Kristen Blooming (18 page)

“I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have done that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Gwen shrugged and shoved away from the desk. “She didn’t say anything she hasn’t said before.”

“Still…” Kristen stepped back as Gwen tried to brush past her and then followed her cousin into the kitchen. “It wasn’t your responsibility to let me do anything. She should know that.”

“Well then, tell her. Doubt it will make any difference,” Gwen muttered as she headed for the refrigerator. “So what is it you want to know about your boyfriends?”

“Boyfriends?”

“The two deputies.” Gwen paused to remind Kristen of what she’d interrupted her for. “You have a question or not?”

“Well, it’s just…they’re not my boyfriends.” Kristen felt compelled to correct that misassumption. “But they have both showed interest in me, and I was just wondering…I mean…”

“It’s not either-or.” Gwen cut her off, wrenching open the refrigerator. “Whatever has you stuttering over there, I can guess they both made a pass, and you’re wondering who to choose, but the great thing about Cattlemen is you don’t have to. You can have them both.”

Kristen blinked, not following that explanation. “What do you mean
both
?”

“I mean at the same time.” Gwen shot her a knowing little smile as she began to pull the beer out of the refrigerator. “Front and back, there is nothing like that ride.”

“You mean both,” Kristen repeated, having trouble computing that crude thought. “At the same time?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gwen took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearly savoring some kind of memory. Kristen was horrified to think of what it might be.

“I…I…but that’s wrong!”

“Nothing is wrong when you’re naked and having fun,” Gwen assured her as she began popping every can of beer open and pouring it down the drain. That seemed peculiar, but Kristen was still stuck on shocked to pay her cousin much mind.

“Well then, my answer is no, absolutely not!”

Kristen was half tempted to ride back over to the deputies’ house and tell that to their faces, but she didn’t want to give them a chance to kiss her again. Their kisses were potent, making her want to agree to almost anything.

No, she’d tell them off in public. It would be safer.

“What are you doing?” Kristen frowned as she finally focused back in on Gwen, who had now emptied a whole twelve-pack down the sink.

“Going on an alcohol-free diet,” Gwen tossed back, leaving the cans to drain as she turned and headed back toward her bedroom. “And I have a friend coming over. Let him in when he knocks.”

That drew Kristen’s eyebrows up. Normally, Gwen’s friends didn’t come by the house. She wondered if this man was special, but she somehow doubted it when he arrived not ten minutes later. Kristen answered the door with a smile that dimmed slightly as the tall gentleman waiting on the other side frowned in response.

“I’m Kristen, Kristen Harold, Gwen’s cousin,” she explained as she held out a hand that he just looked at. “And you are?”

“Gwen didn’t tell me her cousin was in town,” the man responded with a hint of accusation in his tone. It reflected the sudden sense of animosity she felt seeping from the man.

“Yes, well…she told me you were coming over.” Kristen wasn’t sure what else to say.

If this was her house, she might have told the rude stranger off and slammed the door in his face, but this was Gwen’s guest, and she had little choice but to step back and allow him entry.

“She’s in her bedroom. I’ll go get her.”

“Don’t bother,” the man grumbled as he brushed past Kristen to storm off down the hall toward the back bedroom.

“Excuse me.” She raced after him, leaving the front door wide open. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to announce yourself in such a manner.”

“She won’t mind.”

“But
⎯
”

“Gwen!” he hollered as he banged on her bedroom door. “Open up.”

“Dean.” Gwen threw the door open to latch onto the man and jerk him forward. “Get in here.”

A second later the door slammed in Kristen’s face, leaving her beyond curious and feeling a little torn. Whatever was going on in there wasn’t her business, but Kristen was sort of instinctively nosey and couldn’t help but lean slightly as the murmur of voices grew until the man was storming.

“
How could you let this happen
?”

“
Shhh!
”

Gwen shushed him as the patter of footsteps raced for the door. Kristen jerked back instantly, ducking into the den as she heard Gwen’s bedroom door open. It slammed shut a second later, and that should have been her cue to flee, but Kristen’s attention caught on the page still lying on Gwen’s desk.

It wasn’t a paper after all, but a picture. Several of them, in fact. They were all of a fetus. Kristen’s eyes rounded as she shuffled over to stare down at the printed sonogram results and the name clearly typed beneath them.

Gwen was pregnant!

Kristen couldn’t help but wonder if the man Gwen had pulled into her bedroom was the father and then, uncharitably, wondered if Gwen knew who the father was. That was wrong of her, but then so was pressing her ear back up to the wall and eavesdropping on their conversation, but Kristen was curious, and, she reasoned, her cousin might need her help. God knew Gwen would never ask for it.

“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” the man snapped, sounding very angry. “You should get an abortion.”

“That’s the stupidest thing you ever said,” Gwen snapped back. “Do you know how much this baby is worth?”

Kristen frowned at that, not liking where that question led at all. Her opinions didn’t count for much, though. She couldn’t even share them. She had to bite them back as she continued to strain to catch every detail.

“You can’t do this, Gwen. It’s too dangerous.” Beneath his anger, the man sounded honestly concerned.

So was Kristen because, while she could agree that Gwen’s words lacked wisdom, they hadn’t struck Kristen as dangerous. She was clearly missing out on something here, something she probably didn’t want to know the details to, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from trying to gather them.

“It will work out,”
Gwen assured him. “But I need your help, and you know you owe me.”

“Fine. What do you need me to do?”

“Help me convince the sheriff the baby is his.”

“
What
?” The man sounded just as horrified as Kristen felt, but obviously for very different reasons. “You can’t blackmail a whole bunch of men into thinking they’re each a daddy when you’re trying to convince the one man you’re certain isn’t that he is.
That’s insane
.”

That certainly was. Gwen was blackmailing somebody, from the sound of it more than one person. Suddenly Kristen couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Gwen could afford a house and fill it with such nice things because she had a second source of income. That was an unnerving thought.

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“I don’t even know what you’re trying to do here because Alex will demand a blood test.”

“Who cares?”
Gwen spat. “By then Heather won’t want anything to do with him.”

“You need to give up this obsession and focus on the problems at hand,”
the man insisted.

Kristen couldn’t have agreed more. All these silly games Gwen was playing seemed pointless and a way to avoid the real problem of what she was going to do with a baby.

“What I need is for you to help me. Now are you going to or not?”

“I said I would. Just tell me what you want me to do and don’t blame me when this all blows up in your face.”

“It’s not going to blow up.”

“Of course, it is. Alex
hates you.
You slept with two of his deputies.”

Kristen’s heart froze at that as her thoughts turned immediately to Deputies Singer and Hammel. The way Brandon had spoken to his cousin would be easily explained if he were some kind of scorned lover. It would also explain why he thought Gwen would be jealous over her, because he wanted her to be.

Maybe the two of them were just using her to get back at her cousin. That thought cut deep, and she didn’t want to hear any more. Everything was all messed up. Gwen was pregnant and blackmailing people. She’d probably slept with the two men Kristen had actually thought were taking an interest in her.

It was all just so confusing that it gave her headache, and she went to lie down.

* * * *

Dylan didn’t normally whistle while he cooked, but that night he was just full of songs. Brandon watched him, wondering if his friend even knew how happy he sounded. That was Kristen’s effect, and Brandon was not immune.

He found himself wondering if he wasn’t being kind of dick about the pool. Dylan really wanted one. It had been something that he’d rejected houses over until Brandon had sworn they could put one in. That was really why they’d bought a house with a big backyard.

Four years ago Brandon hadn’t known he’d turn into such an avid gardener. That was his grandmom’s doing. She’d come over to help with the yard, and he’d been hooked. That didn’t mean he couldn’t share the yard.

“You know, I’m thinking if we put in maybe a round pool, not too big,” Brandon tacked on quickly as Dylan spun around at just the word pool. “I could rearrange the gardens so they surrounded it.”

“That’s a brilliant idea.” Dylan nodded, looking like a kid who’d just heard Santa Claus was real. Brandon couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, but we need to get some real designs together.”

“Of course, but if we got a pool, we would have an excuse to teach Kristen to swim.”

“Naked?” Brandon perked up at that idea.

“What other way is there?” Dylan shot back, sharing a laugh with Brandon before turning back to flip the chicken breasts over in the cast-iron skillet.

He then picked the heavy pan up and slid it into the pre-heated oven. Slapping the oven mitts down on the counter, he picked up his beer and joined Brandon at the table.

“You really think we’re going to have an opportunity to teach Kristen anything?”

“As long as you don’t do something stupid and screw it up.” Dylan snickered. “Just remember the rule I told you about this morning.”

“If she starts getting prissy, just kiss her,” Brandon repeated, amazed that it had actually worked.

“That’s right.” Dylan tipped his beer back, taking a long gulp before smacking his lips and glancing back over at Brandon. “You really like this girl, don’t you?”

“And you don’t?” Brandon shot back, feeling no need to admit to what was obvious.

“I’m hoping a good fuck will set my head back to rights,” Dylan admitted before frowning. “But something tells me it’s not going to be that easy.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be possible.” Brandon took a deep breath and knew that he was risking making a fool of himself as he continued on. “I’m thinking maybe we ought to start picking out baby names and deciding on where to honeymoon.”

Dylan didn’t respond to that for a long moment before pointing out the obvious once again. “We haven’t even slept with her.”

“Do you really think that will change anything?”

Dylan frowned and slowly turned toward Brandon. “I’m not ready to get married and have babies and all that. I mean, one day, sure, but right now, I just want Kristen and a pool.”

Monday, May 19
^th

It was Brandon who found himself whistling Monday morning as he selected only the prettiest flowers from his garden. He had the day off and planned to surprise Kristen with a fresh cup of coffee and a cinnamon curl from the Bread Box, along with his perfectly arranged bouquet.

He meant to leave them on her desk but ran into Kristen in the hall. She looked as pretty as the sunshine in a form-fitted yellow dress that matched her headband. With her hair brushed to curling and her lips glistening with a little bit of gloss, he was struck by the overwhelming urge to kiss her right there and then in the busy hall.

Quickly stashing his gifts behind his back, he waited for her to reach him as he offered her a giant smile. “Good morning, Miss Kristen, you’re looking lovely as always.”

“Hmm.” She paused to give him a disapproving look that warned Brandon things had soured once again between them. Only this time he had no clue as to what he had done.

“Is something wrong?”

Kristen glanced around to assure nobody could hear her before she hit him with her bombshell. “You slept with my cousin.”

Brandon flushed instantly, feeling his cheek heat with guilt that left him no other option than to try to explain. “That was a long time ago.”

“Was it?” She lifted a brow not looking as if she believed him at all. “Long enough that you’ve gotten over it?”

“Yes!” Hell, he’d been over Gwen less than five minutes after he’d been done with her. She was just that kind of woman.