Healing Beau (The Brothers of Beauford Bend Book 6) Read Free Page A

hadn’t been any trouble to anyone. “What are you folks going to do today?” she asked.
    “We’re going to look at some of the shops in town,” Weston said. “And we’re going into Nashville tonight to see the Sound play.”
    Beauford was a boutique town with some of the finest artisans and craftsmen in the country. The shops in town that sold handmade, one-of-a-kind goods were what brought most people there. And it didn’t hurt that Nashville, with its fine dining, music scene, and pro sports was a half hour away.
    “So you’re hockey fans?” Christian asked.
    Julie nodded enthusiastically. “We both played in high school. There’s nothing like an NHL game.”
    Christian leaned in closer and whispered, “Be sure and go to my friend Noel’s quilt shop, Piece by Piece. Another of my friends, Neyland, is a jewelry artist, and she also works out of there. I’ll tell you a secret. Noel is married to Nickolai Glazov, the Sound center. And if you like pro football, Neyland is married to Gabe Beauford. I can’t promise, but they’ve been known to hang around Piece by Piece.”
    Julie clapped her hands together.
    “I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Weston teased her.
    Christian had just set the coffee pot on the sideboard and reached for the pitcher of orange juice when the front door chime rang softly, followed by hard, quick footsteps in the foyer.
    She’d been expecting this. But despite her long legs and determination to move quickly, Jackson Beauford barreled into the dining room before she could head him off. Tall, solid, and good-looking, he was breathing hard and wore a storm cloud on his face. The room went absolutely silent. Christian might have been impressed herself if she hadn’t seen him get turned around and fall in the pool while playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey at her eighth birthday party.
    “Is that—” Julie Evans said.
    “No!” Christian practically pushed Jackson out of the room. “Pardon me for a moment everyone.” She shut the pocket doors behind her. She looked around for Jackson’s bodyguard. “You got away from Dirk again, didn’t you?”
    Jackson closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Where is my little brother?”
    “Which one?” Christian asked slowly and deliberately.
    “I only have one!”
    “Well, technically …”
    “Stop it, Christian. You know what I mean. Rafe and Gabe can take care of themselves. Where is Beau?”
    Christian did not think this was the most opportune of times to point out that Beau was twenty-eight years old and an elite soldier.
Was
an elite soldier. That was over.
    “Let’s go to my office.” She needed to get Jackson out of there. He was known as the true gentleman of country music, and he was unfailingly and sincerely warm to his fans. However, in just about two minutes, the Firefly Hall guests were going to put two and two together, come up with a superstar, and storm the foyer. Given Jackson’s mood, he could destroy his sterling reputation, and it wouldn’t do Firefly Hall any good either.
    “I don’t want to go to your office. I want Beau. And, Christian, I swear on a stack of Bibles, if you don’t tell me where he is, I’m going to start opening doors.”
    “That will be hard since they all lock automatically.”
    “No lock has ever kept me out of somewhere I wanted to be.” She didn’t doubt that for a second.
    “Jackson, please. Beau is still asleep. Let’s go talk.”
    That seemed to take some of the wind out of his sales. “Asleep. Not gone? I thought you might have taken him to the airport.”
    “Come on.” Christian led him to her small office in the back of the house. She sat down at her desk, and Jackson practically fell into the upholstered fan back chair. “Do you want anything? Coffee?”
    He shook his head and sulked.
    “Why did you think I might have taken Beau to the airport?”
    “Because you would have if he’d wanted to go.”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    “Figures.”
    She took a