Unraveled_Steel Brothers Saga_Book Nine

by HELEN HARDT

  Lessons of the Heart

  Song of the Raven

  * * *

  The Steel Brothers Saga:

  Craving

  Obsession

  Possession

  Melt

  Burn

  Surrender

  Shattered

  Twisted

  Unraveled

  * * *

  The Cougar Chronicles:

  The Cowboy and the Cougar

  Calendar Boy

  * * *

  Collections:

  Destination Desire

  Her Two Lovers

  * * *

  Non-Fiction:

  got style?

  Discussion Questions

  The theme of a story is its central idea or ideas. How would you characterize the theme of Unraveled?

  Discuss the following characters in depth. How have they grown throughout this nine-book series? Talon, Jonah, Ryan, Jade, Melanie, Ruby, Marjorie

  What do you think of Brad Steel’s decision to fake Daphne’s death? How did this decision shape the events in the Steel Brothers Saga?

  What about his decision to fake his own death? What might have been, had he stayed with his children?

  What kind of life do you think Ryan and Ruby will have? Will Ruby ever return to detective work?

  Compare and contrast Brad Steel and Theodore Mathias. Neither were model fathers, yet they both ended up saving their children in the end. Did they love their children? Did Mathias have any good qualities at all?

  Do you believe Wendy truly loved Brad and Ryan? Was she capable of love? Discuss what might have led to her psychopathic illness. What might her parents have been like? How was she able to lead a life as a journalist? What might her psychiatric diagnosis be?

  How did you feel about Talon’s adoption of Dale and Donny Robertson? Will this make Talon’s life more difficult? Why or why not?

  Do you believe Theo loved Ruby? Was proud of her? Why or why not?

  Discuss how Brad handled Wendy. What do you think his true feelings for her were?

  Ryan applies the virtues of strength and wisdom to Jonah and Talon, respectively. Do you agree? What virtue would you apply to Ryan?

  Discuss the antagonists of the saga. What role did each play? Theodore Mathias, Tom Simpson, Larry Wade, Wendy Madigan

  Was Brad Steel an antagonist as well?

  What might the future hold for all the Steels now? Will Marjorie find love? With whom?

  Acknowledgments

  The end has come! This was a difficult book to write, both intellectually and emotionally, as I had to tie up all the loose ends and bring ultimate happiness to the Steel family as they so deserved. I made myself cry more than once as I unraveled the remaining secrets. We said goodbye to some characters (and let’s face it—we won’t miss them) and hello to some new ones as Ruby and Ryan—and all the Steels—finally got their happily ever after. I’ll miss the Steels, but I’m excited about my next series, which is already taking shape in my head.

  A very special thank you to my husband, Dean, a PADI-certified SCUBA diver, who helped me with Ryan and Talon’s diving scene. Thanks so much to my amazing editors, Celina Summers and Michele Hamner Moore. Your guidance and suggestions were, as always, invaluable. Thank you to my line editor, Scott Saunders, and my proofreaders, Jenny Rarden, Amy Grishman, and Chrissie Saunders. Thank you to all the great people at Waterhouse Press—Meredith, David, Kurt, Jon, Yvonne, Jeanne, Renee, Dave, and Robyn. Special thanks to Yvonne Ellis for the beautiful cover art for Unraveled and for the whole series.

  Many thanks to my assistant, Amy Denim, for taking care of business so I can write. I couldn’t do it without you!

  Thank you to the members of my street team, Hardt and Soul. HS members got the first look at Unraveled, and I appreciate all your support, reviews, and general good vibes. You all mean more to me than you can possibly know.

  Thanks to my always supportive family and friends, and to my local writing groups, Colorado Romance Writers and Heart of Denver Romance Writers, for their love and support.

  Most of all, thank you to the diehard Steel fans who have stuck with the saga through nine books. I hope you found the ending worth the wait!

  About Helen Hardt

  #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Helen Hardt’s passion for the written word began with the books her mother read to her at bedtime. She wrote her first story at age six and hasn’t stopped since. In addition to being an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance and erotica, she’s a mother, an attorney, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an appreciator of fine red wine, and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. She writes from her home in Colorado, where she lives with her family. Helen loves to hear from readers.

  For more information, please follow Helen Hardt at:

  www.helenhardt.com

  A Special Thank You

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for following the Steel Brothers saga to its conclusion in Unraveled. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading these stories as much as Helen has enjoyed sharing them.

  Please look for new releases from Helen Hardt coming soon.

  In the meantime, let us introduce you to Angel Payne’s Honor Bound series with book one, Saved, here in its entirety.

  Happy reading!

  * * *

  Waterhouse Press

  Start the Honor Bound series

  With

  This book is an original publication of Angel Payne.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  * * *

  Copyright © 2017 Waterhouse Press, LLC

  Cover Design by Waterhouse Press, LLC

  Cover Photographs: Shutterstock

  * * *

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic format without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Nobody does it better…Thomas, you are my hero, always.

  Chapter One

  Heaven.

  He had to have died at last, and somehow—God only knew how—ended up beyond the pearly gates.

  Garrett Hawkins didn’t bother questioning the admission details beyond that. No sense in tempting Saint Peter, or whoever the fuck was standing watch today, into checking notes and realizing a mistake had been made. Wouldn’t do the guy any good. At this point, Garrett wasn’t past blowing the balls off anyone who told him he had to leave.

  The deal was, heaven was nothing like the scene they’d taught him in summer Bible school. No sugar-spun clouds. No bad haircuts. Not a single angel with a half-tuned harp.

  Heaven was silk sheets, his tongue on the inside of Sage Weston’s left thigh—and her sigh in response.

  “Garrett! Damn it! Higher. Please…higher!”

  He chuckled and sank a soft bite into her tawny flesh. “Is that any way to talk in heaven, sugar? Ssshhh. You’re gonna get us tossed out.”

  He spoke the last of it as he crossed to her other thigh, making sure his mouth brushed over her glistening pussy in the process. Christ, how he wanted to stop there, and he thought about it as he watched new drops of arousal on her sweet pink folds, but there’d be time to return for all that sweet ambrosia and then some. In heaven, they finally had all the time they needed.

  A shiver claimed the new skin that he began to suckle and lick. “Sergeant Hawkins, you’re making me insane!”

  “I hope so.”

  “Ohhhh! Bastard!”

  “Mmmm. You taste like cr
eam and honey.”

  “Garrett!”

  He sighed and laughed again. “So impatient. So greedy.” He trailed his lips toward her knee, inciting another protesting moan from the silk ribbons of her lips.

  “Impatient? You’ve been teasing me like this forever!”

  “And isn’t it fun?”

  “I hate you.”

  “No you don’t.”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “No you aren’t.”

  He was about to taunt the inside of her ankle when she really did yank it away from him. He raised his head in question, only to have the back of it bonked by her other foot as she swung that over the edge of the bed as well. “Sage! Hey!”

  “Don’t pull petulant on me, Garrett Hawkins. I invented it, and I do it way better than you.”

  He almost smiled. She’d been a ball of sass and fire since they’d met at that dive bar in Tacoma, and he loved her a little more every time she rekindled the attitude. It also helped him choose the next words out of his mouth, issued as a deep and heated growl.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Ms. Weston.”

  Her eyes widened, ablaze with bright peridot shock. She pushed out her chin and tacked on a smirk. “Is that so, Sergeant?” She stepped into a little white thong trimmed in sexy-as-hell pink lace and then tugged a white tank over the bra he hadn’t gotten the chance to get off yet. “Why don’t you watch me?”

  He laughed, though the sound was made of anger, not mirth. Thanks to the countless sessions with Shrink Sally, as he’d affectionately come to call the poor woman assigned to “fix” him a year ago, he also recognized that the rage was directed at the guy in the mirror across the room, not the woman in front of him. That only tripled the resolve for his next action.

  Without giving her any warning, Garrett hooked two fingers into the lace at her hip and pulled hard. The surge of her body returning to his side matched the rush of joy in his blood and the roar of arousal in his cock. This was where she belonged. This was so fucking right.

  With a grunt, he twisted the panties tighter. The fabric gave way in his grip. It fell away, exposing her incredible golden hips. Sage gaped at him, though he took that from her too, ramming their lips together while he pulled her and flattened her to the bed again.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” he growled, rolling his hips so she felt every pounding inch of his erection. “Why don’t you watch me, sugar?”

  She did just that, jerking her brilliant green eyes wide as he jammed both her arms over her head and lashed them together using a bungee cord off his mission pack. For a second he wondered why his pack made it to heaven with him, but he was too grateful to question the issue for long. It was just as weird that her old bed had made it too, a wrought-iron thing he’d never liked much, thanks to its headboard full of fancy curlicues that tangled with each other like a damn tumbleweed. But right now he was really grateful for the thing. The two bungee hooks fit perfectly around a couple of whorls in the headboard.

  With a frustrated whimper, Sage wrenched her arms. “Wh-What are you doing?” She craned her neck, exposing the nervous drum of her carotid artery. “Garrett, why—”

  “I told you.” He stated it with steeled calm. “I’m not letting you leave. It was a mistake to do that the first time. It was a mistake not to go after you. So now I’m keeping you right here, safe with me. Just trust me, my heart. You’re going to be very happy.” Without preamble, he tore her tank top down the middle. “And very satisfied.”

  Her breath caught on a sexy-as-hell hitch. “My hero.” The sigh changed her voice, too. Her tone transformed from incensed to breathless but climbed into a strained cry when he took care of her front bra clasp with one deft snap. “Oh…mmmm!” she moaned, arching into the fingers he trailed around her dark berry nipples, pushing her puckered fruit up at him. He gave into the craving to sample one with deeper intent, pinching the nub and then pulling. Hard.

  “Shit! Ohhh, Garrett!”

  Damn. Her startled cry made him want to try it on the other nipple, and he did. Both her areolas were red and irritated now, their tiny bumps standing in attention around the distended peaks at their centers.

  To his perplexity—to his shame—he got painfully hard.

  That didn’t stop him from getting greedy. With both his hands on her tits now, he couldn’t resist tugging on both her beautiful nipples at the same time.

  “Damn it!” she screamed. “Garrett, th-that hurts! Oh God! Oh…mmmmm…”

  She fell into an enraptured moan as he made up for the man-pig behavior, soothing each breast with long, tender licks. That wasn’t a huge help to his aching body. His cock had gotten harder and hotter, throbbing between their stomachs. He shifted a little so he could dip his hand between her thighs, intending to continue his gratitude by giving her pussy a nice little rubdown—but what he discovered had him grinning in delighted shock. Her tunnel was gushing, warm, and creamy for him. She took one finger, then two, then three, her walls secreting more tangy juices all over his skin. Her arousal revved his mouth again. He pulled his tongue back from her nipple and bit into the stiff nub.

  Her whole body bucked off the mattress. “Garrett! Hell! Why are you doing that?”

  “Because you like it,” he said while working a fourth finger into her. With one of his thighs, he shoved hard on the knee he’d just been worshipping, opening her legs wider. “Because the pain makes you wet for me.”

  He dragged his mouth against hers again, but this time she didn’t let him into her wet heat. She opened her lips only enough to get her teeth into his bottom lip.

  “Damn you to Hades,” she whispered, her teeth still anchored in his flesh. He yanked back, licking at the flesh she’d torn open, though he did it on a dark smile.

  “Too late, sugar. I think my passport’s already got that stamp.”

  She looked adorable as she rolled her eyes. “Which is why you’re in heaven with me?”

  Before he answered that, he did kiss her. He did it thoroughly and desperately, possessing her tongue in bold sweeps, permanently tangling his essence with hers.

  “We’ve always lived on borrowed time, my heart. We both know it.” He gripped her leg, hooking her knee around his shoulder. “Which is why I’m going to fuck you hard now. Which is why you’re going to let me. Which is why you’re going to love it.”

  Her eyes shimmered with tears. Her lips lifted in a misty smile. “Okay.”

  His penis surged against his fingers as he guided himself to her tight, glistening entrance. “Tell me you want it.”

  “I want it, baby.” Her obedience didn’t land him in heaven again. It made his whole heart and soul turn into paradise. “I want your hot cock, Garrett. Please. Now. Deep inside me.”

  “Yeah.” He swirled the searing precome around his bulging head and then pushed himself into the first inch of her channel. “Oh yeah, sugar.”

  “Garrett.” Her strident gasp filled him. “Garrett…Garrett…”

  “Soon, my heart. Soon.”

  “Garrett! Fuck, man. Open the door!”

  What the hell?

  His fiancée suddenly sounded like his best friend. Correction—his demanding, door-pounding, subtle-as-a-linebacker ex-best friend.

  “Hawkins! Get your ass out of bed and answer the door!”

  Garrett slammed his eyes open. Squeezed them shut again. “No.” His voice was a croak, absorbed by the grimy walls of the room in this no-name Bangkok hotel he’d checked into last night. He looked down, trying to piece together this new truth. The precome was real. One of his hands was still wet with the stuff. His fingers were also really wrapped around his aching boner as he lay beneath a mound of cheap, cloying sheets.

  Sage was nowhere to be found.

  Of course not.

  Because she was dead. For a year, two months, sixteen days, and almost twenty-four hours now.

  The knives of grief, all ten million of them, reburied in his chest. As he gulped through the resulting dea
rth of air, he raised his clean hand to his chest, scrabbling for his dog tags. More accurately, he searched for the gold band that hung on the chain between them.

  Though his head ordered him not to do it, he slipped his ring finger back through the band. For one wonderful extra moment, the knives went away, and he relived the day he and Sage had picked out the jewelry… The day when he’d thought it would soon become a part of his wardrobe for good.

  He remembered every detail of how beautiful she’d looked. It had been a brilliant late-spring day. Her hair was a cascade of light-brown sugar that earned her his favorite nickname, falling against the freckled shoulders that peeked from her pink sundress. But her smile… Ah, he remembered that the best. Her lips had glistened with her joyous tears and quavered with her soft whisper.

  I can’t wait until you get to wear it for good. I can’t wait until you’re all mine.

  A month later, he’d gotten the phone call from Heidi Weston that upended his world forever. The woman who was preparing to become his mother-in-law stammered that he needed to come over right away. He’d actually packed a bag, thinking Sage had been hurt, maybe badly, judging by the sound of Heidi’s voice. He was prepared to stay long enough to get as much info as he could about her condition and then head for the base to force himself onto whatever flight was headed anywhere near Botswana. When he’d walked in to see the Casualty Notifications Officer and the Chaplain sitting there, on either side of a sobbing Heidi, his knees hit the floor along with his pack. Only half their words had reached his brain through his roaring senses. Tribal warfare…region unexpectedly unstable…van sidetracked off the main road…likely rebels…found burned out…nothing but ashes found…