by Lora Leigh
“I’m handling this fine,” Crowe growled.
“Sure you are,” she agreed mockingly, her expression filled with blatant disbelief. “But I think Archer can handle it better.”
Crowe’s lips thinned.
A second later they twitched as his brown and gold gaze flickered with amusement. “You can tell we’re related.”
Anna’s eyes rolled at the comment. “Really? The way you ignore me, I would have thought differently.”
Crowe grunted at the comment. “Because of information that has recently come to light, it’s the decision of the owners of Brute Force to ensure your protection. You will have two agents shadowing you at all times. Shadowing you,” he emphasized. “You won’t tell anyone they’re watching you, and they will ensure no one notices them watching you.”
If she didn’t know better, by his posture, the tone of his voice, and his gaze, she would almost swear he might give a damn if she lived or died, Anna thought.
She knew better, but she let him keep talking.
From the look on Archer’s face, as well as the Callahans’, she knew arguing would do her no damned good at all. Besides, she didn’t have a death wish. She might not like having bodyguards, but it beat being forced to leave Corbin County again just to stay alive.
As he talked, and the others clarified or threw in their own ideas, Anna remained silent and just watched.
She mostly watched Archer and Crowe.
She knew why she was fascinated with Archer, especially now that he’d shown her the pleasure he could give her.
Crowe was just a cousin who had ignored her every time she’d attempted to speak to him. Crowe, Rafer, and Logan. They’d all but disowned her from the moment she’d been born.
Until it appeared she needed them?
She couldn’t understand the change in attitude, and she wasn’t certain she wanted to understand it.
Crowe’s change in demeanor didn’t just extend to her, though. It had begun, as she understood it, just after the Slasher had attacked him, his cousin Logan, and Logan’s lover, Skye, at Crowe’s cabin.
Crowe had been rendered unconscious for several hours before a huge she-wolf burst through a window and chased the assailant off. That wolf had saved not just Crowe’s life, but also Logan’s, Skye’s, and that of Skye’s unborn child.
The story behind the animal? Anna wasn’t certain. She knew the rumors of it were spreading like wildfire.
Everyone who knew Crowe had commented on the change from hard, bitter, and icy to one of a more thoughtful, if often confrontational, demeanor.
He’d always been slightly mocking, but never too prone to call individuals on their switch between hating Callahans and supporting Callahans as he was known to do now.
After more than twenty years of deliberate cruelties that had been dealt to them, it seemed everyone loved them now that he and his cousins had secured their inheritances.
Especially after helping to establish two new businesses with the potential to be long-running, and rumors of turning the previous Callahan and Ramsey ranches into a resort. The respect was pouring from the fine citizens of Corbin County with such sickening sweetness it was pathetic.
“Is this all agreeable to you, cousin?” He emphasized the relationship once again.
“The next time you call me cousin, cousin, I suggest you do so without the tone.” Leaning forward, she confronted him irately, knowing that even though she wasn’t being forced from the County again, her life wasn’t yet her own. “I’ve never treated you with anything but respect, and damn you, Crowe Callahan, you won’t treat me any differently.”
Tension filled the room for long seconds as his gaze locked with hers, and Anna felt pure determination burning inside her. She’d be damned if she would let him treat her as though she had.
His jaw clenched and his gaze flared with momentary anger before his lips tilted just slightly. A second later a glimmer of amusement sparked in the oddly colored depths of his eyes before he inclined his head in agreement.
“Very well, cousin Anna,” he emphasized her name instead. “Are you willing to work within the parameters we’ve set up?”
“Do I have a choice?” she muttered, sitting back in her chair once again as she breathed out wearily. “Who knew wanting to come home could turn into such a life-or-death decision?”
“It could be worse,” Crowe pointed out, bitter pain flashing in his eyes now. “You could be facing the death of every past lover you’ve had.”
She slid a look in Archer’s direction.
Hell, she didn’t have past lovers, thank God. What she did have was one far-too-stubborn lover who seemed to think he was now responsible for her life as well as her pleasure.
Which would have been okay if love were actually involved on his end, rather than just lust.
Her gaze then turned to Rafer and Logan, both of whom now lived daily with the knowledge that if they made one mistake, blinked too long, or dared to drop their guard for a second, then the women they loved would die.
In Logan’s case, his unborn child would die as well.
“I don’t know how any of you have borne that pain,” she finally said compassionately. “Or how you’ve borne what this County and your families have done to you and your cousins over the years. It was wrong, Crowe. But there are so many who were not a part of those years who are willing to stand behind you. Who are willing to help you. Don’t turn your back on them because of what others did in the past.”
His lips pursed for a moment, the roughly handsome features frighteningly savage for one long moment. “Lectures weren’t on my agenda today, nor was anyone’s pity. If you don’t mind? Now.” He turned to the bodyguards. “Thaddock, Stryker, and Owen Brolen are invisible. As for Rory, he’s known Archer for several years and he’s in town to visit for a while. He’s renting the Brocks’ garage apartment next to Archer. His morning jog will coincide with your walk to work. He’ll get off work next door about the same time you do, and he’ll walk you home if Archer isn’t available to see you home.”
He would never stop resenting her, she feared. And a part of her couldn’t blame him. She would have argued it, but at the moment she had a far more imperative battle to fight.
“Why? Why is someone so determined to keep me out of Corbin County? To keep me from associating with the three of you?”
“That’s what we’re hoping to find out, quickly,” Archer assured her, his dark voice sending an unbidden thrill of sensation racing up her spine. “We’ll figure it out, Anna, I promise.”
Archer always kept his promises. She just hoped the price they paid for the truth was one they could all live with.
CHAPTER 10
“Very well, then.” Crowe gave a slow nod of his head as he rose from his seat. “Thaddock and his team will head out and, within hours, at least one will be in place at all times to ensure you’re protected. Rory will leave as he came in, unobtrusively.”
“In the trunk of Thaddock’s car.” Rory snickered. “Mine was left in Montrose.”
“He’ll return this evening and move into the apartment,” Crowe finished as he picked up his files. “I’m sure you’ll probably have more questions. Archer can answer them. We went over the plan extensively with him before calling you in.”
Oh, had they?
Wasn’t it rather nice of him to discuss it with her?
She felt as though her life was being taken over again. Controlled again.
Nodding, she waited until they all filed out, then watched as Archer rose from his chair and moved to the door. The click of the lock was loud, causing her head to jerk around as she watched him, her eyes narrowing.
He looked hot as hell.
He was dressed in his customary uniform of jeans and the dun-colored sheriff’s shirt, his badge clipped to his belt next to his holstered weapon. Scuffed, well-worn boots covered his feet. His expression was frankly sensual.
“You didn’t discuss any of this with me first,”
she pointed out. “I hate that, Archer.”
Surprise had his brows lifting as he stared down at her.
“I assumed you would know I wouldn’t leave you unprotected, Anna. Just because you’re living with me doesn’t ensure you won’t be in danger. For some reason, a madman decided you were never to stay long in this County after you turned nine. I want to know why, but I also want to make damned certain you’re not hurt in the bargain.”
“And you couldn’t discuss it with me?” The knot of anger that had been growing inside her began to tear.
Coming to her feet, Anna confronted him, feeling her hands shaking with anger even as her body burned with arousal for him.
She couldn’t shake the need for him, even in anger. She couldn’t shake years of fantasies and an aching hunger for his touch, no matter how she tried. Even now, in the face of the knowledge that he was making decisions for her, that he wasn’t discussing them with her, she couldn’t shake that need.
“You’re getting angry over nothing.” His arms went over his chest as he glared down at her. “You should have known, at some point, a decision like this would have to be made.”
“Just as I assumed, at some point, you would discuss it with me first.” Placing a hand on her hip she tapped her index finger slowly to hold on to her patience. “I don’t like being controlled, Archer, especially by you.”
It seemed that no matter how hard she tried, the madder she became with Archer, the more it hurt and the more she ached for him.
“Anna, I wasn’t trying to control you—”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing.” Pushing her fingers through her hair, she turned and stalked to the other side of the room before turning back to him. “You had me called in here like a child, and the decisions were made as though my opinion didn’t matter. And it should matter. My opinion matters, Archer.”
It should have mattered, she told herself. It was her life. Just as it should have mattered to her family. Once she was old enough to hear the truth, she should have been told.
They should have let her come home.
“Controlling you was the last damned thing on my mind,” he growled. “When I told Crowe and his cousins about the meeting with the ‘Barons,’ the subject of your safety became uppermost. It’s not as though we were discussing it for weeks, dammit. It was done right here in this fucking room, the decision made thirty minutes before you were called in.”
Anna clenched her teeth. Seeing the logic in it didn’t help.
Of course she could see how it could have happened, but it shouldn’t have happened.
“The minute my name came up in the same sentence with protection, you should have had them send for me,” she cried out. “Don’t do this to me, Archer. Don’t treat me like my family has all my life. Don’t take the choice out of my hands, because I won’t have it.” Before she could stop herself she was striding to him, her hand jerked from her hip, her index finger pressing firmly into his chest with furious demand. “Not from my family, not from Crowe, and I damned sure won’t have it from my lover.”
“Exactly, your fucking lover.” He jerked her to him.
One hand held her hip, the other wrapping around her back as she found her body suddenly flush with his, her hands pressing against his chest in surprise. “I’m your damned lover, Anna. You are my lover, and don’t think for one minute I won’t do exactly what it takes to protect you. You want to work? Work. You want to live in Corbin County, Aspen, or Tim-fucking-buktu, then that’s your decision if I can’t talk you out of it. You want to buy a new car? New shoes? A fucking horse to ride to work? I don’t give a damn. But by God, when it comes to making damned sure you’re warm and safe, then don’t think for one fucking minute I won’t do exactly what I have to do to keep you warm and safe.”
Shock reverberated through her.
He glared down at her as though what he felt for her might, just might, be more than just lust.
“Next time, discuss it with me first,” she demanded furiously, though she could hear the weakness in that demand. And she could feel the hunger for him beginning to race through her bloodstream at the feel of his erection pressing against her lower stomach. “I don’t care where or when the discussion comes up. My protection, where I live, when I live, is all my business and I won’t be left out of the conversation.”
And she really needed that demand to sound more like a demand.
“If you’re there.” His head lowered, his lips inches from hers. “If whether or not you agree with the decision makes a difference in the decision being made. And as long as it has nothing to do with whether you live or die.”
Her nostrils flared. Her lips parted to flay him alive for his arrogance when he suddenly covered them.
Before she could snap her teeth down on his tongue as it pushed past her parted lips, his hand was at her jaw, preventing it. His kiss demanded, moved over her lips and, far too quickly, there was no chance in hell of daring to actually bite his tongue for its demanding invasion.
A moan tore from her despite her attempts to hold it back.
Pleasure began to invade her, the anger-based adrenaline suddenly turning to hunger, to flames of need striking at her clit, her vagina, and racing to her nipples. All the flesh in between began to heat as well, each cell in her body suddenly aching for his touch.
She was hungry for him. It had only been hours since he’d had her, since the hard length of his cock had filled her, possessed her, and she wanted it so desperately now that arguing with him was a thing of the past.
She had no idea what the argument was even about any longer.
A shiver raced up her spine as heat sparked, hot and tempting, spearing straight to her womb as her pussy began to ache, to clench in hungry need.
She’d told herself she wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t allow it. That she would not let him control any part of her. But he controlled this. The need, the desperation for his touch. He controlled it with such need she was moaning for more.
“I’ve been dying to fuck you since seeing you in this skirt this morning. If you hadn’t run out so fast, I would have had you before you left the house,” he breathed out roughly, his hands sliding from her hips to her thighs, bunching the material in his hands, pulling it up far enough that his hands could cup the curves of her ass left bare by the silk of her thong panties.
Slick and hot, her juice gushed from her vagina, the feel of it sliding over the sensitive inner flesh dragging a low moan from her.
Archer’s lips covered hers, his tongue licking over the seam of her lips. Pleasure washed over her, through her, as his lips sipped at hers, his tongue licked and stroked, penetrating her lips with a slow, sensual glide.
She could be pissed later, Anna decided. Right now she wanted him, ached for him.
She wanted to fill the loneliness with his touch, the hurt and betrayal that lived inside her with pleasure.
Parting her lips, Anna’s tongue peeked out as his licked over the lower curve. Her hands, at first pressed against his shirt, then moved to the buttons holding the material together.
Clumsy, fumbling, Anna struggled with the too-tiny discs until, finally, the last one came free, revealing the hard contours of his chest and the light mat of dark blond curls that tempted her fingers.
*
Pushing back, Anna stared up at him, and Archer had no idea what was causing his chest to tighten. His body hardened with such feeling that making sense of it was impossible.
“Archer,” she whispered, her hands tightening on the material of his shirt, trying to still the trembling he’d glimpsed.
There was a need in her eyes, a hunger he couldn’t decipher.
Her lips trembled before she stilled them as well, but she couldn’t erase the unconscious plea in her gaze that she had no idea she was showing him.
“Whatever you want, Anna,” he told her, his lips brushing against hers, watching her pupils flare, watching the lust, seeing some deeper, darker emotion he co
uldn’t allow himself to acknowledge in the dark sea-green of her eyes.
Clenching his fingers in the curve of her ass, feeling the muscles beneath his hold, left him fighting the need to take her as fast, as hard as possible.
But it wouldn’t be enough, Archer knew. It wouldn’t be enough for him, because he could sense what she was silently aching for, feel it in the tightening of his chest though he was unaware of exactly what it was.
“Tell me, Anna,” he said. “Tell me what you want, baby. Don’t you know I’d give you anything you asked for? If I have it, it’s yours.”
If he could give it to her without asking, then he would. If he could read the desire raging in her eyes, then he would do whatever he had to, to ensure she had it.
She licked her lips, the sight of her little pink tongue tasting her lips tightening his balls. Her breathing accelerated, her breasts rising and falling beneath the light, silky material of the white sleeveless blouse.
Her gaze turned somber then, a flash of uncertainty sparking deep in the pretty green orbs.
Archer lowered his lips to her ear again, caressing the curve of the delicate shell.
She arched against him, her head tilting to the side to give him greater access to the flesh beneath her ear as he began kissing the soft curve.
“Please, Archer. Take me now. I don’t want to wait.” She shook her head and he could see the uncertainty, the hesitancy raging inside her.
She could ask him to take her, but whatever need was eating her alive, she wasn’t yet comfortable asking for.
“Don’t you trust me, Anna?” he whispered, kissing the corner of her lips.
Her lips trembled.
There were no tears in her eyes, but the need was only growing, burning hotter inside her.
“I trust you with my life.”
But did she trust him with her dreams?
Lifting his hand, his fingers touched her cheek, his thumb brushing against her lips. “Sweet Anna.”
A part of him knew what she wanted. Knew and ached to give it to her.
Burying his face against the curve of her neck, a grimace tightened his expression as he fought to hold back, to at least take her easy.