by Sophie Oak
When had that happened? When had he started worrying about his brother’s privacy? Max didn’t like it. Something was going to have to give, and soon. He needed to talk to Rachel. First, though, he needed to deal with the problem at hand.
Someone out there wanted to kill their woman.
Max didn’t correct himself mentally this time. She was theirs. She simply didn’t know it yet. She was living with them, and they would wear her down. One day in the not-too-distant future, she would wake up between them and realize that they could make it work.
After he’d killed one Tommy Lane.
Max swore out loud as he looked over the newspaper articles. Tommy Lane had stalked the young insurance adjuster, and when he couldn’t scare her into complying, he’d set her house on fire. Liz Courtney had barely gotten out with her life. He’d killed her dog and ruined her reputation at work. He’d made her life a living hell. The Dallas papers wondered where he had stuffed her body. None of it could be proven. Like so many other women, Liz had been caught in a legal Catch-22.
She’d disappeared a few mornings after the fire. Some witnesses said they saw her driving off in a sedan, but no one had seen her since then. There was some question as to whether the former officer had killed the woman and dumped her body. The prosecutors were in a bad position. They had no body and no witnesses. They couldn’t prove the arson.
Tommy Lane was a free man.
Max studied the picture of the man who had made Rachel’s life a living hell. He was a rough-looking son of a bitch. He was probably forty, and it looked like he’d gotten there the hard way. He was dressed in a crisp uniform, but there was something shady about him that no dress uniform could ever cover up.
Max glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite eight. Rachel wouldn’t be getting off work for another hour and a half. He had time. He intended to be there when she left, and he would follow her home. From now on, he would take her to and from work until he could convince her she didn’t need to work at all. She was fairly safe at the diner. Both Stella and Hal carried guns, and they wouldn’t hesitate to use them. Rye would make sure everyone in town knew what the fucker looked like and to shoot him on sight. They could make up a daring tale of self-defense later. Nell was surprisingly good at crafting a fiction. Oh, she would complain and worry, but everyone in Bliss would back them up on it. They stuck together in Bliss, and Rachel was one of their own now.
Rye walked in. He placed his Stetson on a large filing cabinet and looked pointedly at his desk. “I was on my way home when Callie called. What are you doing here? And why the hell are you on my system? You know I can arrest you for that, right?”
“Arrest me later.” Max turned the laptop around. “I know why Rachel ran.”
He got up and allowed his brother to sit. It didn’t take long before Rye flushed with rage, his hands making fists at his sides. He knew exactly what his brother was feeling. He was feeling the extreme need to defend their woman.
“He’s going to come after her,” Max said quietly. “He won’t be satisfied. He knows she’s not dead, and I have no doubt he’s looking.”
Rye sat back. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head as though trying to rid himself of some terrible image. “You’re right. He’s obsessed with her. He won’t stop.” Rye looked up at him. “You don’t think…?”
His eyes went to the spot on Max’s arm where he’d had the stitches taken out earlier today.
Max wasn’t sure. It had gone through his head, but he had some questions. “I don’t think so. Why would he have been quiet for a whole week? He’s had numerous opportunities to take another shot at any one of us.”
Rye stared at his chest. He was thinking about how close he’d come to losing his brother. Max knew because once he’d felt the same way. Rye had been in a car accident, and it had been the worst time of Max’s life. He knew how Rye felt, but he wanted to get back to the problem at hand—saving Rachel.
“How would he have found her?” Max asked.
Rye sighed. His face tightened, and there was guilt in his eyes when he looked at Max. “I put a call in to a couple of the PDs in Texas, mostly Houston and some of the suburbs around there. I was only putting out some feelers. No one knew anything. She changed her hair color, and she lost a lot of weight.”
The Rachel Swift who had come to Bliss bore little resemblance to the woman in the newspaper photos, though now, with proper and consistent meals, she was beginning to look more like herself. Max had been stuffing her, trying to get her to lose that gaunt, haunted look.
Rye continued. “But if this guy is as devious as he sounds, he would have known she had to have help. If I was him, I would have checked out her family.”
“She doesn’t have one.” The papers had verified her stories. Rachel was alone in the world.
“Then I would check out the local women’s shelters or maybe someone at the hospital. Someone helped Rachel. If he got to that person, he would know her fake identities. All he has to do is have a cop buddy call someone in one of those towns and make up a reason to be on the lookout for her. I tripped his fail-safe when I put the trace on her. Damn, Max, if I had any idea this could happen, I never would have checked her out.”
“It isn’t your fault. We don’t know that he’s found her again, but we have to assume he will show up. How are we going to protect her? I’m worried that she’ll run if she thinks he’s on her trail.”
Rye was quiet for a moment as he thought. “Maybe you should run with her.”
“No.” He’d already thought of and discarded that possibility. “That isn’t a life, Rye. Look what it did to her. She ran because she was all alone in the world. She isn’t anymore. This is her home. Every person in this town will defend her. I won’t let this asshole run our wife off, and I won’t let him hurt her again.”
A slow smile crossed Rye’s face. His brother hadn’t missed his intentional use of words. She wasn’t their wife yet, but in Max’s mind, it was only a matter of time.
“You said ‘our,’ Max.”
For the first time in weeks, he felt the gulf between them begin to shrink. He realized now that Rye needed him to say the words. Rye needed to know that he was willing to share Rachel. “I meant it. She’s the one, and you know it.”
Rye’s smile turned slightly sad, but Max could feel something inside his brother relax. A tension that had been there since Rachel had come to town now loosened. He was glad to see it go.
“I know,” Rye said. “We’ve been waiting for her all of our lives, but we have to get her to recognize it. If she can’t accept it, there’s nothing we can do.”
Max wasn’t so sure that would be as hard as his brother thought. “We’ll work on her. First, we deal with this asshole and then we find our girl.”
“It won’t be easy. We’ll have to keep an eye on her.”
“I think the whole town should keep an eye on her.”
Rye looked thoughtful for a moment. “That is a fantastic idea. I have another one. We can get a PI working back in Dallas to come up with the dirt on this asshole. He needs to be in jail. I’ll call Stef and ask him to get in touch with that Julian friend of his in Dallas. He’s got to know some people. I won’t feel safe until Tommy Lane is behind bars. We’ll get an investigator on it. On Monday, we’ll talk to the prosecutors. If we go back to Dallas with Rachel, it will make their job a lot easier. If Rachel testifies, maybe we can get him in jail without bond. He’s made it plain he means to kill her. I bet that Julian guy knows some bodyguards, too. We’ll hire a couple if we go back to Dallas.”
Max stared at him. “Is this Julian person paying?”
Rye waved him off. “You know Stef will do that thing where he loans us the cash and when we try to pay him back he won’t let us. Hopefully he can make it a wedding gift.”
Oh, he liked the sound of that. He also liked the idea that they wouldn’t be alone in Dallas. He wanted an army of men protecting his soon-to-be bride if they went into the mouth
of the beast. But first, he wanted to make her happy.
“Let’s get through the weekend before we tell her we’re going to Dallas. Rach is excited about the Founder’s Day thing tomorrow. I can’t bring myself to shake up her whole world. She’s safe for now. We have no firm evidence that he knows where she is. We won’t let her out of our sight. Sunday night, we’ll explain everything to her. Hopefully, we’ll both still be standing at the end.” Max had no doubt that Rachel would be furious they had checked up on her. She would fight them, but this was one fight he meant to win.
“It’s too important to ignore,” Rye said solemnly. “We can’t just hope she’s going to tell us someday. We have to do what we can to get this guy in prison so he can’t come after our woman again.”
Max sighed as Rye started to make some calls. He didn’t mention to his law-abiding brother that he had no intention of Lane seeing the inside of a jail cell. They were too easy to break out of. There was parole and prison overcrowding to consider. No, there wouldn’t be any cushy prison cells for the man who’d hurt Rachel Swift. There was only one way Max would be able to sleep at night.
He was going to kill Tommy Lane.
Chapter Thirteen
Rachel stood behind the counter of the diner and looked at her boss. “You’re sure you don’t need me to stay the whole shift?”
She was hoping beyond hope that the answer was no. She was anxious to get back home and check up on Max and Rye. Her heart did a flip-flop at the word “home.” She was starting to think of Harper Stables as her home. She loved the big house and the easy way the three of them shared it. After tomorrow night, they would share everything. Tomorrow night all her plans would come together. She intended to make it impossible for them to deny her or themselves any longer.
Stella looked up from her list. She was in full preparation mode for the big picnic and auction tomorrow. Rachel heard the doors to the diner open. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve been slow all day. Go home and get some rest. I’ll need you happy and ready to sell some pies tomorrow.”
Rachel took off her apron and walked around the counter to get her purse. She was stopped in her tracks by two cowboys. She took in the sight of the two men walking into the place like they owned it. Jen stopped beside her. Her hands were still holding the order she was taking out.
“Damn,” Jen said under her breath. Her eyes widened as she watched the cowboys striding in.
Damn was right. She hid her smile. Stefan had been correct about the Kent brothers. They were perfect for her purposes. They each had dark hair peeking out from their Stetsons. Their long legs looked strong in tight jeans and worn boots. They weren’t twins, but there was no question they were brothers. Rachel was taken by their startlingly deep green eyes. They were young men, but there was no doubt that they were men.
“Ma’am,” the taller one said, tipping his hat as he took a seat at the counter. His brother followed. Neither of them hid the fact that they were assessing the women in the room. Rachel rolled her eyes as the one on the right boldly stared at her chest.
“Who are they?” Jen leaned toward Rachel and kept her voice low.
“Friends of Stefan’s.” Rachel offered no other explanation. They really were friends of Stefan’s. They were also about to be the bane of Max’s and Rye’s existence. She had to carefully school her face because she wanted to laugh. The Kent brothers probably acted a whole lot like the Harper twins had when they were arrogant twentysomethings.
In her mind’s eye, she could see Rye and Max at that age, before the world had tempered them. They would have swaggered through the diner, too, checking out every available female as though it was simply a question of which one to choose for the night. If Max’s head didn’t explode when he caught sight of them, it would be a miracle.
“Hello, darlin’,” the shorter one said with a confident smile.
Though he was shorter than his brother, he was by no means small. He still had a good foot on Rachel. He was definitely the charmer. The taller one watched her with hooded eyes. He was the broody one who probably let his brother do most of the talking.
She smiled back. Stef had chosen well because these two men were putting on a show that Max and Rye would definitely hear about. “Good evening, gentlemen.”
“Gentlemen? I like the sound of that. My name is Shane Kent,” the charming one said with a devilish wink. He looked down at her name tag. “And you’re Rachel. I like that name, Rachel.”
Stella’s head came up from her work, one brow rising over her eyes as she watched the exchange. Yep, her boss would be on the phone talking up the incident the minute she could do so without missing something.
“I’m sure it would suit you. You look like a Rachel,” Rachel said saucily. These young men might be good-looking, but they had nothing on Max and Rye. They were puppies compared to her men.
Shane Kent’s eyes flared. He looked like a man who liked a challenge. “Beautiful and funny, now that I didn’t expect. I like a challenge, Rachel. How about you, Bay?”
A long, slow smile crossed Bay Kent’s face. “I think she’d suit us fine, brother.”
“How about we take you out tonight, sweetheart?” Shane asked.
“Seriously?” Jen’s eyes drifted between Rachel and the brothers. “What kind of perfume are you wearing? Eau de Ménage? Where do I get it?” She shook her head and flounced off.
Rachel wanted to tell Jen that this was all a setup, but she needed the story to get around. Jen would be good at doing exactly that. Stella was already on her cell phone. Rachel bet Teeny and Marie were getting the lowdown on what was happening at the diner.
“Sorry, I have to pass. I already have a boyfriend,” Rachel said with a shrug.
“Only one, darlin’?” Shane asked, his voice smooth as glass. “Why settle for one when you can have two? Trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve been between us.”
Rachel heard every person in the diner draw in a breath. There were a whole bunch of cell phones working overtime now. She had to say that when a girl wanted to get the word out, there was no place better to be than a small town. The gossip grapevine was in full bloom in Bliss. Someone would call Callie Sheppard with the story that Rachel Swift was getting hit on by another set of boys who shared their toys. Rachel was sure Callie would be telling the entire story to Rye within ten minutes.
“I guess I’ll just have to take your word for that.” Rachel winked at the men and drew her purse over her shoulder. “Good night, boys.”
“We’ll see you around, Miss Rachel,” Bay said slowly.
She felt both of their eyes on her as she walked out of the diner.
The evening air was clean and crisp. Rachel stretched as she walked around the back of the diner to the place where she parked the old Jeep. Max was already making noise about buying her something new. Rachel didn’t see the need. Max’s car was even older than hers. He’d explained that there was a difference between their vehicles. Max drove a 1976 Ford Ranger, a classic vehicle. Her Jeep was just a piece of junk.
She shook her head as she slipped inside the Jeep. It was true. She’d bought it for $650 off some guy in New Mexico after the unfortunate San Diego incident. It was a jalopy. Sometimes the driver’s side back tire got low, and it felt that way now. But the ranch was only fifteen minutes outside of town. She could get Max or Rye to air it up for her when she got home. The car started, and the lights worked. That was what mattered. Without another thought about it, she pulled out onto the road and started toward home.
It had only been a couple of weeks, but those nights she’d spent driving around looking for a safe place to spend the night seemed so far away. She had quickly gotten used to having a place to live and someone to cuddle up with at night while they watched TV. She loved being between the two big men. There wasn’t a better way to spend the evening than smooshed between their big bodies. Neither one of them understood the meaning of personal space when it came to her. Even Rye, who, when he thought about
it, tried to put some distance between them, ended up touching her when they sat together. The night before, the three of them had sat on the couch and watched a movie. Rachel had been terribly tired. Max offered his shoulder to lean on. Rachel had fallen asleep, and when she’d awakened, her feet were in Rye’s lap, being rubbed softly, as though he couldn’t help himself. It had been a nice night.
Rachel turned off the main road and onto the path that led to Harper Stables and some of the other houses both up the mountain and down in the valley. The stables were down in the valley, but she had to go up to get back down. Max and Rye liked the isolation. Rachel could do without the dirt road. She preferred a nicely paved highway with guardrails. She slowed down as the road began to wind. She still wasn’t used to driving in the mountains, could remember how it felt to think she was going to die that first day in Bliss. No matter how careful she was, she always felt like she was too close to the edge. Max drove through this stretch with the casual ease of a local, but it was going to take her a long time to get used to it. She especially hated driving at night. Though the sun had just gone down, she was already struggling to see.
Suddenly it felt like the entire back end of the car was about to go over the edge. There was a popping sound, and Rachel felt the car swerve. Her hands gripped the steering wheel. She could feel the car start to dangle over the side of the road. Deep breath. She’d dealt with this once. Oh, it was a long way down, but she was going to fight this time. She wasn’t the same woman who’d almost wanted the mountain to take her that day.
Rachel turned the steering wheel and pressed down on the gas. The wheels spun. The car didn’t go anywhere, though. It made a horrible grinding sound. Rachel’s hands were shaking as she cut the engine and engaged the parking brake. Though the car seemed stable, she moved cautiously toward the passenger side. She stepped gingerly out of the vehicle before breathing a sigh of relief. Despite the darkness, she could see the odd way her car was sitting.