Southern Comfort: Compass Brothers, Book 2 (2 page)

“Nice! Me first.” Sam squeaked a head start for Seth’s backpack as Sawyer launched himself after his twin.

Seth laughed as he watched them wrestle and call each other names.
Yep
, he thought,
there’s still plenty of time
.

Chapter One

Ten years later

Seth dismounted his horse, Charlton, and tried to slap some of the dust out of his jeans. Damn, it was hot. Weather forecasters proclaimed it the hottest June in Texas in the last fifty years, and he didn’t doubt it was true. The air was so thick he’d need a chainsaw to cut through it. He couldn’t believe he’d ever thought he wanted to live in a hotter climate. On more than one occasion lately, he found his mind drifting back to the Wyoming nights he’d spent sleeping on the screened-in back porch with his brothers.

On warm summer evenings, they’d take sleeping bags out of the shed and sack out on the porch floor, the mountain breeze blowing over them as they told ghost stories, trying to scare the bejeezus out of each other, laughing and talking until JD finally stomped out to yell at them to go to sleep. He’d been thinking about home and his brothers a lot and wondered when he’d become prone to homesickness. He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and tried to wipe the sweat out of his eyes.

“Hot enough for you?”

Seth looked up and saw Thomas Kirkland walking toward him from the other end of the large stable.

Seth nodded.

“Figure we could fry steak and eggs on the asphalt out there. Damn joy riders. You finish fixing that fence down on the south pasture?”

“Yep. CJ and Ronnie helped.”

“I can pretty much guarantee they won’t decide to sneak off in their daddy’s farm truck with a six pack of Natty Light again anytime soon. Fool kids. They’re lucky the only thing hurt was the fence. Could’ve broken their damn necks.”

Seth chuckled. “Well, you gotta admit it’s pretty hard to see if any damage was done to Carl’s rusty piece of shit Ford. I can’t believe the thing still starts, let alone runs.”

Thomas agreed. “Think that’s why CJ and Ronnie weren’t hurt. The truck doesn’t go much more than thirty miles an hour.”

“Thought you’d like to know they were groaning about the belt Carl took to their hides while we were out there sweating our asses off mending the fence.”

“Damn.” Thomas shook his head. “I told him not to go too hard on them. Making them pay for the lumber and do the repairs was punishment enough for me.”

“Yeah, well, given the fucking heat, I tend to think you’re right. Besides, I’m not sure Carl hit to harm as much as to make his point. I think he hurt their pride more than their rear ends. Not fun to get your ass swatted at fourteen when you like to think you’re a man and not a boy.”

Thomas pushed his hat back on his head and ran his sleeve along his brow. “You’ve got a point there. Speaking of pride, Jody’s back.”

Seth tried to hide the combination of excitement and anxiousness his boss’s announcement sparked. He’d been looking forward to her arrival for weeks. Hell, years. She’d graduated from college and was coming home for good. “Wonder why pride made you think of your girl?”

Thomas chuckled. “I’d like to say it’s because she’s my pride and joy, but I think we both know it’s because that girl got in line twice the day they handed out that particular character trait.”

“Three times,” Seth joked. “Took her sweet time getting home, didn’t she?”

“Yep. Don’t know why the hell it took her a whole month to pack up her apartment. I told her I’d help her move back the weekend she graduated from college, but the damn girl insisted she had too much to do.”

“Jody marches to her own beat, Thomas. You know that.”

“Yeah, well. She pulled up in a U-Haul a half hour ago with ten times more shit than she left with and…”

Thomas faltered and Seth looked up, confused by the look on his boss’s face. Thomas Kirkland was so much like his pop, JD, Seth swore they were separated at birth. Neither man was ever flustered, but right now, that was the only way Seth could think of to describe his boss.

“Well, Seth. She didn’t just bring home a bunch of stuff. She brought home—”

A feminine voice hollering from the end of the stable cut Thomas short. “There you are. Daddy, what the hell? You know, hiding out in the stable isn’t—oh.”

Jody pulled up short as she approached and saw him standing there. “Hey, Seth. Thought you were out fixing a fence or something.”

He removed his hat and ran his hand through his dark hair, the manners his mother had beat into his head coming to the forefront. Vicky’s number one rule was always take your hat off in the presence of a lady. Problem was he was torn between calling Jody a lady and a hellion. She’d run riot over him for the past decade and half the time he didn’t know which end was fucking up whenever she was around.

“Welcome home, Jody.” He stepped forward and bent down to give her a hug. Her shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair smelled like honeysuckle. He had to force himself to keep the embrace quick and brotherly. His cock stirred, and he closed his eyes briefly, trying to ignore the usual arousal that accompanied her arrival. She was the boss’s daughter and even at twenty-one, she was too damn young for him.

She’d been a tomboyish twelve-year-old when he first came to work on the ranch and the other hands had given him shit when it became obvious the young girl had a crush on him. Her infatuation hadn’t abated until last Christmas, when he’d foolishly kissed her under the mistletoe and then shoved her away.

Since then, the easy camaraderie and innocent flirting they’d engaged in since her graduation from high school had evaporated. She’d only been home once since Christmas, but he could see in her face she was still angry with him. He was determined now that she was back to stay, he’d make things right again. He’d been thinking about her return a lot lately. Things were about to change between him and the little wildcat. He grinned at the thought.

“Thanks, Seth. Good to be back.”

“Didn’t get the impression you were staying,” Thomas muttered.

“Daddy. Don’t you think you were kind of rude to Paul?”

“Paul?” Seth asked.

“I mean we only just got here and told you our good news.”

Thomas frowned. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

Jody’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, it is. Didn’t you tell me you wanted me to find a nice man and settle down?”

“What the—” Seth crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly worried about the direction of this conversation. “You were pissed as shit when Thomas gave you that advice. Said women these days didn’t need a man to be happy and you didn’t plan to ever get hitched.” The fight she and her father had had at the end of last summer was epic. Seth had tried to stay out of it, mind his own business, but when Jody and Thomas went toe to toe, it was hard not to hear. Neither of them understood the concept of
inside
voices.

Jody glanced at him and gave him a small smile that seemed too sad to be genuine. “Turns out I was wrong.”

Seth fought to restrain a growl from escaping his chest. She’d brought home a man? Paul? Seth’s fists clenched at the thought. “How so?”

Thomas shrugged, the helpless gesture at odds with his legendary ability to handle anything. Of course, now that Seth thought about it, Jody was the exception to her father’s confident approach to life. Her mother had died when she was five, and Thomas had struggled to understand and raise his daughter since then.

Jody lifted her left hand, flashing a diamond the size of Dallas in his face. “I’m engaged.”

“The hell you are.” The words left Seth’s mouth before he could catch them. While Thomas laughed at his reply, he could see he’d sent Jody’s temper into orbit.

She retracted her hand and studied the ring, sarcasm dripping from her tone. “Really? I’m not engaged? Because I think this ring and the fact Paul got down on one knee and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ sort of proves that I am.”

“Who the fuck is this Paul character?” Seth took two steps toward the main house, ready to confront the asshole who’d dared to propose without even bothering to meet her family first, but Jody stepped in front of him, stopping him.

“Back off, Seth. You know perfectly well who Paul is. He’s been my best friend since freshmen year of college.”

“
That
Paul? What the fuck? I thought he was gay. Hell, he spent his entire last visit here flirting with the ranch hands.”

Jody closed her eyes and took a deep breath. But long before a ten count, she replied, through gritted teeth, “Obviously, he’s not gay.”

“Since when?”

“Since he fucking proposed to me. Why am I even having this conversation? This is none of your damn business.”

He bent down until his face was mere inches from hers. “Is that right? Well, I beg to differ.”

She leaned closer, and he could detect the slight scent of chocolate on her breath. Jody clearly hadn’t lost her sweet tooth, though he was beginning to wonder where she’d misplaced her common sense. “You are not my boyfriend and you are not my brother. Hell, you’re not a part of this freaking family at all. You are my father’s foreman, which means my decision to get married is none of your damn business.”

He struggled to keep his hands on his hips, rather than reach over and prove to Miss Jody Kirkland how very wrong she was. His fingers were itching to take her over his knee and spank some sense into her.

She’d made herself his business the very first day he’d come to work here and she’d climbed atop Coy, her father’s newest addition to the stable. The far-from-tamed horse had taken exception to its rider and bolted across the yard, jumping a fence and sprinting across the lower pasture. Seth had chased her on Charlton for close to a mile before managing to catch up and pull the fool girl off the runaway roan.

He could still recall the way she’d trembled in his arms and looked at him like he’d hung the moon for rescuing her. By the time they’d returned to the stable, they were laughing like old friends and his position at the ranch had been solidified. As he looked into her blue eyes now, he missed the admiration and wished to hell he could get rid of the anger that had crept in instead.

“Jody,” Thomas broke in. “You know full well I consider Seth a part of this family. If he takes exception to your asinine engagement, then perhaps you should listen to why.”

Jody released a furious breath. “You can’t object to a man who’s been my friend for years.”

Seth leaned back a bit. “Don’t you think it’s a little strange that one minute the guy’s gay and the next he’s not?”

“He never said he was gay.”

“That’s not something we needed to be told. It was kind of obvious. Is he bi?” Seth could understand bisexuality. He’d seen glimpses of it in his older brother, Silas, when they were growing up and he suspected now that his brother was back home in Wyoming, Silas would be acting on some of the feelings he had for his best friend, Colby.

Jody sighed loudly. “No. He’s in love with me. Just me.”

Seth knocked his hat against his jeans in frustration. “Never heard you talk about him like he was your boyfriend. You were home for Easter, Jody, and you didn’t say one word about dating him. When did this so-called love affair start?”

“It turned into something more than friendship recently.”

He tried to beat down the twinge of jealousy that accompanied the thought of her being
more than friends
with any other man. She was right. He had no claim staked on her. But it sure as hell felt like he did. “So why the rush? If you’ve only started dating, I don’t see why—”

“Because I want to. I don’t need any more reason than that.”

“Just like that?” Seth tried to understand what the hell was going on inside her pretty head. The only thing missing from her haughty proclamation was for her to stamp her foot on the ground like a three-year-old. She wasn’t like this. She’d never been a spoiled girl, never been prone to temper tantrums or selfish demands. She’d been a fun-loving tomboy who’d grown into his laughing, easygoing friend. This angry woman was a stranger to him, and he missed the real Jody.

“That’s right. And we’re not waiting. We came home to have the ceremony performed here.”

“When exactly?”

Thomas cleared his throat. Bewilderment crossed his boss’s face. He was sure the same confusion resided on his. There would be no help from that camp. “They plan to bring the justice of the peace out to make it official here at the ranch in two weeks.”

Hell to the no! Seth would see her married to some stranger only over his dead body. He started to say exactly the same thing, but the argument that came out was much different than what he’d intended. “What about love, Jody? Do you love him?”

His softly spoken question seemed to jar her a bit and for just a second, he saw the trace of his old friend before she disappeared again behind the indifferent, cold woman who’d replaced her.

“What kind of question is that?”

Thomas leaned against the horse stall and crossed his arms over his chest. “A pretty valid one, if you ask me.”

Jody turned to look at her father and shook her head. “You two really are a matched set, you know that? Way to gang up on me.”

“Answer me, Jody,” Seth persisted. “Are you in love?”

She studied his face and a glimmer of pain shone in her eyes. Then she nodded, turned on her heel and walked out of the stable.

It wasn’t until she disappeared around the corner that it began to sink in. Seth had missed his chance with her. He’d pushed her away for too long.

“You realize you made a mistake there, right?” Thomas asked.

Seth nodded sadly. Mistake was putting it lightly. He’d fucked up. Big time. “Yeah. I guess I did.”

Thomas studied his face and then chuckled. “Think we’re talking about two different things. Of course, maybe not. She may be in love, son, but she didn’t say with who.”

Chapter Two

Jody stormed back into the house, slamming the screen door behind her. “God damn, mother fucking, piece of arrogant shit asshole.”

“I take it you ran into Seth.” Paul’s sarcasm drifted to her from the dining room and she glanced in that direction and caught her best friend leaning against the doorframe.