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“I already figured that one out, Jethro. ”
“Well, figure this one out. What little bit I was able to charm from a few of the ladies I talked to in town, it seems Delia Staten is the one spreading the rumor that we’re sharing your pretty wife. But no one knows how she found out I was here so quickly. ”
“One of the farmhands, no doubt. ” Mac grimaced, trying to push suspicion aside. “There’s not a whole hell of a lot that you can keep secret here. For Keiley’s sake, I had hoped to keep this a secret, though. ”
Mac raked his fingers through his hair as he paced to the wide window and stared out at the stables. Wes was still down there, closing up the stables for the night, making certain the horses were comfortable before he left. Suspicion hell.
“How did she hit upon the truth, though?” Mac murmured. “I told Keiley it was coincidence, but that doesn’t sit well in my gut, Jethro. She knows something she shouldn’t know. ”
Jethro shrugged easily. “She could have friends in Virginia. It’s a small world now, Mac. ”
“Then the rumors would have begun sooner. As you said, Delia has a hard-on for my marriage. ”
“What do you want to do? I could take a room in town—”
Mac was shaking his head even as the words were coming out of his friend’s mouth.
“This is my home and my life,” he growled, restraining the anger beginning to build inside him. “I don’t mess with their sex lives and they will stay out of mine. Period. I’ll make certain of it. ”
Jethro winced. “Cowboy tactics aren’t going to work here, Mac. ”
“I was raised in this town, Jethro,” Mac pointed out savagely. “Born and bred here. I know how
to handle them. You don’t. ”
Some people understood only one thing. Fear. He might not have been back to Scotland Neck in the fifteen years before his marriage, but he had made a point to learn everything he could before he returned.
He had to admit, he hadn’t expected Delia to throw a wrench in the works. But he would take care of her through her husband and her mother-in-law. He knew where to strike that viper for the most effect.
“That doesn’t solve where the information came from,” Jethro pointed out.
“I’ll find that one out as well. ”
His head lifted as a knock sounded on the door. A second later Keiley stepped into the office.
Mac almost grinned at the way she was dressed. He hadn’t seen her covered so well in their home since he had married her. Not that the summer soft cotton pants and loose shirt detracted from the lush curves beneath them. The buttoned top draped over her breasts with a soft touch, inviting a man to find out what lay beneath it. The pants were just loose enough to hide her rounded thighs and hint at the soft cleft between them.
“I’m putting dinner on,” she announced. “Is there anything in particular that you have a taste for?”
From the corner of his eye he caught the sudden flare of lust in Jethro’s expression and the unusual tightening of his lips as his friend held back what Mac was certain would be a less-than-decent suggestion. The sight of the heated blush rushing beneath her cheeks assured him that Keiley hadn’t missed it, either.
“Pervert,” she muttered under her breath.
Wicked amusement lit Jethro’s eyes as he turned to her more fully. “I resemble that remark. ”
She rolled her eyes before turning back to Mac. “Restrain him. ”
Mac arched a brow. “I’d much rather restrain you, but only after dinner. ”
“Fine, you can eat whatever I fix. ”
“Keiley. ” His voice was harder, darker, as she turned to leave, and he knew it. He heard it in his own voice, but her reaction was much more telling.
She froze, an almost imperceptible shudder working up her spine before she turned back to him.
Her expression had his balls drawing tight in his jeans. Her lashes had drifted lower, her lips appeared fuller, and a flush that had nothing to do with embarrassment darkened her cheeks.
“What?” A little frown also creased her brow as he stared back at her.
