Clive followed them.
And wept.
31.
SHE WAS QUIETER THAN he was used to. Nate threw a glance at her. “You okay? He didn’t upset you too badly, did he?”
She looked at him. He couldn’t see her in the darkness of the cab, but he suspected she smirked at him in that particular Perci way she had. “There’s nothing Clive Gunderson could throw out that I can’t handle.”
“I don’t have any doubt about that.” Still, she was like a hissing kitten facing a rattlesnake. Gunderson was far more dangerous than that. The idea that the sonofabitch had even looked at Perci sideways tonight pissed him off. “But I don’t trust him, and I don’t like how he was looking at you.”
“I’m not going to talk about him. Isn’t that the ranch you are moving into soon?” She pointed to the gate just a bit up the road from them.
“Yes. It’s almost ready.” When it was, he had no more excuses not to move in. Not that he had any question that he wanted to move to the home that was his. But with Perci and Ivy at Levi’s, Nate wasn’t in any true hurry. Not now.
Not unless he could bring her with him. Them, with him.
Impulse had him turning toward that gate. It had an electronic lock on it, and he had the remote in his glovebox. With a few movements he had the gate swinging right open.
“What are we doing?” she asked as he pulled the truck up in front of the three-story farmhouse that had been in his family for over one hundred years now.
He’d had new siding installed just last week.
“Just going to check the place. And you and I are going to talk without my mother overhearing. Or meddling. You don’t mind, do you?” He was in no hurry to take her back to Levi’s. He was especially in no hurry to be on the end of his mother’s knowing glances. Or to give Perci back over to the little girl who adored her.
No. He wanted the woman with him for himself for a while. Nate didn’t see a damn thing wrong with that.
DID SHE MIND? NOT AT all. Perci had made her decision when Clive Gunderson had so clearly illustrated the difference between a man like him and one like Nate.
When she had realized that she did trust Nate to be there when she needed him. That no matter what she said or did, he was there. All she had to do was take the hand he had held out.
She wanted him to be the man she depended on. The one she turned to when the world they faced got a little too grim for her to handle it alone. Not that she needed him. She could certainly survive without him.
But he gave her world a bit more fire than it had had for a long time.
It was time she went after what she wanted. A hot curl of anticipation went right through her.
Nate Masterson had no idea what was about to hit him.
She followed him up the driveway and onto the front porch. She hadn’t seen this property before, but keeping up with the places the Masterson brothers owned was nearly impossible. Levi owned several places, Matt was half owner in a few others with Levi, Matt owned his own horse ranch nearby, and Joel had a larger home nearer to town than the others and was also a part owner in all the others. She had never asked what Nate was involved in.
“Nice place.” It was four times the size of the house she lived in. There was a barn behind the house that was also in the process of being painted. She’d heard he’d been redoing the entire house to his exact specifications.
It was beautiful. It was also huge for a single man. Empty.
“It was my great-grandparents’. We bought it back a year ago. Levi manages the land around the house, but the house is mine.” There was real satisfaction in his words that she understood.
“You’re lucky. Our parents bought our ranch when Phoebe was a baby. On contract. They paid it off when I was eighteen. We’ve been making improvements bit by bit.” And it was getting there. Things were finally less tight, thanks to the initial settlement check the insurance company had issued the month before.
It wasn’t enough. And her father was talking about hiring an attorney with that money to ensure everything was handled the way it was supposed to be. Rectified. As much as it could be, anyway.
They’d finally had enough money to paint the exterior of the ranch, thanks to that check, and the money they’d earned being in Rowland Bowles’s movie.
Perci winced even thinking about what she’d had to do as a damned fairy princess in search of her lost twin.
But other than the premiere, she had no more obligations in that direction.
For the first time in a long while, she could breathe again. She didn’t have to work sixty hours a week for her family to barely squeak by. She didn’t have to worry any longer.
Some of the fear that had plagued her since the night her mother had died shifted. Lessened.
“I have some soda in the fridge. Not the healthiest of drinks, but I won’t tell if you won’t.”
She nodded. He didn’t have the place furnished except for a couch shoved up in front of the large front window. She could see the moon and stars—and the hills that separated them from the rest of his and Levi’s property. To imagine that the Masterson brothers owned everything in between was slightly overwhelming. Her family’s ranch was but a very tiny ranch in the scheme of things in Wyoming.
But it was home. The only home Perci had ever known.
“Thank you.”
He went into the kitchen, then returned. She watched him move, sudden nerves keeping her from acting on what she’d wanted in the truck.
It was one thing to be ready to be with a man; it was another for her to know how to make that desire known.
She masked her nerves by sinking onto the surprisingly comfortable couch. He followed her down. “We won’t stay long. I’m just not ready to deal with my mother tonight.”
She laughed lightly. “Afraid?”
“Of her? Definitely. No doubt she’s put Ivy to bed and is snooping through the house. I can’t wait until Pan’s back and gets custody of Mother. It’s bound to be hilarious.”
“Should I call my sister and warn her? Tell her that even the big bad Nate is afraid of his mother?”
“Don’t you dare. We figure Pan is the only one brave enough to deal with her—your sister married Levi, after all.”
“Funny.”
Sitting on a couch in formal wear with Nate Masterson beside her. Not a single bit of it made sense. “What are we really doing here?”
“We’re going to talk. You’re going to tell me why the very sight of Clive Gunderson makes you pale and shake and lose every bit of fire I know you have in you. What did he do to you that your family doesn’t know about?”
32.
PERCI IMMEDIATELY STARTED shivering, though Nate’s house wasn’t all that cold. She jumped up and moved to the window to stare out at the dark rain. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Nate’s hands landed on her shoulders, and he turned her.
A warm, big hand cupped her cheek. He brushed her lip lightly with his thumb. “He hurt you?”
Hurt her? No. Just terrified her each and every time she got behind the wheel of her car. Just shattered every hope she’d had of peace and safety. “He never actually touched me. Except once. One night when I refused to get out of my car, he yanked me out. Held me against the hood. But it’s over now.”
“Is it? I don’t like how he was looking at you tonight.”
“He’s just a bully who gets off on scaring people. After...after Jay attacked Pip at the community center, Gunderson showed up to threaten us. Phoebe...she tried to stand up to him, Nate. So did I. Pan...Pan was just a kid and was fighting mad, but Gunderson left her alone for the most part. He...I think he confused me and Pip that first day he came out. So I let him.”
“Protecting your twin. Like you always do.” He dropped his hands to encircle her waist. Before she knew it, Perci was leaning against him in front of the large glass window. “Tell me. Help me understand.”
“I smarted off something to him about h
is son being a pervert with a bad attitude, or something. I thought he was going to hit me, but my uncle drove up to deliver some goats to Phoebe.” He didn’t say anything, just letting her talk. Words poured out in a way they hadn’t in a long while. “He was just everywhere after that. I don’t know if he thought I was Pip, and by scaring her, she’d keep quiet, or if it was something I’d done, but he was always there. I had some night classes across the county line. He started following me home every Thursday. Then it was Tuesdays, too.”
“Did you tell anyone? Report him?”
“Tell who? Report him to whom? There weren’t a whole lot of options for me, Nate. I know that. Until Joel took over as sheriff, he followed me home from work every single week. Then I didn’t know when he would be out there. But he would be. Just waiting. He went in to the sheriff’s office at six a.m. But at three thirty, he was out there, waiting for me.”
NATE BIT BACK THE RAGE—AND the guilt. She’d worked for him for four months before Joel had been elected. On the night shift. He hadn’t known. If he had, he’d have damned well driven home with her one night and dealt with Clive Gunderson himself. Showed the bastard what it was like to be vulnerable like that. How Joel had managed to deal with Gunderson when they’d worked together, Nate would never understand. But his brother had. For at least a year before winning the position.
During that time, Gunderson was using his position to terrify Perci.
“He’s been stalking and harassing you for four years?”
“Not since Joel. He stopped then. And he stopped for about three months when my mother died. But every time I’d see him in town, he’d gloat that he got us. That he held all the power.”
“He’s a bastard, honey.” Nate would be talking to Joel first chance he got. See if there was something that could be done now. To make sure she was safe. “He’s never going to get close enough to you to hurt you ever again.”
Nate pulled her toward the couch and then down onto his lap. He wasn’t ready to let go of her yet. He suspected she felt the same way.
“Is he? He hates us, especially now.”
“I’m not going to let him. From now on, you’ll ride with me or one of my brothers. I’ll pick you up for work every day and make sure you have a ride home.”
“I’m not your responsibility, Nate.”
Serious blue eyes looked right up at him. While she sat on his lap, looking soft, vulnerable, and desirable. “I think you are. I want you to be my responsibility. And not just because of that bastard Gunderson.”
“Nate?”
“I’m not going to say it over and over again, Perci. You know I want you. I have for a very, very long time.”
“We kept fighting.”
“Yes, we did.”
“You scared me, Nate. I was dealing with you during the day, and I just didn’t know what to do. So I fought.”
“I’m sorry that I made things tough for you. I never intended to. You just...scared me, too. And turned me on faster than a damned switch. It took me a while to understand that you didn’t realize it. And were younger than I thought. Less experienced.”
“I’ve got more experience than any of my sisters.” She frowned. “Well, I did have. I strongly suspect they’ve made up for it lately.”
Nate laughed, even though the subject matter and her position were making him beyond uncomfortable. He put his hands on her thighs and shifted her away from where he really wanted her. “I’m more than willing to help you make up for that.”
Perci sobered. “I’m sorry for my part in what happened when we’d fight. It just...seemed easier to fight with you than Gunderson. Maybe if I had fought him, his son wouldn’t have tried to hurt Pip and Matt. Or my cousin Nikki.”
Nate pulled her close. “No, honey. It wasn’t your fault what Jay did to your sister. Any of it. It’s all on him. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Gunderson—either of them—had no right to do what they did. And Clive Gunderson will never hurt or scare you again. No matter what I have to do.”
Nate pulled her closer and kissed her.
He repeated that vow silently.
Clive Gunderson would never look at her sideways ever again.
He was going to be gentle, unthreatening, despite the fire burning in him. But they both knew exactly what he wanted—what she wanted. Nate’s fingers went to the fastener on the back of that blue silk. He parted it quickly.
Perci shivered against him. Nate’s body tightened, with hunger. With anticipation.
He had wanted this woman for so long.
Nate had just slipped the silk off her shoulders, when he saw the flash of headlights.
Lights where they shouldn’t be. If anyone was on his property, it would have been his brothers. They would have all called first.
“Stay here, honey. Someone’s outside.” He pulled the blue silk back into place. Hopefully whoever was out there could be dealt with quickly.
He wanted that dress off.
“If you’re going outside, Nate, I’m going to be right there with you. You’re not shaking me that easily. It’s just as likely to be a member of my family as it is yours now, remember?”
Nate swallowed a curse he wrapped his fingers around hers and moved quietly to the window.
A gunshot broke through the night, sending glass shattering around him.
Nate jerked her closer and yanked her into the hall and held her until the sound of tires squealing away split the air.
33.
CLIVE KNEW WHAT HE was doing was beyond stupid. If Masterson or that girl saw him, they’d ruin everything else he had going on.
He had his own future to think about, sick as that made him.
It should be Jay who had years ahead. If anyone had needed to go, it should have been Clive.
No one but Maria and Jay would have mourned his passing.
He pulled his pistol from the glovebox where he’d stashed it before the damned banquet.
All he had to do was aim the damned thing right at that window and take care of that girl. It would be so easy.
They’d left the light on. He had watched them talk for five minutes.
Watched Masterson slip that dress off her shoulders and show her exactly what he wanted. Clive snorted.
Figured.
Hell, if he hadn’t been in a mood he’d be doing the same thing to Maria right now. His phone buzzed and he grabbed for it, almost dropping his damned pistol like a rookie.
Masterson’s shadow stepped in front of the window.
Clive acted on instinct. He aimed. And fired.
In the next instant, when he realized what he’d done, he shoved the truck into gear and floored it out of there.
He didn’t stop until he’d made it the thirty miles back to Maria’s. She opened the door to him quickly. “Clive? Honey?”
He didn’t stop to think. He leaned down and kissed her.
Trying to at least feel something.
34.
NATE WAS BEYOND ANGRY. Perci saw it in the controlled way he dealt with his brother and Joel’s deputies.
There was glass everywhere. Nate had blood staining the white shirt of his tux. He’d let her have two minutes to check the wounds. She’d pulled glass from his forearm, while trying to get control of herself.
She’d slipped his jacket off his shoulders less than two minutes before the bullet from a .38 had shattered the glass and embedded in the drywall behind them.
It had missed Nate by less than six inches.
Her eyes burned.
She never wanted anything to happen to this man.
Just how she felt for him was kind of hard for her to miss at the moment. It had become crystal to her when they’d been pressed together in the hallway. He had wrapped his body around hers. Protecting. Like always.
But she’d wanted to protect him, too. The urge had been just as deep and real and overwhelming as it had been in the moment when that beam had nearly crushed Pip.
Because she loved him.
Joel and his people looked around outside. There weren’t any tire tracks. No signs of who it had been.
Joel had found evidence himself of teenagers. Near where the gunshot had come from.
Even homemade targets.
No doubt Nate's brother would be asking every teenager in the county where they’d been tonight. Just how close she’d come to losing him sickened her.
When Joel offered to drive her home, while Nate cleaned up the mess and covered the window, she refused.
No doubt her brother-in-law knew exactly what had happened before they’d been interrupted.
Perci didn’t care. All that mattered to her was that she was right where she was supposed to be. With Nate.
She’d been fighting that long enough.
Perci looked at Joel and Nate, struck again by how perfect they looked. Mastersons were made right; that was for sure. “No, I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with Nate. No matter what.”
35.
NATE DUG OUT A SPARE T-shirt from the boxes he’d already brought to the house. There were some sweats, as well. They’d be way too big, but she’d be covered by more than the dress that had been ripped by glass. He pushed the anger away again. Now wasn’t the time.
Not exactly how he and had envisioned his evening ending, but they were both safe, and that was what mattered. Perci didn’t even have more than a scratch or two on her.
If she had...if he had lost her...
She had the broom and the dustpan when he came back in after speaking with his brother. “I’ll sweep up the glass, if you want to get some boards to cover the window tonight. Keep out the rain. We can get this cleaned up in less than an hour, I think.”
“Why didn’t you leave?” Nate figured they’d beaten around the bush long enough. Too much dancing around each other. Nothing would ever get resolved that way. “Persephone, why did you choose to stay?”
Denying the Devil Page 9
