I took Phoenix back to the stables, asked a hand to groom him, and drove back to the ranch house. I walked in and inhaled—robust pork, corn, and chile. Felicia had made tamales, one of my favorite meals.
“Felicia, smells great,” I said, entering the kitchen.
“It’s ready, Mr. Talon. Could you tell Miss Marjorie and her guest to come to the table?”
“Her guest?”
“Yes, a young lady came a few minutes ago. I assume she’s staying for dinner.”
“Where are they?”
“They’re in the living room. Didn’t you see them?”
“I came in the back way.” I walked out of the kitchen through the hallway and into the living room. My stomach was fluttering. God, fluttering. What was I? Some kind of adolescent? Of course it would be Jade. Who else would Marjorie have over?
But Felicia would have said Jade, not “her guest.”
My heart sank when I saw who sat across from my sister in the living room—the cocktail waitress I had bedded on a couple occasions. Shit, I couldn’t even remember her name. Jenny? Julie?
I backed out slowly. Maybe they hadn’t seen me.
But, of course, my sister turned toward me. “Talon, there you are.” Her lips were pursed. “You have a visitor.”
What the hell was she doing here? And how did she know where I lived?
The woman stood. “Hi, Talon.”
“Hi…”
“Julie,” she said.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, and I was worried about you.”
Worried about me? She didn’t even know me. We’d had sex a couple times. In fact, the last time I had gone to see her, I hadn’t been able to perform, so I’d left. Kind of embarrassing.
“As you can see, I’m fine. So you can go now.”
“Talon,” Marj said.
Yeah, I was being rude. But I had no interest in this girl, and for her to come over here was pretty presumptuous. Marj’s clenched jawline indicated that she wasn’t thrilled Julie was here either.
“Can I talk to you alone for a minute, Talon?” Marj turned to Julie. “You don’t mind, do you? I need to talk to my brother about some…business.”
Julie smiled. “Of course not. I’ll just wait here for you.”
Before I could tell Julie not to bother to wait, Marjorie yanked me down the hallway nearly to my bedroom.
“What the hell is she doing here?”
“You think I know?”
“Well, she came here to see you, Talon.”
“Not at my invitation.”
“What do we do with her now?”