Jake was easy to spot. He was chatting up the blonde girl I’d seen him smiling at days before. She too had that smile that sparkled of first love. It reminded me of what that felt like. While it was true that Turner and I had kissed when I was six, the first kiss that actually mattered was the one at the cove.
I spotted John on the fringes and began to make my way through the dancers to reach him, when a tiny girl who was little more than half his height came over to him. My brothers were tall for their age. Jake carried it like he was born that tall. But John was shyer. His broad smile brought one of my own to my lips.
“Can I have this dance?”
The request came from a very unlikely source. I turned to find Steven behind me. I had no reason to say no and graciously accepted.
“I know you don’t like me,” he began. “But I promise I’m in love with your sister.”
“Who says I don’t like you?” I asked, trying to be polite.
He hadn’t done anything wrong that I’d witnessed.
“My wife and I don’t keep secrets.”
Now that was a lie, unless Violet had lied to me.
“Why are you here?” I asked blatantly.
He shrugged. “A better life and I found it.”
“If you hurt her—”
He grinned. “I like that. Violet needs more people in her life that care about her.”
I dropped my eyes, feeling like crap. Vi had been the first and not a boy. Though Father would never say it, she’d been my mother’s love and his disappointment, which only got worse when I came then Mary.
Mary had weathered the storm by being everything Dad wanted in a daughter. I’d gotten attention by being my father’s worst nightmare. Violet had been like a ghost, seen and unseen.
“She’s loved and I’ll hunt you down if you ever hurt her.”
He laughed and said, “She means everything to me,” before twirling me around. When I spun back to him, I changed the conversation, feeling somewhat better about the man my sister had married.
“Violet was looking for you,” I said by way of conversation.
“I saw her. She’s heading home.”
That confused me. I was about to ask why he hadn’t gone home with her when my eyes locked with Margaret who was watching me intently.
Turner was no longer with her. Since she was friends with Mary, I could only assume she’d make gossip about me dancing with my sister’s husband out of spite.
“That’s one thing I like about being here,” Steven said as if he’d been speaking and I’d missed the early part of what he might have said.
I had no other response other than, “And what’s that?”
“Women are women here. And men are men. That’s something missing in America these days.”
I shouldn’t have been at all surprised by his answer. He probably got off on how my sister followed his every whim. It may have been the reason he liked living here, but it was at the top of my list why I couldn’t stay here forever. I did what I was told to further the community. But I would never do whatever a man asked me to do unless I wanted to.
“Lass.”
We both froze for different reasons. I looked to the side of Steven and saw Turner in the distance talking to my father, which was strange. My father had left. Why was he back?
Slowly, I turned the other way and met the eyes of the devil. I faced the man I’d left behind—Kalen.
When I heard a chuckle come from my dance partner, I snapped my focus back on my brother-in-law.
“Too bad I’m going to miss the fireworks. I should find my wife.”
He let me go as I thought about what he said. Earlier, he’d mentioned Vi was going home. Now he acted as if he didn’t know where she was.
“Come,” said the dark angel.
Kalen was beauty and wickedness all wrapped in one and my body wanted nothing more than to be consumed by him.
I folded my arms across my chest and planted my feet instead.
“What are you doing here? Are you stalking me?” I snapped.
This was starting to sound like a bad movie script.
He stood in a Henley tee and jeans. My thoughts, however, drifted to what lay beneath it all. He hadn’t even touched me, standing about three feet away, yet it felt as though we were alone and naked. My center clenched and the inappropriate time was meaningless.
His lips moved and I didn’t hear a word. I remembered how they’d felt against my hot skin, my heated nub, my tightened nipples and I nearly panted.
Unable to face the consequences of his being here, I stalked past him, infuriated by his non-answer.
When I passed the perimeter, I caught sight of Jake walking outside to head behind the building with the girl. Great, Father would witness my failure at such a simple duty. I was in charge of making sure my brother didn’t do just what he was doing. I picked my skirt up a few inches off the ground to jog after them out the door. If they headed into the woods, I might not be able to find them in the dark.