them as though they’d never tasted a damn cookie before. Relaxed as though they hadn’t a care in the world.
To say he was pissed off was putting it mildly.
“Okay, who the hell’s bright idea was it to hire that woman and not let me know about it?”
The conversation came to a grinding halt in the warm, airy kitchen as soon as he spoke.
His brothers looked up at him, cookies halfway to their mouths, both looking as guilty as two boys with their hands caught in the cookie jar.
One look at Nate’s angry, tight features and they knew, instantly, they were in deep-shit trouble.
A side glance in Lilly’s direction and Nate had seen the humor lurking in her dark eyes but had chosen to ignore it. Miss Lilly could find humor in the situation. She had that right. He couldn’t go off half-cocked with the woman who’d helped raise him, one who was like a surrogate mother.
He turned back to his brothers.
They, on the other hand, didn’t get a get-out-of-jail-free card. Not even close.
“Don’t even try getting away,” he said, pinning them with a look when they both, at the same time, made as though to leave the room.
Both Shilah and Holt paused midflight. Slowly, they spun around on the scuffed-up heels of their well-worn boots, both warily watching him as he advanced farther into the large kitchen.
He stopped less than a foot from them, crossed his arms over his wide chest and stared them down.
Although technically there wasn’t much in the way of staring down. The men were all of similar height, Holt being the tallest at six foot five, Nate and Shilah just a few inches shy of that.
“Okay, now look here, brother—” Holt was the first to speak in his slow, crawling drawl, the one he used when he was either trying to get a piece of tail from a woman or when he knew he’d screwed up and was buying time.
“Cut the brother crap,” Nate interrupted. That was another thing he did. Whenever he wanted to maneuver his way out of a situation, Holt was quick to pull out the brother card.
“Besides, it wasn’t me who invited her to come. It was Shilah—”
“Way to throw me under the bus,” Shilah broke in, his expression neutral, yet the look he gave Holt promised retribution was coming his way. Soon.
“I may have issued the initial invitation, but you were the one who actually hired her when she came.”
“Yeah, well—”
Nate held up a hand, forestalling any more arguing on exactly whose fault it was.
“Whichever one of you—or both of you—is to blame, I don’t give a damn. Just take care of the problem. Now.”
“And how do you want us to do that? We’ve already paid her in advance.”
“So I heard,” Nate replied tightly.
“Besides, we need the help, you know that, Holt,” Shilah said, always the one to use logic in any situation. “Lilly’s surgery is in a few weeks and we can’t spare any of the hands to help out. It’s just temporary. She can do the odd jobs. Can help Lilly out in the kitchen—”
“Hell, no, she’s not working in the kitchen. That’s out,” Nate bit out, the thought of the woman actually in his home, in his domain, something he wasn’t about to allow. “No matter how you reason this out, you both know how I feel about women on the ranch. I should have been consulted.”
There was a short pause, none of the men giving an inch, all staring each other down.
“How’d you find out, anyway?” Holt finally asked, running a hand over the back of his head.
“How long did you plan to hide it from me?” he asked, raising a brow. When Holt shrugged, his expression sheepish, Nate continued. “Walked into the stable where I’ve been keeping the new horse, and she was there, feeding it.” “Thought that horse didn’t let anyone near her.”
“She doesn’t. Didn’t,” Nate corrected himself.
Thinking of how gentle the horse had been with the woman, the lines of his face wrinkled, momentarily making him forget his irritation with his brothers. “Damnedest thing, too. She was feeding it by hand. It was all but cuddling in her lap, like some kinda lap dog.”
“Your problem is you don’t know how to deal with a stubborn female. Horses are no different. You have to be gentle, say all the right things to her. Make her feel special.”
“Oh, yeah, and I suppose you know how?”
“Damn right I do,” Holt said, barking out a laugh. “You have to whisper in her ear, tell her how sweet her…tail is,” he said, staring at his brother, laughter lurking in his eyes. “You do remember how to do that, right, Nate? Or do you need a crash course, brother? ’Cause if you do, I’m here for you, man…I’m here for you,” he said, his voice lowering to a whisper, stringing out the last words.
“Yeah, I got your crash course right here,” Nate replied, flipping his brother the bird. This time Holt openly laughed at him.
“You know what your problem is, Holt? You think everything is a damn joke,” Nate bit out, and caught the gleam of humor in Shilah’s eyes as well. This time he included him in his middle-finger salute as well.
“Since when do we need your permission to hire help around here?”
“Since the help you hired was a woman,” he replied, not giving an inch. “I damn sure don’t need another woman around here. Especially who, after realizing living on a ranch is not some bullshit Hollywood glamorized version, cuts out with the first man that comes her way.”
“Man…what the hell?” Holt asked, frowning.
As soon as Nathan made the retort, he wanted to snatch the words back, feeling like a fool. He didn’t need or want the pity he saw lurking in either one of his knuckle-headed brothers’ eyes once it dawned on them what he’d said and why.
Holt grabbed the back of his neck again, rubbing it, his face reddening. “Yeah, well, sorry, bro. I guess I wasn’t thinking. With Lilly about to have surgery in a few weeks and all, I figured she could use the help around the house. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, you know that…” His voice trailed off into an awkward silence.
“You won’t see much of her, anyway, Nate,” Shilah said, pulling away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “You don’t want her in the kitchen, that’s cool. There’s plenty of other things for her to do. And she’s not staying in the main house. She’s using the guest cottage. No worries. She’ll only be here for a short time, just until Lilly has the surgery and is back on her feet. She’ll be gone before you know it.” Shilah finished.
Nate eyed him suspiciously, wondering at the swift change in attitude. Although he didn’t like her using the guest cottage, the place he had built and planned to live in before Angela left, it was a better alternative to her living in his house. Under his roof.
Where
