Lasting Shadows: Shadows Landing #3

by Kathleen Brooks

  Lasting Shadows

  Shadows Landing #3

  Kathleen Brooks

  Contents

  Also by Kathleen Brooks

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Also by Kathleen Brooks

  About the Author

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Lasting Shadows copyright @ 2019 by Kathleen Brooks.

  Kathleen Brooks® is a registered Trademark of Laurens Publishing, LLC.

  Created with Vellum

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

  Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

  Forever Hidden

  Forever Betrayed

  Forever Driven

  Forever Secret

  Forever Surprised

  Forever Concealed

  Forever Devoted

  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed (coming January 21, 2020)

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows (coming April/May 2020)

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  Prologue

  One week ago . . .

  Savannah Ambrose looked down at the flyer that had been mailed to each Shadows Landing resident. The Daughters of Shadows Landing charitable organization was putting on their annual fundraiser and this year it was to be a bachelor auction.

  The flyer posted some pictures of the men up for grabs, but there was only one who grabbed Savannah’s attention—Ridge Faulkner. Sure, he grabbed her attention with his masculine looks that were the opposite of her ex-husband’s polished, preppy look. Ridge’s hair was long, but not overly long. Just long enough to run your fingers through. In the picture his brown hair was pushed behind his ears, framing spring green eyes that seemed to see her even from the picture.

  Savannah tore herself away from his image and read the blurb under his picture. Ridge Faulkner: architect, builder, and owner of Ridge Builders. His work has been featured in magazines all over the world.

  Savannah looked around her house and sighed as the rain dripped inside her living room and into a bucket. She needed help. A lot of it. And she needed someone to teach her how to do it herself because she’d be damned if she were ever dependent on a man again.

  Savannah gripped her bidding paddle hard as Ridge’s name was announced. He stepped out from behind the curtain and she heard the excited whispers. Apparently, Ridge Faulkner was quite the catch in Shadows Landing. Seeing him in a tux made Savannah think he wasn’t just big in Shadows Landing, but in all of South Carolina. Seeing him in a tux brought her closer to a spontaneous orgasm than she’d believed possible. He was raw masculinity encased in formal attire. But this wasn’t a date. She needed that man for his hammer. And not the one all the other women were drooling over. Although she had to admit her eyes had drifted down there when he came to stand on the stage.

  The reason she needed him was that Savannah had gotten a quote to fix all that was wrong with her house. The quote was over fifty thousand dollars and that would drain the last of her savings. Savannah’s ex-husband hadn’t left her with much: one year’s worth of “salary,” if you could call a wife an employee, and the rundown house in Shadows Landing.

  She was applying for jobs from here to Charleston, but so far she hadn’t gotten anything. “Wife and charity volunteer” weren’t what people were looking for on résumés. It didn’t matter she’d helped build her ex-husband up to what he was today. She’d hosted all the right parties, invited all the key players, and had catapulted him to the upper echelons of Atlanta society. Again, not what prospective employers considered important.

  But if she could win Ridge Faulkner, she could pay a far lower price and get the worst of the repairs fixed on their “date.”

  “Three thousand dollars,” the woman to Savannah’s right called out.

  “Three thousand one hundred,” another woman called.

  Oh dear, her limit was five thousand and she’d really hoped the prices would be lower in a small town. However, Savannah knew high society and unless she was mistaken about the small town that was now her home, these were ringers from Charleston society brought in for their disposable income.

  “Five thousand dollars,” Savannah called out when the price stalled at four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

  “Going once, going twice, sold!”

  Savannah breathed out a sigh of relief, but then her lungs stopped working as Ridge Faulkner walked straight toward her.

  “Hi, I’m guessing you’re from Charleston since I don’t recognize you. I’m Ridge Faulkner.” He held out his hand and Savannah stared at it. His voice was just as sexy as he was and a spontaneous orgasm was becoming more of a possibility by the moment.

  She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Savannah Ambrose. I actually just moved to Shadows Landing. That’s why I won you.” Savannah shook his hand. It was large, warm, and a little rough. He closed his hand around hers, and she wondered what they’d feel like against her body. Heavens to Betsy, she needed to get her mind back on track.

  “Because you’re new?”

  Savannah dropped his hand and took a small step back to regain her control. “No, because I need some help with my house, and I hear you know what to do with your hammer.” Hell’s bells, what was wrong with he
r?

  She could see Ridge’s lips twitching as he fought not to laugh. But she also saw his eyes glance toward his hammer, which, of course, led her eyes to follow. She swallowed hard and when she looked up she saw Ridge watching her.

  “I need help fixing up my house. I’m new here, and I’d love your opinion on it.” Savannah was proud that her voice had returned to a somewhat normal tone.

  “You don’t want a date? Dinner? Romance? Dancing?” Ridge was unreadable as he asked her, and she couldn’t tell if he was insulted or relieved.

  “I’m sure that would be lovely, but I really need you in my bedroom. To fix a leaking sink,” she quickly added. “And on top of me . . . my roof. To fix another leak. And then there’s . . .” Savannah paused and plastered on her society smile. She didn’t want to scare him off with all the work. “Just little things here and there.”

  Ridge looked over her shoulder at something and Savannah had the feeling she was being dismissed. “Sure. Call me and we’ll get it set up. It’s nice meeting you, Savannah.”

  Savannah watched as he walked to join a group of guys. She did it. She had met someone new and her house would be fixed. Now if she could only keep her foot out of her mouth around him, all would be well.

  1

  Savannah Ambrose, formerly Mrs. Penn Benson, grabbed the largest kitchen knife she could find. She raised it above her head and slammed it down. The avocado sliced neatly in half and the knife left an indentation on her cutting board. Still the anger hadn’t abated.

  Savannah took a deep breath. A breeze blowing from the Shadows River’s direction rolled through the screen door on to her back patio. Do not kill him. She told herself as she tried to rein in her temper.

  “Did you hear me, pet?”

  Savannah picked up the knife again, but this time she hit the cutting board so hard the tip of her knife stuck. She looked at the knife wavering from the force of her hit and felt slightly calmer. She imagined it was Penn she was stabbing instead of him being on speakerphone.

  “You know I hate that nickname, Penn,” Savannah said through clenched teeth. She held out her finger and put it to the hilt of the knife sticking up on the cutting board and pulled it back before letting go. The knife wavered and Savannah tried to take some calming breaths.

  Two years ago, she’d walked in on her husband of five years in bed with not one woman, but two. And not just any two women. Two of Savannah’s supposed best friends, Ginger and Pepper, from the charity organization she’d help run in Atlanta. Apparently Penn had a thing for spices.

  It had been surprising that Penn hadn’t tried to stop the divorce. Instead, he had appeared he was all for it. But then he just refused to give her anything she’d asked for. It was a game for him to torture her. He drew it out and didn’t let her move on with her life as he enjoyed a veritable buffet of spices. And for the last eighteen months, she’d had to beg for each one of the items they’d agreed to in the divorce settlement. She’d finally gotten out of a low-rent studio apartment in a crime-filled part of Atlanta and into the Shadows Landing house just a couple weeks ago.

  “You have the house, what more do you want?” Penn asked, seemingly bored with the conversation, but Savannah knew better. He was enjoying every moment of it.

  “You told the judge the house was in perfect condition and didn’t need any repairs. I’m faced with fifty thousand dollars worth of repairs! And this house was the least I deserved and you know it,” Savannah said in a super-sweet voice. Two could play that game.

  “You deserve nothing because you are nothing,” Penn spat and Savannah yanked the knife from the cutting board and wished, not for the first time, that Penn would be hit by a truck. Or maybe an incurable case of crabs. Or even better, a case of gonorrhea so bad his pecker would rot and fall off.

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” Savannah said, her voice harsh with pain from the names he’d called her over the past two years. It didn’t stop him, though. He just doubled his efforts to break her down. Only this time she wasn’t going to take it lying down. She was going to give it right back to the asshole.

  Ridge Faulkner pulled his large truck to a stop in front of the cottage along the Shadows Landing River. In the front sat a cute sports car and a very overgrown garden lining the large verandah in the front of the house and wrapping all the way around to hide the crawl space the house was built up on to protect it from flooding. The house looked beautiful at first glance, but under his trained eye he saw the paint was chipping, some of the shutter hinges were rusted out, the roof needed fixing, and the chimney needed a lot of masonry work.

  Ridge was torn about the Savannah Ambrose project. She’d “bought” him, not for a date but as an all-you-can-get-done-in-a-day worker. He knew women like her. Beautiful women with smooth skin, dangerous curves, and a silk voice who were never seen unless they were dressed to perfection. They were for looking, not touching. Especially by someone who knew how to use a hammer.

  Ridge grinned to himself as he thought of a flustered Savannah. Maybe he’d have some fun today after all. Turning her creamy skin pink with impure thoughts was his goal for the day. Ridge reached through the open door of his truck and grabbed his notepad and pencil. Even though he didn’t feel like playing handyman, he would do his job and do it well. That was just the kind of guy he was.

  Ridge walked to the front of the house, making notes of things that needed to be fixed. A loose handrail, a broken porch spindle, the shutter hinges that needed replacing, and the obvious roof leak in the front left room of the house.

  As Ridge walked around the side of the house he noted that someone had been working on the gardens. If his memory served him right, this was the old Benson cottage. But no one had lived here for twenty years. There used to be a caretaker who would stop by once a month, but it didn’t appear anyone had stopped by for quite some time.

  “You deserve nothing because you are nothing,” Ridge heard a man say cruelly.

  “You can’t talk to me like that,” he heard Savannah reply. He heard the hurt in her voice even as she tried to stay brave. Who was the asshole talking to her?

  “I’m your husband. I can talk to you anyway I want. I own you, pet.”

  “You’re my ex-husband and you never owned me. If you did I would still be in Atlanta with you. Or is that it? You’re mad I left your sorry ass so easily?” Ridge grinned and mentally cheered her on.

  “Yet here you are calling me because the house isn’t perfect. You can’t do anything on your own. That’s why you’re my little pet. I pet you, I feed you, I clothe you, and in return you sit on my lap looking pretty. That’s all you’re good for,” her ex said with satisfaction. “Do you want to come back to my lap like a good girl?”

  “Never,” Savannah swore. “Besides, I’m sitting on someone else’s lap. I don’t need you anymore, Penn. I never did. You were just too conceited to see that. But what I do expect is for you to live up to the divorce agreement and pay for the repairs to this house.”

  “What do you mean you’re sitting on someone’s lap? I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re nothing but a high-priced prostitute willing to go with anyone who pays.”

  Savannah laughed, but it was filled with malice. “I wasn’t the one caught in bed with two women. And you didn’t pay for squat. I made you who you are today, and you have to live with all your cronies wondering where I am. You only got there because they liked me. I think I might make some calls to my dear friends back home today.”

  “You’ll never get a dime out of me, pet. Not even if you beg. Well, maybe if you’re on your knees while begging my name over and over again.”

  “Sorry,” Ridge said, opening the screen door and strolling in. His eyes were locked with hers, and he saw Savannah’s eyes go wide and her face flush red as she stared open-mouthed at him. She looked ashamed, and it broke his heart. She shouldn’t be ashamed. She should be proud of herself for standing up to that asshole. “But Savannah only cries my name over and over aga
in, and she never has to beg for what I give her.”

  “Ridge,” Savannah gasped on a whisper, but it was enough for Penn to hear.

  “Who the hell is Ridge? You whore. Already moving on to the next man. Watch out, man, she’ll take every penny you have,” Penn snarled over the phone.

  Ridge didn’t answer as Penn ranted. Instead he kept his eyes locked with Savannah’s as he reached over and ended the call. The phone began to ring again almost immediately, but Ridge sent the call to voicemail and then turned it off. He’d never wanted to hurt someone as badly as he wanted to hurt her ex right then.

  Ridge had made up his mind about Savannah, but after hearing that phone call, he was beginning to wonder if he’d jumped to the wrong conclusions. Savannah had high maintenance written all over her, even as she stood in jean shorts and a white tank top. But maybe it was just a defense?

  “Ridge,” she said his name and it shot fire through him. “I’m so embarrassed. I didn’t know you were here.” She was flustered, and Ridge knew by the blush across her chest and up her neck that she was horrified he’d overheard her. Hearing Penn say those things to her was too much for any gentleman to put up with. Chivalry demanded he come to her aid.

  “I’m sorry I interrupted. I know it was a private call. I just can’t stand men who treat women like that,” Ridge told her as her eyes went to the floor. “Besides, you will be calling my name over and over for what I give you.”