Rugged Fire [Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 4]

by Edith DuBois

  As soon as he made it to his Prius, he dialed Ulysses’s number. He ignored the hint of that slithery feeling when he heard Ulysses’s voice on the other end asking him what he had to report.

  When he opened his mouth to answer, he had the strongest urge to lie, to tell his boss that she’d said no, that she’d spat in his face and flat-out refused. For just a second, he imagined hanging up, driving away, and escaping to a big, anonymous city where he could have a different life and perhaps a different chance at happiness.

  He thought of Kenneth Whipple, a figure skater from Colorado Springs. He thought about how his smile sent flutters through Skyler’s gut every time he saw it. He thought about how those flutters made the flutters he’d once felt around Ulysses seem like mild indigestion. He wished his life was different. He wished he was different.

  But the moment ended. He couldn’t run away. He couldn’t do the one thing he knew he should. Instead, he said, “I have good news.”

  * * * *

  “What the hell was that?” she asked, her voice coming out like a hiss. Even though he was annoyed with her, Seb had to admire the extra sway to her hips as she stomped out of the diner ahead of him and his brother.

  “We're the ones who should be asking you that question. Were you having a meeting with Skyler Fischer? You do know that he works for Ulysses C. Norman, don’t you?”

  “Yes, thank you, I am very aware of that fact.”

  “So what the hell were you doing meeting with him?”

  “None of your b—” She froze for a second and then kept stomping. “It’s not your concern.”

  “Business? Is that what you were about to say?”

  She wheeled around. “So what if it was. I’m a business owner. I talk to businesspeople every day. There’s no law against it, is there?”

  Will stepped closer to Lianne, taking her chin gently in his hand. “Not with him. And not with the man he works for. Don’t get yourself mixed up in that. You’ll regret it.”

  She swatted Will’s hand away from her face. “Don’t think, for one second, William Carson, that you have any right to tell me what I can and cannot do, whom I can and cannot speak to.”

  “You’ve already signed the contract. You and your business are an investment. We certainly do have a say, especially when it comes to Skyler Fischer and NormCorp.”

  “So that’s all I am to you? An investment? Only worth what I can do for you?”

  Seb saw that Will was heading into dangerous territory and thought it wise to butt in before things got out of control. “No, that’s not what my brother means at all.”

  “Then please hurry up and explain. There are so many places I’d rather be right now.”

  He frowned. There was a vulnerable tremor running through her voice, shaking just below the anger. He wished he could soothe her, tell her that he and his brother were assholes that morning on the lake, but he knew that would only give her false hope. He should just cut it off high and dry, right now. She’d given them the perfect opportunity. He could turn on the coldness. He could give her the brush-off and keep their business relations strictly professional from here on out.

  But a wintry breeze came through, sweeping her hair away from her face and making her slender body shiver, despite her thick jacket and scarf. “We’re not trying to control you or make you feel stifled, but that man—”

  “And the man he works for,” Will added.

  Seb nodded. “They aren’t good men, Lianne. Whatever they’ve offered you, it’s not worth the thousands and thousands of invisible threads they’ve attached to it. If you give him your signature, you might as well sign it in blood for what he’ll make you give up.”

  “Oh please.” She hugged herself, still glaring at both of them. “Save yourself the breath.”

  Seb exchanged a glance with his brother. Will looked just as confused. “I’m not exaggerating. I’m serious, Lianne. Whatever he’s offered you, I urge you to think long and hard about accepting.”

  “Don’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  Sighing, she shook her head. “I don’t know why I keep expecting the both of you to pull your heads out of your asses.” She turned away from them and began marching toward her car again. Seb easily passed her, his long-legged gait outstriding hers in less than three steps.

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Would you care to explain yourself? Perhaps my brother did come on a little strongly back in the diner, but it’s because we are concerned for you. We don’t want you to do something that could cause years of regret later.”

  “Stop it!” she shouted, taking him aback. “Stop acting like you care. You’re only worried about your precious investment.”

  “Of course we care.” He grabbed a lock of her golden hair and rubbed it between his thumb and his forefinger, enjoying the silky grain of it on his skin. For a moment, he had a vision of her on her knees before him, his cock pulsing in and out of her mouth while she rubbed her hair all over him. On his thighs, on his kneecaps, on his stomach and on his ass. He wanted that hair everywhere.

  “Not like I mean, you don’t.”

  Her eyes locked with his. He saw the challenge in them. She wanted him to show her that he would be true, that he and his brother would cherish her and make her feel special today and tomorrow and forever.

  He couldn’t though, so he let his hand drop away from her face.

  “That’s what I thought.” After a brief glance at Will, she nodded and turned away. Stiffly she walked against the wind.

  Chapter Six

  Lianne sat curled up in her mother’s favorite chair next to the window in the living room. One of the journals lay open on her lap. She’d been reading for hours but now lifted her head to peer out the window. Night had fallen. She couldn’t see anything outside the window, but her mind played scene after scene in her head of how the afternoon could have gone differently. She kept imagining the twins taking her into their arms, right there on the street. They would tell her to be quiet and stop her silly nonsense. Of course they cared about her in all the right ways. Of course they were being ignorant dunces. Of course they wanted to fuck her in the backseat of her car right then and there.

  She shook her head, surprised at how quickly her brain went from imagining tender promises to envisioning steamy parking lot dalliances. Turning her eyes back to the journal in her lap, she continued reading an anecdote her mother had recorded regarding a mysterious gift she had been given.

  It arrived at 8:02 in the morning. I know this because I had just stepped out of the shower and glanced at the clock when I heard a knock on my door. Thinking it was Gladys next door, I didn’t bother to don anything more than my fuzzy bathrobe. What foolishness! For in my driveway was a hulking large truck. It looked like a moving vehicle, only it was all black except for some white lettering on the side. Steinway it said. I asked the man if I could help him find the right house, and he asked me if I was Emeline Seward at 207 Wicket Way, and I answered that I was, and then he informed me that a baby grand piano had been ordered for a Mrs. Emeline Seward at 207 Wicket Way. I babbled for a long moment, much to my discomfiture, but eventually we figured out that it was supposed to be an anonymous gift (as per a small note in his customer instructions). What on earth? Who do I know on this world that would send me a baby grand piano?! Or perhaps a better question would be, who do I know that could afford such a gift? I will ponder this. For quite a while, I think.

  Lianne giggled at her mother’s perplexity. She never did find out who sent her the gift, but Lianne had sold the piano after her mother passed. Regrettably she’d never learned how to play, didn’t have the propensity. She did remember, though, so many nights her mother would sing lullabies to her before sending her up to bed. She squeezed the journal to her chest, missing her mother terribly. She wished she were here to give her advice. She would know exactly what to do, especially with her unique ability. She wondered if her mother knew whom Lianne was meant to be with. She’d
met the twins. If they were supposed to be with her, her mother would have seen it.

  Lianne began reading the journals again with fervor, thinking, hoping, wishing desperately that her mother had mentioned something about it. An hour or so later, Jamie popped through the door wearing her scrubs from work at the vet’s office.

  “Hello!” she trilled, tossing her purse and keys on the desk by the front door. “Still reading your mother’s journals?”

  “Yeah, I’m only about halfway through them. It’s funny. All those years, I don’t ever remember seeing her write anything. She must have done it in strictest privacy.”

  “A woman must always have her secrets.” Jamie sashayed into the kitchen with that bit of wisdom, and Lianne could hear her opening the pantry and then the fridge. “We don’t have anything to eat.”

  “There are carrots and peanut butter, I think. And some grapes.”

  “Ick. No thank you.” She came back into the living room and plopped into the couch. “So,” she asked, “is there anything about me in those things?”

  Lianne rolled her eyes. “It’s always about you, isn’t it?” They giggled. “Yes, actually, I just read something about us both.”

  “Oh! Anything juicy?”

  “Not really, but do you remember that time during the summer before freshman year? You told me you didn’t know if you would be coming back for any more summers after that.”

  “Of course. And we made that pact out on your trampoline.”

  Lianne shared a smile with her best friend, recalling how they’d decided to spend their last night before Jamie went back to the city in sleeping bags out on the trampoline, giggling and dreaming about boys and making desperate promises to remain best friends forever.

  “Well, my mom came out to check on us in the middle of the night.” Lianne took a deep breath.

  “And?” Jamie asked at her suddenly quiet voice.

  “She wrote that we were facing each other, our hands clasped between our chest, and she wrote that she saw something.”

  “What?”

  “She said it was one of the clearest visions she’d ever seen, and she knew that you and I would remain friends for the rest of our lives. She saw that we fit here, in Savage Valley, and that our lives would become essential to this place and this place essential to our lives.”

  Lianne got chills remembering the somber tone of her mother’s entry. She’d said it was like the land had an aura, and while the two girls were sleeping, it had cocooned around them. It kept them safe, and it kept them together. Her mother had never seen anything like it, but it made her very happy, she wrote. Happier than she’d been in a long, long time.

  “What does that mean?”

  “I’m not really sure, but it makes me feel better. Like, this is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now, and no matter what happens, as long as I’m here and you’re here, everything will be just fine.”

  Jamie blew her a kiss. “Actually, now that I think about it, it makes total sense for you.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You, your business, the Carson twins. It’s like everything is coming together to keep you here and make you happy.”

  Lianne bit her lip. “About that, I’m not really sure things are going to work out exactly like I planned.”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, there was a bit of an incident with the twins.”

  “What kind of incident?”

  “The kind where they don’t want to be with me because I’m a virgin and I guess that freaks them out.”

  “They’re being idiots. Give them time. They’ll come around.”

  “It’s not just that.”

  Jamie heaved a long, dramatic sigh. “What other dumb, crazy, completely nonsensical idea have you got into your head that will keep you from pursuing that two-pack of luscious manmeat?”

  “It’s your dad, actually.”

  “What?” Jamie shot up from the couch, pinning Lianne with her fierce green-eyed gaze. “What does he have to do with it?”

  “He offered to pay for everything.”

  Jamie kept her eyes locked on Lianne’s face. “What do you mean, everything?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. My business. A storefront. Connections. All the works. I had a meeting with Skyler Fischer at Savage Hunger this morning, and he pretty much offered me everything on a silver platter.”

  Jamie scoffed. “Please tell me you dumped scrambled eggs in his lap when you said no.”

  Lianne kept her mouth closed. She’d known Jamie wouldn’t be happy with her decision, so she figured she’d sit back and do as little talking as possible to give Jamie ample venting space.

  “You said no”—Jamie glared at her—“because I know that you are the smartest, most brilliant businesswoman who only makes a decision if it is absolutely, one-hundred percent right for her company. And I also know that you know what kind of person my dad is. That with him nothing is given without the promise of something in return. So this is why I know, I absolutely know that you would never say yes to him.”

  “Umm…” Lianne bit her bottom lip and glanced at a few threads that had come loose from the armrest of her chair. She tugged on them.

  “Lianne! Tell me this instant that you said no.”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  Jamie’s mouth fell open. After a long moment she snapped it closed again. “Lianne, what have you done? Have you signed anything yet? Is it too late? Oh my god, what on Earth were you thinking?” Jamie jumped off the couch and stomped into the kitchen. Lianne heard a few cabinets being slammed. She heard the faucet, and then Jamie came to stand in the kitchen doorway with a glass of water. She tipped it up and drank the whole glass.

  When she finished, she glared at Lianne. “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “Jamie, don’t you think it’s possible you may be a tad biased in this situation?”

  “What?”

  “Don’t get mad! I just mean that, as his daughter, you maybe don’t have the best perspective on this.”

  “What the hell, Lianne? I thought you were on my side. For god’s sake, you know what he’s done. You know everything he’s said to me about coming to work for him and about living in Savage Valley. You of all people know exactly what he’s like, and you are still considering linking your business to him? You must be so far out of your mind right now. This is just”—her voice hitched up—“so insane I don’t know how to think about it. Please tell me exactly what is going through your head. I imagine it was something that made sense to you at the time, and I know your business is so important to you, but honestly, right now it really feels like you’ve betrayed me.”

  “No! No, that’s not it at all. Jamie, it’s the exact opposite of that.” Skyler had asked her not to mention Mr. Norman’s ulterior motives with Jamie, but she didn’t want Jamie thinking she’d gone behind her back or that she was acting on entirely selfish motives. “I promise you, it wasn’t just for my business. I mean, what he’s offered me is really great, and you know that. I don’t have to tell you what this could mean for me, but there other reasons, Jamie. I’ve been asked not to share them, but I promise, the money is just a part of it.”

  Jamie rolled her eyes. “If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I would say you’re full of shit. As it is, I’m still thinking about saying it.” She clanked her glass down on the counter and moved back in to the living room.

  She seemed to have calmed down a bit, so Lianne went on. “And there’s another part of this.”

  “Uh-huh?”

  “I’m not sure…” She bit her lip, unsure of how to phrase it. “I mean, with the way things are…”

  “Spit it out.”

  Lianne shot her best friend an annoyed look. Jamie shot one right back. “I don’t think working with the twins is such a good idea anymore.”

  “Not this again. You are so damn stubborn, Lianne.”<
br />
  “You don’t get it. I care about them. I have since I was twelve years old. I thought I’d gotten over it, that I’d moved on, matured, become an adult and all that. But being around them, it’s like I’m in high school all over again. I’m awkward, and I stutter, and I feel so unsure of myself. But I’m not that way anymore. With my business, I’ve found so much of myself—my strength and my purpose. They just don’t go together. I see that now, and I think I shouldn’t try to force those parts of myself together. It won’t work.” Lianne knew that answer wasn’t entirely true. She knew that if the twins had returned her interest, she would have continued working with them in an instant, awkwardness and stuttering aside. She didn’t want to admit what had happened on the porch. It was so pathetic, and the more she thought about it, the more pathetic it seemed.

  “Or you’re being a big weenie.”

  “Don’t be rude, Jamie.”

  “Look, I’m sorry I don’t feel sorry for you. If you want the Carson twins, go for it. If you don’t, please don’t whine about it to me. You’re a big girl. You have to make your own choices. As for me, I’m going to take a shower. Then tonight I’m going out and getting laid by two men who love me and don’t try to manipulate me every five seconds.”

  “Love you? What do you mean love you? Did they say that?”

  Jamie didn’t answer, only glared. Lianne could tell her guard was up. “Jamie, tell me.”

  “What if they did?”

  “Did you say it back?”

  “No wonder the twins don’t want to mess around with you. God, you are so serious about everything. It’s just a word. And yes, I did say it to them, and yes, they said it to me. Because yes, we love each other. Is that so complex an idea for you to wrap your head around? Love isn’t some crazy, complex entity that takes years and years to understand. You either love someone or you don’t and then you either act on that love or you don’t. It’s your choice. And it’s my choice to love Ezra and Cleve, and if you don’t like that, too bad. You’re my best friend, Lianne, but you don’t have the right to judge me about this. I mean, would it kill you to be happy for me?”