She’d returned in March, partially because of Drew and—I flatter myself—partially because of us boys. This time she was staying for good.
My only sister laughed—outright laughed—at my distress, her big blue eyes dancing, then pulled me into a hug and using her real voice, said, “I really had you going.”
Ashley and Billy looked like twins, although he was born number two, and she was number four in our family of seven. She used to be a local beauty queen. I might be biased as her brother, but I thought her exterior beauty had nothing on the loveliness of her heart.
Except tonight.
Tonight she was being a shrew.
I clung to her. As far as I was concerned, she was my ticket to safety. I doubted any of my past mistakes would corner me—as they’d done a number of times over the years—if I was with my sister.
“Jethro?”
“What?”
“Are you ever going to let me go?” she asked after the hug had lasted too long.
“Nope.”
She squeezed me and rested her head against my shoulder, and I could feel her cheek curve with a smile. “I’ll protect you. You just stay with me, big brother.”
“I’m going to take you up on that,” I said, releasing her from the hug but lacing our fingers together. “You’re my date tonight.”
She tossed her thick hair over one shoulder and grinned at me with a stunning smile. “You mean your bodyguard.”
I shrugged, searching the crowd and avoiding every female gaze. “Same difference.”
“What’s that?”
I lifted an eyebrow in question. “What’s what?”
Truth be told, I was searching for Hank Weller. Now my immediate safety was in check, my first thought was of Sarah.
Yes. I know. I’m incorrigible.
I may have sworn off women, causing hurt, and stealing cars, but this Sarah didn’t strike me as women. Something about her had me thinking in clichés of the she’s different variety. Maybe her dimples? Her odd, charming honesty? How easily and naturally she’d switched between endearing and seductive? I wasn’t interested in falling back into old habits, treating a woman as disposable. That wasn’t who I was anymore, or who I wanted to be.
But the simple truth was, less than one hour after making her acquaintance, finding out more about Sarah was a compulsion, not just curiosity.
“What’s that face you’re making?” Ashely poked me.
“That’s my happy-birthday face.”
“It looks like your, I hope I’m not about to be murdered face.”
I gave her a flat smile, and she giggled at my discomfort. Spotting Hank by the end of the bar chatting with the sheriff, I kept my eyes on him as I pulled Ashley across the room. We had to stop several times to accept well wishes from the crowd.
“Where are we going?” Ashley asked when we broke through the thickest portion of the gathered group.
“I need to talk to Hank. He’s got a guest staying at his place on Bandit Lake, and I want to know who she is,” I admitted, confessing my intentions to my sister. Ashley was a safe repository for my secrets. She wasn’t one to leverage or blackmail, like the rest of my siblings. Or Claire.
“Okay, fine. But I want a margarita at some point, so after talking to Hank we should place our order.”
“I’ll buy you a trip to Mexico if you stick by my side for the night.”
“You make it a trip to Costa Rica and you’ve got a deal.”
I pulled to a stop directly in front of Hank and the sheriff, prepared to grill my friend about his guest, but stopped short when I heard what the sheriff was saying.
“. . . it’s not a secret anymore, seeing as how most of the movie folk are arriving this week, and they start filming the week after. So, sure, I don’t mind if you tell people if they ask. I’ve already talked to Kip about the motel. He’s known for months since that’s where the crew will be staying—you know, the camera guys and the like.”
Hank nodded thoughtfully until his drifting gaze caught sight of Ashley standing at my side. Then his face split with a sly grin. “Hey, Ashley. I didn’t know you’d be coming tonight.”
He made like he was going to hug her, so I stepped forward and intercepted the embrace. “Well, thanks for the hug, Hank. I missed you, too.”
Hank Weller may have been my business partner and my younger brother Beau’s best friend, but that didn’t mean I wanted his paws on my sister.
He pushed me off, scowling, knowing I was interfering with his attempt to cop a feel. Really, I was doing him a favor. I was just one of her six overprotective brothers, and probably the nicest. Her man was Drew Runous. And Drew was six foot five of scary federal game warden.