Her Montana Christmas Groom. Teresa Southwick
well. She never turned down a double dare, darn him.
“You’re going straight to hell, Jackson Traub.” She glared at him and figured the expression was just as fearsome as his.
He looked completely unimpressed. “A brother’s gotta do what a brother’s gotta do.”
Frustration knotted inside her when they all nodded in agreement.
“And if any one of us catches you on a date before time is up, it’s back to day one, plus two weeks,” Jackson warned.
“A month and a half?” she cried.
“Double dare,” he reminded her. “Technically I could double the stakes, but I’m cutting you some slack.”
She blew out a breath. “Done.”
“And remember, this isn’t Midland.” Jackson pointed a finger at her. “Thunder Canyon is a small town and word spreads real fast, so don’t be trying to pull anything. We’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.”
“I’ll get even with you. Every last one of you,” she warned, treating each of them to the Rose Traub double dare stare. “You won’t know where or when, but payback is coming.”
“Yeah, we’re scared.” Dillon stood and the others followed suit.
He patted her head. Ethan tapped her nose. Corey ruffled her hair. Then the three walked away, leaving her with Jackson. As Rose watched their backs, her gaze drifted to Austin. He was frowning at his sister and it reminded her that her brother was supposed to get her information about him.
Rose watched Jackson shrug into his jacket. “So,” she said, “what did Laila say about Austin? Did you get details about why his love life has nowhere to go but up?”
“You’re not dating for a month.” Jackson stared at her as if she had two heads. “What do you care?”
“I don’t.”
That was a big, fat lie.
Even worse than lying to her brother, she couldn’t stop thinking about Austin Anderson.
Chapter Four
Austin supervised a group of teenagers who were putting lights on the Christmas tree at ROOTS. He could have helped, made suggestions about spacing and symmetry, but it was their tree and they didn’t need adults butting in. That was part of the philosophy here. Supervise for safety, advise only when asked. Watching the kids joking and laughing, talking and teasing, he wished there’d been a hangout like this when he was growing up. It had been Haley’s dream and she’d pulled rabbits out of a hat to make it happen.
The mural she’d painted of teens playing sports, using computers and texting on cell phones filled the wall that faced Main Street. She’d found an old couch, a recliner that no longer reclined, ugly lamps and scratched tables that the kids could use without worrying about messing anything up. They came to talk, vent, do homework and have fun. Thanks to a long list of volunteers, there was always an adult on the premises.
Tonight he was that adult.
If only Rose Traub saw him that way. Somehow he was going to change her mind about him, although so far he didn’t have much of a plan about how to make it happen. Last night he’d seen her at The Hitching Post with her brothers who appeared to be pulling rank. He recognized the big brother body language and remembered how young and defiant she’d looked. Austin recognized that body language. He’d gotten an advanced degree in young and defiant.
Angry voices in the corner around the tree got his attention and he moved to defuse the situation. Three girls watched the two boys as arguing turned to shoving. Understanding from personal experience how a flood of testosterone could drown a guy’s common sense, Austin quickly moved in to separate them.
He pushed his way between the teenagers who were both skinny and shorter than he was. But a stray punch thrown was always a concern.
“Break it up, guys,” he said. “Use words.”
“He already did that.” The shaggy-haired blond had fire in his blue eyes. “He was talkin’ trash about my sister.”
“No, dude—I said she was fine.” Black hair and eyes along with low-slung jeans screamed bad boy.
The image attracted girls for some reason and Austin should know. Growing up, he’d excelled at that phase and never lacked for attention from the opposite sex. Then his luck with girls ran out. About the time he’d graduated from college, he’d thought he was grown up enough to have his own family, but the girl he’d asked had easily resisted him.
The bell over the front door dinged, but before he could see who came in, the two combatants lunged at each other again. Austin put his hands out to keep them apart.
“Knock it off, Evan,” he said to the blond. “Looking out for your sister is a good thing, but I guarantee she won’t thank you for punching out the dude who’s giving her a compliment.” He gave the tough guy a hard stare. “It was a compliment right, Cal?”
Rebellion crackled in the dark eyes, then backed off a notch, signaling a truce. Full surrender would take time. And maturity.
“Yeah,” the kid finally said. “I didn’t mean anything.”
“Didn’t think so.” Austin dropped his hands. “Take five, guys, and grab a soda. Cool off.”
In the back room there was a refrigerator with fruit, cold drinks and water. A pantry was full of crunchy snacks. Not only could teenage boys consume unbelievable quantities of food under normal circumstances, sometimes kids also weren’t getting enough to eat at home. There were families in financial need because of job loss in the recent recession. Austin hoped the green engineering process he was working on would create employment opportunities for some of them.
“Is it always this exciting around here?”
Austin knew that voice belonged to the redhead on his mind. There was a wide grin on his face when he turned.
“Rose.”
She lifted a mitten-covered hand. “Hi.”
“It’s usually pretty quiet in here,” he said, glancing at the doorway where the teens disappeared. Their voices drifted in from the back room.
“I know it’s wrong to condone fighting, but—” She smiled. “A brother protecting his sister’s honor.”
“It’s what we do.” He’d stepped in to defend Angie when Haley had brought home a teen in trouble. Although it turned out he’d misinterpreted the situation. But Rose wasn’t talking about him. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
Not his smoothest dialogue. Maybe he should pull out his bad boy alter ego and see if it still worked magic.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Good. You?”
“Fine.” She was bundled up in a puffy jacket, navy cashmere scarf, matching hat and mittens. Black slacks and boots completed her winter look. “How’s Angie?”
“Busy. Between college classes and work, she’s got a lot on her plate.”
“Sounds like it.” She pulled off her jacket and mittens which meant she wasn’t in too big a hurry to leave. “I saw you with her last night.”
“Yeah.” When Rose had walked in, he could hardly keep his eyes off her. “We stopped for a quick burger.”
“The Hitching Post has pretty good ones.”
“Arguably the best in town,” he agreed. “Is there something you wanted? Not that I’m pushing you out the door, but—”
“Right, I’m not the typical demographic for ROOTS.”
“We specialize in rebellion, group therapy for angst-related issues and anger