by Reece Butler
“I hate that I share his blood!”
Riley squeezed her hand. “That’s all you share, Janey.”
“It proved his control over you,” said Travis. “Even outside your home, when he was away, you couldn’t trust anyone. You were never safe.”
Thank goodness she hadn’t known. She’d held that kernel of defiance inside her, thinking of it when he was especially cruel. Knowing he could not sell her as pristine, that she’d done something he knew nothing about, had helped her survive.
She stuck out her chin. “It’s in the past. I survived, and I refuse to be a victim. Not then, and not now.”
“Go, Janey!”
“He never tried it again?”
She leaned forward, using Buster as an excuse to delay.
“Take your time,” said Travis.
All the time in the world wouldn’t change a thing.
“This is harder to talk about,” she said.
She shook her head, took a deep breath and surged forward.
“He lets a powerful business associate touch me.” She held her hand up before they exploded. “All socially acceptable, seemingly casual gestures. He’ll rub against me, or run his hand down my bare arm, in public.” Now she knew why. He was marking her as belonging to him. She grimaced, rubbing her arms. “No one else ever touches me. Just him. He knows I hate it, and that I despise him. But my father wants to do business with him, so I can’t complain.” She released a shudder. “He’ll never touch me again.”
“Damn right!”
Unless they found her. But she’d escaped, and would live her life on her terms. She’d never forget Travis and Riley for freeing her. Yes, she’d climbed out that window, and would have survived the honky-tonk somehow. But it was their deep caring and respect that had made her whole.
“That part of your life is over,” said Travis.
“Is there anything else?” demanded Riley.
She dropped her head. She didn’t want to tell them and ruin things.
“Jane?” Travis used That Voice, the one that meant business.
“The one that likes to touch me? He’s the one my father said I was to marry. That’s why I ran. I’d rather die than have him—”
“What the hell?” roared Riley, jumping to his feet.
“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”
She pulled away from Travis’ warm embrace. He yanked her back. His breathing was harsh against her ear. Riley stomped across the floor, fists tight. He stopped and turned to her.
“He’d believed you were his property all along,” mused Travis. She nodded. “You were promised to him and now he can’t have you. That’s a breach of contract in his mind. He may not give up easily.”
“That’s why I have to disappear,” she replied. “I’ll leave—”
“You’re coming with us, Duchess.”
“But—”
“Riley’s right,” said Travis. “You’re coming to Climax when this job is over. I don’t care who they are. We can protect you there.”
He lifted her into his lap and pressed her head against his neck. His strong arms enfolded her against his solid, warm body. She felt safe, and protected, and loved in that moment. She inhaled his scent, drawing it deep into her very cells. She memorized the feeling to call it up when she was scared and lonely, after they’d left her.
“We can start while we’re here,” said Riley. “I think TJ’s daddy might enjoy doing a background check on Jane’s father and his good buddy.” He gave a low, sinister chuckle.
“Good idea,” said Travis. His tight hold on her eased. “Tom White has ways of finding out information. He has contacts everywhere.”
“But I can’t ask a stranger to—”
“You’re not asking, we are.” Travis touched her nose with the tip of his finger. “We were strangers not too long ago, and we care about you, Jane. A lot. If anyone comes after you, they’ll get a big surprise.”
“Damn, this is going to be fun!” Riley rubbed his hands as he rolled back on his heels. His wide grin was eager and expectant.
She slowly shook her head. They’d be squashed like spiders under a boot by her father’s goons.
“You have no idea what they can do,” she said. “They have enough money and contacts to send dozens of men to harm you, your family, and your town. And you’re looking forward to this?”
Riley scowled as if she’d told him he couldn’t play with the big boys.
“Jane, you escaped,” said Travis with quiet intensity. “If word gets out they’ll both be humiliated, and lose power. Like sharks, they smell blood at the slightest sign of weakness. The others will rip them apart.”
“You mean, they’ll destroy my father’s business?”
“You could end up with nothing, Jane. There mightn’t be anything left for you to inherit.”
“Good!” A broken laugh escaped. “It’s been made very clear to me that I won’t get a penny from him that is not required by law. Let them rip his business empire apart.” A sense of calm enveloped her. “I would like very much to see him go to prison.”
“Is that what he threatened you with?” asked Travis.
She nodded, remembering her fear as he gave graphic examples of what could be done to her. The same things could happen to him. All her life, he’d tried to break her. She’d do almost anything to have him destroyed.
“Death’s too easy,” said Riley. “Tom could set him up so everything he’s built gets ripped apart. Sending him to prison will be icing on the cake. How’s that for a plan, Jane?”
Her emotions had gone all over the map in the last hour. Sitting in Travis’s lap, surrounded by his gentle strength, melded everything together into a sense of calm certainty.
She was safer with these men than anywhere else. They meant it when they said they’d take care of her. Neither might wish to share their lives with her, but they’d given her something precious. She’d cleared out her past. She now had an opportunity to build her own future.
Travis released her when she struggled to sit straight. She stayed on his lap, not wanting to lose his warmth and caring.
“We need their names,” demanded Riley. “If they’re that rich, we should be able to find pictures on the Internet.”
“Riley’s right,” agreed Travis. “If we know what they look like, we can protect you better.”
If they looked up her father, they’d find out about her. Worse, they might go after her father and Rankin. She wasn’t ready to have this time of joy destroyed so quickly.
“I’d rather not tell you any names yet.”
“Janey—”
“I know you’re good men,” she said, interrupting Riley. “I know it here.” She touched her fist to her heart. “But I won’t put you in danger.”
“Did you hear what I said about protecting you?” demanded Riley.
“My father destroyed whatever I cared about until I learned to hide everything inside. I feel raw, inside and out, from going over all this. Please, give me more time.”
Riley jammed his hands in his pockets. ”You’d better show us those pictures at least. Otherwise we might see an old man in a suit glaring at you and take him down, thinking he’s the bastard sperm donor who tried so hard to destroy you.”
Sperm doner? Trust Riley to make her laugh.
“You’re right. I hadn’t thought of him that way. He fed, clothed, and educated me, but it was all for his own purposes. Never mine.”
“We’ll be patient for a while, but you’re going to have to tell us.” Travis kissed her gently on the forehead. “I know you’re afraid to trust, but we’re nothing like them.”
“What about your mother, Duchess? She as bad as your father?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jane sank into Travis’s embrace with a smile.
“I haven’t thought about my mother in years.” She laughed as the happy images surfaced. “I remember her hugging me! She’d sneak into my room, climb in bed with me, and whi
sper stories of a wonderful life of kittens and puppies. We’d laugh and eat cookies, and…”
Suddenly the veil of childhood ripped away, revealing the truth. She curled up, clutching Travis’s shirt, heart thudding.
“What is it, Jane?” Travis squeezed her reassuringly. “You’ve got past your father and his buddy. Can this be worse?”
“All along, I’ve blamed my mother for abandoning me,” she whispered. “They told me she left because she didn’t want me. But he would never have let her escape.”
Riley rubbed her shoulder. “We’re here, Janey. You’re not alone.”
“I remember what happened the last time she snuck into my room.” How had she suppressed such a thing?
“Don’t stop there,” warned Riley.
“My father was supposed to be out, but he came home early. My mother was cuddled in bed with me, telling me stories. He threw open the door and found us together on my bed.”
Jane closed her eyes to better remember. She could almost smell her mother’s perfume and feel her warm body.
“His face was…” She hesitated unable to explain. “I was always afraid of him, but that night he terrified me. He roared at my mother to get back to her room. He said he’d warned her what would happen if she touched me. I must have blacked out, because I don’t remember what came next. But the next morning there was blood on the doorframe of my room, and on the white carpet. Blotches of it. They never took the stains out until they replaced the carpet on the whole floor, years later. I never saw my mother again.”
“Oh, God, Jane,” whispered Travis.
She now knew, beyond a shred of doubt, that her mother had loved her. That night was the last time she’d been hugged, until she met Travis and Riley.
“Did he kill her, Janey?”
She shuddered a breath, then shook her head. She hadn’t even known when her mother died. A lot of people came over one afternoon, but she’d been locked away as usual. She found out about the funeral at school, where she was verbally flayed for not attending.
“She died about a year later when her car smashed into a tree at a high speed. They said she was full of drugs and booze. Cecilia was a few months old, and I was nine.”
She fell silent, her brain racing as she added things up. Oh, God, not that!
“Jane,” warned Travis. “Talk to us. Don’t keep it in.”
“It was nine months after that night that my sister was born. I always thought my father liked Sissy so much was because she was blonde and pretty. But I think he sees her and it makes him feel powerful.”
“Fucking fucker!”
“Riley, that doesn’t help,” said Travis coldly.
“Maybe not you or Jane,” he snarled in reply, “but it’s the only thing that’ll help me until I get my hands on that son of a—”
“Tell me about your sister,” demanded Travis.
“The reason I was forced to dye my hair blonde, was so I’d look like Sissy. She was cute and pretty as a child, and I was tall with mousy brown hair. When I got older, I had to keep my body slender and dye my hair, so that we’d look alike.”
“Why make you look like your sister?” demanded Riley.
“I don’t know. Whatever he ordered, we did.”
Travis was silent for a while, absently caressing her. Riley took care of Buster, who lay in on his back, exposing his stomach for a rub.
“Where’d your father’s money come from?” asked Riley. “Inherited?”
“Yes, from my mother’s family,” she said bitterly. “Father had some, of course, or my grandfather would never have allowed my mother to marry him. She was an only child, and everyone knew she’d inherit a fortune. He must have treated her well before they married, to make her think he cared about her, rather than her money.”
Had her mother ever been happy? Maybe, for a short time. The rest of the time, it would have been…like what William Rankin wanted to do with her. Thank God she’d run, and found these two men.
“I think my mother was trying to escape that night she hit the tree, knowing he would kill her eventually.”
“No, he wouldn’t kill her.” Riley’s voice matched his eyes. Cold, and deadly. “He’d keep her alive, terrified and cowering, just because he could. That bastard he wanted you to marry would do the same.” He looked down at Buster, happy at his feet. “You’re coming home with us, Jane.”
“Riley’s right,” agreed Travis in the same tone. “We won’t let either one of those bastards find you.”
She loved their caring, loved that they wanted her. But she could not bring danger to these honest men. She shook her head.
“I was part of a business deal. Neither of them will let me go.”
“We won’t allow you to sacrifice yourself,” said Travis.
“Do you want children?” demanded Riley. He stood, towering over her.
“With all my heart. But not if they’re going to be threatened.”
“I’ve got a solution,” said Riley. His voice, now sensual and eager, made her look up. His eyes flicked over her, lingering on the spots which immediately reacted with eagerness.
“If you marry us, neither will have a claim on you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jane sputtered at Riley’s suggestion, but Travis nodded thoughtfully. It would be the perfect solution to a number of outstanding issues. She needed protection, and they could provide it. They all wanted children. The three of them got on well, both in bed and out. Jane was smart, a hard worker, and easy to get along with. She’d fit in with his family, the other Valley folk, and the people in Climax. He had no idea what was written on her birth certificate, and didn’t particularly care. He thoroughly enjoyed her, no matter what she called herself. When she was ready, she’d trust them with the rest of her secrets.
“You can’t be serious!”
Riley gave Jane that irritating, know-it-all expression that had been driving Travis mad all his life. He sat back and let them fight it out. When Riley had given Jane all the reasons he could think of, Travis would add his own. In the wrestling world it was known as tag-teaming. The thought of wrestling with Jane, both of them naked, made his cock rise. Anything to do with Jane naked made his cock rise.
“You got a better idea?” demanded Riley.
He’d set his feet as if he was confronted by an opponent. The crossed arms and expression, amused, tolerant, and condescending all at once, was not one Travis would have used anywhere near a woman he cared about, especially if she was upset. But his older brother had Dad’s arrogance, Mom’s tendency to speak without thinking, and Pops’ desire to get things out in the open, no matter the consequences.
Jane struggled, so he helped her to stand and face his brother. Since he was behind her, he could finally release his grin at Riley’s suggestion.
“What makes you think I’d consider marriage, to either of you?” she sputtered. “I just escaped the tyranny of a man. Why would I throw away my freedom on you?”
Riley put on a hurt expression, slapped his hand over his chest and stepped back, exaggerating a shot to the heart.
“You wound me, darlin’, putting me in the same corral as those snake-eyed bastards.”
“You’re a man,” she shot back. “I’ve only known you a short time. You could be putting on an act to lure me in, the way Bertie must have done to my mother.”
“Janey, Janey, Janey.” Riley shook his head and made tsking sounds. “We might hang the same equipment between our legs, but that’s about all we’ve got in common with that sicko.”
She hesitated, then lifted her chin and fought back.
“Why would you want me? I don’t have money, and I won’t inherit. Just knowing me will cause you trouble.” She lost some of her belligerence. “I can cook some, and I know how to organize a dinner for seven or seven hundred, but I’ve got few practical skills.” She hesitated. “I don’t know anything about ranching. I’d just be in the way.”
Riley, not the fool but the real
man who rarely showed himself, looked at her sadly. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Yes, you’re damn beautiful, and you make me so horny I…well, you know about that.”
Riley dropped his hand to caress Buster, likely using it as an excuse to look away from Jane without suggesting he did it on purpose. Jane faltered, looking lost for a moment. Travis saw a flash of hurt, then her chin came up.
“You want to marry me because I look good and make you horny.” She laughed sarcastically. “I can get that anywhere, from anyone.”
“That’s just icing on the cake, and you know it,” said Riley quietly, still scratching Buster’s ear. “I knew it took guts for you to escape, but until you said what it was like when you were a kid, and your mom…I had no idea how bad it was for you.”
He pressed his lips together, then looked up, straight at her.
“I can’t believe you survived having to hide yourself away, plus all that shit that was thrown at you, and you’re still able to smile and laugh and”—he shrugged—”and be you, Jane.” The corner of his mouth crooked up. “I like you. As a person, and as a woman. You’d make any man a good wife. I’d be proud if you’d call me your husband.” He shrugged again. “Think about it.”
“Riley, I—”
He turned away. “Buster needs a walk. Come on, boy.”
Travis waited, giving Jane time. There was a lot he wanted to say, but Riley had covered the bases. He would have been a lot more polite, maybe hinted at things rather than blasted them but, as always, his brother did things his own way. Jane stared at the closed door. After a few minutes she slumped on one of the high stools at the breakfast bar.
Travis passed her silently, heading into the kitchen. He knew his way around one, though he preferred someone else cook. He put the kettle on and got out the box of chamomile tea. He’d rather have a belt of scotch, but he figured this was what Jane needed.
“There’s spice cookies in the freezer,” she said absently.
“They good?”
She shrugged. “Never tried them. I thought you’d like them.”