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“That’s her,” he said, trying to keep his voice sounding casual. He loved Luke, trusted him with his life, but Luke was still his little brother, and wouldn’t hesitate to tease him, pick on him, and absolutely embarrass him if the opportunity arose.
The closer Matt held his cards to his chest, the better off he’d be.
“She’s cute,” Luke said, smirking.
“She helps mom, and she does a good job. I mean, she’s really taken the burden off of mom. I think Clara might be actually thinking about opening her own store now that mom doesn’t need her so much anymore.”
“I know why you tried to change the subject. I wasn’t born yesterday,” Luke said, still smirking. “That’s the girl mom said you had a thing for.”
“She did not,” Matt shot back. There was no way his mom would say something like that to his brother.
“Well, mom said that you took her horseback riding along the beach. She didn’t have to say you had a thing for her. It was obvious you did when she said that. But, I guess I can go over and see for myself what kind of woman she is.”
“Stay away from her,” Matt said, and it came out a little harsher than he intended. A little more desperate. A little... Scared. He didn’t know exactly where his relationship stood with Jubilee, and he didn’t need his brother going and ruining everything.
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I expected you to say. I definitely need to go talk to her.”
“And I can talk to Kristin for you. Actually, I could talk to Kristin’s gram.” Everyone in Strawberry Sands avoided Kristin, or more accurately, they avoided Kristin’s gram. To look at Kristin, was to be attacked by Heather, and to be practically herded down the aisle with wedding bells ringing all around.
No one wanted that. So poor Kristin was a pariah in town.
“You wouldn’t,” Luke said, and the horror in his voice was only partially faked. “I thought you loved me.”
“Thought wrong, little brother.” It was Matt’s turn to smirk as he put a heavy hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I think we're at a draw.” He grinned.
“I think you might be right. Anything to avoid Miss Heather.”
Luke actually shivered, which made Matt laugh.
“You know, someday you ought to brave Kristin’s gram, and get to know her. She might not be a bad person. She’s cute,” Matt repeated Luke’s earlier words.
“If you think she’s so cute, you get brave and you brave her grandma. There’s no way I’ll get anywhere near that old lady.”
“You must be talking about Miss Heather,” Davis said casually as he walked up to the brothers.
Matt held his hand out, and they shook, then Davis shook Luke’s hand too.
“This is quite a spread you got here. I’m impressed with the lights and you even hired a professional chef for the grill.”
“He was free. All I had to do was say that I didn’t know how I was going to cook everything and mingle with my guests, and Griff offered.”
“Really?” Matt had to admit he was surprised. Although, he figured he shouldn’t be. He would have agreed to help immediately if he knew that Davis needed something, but the idea of Griff offering hadn’t entered his mind. But it made sense now.
Especially since every time Matt looked at Griff, he saw him eyeing Charlotte. Griff probably wanted to come so he could keep an eye on her. If the rumors were right, the man had a thing for her.
Thing or not, the fellow knew how to make cheesecake anyway.
“I was keeping an eye out for the girl that works in your stable. Her and her brother. I thought they’d be here,” Matt said, looking around once more. He’d wanted to introduce her to Nora. The girl seemed like she might be a little bit younger than Nora, but he thought they might have horses in common. Jubilee’s girls would probably enjoy talking to her as well.
“You know, there’s something going on with her. I’ve been pressing her on where she lives. She’s been kind of evading me, and I finally told her that I needed her information so that I could put her on payroll and do her taxes.”
“Did she give it to you?” Matt asked, thinking from the way Davis was talking that she didn’t, and he’d found out something about her.
“She did. But I checked out the address, because I wanted to talk to her parents. It’s weird that she’s been working for me now for almost a month, and the only person I’ve seen with her has been her brother. There is no telephone number, and the address was bogus.”
“She gave you a bogus address?” Luke asked, incredulously. “Did you fire her?”
“No way. In fact, I was kind of afraid to press her harder than what I have. I’m afraid she’ll quit.”
