Southern Comfort: Compass Brothers, Book 2 (8 page)

“Knock knock,” she said, when she spotted him.

“Come on in.” He’d been in the process of making a late lunch. He gestured at the sandwich fixins in front of him. “Hungry? I make a mean ham on rye.”

She shook her head. “No, thanks. I already ate. I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow.”

Her wedding day. He gritted his teeth. “Unless you’re here to tell me you’ve called the wedding off, I don’t want to talk about it.”

She sighed, but wasn’t deterred. “I’m not calling it off, Seth, but—” she hesitated and he wondered what she was going to say. “I wanted to say some things to you beforehand.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, certain he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. His stance seemed to slow her momentum for a minute and she took a deep breath.

“I appreciate what you said, what you did yesterday morning in the tack room.”

He scowled. “I fucking buried my face in your sweet cunt and set you off like a firecracker and you
appreciate
it.”

She took a step closer. “Don’t be crude,” she snapped. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

He cursed under his breath.

“For years, I’ve walked around here feeling like I wasn’t good enough for you. I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to catch your attention and feeling like I was falling short because of some weakness, some inadequacy—”

“God dammit, Jody. I told you. None of that’s true.”

She smiled. “I know that…now. I never understood why you rebuffed me, but now that I do, I get it. You were right to fight this.” She waved her hand between them and it took all the strength in Seth’s body not to grab that hand, pull her toward him and prove to her how wrong she was.

She walked over to his kitchen table and claimed one of the chairs, sinking down heavily. “I can’t be what you want. I can’t give in to your needs without betraying who I am.”

He stepped closer, taking the seat next to her. “I don’t want to change you, Jody. My reasons were right at the time. You were too young, too inexperienced. Time has changed that. You’ve grown up and matured. You’re more than strong enough to handle me now.”

She laughed sadly. “No. I think we both know exactly how inexperienced I still am.”

“I’m not talking about sexual experience. When you were younger, you worked your ass off trying to be the woman you thought I wanted, rather than the woman you were, the woman I adored. You know who you are now. I’m not looking to change that.”

She looked down at her hands and he could see she was considering his words. She raised her gaze to his once more, her face sadder than he’d ever seen it. “I know you don’t want to change it. Problem is I’m not sure you could help it.”

He shook his head, but his cell phone rang, cutting off any reply she might make. He was going to ignore it, but glancing at the caller ID, he saw his father’s number. His brother, Silas, had returned home after receiving some pretty serious injuries during an oil rig explosions in Alaska and he’d asked JD to call him as soon as Silas was settled in back in Wyoming.

“I have to take this,” he said, opening the phone.

She nodded and started to leave, but he grasped her hand with his free one, shaking his head and indicating he wanted her to stay.

He spoke briefly to his father. The conversation was short. It was obvious from JD’s comments his bedridden brother was already bored with the role of invalid. Hearing about Silas’s gruff complaining went a long way toward setting Seth’s mind at ease.

He’d wanted to return home immediately after finding out about Silas’s accident, but his mother had convinced him to give Silas some time to recuperate and adjust to being back home. He’d suspected his mother had been trying to keep him away because it was worse than they were letting on. Talking to JD set those fears to rest. Clearly, there was another reason his mother wanted him to postpone a trip home. When JD mentioned the good care Silas’s best friends, Lucy and Colby, had been giving him, the light bulb went on in Seth’s brain and he grinned. Silas really was home.

“How are you doing?” he asked his dad, concerned by the weariness he detected in his old man’s voice. It couldn’t have been easy on his parents when they’d learned of the accident that nearly killed their oldest son.

“Hanging in there,” JD said. As usual, trying to get his father to talk about himself was impossible.

True to form, JD changed the subject quickly. “Your brothers are setting up one of those video chat things on the computer. Silas said you should check your email for the day and time, make sure it works for you.”

Seth and his brothers had lived apart for nearly a decade. In order to keep in touch, his younger brother Sam had started setting up conference chats for them. Seth looked forward to the chats. He enjoyed seeing his brothers’ faces and hearing their voices. “I’ll be sure to check my email.”

He said his goodbyes and hung up. He looked at Jody as he considered all the near misses in his life lately. He’d almost lost Silas, and now he was in danger of losing her. The idea made him even more determined to win her heart.

Jody looked at him. “Your father?”

He nodded.

“Is Silas okay? He was hurt in Alaska, right?”

When he gave her a surprised look, she explained. “Dad told me about it last week when I called to tell him I was coming home.”

Ordinarily, he would have called to talk to her about it, but since she’d started avoiding his calls after Christmas, he hadn’t bothered dialing her number. He’d missed telling her about the day-to-day stuff. “Apparently he’s bitching about being stuck in bed, so I’d say he’s good. Gotta say getting the call about that explosion—” His words drifted off as he recalled the night JD had called to tell him about Silas.

Jody smiled and when she squeezed his hand, he realized he’d never released it. “I can’t even imagine how scary that must have been. I know how close you and your brothers are.”

He wanted to pull her to him, wrap himself up in her embrace. He hadn’t known how much his brother’s injury had been bothering him until he heard JD’s voice. It would be so easy to fall into her arms, to let her comfort him.

“I miss them. Miss home sometimes.”

“Do you ever think of going back to Wyoming?”

Her question triggered the secret desire he’d been harboring lately. He nodded. “Yeah. I do. When I was young, all I could think about was getting the hell out of Compton Pass on the fastest plane I could find.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m wondering why I ever left.”

If he expected her to be surprised by his comments, he would have been disappointed. “I’ve always been jealous of your stories about growing up.”

He grinned. “Really?”

“I’m an only child and the daughter of the boss. Spent a lot of my childhood alone with my horse. I used to imagine what it would be like to be a part of a big, loving family. To have brothers or sisters to fight with, play with.”

“Most of the time it was a pain in the ass,” he joked, though her comments sent a jolt of homesickness through him.

She laughed. “I don’t believe that for one minute.”

They fell silent and for a moment, Seth was reminded of the way things were before he’d fucked up at Christmas. Then he remembered her wedding tomorrow and a wave of desperation rose.

“Jody,” he started, but she raised her hand, cutting off his reply. It was obvious her thoughts had drifted in the same direction.

“Please, Seth. Please try to understand that I’ve made my decision. I’m marrying Paul because I genuinely believe it’s the best thing for me.”

“I’ll never understand or believe that.”

She released his hand and stood. “Then I guess there’s nothing left to do, but say goodbye.”

He chuckled, the sound turning to a laugh when confusion colored her pretty face. “Ah, sweetheart. That was a nice, but weak attempt. I’m not finished yet. You go ahead and fool yourself into thinking you’re gettin’ hitched. I’m here to tell you it’s never going to happen.”

Her eyes narrowed and his vivacious Jody reemerged ready for a fight.

She leaned toward him. “Get ready to be disappointed, Compton. I’m a big girl and perfectly capable of charting my course all by myself. I’m marrying Paul tomorrow and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.”

She turned and stomped toward the front door of his cabin. He waited until her hand reached out to open the screen before speaking. “See you soon,” he said, taking care to lace his voice with just enough threat and promise.

She parted her lips to speak, then changed her mind. Scowling, she stormed out, slamming the screen door behind her as the seed of a plan sprouted in Seth’s mind.

“You have a minute?”

Seth looked up and tried to suppress a groan as Paul climbed the three steps to his front porch. His cabin had turned into Grand Central Station today. He’d just poured what he intended to be the first of many whiskeys tonight. He nodded and gestured to the empty rocking chair beside him. “Sure.” His tone didn’t sound particularly inviting, a fact that clearly wasn’t lost on Jody’s fiancé as Paul hesitated briefly before finally taking the proffered seat. “What’s on your mind?”

“I was wondering if I could ask a favor.”

Seth’s grip on his tumbler tightened. If the man asked him to stand up for him in his wedding to Jody, he’d be hard-pressed not to punch the guy’s lights out. He was still doing his damnedest to figure out how to stop the ceremony. Thomas’s and Jody’s words kept drifting through his mind. He couldn’t see himself storming into the church as the minister asked for objections, shouting his protest like some romantic jackass from the movies, but he certainly wouldn’t rule the idea out.

“What kind of favor?”

“I suppose you know Jody is out tonight with some of the hands. Her twisted version of a bachelorette party.” Paul’s light laughter proved he found Jody’s exploits entertaining, another begrudging point Seth had to give in the man’s favor. It appeared Jody’s fiancé wouldn’t try to change her, wouldn’t try to curb her impulsiveness and joy for life.

“I know about the party.” The ranch hands had thrown the celebration together on a whim when they’d heard about her rushed nuptials. He’d had to fight the urge to threaten every last one of them if they let anything happen to her tonight. He’d also been a bit annoyed about being left off the guest list, but given the fact he’d been snapping off anyone’s head who came within five feet of him, he couldn’t blame the hands for wanting a break from him.

“Well, um. I was wondering if you’d ever seen Jody drink.”

Seth frowned, wondering where the hell Paul was going with this conversation. “No. She only turned twenty-one in May. I assumed she did her partying at college because she’s never had anything here.”

“I never saw Jody have a drink until her birthday. She was always happy to be the designated driver, claiming she didn’t like the smell of liquor. For her twenty-first birthday party, a bunch of our gang got together and took her out. She had two shots of tequila, and I suddenly understood why she didn’t drink.”

Seth leaned forward, curious. “Mean drunk?” he said, the idea sort of funny to him. He could see his feisty gal getting into a fight after a few.

“No, something a bit more disturbing.”

Seth didn’t like Paul’s serious face. “What happens to her?”

“She loses all her inhibitions.”

“What?”

Paul nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Jody’s always the life of the party, don’t get me wrong. She’s a fun girl with a great sense of humor, but she’s always in control of herself. She says she doesn’t need to drink because she can have just as much fun without alcohol.”

“What did she do on her birthday?” Seth couldn’t imagine Jody not being in complete control. She was too much like him in that regard.

“Like I said, we bought a couple of rounds, next thing I know she’s up on stage, singing with the band that was performing that night.” Paul chuckled. “She’s actually a pretty good singer. Thing is it’s like it wasn’t her I was watching. She’s singing, dancing in this very provocative, sexy way. At the end of the number, she started making out with the guitar player on stage. Needless to say, I pulled her out of there. She didn’t remember doing any of it the next morning and swore off alcohol after that.”

Thank God Jody had been with friends. He didn’t like to consider what would have happened if Paul hadn’t been there. He was glad to hear she had enough sense to know to stay away from the stuff. “Surely she wouldn’t drink tonight.”

Paul shrugged. “I would hope not, but Jody hasn’t really been acting like herself lately. I’m not sure what she’d do. I was sort of hoping you’d go crash the party, keep an eye on her. I’d go, but as the groom, I’m pretty sure I’d get booted out quick.”

Seth ground his teeth at Paul’s reference to himself as groom. It took every ounce of willpower not to inform the man in no uncertain terms he’d never have Jody as his wife. Instead, he said, “I think they were headed to Philly’s. I’ll hop in my truck and go check things out.”

Paul rose, his grin wide, as he reached out to shake his hand. “I’d appreciate it, Seth.”

As Paul walked back to the main house, Seth entered his cabin, pulling off his ripped T-shirt and reaching for a clean cotton shirt. He considered Paul’s words. The ceremony was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, so his time had definitely run out. Opening his closet, he bent down to pick up his cowboy boots and his gaze landed on his hunting rifle tucked against the back wall.

A grin crossed his face as the plan he’d considered earlier came back to him. He’d dismissed it as too much, too over the top, but now…

Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his cell phone and called Thomas.

“Yallo,” his boss drawled and Seth could picture the man kicked back in his recliner, beer in hand, watching a repeat of some golden oldie sitcom on TV.

“
MASH
or
The Andy Griffith Show
tonight?” Seth asked.

“Neither one. Found a
Matlock
marathon. Why are you calling me? Thought you’d be finding a way to stop this asinine wedding Jody’s got her mind set on.”