by Vivian Wood
He continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.
“You imagined Jared, you got scared. Told your boyfriend here that Jared had been in your house.”
“I didn’t make anything up!” she protested.
“I’m going to do you both a favor, and pretend like this call never happened.”
“He was in my house,” she said weakly.
“Goodnight, Miss Elliott,” he said, turning and heading back to his car. They stood and watched the car back out and head down the road.
“It’s all right,” Colt said, reaching out and pulling her in for a hug.
She didn’t believe him, but there wasn’t any point in saying so.
“Hey,” Colt said, tipping her chin up. “You get in the truck, and get the dogs in, too. I’ll go grab some clean clothes and the cats and your keys. You can stay with me as long as you want, okay?”
She looked up at him, his hazel eyes intent. She leaned in and kissed him, soft and gentle, then turned away.
“Okay, dogs. Up up!” she said, gesturing toward his truck.
She heard him walk away as she urged the dogs into the cab. She might be facing troubles on all sides at the moment, but at least she had Colt.
Climbing in after the dogs, she wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t have been here.
26
Colt pulled up to Sawyer’s house, determined. He’d called a meeting of the Roman brothers for one purpose: to get Jared Chalke out of town.
After he tucked Rose into bed last night and taken care of her pets at his place, he’d stayed up for a long time, thinking. It was obvious that Jared had to go, and even more clear that the law would be no use.
So this morning he’d summoned his brothers, agreeing that they’d meet at Sawyer’s place. He could see his brothers were already here, hanging out in the front yard.
He’d been tied up trying to leave Rose without arousing her suspicions. He figured Rose had enough to worry about without adding this to her plate.
Colt got out of his truck, heading to where his brothers stood under the leaves of an apple tree.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” said Sawyer. Walker nodded his greeting.
“Where’s Remy and Shiloh?” Colt asked.
“They’re inside. Remy’s ready to give birth any day now,” Sawyer said, shrugging. “I'm ready to do whatever you want to drive Chalke outta town, but I have to do it within fifteen miles of here. Remy wants me to be close, just in case.”
“Well… let’s start by trying to figure out what he’s doing here. We already know he’s dirty, so we just have to find out what exactly he’s hiding.”
Sawyer quirked a brow.
“How do you suggest we do that?”
They were quiet for a minute, then Walker broke in.
“Jonas Whittier,” he said.
“What?” Sawyer said.
“You said you want to find dirt? That’s a good place to start,” said Walker.
“He’s right,” Colt said. “Whittier is thinking of selling his lands to Jared’s father’s company. I’m willing to bet that he’s seen or heard something important in the time he’s spent with Jared.”
Sawyer nodded his head slowly.
“All right. It’s the best option we have. Walker, will you drive?”
Walker nodded, and they all jumped in his Escalade for the ride out to the Whittier place. Colt rode in the back seat and stared out the window as they went, thinking.
He’d need to have something pretty bad on Jared to get him to back off. Something that, if taken to the district attorney, would ensure that Jared did jail time.
“I want to buy Whittier’s land,” Sawyer said, seemingly out of the blue.
“Sorry?” said Colt.
“We need to expand. He needs the money. We could write up the papers so that they’d keep the land the house is on,” Sawyer said. “Win-win-win.”
Colt was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“If Walker’s okay with it, I agree.”
Walker nodded his assent. Colt went back to his thoughts for the rest of the ride.
They pulled up to the Whittier house, which was as gray and falling down as ever. Jonas was sitting on the front porch as they got out of the car. Colt didn’t have to look hard to find the bottle of bourbon that Jonas was nursing.
“Hey, Jonas,” Colt said as he and his brothers approached the porch.
Jonas looked exhausted and drunk, which was saying something since it was only eleven a.m.
“What are you doing here?” Jonas said, squinting at Colt. “You wife-stealing son of a bitch.”
“Shut up, Jonas. We’re prepared to buy your land and leave you in possession of the house,” Sawyer cut in.
Jonas squinted harder, until he hiccuped. “You’re too late, I think.”
“Too late?” asked Colt.
“Yeah. Jared Chalke and them bastards already got me to sign something,” he said, hiccuping again. “They got me by the short hairs, you know?”
Walker moved closer, brow furrowing. “What do you mean? Are they extorting you?”
“Pfft,” Jonas said, waving him away. “They own me. Got photos of me and an underage girl, doing the dirty. Don’t remember that night, barely remember the girl, but…” He turned tearful. “If Karen finds out about it, she’ll leave me for good. I’ll never see either of my boys again. Even though I can’t remember anything…”
The big blond man put his head in his hands, weeping forlornly. Colt looked meaningfully at his brothers, who nodded at him. This was exactly what they needed.
Colt turned back to Jonas.
“Okay, it’s okay,” Colt said. “I think you need some rest, Jonas. Why don’t you go inside and lie down for awhile?”
Jonas lurched to his feet, stumbling his way inside. Colt pursed his lips, then turned to his brothers.
“I’m thinking that we need to liberate those pictures, gentlemen.”
“From where? Chalke’s house?” Walker asked.
“Yep,” said Colt. “Unfortunately, Sawyer, I think this means you’re out. Chalke’s house is a little farther than fifteen miles.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said with a shrug. “When you have your own family, you’ll understand.”
Colt couldn’t disagree. God, he’d barely known Rose a month, and he was already willing to break into a house to see her safe and happy. He couldn’t imagine what he’d do when he’d known her for as many years as Sawyer had known Remy.
“We’ll drop you back off on the way through town,” Walker said. “Let’s go.”
27
They got back in the Escalade, Colt in the front this time. He spent the trip finding out Jared’s address via text message from a friend who lived in Sarepta.
They stopped to drop off Sawyer, promising to return to his house as soon as they were done. The trip was quick and quiet, except for the sound of the GPS telling Walker where to turn.
When they got into Sarepta, Colt stared silently out the window. He hadn’t been into the town since he was a young man, and it had changed radically since then.
They drove past the main strip, full of gleaming new shops and bars, newly paved road. They had to stop several times for pedestrians to cross in designated places; it spoke volumes about how large the once-sleepy town had grown.
Luckily for them, Jared’s house was right outside downtown Sarepta, the first of hundreds of houses pushed out by the same mold. It was done up in light gray stucco and dark gray stonework, indistinguishable from the house next door except for by color.
It was breathtaking in scope, the size of the project immense.
“This is the place,” Walker said, pointing it out as they cruised past the house. “I’ll pull up across the street and down a little. Then we can recon the place.”
Walker drove down a ways, then turned the car around and stopped, just far enough that they weren’t sus
picious.
“It seems like he’s not here,” Colt said, scanning the property.
“I doubt it. The papers piled up on his doorstep say he hasn’t been here for a few days,” Walker said.
Colt nodded. He’d been trained in surveillance just as Walker had, but he was more specialized in the breaking and entering part of their current mission.
He lips quirked up as he realized that he was feeling more like a SEAL than he had since he’d lost his foot.
“So?” he said to Walker. “I say we just go for it.”
Walker directed a frown at him. “What if there's a dog? Or a dog-sitter?”
“Let’s check out the back, see what we can see,” Colt said, opening his door. “If we’re stopped, we’ll say we’re college friends, okay?”
“Colt, we really need to observe longer…” Walker said, but Colt had other plans.
Colt felt Walker’s glare as he got out and shut the door, and it didn’t lessen as he strode toward the house. Colt didn’t hesitate, though. Just kept moving in purposeful steps to the front yard, then around the side of the house.
The backyard was a surprise, looking out as it did on nothing but a mile of grassy plains. The backyard boasted a back patio complete with French doors, but there was no sign the backyard was ever used.
Colt looked at Walker, nodding his head toward the French doors. Walker got the idea, and they both snuck up to the French doors, looking in.
They looked into a living room, though it was empty except for a couch. The walls were done all in white, making the room look ghostly. He saw a hallway behind the living room, presumably running along the length of the house. To the right, Colt guessed, would lead to the kitchen and laundry room.
Colt tried the handle to the door, out of curiosity. It turned with ease. He looked up at Walker, who shrugged at him.
Raising his brows, he opened the door. He held up a finger to keep Walker in place, and whistled.
Nothing. If there had been a dog or anyone in the house, they would have announced themselves by now.
He gave Walker the thumbs up, moving inside quickly. Walker followed him, closing the door.
Colt looked around, then signaled he would check out the left side of the house if Walker took the right. Walker nodded, and they parted ways.
Colt carried his task out quickly, moving through the living room and down the hallway to explore the other rooms in the house.
He saw a suitcase of clothes in the bedroom and a shaving kit in the bathroom. Other than that, there was no indication that someone was staying here.
He headed through the hallway to the kitchen, where he almost ran into Walker. He gestured to his brother, asking if all was clear.
“Clear,” Walker said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Nothing much in the bedrooms or bathroom,” Colt said.
“It seems like he might just crash here from time to time,” Walker said, jerking a thumb at the kitchen. “Look how bare it is in here.”
He was right. The stainless steel and white marble kitchen was astonishingly clean. Colt walked over and opened a cabinet, and found it empty.
“Check out this table,” Walker said, drawing his attention to the only space that could be considered cluttered in the whole house. It was covered in countless different documents, all randomly dumped there. “Shit…”
Walker pointed to five handguns sitting in a chair beside it, casually stacked.
“Jesus,” Colt said. He moved to check out the guns. “Serial numbers filed off, of course. Jared, you have been bad.”
Turning his attention to the table, the words Catahoula Creek caught his attention. It was a blueprint of some kind. He picked up the document, scowling as he realized that it laid out plans to make Catahoula Creek just like Sarepta.
He traced the map, identifying the main strip and the Whittier place, remade into a strip mall and miles of prefab houses. And right next to Whittier place was Roman Ranch, with a Walmart and a Home Depot in the middle.
“Oh fuck no,” he said, handing the documents to Walker. “He’s fucking crazy if he thinks that we’ll sell.”
Walker’s mouth creased in a frown.
“Yeah… but a dude ranch amongst all this?” he said, pointing to the strip of shops and the housing development. “The horses would panic. They’d be throwing riders left and right. It wouldn’t take long for word to get out. I don’t think we’d even make it through construction.”
“Which is why it won’t happen,” Colt said, fists clenching. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
He looked at the rest of the table, trying not to lose focus. They were here for blackmail material on Whittier, it was important not to forget that.
Colt saw a couple glossy photo edges sticking out of the mess of paper. He pulled them out.
“Oh, here are the photos,” he said, showing them to Walker. “God, Jonas looks half dead. I would bet some serious cash that GHB or some other date rape drug was involved.”
“It looks like these are stills taken from a video,” Walker said, taking one of the photos.
“Yeah. We should look for a camera,” Colt said, distracted by spotting more plans for Catahoula Creek on the table.
“I’m on it,” Walker said, clapping Colt on the shoulder and putting the photo down on the table.
Colt sifted through what was on the table. Most of it was information about the development that Chalke intended to build in Catahoula Creek, prospectives for investors and the like.
It turned Colt’s stomach.
“I got it,” Walker said, returning with a small digital camera held high. “Still has the memory card in it and everything.”
“Did you see a laptop anywhere?” Colt asked, taking the photos and leaving the rest of the papers behind.
“Yeah,” Walker said, pointing to a laptop bag on the floor. “It’s in there.”
“All right,” Colt said, grabbing the bag. “Let’s get out of here before we’re caught.”
Walker nodded his assent. Colt headed back through the living room and out the back door, waiting for his brother before leaving the backyard altogether.
Colt jogged back to the Escalade, getting in quickly. Walker started the car and they took off, the main strip shining bright as they passed it.
They had the blackmail material… all they needed now was a good time to stick it under Jared’s nose.
Colt sat back as they cleared the Sarepta city limits, feeling greatly reassured.
28
Rose sat on the stoop of the bunkhouse at Roman Ranch, watching Colt head toward her from the barn. His work for the day was finished, it seemed. He’d been busy working over the last couple of days, but most of it had been here on the ranch.
She was shocked at how nice it was to blend in, to align herself with his schedule. He made it easy for her by keeping rancher’s hours, rising with the sun and going to bed not long after the sun set.
She blushed at the thought of going to bed. They were still new, still figuring each other out, but it was pleasant and calm… until bedtime.
He mussed the top of her hair when he climbed the steps, smiling.
“What are you thinking about?” he teased her. “Miss I-Blush-At-Everything.”
He took off his boots as he talked.
“Nothing,” she said coyly. “I was just… making plans for tomorrow. The whole downtown area is ready for Halloween, all done up like a graveyard.”
“Yeah, I saw it the other day,” he said, straightening and reaching a hand out to her.
She took his offered hand, letting him pull her to her feet. He drew her close for a kiss, light and easy.
She wrinkled her nose when he let her go, following him inside. The two cats were just inside the door, playing with a ball of paper. The dogs had been released to run with the curs, although they were expected to return at night.
“I like that your town does a big to-do for Halloween. It’s cute,” she said.
“Sawyer invited us to go trick-or-treating with them,” Colt said, pulling off his shirt. “Apparently Remy’s got Shiloh dressed as a ghost.”
Rose’s face heated as she watched Colt stripping, thinking of what usually happened between them when he did so, but she did her best to ignore it.
“I actually told Karen I would take Jack trick-or-treating. Do you think Sawyer would mind if I brought Jack?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he said, shucking his jeans.
Rose let her eyes wander up and down his body. She could feel herself going red again, but he was awfully enticing just now, smelling and looking so damned manly.
He grinned at her when he saw her looking. “I’m going to shower. When I get out, I want you to be naked.”
With that, he strutted to the bathroom, closing the door behind him without looking back. A few moments later, she heard the shower go on.
Rose felt herself puff up at the challenge, despite being extremely turned on by it.
What a cocky bastard…
Well, if he wanted her naked when he got out, she’d just have to do him one better. Feeling a rush of giddiness at her brazen thought, Rose slipped out of her clothes and followed after Colt.
A light cloud of steam had already formed by the time she entered the bathroom, the mist making her skin hot and dewy within seconds.
The shower was directly across from the door, and Rose could see the hazy outline of Colt’s naked body through the fogged glass of the shower door. He stood with his back turned to her, standing directly beneath the showerhead as water sluiced down his beautiful physique. She took a moment to let her eyes appreciate him, particularly his fine ass in all its glory.
Sensing he was no longer alone, Colt turned around and stopped cold when he saw her standing there, naked and watching him. They didn’t say anything at first, just letting their eyes devour each other in silence. Rose’s gaze drifted south, he was already hard for her.
Taking a breath, Rose slowly closed the short distance between them. His hazel eyes were dark pits of desire by the time she slid back the door and stepped inside.