Excerpt of The Last Landry by Kelsey Roberts

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Shane Landry grumbled a week later as some pencil-necked lab tech with a long cotton swab headed in his direction.

"There were stains on the towels found in the well with Mom and Dad," his brother Seth explained as he tipped his Stetson back off his forehead. "They were pretty degraded, but they might be useful, since initial testing revealed three distinct blood types."

Shane opened his mouth to allowed the tech to scrape the dry end of the swab around the inside of his cheek. When that was over, he swallowed, hoping to rid himself of the cotton taste in his mouth. "How will samples from all of us help?" he asked as the man packed up his shiny chrome case and scurried out of the office.

Seth leaned against his desk. "I'm hardly an expert on the double helix. I'm guessing that if we all give DNA samples, then the lab will use our profiles to filter out Mom and Dad's blood, hopefully allowing the crime scene guys to isolate the third sample. All I know is that Detective Rollins called and asked that we all do this. Since we don't have anything to hide, I agreed." Seth's expression darkened. "We don't have anything to hide, do we?"

A quick, guilty shiver crawled down Shane's spine, but he answered, "No."

Seth seemed to relax. "Didn't think so. Anyway, it has something to do with the fact that it will take a lot of time to extract DNA from the...bones, so this is faster. The investigation is high profile and going nowhere, so Rollins is in a hurry to find something that might generate a lead."

"I'm all for that," Shane agreed. "You coming out to the ranch tonight? Taylor's making a stew. She mumbled something about it when I saw her this morning. Not that I was paying much attention to her, mind you. I've found the best way to deal with Taylor is to ignore her whenever possible." Seth smiled, prompting Shane to ask, "What?"

"Nice try."

"What?" Shane repeated, feeling defensive.

"Give it up, Shane.You're hot for the girl. And as my wife reminded me just last night, for the hundredth time I might add, you better do something before she rides off into the proverbial sunset. So no, we won't be coming to the ranch. My wife is quite insistent that you two need time alone so you'll have no choice but to acknowledge your mutual attraction. Hurry up, though, would you?"

The defensive shield evaporated, leaving a blend of fear and annoyance swirling in Shane's gut. "Hurry up and what? It isn't like she sends me anything other than the stay- away vibe."

Seth's head fell back as he laughed. "You may not be technically blind, but you are totally dumb, bro. Taylor's perfect for you. You just have to find a way past her defenses. She's smart, she's pretty, she's funny, she's —"

"Sarcastic and she picks on me."

"Part of her charm," Seth countered. "Besides, we all pick on you because you make it so easy. Back to Taylor. Aren't you curious?"

"Physically or intellectually?" Shane countered.

"The physical part is a no-brainer. Any man with a pulse would crawl over hot coals to be with her. But she's a freaking genius, Seth. She's smarter than I am, she's about to earn her third degree — a doctorate, for chrissake. I have absolutely nothing to offer her," he admitted, frowning. Saying it out loud made him feel like more of an idiot. Her IQ shouldn't matter, but to a guy who'd barely made it through high school, it sure as hell did.

"She takes verbal potshots at me. Only me. Has since day one, because the rest of you all have fancy educations."

Seth rolled his eyes. "That's stupid. Taylor isn't an intellectual snob. Ever think she might be sniping at you and only you because you're the one she has a thing for?"

"No," Shane admitted candidly. "In five years she hasn't dropped a single hint in that direction. You're way off base, bro."

"Have you?"

Over the messy pile of files, Shane fired a hostile glance in his brother's direction. "We're getting a little personal here."

"You're getting a little avoidance here," Seth retorted, his tone and cadence mimicking Shane's. "I'm just suggesting that you act while you still have a chance. Just exactly how long do you think Taylor will hang around after graduation?"

Shane didn't want to think about that. She had become such an integral part of his life. Every one of his days for the last five years had begun and ended with Taylor. She was as much a part of the ranch as he was. He didn't want to imagine waking up to anything other than the smell of fresh coffee wafting up to his room. Or the thrill he felt when he walked downstairs to find her working in the kitchen or sitting at the table, her pretty face buried in a book.

He slumped in the chair. Shane knew to the second just how much time he had left. In 960 hours Taylor would get her degree.

"How long?" Seth pressed.

"Doesn't look too good. She never says anything, but I know she's been sending résumés all over the country. As far away as California." Shane rubbed the stubble on his chin. "The last few weeks, with the news, the funeral and the state police crawling all over the ranch, she hasn't said much. She's got to be getting offers, though. Hell, for all I know she's already accepted a job in Outer Mongolia."

"Then give her a reason not to leave," Seth suggested.

"Like what?" Shane snapped, annoyed by the feeling of utter helplessness that settled over him whenever he thought about her impending departure. "You know that doctorate you've spent the last five years earning? Well, instead of working in your field, want to stick around, clean my house and cook for me?" Right, that'll work."

"No, jerk-face," Seth breathed. "Give her a personal reason. Like telling her that you're in love with her."

Shane stilled. "No way."

One of Seth's dark brows arched in challenge. "Because it isn't true?"

"No, because I'm not hanging myself out there when I have no idea how she feels. Hell, try if she feels."

Letting out a loud breath, Seth shook his head a few times. "What's the worst thing that can happen if you go for it?"

A humorless sound gurgled in Shane's throat. "She can verbally shred me to pieces, then laugh in my face. Pass, thanks. Besides, now isn't the best time to —"

"There is no best time," Seth interrupted, mildly irritated. "Look at Savannah and me. We got together under pretty impossible circumstances."

That much was true. "You shouldn't use finding Mom and Dad's remains as an excuse to keep living your life in neutral," Seth added.

"I'm not." Much, Shane amended silently. Then again, he was haunted by a demon that none of his brothers even knew existed.

"C'mon, Shane. Are you trying to tell me that you didn't suspect their being dead was a possibility all these years? We may not have talked about it openly, but I think deep down we all knew it was the most logical explanation for their disappearance."

"I know. You're right," he sighed. "I just hope the state police can find the scumbag who killed them."

"Me, too," Seth agreed, his dark eyes sparked with anger. "It's making me nuts to be cut out of the loop. Detective Rollins isn't sharing squat about his progress. I do know he subpoenaed old bank records. Makes sense. It's what I'd do, since we've always known about the hundred grand withdrawn the day they went mis...er, died."

"I've always heard you're supposed to follow the money."

"Pretty much. Perhaps you've also heard the expression 'the heart wants what it wants when it wants it'?" Seth said, back to the other subject like a fricking bulldog with a bone.

"Um, only from girls."

He might have his hands tied about helping to solve the case of their murdered parents, but big brother Seth was doggedly hot on the trail of his baby brother's nonexistent love life. "Brat. I'm serious. Look, Shane. You've got a choice to make. You can do nothing and live a lifetime of regret. Or you can decide she's worth it and take a chance."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one facing verbal castration." Shane blew out a breath and made a production of tightening the leather strap keeping his hair in place. Grudgingly, he knew Seth's strategy had some merit. Taylor was smart and funny. But she wasn't just pretty, she was beautiful. Stop-in-your-tracks, heartbeat-skipping stunning. She was tiny, but not the anorexic kind of scrawny. No, Taylor had curves. Soft, supple curves that even those bulky sweaters she was so fond of wearing couldn't conceal.

She was perpetual energy, with sparkling hazel eyes and hair the color of winter wheat. She was also mere weeks from completing her graduate work.

"You're frowning," Seth remarked.

"She scares me," he admitted. "Taylor and I have lived under the same roof for five years and we've fallen into this...this...I don't know what you'd call it."

"The Country Girl."

"Excuse me?" Shane asked, meeting his brother's dark eyes.

"It's a movie. Grace Kelly was in it?"

"You're a country girl," Shane teased. "Jeez, we marry you off and now you're quoting chick flick titles. That's just wrong, Seth. You need to go out and do something manly before it's too late."

"I'm making a point, bozo. Listen and learn. In the movie, the husband is a schmuck, the wife is an actress and the director has the hots for the actress-wife. The drunk, schmuck husband gets that the director is lusting after his wife."

"What a loser."

"Whatever," Seth grumbled. "At one point in the movie, the drunk husband says the only thing worse than two people making eyes at each other is two people trying not to."

"And your point is?"

"You and Taylor are the actress and the director. I see the way you watch her when you think she isn't looking."

"Everybody watches her. That doesn't mean anything."

"So what are you afraid of?" Seth asked pointedly.

"Aside from the fact that she's smarter than I am?

More educated? Hasn't so much as hinted that she's interested, you mean?"

Seth nodded. "Besides all that."

"I don't have anything to offer her. What's she going to do on the ranch, show inkblots to cattle all day?"

Seth snorted. "First, you are a smart guy. Secondly, who cares what degrees she has? Thirdly, you haven't so much as asked her out on a date. Maybe you should start there."

"A date?" Shane repeated, as if the word was new to him.

"Dinner, a movie? Surely you remember how to date."

"I know how to date. You're the one who's turned into girlie, movie-quoting guy."

"I don't know if I'd cast aspersions, Shane. Not when you're celibate guy."

Shane uttered a mild curse as he left the office. Problem was, he wasn't completely sure which one of them he was consigning to the fires of hell.