The Keeneston Roses (18 page)

Sienna tossed back the rest of the drink. Bastard. He made her fall in love with him and then just left her high and dry. Miraculously, her glass was full again, and she downed it. Well, she’d show him she didn’t need him. She could just as easily fall out of love.

"Psst." Sienna leaned toward the sisters. “Who is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome over there?” Sienna tried to drop her voice, but since everyone around her looked, she must not have lowered it as much as she thought.

“That’s Matt, dear. He’s the new state trooper assigned to our area. He’s a good, small-town boy and had the manners to come into the café the other week to introduce himself.”

Sienna shoved her glass into Lily’s hand. “Well, I better welcome him to Keeneston.”

“Oh dear,” Daisy whispered to her sisters. “I thought twenty-one-year-olds could hold more liquor than that.”

“We better hurry up with our plan,” Violet whispered. “Our husbands are looking at us curiously, and we did promise to give the kids time to grow up.”

“Fiddlesticks. We’re not matchmaking. We’re just setting things right. Oh!” Lily gasped. “We really need to hurry. Sienna just ran her hand down Matt’s stomach and is letting it rest on his waistband. Her father doesn’t look pleased.”

“But neither does Ryan. He can’t take his eyes off them,” Daisy said with glee. “Let’s go!”

The three sisters casually walked across the tents to where Ryan stood with a death grip on his cake plate, his eyes narrowed like knife blades as he watched Sienna and Matt.

“Ryan, dear, how are you this evening?” Lily asked, casually glancing back at their husbands talking. Their time was limited when she saw their heads all turn and look at them.

“Great, Miss Lily. You ladies are the most beautiful brides I have ever seen.” Ryan leaned forward and kissed each of their cheeks.

“Aren’t you sweet?” Miss Daisy patted his scruffy cheek.

Violet looked behind her and then quickly turned to Ryan. “That’s why we need one last favor from our favorite young man. See, poor Sienna accidently drank some of our special iced tea thinking it was punch. As you can see, she’s a lightweight.”

Having seen their husbands walking toward them, Lily hurried their plan forward. “And we can’t leave on our honeymoon without knowing she’s safe at home—you know, since we accidently are responsible for her condition.”

“And we know Matt would take her home in a heartbeat . . .” Daisy added and then held her breath.

“No!” Ryan said harshly before reining in his temper. “He’s new. Let him enjoy getting to know everyone else here. I’ll take her home right now.”

The three sisters jumped when hands were suddenly placed on their shoulders.

“I thought you all agreed to no more matchmaking,” John said behind them as Ryan stalked across the dance floor.

“So that we can leave for our honeymoon with no worries,” Charlie lectured.

“Because we will be keeping you too busy for any more mischief,” Anton whispered into Violet’s ear.

“Yes, dear,” all three sisters said together, and they watched Ryan drag Sienna from the tent.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Ryan Parker had spent the summer interning with the FBI and DEA. He’d sat in on criminal profiling, engaged in the day-to-day training of their special operations divisions, and gone on drug busts. Of course, he was in the surveillance vehicle until the all-clear was given, but he had shown enough intelligence and ability that both divisions wanted him upon college graduation.

Through all of this, one person was always in his thoughts. Sienna Ashton and her shocking green eyes, light auburn hair, and curves that kept him up at night. But, she had brushed him aside. Then, at the beginning of summer, Sienna told him she’d only ever thought of him as a little kid. Ryan’s young love had been spoiled. Out of anger, he’d kissed her just to prove he was a man. And it had worked. Unfortunately, he was still mad, and his pride a little too hurt to care.

But she found a way to tug at his heart once again. She was pawing on the new state trooper. He was twenty-two and “old enough” for Sienna. But Ryan sure as hell wouldn’t let her make a fool of herself. Or so he justified it as he pried her off a very pleased-looking Matt.

“Ryan! Have you met Matt?” Sienna giggled.

“Yes, and if Matt will excuse us, I’m here to take you home,” Ryan said tightly as he stared Matt down. Most of the time, he could literally look down at the people he was intimidating. But Matt was eye to eye with him.

Matt looked at Ryan and then Sienna and simply took Sienna’s hands from his chest and placed them on Ryan’s arm. “She’s all yours, for now.”

Ryan’s lip twitched into a sneer at the implied threat. “Come on, Sienna.”

“Are you going to kiss me again?” she asked about five notches above a whisper.

Ryan shot Matt a grin. Matt simply raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you leaving to go back to college, Parker?”

“Soon, but not tonight. See you around, Matt.” Ryan placed his arm around Sienna and dragged her from the tent.

“It’s good to see you again. I haven’t seen you since you got back from your internship,” Sienna said as he started the car.

“I got back last week. What were you doing tonight?” Ryan asked. He drove out of the farm and turned down the street heading to the neighboring Ashton farm.

“What do you mean? I was just making a new friend.”

“No, you were making a fool of yourself.”

Ryan almost winced when he heard Sienna suck in an angry breath. “A fool! Me? I don’t think so, Ryan Parker. You’re just upset it wasn’t you I was dancing with!”

“You call that dancing? You were feeling the man up.” Ryan pulled into Ashton Farm and drove past the moonlit horse pastures.

“Jealous?” Sienna shot back.

“Hardly,” Ryan scoffed. There was no way in hell he’d tell her he’d do anything to have her touch him like that.

He pulled to a stop in front of her parents’ house and opened his door. “Fine! Then you have no objection to me calling Matt,” Sienna yelled as he got out of the car.

Ryan let out an aggravated growl and walked around the car to open her door. “I don’t care what or who you do, Sienna.”

“And I don’t care who you’re with either,” Sienna spat back. She took his arm and let him escort her to the front door. He reached into the mouth of the knee-high horse statue and pulled out a key to their house. He unlocked the door and swung it open.

Ryan leaned forward. He wanted one last taste so badly. He smelled the sweet scent of her perfume and was nearly drawn in by her eyes. Slowly, he bent his head so his lips were close to hers. Sienna tilted her head up, closed her eyes, and licked her lips. “You keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

Sienna’s eyes popped open, but Ryan didn’t see the glare she gave him or the look of desire as he drove away.

* * *

The next morning, French toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage were all served at the Blossom Café. Sophie delivered breakfast to the depressed patrons. The café was full. People had been drawn to it to witness the absence of the Rose sisters, who had departed for their world cruise earlier that morning.

“I don’t know if this is right. I was told to speak with Miss Violet about my diet. I don’t want to disappoint Nabi,” Nash Dagher, the newest member of the royal family’s security team, said worriedly.

Sophie looked down at the pancakes and bacon that filled two plates. Nash needed to gain weight, and he had in the past couple of weeks he’d been in town. But she thought he worried too much until Nabi and Ahmed came in and sat down with him.

“Is that all you are having for breakfast? Did my ten-mile run with you this morning not make you hungrier?” Ahmed asked, looking disappointedly at the plates in front of Nash.

“Don’t worry, Ahmed. I have already talked to the substitute cook, and Miss Violet left a weekly meal plan for Nash.” Sophie smiled at the tableful of lethal men. They didn’t intimidate her. Her mother had been an undercover DEA agent and had taught her how to hold her own.

Nash sent her an appreciative smile. “Thank you. I refuse to fail in my mission.”

Sophie took Nabi and Ahmed’s order and left, shaking her head. Nash had joined the security team as a short waif of a man with superior intelligence. Nabi and Ahmed were now working with him on an athletic program. Whatever they were doing was working. It looked as if he’d already grown an inch and gained ten pounds of muscle. She knew when she came back from her last year of college he’d look completely different. As she went back to work, she had a feeling a lot was going to change.

“Wyatt, she’s a bimbo,” Sydney said in the typical big-sister voice as she took a bite of her bacon.

“I don’t care about the boys you date. Well, Edwin was a douche, but I don’t bug you about the rest of them,” Wyatt said in his smooth Southern voice.

“But you can do so much better. You’re seventeen. Don’t get too serious too fast. You’ll be in college next year. Enjoy it. I’m having a blast.” Sydney shot him a wink and Wyatt groaned.

“Don’t make me bring dueling back into fashion.”

“Please, you know I can take care of myself. It’s you and that Paisley chick I’m worried about.”

“I promise. I won’t get too serious if you promise not to do any more lingerie ads. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have my sister plastered on billboards in her underwear?”

“Oh, grow up. It’s no big deal.” Sydney took a sip of her orange juice. She had followed in her mother's footsteps and modeled while attending college. It paid for her private education, and it also gave her the connections necessary to launch a career after school.

“You wouldn’t think that if you had to put up with the crap I have to listen to from my lacrosse teammates,” Wyatt grumbled. “Do you know how many punches I have thrown defending my big sister?”

Sydney’s shoulder’s slumped as the fight went out of her. “I’m sorry, Wyatt. I never thought how hard it is for you and Dad. Mom’s used to it, and she’s always with me at every shoot, making sure it’s on the up and up. I never thought of you defending me. I should have, though. You’re the best brother a girl could have, and I love you.”

“So, you’ll stop doing those photos?”

Sydney smiled. “I promise, in three years I won’t be doing them anymore. I already have two shoots lined up. They're overseas so you shouldn’t see them. You’ll be happy to know that most of my new hires have been for designer clothes. So you don’t have to defend me anymore.”

“You're my sister; I will always defend you. Now, did you hear that Great-grandma Wyatt is making the farmhands drive her down to the stables to kiss all the horses?”

Sydney let out a worried sigh. “She’s doing too much. At least she’s letting Dad take over the farm somewhat. And you . . . Mom said you’ve been working there everyday after school and this whole summer as well.”

“I like it. The business side is fascinating and so is the training. Mom has taught me all about the physiology of horses. I think I may study large animal medicine.”

“You want to be a veterinarian like Mom?”

Wyatt looked contemplative. “I think so. She said that during the school year I can work with her in the clinic to see if I like it.”

“I’m proud of you, Wyatt.” Sydney smiled and lifted her orange juice to toast her brother.

Sophie set breakfast onto the table and Zain Ali Rahman thanked her. He and his twin, Gabe, had found themselves, along with the rest of the town, at the Blossom Café that morning.

“It’s so strange the Rose sisters got married and then left town on a honeymoon. It seems too empty without them here,” Gabe said as he dug into his food.

“What will we do without their care packages when we go back to school next week?” Zain asked. He and his brother lived for those care packages full of cookies, copies of the
Keeneston Journal
, and other treats.

“I didn’t think of that. But at least they are happy.”

“True, but it’s all so much. I still can’t believe our Anton took early retirement and fell in love. For nineteen years, he’s been yelling at us in French when we sneak into the kitchen to steal sweets,” Zain said, shaking his head in wonder. Their French chef hadn’t been happy a day in his life until Miss Violet bulldozed her way into his heart.

Gabe leaned forward. “Did you see those girls at the party last night? They were hot. Who are they?”

“Of course I saw them. I don’t know who they are, though. Could they be part of Charlie’s family? If they are, I sure hope they visit more often.”

“They didn’t seem to know who we were. I’m not looking forward to going back to college,” Gabe groaned.

Zain nodded his head. They were royal heirs. They were down the line of succession a bit but were heirs to the Rahmi crown nonetheless. They were princes to the small Middle Eastern island nation and had spent every summer for eighteen years there, learning how to be princes and, in case of some horrific incident, how to be kings. This was the first summer they had been allowed to stay in Keeneston, and it had been the best summer yet.

But now it was time to go back to school. And at school, the guys tried to be their buddies to latch onto their money and fame. And the women all wanted to be a princess. What they both wanted was to find someone like their mother, Dani, who hadn’t wanted to be a princess. Instead, she put up with being royalty in order to be with their father because of who he was as a person. So far they hadn’t found anyone like that outside of Keeneston.

“I’m not looking forward to it either. Maybe we should spend this year being what they all think we are,” Zain said mischievously.

“I like that idea. This could be fun.” Gabe sat back and laughed.

“I always worry when he laughs like that,” Dani said to the table filled with her friends.

“And without the Roses and John, how are we to know what they are up to?” Katelyn asked the group.

“Finally! I have a reason to use my wiretaps. Just get me their phones and I’ll have them bugged in seconds.” Annie rubbed her hands together and smiled. “Come on, Bridget, you know you want to.”

Bridget looked up at the ceiling and refused to meet Annie’s gaze.

“Oh my gosh,” Annie cried as she gave Bridget’s shoulder a little shove. “You already have!”

“Shh,” Bridget lowered her voice. “Our kids are right over there. Keep your voice down.”

Morgan just shook her head. “What’s the big deal? Miles did that years ago.”

“I can’t believe it. I’m the last one to do this? Tammy, you haven’t, have you?” Annie asked the little pixie across the table from her.

“Well,
I
didn’t do it,” Tammy said guiltily. “I had Cy do it when he was getting phones for his girls.”

Gemma just rolled her eyes. “I swear if anyone needs to go on a world tour it’s my husband. I can’t pry Cy from his encrypted computer. He runs backgrounds on every person coming to our house. He needs a hobby.”

“Tell me about it,” Morgan said, exasperated. “Miles has been having panic attacks about Layne at college. I keep reminding him he’s trained her to kill someone over fifty-eight ways.”

“Marshall hasn’t done any of that,” Katelyn said in wonder before the girls at the table all broke into laughter.

“Are you kidding? He’s the one who told Mo some things he could do to keep an eye on the twins,” Dani laughed.

“And you better believe Marshall needs his own hobby,” Kenna said as she nodded to Katelyn. “He’s decided to recruit some more deputies since Noodle wants to retire soon. I’ve stopped by to ask him to serve warrants, and he’s obsessed with finding the perfect replacement. I’ve decided I should be jealous of you.”

“Me? Why?” Katelyn asked.

“Because you should see the list he has for this new deputy. If it’s that long for a coworker, I can’t imagine what his wife list was like.”

The girls laughed. Paige leaned forward and whispered, “Maybe we should send them on one of those guy trips into the woods where they hunt, forage, and build shelters to survive.”

“That’s a great idea.” The table of women turned to look at the other large circular table in the café.

“I have a feeling they’re talking about us,” Miles said dryly as the men looked at their wives who were all staring at them.