Last's Temptation (11 page)

“Just the office of sheriff,” Esme said. “You’d be a good one.”

“It’s great to be the youngest brother,” Last said, meaning it for perhaps the first time in his life. “I’m just coming into my own.”

“Why?” Esme said.

“I’ve always been the baby. As the baby, I received preferential treatment and I ruled the roost, a position I was very aware of. I reminded my brothers of their responsibilities and I tried to buffer Mason’s hardheadness with family goals. However, now I can be a role model and a community leader in my own right. I can look outside the family now,” he said. “That’s something I learned from you.”

“I’m not this creature of attributes that you think
I am,” Esme said. “However, I did learn the power of laughing in the face of danger—from you.”

“Really?” Last scratched his head. “Do I do that?”

“Yes,” Esme said with a reluctant laugh. “All the time. It’s very attractive in a hardheaded kind of way. Perhaps you’re more like Mason in that regard than you think.”

“Do I win points with you for it?” Last asked, trying once again to pull her toward him. “Kissing points?” He just knew that if she left now without letting him kiss her, she might not return. Besides, she was acting like a woman who needed a good kiss before she disappeared from his life forever. He could tell he’d upset her—and an upset woman was one who never, ever pursued. The goal was pursuit—he wanted her to want him in her life. “Come here,” he said. “I’m laughing in the face of danger.”

To his surprise, she melted into his arms. “Not in front of the children,” she murmured, “tempting as you might be.”

“Sorry about that.” But she was so irresistible that he didn’t regret wanting her.

She gave him a quick, unsatisfactory peck on the cheek, then left his arms, making him wish they were alone so he could kiss her the way she was meant to be kissed. “Come back soon,” he told her.

But as he stared at Esme’s retreating back, he realized she’d slipped away from him after all, with no more than a kiss on the cheek for goodbye.

“Drat that woman,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going to have to find a different way to show her that we’re exactly right for each other, and no circus, family or sheriff seat is going to come between us!”

“Great,” Mimi said, coming into the kitchen where Esme was rolling dough with Helga. “Yet another family conundrum.”

Esme looked at Mimi, thinking about Last’s suspicion about Nanette’s father. “I thought that was the family way.”

“Yes, but what on earth made Last decide to oppose his brother for sheriff?” Mimi shook her head. “I do not understand him. Mason is like a bear with a sore head now that he’s found out his brother is running against him.” She lowered her voice. “Secretly I think he’s afraid Last might beat him.”

Esme rolled the dough flat, wondering how to stay out of this discussion. Mason and Last both running for the same office was a new and awk
ward position for everyone who knew them. “I have no idea what made Last decide to do that.”

“Do you think you could talk to him?” Mimi asked.

Esme hesitated, her fingers stilling as she looked at Mimi. “About what?” she asked, her insides tightening because she already knew the answer.

“Not running,” Mimi said bluntly. “I could, but he won’t listen to me. You’re the one he’s listening to these days.”

“Oh, no,” Esme said, “he doesn’t listen to me about anything, I’m sure.”

“Well, he told me he got a job at the high school because of you. He said he wanted to be around you all the time so he could keep an eye on you.”

Esme blinked. “That doesn’t really make me happy. I thought he got the job because he wanted to teach.”

“Oh, that, too,” Mimi said airily. “But these crazy Jefferson men keep a tight watch on the women they love.”

Esme shook her head. “Last does not love me. And even if he did, I’d still be disappointed if he got a job just to keep an eye on me.” She wondered if it was true. If so, she was going to talk to him about it.

“I think he was bragging,” Mimi said, looking
at the apples on the table before picking up a knife to start peeling them. “I don’t think he meant it in a stalkerish kind of way.”

“No, I know,” Esme said with a sigh. She was beginning to accept Last’s craziness. “But anyway, I’m not really in a position to talk to him about anything he chooses to do, Mimi.”

Mimi sighed. “It’s not going to be good. Jefferson egos pitted against each other has happened before, but this is the eldest against the youngest. Mason is half afraid to beat his brother and half afraid Last will win the election.”

“It seems Union Junction is lucky to have two men who want the job,” Esme said, trying to change the subject. “How is your dad?”

“He actually thinks it’s highly amusing Mason and Last are running against each other. He says he hopes it’s a long and vigorous campaign.” Mimi grinned. “My father is proud of the job he did and he wants everybody and anybody to run. I was thinking about running for a while, but Mason would be a better choice. He’s so steady.”

Esme nodded. “But Last is steady, too.”

“You know,” Mimi said, looking up, “he really does seem to be undergoing a change. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s a good thing.”

“When is the election?” Esme asked.

“Next month,” Mimi said.

“How can it be? Don’t they have to make signs? Ballots?”

“All that’s been done. It’s just that none of us knew Last had done it, too.”

“How does one keep a secret like that? In California, running for office is a big deal.”

Mimi laughed. “This is Union Junction. An election would be more like a handshake compared to what you’re used to.”

Esme frowned, remembering what he’d said to her yesterday. “So Last signed up to run before he went to California?”

Mimi looked at her. “Well, it would have to have been before, now that I think about it.”

“Really. The Last I met in California didn’t seem to have any serious aspirations. He never once mentioned a run for office.”

“I know. It’s so strange,” Mimi said. “But I have learned that these brothers do things their way.”

Esme shook her head, thinking about the Last she’d met back then, the one who’d tried to help a lost junior sea lion. “He told me he was on a finding mission.”

“Well, I know he took Valentine’s wedding
hard. I bet that’s why he didn’t say anything to anyone. And maybe that was even the deciding factor for him,” Mimi theorized, stirring some spices into the apples. “The Jefferson men like action and they never get busier than when they feel their lives are going out of control.”

“Last wasn’t happy when Valentine got married?”

“Well, he was and he wasn’t.” Mimi smiled at Esme. “You know how that goes. He and Valentine might not have ever had a real relationship, but he adores his daughter, and I think it was hard for him knowing that another man would be her father. Even if it was one of his brothers—as much as he loves Crockett.”

“It would be difficult,” Esme agreed.

“So it would be just like him to decide at that moment that he needed to show himself and Union Junction that he was still important, too.” Mimi shook her head. “Mason is the only one who doesn’t really shift into action when he feels threatened.”

“Not at all?”

“No,” Mimi said, her tone somehow sad. “I think of all the men, Mason is most likely to walk away from anything that made him uncomfortable.”

Esme put down the spoon, her heart beating nervously. She couldn’t help thinking about Last’s
theory about Mimi’s baby—if he was right, then Mimi had reason to believe Mason might walk away from her forever if he discovered he was a father. That kind of reaction to parental responsibility would be hard to understand, except that Esme’s own sister had experienced the same thing. Once he’d realized he didn’t want to be tied to a woman—nor be a father—Beryl’s husband had simply disappeared.

Mimi had reason to be concerned. Still, it pained Esme. “Mason seems very responsible,” she offered.

“Oh, he is. Absolutely. That’s why I want him to be sheriff. There’s no one better.” Mimi sighed. “And one day he’ll find the right woman for him and he’ll…”

Her voice trailed off, and Esme stood completely still. Even Helga stopped cutting pie dough. They both stared at Mimi.

Then silently Mimi walked out of the room.

Helga and Esme looked at each other, concerned. It was heartbreakingly obvious what secret pretty blond Mimi was keeping to herself—at least to the other women in the room. Mason appeared to be completely blind to the love Mimi had for him.

But Last had known. And he hurt for Mimi. Possibly even for his brother, too.

“Can you finish this?” Esme asked Helga.

Receiving a nod, Esme washed her hands, then left the kitchen.

T
EN MINUTES LATER
Esme found Last high in the top of a hayloft. “Excuse me,” she said.

Last poked his head over the edge. He was sweaty and clearly working hard on something. “Hey.”

“What are you doing?” Esme asked, thinking no man had a right to look so wonderful when he was sweaty.

“If you ask, you have to bring cookies and milk with you,” Last said. “Come on up.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m afraid of heights.”

He stared down at her in disbelief. “You are not, Poppy Peabody. Illusionists are not afraid of heights.”

“I am,” she said.

“But you let the kids—”

“I know,” she told him. “Would you get over it, please?”

He tossed some pieces of hay down at her.

“I have told you, the children asked to perform. I didn’t want to visit my phobia on them, so I let
them. They like doing it, and I thought that children who had lost their mother were less harmed by exploring their safety nets than by being blocked from pursuing their dreams.”

“You’re crazy,” he said, “but I like it.”

“Last, I can’t pursue you,” she said.

“Fear of heights?” he said.

“Fear of something,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “But thank you for being so good to Amelia and Curtis.”

Sighing, he pulled a kerchief from his pocket, wiping his face and settling his hat on his head. Then he grinned at her. “So spill it. You’ve been talking to someone in my family.”

“What makes you say that?” But she knew his devil-may-care grin was luring her to reveal her heart.

“Time spent in the company of my family invokes a desire on people to babble.”

“I am not babbling!” Esme gave him an annoyed glare. “I just thought you should know.”

He shrugged. “Okay.” Then he went back to work. She could hear a pitchfork thrusting into hay and Last humming under his breath. Taking a deep breath, Esme said, “I think all you Jeffersons must possess genetic code for being supremely irritating.”

The whistling continued.

Hands clenched now, Esme eyed the narrow wood ladder that ended at the hayloft. She could climb up there and give the man a piece of her mind or she could stay on the ground and be ignored.

Last peered over the edge again. “I figure if I annoy you long enough, you’ll come up here to pester me.”

She gasped.

“Most women just cannot stand not to finish giving a man what-for,” he said reasonably. “And not even fear of heights will stop them once they get started.”

He went back to forking hay. Esme realized her jaw was clenched instead of her hands. How could she ever have imagined that the two of them could be compatible!

“Last,” she said.

He looked over. “I could carry you up,” he offered.

“No!” That would be far worse! She would faint before they got to the top. “But you could come down here if you really want to have this conversation.”

“Not me,” Last said. “I do not like conversations where the topic begins ‘I can’t pursue you.’ It just has a bad vibe, you know? Like it’s already gone
downhill and doesn’t have a prayer of the brakes being put on.”

He went back to whistling and whatever else he was doing up there, besides teasing her to the point of great agitation. “You are pigheaded, Last,” she said to herself, “but you are also right. A ladder is not going to stand in the way of me giving you what-for, you stubborn ass.”

With that, she gripped the ladder in suddenly sweaty hands, took a deep breath and scurried upward, only to fall into hands that clutched her securely.

“Oh!” she cried, grateful for Last’s strong fingers on her arms. “I will never be able to get down!”

“You will,” he said soothingly, kissing her lips, then her temples and then her lips again. He ravished her, making her realize that he hadn’t been interested in her phobia at all but merely her body.

“You must stop,” she said. “I didn’t come all the way up here just to be seduced.”

“Sure you did,” Last said agreeably, undoing the buttons on her blouse. “And I am damn glad you did.”

She felt light-headed and crazily hot. “Let me catch my breath.”

“No,” he said, giving her a kiss so sweet she
clung to him. “You won’t need to catch your breath for what I’m about to do to you. I’ll breathe for both of us.”

A
N HOUR LATER
Esme stared up at the skylight overhead, seeing silken cobwebs and maybe a touch of heaven. “I’m not afraid of heights anymore,” she said. “I’m positive I like them just fine.”

Last leaned up on an elbow to smile down at her and brushed a hand over her breasts. “You never had to be afraid of heights,” he said gently. “You could have come up the staircase over there.”

Leaning up, she looked to see. Built into the wall was a very sturdy, ordinary set of wide stairs anyone might find in a regular house. “You louse,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you wanted to get over your fears so badly,” he said, kissing her neck. “Why else would you come stomping in here all full of pride and glory to tell me you couldn’t pursue me—when quite clearly that was exactly what you were doing?”

Gasping, she sat up. “Last Jefferson, I do not like you. You are an egotistical—”

He pushed her back down, straddling her, and
proceeded to ease her skirt up her thighs again. “You’re so cute when you’re half-dressed.”

“You are about to be in big trouble with me,” she told him.

He laughed. “So we can have the conversation now that brought you in here in the first place. If you’d like. Which member of my family was filling your head with nonsense?”

She did need to talk to him, but he was making it difficult. Her pride wanted her to flounce out of there, but her body was playing traitor. “Maybe I’ll just pursue you as my boy toy,” she said.

He grinned. “You would find yourself pursuing often.” He nipped lightly at her lips and gave her bottom a squeeze. “You and I are like a matched set when it comes to lovemaking.”

“There has to be more than that,” she said, “for the sake of compatibility.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said, happily admiring a mole on her rib cage. “I have to like you a
lot.
”

She sat up, realizing there was no way she could only have a sexual liaison with this too-sexy male. “Sex only goes so far. Can you slide off of me, please?”

He rolled, taking her with him so that now she
sat astride him. “So speak your mind. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

She felt oddly more in control in this position. And he seemed sincerely interested in listening. “You’re running for sheriff.”

“Yes. I told you.”

“Mimi says you did all the necessary paperwork before you came to California.”

“I did.”

“You told me you were on your way to Africa to bungee jump.”

“I was,” he said. “The two goals are not mutually exclusive. Both required a leap of faith.”

“They seem quite different to me.”

“On the surface,” Last said, tugging her blouse into place helpfully. “However, which would be harder—beating your brother or jumping off a cliff with a harness securing you?”

She was silent.

“You see, you think of harnesses as protection for going up. I see them as protection for coming down. Where’s the risk in that?” He tapped a finger against her neckline. “I would say intending to beat your brother for an elected position takes far more guts.”

“Why are you doing it?”

He stroked her arm, making her shiver a bit. “Next question.”

She took a deep breath. “Mimi wants Mason to win.”

“Of course. He’s her man, though he doesn’t realize it.”