Page 7 of Trails of Temptation

Moira’s voice fluttered through the dining room and into the kitchen through the two archways separating the rooms in the lower part of the house. Grant kicked off the counter, tipping his hat toward me as he walked away, leaving me feeling a bit uneasy.

Was Pete really the reason George had been so weird around me?

Was my own brother the reason why nothing happened between George and me two summers ago, even though it had been painfully obvious there were mutual feelings starting to bloom?

“Well,” I said to myself, gathering my purse off the counter and hanging up the apron I was wearing on the hook near the door. If Pete thought he had any control over who I could be with, who I could like… Who I could love?

He had a whole lot of hurt coming his way.

Because I was going to seduce his best friend.

ChapterFour

George

I’d been successful in avoiding Keely for the past week until the moment she ran in front of my truck and smacked her hands on the hood. I’d had to slam on the brakes to avoid running the woman over.

I knew I couldn’t avoid her for long, not with her living at Grant’s house. Especially not now that her beat-up truck was in the shop in town and I’d become her personal errand boy for the past two days.

I’d taken her to the grocery store to buy ingredients for some weird cake Moira desperately wanted to eat and would die without, apparently. It had been the first time since she’d been back that we’d actually had a moment to talk, even if the conversation had been nothing more than small talk and her complaining that I was grouchy, and never smiled.

I kept mostly to myself, especially when Pete walked up to us with a look of heavy suspicion etched into his face, the look directed at me.

I’d never understood his fierce protectiveness over his sister, especially as she got older and sought freedom from his reign of terror, as she called it. Pete wasn’t a bad guy, but he obviously had some issues I wasn’t going to deal with, even if it meant I had to stay miles away from his sister.

But that was yesterday. The cake Keely needed to bake had kept her busy and out of my way all evening and I hadn’t seen her since I dropped her off back at the house.

I walked up to Grant’s house, my hands tucked into the pockets of my old Wrangler jeans, and my usual cowboy hat fixed on top of my slightly curling dark brown hair. I’d shaved, not sure why. I wasn’t about to admit it was because I was trying to look nice for Keely.

I absently scratched my chin as I walked up the steps to the back porch and pulled open the screen door, walking into the kitchen where Grant and Day were sitting down for a quick breakfast before Grant drove the kid to his science summer camp, or whatever the hell he was doing during the week this summer.

Grant looked up at me, smiling as he motioned to the coffeemaker. We met like this practically every morning—Grant discussing the order of events for the day while I drank the fancy coffee Moira had started making him buy instead of his usual stale Folgers. I wasn’t complaining, not in the slightest, especially because I’d gone two towns over to buy the same stuff for my own house on the down-low.

“Day,” I said, ruffling the boy’s hair. He blushed, scrunching his nose as he scooped another mouthful of cereal into his mouth.

I hid the fact that I was slightly disappointed Keely wasn’t downstairs, but it wasn’t even seven in the morning yet.

“I’ll be in town most of the day,” Grant began I pour myself a cup of black coffee and sat down at the small, shabby kitchen table.

“I’ll be at the auction,” I replied, sipping gingerly. Hot as hell, just like I liked it. “Some of the hands are going to be moving the cattle to the western section of the pasture. I expect it to take them most of the day, and Randy is taking care of the horses this morning before putting them out to graze.”

Grant nodded, checking his phone before sliding it back in his pocket and patting Day on the back. “We gotta get going, bud. Go get your backpack. Don’t wake up Mom, okay? She wasn’t feeling well last night.”

I hid my wince at the mention of Moira behind another sip of coffee as Day rose from the table and scurried off, Jenny, Grant’s old German Shephard, hot on his heels.

“How’s she doing?” I asked after a moment of silence.

Grant shrugged, looking more downtrodden than I’d seen him since Moira had a miscarriage shortly after their wedding last fall.

“She’s hanging in there. She has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and is feeling anxious about it. Keely has been keeping her company and I think having another woman around is helping.”

I felt more than a little guilty now, especially since I’d been cursing Grant’s name for bringing Keely up to the ranch.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” I said, knowing full well I was useless in the situation.

“Picking up Keely’s rust box of a truck from the shop would be a start.” He smiled, shaking his head.

“She’s going to kill herself in that thing,” I replied, turning my mug in a circle on the tabletop.

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