by Unknown
“Oh, no! You’ll do no such thing!” Colin said, realizing what they wanted to do.
“I asked you to wait until I’m through. Now, shut up, Colin, and listen. We’re putting the third into an account for you, plus a little because you didn’t get the other stuff that we did. Savannah is helping to set this up. It’s a done deal and it’s unanimous. Each wife agreed, too. We all want to do this. No one had to have his arm twisted. You need to make an appointment with Savannah to go in and sign papers.”
“No! I won’t let you do this! It’s too much,” Colin protested, feeling a tightness in his chest and overwhelmed by his friends’s generosity.
“It’s a done deal,” Mike repeated emphatically. “We won’t hear otherwise. It’s going into an account for you whether you like it or not.”
Colin was stunned and stared at them, shaking his head. “You guys—” He broke off, at a loss for words. “I don’t want your money, but to know I have friends like you three…” He broke off again, choked up, remembering the days of pain and loneliness when he thought he had lost everything and didn’t have a friend left in the world.
He looked at the floor and tried to get a grip on his emotions.
“Colin, we’ve all been through our own hells—some of us more than others. But you had the worst. We’re all buddies and we want to do this,” Jonah said.
“You have to take the money. It’s our gift to you because you’re one of us. Always have been and always will be,” Boone added. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s settled, and we can drink on it and celebrate.”
“I still say you shouldn’t. Y’all have families. Give that money to your relatives,” Colin urged them.
“Stop arguing, Colin. You’ve lost this battle,” Mike said. “I think most of us have given chunks of money to relatives. But this is money you’re entitled to and should be yours. It’s done and the money’s already moved. You better take it or the bank will have it for the next zillion years.”
“You guys are something!” Colin declared. “I’m at a loss for words.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Mike stated, stretching out his long legs. “Except I want you to think about staying here when this is over and going into business with me. It’s great to live here and to have all of us together.”
Colin raked his fingers through his hair. “‘Thank you’ seems damned inadequate.”
“No. Thanks is plenty. We were in shock when Savannah read John’s will to us. I’m with Boone—let’s have a drink to this, celebrate and go join the women again.”
“I’m too stunned to talk or think.”
“You should’ve been here when Mike inherited little Jessie if you want to see someone stunned,” Jonah said and grinned.
They sipped their beers and Mike stood. “Just make an appointment with Savannah.”
“Yeah, and when you go into town, drive a little slower so I can keep up with you,” Boone said and laughed. “Damn, I must be out of practice. You lost me as easy as a kid dodging a truant officer.”
“I’ll slow for you,” Colin said. “I don’t think you guys should follow me.”
“You may be glad to have us one day,” Jonah said. “We’ll keep on tailing you.”
Colin shrugged. “Whatever y’all do, it’s just fine with me.”
They all laughed and as they stood to go into the other room, Boone stopped them. He held up his hand.
“I almost forgot and I’d be in hot water. Erin wants to have a barbecue a week from Saturday night. Y’all are invited.” He looked at Colin. “It’s here on the ranch and you should be safe at either your house or mine.”
Colin nodded. “Thanks. We’ll be here.”
Others accepted the invitation. As Jonah and Boone filed out, Colin stepped in front of Mike. “I think I see your fine hand in this deal about the money.”
“I got everyone together and brought it up, but Jonah and Boone had both been thinking the same thing. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been one of them.”
“Mike, I really am at a loss. It was pure hell for several years and then to come back to friends like the three of you—” Colin choked up and fell silent.
Mike clasped his friend on the shoulder. “We’re just damned glad to have you back. And you know we can spare the money.”
“I’m not exactly a pauper right now,” Colin said.
“Doesn’t matter. Neither were we. Now you call Savannah tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Mike.”
Mike smiled and passed him, heading back outside to join the others.
Colin strolled out leisurely and moved across the patio to Isabella who was talking to Erin, Boone and Jonah.
“You look pale, Colin,” Isabella said. “Boone told me why they wanted to talk to you.”
“I’m just in shock.”
“Now the next thing we need to do is foist that white stallion off on you,” Jonah said.
“Say no, Colin,” Isabella said. “You don’t want the white stallion and besides, you’re living here on the ranch so it would exchange hands in owner’s name only because that horse would stay right here where he is now.”
“What white stallion?” Colin asked.
“You’ll be sorry you asked,” Isabella said.
“Said by the woman who can’t pass a stray without giving it a home,” Boone teased his sister.
“I’m not any part of this,” Isabella said, moving away to join Savannah, Mike, Jonah and Kate.
It was almost midnight when the group broke up and Isabella and Colin were the last to leave, walking across the road. Gravel crunched beneath their shoes.
“Erin told me what the guys did tonight. They had discussed it with their wives first and everyone agreed that’s what he or she wanted to do.”
“I’m still stunned. No one willingly gives away money.”
“Yes, they do. They did tonight. Just accept it and make them happy. They’re doing exactly what they want to do. It was to have been your share if John Frates had known you were alive. All four of you were in the original wills.”
“Their generosity really gets me.”
“Had John Frates known you were alive, it might have been more, but you certainly would have gotten that much. I think it’s a generous and fitting thing they did.”
“I’m overwhelmed,” Colin said, and she glanced at him. A muscle worked in his jaw and his hands were jammed into his pockets as he walked. “I was alone a long time and now to have friends who are so generous with me is difficult to grasp.”
“Colin, you were alone because you wanted to be isolated. You could have let your family and your friends know about you much sooner than you did.”
His head whipped around and he stared at her as he walked. “That was true the last years, but not at first. For weeks I couldn’t remember any of them. I didn’t know who I was. And then I was put in a prison.” He sighed. “I’ve told you all that and I suppose you’re right. A lot of it was my choice.”
“Sorry if I was a little harsh there.”
“It’s okay, Isabella. I deserved it,” he said lightly, draping his arm around her shoulders and giving her a casual squeeze that surprised her because he usually remained aloof. Aloof until she provoked him into steamy kisses.
“They’ve already set up a bank account. All you have to do is sign papers. So now what will you do? That fortune won’t be worth much if you go live in a wilderness,” she said.
“Mike wants me to stay and go into business with him.”
“I heard him. Are you interested?”
“At this point in my life, I don’t know anything about my future. Isabella, do you feel slighted because I got the money and you didn’t while you’re Boone’s blood relative?”
“No! Not at all. Besides, Boone has been more than generous with his family.”
“It isn’t just you. What about the other relatives like Jonah’s parents and Mike’s family?”
“I think they’ve all shared their
windfall and they feel that you are truly entitled to this. Forget it and enjoy the money.”
“I hope the others feel the way you do.”
They reached her gate and shooed the dogs away. “I need to feed and water the dogs,” she said.
“I’ll help,” Colin offered, and she motioned to their water bowls.
“Two of the bowls fill automatically. There is one more big bowl by the hydrangea bush that I refill.”
“You do that and I’ll get that fifty-pound bag of dog food you lug around.”
Colin left, three dogs trailing behind him while the other two stayed with Isabella.
“You lucky mutts. You found a real soft touch. And so did I,” he said. “Too damn soft in every way,” he mumbled.
As soon as the dogs had been fed and watered, Colin and Isabella went inside.
“Come sit and talk,” he said. “I can’t sleep now. Thoughts of the job offer and the money and a thousand other things are spinning in my mind.”
She nodded. “Want a glass of iced tea or a beer?”
“I’ll take a glass of milk if you have it,” he said, closing the kitchen shutters and crossing the room to get glasses for her. “Milk got to be a luxury for a time and now I crave it.”
“It’s difficult imagining you craving anything,” she said lightly as she took cookies from a jar. He caught her braid and tugged lightly and she turned to see that smoldering look. Her pulse jumped.
“I crave things, Isabella,” he said in a husky voice.
“Like what?” she asked softly, knowing she shouldn’t inquire yet unable to resist.
He took the plate of cookies from her hands and set it on the counter. Her pulse drummed as she watched him. “You know damn well what I want. You told me to rejoin the living and stop being scared of life. I’m taking your advice.”
He leaned to kiss her while he pulled her into his embrace. Isabella walked into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting him and surprised by his response, realizing that wall he kept around himself was crumbling.
Was it the shock of the gift from his friends? Or her kisses? Or both? She would never know and, at the moment, she didn’t care. Her toes curled as his tongue went deep into her mouth and fires ignited low inside her.
She wound her fingers in his hair, kissing him in return, wanting to make him burn and his toes curl.
Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she wanted to break through that wall still around his heart. She wouldn’t fall in love and she couldn’t imagine that he would, either. But at least he was losing that cold indifference that had been so unlike the Colin Garrick she had known long ago.
His arms tightened and he leaned over her while her hips thrust against him. She felt his hard shaft press against her.
“Dammit, Isabella.” He practically ground out the words as he swung her up, releasing her and turning away. His fists were clenched, and his shoulders squared.
She picked up the plate of cookies and turned away, too. He was right—they should stop. She wanted him to turn back the clock and he was changing slightly, but he probably would never again be the man she had known. He was cold, brooding, dangerous in too many ways. She didn’t want to get entangled with him.
She turned to find him still with his back to her and she suspected he was trying to cool down and get a grip on his emotions.
She was a sucker for strays and hurt people and a sympathetic story and she knew it, so she needed to guard her own heart although there was very little likelihood that she would ever fall in love with a man like Colin.
“Thinking about your ex-fiancée?” she asked, suspecting he had never talked about the breakup that obviously still churned in him and kept him in knots.
He spun around to glare at her. “Hell, no! I’m thinking about my friend, your brother. He trusts me. He would go into orbit if he knew I was hitting on his kid sister.”
“‘Kid sister’?” she repeated, annoyed that that was the way Colin still saw her. “I thought we laid that one to rest.” She walked up to him, stopping only inches in front of him and returning his glare. “I don’t believe you’ve been ‘hitting’ on me, Colin. As I recall, I’ve instigated most of the kissing we’ve done.”
“Dammit, you like trouble!” he snapped. “Boone can’t have a clue what a minx you are, except he’s a wild man himself. Or he was until he met Erin. I hardly recognize him now.”
“So maybe there’s hope for me if the right man comes along and reforms me,” she teased, still annoyed that Colin could only see her as Boone’s little sister. “You haven’t been the one who’s pushed us into this, so stop worrying about my brother. I’ll get your milk. Maybe it’ll soothe you and calm your ruffled feathers.”
Fuming, Colin watched her sashay away from him. She had a sexy sway to her hips and he wanted to give that enticing fanny a swat. She goaded him into losing control, which was something he had never experienced before.
She poured milk for him and iced tea for her and motioned to the table, arching her eyebrows in question. “Are you going to join me or are you just going to stand and glare at me?”
He shook his head. “You are a little witch, Isabella.” He took his drink from her and the plate of cookies and set them on the table. He turned to hold a chair for her and she smiled sweetly up at him.
“Thanks, Colin,” she said, touching his cheek lightly with her hand. It was the most casual brush of her fingers, but the contact was like a burning brand and he inhaled, his fingers tightening on the chair to keep from reaching for her again.
She sat and he walked around the table, knowing he needed to keep distance between them. He should keep the whole ranch between them.
Her question about his ex-fiancée had startled him because he was accustomed to thinking constantly about Danielle, but he had hardly thought of her today at all. Isabella was enjoying a cookie, a faint smile hovering on her face, and acting oblivious to his smoldering feelings.
She had him in knots, but he had to give her credit. She was bringing him back into the land of the living with jet speed. If he didn’t just crash and burn.
The last thing on earth he wanted to do was to break the trust Boone had in him. Isabella was dynamite in too many ways. Colin knew he shouldn’t touch her, much less kiss her. And he also knew he should be able to handle her taunts and challenges and keep his hands to himself.
She had been blithely ignoring him while she ate her cookie, but he knew damn well that she was aware of him. And she knew the effect she had on him, too. Sexy wench. He suspected she saw him as a project to save just as much as one of the mutts outside. Nothing more. He damn well didn’t want to get over Danielle—something he had thought impossible until the past two days—only to fall for a minx whose heart was never in her kisses.
And to his shock, after spending almost five years grieving over his lost love, he realized he was getting over her. Really getting over her. He could think about her now without hurting.
It was a first and he mulled over his new status, knowing he should be grateful to the feisty woman who could kiss him into a witless state of excruciating desire.
He would never seduce Isabella. He almost laughed out loud at the thought. He’d better worry about resisting her when she tried to seduce him! If any seduction went on, it would be her doing, he was damn sure of that one. She was calling the shots and stirring him up when he didn’t want to be stirred. She looked sweet and harmless. Big, innocent blue eyes. What a deception. A seductive, desirable woman with an imp personality.
There was a chance he needed to worry more about the danger inside the house than the danger outside.
“Penny for your thoughts,” she said, smiling at him as if nothing had happened and she hadn’t kissed him into one big, fiery need. “Thinking about Boone or your fiancée or the danger?”
“Mostly thinking about you. You’re pure trouble, Isabella.”
“Trouble? I’ve given you a place to stay and I’ve been fri
endly. A few kisses won’t demolish you.”
“Yeah, right.”
“How?”
He glared at her some more.
“How long did you date those guys who wanted to marry you?”
“Three years with one and two years with the other. It wasn’t serious.”
“Maybe not for you. Was it serious for them?”
She shrugged. “Both times it began to get serious—but I wasn’t ready for any real commitment, so each time I broke off the relationship. And don’t lump me with your fiancée because we were never as serious as I imagine you two were.”
“Why do I suspect you’ve left broken hearts behind just like Boone used to do?”
“Not really,” she said, smiling sweetly. Then she changed topics on him. “Will you let me take your picture? Have you changed your mind about it now that you know I can?”
He shook his head and had to laugh. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Good gracious!”
Startled, he looked at her and his surprise grew because she was staring, round-eyed at him, her hand over her heart. “What?”
“You actually smiled! The first! You have a charming smile.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Damn. Isabella, you’re hopeless.” He opened his eyes to look at her. “Stop making me a project and getting all dithery when I smile.”
She leaned across the table to poke his chest with her forefinger. “You, my friend, are not a project. If you were, you would definitely know it.”
He caught her braid in his hand, tugging her closer, looking into her wide, blue eyes. “If I’m not a project, then all your efforts are aimed at getting me to kiss you.”
“Oh, my, you flatter yourself!”
“Deny that you like to flirt,” he accused.
“So what’s the harm in that? It livens things up a bit.”
“You’re a hopeless romantic and another devilish Devlin.”