by Rita Herron
Hugh had been rejected so many times in his life that she needed to be gentle. One day he’d find someone special that he belonged with.
She looked up at Ray, and her heart stuttered. Ray was the strong, rugged masculine type that made her hungry for sex. The protective type who made her feel safe.
The intensely caring type that made her dream about love.
But he would be leaving Pistol Whip soon.
Or would he? He’d inherited a third of Horseshoe Creek. Was there a chance that he’d stay and run it with his brothers?
A chance that he might learn to love her?
* * *
RAY CLENCHED HIS hands by his side, jealousy rearing its ugly head again. That smile was the only encouragement a man like Hugh needed to think he might win Scarlet’s heart.
Ray had no idea why that irked him so much, but it did. Scarlet deserved someone strong and loving, someone who wanted a family, someone who understood her commitment to the kids at The Family Farm and the pain she’d suffered.
Hugh might fit that bill, though.
Still, he wasn’t the man for Scarlet because...
Because why? He wanted her for himself?
That thought bounced around in his head as he followed her back to her house. He checked over his shoulder as he drove, well aware that either Pullman or Bobby might show up again.
Not that he didn’t have his own enemies. He still had no idea who’d caused his crash and beaten the hell out of him. Or who’d set the fire at the horse barn. Arlis Bennett? Hardwick or Romley?
Bobby?
Bobby hadn’t beaten him up, but he could have paid someone to do it. Maybe one of his hoodlum buddies?
He phoned Maddox to fill him in before he arrived at Scarlet’s.
“Bobby attacked Scarlet?” Maddox said, his voice irritated.
“Yes. Whitefeather issued an APB for him.”
Maddox muttered a sound of frustration. “This is a cluster.”
Ray felt sorry for his older brother. At least he’d grown up with no illusions about their father being the perfect hero. Maddox had.
“I’ll dig up everything I can on Bobby,” Maddox said.
Ray relayed the charges on Bobby’s rap sheet. “That’s one reason Dad placed those stipulations on his share.”
Worse, their father had tied them to Bobby Lowman and Barbara for the rest of their lives.
Scarlet might be the only gem in this tangled mess.
“Brett explained about the barn fire and Romley,” Maddox said. “I’m going to question Hardwick at the hospital. Maybe he knows more than he admitted to you.”
Ray sighed. “Whitefeather was researching Bennett’s financials for a connection between him and Romley but hasn’t found one.”
“I talked to him,” Maddox said. “The DNA on that cigarette butt was inconclusive.”
Before they hung up, they agreed to keep each other posted. Scarlet parked, and he rolled in beside her and cut the engine. It took her a minute to gather her briefcase, then she locked the car and walked up the steps to the front door.
She glanced over her shoulder at him as he climbed from his Range Rover, and his heart lurched. She looked so fragile and beautiful, a tempting combination.
He hurried up the steps behind her. She dropped her briefcase on the table by the door, then flipped on a light. The tentative smile she offered him flooded his body with heat.
Her face looked pale though, and she gave a little shiver as if she was remembering her altercation with Bobby.
“I’m going to shower,” she said, her voice cracking as she passed the kitchen and living room and crossed the hallway to her bedroom.
A second later, Scarlet’s scream sent him running.
* * *
SCARLET STARED IN horror at her bed. At the doll...
“What’s wrong?” Ray rushed in, weapon drawn, and pulled her behind him. “Is someone here?”
“No... I don’t know.” Scarlet pointed to the porcelain doll Joe had given her. It was so beautiful and reminded her of the day he’d told her he considered her his daughter.
Now that porcelain face was completely shattered.
An image of that burned photo flashed behind her eyes. Had the same person who’d left it smashed the doll’s face?
Ray glanced at the doll, then quickly checked the closet and bathroom to make sure no one was inside. “It’s clear,” he said as he returned.
“But someone was here,” Scarlet said, agitated. “Someone who knew what that doll meant to me.” Someone who wanted to hurt her.
She retrieved the envelope with the photo in it and showed it to Ray. His gaze met hers, hot with anger. “Where did you get this?”
“Hugh said he found it at the office. Someone slid it under the door. I meant to give it to the deputy but forgot.”
“I’ll have Maddox send it and the doll to the lab. Bobby isn’t going to get away with terrorizing you like this.”
Scarlet wanted to cry out at the injustice of the situation, but she was trembling instead, and tears trickled down her cheeks.
“I never meant to ruin his life,” she said, talking out loud. “But he resented me from the beginning.”
Ray muttered a curse, his boots clicking on the wood floor as he strode over to her. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said in a gruff voice. “And you certainly didn’t ruin his life. He’s doing that himself.”
Pain wrenched Scarlet’s heart. “All I ever wanted was a family,” she said. “To be wanted like the other kids.”
But Bobby hadn’t wanted her. And neither had Barbara.
And now Bobby was determined to destroy her.
To avoid interfering with fingerprints, Ray used the afghan to move the doll to the dresser. Then he gently laid his gun on the end table.
“I can’t believe he hates me so much,” she said.
Ray stroked her back in small circles. “I’m sorry for how you grew up, Scarlet, but my father obviously loved you or he wouldn’t have given you that doll. And he wouldn’t have left you that cabin and a piece of his land. That meant more to him than the money because it was part of the McCullen legacy.”
She’d thought the same thing. But...today had just been too much. Bobby wouldn’t stop until he ran her out of town.
“I understand that your father made mistakes and you’re all disappointed with him,” Scarlet said, sensitive to their side. “But he was a good man deep down, Ray. No matter what happens, I’m glad he was in my life.”
Emotions darkened Ray’s expression, and he pulled her up against him. “Nothing is going to happen to you, Scarlet.” He tilted his head to the side, his eyes heated, stormy.
And so sexy that Scarlet lost herself in the brown depths.
“I promise I’ll protect you,” he murmured. “Bobby won’t hurt you as long as I’m around.”
Her heart fluttered, the fear that had gripped her in its clutches slowly dissipating as his warm, strong arms surrounded her. Her body tingled with desire as he cradled her next to his chest.
Then he fused his mouth with hers. He tasted like honey and sex and the forbidden, everything she’d ever wanted in a man but had tried to resist.
She couldn’t resist any longer.
Scarlet lifted one hand and slipped his Stetson off and dropped it into the chair by the bed, then tunneled her fingers through his thick dark hair. He deepened the kiss, probing her lips apart with his tongue, and she willingly gave in to him, tearing at his shirt to get closer to his hard, male body and the strength beneath.
* * *
RAY FORGOT ALL the reasons he shouldn’t kiss Scarlet as her tongue danced with his. His body was on fire from wanting her. That hungry craving inside him couldn’t be satisfied until
he tasted and touched every inch of her.
She tore at his shirt, and he tugged at hers, his pulse pounding at the sight of the lacy bra barely covering her generous breasts. Her breath rushed out in a tortured sigh as if she needed him as much as he needed her, and he lowered her to the bed, crawled on top of her and kissed her again, telling her with his mouth that he intended to love her.
Chapter Twenty
Scarlet’s body tingled with every touch of Ray’s hands. He deepened the kiss, his body brushing hers in a sensual invitation.
She answered by rubbing her foot up and down his calf and meeting his tongue thrust with her own.
Except she wanted more. Wanted his clothes off so she could feel her foot against his bare leg. Her breasts against the hard planes of his chest. His skin against her own.
He trailed kisses along her neck and throat, causing her to shiver with longing, and she ran her fingers over his bare shoulders, savoring the way his muscles bunched and flexed against her hands.
Heat spiraled through her as he teased the sensitive area behind her ear, and his hands slid down to rub her breasts through her lacy bra. Her nipples stiffened, aching and begging for more, and he stripped her bra and closed his lips over one turgid tip.
She sighed in pleasure and ran her fingers over his bare skin urging him closer. He loved one breast then the other, suckling her until she felt the tugging sensations of an orgasm deep in her womb.
Desperate for more, she pulled at his jeans and, seconds later, they both stripped and lay naked in each other’s arms. She had never seen such a handsome, virile man. His muscular physique robbed her breath and made her feel things she’d never felt before—the kind of aching hunger that needed sating and could only be satisfied by him.
Her breasts brushed his chest, titillating her even more, and he skimmed his fingers down her back to her waist, then lower to her hips. She undulated, desperate to be more intimate, and he kissed her again, deeply and more passionately than she’d ever been kissed.
He stroked her backside, then trailed more hot, hungry kisses down her throat and torso, pausing to love each inch of her as he stirred her desires. Another kiss in her navel, then his lips skated downward until she felt him drop tender love licks along her inner thighs.
She groaned his name and parted her legs, her body humming to life as he teased her sweet spot with his fingers and then his mouth.
Hot pleasure washed over her, and she quivered as he loved her, a dozen mindless sensations shooting through her as her passion exploded into sweet release.
* * *
THE SOUND OF Scarlet’s erotic whisper of pleasure sparked Ray’s hunger. She tasted like sweetness and woman, a heady taste that whetted his appetite for more.
His sex hardened, throbbing for release, and he rose above her and cupped her face in one hand while he braced his weight on the other. Her eyes were glazed with passion, her lips plump and swollen from his kisses, a sight that he imprinted in his brain forever.
An urgency throbbed within him as she kissed him again and slipped one hand down to cup his erection. He couldn’t resist. He thrust himself at her center, and she guided him toward her. But when the tip of his hard body touched her intimately, he suddenly remembered protection.
“Condom.” She nodded and he lifted away from her and grabbed a foil packet from his jeans. He tore it open with his teeth, then she took it from him and helped him roll it on.
Her fingers against his bare skin was so titillating he thought he might explode in her hands. But he sucked in a breath, wanting to be inside her when he climaxed.
She stroked his back, then trailed her hands down his hips and over his butt and urged him between her thighs. He teased her center with his thick length, stroking her until she whispered for him to enter her.
Need and passion mingled with emotions that he’d never felt before. He was touched and honored to be in Scarlet’s bed.
But he didn’t have time to contemplate those feelings as she raked her nails over his back and guided him inside her. He filled her, then paused, allowing her a moment to adjust to his size. She was so tight that he didn’t want to hurt her.
She moaned his name, and he fused his mouth with hers and kissed her again, this time thrusting his sex deeper, then withdrawing. Over and over he teased her until she clutched his hips.
“I need you,” she whispered against his neck.
“I need you, too,” he said, surprising himself when he realized that he meant it on more than one level.
She undulated her hips against him and wrapped her legs around him, and once again he forgot to think as he lost himself in the rhythm.
His lungs strained for air as he intensified his movements, driving deeper and deeper inside her until she cried out his name and another orgasm claimed her. Her body tightened around his, stroking his length until his own release teetered on the surface. Another kiss, then another moan and her pleasure triggered his own, and he spilled his seed inside her.
He pumped and thrust harder and faster, his heart racing as the two of them clung to each other.
* * *
SCARLET CLUNG TO Ray as the aftermath of their lovemaking lingered. She felt languid and happy and hungry, as if she already wanted more.
The thought terrified her. She hadn’t had many relationships at all with men, had kept them at bay, unable to trust in their motives or affections. But with Ray, rational thought went by the wayside.
His heavy breathing bathed her neck as he moaned against her. She smiled and kissed his neck, sensations still rippling through her. He lifted himself from her and disappeared into the bathroom, and she suddenly felt bereft.
Was he going to leave now?
But he crawled back in bed with her and pulled her into his arms. She snuggled up next to him, easing her head into the crook of his shoulder as if that was where she belonged.
Ray twirled a strand of her hair between his fingers and toyed with it, and she rubbed his chest with her fingers, tangling them in the fine dark mat of hair on his chest. The moment was sweet and tender and made her feel closer to him than she’d ever felt with anyone.
They lay there holding and touching and caressing each other for what seemed like forever. At least she wanted it to last forever.
The wind whistled outside, banging a tree branch against the window, but instead of startling her, she closed her eyes, cocooned in the warmth of Ray’s arms. Nothing could hurt her or frighten her as long as they were entwined.
But sometime later, Ray’s phone buzzed from his jeans’ pocket. She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn’t answer it and break the intimate spell around them. It buzzed again though, and Ray hissed.
“I guess I’d better get that. It might be about Bobby or Pullman.”
Hearing both men’s names sent a shiver up her spine. Ray must have felt it because he hugged her again, then planted a kiss on her lips. “Don’t move.”
His words warmed her with the promise that he planned to return to her bed. He stood, and she had no shame about looking at his handsome muscular physique. He glanced down and noticed her attention to his sex, which was jutting out, ready and engorged, and he grinned.
“I said, don’t move.”
She laughed softly and hugged the pillow to her as he snatched his phone.
Just as he answered it, the doorbell dinged. Ray frowned at her in question, and she shrugged, then slipped from bed, grabbed her robe and tugged it on.
She pushed her tangled hair from her face, tightening the belt of her robe as she walked into the living room. She peeked through the front sheers and saw Hugh’s car.
Relieved it wasn’t Bobby or Pullman, but irritated at the interruption, she opened the door. “Hugh, what are you doing here?”
Hugh elbowed his way inside. “I knew you
were upset about Bobby’s attack and wanted to check on you.”
Hadn’t he seen Ray’s car in the drive?
“I told you I’m fine.”
Hugh’s jaw twitched. He looked more agitated than usual. “Did something happen after I left, Hugh?”
“No, I just thought you might need me. Was your house okay when you got home?”
Scarlet’s pulse jumped as she remembered the broken doll. “Why would you ask that?”
He shrugged, his thin lips forming a pout. “I just wondered. Didn’t you get a locksmith to change your locks?”
“How did you know that?”
Hugh fidgeted. “You told me, don’t you remember?”
Scarlet searched her memory. The past few days had been hectic and unsettling as she’d dealt with Ray, the McCullens, Pullman, Bobby and Barbara.
“I did have new locks,” Scarlet said. “But as you see, I’m fine.” In fact, she wanted him to leave so she could go back to Ray.
Speaking of Ray, he strode in, his jeans slung low on his hips as he buttoned his shirt.
Hugh made a disgusted sound in his throat. “So, this is how it is?”
Scarlet tensed at the edge to his tone.
Ray dragged on his jacket, then jammed his gun inside the interior pocket. “Hugh?”
“I was worried about Scarlet,” Hugh said.
Ray glanced at Scarlet. “I have to go. Deputy Whitefeather has a lead on Bobby. Maddox is going to meet us at the location.”
“I’ll go with you,” Scarlet said.
“No, it might be dangerous.” Ray gestured toward Hugh.
“I’ll stay with her while you’re gone,” Hugh offered eagerly.
Scarlet’s temper reared its head. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“No, you need a bodyguard,” Ray said.
Scarlet caught Ray’s arm. “Please, Ray, I’ll go with you.”
Ray’s gaze met hers, the memory of their lovemaking still vivid in her mind. She wanted to go back to bed with him, not entertain Hugh.
Ray traced his finger down her cheek in a tender gesture. “I’ll be back when we have Bobby in custody. Meanwhile lock the door.”
