Page 6 of Killer on the Homestead (Bent County Protectors #2)

But damn, he was so unfairly good-looking. She didn’t mind a good flirt. She didn’t mind other things. She wasn’t looking for anything serious, ever, but she liked the male species on a very superficial level.

Maybe Audra had dreams of roses and white dresses. Maybe Audra and Franny looked at Vi and Thomas and Magnolia a little wistfully.

Rosalie most decidedly did not.

Maybe it was a cliché, maybe it meant she needed therapy, but learning her dad had a whole secret family after he’d died had killed absolutely any trust she held in the male species.

Or at least any trust in her judgment of it. Because Hart was okay, and so clearly in love with Vi. Maybe it wasn’t that she didn’t believe in love, but more that she didn’t trust her own take on it.

Either way. She wasn’t looking for anything, and she doubted Mr. Superstar was either. But even a flirtation was complicated with the ways their families overlapped, and the fact she was helping him look into some missing cows.

She didn’t mind some complications. A person couldn’t in a small community like Bent County. Not if she wanted to get laid on occasion. And she did .

But Duncan? Nah, too complicated.

Really, really hot though.

She shoved away thoughts of Duncan, or tried to, and ate a delicious meal prepared by his mother with Audra and Franny. Most days, it felt like enough, but some days…usually after a night like last night when they’d had Vi, Hart, and Mags over, it felt a little lonely.

She refused to wallow in that though. She enjoyed her dinner, watched a terrible movie with Franny, then went to bed.

In the morning, she figured her first order of business once she got to work would be to look a little deeper into Owen Green, the ne’er-do-well cousin from North Dakota.

She headed downstairs, lured by the smell of coffee and the sound of voices. Audra was pouring her coffee into a thermos, while Franny rested her head against the table.

“What happened to you?”

She lifted her head. “I was up practically all night.”

“Writing?”

“In a matter of speaking,” she said around a yawn.

Which meant she’d likely spent her entire night either following some research rabbit trail, or watching Taylor Swift conspiracy-theory videos. Or both.

Rosalie grabbed her own thermos from the cupboard. She filled it, but before she could grab a power bar for breakfast, Audra was shoving a bag at her.

“On your way out, can you return all this Tupperware to Natalie?”

Rosalie looked down at it. She really didn’t want to, but that was childish. “I guess.”

“I was texting Chloe last night, and I mentioned how Duncan was back. She told me to invite him to the engagement party. So, if you see him, can you do that?”

“Invite him to our friend’s party?” Rosalie returned. Chloe was a friend of Audra’s going way back. Rosalie worked with Jack’s sister at Fool’s Gold. And a million other connections that happened in a small town.

“Duncan’s new to town, kind of, and it’ll give him an opportunity to meet, or remeet, people his age.”

“He was a famous professional athlete for years , Audra. I’m sure he can meet people on his own.”

“Here? This is a different world than LA. He might feel out of place. A casual engagement party is the perfect place to reacquaint himself with old friends or meet new ones. I’m sure Duncan knows Jack.”

They were around the same age, so probably. But Rosalie didn’t know why it fell on her to do the inviting. She almost said it, but she saw the way Audra was moving around the kitchen. Too fast because she had too much to do.

“Everything okay, ranch-wise?”

Audra waved her off. “Sure thing. But it’d help me a lot if you took care of that.”

“Yeah. Sure.” She glanced at Franny, who was still lying on the table, possibly sleeping. “Why don’t I bring home a pizza tonight instead of having anyone cook?”

“Sounds good to me but let us know if you’re going to be late.”

Rosalie nodded, took a few steps toward the kitchen’s exit. Then turned to face her sister.

“You’re not like…trying to flirt with him, are you?”

Audra blinked, cocked her head. Her expression was blank enough Rosalie couldn’t tell what she felt about that question.

“Why?” she asked, sounding casual even if her gaze was considering. “Would that bother you?”

“Why would it bother me?”

Audra shrugged. “I don’t know. But you didn’t ask it like ‘are you trying to flirt with him?’ You voiced it as a negative. ‘You’re not, are you?’”

“No, I didn’t.”

Audra looked at Franny, whose eyes were open again. “Didn’t she?”

“She did,” Franny agreed.

“Traitor,” Rosalie muttered, then whirled out of the kitchen. It didn’t bother her in the least. Not that she was going to let some puffed-up baseball player touch her sister, but if Audra wanted to flirt, she had every right.

Every right , Rosalie repeated to herself as she got in her car and drove over to the Kirk Ranch house. Not at all in a foul mood, because she didn’t care about Duncan Kirk or parties or anything .

When she pulled up in front of the house, a lot more recently modernized than the Young house, where they scraped by year after year thanks to her selfish parents, she was not at all happy to see Duncan standing on the porch.

That leap in her chest was definitely irritation. She got out of the car, grabbed the bag of Tupperware, and marched it right up the stairs.

“Your mom here?”

“No, she went to town for some errands already apparently,” he said, holding up a Post-it. “Which is suspicious because she told me I could come by this morning and grab some more coffee. I’m out. I didn’t even bring my keys with me.” He jiggled the knob in frustration.

“Audra insisted I bring this stuff back this morning,” Rosalie said, holding the bag out to him. With a frown, he took it.

“Where am I supposed to put it?”

Rosalie shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? I’ve got to get to work.

” But since he was here, she could tell him about the party and then not have to see him until she had something to do with the case to talk to him about.

Professionally. And if she handled this, she could maybe handle making sure her sister’s heart didn’t get stomped on by this—this…

Whatever he was. “And…she also wanted me to invite you to this party.”

“Party?”

“A friend’s thing in a few weeks. It’s for an engagement, but really informal.

Outdoor backyard barbeque type thing. A bunch of us are going, and Audra thought…

You know, since you haven’t really lived here for a while, you might want to meet or get reacquainted with someone your age.

You probably know the host anyway. Jack Hudson? ”

“I played T-ball with Jack.”

“See? So you should come.”

“Because Audra wants me to?”

Rosalie tried not to growl. “She’s just being nice . Don’t let it go to your head.”

His mouth quirked up on one side, a kind of boyish, mischievous smile that had butterflies kicking up a racket in her stomach.

“I like nice.”

Butterflies officially grounded. She stepped forward. “You touch nice, I’ll—”

“Yeah, I remember the threat. You know, I think much better about invitations when I’ve had my coffee. Want to go up to Coffee Klatch with me? I’ve been told a lie that their coffee doesn’t taste like gas-station dregs anymore.”

Rosalie blinked. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been caught so off guard. Before she could decide what to do with that invitation though, she heard a scream.

Both she and Duncan moved toward it simultaneously as a young man came scrambling toward them from the barn, waving both arms.

“Call nine-one-one. Call nine-one-one, now!”