River Road (River's End Series, #4) (6 page)

“Yes, I’ll get right on it.” Kate kept facing forward, but she imagined, silently, that AJ saluted and snapped his heels together in response to an order from the great Jack Rydell.

So far, she wasn’t impressed. She liked his ranch hand a whole lot more than she did her own brother.

KATE SHOPPED FOR FOOD, along with some more casual clothes and shoes to survive her stay at hillbilly hell. She brought it all home and popped two ibuprofen tablets to help alleviate the pain of her jarred muscles from the morning fall. She also slipped on the pair of jean shorts and a tank top she had purchased. They were both made of cheap material and she planned to throw them away when this experience ended. She checked her emails and answered all the essentials. Leaning back, she sighed as the afternoon sunlight streamed into the small cabin. She wandered out to the small deck and stared down at the river. Swollen and discolored with snow melt, there were sticks and even large trees bobbing down the rapidly flowing water. She walked back in, grabbing the cowboy boots she bought. They were a bright pink that she thought were cute as hell, compared to all the brown, dirty ones she’d seen thus far.

Walking down the road, she ducked under a white fence that ran the length of the land as far as she could see. The sign read “No guests beyond this point. Rydell River Ranch employees only.” She headed towards the river to avoid anyone. There were all kinds of buildings up ahead. Some were enclosed, and several must have been barns, judging by their shape. There were also lots of carports with everything from tractors to old trucks parked under them. She meandered past the fields of green and observed the horses grazing. Some lifted their heads towards her disturbance, but most ignored her and kept grazing. Eventually, she came to a large building with a giant sign on it that said “Rydell Rides.” Huh. Looked like a bike shop. She peeked in as she got closer. A giant of a man with a long, black ponytail, tattooed arms, and a leather vest caught a glimpse of her. He rose up from where he knelt, working on a bike.

Smiling, he stepped from the building and leaned against the door. “You don’t look like you got a bike for me to fix.”

She smiled. He beamed at her with an easy tone and a flirtatious smile. “Nope.”

“You saw the sign, I assume.”

“You mean the one that forbids the guests from going beyond it? Yup.”

He nodded, winking at her as he turned back towards the motorcycle behind him. “Okay, then watch out who catches you.”

She laughed. “You’re not going to kick me out?”

“Free country. Just don’t steal nothin’.”

“Are you another Rydell brother of Jack’s?”

“Shane.” He smiled. “Third in line. Ian comes between Jack and me. Joey’s the baby.”

“Hmm. Your poor mother. But nice to meet you, Shane, I’m Kate.”

“Well, howdy, Kate. Touring the place?”

“Yes. It’s quite big actually. And lovely.”

“Yup. Well, I’d love to chat with you all day, but I got a deadline. Have a nice stroll, Kate.”

Why couldn’t he be her brother? So nice and amiable? He was less about rules and more about being friendly.
Sigh.

She walked towards the muddy river and found another cluster of houses. It was a little cul-de-sac almost, but country-style. There were two finished houses, set back with lush green lawns, freshly planted trees and newly scattered bark. There was another house half-finished across the way from it. Each had at least a half acre or more surrounding it. There were other spots that had been recently cleared. Would these become vacation rentals? Now, they were talking along her taste. She would have loved to stay in any of these houses, versus the little rustic cabin she now occupied. Strange. She kept walking along a widely used trail. Weird, since the guests weren’t allowed there. She heard noises and voices yelling, along with the splashing of body limbs in water. The trail swerved around a curve before opening before her. She saw a wide, sandy access to the raging river, and the brown, smooth mountains dipping down and up. Capping the entire scene were two boys frolicking. One was younger, and the other was a teenager. Both had red hair. Her heart twisted as she watched them. There was no mistaking the older kid had to be Jack Rydell’s son. He looked just like him, only twenty years younger and leaner. She blew out a breath of air. She never considered that Jack and Erin might have children. Or that she had nephews, at least one anyway.

She stepped forward, the sun glaring into her eyes. The boys noticed her and stopped horsing around. They were knee height in the water where they wrestled, although the older boy had the obvious advantage. They stopped dead, their arms still interlocked in a complicated move. Water dripped off their hair and down their sleek, slim, bare chests.

“Uh, hey.” Kate tried for nonchalance. Sure, she wasn’t supposed to be there, but how was she supposed to figure out what and who her brother was if she didn’t snoop? She definitely wasn’t on vacation here, so the sooner her reconnaissance was finished, the sooner she could go back to civilization.

The older one spoke. “Guests aren’t supposed to come down here.”

She waved her hand around. “Shane gave me permission.”

The older one’s shoulders dropped and he removed his hands from his little brother as he stepped out of the water. He seemed to take Shane’s permission as some kind of signal that it was fine for her to be there. Thank you, friendly Shane. He grabbed a towel and started drying off. His pale coloring revealed the blush that easily started at his chest before rising up into his face. She almost told him not to bother with any adolescent embarrassment around her. After all, she wasn’t a pretty, older woman, she was his freaking aunt.

“I’m Kate.”

“I’m Ben, and that’s my little brother, Charlie.” Ben waved at his brother with careless interest. Kate’s heart flipped as she studied the youngster. They were her nephews. Wow. Ben was old. Late teens, at least. How? Dear God, she was thirty-five and not even remotely considering children.

“So… you’re Jack and Erin’s sons?” Damn, she’d give Erin credit; she aged well. She’d have guessed Erin’s age at no more than late twenties.

“Jack is our dad. Erin is our stepmom.”

Hmm. What was the story there? Did Jack drive away the boy’s mother? Or kill her, and bury her body somewhere around there? Lots of places to do that. She still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t some kind of nefarious wife-killer. There had to be some credible reason why her mother would not tell her anything about him. Why would she abandon her firstborn child, and her only son? It didn’t fit with the mother that Kate knew. The one who raised and loved and spoiled and comforted her. Her best friend and champion. And now she was dead and the pain persisted as if a chunk of the river rock sat weighing down her heart. But no. Not now. She could not feel this pain right now. She needed to be here. She had to focus on the task at hand. Figuring out why her mother hid it. She had to stay busy and in the now. She had to ignore the pain that losing her mom threatened to draw her into. She had a feeling it would be a deep, dark, black pit. But no. Not yet. She would not feel the pain. She refused to feel it. Instead, she held on to the anger that burned hot and thick inside her body, like jet fuel on fire. Her anger was so fantastically bright and deep that it smothered all her other emotions; including the sad and painful ones. Her anger was like a flash explosion inside of her. How dare her mother hide a goddamned sibling from her for thirty-five damn years?

“I didn’t realize he had sons. It’s nice to meet you.” She put her hand out and Ben leaned over to shake it with a small smile.

Charlie came out with a shy twitch of his lips and said, “Hey,” then dropped to his knees in the sand before sifting streams of fine white sand through his fingers over and over.

Ben was talkative. She learned that Jack had three brothers, Ian, Shane, and Joey. Two were gone. Ian lived with his girlfriend in Seattle while she attended the University of Washington and the other was just finishing his stint in the Army. She discovered Ben had just graduated and shockingly, was engaged to be married. She twisted her head around at that announcement. Who in the hell got married on purpose after graduating high school? She asked if he knocked the girl up, and was tersely informed with a stiffening of his back and neck, along with a glance of disdain, that no, he and Marcy, as it turned out, were very much in love and wanted to get married. No baby in their plans… yet.

She bit down hard on her lip to shut herself up. She had no right to comment on the teen, but she wanted to know exactly what was wrong with him? What teenage boy, and the kid
was
an overgrown boy,
wanted
to get married? It made Kate shudder. Dear God, imagine getting married before you could even grow facial hair. It was unheard of to Kate. What kind of backwards household did Jack Rydell run? How could he allow his son to be married before he could even formulate real thoughts? It was asinine in Kate’s opinion. Someday, she hoped to find a way to tell Ben to grow up and get a freaking clue. He was setting himself up for failure. Go to college or travel or just get a job, and do something that didn’t include mooning over some piece of ass. Have more ass to even begin to understand if it were truly love. She could not imagine what would possess any family to support such a notion.

Kids got on her nerves with their endless energy, dirty hands and faces, and demanding needs. But Ben was tolerable, and Charlie was quiet enough not to drive her right out of her mind.

Finally, she sensed she’d worn out her welcome, although running into the boys had provided a wealth of information she hadn’t counted on. Wiping her butt off after sitting on the sandy, bleached driftwood for a good half hour, she found her way back to her cabin. Getting there made her smile with pride when she actually did it. Greg Danners. Wonderful. She needed the work he brought with him to keep her sanity, and she could also use the goddamned distraction his body provided.

He smiled, still sitting in his car, and getting out only when he spotted her scooching under the fence and strolling towards her cabin.

His smile was bright and his suit was stupid, considering the setting. He was still handsome, however, and would have to do for tonight. “What the hell are you doing here, Kate? This isn’t you.”

No, it wasn’t. But no one had any clue about Jack Rydell and her discovery of her half-brother. Not one soul knew. And she wasn’t ready to change that yet. So she smiled and shrugged. “Just needed a change of scenery.”

He nearly frowned in displeasure when she stopped and her boots kicked some dust on his black, polished dress shoes. “You couldn’t find a place with running water and electricity? You and I have completely different ideas of a vacation. I about fell off my chair when you called to announce you were taking a two-week vacation. Unheard of, but here? Why?” His tone was dry and he raised his eyebrows with unbridled curiosity.

She stuck her tongue out and took the bag he offered her that held her precious work. Finally! Something to do. “Because I needed a change.”

“Oh.” He let a lingering pause settle between them. “Because of your mom?”

“Yup. All because of my mom.” She passed by Greg and walked into her cabin with him close behind. He knew she had recently lost her mom, but didn’t know about the hole it had ripped in her chest. She kept it light and easy, as if she were only mildly sad. He didn’t know two figs about her or her real life. Only because of her mom was she there. That was no lie.

****

AJ started early when he tore out the grass that went all the way up to each cabin, front and back. He was working quietly, so as not to disturb anyone. It was tedious work. Using a straight edge and shovel, he cut squares in the grass, and using a pitchfork, simply lifted the squares up and stacked them off to the side. Later, he planned to bring the loud tractor up to load all the sod squares. Meanwhile, he had to get the small flowerbeds ready for planting and bark or decorative stone to fill in around them. Now Erin was talking about using little, fancy river rocks. AJ bit his lip while Jack described it to him earlier that morning. He grumbled about all the rock they had right at their beach, so why buy the damn stuff? But Erin thought that river rock was
too big.
Jack wasn’t happy about it. Working away, by nine o’clock the sun finally slipped over the mountain above River’s End. The warm rays hit AJ’s back and he could feel the inevitable heat of the day through his t-shirt. It was going to be another hot one today.

He brushed the sweat gathering on his forehead and tucked a bandanna around his head before throwing his hat off to the side.

He glanced up when the door to the cabin suddenly burst open as if the intruder wanted to shove it off its hinges or shatter the glass inside. Then… well, he should have realized who it was by the vigorous energy used to merely open the door. It had to be Kate Morgan.

She was a bundle of energy. Quick, energetic, and confident, she seemed as though she were entitled to explore the ranch, and AJ would have bet that was how she lived her life. Loud and sure and
there
. There was no mistaking Kate’s presence. He sensed it didn’t just include her vacationing there. Yet, she wasn’t obnoxious or rude or annoying. She was mostly just bold and brash, living her life, it seemed, with a vigor he couldn’t imagine. He was slightly intimidated by her. Sure. He wondered what person in their right mind would not have been.

She stepped out onto the deck, unaware of him working right below it. He sighed. He supposed he’d better let her know he was there. She walked to the edge of the railing and leaned on it, a coffee cup gripped in her hand. She placed it on the railing as the steam spiraled from it.