Secret Santa (11 page)

"That's right. We heard all about you until
your nana passed away when you were, what, thirteen, fourteen?"

"Fourteen," she answered. Mr. Ashton saw her
eyes misting over and before Kenna knew it, he enveloped her in a
fatherly bear hug. Surprised, she stiffened, but then melted into
him as he started to pat her back. She suddenly felt as though she
were fourteen years

old again. Since her parents had died, no
one had hugged her like this and she missed it greatly.

"Before she passed away, Alda told us that
your parents were killed in an accident. Bless your heart. You've
had it rough, haven't you?"

His question was more rhetorical so she just
nodded and buried her head deeper into his shirt. He smelled like
horses and hay with a slight whiff of cologne - he smelled
fatherly. She took a deep breath and reluctantly pulled away once
she had collected herself. Kenna looked up and found Mr. Ashton's
kind eyes looking down at her as he patted her head like she was a
good little girl.

"I'm pretty sure Will is in the barn. He'll
be back in just a second." He stopped scanning the barn area and
turned to Kenna. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?" he
asked with a great amount of interest.

She wanted to answer that fear and running
for her life brought her here. Instead she worked up a fake smile
and answered, "Actually, I'm interviewing for the assistant D.A.
job with Thomas Burns. I might become a Southerner after all these
years of cold winters in the North."

"That would be great. I'll tell Tom he
should hire you when I see him for our weekly golf game tomorrow
morning," William said. "After all, you're practically family."

Kenna's smile widened into one of genuine
warmth as she looked at Mr. Ashton. Well, that was fortunate. Guess
some old boys’ clubs could work for me instead of against me, she
thought.

Mr. Ashton's eyes lit as he focused on
something over her shoulder. “Will! Over here! I got a surprise for
you. You'll never guess who's here," Mr. Ashton yelled while waving
his arm in the air.

Kenna took a deep breath as she heard
strong, booted footfalls coming nearer. She turned around slowly
with a wobbly smile on her lips, prepared for the embarrassment of
not being remembered. Suddenly the deep breath she was taking got
stuck, and her green eyes widened at the sight of the grown up
version of Will Ashton. He was gorgeous: strong, masculine, and
with an air of good humor about him. He had a boyish smile on his
face, showing off one dimpled cheek. His dark brown hair matched
his eyes that vibrated with energy. Gone was the scarecrow of a boy
she knew as a fifteen-year-old teenager, replaced with a thirty-two
year old man's body. He was easily six feet two inches and muscled,
very muscled from the way his thighs looked as they filled out a
pair of worn jeans. His wide shoulders looked squeezed into his
white, button-up shirt. His square jaw was starting to show a
slight amount of stubble from a long day. But he still looked like
he had enough energy to play a football game.

Will strode up to Kenna, stopped right in
front of her, and smiled with genuine happiness. "Hi."

"Hello, Will." She lifted her head to look
him in the eyes. When she did, their eyes met and she felt her
smile falter. She just knew he had no idea who she was. Why would
he? She had just turned twelve the last time he had seen her. She
was shaped like a boy and had a mass of untamed red hair. Over the
past seventeen years, her hair had turned more auburn with strong
red highlights. And she was definitely not shaped like a boy. She
was both top and bottom heavy, with a well-defined waist she had
obtained through running multiple hours a week. She wasn't a stick
thin model, but she always felt that her size ten jeans fit
perfectly and showed off those curves rather well.

Just when she was gathering the courage to
embarrassingly introduce herself, his father cut in. "Will, I need
to steal you for just a moment before you get caught up with your
old friend here if you don't mind. Nice to see you again, dear.
Remember, you're family. Stop on by anytime," Mr. Ashton said with
a slight smirk. She thought she caught sight of a quick flash of
mischief across his face. But when she looked again it was gone.
"Sure, Dad. Excuse me for just a moment," Will said before turning
and walking off a few feet with his dad.

Kenna took the time to collect herself.
Little Will had turned into a gorgeous man. He probably had so many
women in his life that there would be no way he remembered her.

Will finished the conversation with his dad
and walked back to Kenna. "Sorry about that. I guess I also better
apologize that I don't seem to know you as well as you seem to know
me, although you do remind me of someone I knew when I was just a
teenager," he said with a cocky smile that showed he wasn't
embarrassed in the least about not being sure if he knew who she
was.

"Well, I guess you're close to knowing who I
am. We haven't seen each other in seventeen years. And we only saw
each other for one week up in New York."

"McKenna Mason," his smile grew to a full
grin. "My, my you have grown up well.” His smile faded and he
turned serious, “I sure am sorry about your grandmother and your
parents."

"Thank you," she said with a slight bob of
her head in acknowledgement of the sympathies.

His grin came back and his eyes went
straight to hers, "That sure was one fun week though. I remember
your grandmother catching me kissing you in the garden." Seventeen
years later and the thought still brought a blush to Will's face.
"I thought it was bad enough she interrupted my first kiss, but
then she went and told my granny. And before you knew, I was being
dragged into her apartment with one grandma on each ear giving me a
lecture on the birds and the bees." Will faked a shudder, "A sex
lecture from two senior citizens… It was worth it to get that kiss
from you."

Remembering the incident made Kenna laugh
hard. It was the first real laugh in a month and she found it hard
to stop. After all these years, she still remembered the look on
Will's face when he had left his granny's kitchen. His head hung
low and his feet shuffled as both his granny and Kenna's nana had
followed him out the door still lecturing him. Kenna felt a tear of
joy start to roll down her cheek, "You wouldn't be laughing if you
had been given that lecture. I didn't have sex for years after
that. Every time I tried to get lucky, the picture of our
grandmothers popped into my head. It was like they were lecturing
me again," Will laughed. It caused Kenna to laugh even harder.

"Sure, sure, laugh it up,” Will teased. He
didn't give her a break though. "Do you know what they told me? Of
course not, because they said it was the man's role to control the
situation. You were completely innocent in their eyes. And if I
remember correctly, you weren't all that innocent," he said as he
winked at her.

Kenna slowed her laughter enough to answer
him, "That's right. It wasn't like I dared you to kiss me... Okay,
so I did dare you. But you were enough of a gentleman not to tell
Nana."

"I remember that week so well. It truly was
one of the best of my life."

It was Kenna's turn to blush at the
compliment. "It was for me too."

"Our grandmothers were something else. I
still can't believe you took down a whole room of seniors in bingo
that first night. I thought you were going to be lynched with
support hose."

"Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have gotten on
the table and told them they got whipped by a kid. Probably not the
smartest move on my part," Kenna said, remembering being twelve and
thinking she knew everything.

"That was the night I had gotten there.
There you were, up on the table yelling bingo and jumping around
for winning sixty bucks. I knew right then I wanted to kiss you but
was much too shy," Will admitted.

"That, and our grandmothers always got us
into trouble. We couldn’t have any privacy. You remember how they
snuck us into the cafeteria that night for a celebratory ice cream?
And we got busted by security since no one was allowed in there
after seven?" Kenna asked.

"Then your grandmother said, 'Officer, our
dear grandchildren came in here not knowing the rules. We just came
to bring them back to bed. All the while, she was hiding a pint of
ice cream behind her back." Both Will and Kenna broke out into a
new round of laughter. Yup, their grandmothers were hell on wheels,
wheels being the rascals they occasionally drove.

Will placed his hand over Kenna’s and looked
down at her. Kenna's laughter died in her throat as she looked at
Will. She saw him looking at her lips and had to admit, all the
talk about their first meeting and their first kiss sure got her in
the mood to do just that.

Will cleared his throat and shook his head
just a bit as if coming out of a trance. "So, what brings you to
Keeneston?"

Kenna bit the side of her lower lip before
she caught herself. "Well, I'm actually here to apply for a job.
I'm applying for the assistant district attorney opening. I know
how the legal world can be a men's club, so I was hoping you could
help me get my foot in the door. I also needed to find a place to
stay, but I think I got that worked out".

"Yes, I know about the old guard’s clubs
around here. Dad plays golf with the D.A. and I'm sure he'll put in
a good word. It's hard for outsiders to work their way into a job
like that. But I know Mr. Burns pretty well. I'll tell him my
granny approved of you, and that should make you a shoo-in."

"Thanks."

"I know you said you worked something out,
but I can help you find a place to stay if you want. There's plenty
of room out at the farm."

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "I'm
staying with Miss Lily, and my room is perfect. Thank you for the
generous offer though."

"Miss Lily will look out for you real well.
I'm glad you're there. I was worried you were staying by yourself
at some hotel." His kindness made her heart melt a little. It was
possible to find those kinds of manners in New York, but she was
beginning to notice that it was bred into men down here.

"Actually, the other guests staying there
gave me a ride today, Julius and June Kranski. Do you know them?"
she asked.

"Of course. Nice people. They come up every
year for the sales and then back for Derby every now and then.”

“I was supposed to meet up with them again,
but I have no idea how to even find them. This place is so
crowded,” she said as she started to scan the people walking around
the various barn areas.

“Come on, I'll help you find them. It’s
actually pretty easy to find people, you just start asking,” he
said with a grin. He reached down and took her hand and walked her
out of the barn toward the paddock area where the horses were
parading around. Every couple of yards Will would stop and ask
someone if they knew where Julius was. It seemed Will knew everyone
there. It also seemed Julius and June knew everyone there since all
the people asked pointed in the same direction. In no time at all,
they found Julius and June looking at a horse about to go into the
sales arena.

“Will, darling, how are you doing?” June
asked as she gave him a peck on the cheek.

“June, Julius. It’s good to see you again,”
Will said as he shook Julius’ hand.

“I see McKenna found you. Are you ready to
go back to Miss Lily’s, dear?” June asked as she turned to
Kenna.

“Anytime you are, June. If there's something
else you need to do, like buy a horse, I can wait,” Kenna said with
a smile. They had been so kind to her and she didn’t want to hurry
them. She had a meeting with the Green Book, a four-inch thick book
that held Kentucky’s criminal law and procedures. She needed to
read it before her meeting with Mr. Burns. She needed to prove to
Mr. Burns that she was very capable of picking up Kentucky law.

“Well, we were hoping to buy one more, and
he isn’t up for probably another hour," Julius told her.

“I can take her home. I'm done for the day,”
Will said, his hand moving to gently cup her elbow in a subtle show
of possessiveness.

“That would be great. Is that okay with you,
Kenna?” June asked her.

“Sure, as long as it isn’t out of your way,”
Kenna said.

Will’s grip on her elbow tightened as they
said their good-bye’s and walked back to his barn. “If you don’t
mind, let me just check on things one last time to make sure
everything is in order," he said, heading into the barn.

Chapter Three

As Will went to check on things at the barn,
Kenna took a breath and felt more of the rock lifting from her
shoulders. She was pretty lucky that both Will and his father would
put in a good word for her with the job. She knew her previous
experience and grades spoke for themselves, but that didn't mean
much if the D.A.'s best friend's cousin wanted the job. Sometimes
you had to get dirty, just enough to get your foot in the door.

Kenna looked at the bustle of people moving
around at the sales. She was over seven hundred miles from New
York, but she still felt so nervous that they'd find her. And then
what? She had no idea, and that was part of the problem. Taking on
a case at trial was one thing, but taking on the unknown with your
life at stake was another. She just couldn't quite get rid of the
feeling that things weren't as safe as they appeared.

She heard Will approaching and turned around
to see that he had a set of car keys in one hand and briefcase in
the other.

"Everything okay with the horses?"

"Yeah. I just had to get the files on the
horses we were interested in and make sure our night manager had
enough people to patrol the barn. We like to make sure the horses
are not only well looked after in the terms of care, but also in
the terms of safety." Will stood beside her and took one last look
at his army of blue polo wearing workers. "Are you ready to head
back? If you'd like, we could stop and get dinner together. I know
a great home cooking type place just a couple of blocks from Miss
Lily's.”