to her.” Miguel shrugged and took off his sunglasses to reveal his cold brown eyes and a scar that ran diagonally across his forehead. “She’s certainly been nagging me to visit Dad.”
Kaiden stepped out of the way, aware that Miguel was army trained and perfectly capable of breaking his neck, and that he really had no right barring the man’s way into his own home. But something felt wrong and all the hackles on his neck had risen.
Beth’s screech had him chasing after Miguel into the kitchen.
“Is everything okay?”
“Oh, my goodness, he startled me!” Beth clutched the tea towel to her chest and stared over Miguel’s shoulder at Kaiden. “I’m so sorry.”
Miguel looked her up and down. “It’s Beth Baker, right?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding rapidly. “Sorry, I just turned around, and there you were. . . .”
“It’s all good.” Miguel’s attention was already moving on. “I’ve come to see my father. Is he in the family room?”
“Yes, he was just about to take his afternoon nap.” Beth edged toward the door. “I’ll go and see if he’s awake, and tell him he has a special visitor.”
After Beth almost ran from the room, Miguel turned to Kaiden.
“Why’s she so jumpy?”
Kaiden wasn’t about to share Beth’s personal history with Miguel.
“Have you seen yourself in the mirror recently, dude? You look like an assassin.”
The corners of Miguel’s mouth flicked up in what might have been a smile. “So I’ve been told.” He unbuttoned his jacket. “Looks like you’re doing a nice job on the new kitchen. What are you, a plumber now?”
“Carpenter.” Kaiden wasn’t going to let Miguel get a rise out of him. “Kitchens are my specialty but I do a lot of restoring old buildings as well.”
“Plenty of those around here, although from what I hear, Morgan Valley is thriving.”
“Who told you that?”
“Lots of people.” Miguel shrugged. “I took a drive down Main Street before I came out to the ranch and I was impressed. Lots of new buildings and no boarded-up shop fronts, which is rare in this part of the world.”
“We’re doing okay,” Kaiden said cautiously. “You thinking about finally moving back?”
“Me? Hell, no.”
Beth came back in and Miguel nodded at Kaiden as he walked toward the family room.
“Nice talking to you, Kai. You take care now.”
“I’ll bring you some coffee,” Beth called after Miguel.
“Thanks, I could use some.”
Kaiden barely waited until Miguel was out of earshot before he locked gazes with Beth, who looked uncharacteristically worried. He lowered his voice.
“Look, I know this is none of our business, but if you could keep an eye on him, and let me know what’s going on, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ve never liked Miguel. He’s bad news.” Beth wrapped her arms around herself. “If I find out anything I’ll definitely let you know, okay?”
* * *
Kaiden was still thinking about Miguel as he pulled up his truck at home and got out. He was tempted to text Julia to let her know her brother had turned up, but Miguel had said she knew, and he didn’t want to get in the middle of anything. He was having enough problems with his own family to want to dive in and disrupt hers and make things worse between them.
Even as he made the decision not to interfere, he still got out his phone and pulled up her number. His call was immediately put through to voice mail and he hesitated again. Was there any point in leaving a message? She’d probably ignore it anyway.
Unfortunately, he’d arrived home earlier than planned, which was awkward because he wasn’t really on good terms with anyone right now and had started spending as much time as possible in his room. He entered the house, took off his boots in the mudroom, and walked through to the kitchen where of course his dad was sitting at the table.
Kaiden nodded at him and went to get himself some coffee. As far as he knew, Evan was now doing his ranch work, and that was just fine with him. He tried to keep out of all the discussions about the ranch, which meant he often ate his meals in silence.
Auntie Rae had gone home and Leanne was staying until Jeff had his final clearance from the hospital, which was expected a week after the party.
“How’s the kitchen going at the Garcias?”
Kaiden turned to look at his father, who had his tablet out in front of him and was playing some brightly colored game. To his knowledge it was the first time