The Thorntons Box Set

by Nic Saint

  “Yes, Tyler,” she found herself saying automatically, and at the mention of his Christian name his eyebrows rose and he extended his hand.

  “Let’s get going, then.”

  She obediently took it and walked out of the barn with him.

  “Sorry about all this, Chloe,” he muttered. “I don’t know what came over me. I just thought you might…”

  She looked up at him, those strange emotions still churning in her gut, her heart aflutter with a nervous tension. “Might what?”

  “Nothing. Let’s get you home.”

  And with an uncharacteristic timidity he walked her to the car and opened the passenger door to allow her in. Before easing herself onto the passenger seat, she cocked her head. “Not the trunk this time?”

  His face grim, he growled, “Not the trunk,” and slammed the door in her face.

  As she sat staring out the windshield at the cows grazing in the field outside the barn, waiting for him to join her, she shivered, but not from cold. Something was happening to her, she knew. She just couldn’t describe what it was, exactly. It was a novel sensation, something she’d never before experienced. All she knew was that it had something to do with Ty.

  Then she took a deep breath, and decided it probably were the emotions of the past hour taking their toll. It’s not every day a girl gets abducted in her own home and thrown in the trunk of a car to be whisked away to be sexually taken by a stranger.

  Not a stranger, she quickly corrected. Tyler de Montesquieu. A man she’d known since she was a slip of a girl. And he hadn’t actually sexually taken her. The moment she’d made it clear she wasn’t interested, he’d relented and apologized.

  She blinked when the driver’s side door opened and Ty stepped in. His presence immediately filled the car and pushed idle thought from her mind. Only now did she recognize the pure force that was Ty. A force of nature. Powerful and unrelenting, except where she was concerned apparently.

  She threw him a sly glance, and suddenly remembered she’d always thought him dangerous. She still did, only now she thought he was sexy as well. Sexy as hell.

  He felt her stare and shifted his gaze, his hand on the ignition. “What?”

  She quickly returned her eyes to the windshield. “Nothing. Just take me home.”

  She felt his eyes on her, then he abruptly fired up the engine and without another word, the car rumbled to life and he trod down on the accelerator, wheels spinning idly for a moment, spitting up gravel, and then they were off at breakneck speed, hurtling down the sandy country road.

  Chapter 18

  There wasn’t anything left to be said. Ty dropped her off in front of the police station, where he was sure his brother would be, coordinating the search for Chloe.

  For a moment they sat in silence, the engine idling, both staring straight ahead.

  Lost for words, Chloe nevertheless thought of a thousand things to say, the most inane of which was ‘Why don’t you come in and say hello to Jackson?’. As if they’d simply gone for a spin in Ty’s new car and now he was dropping her off. As if he hadn’t just kidnapped her and almost raped and possibly killed her.

  Though in her heart she knew that not to be true. She didn’t know how she knew, but Ty would never really hurt her.

  Finally he reached over and opened the passenger side door for her, then returned his gaze to the windshield and said in measured tones, “You better go now. Jackson will be waiting for you.”

  She nodded and glanced over to him one last time. When he didn’t stir, she eased out of the car and moved to close the door.

  He looked up, then, and offered, “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

  She hesitated, then inclined her head in acknowledgment and closed the door. The moment she did, the car sped away and soon disappeared at the end of the street before taking a hard left and then Ty was gone.

  Thoughtfully, she crossed the street to the police station and pushed inside. A sandy-haired man sat at a desk and looked up when she entered. He looked a little too young to be a policeman, she thought. Fresh out of high school. “Hi,” she said a little uncertainly. “I’m Chloe? I thought perhaps Jackson would be here?”

  The man’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened and closed before he managed to produce sound. “Chloe Harris? God, Jackson’s been looking all over for you!” He moved around the desk and walked up to her, an expression of solicitude on his youthful face. “Are you all right, honey? Jackson said you’d been kidnapped?”

  She shook her head, copper curls dangling about her pale face. “I’m fine. Perfectly fine. I met an old friend and we went for a drive together, that’s all. I probably should have left Jackson a message but I completely forgot. And on top of that I forgot to bring my phone.” She unearthed a sad smile from the recesses of a soul in turmoil. “You know how it is.”

  The policeman looked at her uncertainly, then seemed to accept her cockamamie story and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I know how it is.” He thrust out a hand. “Beverley Jensen. I’m Jackson’s deputy.”

  She took the outstretched hand gratefully. “Hi, Beverley. Is it really true your wife’s name is Beverly? Beverley and Beverly?”

  He grinned a boyish grin. “Yep. What are the odds, huh?”

  “Pretty slim, I gather.” She gestured at one of the phones. “Do you mind if I use your phone?”

  “Oh, heck, sure! You don’t even have to ask. Mi casa is your casa, Chloe. Or in this case Jackson’s casa, as he’s el honcho around here.” He made a comical face at this in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  She immediately took a liking to the young deputy, who was as nice as Jackson had described him. She picked up the phone and hesitated. “Um. Silly me. I don’t even know Jackson’s number.”

  He walked up beside her and quickly punched in the digits. When the ringback tone sounded, she felt her heart constrict and didn’t even understand why. Why would she be nervous about calling Jackson? He was her boyfriend, wasn’t he? They’d made love just the night before. And that morning, when he’d gone to work, everything had been fine between them.

  Perhaps it was the fact she was going to lie to him that disturbed her. And lie to him she would, for she didn’t want the story of what happened between her and Ty to be known to anyone else. She didn’t know why, but she knew no one should ever know what had transpired in that barn.

  Then Jackson’s voice sounded, and she breathed, “Jackson? Hey, it’s Chloe.”

  As Jackson and Roland raced through town, Jackson thought he might implode from sheer anxiety. Chloe had sounded fine, sure, but he would only believe it when he saw her.

  He’d briefly talked to Beverley, and instructed his deputy to keep a close eye on her and not let her wander off.

  “I can’t believe she would be that stupid,” Roland was saying. “To go for a ride in Ty’s car? How could she even consider it?” He slammed the dashboard with all the frustration and pent-up agitation Jackson was feeling. “She knows how dangerous that man is. She knows his reputation as well as I do. Heck, she was there when we brought Anna in after her dust-up with Ty and his goon squad.”

  “Anna?”

  “Anna Moonstone. My sister-in-law. She had a date with Ty that almost ended up with her dead in the East River. It was through a sheer stroke of luck that we managed to save her from his clutches. The man is a monster, pure and simple.”

  Jackson blanched. This man had been alone with Chloe for hours. What had happened between the two of them? He decided he had to know. Had to know every little detail of their meeting. His face grim, he steered the car across town the second time that day, his police siren once again blaring away.

  “Do you still have those roadblocks set up?” When Jackson answered in the affirmative, Roland went on, “Better tell them to arrest Ty. That son of a bitch shouldn’t be allowed to leave the state.”

  Jackson picked up his portable and gave his troops the word: catch Ty de Montesquieu and bring him to the station house. Then he quickly pro
ceeded to describe his brother. Though he hadn’t laid eyes on him in a decade, Roland had confirmed he hadn’t changed much.

  Roland clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’re doing the right thing, Jackson. That brother of yours is a menace and the sooner he’s behind bars the better.”

  “Problem is, what do I charge him with? If Chloe is to be believed, he didn’t harm a hair on her head. Just took her for a ride in his car for old time’s sake.”

  Roland scoffed, “Yeah, right. Don’t you worry, Chief. I’ve got a few things in mind that will land that SOB behind bars for a very long time.”

  Chapter 19

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Well, it’s what happened.”

  Chloe and her brother Roland were at loggerheads, and Jackson eyed the scene with a frown of confusion. He had a hard time deciding who to believe, exactly. If he was absolutely honest, he’d have sided with Roland, but this was Chloe he was dealing with. The woman he loved.

  “Look,” said Chloe, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Ty came by the house. Said he’d heard about me and Jackson, and said he wanted to congratulate me. I invited him in and we chatted about old times, and when I told him how beautiful Heartford was, he suggested we drive around and I show him all the best spots.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “He told me he was thinking about settling down and was looking for a quiet place to retire.”

  “Retire? Ty? Bullshit!” scoffed Roland.

  Her eyes flashed open and she cried, “It’s true! I’m telling you the truth, Ro!”

  Jackson studied her intently. She looked drawn and tired, he decided, the third degree clearly not sitting well with her.

  He slid off the desk and approached the quarreling siblings. “I think maybe we give it a rest for now, huh? If Chloe says that’s what happened, I for one believe her.”

  “I don’t,” returned Roland brusquely. “Ty doesn’t pay visits to ‘old friends’—and for what it’s worth, Chloe, you and Ty have never been friends, old or new.”

  “We were at one point,” she said softly. “Don’t you remember? We all used to play together, go on picnics together in Hampton Bays, the Thorntons and the Montesquieus. Before…” She threw up her hands. “Before all this craziness started.”

  “You have to ask yourself the question: who started this ‘craziness’? It wasn’t us, Chloe. It was them.”

  “Us. Them. I’m so sick and tired of this feud. Why can’t we all be friends? Why all this enmity? I think if you and Ty sit down and work this out—”

  Roland’s hand slashed the air. “Out of the question! Last time Ty and I met he almost killed me.”

  “And you almost killed him. I know. You told me the story.”

  “More importantly, he almost killed Alicia. My wife. Remember that? And do I really need to remind you what he did to Anna?”

  Chloe shrugged. “Perhaps we should ask Anna what really happened that day.”

  Roland’s face darkened, and Jackson thought he’d never seen the other man this mad. “Ask her? Is that what Ty told you? That none of this ever happened? Next thing you’ll start telling me what happened to me didn’t happen either!” He stood face to face now with his sister, but she didn’t flinch or back down.

  “All I’m saying is that there’s always two sides to every story. Perhaps it’s time we heard Ty’s.”

  Roland uttered a scream of annoyance, then grabbed his coat from the chair and stalked to the door. Before he reached it, he whirled around and stabbed a finger in Chloe’s direction. “You better get your loyalties straight, young lady, because as far as I’m concerned there’s only us or them. And if you choose their side…” He didn’t finish the sentence, its meaning clear. Then he muttered, “I need some fresh air. This place sickens me.” And he stormed out, slamming the door in his wake.

  “I think it’s safe to say there goes a very angry man,” mumbled Beverley, who’d followed the conversation with keen interest.

  “Ro’s not angry,” said Chloe softly. “He’s just frustrated. He’s been fighting this battle for years, and not getting ahead. Maybe it’s because he’s been going about this the wrong way all along.”

  Jackson walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her in for an embrace. She willingly wrapped herself up in his arms. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

  “I was always safe,” she whispered. “Ty would never hurt me. You know that, right?”

  Jackson nodded uncertainly. After all these years, he really didn’t know the first thing about his older brother, he now realized. According to Roland he was the devil incarnate. According to Chloe he wasn’t so bad after all. Perhaps the truth lay somewhere in the middle, as was often the case?

  “Maybe we should let this rest,” he suggested. “Now that Ty’s gone, your brother will return home soon as well, and we can pick up where we left off.”

  She nodded against his chest, and he felt the familiar warmth spread through his chest. Chloe was back and she was safe and that was all that mattered.

  As Chloe hugged herself close to Jackson, one persistent thought stood out amongst the welter: Ty had told her to talk to Anna—ask her about what really happened, and she planned to do just that.

  Over the years so many conflicting stories had reached her ear about Ty that she was now adamant to get to the bottom of what made the man tick. Was he a monster or just a man? Though if she was honest with herself, she knew she could never see him as just a man. He was… formidable.

  And as she rested in Jackson’s arms, she realized for the first time that even though Jackson made her feel warm inside and protected and safe, he never really set her soul aflame the way Ty had briefly done back in that barn. Those strange stirrings in her bosom hadn’t dissipated, as she’d expected. On the contrary, as she was held by Ty’s brother, those stirrings intensified, until all she could think about were Ty’s hot hands on her naked skin, his searing gaze penetrating her soul and his caress fanning the flame of an outrageous lust.

  Jackson might be many things, but he’d never really stirred the depths of her soul the way Ty had done in those hours they’d spent together.

  She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight to fight against the storm raging inside. She couldn’t be falling for Ty. He was a maniac. Hadn’t he slapped her around? Thrown her in the trunk of his car like some animal? Hadn’t he hurt her and ripped the clothes from her body and almost raped her? He was the enemy!

  And yet, she felt the familiar heat rising in her loins at the thought of him taking her in that barn, hard and unprotected, as she now secretly wished he had…

  Chapter 20

  The river ran fast and true, and Ty, as he crouched down on the small pebbled beach lining it just below the bridge leading out of town, thought long and hard about something he hadn’t given much thought until now. His future.

  As the oldest son and heir to Harlan de Montesquieu, he’d never had a future to consider, his father having done all the thinking for him from the moment he’d been born.

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true now was it? As he’d just discovered he’d been adopted, birth hadn’t been the cornerstone it was for most. In his case, the adoption papers signed by Harlan were; from that moment onward, his life had been set in stone. The schools he’d attended, the subjects he’d chosen—or rather, had had chosen for him. Even the friends he’d made.

  One of the few friends he’d chosen himself was Drake, and he was the first one he thought of calling now that his life appeared at a crossroads.

  Drake was a man after his own heart, though not so much his father’s. Drake was loyal to a fault, yes, but also had a mind of his own, and had advised Ty on a few of the more unusual decisions he’d taken in life.

  Like the one to let Anna Moonstone slip from his grasp.

  He wondered what he’d advise him now.

  “Drake? Hey there, buddy. Look, I ask you a question, you give me an honest answer.” He briefly explained w
hat he’d been up to that morning, and judging from the long silence on the other end understood he’d done the right thing by asking his friend’s opinion. This was a tough one. One that would affect them all. Finally Drake came back with a curt, “Do it.”

  He rang off, and stared across the raging river, watching the crystal clear water eddy across the scattered stones, and made up his mind. It was time, he saw. It was right. Inconvenient, yes. Dangerous, true. But it was the right thing to do.

  So he reared up his tall body and slowly clambered back up to the bridge where he’d left his rental, a slow smile creeping up his hardened features. Of all the places in the world where he could have run up against this fork in the road, it had to be Alaska. How odd. How prescient.

  He stepped into the car and performed a U-turn, heading back into town. From here on out, things would be different, he knew. But hopefully they’d be better as well.

  He drove the same route he’d taken the first time around, and when he passed by the house, a strange sensation gripped him. One he’d never experienced before. Then he recognized it. Jitters. And he knew he had felt like this before. The first time he’d laid eyes on Chloe Thornton, and all the subsequent times. The first time he’d asked her out and she’d turned him down. And the second and last time as well—the last time they’d met face to face.

  And now here he was doing it all over again. As he rolled the car to a stop, he expelled a deep breath. This was nuts. Plain nuts.

  Then, with the resoluteness that characterized all his endeavors, he stepped out and walked up the path to the front door and, after only a moment’s hesitation, he pressed the bell.

  Jackson had dropped Chloe off at the house before racing off again to coordinate the blockade that would hopefully land Ty in their hands before sundown. Weird thing was that no one had seen the man so far, which either meant he’d made it out of town before the roadblocks had been set up, or he was still within its perimeter.