by Marla Monroe
Her amazing eyes searched his as if worried he’d backed away because he hadn’t liked kissing her after all. He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled. He didn’t want her to ever doubt how much he wanted her, or Bo either.
“I don’t want to scare you away, little bit. Just give us a chance to show you that we care and would never hurt you.” He held his breath as she looked from him to Bo before slowly nodding her head with a shy smile.
Dalton felt like shouting to the sky his joy at being given a chance to court her. He looked over at his friend to see the broad smile there as well. It was a welcome sight when it had been so long since the other man had truly smiled like that. His heart stuttered for a second at the double gift he’d been given.
“Would you sit with us at dinner tonight?” Dalton asked her.
Panic flared in her eyes, but she blinked it away and smiled. “Sure. I think I’d like that.”
Dalton nodded and looked over at Bo. His friend was just as pleased. This was going to work out. He was confident that they could snare and tame their woman if they were careful.
“We’ll walk you back to the lodge then meet you for dinner in an hour,” he said.
“Oh, there’s no need for you to walk up there and backtrack to your place. I’m perfectly able to walk a few hundred feet by myself.” Her easy smile was a comfort.
“At least let us walk you over to the path. I don’t want you to trip and hurt yourself, kitten,” Bo said with a worried frown creasing his features.
As if Bo’s worry weighed on her, she sighed and nodded. “Okay, but I’m not helpless. I’ve been taking care of myself a long time.”
“Don’t worry. We know that you’re able to take care of yourself, but we are men, and real men care for their woman so they don’t have to worry at all,” Dalton teased, puffing his chest out like a proud warrior.
The sweetness of her laughter trilled along his heart strings. It was the most refreshing sound he’d ever heard. If pretending to be a prideful Indian warrior elicited that response all the time, he’d gladly play the part just to hear her laugh.
Bo’s face had softened in reaction to her happiness as well. They would climb mountains and brave turbulent rivers to see to her continued happiness. Without realizing it, Shelby had captured their hearts and gained their protection for the rest of her life. She held their happiness in her delicate hands just as surely as the power of her kiss could conquer them.
Hand in hand in hand, the three of them walked across the barnyard to where the path leading up to the road started. With Shelby between them, Dalton felt as if he finally had the world in his hands. She would be the center of their lives, and they would revolve around her.
At the path, he kissed the top of her head after Bo kissed her cheek. Then they watched her walk up the path to the road where they lost sight of her briefly before she appeared again on her way up the steps of the lodge.
Turning to Bo, he couldn’t keep a wide silly smile from off his face. He was happy and could see their future. Bo’s hopeful expression only made him happier.
Dalton slapped the other man on his shoulder. “Let’s go get cleaned up, Nis’ah. I don’t want to smell like a horse’s ass when we seat her between us tonight.”
* * * *
The sound of the wind and rain beating against the window did little to calm Shelby’s nerves. Everything had been going so well the last couple of weeks that she’d settled into an easy relationship with Bo and Dalton. They treated her like a queen, giving her simple gifts that were far more precious to her than anything she’d ever received before. Once Bo had brought her a bouquet of wildflowers off the mountain he’d picked while leading a trail ride. They’d been so pretty and had a subtle sweet scent that wasn’t overwhelming. Dalton surprised her with a picture he’d taken of their two horses eating grass in a meadow without saddles or bridles. They’d been magnificent standing there with the sun glinting off their shiny coats.
Tonight they were taking her out to a town a little larger than Ennis for dinner. It would take about forty-five minutes to get there, but they assured her it would be worth it. The food was excellent and they had a bar with room for dancing as well. All in all, Shelby should have been eagerly anticipating the night, but all she could do was worry now. After having been at the Bear Mountain Ranch for so long without seeing anything or anyone that made her think they’d found her, Shelby had relaxed her guard and hoped that they had quit looking for her. Surely after all this time they’d realize she had no intentions of doing anything about what she knew now.
When the various government law enforcement agencies hadn’t been able to keep her safe, she’d broken all ties with them and run for her life. Let someone else risk what she had, but after watching her best friend gunned down because of her, Shelby wasn’t willing to take a chance anymore. She’d tried, and it had left her with scars both physical and emotional. No more.
Only they wouldn’t give up. She had no idea who had found her this time, but she was sure someone had. She just didn’t know what to do anymore. How were they finding her? She’d burned everything she’d owned including the clothes she wore to make sure they couldn’t find her after the third time they’d shown up. Evidently starting over from scratch wasn’t working. She was essentially off grid with nothing electronic to her name. She didn’t even use a pay-as-you-go cell phone anymore.
I should just let them catch me and put an end to it all. They’re going to catch me before it’s over with anyway. Why prolong the fear and take a chance that someone else I care about or love gets hurt because of me?
But Shelby had been raised to fight to the bitter end. She wasn’t one to just roll over and let them win. She’d make them earn her capture, and then she’d fight some more.
Unless they decide to put a bullet in my head and be done with it.
She had no doubt the years she’d been on the run was trying their patience by now. Shelby was surprised that they hadn’t already just taken her out from a distance and moved on. Dead, she wouldn’t be a threat to them anymore. That was why she wondered if it was the Feds on her trail and not the ones she’d been scheduled to testify against.
Frustration ate at her even as her stomach boiled with rage. Why couldn’t they all just leave her alone? Now she had to figure out how to leave so that the people at the ranch didn’t get hurt. She would die if something happened to any of them. They’d all be so nice to her, treating her like family, and Laredo Marshall, one of the twins who ran the ranch, had taken a chance on her when she had no way to prove her abilities as a bookkeeper or office manager.
She’d managed to obtain a driver’s license and social security card to use for work, but she didn’t keep a bank account since she didn’t trust that they could find her somehow. Just having to deal with the IRS was more than she really wanted, but after trying to make a living by getting paid cash so she didn’t have to use the fake ID hadn’t worked. She’d nearly starved since so few people who were honest would do that. Those who did were usually into something else illegal.
She ran her hands over her face and leaned against the closet door. She planned to have this one night with the guys to give her something to remember them by and then leave the next day. The guys both had an overnight trip into the mountains for several guests who’d paid extra to camp out under the stars. It meant she’d have a good head start before they returned to find her gone. She just prayed they would accept it and move on. A tiny part of her wished they wouldn’t and they’d come after her. That couldn’t happen though. It would only put them in danger.
Shelby stepped back from the closet door and opened it, since they were going to end up at the bar next door for dancing, she chose a knee-length flare skirt and blouse that would look nice without being too dressy and still allow her to dance. Instead of four-inch heels, she chose a pair of two inch ones that would be easier to dance in while still giving her a little height.
By the time she’d showered, was
hed her hair, and dressed, Shelby felt strung tight like a wind-up toy. She still had a good twenty minutes before they would arrive to pick her up. She prayed the rain stopped before then. Picking up her e-reader, the one piece of electronic equipment she did own that she’d just purchased, she tried to lose herself in a book, but it wasn’t working.
That niggling feeling of danger kept a constant tightness to her neck. It had been blind luck that she’d noticed the two men in the car across from the store she’d walked out of carrying the box of supplies they’d needed. It had taken every drop of courage she had to act if she hadn’t noticed them and finish her errands before heading back to the ranch. To her surprise, they hadn’t followed her. That was when she’d become paranoid and crawled all over the ranch truck looking for a tracking device. She’d never worried about using the truck before because it was so old, it wouldn’t have any sort of GPS or other electronic method to pinpoint its location. She wouldn’t even use the Garmin each of the ranch vehicles carried.
Sure enough, she’d found one under the carriage inside the wheel well. When Laramie had caught her scooting out from under the truck after she’d removed it, his amused smile had calmed her enough to pretend she was just checking for a sound she’d heard whenever she hit a bump.
“Probably the suspension. No need for you to dirty yourself up like that. I’ll get one of the guys to run it up to Ennis this afternoon and have the garage to check it out,” he’d said patting her on the shoulder. “Don’t do that again, Shelby. You might have gotten hurt.”
She’d just smiled and hurried inside and up the stairs to her room where she used a hammer she’d snagged from her office to crush it into a million tiny pieces then flushed it down the toilet. But it hadn’t changed the fact that they already knew where she lived now. It was only a matter of time before they would show their hand.
A sharp rap at her door sent her heart into a galloping rhythm she was sure was loud enough for them to hear in China. Her stomach did a nosedive before erupting into a rapid flamenco tap dance. Setting her reader aside, Shelby smoothed down her skirt and walked over to the door. She didn’t have a peephole to see who was there, so she left the chain on and opened the door the tiniest of slivers to see who had knocked.
“Hey there, kitten,” Bo said with an easy smile.
She breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door to slowly remove the chain and let the two men waiting in the hall inside her living area.
“Sorry.”
“No need to be, little bit. It’s always best to be safe,” Dalton told her as he stepped into the room.
“The rain is letting up so you shouldn’t get wet. Did you want to take a raincoat or umbrella?” Bo asked.
“No, I’ll be fine, thanks.” She smiled, knowing they would want to know what was wrong if she didn’t watch herself.
“Ahnuts,” So beautiful,” Bo said, looking her up and down.
“Those colors are pretty on you,” his friend told her.
“Thank you. I’m ready whenever you are.” She wanted out of her little apartment. She’d been stuck inside ever since she’d returned from town the day before, too afraid to go anywhere.
Dalton’s huge grin burned into her memory. She would never forget how both men looked so nice in their new jeans and crisp white shirts with bolos tied at their necks. Both of them had their hair braided and hanging down their backs. She couldn’t stop her fingers from itching to remove the leather tie at the ends and run her fingers through the soft thickness until it hung loose against their backs. She knew it was much more practical to keep it braided and out of the way, but she mourned not being able to see it blowing in the wind.
The two men made sure she safely negotiated the stairs then led her out the front door of the lodge and down the wood steps to where they’d parked the truck. She knew it to be Bo’s since it was a black one. Dalton’s was fire-engine red and had all the bells and whistles. She couldn’t help but compare the two men by the trucks they’d bought. While Bo had gone for sleek and conservative, describing himself to a tee. Dalton had chosen a cheery color with everything he might want or need, saying he believed in living life out loud.
Combined, the two men were everything a woman could ever ask for. Dalton would keep her laughing and exploring new things, while Bo would always be the steady rock she could depend on to snatch her back when she got too close to the edge. She couldn’t deny just how much she cared about them–maybe even loved them a little. But it was too soon and she had to run again.
“What are you thinking so hard about, little one?” Dalton asked, flicking his finger over her lower lip.
“Nothing really. Just wondering what the winter will be like. I know it’s getting close to that time of year. When do you think we’ll get the first snowfall?”
Dalton’s mouth scrunched up as he seemed to think about what she’d asked. Then he relaxed as if he’d come to a favorable conclusion.
“With the way the animals’ coats are filling out and the biggest flowers are already closing down, I expect that the first snow will come in a week. The first real storm is still a few weeks out though.”
“Really? It might actually snow this soon? I was thinking like next month before we saw any.”
“Sa. It will be soon.” Bo sounded even more convinced than Dalton had.
She would definitely need to leave before the snowfall since many mountain passes were closed when it snowed. Hopefully the first snow wouldn’t be that bad.
“The tavern we’re going to has just about anything you could want to eat,” Dalton said.
“I eat just about anything you set in front of me,” she told them. “I’m not a picky eater.”
“That’s good to know since we plan to make sure you eat more. You’ve lost weight since you moved here. It worries us that something is wrong, kitten,” Bo said glancing at her from the driver’s seat.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that. Then she shrugged. “I don’t eat as much in the summer months. I guess it’s the heat. I’ll eat more this winter.”
Only she wouldn’t be around for winter and more than likely her next meals would be slim until she found a new place to hide.
Get that out of your head right now. Tonight is for making memories not worrying about the future. I have the chance to enjoy one more night with two men who care about me. I don’t need to waste it on something as useless as what next.
“What did you do all morning with this rain that moved in?” Dalton asked, stretching his arm out along the back of the seat.
She liked the feel of his strong arm and the heat it produced against her shoulders and the back of her neck.
“I cleaned a little, did a load of clothes, and read. Not much. What about you two?”
Dalton chuckled as he lightly fingered the sleeve of her blouse. “Bo and I cleaned tack and mucked stalls.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Eww. Glad it was you two and not me. I get nauseous cleaning my own toilet.”
“What book are you reading?” Bo asked.
Without even really thinking about it, heat slid along her skin and up her neck to burn her cheeks. The book had been a little naughty. Well, okay. A lot naughty. Even the title was suggestive.
“A romance,” she finally said with a forced smile.
Bo looked at her then gave a slow knowing smile. “A romance, huh?”
Dalton squeezed her shoulder lightly. “So what is it about?”
“Oh, you know. Boy meets girl. Girl falls in love. Boy can’t make up his mind and girl runs off. Boy goes after her and they settle their differences and live happily ever after.” She realized she’d rushed through it since she had to almost pant to catch her breath.
“Wow, that sounds tiring to me,” Dalton said with a big grin. “What’s the name of the book?”
Shelby froze. She couldn’t lie to them about something that simple, but the title would clue them in real fast that she hadn’t been totally honest about the boo
k either. Closing her eyes, Shelby sighed.
“Their Wild Wyoming Bride,” she finally said.
Dalton burst out laughing before pulling her into a tight hug as much as their seatbelts would allow. Mortified, she tried to pull away, but Dalton didn’t let go of her. Bo nearly strangled trying to choke back his laughter.
“I think we should have her read a little to us when we return tonight,” Bo said with a smirk.
She’d like to slap it right off his face. Only not really. He was so damn cute with that easy, satisfied expression on his face. Most of the time she’d seen him around before they’d declared themselves courting her, he’d been closed down and severe looking. She much preferred him like this. Dalton had always appeared worried about his friend.
“I agree, Nis’ah. She can read us a bedtime story before we go.” Dalton kissed her forehead before finally releasing her so she could sit up straight again. His arm went right back to where it had been along the back of the seat, barely grazing her shoulders.
Shelby just shook her head. They would forget all about her reading to them by the time they returned to the ranch. There was no way she could read from that book to them. It was a good book with plenty of plot and romance, but there were a lot of sex scenes and naughty words in it as well.
Putting it out of her mind like she’d vowed to do the trouble she was in, Shelby enjoyed the remainder of the trip, especially the feel of strong thighs pressed lightly against both of hers. She wanted to bury her nose next to Bo’s neck and inhale the heady scent of well-worn leather, woods, and musky male. Dalton’s scent was a little different. Where Bo’s had an earthier aroma, Dalton’s was lighter, crisper like a spring day after a rain. There was still the scent of leather and musky male, but with a hint of sunshine to it. Shelby was hooked on both of them and realized leaving was going to rip her up inside, but staying might get them killed.