Her Heart's Desire (Sunflower Series Book 1) (5 page)

Lia had shared her secret fears about her mom
only with Zoë. It would kill her if people gossiped about Mother
now that she wasn’t around anymore.

The wind whipped up. Pushing her hair behind
her ears, she grabbed its length to keep it from her eyes, closed
them, and lifted her face into the gust. The breeze carried some of
her sadness away. When she opened her eyes, pride thudded a steady
beat in her chest as she gazed at the fields of corn. Her mother
wouldn’t want her to wallow. That wasn’t allowed. She had three
reasons to celebrate. A trip to KC with her artwork. Dinner with
Karl on her birthday. And Gus harvesting the corn.

A sound on the wind distracted her.

“Amelia.”

The wind muffled her brother’s voice. She ran
as fast as the back slit in her skit would allow, happy Craig had
arrived safely.

“Go get him, Jack!” Lia shouted. “Go see
Craig.”

The dog took off on her command flying across
the yard and around the corner of the house. When she finally
spotted Craig, her heart warmed. He playfully petted Jack. But the
warming turned cool. Behind her brother, she spotted a black car.
He’d traded up to a new BMW, another marker of his intention to
prove city life was better than life in the country. It shouted,
“I’m doing well.” He would never buy a car on credit. Cash only.
She shook her head. That car wouldn’t last on farm roads.

Drawing nearer to Craig, she couldn’t hold
back a smile when he bent at the waist, swaying from side to side.
Jack grabbed for Craig’s dangling tie as though it were part of a
game.

“Good boy, Jackers.” Craig laughed, yanking
off the tie and tossing it through the open driver’s window.

“Sit, Jack,” Lia said. The dog obeyed. She
eyed her brother. “Did you rush from a meeting? Drove for hours
with a tie? You’ve become the definition of stuffy.”

“So nice of you to worry about me. Hello, to
you, too. I was on the phone for business most of the way here.
It’s always the same. Semis hogging the road. There’s nothing new
to see on I-70 when you’ve driven it a thousand times.”

Craig opened his arms. She hugged him tight,
enjoying the security he offered since their parents had died. A
moment later, she pushed back and punched her finger against his
chest. “We need to have a serious chat.”

Craig’s eyebrows shot up. He shook his head
and waved his finger back and forth like a metronome as if to say
she wasn’t the boss of him. The stern expression and gesture were
all too familiar, probably how he had reacted when she was
born.

In the distance, another cloud of dust moved
up the hill. Wind never swirled the dirt into a wall unless it was
a twister. That kind of cloud only came from an approaching
vehicle. A moment later, she recognized the battered work truck
turning down the lane toward the house. “I should’ve known,” she
grumbled.

“I’m going out with Lucas.” Craig smiled.
“Want to join us?”

“Nope.” Lia stormed to the back door, turning
only to order Gentleman Jack inside. She visualized a painting in
need of a canvas. Her earlier checked anger had returned with the
approaching truck. If Craig were lucky, tomorrow morning for
breakfast, she’d cook eggs instead of throwing raw ones at him. He
might be a Wall Street-type with his fancy investment banking job
in St. Louis, but she hadn’t appointed him guardian of her life.
They were going to come to a meaningful understanding about his
interference. And, all interference from Lucas Dwyer on Craig’s
behalf had to stop.

“Amelia! Wait. It’s only Lucas.”

She opened the door and walked through
without bothering to acknowledge him.

“Only Lucas,” she muttered as she closed the
door behind her. “The root of my problem today.”

Chapter 4

Lucas gripped the door handle and braced his
other hand against the car’s console. When Craig punched the
accelerator to ninety miles an hour, Lucas sucked in a breath. For
a mile, the BMW sped along faster than a tornado.

Suddenly, Craig hit the brakes hard. Made a
sharp turn. The rear fishtailed. Wind whirled through the open
windows. Lucas blinked and imagined his brain bouncing side to side
inside his skull like a batted ping-pong ball. Thankfully, the
seatbelt locked him in place. He exhaled a ragged breath.

“Stop it.” He grabbed Craig’s arm.

The tires kicked up a cloud of dirt. The car
jerked, rocked from side to side, fighting centrifugal force.

“You can’t blow away the pain. Isn’t it bad
enough that tomorrow is the anniversary of your parents’ funeral?”
Lucas hollered. “Do you want your sister to have to plan another
memorial service?”

Once completely through the turn, Craig let
off the gas. The car slowed. Lucas’s heart raced ahead as though in
accelerated motion. His body yanked against the seatbelt again.
“Ow!”

The car came to a final rest on the rise of a
hill. Lucas swallowed the lump lodged in his throat. “Shit!
Craig”—Lucas punched Craig’s arm—“you want thrills? Sign up for a
tour of duty in Afghanistan. Two tours of duty were enough for me.
I want to live.” Adrenaline coursed through him like a speeding
train.

“Look.” Craig pointed.

Before them, a smoldering orange sun hovered
above a wide, flat green horizon. Red. Yellow. Pink. The sky blazed
as though on fire. Something he missed when he visited Craig in St.
Louis. Too much ambient light prevented a night-light show like
this one.

“I understand why Amelia wants to stay on the
farm,” Craig said quietly. “Every star in the night sky is a
reason.”

Lucas nodded.

“I love it here, too. But there isn’t
opportunity for me. For now, St. Louis is my gateway.”

“Don’t get poetic on me. You haven’t even had
a drink yet,” Lucas said dryly and folded his arms over his chest,
still irritated by the kamikaze driving. His jackhammering heart
slowed from overdrive to fast. He wanted to punch Craig for his
fool stunt, but restraint was the better part of valor. Given his
friend’s mood, the night looked bleak. He doubted his friend would
take the news he had to share with ease, but now was the time to
move the line in the sand.

“I loved growing up here,” Craig said. He
gripped and released his hold on the steering wheel. “But I’m not a
farmer, and farming is too hard for a woman alone.”

“If I have my way, she won’t be alone,” Lucas
muttered under his breath.

College days were far behind him. He’d been
to war and survived. His family lost the farm. Accepting reality
came when he started his own business. But after relocating his
parents and moving his sister back to college, he finally admitted
to himself Amelia was the reason he stayed. In Harvest, he’d never
lingered long in any relationship. Thoughts of the woman he loved
had kept him alive during his tours of duty. His plan to admit his
attraction to her went to the bottom of his to-do pile when her
parents suddenly died last year. If timing required luck, then his
sucked.

He’d waited an entire year out of respect for
the Britton’s sense of propriety. The year of grieving ended
tomorrow. In high school, he’d denied his attraction to her out of
loyalty to Craig. In college, he kept Amelia at arm’s length
because a relationship proved improbable when he roomed with her
brother. Later, she moved to the city. He couldn’t make up for
being a fool in the past. His reality had a new face, one that
didn’t sacrifice love for loyalty. The two could coexist. And if
Craig had a notion to kill him in his fancy new car, he’d better
tell Amelia his feelings fast or he’d take them to the grave.

Lucas coughed, breaking the silence in the
car.

As though a switch had been flipped, Craig
smiled. “Lucas, I hear a beer calling your name. I’ll set my
coordinates for the eatery.” He made a U-turn, heading toward
town.

White knuckled, Lucas held on.

Craig chuckled. “You’re a brave man.”

“More like a fool. You’re one for driving
like one. Me, a bigger one for tolerating it.”

Craig slapped his shoulder. “You’re the best
friend. No one could ask for better. You’ve always been a brother
to Amelia and me.”

Lucas grunted rather than responding. Soon
enough, Amelia’s brother would know the truth.

Under a floodlight, across the street from
the bar, Craig pulled into a parking space of a mostly full lot. As
they entered Rockets, aromas of tangy and sweet and barbecue smoke
wafted to Lucas’s nose. His mouth watered. The smell of ’que always
reminded him of Harvest. The farm. Family.

A hostess greeted them, led them to a booth
at the far end away from the door, and placed menus on the
table.

“Enjoy your meal, boys.”

The din of voices and sports shows playing on
the TVs scattered around the room almost drowned her out.

“So what’s new?” Craig asked as he perused
the food selection.

“Nothing.”

“I don’t mean on the menu. I mean with my
sister. Why is she boiling mad at you?”

Lucas closed his menu and slapped the table.
“This is wrong. I know it’s wrong. I can’t help you anymore.”

Craig frowned, clasping his hands together
and resting them on the table. “We agreed with my plan. What’s
caused the change of heart?”

“This really isn’t the place, but in case you
decide to kill us both on the ride home, I have to tell you the
truth,” Lucas said, hoping no one could overhear their
conversation. Amelia hated gossip. If what he had to say leaked
out, it could ruin everything. “She’s a grown woman.”

“That’s not exactly news.”

“You do remember that her birthday is a week
away. In another year, she’ll be thirty. She can make up her own
mind. Make her own mistakes. I have a sneaking suspicion she’ll
come out just fine.”

“I want her back in Kansas City.”

“Have you ever thought about what she wants?”
Lucas sat back in the booth and scrutinized his friend. Craig’s
folded fingers tightened, then relaxed, a telling sign of his
desire to punch something.

“In case you’ve forgotten, she’s a teacher
and
a painter. She’s sold a number of paintings over the
last couple of years. I had an expert check out the one she gave
me. Without knowing the artist was my sister, he appraised the
painting at forty-five hundred dollars. Can you imagine that?”

“She’s got talent.”

“Lucas, I know she’s not painting by numbers
or painting a house. This is fine art. She has a studio going to
waste.”

“Maybe, if you dropped the lease, that would
save you money. Or better yet, take the money and rehab the barn
into a bigger studio for her.”

Craig leaned in, squinted one eye, and cocked
his head. “What’s going on here?”

Lucas paused. Now wasn’t the time for a full
confession. “I’m tired of running interference for you to keep
things she wants from her…like, dating. I managed to persuade the
guys who’ve asked her out that a couple of dates is all they get.
No more. I gave up covert operations when I got out of the
military. You need to be straight with her. Now she’s got a date
with Karl.
She
asked
him
out. I just happened to be
there.”

“My
littl
e sister asked a
man
for a date? I can only imagine my mother turning in her grave.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, your little
sister is a fine-looking woman. I’d say
hot
, but it’s you
I’m talking to.”

Lucas gave the waitress his attention when
she appeared beside their table. “Ready to order?”

Craig leaned back and graced the woman with a
warm smile. “Of course, but first, what did you say your name
is?”

“I didn’t. I thought you’d remember me.”

Craig looked the woman up and down. His
quizzical expression confirmed his faulty memory, but Lucas wasn’t
about to help his friend out of the jam.

“Your senior year of high school. Tractor
pull. Kansas City. You almost took my tonsils out. No anesthesia
required. Then you never called me again.” The waitress’s voice
dripped with sarcasm.

As though mental gears had kicked into place,
Craig beamed. “Crystal! Best night I ever had at a tractor pull. I
left for college after that. Sorry. I figured you were nectar to
bees and had guys all lined up. Just killing time with sorry me.
You’re as cute as you were then. Maybe we’ll go out sometime.”

The waitress blushed and lowered her chin.
“So what’s it going to be tonight?”

Lucas caught the waitress’s double entendre.
He cut Craig off before he could reply.

“Two Pale Ales. Full slab of beef ribs and
the sides on the menu that go with it.” Lucas clipped off the
order. The waitress scribbled fast, and then grabbed the menus
before sauntering away.

Chuckling, Craig shook his head. “Next time
we eat first, talk later. Hunger makes you mean.”

“Well, I’m here to eat cow. Doesn’t get any
meaner than that.”

Bethany delivered their beers. “Saw Lia
today,” she said setting the mugs on coasters on the table.

“Amelia? In here?” Craig asked with
surprise.

“What’s wrong with
here
?” Bethany
challenged. Her fists went to her hips.

“Nothing. Does she come in often?”

“No,” she answered slowly. “Never alone.
Ironic that you’d both be here on the same day. Don’t see you
around much anymore. Guess you’ve crossed over to the dark
side...big city guy now.”

“Aww, Bethany,” Craig drawled. “You can take
the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of
the boy.”

Bethany laughed, massaging Craig’s shoulder.
“You got that right,” she said before walking away.

Lucas shook his head. “Where do you come up
with this stuff? If you spent more time here, they’d have an
auction and raffle you off to the highest bidder. Your kind of
charm makes even a whorehouse Madame blush.