by Edith DuBois
Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 4
Rugged Fire
Lianne Seward has lived in Savage Valley since birth but never admitted to her crush on the Carson twins, Sebastian and William. When their bank approves her small-business loan, she finds herself working very closely with the sexy but aloof bear-shifters. It just might be the opportunity she needs to discover something deeper and stronger with the Carsons, and she means to take full advantage of it.
As she struggles to get her company off the ground, however, family secrets and long-held grudges begin to surface. Soon a web of events, begun long before she was born, starts to unravel. As Lianne works her way through the mysteries, she must figure out whom she can trust. She must figure out who her family really is.
Because when Ulysses C. Norman hears about her upstart company, he offers to make all of her business dreams come true. But does his generous offer come from the heart? Or does he have plans of his own?
Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.
Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 48,802 words
RUGGED FIRE
Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 4
Edith DuBois
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
RUGGED FIRE
Copyright © 2012 by Edith DuBois
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-528-1
First E-book Publication: October 2012
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
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www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
This is for Lisa, who was like a second Mom to me. She is always loved and always missed.
This is also for Erika, her daughter. When a young woman loses her mother, life changes forever. Your mama knows where you’ve been and what you’ve seen. She would be so proud.
RUGGED FIRE
Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 4
EDITH DUBOIS
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Sebastian Carson flicked a piece of lint off his coat sleeve then put his hand on the bank door’s lock. Behind him, the trickle of the lobby fountain gurgled in his ears, and he took one deep breath. Looking back at his identical twin standing behind the marble teller counter, Seb waited for William’s nod. His brother watched the large analog clock on the wall at the back of the bank as the second hand jerked its way to the top of its rotation. At precisely 7:00 a.m. the signal came from Will, and Seb’s fingers turned the lock.
As he swung the door wide open, bright, gilded light came screaming into the bank. The sharpness of winter clawed at his throat as he breathed in the crisp morning air.
Savage Valley Bank was open.
Susan Copely pedaled past on her squeaky bike, a crimson scarf wrapped around her throat, its tail end flickering in the breeze behind her. She dinged the bell on her handlebar at him and waved. After she squeaked away, Seb looked up and down Main Street. There was no one. The town was lifeless as usual.
He closed the doors and went to unlock the bank’s side doors. After checking that Mrs. Sawyer and Mr. Todd were ready at the drive-through window counters, he checked to make sure the vault room and the office were locked while he and Will were in the front. On his way to join Will behind the teller counter, he asked Miss Grayson, their morning-shift teller, to straighten her nameplate. She wasn’t the most organized of individuals. She liked to keep her workspace cluttered with silly things. He couldn’t understand why she needed a picture of her dog, a cup with odd collector’s pens, or a dish with candy on her counter space at all times, but she possessed some odd notion about “personality.” As long as it didn’t interfere with her work, Seb could live with it.
“Another booming day for business,” Will said, his tone dry as he scanned the empty lobby and the street outside through the large windows.
“I have a meeting with Lianne Seward at eleven. That’s about it today.”
Will ticked a brow up in question.
“She’s related to the Strongs, a cousin I believe. She and Noah used to run around together.”
Will grumbled, and Seb nodded his agreement. Out of all the bear-shifter families, Seb liked the Strongs the least. They were rambunctious, rabble-rousing hooligans who had absolutely no concept of dignity nor notion of self-preservation. In fact, the elder brother Carter’s behavior had gotten so radical that Bohagande Young had stripped him of his ability to shift into a bear. Not that Seb particularly liked being a bear-shifter, but if he was stuck in Savage Valley for the rest of his life, it was one of the things that made his existence here somewhat entertaining.
“Wasn’t her mother the one everyone used to think was a witch?”
Seb nodded. “She probably was if she’s related to the Strongs.” Both of the brothers knew the rumors about women born into shifter lines. They were never born with the ability to shift, but they were sometimes given extra abilities.
“What’s the girl coming for?” Will asked.
“A small
-business loan.”
Will snorted. “If she’s anything like her cousins…”
Seb didn’t need his brother to finish the sentence. In fact, apart from his ethical obligation to meet with her, he had no intention of giving her a loan. He would listen to her spiel of course, but in the end, he couldn’t in good conscience lend her the money she was asking for, despite her loose connections to the bear clan. Or perhaps because of that connection. He didn’t think it wise to trust anyone related to the Strongs with the bank’s money.
The morning passed in somnolent regularity until Mrs. Sawyer popped her head around the corner from where the drive-through teller worked.
“Mr. Carson?” She bit her lower lip, and her eyes darted away from his when he turned to look at her.
“Yes?”
“May I take my fifteen? Matt—I mean, Mr. Todd—said he didn’t mind, and if it’s okay with you?”
Seb glanced down at his watch. Lianne Seward would show up any minute for her meeting, and Will had just begun their morning paperwork in the back office. The woman had the worst timing.
“Yes, that’s fine. We can spare you.”
“Thank you so much, Mr. Carson. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“Don’t dawdle, Mrs. Sawyer.”
“Oh.” She let out an awkward giggle. “I’m sorry. Okay, I’ll just go then.” She darted back around the corner and, a few moments later, scurried down the hall toward the side door. Seb headed for the back office to let Will know she had taken her break when a woman entering caught his attention. She held the door open for Mrs. Sawyer. The two women hugged and chatted for a moment. Normally, Seb would have been perturbed at Mrs. Sawyer’s lack of urgency, but the beautiful woman had him distracted for a moment.
She had shiny golden hair piled up on her head with a small braid woven in. Her features were soft and dainty with only the gentlest hints of color on cheek and lip. She wore an overlarge beige sweater and tight brown pants. She looked like a winter waif of some sort.
Seb felt his cock stir as her petite nose crinkled in laughter. She hugged Mrs. Sawyer once more and then waved as the harried woman darted away. The young woman turned toward him and smiled. His cock jumped at the sudden attention. He had a brief moment of wondering where he had seen her when she full-out waved at him as if they were old friends.
“I’m sorry. Do I know you?” he asked as she approached.
“Sebastian Carson, you can’t be serious.” She laughed and shook her head as if they shared a joke, but when he didn’t join her, the easy laughter died down. Up close, he could see that her eyes were a startling shade of violet.
“Well, it has been a while, but I thought you’d at least recognize me.” The corners of her mouth, momentarily turned down, began to curl up. “You mean, you really don’t know who I am?”
He stared at her for a long moment, trying to place her face in his memory. Her voice had a familiar lilt and her laughter a familiar peal, but he shook his head. “Sorry, no.”
She held up her tan leather portfolio case. “Not even with all my meticulously prepared materials for our meeting this morning?”
“Lianne Seward?” he asked, struggling to keep his jaw from falling open. “You’re Lianne Seward?”
“Ahh, bells ring at last.” She laughed and thrust her hand out to him. “It’s good to see you again, Seb.”
He took her hand and could feel the fragility of her bones beneath delicate, warm skin as he shook it. How on earth had he never noticed how beautiful she was? Her cheeks glowed, and her smile was wide and beaming. She had such a slender, little frame. He wanted to pull her against him and give her all she wanted and keep her safe from bad things.
“So…uh…are we going to have this meeting right here in the hall?” She leaned in and looked around the lobby conspiratorially. “I was hoping for something a little more private.”
His cock was now at full attention, and he turned abruptly away from her. “Stay here,” he barked over his shoulder as he walked toward the back office. Taking long, meaningful strides, he quickly made it to the office and shut the door behind him. Will’s head snapped up at the interruption.
“What is it?”
“Lianne Seward is here.”
His brother’s brow remained furrowed. “And?”
Seb poured himself a cup of water and downed it in one gulp. “And I need a minute.”
“Who’s watching the front?” Will rose from his chair with a glare and headed for the office door. “You can’t just leave the tellers out there alone, Seb. How many times do we have to go over this?” Will shoved past him.
“Mrs. Sawyer took her break,” he called after his brother. He shook his head and then took a deep breath, feeling as if he had perhaps regained some of his aplomb. When he walked out of the hallway to take Lianne to one of the small meeting rooms, he felt a smug pleasure at his brother’s faltering in the face of Lianne’s huge smile and eager hello. Will adjusted his tie, fiddled with his shirtsleeves, and looked generally uncomfortable under Lianne’s power.
At least he wasn’t the only one affected by her brilliant presence. “So I see you’ve been reacquainted with Miss Seward.” He shot his twin a knowing look.
“Oh, come on, Seb. Call me Lianne. We’ve known each other since I was born.” He felt the tips of his ears burning at her friendly admonishment.
“Lianne, then.” He nodded. “So where have you been these last few years? We certainly haven’t seen you around the bank.”
“Let’s see, I graduated from Colorado State in May and moved back here, back into my mother’s house. I work as a substitute now and have my business on the side.” She held up the portfolio again. “But I guess we can get into all that in the meeting. But yep, that’s basically it, yeah.”
“That’s as good a segue as any,” Seb said, putting a hand on her back and nudging her toward the office in the corner at the front of the bank.
“It was nice to see you again, Will,” she said over her shoulder.
He closed the glass door to the office and invited Lianne to take a seat. Her cheeks had grown redder, and he assumed she was simply nervous about presenting her business plan and loan request to him. “Shall we jump right into things?” he asked her.
“Sure, okay. That’s probably the best idea.” She laughed nervously and began pulling packets of paper, charts, graphs, and a laptop out of her leather case. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she slid one of her packets over to him. “This is the summary of everything I want to talk to you about today. It’s got my business plan with all my company’s data so far, plus my credit report and projected sales costs and profits. I just thought you might want a copy, you know, just so you have it in your hands as we go along on the laptop. I just thought it would be easier for you, and, you know—”
“Lianne,” he said, cutting her off.
“Yes? What is it? Yes?”
“How about we take a deep breath?” He looked into her violet eyes and sucked in a breath. Her eyes widened, but she followed suit, taking in a hearty lungful.
“Thanks,” she said a moment later. “I get myself so worked up.”
“We’ll take as long as you need. I want to get to know you and your business, but it will be difficult if you’re nervous. So if you need a moment, or if you need a break, just let me know. Okay?” He didn’t know what came over him. He had planned to let her stumble through her presentation without saying anything, without offering encouragement and without showing enthusiasm, but he couldn’t help himself. She was obviously flustered. This meant a lot to her.
And she was damn beautiful.
He was surprised to find he almost wanted her to persuade him. He wanted to see what she was capable of. She intrigued the hell out of him.
She nodded, taking a deep breath as per his instruction, but he could see she still needed a little help.
“All right, so first, why not tell me a little bit about your business. Let’s st
art there. Sound good?”
She shot him a wide smile, and her relief was immediately apparent. That was all it took. She launched into her presentation. She told him about each of her beauty products, how all of them used natural ingredients purchased from families right here in Savage Valley. Most of them were honey or pollen based, but some of them had herbs purchased from local farmer’s markets or almonds from Nadine’s nut farm. As the morning wore on, Seb became more and more impressed with her. Not only was she stunningly beautiful, but she had a knack for business. She kept track of her sales religiously and documented them. She also had studied a lot of companies similar to her own that sold organic beauty products and used their business models to help build up one for herself.
Starting as an online shop through a DIY site called Effie, she’d made quite a name for her company. Her next step had been to start selling products locally. She’d found a couple businesses in Savage Valley willing to sell her products. The Ninth Time and Savage Convenience both sold a few of her items, but neither one agreed to sell her whole line.
As she explained her goals in both the short-term and long-term range, she began to get a little more animated, bouncing in her seat and flicking through slides as she spoke faster and faster. She wanted to open a small shop right on Main Street where she would make her products. She would have a lab in the back and an area to sell her merchandise in the front while also continuing her online business. Eventually she hoped to open a chain in the surrounding areas and then across the state.
