Heart of Fire: a Moonbound World series (Witches of Whitewood Book 1) (4 page)

T
he campsite sidled
up next to a narrow river they called Sage Creek, in a heavily wooded area about four miles into the wilderness, hills covered in white wood. And according to Jamie, the Banfields still owned all this land and more to boot.

Since this would be their
center
of operations, Kyle assumed they could go at least the same distance farther and still be on Banfield land.

More land than Kyle had ever seen one family own, but that was the way with these ranchers. Thirty thousand acres might’ve been the norm out here, but he hadn’t owned land in his entire life, so it was pretty foreign to him.

But food? That he could do.

Lana spent too much time flirting with Paul Banfield, which led to Brady extricating his little brother from her blonde clutches on multiple occasions as they set up the site. But once they sat down to his barbecued pork chops with spiced twice-baked potatoes and buttered, dilled green beans, all with different versions of Mattie’s spice rubs, a nice hush settled over the crowd. And he hadn’t even finished the apple crumble.

Kyle liked it when people shut up while they ate his food—meant they were concentrating enough on the meal, they didn’t need to talk.

The little corner of the camp they’d set up as the kitchen tent area wasn’t far from the giant campfire pit, and had more prep space than his home kitchen had before he’d moved out.

Glancing at Lana, he couldn’t help remembering the kitchen in their old house—the one she owned outright and still occupied. The granite countertops, professional grade range and oven, the giant refrigerator. The walk-in pantry. God, he missed that kitchen.

Of course, the Banfield ranch house was great, but if he was only going to be out here, he’d have to get used to this. The ovens built into the barbecues weren’t very big, and it took both of them to bake his potatoes in one shift then the apple crumble in the second.

But he’d make it work. He always made it work.

The one thing he didn’t know yet was how Jamie felt about his cooking. That shouldn’t be a topic of interest, but he spent all night watching for her.

She was nowhere to be found. He saw Brady with Paul and Lana and counted the rest of the guests.
All present
. For some reason, Jamie had disappeared.

Kyle took one more look at his egg timer, checked the temperature on his dessert, covered the remaining food with foil, and set off to find her.

He wandered the camp, keeping his eyes peeled for movement and finding none. The individual tents were spread far enough apart he could walk between them, and still no sign of Jamie.

Brightly-colored nametags adorned each tent—shades of pink for women and shades of blue for men. That would make night prowling way too easy.

His and Jamie’s tents were set several feet apart from one another in the back of the camp, farthest from the kitchen, nearest the river.

A small clump of white trees rose just behind his tent, partly separating it from Jamie’s. That had to have been on purpose, and was for the best.

Up the side of the hill was a small corral where they’d put all the horses for the night. Tied to one side were two saddled horses.

Still, no sign of Jamie.

He roamed back through the camp and looked even more carefully for signs that she was sitting somewhere. Could he have missed her in the crowd of eaters back up by the campfire? If it was possible for him to miss her gorgeous honey skin and chestnut hair….
Nope. Impossible.
His eyes were already attuned to her, wherever she was in a crowd. He couldn’t stop himself from looking for her.

Off to his right, Kyle noticed a tiny movement. The river wound along the back of the camp, and just beyond the last tents, the bank was a little higher in one place at the edge of the floodlights. He walked to the top. It was just high enough to hide Jamie, sitting on a rock with her bare feet in the water, head in her hands.

Maybe I should leave her alone.
She obviously had taken pains to find the one place in camp where she couldn’t be easily found. And picked the one time when everyone else had gathered in one place.

The part of her head she cradled was the part that had hit the ground earlier that morning. If she was hurt….

“Jamie?” he said, his voice as quiet as he could make it, above the quiet rush of the water.

She jerked around and her red-rimmed eyes made his insides lurch like a seatbelt stop.

God, she’s gorgeous
, and not in the delicate, dainty way of girls like Lana. Jamie had this stoic, almost equine beauty that called out to something wild in a man.

“What are you doing here?” Kyle climbed down the riverbank and closed in on the rock she occupied.

She inched away from him with each step. “Sorry. You startled me.”

“You didn’t show up for dinner. I figured something was wrong.” Kyle reached for her head, and she turned away. “Y’okay?”

The stark, almost frightened look in her eyes faded, as though she willed it away, and the smile returned. “I’m fine. Just not very hungry.”

“You missed your brothers fighting over Lana.”

“The blonde?”

Oh shit.

Was he not supposed to know her name yet? He racked his brain to remember if they’d introduced the guests to each other yet. He was pretty sure they had.

“Yes, the blonde.”

Jamie shook her head. “They’re not fighting over her.”

“It sure seems like it. Paul will hang on her for a few minutes then Brady steals her away. Then Paul comes back. Like dogs fighting over a bone.”

“Brady is just trying to keep Paul away from her. Paul has bad taste in women right now, but he can’t help that.”

He remembered Brady’s words about Charity. Sentiments, which Jamie obviously didn’t share. “You don’t think he does?”

“In this case, yes.”

“Well, I won’t disagree with you there.”

Jamie snorted. “Don’t lie. You eyed her for a good five minutes when she stepped off that bus.”

Kyle tried not to let the fear into his face, but it gripped him. He liked this job more than ever. This moment with Jamie by the river, it was so…seductive. He wanted more minutes like this.

“Not in the same way.”
Not the way I eyed you when I first saw you
, he wanted to say. “If she had all her own parts and put on a few pounds, that might be another story altogether.”

“Who thinks that?” She threw her hands in the air. “No man honestly thinks, ‘gee, I wish she was a little fatter and her boobs sagged a little more.’ Give me a break.”

Jamie’s mood shifts threw him for a loop. One minute, nice and sweet; one minute, angry and bitter.

Of course, Kyle couldn’t tell her what he actually thought when he’d seen Lana this morning because, while he did like her body a little bigger and her boobs a little more natural, it was because she had been a better person before she became obsessed with her image. Telling Jamie that would definitely set off alarms.

“Women who are too perfect and whose boobs are too perky don’t look natural,” he said instead. “When you know something’s not real... You can’t have as much affection for a fake body or person as you can for a real one. Trust me.”

She went quiet, and for the first time all night, he felt like all her guards were down. Her hand shifted back to her head, and she grimaced.

“See, you’re not okay.” He finally sat next to her, and the cool, rough surface of the rock under his fingers was a sharp contrast to the warmth shooting through his body at her nearness. He reached for her head again, and this time, she didn’t pull away. When he moved her hand, he saw a patch of purpling skin and a swollen spot. A cord inside him tightened. He’d tried to save her from injury that afternoon but hadn’t managed it.

More than anything else, Kyle wanted to gather her in his arms and hold her. Something about the moment just demanded it. He studied her face, searching for a sense of which Jamie sat next to him.

She just looked back, blankly, like a little girl caught in a lie, while his fingers probed her injury.

“Ouch.” Jamie jerked back a tiny bit when he reached the apex of the lump.

That was a good sign, at least. If the only sore spot was the point of impact, it was probably just a bruise. Hard to read, that one.

But whether it was because he couldn’t decipher her every thought or because he hadn’t been laid in three years, he didn’t think he’d ever wanted to know a woman more in his entire life.

* * *

J
amie heated
under Kyle’s scrutiny.
All men are sweet until they get in your pants and they disappear.

Except, the way he watched her—like nothing else existed—it was intoxicating.

Stop it, Jamie.

Charity’s text about not being able to find the cabin had thrown her for a loop. And then the headache. And she was hungry. And all kinds of crazy.

The cabin was close to town, on the northwestern-most corner of Banfield land, but far enough from the main ranch itself that Brady wouldn’t be out there through the week. It wasn’t heated, but had a wood stove and plenty of firewood, and they would replace the canned goods Charity used.

Still. If Brady caught her….

Jamie hadn’t texted Charity back yet, and didn’t know what she’d say. Brady hadn’t been this angry about a staff person’s actions before, but Charity had really gotten under his skin.

If there was any way to remain neutral… because every time she talked to Charity, it felt like she was taking sides against her brother, and she hated that. Brady had been like a father to her, all her life. He was almost ten years older than she was, and always reminded her that he was there to take care of her.

She couldn’t side with Charity against Brady. Or Kyle.

Jamie let herself look at Kyle. Really
look
at him. He was beautiful by any standard—all strong jaw and furrowed brow. No woman wouldn’t kick him out of bed. But he exuded an easiness that put her off-guard, and that was dangerous. He seemed as comfortable around her as her own brothers.

His calm but intense smile, his focused attention, his comfortable presence. It couldn’t really be genuine.

Besides. Married. Danger.

Kyle slid his hand through her hair and cradled her cheek in his palm. “You look far away. I asked if you were sure you didn’t hit your head too hard.”

She leaned into his hand for the shortest moment. “I would’ve hit my head harder if you hadn’t been there.”

“Or not at all.”

“What?”

“Your horse spooked because you saw me in the corral and jerked her around.” His brow tightened and with it, her heart. He closed his eyes and dropped his hand. “If I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have been thrown in the first place.”

A warm pressure built in her throat. She’d thought the exact same thing, and assumed he was too arrogant to know or care. There was something about this man that really drew her in. He was good. He didn’t deserve this. There had to be another way.

“Still,” she said. “You saved me from much worse.”

Kyle’s big, blue eyes found hers. “I guess I did.”

She looked at his lips and for just a moment, she thought he might kiss her. This was getting too real, too fast.

K
yle held his breath
. He glanced at the soft pink skin of her bottom lip. It would taste so good.
I should kiss her.

No.
I should tell her.
Just say it, Kyle. You’re not married anymore.

Jamie saved him the inner torment and pulled away first, but something inside him swelled, wishing she would have kissed him. He slid his hands into his lap.

“I’d do it again,” he said. “Besides, it was my fault in the first place.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Her body was closed off and she was suddenly distant. “You should get back.”

Kyle stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. She
should
be closed off. She thought he was married.

“I made apple crumble,” he said. “I think you’ll like it.”

She waved him off. “I’m gonna sit here for a minute. I like the feeling of the creek on my feet after a hot day.”

“Well, I’ll bring you some dessert, then.”

“I’m not really hungry. But thanks.”

Kyle’s heart sank. The tension on Jamie’s face said not to push the issue, but he wanted her to eat his food. He should really leave her alone, but part of him just wanted to sit next to her and stick his own feet in that creek and let the rest of the world continue on without them.

But if he did that, there would be no more nights on the trail at all. Or any nights anywhere he had shelter. He was just about out of money, and options.

“I’ll be back up before Brady and Paul leave.”

He trudged up the bank, leaving her alone as she’d asked. He wasn’t half-through the camp before he ran into Brady. His first thought was that Lana had let something slip, and he braced himself for a punch.

The stern-faced cowboy stopped and put his hands on his hips. “Seen my sister?”

Kyle thumbed behind him. “She’s down on the riverbank.”

“I know the spot. She thinks she’s hiding.” Brady kept walking. “Hey, my mom showed up and is looking for you.”

He glanced up through the trees, past all the tents and the people. “Where is she?”

“By the wagon. I’m gonna let Jamie know. Paul and I are leaving.”

So Lana hadn’t let his secret slip, but she’d done something, that much was sure. Brady wanted to get Paul out of camp and away from her, no doubt.

Kyle stalked past the tents and found his ex, practically curled into Paul’s lap, sitting a bit away from the rest of the group, who’d finally gotten over their initial shyness with a little hard work and a belly of food.

He met her eyes intentionally as he walked past her and shook his head, but she just laughed. Apparently, if he pretended he didn’t know her, she was going to pretend she didn’t care what he thought.

They both knew that wasn’t the case.

Mattie waited beside the wagon, another box in her hand. Kyle nodded at her. Only their second meeting, and he already knew what was coming.

“I found those dessert spice blend recipes,” she said, her voice a little too chirpy. “So I whipped them up.”

He took the box. Like the other, it was dark wood full of silver tins. Each one had a name on it, and a list of ingredients hand-scrawled on the label. He’d taste them later, but if they were anything like the first ones, he’d assume that she’d put something in them, other than what she wrote on the label.

“Thanks.” He slid the blends under the countertop, on top of the other box. “I’ll taste them tonight.”

“You should put that apple pie spice on top of your crumble.” She pointed to the oven and Kyle couldn’t help the grimace.

He’d been perfecting the balance of flavors in his baking since childhood. It didn’t need any help. “It’s just about done baking, now.” He put on his most devastating smile. “Wanna taste it without the spice first?”

Mattie’s face scrunched up momentarily and for the first time, Kyle found himself looking for similarities between her and her daughter. She leaned against the butcher block. “The spice blend is where the magick is, Kyle.”

“You said that before.” He opened the oven and flourished the pan of ramekins with the spice-scented, perfectly-browned apple crumbles. “You don’t even want to taste them?”

Her thick blonde ponytail slid over her shoulder as she tiptoed up and took in a big whiff of the food. She pressed her lips together and drew them to one side. “Well, Brady certainly picked a good chef.”

“Thanks.” He pushed the pan onto the butcher block. “I’ve worked pretty hard on my recipes. I used to…” Kyle stopped, catching himself. A lump stuck in his throat as he thought about the restaurant. “I always wanted to have my own restaurant.”

Concern lined Mattie’s brow and she shrugged. “We’ll learn to trust each other. It’s just a process. Here, let me help you with those.” She picked up the hot pads and helped him pass out the dessert plates to all the guests.

He noticed Paul and Lana sitting alone, away from some of the rest of the guests, and he picked up two plated desserts, carrying them past the other chatting guests, to the big rocks that they sat on.

His ex took one look at the ramekin and wrinkled her nose. “Too many calories, Kyle, you know that.”

He watched Paul’s shocked reaction at her familiar tone. If there’d been a table to hide it, Kyle would’ve jammed his heel on her overpriced, under-supportive, fake cowboy boots. He’d been introduced to the whole camp. It wasn’t like she shouldn’t know his name. Still, his insides itched.

“I’ll eat hers, then.” Paul grabbed one plate from Kyle’s hands and gestured to a stump he’d been propping his feet on. “Or you eat hers.”

He sat reluctantly and stared at Lana. “How do you like the trail so far, ma’am?” He purposely called her the thing she used to hate. Her exaggerated blink and open mouth told him she still did.

“It’s more…rustic than I expected.” She looked around the camp and tented her eyebrows. “There are some tolerable men around here, apart from the two of you, but the
mean one
keeps insisting you’re both off-limits.”

Kyle was a little shocked to hear her compliment him, but passed it off as a ploy, which it undoubtedly was. She never complimented him without a purpose.

“Of course, the hottest guy in camp would be off-limits.” His ex sneered a little, but thankfully, she turned to Paul and their faces inched closer and closer.

Shit. They’re gonna kiss in front of God and everyone.

“He’s free as a bird. And I don’t know why he has to be unavailable.” Lana stuck out her bottom lip.

Paul touched it with the tip of his finger. “Keep doing that, and I won’t be.”

Lana licked Paul’s finger and sucked it into her mouth. “Mmmm. You’re right. Tastes like heaven.”

Kyle fought the urge to throw up all over himself and stood to leave, but his ex caught his arm.

“See what you can do about Paul staying this week, won’t you, Kyle? I’ll even eat your apple pie if it’ll make you happy.”

He wrenched away from her. “Brady’s not gonna listen to me. I just started work today. You guys enjoy your…dessert.”

He marched away, kicking himself for being so familiar with her, but the last thing he cared about on this earth was whether or not she made out with some guy. As long as it didn’t affect his job, he didn’t care.

Or his chances with Jamie.

Dammit.
If he could stop thinking about her for five minutes, it would be a Herculean feat. Since he’d first seen her, he couldn’t stop thinking about what she would feel like in his arms.

But he hated lying to her, no matter how much he needed the job. Technically, when Brady had interviewed him the first time, back in April, he’d still been married and not saying something about the divorce being final was allowing the lie to perpetuate.

He was as guilty as if he’d made it up in the first place. But telling Jamie wouldn’t fix anything. There would be a moment of honesty, and then… Fired.

In other words, I’m screwed.

* * *

J
amie pulled
her phone out of her pocket and swiped it open to two new texts since Kyle had walked off.

The second was from Brady. He’d sent a picture of Paul with his arms around that busty blonde girl, and couldn’t have been taken more than five minutes ago because the light coming through the white woods was still about that low. Under the picture, it said,

She laughed and hit reply. Jamie was almost done typing out her sarcasm when Brady’s voice sounded over her shoulder.

“You need to find a new hiding place.”

She looked up and saw her brother kneeling on the edge of the bank. “I just got your picture, so I was headed back to camp.”

A thick line of frustration creased his face. “Paul is making an idiot of himself again. Firing Charity might not have been the answer to that problem.”

“Well, you can’t fire Paul.”

“No.” He ran a hand over his mouth and rubbed his jaw. “But he’s being an even bigger fool with this one than the last one.”

“You can’t fix Paul, either.”

“Well, somebody has to.” Brady’s face went dark. “Mom won’t.”

“That’s because Paul is an adult. And you have to let him make his own choices.”

“The hell I do.”

Jamie shoved her phone in her pocket. Brady could tiptoe around the problem all he wanted, but they all knew that Paul was broken. Somewhere inside, his accident had tripped some weird wire. Brady’s response was to tighten the rules. Mom’s response was to make him cookies. Jamie’s philosophy was,
time heals all wounds
.

He had carried on with Charity the longest, and there had been a spark of hope in Jamie’s heart when she first suspected they were together. She thought Charity would be the one to fix Paul. Her energy, her enthusiasm… She was good for him.

But after seeing him latch onto the Barbie doll from the bus, it appeared he was over Charity, too. The girl who might have saved him was gone, so he sought out the silicon comfort of Barbie’s chest.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if now was the right time to tip her hand, but she figured her friend couldn’t be any more fired than she was at that moment. “I heard from Charity.”

He groaned and kicked at the water. “Don’t, Jame.”

“Y’know, she’d take the job back if you called her.”

Brady shook his head. “Kyle is gonna work out. You’ll see.”

“But he’s so…” She stopped when her brother’s jaw tightened and set. Convincing him of
anything
was like flying out of a black hole. “Nevermind.”

He offered her a hand and pulled her up the bank straight, yanking her to her feet. “Let me guess. You think Paul is in love, and you want Charity back, and I’m a bad brother?”

Jamie couldn’t help smirking. Brady could be a real hard-ass with everyone else, but he had a sarcastic side she appreciated. She fell against him in a hug. “You’re not a bad brother. And you’re right, you need to get Paul out of here.” She pulled away and pounded his shoulder. “Save him for Charity.”

Brady’s face contorted, and she thought it might’ve been pain, but he grabbed her upper arms. “I promise you, Jame, we’ll all be better off without that girl around. Just give it time.”

He let go, and a tiny hint of fear swept through her. “I miss her, Brady. She was the only girl on staff. And my only friend.”

“Make friends with Kyle. I think he’s married, so he can be like a girl for you.”

She fought back her blush. If only Brady knew what Charity had asked her to do—or the thoughts that’d crept up in the meantime—he wouldn’t tell her that. It would be like putting a blonde with big boobs in front of Paul and telling him she was his new bestie. Bad idea.

“I’m taking Paul, and we’re going home. Don’t forget to close the bear gate over that wagon tonight. I forgot to remind Kyle.”

“I will.”

“And keep your eye on that blonde. I’ve got a bad feeling about her.”

“I will.”

“And—”

Jamie pushed him toward the corral. “Will you stop? I’ll be fine out here on my own. Kyle’s here, and we all know what we’re doing.”

Brady rounded an eyebrow and held his ground for a moment before succumbing to her brute force. “Famous last words, Jamie.”

Her phone buzzed, and Charity’s picture popped up on the screen. She couldn’t take the call with her brother still so close, so instead, she swiped open her messenger and hit reply to Charity’s text.

And by the time she talked to her again, she’d really have one.