The Divine Creek Ranch Collection, Volume 1 [Book 1 - Divine Grace, Book 2 - Her Gentle Giant, Book 3 - Heavenly Angel] (Siren Everlasting Collection)
Page 103
“I’m sorry he’s someone you work with.”
“He’d actually have to do some work for that to be true. I’m self-employed, so I don’t have to work with him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing except hold you, right now. How do you feel?”
“Light as a feather.”
“Good. Angel, I’m sorry it happened, and I’d erase it all from your memory if I could. You know you’re safe with me.”
“Of course.”
“Then it will all work out.”
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew he was formulating a plan. That had not been her intention in telling him.
“You’re going to do something, aren’t you?” She sat up and looked at him.
“I’m not going to kill him, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Eli smiled at her and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She allowed him to cuddle her to his chest, and she fell asleep listening to the comforting sound of his heartbeat as he stroked her back.
* * * *
Eli had to smile as Charlie took his hat off and scratched his head in embarrassed surprise. Eli and Rachel had just shared a clear conversation through the wall adjoining their bedrooms.
“Well, I’ll be damned, Eli! I could see where that might be a bit of a…uh…problem. I wonder why none of the other renters said anything.”
“Well, Mr. Hardaway was practically deaf, and he never had any visitors except his grown kids. He was always very quiet, and I never heard a thing from over on his side. We didn’t discover it until one day when there were people home on both sides of the duplex.” Eli spared his congenial landlord the more descriptive details.
Charlie had stopped by on Wednesday to get started on some repairs he’d talked to Eli about before Rachel had her accident. Eli explained to him that they had since gotten engaged and would be house hunting in the area for a place of their own. Eli offered to pay whatever penalties Charlie expected for breaking the lease so early, but Charlie waved off his offer.
“You’ve have been such neat renters, never give me any trouble, never late with the rent, and you keep the place looking nice. I’m not going to charge you any penalties. But I am glad you showed me this wall. I’m going to have to get some soundproofing in there. When’s the wedding?” he asked, and they chatted for a while.
Charlie changed his plans and made a top priority of putting in sound-reducing insulation in the hollow wall. Rachel was at Eli’s place more than her own, so she cleared out her bedroom and moved the furniture back to her parent’s storage barn until it was needed again.
Her mom and dad never batted an eye about the bed returning and never asked about her sleeping arrangements.
Rachel and Eli met with Jane Jensen, Rachel’s real estate agent friend. Jane directed them around the area to ten different properties. They liked a few of the acreage sites, especially the ones that had a lot of oak trees on them. Eli and Rachel both had a dream of having a home amidst oak trees, far back from the road. Several of the properties Jane showed them fit the bill.
There was one twenty-acre ranch that had a nice-sized older house on it. It was more space than the two of them needed, but it offered room to grow and to raise a family. The previous owners had evidently loved gardening because the overgrown flowerbeds hinted that, until recently, they had been lovingly maintained.
The lawn in front of the house had not survived the hot summer and drought the year before and would need to be re-done, but the house and yards were surrounded by woods on all sides. He could see kids running in safety and freedom in the yards and around in the wooded area and playing in the low creek that ran through the property.
Jane kindly turned down the offer for lunch and left them with a shortened list of the properties they liked the best, along with the directions for getting to each, so that they could talk in private about what they should do next. Jane told them she had the key to the ranch house if they wanted to pick it up and go take another look in case they missed something before.
Eli took Rachel to Rudy’s, and they sat in the quiet corner booth and held hands and talked.
“You liked the ranch house, didn’t you?” he asked, smiling softly at the excitement in her eyes when he brought it up.
She nodded. “I did. Someone took care of that place while they lived there. It’s a little rundown from being vacant, but I see a lot of potential. They worked hard on the basic landscaping and all the shrubs and trees around the house.”
“I like the long, meandering driveway through the woods and the trees all around the house, but the lawn…Ugh.”
Rachel nodded. “I know. We’d have to rip out all that carpet grass.”
“As far as the house goes,” Eli said, “it needs major updating and remodeling. Replace any rotten wood, paint, and maybe redo some flooring. I can do a lot of that, if the price is right on the house.”
“I could help with the paint and other things. I’d like to hire a professional to update the landscaping, and it would be worth it to put in a sprinkler system.”
He laughed. “We’re talking like we already made our decision.”
“Oh, no, not yet. I want to have it inspected first. I’m not getting emotionally invested until we know if it would mean buying a money pit. I do like the basic structure and layout, though. The house itself seems solid and structurally sound.”
“All those appliances would have to go, for sure.”
Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes. “I haven’t seen a harvest gold refrigerator in years! Yes, all new appliances, please! We need to see about the wiring in the house also…”
They talked and laughed through lunch. Rudy congratulated Eli and Rachel on their upcoming nuptials and brought them a complimentary dessert, which they shared before Rachel went back to the office. Eli told her he would be home by early evening after his last service call of the day.
* * * *
Eli sat down with the men at one of the tables, and Ethan brought them all beers. Eli looked around at the group and said, “What I tell you can’t leave this room, or this group. Whether you help me or not, you have to promise me that much.” Eli wished he could have included Mike and Rogelio at this gathering but they were too close to Rachel’s father. Rachel had been very clear on why she hadn’t told him years ago and Eli respected her wishes.
Ethan, Jack, Adam, and Ace agreed.
Eli detailed to them what happened to Rachel and that she had received no justice for what had been done to her. He told the story to the best of his recollection, and when he was done, he could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet around the table. Eli looked around the table, making eye contact with all of them in turn.
“Rachel says she’s content that someday he’ll get what’s coming to him, and I think she was a little worried I’d kill him at first. You can imagine how I reacted, right?”
The indignation he felt so strongly was clearly reflected on their faces.
Ace spoke up first. “I could look into his past, into his dealings for you. Find dirt on him. He sounds like a predator. If he did that to her, he’s done other bad things that could come to light. He would not fare well in prison. I’d be willing to bet he’s got lots of skeletons hanging in his closet. Let me do some digging. Do you have much information on him?”
“Just his name and employer. I work with him from time to time.”
“That’s a start.”
When Jack spoke, his demeanor was calm, as were Ethan and Adam’s, but Eli could see the anger beneath. He thought they might feel strongly about what happened to Rachel. “Eli, first, thanks for deciding to call on us about this. We’ll do whatever we can to help you. Ace, if you need someone to help watch this bastard or assist you in any way, you let us know. Calling on Ace was a good idea, Eli. He’ll help us nail this son of a bitch, but good.”
Ethan and Adam nodded.
“That prick won’t know what hit him,” Adam muttered.
“I promised Rachel I wouldn’t kill him, but it’s damned tempting.”
Ace chuckled and nodded in understanding. “Don’t do anything permanent yet. I have a good feeling about this. If this guy gets his jollies doing things like this, he’s probably got buddies he brags to. He’s boasted about other stuff, too, I’ll bet. Let’s focus on making him the girlfriend of some seven-foot tall, three-hundred-pound prison inmate. I’ll start digging for you this afternoon and contact my guy to watch him.”
“Thank you, guys.” Eli shook their hands. “Ace, whatever the cost, I’ll cover it.”
Ethan said firmly, “There’s no way he’s gonna to get away with hurting another woman like that ever again. Ace will find something.”
Adam spoke up then. “We know how it feels to find out that the woman you love has been harmed and mistreated by someone she trusted. We’ll bring this guy to justice, one way or another.”
“Thanks, man,” Eli said, glad to have their backing.
“Do you know if you’ll be working with him anytime soon?” Ace asked as he made notes on a pad.
“No, I only see him on the jobs scheduled at the sub-stations. He works all over the co-op’s service area, which would explain why she hasn’t run into him more often. The company he works for assigns them randomly.”
“Okay, I’ll track him down.”
“And don’t worry, Eli,” Jack said. “This conversation won’t leave this room.”
* * * *
Ethan said good-bye to the others when they left and went to his office. He worked for a while, looking over purchase orders and paying bills. Thoughts of Grace occupied his mind and made it difficult to focus for any length of time.
Ethan could relate to how Eli felt right now. He remembered a time when he’d felt like killing the bastard who had mistreated Grace. He recalled not being able to move fast enough to stop Owen before he’d viciously struck Grace twice in the face. He shuddered at the memory of the way she’d toppled backward against the kitchen counter and then had hit the floor at Owen’s feet. His heart throbbed at the memory of the way her body had shaken as he held her tightly in his arms afterward.
They’d made it their mission to begin to undo the negative self-image Owen had sown in her mind and to convince her the woman they saw was beautiful and precious, not fat and ugly. With their love and attention, they’d made a believer out of her, and she made them the happiest of men.
During the previous night, he’d awakened with her curled up beside him in his bed. He’d stayed at the club late and she must have come to check on him and decided to snuggle up under his covers. While he watched her sleep, she’d stirred and cuddled closer to him with her lips pressed to his chest. Later that morning as dawn turned the sky a pale gray, they’d made love. Ethan remembered the way she’d felt, so warm and sleep tender as he held her in his arms and stroked into her sweet, hot pussy, both of them coming with a deep, burning intensity.
Ethan slipped his phone from his pocket. Today was Grace’s day off, and when she answered, he could hear horses neighing in the background. She must be out in the barn.
“Hello, my baby.” Her voice had a mellow, seductive tone that sent a shot of lust straight to his cock. He knew he’d be hard and aching by the time he was done talking to her.
“Hello, Gracie. What are you up to?”
“I’m out in the barn, brushing down Coraggio. What are you doing?” Grace had a way of asking questions like that. Her subtle, suggestive tone hinted at what she wished he was doing. He answered the question she was really asking.
“Wishing I could take you in my arms and sink right into your silky little pussy. The sound of your sexy voice makes me hard enough to hammer nails.”
Grace hummed softly in approval. “I wish I were there. I’d let you hammer me instead. After I finish with Coraggio, I’m going to work for a while. I have a hot love scene to write.”
“Well, honey, you’d know a thing or two about hot love scenes, wouldn’t you?” The throbbing steel pole in his jeans testified to that fact. Ethan, Jack and Adam had watched her blossom into their very own sex goddess since she’d begun writing.
“As well-loved as I am? I should be able to set my laptop to smoldering,” she replied with a giggle. “Wanna come help me with research?”
“I’m tempted. I should be done here in another hour or so. I had another reason for calling, though.”
“What’s that, babe?”
“You haven’t hinted to me what you’d like for Christmas.”
Ethan already knew what the three of them planned on getting her for Christmas. There was a BMW Z4 on special order for her at the dealership in Morehead. It was going to be a deep, sparkling blue that reminded them of her eyes with butter-soft leather seats and a premium sound system.
“I’ll have to think about it, Ethan. The way you all spoil me, I’m hard-pressed to come up with something I need that I don’t already have.”
“A flat screen TV for your bedroom?”
“My bedroom is not for watching television. All the entertainment I need up there walks up my stairs in cowboy boots,” she said, chuckling.
“New outdoor furniture?”
“I wouldn’t trade that old porch glider for anything. Too many beautiful memories made in it.”
“I’m pretty attached to that old glider myself,” he replied softly, remembering all the times they’d made love on it with her straddled in his lap under a blanket. It rocked just right.
“I know,” she said quickly, a soft hitch in her voice.
“What, Gracie?”
She paused, breathing softly in the phone. Boy, whatever it was, it was good. “Do you remember the night I wore my clit clip for you the first time?”
“I’ll never forget that night. I’ve never seen anything hotter in my whole life, especially the way you teased us into discovering it on you. Yes, I remember, Gracie.”
“Well, you said Clay makes…that kind of jewelry, too.”
Ethan growled softly, loving the way her mind worked. “Is that what you want? Maybe something with a little more weight to it? Like solid gold?” At her strained, whispered assent, he knew he had the perfect gift. “Any type of jewelry in particular?”
“I’ll leave it all…up to you. I wish you were here.” She sighed with need. “You’ll be home in another hour or two?”
“Maybe less, if I hurry.” He was a newly motivated man.
“Hurry.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Eli laughed with Rachel when Craig Morgan’s “Bonfire” played on the country radio station as he drove them out to the Divine Creek Ranch for the bonfire and pig roast Saturday night. Eli was planning to drop Rachel off and visit for a little while with the men before heading in with Ethan to the club.
His dad and sister arrived with baby Matthew in tow. Grace had talked Kelly into staying over at the ranch so they could talk wedding plans later, and Rachel went with them up to the ranch house to get her settled. His dad was staying in the second bedroom at Rachel’s duplex.
Eli smiled when Ace and Kathleen arrived, and Ace showed him the corner of a manila envelope in his jacket pocket and nodded. The man worked fast.
The Divine Creek Ranch hands helped to set up tables, and one of them with the necessary skills helped Ethan get the sound system connected and working so they’d have music later if anyone wanted to dance. Adam had his fun earlier in the week, using the rented bulldozer to pile the massive mounds of mesquite they’d cleared the year before into a gigantic pile on the edge of the new pasture. Rachel helped Grace, her mom, and some of the other ladies with setting out the food on the tables.
Eli, Ace, Ethan, Jack, and Adam had a chance to put their heads together. Ace removed the manila envelope from his coat pocket and opened it, saying, “Mr. McCoy was easy to track down and tail. He doesn’t go very far afield to hide his activities. This is even more serious than we thought. It made me nauseous, what we uncovered.”
“He’s a pedophile.” The disgust was evident in Ace’s tone of voice.
“Oh, fuck,” Ethan muttered softly.
Ace pointed to a black and white photograph. “That’s a roadside hotel on this side of Morehead where McCoy rented a room on Wednesday night. That girl being escorted into his room is a young prostitute.”
Jack groaned, “Oh, no. How young?”
“My guy, Kemp, pulled some long hours this week and matched his photograph to her face on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. She’s a fourteen-year-old runaway.”
“She’s only fourteen?” Eli said, filled with revulsion. The hardened girl in the image looked young, but not that young.
“Yeah. Drugs and living on the street ages you. Kemp had an inkling, and once he found her on the website, he called me, and I contacted the police with the description and license plate of the car that brought her, and they told me they would act on the information immediately.”
“Damn,” Adam said softly. “Fourteen?”
Ace nodded sadly. “If we’d known, that would have been when he got arrested. If adults want to get together and do crazy stuff in a roadside motel, that’s one thing. Start messing with kids and people take action. Another friend of mine hacked into his computer and provided us with his e-mail and Internet contacts, along with archived e-mails. He saves records of his conquests instead of deleting them. He likes to brag. The most recent e-mail is a description of what he did to the girl in the hotel room. I don’t recommend reading it. It’ll ruin your evening. In the right hands, this information is just cause to search his residence.
“A skilled friend of mine has been to his house and located his hiding place for storing videos and pictures, mostly teenagers, but also some preteens, both male and female. He also found a drug stash that he probably uses when his victims won’t settle down for him, or it may be for his own use. The dumb bastard even used credit cards to pay for the motel rooms.