Dax: Military Heroes (The One I Want Series Book 4)

by Ellie Masters

  “Is that so?” He didn’t know how that could be.

  Studer ran a tight operation, but he didn’t run enough cattle to make it profitable. Not with the wide swings in the market. It was something he meant to mention, different ways to turn a profit on the ranch. When he returned, he would come clean with Studer about his background. He’d have to if he was going to ask for Dani’s hand in marriage.

  “I’m finalizing a deal which will see to Dani’s future. It means some changes, but hopefully they’ll turn a profit on this land.”

  “Really?” His ears perked up. What would Studer’s business dealing have to do with Dani’s future? “How so?”

  “Worked out a deal with a local family. They say I’m sitting on a goldmine in mineral rights.”

  Dax didn’t like the sound of that. Anytime mineral rights were mentioned it could mean devastation to the land.

  He covered his mouth with his fist and gave a low cough. “Be careful with those kinds of deals. They’re often not what you think.”

  “How is that?” Studer’s brow lifted. “And not to be an ass, but how would you know?”

  “I know a thing or two about deals like that. Not that I’m trying to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but anything which strips the land is something that deserves consideration.”

  “I know what it means, but I don’t have the luxury of waiting another season.”

  “Have you made the deal?”

  “It’s not finalized yet, but I’m thinking we’ll move up the timetable. It depends on…well, it depends on some things.” Pain stretched through Studer’s words and something distasteful twisted his mouth. Whatever this deal was, Studer didn’t like it.

  “Maybe we can talk when I come back. I’ve been meaning to speak with you about a couple things, actually.”

  Studer’s pensive expression turned into a scowl.

  Dax hopped out and offloaded the bull from the trailer.

  Studer oversaw Dax’s work, pulling at his face, the scowl deepening.

  Once he got Dynamo and his things, he needed to speak with Dani.

  Gravel crunched beneath Studer’s boots. “I see where your eye is gazing. My daughter…she’s not for you.”

  “Sir, Dani and I…”

  “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m telling you it ends now. Dani has a life ahead of her, obligations she must meet, and she needs to focus on her future.” He leveled his steely gaze on Dax. “Not on someone who will put everything I’ve worked hard for at risk.”

  “Sir…” He’d been expecting a conversation along these lines, but not one with such finality.

  “You said you needed to leave. I think it’s a perfect time for you to pack your things and go.”

  “I’m not leaving without Dani.”

  Studer widened his stance. “I’m asking you to go quietly. I’ll explain to Dani why you needed to leave.”

  There was no way that was happening. And he wasn’t about to get into a fight with her father. Studer was right about one thing. Dani had a life ahead of her. It was a life with him by her side.

  “I’ll get my things, but I will see her.”

  “And ruin her future?” Studer gestured toward the house. “Her future is in there with the man she’s going to marry. Your presence will only complicate matters.”

  The ground seemed to shift under his feet, like the bottom dropped out from beneath him. “What did you say?”

  “You heard me. Her fiancé is here. They’ve been through a bit of a rough patch, and I know Dani has allowed herself to be distracted. Whatever went on between the two of you, it means nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Look, I’m sorry to be the one to say it, but my daughter was simply blowing off a little steam. Which is why it’s best that you leave. Don’t come back. Dani needs to focus on her future, not some spring fling.”

  Something wasn’t right. Studer seemed entirely too invested, and he knew everything about the asshole who cheated on Dani and broke her heart. If that was the man her father wanted her to marry, Dax would intervene.

  What he wouldn’t do was make a scene. He had the distinct impression if he headed toward the house, Studer would make a move to block him. Knocking down his future father-in-law didn’t seem like the right way to begin a life with Dani.

  He allowed his gaze to linger on the main house, then turned back to Studer. “That man in there broke your daughter’s heart. Are you sure that’s the kind of life you want for her?”

  “There’s more to it than that.” Studer’s shoulders hunched.

  “You’re right about that.”

  Chapter 20

  Dani

  Dani sat on the couch, arms crossed and ankles pressed tight together. Her teeth ground with righteous anger. Scott shoved her into her Jeep, after taking the keys away, and drove her home where he proceeded to drag her out of the vehicle and deposit her on the couch.

  She hadn’t moved in nearly half an hour.

  He lectured her about their future and promises she needed to uphold.

  She glared while he paced. When he turned his back, she stuck out her tongue.

  His hand shook as he dragged it through his dirty blond hair. She’d never been afraid of him, but in the parking lot, she feared what he would do if she didn’t get in the car. What would happen if she made a break for the door? Would he try to stop her? The four red marks which lined her arm said yes.

  He noticed the direction of her gaze and how her fingers traced over the marks.

  “Look,” he said, “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He stopped and took half a step toward her. When she drew back, huddling into the couch, he spun around and picked up his pacing.

  “But you did.” Her attention shifted to the door, measuring how many steps it would take and the chances of getting out of there.

  But where would she go? Scott had the keys to her Jeep. She could make a break for the barn, but it took time to saddle a horse. She could run, but Scott was faster. Until her father returned, she was effectively a prisoner in her own home.

  “I just needed to get your attention.” His focused remained on her arm and the marks he left behind.

  “You had my attention, but it doesn’t matter. You and I are done. Why is that so hard for you to accept?”

  “We’re not done. You need to understand that.”

  “You cheated on me.” Seriously, she sounded like a broken record.

  “It’s not like I planned on sleeping with Beth.”

  “How does that excuse what happened? You took me home and then you slept with her.” Her voice rose, filled with the pain and indignation of the whole series of events.

  There had been a time when she thought she loved Scott. Truthfully, before Dax, she had no idea what true love felt like. Scott had felt comforting. It was the thing to do; go to college, date a boy, get engaged. Whatever she and Scott shared had been a poor imitation of the emotions Dax brought about.

  Dax felt like forever.

  Maybe that wasn’t a good way to describe love. It wasn’t flowery, or something for a book of poems, but it felt right. There was a solidness with Dax. A sense of connection she never shared with Scott.

  “I’m not excusing my behavior, Dani.” His hand shook as he ran it through his hair again. He tugged at the roots and went back to pacing. “But it doesn’t matter. It happened. It’ll never happen again.”

  “I don’t care if it does or doesn’t happen again. I don’t plan on being around to find out.”

  He stopped. “But you will be around. It’s been discussed.”

  “Discussed? Not by me.”

  “Your father arranged it.”

  “My father doesn’t have the right to arrange anything. I’m not something that can be sold or traded.” Did she miss something? A giant leap back in time? “I’m not chattel, Scott. You can’t barter me away.”

  “You’re wrong about that.”

  She
had enough of his nonsense and rose from the couch. Her gaze darted to the door. In that split second, Scott closed the distance and pushed her back on the couch.

  “You don’t get it, but you will.” He towered over her as she bounced on the springy cushions. “You belong to me.”

  “Don’t you ever touch me like that again.”

  “I’ll do that and more. I don’t know what your father has, or hasn’t said to you, but he’s defaulted on all his loans. My family will cover them, and you won’t lose your family’s legacy, but only if we marry.”

  “That’s crazy.” It sounded very unlike her father. “Stuff like that doesn’t happen.” Not in this day and age. “And as far as the loan goes, I’ll go to the bank and explain…”

  “The loans are in default; payable by the end of the month. As long as we were engaged, those payments are covered. Break the engagement and you and your father lose everything. Is that what you really want?”

  That wasn’t what she wanted at all. Where was her father? He would sort all of this out.

  “I don’t believe you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, more to keep from trembling than out of anger or disbelief. Something her father had said earlier about trying to fix things with Scott bothered her, and the way her father had acted at the fair? It brought too many questions bubbling to the surface.

  “Your father brokered a deal. This is happening.”

  “No, it’s not. I don’t love you. Hell, I don’t even trust you.”

  “Your father and I talked. I made him a promise. What happened with Beth will never happen again. We were good together, Dani, and we’ll be good again. You can’t deny we’ve had good times.” He went to one knee. “I promise you’ll have a good life, a secure life. Money will never be a problem. I’ll even finance your practice, but only if you put my ring back on. And, we’re not waiting until graduation. We’ll finalize everything as soon as we can get the marriage certificate. I know you’re mad, but this is for the best. I promise I’ll make you happy.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  “Am I? I pay off your family’s loans. Your land stays in the Studer family. That’s the concession your father made. All the details have been worked out.”

  “No one consulted me.”

  “No one needed to. It’s purely a business arrangement. Things between us were going great, therefore there was nothing to worry about.”

  “Until you cheated on me.” Cue the broken record. Was he not listening to a word she said?

  “That has nothing to do with the terms of the arrangement.”

  “Why do you even care? Our ranch is small. It barely makes any money at all.”

  “It’s been losing money for years.”

  She had no idea if that was true. Her father didn’t share that kind of stuff with her.

  “Then why the hell do you want in on it?”

  “I don’t care about ranching, silly, but this land is sitting on a fortune in mineral rights.”

  He wanted to rape the land.

  A coldness settled over her with that realization. Whatever loans her father had outstanding, Scott’s family stood to make millions off the mineral rights. It was a sour deal and not something she could be a part of, but what about her father? He stood to lose everything.

  The front door banged open and Dax barreled in. He took one look at a startled Scott, then rushed to place himself between her and her very ex-fiancé.

  “She’s mine.” Like an avenging angel, Dax’s chest puffed out. His sheer size dwarfed Scott’s shorter, blocky frame.

  It was odd how she’d always thought Scott was a large man, but cowering before Dax’s imposing presence, he seemed somehow…less.

  She jumped off the cushion and placed herself behind Dax. Feeling the tension in the room skyrocket, she threaded her fingers in the belt loops of Dax’s jeans and gave a gentle tug.

  “Get me out of here.” Her tiny voice sounded fragile, and too weak, but she firmed her lower lip and gave another tug. Knowing what Dax was capable of she didn’t want the two men throwing down in her living room.

  Dax reached back, placing his hand on her hip and took a step back. They walked backwards, toward the door, when the floorboards of the porch creaked behind them. Dani turned and her jaw dropped. Standing in the middle of the open doorway, her father held a shotgun and racked the slide, chambering a shell.

  Dax spun. With his hand on her hip, he easily shifted her out of the line of fire. This placed her behind him, open to Scott, but she guessed he figured her father was the greater threat.

  “You need to leave, son.”

  “I’m not leaving without her.”

  She didn’t hear Scott approach, but Dax did. As Scott’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm, Dax spun again. This time, as he shifted her around again, his arm came out and his fingers wrapped around Scott’s throat.

  Scott released her, and she staggered back. Dax just stood there. Arm outstretched. Fingers wrapped around Scott’s throat. Scott’s face turned ruddy and he grasped at Dax’s fingers. He gasped for air.

  Knowing enough to not get in Dax’s way, Dani did the only thing which made sense. She placed herself between her father, his shotgun, and the man she loved.

  Dax said nothing, but she felt the lethality of his glare. It reflected off Scott’s wide, terrified eyes. In the blink of an eye, Dax’s powerful muscles bunched, then released in a fury. His fist contacted Scott’s jaw while his iron grip released its hold on Scott’s throat.

  Scott crumpled.

  It was the only way she could describe it.

  Scott’s entire body dropped to the ground. He fell and didn’t move.

  Dax knelt beside Scott and felt for a pulse at his neck. He glanced up at her, darkness brewing in his eyes, then his attention shifted to her father.

  “He’ll live.” In one fluid movement, Dax was back on his feet. He took her hand in his and marched out the door.

  Her father stepped to the side, mouth agape and shock filling his face. His jaw moved, but no words came out.

  Dax gave a high-pitched whistle and seconds later Dynamo came running toward him.

  “I’m taking you out of here.” He pulled her to him and draped an arm over her shoulder.

  At his truck, he opened the passenger door. Dynamo jumped inside and hopped into the back seat. Dax gave her a hand up, then glanced over his shoulder at the silhouette of her father standing in the doorway.

  He shut the door, sealing her inside, then walked around the front of his truck. The entire time, his attention stayed on her father and his gun.

  Before she knew it, he had the truck in gear. Dirt and gravel spun out from beneath the tires, and they headed down the lane.

  Now that she had a minute to think, Dani clutched her midsection. Her stomach squeezed and she felt like she was going to be sick. Had that just happened? Did Dax just take Scott out? He defied her father.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’m taking you home.” He reached over and gripped her thigh. “I know things look bad right now, but you need to know everything is going to be okay.”

  She didn’t know how that was possible, but if anyone could deliver on that promise it would be Dax.

  “And where is that?”

  “Texas.”

  Chapter 21

  Dax

  Dax kept his comments short. Rage burned in his veins and that wasn’t something Dani needed to see. Hell, she’d already seen too much of what he was capable of, what he could do. It had taken all his restraint not to kill Scott.

  Her father made a deal with the devil, and didn’t realize what he’d done. He had no idea what kind of financial trouble the ranch might, or might not be in, but he did know a thing or two about mineral rights. Studer had to be sitting on millions, but that didn’t explain why he had bartered his daughter’s happiness away.

  What Dax did know about were all kinds of shady practices people were capable of when they thought the
y could take advantage of someone. If Studer had money problems, some of this messed up situation made sense, but there was no way Studer would give up millions if he knew what his land was really worth.

  It was the first thing Dax intended to look into. If there had been reports of the land filed, it wouldn’t take much to figure things out.

  “What exactly did I walk into there?” Maybe Dani could confirm his suspicions.

  She rubbed at her arms and kept twisting around to look back the way they’d come.

  “I think…maybe…you should take me back,” she said.

  “There’s no way in hell I’m taking you back there. At least, not until I understand what was going on.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “It’s all a mess.”

  “It looked fucked up. Has he ever hurt you before?”

  Dax caught her covering four red marks on her arm. Four marks for four fingers he wanted to break.

  “No. That was the first time.”

  “It wouldn’t have been the last.”

  “Scott’s never done that before.”

  “He did it one too many times. A man who cheats on a woman, and then puts marks on her, is dangerous. How about you tell me what was going on?”

  She worried at her lower lip and continued tossing glances over her right shoulder.

  “I really think I need to go back.”

  “You’re not going back.”

  “Don’t you dare tell me what to do.” A warning tone vibrated in her voice.

  “Dani…”

  “Stop the truck!” Her screech cut through the tenseness of the cab, and sliced right into his heart.

  Without thinking, he slammed on the brakes and pulled over on the shoulder. He lifted his hands off the steering wheel and held them up in surrender.

  “Fair’s fair, but let me tell you how I read this situation.”

  She gave a huff and placed her hand on the door handle. When it looked like she was about to jump out of the truck and walk back to the ranch, he forced himself to be calm. After what he’d seen in her house, the last thing he needed was force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. But, he would do everything in his power to make her see reason.