He stepped back from her as if he didn’t quite trust himself not to reach for her again.
And Irina didn’t know if she was sad about that or grateful.
“I couldn’t stay back then, Irina,” he was saying. “There were too many memories in Royal. Too much pain.”
She knew that. He’d lost his wife a year before he and Irina got together. So he’d come to her, a widower with a broken heart and a shattered soul, and for a very short while, they’d healed each other.
“So you left and shared the pain.”
His head snapped up and his gaze fixed on hers. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“And yet it’s what you did.”
Clearly irritated, he pushed one hand through his hair. “I didn’t come here tonight to argue with you.”
“No,” she said. “You came here to spy on Miranda.”
“I want answers,” he countered.
“Get them another way.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I hope Miranda appreciates how you’re defending her.”
“I’m not doing this for her,” Irina said. “Or not just for her. I’m doing this mainly for your father. Buck wrote his will. It laid out his wishes. Kellan, you don’t get to disregard them simply because you don’t like them.”
“Man, I hope Buck appreciated the tiger he had defending him.”
A small smile curved her mouth briefly. “He did.”
Nodding, Kellan studied her for a long minute. “I’m not going to let this go.”
“I didn’t think you would,” she said. “But you should. And, Kellan, you should know that Buck loved you. Loved all of you.”
“Please.” He snorted dismissively and waved one hand at her as if erasing her words entirely.
“He did.”
“And he proved that by leaving our family legacy to a woman he chose to not stay married to?”
“I don’t know why he did that,” Irina admitted. “But I always trusted Buck.”
“There’s the difference between us, then,” Kellan said softly, his gaze locked with hers. “I never trusted my father. And I won’t start now.”
“So you’re not going back to Nashville?” She had hoped that after the funeral and the reading of the will that Kellan would once again leave Royal.
“Not a chance,” he promised. “I’m not going anywhere until this whole situation is settled.” He turned on his heel and headed for the front door. He paused only briefly to look back at her. When their eyes met, he said, “You haven’t seen the last of me, Irina.”
That sounded like a promise, too, and she hated that she was pleased by it.
“How’d the big spy operation go?”
Kellan glanced over his shoulder at his younger brother as Vaughn walked into the great room and dropped onto the closest sofa. Since Vaughn lived in Dallas now, he was staying at their mother’s friend Dixie’s ranch, Magnolia Acres. Since Kellan was in Royal for a while, though, Vaughn was dropping in and out. It was good to spend real time with his brother and sister instead of the quick visits he usually made. The only time Kellan stayed at his ranch himself was when he came back to Royal to see his brother and sister. Now he was rethinking the whole drop-in-anytime thing.
Scowling, Kellan said, “As well as you said it would.”
Vaughn laughed shortly. “It was a crappy plan, Kel. Face it. Storm Dad’s house, snoop through Miranda’s stuff?”
Kellan stalked to the wet bar in the corner of the room. Bending down, he opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. “You want one?”
“Hell yes.”
Kellan crossed the room again, handed a beer to his brother and then took a seat opposite him. “I never got to go through her things. Irina was there and stopped me.”
Vaughn’s eyebrows lifted. “Interesting,” he mused. “I didn’t know anyone could stop you once you had your decision made.”
Kellan took a swig of beer and avoided looking at Vaughn. His brother was entirely too perceptive. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Uh-huh. So, how’s Irina?”
Now he did fire a hard look at his brother. “She’s fine.”
“Better than fine, if you ask me,” Vaughn said with a small smile. “We both saw her at the service, and gotta say, she’s still hot.”
“Hot?”
“I’m not blind, Kel. Even if you are.”
“I’m not blind, either,” he snapped and took another hard pull of his beer.
“Good to know.” Vaughn sat up and braced his elbows on his knees. “So you going to do anything about it?”
The taste of Irina rose up in his mind. The feel of her body pressed to his. Her breath on his cheek. The scent of her hair. The silk of her skin. He took another drink of his beer and let the icy brew dampen the fires inside. He really didn’t need his brother poking at him over Irina when his own mind and body were doing just fine on that front. “What the hell, Vaughn?”
He held up one hand. “Fine. I’ll back off.”
“Thank you.”
“But,” he added, and Kellan frowned at him, “all those years ago, you two had something.”
“How do you know?”
“Everybody knew.”
So much for a secret affair. “It was a long time ago.”
“True. But according to gossip and our baby sister, Irina’s still single. So are you.”
Kellan’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not looking, Vaughn.”
“Because of Shea?” Vaughn’s voice was a whisper.
Kellan shot off the couch like he was on a spring. It had been eight years since his wife had died in that car accident. Eight years and he still didn’t want to think about that day. Remember the staggering loss. Remember that touching Irina only a year after that loss had made him feel like a damn cheat. “Don’t talk about her.”
“A lot of rules,” his brother said softly. “No talk of Irina. Shea, either. What am I allowed to say to you?”
“How about good-night?” Kellan snapped. “Or even better, I’m headed back to Magnolia Acres. Or even better, Dallas.”
Vaughn laughed. “Yeah, not happening. I’m here for a couple more days. Have some friends I want to see while I’m in Royal. Now that the services and the will reading are done, I’m free.”
“Why are you not pissed?” Kellan demanded suddenly. “About Dad leaving everything to Miranda? Why isn’t that burning your ass?”
Vaughn’s features smoothed out into a blank slate. Only his eyes flashed to let Kellan know he wasn’t as disinterested as he was pretending to be. “Because I don’t want Buck’s money. I made my own way with no help from our father. It’s too damn late for him to do anything for me. So let Miranda have it. I hope she chokes on it.”
“I call bull.” Kellan pointed his beer at Vaughn. “Maybe you don’t want the money, but I know losing Blackwood Hollow to that woman has to be eating at you. That’s family land, Vaughn. It’s our land.