The Gilded Cuff

by Smith, Lauren

  “Sorry, guess it comes with the territory. I can’t ever see myself not wanting you.” She shut her eyes a moment, savoring the brief rest it brought before she spoke again. “Are you going to Colorado now?” Half of her wanted him to say no, but the other half knew he had to leave and bring Fenn home.

  “No.”

  “No? Why not? Your brother is alive and we have to find him.” She tried to sit up but he gently pushed her back down.

  “We will. After you rest and heal. I’m not going anywhere without you. Fenn can wait until you’re well enough to travel.”

  He was waiting for her. The knowledge of this made her feel all warm inside.

  “If you’re sure you want to wait…”

  “Sophie, haven’t you figured it out by now? I’d wait forever for you. You’re mine and I’m yours. That’s how it works when you love someone.”

  Her heart stopped, literally. The machines next to her bed chirped in alarm.

  “You love me?” Her words were a hoarse whisper.

  “More than anything.” His eyes twinkled. “You better love me, too, or we’ll revisit that particular punishment you like so well.”

  The flood of heat took her body by storm, momentarily erasing her pain. She rolled onto her side and scooted closer to him, ignoring the twinges of pain so she could tuck her head under his chin. When all the world seemed to have gone to hell and back, she took comfort in his embrace and the way it made her feel safe, secure, whole.

  “Everything is going to be fine. We’re together and I’m never letting you escape again.” His words were a delicious burn, a promise, a vow, searing into her heart. She inhaled his scent, loving the dark masculine hint of musk and the fresh clean zing of his cologne. He’d showered and changed clothes.

  “How long was I here?” She’d forgotten if he’d told her.

  “A day. Royce watched over you while I got Hans cleared and he went home for a few hours. I stayed here and used one of the hospital room showers. There was blood and…well, I needed to get it off.”

  “It’s okay,” she assured him and burrowed closer.

  They lay together for a long while, their breathing matched so perfectly she could have sworn they were one being, not two.

  “Emery…”

  “Yes?” His tone was so gentle, so sweet.

  “I’d like to tell you about Rachel.”

  “I’d love to hear about her.” His words were a little rough. “Why don’t I bring you home and you can tell me all about her? I think I’ll be able to convince the doctors to let you come home if I hire a fleet of private nurses.”

  “Home?” She eyed the whitewashed hospital walls. It would be nice to get away from here. It might be hard to heal in a place like this.

  “Yes, our home. Lockwood is ours now, not just mine. Do you feel up to leaving early?” He shifted closer on his chair and let his fingertips linger on her cheeks, where he’d been gently stroking her skin.

  “Yes. Take me home, Emery.”

  His full sensual lips curved in a bright smile that was nearly blinding. True joy lit every part of his eyes; no shadows lingered. He’d banished his demons, and she knew that loving him had been half the battle. The other half had been saving him and finding out Fenn was alive. She would share his heart with Fenn; it was the way of twins and she didn’t mind. He was alive and he loved her. Love was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Sophie winced as she eased into Emery’s bed. It had been three days since she’d come home from the hospital. Three days that had felt like a lifetime. They’d found out that Hayden Thorne hadn’t gone to Michigan as she’d told them, but instead had flown to Colorado ahead of her brother in a feminine knight errant attempt to rescue the lost Lockwood brother herself.

  Fenn was coming home soon. Once Fenn was here he’d be safe, and the brothers could come up with a plan for how find out who really wanted them dead. Sophie had an idea, too, and planned to make sure she helped.

  They were going to be meeting Fenn in a day or two. He and Emery had talked on the phone. Emery had rushed into the room the first night she’d come home and he’d been flushed, excited, like a boy again. The memory made her smile.

  “Sophie, you wouldn’t believe it. He sounds just like me!” He’d laughed and stalked toward the bed, and her, tossing the phone at the foot of the bed as he stripped out of his coat and crawled toward her, grinning.

  “Just like you, huh?” She laughed and tipped her head back, letting her tired body rest on the pillows as he caged her in, carefully, and stole a deep, seductive kiss.

  The taste of him, so addictive, went straight to her head, and she couldn’t remember that she’d been hurting moments ago. There was only him and his wonderful lips, loving her with little nips, sensual caresses, and that ragged breathing that told her he was just as lost to their passion as she was. A universe only for them. Just the two of them. She would never have guessed it could be like this, not between them. Sexy, yet sweet. He’d made plenty of delicious threats that once she was fully healed, Master Emery would be back and expecting his little sub to please him, but until then, she had this other side of him, one she loved as equally as his dominant side.

  When their lips finally broke apart, he sat back and held out a pair of familiar bracelets. Her gilded cuffs.

  “My cuffs!” She reached for them, but he lifted them out of her reach, a wicked flirty grin teasing his mouth.

  “What are you willing to do to earn them back, little sub?” he demanded, but his tone was light and sweet.

  She lowered her lashes, and peeped up at him impishly, knowing it would undo him. “Whatever my master wishes.”

  He dropped the cuffs onto the bed and leaned over her again, this time kissing a path to her ear, where he licked the inner shell and she arched up, ignoring the twinge of her sore body. She wanted him, wanted him so much that the ache for him replaced most of her other hurts.

  “Easy, sweetheart,” he scolded. “Don’t hurt yourself. There will be plenty of time later for that.” He eased onto the bed beside her and carefully pulled her into his embrace, holding her. She sighed and rested her cheek against his chest.

  “You promised you would tell me about Rachel,” he said. “Are you ready? I would like to hear about her.” Emery rubbed her hip with one hand and pressed a kiss to the crown of her hair.

  She was ready. There was a flicker of old pain, like when one has a scar that sometimes aches. But she ignored it and started to talk.

  “Our favorite holiday was the Fourth of July. She used to get tons of sparklers…We always managed to set fire to something…”

  Emery’s laugh vibrated through her and she laughed too.

  “One time we chased away her brother and his friend with a bunch of bottle rockets after they’d teased us. They stayed clear of us after that.”

  “I’ll bet. Fenn once shot me with one of those. Burned like hell. I couldn’t sit down for a week.”

  Sophie giggled at the mental image of Emery as a boy wincing as he sat down, only to hop back up again.

  “I wish you could have known Rachel.” Her best friend would have loved him, and she knew deep down that somewhere deep inside herself, that part of Rachel was still there, smiling at the thought.

  “Me too.”

  “She would have liked you, too.”

  “Sophie, I have something I would like to ask of you.”

  A little laugh escaped her. “Ask me? Since when, oh Master Emery, do you ask anything of me? I seem to recall you like giving me orders.”

  “Only in bed, my heart. Only in bed.” His chuckle vibrated her body but he turned serious. “I know you like your job as a journalist.” He didn’t wait for her to disagree. She did love her job. It had become a driving force, a crusade she wanted to fight for the rest of her life. Saving people had become second nature to her.

  “I’ve spoken to my father.” He hesitated now, his words a little short, a sign of his nervousness.

>   “Yes?” She focused on him completely, trying to hide her intense curiosity.

  “Well, some of the devices Lockwood Industries have been developing over the last few years are ideal for law enforcement. I was thinking of working out several private contractor deals with police forces and the FBI in order to supply them with these devices. We could help them. You know, like the small GPS devices. They could plant them on ransom money to track down kidnappers. There are a dozen other devices I’ve got that would help them. I want to help you save people in whatever way I can.”

  He waited for her reaction, and she saw the fear of rejection in his gaze. Her big, intense dom was afraid she wouldn’t like his idea. But she did, oh she did. It was wonderful, it was…perfect.

  She curled her arms around his neck and gazed deeply into his eyes. “That’s a wonderful idea, Emery. You will help save lives. I know it. I have contacts for departments all over the country and could help you arrange those contracts with law enforcement.”

  “You don’t mind my helping?” he asked.

  She shook her head vehemently. “Don’t mind? Emery, I love it. I love you. We can do this together.”

  Emery wrapped his good arm around her and kissed the crown of her hair. “I figured if we work together, there will be fewer victims.”

  She blinked away tears, trying not to let her sadness at missing Rachel ruin such a wonderful moment. “Are you excited to see Fenn after all these years?”

  He nuzzled her cheek. “I can only imagine what Fenn is like. I wonder how changed he is…if he’s like me at all or…” Emery’s face reddened and he let his words trail off.

  She wrinkled her nose and then smiled. “Cody didn’t tell you? Apparently, he’s a professional bull rider.”

  Emery stiffened. “A bull rider? No, he left that part out. That…no…God, I’m not crazy after all.”

  Sophie raised her head, watching his eyes and the myriad emotions that flitted across his face. “What do you mean?”

  “You remember me telling you about those hallucinations I get sometimes?”

  “Yes.” Sophie raised herself up on one elbow and bit her lip against the pain.

  “My connection to Fenn wasn’t totally lost. I’ve been feeling him and seeing through his eyes for years. I just didn’t realize it until last night. I think he was thrown from a bull the night we faced Antonio. I’ll call Wes as soon as I can and ask him to check it out.”

  “What’s he like? Fenn, I mean?”

  “Seems like he’s desperate…and wild.”

  Sophie leaned forward and kissed him before replying. “Sounds a lot like you.”

  Emery’s gaze softened. “I’m not desperate anymore.”

  This time when their lips met it was both sweet and potent, like a love spell. He leisurely parted her lips and thrust his tongue inside her mouth in a slow deliberate rhythm. Her body flushed and her brain short-circuited, just like it had the first time she’d seen him in the Gilded Cuff. But now she knew every part of him and loved him with a depth she’d never dreamt possible. That was the beauty of living a dream. Emery was a living, breathing dream, and he was all hers, every wicked, dominating inch of him.

  “What’s that smile for?” He ran a fingertip down the length of her nose and tapped the tip. Her grin simply widened.

  “Kiss me, then maybe I’ll tell you.”

  “Bargaining again? I might have to punish you after all, little sub.” He rolled over her slightly, just enough for her to get breathless and feel a little dominated.

  “Death by kisses sounds nice,” she suggested.

  “I think that can be arranged.” And with that he bent his head to hers, delivering more than one kiss she would die for.

  Epilogue

  EMERY LOCKWOOD, 33, RECLUSIVE BILLIONAIRE AND SURVIVOR OF THE LOCKWOOD KIDNAPPING OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, IS ONCE AGAIN IN THE NEWS. LOCKWOOD HAS ANNOUNCED HE IS ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED TO CRIME INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST SOPHIE RYDER, 24, OF MANHATTAN, KANSAS. NO WEDDING DATE HAS BEEN SET.

  —New York Times, February 3, 2015

  Hayden Thorne sat in the front row at the arena, staring straight ahead at the long-lost Fenn Lockwood. He was settling onto the back of a black bull named Tabasco, a ten-gallon hat set low on his head. He bent to stroke the bull’s neck and it tossed its head, furious. She could hear Fenn’s rich laugh even though she was twenty feet away. He turned his head, smiling at something one of the cowboys perched on the railing said, and his teeth flashed white with a cool, predatory, and sexy smile.

  Fenn was gorgeous, Hayden thought, in the way only a rough cowboy could be. Damn, he could wear a pair of blue jeans. A woman could lose herself in thoughts of digging her heels into that tight ass while he thrust into her—hard, wild. Hayden worried her bottom lip as the announcer started counting down to the gate release.

  “Three…two…one…”

  The crowd roared as the gate sprang open and Tabasco rushed out, Fenn on his back. Hayden held her breath as she counted the seconds. If he could get past eight seconds, he’d have a chance at winning the $50,000 prize money. At seven seconds, the bull turned and Hayden caught a glimpse of Fenn’s face. It was white and strained with stark pain.

  Something was wrong.

  When the bull jerked and kicked again, the glazed look of pain was still etched on Fenn’s face. And it cost him his control.

  Tabasco sent him flying through the air. Hayden leapt to her feet as did the other people around her. Fenn hit the sand and his body didn’t move. The bull was still leaping and rearing, trying to remove the flank strap around its lower body. It spun around, caught sight of Fenn’s prone body, and charged.

  Hayden shoved past people, screaming for them to move. She hadn’t a clue what to do, but she wasn’t going to let him die. She reached the front railing that circled the arena, keeping the crowds at a safe distance from the activity taking place in the center. Fenn was still stretched out on his belly on the sand. His hat had rolled a little ways away and was rocking slightly in the small night breeze. The bull was about sixty feet away.

  “Fenn!” She didn’t stop to think. She just acted.

  Hayden kicked out of her Jimmy Choo heels and hiked up her dress and then started climbing the railing.

  “What the hell are you doing, lady?” One of the cowboys in charge of the crowds was racing toward her. “Get down! We’re sending in the rodeo clowns, they’ll distract him.”

  She got to the top of the railing just as the cowboy jumped to grab her leg. He missed, spat a curse as she landed on the other side of the arena. Her feet sank deep into the sand. She put two fingers between her lips and whistled.

  The sharp sound cut through the hushed crowd and the bull slowed, whipped its horned head in her direction. It stared at her for a long second before it turned back toward Fenn. Hayden took a few shaky steps closer and whistled again. The bull, irritated, snapped its head back in her direction.

  “Come on, you walking steak. Chase me, not him,” she muttered. If she lived through this, she’d put her fortune to good use and buy the damned bull, then eat it.

  The bull rotated its massive body, its hooves kicking up sand as it pawed restlessly and started to trot in her direction. A movement flickered out of the corner of her eye and she glanced to the right, seeing several strapping cowboys and easing open one of the gates close to Fenn. One of the cowboys raised his hand in Hayden’s direction, motioning for her to look the other way. She turned to the left, where a couple of seriously pissed-looking cowboys were opening a chute.

  “Work him this way, honey. Get him in this chute and we’ll get you out. The crew on the other side will get Smith out.” As he said this, three rodeo clowns, dressed in ridiculous clothes were running out onto the field, waving at the bull and whistling.

  Smith. Fenn’s new last name. She nearly smiled. An ordinary name for an extraordinary man.

  Hayden jerked back to herself as Tabasco started to speed toward her. She started to run
and nearly tripped. A skin-tight dress hadn’t been the best choice of attire for running away from a charging, pissed off bull, but she’d come straight from the party back home and hadn’t had time to change. She also hadn’t expected to get into a rodeo ring to run for her life.

  A cowboy to the left of the chute waved her on as he called out, “Faster, honey! We won’t be able to get you out if you don’t pick up the pace.”

  Hayden ran like hell. The thunder of hooves behind her made her feel like she had hellhounds on her heels. She reached the chute’s opening and the cowboy, who’d climbed up the side of the chute, leaned down and grabbed her, jerking her up into his body. They toppled back into the stands just as Tabasco ran below them into the chute. The other cowboys slammed the chute closed.

  “Well, hello, honey,” The man she was sprawled on top of grinned at her. He was cute, just like every other damn man in the city she’d come across since she’d arrived here. She pushed hard against his chest. He fell back to the ground with a grunt and a laugh as she got to her feet.

  “Damn, I love me a feisty woman.”

  Hayden ignored him.

  Where the hell are my shoes? She realized she’d crossed half the arena and would have to go back to the other side and get them. Leaning over the railing edge she watched as Fenn was helped to his feet. He was limping, leaning heavily against one of his fellow riders, but he was walking. He turned, looking over his shoulder, and his gaze fell on her. The second their eyes met she nearly fell face forward over the railing. The world seemed to go white hot inside and around her, like she’d been hit by lightning.

  It took her a few more seconds to realize he was scowling at her. She couldn’t help but imagine him pulling her over his lap and spanking her. Her knees buckled and her lips parted on a breathless sigh.

  Had she finally found a man who’d be strong enough for her? A real dom?

  “Nice to meet you, Fenn,” she whispered. She smiled back at him, loving the way storm clouds gathered on his brow as he turned away and limped out of the arena.