Fannin's Flame (5 page)

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.

M
IMI WATCHED
F
ANNIN
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.

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 about 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.

“T
HERE 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.

Navarro shrugged. “At least he’s not festering over Princess. Maybe he’ll give up on her and do it the easy way. No muss, no fuss.”

“That’s the problem,” Last said. “We have too much muss and fuss around here.”

Archer glanced up from reading the funny papers. “Specifically?”

“I think Fannin’s sweet on Helga’s daughter.”

He now had his brothers’ full attention.

“Sweet? She’s only been here one night,” Calhoun said.

“Enough time to do significant damage to a man who likes to do everything the hard way,” Last stated.

Archer’s eyes bugged. “Are you going somewhere with this?”

Last sighed. “Remember when we discussed the Quest for Truth, finding out what really happened to Dad when he left after Mom died?”

The brothers nodded, their gazes sliding away.

“And Fannin said he’d head up the inquiry? Remember?”

“Yes!” Archer glared. “We remember. Move on, okay?”

“I’m just saying I don’t think a lot of looking’s going to be going on now that he’s got
her.
”

“Got her?” Calhoun shook his head. “He wouldn’t get Kelly. Bank on that.”

Navarro nodded. “Second that.”

Last sighed at their innocence. “Pay attention, numbskulls. Fannin likes her. And that could mean all our plans go up in smoke. Picture it, all our planning to get Helga moved over to Mimi—moot. Because she becomes our mother-in-law.”

Archer laughed. “Not gonna happen, dude.”

“It’s happened.”

Calhoun looked at him. “What happened, philosopher?”

“
It
happened.”

There was silence around the table as his brothers digested the syllabic emphasis.

“Nah,” Archer said. “Not Fannin. He’s a slow mover. A creepy-crawler. A tortoise. Not the kind to sneak around the house where a mother is sleeping, for heaven’s sake.”

His brothers went back to what they were doing, which was not a damn thing as far as Last was concerned. He needed action and he needed it five minutes ago.

Last felt desperate. “You guys don’t want to listen now, but I know things you don’t. And you’re not going to be happy.”

“You’ve always known things we didn’t, little bro,” Calhoun said mildly. “We overlook you when you get too hopped up on yourself.”

“It’s going to interfere with the Quest for Truth,”
Last pointed out. “Fannin’s got his mind on Kelly. He’s not even paying attention to Princess!”

“That’s a good thing,” Archer said. “I always say, too long without a woman and that man might’ve started looking funny at his livestock.”

The brothers snickered to themselves.

“We need to make sure this ends now, before it ever gets started,” Last stated. “More than it already has.”

The comics section got tossed onto the table. “Exactly what do you want from us, Last?” Archer asked.

“We need to continue with the plan to move Helga, first off. Secondly, we need to make sure her daughter leaves here pronto.”

“If Mason knows you’re plotting against him, your head’s gonna roll,” Navarro pointed out.

“Yeah, and if Helga becomes Fannin’s mother-in-law, your dinner’s gonna roll, every day for the rest of your lives!” Last didn’t see any point in reminding them that the situation was dire—the rooster had already been in the chicken coop, and heaven help all of them if an egg had been laid. “Look,” he said, “I’ll keep Fannin busy. Y’all get rid of Kiss-Me Kelly and her little red dog, too.”

“You sound like the witch in
The Wizard of Oz.
And your little dog, too,” Calhoun mimicked.

“Whatever,” Last said. “You’ll enjoy your positions as best men at the wedding, I’m sure.”

“But what if he likes her? Isn’t that his business?” Navarro asked. “Should we be playing the heavies?
Maybe we should let matters run their course so Fannin won’t be p’od with us.”

Last thought about the thong on the ground. “What I think is that Kelly’s probably heard from her mother how nice we all are and how wonderful ranch life is. And she set out to get herself a Jefferson male.”

“Well, she wouldn’t be the first,” Archer said.

“And probably not the last,” Last said. “I think we just better make sure poor Fannin doesn’t get taken. He’s already been taken in,” Last said, not appreciating his own irony. “I mean, by a wily female.”

“All right,” Navarro said. “We’re in. All for one and one for all.”

“Save a Jefferson male and you save a good man from extinction,” Calhoun agreed.

Archer folded up the funny papers. “A free range male is healthy, happy and primo.”

Last grinned weakly from relief. “Once again, we save the family ranch from dishonorable intentions.”

“But say, just say,” Archer said, “that Kelly’s intentions are honorable.”

The red thong came to mind one last time. No nice girl met a man for the first time and lost her thong. “Trust me on this,” Last said. “I know dishonorable intentions when I see them. Intervention is
required.
”

“M
AMA’S SO HAPPY
picking out things for the baby,” Kelly said to Fannin as they strolled along the square in town. “Thank you for bringing her.”

Fannin walked beside her, big and strong in the crisp December air, holding Joy inside his jacket. He claimed Joy preferred body warmth to the Coach bag she generally rode in, but Kelly thought Fannin had a possible soft spot he didn’t want anyone to see.

“I didn’t have anything else to do.”

Kelly smiled. Fannin had plenty to do, but for some reason he’d decided to accompany them. Which she thought was sweet. They watched as Helga picked up baby booties, a hat and some pretty blankets. “Wonder why Mama dislikes you so much.”

“Me? She dislikes me?”

She smiled at him. “Well, all of you. She says you’re wild men.”

“I am not wild.”

Fannin eyed her lips, making Kelly automatically swipe her tongue along her mouth. It was a primal reaction, but she couldn’t help it.

“Are your brothers?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Proud of that, are you?”

“Not proud, necessarily, just laughing with them.”

She didn’t like that. A good man would see the difference between wild and fun. One was worth keeping, the other was not. “Laughter is like applause.”

“Did I laugh when you rolled down the ditch?”

“No.” She wondered where he was going with that.

“Well, I am now, since I know you’re not hurt and
everything’s fine.” He shrugged. “That’s how I feel about my brothers. We’re vastly different. But I applaud their actions when they’re amusing.”

Helga came over to them, scowling up at Fannin, clearly allowing her feelings to show. Then she held out her selections for Kelly to examine before walking away again.

“I don’t know,” Kelly murmured. “Mama doesn’t seem that sold on you. Maybe you’re not being totally candid with me.”

“And you might be looking for someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions.”

She sent him a disbelieving look. “About what?”

He shrugged and glanced away. “Oh, like, what’s a nice girl like you doing in my truck with your panties off, kind of stuff. The truth is,” he said, getting close, “I think you were looking for a wild man so that you could let go of some of the goody two-shoes you’ve built into your world. I think you came out here to find a man to make you feel like you’d lived life. Instead of being cloistered in your mother’s mold.”

She blinked.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Joy shifted inside his jacket, and Fannin glanced down for just a moment. When he looked back up, his eyes were dark and penetrating. “Are you longing to visit someplace new? Maybe a foreign country? You’re thirty, right? Your mother’s out here with us, and you’re working the same job, day in, day out. You’re probably starting
to question what you’ve done with your life. It’s pretty normal, actually, to reassess at that age. Textbook case. You’re looking for a husband.”

A gasp escaped her.

He held up a hand. “You want a fling, so you can find the right man for you. Then when the dishes pile up and the kids never pick up their clothes, you can look back and say to yourself, ‘I lived. I had this one really wild night in a truck with a cowboy and I lost my virgin—”’

“That’s enough!” She forced a smile for her mother and took the things she was holding over to the register. “You’re awful, you know it?”

Fannin laughed. “I’m honest.”

K
ELLY AND
F
ANNIN ATE
dinner with her mother that night, then took her home. Neither of them was willing to claim victory after the wild-man conversation, but Fannin felt he had Kelly on the run. If she’d ever thought he was some uninteresting, pliable, run-me-over-and-don’t-look-back kind of guy, he’d certainly turned her thoughts around.

He didn’t want her thinking too much. There was far too much going on between them for him to lose her right away. His brothers’ method of keeping women interested was just the potion—so far it seemed to be working.

She stared at him over the mashed potatoes in the center of the table. He stared right back. His brothers were all grouped around the table, and he and Kelly
had been placed as far away from each other as they could possibly get. Whoever was in charge of the placards was going to be shot at sunrise, he vowed—he wanted her close to him.

Calhoun and Mason were sitting on either side of Kelly, and Calhoun appeared to enjoy the seating chart. Fannin scowled as Calhoun handed the bowl of broccoli to Kelly and forked some broccoli onto her plate. As if he were a gentleman. Which he wasn’t, and Kelly would be too smart to fall for that worn-out gag.