Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) (3 page)

He stalked toward Kerry, anger in
every stride he took, until he stood toe to toe with her. He glared down into
her upturned face. “I do not need you sticking your nose in my life, sister,”
he spat poking his finger at her face. “You get that woman on the next plane
home, do you hear me? And don’t you ever, EVER interfere like this ever again.”
He didn’t even wait for a reply before he stormed out of the house, banging the
door behind him.

Kerry closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. His reaction had been worse that she’d feared. What had she been
thinking? Dan’s face popped into her mind’s eye. She knew exactly what she’d been
thinking and it hadn’t all been about her brother. She looked at Laura still
standing frozen to the spot, her face was stricken and humiliated though she
was trying hard to hide it. Kerry felt even worse. She’d dragged a poor
innocent woman across the globe to be shouted at and ridiculed.

“I am so sorry,” she said again. “I
shouldn’t have lied to you. I’ve made a terrible mess of things. I’m so, so
sorry.” She felt the tears sliding down her face, but didn’t seem to have the
energy to stop them.

Laura dragged her eyes to Kerry’s
stricken face. Somehow she couldn’t bring herself to add to the young woman’s
suffering. She walked over and gently patted her heaving shoulders. “You must
have had a very good reason for doing what you did,” she said quietly. She
couldn’t believe it was with any malicious intent that Kerry had lied to bring
her here.

Kerry sniffed. “I thought so at the
time, but really I think I was being very, very selfish.” Laura pulled out a
clean tissue from her jacket pocket and handed it to Kerry, who took it
gratefully. “He wasn’t always like this you know. He used to be so happy and
sweet and kind. You would have liked him. Things happened and he changed. I
really did want to do something to help him find his way back from this
nightmare he lives in, but it wasn’t the only reason.” She clammed up, not
really wanting to tell someone she didn’t know about Dan. It was just too
personal.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to
explain,” Laura said, her heart going out to Kerry, seeing her obvious misery.
Thinking back on what had just happened, she could understand Jake’s anger, but
it was no excuse for the very personal and hurtful things he’d said to her. He
had to be a man in the deepest of pain, for only people hurting so badly would
hit out at someone they didn’t even know. She sighed. Something really bad was
going on in this wonderful warm house. It wasn’t really her business and she
would be leaving soon anyway, but her soft heart went out to the troubled
siblings all the same.

”Is there somewhere I can rent a room
nearby?” she asked Kerry. “I just can’t face driving too far today. It’s been a
long journey as it is and I’m starting to feel it.”

“You can stay here,” Kerry offered.

Laura shook her head. “I don’t think
that would be a good idea, under the circumstances.”

“Please, I’ve put you to so much
trouble. The least I can do is offer you a room. This is my home too, so if
Jake doesn’t like it, he knows what he can do!” Kerry’s eyes gleamed with
determination and anger. “I think it’s the least he owes you too. It was me
that cooked up this scheme, not you. You didn’t deserve the way he spoke to
you.”

Laura could see that Kerry wouldn’t
be swayed from her decision. Part of her was grateful not to have to find
somewhere else to stay when she was already feeling so tired and another part
of her kind of wished she didn’t have to see Jake Carter again.

She smiled gratefully at Kerry.
“Well, if you’re sure, I’ll get my things out of the car.”

*****

Jake slammed out of the house and
into the nearest stable. He pushed a wheel barrow to the entrance of the first
stall, setting it down with a satisfying thump. He grabbed the pitch fork
hanging on the nearby wall and started attacking the dirty hay, throwing large
forkfuls into the wheel barrow. He needed good hard graft to work off his
temper.

How could Kerry betray him like this?
He’d thought she of all people, understood how he felt. She’d been there
through his whole awful ordeal. She knew what it had cost him and yet here she
was trying to fix him up with someone, like he wasn’t broken. How could she not
see how she was cruelly highlighting to him everything he’d lost? All his hopes
and dreams, the whole rosy future he’d thought he’d have. All of it had been
swept away by the betrayal of two people he’d trusted and believed loved him.
The memories pushed at his mind and heart, driving him to work harder and
harder in an effort to shove them away.

“What bug crawled up your butt, boy?”
came a gruff voice from behind him. Jake grunted and refused to answer. He was
not in the mood to speak to anyone. He should have known Bill Handley wouldn’t
be ignored. The gruff older man knew him far too well to be intimidated by
Jake’s black scowl.

“Come on, spit it out. No use holding
it all in,” he pushed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,
Bill,” Jake growled, wiping the sweat from his forehead and continuing to
attack the hay in the stall with furious stabs of his pitch fork.

“Well the way I see it you have two
choices,” Bill drawled. “You can tell me what’s wrong, by far your easiest
choice or I can follow you round for hours and sing,” Bill threatened with a
grin, for everyone knew that Bill sang at the top of his voice, horrendously
off key and only ever knew a couple of lines of a song, which he repeated over
and over for added pain.

Jake growled. He really didn’t want
to discuss what had happened in the house, but he knew Bill was as stubborn as
an old goat and really would drive him mad with his singing if he didn’t
comply. He wouldn’t leave Jake alone until he got the whole sorry story and he
wasn’t the sort of person Jake could intimidate away.

Sighing, he paused in his work and
considered how to start to explain what Kerry had done. The whole thing was
completely humiliating! If he hadn’t walked out when he did, he may well have
strangled her for this.

“You may as well spit it out, ‘cause
I’m not going nowhere till you do,” Bill assured him.

“It’s Kerry!” Jake choked out.

“What’s she done now?” Bill asked,
raising his bushy grey eyebrows.

Jake swallowed hard several times.
“She joined a dating agency on my behalf,” he gritted out.

Bill stared at him in surprised shock
for several seconds before throwing his head back and laughing till he cried.

“I’m so happy to amuse you, old man,”
Jake snapped.

“Come on, boy, that’s funny! Best
laugh I’ve had in years!” Bill said wiping the tears from his cheeks. “What
kind of profile could she have put down for you? Grumpy, mean spirited horse
rancher seeks someone special to sweeten him up? Has she lined you up with
multiple dates?” He bent over, gasping for breath.

“You don’t get it. It’s worse than
that. There is an English woman in the house, right now, who thought she was
coming to meet me for romance.” Jake felt a twinge of guilt. He’d been
incredibly rude to the woman. After all, it hadn’t been her fault Kerry had
done what she’d done. She was as much of a victim of Kerry’s scheming as he
was. He remembered the shocked look on her face. She’d obviously had no idea he
didn’t know about her coming. He’d just been so damn mad that he’d been put in
such a position, he’d let his mouth run away with him and taken it out on her
too.

“You mean they sent someone to stay
here?” Bill whistled, finally sobering up. “For how long?”

“Three weeks I think, but it doesn’t
matter,” Jake insisted, pushing the guilt aside. “She’s not staying anyway. I
told Kerry to send her home.”

Bill’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t just
send that poor woman packing,” he exclaimed.

“Why the hell not?” Jake didn’t like
the look on Bill’s face. The man had acted like a father to him and Kerry ever
since their father had died when they were still quite young. He had stepped
back from that role as they reached adulthood, but when he felt it was
necessary, he would still sometimes pull that authority figure from his back
pocket. Now looked like it was one of those times.

Because that poor girl has travelled
a long way, thanks to your sister, based on a lie. The least we can do is see
to her welfare. You can’t just order her to leave, Jake. I taught you better
than that.” Bill’s grey eyes had turned to chips of steel.

“I can’t have her here, Bill. I’ll
pay her damn airfare back to England, but she’s not staying here.”

Bills eyes narrowed onto Jakes face.
He bit his lip in contemplation. Jake looked away. He hated the feeling that Bill
could see right through him. “What’s with you, boy? Why are you so insistent on
getting rid of this girl?” he mused. Then his brow cleared. “Ahhhhh,” he
grinned. “She must be something special to get you all rattled this way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Jake denied.

“No, don’t bother trying to deny it.
You wouldn’t be itching to send this girl packing if she didn’t bother you in
some way,” Bill grinned. “Maybe Kerry did a smart thing after all.”

Jake glared at Bill, but the man kept
on grinning away in his annoying fashion. Jake didn’t want to admit to anyone,
even himself, that Miss Laura Hamilton had turned his insides to mush and
nearly made his legs buckle. She’d stood in his living room, her huge green
eyes sparkling away at him and she’d looked at him. Not his scar, but him. For
a moment he’d felt like the old Jake, the one who’d been so confident and sure.
Who’d been happy and carefree. She’d had a feeling about her that made him
think of sunshine and flowers and almost made him forget. She’d taken his
breath away…….She’d scared him to death!

He’d said some horrible things to
her, but fear made him determined to keep her away from him. Something told him
that Miss Hamilton was very dangerous to him and to his heart. He wouldn’t risk
the pain of heartbreak ever again. Not with her or anyone else. He just didn’t
have it in him to trust and love again. Victoria had seen to that.

“You have to let the past go sometime
Jake.” Bill came up to him and put his hand on his shoulder, his expression
serious for once. “You can’t let one woman colour your view of every other
woman or turn you into a bitter lonely man.”

“This isn’t about that,” Jake denied
weakly. They both knew he was lying.

Bill sighed sadly. “I really think,”
he said softly, “that Kerry may have done you a bigger favour than you think.
If you’re so quick to push this woman away, maybe she should stay a while.
Maybe there’s something here worth exploring.”

“I’m sending Miss Hamilton back where
she belongs because there’s no point in her being here,” Jake insisted. “Not
because she bothers me.”

“Sure,” Bill said sarcastically. “If
that’s really true, why are you pushing so hard to send her home without even
letting her stay one night?”

Jake glared at the challenge Bill
threw down. He was not happy. If Kerry asked for Laura to stay, which knowing
her she would, he wouldn’t be able to say no without proving Bill right and
then he’d never hear the end of it! Jake sighed. He could feel a noose being
slowly tightened around his neck and he didn’t like it one bit.

*****

Unseen by anyone, two figures stood
in the stable having observed the first meeting and Jakes confrontation with
Bill.

“Do you think he will let Laura stay,
Lotta?” Flo asked, her round face full of concern.

“I am sure things will work out so Laura
will stay the intended three weeks,” Lotta replied confidently.

“I still say we should have left her
car as a pumpkin,” Flo sniffed, still very much insulted that Lotta had undone
her wonderful work.

Lotta rolled her eyes and tried to
hold on to her temper. “How many times do I have to explain that we can’t just
do things that mortals will question? What do you think would have happened if
Laura had seen the car gone and a pumpkin in its place? She would have called
the police thinking the car had been stolen, that’s what!” Lotta answered her
own question before Flo could put her bit in. “That’s one complication we don’t
need. Trust me, this way works better.”

“But it’s so boring!” Flo complained.
“Where’s the excitement and magic in getting someone to talk him round?”

“It’s the way we must do things in
today’s world, Flo. You know that! At least we are getting people matched up.
It’s not like before when we would drop thoughts in their heads they just
ignored. At least we are taking an active role in getting true loves together
and giving them a happy ever after.” Lotta smiled, happy with her speech.

Flo huffed, unconvinced. She decided
to keep a close eye on things here, in case her interference was needed. After
all, Kerry’s happiness hung on things working out with Jake and Laura and she
wasn’t about to let her young charge down. Happily, she hugged her round frame
in secret. She’d just have to find ways of doing things that Lotta couldn’t
interfere with.

Laura sat at the lovely wooden dressing
table, brushing her hair after her shower, feeling much more revived. She took
a deep relieved breath. She hadn’t realised how tired she was until she’d
glanced out the upstairs window when Kerry had left her in the guest room. For
a moment she’d thought she’d seen a pumpkin on the driveway instead of her hire
car. She’d never heard of anyone hallucinating with jet lag, but she wasn’t
sure anyone would cough to something that weird anyway. Thankfully, it had only
been a moment and when she’d looked back, it was her car as normal. Obviously
the day’s events had really got to her!

Laughing softly at herself, she
glanced around the beautiful airy room she’d been given with appreciation. It
was tastefully decorated with wooden floors and a thick soft pink rug beside
the double bed with matching pink bedding. There was a wooden night table
beside the bed, complete with clock and lamp. A wardrobe, chest of draws and
the dressing table completed the room’s furnishings.

She was even more pleased that the
room had a small ensuite attached to it, with a toilet, sink and shower. One
thing Laura always hated about being in someone else’s home was worrying about
using the bathroom if there was only one available.

She tied her hair back in a pony and
left the bright cheery room to find Kerry. Heading downstairs, she searched the
house until she found a red faced Kerry in the kitchen/diner. It was a
beautiful room, full of light the same as the rest of the house. The kitchen
itself was a mix of modern and old style, with wooden cabinets and marble work
surfaces combining with dishwashers and a big double oven. There was a large
table and chairs standing in the other half of the room, facing two double
doors that lead out to the wrap around porch. The view outside of the
surrounding countryside took her breath away.

She moved over to Kerry’s side,
watching as she fought with a large piece of pastry that seemed to resist being
rolled out. Bits of it were welded to the countertop and the rolling pin. Huge
holes had somehow appeared in various places and it was cracked so badly it
looked like a mosaic. Kerry gave a scream of frustration, gathered the pastry
back up into a ball and threw more flour onto the work surface, her rolling pin
and a good deal over herself.

Spotting Laura, she gave a sheepish
grin. “It was supposed to be a great homemade supper of Jake’s favourites to
soften him up. I thought I’d still cook it to try and placate him when I tell
him you’re staying tonight, but I’m not really a cook.” She held up the sorry
looking pastry.

Laura grinned. “Well, currently, you
may not placate him, but you will put him in hospital for a while. That could
work too!”

They both laughed. “I guess I should
have stuck to readymade. I don’t know why I thought cooking from scratch was a
good idea! I think it was something Mum always says about the way to a man’s
heart.” Kerry rolled her eyes. “I think that only works if you can actually
cook. It always looks so easy when someone else is doing it that I thought it
would be no problem. How wrong was I? I seem to be making a lot of stupid
choices lately.”

“What were you trying to make?” Laura
asked, taking the pastry from Kerry and binning it.

“Well, dinner was going to be steak
and chips with an apple pie and cream for dessert.”

“Would you be okay if I made it for
you?” Laura asked.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that,”
Kerry protested.

“You aren’t. I’m offering,” Laura
assured her. “Please, I love to cook. It would help me wind down from the day.”

Kerry took off her apron and handed it
to Laura. “In that case, please, be my guest.”

Laura slipped on the apron and set to
work as Kerry cleaned up the mess she’d made. She riffled through the fresh
ingredients in the store cupboards and happily gathered what she needed for the
meal. Soon she was digging into the food preparation with a happy contented
smile on her face.

“You’ve been awfully good about all
this,” Kerry commented after a short while. “I can’t believe you’re not taking
my head off as well, for what I’ve done.”

Laura sighed softly as she rolled out
the pastry she’d made for the apple pie. “Life is too short to hold grudges,”
she said with a shrug. “Besides, you seem like a good person to me, so I am
sure you didn’t mean to cause trouble or hurt for me.”

“I truly didn’t,” Kerry assured her.
“I guess I’m just not good at thinking things through properly. I knew Jake
would be angry but I thought I could talk him round to at least giving someone
a chance. He’s been so angry for such a long time. I want more for him than the
life he is leading right now, even if he doesn’t. Can you understand that?”

“Of course. We always want the best
for the ones we love,” Laura replied. “But sometimes we can’t force them to do
what we think is best, even if we know we’re right. Maybe if you’d talked the
idea though with him, he would have eventually come round to your thinking?”

“You don’t know Jake. He is so
stubborn. If I’d asked him about this first, he’d have just dug his heels in. I
thought it best to just throw him in the deep end and hoped once you were here,
he’d just accept it.” Kerry finished cleaning up and stood beside Laura as she
was working on the apple filling. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why did you join the Fairy Tale
Match?”

Laura paused a moment, taking a deep
breath to gather her thoughts. “I was in a crazy place for a time,” she began.
“My mother passed away recently from long term illness. I had been looking
after her for the last few years and pretty much that was my whole life. I
don’t regret that, not even for a moment, but suddenly she was gone and I was
left with a void that I had no idea how to fill.”

Kerry nodded her understanding, her
eyes full of sympathy. Laura began to roll out the pastry for the top of the
pie as she continued. “I’ve lived in England for years, ever since I was five
and my mother moved us back there when things went wrong with my father. In
fact, I was born in the USA and have been contemplating moving back here as
England now holds some pretty tough memories for me, but I had no idea where or
how I would do that. I don’t know anyone here and my father has made it clear
he doesn’t want to know me, so I thought it was impossible.”

She placed the finished, decorated
pie to the side, as she made a start on the main meal. “Then this advert popped
up on my computer one day for The Fairy Tale Match. I don’t know why, but
something about it appealed to me and I joined. I’ve always dreamed of a
forever love, someone special just for me.” She laughed in embarrassment. “It’s
pretty silly, I know.”

Kerry shook her head. “Not to me it
isn’t,” she whispered. It was what she dreamed of with Dan. The two women
looked at each other and in that moment passed a complete understanding
creating a strong and lasting friendship. They both smiled at each other before
Laura continued to work on dinner.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I didn’t
really expect much but when they got in touch with me and told me they’d found
my match and would I come to the USA, well I thought it must be fate. Even if
things didn’t work out for me and Jake that maybe I would find somewhere I’d
like to put down roots. Somewhere I can be happy again. So here I am! As short
lived as it’s turning out to be.”

“I don’t see why that part has to
change. It’s my fault things went wrong with Jake, but maybe this doesn’t have
to be a wasted trip,” Kerry said earnestly. She thought a moment, then asked
“Would you stay the three weeks if you could? You know, check this place out
and see if you could call it home? I would love to have you here and really
it’s the least I can do. Plus it’s the only way to get both our fees back from
the Fairy Tale Match.”

Laura thought a moment. “I would in
theory. It is really lovely here and I’ve always wanted to learn to ride a
horse. I haven’t seen Willow Creek yet, but it already sounds like more of a
community minded place, unlike back home. That’s the kind of place I want to
live. It would be a shame not to get to enjoy things here and as you said
there’s the love or your money back guarantee. But that’s not really possible
now. Your brother’s made it clear he wants me to leave as soon as possible.”

“I don’t know about that,” Kerry
smiled tapping her finger against her chin in thought. “This is my home too and
if I want you to stay, you can stay. Besides, if we play things right, we could
get Jake to agree to you staying without a fuss. Just leave it with me.”

*****

Two hours later Laura and Kerry had
their plan and dinner in place. Jake would be due in to wash up any minute and
both women were looking at the back door in worried anticipation. Kerry had
been astounded how easily even a jet lagged Laura had rustled up the food.
She’d made it look easy. The smells had been torturing Kerry for what seemed
like forever and her stomach rumbled. They laid the table for four, as Kerry
explained that a man called Bill would be joining them. The other workers ate
at their own homes or with the guests as an added part of the experience of
ranch life, but Bill was more like family.

Finally the back door opened and the
two men entered. Jake frowned when he saw Laura. He opened his mouth to say
something, but the other man got in first. “You must be Laura,” he smiled as he
elbowed Jake out of the way and held his hand out for her to shake.

Laura nodded with a huge smile and
took his hand.  She liked the man immediately. He had a twinkle in his eye that
spoke of a great humour and mischief. “Wow, something smells real good in
here,” Bill commented, sniffing the air in appreciation.

“That’s all Laura’s handiwork,” Kerry
told him. “She’s worked really hard to provide us with a wonderful home cooked
meal, so I don’t want to hear anything from you Jake, about her staying
tonight. Whatever you think about what I did, I couldn’t just kick a jet lagged
woman out to find her own bed tonight when it’s my fault she’s here.”

“I heartily agree,” Bill inserted
smoothly as he settled himself into a chair at the table and grinned in
challenge at Jake. “How could you even think of throwing this pretty little
girl out into a strange place? Downright cruel if you ask me!”

Jake pursed his lips in annoyance,
but held up his hands in defeat. “Fine, she can stay one night!” he snapped and
headed for the stairs to take a shower and change clothes.

“Don’t take his gruff attitude to
heart, Laura,” Bill said quietly suddenly serious, when the younger man was out
of hearing. “He is a good man really. I know it doesn’t look that way to you
right now but his bark is much worse than his bite. He’d never really hurt
anything or anyone. Soft centred, he is and always has been. As gentle as a
lamb under all that bluster.”

“I don’t think he’s going to look
much like a gentle lamb when I tell him Laura is staying the three weeks,”
Kerry told him quietly. “He’s going to be more like a charging bull! Will you
back me up? You can always get him to do what you want!”

“Honey, you’re scheming has caused a
whole heap of trouble already. You should have seen that boy in the stable when
he came out of the house earlier. He looked ready to self-combust!” Kerry’s
face dropped. Bill winked at Laura, the mischievous glint back in his eyes.
“Course I’ll back you up. Do that boy good to be rattled. He’s stewed in his
own juices for far too long and needs a good deal of bothering!” He laughed his
head off as if he’d just told the best joke in the world.

Laura wasn’t sure exactly what Bill
meant with his last remark, but didn’t get to ask as Kerry launched herself at
him to give him a fierce hug of thanks.

*****

Jake came back to find Bill and Kerry
chatting and laughing with Laura as if they’d both known her for years. He
tried not to look in her direction, but she pulled his eyes to her as if she
was a huge magnet and he was powerless to resist. Her face was flushed with
flour smeared all over her cheeks and in her hair where she’d obviously pushed
it back with her flour covered hands. Her green eyes sparkled with happiness as
she laughed at something Bill had said. She should have looked a mess, but she
was breath-taking in a fresh sweet way; a far cry from the perfect beauty
Victoria had possessed. She wouldn’t have been caught dead with her hair
mussed, let alone flour on any part of her person. She’d been far too proud.

Jake pushed the thoughts away. He refused
to think about Miss Laura Hamilton as anything other than an inconvenient
houseguest that would soon be gone. He could get through one lousy night and
morning till she left, without disgracing himself or threatening his carefully
constructed defences.

He sat down in his seat, ignoring the
silence that had fallen upon his arrival. Kerry and Laura brought plates filled
with juicy looking steak with a sauce covering it, crisp golden chips and
vegetables. It smelt heavenly.

Bill exclaimed in delight as he took
a big forkful of food. “Wow, Laura, this is fantastic. I’ve never had steak
cooked this good before. What’s that sauce you’ve put with it?”

Laura smiled happily. “It’s my
version of a pepper sauce. It’s made with tomatoes, herbs and lots of black pepper
which gives it a real kick, as well as other secret ingredients! It’s all my
own recipe. It goes great with steak. I’m so glad you like it.”