“Why don’t you make a few minutes?”
I rummage around the shed, pretending to look for something, but really just trying to make him leave. “There are only so many hours in the morning before it gets too hot, and I have pruning to do.” I find my shears plus a bucket with a few small spades inside. “And I have a bunch of flowers to plant.”
“I’ll have the boys do that. You can have the morning off.”
I step out of the shed and glare at him. “Are you paying my salary now?”
“No, but—”
“No, you’re not, that would be Hugh. So please, I should go.”
“Tara, wait.”
I hesitate, even though I shouldn’t. He’s too close and I’m suddenly very aware of his size and the way he’s looking at me somewhere between desire and hatred, in a strange, liminal space where lust and rage are inexplicably intertwined, and I feel his fingers digging into my wrist again and the palpable wave of violence that rolls off him.
He could hurt me right now and nobody would stop him.
“What do you want?” I sound desperate, but I don’t care. I just need Kellen to go away and leave me alone.
He moves closer instead. “You’ve been living and working here since Cait died,” he says softly, staring at me intently. “Seven long years.”
“Yeah, so?”
“You know more about what’s going on with the family than I do. Hugh’s not the only player here. We both know what the Hayle family’s actually like.”
“I’m not getting involved.” I shoulder my pruning shears and I’m tempted to use them on him right now. “You’re asking me to be your informant.”
“I’m asking you to answer a few questions.”
“No, absolutely not, there’s no way I’m sticking my neck out and getting in the middle of this mess.” I shake my head and push past him. “No way in hell.”
“That’s not the Tara I remember,” he says, following. His friend Finn comes along, hands in his pockets, strolling after. “You were one hell of a firecracker back then.”
“You mean when I was a teenager?”
“Running around with my sister getting into trouble.”
“I’m different now.”
“Yeah, how? You’re still here.”
I stop and face him. “I’m clean. I’ve been clean for a long time. I’m not the girl you remember.”
“I bet you’re not,” he says quietly, lips tugging into an infuriating smirk. “Except people don’t change that much.”
“I did.” I stomp through the bushes and head toward the garden. Kellen keeps pace, shadowing me. It’s hot and I’m sweating already, and I don’t need this asshole making my job any harder.
Although I knew this would happen the second I spotted him digging shirtless in the dirt in the middle of nowhere, burying some strange box for no apparent reason.
He grabs my arm and my mind flashes back to that moment in the hallway, his intensity, his anger, and a shiver of terror runs down my spine as Finn watches on impassively like he’s used to his boss manhandling people all the time. Kellen leans forward, lips tugged up, and I hate how handsome he is, and how I know why he despises me like this, and there’s a bleak part of me that despises myself for the same reasons.
“You’re up to something here,” he says, watching me intently. “Nobody would stick around this place as long as you have without a reason. Not with everything that happened.”
“Get off of me.”
“You can do the right thing here. You think Hugh’s going to be better for this family? You think any of my cousins can handle this twisted carnival sideshow of a business? Help me, Tara.”
I’m trembling in fear but I tilt my chin up and stare him in the eye. “I have work to do,” I say and my voice is steadier than I expected. “Let go of my arm.”