Last's Temptation by Tina Leonard Page A

looked at Last, her surprise evident. Last shook his head. Mason was just being ornery. Last had always given a fair share of work to the ranch. “It was just a piece of pie, Mason,” he said. “Calm down.”
    “I’ll tell you what.” Mason speared his fork in Last’s direction. “I’ll calm down when I’ve said what I need to say. I’ve had no less than a half dozen phone calls today wondering when the wedding’s going to be.”
    Last frowned. “What wedding?”
    “Between you and that circus-girl magician,” Mason said sourly.
    “Why would anybody call you?” Last asked.
    “I don’t know. I thought maybe you could share that information.”
    “No.” Last shook his head. “Esme and I have never even talked about marriage. We’ve never even talked about dating.”
    Mason looked as if he didn’t believe him.
    “She’s moving off of the ranch, Mason,” Last said. “She’s finding a place of her own, and her parents are moving here to live with her.” He lookedat his brother a bit crabbily. “Not that it’s really any of your business, but why didn’t you just come right out and ask me instead of going through the charade of having me to dinner?”
    Mason shrugged. “Dinner’s as good time as any to talk about things. I like dinner-table discussions.”
    Mimi rose, looking as if she wanted to escape, but Last pointed his fork at her. “Sit,” he said. “I sat for yours, now you sit for mine.”
    She sat and wiped up Nanette’s milky mess.
    “What exactly is your beef?” Last demanded. “As far as I can tell, you’re taking turns chewing on my head and Mimi’s. Neither one of us is likely to take it for long. So do you have something else on the brain or can we all get on with some civil conversation?”
    Mason wrinkled his brows. “The two of you irritate me is all.”
    Last and Mimi rolled their eyes at each other, then looked at Mason.
    “Mason,” Mimi said, “you’ve got a knot in your tail the size of Texas. And if you don’t settle down, I’m gonna give it a jerk you won’t forget.”
    Mason folded his lips in a grimace. “This is serious business,” he said. “Last ought to care about his reputation. People are talking.”
    “My reputation’s fine,” Last said. “People talk about you, too, but you don’t care. Why should I?”
    Mason stuck out his chin. “What do they say?”
    Last rose to his feet. He took a deep breath. “ They say that you’re a bit of a stubborn mule. They say you should have never let me run wild as a March hare. They say you should have married Mimi a long time ago, when she was still available.” Last glared at his big brother. “But I guess it’s too late to worry about what they say, don’t you think?”
    Mimi grabbed up her baby. Mason jumped to his feet. Helga disappeared, the back door slamming. Even the candles flickered on the table before the gale force of Mason’s temper.
    “Out,” Mason said. “Off this ranch right now. Don’t let me see hide nor hair of you till a month of Sundays has passed.”
    “Fine,” Last said. He resisted the urge to toss a dinner plate or two as he left. Instead he simply walked out the door.
    Mimi looked at Mason, stunned. “Was that necessary?” she asked softly.
    Mason stared at her. “If I said it, then it was.”
    “You picked that fight.”
    “And I finished it,” he said.
    “You hurt him,” Mimi said. “I saw no call forthat. He’s been kind and gentle all his days in this house. If he has lollipop vision, it’s because we all liked him that way. Besides, he’s grown into a fine man. If anyone has blinders on, Mason, you’re as guilty as anyone else.”
    “Is it true, Mimi?”
    She was surprised by his gruff question. “What?”
    “That they say I should have married you. That people talk.”
    She stuck out her chin to match his. “If they do, I don’t hear it,” she said. “So it doesn’t matter.”
    “It would matter to me.”
    “Well, it wouldn’t matter to