“A TV,” Ford requested.
“Anything else you’d like for the next time you come over?”
“A woman of my own,” Ford shot back. “I’m tired of watching these two have all the fun.”
Luna and Sadie both laughed. Rory wore the same prideful expression Colt felt, knowing he had a woman like Luna by his side. They might have just begun this relationship, but the way he felt about her went deeper than anything he’d ever felt for another woman. She belonged to him. A hard thing to admit for a guy who’d sworn he wasn’t looking for anything more than fun. Now, setting up house for her here, thinking about what this place would be like once she got it furnished, what it would be like to live here with her and make it their home, well, it sank in and took hold. He didn’t even try to fight it. He didn’t want to. As much as he told himself to stop dreaming of a life with her here for reasons that didn’t make much sense anymore, he let those dreams sprout and take root. It might take time for them to get there, but he wanted it. He wanted her to be a real and lasting part of his life. He wanted what Rory found with Sadie. What he imagined his parents shared and lost way too soon. He never thought he’d want that, let alone find it, but he had a chance with Luna. A second chance he would do anything within his power to hold on to and make her happy.
“Colt?”
“Huh. Yeah?”
“You must be tired, too.” Luna touched his arm and squeezed. The heat raced through his system, making him want more. “Everyone is leaving.”
Rory and Ford gave him one of those looks, like he’d lost his mind and gotten drunk on the woman beside him. True. On both counts.
“Right. It’s late. Long day. You must be ready for bed.”
Rory and Ford both snickered, turned, and walked out of the kitchen, Sadie shoving Rory along to get him to shut up.
Luna tried to hide her own sweet smile. “Thank you for helping today. You went above and beyond with what those guys did to this place.” Luna walked beside him to the front door, where the other three waited to say goodbye. “You guys are the very best of friends. Thanks for moving me and taking time off work to do it in the middle of the week. I can’t thank you enough.”
Rory patted her shoulder. “You’re welcome. See you soon.”
Sadie hugged Luna again. “Call me in the morning. We’ll make plans.”
“Definitely.”
Ford hugged Luna. “Be careful tomorrow when you meet Simon.”
“I will. Toby will be with me. I start being a rancher tomorrow.”
Rory and Sadie walked down the porch steps. Rory called back, “You’ll be great at it.”
Ford gave them a wave and headed for his truck, too.
Alone on the porch with Luna, Colt held back until his brothers drove away.
“What’s the matter, Colt? Something has been weighing on your mind since Simon left.”
“What he said about my using you for this place . . .”
Luna placed her hand on his chest. “Stop right there. I know how things went down between the two of us before Wayne died. I know how I felt about you then. I know how I feel about you now. I do not think, nor have I ever thought, you are the type of person to use anyone to get something you want.”
“You mean that.”
She really did. She recognized it wasn’t a question, so she didn’t respond with anything more than a simple nod.
“Will you be all right here alone?”
She leaned up and kissed him softly. That was the first time she’d done so without him kissing her first since they resolved their past.
“You’re sweet, but I’ll be fine. After the day we’ve had, I’m going to crash and get an early start tomorrow. Big day at my new job.”
“I’ll be by sometime tomorrow to check on you.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Yes, I do. As much as I hate to leave you now, I won’t make it through a whole day without seeing you.”
She smiled up at him, her hand still on his chest. She must feel his pounding heart after he said that to her. He hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but it was God’s honest truth.
“Okay, so long as it’s not because you don’t think I can run this place without you.”
Colt fell back a step, completely shocked. Luna’s hand fell to her side.
“Why would you think such a thing?”
“It’s a daunting task. You know what I’m facing. If you think I can’t do it, well, I’ve got to wonder if I can.”
Colt went to her, cupped her face in his hands, and tilted her head so he could look straight down into her eyes. “You can do this. It’s hard work, but nothing you can’t handle. When you put your mind to something, you get it done. You’ve got me to back you up if you need me, but I don’t think you will. I know you can do this on your own.” Colt took a breath and let his heart speak. “I’m just hoping that maybe we’ll get to that point where you don’t want to do it alone.”
Her eyes went wide with that admission, then softened and filled with dawning understanding that he meant it. He leaned down and kissed her softly, brushing his lips against hers. One taste of her and he sank in to tempt her into giving him everything. He wanted to take her inside and make love to her, but it was still too soon. Too new. Besides, he liked this thrill and the anticipation building between them. She’d go willingly, but Colt wanted more time to solidify the foundation of their friendship and the deeper part of their relationship. If the way she kissed him told him anything, it was that the physical part of their relationship would be explosive. That part had always come easy to him. The part about getting to know her, building something deeper and more meaningful took time. Patience he hoped he had, because when her tongue slid along his and her body pressed against him, all he wanted to do was sink into her and burn in the fire they created.
Colt kissed her one last time, long and deep, hoping she understood how much he hated to leave her. When he softened the kiss and laid his lips against hers and held it, her grip on his back let loose. Her hands swept up his shoulder and down to his hips. Only then did he break the kiss and stare down at her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He kissed her on the forehead and let her go. He made himself walk down the stairs and across the yard to his truck. He got in, started it, but stared at her standing on the porch in the soft pool of light, shiny on her dark hair and casting shadows over her beautiful face.
I’ll keep you safe. A promise to her, one he intended to keep.
Home, Rory and Ford waited on the porch for Colt to join them. He fell into the chair beside theirs.
“Did you tell her about the dead rats in her bathtub and the ‘Sell’ message in their blood on the tiles?” Rory asked.
The rage came back in a wave through Colt’s body, making him tense and ready to punch the asshole who did that bit of nasty business. “No. And I’m not going to.”
“What are you going to do?” Rory’s hard gaze bore into him.
“Spend as much time as I can over there without her getting suspicious that I’m guarding her.”
“This is some fucked-up shit.” Ford leaned forward and planted his forearms on his knees.
“Did you talk to Toby, Rich, Artie, and Ed about what happened and watching out for her when I can’t?”
Ford nodded. “They’ll try to make sure she’s never alone. They’ll talk to the other men about keeping a close eye on everything, including her.”
“Good.”
“Let’s hope now that she’s there, and the family is out, they’ll settle down and let this thing go.” Rory didn’t make that optimistic statement sound plausible in the least.
“What did you guys think of Simon?”
“He’s an asshole,” Ford said.
“He’s got his sights set on Luna.” Rory’s assessment surprised Colt.
“Why do you say that? He and the whole family think she slept with Wayne.”
“I’m not sure he actually thinks that, but
it wouldn’t surprise me if he made a play for her. Cozy up to her, get her to trust him, then get her to hand over what he wants,” Rory added.
“No way. Luna won’t fall for that crap.”
“He tried to make you look bad to Luna so he’d have a chance with her. Watch your back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept trying to undermine you with her. If they can separate her from you, her friends, and get her alone and vulnerable, they’ll use it to their advantage to pressure her into doing what they want.”
“Man, Rory, you really know how to make a guy feel good about leaving her there alone. Thanks. I’ll never sleep again.”
“Sure you will. Go back and sleep with her,” Ford suggested.
Colt raked his hand through his hair, contemplating that very thing. “We’re not there yet.”
“You two looked real close today,” Rory said. “Sadie even commented about how happy Luna seemed with you.”
“Well, that’s something.” And great news that Sadie and Rory both didn’t mind his relationship with Luna. At least for now, when things were good. “Still, I’m not going back there to sleep with her just to keep her safe. It’s gotta be more. It’s gotta be right.”
“Reeeally,” Ford said, one eyebrow cocked up nearly to his hairline. “Since when do you need a good reason to sleep with a beautiful woman?”
“She’s not some girl I picked up in a bar or met at a party.”
“So, she’s special?” Rory asked, genuine interest in his voice.
Shit. Now they wanted to know everything Colt was still trying to figure out for himself.
“She’s something.” Special yes, but more. Hell, he didn’t know how to explain her, them.
“Well, the fact that you want more than to just sleep with her should tell you something.” Ford chimed in with that bit of wisdom.
“I want her, okay? But please don’t get any ideas about planning a double wedding. And for God’s sake, don’t tell Granddad that Luna’s anything more than . . .”
“What?” Ford asked, smiling like a crocodile. “Your girlfriend?”
“Don’t tell Granddad that you love her?” Rory asked.
“What? No.” He didn’t love her. She wasn’t his girlfriend. Wait, that didn’t sit well.
Colt didn’t do relationships. He had friends with lots of benefits. But Luna felt like more than a friend. He went out with those other women. Dinner. Movies. Drinks at the bar, but he’d never taken the time to replace a light, or move them into a new place. Something deeper connected him to Luna. He wanted to share the pieces of himself he didn’t share with anyone but his family. His need to protect her, to be with her was unlike anything he’d ever felt.
His insides knotted. His heart jackhammered in his chest. He found it hard to breathe beneath the band squeezing his ribs. What the hell was she? He’d never put a label on what he had with a woman, so why did he feel the need to put one on what he had with Luna?
Oh hell no. He wasn’t going to sit here analyzing how he felt about Luna with his brothers. “I’m going to bed.” He rose and went through the front door with Rory and Ford sharing a laugh at his expense.
He didn’t sleep for hours that night, too worried about Luna alone at Rambling Range. One horrible nightmare after another kept him tossing and turning in his bed until he forced himself to think about her in another way. He focused on the kisses they shared and fell into a dream so filled with passion and need that he reached for her in the night, believing it was real. He woke at dawn with her taste on his tongue, the feel of her body against his, the memory of her wrapped around him, and Rory’s question ringing in his head. “Do you love her?”
Chapter 14
Simon slammed the door to his house and headed for his car. He set his second mug of coffee on the roof and fished his keys from his jeans. He’d given up a perfectly good job as a district rep, which paid a decent salary and consisted of him mostly taking clients out to lunch, bullshitting his way through a meal, talking up the company and their lame products, and collecting on the commission when the sales rep closed the deal. The sales rep did most of the work, he reaped the benefits. His kind of job.
Now he found himself falling into his car half asleep at dawn to head over to a ranch he didn’t own, to do dirty, hard work he didn’t want to do or care about, all so he could schmooze some waitress who probably didn’t know the first thing about running a business, let alone a ranch the size and scope as the one his father had the audacity to leave her.
Simon slammed his palm into the steering wheel. Pain shot up his arm and his palm tingled like a thousand tiny pin pricks. “What the fuck, Dad? How could you leave it all to her?”
“We’d all like to know that.”
Simon jumped and pressed his hand over his thrashing heart. “Damnit, Josh, you scared the shit out of me.”
Josh didn’t apologize or care. He stood next to the open car door staring down at Simon. “Don’t you look like Farmer John this morning in your jeans, boots, and button-up plaid? I guess if you’re going to make her believe you like working there and ranching is your life, you need to look the part.”
Simon let the Farmer John comment go with a resigned sigh, knowing that he wasn’t getting out of this talk with his brother. “What do you want?”
“I want to know what the hell you’re up to, little brother.”
“Getting my fifty percent.”
“You really think she’s going to let that happen? Hell, son, you’ve lost your ever-loving mind.” Josh added some extra twang to his words.
“Who sounds like a farmer now?”
“Get your head out of your ass and think. The terms say she decides if you get that fifty percent. She says if she thinks you’ve worked hard enough, loved that place enough to have any of it. We need her to sell. Ten million is a hell of a lot better than eighteen months of hell to get nothing.”
“With what that place earns a year and over a lifetime, hell, I can sit back and let others do the work and collect. I’ll never have to work again.”
“You’re not listening. She’s never going to let that happen.”
“She’s sappy and sentimental. She’s not a rancher. So long as I do better than her, it’ll be enough.”
Josh shook his head, a deep frown drawing lines on his rugged face. His eyes were bloodshot from another night of too much drinking. At this hour of the morning, Josh probably hadn’t even been to bed.
“Whose idea was it to mess up the house? Yours? Aunt Bea’s?”
Josh’s face softened. He placed his hand over his chest and declared, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, well, knock that shit off. She knows it’s you, or at least us. You’re lucky she didn’t call the cops. All you did is piss her off and that cowboy she was with at the hospital.”
“You don’t want to mess with him,” Josh warned, shaking his head. “He’s a Kendrick. Colt. The youngest. Word is, they’re some badass brothers. The oldest, Rory, got into it with some drug dealers recently. He shot one dead.”
“Great. Do me a favor, stop doing whatever it is you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing anything.” The innocence Josh put into the words didn’t ring true. “I got my million bucks. I’m counting on you to convince her to sell.”
“That’s not my goal. I want that fifty percent share.”
“You won’t be saying that in a week. You prefer a cushy leather chair to a saddle every day of the week and a job where everyone else does the work. You and me, we’re cut from the same cloth, and it ain’t plaid.” Josh sneered at Simon’s shirt again.
“I’ve always been good at getting others to do the work while I still get the credit. This time won’t be any different.”
“That’s what you think. You and I both know there’s no getting out of shoveling shit, branding those damn smelly cattle, or winding your way across a field in a tractor. You better rethink your plan and your priorities. Ten million is on the line.
I’m already up double what you got, taking this stupid deal to work there. Make sure you don’t end up with nothing.”
That half mil got him out from under his debt and gave him a nice cushion, but it wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot. He’d have to make it last over the next year and a half, longer if she didn’t give him what was his by right. By birth.
He’d play things straight for now, but if he even thought she was out to fuck him over, he’d set his other plan in motion.
Simon slammed the car door on his brother. He started the engine and revved it, making Josh back up. Simon backed out of the driveway, hit the brakes, and cursed when his coffee mug thumped across the roof and down the back window, spilling coffee all down the glass and dropping with a metal clink on the pavement.
“Fuck.”
This day couldn’t get any worse.
Chapter 15
Luna stood in the kitchen, finishing her second cup of coffee. She bit off the corner of a piece of toast with raspberry jelly, licking off the dollop that landed on her finger. She leaned over the counter, studying the list of items she needed to buy, which included stools to go on the other side of the island so she had someplace to sit in the kitchen. A cute little table for the alcove by the windows. New pots and pans, suitable for her amazing kitchen. Her one pot and two pans weren’t going to cut it. With the means to buy anything she wanted, she planned to have all the things she’d done without for so long. Goodbye shoebox apartment living. Hello custom kitchen, walk-in closets bigger than her car, and spacious rooms she could fill with things she loved.
Like books.
Which she already had in abundance. Anxious to unpack the two boxes she’d left next to the closed and locked library doors, she pulled the keys from her purse and headed for the library. She stared at the array of keys on the ring Mr. Manning gave her. She tried one, then another, and finally got it on the third try. She slid the heavy carved wood pocket doors open and stared at the mess inside.
Her Renegade Rancher EPB Page 13