Burned by a Kiss (7 page)

“Thanks,” Santana told her. “It’s not easy to bring Sierra around.”

“No problem. It wasn’t hard to change her mind.” She glanced over his broad shoulders, found herself caught by his deep eyes for just a split second, then hurried to the truck.

The truth was, she wanted to have dinner with him tonight. Maybe friends was the best they could be right now, but wasn’t that better than nothing?

It was on the drive to Lightning Canyon that Santana realized Emma and Sierra weren’t themselves. The two of them sat silent in the back seat of the Ranger Rover, which was strange for both of them. Nick made pleasant conversation, when he was the one who should be feeling out of place.

Emma mostly stared outside the car window. Sierra fell asleep, her head lolling.

“This is it,” Santana announced, and Nick parked at Lightning Canyon’s best spot for burgers. Sierra pulled herself to an upright position, blinking owlishly around, scowling at Nick.

It was very clear Sierra imitated the seating chart at lunch. She squeezed in next to Emma before Santana had a chance to get in the booth next to her. Sierra glared at Nick, and took her menu from the waitress, opening it with a disgruntled flourish.

Emma hid a smile, and Santana thought it was big of Nick to ignore the darts being thrown at him.

“Shall we start with a bottle of wine?” Nick asked.

Santana winced. “It’s BYOB here, actually. Bring your own bottle, and in this town, that means beer or wine, nothing harder.”

“Ah.” Nick nodded, looking slightly surprised but clearly trying to roll with it. “Where do we get a bottle of good wine, then?”

“You have to cross some palms with silver,” Santana said, and Emma glanced at him.

“There’s no choice wine in this town,” Sierra told Nick pointedly. “Do you always sound like you should be sitting in an upper-crust country club?”

“Do I?” Nick asked. “I wasn’t aware wine was a social marker.”

Sierra rolled her eyes. “I would have respected you maybe a little if you weren’t trying to pair wine with a burger.”

“Sierra,” Santana said, “discreetly speak to Señor Hernandez, will you?”

“Let me provide the silver,” Nick said, pulling out his wallet. “This is my treat.” He cleared his throat, and Santana felt slightly sorry for him. The man was so far out of his depth he probably didn’t even realize it.

“How much silver is required for whatever adult beverage might be served in this establishment?” Nick asked.

They all stared at Nick’s leather passport wallet. Santana carried his money wrapped around his credit cards with a rubber band, as his father had, as did most men in the town, regardless of their financial well being.

“We can handle the silver,” Santana said, reaching into his pocket. He handed Sierra a couple of tens. “Thanks, Sierra.”

Nick watched Sierra leave and walk across the street. Emma noticed Nick’s interested gaze, too.

Emma looked at her menu. Nick studied the TVs in the upper aeries of the café, and watched the line dancers in the back, shuffling across the floor in boots. Sierra came back in with a six-pack of Dos she set on the table.

“
Señor
says to tell you
hola
. And that he’s glad you’re back.” Sierra beamed. “He says the Dos is on him to celebrate your safe return.”

“Safe return from where?” Nick asked, and Santana shook his head.

Emma lost her focus on the menu. “Santana’s just back from being deployed.”

Nick’s gaze returned to him. “Deployed?”

“Got back a few weeks ago. I was in the Middle East,” he said slowly, realizing that for the first time, he wasn’t feeling anxiety about retiring from the Navy. He didn’t feel bottled up; he didn’t feel spent.

He felt just fine, the way he had in the old days, before his father had died, before they’d lost the ranch, before he’d realized that one more tour of duty would be one too many. Tempting the gods wasn’t wise. He’d come through four tours in better shape than most.

Of course, the gods had quixotic personalities, and were trying to lure his younger brothers away instead. Maybe they’d follow the rodeo, maybe try out some caves in Belize. Romero hadn’t clarified.

Hell, for all he knew, Romero had decided to join Luke and Cisco and give the military life a shot, now that they had no ranch to work.

“Thank you for your service,” Nick said, and Santana started.

“No need to thank me.” He passed around the beers, wishing he was sitting next to Emma.

“I appreciate your agreeing to take the job as foreman,” Nick said.

“Why? Do you get a tax credit for hiring a veteran?” Sierra demanded.

Santana shrugged. “I’m taking the job, and I’m grateful for it, Nick.”

When the waitress came over, they all ordered the same thing: Burgers, well-done, veggies on the side. The waitress left, and Nick lifted his bottle. “Thanks, guys.”

“Stop being so nice,” Sierra snapped. “You got our ranch, you don’t need to rub salt in the wound by showing us what a prince you are.”

Emma’s mouth fell open as she stared at Sierra. Nick looked startled, and Santana shook his head.

“Sierra, Nick had nothing to do with the agreement our fathers brokered. I can work for him and help him make a success of things, or he’ll put the ranch on the market and it will be sold, as per the trust, which was an irrevocable trust, remember?” He looked at his sister, unwilling to hurt her, but knowing he had to make her understand. “Very likely Mr. Marshall made his brother agree to an irrevocable trust because he didn’t want to leave open the possibility that he might predecease Dad, and Dad might change the will in our favor. Given that Dad had shown that he was capable of making disastrous financial decisions, it was a wise business decision to make it irrevocable. If I don’t help Nick, and he can’t make it work or decides to sell, some developer is going to come along and pour concrete over our ranch, and change Star Canyon forever. Not to mention, I’m pretty happy to have employment for however long, doing what I know how to do best. What I love doing most of all.”

Sierra waited as the waitress set down their plates.

“Everything look all right?” she asked. “I can take your burgers back if they’re not how you like them.”

“Mine’s fine,” Nick said with a smile Santana thought seemed very genuine for a man who wasn’t used to greasy spoons and roadside cafes.

They all nodded, and when the waitress left, Sierra looked at Nick. “I don’t understand why you’d want to live at our ranch. You’re not a working ranch kind of man.”

He shrugged, unbothered as he picked up his burger. “I need to do it. And since your brother’s going to help me out, maybe you’d be interested in working at the ranch, too.”

Emma’s gaze met Santana’s over the open warfare that had been declared at the table. “I’m opening a bridal store, if you most know,” Sierra announced.

Nick raised a brow. “How many weddings are there a year in Star Canyon? Based on the town rolls of five hundred people, give or take a dozen depending on the weather and when someone’s decided to look for greener pastures, I’d put the number at less than ten.”

Sierra leaned back, her gaze cool. “So you’ve checked out our historic little town.”

“A good businessman looks into what he’s investing in.”

“So we’re an investment,” Sierra said, and Emma put down her burger.

“Sierra, aren’t you hungry?” Emma asked.

“Why did you decide to take over the ranch?” Sierra asked.

“Maybe I’m looking for peace and quiet.”

Sierra looked outraged, Santana noted, and outrage on his sister was a bad thing. “Sierra,” Santana began, but she sprang to her feet.

“I don’t know why I agreed to break bread with the enemy. And you
are
the enemy,” she told Nick. “I came to dinner to protect my brother from your sneaky, opportunistic ways, because Santana has a good heart. He doesn’t want to believe that you’re conniving. But your father was, and I think you are, too.” She looked at Santana. “I can’t protect you if you decide to jump right into the lion’s jaws. But I’d look before you leap. I’m catching a ride back to Star Canyon.” She grabbed her purse and looked at Emma. “Sorry, Emma.”

“It’s fine.” Emma snatched her purse up and followed Emma to the door, saying, “Thanks for dinner, Nick,” over her shoulder as she hurried after his sister.

Santana stared after the two women as they departed.

“I should offer them a ride home,” Nick said. He dug around in his pocket for his wallet. Patted his trousers for his keys.

“Don’t worry,” Santana said with a sigh, as he realized what had happened. “Sierra is driving home right now in a very nice Ranger Rover. I’ll have the waitress go across the street and pick us up some more brew.”

Nick stared at him. “Are you saying your sister picked my pocket before we ever got inside the restaurant?”

“It’s probably best if we don’t discuss the particulars.”

Nick leaned back in the booth. “How’s her driving?”

“Passable.” No sense in telling the man that right now, his Range Rover was probably surpassing any previous record the odometer had ever experienced. The women probably had the windows rolled down, were very likely singing at the top of their lungs all the way back to town.

“So is there a taxi service from here to Star Canyon?” Nick asked.

“There’s a service, though I don’t know if I’d call it a taxi.” Santana lifted his bottle in a mock salute. “Have another beer, cousin. You’re going to need it.”

• • •

Emma followed Sierra out, not shocked at all that they were stealing a ride home. Sierra wasn’t easily intimidated, and she was tough like her brothers, and taking Nick’s fancy car for a joy ride would be a distraction for her. Emma decided her best option was to stick with her friend and make sure she stayed out of more trouble.

Once home, Emma sank into the wicker seat on her white-painted porch, Gus and Bean happy to be out in the front yard, despite December’s chill. She pulled the blanket a little further around her, enjoying the bright stars in a velvety sky and a half slice of moon pinned among them.

It was probably only thirty minutes later, after she’d gone in to make herself a cup of hot cocoa and returned to her wicker seat, that she heard a truck in her drive. She wasn’t totally surprised to see Santana park his truck and amble up to the porch.

“Can’t sleep after a meal like that one?” he called, when he couldn’t make it farther without Gus and Bean joyously halting him for attention.

“I thought Star Canyon was where all the excitement is, anyway.”

“The excitement is where Sierra is. Can I join you?”

“Help yourself.”

He sank into the wicker seat beside her. “I tried calling. And texting. Figured I’d better drop by, make sure you were all right.” He looked at her. “You rode home with Sierra in a snit, in a car she stole. I was worried.”

“Borrowed. We borrowed it.”

“Still.” He let out a long breath. “I didn’t realize my sister was as angry as she is.
Is
as angry as she is. In retrospect, I see her point.”

“How did you guys get back to town?” Emma didn’t want to discuss their personal family issues.

“By a mode of transportation I can assure you that Nicholas Marshall IV has never traveled before. In the back of Señor Hernandez’s truck he uses to haul hay.” He chuckled softly, and the sound sizzled along Emma’s nerves, surprising her. He was sexy, oh-so-sexy, which she’d always known—but it wasn’t just the sexy she found so attractive.

“How did Nick feel about riding in a truck?”

“The truck bed. We rode in the truck bed with the hay bales and a couple of farm hands that didn’t speak the world’s best English. Nick seemed to enjoy himself thoroughly. Or he has damn good manners and wasn’t letting on.” He laughed, and the sound was rich and full in the night. She leaned back, comforted by Santana’s strength. “Let’s just say the experience didn’t devastate him the way I would have imagined it might. Getting his white shirt dirty didn’t seem to faze him.”

“I’m not surprised, actually.”

“I have the strangest feeling that Nick and his father might have been cut from two very different pieces of cloth.”

Emma watched Gus and Bean wrestling with a smile. The two German shepherd puppies scrabbled playfully, and then all of a sudden, sat up straight, their ears perked toward the bushes.

“They heard their first owl,” Emma whispered.

After a minute of watching the dogs try to figure out exactly what was hooting nearby, Santana said, “Do you think I’m nuts to work for Nick?”

“No. It’s a great idea. Certainly no nuttier than opening a bridal shop in a town that has, as Nick pointed out, a handful of weddings a year.”

“I thought my sister was going to go up in smoke when he said that.” Santana chuckled. “I shouldn’t laugh, but Nick’s clearly done some due diligence on what he’s getting himself into in Star Canyon. And Sierra didn’t want to hear a word of practical criticism of her new project.”

Emma smiled. “Sierra is my dear friend. If she wants to open a bridal shop, I’ll support her. I’ll even put her business cards in my clinic.”

He was silent. Gus and Bean settled at their feet, worn out from playing. “Have I mentioned I’m a little worried about Sierra?”

She didn’t want to say it, but she was, too.

“Ever since we found out about everything, she hasn’t been herself.”

“You’ve lost the only home you’ve ever known. You’re taking a job with a man your sister refers to as the enemy, and you’re just now getting to grieve, Santana.” Emma considered her words carefully. “Maybe none of you have been the same ever since your father died. It would be very understandable.”

“I think the reason I’m taking the job with Nick is to stay near the old place.”

“It won’t drive you insane? Working there, but knowing it’s no longer your home?” Emma looked at him curiously.

“There’s nothing I can do about the past. What happened, happened, and clearly none of us knew Dad the way we thought we did.” He leaned back, his shoulder brushing hers in a way that felt companionable. “I figure helping Nick manage the place keeps it in his hands, instead of letting somebody take it over that will chop it up into small lots for homes. I’m being selfish, I suppose.”