by Lori Foster
It took her a second to decide on her next step, but it was instinct that brought her forward so she could sink against his big solid chest. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she squeezed him tight. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Is it enough, Star?”
Damn it, she was starting to like the way he said her name.
He nuzzled against her hair. “Will you promise me you won’t go after Adela alone?”
Feeling the weight lifted from her shoulders, she nodded. “Yes. I promise.”
That got her crushed against him. “Let’s go over what we know.”
This. This was what she’d wanted. Someone to collaborate with, to help her with her plans. A sounding board that’d give her a new perspective.
Nodding, Sterling forced herself past the satisfaction of having a cohort to address the business at hand. “Adela said she was staying off I-25, which doesn’t tell us much.”
“Except that it’s known as a trafficking route.”
Sterling knew that well. “Along the front range, drivers can easily travel from city to city and into other states. Here’s the thing.” With one last squeeze, Sterling straightened. “I’ve picked up three women along that interstate, all of them about an hour south of Colorado Springs in the same general area.”
“You think it could be related?”
“Makes sense, right? It’s how I knew about Misfits and—Thacker. But only if it’s a widely spread organization. One of the women was from a spa that later got busted.”
“Thanks to a tip from you?”
Pleased that he’d give her credit, she blushed. “Yeah, sure. I mean, I couldn’t just charge in there with guns blazing, right? So I anonymously clued in some people, luckily the right people, and it turned into a big sting.”
“I actually remember that. Around eighteen months ago, right?”
So he kept track of such things? Interesting. “That’s right. Eight men were arrested and the spa was shut down.”
His phone dinged with a message. Impatient, he glanced at it and didn’t look pleased. “The other women you mentioned?”
Of course, now she wondered who’d sent him a message, but he’d just started opening up and she didn’t want to pressure him, so she let it go.
For now.
“One had been held in a prostitution ring that operated out of this nasty little hotel. They thought they had her too intimidated to run, but she’d only been waiting for an opportunity, and that happened during a severe rainstorm that knocked out power over a wide swath. Plus the downpour made it tougher for them to search for her.”
“But you found her?”
“At a truck stop, hiding behind a building. Being female, she trusted me more than the male truck drivers.”
He nodded. “And the third?”
“She’d only recently been abducted. She was able to get away by jumping out of a moving car while they were transporting her, so she was pretty banged up. It was cold and she didn’t have the right clothes. I think it was desperation that brought her near the road. Good thing I found her before anyone else did.”
His admiring gaze moved over her face. “You’re pretty remarkable, you know that, right?”
Again his words warmed her. “Just doing my part.”
“Above and beyond.”
“Like you?”
“There are definite similarities, and I’d love to compare notes, but that was a summons from my father and it’s never a good idea to keep him waiting.” As he stood, he asked, “You’ll be okay until I get back after work?”
Since he’d stocked the fridge with chicken salad and pickles and left croissants and chips on the counter, canned soup in the cabinets, he didn’t need to worry about her going hungry. “I’m better every day. In case you didn’t notice, I can get around on my own now.”
“I noticed.” Intense emotion darkened his eyes. “I’m looking forward to you being one hundred percent again.”
She couldn’t hold back the silly smile. “Yeah? Why’s that?”
For an answer, he leaned in and took her mouth again, longer, hotter this time, his tongue teasing against hers, his breath warm on her cheek. He lingered—until his phone buzzed once more.
On a low growl, he moved away, but not far, just enough to separate their lips. His hand tunneled into her hair to curve around her skull. “Make no mistake. We’ve come to an agreement. You’ll stay in today, and tomorrow we’ll make plans together?”
“Tomorrow we can discuss plans,” she clarified. “But I won’t go out. I’m not quite ready for that anyway. I thought instead I’d do some additional research on the area where I found the other women.”
“Good thinking. I’ll see you tonight after I’ve closed up the bar.” With one last, sizzling kiss, he left her apartment.
Sterling would like to know more about his father. His brother and sister, too. Hopefully tomorrow he’d share details.
Would she share, as well? She did trust him, she realized, so what would be the harm? Yet caution was her constant companion, so she’d consider all the angles before making up her mind.
Crazy, but she already anticipated his return—and more than that, the day when she’d be healed enough to make him live up to the promise behind those kisses.
* * *
DOGGED BY HIS father’s assistant, who also served as a butler and chef, pretty much everything, Cade went through the opulent mountain home toward the back deck, where he knew he’d find his family. “I know the way, Bernard.”
“Yes, sir,” he acknowledged, while continuing to be Cade’s shadow.
Cade glanced back at him. “I thought we agreed you’d quit with the sir nonsense.”
“You requested,” Bernard said in his grating monotone, “and I declined.”
Knowing Bernard to be as stubborn as Star, Cade let it go as he continued on through the massive great room and out to the three-tier deck that offered an amazing view of the mountains, as well as his father’s man-made lake. Sitting on fifty-two acres, surrounded by wilderness, guaranteed a level of privacy not found in the skiing towns.
Cade loved the house and the surrounding land—not so much these visits.
It was cooler up here, so his sister, immersed in reading something on her laptop, had a colorful shawl around her shoulders. Reyes sprawled in a chair, one leg over the arm, his expression pensive—until he spotted Cade.
“’Bout time you got here.”
Curious over what that meant, Cade glanced at his father. Parrish McKenzie looked younger than his fifty-three years. Almost as tall as Cade, still fit thanks to the well-equipped gym on his lower level and a love of the outdoors, his father always made an imposing figure.
Sipping hot tea from a dainty cup and working a crossword puzzle, he looked nothing like a hard-core vigilante. Without looking up, he said, “You have some explaining to do.”
At the same time, Bernard asked, “Something to drink, sir?”
“I’ll take a beer.”
“This early?” Bernard questioned, with disapproval.
“Not like I’ll drink at the bar, so yeah. This early.” Hell, it had to be noon. Not like he was having it for breakfast.
“Yeah,” Reyes said, perking up at that suggestion. “Grab me one, too, will you, Bernard?”
His sister never stirred, but then, when she got immersed in research, she tuned out everything else.
The second Bernard left, Reyes sang, “Cade has a girlfriend.”
Cutting his gaze to his brother, Cade warned, “Knock it off.” He dropped into an empty chair at the table.
Reyes only grinned. “But that’s why we’re here. I just figured I’d throw it out there rather than keep you waiting.”
Shit. It had been too much to ask that his father might not yet know about Star.
F
inally Parrish put down his pencil and sent an enigmatic gaze at Cade. “This won’t do, you know.”
“Not up to you, so save the dictates.” Cade accommodated his father whenever possible. This wasn’t one of those times.
“If you want her,” Parrish said baldly, “just have her and be done with it.”
Reyes snorted.
Madison glanced up, brows lifted.
It struck Cade that he had to have the strangest family in God’s creation. Keeping his expression bland, he asked Parrish, “Does she get a say in it?”
Hot color rushed into his father’s face. As a champion of women, it was an insult that cut deep. “You know I wasn’t suggesting—”
“So you just assumed she’d be on board if I’m interested? I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
“Logical conclusion.” Shifting his gaze to Reyes, Parrish asked, “What’s so special about this woman?”
“No freaking idea.”
Cade thought about tossing his brother over the railing. He could roll downhill until he hit the lake.
“Is she beautiful?” Expounding on that, Parrish said, “Describe her.”
Uneasy now, Reyes glanced at Cade, then shrugged. “Tall, strong figure, average face. Nice hair. Definite lack of fashion sense.”
Frowning in confusion, Parrish turned back to Cade for enlightenment.
It was almost laughable. Almost. “Looks aren’t everything, Dad.” And then to Reyes, “Though you have to admit there’s something about her.”
“She’s sexy,” Reyes agreed. “But that’s not what Dad asked.”
“It’s the attitude.” Cade didn’t mean to offer up details, but the words came out anyway. “If you got to know her, you’d understand what I mean.”
“Yeah, uh... I got a small taste of that attitude, enough to neuter me, so no thanks.” To their dad, he said, “It’d take someone like Cade to go toe-to-toe with her. She’s what you’d call challenging.”
“Challenging how?”
“Let’s just say she’s not a ‘polished nails and styled hair’ kind of gal—more like ‘I’ll gut you and walk away smiling if you get in my way’ type.”
Appalled, Parrish asked Cade, “Is that something you want?”
Even Madison put aside her work to hear the answer to that.
Their reactions left him grinning. Was it so unheard of for him to be interested? All right, so he never let his personal life cross paths with his work—until now.
It wasn’t like he set out to find a balls-to-the-walls woman. Nope. Had he been looking for someone to match his strength? Not likely, since he usually was attracted to ultrafeminine women. Actually, he hadn’t been looking for anything.
Then Sterling Parson had walked into his bar one night and he hadn’t been able to put her from his mind since then.
That was his business, though, no one else’s, and he wouldn’t sit here while they dissected her. “Maybe you all missed it, but I’m thirty-two, too old to explain myself, so leave it alone.”
“But you need our help,” Madison said, then fell silent as Bernard returned with beers, little sandwiches and some type of individual cakes on a round tray.
“Bernard!” she exclaimed, already snatching up two of the small cakes. “You know these are my favorites.”
“Yes, I do. That’s why I made them.” He handed her a napkin, then refilled her tea before offering the contents of the tray to Cade and Reyes.
Glad for the reprieve, Cade took two sandwiches, popping one into his mouth right away. Good. Some kind of specialty bread, with a tangy sauce, sliced roast beef and fresh tomatoes. “Not bad, Bernard.”
“You’ll make me blush with that type of praise.”
Laughing, Reyes grabbed a few sandwiches for himself. “We all know you’re invaluable, Bernard, so don’t go fishing for compliments.”
“Can’t imagine what I was thinking.” After setting the half-empty tray on the table, he turned to Parrish. “If you need anything else, let me know.”
Parrish waved him off. “Go take a break. Maybe grab a swim. Put one of the pools to use.”
“The indoor pool is heated just right,” Reyes said, “but fair warning, the outside pool is cold enough to shrivel your...”
“Ahem.” Bernard censured Reyes with a single withering look, then said to Parrish, “Thank you, but I need to start preparations for dinner.” With a sniff, he added, “The meat must marinate. Perhaps I’ll indulge a swim later this evening.”
After the French doors closed behind him, Reyes burst out laughing. “I do love shocking him.”
Parrish shook his head. “For twenty years I’ve been telling that man not to be so formal.”
“He enjoys the pomp,” Madison said. “Let him have his fun.” Her eyes, the same bright hazel color as Reyes’s, narrowed on Cade. “Now, as I was saying—”
“I don’t want your help.”
She smiled. “Sorry, but you’re getting it anyway.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
CADE TURNED HIS ire on Reyes. “Felt like you had to confess all, huh?”
Unfazed, Reyes shook his head. “Wrong tree you’re barking up, there. I didn’t say jackola.” He gestured toward Madison. “Did you really think she wouldn’t find out?”
No, it would have been more surprising if she hadn’t. His baby sister didn’t miss much. By accessing street cameras and security cameras on businesses, and with the help of good old-fashioned bugs, she had surveillance everywhere.
No problem when it came to work, but apparently she knew he hadn’t been home the last few days, either.
Because he’d been staying with Star.
Cade shifted his attention to his sister.
Defiant, Madison elevated her chin. “Of course I told Dad. When you risk yourself, you risk the rest of us.”
An insult he couldn’t ignore. “You think I’d let harm come to you?”
She winced in apology. “No, not really. I didn’t mean that.”
“So you think what? That Star will hold me hostage until I tell her all about you?”
Parrish scowled at Cade. “Don’t put your sister in an untenable position with divided loyalties. We work as a family. You know that.” Admonishing, he added, “And she wouldn’t have had to tell me if you’d done so instead.”
“I planned to tell you soon.”
“Why wait?”
Reyes started to speak up, likely with another joke.
He shut down when Cade turned on him. “I wouldn’t if I was you.”
Hands up, Reyes said, “Take it easy. Here on the balcony isn’t the right place, but if you want a go at me, the gym is available downstairs.”
Parrish slammed a fist to the table. “I didn’t teach you to fight so you could maul each other.”
For too many years, Parrish had been fanatical about his children learning both defensive and offensive moves. While he trained with one expert after another, always with the intent of one day getting the men who’d kidnapped his companion, he included his children so that they were trained, as well.
From the day his stepmother committed suicide, Cade was told his purpose in life was to seek justice for those who couldn’t defend themselves. He, Reyes and Madison couldn’t just be good—they had to be the best.
Once Reyes had stopped grieving his mother, he’d loved the discipline and had embraced the vigilante purpose with enthusiasm.
Madison, too, accepted her role as tech genius, falling into place from the age of nine.
Cade was different. He’d balked at having his purpose predestined by his overbearing father. Oh, he’d learned what he could. Training was a satisfying outlet for his sorrow at losing the only mother he knew, and having siblings he’d wanted to protect.
Fifteen at the time and already rebellious, he’d butted head
s with his father at every opportunity—right up until he’d joined the military in defiance of his father’s dictates.
“If you want to spar,” Parrish said, “you’ll do so when neither of you is angry.”
Smirking, Reyes asked, “When is he not angry?”
Cade rolled his eyes. True, he used to stay at some level of rage day in and day out. But that was a decade ago, before the military had helped him tamp down the emotion under firm control. Reyes knew that, but Bernard wasn’t the only one he liked to heckle.
“I’m not angry now,” Cade said, “but I’d still be happy to kick your ass.”
“Nah. I think I’ll wait and take you by surprise.” He grinned. “Ups my odds, ya know?”
Getting back to the matter at hand, Madison shared one of her gentlest smiles. “For what it’s worth, I admire Sterling a great deal.” She turned her laptop so Cade could see the screen...where she’d expanded her research to include a history of Star’s life.
He didn’t want to read it here, under his family’s scrutiny, but he knew how proprietary Madison could be about her investigations. She preferred to keep everything in-house—literally—and under her own impenetrable security protocols.
If he wanted to learn about Star, he needed to read everything now. And there was the rub. “This feels like a huge invasion of her privacy.”
Madison’s smile quirked. “You don’t think she’d read everything she could about you if she had access?”
Actually...he knew she would, if for no other reason than that she didn’t fully trust him.
Aware of Parrish, Reyes and Madison all watching him, Cade pulled the laptop closer. At first he merely skimmed the details. Abducted at seventeen from her high school. Escaped at some point between then and her eighteenth birthday, because new photos of her emerged after that—driver’s license, concealed carry permit (now, why wasn’t he surprised that she’d carry a gun?), her CDL for driving. She’d used different names, lied about her age a few times and moved around a lot, all the way from Ohio to Colorado.
“Last page,” Madison said. “Child protection services had been to her home multiple times before she was abducted. That probably explains why she didn’t return for her mother’s funeral, even though she was apparently free by then.”