by Leah Brooke
Dakota Heat 5
Ice Men of North Dakota
Barrett Brown, Quinn Phillips, Mason Malone, and Grant Richard, friends for years, all left their ranches in Texas five years earlier in search of a change. They found that change, and the peace they craved, on the Jagged Rock.
A plane crash in the mountains shatters that peace, but not nearly as much as the woman who’s survived it. Finding her injured and half-frozen, they takes her back to the ranch, and within hours, know their lives will never be the same.
Kendra Stevenson finds herself injured and stranded on a ranch with four strange men—ice men—as hard and cold as the mountains they’ve mastered. Finding herself attracted to all four of them leaves her confused and doubting herself, but with their encouragement, she finds herself tumbling into a world of erotic hunger and warm affection that she just can't resist.
Loving four men is risky. When her life is threatened, the stakes are even higher.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 89,776 words
ICE MEN OF NORTH DAKOTA
Dakota Heat 5
Leah Brooke
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
ICE MEN OF NORTH DAKOTA
Copyright © 2013 by Leah Brooke
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-826-4
First E-book Publication: November 2013
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2013 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.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To all the loyal readers for their heartwarming support, and to the wonderful friends on Facebook, who always make me smile.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
About the Author
ICE MEN OF NORTH DAKOTA
Dakota Heat 5
LEAH BROOKE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
“Don’t bother sending anyone else out here. We’re not selling, and that’s final!”
Mason Malone disconnected, tossed the phone aside, and went to the coffeepot to pour himself another cup of the strong brew, knowing he had a long, cold morning ahead. “Son of a bitch doesn’t seem to understand plain English.”
Quinn Phillips looked up from the pan of scrambled eggs he stirred, his eyes flat and colder than normal. “I should have shot him when I had the chance.”
Half believing his friend and business partner would do it, Mason allowed a small smile and set his cup aside, a headache starting to form. “As much as I hate to admit it, there were times when I would have fought you for the chance.” He went back to the table to clear his dishes away, cursing as he threw the remainder of his now cold breakfast in the garbage, his appetite gone.
They all had a long, hard day of rounding strays ahead of them in over a foot of new snow, and Don Edelson’s call had him in a bad mood before the day had even started.
Today was one of those days when he missed waking to a warm woman lying next to him, even if he couldn’t remember her name.
In the process of stacking his own dishes in the dishwasher, Grant Richards glanced at the clock. “It’s only after five. He must be desperate to be calling us now. Are realtors even open at this time of the morning?”
Straightening, Grant leaned against the counter and sighed. “If he knew what this place meant to us, he’d give up.” Scrubbing a hand over his face, he glanced at Mason. “No, he wouldn’t. That man doesn’t see anything but dollar signs.” Frowning, he went to refill his own cup. “Did I hear you say he was sending someone else?”
Seated at the table, Barrett Brown leaned back, pausing with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “He sends that asshole he sent last time, I’m dropping him into a sinkhole.”
Mason had no trouble imagining Barrett throwing Richard—call me Rick—Douglas headfirst into one of the sinkholes without a qualm, especially when the same thought had crossed his mind a time or two. “I told him not to bother, that we’re not selling, but he’s convinced we’re just holding out for more money, which means a bigger commission for him. He said that someone’s already on the way here.”
It would have been amusing, if it wasn’t so damned irritating.
Across
the room, Grant donned his thick coat, smashed his hat onto his head and grabbed his rifle. “I’m shooting the next man he sends.”
Watching Grant go out the side door, Mason clenched his jaw, waiting until the door closed behind him before speaking. “She called him last night to tell him she was getting remarried.” He didn’t bother mentioning Grant’s ex-wife’s name, knowing Barrett and Quinn would both know who he was talking about.
“Again?” Barrett got to his feet, his expression like stone. “I’ve never seen a woman go through men the way that one does. The party never lasts for her, does it?”
“And then she’s moving on to the next one.” Mason shook his head, feeling sorry for Grant. “No, but she gets a rung higher on the social ladder with each husband. She knows Grant’s got more money than all of them, though, and I think it pisses her off that she let him get away. She’d love to marry him again, but only if he lets her run around the world shopping and partying.”
Barrett frowned. “That’s never gonna happen.”
Quinn paused with a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth. “Women are nothing but trouble. If they’d just open their legs and shut their mouths, everything would be just fine.”
Mason shook his head, too used to Quinn’s opinion of women to be offended by it.
He knew his friend didn’t allow himself to get close to any woman, and suspected that Quinn’s icy demeanor was his way of keeping them at a distance. Mason, Barrett, and Grant were the only people in the world Quinn trusted, and it had taken years to earn that trust.
Quinn had a woman in town he visited once in a while, someone who wanted no entanglements.
He apparently liked it that way.
Mason tried not to think about how cold and lonely his own bed felt now, or how he missed having the scent of a woman in the house.
He’d never married, but when he’d had his ranch in Texas, he’d had plenty of women in his bed, but none of them had cut through the loneliness surrounding him.
He wondered if one ever would.
Restless and edgy, he’d jumped at the chance to buy The Jagged Rock Ranch in North Dakota with the three friends and neighbors he respected. Now they had more money than any of them would be able to spend, worked hard each day on a ranch they loved, and had the solitude they’d all needed.
Still, he wanted more. He wanted a softness in his life that had always been missing, a warm woman to curl next to at night, to talk to across the table—a woman he could care for, and one who would care enough to want to please him.
Finishing his coffee, he went to retrieve his own coat and hat. “No woman in her right mind would ever live here.” Ignoring Barrett’s and Quinn’s looks of surprise, Mason grabbed his gun and left, furious at himself for letting his loneliness get to him again.
He had work to do, and a realtor who wouldn’t take no for an answer to deal with.
He didn’t have the time to wish for something he would never have.
* * * *
Kendra Stevenson fidgeted in her seat, her hands shaking as she wrapped the strap of her purse across her body. “I can’t believe listing a house could be such a damned emergency that I’d have to go out there in this weather. I know you said we would have to fly through a storm, Sam, but did you know it was going to be this bad?”
The pilot cursed again as the plane dipped and shook, his features lined with tension. “I knew it was going to be bad, but, no, I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”
She put a hand to her stomach when the plane dipped again. “Why the hell did you agree to fly in this?”
He spared her a glance, his lips curling. “Because he paid me three times my normal fee. My wife and I just got married a few months ago and we’re trying to buy a house. I figured the extra money would come in handy.”
Kendra shook her head. “We’re both idiots. I just got this job a few weeks ago, and figured it was my big opportunity to prove something, and to make a nice paycheck. I’m tired of eating noodles and macaroni and cheese. If I’d known I was risking my life, I would have told him to shove the listing up his ass.”
“You and me both. Just hang on. It’s getting a little bumpy.”
The plane rocked so hard, Kendra hit her head on the window beside her. “A little bumpy?”
Clinging to the seat belt, Kendra looked out at the dark clouds, jolting at the flash of lightning. “Sam, this doesn’t look good.” She turned to him, alarmed to see how pale he was in the waning light. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Just hang on. We’re almost there.” The strain in the pilot’s voice became more pronounced by the minute, alarming her even more.
Kendra gritted her teeth and held on tight, her stomach dropping when the plane lurched again. “I swear, I’m never flying again. Oh, shit!” The rocking of the plane made her sick to her stomach.
Sam’s white-knuckled grip on the controls tightened even more. “It’ll be fine. We’re almost there. Just hang on. A little farther.”
Kendra couldn’t hold back a cry when another streak of lightning lit the sky, this one even closer than the last. “Son of a bitch!” The crack of thunder seemed to reverberate on and on through the cabin of the small plane.
“Christ, Sam. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. Please tell me you’ve flown in storms like this before.”
He cursed again, speaking into the headset with a bunch of numbers that made no sense to her. When he finished, he glanced at her again, his expression grim. “It’s called thundersnow. Hey, this’ll be a good story to tell your grandchildren.”
Kendra snorted. “I’ve got a feeling my chances of having children are as small as me keeping my breakfast down.”
And surviving this flight.
Another lightning bolt lit the sky, this one even closer.
Kendra gasped as the plane lurched and began to shake. Holding on to the door and her purse, she pushed back in her seat. “Sam?”
Cursing, he fought the controls. “Fuck. We’re going down.”
Kendra turned her head to look at him, wondering if she’d misunderstood.
She couldn’t die!
She hadn’t even had the chance to live—or to love!
She’d die alone.
It was her last thought as the plane went down, the crash sending her flying to land hard, knocking the breath from her, the explosion ringing in her ears as everything went black.
* * * *
Barrett paused, listening intently through the blowing wind for the sound he could have sworn he’d heard—that of a bellowing calf. The snow fell so hard that he couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him, which made finding them even more difficult. He remained still, straining to listen, knowing that the calf would freeze to death if he didn’t find him soon. When the sound came again, he turned his horse toward it, cursing under his breath when he saw that the small calf had gotten tangled in some brush.
Dismounting, he headed for him, keeping his voice low and even. “Got yourself in a bind, didn’t you?”
The more the calf struggled, the more he tangled himself, and it took Barrett several minutes and the use of just about every curse word he knew before he had the calf free.
Knowing the small animal would never make it back on his own, Barrett lifted him and headed back to his horse. Once he’d dropped into the saddle, settling the small calf across his lap, he headed back toward the yard.
Looking at the beauty surrounding him, and enjoying the peace, Barrett couldn’t help but wish he had a woman to share it with.
He loved it here, but it got lonely.
He loved the challenge of fighting the elements, and the physical demands that made it possible to sleep at night.
He loved the quiet, loved having a place to think and, most of all, a place to shut out the rest of the world.
He missed having a woman to hold at night. He missed the softness.
In Texas, he’d been a doctor, one who hadn’t been
able to do anything to save his wife’s life. In mourning, he’d just wanted to escape.
He’d bought this ranch with his friends almost five years ago, and it had been a haven to him ever since.
Recently, he’d started yearning for the softness of a woman in his home, and in his bed, but couldn’t bear the thought of losing another woman he loved.
In a different way, Grant had lost his wife, a greedy woman who cared only about the next party, and he’d been miserable ever since. Barrett would love to see his friend find a woman who would be happy living here, but for most women, it would be hard to adjust to the kind of isolation that living on the Jagged Rock Ranch would require.
He knew women, though, and knew it would be nearly impossible for more than one woman to share the house.
And turn it into a home, as only a woman could do.
Riding into the yard, he spotted Mason, who looked up at his approach.
Shaking his head, Mason, covered with snow, came toward him. “Quinn just brought in another one. Where’d you find this one?” Reaching up, he took the calf and set him down, watching as the half-frozen animal made his way to join the others.
“Down at the bend, about a hundred yards from the fence line. Tangled himself in the brush.”
His stomach rumbled, reminding him that it had been a long time since lunch. Turning, he looked out, unsurprised to see Grant and Quinn riding toward him. It would be dark soon and they’d done just about all they could do that day. The other men would be coming in soon.
He’d clean up and eat, and spend another night in a bed that felt colder with every passing day.
