Sealed with a Kiss, Leeanna Morgan [black authors fiction .txt] 📗

Grant shook his head. “Bella, huh? Are you sure it isn’t your favorite?”

He decided not to answer his brother. He was a successful businessman, an ex-Navy SEAL, and a security specialist. He had a reputation that needed to be maintained, and Shrek wouldn’t win him seven-figure contracts.

John zipped his jacket to his chin. “I’ll fill one more basket. That should give us enough wood for the next few days.”

“Not so fast, twinkle toes. I went into Angel Wings Café the other day. Tess was behind the counter talking to someone. They mentioned Rachel and the Christmas play. Your name came up in the conversation, too.”

“Eavesdroppers never hear good things about themselves.”

Grant snorted. “They weren’t talking about me. Tess is worried that Rachel’s getting too involved in your life. She thinks Rachel has taken more than a professional interest in Bella.”

He glared at Grant. “Says, Tess. There’s nothing unprofessional going on here.”

Grant’s gaze sliced through all of the Christmas decorations, the sparkling tree that stood taller than either of them, and the Christmas cakes sitting on the table, waiting to be boxed.

John picked up the empty wood basket. “Rachel normally makes food parcels for families around Bozeman. Bella and I decided to help her this year. We made a few Christmas cakes to go with the non-perishable items.”

Grant counted the fruit cakes. “Thirty isn’t exactly a few.”

“The families will appreciate it.”

“You’re right. If you need a hand to deliver them, I can help.” He picked up two more logs and stacked them on the pile. “I still haven’t met Rachel. What’s she like?”

John knew how his brother’s mind worked. He’d psychoanalyze what he said about Rachel, put two and two together, and come up with twenty. “You’ll meet her on Christmas day.”

“She’s coming here? Isn’t that going above and beyond what you’d expect a teacher to do?”

He’d conveniently forgotten to tell his brother that Rachel was living with him. Grant only came around once or twice a month. He’d figured that by the time his brother came back, the people sending him death threats would have been caught and life would be back to normal. But in all of his plans, he’d forgotten one thing. Christmas.

“Rachel’s living here.”

Grant dropped a log on his foot and said something short and not so sweet. “You want to repeat that?”

“She’s not living with me…well, she is, but not how you’re thinking. I’ve been away a lot. I’ve got a problem I’m dealing with at work. Rachel offered to look after Bella. It made sense that she stay here instead of going backward and forward between her apartment and my home.”

Grant looked at him as if he’d just come up with the lamest story he’d ever heard. “Are you sure she doesn’t want to be the next Mrs. John Fletcher? You’ve got a few more zeroes behind your name now.”

Someone cleared their throat behind John. Someone that sounded like Rachel.

He turned around. Rachel was standing in the doorway.

“I don’t know who you are, but I’m not a gold digger,” Rachel said frostily to Grant. She looked at John and her expression didn’t change. “We’ve arrived back from Safeway. I’ll be in the kitchen sorting through the groceries if you need me.” She turned quickly and left the room.

John rushed into the hallway. “Rachel, wait. Grant didn’t mean what he said.” He heard the kitchen door slam and he turned back to his brother. “Look what you’ve done now.”

“She’s pretty. All that blond hair and big blue eyes. A man could get lost in the girl-next-door thing she’s got going on.”

John clenched his jaw. “Keep away from her. Rachel’s off limits.”

“Because you like her?”

He closed the living room doors. “No. Because she’s my employee.”

“Oh, sure. Is that why you closed the doors? So your employee couldn’t hear you?”

“Sometimes I wish you weren’t such an idiot. You’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

Grant sent him a wide-eyed look. “Yeah, but Tess does. And I’m telling you now, Rachel likes you. Although from what I just saw, you may not have any relationship to salvage.”

“We’re friends, that’s all.”

“If I had a friend who looked like her, she wouldn’t be my friend for long.”

John picked up the heavy-duty basket he’d been using. “That’s why you’re still single. I’ll be back soon.”

He went outside and headed toward the woodshed. He’d talk to Rachel later, try and explain his brother’s overprotective streak. After what Grant had said about Rachel, he was glad he hadn’t told him about what was happening at work. He’d end up with a neurotic brother following him everywhere.

His cell phone beeped. He looked at the screen before answering the call.

Tanner’s voice echoed through the woodshed. “Rachel’s here, boss. Apart from Tank getting an even bigger complex about being her personal shopper, everything went well.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.” John ended the call. If Tanner had called ten minutes earlier, he could have stopped his brother from making an idiot of himself. Rachel wouldn’t have heard his comments about gold-diggers and he wouldn’t have another apology to make.

With thirty food parcels to wrap and a brother who’d decided to stay for dinner, it was going to be an interesting evening.

Rachel watched John’s brother as she ate the beef casserole that Patty Daniels had made. The two brothers were so different that she was still having a hard time believing they were related. Grant’s blond hair brushed the collar of his denim shirt and his blue eyes were even more secretive than John’s.

She had a feeling that their cautious nature was about the only thing the two men had in common.

Grant reached across the table for a bread roll. “You’d better put Rachel out of her misery, little brother. She can’t work out if we’re really related.”

“Some days I wish we weren’t,” he said dryly. “But for my sins, Grant Byers is my brother. Same mom, different dads.”

“Uncle Grant lives on a ranch,” Bella said proudly. “He has ten horses and lots of cows.”

Rachel smiled at Bella. “That’s pretty impressive.”

Bella nodded enthusiastically. “Uncle Grant said he’s going to teach me how to be a cowgirl.”

“That sounds exciting. What are you looking forward to the most?”

“Going on a cattle drive. Tank and Tanner are coming, too.”

Grant dipped his knife in the stick of butter in front of him. “Did you grow up on a ranch, Rachel?”

She shook her head. “No. My mom was a secretary and dad was a mechanic.”

“Must have been a busy life?”

Rachel cut a green bean in half. “It was, but I expect ranching takes a lot of time as well.”

“Too much, sometimes.”

She waited for Grant to tell her more about being a rancher, but he didn’t. “What about you? Have you always been a rancher?” She was surprised when Grant shook his head.

“I tried other things for a few years. About five years ago I came back to Bozeman. When our mom and my step-dad died, I took over the family ranch.”

“Moving to Bozeman must have been a big decision to make?”

Grant shrugged.

It was a little too careless, as if he wasn’t going to tell her the whole truth.

“John was overseas and ranching wasn’t for him. It worked out well for both of us.”

Rachel looked at Grant’s hand. He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, so she assumed he didn’t have a wife or family.

“Dad, can I leave the table? I want to finish something important.”

John smiled at his daughter. “Sure, Bella. Remember to rinse your plate and leave it in the dishwasher.”

Bella scrunched her nose up. “Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

Bella pushed her chair back from the table and looked at Rachel. “I’ll be in my room. You can come up later if you want?”

“I’ll do that.”

“But no boys,” Bella said quickly as she looked at her dad and uncle. “It’s a secret.” She waited until John and Grant both agreed not to come into her room before leaving the table.

Rachel watched her head toward the kitchen. She knew all about the top secret project that Bella was working on and how much it meant to her. She just hoped it didn’t bring back too many sad memories for John.

Grant put down his knife and fork. “I have an apology to make. I didn’t completely mean what I said about being a gold digger. Some women get sidetracked when they know how much money John’s got.”

Rachel had calmed down enough to know that his comments weren’t entirely directed at her. She kept