The Colton Marine

by Lisa Childs

  He snorted. “I’m not the horse whisperer you are. I’m not even a rancher.” He was a Marine. A protector. Being a security guard would give him back the role with which he was most familiar. “I already told Josh I was taking his job.”

  “But you haven’t left Shadow Creek yet,” she said.

  Maybe he was working on that patient and kind part, hoping that Edith would come around—that she would forgive him. Eventually. It had only been a few days since Livia had captured her and then escaped herself.

  Edith wasn’t the only one he was waiting to come around, though. He needed to talk to Declan, to find out if Matt Sinclair was really his father, if they were really related...

  The enormity of it all had struck him hard that day. But it had paled in comparison to losing Edith. Would she ever be able to forgive him?

  “Josh doesn’t have the business quite up and running yet,” he explained.

  “He and Leonor still arguing over names?”

  He grinned. “Probably.”

  “Is that the only reason you’re sticking around?” Jade asked. “Or do you think she’s still here?”

  He actually wasn’t sure where Edith was. As furious as she’d been with Declan, she might have quit working for him. Would she have returned to New Orleans?

  “I don’t know,” he replied.

  “I think she’s still here,” Jade said, and her voice cracked with fear.

  And he realized she wasn’t talking about Edith. “Livia? You think she’d stick around and risk getting caught?” he asked. “Why?”

  The color drained from Jade’s usually tanned face, leaving it deathly pale. “Because she’s going to kill me.”

  Shock jarred him. “What?”

  “That’s why she’s here,” Jade said. “I’m her unfinished business.”

  “You’re not making any sense,” he said. “Why would she want to kill you?”

  Jade was the baby of the family. Wouldn’t even a mother like Livia have a soft spot for her?

  “Revenge,” Jade murmured.

  River took his sister’s shoulders in his hands and turned her wholly toward him. He stared down into her face. Her brown eyes were dark with fear and something else. Guilt?

  “What are you talking about?” he asked her.

  Jade shook her head, making her ponytail swing across the back of her neck.

  “Why would she want revenge on you?”

  She lowered her voice to a whisper and replied, “Because it was me. I’m the one who helped the FBI take her down.”

  He nearly laughed. “You were just a kid then,” he said. At eighteen he’d still been a child, and Jade was four years younger than him.

  “Maybe that was why she underestimated me,” Jade said.

  River’s blood chilled. If his sister was speaking the truth, then there was every chance that Livia would come after her. She would know not to underestimate Jade again.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked his sister. “Please tell me...”

  She tugged free of his grasp and turned back toward the arena. While she smiled at her riding pupil, the fear hadn’t left her eyes. She just shook her head again. “It doesn’t matter,” she murmured. “What’s done is done...”

  His sister had secrets that River had never guessed. And not knowing them was frustrating, so frustrating that he understood why Edith was so upset with him and with Declan.

  Would she listen if he apologized? Would she forgive if he explained?

  Or was it like Jade had just said—what’s done is done...?

  * * *

  “What’s done is done,” Declan said as he accepted the resignation letter Edith handed him. “I can’t change the past. And what would I have said to you, anyway?”

  “The truth,” Edith said, her heart still aching with his betrayal. But it wasn’t just his that bothered her. His probably didn’t even bother the most. But she couldn’t work for him anymore. She couldn’t be in Shadow Creek anymore, either. She’d packed her bags to leave town, but first she’d tracked down Declan at La Bonne Vie.

  She couldn’t understand his wanting to be in that house again, where he had nearly been killed. If Livia hadn’t missed with all those shots she’d fired...

  She shuddered as she thought of how close she’d come to losing him. He’d been such a huge part of her life for so long. So how could he have kept so much from her?

  “You were a little girl,” Declan reminded her.

  “So... I was older than my years, and we both know it,” she said. “You could have told me.”

  “I should have,” he admitted. “If not then, then at least when we got older.”

  She nodded.

  And he uttered a heavy sigh. “I can’t change the past, Edith. I can’t make any excuses, either, but you know how hard it is for me to trust anyone.”

  “I’m not anyone,” she said as tears stung her eyes. “I thought we were family.”

  “The Coltons are your family, too.” And that was why he hadn’t been able to trust her.

  Had he thought she would say something to one of them? Or had he suspected even then that River was his brother?

  “Thorne is the only Colton who’s related to me,” she pointed out, “and I didn’t grow up with him like I grew up with you. You’re like my brother.”

  “And you’re like my pain-in-the-ass little sister,” he said with a slow grin.

  She smiled, too. “I’m only a pain in the ass because I’m always right.”

  He sighed again. “Yes, you are. Except about this.” He crumpled up the letter in his hand. “You can’t quit.”

  She didn’t want to. She loved her job—loved the challenge of the empire Declan was building with her help.

  “I can’t handle any more secrets,” she warned him.

  “There aren’t any,” he said. “And there won’t be any more.”

  She nodded. “So you’ve taken a DNA test, then?”

  “What?” He tensed. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

  “You and River—you’ve taken a DNA test to confirm that you are brothers?”

  He cursed.

  “I’ll take back this letter,” she offered as she pulled the wadded up paper from his hand, “if you take a DNA test.”

  “Do you want me to do that for my sake or his?” he asked as he studied her face.

  “You just promised there would be no more secrets.”

  “It’s not a secret,” he said. “We don’t know anything yet.”

  “You need to know the truth.”

  “No,” he said, and he sounded certain. “I don’t need to know the truth.”

  “River does.”

  He groaned. “You’re in love with him.”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “This complete honesty thing goes both ways,” Declan said. “Tell me the truth.”

  And she groaned now. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I can’t trust him.”

  “No, you can’t,” Declan agreed. But he didn’t sound as certain as he had earlier.

  “What?”

  He shook his head.

  “No more secrets,” she reminded him.

  “It’s not a secret,” he said. “It’s just an observation. When I told him I couldn’t find you in the house, he was really worried about you.”

  She shrugged. “He’s a Marine. It’s his thing to protect people.” Even his mother had bemoaned the fact that he always had to play the hero.

  “It was more than that,” Declan said with another heavy sigh. “He was more scared and upset than I was. I think he might love you, too.”

  Edith’s heart swelled and warmed in her chest as hope rushed through it. Was it pos
sible? And would it matter?

  If he loved her, maybe she would be able to trust him again. But would she be able to trust herself?

  “You don’t have to worry that you’re like your mother, you know,” Declan said.

  “What?”

  “You’re strong as hell,” he said. “If you do get sick, you’ll find ways to deal with it. You can fall in love.”

  She snorted. “What do you know about love?”

  “We’re not talking about me,” Declan said. “We’re talking about you. I know you. I know you’re tough. You’re smart. And usually you’re brave—except when it comes to relationships. Then you’re a damn coward.”

  “Kettle,” she said.

  He grinned. “Pot.”

  He was right, though. She was a coward when it came to love. Too much of a coward to risk her heart—even for River.

  * * *

  Josh gazed around his office with pride. Of course Leonor had done most of the work. She was an amazing decorator. She would be an amazing wife.

  Hell, she was amazing at everything she did.

  He turned his attention back to the cell phone sitting on his desk.

  River’s voice emanated from the speaker. “I’m not sure when I can start.”

  “I thought you were all packed and ready to move to Austin,” Josh said.

  “That was before we found out Livia had been hiding out at La Bonne Vie.”

  Josh grimaced as he thought of how close that psychopath had been to his family. And the Coltons were his family now. Not just Leonor’s. “That’s another reason you should be here.”

  River snorted. “She’s not going to hurt me.”

  “She hit you with a crowbar.”

  “And she could have killed me.”

  But she hadn’t.

  Josh doubted it was because she’d had an attack of conscience. Livia had proved over and over again that she didn’t possess one. River just had a hard head.

  “Are you worried about someone else?” Josh asked.

  River told him about a conversation he’d had with his younger sister Jade. It wasn’t new information to Josh. He knew Livia’s case file well.

  “You knew,” River accused him.

  “Yeah...”

  “Anything else I should know?” River asked.

  “Yeah, who your father is and if you have a brother,” Josh said.

  River cursed. “I’m not sure I want to work for you anymore.”

  Josh chuckled. “You know you love me.”

  He suspected River wasn’t hesitating over leaving Shadow Creek because he didn’t want to work for him. He had another reason for wanting to stay.

  “Who is she?” he asked. Just like he’d known everything else, he knew this, as well. He listened to the family rumor mill.

  River wasn’t fooled. He cursed him again.

  “Talk to her,” Josh urged him. “Find out if you have a chance with Edith Beaulieu.”

  River didn’t argue with him this time. He just clicked off the phone, leaving Josh to wonder if his brother-in-law-to-be would take his advice. Or if he’d offered it too late...

  Chapter 25

  “Thanks for meeting me here,” River said as Declan Sinclair walked into Mac’s barn. In his suit, he looked out of place among the horse stalls and bales of hay.

  He also looked like he wanted to be anyplace else. River suspected that had nothing to do with the barn, though, and everything to do with him.

  Declan just gave him a curt nod.

  “And thanks for agreeing to the DNA test.” It had confirmed what River had suspected and what Declan had obviously already known. They were brothers.

  River’s last name would have been Sinclair had his father ever known about him and lived to claim him.

  “Thank Edith,” Declan said. “Agreeing to that test was the only reason she agreed to tear up her resignation letter.”

  River’s heart rate quickened. “She’s still working for you?”

  Declan nodded. “She still hasn’t completely forgiven me for keeping secrets. But we’ve known each other so long we’re like family.”

  But they weren’t.

  River and Declan were family, though. River had a lot of siblings. He was used to it. How did Declan feel about it?

  “Why didn’t you tell her sooner?” River asked.

  Declan shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  River snorted. “Yeah, right. You wouldn’t have bought La Bonne Vie if it didn’t matter anymore. You obviously hate my mother for what she did to your father, to your family.” But Matthew Sinclair hadn’t been just Declan’s father. He was River’s, too. “What was he like?”

  Declan shrugged again. And River wondered how well the other man remembered him. He couldn’t have been very old when he’d died.

  “I told you, he was smart,” Declan said. “Good-looking. Driven. I can’t believe he fell for your mother’s manipulations.”

  “Many men did,” River reminded him. “Even Mac...”

  “But my dad was savvy,” Declan said. “He could always tell when a client was lying. Or when my mother was...” He smiled. “He knew every time she went shopping and spent too much money on shoes.”

  For as young as he’d been when Matthew Sinclair had died, Declan certainly remembered a lot about him. “He played with me,” he continued. “He taught me sports and to read. And...” He released a ragged sigh and shook his head. “It was a waste. Falling for her, killing himself...”

  “It was a waste,” River agreed, even though had Matthew Sinclair not fallen for her, River wouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t exist.

  Maybe that was why Declan resented him. River understood that reason, and he doubted they would ever have the relationship River had with his other siblings or even that Declan had with Edith.

  “I’m not like my mother,” River assured him. “I’m nothing like her.”

  Declan nodded. “I can see that. You’re a Marine. You sacrificed for our country. Livia Colton hasn’t ever made any sacrifices.”

  “No, she hasn’t,” River said. “Is that why you wanted La Bonne Vie—to take away something that mattered to her?” Because her kids damn well hadn’t. “She loved that house. That image.”

  Declan shrugged. “Right now, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “What are you going to do with it?” he asked.

  Declan shrugged again.

  River wasn’t certain if the man really didn’t know, though. He must have had a plan when he’d bought it. But it was one he didn’t want to share. “Has Edith finished the inventory yet?”

  “She would have,” Declan said, “if you hadn’t found those additional rooms. The FBI even discovered a few more when they scanned the entire place. She’ll be done soon, though.”

  “But she’s still here?” he asked. “She’s still working at La Bonne Vie?”

  Declan tensed and hesitated for a long moment before he almost reluctantly replied, “Yes, she’s up at the house right now.”

  “Will you have me arrested for trespassing if I go there to talk to her?” River asked.

  “I won’t,” Declan said. “But I can’t promise you she won’t. She’s still mad at you.”

  “Then I better watch out for her pepper spray,” River said.

  And Declan actually chuckled.

  It wouldn’t be easy, but maybe someday they would be able to have a brotherly relationship.

  But that wasn’t the relationship River was concerned about at the moment. The one he wanted was with Edith. He could only hope he hadn’t blown it.

  * * *

  Edith shouldn’t have been nervous about being alone in the house anymore. Sure, she had been th
rough a lot inside the walls of La Bonne Vie. But it wasn’t as if Livia could get back inside. It wasn’t even as if she were actually alone.

  Texas Rangers and FBI agents routinely patrolled the estate, hoping to catch Livia returning. Because of that, there was no way the beautiful fugitive would risk coming back here, though.

  Was there?

  Livia was crazy, but she was also careful or she would have already been taken back into custody.

  No. Edith was safe here now. Finally.

  But when she heard the door creak open, fear flashed through her. She fumbled inside her purse and pulled out the canister of pepper spray. This time she wouldn’t hesitate to use it.

  But before she could press her finger down, she recognized the intruder, as River strode across the foyer to where she worked on boxes Declan had brought up from the basement. Edith hadn’t wanted to go down there again.

  Ever.

  River lifted his hands. “Spray me if you want to,” he said. “I know I have it coming.”

  But did he?

  Sure, he hadn’t been completely honest with her. But neither had Declan. And she’d forgiven him.

  She shook her head. “I wouldn’t spray you.” She dropped the can back into her purse.

  “Then why’d you have it out?” he asked. “I know Declan said you’re still mad at him, but...”

  “I thought it might be your mother,” she admitted. “Though it’s ridiculous to think she’d walk right through the front door. I’m overreacting.” And she suspected it wasn’t the only time she had overreacted.

  River sighed. “My mother is capable of anything,” he said, “so you’re not overreacting at all.”

  “I’m not?” she asked, as she walked closer to him. Her body ached for his touch. She’d missed him so much, had felt so empty without him.

  He shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “Livia had a gun to your head.” He shuddered as he recounted the story he must have overheard her telling the FBI agents who’d interrogated her. “I’m sorry for what she put you through.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.” She absolved him.

  But he still looked guilty, his broad shoulders slumped with the burden of it.

  “She’s my mother,” he said.