were the guy all the girls had a crush on in high school. But apparently you rarely dated unless there was some kind of dance coming up.”

  “I was not the town’s most sought-after bachelor, but thanks for trying to sell me that way. My ego likes it, even if it’s not true.”

  He was very sought-after then, and no doubt now, as all the Dark men had been. For that matter, the local boys had loved Sierra—not that Sierra had been more than friends with any of them. “So what’s so important that Sierra can’t ask me herself?”

  “My sister hasn’t been herself since—since we found out everything.”

  “I can imagine,” Emma murmured.

  “So now she’s decided to open this wedding shop.”

  “Sounds like a lovely idea.”

  “Except we don’t have any weddings to speak of in Star Canyon.”

  Emma looked out the window. “Sierra didn’t ask you to take me out, did she? You want me to help you with your sister.”

  “There’s a reason you were our class valedictorian.”

  He pulled into the drive leading to her small, white gingerbread-style Victorian home. “So what is it?”

  “I’m hoping you’ll talk to her.”

  They got out of the truck. Emma carried the bag of dog treats to the door, unlocked it. “Be prepared for the howling horde. They’re all going to want their supper and some attention.”

  Gus and Bean were ecstatic to see Santana, the blue Persian less enthusiastic. Emma fed the lovebirds while Gus and Bean raced outside with Santana, and as she peeped out the window, she could see that no walk would be needed immediately. He’d dug a ball out of his truck, probably one of Joe’s, and was throwing it for Gus and Bean. To her astonishment, the dogs loved running after it, and would bring it back to Santana to do again. They weren’t perfect, they didn’t drop the ball right at his boots, but they loved racing each other to get the tennis ball first.

  That gave her time to quickly change the cat litter and hop in the shower. It had been a long day at the clinic, with a couple of involved surgeries, and a shower was just what she needed to get ready to tell Santana that Sierra was going to do whatever she wanted to, regardless of anything anyone said to her.

  Surely he knew that. He had to. She sensed more than anything, he was worried about his little sister. Maybe just talking about it would ease his mind.

  She grabbed a soft blue cashmere dress that tied at her waist, a pair of brown cowboy boots, fluffed her hair, put on lipstick and a little mascara, made sure she spritzed herself with perfume.

  She looked like she was trying to catch a sexy SEAL.

  Maybe she was.

  • • •

  Santana swallowed hard when Emma walked out of her bedroom. He’d made sure the dogs had fresh water for their lolling tongues, and they panted heavily, sort of like he felt at the moment he laid eyes on Emma’s curves in the blue dress. He’d always known she was sexy, but sexy-in-a-blue-dress was more than he’d been prepared for.

  “You look…very nice.”

  She smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Shall we go?” he suddenly asked. “I think I’ve worn the boys out for the moment.”

  “Sure.” She grabbed her purse. “I warn you, this dinner won’t turn out the way you’re hoping.”

  He felt the back of his neck turn a bit warm. Damn, she’d read his mind, picked up on the lust calling him. Or maybe he was staring like a hungry…like Gus and Bean after the tennis ball, all bug-eyed and eager. “I’m not sure I’m hoping for anything,” he said, telling one of the biggest fibs of his entire day.

  “No one can help you with Sierra. You know your sister’s going to do whatever she wants.”

  Oh, jeez. He told his heart to stop hammering. “So, Jenny’s not babysitting the boys anymore?”

  They walked outside, and Emma locked up. “She usually checks on them throughout the day if she can’t stay with them. They’re still too young and a little skittish to be left all day. When she can’t come over, I try to come home at lunch. I couldn’t today, though.”

  “It was good of you to sit with us. Sorry it was so uncomfortable.” He started the truck.

  “Not for me.” He felt her gaze on him. “I’m so sorry for what you’re going through.”

  “It’s getting better every day.” He wasn’t being truthful. He was damn worried about Sierra, as were his brothers. Of course, he was worried about them, too. The stress and grief were taking their toll on his family in different ways. “Fuck it. It’s not getting better at all. But you’ve been a good friend to our family, Emma.”

  He didn’t know how to put into words the problem that had unexpectedly exploded their world. All he knew was that he couldn’t offer Emma anything. And she sat there, all sexy as hell in her blue dress, her big eyes drinking him in.

  And all he wanted to be able to say was how crazy he was about her, how much he wanted to taste her lips again, feel her in his arms.

  “I wish I was at a different place in life,” he said instead.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everything changed,” he said quietly. “Nothing is ever going to be the same.”
/>   Chapter Five

  Nick Marshall was the world’s biggest douche, and if he didn’t stay the hell away from her family, Sierra planned to tell him in words that even a giant Poindexter douche like him could understand. Just because he’d landed a huge inheritance thanks to the real estate finesse of their father, didn’t mean what he’d done was fair or right. She’d found out by looking through extensive old records of their father’s how much money Sonny had owed his brother, and it hadn’t been any five million dollars.

  Closer to one million—not that anybody seemed to be counting their supposed millions.

  And yet somehow, the entire amount, every stick of their furniture, every head of cattle, went to that suit wearing frat daddy. And he wasn’t going to say a word about the unfairness of the whole thing. Didn’t apologize for his father taking advantage of his brother, whom he had to have known needed help. Being in a witness protection program couldn’t have been easy. There’d been seven mouths to feed as well. And she’d looked up Marshall Industries, Inc., astonished by the company’s holdings. Then she’d found one of Nick’s houses, feeling no guilt at all when she pulled up the image.

  The thing was a fricking castle. And that was just one of his “homes.”

  So here he was, a vulture, picking over the bones of the Darks. Not troubled at all by his father’s predatory instincts and lifestyle, nor that his living family relations—distant, of course, hanging by an in-name-only thread—would lose their only roof, while he had several roofs.

  How dare he show up like he belonged in this town?

  “Sierra!”

  She jumped at her brother’s bellow. “What?”

  “Could you join us, please?”

  Reluctantly, she went out, faced Nick and Santana, and Emma. Nick was lucky she didn’t give him a swift kick to the shin or a piece of her mind, whichever felt better. “You roared, brother?”

  “I should be going,” Emma said.

  “Stay,” Sierra said. “Mr. Marshall won’t be here long.”

  It finally seemed to hit him that they weren’t serfs on his lordship’s estate. “I’ve been looking around the property, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

  “No kidding,” Sierra said. “You’re really smart. Probably have a Harvard diploma and everything, don’t you?”

  He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Actually, yes.”

  She wanted to slap him right then, but what would it serve? She was happy to see she’d at least seemed to get it through his thick skull that he was a privileged prick.

  Nick cleared his throat, clearly at a loss and groping for words. “There are five of you, and one of me, and as I don’t know the first thing about this type of property—”

  “Let me stop you right there.” If Sierra had one wish, it was that the man wasn’t so devastatingly handsome. But she couldn’t allow that to sidetrack her. “You want our help.”

  “There’s a lot to do.” Nick nodded. “Yes, I’d like to hire Santana to run the place.”

  “As a foreman?” Santana asked.

  “That’s a bit wrong,” Sierra said. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking, you pinhead suit?”

  Nick blinked, obviously never being exposed to anyone who called him what he was. “Actually, I do, and I’ve discussed it with the attorneys, and they said that there’s nothing that violates the terms of the estate trust if I hire Santana to run the ranch.”

  Emma had gone back outside. Sierra was embarrassed of this shack, and pissed at Nick, so she shrugged. “Discuss it with my brother.” She left to find Emma.

  “This sucks,” she said to Emma when she found her standing on the worn concrete drive. “What a freak. I don’t even think he knows he’s a freak.”

  Emma stifled a giggle, and Sierra grinned. “Well, he is.”

  Nick came outside. “I don’t suppose you’d allow me to buy dinner for you, so we could discuss this?”

  In that split second, Sierra realized an unfortunate fact about the freakish Nick Marshall: in spite of his money and good looks, despite having everything plus the gold spoon and no doubt the golden platter that went with it, rich whiz kid Nick Marshall was lonely.

  Santana glanced her way, shrugging, clearly signaling that it was up to her.

  “You already bought our lunch,” she said.

  “Still, I’m trying to get assistance from you.”

  He gave her a winning smile that probably sank women’s hearts and earned him seats on company boards or something. He’d learn quickly that Star Canyon wasn’t a country club to wheel and deal in. “Whatever,” she said coldly.

  • • •

  “Sierra!” Emma exclaimed when Nick returned inside, looking a bit deflated. “What has gotten into you?”

  “Nothing at all.”

  Emma stopped, pulling Sierra to a stop. “You haven’t been yourself all day. Apparently not for a while, either, because your brother is worried about you.”

  “He shouldn’t be. I’m fine. It’s everybody around me who is having issues.”

  Emma wasn’t so sure. “Then go back in there and give Santana a chance to decide if he wants a job.”

  “A job?” Sierra pulled her black knit scarf up higher on her neck. “Why would Santana want to work for that ass?”

  “Because it’s a job, and jobs are hard to find in Star Canyon.”

  “I’m not stopping Santana from taking a job. Anyone in town would hire my brother.”

  “No, but he won’t take the job with Nick, if he thinks it will make you unhappy. Think about it, Sierra. Your brother is just back from being deployed. You guys are living in a rental house. I’m positive Santana would like to at least think about an offer of work at the ranch.” Talking sense into Sierra at this moment was a task not to be undertaken lightly. “He said he’d planned to work there when it was still the Dark—”

  “I just don’t like him.”

  “No one says you have to marry him. I’m going to go tell the guys we’re waiting on them. And for the record, peacemaker isn’t a role I exactly covet. You guys are going to have to take pity on me. I’m a veterinarian. I specialize in canine and feline emotions, not necessarily human ones.”

  Sierra snorted as Emma jogged up the wooden steps and let the front door of the house announce her presence with a slight slam. The men turned to look at her.

  “Sierra has decided a burger in Lightning Canyon sounds delicious,” Emma announced.

  “How did you talk her into that?” Nick asked.

  “First lesson from your new foreman,” Santana said, “never ask too many questions.”

  “I like it.” Nick opened the door, and Santana held it for her so she could walk out.

  “Thanks,” Santana told her. “It’s not easy to bring Sierra around.”

  “No problem. It wasn’t hard to change her mind.” She glanced over his broad shoulders, found herself caught by his deep eyes for just a split second, then hurried to the truck.

  The truth was, she wanted to have dinner with him tonight. Maybe friends was the best they could be right now, but wasn’t that better than nothing?

  Chapter Six

  It was on the drive to Lightning Canyon that Santana realized Emma and Sierra weren’t themselves. The two of them sat silent in the back seat of the Ranger Rover, which was strange for both of them. Nick made pleasant conversation, when he was the one who should be feeling out of place.

  Emma mostly stared outside the car window. Sierra fell asleep, her head lolling.

  “This is it,” Santana announced, and Nick parked at Lightning Canyon’s best spot for burgers. Sierra pulled herself to an upright position, blinking owlishly around, scowling at Nick.

  It was very clear Sierra imitated the seating chart at lunch. She squeezed in next to Emma before Santana had a chance to get in the booth next to her. Sierra glared at Nick, and took her menu from the waitress, opening it with a disgruntled flourish.

  Emma hid a smile, and Santana t
hought it was big of Nick to ignore the darts being thrown at him.

  “Shall we start with a bottle of wine?” Nick asked.

  Santana winced. “It’s BYOB here, actually. Bring your own bottle, and in this town, that means beer or wine, nothing harder.”

  “Ah.” Nick nodded, looking slightly surprised but clearly trying to roll with it. “Where do we get a bottle of good wine, then?”

  “You have to cross some palms with silver,” Santana said, and Emma glanced at him.

  “There’s no choice wine in this town,” Sierra told Nick pointedly. “Do you always sound like you should be sitting in an upper-crust country club?”

  “Do I?” Nick asked. “I wasn’t aware wine was a social marker.”

  Sierra rolled her eyes. “I would have respected you maybe a little if you weren’t trying to pair wine with a burger.”

  “Sierra,” Santana said, “discreetly speak to Señor Hernandez, will you?”

  “Let me provide the silver,” Nick said, pulling out his wallet. “This is my treat.” He cleared his throat, and Santana felt slightly sorry for him. The man was so far out of his depth he probably didn’t even realize it.

  “How much silver is required for whatever adult beverage might be served in this establishment?” Nick asked.

  They all stared at Nick’s leather passport wallet. Santana carried his money wrapped around his credit cards with a rubber band, as his father had, as did most men in the town, regardless of their financial well being.

  “We can handle the silver,” Santana said, reaching into his pocket. He handed Sierra a couple of tens. “Thanks, Sierra.”

  Nick watched Sierra leave and walk across the street. Emma noticed Nick’s interested gaze, too.

  Emma looked at her menu. Nick studied the TVs in the upper aeries of the café, and watched the line dancers in the back, shuffling across the floor in boots. Sierra came back in with a six-pack of Dos she set on the table.