Chapter Eleven
“I have a picture of Stephanie Cross.”
The announcement caught Blaize off guard. He crossed the kitchen in a few quick strides to where Carys had been perched for the past hour on her laptop. Kit and the baby were resting before dinner, so he was alone with Carys.
“Does she look familiar?” She angled the screen toward him as he took the seat next to her.
Their outer thighs brushed, causing electricity to pulse up his leg, his body’s reaction to her amplified by the length of time it had been since he’d had sex.
It was the only explanation that made sense.
Blaize was no stranger to sex within the bounds of a relationship, but no one had stirred a reaction like this one.
He studied the screen. Kinky red hair. Too much makeup. Mole on her right cheek. The mole resonated, but she had on so much makeup it was hard to tell what features were hidden underneath the mask. “There is something familiar about her.”
“Makeup can do wonders to change someone’s appearance. She has used contouring makeup just about everywhere on her face. For instance, see here.” She pointed to Stephanie’s nose. “This is making her nose look thinner than it is.”
“The hair is throwing me off.”
“Looks like she has a perm, and it’s possible she colored it. That doesn’t look like a natural redhead.”
“I’d have to see her in person to know for certain, which is clearly not possible under the circumstances.”
“Well, no, but we could visit some of the bars you used to frequent in Austin and ask around. Maybe a bartender will know her and be able to provide a name,” she said.
“What would we do with Rue?”
“Kit needs someone here for support in case she falls again,” she said. “Maybe they can watch over Rue?”
“My grandmother might have someone who can step in for a day while we head to Austin,” he said.
“Right. Ranchers are the rare breed who still watch out for each other. Too bad everyone isn’t like that.”
“Many of us still do.” He thought about what Kit said to him earlier about not knowing what made Cormac turn out the way he had.
If the man started out being a good human, it must have been something horrific to turn him into the person he became.
Someone who’d lost touch with his roots, his humanity.
Did Blaize really want to know what happened? Would it do any good? You couldn’t go back and change the past. He learned the lesson a long time ago. Didn’t everyone have some kind of trauma in their background? There was no excuse for the way Cormac treated people.
“We should make a list of the bars you used to go to.” Carys’s voice cut into his heavy thoughts.
“That’s easy. There were three—Deep Roots Bar, Peggie Hays, Chord Street Bar.” He’d stopped off at a handful of others. Not long enough for someone to remember his name unless this Stephanie or whatever her name was figured out another way.
Nope. Not possible. He always used cash at bars. No one needed to know his business, and credit cards could be traced. He didn’t appreciate how easy it was to stalk someone online or memorize their habits. A determined criminal could get most everything they wanted to know about a person online.
With social media, folks volunteered personal information about their lives on an almost daily basis.
Where they ate. What night was date night.
What their family looked like. Where they went on vacation.
What school their kids attended. Information was endless, which made Stephanie more interesting since there wasn’t a profile for her anywhere near Maverick Pass or Austin.
Blaize had one too many a couple of times at bars. Not enough to sleep with a stranger, and especially not enough to sleep with a stranger and then forget it happened. He would have remembered. He hadn’t kissed anyone in the past year except for Carys.
“When Kit wakes, I’ll have her reach out to a neighbor to see if they can come sit with her and Rue. It’s Saturday night, so the bars will be open late. We can make the drive and hit all three in one night if traffic obliges.”
Carys glanced at the time on the computer. “We’ll have to leave soon.”
“I know.”
The sound of gravel crunching underneath tires got Blaize up and moving to the window. He grabbed a knife on the way. It might’ve been the sheriff finally showing up to pick up the barbecue fork, but he couldn’t be sure.
Nope.
He didn’t recognize the dark blue pickup. The driver, on the other hand, was Raiden.
“Who is it?” Carys asked, walking up beside him.
“My brother.” Blaize set the knife on the counter and headed toward the back door. He didn’t have the first clue if Raiden would be happy to see him. Time to find out and see if the damage done to their relationship could be repaired.
“Should I wait here in case Kit or Rue needs something?” Carys asked.
“Would you mind?” he asked. “I’m not sure what kind of reunion this is going to be. Might be better on both fronts if I go by myself to face my brother before introducing him to you.”
“I’ll be right here if you need me.” She touched his arm as he walked past. The contact sent electrical impulses zinging through him. “You got this.”
“Thank you,” he said. Her gentle support seeded a sense of calm in a place deep inside him. Denying it wouldn’t make it any less true.
Raiden parked. He hopped out of the driver’s seat and came flying at Blaize. He tensed up for a fight. Instead, his brother wrapped him in a bear hug.
“Hey, man. I’m so sorry about Lynn. I would have been there for you if I’d known,” Raiden said. It dawned on Blaize that he wasn’t the only one making calls to Raiden and Phoenix. Raiden must have had a conversation with Kit.
“There wasn’t anything anyone else could do,” Blaize said, embracing his brother.
“Bull hockey. We could have been your support system. Phoenix would have been there, too. We both feel like jerks for not taking your calls. Or, maybe I should say that I know he feels like a jerk since I haven’t heard back from him.
” Maybe there was something to this birth-order bit.
Raiden was being the go-between for Blaize and their youngest brother.
He cracked a smile. “You’re here now. Kit needs all three of us. This ranch needs all three of us if we’re going to keep it in the family.”
“I’m just here for the weekend, man. Came to tell you that Phoenix and I think we should dump this place,” Raiden said.
Blaize took a step away from his brother. “You talked to each other without including me?”
“Not in the last forty-eight hours. The last time I spoke to our brother, we made a pact. Plus, you made your position clear, Blaize.”
“And so you just left me out of the conversation altogether?” His temper was getting the best of him.
“That’s why I’m here now,” Raiden said. “That and to tell you how sorry I am.”
“So, you’d toss Kit out on her ear? Make her lose the only home she’s known for her entire adult life? The home she built?”
Raiden stood there, studying, listening. “You want to know the truth?” he asked.
“What kind of question is that? Of course I want to know the truth.”
“Kit is the one who urged me to sell. Said you are being hardheaded and that I needed to find Phoenix so we could both show up and convince you to do the right thing and dump this…what did she call it…shanty.”
Wait. What?
To say he felt blindsided was an understatement. What was Kit thinking?
“Said it was falling apart at the seams and that you, being you, wanted to fix it up for her but it’s too much work, and we all have our own lives. Said she didn’t want to get in the way.”
“And you believed her?” Blaize asked, incredulous.
“She sounded sincere, man. What am I supposed to think? Kit is a firecracker and knows herself. Said she doesn’t want to live in a place that’s falling apart anymore.”
Color Blaize confused. “Did she mention that she tripped and fell last night?”
Raiden shook his head.
“Hit her head on the dresser and ended up with a pump knot.”
Raiden stood there, brows furrowed. He crossed his arms over his chest as he listened.
“She needs us more than ever, Raiden. Can you rightly see kicking her out of here?”
“The place needs a lot of work, Blaize.”
“Nothing the three of us can’t handle.” Was he being overly optimistic? He didn’t think so. It would take dedication and time.
“What about the financials?” Raiden asked.
“They are as bad as you think they might be.”
“Kit said you’d try to talk me out of my stance,” Raiden said. “She was one hundred percent right.”
Why would Kit do that? Why would she push them to sell? It made no sense to Blaize. “I don’t care what she said. Kit loves this place. Leaving here would be like losing her husband all over again.”
“Did she tell you to sell?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you take her word for it?” Raiden asked. It was a reasonable question, and he didn’t have a great answer.
“Can you honestly say that you believe her?”
“She was pretty convincing on the phone,” he said. “I’m here to talk to you in person like we should have done when you first got Lynn’s diagnosis. And I want to be able to look Kit in the eye when she argues her case.”
There was more than a hint of doubt in Raiden’s tone. Blaize could work with that. If his brother’s mind was already made up, there would be no use discussing the subject further. One trait all three brothers inherited was a stubborn streak a mile long and stronger than a bull’s.
“Why don’t you come inside and have a cup of coffee,” Blaize said. His plans to head to Austin tonight just tanked.
KIT WALKED INTO the kitchen and straight to the window. “Raiden is here. Good.”
Carys wasn’t so sure she liked the tone of Kit’s voice. “Everything all right?”
“It is now,” the older woman said, confusing her further.
Since she would find out what that meant soon enough, she rinsed out her coffee cup and set it in the sink.
Blaize followed his brother inside. The family resemblance showed in height and build. Raiden would be considered hot by most standards. His hair was a little longer, with wispy curls at the ends. In her opinion, Blaize was the best looking. No contest.
“I’m Raiden,” he said to her after greeting Kit and giving his grandmother a warm hug. So far, the Wilde men were the most grounded she’d met in Maverick Pass. They were the hottest, too, but that was a different story.
“Carys,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“My brother said you work for CPS,” Raiden said.
“That’s right.”
“And that you brought a baby here believing she belonged to Blaize,” he said.
She nodded. “Sure did.”
“I’m sure you two will get to the bottom of it,” he said.
“Thanks. I hope so.” She glanced at Blaize. “Are we still good to head to Austin soon?”
“Now that my brother is here, I should probably not—”
“Go ahead,” Kit insisted. “We’ll be just fine.”
“I don’t know,” Blaize said. Eyebrows drawn together combined with the worry line etched in his forehead told Carys he was seriously contemplating their next move.
“Is the kid here now?” Raiden glanced around the room.
“She’s sleeping,” Kit said.
“How hard can it be to watch over a little thing that sleeps most of the time?” he asked.
Carys laughed at the same time Blaize did, and equally hard.
“What?” Raiden asked.
“You have no idea until you know,” Blaize said.
“Go and do what you need to do,” Kit interjected. “We’ll be fine. Isn’t that right, Raiden?”
“We’ve got this,” he confirmed.
“There’s enough formula and diapers to last a couple of days,” Carys supplied.
One look at Blaize said he’d made up his mind. He gave a slight nod as he locked gazes with Carys. Checking to see if she was on the same page?
“Let’s do this.” She could think of no better reason to put her job on the line than to help Rue find a real home. If going to Austin got them one step closer to that, so be it.
“I’ll grab an overnight bag.”
“Can we stop off at my place on the way out of town?” she asked. “I need a change of clothes.”
“Sure,” he said.
The thought of spending the night with Blaize in a hotel room should probably freak her right out.
It didn’t. Sure, the sexual current running between them showed no signs of dimming.
However, they were adults capable of restraint.
Her body wanted to argue against what her mind realized…
having any type of relationship with Blaize beyond professional would shatter her once it ended.
“It was good to meet you,” she said to Raiden as Blaize excused himself to grab his bag.
Raiden’s gaze bounced from Carys to Kit and back. “I apologize if I’m stepping out of line here, but Blaize seems different with you around.”
“Our relationship is strictly professional,” she countered a little too quickly. Had she just showed her hand to Blaize’s family? “I’m here because of Rue. Your brother has been great, though. And we’re going to get to the bottom of paternity.” Wow, had she really just rambled on?
Great. Way to keep cool.
“I understand,” Raiden said with a layered look. “I’m sure the two of you will figure it out soon.”
“In the meantime, I sure have enjoyed having another woman in the house,” Kit interrupted. “I hope you’ll stay on a little longer when you return from Austin.” She glanced at Raiden. “Don’t get me wrong—I love my boys. But the house can use more feminine energy.”
Her smile lit up her eyes.
Carys laughed.
Blaize walked into the room. He stopped and studied everyone’s faces. He opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it shut before focusing on Carys. “Ready?”
Probably not, but they needed to go anyway.