by Desiree Holt
Mary fussed over them in the kitchen, hugging Lindsey and even Nick. Then she fixed a tray of cold drinks and cookies and insisted on taking it out to the porch herself.
By that time, Ruben was back outside leaning against the porch rail, a hard look on his face. He waited until Lindsey and Nick sat down with their drinks and Mary was back in the house before speaking. “Okay. Give. What’s happened?”
Lindsey let Nick do most of the talking since he could deliver it more concisely and in greater detail. She sipped at the lemonade while Nick gave him all the information he had.
“I wish I had more to tell you,” he said. “We’ve covered everything and interviewed dozens of people, and we still don’t know any more than we did in the beginning.”
Ruben nodded his head. “All right. What’s up next?”
“I want to install a full security system here at the ranch,” Nick told him.
Ruben arched one eyebrow. “You think whoever this is will try to get to her here?”
Nick shook his head. “Not necessarily. It’s a lot harder out here. I just don’t want to leave any base uncovered.”
“Barns, too?” Ruben asked.
“Everything.” He studied Ruben’s face. “Including your house. It only makes sense,” he insisted, as Ruben began to object. “Someone who takes the time to learn this setup could sneak into your place, knock out the two of you, and then get to Lindsey.”
Ruben grudgingly admitted Nick was right. “But I want to be with your men when they come out so I can learn exactly how it’s done.”
“Absolutely,” he assured the other man. “They’ll be here first thing in the morning. And I mean first thing. They like to start their day early, and this will be a time-consuming job.”
“I’ll be waiting for them.” Ruben’s face and tone said he’d be ready for anyone trying to hurt his niña, too.
“One other thing,” Nick said. “I’m hoping you and Mary can help us with this. We’ve pretty thoroughly checked out everyone Lindsey has come into contact with since she opened her office and even some of the people she knew in Austin. So far it looks like a dead end, but we’ll keep looking. That leaves only her past, which she seems to have no information on.”
Lindsey twisted her hands together in her lap. Her past had always been a mystery to her, too. Her parents had avoided all her questions about other relatives, where they had come from, why they had settled here. She hadn’t pushed them, since they seemed so determined to focus only on the present. But now they were both gone and she was facing a crisis in her life.
She gave Ruben a hard look. “We’ve been through this before, Ruben. I want answers to my questions.”
“It’s hard to have much of a past in Cibolo.” Ruben danced around the question. “When you sneeze, everyone knows you’ve got a cold.”
“I understand that. But somewhere, somehow, there’s something we need to find out. Things people in Cibolo probably know nothing about. Any little clue you can think of will help. You have to know something.” She hated the desperation n her voice, but since her mother’s death, her past had become an obsession.
The front screen door slammed, making Lindsey jump. Mary was back on the porch, wiping her hands on a towel and fixing her gaze on all of them, Ruben included. Lindsey had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. When she got going, Mary was a real virago, a force to be reckoned with.
“Nobody gets dinner until I know what’s going on,” she told them. “I know something’s up, and I don’t intend to be left out of it. So let’s have it.”
Lindsey swallowed a laugh and looked at Nick. “Better do what she says or you’ll starve to death.”
“No problem. I’ll talk all night as long as it gets me Mary’s cooking.”
Lindsey listened quietly, watching Mary’s reaction as Nick went through it again, repeating everything he’d told Ruben, answering Mary’s questions as best he could.
“We’ve checked everyone on the list Lindsey gave us,” he repeated, “but we’ve hit a blank wall. We even sent people to Austin to check out her connections there and came up empty. Like I told Ruben, I’m beginning to think this has to do with Lindsey’s past. It’s very strange that there are no relatives out there. Everyone has family somewhere. And what about personal history? How come there’s no trace of the family before they bought this ranch?”
When Ruben and Mary exchanged glances, Nick caught the signal that passed between them.
“What is it? Something? Anything?” He studied each of them. “You have an idea, don’t you?”
Ruben shook his head. “Lindsey, baby, maybe it’s time for you to go through all those boxes upstairs. The ones you’ve been avoiding. The ones your mama refused to deal with. She and your daddy are both gone now. Whatever secrets you find can’t hurt them anymore.”
“You think there are secrets up there?” She stared at Ruben.
“I think you need to look at what’s in those boxes,” he said, his voice firm.
“What boxes?” Nick asked.
“There are some old cartons up in the attic,” Lindsey told him. “My mother would never open them. She kept saying it was old junk and to forget about it. In fact, if I remember”—She wrinkled her forehead.—“one of the things she said when she had her heart attack was, if something happened to her, take everything and burn it.”
“Didn’t you think that was strange?” Nick asked. “What if there might be something in them you’d want to see? Like old photos? Or family information? You said you didn’t know anything about your family history. Maybe there’s something in there for you to find.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I don’t know. I guess I figured if there was anything important in the boxes, Mom would show it to me. And what could there possibly be in my family’s past that would make someone come after me like this?”
“Not to be crass,” he pointed out, “but what about your trust fund? Anything there? Anyone who might think they deserved it more?”
She shook her head. “I’m an only child. My folks didn’t have any siblings that I know of. Quinn manages the trust for me, and I don’t think he’s trying to bump me off or whatever.”
“Okay.” Nick stood up. “Let’s have dinner and leave all this for tonight. I think it would do us both good to turn in early. Tomorrow, the techno twins will be here with a crew. I’ll have some work to do with them, but after lunch, we should get those boxes down.”
“All right.” Lindsey sighed. “If you think we’ll find anything. I guess I’ve just been putting it off for too long, anyway.”
“Do this, Lindsey,” Ruben said again. “It’s past time.”
Mary shooed them out of the kitchen when dinner was over, and Lindsey started up the stairs. When she looked over her shoulder, Nick wasn’t behind her. “Coming?”
“I’ll be up in a minute.”
She guessed he was planning to tour the perimeter with Ruben, making sure everything was as secure as possible until the alarm system was in. Probably even afterward.
In the bedroom, she turned back the spread, folding it neatly at the foot of the bed. She put Nick’s suitcase on the valet stand in the closet, stripped off her clothes, and headed for the bathroom. When the water in the shower was good and hot, she stepped inside and began to lather herself with the soap. She closed her eyes, letting the water cascade over her. Her knee was still a little sore, and she was wound as tight as a drum from the day’s episodes.
The door slid open, and the bar of soap was lifted from her hand.
“I think this is my job,” Nick said in a low tone. “You just relax.”
For a moment, Lindsey was tempted to tell him to back away, that she wanted to shower by herself. Again, that anxious feeling that this was too much, too fast, and too smooth raced through her. Deliberately, she swallowed her misgiving, convincing herself if it all crashed, at least she’d be happy with the memories.
She leaned forward, bracing her arms
against the shower wall. Very gently and very slowly, he began to lather her back, tracing light circles on her shoulders and down her spine and making her shiver. Carefully he soaped her buttocks, letting his hand roam easily over her curves.
Her inner pulse began to thrum, and she tried to turn toward him, but he murmured in her ear. “Don’t move.”
He slid his hands down her legs and farther down to her feet with the same circular motion, then he used his fingers like feathers, tracing the insides of her calves and thighs. She had never thought her body had so many erogenous zones, but with Nick, each inch of her body came alive. Suddenly, his hand, slick with the soap, slid into the cleft of her buttocks, slowly rubbing, teasing. The walls of her sex flexed and contracted as need spread through her.
Then he turned her to face him and began the same process in the front, massaging her breasts and the tight pink nipples with his soapy fingers. Then down to her navel where the tip of one finger circled it. His fingers moved with the barest of touches into that soft area of her folds, his soap-slicked thumb finding her sensitive nub while two fingers easily penetrated her.
Her body felt liquid, formless, and the throbbing deep inside her intensified. She could hardly stand and had to clutch Nick’s shoulders for support.
“Now your turn,” he whispered, handing her the soap.
Lindsey didn’t think she could function, as weak as she was from his ministrations, but Nick clasped his hand over hers and placed it on his chest. She took a deep breath to steady herself and began soaping his chest, running her fingers through the dark mat of curls as she lathered them. She smiled at the hiss of his breath that escaped as her fingernails grazed his nipples, spreading soap on them and brushing it away.
She paused at his navel to trace the indentation, the tip of her finger fitting into it exactly, then following the fine hair of his groin until she reached the darker tangle and then… His erection was so huge and enormous that she could barely grasp it with her slippery hands.
Creating more lather, she spread it on him slowly, gently teasing him with her fingernail. His whole body shuddered at her touch. When she placed one hand on his chest, she felt the heavy beating of his heart.
Shaking from desire, she thought she would burst out of her skin. She didn’t know how much longer she could do this. Just the feel of his skin beneath her hands made her hotter than a pistol.
Without warning, a low growl burst from his throat. “Enough.”
He rinsed them both quickly before helping her out of the shower and drying them with big towels. Then he lifted her and carried her to the bed. The minute their bodies hit the cool smoothness of the sheets, they were on each other like wild animals, touching, teasing, and twisting together. Every time he touched her skin, tiny flames licked at it, searing it. His eyes, when she looked in them, glittered with desire.
His lips came down on hers, and his tongue thrust past her lips and teeth into her willing mouth, licking at the soft skin. She reveled in the feel of his big body covering hers, surrounding her, and she rubbed her breasts against the thick hair on his hard-muscled chest. When he eased one nipple between the knuckles of two fingers and squeezed gently, heat speared all the way to her hungry sex.
His hot, wet mouth pressed a kiss between her breasts, then he trailed the tip of his tongue along the length of her abdomen, tasting the tiny drops of water that still nestled in her navel and clung to the dark, golden hair covering the entrance to her sexual heat. Groaning with desire, he nudged her thighs apart and laid his palm over her mound, feeling her dampness, stroking the fold, sliding his fingers into her wetness, and stimulating her inner walls.
She was hot, so aroused she could barely breathe.
“Your skin is so soft, so sweet, and your body so hot. I’d like to fuck you forever, bury myself in you, fill you so your muscles are clenched tight around my cock.” He nipped the lobe of one ear. “Want to kiss that sweet ass of yours, run my hands over it, squeeze it. Drive my cock into it and fuck you there until you scream.”
His words made her burn as desire rose fast and furiously. With Nick she’d reached a level of sensuality that was totally unexpected, and she reveled in it. She moved restlessly against him, wanting him to fill her, to give the kind of satisfaction no other man had ever been able to elicit.
She moaned as the need built higher.
Pressing her against the mattress, he levered her knees apart, and she arched upward, her body silently begging.
“Now,” she pleaded. “Please, Nick. Please now.”
His strong fingers tilted her hips to give him deeper penetration, and he entered her with a long, slow push. She was wild, wrapping her legs around him, hooking her feet onto his back to lift herself and move with him to the rhythm. She stretched to accept him, pulsing around his thickness, a wave of pure lust sweeping over her so strong it consumed her.
The only sounds in the room were the point and counterpoint of their breathing and the slide of skin against the cotton fabric of the sheets. When their climax hit, it grabbed them both at the same time, shaking their bodies, creating a dark whirlpool that sucked at them.
They lay for a long time afterward, holding each other until their breathing slowed and eased. Finally, Nick slid to one side, still holding her cradled in his arms, pulled the covers over them, and settled her more comfortably against his body.
“I will always take care of you, Lindsey.” His voice covered her like melted chocolate. “Do you believe me?”
She hesitated only a second. “Yes. I do.”
At least I want to. But what about love? Is that in there anywhere? Never mind. I’ll enjoy what we have.
She sighed and relaxed against him.
He kissed her forehead and her cheeks, and still holding each other, they fell asleep.
****
Where are you? How did you slip away?
I want to make sure you know I’m always, always watching.
Do you lie awake at night, filled with fear? Is your mind racing to figure out who I am? You cannot imagine the degree of suffering I wish on you. Can you feel the hate?
I will reveal myself sooner or later, but not until you are crazed with terror. Shall I cut you with my knife, hundreds of tiny cuts so you bleed slowly? Or shoot you in your arms and legs so you can’t move while I do whatever I want to increase your pain.
What you have now will be nothing. Your money can’t save you, and neither can that asshole who thinks he’s protecting you. I have eyes on you both. You think you’re so smart. Just wait. Soon you’ll know. Then I’ll have the upper hand.
Bitch!
Chapter Eleven
Nick was on the porch at seven the next morning sipping his coffee when the white panel van with no markings drove down the road from the highway and parked next to his truck. He walked over to greet the four men in jeans and T-shirts who piled out and began hauling out equipment cases.
Beside the barn, Ruben was coiling rope and eyeing everyone, so Nick walked the crew over and introduced them. He couldn’t ignore the traces of reservation lingering in the man’s eyes.
“I know you don’t have much faith in all this electronic gear,” he half-joked. “I just want you to know I really appreciate you going along with the program.
“Whatever protects the niña,” he said. “Want me to show your men around?”
“Please.” He leaned closer to Ruben. “But I just want you to know my Sig Sauer is tucked away at the small of my back.”
Ruben’s lips twitched as he suppressed a grin. As he walked away, he flipped up the tail of his shirt and Nick saw the Kimber resting in a similar place.
Good. One way or another, we’ll be ready for trouble.
Lindsey came out of the house while two of the men were carrying equipment into the barn. Nick looked up from his conversation with the head of the crew and smiled at her.
She smiled back, and as she came down the steps, she punched him lightly on the arm, as if she knew wha
t he was thinking. She had tied her thick, dark, silky fall of hair back in a ponytail, and instead of her regular glasses, she wore wide sunglasses. Memories of last night flashed in his mind.
“I’m going riding,” she told him. “My horse needs some exercise. Don’t suppose you’d care to join me.” She arched an eyebrow in amusement.
“Uh, not at this moment.” He chuckled. “Thanks anyway.”
“Chicken. I’ll get you yet. You can’t be on a ranch and not ride.”
“We’ll table that for the moment. Okay, if I can’t talk you out of this ride, someone will be going with you.” He motioned to Ruben, who nodded.
“What’s going on?” She planted her hands on her hips and glared at them. “I’m safer here than any place else.”
Nick waved a hand at the landscape. “Lindsey, this place is surrounded by hills covered with juniper and oak trees that make good hiding places. I’m not taking any chances with your safety.”
While she was still fuming, Ruben came out of the barn leading Jingo. Beside him, already in the saddle, was one of the hands Nick had met that morning, a no-nonsense man named Sanchez.
Lindsey’s eyes widened at the gun that rode low on Sanchez’s hip, and the shotgun strapped to the saddle. A pair of binoculars hung around his neck.
“Wait a minute,” she began.
Nick held up his hand. “Ruben says Sanchez is the best shot on the ranch besides him. We knew you’d want to go riding first thing. You insist on going; we insist he goes with you. Take it or leave it.”
“He is right, little one,” Ruben pointed out. “We think we’re protected here, but we don’t know who this is or what they’re liable to do. He’s managed to get private information about you. He could just as easily find a way onto the ranch, and it’s pretty open country out there. You’d be a prime target.”
“Fine.” She threw up her hands. “Just…fine.” Blowing out a breath of frustration, she stomped off to her horse.
Nick swallowed a grin as she swung gracefully into the saddle. She waved and then she was off across the fields, Sanchez beside her. Just looking at her sitting so easily on the horse, like one unit running free, made his heart catch a little. Yup, he was in big trouble. But it strengthened his resolve to keep her safe, no matter how angry his efforts might make her.
