Hiding Behind Love

by Karly Morgan

  “Who the hell are ya, and what the hell are ya doin’ on my ranch?” I heard my Mama growl from the porch and groaned.

  She didn’t need to be involved in this with her heart being as weak as it was. As much as I wanted to look and make sure Caleb was there to protect her, I couldn’t take my eyes from the man causing the disruption of our evening. This was not a man you let your guard down around, and even though I’d dismissed the man next to him, who I’d assumed to be the Carver her father wanted her to marry, I wasn’t underestimating him either.

  “I’ve got this covered, Mama,” I called back to her.

  “I have no doubt ‘bout that. But considerin’ my chicken’s not even cookin’ yet and I’m hungry, these two better get ta steppin’ right on along before I send Caleb here for my shotgun,” Mama replied, and I knew the look on her face already. It was the one that sent most grown men running for it, afraid to lose their balls if they continued defying her. Hell, I’d run from that look a time or two in my lifetime.

  “Sorry to interrupt your evening, Mrs. Reed. We’ll head out now and let you continue on.” He sent my mama a dazzling smile I was sure he’d used many times successfully in court, but it would have no effect on her whatsoever. She was amazing at seeing the wolf through the sheep’s clothing.

  “Carissa, I expect you at our hotel by nine o’clock in the morning, packed and ready to end this nonsense. If you’re not there, ready to sign the annulment papers I’ve already had drawn up to end this farce of a marriage you’ve thoughtlessly jumped into, you will suffer the consequences of your actions.”

  “Are ya threatenin’ my daughter-in-law on my property? That would be the dumbest mistake ya ever made,” Mama declared, her voice lowering several octaves. “Caleb, call Sheriff Donovan and tell him we’ve got a hostile trespasser threatenin’ my family. Tell him ta hurry, ‘cause I’m about ta get my gun and handle the situation myself.”

  “Now, Bonnie—” Caleb began.

  “Do ya wanna be sleepin’ in the stable tonight?” she growled, and judging by the retreating sound of his footsteps, Caleb decided to follow my mother’s orders. Wise man.

  “Now hold on—” Carissa’s father held up his hands and took a step forward, which was a huge mistake on his part.

  “Take one more step, and I’m gonna assume you’re attemptin’ ta assault me, my wife, or my mama, and I will lay you out,” I informed him, moving Carissa safely behind me as I took an answering step forward. “And considerin’ ya did threaten my wife already, I suggest you head on out like my mama said or you will either be needin’ an ambulance or spendin’ the night in jail.”

  “Kolt—” Carissa said, her hand wrapping around my bicep, fingernails digging into my skin with her fear.

  I was glad she’d mostly stayed silent throughout the confrontation but wished she’d continued to do so instead of drawing attention back to herself.

  “Now let him handle things, sweetie. Your sleazeball daddy won’t be forcin’ ya ta go anywhere or do anythin’. Ya got a good husband there, girly,” Mama called out from the porch.

  “Sheriff Donovan’s on his way. He’s about four miles out so should get here fairly quickly. He was out on patrol when I caught him,” Caleb announced as he returned to the fray.

  “Now there was no need to trouble the sheriff with this,” Carissa’s father complained, shooting Caleb a nasty glare.

  I could almost hear the old man’s grin in response. It was classic Caleb.

  “We should go,” the douche I’d assumed was Carver finally spoke up.

  “Remember what I said, Carissa…nine a.m. sharp,” her father said as he and Carver backed up toward the gate, his eyes darting from one of us to the next until they landed on Carissa and stayed locked.

  I felt her shiver of fear and fought hard to control the urge to make sure this man never bothered my woman ever again. The two disappeared from view, but I knew we hadn’t seen the last of either of them. This war was just beginning, and it was a war I fully intended on winning to keep my girl safe.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Carissa

  “Don’t even think about it,” Kolton growled in my ear as we heard the squeal of tires as my father and Carver hauled ass off the property before the sheriff arrived. “You’re not runnin’, and you’re not gonna meet his demands.”

  I closed my eyes, my father’s words running on a loop through my head like a broken record: “Carissa, I expect you at our hotel by nine o’clock in the morning, packed and ready to end this nonsense. If you’re not there, ready to sign the annulment papers I’ve already had drawn up to end this farce of a marriage you’ve thoughtlessly jumped into, you will suffer the consequences of your actions.”

  Having spent my whole life living with him, I knew what he’d told me without saying the words themselves. The veiled threat he knew I’d pick up on. “Not only will I get what I want in the end, but I will make it as hard on you as possible, and these people who have helped you will pay dearly as well for their interference.”

  There seemed as if there truly was nowhere to hide on this vast planet for me. Look how easily he tracked me here. And with Bonnie’s health issues, there was no way she could withstand the hell he would rain down upon them.

  “I don’t have a choice,” I whispered, a tear escaping my eye and trickling down my cheek. “You don’t know him like I do.”

  “I won’t let him hurt ya.” Kolton pulled me back into his arms but this wasn’t the carefree, loving embrace from before my father’s arrival. This was meant to comfort me and make me feel safe with him. The problem was, I did feel safe whenever I was with him. It was his safety I worried about. His and his mama’s.

  “In the end, he’ll get what he wants anyway,” I muttered, pushing against his chest to try to get him to release me. His arms were like vices, though, refusing to relinquish their hold as if he were afraid that as soon as he did, I’d run like hell. He was more right than he probably even realized.

  “Ya can’t give in ta that man,” Bonnie said as she reached the bottom step behind me. “It’s past time ya stood your ground or you’ll end up in a loveless prison of a marriage just like I did. Maybe you’ll get lucky and that Carver fella won’t beat the snot outta ya, but you’ll still never have the life ya imagined for yourself. You’ll just be transferrin’ one domineerin’ male for another.”

  I knew she was right, but as desperately as I wanted to follow her advice, I couldn’t risk them being harmed because I did.

  “I won’t let ya leave here,” Kolton warned, his voice fierce with determination. “If I have to tie ya down, I’ll do it.”

  “Now I doubt it’ll have ta come ta that. Will it, girly?” Caleb asked with a grin on his face and a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “Unless ya wanna be tied down… I’ve heard it can be good fun.”

  I felt my cheeks heat with the sudden onset of my blush at Caleb’s insinuations. I wasn’t inexperienced by far, but I also wasn’t used to people openly talking about what went on behind closed doors either.

  “Cut ya crap,” Bonnie told him and backhanded him in the gut. Being mid-chuckle, it knocked the wind out of him, and he doubled over, trying to catch his breath. “Now’s not the time. We’ve gotta get Carissa’s head screwed on straight before she does somethin’ she can’t take back and will regret for the rest of her days.”

  “Don’t worry, Mama, I’ve got this,” Kolton assured her, pressing me closer against him as if he were trying to solidify that he wouldn’t be letting me go anywhere. Too bad for him, there wasn’t a single thing he could do to stop me. Or so I thought.

  “I’m sorry ya have such a pompous ass for a daddy, but ya just can’t cow tow ta him any longer. It’s time someone issued a firm ‘no’ ta that man and stood by it.” Bonnie nodded to her own statement as if her logic was the only sound argument to be issued.

  “But—” I began but was instantly cut off by Kolton.

  “There are no ‘but’s here, darlin
’. Mama’s right on this one. He can’t be allowed to continue runnin’ all over ya.” His eyes pierced mine with their determination, and I wished he understood the reason why I had to leave them was because I cared about and needed to protect them. Unfortunately, none of them were willing to listen to my reasoning.

  “Besides that, ya asked me for somethin’ yesterday, didn’t ya?” Bonnie asked me with her eyebrow raised and eyes staring hard as stone into mine.

  I nodded mutely, wondering where she was going with this, afraid I already knew the answer.

  “Ya want me ta agree ta your request, your little ass best be stayin’ put right here. Ya go runnin’ anywhere, ta hide or back ta your daddy, and I’ll refuse.”

  Damn this woman knew how to play hardball. She had me in between a rock and a hard place. I desperately wished she’d fight for her life, to have more time with Kolton and Caleb, but if I stayed, even if she fought, the stress my father rained down on them was likely to kill her anyway. I couldn’t win for losing.

  “Don’t do this,” I pleaded with her. “Don’t make me choose like that.”

  “I’ll do what I have ta do ta keep ya safe from that man. He’s definitely a devil in disguise, and you’ll only get burned if we don’t keep ya safe here. And that Carver, he’ll hurt ya bad,” Bonnie said with fear on her face and a shudder. “I know bad men, and that one has evil written all over him. Probly why your daddy’s so set on ya marryin’ him—like knows like.”

  “My father’s never hurt me,” I argued, not understanding what she was trying to tell me.

  “He may have never raised a hand toward ya, but he’s hurt ya time and time again. He’s isolated ya and sapped all the joy outta your life in every possible way he could. He’ll keep doin’ it too if ya don’t break the cycle now,” Bonnie warned.

  “And if ya bend ta his will, breakin’ yer weddin’ vows ta marry that Carver, you’ll have two men, just alike, tearin’ ya apart from the inside out,” Caleb spoke up seriously for the first time. “The way Carver was lookin’ at ya made me nervous. He’s got his own reasons for wantin’ ta marry ya, and none of ‘em are good.”

  “What do ya mean?” Kolton asked, and I swore, if he gripped me any tighter, I was going to snap in half. My lower back was beginning to ache from how tightly he’d already been holding me. I knew he wasn’t meaning to cause me any discomfort, but I needed to find a way to get him to release me.

  “Let the girl go, Kolt, before ya break her and it all becomes a moot point,” Bonnie ordered, which told me I must have grimaced or something when he’d tensed his arm around me.

  I sent her a grateful look when his arm loosened enough for me to put just a little space between us. He hadn’t completely let me go, but it was better than nothing.

  “Ya didn’t notice it?” Caleb asked Kolton.

  “I was busy focusin’ on her daddy who seemed to be the immediate threat,” Kolton said defensively, and his arm tightened just a little bit.

  “Can I set this down please?” I interrupted, my arm getting tired and hoping that it would be enough to get Kolton to put a bit more space between us.

  With an apologetic look down at me, he took the dish with the chicken from me and set it on the small table next to the grill. Apparently, dinner was now sidelined to discuss this situation. I wished they’d all drop it. I’d be meeting my father in the morning, whether they approved or not.

  “He was the immediate threat, but Carver is the most dangerous threat between the two. I’m not even sure her daddy knows what he intends ta do ta his little girl once he has her in his grasp. All I know is that man’s a predator and has his eye set on our girl here,” Caleb said, his tone sounding ominous, which sent a shiver of fear sliding down my spine.

  I knew the creepy feeling I got whenever Carver had looked at me hadn’t been a figment of my imagination like my father had insinuated. It still didn’t change the fact I was going to have to end my marriage to Kolton and marry Carver to protect these people I’d come to love dearly. My heart wasn’t just breaking in my chest; it was shattering into millions of pieces. I wished I hadn’t run away because then I wouldn’t know what it was like to feel like a part of a real family. A family that loved and protected each other. People who stood together when times got tough and supported each other. The only thing I could give them now was my sacrifice so they could continue on together as a family.

  “He’s not gettin’ anywhere near her. We’ll keep her safe,” Kolton declared, and I watched as Caleb and he reached a silent agreement between them, nodding their heads at each other.

  “Will we now? Looks ta me like she’s already made up her mind, and ya ain’t gonna like what she’s decided one little bit,” Bonnie informed them, having been keeping a closer eye on me and better able to read me than I liked.

  Kolton and Caleb both turned their full attention to me, and I stood tall, more than ready to defend my decision. Yes, I’d ran at the thought of marrying Carver because then I didn’t have a reason to do so. My father’s decree hadn’t been enough to make me subject myself to that man’s cruelty. My love for these people right here was more than enough for me to sacrifice every dream I’d ever held for my future and deal with the likes of Carver.

  “No. I don’t care what ya think you’ve decided. I’m not lettin’ ya do it. I’ll fight the divorce tooth and nail to keep ya away from them.” Kolton looked tortured by the thought of me leaving, and it killed me even more inside to see his pain. “You can’t just go runnin’ back to them. Not after ya went and made me fall head over heels in love with you. I know ya feel it too. I can see it in your eyes. Don’t walk away from this just because you’re afraid.”

  “Don’t you get it? It’s because I love all of you that I have to do this. I’ve seen what happens to people who cross him. It’s never pretty,” my words choked out around the sob lodged in my throat. “It’s my fault you all are even on his radar, and if I stay here, it’s not only me who will pay the consequences. He’ll make sure each of you does too.”

  “Don’tcha think we have the right ta make our own choices about what we’re willing ta deal with?” Bonnie asked angrily, hands cocked on her hips and glare locked firmly on me. “Ya don’t get ta decide for us. Especially now that you’re family. Majority rules, unless I put my foot down. In which case, my word becomes law ‘round here.”

  “Not for me it doesn’t,” I argued back, meeting her glare head on. I needed them to let this go. “I knew I should’ve just kept going. I knew if I stayed here, this would happen.”

  “That what would happen exactly? Ya’d find a home with people who actually love ya instead of treatin’ ya like a pawn in whatever game they’re playin’? Or that ya’d find a family who stands by ya instead of sellin’ ya off like you’re a head of cattle?” Bonnie fired off quicker than I could respond, taking a step closer to where Kolton still held me bound in his arms. I was well and truly cornered. “We get why ya wanna sacrifice yourself for us just fine. The thing is, we don’t want ya ta do that for us. We want ya here with us, consequences be damned, because we stand together as a family unit when shit gets tough.”

  Several tears spilled over onto my cheeks as Bonnie got right up in my face and lectured me in that take-no-prisoners way she had about her. I loved this woman as if she were my own mother.

  “He can’t defeat us if we stand together,” Kolton whispered in my ear. “That means ya have to stand with us because if ya don’t, he’ll have already won. And I’m not willin’ to sacrifice my heart to some slimy lawyer in a designer suit just ‘cause things might get a bit difficult. You own my heart, Carissa. All of it. If ya go back to him, you’re gonna destroy me worse than Karlene ever did.”

  I truly lost it then when he said those words to me. He broke me in a way my father had never been able to, no matter how hard he’d tried. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by wonderful people with warm and loving hearts, and I was the cause of their pain and would be the cause of t
heir suffering. What was to come would be on my head.

  “These people don’t take ta strangers lightly. It took me years ta make any headway with this stubborn woman right here. Yet ya appear one day and they welcomed ya with open arms. Ya don’t understand what a miracle that was ta see,” Caleb spoke up, adding to my heartache. “If ya do this—walk away—even if you’re doin’ it ta protect them, you’ll be tearin’ this family apart because now you’re a part of it, whether ya like it or not.”

  “And if we haven’t already convinced you to stay with us instead of meetin’ that no good father of yours, I’m still tyin’ ya to the bed tonight so you can’t go anywhere. And I’ll make sure that before we pass out, you’ll be so tired and sore that ya won’t be able to go, even if ya weren’t tied to our bed,” Kolton whispered in my ear so low I was sure his mama and Caleb couldn’t hear him, his lips grazing the shell of it as he spoke the words that had my panties practically dripping wet with need for him.

  My stomach tightened, and I swore I was close to orgasming right there in the backyard in front of Caleb and Bonnie just from his words alone and the low, rough tone of his voice vibrating in my ear.

  “So it seems that you’re outvoted three-ta-one and won’t be goin’ anywhere,” Bonnie announced with a broad grin on her face. “Now that’s settled, I’m starvin’. Get that chicken on the grill ‘fore it goes bad. Carissa already put together the salad, and I got my oven-roasted taters in with Carissa, and Caleb’s help cuttin’ up the taters.”

  “Caleb, wanna grill the chicken tonight? I think Carissa and I need a few minutes to ourselves before dinner,” Kolton said, and I looked up at him curiously, no idea what he had brewing in that mind of his.

  “Sure. Have fun, and don’t do anythin’ I wouldn’t do,” Caleb said and winked before moving over to the grill and getting to work.

  Bonnie lowered herself carefully into one of the lawn chairs nearby and settled in as Kolton took my hand and pulled me along behind him toward the stables.