by Sophie Oak
Rafe nodded in agreement. “She’s going to be stuck in the middle and not in a good way. You’re both looking at her like two dogs about to fight over a particularly juicy steak. She doesn’t need that.”
James felt his rage simmering just below the surface. “I’m not going to hurt Hope, and by god, you’re not taking her out of here. Doc left her care to me. Logan asked me to look after her. So all of you can leave it be. She steps foot off this ranch and there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Max snorted. “Well, I guess that answers that question. Someone needs to tell that actress chick to lay off.”
He was going to have to deal with Serena. What had happened to his formerly peaceful life? Oh, it had been full of backbreaking work and loneliness, but damn, he’d forgotten how obnoxious people could be. “I’ll handle her, and I’ll deal with Hope. Something’s up with her. I want everyone watching out for her.”
“Will do,” Nate replied with a smile. “We watch after our own.”
“Be careful what you promise, Jamie,” Henry said, his eyes lighting a little. “She’s going to help me and Nell run our little booth at the Festival of Spiritual Renewal.”
Everyone groaned.
“Woo Woo Fest,” Cam said.
“Yep.” Nate slapped the acting sheriff on the back. “Don’t let Nell hear you call it that.”
James shook his head. “She needs to rest, not sell stuff to people who come looking for Bigfoot.”
“Sasquatch,” Henry corrected. “They genuinely prefer Sasquatch. Nell and I can handle it, but Hope is a bit stubborn. I’m just warning you. I think you and your brother could greatly benefit from some of the psychic healing that goes on at these things. I believe someone is putting up a sweat lodge. After a couple of hours sweating out your inner turmoil, I think you and Noah will be just fine. Max and Rye could use it, too. They fight too much. I’ll make sure to set appointments for all of you.”
“Yeah,” Max replied, his eyes on his brother. “Brotherhood can be a rough thing.”
Rye snorted. “Damn straight. Especially when you’re tied to someone like him.”
Max came off the fence, his shoulders squaring. “Tied? Brother, you are lucky to have me.”
Rye’s face lit up. He took a step back. “Lucky? You’re the lucky one. You would spend every night in the doghouse if it wasn’t for me. You’re lucky our baby girl has my sweet temperament.”
Max attacked, his fist flying. Both brothers laughed. James sighed. That was Max and Rye. They fought, punching each other until one cried uncle or Rachel put her foot down.
“See, that wouldn’t happen in the sweat lodge,” Henry said with a long sigh.
“Why is Nell talking to your cattle?” Rafe asked, pointing toward the field where Henry’s wife stood, whispering into a cow’s ear.
Max and Rye continued pounding on each other. Max said something about Nate and a duck, and Nate joined in with a yell.
“She’s trying to talk the cows into passive resistance,” James explained.
“She’s such a beautiful soul,” Henry said with a happy grin as he watched his wife. “One day she’ll get through to them.”
She was insane. But James loved her. Max, Rye, and Nate tried taunting Rafe and Cam to join them in their fist-flying free-for-all. Nell started to sing to the cows in his field. He heard Rachel slam out the back door and all of the women ran out, yelling at the men to stop acting like boys.
And Noah stood in the background of the gleeful chaos. He stood by the back door looking like the same sad five-year-old who had first come to live on the Circle G. Out of place. Small. Vulnerable.
He wasn’t small anymore, but his brother looked pretty damn vulnerable without even his dog at his side. Noah watched the fight from afar and then walked to his truck and grabbed a single bag.
That was all he had? One small gym bag? He’d left Bliss with a trunk packed full and ten million in the bank. He’d come back with nothing.
“Don’t even bother trying, Jamie,” Henry said as Rachel passed off her baby to Laura and threw herself in between Max and Rye. “He’s your brother. He’s home. Start over. That’s what families do.”
A hard lump formed in his throat. His family was gone. And he wasn’t sure he would ever get that feeling back.
* * * *
Christian Grady liked Bliss. It was one of those sleepy towns that stuck together and had a can-do attitude. It was utterly ripe for the plucking.
Like Hope had been at one point in time.
Why was she wearing those ridiculous glasses and hiding her body under voluminous clothes? She was a goddess, but now she looked rather like some sad-sack housewife. She put her glorious hair in a bun and wore no makeup. It was wrong. When he had her back in his arms, he would make sure she showed herself off to perfection.
He walked into some place called Trio. She hadn’t been at the station today. Nor had she been at her tiny apartment. She’d left for somewhere. He needed to find out where. Though it was still early in the game, it was time to show his face around town a bit. The festival started soon. He could easily blend in with the idiots pouring into town. He’d made a careful practice of standing out, but he knew when to blend in as well.
“Hi, welcome to Trio.” A pretty woman with black hair greeted him. He was excellent at reading body language, and hers screamed out anxiety. Her smile was forced, her eyes slightly red. She was deeply upset, emotional. He loved emotional women. They were so very easy to manipulate. Of course, they could also go a bit insane if not properly handled. His Hope was proof of that. She’d tried to murder him, but he could forgive her. He had just murdered her friend, after all.
“Lovely town you have here.” He followed the pretty waitress to a small booth.
“Oh, yes, I’ve always loved Bliss.” Now her smile was genuine. “I grew up a couple of towns over, and I swore when I could I would move here. It took me more years than I would like, but I finally made it here. It’s the best town in the world.”
He pegged her age at roughly twenty-five to twenty-seven, but the little idiot sounded like a teenager. And she blushed like one when he smiled at her and held out a hand. “I’m Chris.”
No need to give away everything if he didn’t have to. Hope would have to deal with him soon enough.
“Lucy.” She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
The door opened and a big man walked through. He was enormous, with broad shoulders and dark hair. Lucy’s whole face tightened again. She passed him a menu and promised to be back soon before scurrying behind the big man, calling out, “Alexei.”
The man named Alexei turned and smiled down at the waitress. It was a warm smile, but not intimate. The big guy might like Lucy, but he wasn’t interested in her sexually. Lucy spoke rapidly, her hands twisting around the towel she carried. Alexei’s hand came on to her shoulder in an almost brotherly gesture. He was trying to calm her down. He couldn’t see Lucy’s face, but the big guy was on full display, and Christian heard the one word he’d been dying to hear.
Hope.
He heard her name from the big man’s lips. Though he was across the room, the music in the tavern wasn’t loud, and Christian could make out a little. Alexei had obviously come from somewhere, and he’d seen Hope. Lucy was worried about her.
Well, that wasn’t surprising. His Hope had made friends so easily. She was smart and soft mannered, truly the perfect mate for a man of his stature.
Of course, she’d taken his stature down when she’d left him, but she was the one who could bring it all back, too.
Lucy walked back, her shoulders relaxed. There was a flush on her face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t get your order. Do you want a beer?”
He never drank. He would never allow himself to be out of control. No alcohol and no drugs, though he found drugs very useful when it came to dealing with weaker minds. Drugs were a lovely way to keep his minions in line. “No. I’d like some hot tea if you have it.”
&
nbsp; She nodded. “All kinds. Earl Grey. Jasmine. Oolong. Pretty much you name it and we got it. It’s an odd crowd. We have to be ready.”
He smiled, giving her his smoothest grin. “I’ll take green tea, please.”
He was patient as she nodded and turned. No need to push her. He was supremely confident in his ability to charm a woman into giving him the information he needed. He watched the slow roll of people as they came in and out of the establishment. He would almost bet his life on which ones were the locals and which were coming into town for the festival. The ones in the cowboy hats and sensible clothes were almost certainly locals. The ones who appeared to have watched far too much science-fiction television were the tourists. He bet he could manipulate both. It was all about figuring out what a person needed and giving it to them.
He ordered off the menu. A salad and a bowl of soup. Too much meat wasn’t good for his digestion. He sipped his tea and contemplated just how to handle Hope.
He’d known what she’d needed once. She’d wanted a lover and a father figure all rolled into one. Her own father had left at an early age, and she’d had a rough time with her mother. He’d found her at the tender age of seventeen, so lovely and malleable that he was sure he’d found his perfect match. He was strong. She was sweet.
She’d played her part beautifully for eighteen months. She’d been his perfect angel, fully buying into everything he was selling. She was the embodiment of the “light” he’d preached.
Too bad she’d figured out that the whole religion thing was a front for selling drugs and women and other various sordid things. He’d never intended for her to discover the actual paying side of the business. It was a shame since it had worked beautifully up until the moment his lovely bride had decided to light him on fire.
“Here you go.” Lucy set the soup and salad in front of him.
He had to admit it smelled halfway decent, and given the fact that he’d spent the last several years in various shit holes trying to hide from the mob boss he owed money to, halfway decent was right up his alley. “Thanks. I really appreciate it. You seemed very upset when I first walked in. I’m glad you’re better now.”
She flushed under his words. She really was a lovely girl and obviously in desperate need of attention. “I was just worried about a friend. I heard a whole bunch of crazy stuff about her today, but it turns out she’s just a little under the weather. You never can tell around here. You know we’re like the murder capital of the world, right?”
This nothing town? “Seriously?”
“Oh, yeah, per capita, we’re terrible. Time Magazine did an article a while back, and then the serial killer came through and that assassin who tried to kill my shift manager. Alexei came out okay, but now we have this guy named Michael who lives in a cabin on the mountain and scares everyone. That’s a long story, but a good one. You see Michael was in love with his partner, and Holly had to kill her because she was trying to kill one of Holly’s lovers…”
If he let her go on, she wouldn’t talk about Hope for an hour. “I would rather hear about your friend.”
“Hope? Oh, she’s just overworked according to our doc. She needs rest, though I wonder if she’s going to get it out at the Circle G. She’s got a crazy crush on the rancher who owns it, but maybe it will finally work out for her. I’m just happy she didn’t get eaten by Sasquatch or the sand monster, and she’s not pregnant. She really shouldn’t be pregnant since she hasn’t had sex, you know.”
Oh, Lucy was a little sweet ball of snark. She had a saucy smile on her face that bespoke an intelligence he actually really liked. He appreciated smarts and innocence. It was what he’d found in Hope. And he was damn happy to discover she wasn’t sleeping around.
It meant he had less people to kill.
“I think it’s sweet you care about your friend.”
Her mouth widened. “Hope is the best. She’s such a sweetheart. I came into town about a month ago, and she was my first friend. You have no idea how much I need her. I hate the fact that I can’t go out there and see her, but my boss’s wife is the other waitress, and she just pumped out twins. I’m taking doubles to make up for her absence. Alexei is working overtime, too. We’re supposed to get some relief, but the new waitress isn’t coming until next week. I was supposed to have dinner with Hope, but now she’s stuck out on the G, and I just hope she gets well soon. She’s been acting a little weird.”
He bet she had. He knew she’d seen him standing there before. He’d stood under a big evergreen and watched as she talked to some overblown woman with plastic breasts. Hope had been shocked when she saw him. He’d slinked away, but he wouldn’t soon. Soon he would approach her, and she would be his again. She would fall into his arms because they were meant to be together. She couldn’t let a little thing like bourgeoisie morality keep them apart. Surely in the years that they had been alone, she’d been able to see what a mistake she’d made.
That dumb bitch Elaine couldn’t be the thing that broke up two soul mates.
“She sounds like a great friend.” He looked at Lucy’s chest. Her breasts were large and round. Pretty and perfect. Rather like his Hope’s. She might be a nice way to keep track of his girl. “She’s lucky to have you.”
Little Lucy blushed again. “I don’t know about that.” She sighed, her chest moving up and down. “Can I get you anything else?”
Your best friend on a silver platter? “I’m great. Thank you. But I’m alone in this town. I would appreciate it if you could point me the way to a guide.”
She hesitated only for a second. “I could show you around.”
He was in. She would lead him straight to Hope. “I would appreciate that.”
They made plans to meet later in the evening, but his mind was already on Hope. He would get her back. Or bury her.
Chapter Six
Noah noticed that his brother managed to look everywhere but his direction. He had to hand it to James. He hadn’t thrown a punch yet, and that was kind of what Noah had expected after he stole Hope right out from under his nose.
But he couldn’t help it. He wanted her. It felt so damn good to want someone after all these years that he was willing to risk his brother’s wrath. Of course, another thought played at the edges of his consciousness as he watch Hope laugh at something the sweet-faced brunette named Beth said. Share her. Sharing her would bring James back into his life. Sharing her would set his own life back on track. It was what had gone wrong with Ally. He should never have tried it alone. It had been a compromise, and he didn’t want to compromise his future anymore.
But he damn straight couldn’t convince his brother to share Hope if James wouldn’t even look at him.
“Doc says I’m not very far along,” Beth said, digging into the meal she’d heated up. There were now a ton of casseroles in the freezer. Rachel Harper made a mean lasagna. How long had it been since a woman had cooked for him? Ally hadn’t even wanted to order takeout. She’d been dedicated to keeping herself as slender as possible, even going so far as to nag him about his weight because he wasn’t being supportive.
Hope didn’t seem to have the same problem. She took a healthy portion of lasagna. “I don’t know how much I’d trust Doc. He’s amazing if you get shot and need emergency field surgery. Don’t laugh, James. You know it comes up more than you would think.”
James smiled her way. “I wasn’t arguing with you. I totally agree. Bliss should be declared a hazard zone. Doc’s had to stitch up Alexei more than once. And he saved Logan’s life a few weeks back.”
“What the hell?” Noah felt like he’d been dropped onto a different planet. “What’s going on? Bliss has never been violent.”
James finally looked his way. “You’ve forgotten a lot of our childhood then. What about the time when Marie shot Teeny’s ex-husband after he tried to kidnap Logan? Or the bank robbers who tried to hide out on Mel’s land and found themselves taken out one by one?”
Yeah, maybe it hadn’t been the bas
tion of safety and peace he remembered it to be. “Or the bear who tried to mate with old Hiram. Hi did not take kindly to his near molestation. Does he still have that bear’s head over his mantle?”
James’s lips curved into a smile. “He still curses it every day. Says it’s part of his daily ritual. We should just be glad we have a people doc at all. Even if he can’t read a sonogram.”
Trev took a long drink of his coffee. “I’m grateful. I would be a little nervous knowing that something could go wrong with Beth or the baby and the nearest doc is thirty miles away.”
“The ski lodge has a nurse and a couple of guys who are trained paramedics,” Hope pointed out. “We’ve used them before.”
Beth grinned. “Are you talking about Ty? I met him in town a few days back when I was ordering some curtains.”
Hope flushed slightly, nodding. “God, that man is hot.”
“Who the hell is Ty?”
The question came out in stereo. Noah looked at James, who had said the exact same thing at the exact same time Noah had.
Hope shrugged, a secret little smile on her face. “He’s just a guy from the ski lodge. He came down to the station house to meet Nate. Apparently he carries concealed and wanted to inform the sheriff and let him know he’s got all his documentation. I could have told him that Nate just expects everyone is carrying concealed. So Bliss hasn’t changed in all these years, huh?”
She’d turned to Noah, her big brown eyes pulling at him. He would do just about anything to keep her staring at him like that. “Apparently not. Although having a people doc makes a difference. Back when Jamie and I were growing up, we had to take care of ourselves.”
James groaned. “There’s a reason he’s a vet.”
“Hey, you’re still alive.”
“No thanks to you.” James shook his head, obviously lost in memory a bit. “When we were kids, we would stay out at the east cabin for weeks and weeks during the summer.”