Adam let a grin unfold on his face. “The name of the gang is Stonewell, isn’t it? Unless you’re hiding someone, there are only two of us with that last name able to lead these boys.”
Luke’s grin came quick and teasing. Adam couldn’t help but think how great it felt to see his brother smile even knowing that smile came at his own teasing expense.
“Seems you’re half right, brother. There are only two of us carrying the Stonewell name, but only one of us is good enough with a gun to face off with the Desert Riders.”
Adam felt the jab, but it didn’t hurt anywhere like he supposed it should’ve. He angled his head. “I take it that would be you?”
Luke winked at him. “You take it right, my man. Your place in all this is back at the ranch with our folks. You should take Lara and her pa with you.”
John Franklin spoke up loud and clear from behind the bar. “I’m not going anywhere, Luke.”
“Mr. Franklin, I believe—”
“I didn’t leave the last time things got rough in this town,” John reminded them. “Maybe I should have, given what happened.” Given that Luke shot Jeb as the other man walked into the saloon. If only Jeb had given Luke some kind of warning that night. “But I’ve got a business to run here, son. You take my daughter.” He shifted his gaze to Adam. “See that she’s safe and don’t make the same mistake my boy made and I’ll be fine here.”
Luke shut his mouth, and Adam didn’t blame him. It wouldn’t do to argue with a man who lost his son in the doorway of his own livelihood, especially when Luke did the trigger pulling. Accident or no accident, John Franklin had a right to his own mind, and he seemed intent on using it now.
“Are you planning to join me?” Adam asked Luke, searching his brother’s expression for any sign of his intentions. “Ma and Pa likely already know you’re back.”
“I’ll be there.” Luke straightened and moved to put a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “As soon as I’m able, I’ll be there. You just make sure you take care of our woman.”
It took everything Adam possessed not to react to Luke’s choice of words. Their woman. If he played his cards right, if Lara managed to soothe Luke’s wounds enough to make him forgive himself, they might just be able to set their world to rights once and for all.
“You’ve got it, brother.” Adam patted Luke’s hand on his shoulder and then headed up the stairs to fetch Lara.
* * * *
Lara heard the knife clatter as it hit the table in the center of the Stonewell kitchen. She rushed to Grace Stonewell’s side, winding an arm around the older woman’s thin shoulders. “Here, ma’am. Why don’t you let me slice these apples while you take a load off on that stool there?”
“No, no.” Grace Stonewell gave Lara’s hand a pat and then reached for the knife. “I can do this. Luke always loved my fresh apple pie from the time he stood barely taller than this table. He swore no one else’s pies could compete because I added something special to my recipe.”
Lara leaned a hip against the table. She’d known Luke and Adam nearly her entire life and remembered much about them as young boys. Still, she enjoyed listening to their mother share stories of their childhood. “And do you add anything special?”
Grace Stonewell giggled girlishly. “Not a one. This recipe is the same one used by my mother and her mother before that. It’ll be yours one day, too.”
Lara’s heart skipped a beat. She knew of only one way a recipe passed down among Stonewell women would come to her. She would have to marry Luke or Adam.
“I expect you’ll make it with that special ingredient Luke swears by, too.” Grace shot Lara a wink and pulled another apple from the nearby basket.
“You said there isn’t one.”
“It’s love, dear. Luke says my apple pies taste better than anyone’s because I make them with love.”
Lara smiled and nodded her understanding. “If that’s what it takes to make Luke’s special pies, I have that ingredient, Mrs. Stonewell.”
“Yes, dear, I know you do.” Grace stopped to swipe the back of her hand over her forehead. Lara wondered if the woman might be overheating despite the chill of the kitchen. Then Grace continued, and Lara realized the gesture came more out of an intense relief than any need to wipe away sweat. “He’s home, Lara. My boy has come home.”
Rather than drawing the other woman into another embrace, Lara crossed her arms beneath her breasts and hugged herself. For a moment, she imagined Luke’s strong arms in place of her own, holding her tightly against the hard frame of his body. A warmth spread through her, erasing any chill and offering her the second half of a comfort she longed to feel for far too long.
“We should throw a party,” Grace decided. “A dance. I love to dance. It’s been so long since we had anything to celebrate. As soon as this mess is over with in town, we should have a great big gala. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a great idea. But, well,” Lara hesitated, hating to bring up Mr. Stonewell’s disability, but wondering all the same, “what about Mr. Stonewell? Won’t he feel strange not being able to dance and all?”
“Honey, Mr. Stonewell can still dance even in that wheelchair of his.” Grace shot her a conspiratorial grin and waggled her brows. “The loss of one leg only left him with the ability to focus on the remaining two.”
Lara coughed a laugh. “Oh, my!”
Grace didn’t appear the least bit embarrassed. “Come now, we’re both girls here. Knowing my Luke, he’s the one who will feel strange, seeing as he loves to dance.”
Adam loved to dance. Luke hated anything of the sort. Lara started to remind Mrs. Stonewell of that as well, thinking she may have gotten her boys confused. Then the sarcasm in the woman’s tone sank in. A mother didn’t get confused or need reminding of her boy’s preferences even when he spent two years away. “Wait until you see him. He’s even more handsome than when he left.”
“I knew he would be. It’s how it works with the Stonewell men. They get handsomer the older they get. One has only to look at my husband to see that.” Grace’s eyes twinkled when she glanced at Lara.
“I hope I still love my husband as you do yours after we’ve been married for thirty years.” Lara’s sigh sounded wistful even to her own ears. “I hope we are still as happy after we’ve gone through as much as you and Mr. Stonewell.”
“We are happy.” Grace gave a firm nod. “We have faced much in our years of marriage, and it’s likely we will face more before we meet our maker. That’s the thing about life, girl. You got to take the good with the bad. You know that as well as I after all the heartbreak your family saw.”
“I do.” Oh, how she did. She didn’t remember her mother’s death, but she saw her brother’s every time she closed her eyes if she allowed the vision to come. She saw Luke’s back as he rode out of town, too, taking half her heart right along with him.
“Grab on to him, Lara. Get a hold on my boy and don’t let him go this time.”
“I’m not sure if I can,” Lara whispered before she could stop herself. The more she thought about her life now, the more her belly twisted in knots.
“What’s that nonsense? Of course you can.”
“I don’t know if I want to give up Adam.” There. She said it. The God’s truth to the woman who gave birth to both men Lara loved.
Grace, however, went on as if she didn’t hear Lara’s confession. “You and my boys will be as happy as Boyd and I for as long as the good Lord allows. Your love has already stood the test of time, has it not?”
Yes. She loved Luke as much today as she had the day he rode out of town. She loved Adam equally as much.
“I’ve long thought my boys are lucky you have such a big heart, plenty of love to give between them.”
Lara felt her jaw drop, but no sound escaped.
Grace threw back her head and let out a hoot of laughter. “Why look so shocked, dear? I know you love both my sons. Do you think I’ve been blind these past two years or the dozen or s
o years before that?”
“Well, no, of course not. I just, well, gosh!” She sputtered to a stop and simply blinked at the older woman who continued to grin at her like a loon.
“And why on God’s green earth would you even think of giving up Adam? It’s going to take both of you to keep Luke here. Grace gave another firm nod. “It is how it’s supposed to be.”
Red sparks rimmed Lara’s vision. “I’m about half-sick and tired of everyone saying that to me.” She pushed away from the table and stalked to the window. She placed her hands on the washboard beneath it as she gazed out at the open expanse of Stonewell land. “How what is supposed to be?” She whirled around and found Grace staring at her, lips twitching in obvious amusement. It only fueled Lara’s anger. “Everybody seems to know the answer but me. I learned to read and write and do a woman’s chores. I can even do a man’s chores if need be. No one ever taught me to read minds or find answers in the clouds. Do I have to seek out the teaching of the Indians and their smoke rings before that statement will make sense to me?”
“Sugar, I expect you already know.” Grace’s tone rang with the same amusement that shown in the smile she continued to bite back.
“Well, I don’t.” Lara winced at the pouty sound to her voice and barely stopped her bottom lip from poking out. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and bowed her head. Embarrassment brought a low burn to her cheeks. “I’m sorry I raised my voice to you, Mrs. Stonewell. I had no right.”
Grace heaved an audible breath, letting it out on a heavy sigh. “Call me Grace, dear. And tell me, when did you ever apologize to someone for speaking your mind?”
Lara heard the other woman move closer. She didn’t look up until Grace hooked a finger under her chin and tugged her face up. The gaze Lara’s eyes met soothed and steadied her. Lara looked at the woman who acted like more of a mother to her than any woman Lara had ever known and felt ashamed by her anger.
“I've never known you to apologize any more than I've known you to blush. You're sure doing both now though.” Grace finally laughed, albeit softly. “You are meant to be together, sweet Lara. It is supposed to be three. You wonder why Adam has not asked for your hand in marriage, don’t you?”
Unable to speak for the tightness in her throat, Lara nodded.
“He couldn’t marry you without Luke on your other side. He loves you. Both of my boys love you. One cannot marry you without the other. They decided that long ago when the three of you fell in love.”
Lara’s head spun. Luke and Adam loved her. Yes, on some level she’d always known that. Luke and Adam planned to marry her. Both of them! “But, isn’t that against the law? A woman can’t promise herself to two men, can she?”
“Why ever not?” Grace wiped her hand on her apron and returned to the table where she went back to slicing the apples for the pie. “I’ve never heard of such a law against it. There have been rumors of such a thing, yes, of religions that practice polygamy, of the government stepping in to tell people they can’t marry more than one person. Those laws have not yet reached our town.”
“But I’m not any of those religions that allow such a practice, and neither is Luke or Adam.” Lara rubbed her forehead, feeling an ache begin behind her eyes as her mind struggled to grasp the idea of being hitched to both men she loved.
“Your religion doesn’t matter, girl. Neither does what is seen in the eyes of the law. What God sees is all that matters and that's love. Both my boys love you to their very souls. They always have.”
“You’re wrong, Grace,” Lara said softly, shaking her head. “What the law sees does matter. It matters very much to Luke.”
Grace sighed. “I expect you’re right about that.” She fell silent for a long moment as she arranged the apple slices in the pan for cooking. Only after she set the pan on the rack inside the readied oven did she speak again. “The three of you will figure out something. Until you do, I suggest you go wash up. The pond should be mighty nice out there today.”
Chapter Five
The blasted woman couldn’t be left alone for five minutes.
Adam made a beeline for the bathing pond, his booted feet stomping over fallen leaves and branches. Reminding himself that he hadn’t left Lara alone didn’t ebb his rapidly growing irritation. He last saw her in the kitchen with his ma talking over the makings of a delicious-smelling apple pie. He returned not five minutes later to fetch her, only to discover his ma sent her here. Alone.
A sliver of alarm darted through his anger, and Adam picked up his pace. Anyone could come up on Lara out here. Didn’t his mother realize that? The trouble might be headed for town, but until the Desert Riders were taken down, no place in these parts could be deemed safe. Not even the private acres of Stonewell land. It mattered little that the distance between the bathing pond and the main house barely measured fifty feet. A scream might not travel that far through the thicket of trees lining the pond. Those trees provided privacy for anyone choosing to go for an afternoon dip.
Or anyone looking to force himself on an unsuspecting woman, Adam thought crossly.
He ducked his head, shielding his face with the brim of his hat and using his forearm to push back a low hanging branch. At the edge of the clearing, he came to an abrupt halt. Panic constricted around his heart for half a beat when he found the pond empty. His pulse roared in his ears, drowning out all sound, as he scanned the surrounding tree line.
Adam opened his mouth, ready to shout to the heavens for her.
Lara chose that moment to break the surface of the pond. Water rained off her bare flesh, some drops staying behind to sparkle like tiny diamonds in the sunlight on her shoulders and breasts. She pushed her hair away from her face and tipped her head back. Only then did her eyes open. Her lips parted on a smile, and he followed her gaze up and saw the blue jay perched high on the edge of a tree limb.
They’d spent many a lazy afternoon cuddled together in the grass listening to a bird’s song. Adam leaned a shoulder against the tree, pushed up the brim of his hat, and let the bird’s sound soothe the sharpness of his temper. He never managed to stay angry with her for long. Her beauty and zest for life made it impossible to do more than love her, to want to keep her in arm’s reach, and see her safe. The Lord knew he attempted to do little else for most of her life.
In the pond, Lara threw her arms out wide and spun in a circle. Her quietly delighted laugh floated to him on the air. The crack of a stick behind him followed next. He reached for his gun, his finger poised on the trigger as he did a spin of his own. Luke stepped through the trees, a finger held to his lips in a gesture to keep the silence.
Adam forced himself to relax, releasing his hold on his gun. He shifted his attention back to the pond. Lara stood with her back to him now, the water around her rippling as she skimmed her hands over the surface.
“Guess I should thank you for not being as fast on the trigger as I’ve always been, brother.” Luke moved to the opposite side of the tree from Adam, his words spoken low enough that only Adam could hear.
“You should.” Adam didn’t take his gaze off Lara. Still, he let his lips fold in a slow smile, deciding it better to tease Luke than dredge up the old memory now. “But you won’t.”
“No, I won't.” Luke expelled an audible sigh. “That’s one amazing sight.”
Adam didn’t have to look at Luke to know which sight his brother meant. Lara’s beauty made her spectacular at any time, but naked, she surpassed amazing. As he continued to watch, she waded to the edge of the pond, her back still to him and Luke, and retrieved a bar of soap. Luke groaned low, the sound a perfect match to the one Adam felt building in his throat, as Lara started to wash herself. Her hands moved over her hair and flesh in slow glides that tantalized his cock and escalated the hunger in his gut to a new high.
Adam shifted to relieve a bit of the pressure building in his cock and balls, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Lara. Especially not when she tossed the soap to the bank and let herse
lf fall backward. She made a delighted girlish giggle just before she went under.
“I forgot how much fun that girl gets out of the simple pleasures in life,” Luke muttered softly. “I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed.”
“There isn’t much that can break her spirit,” Adam commented. “She goes through life like she’s riding a hose. She takes a tumble and gets right back on for another try. It gets to be contagious after a spell.”
Luke sighed. “I can see how it might.”
“You go to the house yet?”
“I went there first thing. I’m surprised you didn’t hear Ma’s squealing like a banshee all the way out here. The woman went crazy when she saw me. Pa looks…” Luke hesitated so long that Adam finally looked at him and lifted a brow. “I guess nothing could prepare a man for how he looks.”
“He looks better now than he did a few months back. It’s been a hard road for him, for Ma, too.”
“And for you.” Luke averted his gaze, seeming to stare out over the trees across the clearing. “I doubt any of this has been easy on you, taking up the responsibilities of the ranch, of the house, of everything alone.”
“I always knew it would come to that one day. Mind you, I didn’t expect it to happen quite so soon or the way it did.”
“Pa lit into my ass.” Amusement laced Luke’s tone. “Old coot still has a way of taking a fellow down a notch or ten.”
Adam grinned. “He does that. Did he get you good?”
“He took a sizeable chunk. You could’ve warned me.”
Adam shrugged, but his grin didn’t fade. “I figured you had it coming.”
“I guess I did. I probably deserve more than that.”
“Give the old man time. He’s just getting started.”
Adam glanced back in the pond where Lara floated on her back, her arms and legs outstretched and blond hair fanned around her head, giving her the look of an angel.
Her Vigilante Passion Page 6
