Love Under Two Loners [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  But she had, and now all she could do was her best to get herself out of this sticky business she was in. Making the school thrive, producing outstanding graduates—those were the only tools she had to accomplish that task.

  “Yes, you’re right. I’m really hoping that Dr. Kendall and I get along, that he’ll be a good fit for the college.”

  “Excellent.” Victor Swift got to his feet. Always polite, Edith rose as well.

  “Feel free to extend the scholarship to Miss Mills. Then call Miss Lucas and set up an appointment for me, please, Miss Claymore.”

  “Of course, Mr. Swift. I’ll let you know as soon as that has been accomplished.”

  She kept the smile on her face until her office door closed behind the odious man. The strength left her knees, and she sank to her chair. Her gaze was pulled to the side, to the framed photograph of her mother, Edwina Claymore, with the college’s former great and good benefactor, Bernard Douglas Swift.

  Who could have known that a saint such as Bernard could have such a devil for a son? She turned her eyes away from the picture because looking too long at her mother’s image made Edith feel uncomfortable. She refused to think what the college’s founder would have to say about the deal she’d made to save the school.

  A tainted legacy was better than no legacy at all, and that was that.

  * * * *

  “I can’t get over how quickly this is coming together,” Donny said. “Not two weeks ago, we chose this property. During our meeting this morning—the reason I kept you waiting for a few moments—Jordan told me the clinic would be ready by Friday.”

  “Tam said her brother-in-law did good work, and that he didn’t let any grass grow under his feet, either.” Iris stood beside Donny in what would be the reception area of the new Lusty Veterinary Clinic. The hardhat and safety glasses she currently sported were in deference to the builder’s sign of no admittance without protective gear. She and her boss were wearing safety boots already. Being a veterinarian, or a veterinarian’s assistant, often required field calls. Steel-toed boots came in handy if a horse or cow decided to step on your foot—a lesson she’d learned the hard way in her first year with Doc Murdock.

  The Radners’ milk cow, old Bessie, hadn’t broken her toes, but it had been a near miss. Since that incident, she’d spent that little bit extra for the steel-toe and steel shank in the sole boots.

  “The truth is this place had already undergone extensive electrical and plumbing upgrades.” Jordan had come up to them. He must have heard Donny’s last comment. “Once we discussed what you needed, it was merely a matter of throwing up some new walls, installing extensions on the plumbing, and adding a few new fixtures.” Then he grinned. “Doctor Doolittle here will be in business in no time.”

  Iris couldn’t help the snicker as she looked over at Donny to see how he was taking that comment. “Cousin-speak,” he explained.

  “I’ve heard of it.” Then, because she knew the story, she looked at Jordan. “I’m surprised the family hasn’t dubbed you The Stud.”

  Jordan’s nod and smile were immediate. “I know, right? That makes perfect sense. But no, that’s not the moniker they’ve given me at all.”

  “He’s Bob the Builder,” Donny said. “Which is, as you know, a cartoon character.”

  “I like it.” Iris laughed.

  “You would,” Jordan replied. Since he was still smiling, she knew he was fine with her teasing.

  “Iris and I are going to get to work in the house, in the office.”

  “I’ll know where to find you if I need you.” Then he looked at Iris. “Perhaps you could show my cousin the Yankee how to make proper tea.”

  “Hey, Iris is a veterinary assistant, not a maid.”

  Iris liked the shiver that skittered down her spine at the way Donny jumped to her defense. She appreciated his words because they were an indication that he respected her as a professional. But she didn’t want cousins to come to blows. Donny couldn’t know it, but below-par sweet tea could be something to fight over.

  “I like sweet tea during the day. If you don’t mind, I’d be pleased to make some—enough for everyone.”

  Donny nodded. “As long as you understand it’s not expected of you. I’ll play close attention so I know how to make it, too.”

  Iris thought that was more than fair. The truth was she never had minded making the sweet tea for Doc Murdock—or even sometimes bringing him a casserole for his supper. She liked doing things for the people she cared about.

  She immediately stopped the question forming in the ether of her mind. Or so she believed. But when Donny Kendall held the door to his house open to her and indicated she should enter first, the scent of him as she passed close to him—clean man with a bit of spice added in—conjured all sorts of salacious images of the things she could do for him.

  The expression on his face and the look in his eyes told her he knew exactly where her thoughts had strayed. He flicked a quick look down at her chest. It took every bit of will she possessed not to follow his gaze. She wasn’t very well endowed, but what she had was sensitive, and she’d felt her nipples go hard the moment she’d breathed him in.

  “Let me give you the nickel tour,” Donny said. He’d shut the screen door but left the inside one open. Spring was barely underway, so it wasn’t very hot out yet. Iris was glad of that. She liked the heat to a point. Too much found her happy to be indoors with the A/C on full blast.

  She immediately liked the house the Doctors Kendall had decided to call their own. Two story, with a small porch in front and, she soon discovered, an indoor porch and an outdoor patio in back, it was a typical farmhouse.

  “Jake told me that, about five years ago, the Town Trust decided to redo the outside of the house with fresh siding, and they gave it a new roof. I couldn’t believe it had been empty for as long as it had.”

  “They take care of things here in Lusty.” Iris stood beside him as she admired the kitchen, complete with stainless steel appliances and a butcher-block that served as a prep counter and a seating area. “Tam told me it was one of the most amazing things she discovered in her first weeks here. No property goes to seed—except for the fields that flow out from the town in all directions. If the land isn’t being used—and a lot of it is—then they leave the fields fallow.”

  “It makes sense from an economic point of view. Far less costly to maintain a property than to have to do major renovations when it falls into disrepair.”

  From the living room, kitchen, and small dining alcove, he led her up the stairs, where there were three bedrooms. Two of them—the smaller two of course—were occupied. Each of the bedrooms had its own bathroom attached.

  Donny went to the other room, the only one with a closed door and then turned to her. “The house came with a master suite. Before I open this door to show you, you need to know that when we asked our aunt Samantha to please decorate and gave her a free hand…” He let the sentence trail off, as if he had no idea really how to finish it.

  “Let me guess. She took you at your word and provided you with a master suite containing what every master suite in this town has?” Iris had long gotten over her shock the very first time she’d visited and Tam had shown her the rooms in question in her own house.

  Iris thought someone as small as her friend was might get lost in that gargantuan bed. As for the master bath, a girl could only dream of a hot tub that delicious.

  Donny turned to look at her, and in that moment, the downstairs door banged.

  “I’m back!” Richard Kendall’s voice sounded just as compelling as Iris remembered it from the party the other night.

  “We’re upstairs. I’m giving Iris a tour of the house before we get down to work.

  “Great. My timing is perfect, then.” Rich smiled at Iris when he appeared at the top of the stairs. He carried a clothes hanger, with a dark suit covered in clear plastic. He must have gone to the dry cleaners in Gatesville. He slipped into one of the other ro
oms and then joined them. The look he gave Iris nearly made her knees go weak.

  “I was just explaining to Iris that Aunt Samantha was happy to help us out by furnishing the house. Iris asked if she gave us a Lusty master suite.”

  Rich focused his gaze on her. He had the same look of interest she’d seen in Donny’s gaze off and on all morning. “She did indeed do that little thing for us,” Rich said. “So tell us, Iris. Are you…curious to see what lies behind door number three?”

  Chapter 4

  “I’ll admit to a bit of intellectual curiosity.” Iris felt completely out of her league. She’d never been a woman that men flirted with. They either looked right past her or—on a couple of memorable occasions—believed she’d be eager for whatever attention they tossed her way.

  The result was that, in most situations, she very happily faded into the background and became an observer, rather than a player. She’d gotten very good at doing just that.

  But these two very hot men were actually flirting with her. She didn’t know how serious either of them was—or if they were just flirting because she was female, and there. She looked down for a moment and then raised her gaze to meet the eyes of one and then the other. “But only because I’m interested in seeing Samantha’s talent at work.”

  The men exchanged a look, and then they both burst out laughing.

  “That, little one, was the perfect answer.” Rich opened the door, giving it a slight push so it would swing wide and then stood back in invitation.

  The bedroom was the most beautiful master suite she’d ever seen. She resisted the urge to test the bed—she’d done that with Tam’s, when it had been just the two of them there, and she’d found it very solid and surprisingly comfy.

  The dark wood of the bed and dressers contrasted nicely with the off-white of the walls. Along the top, just below the ceiling, a wallpaper border of turquoise and gold lent a perfect accent to the room. There were decorative pillows on the bed, with tiny flecks of the same turquoise.

  The floor was warm oak-colored laminate, with two area rugs that she could see. One was at the side of the bed and the other at the foot of it. She didn’t intend to go too far into the room. It was, after all, a bedroom, regardless that it was an unused bedroom, in a house occupied by two single men. But all her good intentions of acting decorously flew out of her head as soon as she caught a glimpse of the gleaming master bathroom. She couldn’t even say for certain that she consciously walked through the bedroom and into the bath. She just found herself there.

  Her gaze darted from the super large shower—how many shower heads were in there anyway?—to the claw-foot-style bathtub, to the gorgeous bit of counter a woman could use as a vanity, to the three sinks, to the Jacuzzi tub big enough to have a small party in. In the corner a closed door hinted at a separate area for the toilet.

  “If I’m drooling, please be kind and look away.”

  Both men chuckled.

  “That was my first reaction, too.” Rich walked over to stand on her right.

  “Hell of a bathroom, isn’t it?” Donny stood on her left. “Any time you want to take advantage of that hot tub, feel free.”

  She shot him a sideways glance. He grinned and winked and then let the smile slide off his face.

  “Seriously. There might be days when we’ll be slogging it. If you brought a bathing suit and left it here, you’d be able to take advantage of the tub any time you liked.”

  “Ah. A bathing suit.”

  “Or not.” Rich said those two words and then met her gaze. “Your choice.” Never had a man looked at her with that kind of heat. Then she turned her head and nearly drowned in the twin pools of lust shining in Donny’s eyes, lust that matched his brother’s.

  All right, it’s official. I’m in way over my head.

  “Iris, let’s go down to the office. We have a lot of details to discuss.” Donny looked at his brother, and she just knew they were communicating with each other. She’d seen Morgan and Henry do that, so she guessed it ran in the family.

  It was all she could do not to sigh her relief out loud. As exciting as these feelings felt, they weren’t the reason she was here. Or were they? “Okay. But I’ll make that sweet tea first so it can have time to get cold.” Iris didn’t run, exactly, but she was happy to leave the master suite—and the flirting—behind. Plus, she really did want to make sure there was sweet tea available for whoever wanted some as the day wore on.

  Once in the kitchen she felt on even ground once more. She set the kettle on to boil, and because it was a large kettle and there were a number of men working on site, she decided to make two jugs of the beverage.

  “What do you need?” Donny asked.

  “Tea bags, sugar, ice, and a fresh lemon if you have one. And I’ll make two pitchers up.”

  The men moved around the kitchen, getting the items she’d named. Rich took a minute to wash out the pitchers he’d just brought down from the shelf. When she looked at him, he gave her a self-mocking grin.

  “My mother always insisted on washing anything she hadn’t personally washed since its last use.”

  “And since you’ve not used many of these items yet….”

  “The urge has been high to follow our mother’s rule.” Then he looked at Donny and nodded. “In fact, I think I will. That will give the two of you the privacy you need for the business part of the discussion.”

  Iris would have found it incongruous for an alpha like Rich Kendall to assign himself the chore of washing the contents of his kitchen shelves, except for one thing. She’d already seen several of the men in this town do things she never would have imagined big, strong, manly men would do. And although they hadn’t been raised in Lusty, these two men were Kendalls.

  Both men paid attention to her as she prepared the sweet tea. Under normal circumstances she might have been nervous, having them focused on her this way. Maybe because we had that moment in the master suite is the reason I’m not. She wasn’t really sure now if there had been “a moment” up there. Regardless, it was a little late to erect her defenses against them.

  Be honest with yourself. You don’t want to erect any defenses against these two men.

  No, she didn’t. Iris was relieved when Rich asked her a question. “You don’t put the lemon in the pitcher of tea?”

  “I don’t, no. I just slice it and cover it and leave the plate on the shelf of the fridge. Those who want it will take it. Some people do, and some don’t. There are really more ways to fix sweet tea than you could probably imagine.”

  “That’s not really something I’ve actually imagined.” Donny’s eyes glittered with humor. Iris couldn’t hold back her smile, even if she’d wanted to.

  “Just as all the different ways to order coffee, like I’ve heard y’all do up north, makes my eyes want to cross.”

  Richard tilted his head to one side, and his expression became serious. “Oh, you mean like, ‘I’ll have a venti, half-whole milk, one quarter one percent, one quarter non-fat, extra hot, split quad shots, one and a half shots decaf, two and a half shots regular, no foam latte, with whip, two packets of Splenda, one sugar in the raw, a touch of vanilla syrup, and three short sprinkles of cinnamon’?”

  “You did it, Rich. Iris’s eyes actually crossed.”

  “How can you remember all that, and why on earth would you want to drink it?” Iris couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  “Me? No, I don’t drink anything but good old Colombian coffee, strong and black. I read that order on line when I was doing research for a class I was teaching.” He laughed, and Iris thought he had a really nice one.

  Iris took the tea bags out of the pitchers and then added the sugar. Once she’d stirred enough to ensure the sugar dissolved, she added the ice. “There, just set them in the fridge and they’ll be ready in a half hour or so.”

  “That seems easy enough,” Donny said. “Once we’re open for business, we’ll take turns and take one pitcher over to the clinic each day, t
oo.”

  “Some clients might appreciate that. Should I add disposable cups to the list we’re going to make?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “All right, you two, out of my kitchen.” Rich opened a drawer and pulled out…an apron. He put it on and, even wearing the garment, still looked exactly like what he was—a very dominant alpha male.

  “Okay, Susie Homemaker, we’re going. But if you’re going to assume the role, could you bring me a cup of coffee, please?”

  “You want a nice little tray made up with a plate of cookies, too?”

  “Now that would be just lovely.”

  Iris just laughed and shook her head at their banter. She felt comfortable with both these men, despite the fact that they’d been flirting with her, off and on, since they’d met. She was looking forward to sitting down and finding out just what the terms of her employment would be. She wouldn’t even mind discussing other matters, but she’d leave that up to the brothers Kendall. She compared them, in her mind, to her new friend Jillian’s husbands. Her thoughts turned for a moment to the book that Jill had given her to read. It had been eye opening realizing she had more than a few submissive traits. She wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that Donny and Rich had more than a few Dominant traits, too.

  Iris didn’t know where that left her. She’d have to wait and see.

  * * * *

  Richard worked quickly and efficiently, emptying the kitchen shelves, giving them a wipe, then washing the dishes and putting them back. He didn’t bother with the dishwasher. This was one part busywork and one part a nod to his mother. He’d tell her of his accomplishment in his nighty e-mail.

  He felt good just imagining her smile.

  The soft drone of voices from the open office door reached him, and he kept an eye on the clock. When forty minutes had passed, he loaded a tray he’d found on the top shelf with cups of coffee and that plate of cookies—homemade cookies that he’d discovered in a plastic container in the freezer. A few seconds in the microwave made them absolutely delectable.