Luring Levi (Tarnished Saints Series Book 2) (19 page)

“Well, what do you want to know?” she asked.

“Well, I know nothing about where you come from, what your life was like growing up, or even your parents.”

“There’s not much to tell,” she said. “My parents split up when I was five
. My mother died when I was nine and I was raised by an aunt I haven’t seen in years. And my father never contacted me after he left, but I heard years later that he was shacking up with an island girl somewhere in the Bahamas. And that’s all there is to say as I don’t have any siblings.”

“No
siblings?” he asked, stabbing a piece of kale with his fork. “I can’t even comprehend that. Well, you can share mine.”

“I’m not sure I want to after what I saw of your brothers tonight,” she told him.
She played with the food on her plate.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” he said. “Just wa
it til you meet the rest of my brothers.”

“Where are they all?” she asked.

“Well, my father died five years ago and my mother was already in the home with Alzheimer’s. That’s when my brothers all kind of went their own ways. I was is prison and not a one of them came to visit me except for Thomas, so I can’t really tell you where they are.”

“You and Thomas are close aren’t you?”

“We are. Since we’re the oldest, we have a bond I guess. Judas is next in age and then the twins, Zeb and James.”

“And who is next in age?” she asked.

“Well, next is Simon, then Pete, and John and Philip, followed by the younger ones, Andrew, Nate and the baby of the family, Thad.”

“That is one hell of a lot of siblings, I’m surprised none of you ended up killing each other the way you all seem to like to fight.”

“Just roughhousing really, that’s all.”

“You really seem to hate Judas
.”

“If you had a brother who put you in prison, you’d hate him too.”

“Well, it seems to me that you were to blame, not your brother.”

“Our karma
goes back farther than that, Candy. Judas and I were always in competition and it seems like most of our problems came from girls. My accountant was a girl out to get me, and he brought her to his bed and she whispered sweet nothings in his ear which all had to do with me. I don’t really want to talk about it any more, but let’s just say that she screwed me more with the books than she did Judas in bed. He used that information to do me in, as he was still pissed at me for stealing one of his girlfriends years ago.”

“Wow, it sounds like Judas
really holds a grudge.”

“
He would get a blue ribbon for that, I assure you.”

“Speaking of blue ribbons, what do you think of my meal?”

“This is some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. I’d say it was a ‘best of show’.”

“Good enough to beat you in the
Sliced
competition?” She smiled playfully and he was drawn into her, feeling his anger dissipating quickly.

“Well, I don’t know. Who else is competing against us?”

“Well, you know you chose Mrs. Durnsby for her award winning pickles.” They both laughed at that one. “And the ‘best of show’ I chose ended up being, believe it or not, Enrique’s blue cheese cheesecake with rosemary and garlic.”

“What?” he asked. “E
nrique from Margery’s Diner?”

“Yes. Now aren’t you glad you’ve been teaching him all your little secrets?”

“Now I’m a little worried that one of the throw-aways won’t be so easy to throw away after all. That boy is getting to be a damned good cook.”

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about Mrs. Durnsby,” she said with a laugh. “She’ll be the first one out of the competition, won’t she?”

“I’ll drink to that,” he said raising his wine glass for a toast. “After all, who in their right mind would choose someone whose pickles taste like kerosene to win fifty grand?”

Chapter 15

Candace hurriedly set the table for breakfast, setting four places, glancing
back to the bedroom door, happy that Levi was a late sleeper. She knew he had to be at the fair to make an appearance at the livestock judging and horse show, but not until noon. And she also knew that she had to do something to help mend the horrible relationship between Levi and Judas before her kids got back tonight with Angel.

There was a small knock at the door and she ran over to open it. Thomas stood there
. Judas was a little ways behind him, sulking.

“Come on in,” she said. “Levi hasn’t got out of bed yet.”

“Who says so?”

She turned around to see Levi standing in the doorway of the bedroom. He
wore just his briefs and looked so sexy that she almost wished she hadn’t called anyone over so she could possibly end up making amends in between the sheets. They hadn’t made love last night, because he’d fallen asleep before she’d finished the dishes. She knew how physically as well as mentally exhausted he was so she’d just opted to snuggle up in his arms instead.

“Well, look what the cat dragged out
of bed,” said Thomas, filling the doorway and blocking Levi’s view of Judas behind him.

“Morning Tommy,” he said, walking out in his briefs.

“Honey, can you put on a pair of pants before you come to breakfast?” Candace asked him.

He glanced at the table and turned back to the bedroom. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize Tommy was joining us for breakfast.” He spoke through the p
artially closed door as he dressed. “He’s seen me in my underwear before but I understand that might make you uneasy with guests here.”

Thomas came into the cabin and settled himself at the table. Judas walked up behind him and pulled out a chair, flipping it backward
s and straddling it.

“Candy?” he asked slowly from behind the door. “Did I see four plates at the table?”

She knew it was dawning on him what was going on and she braced herself for an explosion or perhaps another fight. When she didn’t answer, his hand appeared on the door and he pulled it open slightly. His eyes fell upon Judas and his previous good mood turned sour quickly.

“Good morning, Levi,” said Judas, giving him a half salute.

“Who the hell invited you?” growled Levi, making his way barefooted and shirtless, but wearing a pair of jeans over to the table.

“Take it easy, Levi,” warned Thomas. “Candace invited us, now come join us for breakfast.”

Candace pulled out his chair slightly, right across from Judas and patted the seat. “Please, Levi?”

“Couldn’t you have invited Zeb instead? Now that is company for breakfast I would have welcomed with open arms.”

“I invited him too,” Candace explained, but Thomas said since Dan was going to work he wanted an adult there with the boys in case CPS showed up to check on Eli.”

“Not that anyone can really consider Zeb an adult,” said Thomas jokingly, reaching for the platter of biscuits and the bowl of gravy on the table, “but I thought it was the lesser of two evils.”

“By evil, do you mean the devil sitting across from me at the table?” Levi sat down but wouldn’t look at Judas.

“I meant that I didn’t want to stay there and send Zeb in my spot. I couldn’t leave Candace all alone with the three of you now could I?”

“Thank you for that,” said Candace, getting up to grab the coffee pot. “Coffee anyone?” she asked holding out the pot.

“I’ll ta
ke some,” said Judas raising his mug in the air.

“Sorry we don’t have any donuts to go with that,” mu
mbled Levi, helping himself to the platter of eggs. “After all, isn’t that what pigs like to have with their coffee?”

“Levi,” Candace said in a warning voice, “that wasn’t nice.”

“If you’re referring to my new position as sheriff, then just say so,” said Judas. “After all, we both know it irks you to no end that the county sent me to Sweet Water as the new sheriff.”

“Isn’t the mayor supposed to
assign someone to the position of sheriff?” asked Levi looking at Thomas. “Or at least an election should be held.”

“Well, actually since we don’t have a sheriff and it’s a position for the whole
of Van Buren county not just the town, the county sheriff’s department decides who to send over,” Thomas explained.

“Well, now I’m not so sure I did the right thing by getting our last sheriff sent to prison.”

“You did the right thing,” Thomas told him taking a bite of food. “After all, if Sheriff Bert Grimkel still ran this town then I would be the one in jail.”

“So, Levi,” said Judas, blowing on his coffee, “you were responsible for send
ing a man to prison? What for?”

“Taking brib
es,” said Levi. “And . . . doing illegal things.” He knew Judas set him up on that one.

“Interesting,” said Judas. “You find it so easy to po
int a finger at me for turning you in, yet you did exactly the same thing to Bert.”

“S
o when do you start your new duties as sheriff?” asked Candace trying to change the subject before another fight broke out. She poured Thomas and herself some coffee and then returned the pot to the counter.

“Actually, I already have,” Judas
said, staring at Levi. “And I hear there is a TV show coming to town. I’ll have to beef up the security at the fair.”

“I have the fair under control, you don’t need to do anything,” said Levi. “Stay away, do you hear me?”

“Are you going to hold a grudge against me for the rest of your life?” asked Judas.

“Look who’s talking about holding a grudge,” he said. “You sti
ll have it in for me since Sonia Sanders decided I was better in bed than you and dumped you like a hot potato.”

“I don’t need this kind of crap. I’ve got work to do. I’ll meet you back at the house, Thomas.” Judas got off the chair and almost knocked it
over hurrying to get out of there.

“Hold on, I’ll come too,” said Thomas
, grabbing a biscuit off the table to take with. He got up and followed Judas to the door. Judas was down the steps and already in the truck. He stopped at the door and turned to look at Levi. “Can’t you two just get over this already? Pa is probably stirring in his grave watching the two of you going at it like flipping imbeciles. And you know if Ma was alive and in her right mind she would have put an end to this nonsense long before now. This isn’t the way they raised us, Levi. We were raised to turn the other cheek, not bite off the other’s head.” He shook his head in disgust and then turned toward Candace. “Thanks for breakfast, Candace. And thanks for trying. I am so sorry you have to deal with these two idiots.”

Then he left and closed the door.

Levi finished eating in silence, then drank down his coffee and got up and gave her a kiss on the head. “Sorry about all this, sweetheart. I don’t want you to get involved anymore though, all right? We have other things to deal with like telling the kids I’m their father. So let’s just concentrate on that, shall we?”

He walked back into the bedroom leaving her sitting there all alone. She felt like banging her head against the wall with these pig-headed men and couldn’t wait til Angel returned tonight so she’d have another female to talk to.

* * *

Candace had stayed at the cabin instead of going with Levi to the fair. She knew he
had a busy schedule at the fair and then he planned on helping out Margery by cooking up another new dish they could add to the menu since sales were skyrocketing lately.

She cherished the silence alone in the cabin and longed for a hot bath to relax but unfortunately the cabin only had a shower. She probably could have used a bathtub at Angel
’s, as after all they had four of them in that huge house but she knew Thomas was working on a car in the pole barn and had brought the boys along as he was trying to watch them. She decided instead that she would go outside and try to make amends with Thomas for telling Levi about the fact the he and Angel had gotten him the position.

“Hi boys, whatcha doing?” she asked, walking up to see Josh and Jake sorting through a wheelbarrow of vegetables.

“We harvested the garden and we’re looking for the biggest vegetables so we can try to win a ribbon at the fair,” said Josh holding up a long cucumber. “This looks big doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does,” she said with a smile. “Blue ribbon big,” she added.

“Or the weirdest ones,” added Jake. “Like this tomato that looks like a heart.” He held it up for her to see. “The weird ones get ribbons too.”

“Then why don’t you enter the cucumber, Josh
, and Jake you enter the tomato. It’s already late but if you want I’ll take you down there tomorrow. I know for a fact they’re not judging that category til tomorrow night, so you should have plenty of time to get them entered.

“Look at these eggs,” said Zeke coming out of the henhouse with a basket of bright white eggs. “These are the biggest chicken eggs I’ve ever seen and the whitest. Maybe I’ll win a ribbon too.”