by HELEN HARDT
“Maybe you needed a better option,” Marjorie said, choking back tears. “Like staying with your children.”
“I’m sorry. Your mother needed me. You were all good, strong adults. I knew you’d be okay.”
“Okay?” Talon stood. “I was so far from okay. You never let me, or any of us, deal with what happened to me. You swept it under the rug. I needed help, damn it. So did Joe and Ryan. They suffered every bit as much as I did.”
“Tal,” I began. “You can’t equate—”
“It’s not a matter of equating anything. Joe suffered with all the guilt of not protecting me. You with the guilt of getting away. It’s apples and oranges, but we all suffered, including our mother and sister.”
“I did what I thought was best at the time. Your mother was unwell. Your sister was a premature newborn. Plus, I knew Wendy would interfere if any of it was made public. I couldn’t risk any of your lives. I wish I could make you understand.”
“How could we understand any of this?” Joe demanded. “Logic flies out the window. You put your allegiance to some stupid high school club above your own family.”
“I did not,” my father said calmly. “I’ve explained all this to you.”
“But it all comes back to that stupid club,” I said. “The money you gave them. The money you promised them and then reneged on. Your association with Wendy. That’s what this all boils down to. That fucking club at that fucking prep school. You even lied about that. You told us you had gone to Snow Creek High School. That’s why you wanted us to go there, you said. If it was good enough for you, it was good enough for us. We didn’t need any expensive private school, right, Dad?”
“You didn’t,” he said solemnly. “You see what my expensive education cost me.”
“You could have left the club.”
“I could have. You have no idea how much I wish I had.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was young. I had money. They needed money. They were my friends at one time. I was in love with one of them.”
“You did love my mother?” I asked.
“I was seventeen, Ryan. No one understands love at seventeen. She was beautiful and brilliant. She had that fiery spirit that you love so much about Ruby.”
“Don’t ever say that again,” I said, seething. “Ruby is nothing like my mother.”
“Your mother does—or did, at one time—have some good qualities.” He sighed. “And yes, at that time, I thought I loved her.”
I supposed that should have made me feel better about the whole thing.
It didn’t.
“I kept in touch with your mother, Ryan, after my supposed death. I had to. But she never knew where I was. I told her not to ask, and she didn’t. She will submit to me when pressured.”
“How did you get her to agree to that?” I asked.
“How do you think?” He shook his head. “I told her your safety depended on no one, not even her, knowing where I was.”
Yes, her other Achilles’ heel.
Silence for a few seconds.
Then, “There’s something else you all need to know.” He looked down at his hands.
“What’s that?” Joe asked.
“I’m dying.”
He’d said that before but hadn’t elaborated. Talon and I hadn’t told Joe and Marj. We’d been so angry, I’d nearly forgotten.
“What’s wrong?” Marj asked, chewing on her lip.
“Cancer. Pancreatic. I’ve chosen to forego treatment. I have no more than about six months. That’s why your mother needs to stay where she is. She’ll be safe, and the Steel Family Trust will take care of her for the rest of her life.”
“Is there treatment available?” Marj asked.
“There is, but the odds aren’t good. I’m going to prison, treatment or not.”
“No.” Marj sniffled.
“It’s all right, baby girl.”
I hated to see my little sister cry—and over our father? My brothers and I weren’t buying it. He’d done enough damage to all of us for several lifetimes.
“Marjorie,” Joe said, his voice serious. “Our father is an accessory to human trafficking.”
“He’s right,” I said. “You didn’t see the people in that dormitory, but Talon and I did. Women were chained up. Little boys were locked in rooms and starved, beaten, and worse. You know as well as we all do what went on there.”
Marj wiped a tear from her cheek. “I get it. I do. But I just got my parents back. My mother is off in some place in California.”
“We’ll bring her here,” Joe said softly.
Our father shook his head. “You can’t. She needs to be kept hidden.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? If Wendy finds out she’s alive…”
Of course it all came back to my evil mother.
“I’ll talk to my mother,” I said as calmly as I could. “I won’t allow her to hurt Daphne.”
“No, Ryan,” my father said. “She might actually listen to you even more than me, but where Daphne is concerned, there are no guarantees. The jealousy is too much for Wendy. In her mind, Daphne stole what Wendy considered hers. Me. Our life. And then you. Do you think I would have taken your mother away from all of you if I’d had another choice?”
“Honestly, Dad,” Joe said, “I’m not sure any of us even know you anymore.”
“For God’s sake!” Marjorie cried. “Our father is ill. He’s going to die. In prison!”
As much as we three brothers adored our little sister, not one of us reacted to her outburst—a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by our father.
“I deserve your resentment. Even your hate,” he said with resignation. “And I deserve to spend my last days in prison.”
My siblings and I said nothing. Even Marj, Daddy’s girl, couldn’t deny the truth of his words.
Silence, until—
Someone rapped at the door.
“Come in,” our father and Talon said in unison.
This was still Talon’s office, after all.
Jade entered. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Ruby is here. She says she needs to talk to all of us.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Ruby
Telling the Steels about Dale and Donny had taken its toll on everyone involved. I couldn’t help shedding some more tears, and even Jonah misted up a bit.
Telling Ryan that I was going to go with my father to find Gina, and that he’d promised to take me to my mother…
That had gone even worse.
I’d gotten him alone after I told the others about Dale and Donny, and then he’d dragged me out by my arm to the deck and picked me up and carried me as if I were a small child all the way to his guesthouse in the back.
He hadn’t said a word.
Now, as we entered, he still didn’t speak. He let Ricky and Ernie out back, and then he turned to me.
“Undress.”
“We’re in the ki—”
“Undress,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Ryan, I—”
“Haven’t I made myself clear? I said undress.”
What if I didn’t? I’d always obeyed him before. And even now, my muscles were itching to do as he’d commanded. I had to force my fingers away from the buttons on my blouse, my feet from kicking off my shoes.
Melanie’s words rang in my mind. You might finally be finding yourself.
Why did I have this urge to obey Ryan Steel? I’d never obeyed anyone in my life. I questioned everything, even my superiors at work if I disagreed with their handling of a case.
Why not Ryan Steel?
His cognac eyes blazed into me, burning into my own. He wasn’t joking around.
He meant to be obeyed.
I fingered the collar of my blouse, slowly. The cotton was textured beneath my fingertips. Slowly I trailed down to a button and played with the smooth plastic.
But I did not unbutton it.
“My patience is wearing t
hin, Ruby,” Ryan said.
Still, though my fingers itched to rip my shirt open and let the buttons fly across the tile floor, I stood my ground.
What would he do?
My curiosity was eating me alive.
I knew this man. He was not violent, nor was he evil. He was a good man. An honorable man.
If I was going to consider his marriage proposal—and I’d already pretty much decided—I had to know how he would react to my defiance.
He could not keep me from my cousin or my mother, even if it meant forming an alliance with my father. Surely he would understand that.
He advanced toward me, his gaze never leaving mine. His eyes were hard and determined, and when he lifted his hand to me, I fought back a flinch.
With a touch more gentle than I expected, he reached behind me and tugged on the band that was holding my hair in a long ponytail. My hair fell down my back and around my shoulders.
“You should wear your hair down more often.”
“It’s not practical.” True. But even as I said the words, I knew I’d wear my hair down more often from then on.
“Why aren’t you doing as I ask?” he said.
“I’m afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No. Not of you. Of me.”
He stalked out of the kitchen. A few minutes went by, and then he returned. I didn’t ask why he’d left because I already knew. He’d left to get a grip on his temper.
He reached for my hair, and I expected him to yank on it. Instead, he sifted my long tresses through his fingers. “You’re so beautiful. What are you afraid of, baby?”
“Of losing myself.”
“Losing yourself? With me?”
“Yes. I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it with all that’s been going on, but every part of me screams at me to obey you. To bend to your will.”
“All the time?”
“Well…no. Just in the bedroom.” I looked around. “Or the kitchen, apparently. Or anytime you make one of your demands that will lead to sex.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Yes. I mean, no.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s not…me.”
“Maybe it is.”
Melanie had intimated the same thing. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“I want you to undress. I like watching you undress. And right now, I’m hard as a fucking rock for you. I won’t deny that I’m angry—no, more frightened, actually—of you going off with your father. And when I get that way…” He laughed softly. “You scare the hell out of me, Ruby. I don’t want you going off with your father on some wild-goose chase after your cousin. It’s not safe. If you want to look for Gina, I’ll help you. My brothers will help you. We have unlimited resources.”
I dropped my mouth open.
He pushed my chin upward. “You need to cut ties with your father, baby. For good. It’s not safe for you to be around him.”
“But Gina—”
“If Gina is anywhere to be found, we will find her.” His face became hard. “Now. Undress.”
My hands shook as I fingered the same button, working it through the hole.
“Faster.”
Why was I quivering so? I wanted to please him. And he was right about me going off with my father. It wasn’t safe. I honestly didn’t think Theo would hurt me, but he might not protect me either.
Ryan would protect me. And I’d protect him.
We were equals in life. Damn it, just because I wanted to submit to him during sex didn’t make me any less his equal.
I smiled at my epiphany. Melanie would be proud.
I grabbed both sides of my shirt and pulled. Buttons went flying across the tile.
He laughed. “I can see I’m going to need to buy stock in the company that makes those tops you like.”
“Or just find a good tailor to replace the buttons.” I let the shirt drift over my shoulders and land on the floor.
He cupped my breasts through my bra, thumbing my nipples. They hardened under his touch, poking through the cotton fabric. Then, no longer gentle, he grasped the front of my bra and ripped it from my body.
“I’ll have to buy a lingerie company too,” he said.
I began to laugh but then moaned when he fingered my nipples and twisted them. Tingles raced along my skin—inward, inward—until the little tickle between my legs became unbearable. Ryan bent toward me and took my lips in a searing kiss, all the while playing tug of war on my nipples.
I opened for him completely, willingly, letting his tongue swirl around mine, taking me to another place, another time.
A place where only the two of us existed, where none of the horror of the past several weeks could touch us.
He swept me into his arms and walked swiftly toward his bedroom.
He laid me prone across the bed and tugged my jeans and undies down. I heard the swift zing of his zipper…and then he was inside me, thrusting, pushing, pumping…making me whole.
“God, Ruby. I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too, Ryan,” I wailed into the comforter.
Tears welled in my eyes.
I loved him. Loved this man with my whole being. With everything I was.
And I would marry him.
I wouldn’t be losing myself. I’d be finding something so much more fulfilling.
I’d be finding us.
With that revelation came the swift convulsions starting in the deepest core of me.
“God, yes,” he groaned. “I feel you coming around me, baby. I can’t… I’m going to— Ah!” He pushed hard into me, touching my innermost soul.
When he finally stopped convulsing inside my walls, he pulled out and then gently removed my shoes, jeans, and underwear. He turned me so I lay on my back, looking up at him. He was, of course, still fully clothed except that his jeans and boxer briefs were at his knees.
I smiled. “We’ve been in this situation before.”
“So we have.”
“I like this,” I said shyly. “I like being naked before you, ready for whatever you want to do to me.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I like it too. Very much.”
Time for the words. To tell the man I loved what I’d made him wait to hear.
“Ryan, I want to marry you.”
He leaned over and kissed my lips. “Finally. You know I wasn’t going to stop until you agreed.”
“I thought a lot about you when I was taken to the island, especially when I was locked in that room with Juliet. I wanted to get back to you, and I knew you’d come to me. But I didn’t want you to come. I knew you’d be walking into danger. I couldn’t lose you. I just couldn’t.” I sighed. “I’ve been so afraid of losing something else by letting you in. Some part of me. But I was wrong. I’m gaining something. Something wonderful.”
“We’ll get married tomorrow,” he said.
“Not yet. I don’t want a courthouse wedding. Let’s have something small and nice, like the wedding in Jamaica.”
“You want to go back to Jamaica?”
“No. I don’t want to go near the Caribbean for a while. But we can have something nice here. At your house.”
He smiled. “Our house.”
The thought didn’t freak me out or give me pause. “At our house.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Ryan
I stood and pulled up my jeans. Then I went to the top drawer of my dresser and removed a gray velvet box. I’d purchased the ring a while ago, after I’d given Ruby the sapphire bracelet that had belonged to my grandmother. I’d thought about asking my father about the bracelet, but I’d decided against it. If my mother had been lying and it hadn’t belonged to my father’s mother, I didn’t want to know. The piece was so perfect for Ruby, and I didn’t want it tainted by my mother’s possible lies. For as long as the piece stayed in our family, it would be an heirloom from my grandmother. Perhaps one day Ruby would give it to our daughter.
God, a daughter.
Or a son.
Hopefully some of each.
Melanie would soon have Joe’s first child. Talon and Jade most likely wouldn’t be far behind, and neither would Ruby and I.
We hadn’t talked about children, but Ruby was a natural mother. I’d seen the way she dealt with Dale and Donny. Even with Juliet. And the way she fussed over her new puppy. She was very nurturing and caring.
We’d talk about it all later. Right now, this amazing woman had finally agreed to be my wife. She had sat up on the edge of the bed, her naked body gleaming, and I knelt before her and opened the box. “Ruby Lee, I love you with all my heart. Would you marry me?”
I picked up the sapphire ring set in platinum and placed it on her finger. I’d guessed at the size, but it fit perfectly and matched the bracelet.
She inhaled sharply. “It’s so big! It’s like Princess Diana’s!”
“Princess Kate’s now,” I said.
“How in the world did you know that? You don’t seem the type to keep up with the royals.”
I chuckled. “Neither do you, actually. I have no idea how I know that. But it doesn’t matter. This one belongs to Princess Ruby.”
“I’m hardly a princess.”
“Sure you are. A beautiful naked princess.” I kissed her lips. “I hope you like it. It’s not a diamond, but I thought—”
She cut me off with another kiss. “It’s perfect. Perfectly beautiful.”
“It matches your eyes. Except your eyes are even more dazzling.”
“Never in my life…” She choked up.
“What is it, baby?”
“All those years, afraid of men. Keeping them at bay. None of it was a mistake because it all led me here. It led me to you. To a love I could never have imagined in my deepest dreams.”
“I, for one, am glad it did.”
She smiled, her eyes glassy. “I am too.” She pressed her lips to mine.
I opened for her, and we kissed until my cock was hard and I couldn’t wait to have her. I broke the kiss and inhaled deeply. “Baby. Please. I need you. I need your ass.”