Lydia's Twin Temptation(Divine Creek Ranch 8)(99)
Lydia balled up her fists as she continued. “Don’t give me that kicked-puppy-dog look, you big jerk. You fell in love and didn’t think I might want to know. Both of you!” she added, glaring daggers at Kemp, who looked like he wanted to crawl under the sofa. “You couldn’t be bothered to call me and tell me that you were both engaged to Summer, who is way too good for you, by the way. I’m twenty-eight years old, damn it. If I want to go gallivanting over half of Texas, that’s my call and not yours. When are you going to get that through your thick skull?”
Adopting the self-sacrificing, paternal tone that drove her nuts, Ace replied, “Probably never. I’m sorry.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I was angry when I came over here, but seeing the three of you together—”
“Stop right there,” Summer interrupted icily, holding up her fingers in a “mouth closed” gesture. Lydia thought she looked ready to growl at him, and her admiration for this woman grew by the second.
Ace held out his hands defensively. “But seeing them like that—”
“Ssht!” Summer repeated.
“But my sister—”
“Ssht!”
“But—”
“I’ve got a whole, big bucket of ‘ssht’ for you, big boy, plus a photograph of a ménage a trois that’s gone viral on the damned Internet. Give it a rest, Ace. You interrupted them in a tender moment, arriving unannounced. You should apologize to them for that, too.”
Lydia watched Ace’s face as Summer spoke and saw the moment real sorrow and repentance came into his eyes, as well as a faint twinkle of admiration for Summer. He turned to Lydia and sincerely said, “I should have listened to Summer, Lydia. I’m sorry. Can you forgive your nagging mother-hen brothers?”
Kemp grunted and said, “Don’t include me in this fiasco, dumb-ass. I tried to warn you.”
Ace turned to Chance and Clayton and said, “I’m sorry about your faces, guys. I was out of line.”
Both of her men shrugged, and Chance said, “As long as the matter is settled.” He winked at her as he adjusted his ice pack.
Lydia grinned and turned to Ace. “Of course I forgive you. But no more nagging. From either of you,” she added, turning to look at Kemp. He looked happy to not be in the hot seat, sitting beside Summer. He quickly gave her the thumbs-up gesture. “It’s been months since I’ve seen either one of you.”
Ace and Kemp both gave her affectionate hugs as Summer, Chance, and Clayton looked on with smiling faces. Kemp muttered, “We’ve missed you, baby girl.”
Ace said, “We sure have, stinker. I guess we should also say welcome to Divine.”
“I like it very much, so far.”
Luckily, the ranch hand’s plans for eating the huge meal outdoors hadn’t been foiled by the storm. Ace, Kemp, and Summer were invited to stay, and the ranch hands never said a word when they saw the shiner Clayton sported and the dark, swollen bruise Chance now had on his jaw. After the rain had stopped, everything was set up on the pavilion at the rear of the backyard.
Summer and Lydia were in the kitchen stirring up pitchers of sweet tea when Lydia asked, “What did you mean earlier when you mentioned a photograph of a ménage that has gone viral on the Internet?”
Summer explained to Lydia how she came to be the target of a smear campaign aimed at the polyamorous couples in the area.
“Things have been very quiet since Elizabeth Owen and Leroy Paggs are out of circulation, courtesy of the State of Texas. I hear you’re going to be catering for Maya’s wedding reception.”
“Oh! Yes! With a little help from an old friend,” Lydia replied with a big grin. LuAnn would be in town by that time. “Grace put me in touch with the owner of Rudy’s and he’s going to be helping me, so that I can also make the wedding cake. I invited Maya to have the wedding reception here, since their house is only barely under construction on their ranch to the east, and Grace will be right at nine months pregnant and won’t be up for hosting a wedding reception at their ranch on the other side of the creek. It made sense to invite them to have it here, considering where the wedding is taking place. Transport for all the guests will be a cinch.”
“Very true and ingenious.”
“The pavilion is big enough to hold everyone and we can bring in cooling units to keep the expectant ones comfortable.”
“That’s right. By then, Rachel will be almost eight months pregnant.” Looking out the window, Summer pointed and said, “I wonder what the four of them are talking about so seriously.”