by Jillian Neal
She spun around nearly knocking the skillet off of her stove.
“Say it again and see what I do.” His eyebrow lifted in challenge.
She narrowed her eyes. “That a dare?”
A cocky chuckle preceded his smirk. He poured two mugs of coffee with that goading grin on his face. She wanted to kiss it off. “Try me, sweetness.”
“I would but I’m pretty sure we’d both enjoy it and I still haven’t forgiven you for not forgiving yourself for the thing last night at the fair.”
“Stubborn through and through. Pretty sure that’s one of the first things I fell for.”
“That works well for me. You know how you can’t always turn off the lie detector thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I can’t turn off the stubborn thing. It’s gotten me through too much.”
“Strongest, bravest person I know.”
“Right back atcha, G.I. Joe. Sit down and eat. This is one of the only things I can cook.”
“I haven’t made the toast yet.”
“Then get your ass in gear.”
A half hour later, they walked hand in hand to the horse barn. The tender rubbed sensation between Natalie’s legs grew more and more apparent with each step she took. By the time they arrived she was quite certain mounting Sundance and riding was going to hurt like hell. She needed to ask Holly when this went away or maybe take him up on that bath.
Sundance was the only horse in the paddock. Everyone else was either out in the fields or being ridden.
“You okay, baby?” Aaron asked yet again.
“I’m fine.”
“I don’t think so.” He grabbed two folded horse blankets from a nearby shelf and set them on a low stack of hay bales. “Sit.”
Natalie reluctantly obeyed. Maybe sitting for a few minutes would ease the slight stinging sensation. Sundance immediately walked in from the paddock, leaned her head down, and nuzzled Natalie’s neck. Natalie kissed her muzzle. Aaron beamed at them. “See, even she knows you need to take it easy. She’s checking up on you.”
Chuckling at that, she hugged her horse. “She’s the only thing on this ranch more stubborn than I am. She’s always gotten me, but what she wants right now is to eat the hay I’m sitting on.”
“You hungry, girl?” Aaron patted her side. He pulled another bale of hay out of the stack along the wall, popped the twine holding it together, and spread it in Sundance’s stall. The horse gave Natalie another nuzzle before she went after her breakfast.
“We should go riding together someday. You think your brothers would let me borrow one of their horses?”
“Of course. That would be so much fun. I didn’t know you could ride.”
“It’s been years, but we used to have two horses at my foster parents’ farm.”
Ridiculously pleased that there was something else life giving she could do with him, she debated the best time for their ride. “We could go today after I check to make sure my brothers fed my stock and we go get the dogs.”
“I’m doubting you’re up to riding today, baby.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Isn’t there some other way to check your cows?”
“Yeah, I’ll go out in my truck in a little while. Maybe we could ride tomorrow.”
“We’ll see.”
Aaron tried to discreetly check the clock on his phone. The library was opening in five minutes. Surely Hope was already there. He had to get that letter back before she realized it was gone. Natalie needing to take it easy after all they’d done the night before helped his mission, not that he didn’t hate that she was hurting. “Honey, why don’t I take you back home? I’ll go get the dogs and come right back.”
“No, I’ll be fine. Maybe we could take that bath before we go get Lulu and Buster. The shower didn’t help.”
Shit. Of course she wanted to take a bath now. Certain he was being rent in two, the head on his shoulders and the one in his jeans were once again at odds. He had to get the letter back and find out how Hope had responded. Holding Natalie naked against him in the bath, soothing her, making up for the inevitable pain he’d caused held far more appeal, however.
Before he could tell one of his heads to get over itself, Brock and Holly came into the barn. No one else would ever have noticed. Aaron’s constant awareness of Natalie and his particular skill set honed in on the way she leaned away from Brock, moved her arms in front of her chest, and kept her gaze on the ground. Three minute movements she accomplished instinctively.
Instantly hating the man in the barn for carrying Micheal Camden’s DNA, Aaron turned, keeping himself between Brock and Natalie. His arms crossed over his chest and he widened his stance, making himself her physical shield in every possible way. Never again, baby. I’ll never let anything scare you again.
Confusion furrowed Brock’s brow as he dug in a bucket full of deerskin gloves. “It’s nice to see you around here so much lately. How are you?” he offered politely.
Fuck, Brock wasn’t his father. Aaron eased his positioning. “I’m with her so I’m good.”
Brock gave him a genuine grin. “Yeah, I get that. Hope’s at the library today. Damn, if I don’t already miss her.”
Okay, that was as honest an answer as Aaron had ever been given. Brock was trying to build some kind of friendship. Aaron had to figure out what he knew.
“You okay, Nat?” Brock asked next. “Sundance didn’t throw you again did she?”
“I’m fine.”
Holly however looked like she’d just been named queen of cowgirls. She leapt from the barn door to the hay bales where Natalie was seated. Certainty radiated from her. She threw her arms around Natalie’s neck and squealed like only girls can do.
“Women,” Brock shook his head. “Been married for six years. Still can’t figure why they do that.”
“Holly, remember when we talked about you switching to decaf? I really think you should,” Natalie chided. She winced as her sister’s excitement rocked her back and forth on the blanket.
Dec stalked into the barn next. It took him a few seconds longer than it had taken his wife to figure out why Natalie was seated and why Holly was so excited. He laughed outright.
“Holl, darling, let her breathe.”
“We’re going to talk,” Holly announced. She jerked Natalie up and tugged her out of the barn.
“Uh?” Aaron took two steps toward them when Natalie spun back around.
She wrinkled her nose. “Do you mind going and getting the dogs? Let me just talk to her for a few minutes.”
She played right into his hands and he hated everything about it. “Sure, baby. I’ll be back in a little while.”
She blew him another kiss. He repeated the motion of catching it and bringing it to his heart. Dec and Brock both laughed. He didn’t care.
“You are aware it’s all over with, right, my friend? She’s it. You’re here. I’m going to need to see if I can keep seeing you even though we’re going to be related by marriage,” Dec goaded.
“Yeah, I’m in love. Doesn’t mean we’re getting married.”
He noted the concerned gaze Brock and Dec shared. He needed Dec to leave. He might never get another opportunity like this. Brock wanted to bond on some level and they were almost alone.
“You keeping your Monday appointment?” Dec quizzed.
“I’d planned to.”
“Good.” Dec slapped him on the back and then left the barn carrying two bales of hay. He slung them in Holly’s truck and drove away.
Aaron turned on Brock calculating the best place to start. “Yeah, I’m not sure what that was all about.” He gestured to the hay the Camden sisters had just evacuated.
Brock smirked. “Oh, I kinda think you might.” He pulled on his gloves. “Nat’s a sweet girl. For some reason she hates me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have plenty to say about it if you break her heart. Fair warning.”
Ah, another threat, something Aaron could work with. “Never got the im
pression she hated you. Why do you think that?”
“I was kind of hoping you could tell me why. Way you acted when I walked into my own barn...” He shrugged. “Like I was gonna attack her or something. I figured she must’ve told you what I did that upset her so much. I wish I knew. I’d apologize. I just have no clue what I’m apologizing for. I kept thinking maybe she’d up and tell me eventually. Been here a long time now though. She’s never said a word.”
Holy fuck. He had no idea. The information worked through his mind. Natalie’s father knew. Luke knew. Austin seemed to know. Brock hadn’t a clue. How in the hell had that worked out?
“I’m just extremely protective of her. Got nothing to do with you.” Another lie. This one rolled through his conscience leaving no guilt behind.
“We got along all right when we were kids. She’s competitive as hell, but that never bothered me. If me or her brothers did something, she wanted to do it better. Most of the time she did it, too. I don’t know what I did exactly but I figure she must not like it that Uncle Ev gave me half of the ranch a few years back. She wasn’t all that kind when Hope and I moved up here.”
“That doesn’t sound like her.”
“Yeah, I know. She’s nice to most everybody else unless they tell her she can’t do something. Like I said, it’s me she don’t like.”
“So, why did Ev give you half the ranch? I thought Luke was the oldest kid.” Aaron kept a great deal of nonchalance in his voice as he pressed harder waiting on Brock to correct him.
“He is. Well, I mean he’s their oldest. I’m not their kid.”
Aaron feigned surprise. “Don’t guess I ever realized that.”
“Yeah, I’m just a cousin.”
Aaron honed in on the word just. Brock didn’t think he was worthy. “So, you’d moved away or something? You said when you moved back.”
“Yeah, I went to high school in North Carolina. That’s where I met Hope, actually.” His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered it immediately. Aaron mentally cursed the caller. “What? Broken into?”
Shit. Aaron was out of time.
“Nah, now just hang on, I’ll come out there.” Brock listened again. “Hope, I know you’re fine, but I still want to come out there. I’m on my way just let me see if Aunt Jessie minds watching the boys a little longer. I don’t want you there by yourself. I’m on my way.” Dispensing with the gloves, Brock headed out of the barn.
“What happened?” Aaron followed him.
“Apparently, someone broke into the library. Can’t fathom why the police didn’t let her know this last night when it happened other than the fact that our deputy couldn’t find his ass with two hands and a mirror. I need to go make sure she’s okay.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Brock halted. “Thanks, but you don’t have to do that. It’s like you said about Natalie, I’m awfully protective of Hope. You understand?”
“Sure. But I used to work in military criminal investigation command for the army. Like you said, the deputy’s dumber than his boots. If you want whoever did this caught, let me see what I can find. I’d hate for something like that to happen while Hope was there.” Fear was often the most accessible bait at an Intelligence Op’s disposal. The suggestion of something happening outside of the source’s control generally worked, especially if the source couldn’t identify any harm in the operative’s suggestion.
“Yeah, I guess, but it was probably just some kids messing around. This is Pleasant Glen not Omaha.”
“Can’t hurt to check though.”
“I s’pose.”
Timing was going to be everything. Brock had to go talk to his aunt. Aaron arriving at the library ahead of her husband would confuse Hope. In the realm of confusion, he could access information. Assuming she hadn’t realized the letter was missing, it would also give him a chance to get it back in her desk without having another set of suspicious eyes on him.
Brock headed toward the farmhouse. Aaron hightailed it to his truck.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Just don’t ride today. By tonight you’ll be fine. But I want details, woman.”
Natalie listened to her sister’s advice while giving her an eye roll. “I’m not giving you details.”
“You have to give me something.”
“No, I do not.” Yanking her jeans off, Natalie pulled on a pair of her favorite jogging pants. The discomfort disappeared. She had no desire to share anything that had happened the evening before with anyone but Aaron. The connection they’d made wasn’t something she had the capacity to verbalize. It was indescribable.
“Come on, Nat. Did you like it?”
With the force of a jackhammer, her sister kept pushing.
“I more than liked it.”
Holly sank down on the sofa. Delight broadcast from her, filling the room with her own special brand of sunshine. Just like always, Natalie succumbed to her sister’s loving warmth. “It was amazing,” she finally confessed. “More than I could ever have imagined.”
“Oh my gosh, Nat, I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too. I just kind of keep thinking we’ll eventually have to work through all of our stuff but I don’t want to worry about that right now.”
“Are you gonna tell him what happened?”
“He keeps asking me to but you already know a bunch of stuff happened to him when he was in the army and he won’t tell me about that. We’re at some kind of pleasant impasse.”
Holly’s brow furrowed. “Pleasant impasse?”
“Yeah, we’ll talk about it when it feels right. It doesn’t feel right, right now. I mean, unless you could tell me more about what happened to him. What exactly caused the Post Traumatic Stress?” Natalie called herself a rat for going behind Aaron’s back but she needed some idea of how to help him deal with everything.
“I honestly don’t know. He’s Dec’s patient. I only know his diagnosis. Just don’t let this pleasant impasse go on too long, okay?”
“We’ll figure it out. We’re good just like we are.” Natalie debated but went on with her confessions. “He told me he loved me last night.”
Holly’s jaw unhinged. “Wow. Nat, that has to be huge for him.”
“Yeah, that’s what Mama said, too.”
“Do you love him back?”
Natalie scooted closer to her sister. “How did you know for certain you loved Dec?”
A watercolor depiction of memories painted themselves in Holly’s eyes. “Honestly, the moment I realized I loved him was one of the most terrifying, awful moments of my entire life.”
“What?”
“It was when he walked in the lecture hall and I realized he was my professor. If we kept dating and got caught I would get thrown out of school and even worse he would lose his job and lose his green card. I sat there dying inside and then I realized I didn’t care. I didn’t care if I didn’t get my degree. I didn’t care about anything but being with him. If he’d gotten sent back to London, I would’ve given up everything here to go with him. That was when I knew it had to be love.”
Natalie considered that. No one was asking her to give up anything for Aaron, but she knew there was no cost too high. There wasn’t one thing she wouldn’t do to be with him. She loved being a cowgirl but that no longer felt like her purpose on this earth. Her purpose was to show him that he was worth being loved. “When I’m with him it just feels like everything is more.”
Holly beamed at her. “Yeah, I get that. Kind of like it’s more than love.”
“Yeah, like maybe it’s… magic. I know I sound completely ridiculous.”
“Hey, Nat…” Tears pricked her sister’s eyes. “You don’t sound ridiculous. You deserve all of the magic in the whole world. Please don’t let what happened with Uncle Mick come between you two. He stole your magic a long time ago. I can’t stand to think he might still have that power over you. If Aaron asks about it again, maybe tell him, even if he can’t quite talk about what happened to him ye
t.”
“Yeah, maybe I will.”
Charging up the stairs to the library, Aaron methodically assumed yet another identity. Recalling everything he could about the temperament, verbiage, and demeanor of a criminal command officer, he slipped into character.
He hadn’t had to deal with them often, but on occasion their paths would cross. Since taking on other identities was the name of the Special Forces game, he let his training take over. Hoisting the door open, he took quick inventory of the main room in the library. Sheriff Wilheim and Hope were standing at her desk. Not ideal but he’d figure it out.
“Aaron?” Hope offered him a forced smile. “I haven’t officially opened just yet. Was there something in particular you were looking for?”
“No, ma’am. I was out at the ranch when you phoned Brock. Thought I’d come by and see if I could offer any assistance. He’ll be here in just a few minutes.”
“Well, thank you but neither of you really had to come. Other than the busted lock and shattered windows nothing seems to be out of sorts.”
“You’re certain nothing is missing, Hope?” Sheriff Wilheim was making notes on a clipboard. Aaron pretended to check around the shelves nearby all while waiting to hear Hope’s response. She’d burned her three to five seconds with silence. Never a good sign. Whatever was about to come out of her mouth was going to be a lie.
“Uh, well, nothing of any importance.” Her fingers swept over her mouth and then landed on the top drawer handle of her desk.
Shit.
“I need to know if anything at all is missing, even if it doesn’t seem significant,” the Sheriff sounded irritated. Aaron wondered how long this interrogation had been going on.
“Well, I haven’t had a chance to inventory all of the books but nothing seems to be missing. The microfiche machine was moved but it’s still on the shelf where I keep it. Have you talked with Mrs. Lee yet? You said the door between the library and the newspaper office had been opened. Maybe she knows something.”
She wanted the Sheriff to leave. Aaron knew it but so did Sheriff Wilhelm. Almost without thought, she ran her fingertips over a framed photograph of her and Brock.