This was a little out of the realm of the Sherlock’s Snoops, a club formed to investigate mysteries. Lily suspected there were no mysteries left in Hezzie’s life, but she gave a polite thanks to Derwin anyway.
“I’m sure you’ll do Hezzie proud,” Alma went on, and while she slid her arm around Lily’s waist, she turned to the others. “Now, why don’t y’all head home so Lily here can get started? I need to go over the research rules with her so she can dive right into doing the report.”
That brought on some mumbled groans from those who clearly wanted to stretch out this moment a little or a lot longer, but the crowd started moseying toward their vehicles. Alma waved at each one, smiled and kept waving and smiling until they’d all driven away. Then the woman released a long, weary breath, and both her smile and enthusiasm went south.
“Let me get the research packet from my car, and then we’ll have a little chat,” Alma muttered on a sigh and headed toward her vintage VW that she’d had painted to resemble a turtle.
The sudden change in the woman’s mood baffled Lily, but she supposed this might be a situation of catching the biggest fish in the proverbial pond. Everything else after this would be a small haul, and some Parkmans might lose interest in the drawings.
“Oh, there’s Eli riding one of the new mares,” Hayden said, and her daughter immediately headed in the direction of the pasture where Eli was astride an Andalusian horse that Lily knew had been delivered to the ranch earlier that day.
“A lot of people will bug the crap out of you about drawing Hezzie’s name,” Nola remarked, speaking what Lily knew was the God’s honest truth. As Nola was prone to do. “That’s why Lorelei and I came right over.”
“We’ll try to run some interference for you so you don’t have a constant flood of people showing up to ask you about the research,” Lorelei added.
“I appreciate that,” Lily told them.
And she did. That was the God’s honest truth, too, and since both her sisters had gone through this, they had some experience in research pitfalls of the Last Ride Society. Still, Lorelei and Nola had busy lives, what with their babies and businesses. Nola was a glass artist, and Lorelei owned the shop that sold Nola’s pieces and other glass art.
“But don’t worry if you don’t have the time,” Lily added. “I suspect I won’t have much to do since Hezzie’s life is probably an open book...”
Her words trailed off. So did her attention on the subject of Hezzie. Her sisters’ attention shifted as well, and the reason for that was the hot, hunky guy who walked out of the barn.
Jonas.
He’d stripped off his shirt, baring a muscled chest that was toned, tanned and perfect for being bared. Mercy, the man could give hot cowboy cover models an inferiority complex with that body and the rest of the package that went with it. The midnight black hair, sizzling green eyes and a face that had to be a benchmark for “hot guy” faces.
“So can’t believe you haven’t tapped that,” Nola muttered.
Lily automatically frowned. “So can’t believe you’d think I’d tap my ranch foreman. A man who works for me and lives just a stone’s throw away.”
But since Lily wasn’t blind and had normal urges, she had fantasized about such things. Then again, probably every woman in Last Ride had had some smutty fantasies about Jonas. About his brothers, too, who had those same dreamy looks and bodies.
“You’re lusting over your own brother-in-law,” Lily pointed out to her sisters.
“Looking at, not lusting,” Lorelei automatically corrected in her usual prim voice. The rest of her was prim, too, with her blond hair tumbling perfectly over the shoulders of her perfectly fitted turquoise-colored top. “I’m allowed to look.”
Nola made a grunting sound of agreement. No primness for her. Her long blond hair was scooped in a disordered ponytail, with just as many strands falling out as there were gathered up. No makeup and, judging from her stained jeans and old Roper boots with burnt specks, she’d been blowing her glass art right before she’d made this visit.
“Besides, Wyatt will benefit from any lustful urges I get from gawking at a hot guy,” Nola added.
Wyatt, Nola’s husband and the love of her life. In their case, that particular label was actually true since they’d started their romance way back in high school, and after some bumps and hitches, some of which had been plenty serious, their relationship had continued and led to marriage.
Lily cleared her throat, looking for a change of subject. A change of mindset, too, since she didn’t want to be mentally stripping off any more of Jonas’s clothes. “Where are Stellie and Charlie?” Stellie was Lorelei’s daughter, and Charlie was Nola’s son.
“With Dax and Wyatt,” Nola answered.
Dax and Wyatt Buchanan were not only Jonas’s brothers, but they were also married to Lily’s siblings, which made this sort of a Seven Brides for Seven Brothers deal. Minus Jonas and her, of course, since they’d never ever hooked up in any kind of way. Probably never would, either, because while Jonas was hands-off for Lily, she was no doubt hands-off for him, too, because she had been his kid brother’s girlfriend.
“Dax is having a daughter-daddy playdate with Stellie,” Lorelei said, keeping her gaze on Jonas as he made his way toward them.
Nola groaned softly when Jonas pulled on his shirt, covering those amazing abs and six-pack. “Well, since Alma got rid of your visitors, I guess our services aren’t needed right now.”
“Yes, but call us if things get too wild,” Lorelei added. She brushed a kiss on Lily’s cheek. Nola gave Lily a light punch on the arm, and her sisters headed back to Lorelei’s car.
Alma was parked right next to them, and the woman appeared to be looking through file folders in a box. Appeared to be, Lily noted. But Alma also kept glancing back at her in a way that made Lily think she was waiting for everyone else to leave so they could talk alone. Maybe Alma intended to emphasize to Lily just how important this research would be.
“You okay?” Jonas asked Lily when he stepped up beside her.
Lily nodded, and because she was still doing some lusting, she didn’t look up at him. Best not to make eye contact until she was certain she’d temporarily squashed those smutty thoughts about him.
“I got Hezzie’s name in the Last Ride Society drawing,” Lily explained.
“Yeah, I heard. I was checking fences in the east pasture when I got a call from Larry, whose wife was at the meeting. I rode back because I thought you might need help getting rid of the folks coming here. Then I saw you had it all under control.”
Larry Davidson, one of the horse trainers, who was married to Lily’s distant cousin, Ellie, and yes, Ellie would have definitely been at the drawing and probably would have come with the crowd of well-wishers if she hadn’t had to get back to their twin toddlers.