SAWYER

by Lori Foster

  "You were going to steal my goddamn car!"

  "No...." The denial was only a whisper. She still couldn't quite catch her breath, not after emptying her lungs on that screech.

  He took one step forward, and her back came up against the door while his body came up against her front. "If I hadn't been sitting there in the shadows, you'd be sneaking out right now." He shook her slightly. "Admit it."

  She swallowed, trying to find her tongue. Instead, the damn tears started. He'd been there all along? She'd never stood a chance? She sniffed, fighting off the urge to weep while trying to decide what to say, how to defuse his rage.

  She trembled all over, and she couldn't find the willpower to explain. She felt Sawyer practically heaving, he was so angry, and in the next instant he groaned harsh and low and his hands were on her face, his thumbs brushing away the tears, his mouth hungrily searching for hers. The relief was overwhelming.

  She cried out and wrapped her arms around him. He'd said it wouldn't happen again, that not only didn't he want her for a fling, he didn't want her for anything. She'd told herself that was for the best. She'd told herself she hadn't cared. But inside, she'd crumbled.

  Now he wanted her, and she was so weak with fear and excitement, all she could do was hold on to him.

  One of his hands slid frantically down her side, then up under her shirt. He bit her bottom lip gently and when she opened her mouth, his tongue thrust inside, just as his long, hot fingers closed over her breast.

  She jerked her mouth away to moan at the acute pleasure of it – and the kitchen light flashed on.

  Blinded, Honey shaded her eyes while Sawyer jerked her behind him and turned to face the intruder.

  "Just what the hell is going on?" There was two seconds of silence, then, "Ah. Never mind. Stupid question. But why the hell is she screaming about it?" Morgan's voice.

  Oh, my God, oh my God, oh, my God.

  Honey peeked around Sawyer, then yelped. Good grief, the man was buck naked and toting a gun!

  Sawyer shoved her back behind him again with a curse. "Damn it, Morgan, put the gun away."

  "Since it's just you, I will. That is, I would if I had any place to put it." Honey could hear his amusement, and she moaned again.

  Sawyer muttered a low complaint. "You could have at least put some shorts on."

  "If I'd known you were only romping in the kitchen I would have! But how the hell was I supposed to know? She screamed, Sawyer. I mean, I know you're rusty and all, but damn. You must have completely lost your touch."

  Honey clutched at Sawyer's back, her hot face pressed to his bare shoulder. This couldn't be happening.

  Sawyer crossed his arms over his chest. "She screamed because I caught her trying to steal the car keys." He kicked a set toward Morgan. The sound of them skidding over the floor was almost obscene. Honey didn't bother to look to see if Morgan picked them up. The man was blatantly, magnificently naked, and didn't seem to care. She shuddered in embarrassment and burrowed closer against Sawyer, pressing her face into his hot back, trying to blot the vision from her mind.

  Morgan gave a rude grunt. "I see. She was stealing one of our cars. And so you kissed her to stop her?"

  "Don't be a smart ass."

  Suddenly she heard Casey say, "What's going on? I heard someone scream."

  Honey thought if there was any luck to be had for her, she would faint after all. She waited, praying for oblivion, and waited some more, but no, she remained upright, fully cognizant of the entire, appalling predicament she'd gotten herself into.

  Sawyer's body shifted as he gave a heavy sigh. "It's all right, Casey. Honey was just trying to sneak off in the night. She was going to steal a car."

  "I was not!" Honey couldn't bear the thought of Sawyer's son believing such a thing about her. She cautiously peeked around Sawyer and saw Jordan and Gabe amble into the room. Just what she needed. Morgan, bless his modest soul, had sat down behind the bar. All she could now see of him was his chest. But that was still more than enough, especially since the gun remained in his hand, idly resting on the bar counter.

  Gabe held up a hand. "I already heard the explanations. Damn, but she has a shrill scream. I had to scrape myself off the ceiling, it startled me so bad."

  Jordan held the cat in the crook of one arm, gently soothing it. "I even heard her all the way out in the garage. When I got here, the poor cat was nearly hysterical."

  Ha! Honey eyed them all, especially that damn traitor feline, and tried to muster up a little of that courage Sawyer claimed she had. At least they weren't all naked, she told herself, then shuddered with relief. Casey had pulled on jeans, and Gabe had on boxers. Jordan had a sheet wrapped around himself, held tight at his hip with a fist.

  She felt remarkably like that damn cow in town who'd drawn too much attention.

  "I wasn't stealing the car." They all stared at her, and the accusing look on Casey's face made her want to die. She wiped away tears and cleared her throat. "I left a note on the bed, explaining. I just wanted to get to town and I thought it'd probably be too far to walk. I would have left the car there for you to pick up."

  Jordan frowned. "What'd you want in town that one of us couldn't get for you?"

  "No, you don't understand. I was going to take the bus."

  Morgan shook his head in a pitying way. "We don't have bus service in Buckhorn," he explained with little patience. "You'd have gotten to town and found it all closed up. Around here, they roll the sidewalks up at eight."

  Her heart sank. "No bus service?"

  Gabe pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. He drank straight from the carton. "The only bus service is in the neighboring county, a good forty miles away."

  Honey watched him with a frown. "You shouldn't do that. It's not healthy."

  Sawyer turned to glare down at her, his face filled with incredulous disbelief. She shrugged, feeling very small next to him. In a squeak, she said, "Well, it isn't."

  Gabe finished the carton. "I knew it was almost empty."

  "Oh."

  Sawyer flexed his jaw. "What about your car? Your stuff? You don't even have any shoes, remember?"

  He was still so furious, she took a step back. And even though Casey had looked wounded by what she'd attempted to do, he came to her side. He didn't say anything, just offered his silent support by standing close. She sent him a grateful smile, which he didn't return.

  She shifted. "After I got things taken care of, I'd have sent for my stuff."

  "Taken care of how?"

  She'd known Sawyer was large, but now he seemed even bigger, his anger exaggerating everything about him. There was no warmth in his dark eyes, no softness to his tone. She wasn't afraid of him, because she knew intuitively that he'd never hurt her. None of the brothers would hurt a woman; that type of contemptible behavior just wasn't in their genetic makeup. But she was terribly upset.

  She opened her mouth, hoping to put him off until she wasn't quite so rattled, and he roared, "No, God dammit, it will not wait until the morning!"

  She flinched. Silence filled the kitchen while she tried to decide how to react to his anger. Jordan stepped over to her, flanking her other side. "For God's sake, Sawyer, let her sit down. You're terrorizing her."

  Sawyer's eyes narrowed and his jaw locked. With a vicious oath he turned away, then ran a hand through his dark hair. Just then Honey noticed Sawyer wore only boxers himself. Tight boxers. That hugged his muscled behind like a second skin.

  Her lips parted. Her skin flushed. Blinking was an impossibility.

  She stood there spellbound until Jordan set the cat down and started to lead her away. He held her arm with one hand and his sheet with the other and tried to take her to the table. Belatedly she realized his intent and held back because that would put her alongside Morgan, and she knew no one had thrown him any pants yet.

  "I'm all right," she whispered, wishing Sawyer would look at her instead of staring out the window at the pitch black nigh
t.

  Jordan released her with a worried frown. She went back to the door and began picking up the keys and the contents of her purse. No one said anything, and when she was done, she carefully replaced the keys where they belonged. With her back to all of them, she said, "I wanted to get to the next town. I have a credit card, and I could charge a room, then call my sister to let her know I'm okay."

  Jordan, Gabe and Morgan all asked, "You have a sister?" and, "Does she look like you?" and, "How old is she?"

  Honey rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe they could be interested in that right now. "She's way prettier than me, but dark instead of fair, and she's a year younger. But the point is, she'll be worried. I told her I'd call her when I got settled somewhere. Then I'm going to hire a private detective to find out who's after me."

  Casey frowned at her. "Why couldn't you do that from here?"

  How could she tell him she was already starting to care too much about them all? Especially Sawyer? She tempered the truth and admitted, "I want to make things as simple as possible. I don't want to involve anyone else in my private problems."

  Sawyer still hadn't turned or said a word, and it bothered her.

  Gabe rooted through the cabinets for a cookie. "Why not just go to the police?"

  She really hated to bare her soul, but it looked as if her time had run out. She clutched her purse tightly and stared at Sawyer's back. "My father is an influential man. Recently he decided to run for city council. He's been campaigning, and things have looked promising so far. When I broke off my engagement, he was really angry because he'd planned to use the wedding as a means to campaign, inviting a lot of important, connected people to the normal round of celebrations that go with an engagement. Our relationship was already strained, and we'd barely spoken all week. He...well, he hit the roof when I told him I thought someone was after me. He thinks I'm just overreacting, letting my imagination run away because I'm distraught over the broken engagement. When I said I was going to the police, he threatened to cut me off because he says I'm causing him too much bad publicity, and he's certain I'll only make a fool of myself and draw a lot of unnecessary negative speculation that will damage his campaign."

  Morgan started to stand, but when she squealed and covered her eyes, he sat back down again. "Casey, go get me something to wear, will you?"

  "Why me? I don't wanna miss what's going on."

  Morgan frowned at him. "I'm not dressed, that's why. And she's acting all squeamish about it, so she'd probably rather I didn't get up and parade around right now. Course, if you don't care how she feels..."

  Put that way, Casey had little choice. He looked thoroughly disgruntled, and agreed with a lot of reluctance. "All right. But you owe me." He sauntered off, and the cat, apparently enjoying all the middle-of-the-night excitement, bounded after him.

  Morgan folded his arms on the bar, looking like he'd made the most magnanimous gesture of all by offering to put on clothes. "So since your daddy threatened to cut the purse strings, you ran off instead?"

  Now, that did it! It was almost one o'clock in the morning; she was tired, frazzled, embarrassed and worried. The last thing she intended to put up with was sarcasm.

  Honey slammed her purse down on the counter and stalked over to face Morgan from the other side of the bar. Hands flat on the bar top, she leaned over until she was practically nose to nose with him. "Actually," she growled, forcing the words through her teeth, "I told him to stick his damn money where the sun doesn't shine."

  Morgan pulled back, and astonishment flickered briefly in his cobalt eyes, mixed with a comical wariness. "Uh, you said that, did you?"

  "Yes, I did. My father and I have never gotten along, and money won't change that."

  Jordan applauded. "Good for you!"

  She whipped about and pointed a commanding finger at Jordan. "You be quiet! All of you have done your best to bulldoze me, and I'm getting sick and tired of it I don't take well to threats, and I couldn't care less about my father's money."

  Jordan chuckled, not at all put off by her vehemence. "So what happened?"

  Deflated by their eternal good humor, Honey sighed. Men in general were hard enough to understand, but these men were absolutely impossible. "He threatened to cut off my sister, instead, and though she reacted about the same as I did, I can't be responsible for that. I had no choice except to leave."

  Sawyer spoke quietly from behind her. "Except that you got sick, so you didn't make it very far. At least, not far enough to feel safe."

  She didn't turn to face him. Her gaze locked onto Gabe's, and he smiled in encouragement. As long as she didn't see the disappointment and resentment in Sawyer's eyes, she thought she'd be all right.

  "Someone had been following me for two days. I wasn't imagining it. I know I wasn't." She spoke in the flatest monotone she could manage. She didn't want them to hear her fear, her worry. It left her feeling too exposed. "The first day I managed to dodge them."

  "You say 'them.' Was there more than one person?"

  She glanced at Morgan. "It's just a figure of speech. I never saw inside the car. It was a black Mustang, and the windows were darkened. I noticed it the day after I ended things with Alden. When I left the bank where I worked, the car was in the parking lot, and it followed me. I'd promised my sister to stop at the grocery, so I did, and it was there when I came out. It spooked me, so I drove around a little and managed to lose it by jumping on the expressway into the heavy traffic, then taking an exit that I never take."

  Morgan rubbed his chin. "Must not have been a professional if you lost 'em that easy."

  "I don't know if they're professional or not. I don't know anything about them."

  Gabe leaned against the countertop, ankles crossed, eating cookies. "You know, I hate to say this, but you could have just been spooked. If that's all that happened—"

  "That's not all! I'm not an idiot."

  He held up both hands, one with a cookie in it, and mumbled, "I wasn't suggesting you are."

  Totally ruffled, she glared at him a moment longer, then continued. "The car was there again the next day. And that's too much of a coincidence for me."

  They each made various gestures of agreement, all but Sawyer, who merely continued to watch her through dark, narrowed eyes.

  "This time it followed me right up until I pulled into my sister's house. The car slowed, waited, and I practically ran to get inside. Then it just drove away."

  "I still think it's your ex," Jordan said. "If you left him, he probably wanted to know where you'd gone. I would have."

  "Me, too," Gabe concurred.

  "I thought it might be Alden at first. But it just doesn't fit." Honey watched Casey come back in with jeans and toss them to Morgan. Casual as you please, Morgan stood to put them on, and she quickly turned her back, but she could already feel the heat climbing up her neck to her cheeks. The man could improve with just an ounce of true modesty!

  "So what changed your mind?"

  Sawyer didn't look so angry now. Or rather, he didn't look so angry at her. He still seemed furious over the circumstances.

  "I talked to Alden. He kicked up a fuss about me breaking things off, yelling about how humiliated he'd be since so many of his associates knew we were engaged. And he even threatened me some."

  With cold fury Sawyer whispered, "He threatened you?"

  A chill went up her spine as she remembered again the lengths Alden had gone to just to punish her for breaking things off. And worst of all, she knew he wasn't motivated by love, but obviously by something much darker. "He used the same type of threats as my father. Alden told me he'd get me fired from my job, and he did. The bank claimed they were just scaling down employees, but Alden has a relative in a management position at the bank."

  "You could sue," Jordan pointed out, and she saw he was now as angry as Sawyer. It was an unusual sight to see, since Jordan had always looked so serene. Now his green eyes were glittering with anger, his lean jaw locked.
/>   "I...I might have," she admitted, dumbfounded by their support, "but that night when I was at my sister's house, someone broke in. She was out on a late date, so I was alone. I could hear them going through the drawers, the cabinets. I know it was the same people who'd been following me. They saw where I was staying and then they came back. They went through everything. I just don't know why, or what they were looking for. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I don't think I've ever been so afraid in my life. For the longest time I couldn't move. I just laid in the bed, frozen, listening. When I realized they'd eventually search the bedroom, I forced myself to get up. I didn't bother getting clothes, I just grabbed up my purse, slipped out the bedroom window and snuck to my car. I saw the curtain open in the front room as I started the engine, then I just concentrated on getting away. I was nearly hysterical by the time I got to my father's."

  She lowered her face, embarrassed and shaken all over again. Masculine hands touched her, patting her back, stroking her head, and gruff words of comfort were murmured. She was caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry.

  She pulled herself together and lifted her chin. After a deep breath, she continued, and the men all subsided back to their original lounging posts.

  "My father took me seriously this time, at least for awhile. He sent some men over to check out the apartment, but they said nothing seemed to be out of place. The only thing open was the window I'd gone through, and there was no one there when they arrived. Again, my father thought I was just overreacting. He wanted to call Alden, thinking I'd feel better when we got back together."

  Sawyer never said a word, but Morgan grunted. "Did you tell him the bastard had cost you your job?"

  She shrugged. "My father said he was just acting out of wounded male pride."

  "Hogwash." Gabe tossed the rest of the cookies aside to pace around the kitchen. Though he wore only his underwear, he made an awesome sight. "Men don't threaten women, period."

  "That's what my sister said. My father had sent men to get her, also, before he decided there wasn't a problem, that I'd made it all up. Luckily she believed me. She promised not to go back to the house until after a security alarm was put in – a concession from my father, which my sister refused, saying she'd get her own."