Samuel (Samuel's Pride Series) (3 page)

“I’ve brewed tea if you’ve a mind for
it.” She smiled and nodded at her. “There is sweet and not sweet. Which do you
prefer?”

“Sweet please.” After setting the iced
glass of tea in front of her, Kennedy went back to work. “I’m sorry for the way
I treated you. I should never have snapped at you.”

“Mrs. Brigitte told me a little while
ago that you had a row with the delivery man.” She nodded at her. “I took care
of him for you. He won’t be giving you grief again.”

“You did?” Kennedy nodded at her
question. “I’m not a cripple. Well, I suppose I am, but there was no reason for
him to speak to me like I…well, like I did you.”

“When I’m nervous or afraid, my accent
gets the better of me. The more I’m emotional the deeper and heavier it gets. And
when that happens, people start to treat me differently. As if I’m a stupid
woman who knows no better. I’m very intelligent and have a good education.”

“People should learn to judge others by
their works not what they see and hear.” Kennedy put the last two pieces of
chicken in the skillet as she checked on the cornbread. Dinner was in thirty
minutes, and Caroline had come in to set the table for them to eat.

“May I ask you a question?” Kennedy
nodded at Mrs. Payne. “Would you have taken credit for lunch had Caroline not
told us what you’d done?”

“No. What would have been the point?” Caroline
muttered
because it was good,
but Kennedy ignored her as she continued
talking to Mrs. Payne. “Why are you finding a cook this way and not simply
hiring a service to find them?”

“I wanted to see how someone faired
before hiring them. You can have a long list of what you’ve done, where you’ve
cooked, and how many degrees you have. But when it comes down to it, I still
have no idea if you can put together a sandwich.” Mrs. Payne laughed. “And we
got to see that you can indeed do that. Where did you get the mustard you put
on the beef? That was the best I’ve ever tasted.”

“I made it. If I don’t get the job, then
I’ll make sure you have the recipe. It’s really easy.” The timer went off just
as she stirred the green beans. “It’s show time. If you guys will come on in,
we’ll see if I can fry up a bird too.”

Because they were all eating in the
kitchen, Kennedy simply put things on the end of the butcher block as she
decanted them and they put them on the table between them. The beans were
draining in the sink as she finished putting the chicken on the three platters.
When she put the beans into a serving bowl, Butler came around to help her by
cutting up the cornbread and putting it in a basket with a towel. Cole slaw was
unearthed from the fridge, as well as sliced tomatoes she’d found in the veggie
drawer. By the time the last bowl was put on the table, the staff and Mrs.
Payne were piling their plates. Kennedy was wiping down her knives to put into
her case when she heard someone call her name.

“You’ll join us, won’t you?” Kennedy
shook her head and reached for her coat as Butler looked at Mrs. Payne. “I’m
hoping you will. It would be an honor to have you eat with us.”

She started to tell him no, that she
really needed to get back. They’d assured her that she didn’t have to clean up,
but she’d done most of that while she worked. When Caroline and the others
started nodding for her to join them, she put her coat on the chair again and
went to join them.

“I can’t eat too much. I have a long
night ahead of me and I don’t want to fall asleep too early.” Potatoes and corn
were passed to her as she put smallish portions on her plate only to have Brigitte
put more on it. “I don’t eat that much in a week.”

“Learn to deal with it.” Brigitte
laughed when she did. “I cannot tell you the last time I had better cornbread. It’s
almost like a sweet cake.”

“Thank you,” Kennedy said, blushing. “I
learned that from my
seanmháthair
, my grandma. She was a big fan of
cornbread, and I wanted to please her with it. It was on my final at college
and I got extra marks for it.”

Dinner was a hit if the cleaned platter
and bowls were any indication. The last piece of chicken was wrapped in a paper
towel for “later,” Mrs. Payne said as she wrapped up the last piece of
cornbread as well. Kennedy started to help clear when she was asked to have a
seat.

“We have one more candidate. She comes
in tomorrow.” Mrs. Payne handed her a sheet of paper, and Kennedy looked down
at it. “Do you know how to make those dishes?”

“Aye.” Kennedy realized that she’d
slipped, but was looking hard at the list and didn’t care. “There are things on
here that I’ve done before, others I’ve made once, but just a few I’ve never
encountered. It doesn’t mean I canna make them.”

“I need to make sure that when we
entertain, we’re entertaining with the best possible. I know that you won’t cut
corners when it comes to feeding us, but will you if there are seven hundred
people here?” Kennedy looked at the list again before answering her.

“You get me the ingredients I ask for
without cutting corners on your end and I won’t either. If you ask me to make
you baked salmon from Alaska, then getting me something off the coast of
Florida won’t do. Understand?” They all three nodded and smiled. “I canna abide
by people moving things in my kitchen either. I put it somewhere, that’s where
I expect to find it when I go back for it. And no one touches my knives.”

“My mate does that,” Brigitte said with
heat in her voice. “Moves things to suit him when it’s my kitchen. I’ve a mind
to bash his head in at times when he does it. Just last week it took me hours
to find my measuring spoons. We nearly didn’t have dinner because of it.”

Brigitte nodded as she glared at her
husband. The two of them were the cutest couple she’d ever seen and would bet
her last nickel that he might move things where she didn’t want them just to
see the fight in her eyes. Mrs. Payne pushed a second sheet of paper toward her,
and Kennedy looked at it quickly before looking back at her.

“We’d like for you to fill this out. It’s
the application we’re saving for the person who gets the job. If the person
tomorrow is the dud I’ve heard he is, then I’d very much like for you to start
as soon as possible.” Kennedy nodded and tried her best to keep the excitement
out of her voice.

“I’m thinking I’d like to dance a jig,
but I won’t.” She picked up the paper and held it as still as she could. “I’ll
not disappoint you, Mrs. I swear I will give you what I have and then some.”

“We know that. I just wish I’d not set
up the appointment for tomorrow now. I would love to find out what you’d have
in store for us in the morning for breakfast.”

Kennedy went back to her camper and emailed
her
seanmháthair
. There was one from her, and after reading it twice,
Kennedy decided that she’d better take some extra precautions. Her brother had
found out she was in the States. Not where yet, but he would. Pulling the heavy
blanket over her, Kennedy thought of her brother and decided that she might get
herself a ball bat. She’d heard they were very helpful in these sorts of
situations. She just hoped it didn’t come to that.

Chapter 3

The drive took him over nine hours, and
he was now on the last hour of it. Samuel was exhausted and just wanted to
crawl into his bed and sleep for the next five years. He turned the radio up
louder as he drove down the highway. Christ, he should have waited until
morning.

But he wanted to get home. Something was
driving him to get there, and as soon as the meeting was over on Thursday at
five o’clock, he finished packing up his things from the hotel and checked out.
He was hoping to be home by five in the morning.

He was finished with Illinois. And now
he had a fat bank account to show that hard work did really pay off. Samuel was
looking forward to running in the backyard, sleeping until he wanted to get up,
and doing some of the things he’d not done because he’d been too busy focusing
on his business. But as Aggie had told him several times, he was leaving it in
good hands. His phone ringing startled him.

“How close are you?” His mom sounded as
tired as he was. “I can’t sleep until you’re home and not out on some deserted
road. When you get here, I’ll sleep.”

“I’m almost there. I had to make a
couple of stops on the way, but I should be pulling up in front of the house in
less than an hour.” He laughed. “Mom, you do know that I’m thirty-two years
old, right? And I’ve been driving myself for a long time as well.”

“Don’t be smart. I know how old you are.
And that does not negate the fact that you’re still my son and I worry about
you. Now, tell me what you’re planning to do tomorrow. Any women involved in
your life that I should know about?” He knew she was kidding him, but he still
squirmed on his seat. “Samuel?”

“I’m here. And no, there isn’t any woman
in my life. And you know as well as I do that it’s not going to happen for me
either.” Samuel heard her heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, Mom. I know you had your
heart set on grandchildren, but I just…there are too many things that could go wrong
that I don’t want to have to deal with. Too many…everything.”

“Samuel, not all mates are like your
father. Look at you, you’re as different to him as night and day. You might
just be surprised at what happens when someone comes into your life.” He
snorted. “She may be right around the corner from you. You never know.”

“It doesn’t matter to me if she’s living
in my house right at this moment, I don’t want anything to do with women long-term.
I know you’ve heard me say this before, but I don’t want a mate, not now, not
ever.” Samuel wished now he’d not answered the phone but knew that she’d only
call him back over and over until he had. “Mom, don’t try to set me up. I don’t
want it.”

“All right. I won’t. But I don’t have to
like it.” He heard her saying something to someone and wondered who else was
up. “Kennedy just got here. She’s going to fix you some breakfast and then go
back home.”

“That’s not necessary.” He wasn’t hungry,
but when his mom insisted, he told her just to make sure it was light. “I don’t
want anything heavy on my belly when I go to bed.”

“I understand. She said she can do that.”
His mom spoke again, and this time he heard the other voice. She was saying
that light was for wussies and his mom laughed. For some reason that pissed him
off, and before he could think he was simply too tired to keep his mouth shut,
he asked to speak to her.

“You will know that I am far from a
wussy, Miss Buehler, and you’ll learn your place or find employment elsewhere. When
speaking to my mother you’ll treat her with respect or I’ll show you how
protective I can be with what’s mine.” She didn’t say anything, and he was
afraid she’d hung up on him. He was ready to check his phone when she spoke.

“You think to threaten me, do ye? Well,
I’ve news for you, boy-o. I’ve been beaten by the worst of them and come out on
top. Aye, more’n on top if you ask me. You keep your tongue behind your teeth
or I’ll put so much soft peter in your meal that that you’ll be a begging me to
stop.” He heard his mom’s sharp intake of breath, but the girl wasn’t finished.
“Ye overbearing pisser. I should have…. You can go to hell, you rotter.”

This time there was no doubt that she’d
hung up. She’d slammed the phone down so hard on that he felt the ringing in
his ears all the way to his toes and back. When he started to redial his home
to speak to her again, fire her he supposed, his phone rang in his hand. Before
he could speak, his mom tore into him like he was five and had dug up all her flowers
to have himself a bit more land to play in.

“What is wrong with you, young man? Did
I not teach you better manners than to threaten someone? What is wrong with
you?” He started to tell her that the girl had started it when his mom spoke
again. “I’ll have you know that we’d been talking about you all day yesterday,
and I told her that you’d been a good and kind child and had grown up to be a
better man. I even went so far as to tell her I was never more proud of you
than when you treated the people who worked for you with respect and goodwill,
and now you do this? I’m mortified.”

“She called me a wussy.” As soon as the
words were out of his mouth, he realized how ridiculous it sounded. Like he was
a little boy and was insulted by the class bully. “Mom, I’m really tired. Tell
her that I’m sorry and that—”

“You’ll tell her, not me. You’ll come
right into this house and you’re going to beg her to forgive you.” She huffed
at him again. “If I let you into this house. Samuel James Payne, I’m
embarrassed at your behavior.”

Samuel pulled over to the side of the
road. He was exhausted, and now he was pissed. This was no way to drive, so he took
several deep breaths before he spoke again. He hated to upset his mom more than
anything in the world.

“I’m going to be home in about forty
minutes. I just want to come into the house and go to my bed. I’ll be able to
deal with her when I get up. I’m sorry I embarrassed you. I should have kept my
mouth shut. I’ll make it up to both of you.” He only hoped he could. His mom
was really pissed off. “I’m terribly sorry, Mom.”

“You shouldn’t have said anything to
her. She’s come in on her day off to cater to you.” He thought he couldn’t have
felt any worse, but he did. “What with her having a cold and all, she’ll still
come in to fix you a breakfast.”

“Tell her I’m sorry and I’ll pay her for
her time.” He wondered how much he was paying her and thought about doubling
her pay, but his mom spoke up first.

“I’ll let her go home after she feeds
the rest of us. She’s already started cooking.” He heard the others in the room
now and smiled when Butler greeted everyone in his booming voice. “I’m still
upset with you.”

“I know and I’m very sorry.” He pulled
back into traffic after hanging up the phone and thought about how badly he’d
screwed up. Next time he had to come this far he was taking a plane. He would
have been there by now and all cozied up in his bed. The last five miles seemed
to be the longest of the entire trip.

~~~

Kennedy pulled the last of the trash out
of the bathroom and took it to the dumpster. It hadn’t occurred to her to make
sure that her trash was at the site before now. And the trash company was
really nice in waiting for her. Normally someone came by and picked up the
trash right outside the sites when there had been guests in the place, but she’d
completely forgotten.

“There you be, miss. All fixed up.” The
man took the bag from her and dropped it into the back of his smelly truck. “I’ll
be here every other Tuesday through the winter months. If you need more of a
pickup, just holler and I’ll come by.” She nodded at him.

“Thanks so much again for waiting on me.”
She pulled her coat tighter around her, thinking that it was fucking cold out
and this man was standing in only his shirt sleeves. “I’ll remember from now
on.”

He was gone ten minutes later, and she
made her way back to her home. There was a lot to be said for being waked up at
three in the morning by someone pounding on your door. At least he’d not said
anything when she answered the door with a ball bat over her shoulder. Going inside,
she tried to get warm by dancing around the tiny space, but only made a breeze
around her feet. Getting back into the bed, she covered up with every blanket
she owned and still couldn’t get warm.

“No hope for it, Kennedy dear, might as
well get your butt rolling and get to work.” She gathered up her things and
took them to the bathhouse. Turning the water as hot as she could get it, she
stripped down and waited for the steam to warm up the tiny room. She was
washing her hair when she thought of Mr. Payne.

For some reason she’d expected his voice
to be softer. Mrs. Payne, Summer as she’d asked Kennedy to call her, told her
that her son was a great man. Kennedy didn’t think much of the man right now
and didn’t particularly want to meet him either. But today he was going to have
breakfast with the staff and apparently tell her how sorry he was. She was glad
now that she’d not told anyone but her
seanmháthair
that she’d gotten
this job. She might just be out of work by the end of the day.

Her car started with its usual moans and
groans. She knew that she needed to get it in for repairs, but the money that
she was saving didn’t include a thousand dollars to some guy who thought he
might be able to fix it. She was going to take her chances with sweet talking
it. When it finally rolled over she patted the dashboard as she put it into
gear. Time to get moving.

No one was in the kitchen when she got
there. They’d given her a key a few days ago when she’d had to wait in her car
for the household to open up. Summer had told her she could come and go as she
pleased, but Kennedy didn’t really think she meant coming over for a barbeque
or a dip in the indoor pool. So she started getting things set up just as the
sun was rising.

There were cinnamon rolls still proofing
on the counter when Butler and Brigitte came in the room. Nodding to them, she
continued to knead bread that she was preparing for dinner tonight, and if she
was still there after the meeting, she was making a standing rib roast,
apparently the lord of the house’s favorite.

Kennedy had taken to calling him that
under her breath since he’d pissed her off. She was pretty sure that Summer
knew she did it, but other than laugh a few times when Kennedy had said it,
Summer had said nothing else. By the time breakfast was ready to be served, the
table had been set and coffee was brewing. She looked up when the door opened
again, thinking it was Butler coming back for more platters.

The master of the house wasn’t at all
what she’d expected him to look like either. She had no idea what she’d thought,
but this man, this gorgeous hunk of a man, was no way near it. When she
swallowed twice she had a feeling he knew she’d been struck dumb when he
laughed. Turning away from him before she did something incredibly stupid like
ask him if she could nibble on him, she picked up the last of the food and took
it past him into the dining room.

He touched her arm and stopped her. “I’d
very much like a word with you before we eat. It’s about the last night.”

“I’ve a breakfast to put on the table,
if you don’t mind.” Her voice was sharper than she’d meant it to be, and his
raised brow told her he’d noticed it too. “Ye make me nervous. I’m a wee bit
afraid of saying the wrong thing.”

“You’re Irish.” She nodded, embarrassed
now that he’d think she was daft too. “My mother said that I needed to
apologize to you before we ate.”

“Ye mother? Ye not be doing this on yer
own then.” She pulled from his hand, moved back into the kitchen, and slammed
the platter down. “Ye be not wanting to piss off yer mother, so you come to do
her bidding no matter what.”

“That’s not what I meant. I only meant
that she suggested that I apologize to you. I upset her when I was rude to you.”
He looked at the door as it opened and handed the platter to Brigitte and asked
for a few minutes. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I was tired and I said some
things I shouldn’t have.”

“Aye you did. To me.” She started for
her coat, knowing that if she didn’t leave now her temper was going to explode.
But he grabbed her again.

“Wait a damned minute. I’m trying to
make this right. Why don’t you get your panties out of the twist you have them
in and cut me some slack? I’m trying to do the right thing here.” She jerked
from him again only to have him push her against the wall. Kennedy lost what
little control she had on herself and hit him.

She’d never understand if she lived to
be three hundred years old how she ended up over him when he’d fallen. Her body
lay sprawled all over his in a way that she could feel every hard muscle of his
entire frame, and there wasn’t any doubt to her that he was all hard muscle.
When she tried to scramble off him he put his hands on her hips and held her
still. His cock seemed to grow as she lay there.

“You’ve got blood on your lip.” His
voice was husky and soft. She licked it off and tasted the copperiest of it. “You
okay otherwise?”

“Fine.” This time when she tried to get
up he groaned deep in his chest and she felt it along her breast. There was
something very appealing about him making noises, she thought. Making sure she
didn’t elbow or knee him again, she stood up and moved her back to the door. As
he stood, she had a sudden thought that he was going to hit her back, but he
only grinned at her.