Candace lay in her husband’s arms late that night, and tried to sleep. He had loved her slowly and carefully, trying to set her mind at ease, but she still couldn’t turn off the images of the day’s fiasco at the studio.
At least it’s finally over, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time. I suppose I should worry about what’s going to happen to my mother, but I just can’t.
“Hey, you still awake?” Luke asked in a sleepy voice.
She nodded. “I can’t help it.”
Luke shifted, letting her down carefully so he could lean over her.
“It really is over,” he reminded her. “The cops believed everything we told them, because they wanted to. The so-called “Manager” has been on their radar for a long time, and you gave them what they needed to bring the guy’s whole empire down. They owe you, and they know it. That lieutenant who showed up promised to keep you out of it, so you’ll never have to testify. It really is over, darlin’.”
She shook her head. “I know. It’s just that I can’t get the picture of him pointing his gun at you out of my mind.” She reached up to play with the silky fur on his chest with trembling fingers. “If Addy hadn’t…” She broke off, still finding it hard to believe what her new friend had done.
Luke grinned, though. “Addy was sure somethin’, wasn’t she?”
Candace had to smile, too. “Yes. Yes, she was.”
He grasped her roving hand in his and held it to his lips.
“We’re all right, then, aren’t we?”
She searched his eyes in the dim light and reached her other hand up to cup his face.
“I think I love you, Luke Saint,” she whispered, surprising herself at the depth of the feelings she already had for this man whom she hadn’t even known a month.
He took a deep breath. “I’m glad to hear it, darlin’, ’cause I love you, too.”
“Do you?”
He nodded. “Do I need to show you some more?” he asked.
She shook her head. “You don’t need to do anything. Of course, if you want to...”
Luke sighed with satisfaction. “I’ll be happy to do just that, darlin’—for the rest of my life.”
He settled over her, and she opened to him, cradling him between her thighs as he entered her slowly but inexorably. Then he was moving inside of her once more, and all her cares went the way of all bad dreams at the break of day.
Dancing Bearback
Bear Ranchers Book III
by
Becca Fanning
It all began with the morning paper. Funny how things like that could happen. One moment you’re dipping the last of your toast soldiers into a runny boiled egg, with nothing much on your plate for the day, and the next…well the next thing, anything could happen.
That was what Willow Davenport thought as she passed the morning paper to her Aunt Vanessa over the coffee pot. Aunt Vanessa had her usual facial masque of avocado, egg white and some sort of clay on her face and was likely to scare the holy hell out of anyone not used to this sight. Willow and her sister Rosemary had lived with their aunt since their parents died over fifteen years ago. They were used to her little ways.
Aunt Vanessa took the paper and looked at it. She held her glasses off her face as she squinted into them.
“And?” she said.
Willow rolled her eyes. “Look down the column!” she went around the table and pointed emphatically at the paper.
“See?” she said.
“It’s the property section. Are you finally thinking of moving out?” Aunt Vanessa asked with mock exasperation.
Willow shook her head and moved back to her seat, and her rapidly cooling coffee. Fall was well and truly underway and the mornings were beginning to get chilly, while all around them the trees changed color.
“No, silly!” Willow chided, “Just read it.”
“Ranch for sale. The Homestead Ranch in the San Luis Valley… hey hold on a moment! That’s old man Sawyer’s place next door!” Aunt Vanessa said. “So, I guess Sally-Anne has finally decided the place is too much for her.”
“What’s too much for who?” Rosemary asked as she entered the kitchen. She was dressed in tiny shorts, a tank top and blue bunny slippers. Her long blonde hair was held on top of her head in a messy bun, and she was still rubbing sleep out of her blue eyes. Willow smiled at her sister and poured her some coffee.
“Thanks,’ Rosemary said sitting heavily in a chair and scratching her ribs. “So what are we talking about?”
“Old man Sawyers’ ranch,” Willow said scooping the last of her boiled egg out with a teaspoon.
“Didn’t he die, like four months ago?” Rosemary asked, deftly slicing a grapefruit in half and sprinkling sugar all over it.
“Doesn’t all that sugar defeat the purpose of the grapefruit?” Willow asked.
Rosemary glared at her and added more sugar. “So now his wife is selling the ranch?” she asked.
“It looks like she is. This is good for us,” Willow said.
“Oh?” Rosemary asked putting her feet up on the table, and having them slapped off by her aunt, who poked her nose out from behind the newspaper just so she could swat them.
“Feet off, you uncultured child! Willow, what do you want me to do?” Aunt Vanessa asked lowering the paper.
Willow stared at her aunt incredulously. “Oh, come on! You’ve only been talking about expanding the show forever. Just think about it. That is some lovely land. We could finally open the hotel and restaurant that you’ve been dreaming about for ages.”
“I don’t know,” Aunt Vanessa said taking a dainty sip of her coffee so as not to mess the facial masque.
“Oh, but Aunt Vanessa!” Rosemary piped up. “It’s your dream, and Will is right. This is your chance!” She bounced up and twirled around tracing a half moon in the air. “Just think about it. The Outlaw theatre, hotel and restaurant. Come for dinner, a show and stay the night! It’s perfect.”
Rosemary traced the name in imaginary lights in the air. Willow could see it in her imagination. It was what Aunt Vanessa had been working towards her whole life, and she was certain this was the time. The Sawyer’s ranch was just beautiful. It had everything including a river, a small lake and a forest. The possibilities were truly endless.
“Let’s go take a look,” Willow said. “It can’t hurt to have a peek, now can it?”
Aunt Vanessa looked uncertain.
“Oh, please!” Rosemary begged falling dramatically to her knees. “Please, aunty.”
“Oh, fine,” Aunt Vanessa said huffing. “But we’re going to morning rehearsal first.”
The Outlaw Theatre only did one kind of entertainment. It was a cabaret show of singing and dancing, and the subject matter was that of the Old West. If you were ever considered an outlaw, then you would feature, somewhere, in the show.
The current repertoire was inspired by Billy the Kid and Doc Holiday, who had actually visited Colorado in the 1800’s.
Dressed in her practice gear of a lycra body suit, heels and a cotton wide skirt, Willow was ready to take on the role of Big Nose Kate. Kate had been Doc’s on again, off again girlfriend and Doc was played by Randal Somes. Randal was so gay, and it was so obvious, that Willow had to try really hard not to laugh during their love song duet. Somehow singing about endless love to a person like Randal, was just too funny.
But she made it through. Then came the dance routines, the songs about being an outlaw, written by Aunt Vanessa, played by the band, sung by the cast, and then the big finale.
Finally, practice was done. The theatre offered a matinee performance at 15:30, but there was still plenty of time. So the performers and band members went their separate ways.
Willow raced to change her clothes. She flung on jeans, a green Tee, a jacket and her knee high boots. Last she twirled her long, curly, strawberry blonde hair up into a bun on top of her head and she was ready.
She met Rosemary in the hall and there they waited for their Aunt Vanessa. She e
ventually appeared, hair done up, in jeans and a white blouse. Her denim jacket had sparkles all over it and her boots were her best.
“Well,” she said when seeing the girl’s faces, “I’ve known Sally-Anne my whole life. I think it would be rude to show up on her doorstep looking like trailer trash.”
“Did we say anything?” Rosemary asked.
“I sure didn’t,” Willow said. “But come on, we gotta go.”
They piled into Aunt Vanessa’s SUV, and Willow drove them along the track to the neighboring farm. It was a good half hour drive. There had been a few storms lately and all the rain had rutted the roads, leaving holes and dimples in the dirt. It made for a very bumpy ride. Willow drove slowly, having had a tongue lashing from her aunt before about wearing out shock absorbers by driving too fast on bumpy roads. The SUV was Aunt Vanessa’s baby, part of the settlement from her last husband.
“Only good thing the cheating, slime bucket ever did for me,” she always said. So Willow drove slowly until the road improved. Here they could see a grader had been along, clearing and flattening the road. With the improved conditions, Willow sped up. They were cruising along now and Willow began to imagine how wonderful it would be to have the theatre, and the hotel and restaurant. It would be more work for sure, but good work. And it would see Aunt Vanessa right into her old age. And this was the perfect time, since tourist visits slowed down now for winter. They would have ample time to get the place sorted out and made to look the part of a brothel in the old west.
Willow looked into her rearview mirror and let out a small scream. She had been so deep in her imaginings that she hadn’t seen anything around her. A huge black SUV was suddenly right there, behind them! It was practically on her rear bumper. She indicated for them to go around, but the driver just kept on coming. He was really aggressive.
“What’s his problem?” Rosemary asked, from the backseat, where she turned to glared at the other driver.
“I don’t know,” Willow said watching the SUV. She rolled down her window and waved him by again.
The SUV stayed on their tail.
Willow clutched the steering wheel with both hands. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest.
Beside her Aunt Vanessa was looking pale, and clutching the armrest.
The SUV backed off a little. Then it came back at them again. Willow looked around for somewhere to pull over, but this part of the road dipped badly, with a wide ditch on both sides. She couldn’t stop here. So she did the only thing she could.
Willow hit the accelerator and sped along the dirt road, dust flying.
The faster they drove, the faster the other SUV came on. Willow hit the brakes a little and the SUV backed off slightly, but not much. Instead of deterring him, that only seemed to be egging this maniac on. He drove closer and closer to them.
Willow glanced behind and suddenly the car hit something. The jolt on the wheel was enough for Willow to lose her grip for a moment. The car slid out of control, turned wildly, spinning across the dirt and with a boom crashed into the ditch on the side of the road.
Willow opened her eyes.
First thing she did was check the passenger and the backseat. Aunt Vanessa was crying but waved Willow away. There was no one in the backseat and that freaked Willow out instantly. She jumped out of the car, trying to shake the feeling that history was repeating, that her sister was gone.
“Rose!” she yelled.
Aunt Vanessa’s SUV was nose first in the ditch. Oh fabulous! Willow thought. Great, just wonderful! She knew they were stuck.
“Shit!” she said and tried to make her way around the car. The passenger side was in the ditch and after the recent rains it was still marshy and slushy there, with clover and other weeds and grasses growing happily in the trapped moisture. They were not getting out of this without help, but there were more pressing issues than the car. Like where the hell was Rosemary?
“Rose!” Willow yelled again more annoyed than frightened this time.
Well at least she wasn’t dead in the ditch. Although looking at the damage now, Willow guessed that they would have had to go out of their way to be fatally wounded in this crash.
“Rosemary Elizabeth Davenport where the hell are you?” Willow screamed.
“I’m here you loud, over protective, anal sister of mine!” Rosemary yelled back. She was walking along the side of the road.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Along the road aways,” Rosemary said. “I got the jerk’s license plate.” She held up her phone. “Got it while he was bumper kissing us.”
“That’s great! But you should’ve stayed close to the car!” Willow said taking her sister into a hug. Rosemary hugged her back.
“You have a flashback?” she asked. “Of mom and dad’s accident?”
Willow nodded and they hugged each other tighter.
“It’s okay you know,” Rosemary said pulling back. “We’re fine. This was hardly an accident at all.”
“I know that,” Willow said.
They looked at each other for a moment.
“I guess we should get Aunt Vanessa out of the car,” Willow said and they turned as one woman to see their Aunt having hysterics in the passenger seat.
“How are we gonna do that?” Rosemary asked biting her lip.
Willow shrugged, “I push, you pull?”
Rosemary jabbed her sister in the ribs but they were smiling at each other.
Just then there was the sound of an engine, and a big silver truck pulled up next to them. The window rolled down with an electric whine and a head popped out.
Willow grabbed Rosemary’s arm tightly as she felt her knees involuntarily go numb. The head had to belong to an angel she thought. And then it smiled and she corrected herself. This was no heaven dweller, this was the face of a fallen angel, who had enjoyed the trip and would gladly do it again. For kicks.
“Morning,” the young man said, smiling brightly. He had very fair hair that flopped into his eyes a bit, and a goatee that was clearly painstakingly styled. The smile was bright and fueled by genuine happiness. “Might we be of some assistance?”
“Um,” Willow said staring with her mouth open.
Rosemary looked at her sister and shook her head, “Hi, yeah we would love some help.”
“Great, we’ll just pull over and then see what we can do,” the man said.
He maneuvered his truck so that it was parked close by, and well off the road. Then he got out. He was tall and broad shouldered. Sizing him up, Willow realized he was a good head and shoulders taller than she was. Suddenly she thought she knew what it felt like to be a dwarf.
“Hi, I’m Tyler,” he said extending a long fingered hand. “And that fine specimen of a man over there, is my good friend, Kyle.”
Willow looked at exhibit B and swallowed hard. Oh this one was trouble and no mistake. He had honey blonde hair that hung messily around his head like a halo, and his smile was downright naughty. He raised a hand and waved.
“Hi,” Kyle said, shaking first Willow’s and then Rosemary’s hand.
“Well, I’m Willow and this is my sister, Rosemary,” Willow said smiling.
“Willow,” Tyler said smiling with a faraway look on his face. He said it again as though he were tasting it. “That is such a pretty name.”
Beck (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey Book 4) Page 54
