by Gigi Moore
Tamara Carpenter-Reynolds had been in Colorado not much more than a year, according to his research, and had managed to build a notable clientele. Her law offices were appropriately outfitted in the trappings of a thriving business and able to attract and keep her rich and successful clientele.
The office’s appearance and Tamara’s professionalism engendered his confidence in signing on with Carpenter-Reynolds Law as a client, and he specifically hired the law office’s newest addition as his personal CPA. He doubted that Tamara would hire on someone who couldn’t do a more-than-competent job, even if that someone was family.
Very beautiful family, Remy thought as the CPA in question came through the glass doors in a pair of tasteful, three-inch pumps that made her smooth, stocking-encased legs look longer than they were. He put the woman at just five foot five, a couple of inches more than petite, but heels and her erect carriage made her seem taller.
He still towered over her by more than several inches but liked the way Desiree carried herself. He especially liked the way she smelled—vanilla and musk, sweet, and all woman. He could definitely see her appeal to the Guidry boys. She reminded him of Helena—aloof, cool, and untouchable, except to those she chose to open her heart to and trust.
From what he had seen out at the Western town over the weekend, Desiree had chosen to open some part of herself to Carson, if not her heart.
Remy considered the slap a mere setback, the mark of a woman who needed to be handled with a firm and sure hand. He remained certain that Carson had that hand and perhaps, to a smaller degree, so did his brother, Sam.
Admittedly, something was amiss with the female, who gave every outward appearance of an unruffled professional while deep down, there existed a hidden well of unrestrained passion.
In this, too, she was much like Helena, and Remy envied the two brothers their opportunity to tap such a heated well of lust in Desiree. The situation between the three made him hungry to do his own tapping.
He could barely contain his excitement at the upcoming meeting, one that would bring him that much nearer to achieving his goal of getting closer to Helena and her sons.
His plan could not be rushed, would not be, and he intended to have as much fun with the family as he could as he went about carrying it out. He deserved the diversion after all they had put him through, chasing them around the country in their foolish attempts to avoid his punishment. He would use every means at his fingertips to bring them all to heel the way he should have five years ago.
Caring for Helena as he had no other woman, not even Duane’s mother, had made him soft, had made him let down his guard. There was no other explanation for him to allow the escape from his stronghold, as cleverly as it had been executed.
Kara had been dutifully dealt with since, her punishment much more cruel and swift than that which would be dealt to the Guidry family.
“Mr. Bastien?”
“That would be me.” Remy stood and proffered a hand. “And please, call me Remy.”
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Remy. I’m Desiree Jensen.”
“The pleasure is mine, Desiree,” he said with all sincerity, not waiting for her to invite the familiarity of using her first name and just taking it. Usually he loathed participating in such banalities, but in Desiree’s case, he would make an exception.
From the wavy, copper hair piled on the back of her head in a sophisticated chignon with a bang and tendrils artfully arranged on each side of her face to the gleaming whiskey eyes observing him with astuteness and mild appreciation, he found the woman anything but banal.
He noticed that she did not shy from his firm shake, only returned his slight squeeze with a cool grip of her own. Remy met her gaze as she tried to slip her hand out of his after a moment and held on for a few seconds longer than proper under the circumstances, testing her.
The alpha in him never remained far away, but in civilized, full-human company, he usually found it necessary to tamp down the instincts of his beast. However, staying in the state for the last several months where Helena dwelled, living so close and having what he had sought for so long at his fingertips, made him act a little reckless, willing to allow the wolf off his leash, if only for the minute it took him to mark his territory.
Remy released Desiree’s hand at the same instant she gave a jerk and took a step back to glance up at him with a confused, wary expression.
His motto was always to keep people off-balance, never let them know exactly where or when he came from. It had worked for him in business, helping him broker several lucrative deals with competitors over the years and helping him keep his pack in line. Knowing when to put his foot in someone’s neck or allow them just enough rope to run or hang themselves with proved an invaluable tool to an alpha if he had any hope of flourishing or staying on top. Physical prowess, strength, and fighting abilities were just half the picture that made up a complete leader.
Remy smiled to soften his features, knowing he could look downright feral and predatory when he didn’t smile, and motioned toward the offices in the back, beyond the reception desk. “Shall we?” He watched her back stiffen as she tilted up her chin, the cool façade sliding back into place when she nodded her head and led the way back toward her office.
On the way, they bumped into the boss herself and stopped for some minor chit-chat.
“Remy, I’d heard you were in our offices today. I hope my sister is taking good care of you,” Tamara said.
Remy liked the way she verbally claimed Desiree, making it known to all far and wide that the woman was not alone. He respected that sort of familial ownership. The way Tamara acted toward her younger sister reminded him of pack. It reminded him of how Carson acted with Sam and their mother, protective and proprietary.
He watched Desiree’s face color with an attractive blush as Tamara rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “So far, so good,” Remy said.
“I’m sure there’s no reason for that to change.”
Remy heard the unsaid words and understood perfectly. As long as he played nice and treated Desiree right, she would continue to “take good care” of him. Tamara didn’t appear to care how much business and money he could bring her company. If he posed a threat to anyone, but especially to Desiree, he could just take his business elsewhere.
Hmm, interesting. He wondered again what caused Desiree’s ambivalence toward Carson, wondered, too, if it had anything to do with how shielding Tamara acted toward her. Was it just the typical overprotectiveness of an older sibling toward a younger, or something more, something he hadn’t yet discovered in his research of the Carpenter-Jensen family?
“Well, I’ll leave you two to your business, then.” Tamara gave Desiree’s shoulder another squeeze and Remy a firm pat on the back as she left them.
Desiree preceded him into her office. It was a spacious, eclectically furnished room with personal touches here and there in a few framed family pictures on the glass-topped desk and some potted plants in a couple of corners of the corner-window office.
Remy took a seat in the designer chair before the desk as Desiree circled the desk and took the seat behind it.
The clickety-clack of her fingers flying across the keyboard filled the silence immediately as she pulled up the needed information about his financials.
“From what Tamara says and what you told me over the phone, you want to diversify your assets and invest in some businesses here in the Colorado area.”
“That’s correct. As you probably know, I’ve already rented a condo here and plan to remain for a time as we expand my portfolio.”
Desiree smiled, and it lit up her entire face, smoothing the slight lines from her serious expression. Her face proved as intoxicating as the color of her eyes. He didn’t think either Guidry boy would stand a chance against this woman, much like he hadn’t stood a chance against Helena Styles’s charms when Ben Guidry brought the female hybrid home to the pack.
Remy had already been ma
rried at the time, but this didn’t stop him from admiring Helena’s beauty or her inner fire and spirit from afar.
Remy was not the from afar type and was not the sort to sit back and wait for things to come to him. He saw something he wanted, and he went out and took it.
Besides, Helena was made to be an alpha’s mate, his mate, despite her hybrid status, not the mate of a lowly beta like Ben.
“I’m glad you put it that way, Remy, as we will be a team in deciding exactly which investments will work for you and which ones won’t.”
Remy came back to the present and stared at the young woman behind the desk as if awaking from a coma. He smiled at the accuracy of her words. He planned to stick to her and her family like a predator on the trail of prey until he got what he’d come to Colorado for. “Yes, a team. That sounds perfect.”
* * * *
Sam had gone over what he would say to Desiree when he saw her, rehearsing his lines and his reactions to being near her, for hours in the mirror since Saturday. It was a simple thing to bring back the basket. He knew, however, it might mean more to both of them than the world. Simple things sometimes did that, and he wanted to be prepared.
When he walked up the path leading to the back door of the main house and knocked, he was let down that the housekeeper, Maria, answered the door. He didn’t know why he expected Desiree would be the one to greet him since there were so many other people living in the house, any number of whom could have come to the door.
Sam pasted a smile on his face to hide his disappointment and held up the basket. “Came to drop this off for Desiree.”
Maria returned his smile and opened the door wide to let him enter the kitchen.
Maria welcomed everyone into her kitchen. Her motto was the more the merrier, and she always had enough food and treats to offer visitors who dropped by. She was just like his mother in this regard.
Not that Sam had dropped by or visited the main house all that often, just when he did, he’d always been warmly received by the family and offered something to eat or drink—Southern hospitality at its finest.
This was one of the main things he liked about being at The Double R, the familial atmosphere that mimicked pack mentality. This was one of the main reasons Mama, for once in a long time, looked forward to hanging around for a while and laying down stakes.
Carson remained wary, not ready to let down his guard, though Sam knew his brother liked living on the ranch, too. It was one of the few places where they felt at home, or as at home as they could feel in a strange land surrounded by strangers and nonshifters.
“Come in and have a seat. I’m sure Desiree will want to see you.” Maria motioned to one of several high-back stools surrounding the marble island in the middle of the large kitchen.
Sam followed her but remained standing. “I don’t want to interrupt anything.” Liar. Of course he wanted to interrupt. That’s why he had come at chow time, hoping for an invitation, and Maria did not disappoint.
“We are just settling down for dinner, but I am sure you are more than welcome to stay and join us. There is plenty for an extra mouth or two.”
Sam didn’t miss the twinkle in the older woman’s eyes and grinned in response. “I…”
He frowned, suddenly catching a scent that shouldn’t have been in the house but was.
Sam took a deep breath as surreptitiously as he could and caught the scent again. He was surprised he hadn’t caught it when he’d first arrived. It was a strong, familiar shifter scent. He staggered and caught his balance, grabbing the back of one of the stools with one hand while he dropped the basket to the floor from his other.
Maria instantly came to his side and put an arm around his waist.
He almost laughed at the incongruity of a petite, if plump, woman, the top of her head barely reaching his chest, coming to his hard-muscled and virile assistance.
Merde, he hated seeming like a weak little female and couldn’t for the life of him understand why he’d become so unsteady and lightheaded all of a sudden.
That scent. It can’t be. Can it?
“Are you all right?”
“I just need to sit for a minute. Maybe I worked out in the sun too long today.” He saw the doubt in her eyes as he lied. Being a night wrangler, he didn’t spend too many hours in the sun exerting himself.
“I thought I heard your voice.”
He watched as Desiree entered the kitchen and stopped on the threshold, his heart doing double-time in his chest as he straightened. No way could he let her see him weak in the knees and needing a seat to get his bearings.
Christ, the scent was stronger on Desiree, as if she’d been near the source, nearer than Maria had been, at least for a longer time.
What was going on? Could he be here? What was his connection to Desiree?
Desiree frowned at him. “You don’t look too well, Sam.”
“I’m right as rain. I just came by to drop off the basket and thank you again for the pie. It was delicious.”
“I see, but you didn’t have to literally drop the basket, did you?”
Sam followed her glance to the floor where the basket had landed, then returned his gaze to her face and saw the way her lips twitched as if she were fighting back a laugh.
She raised her glance to meet his, a teasing gleam in her eyes before she averted her gaze.
“I will leave you two now. I am going back to the dining room.” Maria gave each of them a smile, as if she knew a secret, before she turned and left them alone.
Desiree bent at the waist to pick up the basket and place it on the island. She turned to catch him staring at her ass, but rather than address it, she said, “Thanks for bringing it back.”
“Were you expecting Carson?”
“I suppose it doesn’t matter who brought it back as long as I got it back.”
“He said the same thing,” Sam admitted. “Just in a different way.”
“I can imagine his way.”
Sam noticed her wry expression and imagined that she could. She and Carson were more alike than not. His brother probably wouldn’t see it, nor would Desiree, but Sam could. They were both suspicious and wary of strangers and took a long time to warm up to people. Hell, the woman had been on the ranch almost a year, and the other day was the first time he had had a halfway meaningful conversation with her. He had conversations with the ranch guests all the time, but then he was paid to in most instances, taking the kids out horseback riding, entertaining them and their parents in the Old West town. This with Desiree, however, was more intimate an encounter than that. He wanted it to be even more so.
“Was there anything else? Did you want to put in an order for another pie?” She grinned.
“We can do that?”
“I told Carson I’d love to make you boys another pie. I love to cook.”
“We noticed.”
“It’s always better when there’s someone to enjoy the fruits of my labor, of course.”
“Mama says the same thing.”
“She’s a great cook and an even better teacher. Between her and Maria, I can’t help but improve and expand my culinary skills.”
“That’s really important to you, isn’t it?”
“Improving and expanding my skills?”
“That, and being good at things.”
“I’ve always believed if I’m going to do something I should do it right and do it well or at least to the best of my ability.”
“Same goes.”
“I’ve noticed.” She gave him that shy smile again, the one that made her whiskey eyes twinkle right before she averted her gaze and shuffled her feet like a schoolgirl talking to her crush on the playground.
Putting her on the spot he asked, “Have you really noticed?”
“You and your brother do your jobs so well I’ve noticed all the women on the ranch falling all over you boys while you work.”
“Would all those women include you?”
“I’ve noticed,”
she repeated.
Desiree proved a tough nut to crack. And she would be his to crack.
Mine and Carson’s.
He hadn’t forgotten about the scent he’d picked up earlier. He wanted to ask her about it but didn’t know how. How did he go about asking a woman why she had another male’s scent on her, especially when it was possible he was wrong? It had been a dog’s age, after all.
“Are you okay, Sam? Be truthful, because you really didn’t look too good when I came in. Weren’t getting butterflies about coming up to the big house, were you?”
“Look who’s talking, when it took you months to venture out to the barn and the Western town before last Saturday.”
She chuckled. “Okay, you got me.”
The deep, sultry sound of her laugh washed over him like the finest cream, warm and sweet. The sound made him close his eyes for a moment as his cock jerked in response.
“Not the social type, huh?”
“I haven’t been, but now…” She let the rest of her sentence go unsaid, but Sam didn’t miss her glancing back out toward the dining room.
Was that where her date for the evening remained, the one who pulled her out of her antisocial shell? Was he the one Sam smelled on her?
Sam wanted to believe that he and Carson had worn her down, that she’d been on the ranch long enough to get used to them and wanted to be around them, not that some new Jack was in town beating his and Carson’s time. What else could it be, though? Who was that he smelled on her?
Sam wanted to be mistaken, but he couldn’t deny the aroma, and his olfactory senses were almost never wrong. Carson said he had polar bear and bloodhound mixed in with his wolf.
The next moment, he didn’t have to wonder anymore about who had joined the family for dinner at the main house, because Remy Bastien found his way into the kitchen.
The alpha paused beside Desiree, aimed a facsimile of a smile Sam’s way, and asked, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to our newest arrival?”
Chapter 7
It was too late to run, at least and not look suspect in Desiree’s eyes. Besides, where would he go? The big bad wolf was here, not just breathing outside their door but cozily ensconced in the house with their allies.
