Be Mine at Christmas(61)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Why was someone so old planning to marry someone so young?” Ken asked.

“Are you kidding? What man wouldn’t love that?” he said with an appreciative laugh.

His response made Ken’s skin crawl. “So you plan to…what?”

“Maybe I’ll marry her,” he responded with a shrug. “If we hit it off, eh?”

Stuart Baker would never bother with marriage. Why would he? That would require a trip to town, and it looked as if he avoided public settings at all costs.

Or maybe he would go to the trouble. As his wife, Cierra would have even less chance of escaping him.

“I see.”

“So…where is she?” he asked again.

Ken masked his inner turmoil with a pleasant smile. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. She wanted me to make sure you received word that she won’t be coming.”

“What? Why not?” He sounded indignant.

“She, uh, she changed her mind. Decided to go home.”

“To Guatemala.”

“Yeah.”

Baker’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What about her sisters?”

Oh, God—there was more? “What about them?”

“Arlene told me they’d starve if she went back. Her parents are dead. Her brother’s in prison. There’s no way for her to support what’s left of her family.”

And it gets worse. “You were going to help her do that?”

“Me? You kidding? I don’t have the money to support a whole family, but I can make sure she has a place to stay and gets a meal now and then. At least she won’t starve with them.”

Ken wondered if Baker had made his demands, and his limitations, clear from the beginning. Cierra had come a long way in hopes of reaching this location. She wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t believed she could find legitimate work and save her sisters. After only two days in her company Ken knew that much. “Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about her.” He rubbed his hands together to warm them. “She’s taken care of.”

Baker leaned close. “You went to a lot of effort to tell me she’s gone.”

Ken met his gaze. “She asked if I’d pass the word.”

“Because you two are friends?”

“We bumped into each other in town.”

“Sure you did.” His eyes swept down to Ken’s boots and back up again. “You’d think a handsome football star like yourself could get enough women in bed without taking from the rest of us.”

Ken hadn’t necessarily expected Baker to recognize him, but he wasn’t surprised. Even the folks in Dundee who didn’t know him personally knew of him. Around here, being a professional athlete made him something of a celebrity. But he wasn’t pleased by the implication. “What did you say?”

He noticed that two teeth were missing as Stuart stretched his lips into the approximation of a smile. “No offense, Slick. Just keep me in mind when you’re done with her, huh? I’m not going anywhere.”

Ken’s hands curled into fists, but he couldn’t say what came so readily to his lips. If he threatened Baker, told him to stay away from Cierra, the INS, now called ICE, which stood for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would likely show up at his door. Then she’d be on the next flight to Guatemala. His coming here had obviously betrayed her presence. “Sorry but we’re both missing out. Since she’s gone.”

“Right. She only came north to go south again.”

“Apparently.”

“Just keep me in mind, like I said.” And he shut the door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

WHAT NOW?

Ken drove up and down Main Street while trying to decide. He couldn’t turn Cierra over to ICE, not after hearing about her situation. If she and her sisters couldn’t survive in Guatemala, sending her back there wasn’t an option. And no way in hell would he ever allow Stuart to be around her. He had more of a conscience than that.

But he couldn’t let her stay, either. She was too close to his age, too attractive, and that meant, as a single man, he couldn’t have her living with him. Last night he’d lain awake thinking about what it might feel like to touch her, to kiss her. And that wouldn’t do. Not if he was planning to see Tiffany again. After having dated for so long in high school and college, they’d always expected to end up together. Now that it was time to settle down and start a family, he needed to get serious about finding a wife—not have a wild fling with some Latin American beauty. Especially when he knew that wouldn’t help Cierra at all.

Someone honked. Blinking, Ken focused on the traffic around him and realized his father had just spotted him.

Shit… Bumping into Russ was the last thing he wanted.

Ken waved, hoping that would suffice, but his father motioned for him to pull over and Ken couldn’t ignore him. He felt too much of an obligation toward Russ, who’d alienated everyone else in his life; all he had left were his sons.

After parking in front of the hardware store, Ken got out and slogged through the slush as Russ rolled down the window of his old Camaro. This Camaro didn’t have any heat, so Ken had bought Russ a new truck last Christmas, but he must’ve sold it or given it to someone he owed money because Ken hadn’t seen it since he’d unveiled the big surprise.

“Hey, what are you doing in town?” Russ asked. “Your mother told me you were at the cabin getting settled in.”

Feeling guilty for not having returned his father’s call a few days ago, Ken shoved his hands in his pockets. A pale blue sky stretched in all directions, but the air was bitterly cold, and he hadn’t yet replaced the coat he’d given to Cierra. “I had to pick up a few things,” he explained. “It’s just a quick trip. I’m heading right back.”

“That’s too bad. I was hoping we could grab lunch.”

“Not today. I’ve got a lot to do. But…soon,” he promised.

“Let’s set a date. I have a business opportunity that’ll blow your socks off. Now that you’re not playing ball, you gotta start looking at investments, you know? That money you earned won’t last forever.”

Ken already had investments that were performing quite well. He owned a video-game store in town and the dude ranch and didn’t want to squander any more money on his father’s latest network marketing scheme. It wasn’t as if giving Russ an infusion of cash ever really improved his situation. After he lost whatever amount Ken had provided, he simply came up with a new business idea and asked for yet another “loan.”