by CP Smith
As if my threat mattered little to Chance, he ignored my outburst and kept scanning the bar. His searching stopped and his eyes grew even wilder in the low light of the bar. Then he tipped his head back and thundered, “Kenzie!” followed by an ancient native battle cry that sent chills running down my spine.
Logan moved in front of Chance when he took a step forward, stopping Chance in his tracks. Then Ty moved in next to Logan and crossed his arms in the universal man speak for ‘not a step farther.’ One by one, the rest of the bar patrons formed a semi-circle behind them both, pushing me farther back with each step until I was standing next to Kenzie and Jordan, with Max at my side.
Chance scanned the crowd in front of him and sneered. You could tell he thought everyone in front of him was beneath his notice.
“I guess Chance found out about our fundraiser,” Kenzie said blandly. “Good. Maybe he’ll choke to death on his anger.”
Jordan snorted her agreement.
“Let me through,” Chance ordered the crowd in front of him, glowering as if his spoken word was law.
“You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming here,” a voice rang out.
“Not on our watch,” another joined in.
“Think you own everything,” a woman shouted, “but not us!”
I noticed Duke was leaning against the bar with a beer in hand, looking bored. When Chance tried to push through Ty and Logan, and they forced him back with the bulk of their bodies, I expected Duke to get involved. Instead he turned his back and took a deep pull from his beer.
“So that kiss?” Jordan asked with a chuckle.
I ignored her. I was too concerned with the state of play in my bar to give her question any thought. Besides, I hadn’t had time to process it yet.
“I knew when he walked inside the diner this morning, he’d be a man who took charge. If you get tired of him, Skylar, throw him my way. I’d love to take him for a test drive.”
My attention was fixed on Chance—and all the ways I could fillet him like the shark he was—but her implication made its way through my rage.
“Wait, I thought you’d already slept with Logan?”
Her mouth pulled into a smirk. “I work fast, but not that fast. Besides, he turned me down two minutes after we met. All he wanted to talk about was you.”
I blinked, caught off guard by her answer, but I didn’t have time to process that bit of information because Chance suddenly threw a punch at Logan—which he blocked like the trained soldier he was—and received an uppercut for his trouble from Ty in the process. Then all hell broke loose as every man and woman seemed to descend on Chance at the same time. I lost sight of Logan when the bar emptied before my eyes and the fight spilled out onto the street, leaving Kenzie, Jordan, Duke, and myself alone.
Duke glanced my way and smiled, then toasted me with his beer.
“Shouldn’t you break that up?”
“Break what up? I had my back to the room and didn’t see anything.”
I looked at the women standing beside me and grinned. “Works for me.”
“Sooo, about that kiss?” Jordan asked again.
I glanced at Kenzie. If I was going to process the kiss, I needed to be absolutely certain about Logan and her. “Breakfast was at the diner, not at your house?”
She nodded. “He came in while I was there, right after Josh and Jake fought.”
“And all he did was talk about me?”
“It was twenty questions about you and your brothers. Jordan can fill you in. She was there.”
Jordan nodded in agreement. “The moment he found out what was happening with you and Chance, he made it clear he was staying in Ennis. That he was here for you!”
I didn’t get a chance to process that bit of information either before the door opened and Logan came marching in, looking like someone was about to die. But his focus was solely on me, so I swallowed back a nervous giggle.
He said not a word as he walked up and grabbed my hand, then kept walking toward my office. I looked over my shoulder and bugged out my eyes at Kenzie and Jordan, right before my office door slammed open and I was hauled inside. Once I cleared the door, Logan put a hand to my stomach and backed me up against the wall, boxing me in with both of his arms. His attention dropped to my mouth when I licked my lips nervously, and he mumbled, “Where were we?”
Considering everything that had happened, I couldn’t help but giggle softly at the absurdity of the day. Logan’s face softened in reaction, and it was beautiful to watch. He’d seemed tense most of the day, haunted by something when he thought no one was looking, so seeing his face relax put me at ease.
He reached up and cupped my face with both hands, stroking the apple of one cheek, staring intently at me. “There is no Kenzie and me. Or anyone else for that matter, if you’re asking. I met her this morning at the diner. Jordan had already filled me in on Chance when Kenzie introduced herself. I figured out pretty quickly she hated your brother, so I pointed out that helping you would be a great way to fuck with him.”
He’d been taking care of my brothers and me from the moment he walked up to my truck. “Logan, I . . . Does the army train you all to be white knights or something? Because you’ve gone above and beyond from the moment you met us.”
With a chuckle, he pressed his body into mine. “They trained me to kill through the scope of a gun. To win at all costs. And I do it with extreme efficiency when something stands in the way of my prime directive.”
“And what’s your prime directive now that you’re a civilian?”
He leaned in farther and nipped my bottom lip in answer. “Finding peace,” he whispered, before devastating my senses with a searing kiss.
In my twenty-three years, I’d never been kissed like that. It felt as if Logan was desperate to inhale me. Like he couldn’t breathe unless he kissed me, and it was intoxicating. My hands moved of their own volition, tugging at his shirt until I could touch the warmth of his skin. When I ran my hands over the plains of his hard muscles, Logan shuddered beneath them. Kissing him was like consuming a drug. My body relaxed fully, my head spun, and time disappeared until the only thing that mattered was the way he made me feel.
“I dreamt about this in the desert.” He spoke those words softly between drugging kisses and nipping the skin on my neck. “Dreamt about finding a woman like you.”
Needing air so my head would stop spinning, I pulled my head back and looked up at him. “A woman like me?”
Dipping his head, he rested his forehead against mine and took a shuddering breath. “A woman who consumes me so completely, the ghosts in my head are at peace.”
My own breath skipped. I’d seen those ghosts working behind his eyes, knew he’d seen more death than most would encounter in two lifetimes. “How is that possible? You barely know me.”
“The how doesn’t matter, the only thing that does is from the moment I walked up to your truck, I’ve been able to think more clearly than I have in a year. You broke through the prison of guilt I’d wrapped myself in.”
Tears threatened, but I held them back. Logan had to be the strongest man I’d met since my father, yet he’d freely admitted he was vulnerable. I figured he deserved to know the feeling was mutual. That he’d broken through my fear until I could breathe again. That when he was in the same room with me, I felt safe.
“Then we’re even, because I haven’t truly been scared since you stepped foot inside my bar. I was crippled by fear this morning, but the moment you and Max came to my rescue, I’ve been able to battle it back. You make me stronger, Logan.”
His eyes flashed hotly, then he wrapped his fingers around my ponytail and tugged gently until I was fully open to him. “Those days are over, count on that. No harm will ever come to you or your brothers as long as I have air left in my lungs.”
“Cool,” Josh chuckled from the doorway, “but I draw the line at watching you suck face with my sister. Get a room already.”
Startled by the intrusion, L
ogan and I broke apart instantly, but it wasn’t quick enough to avoid Jake’s fist connecting solidly with Logan’s poor nose.
Eight
Mexico
“WHY DID YOU hit him?” I turned my attention from the road to Jake, who was brooding against the passenger door. The whole scene left me grinding my teeth. Jake was as bad as Ty when it came to men hitting on me. Between the two of them always crowding me, I’d never get married.
Josh snorted, pleased, of course, by the whole encounter. It didn’t surprise me my youngest brother found it funny, because even though Jake had blindsided Logan, the end result was the same: Jake on the floor with Logan’s knee in his back as blood streamed from Logan’s nose. I was certain it was broken this time. The bruising under his eyes had already set in before I left with my brothers.
“Jake can’t handle his sister having a sex life.”
Oh, boy, that was the wrong thing to say.
Jake whipped around and pinned Josh to the seat just as I expected. “Don’t talk about Skylar like that.”
“Guys!” I started to pull off the road for the third time that day, but Jake let go of Josh and looked out the window.
“Logan’s cool,” Josh mumbled, straightening his shirt. “He can take out anyone with a single move, so what’s the problem?”
Jake scowled at Josh. “You don’t see a problem with some drifter sniffing around our sister? Are you mental?”
“He’s an ex-Delta Force operative, not a drifter. I googled all about him after he told me what branch of the military he was in. These guys are like SEAL Team 6, only stealthier. They’re dubbed the president’s private army because they’re like ghosts. For years no one would even admit they existed.”
Jake looked at Josh like he was nuts. “Jesus, Josh, he’s probably making that up.”
“I don’t think so. He’s got this cool tattoo on his arm. A combat knife with a delta insignia around it, and a date. 28 NOV. I know the military refers to dates that way, so I googled it along with any military action that took place on that date, and it pulled up an attack that happened this time last year. I’m pretty sure he’s a fu—freakin’ war hero, dickweed. An honest to goodness war hero. You’re too dumb to see it, but we’ve hit the jackpot if he’s interested in Skylar. The motherfu—” he looked at me and grinned “—effing jackpot. No one will mess with us now. He’s our own private army.”
Hearing that, my thoughts drifted back to what Logan had said about the ghosts in his head. “Did it say what happened? About the attack?”
Josh nodded. “It was an ambush. More than half of a Delta Force unit was blown up by a suicide bomber. Only three members weren’t killed, and only one walked away without injuries. A long-range sniper.”
“They trained me to kill through the scope of a gun.”
“Logan,” I whispered. “That has to be him. Don’t long-range snipers set up away from the battle and pick off people as needed?”
Josh nodded. “Sometimes for days. The longest kill shot ever made was three miles. Snipers have to have ice water running through their veins to be able to make a shot like that.”
“What else did it say about these guys?” Jake asked, finally sounding interested.
“It’s all pretty vague for security reasons, but it said they accept candidates from any branch of the military, so they get the best of the best our country has to offer. The discipline they put them through during their evaluation is intense. It said ninety percent of those invited to try out by the JSOC—that’s Joint Special Operations Command for short—can’t make it through the selection. And of those who do, fifty percent fail. Logan’s more than just a soldier, Jake, he’s a professional killing machine with the best training in the world!”
That explained a lot. Particularly his ability to put Jake and Ty on the ground without breaking a sweat. “No wonder I feel safe when he’s around.”
Josh turned to Jake with an arrogant grin on his face. “Still think he’s some deadbeat drifter?”
Jake had gone quiet while Josh spoke. At Josh’s question, he stayed silent for a moment longer then nodded. “All right, I’ll give him a chance. But the fact he latched on to Skylar so quickly still bothers me. What if he’s unbalanced from the war?”
“He’s damaged,” I agreed. “He has ghosts that haunt him, he told me so. But honestly, Jake, don’t we all?”
Neither argued that point because we all carried our own baggage.
“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain,” Josh mumbled.
I blinked and looked at my fifteen-year-old brother. “Did you just quote Joseph Campbell?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal he read a literary genius. “It makes sense. I heard Logan say you chased his ghosts away. You’re the joy he’s been looking for.”
Who was this kid?
“Jesus, next he’ll quote Aristotle,” Jake grumbled.
“There is no great genius without some touch of madness.”
“What?” Jake growled.
“Aristotle, dickweed. You’re all brawn and no brain, you know that?” Josh looked at me and smiled at his insult. “So you gonna be Logan’s joy or just suck face with him?”
Annnnd there’s the brother I knew and loved.
Grinning, I shrugged. “Can’t I do both?”
_______________
Duke Remington approached Logan and jerked his head toward the door. It was close to midnight, but the bar was still in full swing. It hadn’t taken long to figure out the appeal of Big Sky Saloon to the locals. It was just a bar. No food to draw the tourists. Just drinks and company. Big Sky was the local watering hole for the townspeople to escape the tourists, who frequented the other restaurant and bar up the street. The place they came to have a beer and play a hand of cards or a game of checkers with their friends, while the band played covers. It was Ennis’ escape from the mundane. A cherished institution that was being threatened, so they’d kept coming in numbers most of the night. Some pitching in to help the already overworked staff.
Logan glanced around the room before following Duke outside. At this hour he’d have expected the bar to be close to empty, but it was clear the town would continue to show their support for the James orphans until the crisis passed.
Convinced there wouldn’t be any trouble, Logan stepped outside into the dark night and searched for Duke. He found him half a block down, lighting up a smoke. The illumination from the bar’s neon sign did little to hide the millions of stars that crowded the night sky. In the city you were lucky to see a handful of constellations, but the big skies of Montana let the universe in, making you feel insignificant in the face of all its vastness.
“Those things will kill you,” Logan stated as he walked up.
Duke looked down at the cigarette between his fingers, raised it to his mouth, and offered one to Logan. Logan shook his head on a chuckle then took the pack and pulled out one for himself. He wasn’t a smoker, but he enjoyed one from time to time.
Logan lit the cigarette and pulled the smoke deep into his lungs, watching Duke as he did this. Duke had something to say, and Logan wasn’t going to rush him.
“Chance shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Duke finally began, pausing to draw in more smoke. “Right now, he’s probably grieving his father. That scene today, his battle cry, it was more about loss. Kenzie is trying to defy him, which means she’s defying his father, but he’ll recover once the grief wears off. And when he does, this will get uglier.
“Justice was a hard man with a chip on his shoulder because his own father was a drunk bastard. He hated being poor, hated anyone with money, so he set out to become rich. He was a bull rider in his day, and good at it. So good that when he won a championship, he bought the land Bear Claw Ranch sits on.
“He kept riding and winning. And buying up land. Then came the cattle. But he never stopped. And the more land he bought, the more cattle he purchased, the more money he made—the more untouchable he f
elt. And he was to an extent, since he owned politicians, law enforcement, and judges. Chance has inherited that power now, so you need to watch your back.”
Logan eyed Duke carefully, wondering just who Justice Bear had owned. “Did he own you, Duke? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Duke drew on his cigarette before answering. “No. Not me. But I’m a police officer in a small town where nothing much happens. He didn’t need to own me. If I arrested one of his people for disorderly conduct, he just put in a call to a judge and the man was released. Chance knows the drill, too. He doesn’t like losing any more than his father did, so he’ll push back because he wants revenge for Justice against the only man who beat him.”
“Beat him by winning the land?”
“The land, yes. And Sarah. I was there that night, did you know?”
“The night he lost the land?”
Duke nodded. “Justice had literally just bought the five hundred acres in question. He’d coveted it for years, and finally got the family to sell it to him. He had the deed on him when he showed up at the poker game without an invite, and not much cash on him. Seems he had just come from the bank when he heard someone mention the game.
“This is where his arrogance got the better of him. He was so sure of his ability to beat any man at their own game, that when Daniel raised the bet, he said he would honor any loss the next day. But Daniel didn’t trust him and told him so. Justice was insulted, but rather than stepping away from the table, his sense of superiority got the better of him. He threw the deed on the table and called the hand . . . And lost.”
“So this feud, as Kenzie called it, will continue due to Justice raising Chance to hate his mother and his siblings because of land he lost?”
“It goes deeper than that for Chance. Justice loved his son as much as a man like him could, but he was hard on the boy, showering him with equal parts affection and brute force like his father did before him. But he isolated Chance from his mother, so the only thing that grew in regard to Sarah was hatred. Chance worshiped his father, even when he was hard on him, and since his father’s dying wish was for him to ruin the James family, he’ll honor it. The problem is, I don’t know how far he’ll go to avenge the only person he thought cared about him,” Duke warned, “so keep your gun close.”