To Have a Wilde (Wilde in Wyoming) (6 page)

Chapter 7

“G
ood job, men. Let’s call it a day—you all can take off for the night. See you on Monday,” Key told his crew, while dismounting from his horse and removing the thick cowhide leather gloves from his fingers before rubbing his hands together.

He arched his back to relieve the pressure that had built up from not only the day but the entire week. Despite the pain in his back from the hard work, it was a pain he’d gladly endure as it helped, minutely, keep his mind on work and off Sonia.

He grunted low in his throat and then placed the gloves into his back pocket, grabbed his hat from the ground and jammed it back on his head.

It had been a long day of mending fences, a thankless but needed job that Key, like most who worked on the ranch, considered one of the most tedious.

When he’d relieved Ailani, his ranch foreman, of the duty, the look of surprise on the young woman’s face had been enough to bring a slight smile to Key’s mouth.

“Hey boss, no need for that, I can handle the fences. Not much else on the agenda so pressing that I can’t handle this task. Bane can oversee the cattle run scheduled this afternoon instead,” she’d said, referring to her assistant. She was already in the middle of making one of her infamous lists to organize the day.

Key had held up a hand, stopping her. He knew that if he didn’t, Ailani would keep going, assuring him until she turned blue in the face that she could handle it all. He shook his head. The young woman reminded him a lot of himself and his brother when they were her age, not that they were that far apart in age as she’d grown up right alongside him and Nick.

By ranch industry standards Ailani was fairly young to hold the position of foreman, at the age of twenty-eight. But, she was the best damn foreman they could have wished for. Her father had been the foreman for the ranch for many years, working the Kealoha from the time Keanu’s father had bought the ranch as a young man, over forty years ago, until last year when Ailani’s father had retired.

Ailani had not only grown up on the ranch, she’d worked it from the time she was in her teens. She had attended the University and studied agriculture but soon after had returned to the ranch. She’d worked as her father’s assistant, and no one could or had accused her of getting the job because of who her father was.

When her father was prepared to retire, there hadn’t been any question as to who would take his place.

And the Kealohas had made sure everyone knew the promotion had been legit.

Although they’d been younger when the affair had occurred between Nick and Ailani, Nick and Key made it a priority that the entire crew was on board, and it hadn’t been easy. It never was in the male-dominated industry of ranching, and they didn’t want any hint of nepotism to taint their decision so she’d had to prove her worth.

Any thoughts of unfair promotion for the few who were so inclined to think that way flew out the window with the hard work and dedication Ailani put into the job.

“Ailani, I’ve got this. Besides, you got the job, remember?” he joked, and she laughed, punching him in the arm, the casual gesture highlighting their years-long acquaintance. He laughed. “Besides, I want to do the fencing,” he’d said, and she’d laughed again, blush covering her café-au-lait-colored skin.

As he leaned to the side to stretch the tight muscle at the center of his back, he grimaced. He’d thought, at the time he’d switched duties with Ailani, that the hard work would keep him too busy to think of Sonia and what had happened...what
was
happening between the two of them. But it hadn’t.

Instead, due to the tedious nature of the job, he’d had his mind cleared to think about her and their situation.

He began to prepare his horse to mount, then paused, turning toward his men.

“Y’all have a great Fourth and be careful out there,” he began, his gaze going over the small crew. “For those of you who have the day off, make sure you’re extra careful. Don’t want to hear about anyone doing anything...stupid this year,” he admonished, and Rue, one of the youngest of his men, burned bright red.

The young man ducked his head and nodded toward Keanu in deference. “Yes, sir,” he said, taking the mild rebuke in stride. Several muffled laughs met Rue’s words and he flipped off one of his buddies who’d laughed.

Key ignored the laughter as well as the rebuttal, taking it all in stride. Working with men...that was all a part of the game.

Every year he gave a briefing to his men whenever the Fourth came around. He typically gave the younger ones the afternoon off, as it seemed to be one of their favorite holidays. Although for the younger men and tourists around the island the Fourth was highly anticipated; for Key, his brother, father and the senior ranchers, it was just another day. However, at night they usually put on a miniature fireworks display.

The Fourth of July was a busy time for tourists on the island, and in particular the small town close to the Kealoha Ranch. The small island got most of its income from tourists and the ranch business as well as the fruit orchard his family helped to maintain.

Although he and Nick had lived their entire lives on the ranch, they were close with their outside community, having gone to elementary through high school with most of them, as well as attending the university with those who had stuck around the mainland after graduating from high school.

“Hey, boss, I’m supposed to head out with the family this weekend, is that still going to be okay?”

Key turned to face one of his young ranchers, Bane. As Ailani’s assistant, Bane was one of the men who usually stayed around when others were given time off. It worked for him, particularly as he, like Ailani, lived on the ranch.

However, the young man had recently gotten married to his high school sweetheart and started a family, his youngest just a newborn, his oldest only two years old. Key had allowed the small family to live in one of the cottages on the ranch. Bane’s parents hadn’t seen his newborn son as they lived on one of the neighboring islands, and were coming up for the holiday.

“No problem, Bane. As long as you get your mother to make me some of her famous haupia coconut pudding,” Key asked, and Bane laughed along with him. Bane’s mother once worked on the ranch in the kitchen, cooking for the men. During the holidays she would always make Haupia coconut pudding, a cultural tradition, and would set aside a heaping portion for Key.

“You bet, Key, no problem. She’ll love to!”

Key clamped him on the back, “Good thing, man. Have a good one,” he said, and for a moment felt envy for his friend.

Married with children was the way most of his friends had gone, early on. While some had gotten married right out of high school, those who’d gone to university had waited until after acquiring their degree.

He and Nick, at the ripe old age of thirty, were two of the oldest in their age group to still be single.

Key doubted that would ever come for him, the whole married-with-children thing. Happily ever after and everything that came with it wasn’t high on his list of things he believed in or a state he aspired to find himself in.

“Oh, shoot, man, almost forgot.” Bane turned as he was preparing to leave and, leaving his horse tied to the post, jogged back over to where Key was standing.

Key frowned as he watched his friend dig a note out of his back pocket and hand it to him.

“What’s this?”

Bane shrugged, turning to go. “Don’t know. One of the stable boys handed it to me, asked if I could give it to you today. Came from one of those Hollywood folks,” he replied, giving the generic name they all gave the crew from the show.

“Why in hell didn’t he just give it to me?” Key grumbled, but flipped open the paper to read the contents.

His jaw tightened, a contemplative look coming over his set features as he read the note.

Let the games begin.

Chapter 8

K
ey marched his way through the formal dining room, his booted feet hitting the wood flooring, the sound echoing and rebounding off the walls loudly in the quiet house.

Didn’t appear that anyone was home, which was a good thing. After the day he’d had, he wasn’t in the mood for idle chit damn chat.

Would like to meet with you to discuss our agreement. On a personal level. Anytime, anywhere...

Sonia’s message on the note he’d been given days ago was firmly stamped in his brain. Since then, he’d made it a point to ignore her until he figured out her game. He wasn’t in the mood to make a dumb-ass mistake with a woman.

He made his way toward the kitchen and tossed his hat on the large granite counter before throwing open the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of beer.

He’d worked the men on the range hard, as they’d spent the greater part of the past two days mending fence. It was a job he usually allowed the foreman to oversee, using the hands to help fix the miles of fence, but this time he’d taken on the task himself.

And if he had his way, he’d spend the remaining days the film crew were to be at the ranch on that task, as far out of reach as possible. After his last explosive meeting with Sonia, he didn’t trust himself to be alone with the woman. He didn’t trust himself not to make good on his last promise to her. After reading the note, he didn’t know which was worse, his decision to use her in order to find out what she knew, if anything, about his family, or her apparent need to use him.

Anytime, anywhere...
The last line in the note echoed his mind. He tightened his jaw and yanked open the fridge.

He was in the process of grabbing another beer when Nick sauntered into the room. Damn, he was hoping to have the house to himself for longer than ten minutes. He eyed his brother warily over the neck of the bottle, but otherwise ignored his presence.

“Looks like the crew is doing a good job of fulfilling their end of the bargain, don’t you think, bro?”

“Man, don’t even go there,” Key replied tightly. “And don’t think I don’t know you’re responsible for that little setup this morning,” he finished.

Nick threw up his hands in feigned defeat. “I don’t know what bug crawled up your ass, but I’m sure Mahi has something that’ll fix you right up, bro,” he said, and laughed at the single-digit salute his comment garnered. But when Key continued to ignore him, his face set, the smile slipped from his twin’s face.

“Hey, seriously, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Key!” Nick exclaimed, his thick brows pulling down into a frown once he realized Key wasn’t exactly laughing back.

“Aw, come on. You’re not even going to give me a clue?” he cajoled, shoving his body away from the column he’d been leaning against and making his way toward his brother.

When Nick reached out to grab the beer on the counter, Key ignored him, opening the refrigerator door again to replace the one Nick had filched.

Key didn’t give his brother a glance, simply popped open the bottle and threw back his head, allowing the dark amber to slip down his throat. What use was it, anyway, he thought—it wasn’t as if Nick would admit he’d been the one to throw him to the wolves.

“Family first, Nick. Always. Setting me up like that? That was bullshit.”

“Okay, seriously, what the hell are you talking about?” Nick asked, all signs of humor completely gone from his blue-eyed gaze as he stared, frown in place, at his brother.

“Dinner will be ready soon, boys, make sure you’re washed up!” When their housekeeper, Mahi, bustled inside the room, he broke the tension and Key leaned back against the counter, his eyes closed, and polished off the beer.

“What is going on in my kitchen, boys? You know I do not tolerate any foolishness. You two had better not be fighting again!” the old man admonished. His words brought a ghost of a smile to Key’s face. Although both he and his brother were long past the age of being “boys,” Mahi was as much like family as their own father, as neither twin remembered a time the elderly man hadn’t been around.

He’d begun as a stable hand but, after realizing he wasn’t able to keep up with the job, their parents had invited him to come and help take care of the boys. He still referred to them as “boys” whenever he was irritated with them.

“So, you want to tell me what the hell is wrong with you?” Nick asked, coming to stand less than two feet away, not wanting Mahi to overhear them.

“You’re seriously telling me you don’t know?”

“Hell no. What gives?”

Key sighed, his gaze going over his brother’s, looking for signs of humor.

He’d been wrestling with the contents of the note he’d been given earlier. After he’d read the contents, he’d at first been amused, before realization dawned on him. He’d tracked down which stable hand had given Bane the note, and from there it hadn’t taken long for him to find out who’d given the boy the note. Assuming it had been Sonia, he’d been surprised to find the note had come from his brother.

But why would his brother play messenger? Had Sonia spoken to him about their encounter?

Without further ado, he opened the note and showed it to Nick. Nick’s glance fell over the crumpled piece of paper and, after scanning the contents, a grin split his face.

“Oh-oh-oh, brother, looks like you and the pretty producer—”

“Stop right there. First off, why the hell would you play messenger? What did she tell you?”

“Messenger? Tell me what?” The look of confusion was so real Key knew that, as talented a prankster as his brother was, he was telling the truth.

“You really don’t know about this?”

“’Fraid not, bro, I had nothing to do with this. Didn’t it come from Sonia?”

Key signed, refolding and placing the note back in his pocket. “Yeah, apparently. But according to Bane, he got it from the stable hand, who got it from one of the guys working the south field, who got it from—”

“From the milkman?” Nick laughed but sobered quickly at the scowl on his twin’s face. “That’s a hellafied mixed-up version of telephone, Key. But, I wasn’t involved in the mix-up,” he said, referring to the children’s game. Quickly his scowl cleared. “I gave one of the kids a note to give to Ailani about the fencing. I thought she was going to be mending fence today, anyway, not you. Maybe that’s the mix-up.”

“Hmm. Maybe. Anyway, why not just call her instead of a note?” Key asked, relieved that his brother hadn’t been involved, and trying to steer him away from asking any further questions about the note and Sonia, now that Key had inadvertently divulged the information, something he would not have done had he not thought his brother was involved.

He was still trying to figure out the situation himself and didn’t need his brother’s advice or ill-timed humor.

“Cell phone? We’re talking about Lani, here,” Nick replied with a laugh, walking over to the large oval table in the eating area of the large kitchen.

It was a well-known fact that Ailani was a throwback to an earlier generation. She was one of the few people he knew who didn’t carry her cell on her person twenty-four/seven. The fact was, if she could get away with it, she wouldn’t own one at all.

Key grunted in agreement, conceding the point. “Yeah, I guess the old-fashioned way of communication is the best for her.”

“Okay, now that that issue is resolved...what’s up with you and Sonia?” his brother asked, grinning hugely, ignoring Key’s immediate reaction.

“That’s not up for conversation,” Key replied before bringing the bottle to his mouth and drinking.

After a few moments he finished and slammed the bottle on the counter, and opened the door again for a second.

“Guess I don’t have to ask what kind of day you had, son?”

Hearing his father’s voice, Key paused, slowly turning around to face the elder Kealoha. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in. How you feeling today?” he asked, concern replacing the short-tempered tone in his voice. He watched as his father walked in, the ivory-handled cane thumping against the hardwood flooring with every step. It was all Key could do not to race to his father’s side, take his cane and help him into one of the large, comfortable, high-back kitchen chairs that circled the table.

He glanced over at his brother, knowing Nick was thinking the same thing he was, and also that to do so would anger their father.

Alekanekelo Kealoha was a proud man.

Since the stroke, he’d been forced to accept help he’d never had to in the past. Now, as he was rarely seen outside his personal living quarters, they didn’t want to upset him by running to his side to offer help he didn’t ask for.

His father’s pride was another reason he had yet to approach him with what he knew about his and Nick’s heritage, who their biological father was and why his parents had kept it from them.

Warily Key watched his father walk farther into the kitchen, relying heavily on his cane.

He grabbed two more beers and walked over to the table where his father was standing, near Nick. After offering his brother one, he held out the other to his father.

When his father accepted the drink, all three men sat down at the table.

The elder Kealoha took a drink and placed it down carefully. A frown marred his aged but handsome face as he glanced first at Key and then Nick.

“Before I go into finding out what in hell is going on with my boys...stop looking at me like I’m gonna break. I’m made from tougher stuff than this watered-downed crap they pass off as beer these days,” he said, grimacing, his glance going over the bottle he held in his hand.

“No damn wonder. Light beer? May as well get me a bottle of milk,” he griped, yet brought the bottle to his mouth and finished it. “Can’t wait to get back to my brewery.”

A look passed between Key and Nick. They knew their father was feeling better if he was ranting about beer. The man was a self-proclaimed aficionado of all beer and had been brewing it from the time they were small boys.

They hid their grins.

“So what gives...what’s going on? And don’t tell me ‘nothing,’ I know something is going on. And it sure in hell is something more than that crew running ’round here causing the disharmony.”

After making the pronouncement he pierced each man with a stare.

The humor dropped away, and Key held his tongue. Although Alek Kealoha hadn’t been working as much as he used to before the stroke, Key knew their father was as aware of what was going on at the ranch as when he was fully working it.

“Is it something going on with the production crew? Seemed like that was doing fine. The exposure for your mother was the reason we all agreed. But I know that she wouldn’t want that at the expense of the ranch,” he said, and Key felt guilt stab at him. It wasn’t the show that was the problem.

It was the things he wanted to do with the producer that was the problem.

Damn.

“Far as I’m concerned, the crew is the least of the problem. I think you need to ask Key what the problem is.” Nick was the first to speak, ignoring the glare Key sent his way.

“What, man?” Nick said. “All I know is that for the last few months you’ve been acting like something crawled up your butt you didn’t like, and—”

“
Nothing
could crawl up my butt that I’d like, bro, let’s get that straight. I’m not into all that kinky shit you seem to—”

“I have a feeling it has something to do with more than the film crew. I think our shy kid here has a crush on—”

“And I sure in hell haven’t been called a ‘shy kid’ since I
was
a damn kid. If you got something to say,
bro,
spill it. If not, you know what you can—”

“Enough.” The one word brought the brothers’ heated words to a halt.

While the verbal exchange was going on, Alek Kealoha sat back, crossed his big arms over his chest and watched his sons going at it like two rabid pit bulls.

He sighed. “What in hell is going on around here?
Really
going on,” Alek asked, and glanced up as Mahi chose that moment to begin bringing over the evening meal.

“I’ve been asking them the same damn thing, Alek. Can’t seem to get to the bottom of it. Tension so thick you could cut it with the back end of a rusty hoe,” the old man groused, and, before anyone could say anything in rebuttal, he placed the food on the table and turned away.

“Maybe you can do something with them. Been like this off and on for the better part of a week. I’ll turn these knuckleheaded boys of yours over to you, gladly.” He grumbled and left the kitchen, with all eyes on him.

Alek gave them each a look that brought back memories to Key of when they were young boys and were about to get in deep-shit trouble.

Which was more often than not, he thought and glanced over at his twin. They exchanged a look, one that told him his brother’s thoughts were the same as his.

Yes, things had been tense lately, Key acknowledged that, but he and Nick usually worked it out, and nothing major had happened they hadn’t been able to handle.

He held his brother’s gaze for a moment before turning to look at their father.

“Looking good, Dad. Glad to see you up,” Nick said gruffly, but Key heard real emotion in his brother’s voice, one that he shared.

Key observed their father and tried to hide his surprise and joy at the sight of him at the table, obviously ready to join them for dinner.

The times his father came and ate with them for dinner had been few and far between since their mother’s death nearly a year ago and his father’s subsequent stroke.

He and Nick exchanged another telling glance...Mahi had roused their father out of bed on the pretext of “taking care” of the “boys.”

Both men hid their pleased grins.

“Now look here, no matter what it is, we’re family. And family—”

“Takes care of family,” Key and Nick murmured together.

“It’s good to have you eating at the table with us for dinner, Dad,” Key said, and smiled at his father, gritting his teeth together to force away the sudden emotion.

“Yeah, well, it’s about damn time, I guess. Can’t keep moping around forever. Your mom would kick my rear end if she knew.” He stopped, his voice thickening with emotion.