Deke had almost forgotten what a primo memory Jer had. Tell the man something once, and he practically had it in his brain forever.

He sometimes wondered why his friend's brain didn't f.u.c.king explode with all the c.r.a.p he had to have in it.

"Okay, yeah." He continued to scan the area as Jer pulled out into mid-morning traffic. "The b.i.t.c.h in charge, her name is Mary Jane. I think she maybe had a soft spot for Ginny. At least that's how it seemed to me. Anyway, you'll recognize her straight off. She's gotta be seventy if she's a day, with hair that looks like straw, sticking out of the black hairnet she always wears."

Mary Jane had never liked him. Anytime he'd come into the coffee shop, she'd avoided him-and that was before he'd hooked up with Ginny. She sure as h.e.l.l hadn't liked it when he'd started sweet-talking Ginny, either. His b.i.t.c.h had never said, but he was pretty certain Mary Jane had bad-mouthed him from the first moment he set his sights on her.

Waco traffic typically crept and sputtered along. Deke flexed his hands, making fists, relaxing them, imagining he had someone to vent his growing temper on.

He'd been so sure finding Ginny was going to be easy. h.e.l.l, he'd figured by this time, those d.a.m.n charges would have been dropped and he'd have his life back.

Finally Jer managed to snag a parking spot about a block south of the cafe.

"I won't be long," the man said. "I'm going to pretend to be her cousin, on her daddy's side. You said she hadn't heard from her daddy in years. Well, cousin Jerry here is bringing bad news about the pa.s.sing of old Joe Rose."

"f.u.c.k, Jer, that's f.u.c.king brilliant. I can't imagine even that hard-a.s.s Mary Jane would refuse to help you out under those circ.u.mstances."

Jerry gave him a big smile. "Just leave it to me, Deke. I'll find out where your b.i.t.c.h is. Tell you the truth, I'm starting to get p.i.s.sed off at her, myself. I think when we finally get our hands on her, I'm going to give her a.s.s a hard and fast reaming with my c.o.c.k that she won't soon forget."

"We get our hands on her, I sure as h.e.l.l will not only let you, I'll help you. Woman has to learn her place. And that place is to not have her man charged and put him through the wringer like this."

"You were too easy on her," Jerry said. "I hope this has been a lesson for you."

"f.u.c.king A." Deke had already been planning on how things were going to be different. He had no love for Texas. He was going to move them to Louisiana. But first, he'd find a buyer for the kid. He knew a guy who'd give him top dollar for a good-looking kid like that. Have the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d out of the country before Ginny came to.

Yes, then he'd get her cooperation for a while telling her that following his commands to the letter would be the only way for her to get her son back. By the time she learned the truth, it wouldn't matter to her anymore.

Jer would help him see to that.

Deke let his thoughts dwell on Ginny Rose, on what he was going to do to her as soon as he caught up with her. He let himself imagine the pleasure he'd take from her body, both with his c.o.c.k and his belt. He'd make her suck him off while he watched Jer take her a.s.s. That would be sweet. His c.o.c.k started to get hard, and Deke grinned. Yeah, Ginny was going to spend a lot of time on her knees trying to make up for all the s.h.i.t she'd pulled on him.

He kept his gaze fastened on the rearview mirror, to the spot down the street when Jer had disappeared into the coffee shop. Wasn't anyone he knew could sweet-talk the way Jerry Stone could. Sometimes, it was a real pleasure to watch the man work.

Deke blinked, because Jer had appeared on the sidewalk. He wasted no time heading for the car and-c.r.a.p-his bud did not look happy.

"That f.u.c.king old c.u.n.t." He slammed the door and looked over at Deke. "Get down. I'm getting us the h.e.l.l out of here."

"What?"

"Do it. She said she was going to call the cops, and I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't put it past her to do just that."

Deke swore as he scrunched down, half kneeling on the floor of the front seat.

"What the h.e.l.l went wrong?"

"d.a.m.ned if I know. She accused me of being in cahoots with 'that p.r.i.c.k Deke Walters.' The b.i.t.c.h sure doesn't like you, buddy. Of course I tried to act appropriately confused. I could see things were going for a s.h.i.t, so I brushed her off. When she threatened to call the cops, I told her that I'd probably have better luck finding my cousin Ginny if I went to the cops myself, and that I should have done that in the first place instead of thinking some old woman would help me out. I even hinted that I'd tell them she was, in my opinion, acting suspicious. They'd likely end up coming around wondering what she had to hide. I think that gave her pause, but I'm not sticking around to find out."

True to his word, Jer maneuvered the car with precision, the swift motions of the vehicle tossing Deke left, and then right. Jer sped for a few minutes, and then cut his speed back.

"Okay, I think we're clear. I'm driving us back through your old neighborhood. Maybe you can think of somewhere else, or someone else, might be able to give us some info."

Deke shoved himself off the floor and back onto the pa.s.senger seat. "The only other place I can think of is the bar where I used to hang." Deke looked at his watch. "This time of day, a few of my pals should be there. Old Mac tends bar, most nights. He also knows everything about everyone. If he don't know where she is, no one does."

Deke argued long and hard and finally won the right to go into the bar with Jer. He agreed to keep on the ball cap he'd been wearing, and the pair of shades Jer had pulled out of the glove compartment.

"Old Mac will never rat me out to the cops, and if he knows anything, he'll tell his good buddy, Deke."

"From your lips to G.o.d's ears, Deke. Because so far, we ain't got jack s.h.i.t." Jer rolled down his window and spat.

Deke knew he was right. They'd go in, grab a beer, and chat with old Mac. Then they'd head to wherever that b.i.t.c.h, Ginny Rose, had run away to.

Adam held her chair for her, helping her to get seated comfortably while Jake preformed the same service for Maggie.

Maggie thanked Jake for the courtesy, and then chuckled. "I just realized that I've brought a couple of Texans to a steakhouse. What was I thinking?"

Ginny hid her smile behind her menu. Having worked in several different eateries, she'd felt completely at ease when they entered the Blue Water Grille. She also liked the way her new relative seemed to be getting along with her men.

Ginny's heart thudded in her chest when she realized that she really did consider Adam and Jake Kendall to be her men.

"Texans don't think there's any such thing as too much steak," Jake said. "Although I will allow that we do tend to think that ours is the best."

Maggie tilted her head to the side. "Well, it did seem to me that you just said the word 'Texans' as if it was written in all uppercase letters."

Ginny laughed. "Our men do tend to have more than their share of pride." She looked from one Kendall to the other. "In the case of present company, it's pride that's well justified."

"Texas is the best state," Benny said. Then he looked at Maggie. "But I like New Jersey, too. Mom and me had fun on the beach today."

"I looked out now and again, and I could see you were having a lot of fun."

A server came by and poured water into everyone's gla.s.ses. Ginny looked back down at the menu. "They seem to have a lot of other selections here, too, including seafood." Which Ginny would expect every restaurant in this seaside town to offer. She'd rarely had the opportunity to try any. Kelsey had told her that she'd tried to serve seafood chowder on Friday nights when she first opened l.u.s.ty Appet.i.tes, but the dish hadn't fared very well.

The good people of l.u.s.ty didn't mind a bit of freshwater fish caught in the local streams, lakes, and rivers now and again. Many of the denizens liked to fish themselves, especially on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and most ate what they caught-ate it or released it. But in general, they hadn't yet cottoned to ocean fish overmuch.

"It may come as a surprise to you, Miss Ginny, that Jake and I both, on occasion, eat seafood."

Ginny felt one eyebrow go up, a reaction she couldn't easily prevent. She was surprised to learn that.

"Mama says it's good to try new things. Maybe it sounds funny when you hear what it's called. But you can't judge a thing by its name. You have to give it a fair try."

"Is that right?" Jake's voice, filled with amus.e.m.e.nt, matched his devilish grin. Oh, the light in his green eyes-eyes that were so much like his mother's-let her know what thoughts were on his mind, and they sure weren't about food.

"I'd say that was an exceptionally good, forward-thinking tenet." Adam's grin, similar to Jake's, stirred her, arousing her when all her life she'd been convinced that s.e.xual arousal was just something she'd never be able to enjoy.

Benny's father had called her frigid, and so had Deke. She'd long accepted the truth of the matter.

Benny's voice pulled her back to the present. "What's a tenant?"

"A tenant is a person who rents their apartment from someone who owns it."

Ginny chuckled at the confused look on Benny's face. Maggie had answered his question in earnest, despite the fact that she looked about ready to explode with laughter. The men looked suitably chagrinned. Then Adam put his arm along the back of her son's chair so that he could bend down closer to the boy.

"The word I used was 'tenet.' It means theory, or belief, or rule."

At that last word the confusion left Benny's face. "Oh, I get it now. You were talking about Mom's rules." He lowered his voice as if confiding a great secret. "She has a lot of them."

"Yes," Adam said, "moms usually do."

"Well boy howdy, listen to the two of you. Someone has to make rules, or else you'd just run amok, all over the place, doing whatever you please, whenever you please!"

Benny looked from Adam to Jake. Adam raised one eyebrow, and Jake shrugged and then turned to her and said, "I've never understood what the problem with that could possibly be."

Clearly the men believed themselves good at keeping the dialogue suitably double-edged. Benny didn't know anything about double entendres, but he proved in the next moment he understood the most important things in life.

"When you follow Mom's rules, it makes her happy," he said. "I like making my mom happy."

"You know what, Benny Rose?" Adam ruffled his hair. "You're a very wise man."

"He is at that," Jake said.

Obviously being called a man pleased her son, if the way he sat straighter in his chair was any indication.

The waiter came over and took drink orders, and Ginny decided to relax into the evening. Usually, whenever she went out anywhere with Benny, even though he was usually well behaved, she still felt the responsibility of parenthood, of watching over him, helping him select his dinner, of keeping him engaged.

Tonight she let that go. Both Adam and Jake seemed eager to take care of Benny, and she could see no reason not to let them.

One of the things she'd always craved for her son was a decent male role model. She could have none better than Adam and Jake Kendall.

So she turned her attention back to the menu. "I've heard of flounder. Is it any good?" She looked over at Maggie.

"I like it," the other woman said. "But then, I really like fish."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny caught the way Benny scrunched his face when Maggie said the word "fish." She also caught the way both Jake and Adam gave him a bit of a nudge, as if to warn him against appearing to be averse to "trying new things," probably in light of the recent discussion.

Because she felt like laughing, she hid her face behind her menu. "It's stuffed with something called 'crab imperial.' Do you know, that sounds special?" Confident she had her urge to giggle under control, she closed her menu. "I'll have that."

She looked up to discover the three males huddled behind menus. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but then, she didn't try very hard.

There were times when a mom just had to let go.

Finally it seemed they'd come to an agreement. As much as she wanted to, she didn't ask her son what he'd chosen to eat. Instead, she contented herself to wait until the waiter returned.

Soon their server brought over the drinks everyone had ordered.

"Gosh, I hope no one's offended I wanted alcohol." Maggie drew her drink, a screwdriver, closer and used the straw to stir the beverage. "Since I seem to be the only one imbibing."

Ginny hadn't paid attention when they ordered, so she hadn't realized that neither of the Kendalls had gotten anything potent, either. She decided to file that fact away for thinking about later. For the moment, she wanted to put Maggie at ease. "Of course not." Ginny waved her hand. "There's nothing wrong with adults wanting a drink with dinner. I've just never cared for the taste of alcohol, overmuch."

She caught a look the brothers Kendall exchanged just then. Sometimes she could read them as if she'd known them all her life. Other times, like now, she didn't mind admitting she wasn't quite so sure. She had no doubt that they communicated with each other using just a look. She'd heard the closest siblings could do that.

Ginny turned her attention back to her menu, because the waiter was ready to take her order. But as she turned her glance away from them, she wondered if maybe they knew there was more to her aversion to alcohol than she'd let on.

Chapter 7.

Jake carried his precious armful easily, confident he wouldn't drop the boy, but mindful that Benny had fallen into the kind of deep sleep that only puppies and small children could achieve.

He kept his movements smooth so the little guy wouldn't awaken.

Adam and Ginny, hand in hand, walked ahead of him up the stairs. This wasn't the first time that either he or Adam had carried a sleeping Benny Rose to bed.

It was, however, the first time that Ginny didn't flutter over them as they did so.

Adam held out his hand, and Ginny gave him her key. None of them spoke as the door swung open. Adam flipped the light switch that illuminated the table lamp in the far corner of the sitting room, giving off only a soft glow. Ginny had left the bathroom light on, and together that was enough light for him to see his way into the bedroom.

"His bed is the one on the left," she said softly.

"We'll take care of him," Adam said. "Why don't you make us some coffee, sweetheart? We can enjoy it out on the deck."

Ginny reached over and ran her hand gently over her son's small head. Jake loved that look on her face, the one she got whenever she was gazing at her son.

Was there anything more moving for a man to see than a woman's maternal side? A year ago, Jake wouldn't have considered that expression, or that trait, to be s.e.xy.

He did now, and he figured the change in his own att.i.tude was a sign of how far in love he'd fallen-with the mother, and the son.

Ginny looked up and met his gaze. "I think the sea air has taken a toll on him. It's not even his weekend bedtime yet."

"The sea air will do that," Jake said. "How're you feeling? Are you tired? Is the sea air getting to you, too?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, it's not the sea air that's been getting to me." The heat in her gaze seared him, and he felt his c.o.c.k begin to stir. Though that didn't surprise him-he tended to be in an almost perpetual state of arousal when Ginny was around-it sure as h.e.l.l pleased him. She switched her gaze to Adam, and Jake knew she had an identical effect on his brother.

"I'll put the coffee on, then. The two of you can tuck him in."

Adam walked ahead of him into the bedroom. Together they undressed Benny, then got him into his pajamas. While Jake lifted him off the coverlet and pulled back the blankets to settle him between the sheets, Adam went into the bathroom and came out with a washcloth and towel.

By the time they pulled the blankets over the sleeping boy, he had a relatively clean face and hands-and was still sound asleep.

Jake left the bedroom door partially open. The scent of fresh coffee brewing in the small kitchenette teased his nostrils. Ginny wasn't inside, waiting for them, or hovering close by the bedroom door to check on Benny. Looking up, he could see her silhouetted on the deck. She'd closed the screen door, but left the inside one wide open. From the way she was standing, he figured that the same full moon that allowed them to see her, let her see the ocean. The rhythmic sound of waves washing ash.o.r.e pulsed on the air. He paused for a moment and met Adam's gaze.

"I'm glad we're here." Inevitably, his gaze was drawn back to their woman. "I never would have wished that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Walters, free. But I wonder if these circ.u.mstances aren't just exactly the right circ.u.mstances that will bring us that next step closer to her."

Adam's hand came down on his shoulder. The firm gesture reminded him that they were in this quest for Ginny's heart, together. "She needs us," Adam said. "And I think you're right. I think she's ready for that next step. So let's go and take care of our woman."