Maxwell, Mardi - Zane's Choice [The Doms of Club Mystique 4] (Siren Publishing Allure)
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The Doms of Club Mystique 4
Zane’s Choice
Beautiful, curvy Ravyn Templeton saw Zane Ramsey in a BDSM club in Houston three years ago. He’s haunted her dreams ever since.
Zane is an Assistant District Attorney and co-owner of Club Mystique, the BDSM club he and his brothers built on their Texas ranch. When Ravyn’s ex-husband is arrested for trying to have her killed, the case is assigned to Zane.
The moment Zane meets Ravyn he wants her and even though he knows having an affair with her will jeopardize his career, he can’t resist her. When Ravyn’s ex-husband accuses her of laundering money for a drug cartel, and she refuses to answer Zane’s questions, he leaves her.
Fate in the form of Addison Ramsey steps in and brings them together again and again. Zane has the power to save Ravyn but only if he loves her enough to fight for her.
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Romantic Suspense, Western/Cowboys
Length: 70,036 words
ZANE’S CHOICE
The Doms of Club Mystique 4
Mardi Maxwell
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
ZANE’S CHOICE
Copyright © 2014 by Mardi Maxwell
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-128-0
First E-book Publication: August 2014
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
For the dreamers who choose love.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
About the Author
ZANE’S CHOICE
The Doms of Club Mystique 4
MARDI MAXWELL
Copyright © 2014
Prologue
Sunday, September 15
Ravyn Dolman reminded herself that she was Ravyn Templeton since the divorce, then gave herself a pep talk and followed Addison Ramsey into her husband’s den. A few steps ahead of her, Addison waved her hand in a conjuring motion, then laughed and said, “Cade, guess who’s here? Zane’s friend, Ravyn!”
Ravyn could almost hear the silent “ta da,” at the end of that statement and she wondered once again if she was being played by the tiny Irish beauty. While pondering that possibility, she managed to keep a smile on her face as she took note of the people gathered in the room. When Addison grabbed her hand, she flinched then let her pull her toward a desk to their left.
Addison sent her a small grin then stepped away from her. “The press is giving her a really hard time, so I invited her to hide out with us for a few weeks. Isn’t that right, Ravyn?”
“Yes, and I appreciate the invitation.” Ravyn smiled as a large man, who looked remarkably like Zane Ramsey, stood up and stepped around the desk.
“Ravyn, this is my husband, Cade.”
Ravyn watched the exchange between the couple closely. Addison slid her arm around Cade’s waist and smiled up at him but he sent her a little frown before he suddenly looked amused then extended his hand toward her. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, Mrs. Dolman.”
She couldn’t prevent the small shudder of distaste that swept through her at the mention of her ex-husband’s name. “Templeton now, Mr. Ramsey. I’ve taken my mother’s maiden name since my divorce, but please call me Ravyn.”
Addison laughed. “If you’re going to call them all Mr. Ramsey, it’s going to get confusing quicker than usual around here.”
“Addison has a good point, Ravyn, so I insist you call me Cade.”
His voice sounded friendly but the look in his eyes was intense, as if he was seeing into her and discovering her secrets. Ravyn tried to meet his eyes, failed, and instead pretended to do a quick survey of the room. There were three other men present who looked like Zane, and then a huge man with long blond hair who reminded her of a Viking, and two other men, one with dark-brown hair and blue eyes, and one with sun-bleached blond hair and brown eyes. “Zane told me he had a large family.”
Addison laughed. “Oh, yes, very large, and I have to warn you—we’re all meddlers.”
A woman with chin-length platinum hair stood up and joined them. “Speak for yourself, Addison. I’m Jenna Parnelle, and I’m definitely not a meddler.” She waved her hand toward the dark-haired man whose lap she had just vacated. “This is my fiancé, Jackson Ramsey.”
Ravyn smiled. She’d wondered about these women ever since Zane had told her about them, and they were exactly as she’d imagined them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jenna.”
She looked up at Jackson as he moved behind Jenna and cupped her slender shoulders with large hands. “Zane has mentioned all of you so often I feel I know you.”
To her left, the last of Zane’s brothers, the twins in the family, stood up. The small, golden blonde between them stepped toward her with a challenging look on her face. “I’m Cassie Edwards.” She pointed to the man on her left. “This is my fiancé Luc Ramsey”—then she pointed to the man on her right—“and my fiancé Logan Ramsey.”
“Congratulations on your engagement,” Ravyn said, then smiled and received a smile in return from the three of them. She looked toward the last three men in the room. The huge blond approached her and held out his hand.
“Ravyn, I’m Thor Larkin. Cade and I are partners in The Larkin Agency,” he said in a deep voice that resonated through her. He flicked his thumb at the last two men in the room. “These two jokers are Mac Malone and Ben Harrington. They work for Cade and me when they aren’t gambling and drinking.”
“Hey, boss, don’t forget the ‘chasing women’ part,” the tall, sable-haired man with blue eyes said as he stepped forward and smiled down at her. “In case you didn’t catch my name, I’m Mac. I know how hard it can be to get back in the dating scene after a divorce and I’d like to help you with that, darlin’. How do you feel about spankings?”
Before she could answer him, the sandy-haired man with brown eyes shouldered him away. “You don’t ask that yet, Mac. You wait until after the first date.” He smiled down at her. “I’m Ben Harrington. Do you like to dance, honey?”
Ravyn laughed, but before she could say yes or no, the sound of the front door slamming followed by heavy footsteps hurrying toward the den drew everyone’s attention to the open doorway. A moment later, Zane Ramsey appeared. His black hair was mussed as if he’d shoved his hands through it a dozen times, and his black suit jacket was rumpled and hung open. His leaf-green eyes blazed with rage and she wanted to slip behind Thor or Mac, or even Ben for protection. Instead, she lifted her chin and dared him to do his worst. He took one step into the room before his eyes zeroed in on her.
“You can’t be here, Ravyn. This puts me in an impossible position.”
Ravyn rested a graceful hand on her hip. “Well, hello to you, too, lover.”
Zane cursed, then stalked toward her. Without pausing, he clenched his fist in the hair at her nape, then curved her into him until their noses were almost touching.
The heat from his body sent a shiver of arousal through her. “Let go, Zane.”
“You need to leave, Ravyn. Now.”
“No. I’m hiding from the press and everyone else who wants to put me behind bars—people like you.”
“Dammit, Ravyn. I told you I would protect you.”
“No, you didn’t. You said you would get me the best deal you could if I would turn state’s evidence.” She tried to move away, but he tightened his hand and pulled her head farther back while curving her pelvis against his. His erection pressed into her belly and she breathed a swift sigh of relief at the proof that he still wanted her.
“I told you from the beginning if you were guilty, I wouldn’t lie for you,” Zane said, the words gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Then you shouldn’t have fucked me.” Ravyn reached up and tried to pry his fingers from her hair. “Let go, Zane.”
“This time you’ve gone too far. Be still or I’ll beat your ass.”
“You can’t. You’re the one who set the limits of our relationship.” She gave up trying to pry his hand loose then lowered her voice. “You said fucking only. Nothing else.”
“Tell me the truth, then—tell me what you know and I’ll help you.”
“Nothing. I don’t know anything.”
“You lie to me and then you question why I won’t—” He pulled her head back until the tendons in her neck stood out. “Just don’t lie to me again. It really pisses me off.”
Ravyn glanced to her right and saw that everyone’s attention was focused on them. “Zane, let go. Everyone’s watching.”
“Don’t mind us,” Cade said. “You’d be surprised how often something like this happens around here lately.”
Zane shot a dirty look toward the room’s occupants, then focused on her again. “Everyone out.”
Cade picked Addison up, then settled in the chair behind his desk and smiled. Addison grinned at Zane, then snuggled into Cade, letting him know they were staying.
“We may have some information you might be interested in knowing, little brother.” Cade smoothed his hand down the length of Addison’s braid.
Ravyn glanced at the wall behind Cade’s desk and saw a large portrait of him and Addison. In it, Addison was over Cade’s shoulder. One of her hands grasped the waistband of his leather pants as she looked down at the camera with a huge smile on her beautiful face. Cade’s large hand nearly covered her entire bottom as he held her in place and looked over his shoulder at someone below them. The dark look of passion on their faces was mesmerizing.
That was the way she wanted to be loved. Passionately, as if her death would totally destroy the man who loved her. She glanced at Zane and wondered what he would do if something happened to her. Would he grieve, or would he just move on? Before she could come to a conclusion, the sound of Thor’s voice drew her attention away from the portrait and back to the present.
“Better get comfortable, Ravyn.” Thor pointed to the chair he’d just vacated. “This is going to take a while.”
A soft growl of anger emanated from Zane as he released her hair. She smiled and heard him growl again. Knowing he was as pissed off as she was worried made her feel better about their situation.
Ravyn slid into the chair, then crossed her long, slender legs. The skirt of her wrap dress slid apart and she saw Zane’s eyes trace up her legs. He shrugged out of his suit jacket, then loosened his tie and jerked it away. A second later, he dropped his clothing on the seat next to her, then settled onto the arm of her chair and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his white dress shirt. She saw him glance at her lap again and without thinking, she wiggled and the gap in the dress fell farther apart. He sent her a sardonic smile and a blush of unexpected shame heated her cheeks. She adjusted the skirt then rolled his tie into a tight coil. She fussed with it for a moment, then tucked it into one of the jacket pockets before she smoothed her hand over the expensive fabric. When she looked up, the eyes of the room’s occupants were on her and Zane, waiting to see what his next move would be. Next to her, he shifted and then squeezed her shoulder. “Are you with us here, princess, or are you off in your rich little world where everything is sunshine and roses?”
Ravyn sat up straighter and crossed her hands on his jacket. “I’m listening, of course, Zane.”
He nodded, then looked at Cade. “Okay, let’s hear what you have to say.”
Cade’s sigh of annoyance hissed across the room as he leaned back in his chair. “You’re aware that eight years ago Cassie was abducted by three men and held at a house for two days—when I contacted you about going to that house, Zane, we believed it belonged to Ravyn’s ex-husband, Charles Dolman.”
Ravyn tensed as Cade sent a gentle smile her way. “We know now that the house is actually your family home, Ravyn.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Zane stood up, his stance aggressive as Ravyn cried out, then collapsed back in the chair.
Cade held up his hand. “Just calm down and listen.”
Zane cursed then settled back onto the arm of Ravyn’s chair. “Go on then, spit it out, but please keep in mind I’m the prosecuting attorney on Dolman’s case.”
“Cassie was held in a room on the third floor, but she managed to escape once and make it to the first floor. She hid in the den and while she was in there she took a flash drive from the computer. She jammed it in a decorative gold-and-enamel dragon that was on the mantel. A week ago, the drive was retrieved and the room on the third floor was entered.”
“Dammit,
you promised you wouldn’t do that without a search warrant.” Zane ran his hands through his hair again, making even more of a mess of it. “Don’t tell me anything else.”
“I wouldn’t have to do shit like this if I’d killed Mendez when I had the chance, or if they’d kept him locked up the way they should have. What kind of judge releases the head of a drug cartel who was caught red-handed, Zane? Tell me that.” Cade slammed his fist down on the desk and glared at his youngest brother while he waited for an answer.
When he didn’t get one, he reached over and activated the large monitor on the wall, and a recording began to play. “This is a video of the room on the third floor. The pictures on the walls are of the women who were abducted and held in this room over the past fifteen years. The three men in the pictures are Larry Tyson, Leroy Taylor, and Dale Miller. We believe Miller is one of the enforcers for Carlos Mendez’s drug cartel and that Mendez ordered him to kill Tyler and Taylor, as well as Cassie’s father, Ryan Edwards.”
“Go on,” Zane said.
“This girl”—Cade pointed to a picture of a young girl with short, curly hair—“is Shelly Kyle. She was the daughter of John Kyle, the president of the Long Valley Bank. She disappeared fifteen years ago.”
“I remember when she disappeared,” Zane said. “Wasn’t she best friends with Earl Baume’s cousin?”
Cade nodded. “We have evidence that her father and Earl Baume were laundering money for Carlos Mendez at the time. Shelly was never found and her father died in an accident a few months after her disappearance. Earl Baume was the police officer who investigated John Kyle’s death.”