Playing for Keeps (Texas Scoundrels) (14 page)

“Sorry, Doc,” Trenton said with a chuff of laughter. “I have to go with conflict of interest on this one.”

Mattie slid a baking sheet with oven-roasted Brussels sprouts and onions smothered in olive oil from the second oven. “Oooh,” she said, “you hear that, Griff. A
smart
man.”

“You say that like it’s a rare thing,” Trenton said, his grin filled with affection.
 

“Isn’t it?” Mattie countered playfully, as she set the dinner rolls to bake.

Griffen pushed away from the sink and headed to the dining room and the china cabinet for the dishware to set the table. She was thrilled her sister and Trenton were getting married. For far too long Mattie had mourned Ford’s death, and it was good to see her happy again. Trenton was a good man, very nice looking, hard-working and on the verge of making partner in his Dallas law firm. But more importantly, he obviously adored her sister and Phoebe.
 

A moment later Mattie came into the dining room carrying the storage case with the silver cutlery and a stack of ivory cloth napkins and fancy napkins rings. Sunday supper was a tradition in the Hart household, one that had continued even after their mother’s death three years ago. Just as their mom had done, their father still insisted on using what he called the “fancy dishes.” There were a few sets of dishware to choose from—her parents’ anniversary china, two different sets passed down through the generations on both sides of the family, and the Christmas dishware.
 

Mattie set the silver flatware case on the buffet and lifted the lid. “I hear Dad’s not the only one withholding vital information.”

“Are you kidding me?” Griffen nearly dropped the salad bowls from her Grandmother Caulfield’s dinnerware set. Seriously? Two kisses and she was the subject of gossip? “What have you heard?”

“Not a word.” Mattie laughed. “But you are now
so
busted.”

She went back for the matching dessert plates. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yes, you do,” Mattie argued. “Griff, I know you. You’ve been stewing ever since you walked in the door.”

“I do not stew.” She set the dessert plates on the table and went back to the cabinet for the crystal stemware. “I’m just worried Jed is going to hurt Austin, that’s all.”

“So...” Mattie prompted. “Do you like him?”

Griffen let out a long, slow breath and met her sister’s gaze over the dining room table. “I don’t want to like him, Matt. He’s...”
All wrong for me
. “He’s just so...”

“Hot?”

Griffen tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help herself. “Oh my God, you have no idea.”

Mattie bit her bottom lip and checked to make sure they were still alone. “Have you slept with him?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

“Mattie,” Griffen exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “Really? Do you know nothing about me?”

“The man is sex on a stick. What do you expect me to think?” Mattie folded the napkins and slid them into the holders. “But you at least kissed him, right?”
 

“Twice,” Griffen admitted reluctantly, as she started setting out the placemats.
 

“And...”

“Oh my God, you have no idea,” Griffen repeated, then giggled like a teenager. “He has this way of making you forget everything except him. It’s like every ounce of reason I possess just disappears.” She clutched a dinner plate to her chest. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“Really?” Mattie’s dark eyebrows arched upward. “Not even with Ross?”

“Not even with Ross,” Griffen said. “How sad is that?”

“Well, you know what they say...you can’t miss what you never had in the first place.”

Griffen frowned. That wasn’t fair. “I loved Ross.”

“Of course, you did.”

“Don’t be condescending, Matt. We might not have had the same kind of passion as you and Ford had, but we loved each other.” For a while, at least.
 

“That’s crap and you know it. Ross was safe. He didn’t make you think too much or feel too much. Jed Maitland does both and you’ve only just met the guy.”

“He’s Austin’s father.”

“He’s a man, Griff. A very hot, sexually magnetic man, who obviously finds you attractive.”

“I have a pulse. For a guy like him, that’s the only requirement.” She started arranging the place settings. “Besides, how weird is it that he and Dani were lovers?”

“Stop making excuses,” Mattie chastised as she helped set the table. “It’s not like you’re stealing your sister’s boyfriend.”

Mattie had a point, but the thought had crossed her mind. And she had Austin to consider, as well. Jed wasn’t the forever type. What would they do when whatever it was that was happening between them fizzled? She couldn’t let her attraction for Jed color her judgment, especially because of Austin.
 

“Nothing happened,” she said abruptly. “We kissed. Twice. It’s not a big deal.”
 

Her sister gave her a sly grin. “You’re such a bad liar.”

Griffen sighed, but was saved from having to respond because her father walked into the dining room.
 

Mattie immediately crossed her arms and gave him a level stare. “So, Dad. Are you going to tell us who she is?”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Sue me. I’m diligent.”

“You’re a pain,” Thomas said with a laugh. “Fine. If you must know, I had plans last night to spend the evening with a lady friend.”

“Oh my God,” Mattie said. “It
was
a hook up.”

Thomas’s expression turned stern. “I do not hook up, young lady.”

Griffen set the last place setting. “Who’s the lady friend, Dad?”
 

“That, my dear,” he said in a gentle, but firm tone, “is none of your concern.”

“You know we’ll find out eventually.” Mattie slid her arm around her father’s waist. “You should’ve just invited her to supper.”
 

“Speaking of which,” Thomas said. “I have two hungry grandchildren running poor Jessie ragged out there. How much longer?”

How much longer are we going to wait for Jed?
He didn’t have to say it, because Griffen knew. She’d been thinking the same thing for the past fifteen minutes.
 

Damn him
. Because Jed couldn’t be bothered to keep his word, Austin was going to be hurt, and that made her angry. “Ten more minutes?”

Griffen waited until her father left before turning to Mattie. “This is why I’ll never sleep with Jed Maitland,” she told her. “He’s an irresponsible, undependable, narcissistic—”

“Hot piece of man-candy,” Mattie said as they headed back into the kitchen to finish putting supper on the table.

“You’re not helping.” Griffen retrieved the salad from the fridge. “He can’t do this to...”

“You?”

“Austin,” she said as she began scooping the mashed potatoes from the crock pot. “He’s going to be crushed when he finds out Jed is a no-show.”

Mattie pulled the rolls from the oven. “Maybe you can cut the guy just a little slack. You do realize that this can’t be easy for him, either, right? I mean, he just found out he has a thirteen-year-old son. That’s gotta take some adjustment.”

Maybe Mattie had a point. But then again, maybe Jed was exactly what she’d accused him of being when he’d waltzed into Antiquities two days ago—only interested in having a good time.
 

*

Jed paced the motel room and glanced again at the digital clock on the bedside table for the third time in the past five minutes. He was already an hour late. Griffen’s family would be waiting for him. Austin would be waiting for him.

Shit
.

He easily pictured Austin looking repeatedly at the gold watch Griffen wore on her delicate wrist, his shoulders slumping with disappointment as each minute passed and Jed didn’t appear. And it was damned easy to picture the tight line of Griffen’s lips.
 

Fuck it
.
 

He couldn’t face them. He’d tried, but he just couldn’t bring himself to walk into that house tonight and announce he was ready to be a father to Austin.

Time for a reality check
.

He paced to the window. The sun hung in the west, but wouldn’t be dipping behind the horizon for at least another hour. His life was a shambles and he was adding to the carnage, turning confusion into pure mayhem. He’d left his place in Possum Kingdom to escape the vultures picking over his flesh and had stumbled into something far worse. A woman, when she wasn’t biting his head off, who turned him on to the point of discomfort. Hell, who was he kidding? Even when she was spitting mad at him he found her far more tempting than any of the women he’d ever had the pleasure of bedding in recent years.

And while he was at it, he couldn’t forget the kid.
His
kid. Griffen had warned him Austin would eat up whatever scrap of attention he was willing to toss his way. He should’ve listened to her.

Dammit, he couldn’t do it.

He
wouldn’t
do it.

The best thing for all of them was for him to leave. Now. Get the hell out of town and save his sanity while he still had the chance.

He dragged his duffle from the closet, then opened the dresser drawers, and started shoving his clothes into the bag. In the bathroom, he grabbed his shaving kit and grumbled about expectations and disappointments, and how they’d just have to get the fuck over them.

He reached for the aspirin bottle on the night table, popped two, then checked the clock again. He sure as hell hoped they didn’t hold dinner for him, because the goddamn guest of honor wasn’t showing.

The aspirin stuck in his throat, so he chugged the remnants in the orange juice carton he’d bought from the convenience store earlier. From across the room, he hurled the empty carton at the waste bin, missed, then swore again.
 

The sweet call of freedom beckoned. He slapped the room key on the dresser, picked up his duffle and headed for the door. As he reached for the doorknob, his cell phone buzzed.
 

Griffen
.
 

Yeah, he was out of there. Edgy, caged in, trapped. He didn’t need this shit. For too long he’d been tied down by the one thing he’d loved the most. Four quarters of glory every season for thirteen years. Linc had warned him the game would bleed him dry, use him up and toss him aside like yesterday’s garbage. Linc had almost gotten free, had been ready to start a new life, until his dreams of freedom had been tragically shattered.
 

By him.

With a ripe curse, he stepped through the door and slammed it behind him.

His phone dinged, signaling the arrival of a text message. He unlocked the SUV and climbed inside. The sooner he got out of this one horse town, the better he’d feel.
 

He turned left and headed in the opposite direction, avoiding downtown and Main Street. Dragging in a deep breath did little to calm the anger and frustration burning just below the surface.
 

Or was it fear?

“Fuck that.” He floored it.

What the hell had he been thinking yesterday? He’d let things go too far. A couple of relatively tame kisses and his curiosity had nearly been the end of him. One night with a woman, talking of all things, and he’d started thinking in terms of family and kids. She’d wanted a house full of babies. If she’d asked, for reasons that spooked him nearly blind, he’d have been more than willing to provide them for her. Well, it was a good thing he came to his senses before he did something really stupid.

Family? That was a laugh. He didn’t have room in his life for family. He didn’t want a family. Fine. He had a kid. But that kid was living with his adopted mother who was doing a good job of raising him. Didn’t they know they’d be better off without him in their lives?
 

He drove past the lake and took the turn-off toward the highway. With his arm slung over the steering wheel, he gunned the truck again, shooting him dangerously over the speed limit.
 

He crested a hill. The sun glinted off the windshield, and he shielded his eyes as he reached for his sunglasses. The SUV swerved, but he righted it, then slammed on the brakes.
 

The Escalade shuddered in protest at the abuse, then skidded to a halt, spinning until he was facing east. He checked his rearview mirror, then pulled over to the side of the road, tossed the sunglasses back on the dash and swore a blue streak.

Turning off the ignition, he pocketed the keys. His boots hit gravel as he followed the short dirt path toward the cemetery.

The gate was iron and rusty and probably one hundred years old. When he pushed on it, the hinges creaked but it swung wide enough for him to pass through. Marble headstones of varying size sprung from the ground, some elaborate, others simplistic. Jed moved among the headstones, monuments and simple ground plaques. He passed family plots until he found what he was looking for tucked in the far eastern corner beneath the heavy branches of a live oak to protect the Hart family plot from the sun.