Rancher Under Fire

by Barb Han

  “I like my freedom,” Corbin defended, despite Adam not accusing him of anything.

  “Wasn’t talking about you.” Adam smirked.

  Corbin pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stem the headache forming. He stopped pacing long enough to meet his brother’s gaze. “I appreciate all of you, especially Mom, for what she’s doing to make Liv feel welcome again. I don’t think she’s felt that in a long time.”

  “Too bad. She’s a good person. But you need to relax. Let’s go inside and finish up lunch,” Adam said.

  “Easy for you to say. You’re not responsible for someone’s life.” Corbin realized what he’d just said a little too late to stop the train from leaving the tracks. He put his hands up. “Can we forget I said that? Chalk it up to me making another mistake?”

  Adam laughed but there was a weariness to his eyes that hadn’t been there before. He’d been through quite an ordeal in finding out he was a father, and that his baby was a target. His ex had never told him about the pregnancy. She was murdered shortly after the birth and his now wife ended up helping him save the little girl. So, there it was. Adam was probably still trying to recover from the shock of what had happened almost a month later. He’d been stabbed in the process of saving his child and, thanks to be healthy as a horse in the wild, he was recovering. Plus, he was taking care of a newborn, which could also account for the dark circles under his eyes.

  “Remember what I said about being too inside your own head, okay?” Adam opened the door.

  “I’ll do my best.” Corbin stepped into the kitchen and the scene was a gut punch. His mother, his brother, and his best friend all at the table in easy conversation, looking like they were enjoying each other’s company.

  Granted, his mother was social and could probably entertain a tree. She glanced up and smiled at him so warmly it was hard to be mad at her for interfering. Plus, she was going out of her way to make Liv feel welcome in a town that had turned their backs on her. He couldn’t be mad at his mother.

  “Should I head back to the ranch to give Prudence a break with my grandchild?” Becoming a grandmother looked good on her and she relished the role. The fact she finally had a little girl to spoil added to her enjoyment. She’d made the joke several times during their childhood that she kept having children in order to bring home a pink bundle one day.

  “Give us five minutes to finish setting the window and we can all go,” Adam said.

  Corbin checked his phone.

  “We should probably head out at the same time if we want to hear Lawler interview Ed,” Corbin said to Liv.

  The smile faded from her lips—lips he wanted to feel moving against his own like he’d imagined a dozen times already. He shoved the thought down deep. It had no place in their friendship, and he had every intention of being a better friend to her than this.

  “Thank you doesn’t begin to cover everything you did and are doing for me today,” Liv said as she walked the trio out alongside Corbin.

  The window was fixed. The house, the downstairs at least, smelled like homemade pasta, sauce, and garlic bread instead of smoke. The place felt totally different with the family together. It finally felt like a home instead of a house with history.

  “I’d like to swing by later to check on you, if it’s okay,” Lucia said as she turned around in front of the truck she’d been driven there in.

  “Are you sure?” Liv didn’t mean to question Lucia’s intentions. They were pure as Colorado snow in December. She just hadn’t figured that anyone would want to be associated with her for too long.

  “Positive.” Lucia threw her hands up. “You practically grew up at the ranch and that makes you my family. Famiglia takes care of each other.”

  Lucia brought Liv into the warmest embrace. So much so, that Liv ducked her head, chin to chest, so no one would see the moisture gathering in her eyes. She was tougher than this and yet Lucia seemed to know how to shred all Liv’s defenses, leaving her a virtual puddle of emotion. Or had it just been that long since Liv had had a mother in her life?

  The latter was probably true. It had been a long time since Liv had been brought into a motherly hug or made to feel like she was part of a family. Jackie had never taken to Liv. Her mother-in-law had snubbed her nose at Liv from the moment she’d walked into the woman’s living room.

  But then, few people were probably good enough for one of her sons, least of all a woman with no position or standing in the community. All Liv had was herself to offer and, looking back, she realized she didn’t give much of that to Kellan either. Maybe Jackie was right not to get too close to Liv. Besides, the two had very little in common and never would.

  “Think about what I said about the Paisleys,” Lucia reminded with another wink. “You could really help them get their program off the ground. As it is now, folks have to drive all the way into Austin for help and, as you know, that’s not always feasible. You could help a lot of kids in the area if you stayed.”

  No pressure, Liv thought with a laugh.

  “I’ll consider it,” she said mostly to appease Lucia. Her heart wasn’t into staying anywhere she wasn’t wanted, and the town had been clear where they stood.

  “Sometimes, the best way to put out a fire is with fire.” Lucia gestured with her hands before turning toward the truck. She was in the passenger seat and ready to go before Liv could mount a coherent response.

  And then it dawned on her. A Firebrand, namely Lucia, could stand up to another Firebrand, Kellan and his family. She understood the meaning now. All she could do at this point was smile and wave.

  “I’ll just lock up and then we can get on the road,” she said to Corbin as a piece of her heart shredded watching his family pull away. His mother would be back later and quite possibly a few of the others.

  “I can help close up the windows,” he said, following her inside.

  Liv grabbed her cell, keys, and purse. She closed windows on the ground floor while he jogged upstairs. She could keep the fans running and that should help air the place out. A shiver raced down her back at thinking what a close call they’d had this morning. Corbin had been blindsided and that wasn’t an easy feat. The perp could so easily have lit the house on fire and smoke inhalation could have killed Liv in her sleep. She made a mental note to check the batteries in the smoke alarms. Had she let them run out. Didn’t they beep when that happened?

  Of course, she’d been preoccupied when she’d come back here. And, yes, her thoughts had drifted to Corbin more than she wanted to admit. All of which fell under the category of Water Under the Bridge now.

  “All the windows are closed upstairs,” Corbin said as he walked down. The boards creaked and groaned underneath his weight. “And, don’t worry, I’m planning on staying awake tonight. I’ll grab a nap when we get back from Lawler’s office so I’ll be ready to go.”

  “I’d stay up with you, but—”

  “You have an important interview in the morning. Plus, I’m telling you that I’ll be awake so you can sleep. After recent events, I figured you’d be on full alert,” he said.

  “I was just thinking how easy it would have been for this morning to have turned out differently,” she said as she met him at the front door.

  He followed her out and she locked it.

  Corbin issued a sigh. “I’ve gone over and over it in my mind trying to figure out why I let it happen.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she countered.

  “I was being stubborn,” he said. “I should have been inside the house and then I would have heard the window breaking. No one would have been able to get to me either. Sleeping outside with my truck windows open left me vulnerable. I didn’t realize what I was dealing with before. Now, I’m prepared.”

  She walked to his truck and he opened the passenger door for her. When she looked into his eyes, all she could see was torment.

  “You don’t know how things might have turned out if you hadn’t been here at all,” she said, brin
ging her hand up to touch his face. Touching him came so naturally and felt so right. Convincing her heart she needed to keep a distance was next to impossible when he was this close.

  She pushed up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips against cheek. The contact might have only happened for a few seconds, but her body hummed with electricity long after. She didn’t dare look into his eyes when she was feeling this vulnerable. She couldn’t risk it, couldn’t risk the damage to her heart.

  But when his hand came up to her chin to lift her face toward his, she had no choice.

  “Corbin,” she said. Her protest barely a whisper.

  “I want you to look at me,” he said, and his voice was gravelly and deep.

  Heaven help her because she was in trouble. The minute she glanced up, he held her gaze. There was so much pull in that one look, she couldn’t force herself to look away.

  “What?” she finally managed to say. Her throat had dried up, making the simple act of speaking feel like she was dredging through quicksand.

  His eyes glittered with something that looked a whole lot like need, causing her breath to quicken and her pulse to climb.

  Walking away right now while there was a shred of hope she was still able would be the smartest play. Could she, though?

  “We can’t do this,” he said so low she barely heard him.

  She took a step back but he captured her wrist in his hand.

  “Hold on,” he said, his voice gravelly.

  10

  “You’re beautiful.” Corbin released her wrist before bringing his hand up to brush a few loose tendrils of hair off Liv’s face.

  He’d noticed her habit of looking away anytime someone complimented her. When they were kids, she would kick the dirt to draw attention away; in high school, she started the habit of ducking her head; and now, she averted her eyes. Small movements that gave her discomfort with attention away.

  She was honest to a fault, a quality more people should embrace. And those were just a few of her attributes that he admired.

  “Don’t say stuff like that to me, Corbin.” Again, she dropped her gaze.

  “Why not? I’ve been thinking it for so long I can’t even remember when it started. Maybe I should have said what was on my mind years ago and—”

  His cell buzzed, breaking into the moment happening between them. It was probably for the best because in the heat of the moment he’d almost confessed something she didn’t need to hear. Nothing could be done about his feelings now. He should have acted on them in the past. Because those had him falling in love with her in high school. Corbin might overthink a problem, but he’d never been one for regret. The decision to put their friendship above a relationship would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  He fished his cell out of his back pocket and glanced at the screen.

  Liv gasped when she saw Lawler’s name.

  “Hello,” Corbin said and then explained the call was on speaker. “Liv is standing right here.”

  “I thought you’d be on your way to my office by now.” Lawler sounded surprised.

  “We’re standing in front of my truck, about to get inside,” Corbin said. He could hear the huskiness in his own voice and tried to cover with a cough.

  “Don’t bother,” Lawler said, an ominous quality hung in the air. “Ed’s body was found floating in Lake Red.”

  “He drowned?” Corbin tried to wrap his mind around this development.

  “Shot in the chest at point blank range,” Lawler supplied and his voice was laced with compassion.

  “Ed was murdered?” Liv said quietly.

  “I’m afraid so,” Lawler said. “News is already spreading like wildfire thanks to the Harris family. They found him while taking their grandkids fishing and everyone was pretty traumatized.”

  “A story like this one would travel fast in a small town.” Liv glanced around like someone might be waiting in the trees to get to her.

  It couldn’t be ruled out. But if someone wanted her dead, wouldn’t they have done it this morning? Why wait?

  Standing so close, it was a little too easy to loop his arm around her waist and pull her toward him. She leaned into his body and he could feel hers trembling as he urged them toward the house, toward shelter.

  “There’s no reason for either of you to come to my office now but know that I’m going to increase patrol around your home,” Lawler said as Corbin’s phone started blowing up with texts. Proof positive that news had already traveled fast.

  “Thank you for letting us know,” Corbin said as they reached the front door. He needed to get Liv inside and then come up with a plan. Ed might have been a jerk but there was no way he deserved to have his life cut short.

  “I don’t normally comment on an ongoing investigation, but this is an exception. Given this development, it might be a good idea to keep a low profile for a few days. Stay in as much as possible. Stick together,” Lawler said.

  “Will do,” Corbin said.

  The fact Liv had clamped her mouth shut wasn’t a good sign. Naturally, she would be scared but her skin had paled. Was she in shock?

  Corbin ended the call with the sheriff as she fumbled for her house key. When she brought it out of her purse, her hand shook.

  “I can do that,” Corbin said.

  “Thank you.” She placed the key in his palm.

  He unlocked the door, and took a look around before following her inside. She dropped her purse two steps in. And then she spun around to face him. The wild look in her eyes said she was about to do something she might regret later. Caught in the same force field, all he could do was surrender to it, to her.

  He closed the distance between them in two strides and she threw her arms around his neck with the urgency of a sailboat tossing and anchor in a windstorm. Her eyes said there was a storm brewing, and a dangerous one at that.

  This would be a good time to take a step back and think over the consequences, except that Corbin couldn’t…wouldn’t do that. Instead, he brought his hands up to cup Liv’s cheeks. His lips moved toward hers, stopping halfway there.

  She responded to his lightest touch. He searched for hesitation in her eyes. Her lips would taste like the dark roast coffee they’d had after lunch. Fog filled his mind, trying to push out rational thought—thought that reminded him she was off limits.

  There would be so much heat and passion if they kissed. Corbin’s imagination went wild as to what sex might be like with Liv. He probably should rein in his thoughts, except that would be impossible as she leaned into him, her body flush with his.

  Every breath, every movement served to increase the tension cording his muscles like a spring. She dropped her hands to his shoulders where her fingernails dug in like she was trying to ground herself.

  The electricity humming through his body kicked up a few notches as their lips inched closer. All his warning flares lit up at the same time, warning him to stop before they both hit the point of no return.

  The pull was too strong. The moment happening to them had taken on a life of its own and he had no power to stop it.

  Liv had the fleeting thought she should find a way to take a step back before they couldn’t go back. Willpower wasn’t normally something she had a difficult time with…until now. Until Corbin. A kiss had been more than a decade in the making and she had no doubt it would be so hot that her bones would melt. There was nothing to do but surrender to the tide coursing over her and through her, threatening to consume her in bliss while drowning out all the horrible things happening around her. But their lips never touched.

  “Liv.” Corbin said her name, his lips moving so close to hers that she could practically feel them. Her name rolling off his tongue was about the sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

  The thought he might put the brakes on this thing happening between them caused her to loop her arms around his neck and clasp her fingers together. Electricity charged the air as her body ached for more in every possible place it could.


  “Liv,” he repeated, breathless this time. He managed to pull back enough to rest his forehead on hers as they both panted for air.

  They hadn’t even kissed and she could scarcely catch her breath. She could only imagine how mind-blowing sex would be. She didn’t dare go there, not even hypothetically.

  “I know,” she finally said when she could catch her breath enough to manage words. “We don’t need to say it.”

  “How do you know that’s what I was going to say?” He cracked a smile but didn’t budge.

  “Wasn’t it?” she asked, thinking he’d always liked to tease her by throwing a fastball when she expected a curve.

  “No. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t. But you’ll never know now because I plan to take it to my grave,” he teased. He had a way of lightening the most intense mood, but she could see the strain in his eyes.

  “Remember that time I came to school wearing my shirt inside-out?” she asked.

  “Wasn’t that in, like, fourth grade?” he asked.

  “Yes. And a group of kids made fun of me. Relentlessly as I remember,” she noted.

  “They were jerks,” he said.

  “True,” she admitted. “I thought you were going to slam Hank Jr against the wall when he did that awful impression of me.” She paused at the memory. “But, what did you do instead?”

  “Not much,” he said. “I’m sure it was nothing.”

  “No, you don’t. I’m not letting you get away with being too humble to admit you were my knight in shining armor,” she warned. “You didn’t have to fight anyone. All you did was turn your shirt inside out, and then half the kids showed up to school the next day doing the same.”

  He shrugged. “Anyone would’ve done it. The kids needed to be shown how cool it was.”

  “They looked up to you, your brothers, and your cousins,” she said. The reverse was happening to her now, but this wasn’t the time to bring it up again. In fact, she didn’t want to think about it either.

  “Adam saw what we’d done, and he was the first to follow,” Corbin said.