Jaimie: Fire And Ice Part 36

"But have more pride than brains," Sage said.

"Sometimes," Jennie said, "sometimes, they just don't know how to handle things."

The three Wilde sisters-in-law exchanged meaningful glances. There was more silence. Then Lissa nodded, pushed back her chair and rose to her feet.

"I'm going to talk to Caleb. He's the only one who knows Castelianos. I'll let you know what he says. Then, we'll either come up with a plan to get Jaimie and him together-"

"Or we'll squash Zach Castelianos like a bug."

Everybody laughed, but any man who might have had the misfortune of being in that kitchen at that moment would surely have exited, and fast.

Actually, Lissa didn't go straight to Caleb.

She waited an hour, got her thoughts together, went up to Jaimie's room, stepped inside and shut the door.

"You're still in love with him, aren't you?" she said.

Jaimie looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Excuse me? In love with who?"

"Give me a break, James. With Zacharias Castelianos."

Jaimie's mouth tightened.

"We are not going to discuss Zacharias Castelianos."

"Maybe we should. I've been thinking that maybe you should have given the guy a chance to explain."

"This topic is not open to discussion."

Lissa glared at her. "You know, I'd almost forgotten that the other side of logic is complete and total pigheadedness."

"Liss. I know you mean well-"

"Are you sure he lied to you?"

"Yes."

The answer was succinct. That didn't keep Lissa from asking it several more times.

Jaimie's responses went from "What part of 'yes' don't you understand?" to "Would you please mind your own business?" to "Dammit, shut up!"

"You're still in love with him," Lissa said for the last time.

And Jaimie burst into tears.

Lissa patted her shoulder, hugged her, got her a bunch of tissues from a box in the adjoining bathroom, and went in search of Caleb, who had just returned from the morning's ride with his brothers.

"Outside," she said.

Caleb raised his eyebrows. He hadn't heard the ring of command in his sister's voice in a long time, but he'd grown up with it. And even though he was her big brother, it still held authority.

She put on a heavy sweater. He put on a denim jacket. They walked down to the stables and wandered along the center aisle, rubbing noses and scratching ears.

"What's up, Liss?"

Lissa looked up at her brother. "It's about Jaimie."

"Yeah. Well, I was a little worried there, but she seems better. Jake, Trav and I talked about it."

"You told them everything?"

"I did. I asked them not to say anything to Jaimie, though, not unless she brings up the subject."

"And what did you all decide?"

Caleb hesitated. "Well, ah, well, we decided it's just, you know, it's just one of those things."

Lissa narrowed her eyes. "One of what things?"

"Well, we thought for a while that maybe she was coming down with something."

"Thank you for that medical diagnosis, Doctor Strangelove."

"Hey. What'd I do?"

"That guy you had protecting Jaimie."

"Zach Castelianos. What about him?"

"What kind of guy is he?"

"The best. I told you that, remember? At The Agency, and now. Did I tell you he has his own company? Shadow Inc. "

"No," Lissa said, and made a mental note. "Clever name."

"Anyway, he's what I said. The best. And he sure as h.e.l.l proved it. He kept Jaimie safe, got the goods on her stalker and... Why?"

"Have you seen him lately?"

"Matter of fact, I have. He called me a couple of days ago and asked me to meet him for a drink."

"And?"

Caleb shrugged. "And, we had a drink."

"Do you often meet him for drinks?"

"No. I was kind of surprised that he set it up. Hand me that comb, will you? There's a knot in this gelding's mane."

"Did he have a reason?"

"He didn't say. Funny thing was, I had the feeling he wanted to ask me something. Maybe talk to me about something." Caleb brought the heavy metal comb slowly through the horse's mane. "He was in a weird mood. Quiet. Like he was there, but not there. Smiled on cue. Spoke on cue. Kind of like Jaimie's been, you know?"

Lissa knew.

Now, absolutely, she knew.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah." Caleb chuckled. "I tried to pay him. I said, at least let me cover your expenses for what you did for Jaimie."

"And?"

"And, he d.a.m.n near decked me. After I calmed him down, we had this strange conversation. He asked me how she was, if she was OK, if she was happy..."

Lissa looked at Caleb's face. It was like watching a light go on in a dark room.

"Oh, man," he said.

"Very good, Doctor. This time, you just might have the diagnosis right."

"James? And Castelianos?"

"Does that trouble you? Is he not a good enough guy for our sister?"

"He's a great guy. Honest. Decent. Moral. But closed off. n.o.body ever gets inside his s.p.a.ce. I don't think I ever saw him open up to anybody or anything."

"What a surprise," Lissa said dryly.

"Liss. You think our Jaimie is what's the word, pining for Zach?"

"You mean," Lissa said, even more dryly, "'pining' wasn't the medical diagnosis you guys came up with?" She saw a blush steal over her brother's face. "Caleb? What was the Wilde doctors' diagnosis?"

Caleb's Adam's apple moved as he swallowed.

"Well, you know. PMS."

Lissa laughed. And laughed. It felt good; she hadn't laughed in a while.

"Don't be p.i.s.sed off at us," Caleb said. "I mean, what do we know about women?"

"Not much," Lissa said, "but that's fine as long as you know how to keep us happy."

She rose on her toes, pressed a kiss to her brother's cheek, and strolled out of the stable.

Two separate secret discussions went on at El Sueno late that night.

The Wilde brothers met in one of the outbuildings. Their excuse was a poker game.

Their topic of conversation was Jaimie and Zach Castelianos.

Once Caleb had convinced Travis and Jacob that Zach was worthy of their sister, talk turned to setting up a plan of action.

Finally, they had one.

It involved a phone call to Zach from Caleb, an invitation, and just a little subterfuge.

"Can you pull it off?" Jake asked.

Caleb nodded. "Absolutely."

It was a good thing that Travis chose that moment to lay down a royal flush or one of them might have noticed that, under the table, practical, pragmatic Caleb had crossed his fingers.

The other secret meeting took place in Lissa's room.

The Wilde women figured they had to let Jaimie know that they were getting together or she might be suspicious, so Sage knocked on Jaimie's door and said, "Lissa, Jennie, Addison and I are going to talk about what to serve when at the reception. You know, those little meatb.a.l.l.s at the same time the servers put out the little egg rolls, or is that too great a contrast?"

"Thanks," Jaimie said, through the closed door, "but I'm going to make it an early night."

Sage hurried to Lissa's room.

"Well?" Addison said.

"It went just as we figured. Jaimie pa.s.sed on the brilliant opportunity to talk egg rolls and meatb.a.l.l.s."

The women grinned. Then Lissa blew out a breath.

"I spoke to Caleb..."

Five minutes later, they were convinced that intervention-a Wilde intervention, Lissa had dubbed it-was not only called for, it was necessary.

"Lissa," Jennie said, "the next step is in your hands."

Lissa nodded. They had all agreed. A phone call, an invitation, a little subterfuge.

"Tomorrow morning, first thing."

Silence. Then, Jennie chewed on her lip.

"I just hope this doesn't backfire," she said softly.

They all sighed and said they hoped the same thing, but what choice was there?