Damiens murder conviction. He dropped a brown paper bag from the hardware store onto the kitchen table. Here are your fence fasteners. Need some help installing em?
Damien shrugged. Sure. If you dont mind getting those lily-white doctor hands dirty.
Finn scowled. I grew up working a ranch. I didnt go completely soft in medical school.
Well see.
An hour later, Finn was forced to admit that compared to his massively muscled brother, he qualified as a bonified sissy. But the sweat felt good. They were restringing the barbed wire along the south pasture fence. His hands were probably going to be blistered and torn tonight, but he wasnt about to complain after the lily-white doctor-hand crack.
Seeing Rachel Grant again had rattled him bad. He needed to get out and do something physical. Something strenuous that would distract him from memories of her. Hed loved her once upon a time. Been dead sure she was the one for him. And then shed up and
Hey! Watch it! Damien exclaimed.
Finn pulled up short, swearing. Hed almost whacked off his brothers hand with the sledgehammer.
How bout I take that? Damien suggested warily. In fact, why dont we take a break and go get a bite to eat? Maisie made chili this morning.
As a bribe, it was good one. His oldest sibling might be nosy and overbearing, but the woman made a pot of chili that could put hair on a guys chest. He stomped into the mud room of the main house a few minutes later. The warmth inside felt good after the hint of winter in the air outside.
Hey, boys, Maisie called. Pull up a chair.
Damien led the way into the enormous gourmet kitchen. Watch out for him he hooked a thumb in Finns direction Honey Creeks already getting on his nerves.
Maisie commented slyly, The way I hear it, its someone in Honey Creek whos getting on his nerves.
Finns head jerked up. How did she do that? That woman knew more gossip faster than anyone hed ever met. And she wasnt afraid to use it to get exactly what she wanted. Or to manipulate and hurt the people around her. She saw herself as the real matriarch of the clan in lieu of their reclusive and withdrawn mother and, as such, responsible for shaping and controlling the lives of everyone named Colton in Honey Creek. Maisie had been one of the reasons hed bailed out of town as soon as he could after high school.
He moved over to the stove and served up two bowls of steaming chili. He plunked one down on the table in front of Damien and sat down beside his brother to dig into the other bowl.
He heard arguing somewhere nearby and looked up. Damiens twin brother, Duke, and their father, Darius, were going at it about something to do with the sale of this years beef steers. Those two seemed to be arguing a lot since hed gotten back two days before. Not that he had any intention of getting involved, but Duke seemed to have the right of it most of the time. But then, Darius always had been a dyed-in-the-wool bastard. A hard man taming a hard land.
Maisie sat down across from him. So tell me. Howd your meeting with that Jezebel go?
No need to ask who she was talking about. Maisie always had called Rachel that Jezebel. He also knew Maisie would badger him until he told her exactly what she wanted to know.
He answered irritably, We didnt have a meeting. I bumped into her in the hardware store. Amusement flashed through his gut at the recollection of her crawling for the door as fast as she could go. Her pert little derriere had been wiggling tantalizingly, and her wheat-blond hair had been falling down all around her face. Which was maybe just as well; it had partially hidden the sexy blush staining her cheeks.
Come on. You know Ill find out everything anyway, Maisie said.
He sighed. Like it or not, she was right. Thats all there was to it. I saw Rachel, she saw me, she walked out. I bought Damiens fasteners and came home.
You men. No sense of a good story. I swear, well never get on The Dr. Sophie Show unless I do all the work. She scowled and pressed, What was she wearing? How did she look at you? Did she throw herself at you? Did she look like shes still scheming to land herself a Colton?
Actually, Rachel had looked pissed. Although he didnt see why she had any right to be angry. She was the one whod betrayed him and wrecked what they had between them. He supposed he did have Maisie to thank for finding out the truth about her before hed gone and done anything dumb like propose to Rachel. How could she have
He broke off the bitter train of thought. Her betrayal had happened a lifetime ago, when they were both kids. It was time to let it go. Beyond time. He was so over her. And as long as he was home in Honey
Creek, he damned well planned to stay over her.
Chapter 2
RShe felt guilty for secretly counting the days until her mother finally slipped away. But her mom was the only thing holding her in Honey Creek. Ever since theyd found out the summer after Rachels sophomore year in high school that her mom had early-onset Alzheimers disease, shed been trapped here. Her dad had already had his first heart attack by then, and there was no question of Rachel going away to college. He needed her to stay home to help out with her mom.