Cold River - Carla Neggers [81]
Sean could hear Beth and Dominique laughing in the kitchen.
Girls’ night.
“Then,” Rose added, her tone hardening, “I’m going up to the lodge and out to the lake and throttling Jo and my three big brothers. Get off Hannah’s case, all of you. She’s Bowie O’Rourke’s friend, maybe the only friend he has left in the world. That should be commended instead of turned into a source of suspicion.”
Sean scrutinized his sister. “Rose? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m throttling you first. In the meantime—” She smiled, although her eyes were still fiery. “Dominique’s buttercream frosting awaits.”
She headed for the kitchen. Ranger stayed put in the hall. Sean stepped over him and went into the mudroom. He wasn’t going near Rose and her friends and the cupcake decorating.
Devin was coming in from the back with a duffel bag he’d borrowed from Elijah. He looked nervous as well as excited.
Sean didn’t blame him.
It wasn’t easy to think about leaving Hannah behind in Black Falls.
Hannah dipped a finger into the buttercream frosting heaped atop her chocolate cupcake. She knew that Dominique, Beth and Rose weren’t there decorating cupcakes because of the café.
They were there because her brothers were leaving in the morning.
Rose sat on a high stool at the worktable, a tiny jar of sparkling silver stars in hand. “I love the smell of baking cakes,” she said happily, then turned to Hannah, her Cameron blue eyes serious. “Sean can be a heel, you know.”
Beth set a cookie tray in the stainless-steel sink. “Pardon me for saying so, but it’s true. He owns property in town, but that doesn’t mean he ever plans to come back here to live.”
Hannah licked the frosting off her finger, aware of her friends’ scrutiny. “No worries, my friends. There’s nothing between Sean and me.”
“Ha,” Beth said.
“Okay, maybe a momentary thing because we were in a dark cellar and covered in cobwebs.”
Dominique raised her dark eyebrows. “Cobwebs?”
“He is cute,” Beth said.
“All the Cameron men are dreamy,” Dominique added, as only she could.
Rose groaned. “Cute? Dreamy? Try tripping over their size-twelve shoes at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Try coming between them and something they want,” Beth added.
“Or hurting one of their own,” Hannah said.
Rose averted her eyes. She looked agonized, but Hannah said nothing, although she was more and more certain her friend was fighting off the aftereffects of a failed love affair on the road. There’d been hints, but Hannah knew Rose well enough to be cautious about confronting her. Rose was very private and naturally solitary, and she was still angry and grief-stricken over her father’s death.
Whatever romantic disaster Rose had experienced, Hannah doubted the Cameron men had a clue. As much as they might argue, A.J., Elijah and Sean wouldn’t be happy with any man who had broken their baby sister’s heart, and Rose would know to keep them away from whoever it was.
“When you’re ready, we can talk,” Hannah whispered. “I know it’s torture for you to confide in anyone.”
“Thanks,” Rose said under her breath.
Beth and Dominique either didn’t hear the exchange or pretended not to.
For the next hour, they turned their attention to cupcakes and laughter, as if there were nothing more pressing on their minds than frosting, sprinkles and little silver stars. Hannah welcomed the show of support and friendship. It would make saying goodbye to her brothers in the morning easier knowing she had these women behind her.
And saying goodbye to Sean, she thought. She’d let herself go too far with him when she knew he’d be back in Beverly Hills in twenty-four hours, by his pool, making deals, attacking fires.
Rose left, and Beth and Dominique helped