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As she stood in the fragrant stable watching hay dust dance in a beam of morning sunlight, Dax saddled a pair of horses for them. Kendra still couldn’t believe it. Sweet, kind, loyal, honest Dax Russell was lying to her.

Lying.

To her.

He was his father’s heir.

Nealand Russel had only died a couple of days ago, though. They’d just had the funeral day before yesterday. Dax had attended with his mother, and taken the next flight home. Kendra wasn’t supposed to know those things, but she did. The will probably hadn’t even been looked at yet by anyone other than the lawyers, who’d probably torn into it before the old man finished his final breath. Greedy bastards. She hated lawyers.

Well, except for Caleb Montgomery, on Main Street. He was country, through and through. Could’ve had a future in politics, if he could’ve stomached it. She imagined he was too honest for it, though. He was one of the good guys. They were a rare breed, but Texas and Oklahoma seemed to produce more than their share. They were the boys who grew up around cattle and crops. Even if their daddies weren’t ranchers or farmers, those were the summer jobs they took all through high school. They liked cars, country music, fishing, and they didn’t mind fighting when it was called for.

Dax was like that. Born and raised in Tennessee, another state with a bumper crop of good guys. He’d told her all about it one night when they’d had too many beers together, and wound up snuggled on her sofa back in Aurora Springs, NY. She’d been there with Jack, scoping out the rich widows who frequented the horse races wearing big brimmed hats and sucking down mint juleps and pretending they were in Kentucky instead of a little town in New York. The whole place looked as if it had been teleported from the 1890s. The houses. The shops. Jack had also been scoping out connections. Horseracing drew bosses like horseshit drew flies.

That was where she and Jack had met Vester Caine, the “business man” responsible for most of the heroin in the northeast. Jack said he was a lucrative connection to have. Kendra disagreed. She’d pegged him as evil right from the start. If that bastard hurt her father….

She shifted her thoughts deliberately back to Dax, wondering why he’d lied to her.

Dax had told her one night long ago, something she’d already known. That his father had inherited Aurora Downs from his grandfather. And how all the other nearby tracks were owned by the State Racing Association. All but Aurora Downs. The SRA had taken them all over decades ago, to get rid of the organized crime elements that had infiltrated so many of them. But one of Dax’s ancestors had pull with somebody important, and a grandfather clause had been created. The clause allowed family-owned tracks to remain family-owned, so long as there was an heir to inherit them. And at the time, Aurora Downs had been the only family-owned track left.

If Dax’s family ran out of heirs, the track would go to the SRA. It could never be sold.

Dax’s family had moved from Tennessee to New York once his father inherited the track, and he’d spent his teen years working there. He didn’t have any siblings. His parents had divorced. There was no one else to inherit. The track was either going to him or to the SRA.

Dax had lied to her. His old man didn’t have a choice but to leave him that track.

So his offer to take her riding might not be something to celebrate after all. What if he was up to something?

What if he knew she was?

“All set,” Dax said, giving a final tug on the cinch.

She turned to look at him, at his sweet smile and big blue eyes. He had the kind of face that made you think there ought to be trumpets announcing his arrival every time he came around. The kind of face that would soothe the most inconsolable shrieking infant, or the most obnoxious adult. She loved his face. It wasn’t the face of a con-man or a liar. He didn’t have a dishonest bone in his big beautiful body.

He smiled at her and rubbed his thumb over an imaginary smudge on his cheek. “What? Have I got something on my face?”

“Yeah. There’s handsome smeared all over it.” He wasn’t up to anything. Not her Dax. Never, not in a million years. Maybe he really believed he’d been disinherited. Maybe he didn’t know better because lawyers were slow and next week was Thanksgiving.

He dropped to one knee, patting the other. “Step on up.”

“You know I’ve never ridden a horse in my life, right?”

“Yes, I do know that. You’ve told me five times this morning. You seem to keep forgetting this was your idea.” He patted his thigh again. “Step on up.”

She put her hands on his shoulders and one foot on his thigh.

“That’s right. Now, grab onto the pommel instead of my shoulders, and swing your leg over. And don’t worry, I’m not gonna let you fall.”

She didn’t. She put her foot back on the floor and looked at the dark brown mare with the super-model mane. Patting the horse’s neck, she said, “I feel like I should introduce myself before presuming to climb all up on your back.” The mare turned and gazed back at her with huge brown eyes that wanted to suck all the badness right out of her soul. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Kendra.”

The horse replied with a soft nicker. Then she faced front again and gave that mane a shake. Kendra sent Dax a look, eyebrows raised. “I think she just said, ‘don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.’”

Dax laughed. “She said her name’s Sweet Caroline, and she’s happy to have you onboard.”

“So she’s a flight attendant?”

“Up you go.” He grabbed her butt and lifted. “Swing your leg over.”

It was a shame she’d stopped understanding English the second his big hands closed over her cheeks. His touch sent heat and memory sizzling through her whole body and she froze, every bit of her focused on feeling it. Relishing it.

It had been a long time. She still wanted him. She didn’t think that part of it had ever really ended. It had been so good, the sex between them. Long, lazy nights of slow, tender lovemaking. Steamy interludes of passionate pleasure. The touches. The looks. When they’d been together everything had been intimate between them. Even mundane things.

“Swing your leg over,” he said, bending to speak close, his breath warm on her ear, and neck. She shivered and closed her eyes. “Kendra?”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” She only spoke troglodyte now, but it was better than nothing. She pulled herself up and swung her leg over, moving her butt, regrettably, out of his delicious hands and onto a much harder and less fun saddle. Her heart was beating fast as she looked down at him.

He met her eyes, frowned a little. Sure, he saw it all. “You’re blushing like a sunburn,” he said, “It’s not like that’s the first time I’ve had your backside in my hands, Kendra Lee.”

“That’s the problem, Dax Beauregard.”

He winced and sucked air through his teeth. “You’re one of only two people alive who know my middle name. Let’s keep it that way.” He handed her the reins, closing her hand around them just so, and placed her other hand on the pommel. And then he left his hand on top of hers for a few extra beats, and she swore she felt it tighten a little, and maybe his fingers moved in the most subtle, most minuscule caress.

He cleared his throat, took his hand away. “Use the pommel for grip and balance, never the reins. They are only for communicating with the horse, not to keep yourself from falling off. Okay?”

“Got it.”

He checked to be sure both her feet were securely in the stirrups, made a few adjustments to get them just the right length, and finally turned and got on his own horse, a mottled dark gray mare that turned blue when they rode outside and the slanting sunlight fell on her coat. She had a vivid black mane and tail.

“Who’s the other person,” she asked. “Who knows your middle name?”

“My mother,” he said.

“Caroline.” Then she frowned. “Is this horse I’m riding named after your mother, Dax?”

“You remember my mom’s name?”

She lowered her eyes, and clamped her legs tighter when the horse gave a harmless hop. When she was sure she wasn’t going to fall off, she said, “Your mother is kind of unforgettable,” she said. “But even if I’d never met her, I’d remember. I think I remember everything you ever told me.” She used to love the way he would talk to her, back when he thought she was real. Back when he thought she was good. He’d tell her things about his childhood, about his life, about things that mattered to him.

That was when she’d started to change, that time with him. He was so good it was contagious. Typhoid Dax. He’d infected her. She’d been losing her edge since the day she first met him, waiting tables in a joint where high-end people came for lunch. Track owners and gamblers, breeders and fans. Poor people don’t go to horse races. They’re too smart to throw money away watching horses run. They’d rather see them gallop across a meadow, or ride them across one, like she was doing right then. This was nice.

“I’ve had that mare since I was nineteen,” he said. “She was boarding at Mom’s place in New York. I just got her moved down here this past summer. Rob insisted.”

She nodded. His mother owned a small boarding stable near his father’s racetrack.

There were other horses in the meadow, soaking up the autumn sunshine and nibbling on grass and wildflowers. She and Dax took a trail that followed the fence line, riding past spindly legged colts, who stuck so close to their mammas, Kendra was afraid they’d get stepped on.

It was quiet. Quiet tended to make her uncomfortable. She said, “If I’m riding your horse, who are you riding?”

“This is Louise.”

“That’s my sister’s middle name.”

“Rob thought naming her Kiley would get confusing,” he said. “She’s a blue roan. A stunner, isn’t she?”

“She is.” Her horse jumped over something in the path, and the landing knocked her whole body dangerously sideways. She almost jerked the reins to hold herself upright, but caught the impulse just in time, gripped the pommel, squeezed her thighs, and got herself right again.

“Nice,” he said.

She found herself beaming with pride that she hadn’t fallen off a horse. Big fat hairy deal. She wanted to talk to him some more. She wanted to talk to him about the track and his inheritance and try to find out why he’d lied to her about it.

But he looked at her with that serene smile and said, “You’re not here. Stop all that chatter going on in your pretty head, and try to just be right here.”

She frowned at him. “I don’t know how to do that,” she said, and it was completely honest.

He said, “Listen. Try and count how many different sounds you can hear.”

Kendra listened. The first sound she noticed was the steady rhythmic plodding of the horses’ hooves over the packed earth trail. It was a soft sound, a gentle thud, tha-thud, tha-thud, tha-thud. She noticed that her hips rocked in the saddle right in time with the beat, if she let them, and tried to relax her stiff posture a little more. That was one of a hundred tips Dax had given while he’d been saddling the horses, relax your hips and rock.

She could hear the Cimarron, too. The river unwound not a hundred feet from the trail, to the right. There was splashing and gurgling where it tumbled over rocks and fallen limbs, but behind and beneath that, a deeper, constant murmur of raw power.

There were birds singing, too. A loud one repeated the same cry over and over, and then as she paid attention, she heard others. Warblers warbled and songbirds sang. She listened even harder, leaning slightly forward in her saddle, eyes intense. There was a bumble bee buzzing from flower to flower somewhere.

“Works better if you don’t try too hard,” Dax said. “Just relax and let the sounds come to you. Same as the smells.”

She could only smell horse. But no, there were late-blooming lilies that pulled her gaze right to them as soon as her nose caught a whiff. The river had a scent of its own, and so did the trees and even, she thought, the sunshine.

And Dax. He smelled clean and familiar and good.

He wasn’t up to anything. He’d asked her to come riding because he still cared about her. And he’d probably lied about his inheritance so he could assure himself she wasn’t going to try to con him out of it.

Yeah, that was probably it.

She relaxed even more, kind of sinking into her own body from a posture that had been tense and tight. She didn’t even realize how tense and tight until she let go of it. She rode along on Sweet Caroline and smelled horse and leather and flowers and Dax, and she listened to the songs and buzzes and splashes and hoof steps that came from everywhere and everything.

It was the most peaceful morning she thought she had ever spent.

After their ride, Kiley invited Kendra to go baby shopping. Dax didn’t expect her to agree, once she found out three other women were also going along; Rob’s cousin Sophie, sister-in-law Emily, and Allie Wakeland, who was three weeks less pregnant than Kiley. She was also the talk of Big Falls because she didn’t have so much as a boyfriend, and because when her war-hero brother got back from Afghanistan, he was going to hunt down whoever had got her pregnant, and murder him.

  To Dax’s stunned surprise, Kendra accepted the invitation, and went off for a girls’ day out that was completely not her kind of thing.

 He and Rob were working with the oldest colts that day. In Dax’s opinion, the most important part of training was the relationship between horse and trainer, and you couldn’t start building that too soon. They spent a lot of time with the colts, touched them frequently, and worked on keeping their attention rapt even when distractions, from passing cars to bumblebees, came along.

Rob said, “She’s too close to her due date to be running around shopping malls. I don’t even know how her little legs can carry all that around a shopping mall.”

Dax, who’d been waiting for a break in Rob’s over-protective, dad-to-be griping, so he could change the subject entirely, said, “Sophie’s a doctor, Emily’s a vet, and Allie’s almost as far along as Kiley is. I’m pretty sure your wife is safer in a mall with those three than she would be in her own living room. Besides, Kendra’s with her.”

“Yeah,” he said with a weighty look. Then he sighed. “It’s scary, that’s all. I don’t like being more than a few yards away from her these days.”

“And she hasn’t skinned you yet?”

Rob blinked as if Dax was speaking a new language, and then something dawned on his face. “Am I hovering?”

“Hovering. Maybe smothering. Who am I to say? But I do know that women have babies every day without any help at all from the daddies. Aside from that fun part in the beginning.” He tried a friendly grin, in case the truth hurt.

Rob sighed. “You’re right. I’m acting like a crazy man.”

“That’s the thing about crazy—you can’t see it when you’re in it.” He shrugged. “I might be close to slipping into a whole other kind of crazy, myself.”

Rob looked away from the colt he’d been brushing, a still spindly brown fellow with a mane just at that spikey stage that made him look like a punk rocker. His eyes were wide and worried. Rob’s, not the colt’s. “Kendra?”

Dax nodded. “For what it’s worth, I’m sure her coming here had nothing to do with Kiley. She was legitimately shocked to find out about the baby.”

“Then why is she here?” Fireball, named for his resemblance to the Rudolf character, craned his neck around and nickered. More, please.

“I’m not sure yet, but she knows about my father, and has been asking about the track. Whether he left it to me. And uh…I’ve got reason to think there’s something going on with the books there.”

Rob shot him a worried look. “What do you mean, ‘something going on with the books?’ Are you okay here, Dax?”

“I’m okay. I’m not an owner. But my mother is. Rob, this has to stay between us. I trust you.”

“You can trust me absolutely. You’re my friend, Dax.” He grinned. “Even if you did kick my ass when we first met.”

“Hey, you held your own. Don’t sell yourself short. You put a hurtin’ on me, too.”

“And that’s how good a friend you are,” Rob said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Letting me believe that.”

They shared a laugh, and it died gradually. Dax took a deep breath, and then he went on. “My father’s dying words warned me that letting the track go puts my mother at risk. He said she’d go to prison. Something about the books.”

“Holy…. What are you gonna do?”

“If I inherit, I’m culpable. If I refuse, my half goes to the SRA, they go over the books, Mom goes to prison.”

“This is rough, Dax.” Rob rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

“I’ve got someone going over the books on the sly. Mom gave me access, though I didn’t tell her why I needed it.”

Rob nodded. “That’s a start. You’ll know where you stand.” Then he blinked. “You said Kendra was asking about the track. You don’t think she’s…mixed up in all this, do you?”

He didn’t want to think it. “It would be a pretty big coincidence, otherwise,” he said. “But even if she’s not tangled up in my father’s crimes, I imagine she’s got some kind of plan to get her fingers into the Aurora Downs pie. She’s up to something. She’s always up to something.”

“Ah, hell, Dax. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “Nothing to be sorry about. I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. It’s just hard, being around her and not….” He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Rob had tried pretty hard not to fall for Kendra’s twin. He must know exactly what Dax was going through.

“Is there anything I can do?” Rob asked.

Dax shrugged. “I told her Dad didn’t leave me a nickel and I wouldn’t have taken it even if he had. She’s still here. Maybe….”

“Maybe because she knows it’s bullshit? Don’t you think she did her research and knew the truth before she even came here, especially if the track is why she came here?”

“It’s not bullshit. I don’t want it. She knows that now, so even if that is why she came, maybe it’s not why she’s still here.”

He shrugged. “And why do you think she’s still here?”

Dax lowered his head. “Not for me. I don’t think that. I’m not stupid.” Although she had seemed near to blissful on that ride with him this morning. She’d seemed different. She’d seemed real. And she’d seemed to be enjoying his company as much as he’d been enjoying hers.

This was dangerous ground he was walking. Skipping. Throwing daisies. She was up to no good. Why couldn’t he keep that clear in his brain?

 “Maybe she’s staying for the baby,” Rob said, giving him false hope. “The holidays are coming and she and Kiley—they need each other, you know?”

 “If the track is why she came, that’s why she came,” Dax said. “We at least have to consider she might be staying for the right reasons.”

Rob said, “Are you trying to talk yourself into something here?”

He was, he realized. He was trying to convince himself that being with Kendra while at the same time trying to find out what she was up to, wasn’t the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. When he knew damn well it was.

But he had a reason for shining Kendra on a little. He had to protect his mother. He couldn’t let her be prosecuted for his father’s crimes and he had to find out whether Kendra was tangled up with those crimes.

Maybe he could keep his heart out of it. Maybe…for a little while.

And then the memory replayed in his mind, of her riding beside him along the tree-lined trail, sunlight dappling her silvery blond hair. She’d smiled over at him, eyes sparkling a reflection of the sheer pleasure she was feeling, and he wondered if he was lying to himself.

Kendra was not intimidated by the leading ladies of Big Falls. Doc Sophie, cousin to the McIntyre fortune and married to CMA winning singer songwriter Darryl Champlain. Emily, the veterinarian married to Joey and the McIntyre fortune, The Long Branch Saloon, and the adorable “Twig” currently sprouting behind it. And 8 month’s pregnant Allie Wakeland, photographer from a military family who were local heroes. Her brother was serving now. Her brother-in-law had made the ultimate sacrifice a year ago. There was a monument to him in the park. 

Then there was her sister, Kiley, savior of Big Falls, who’d stopped a con man from leaving town with the half mil he’d swindled out of them summer before last. They overlooked the fact that said con man was her dad, and probably didn’t even know that Kendra had helped her pull it off.

Saved her is more like it. Jack was about to catch on when I pulled Kiley’s ass out of the fire.

 She wasn’t intimidated.

The hell she wasn’t. They were four Cinderellas and a wicked stepsister. Only not step. Twin. A wicked twinsister.

They walked through the Mall of Tucker Lake together. Kendra told herself that she was also a highly accomplished woman. She was one of the best cons in the biz. And while she’d taken a break from running games on people, she hadn’t really given it up. She’d been running promotions for small businesses online for the past year. At first, as an assistant to an indie marketer, and then hanging up an online shingle of her own. As it turned out, convincing consumers to buy something was what she’d been doing all her life. Now she was doing it legally. And she was making bank.

She wasn’t ashamed of either incarnation of her career. Except when it came to Dax.

Dax. The memory of their morning ride returned like a warmed blanket wrapped all around her. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. She’d let herself forget how it felt to be that adored by someone.

He was a good man. Probably the best man she’d ever known.

Kiley said, “Oh, restrooms!” and pointed as excitedly as if she’d just crossed the Sahara and spotted a lemonade stand.

“Thank God!” Allie said.

“Go ahead, we’ll wait.” Emily smiled as she said it.

Kendra didn’t know whether to run off with the pair of preggos or stay with the saints. Sophie put a hand on her arm and said, “We’ll be right here, Kiley. Take your time.” And she winked.

“Uh, yeah,” Kendra said with a sideways frown. “We’ll be right here.”

 They wanted to talk to her alone. She braced herself, figuring she was in for it. They were either going to accuse her of something or question her motives, and then she’d have to spend the rest of the day with them pretending it was fine. Would the fun never end?

Kiley and Allie waddled away to the restrooms.

Sophie said, “My God, it took her long enough. She must have a bladder like a camel.”

“I’d have had to go three times by now, when I was carrying Matilda Louise,” Emily put in.

Kiley looked back over her shoulder before going through the restroom door, gave a wave. Did she look worried? Kendra wondered if she was more concerned about her or about them. Them, she decided. Her sister knew better than to worry about her.

The door swung closed, and Emily said, “Okay, great. Now we have to talk fast, they won’t give us much time.”

“About what?” Kendra asked, because the redheaded vet was animated and smiling, not dark and menacing.

“The baby shower!” She clapped her hands and her grin got wider.

“We started planning it,” Sophie said. She was classy. Elegant without trying to be. “Being the closest relatives here.”

“Right,” Emily said. “But now that you’re here, you’re closest. We don’t want to step on your toes.”

“Not that we’re dumping it on you, either.” Sophie held up both hands. “But you’re her sister. If you want to throw it, then—”

“Wait, wait.” Kendra gave her head a shake. “You want me to plan a baby shower?”

They looked at each other, then at her. “Help plan one. You are her sister,” Emily said.

“Her twin sister,” Sophie added. Like she might’ve forgotten.

Emily nodded hard. “Vidalia’s helping, too. And Sunny.”

She was mentally identifying those people in her head. Vidalia was Kiley’s stepmother-in-law. And Sunny, she was the bakery chick, right?

“They’ll be back any minute.” Emily shot a nervous look at the restroom door. “We want it to be a surprise. Rob doesn’t know, either.”

“We should meet to go over what we’ve done so far and we can just start from there, with you in the lead,” Sophie said.

“Oooh-kay. Um, when?”

“My office tomorrow morning, say eight a.m?” Sophie asked.

Eight a.m. Why did everyone around here do everything so early?

“Here they come!” Emily said.

“Here’s the address.” Emily slipped an appointment card into Kendra’s hand so sneakily she wouldn’t have been surprised if they got busted by a mall cop for a suspected drug deal.

And then Kiley and Allie were back, smiling and holding their baby bumps.

“Well, where do you want to shop first?” Sophie asked, rubbing her hands together and looking at the mall map.

“I’m gonna need nursing bras,” Kiley said.

Kendra’s jaw literally dropped. “Oh my God, Sis, we have to get you into Victoria’s Secret, STAT. You need something drop-dead sexy to wear after this baby’s born.”

“As a doctor, I concur,” Sophie said. Then she wiggled the most perfect set of eyebrows Kendra had ever seen. “I might just pick out something for myself, as long as we’re there anyway.”

“My lingerie closet is looking a little mom-like, now that you mention it,” Emily said.

Kiley was blushing. “You guys are crazy.”

Allie rubbed her baby bump and said, “I haven’t felt sexy in so long…” She met Kiley’s eyes, lifted her brows and said, “Well, why not? I could get lucky again someday. You never know.”

Kiley looked at each of them, and then she grinned that mischievous grin that hadn’t changed since they were kids, spinning in the wildflowers, looking up at the stars. “Let’s do it!”

 When Dax opened the front door, he found a shopping bag tree, with every branch filled. The muffled plea sounded like, “A li’l hep?”

He started plucking bags, and eventually Kendra sighed and said, “That’s good, that’s good. Thanks.” There were still several clutched in her hands, and dangling from her forearms.

“You go a little bit crazy today?” He wondered where she was getting her money. The car. Everything. Was she running a con on some poor rich slob and using Big Falls as her headquarters?

“This isn’t all me. Kiley’s gal-gang shops like there’s no tomorrow.” She came inside, looked around. “Kiley went home with Sophie. Guess she’s due for an exam.”

“I know, Rob’s meeting her there. Asked me to wait for you.”

“So…what do we do with all this?” She lifted her laden arms.

“Nursery, would be my best guess,” Dax said. He headed through the living room and up the stairs to the bedroom beside Rob and Kiley’s.

The window was propped open, a fan aimed outward to clear out the smell of the fresh pink paint that had been put on since he’d been in here last. It was a soft, pretty green with a pink stripe a foot wide around the middle. A white crib fit for a princess stood opposite the window.

He watched Kendra, checking it all out. The bookshelf was already piled with titles. The dresser and changing table were white with rainbows painted on them. Every surface held a toy. There were princess dolls, castles, and unicorns everywhere. Kendra went to the room’s center and stood there, turning in a slow circle. “You…think she went overboard on the princess theme a little bit?” she asked softly.

“If I did, I would never say so.”

“Neither would I. Still, it’s awfully… girlie, isn’t it?”

“A muscle car poster would break it up some,” Dax said.

Kendra grinned at him. He grinned back and for just a second, he was stuck there, in a bubble of happy with her.

He cleared his throat, looked away. The bubble popped. He set his bags on the floor near the closet and opened it up. “Lots of hangers in here. Should we?”

She set her bags down beside his and pawed through a few of them, past frilly pink fluffy things until she finally found what she wanted and yanked out the tiniest pair of denim bib overalls he’d ever seen in his life. “I picked these out because Diana’s got my DNA, too. She’s gonna get dirty, and she’s gonna break things.”

Hearts, he thought. She was gonna break hearts.

They hung each little item on a hanger, but didn’t remove any tags.

“You look all bright and shiny, Kendra. Did you have a good time with the girls?”

“Sure.” She averted her eyes, focused on folding footie pajamas so tiny he couldn’t believe any human being could fit them. Even a newborn. “I mean, they’re nice people, you know that. It’s no chore being around nice people like that.”

He must’ve looked at her wrong, because when he did, she added, “For limited periods.”

“They seemed to like you.” She frowned at him and he nodded at the window. “I saw when they dropped you off. Everyone smiling, waving back all the way down the road.”

“You saw us pull in and didn’t come help me lug all those bags?”

“By the time I got the door, you were already there. I was putting some things up in the attic for Rob. Babies take up a lot of room. And you’re changing the subject. They liked you, didn’t they?”

She took her stack of jammies to the white dresser, opened drawers to see where they belonged. “They only think they like me. I make people think they like me, Dax. I grew up learning how and I don’t think I can even turn it off anymore. I didn’t even try, I swear, they just….”

“They just liked you.”

“Apparently, I’m supposed to take over planning the baby shower. Can you even imagine?” She’d found the right drawer, was closing it now.

He wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “I guess I don’t know enough about baby showers to have an opinion.”

“It’s a surprise, so don’t say anything to Rob. We’re having a secret meeting tomorrow at the crack of dawn.” She rolled her eyes.

There was a hint of insecurity in them. He spotted it like a hawk spotting a garter snake from on high. She was trying to hide it, but she was nervous about being around the Brand-McIntyre females.

“You know you’re just as smart and just as pretty as any of them, don’t you?”

“Smarter,” she said. “And pretty? Come on, Dax, do you think I give a crap about pretty?” She shrugged. “It’s fine. Like I said, they’re nice. How did your day go?”

For a second he thought she might really want to know, so he said, “I had a text from my mother. She and the lawyers are coming out here to uh…” he hesitated, but decided to plunge ahead. It felt like the best move. He couldn’t trap her without any bait, anyway. And he thought he needed to. He needed to know for sure what her game was, so he could keep his mother as far away from it as possible. And his heart, he had to protect that too. So he said it. “To discuss my father’s estate.”

She had opened the little closet and was hanging up baby clothes on the tiniest hangers he’d ever seen. But she stopped in mid-motion and spoke without turning to look at him. “I thought you said he cut you out of his will.”

“Nope.”

“So you just told me that, because…what, you figured if I knew you had the track, I’d try to con you out of it?”

“I don’t have the track. I’ll never have the track. I don’t want it. So while my father didn’t disinherit me, I’m disinheriting myself. Same result.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to see if you’d stick around. And I didn’t want to wonder if your reason for staying was to try to convince me to keep it.”

 She sighed, lowered her head, then brought it up again as if something new had occurred to her. “So then you…want me to? Stick around?”

“Is that not obvious?”

“No. I figured you were just spying on me for Rob.” She shrugged a shoulder. “And I wouldn’t blame you if you were. Payback’s a bitch.”

“I am spying on you for Rob. He wants to know why you really came home and whether your father knows about the baby.”

“I came for family,” she said softly. “And that’s the absolute truth. And no, Jack doesn’t know about the baby, but I’m going to tell him the next time I have the chance to talk to him.”

“Have the chance to talk to him? That’s a funny way to put it. Where is Jack, these days?”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t generally give me his itinerary, Dax. I don’t know where he is.”

“Well, now I know why you’re here and what your father knows. Mission accomplished. I am no longer spying on you for Rob.” Now he was only spying for himself, he thought with a pang of guilt. Impulsively, he moved closer to her, reached out very slowly, and brushed a wisp of hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear. It was a knee-jerk apology. He felt bad leading her on, even though he was pretty sure she was doing the same to him.

And he was a little bit afraid he was only pretending to be leading her on, trying to fool himself into believing that. And failing.

She met his eyes, blinked. “You’re way too easy on me.”

“I can’t seem to help myself.” He leaned closer. Leaned wasn’t the right word. He was pulled, like she was wearing magnets under her skin and he was made of metal. She tipped her chin up just the tiniest bit, just enough to tell him yes, so he kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight to him, and he kissed her.

Everything he’d ever felt for her came flooding back in a rush that suffused him from his head to his toes with warm, red glitter, dusted in cinnamon. It had been there all along. He’d just bagged it up and hoisted it into the attic, out of sight. But then, bam! One kiss. Glitter avalanche.

It scared him, but his fear was hopelessly buried.

Her lips were soft, and her mouth was wet and she tasted like jalapenos. He kissed her deeper. Her hands were on his shoulders, but they didn’t twine around his neck the way they used to. She kept moving them down over his arms, then back up and over to his chest, as if she couldn’t make up her mind whether to push him away or pull him closer.

 Eventually, he lifted his head. “I’m going to refuse the inheritance. I want you to know that.”

 “I know,” she said, a little bit breathlessly, and then, “But doesn’t that mean it’ll go to the SRA?”

 Like a bucket of ice water, those words. He stepped back a little, blinking at her. “Since when do you know so much about Aurora Springs horseracing, Kendra?”

 Her eyes flared, just the tiniest bit. Just enough to make his stomach knot up. She walked away from him, picking up the empty shopping bags all over the floor.

“Since I started dating the only son of a track owner almost two years ago.” She shrugged and looked him square in the eye. “I was a grifter, Dax. That’s what we do.”

“Were?”

She swung away from him angrily, paced hard to the window and leaned on the sill. “I haven’t gamed anyone since…since you.”

That was a bombshell. If it was true.

But it couldn’t be true.

“So then what do you do? You’ve obviously got money. That Vette—”

“Same thing I always did, just legally now. I do online promotion for little one-and-two woman operations. There are lots of online entrepreneurs these days.”

He was gaping. He shouldn’t be gaping.

“It started as a favor for a friend whose indie marketing biz grew faster than she could keep up with, and after six months I was really good at it, and started my own little operation. It just…grew into…something.” She stopped talking, searched his face. “You don’t believe me, do you Dax?”

“I…no. I don’t. Sorry.”

“Yeah. I don’t blame you. God, I need a cigarette.” She lowered her butt onto the windowsill. “So you’re seriously just gonna give away something worth millions?” she asked.

“My mother owns forty-nine percent of the track, you know.”

Her eyebrows rose, and she did too, right off the windowsill. She stood there blinking at him like she was a kid and he’d just told her Santa wasn’t real.

“No. I didn’t know that.”

She lowered her head. Her hair fell like a pale silk curtain around her face. Then she ran her hand over her forehead, pushing all that hair up and catching it behind her head. “I’ve always liked Caroline.” She looked him in the eye, then looked away, shaking her head and letting go of her hair. It fell around her shoulders, over her arms.

“She liked you, too.”

Kendra nodded, then seemed to shake herself. “Let’s go find something to eat. I’m starved.” She walked past him into the hall and down the stairs.

He’d thought if he was honest with her, she might be inclined to reciprocate. But she was still keeping things from him. And from that reaction, they were big things. The look on her face when he’d mentioned his mother—hell, this was looking bad. This was looking worse by the minute.

It could’ve been awkward, staying for dinner and a movie with Kiley and Rob and Dax. Kendra had expected it to be awkward. But it wasn’t. It was almost nostalgic, being back in the house again. Even with all the updates and fresh paint and furniture, it was still the place where she and Kiley had spent their childhood. She felt at home there. They ate in front of the TV and watched a DVD of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The film had cracked them up when they’d watched it every Thanksgiving as kids, and still did.

Afterwards, the guys cleaned up, leaving her and Kiley alone in the big living room. They were more or less out of earshot, due to running water, rattling dishes and deep male voices. That was when Kiley finally said, “So how’s Dad?”

Kendra should’ve been ready for the question, but she wasn’t. It rocked, because she didn’t know how Jack was. She didn’t even know for sure he was still alive. “Oh, you know Jack,” she said at length. It was an answer without being a lie.

“Yeah, I do. He’s always okay, isn’t he?”

“Somehow or other, he always is.”

Kiley was quiet for a long moment. Then, “Does he hate me?”

“Come, on, Kiley. Jack doesn’t hate. He’s an easy-going charmer.” She shrugged. “He was good and pissed once he realized how you’d played him. Broke the cardinal rule of scam.”

“Never play family.” Kiley quoted it in her father’s exact inflections. “I know.”

“He got over it, though. By the time we’d made it back to Jersey, he was saying you were just like Mom. And he loved her, so….”

Kiley nodded. “He always said I was more like Mom, and you were more like him.”

“It always made me crazy jealous, too,” Kendra admitted.

“I was jealous of you. You always made him so proud, and I just always messed up.”

“Why can’t parents just let their kids be who they are without feeling the need to comment and critique?” Kendra asked.

“I’m gonna do that with Diana.”

“That’s good, cause I’m gonna get her some things from the boy side of the sexist toy store. That nursery needs a little…balance.”

Kiley blinked at her, then got the not so subtle message and nodded. “You’re right. It’s pretty princessed-up in there, isn’t it?”

“A little bit,” Kendra said. “So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You and Jack. Do you hate him?”

Kiley widened her eyes. “Of course I don’t hate him, he’s my father.” She hugged her belly with both arms as she said it.

“If you don’t hate him, how can you not tell him he’s having a granddaughter?”

Kiley pressed her lips tight. “I love my father, Kendra. But I love my baby more. Look at the life she’s going to have. Look at this place, at what Rob and I have waiting for her. A warm, safe home. A thriving business. A great big extended family. A hometown where she’ll never have to feel too ashamed to hold her head up. And two parents who adore her and each other.” She shook her head slowly and said, “Dad could mess it all up.”

“And so could I. That’s what you think, isn’t it?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

Kiley lowered her head. “I was still deciding when and how to tell you. But I was going to. Rob knows I was, so does Dax. You can ask them. You know neither of them would lie.”

“I don’t know anything of the kind. Rob asked Dax to find out what I was up to. Did you know that?”

She sat straighter in her chair. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well, he did.”

Kiley frowned toward the kitchen, then at her sister again. “He was trying to protect me and the baby.”

“Protect you? From me? Kiley, I’m your sister, Diana’s aunt.”

“We had a nice evening, Kendra. Why can’t you just let it be?”

Kendra pressed her lips and tried to push down her hurt. She hadn’t realized just how deep it ran. Here she was lecturing her sister, who was only days away from giving birth, if that. It wasn’t the time.

She took a deep breath, held it a second, then blew it out entirely. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing to you,” Kiley said. “I love you, and I’ve missed you. I didn’t know how much until you showed up again. I want you to stay for Thanksgiving.”

“Only if we order takeout. You’re in no condition to make a feast, sis, and you know I don’t cook.”

“I’m not making it. It’s a family thing. The Brand half of the family used to do it out at Bobby Joe and Vidalia’s farmhouse, but the clan has outgrown it. This year they’re closing down The Long Branch for the day and we’re all gathering there.”

Kendra lowered her head. “I’d fit into that like a hooker in church.”

“I want you there. It feels odd not having anyone from my past, my family. I’m tired of it.”

She knew she wasn’t going to stay for Thanksgiving, but figured she had upset her pregnant sister enough for one night. “We’ll see. That’s as much of a commitment as you’re gonna get out of me right now.”

“Okay.”

“It’s getting late,” she said. “I’m gonna head back, let you get some sleep.”

Kiley started to get up, but Kendra beat her to it, hopped to her feet and leaned over her, kissed her cheek. “Night, Kiley.” Then she laid a hand on her bulging belly. “Night, Diana.”

Something thumped against her palm, and a bubble of delight expanded in her chest. “I think she just high-fived me,” she said. “Clearly she agrees about that girlie nursery.” She softened the words with a wink, and then headed out through the kitchen to say goodbye to Rob.

Dax said, “I’ll walk you out.”

They sauntered along, side by side, to her little Corvette. His Charger was parked beside it. He’d enjoyed the evening with Rob and Kiley, and his heart yearned to have what his best friend had. A wife. A home. A family.

“So?” he asked. “Things okay with you and Kiley?”

She shrugged. “I think so, yeah.”

“You ever gonna tell me the story behind your sweet ride?”

 “You won’t believe me.”

“Try me,” he said.

She sighed. “It’s the first thing I bought with my honestly earned-money.”

He frowned at her, because she was completely sincere. Not a sign of the mask other people couldn’t see through. And she sounded proud.

“Told you you wouldn’t believe me.”

“I…I kind of do.”

“It’s true. You play your cards right, I might even let you drive it.”

 “We can take it up on the back roads. There’s a spot up there makes a nice dirt track, if you ever want to burn off some steam.”

“Yeah? You do that? Race around a dirt track to burn off steam?”

“Better than drinking,” he said.

She smiled and it felt easy between them, somehow. “You heading home, too?” she asked, and then before he could answer, “Where is home, anyway? I just realized, I don’t even know where you live.”

“I’m renting a trailer about a mile that-a-way,” he said, nodding in the general direction. “Nothing fancy. I’ve been kind of drifting here. Not sure where I was going or what I wanted to do with my life.”

“And now?” she asked.

“Now, I know exactly what I want.” He looked at her and smiled. “A goodnight kiss. You amenable?” He turned toward her, leaned down, expecting her to lean up.

Instead, she opened the car door and slid inside, started it, and drove away. Her window lowered and she gave a sassy finger wave back at him.

He stood there until her taillights vanished in the distance.

When Kendra pulled into The Long Branch, the parking lot was packed. Yellow light and country music spilled out of the place like honey dripping from a beehive. She drove around back, where the owners and tenants parked. But she didn’t go up the outside stairs to her room. Instead, she walked around to the front, moseyed on through the batwing doors, paused and took a look around. Last night she’d listened to the success of this place. Tonight, she was going to see it firsthand.

Cowboys, locals, she’d bet, in their finest authentic western wear, out to score a few tourist honeys, and there were tourist honeys by the carload.

She crossed to the bar. A smiling blonde she didn’t know was behind it, and brought her a whiskey almost as quick as she’d asked for one. Kendra slammed it, and tapped her finger on the glass.

The waitress brought her another. “You okay?” she asked as she set the shot glass down.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Her phone buzzed. She downed the second shot, and the bar chick held up the bottle and her eyebrows. Kendra held up a forefinger for “just one more” and pulled her phone out of her jeans. She knew that number, glowing on the screen. It was the same number the bastard holding her father had called from before. Seeing it made her stomach clench. She tapped the green button, brought the phone to her ear. “Give me a minute to get private.” 

She picked up the refilled glass, and said, “Can I take this one to my room?”

“Sure can,” the waitress replied.

So Kendra took the third whiskey toward the dining room and up those elegant, carpeted stairs that fanned out at the bottom. It was a damn pretty place.

Once back in her room, she figured less than the requested minute had passed. She sat on the bed, put the glass on the nightstand, and heeled off her shoes. It had been a long freaking day. She was exhausted.

Twisting her mouth in distaste, she picked up her phone again. “Okay, I can talk now.”

“It’s about time. I want a status report.”

Vester Caine’s voice was high pitched, for a man. It always sounded vaguely whiny to her, which was funny, because Vester Caine didn’t whine. He was the biggest bully in the schoolyard. He made other people whine.

“I want to talk to Jack.”

“I want a report. Now. Have you convinced him to accept his inheritance?”

She sighed, but didn’t want to do anything to set the bastard off. “The lawyers are coming out here to deal with the will.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. It’s almost Thanksgiving, you know, people take time off—”

“Then help ‘em to see the urgency of the situation.”

“I’m trying.” She was angry. This guy was going to die slow when she got her hands on him. She’d never thought she had it in her to hurt someone physically, but she was pretty sure she could make an exception for this pig.

“The track bookkeeper says Russell’s got an outside accountant snooping around the books. Get him to call it off.”

“The track’s regular bookkeeper works for you?” So it was something to do with finances behind Caine’s interest in Aurora Downs.

“Get him to call the guy off,” he repeated.

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“Figure it out. Or maybe your old man sleeps naked in the meat locker tonight.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“Good girl. Just get Dax Russell to accept that inheritance, relax and let business go on as it always has. You get him to stand down, Kendra, or your old man dies. You got me? I’ll kill him.” He ended the call.

Kendra put her phone on the nightstand and picked up the whiskey.