by Cora Seton
Tory sighed, realizing she didn’t really want to leave Chance Creek—or her family. She didn’t want to leave Liam, either. She wanted to stay and see where things could go between them. That was the strangest bit of all, she decided. Wanting Liam. She’d kept herself so distant from men for so long. Even when she’d dated, she’d kept things light and easy.
This felt far from easy.
Still, their days by the lake had been… magical. Something different than she’d ever experienced with a man.
Was this… love?
God, she hoped not, but even as she thought it she knew it was true. It was the beginning of love, anyway. If she left now, she could nip it in the bud—keep the heartbreak to a minimum. Maybe.
If she stayed…
She was probably going to get hurt.
Could she stand that?
Liam had questioned if Coopers and Turners could really be together. She knew why. Her family played fast and loose with the law. His family enforced it. She was trying to bridge that gap—bring the Coopers onto the right side of things.
Steel seemed to be working just as hard to keep them in the wrong.
She couldn’t blame Liam for wanting no part of that. Steel’s operation could ruin things for Liam just as swiftly as it could ruin things for her given the Ridley property’s proximity to the Flying W. Someone could accuse the Turners for growing the pot as easily as he’d accused the Coopers.
Could she choose between Liam and her family? Would she turn Steel in, if that was what it took to be with Liam?
Tory turned off the engine, the answer to her question immediately clear in her mind.
Never.
Chapter Eleven
Anyone could see the Ridley property had enormous potential, Liam thought. In the right hands, it could be turned into something beautiful and prosperous. He was parked down the road from its driveway, still trying to decide what to do about the crop—and the man with the shotgun.
Back when the town council announced the Founder’s Prize, he’d figured the contest would touch off a new age of conflict between the Turners and Coopers. Now he knew the property had been at the heart of it all for more than a decade.
He was still trying to decide what could have driven his father to collaborate with Dale Cooper on a criminal enterprise. Money? Money was tight today, and it had never once occurred to him or his siblings to turn to crime.
What would it take to make him do that?
Sitting in his truck, looking out over the abandoned property, Liam tried to imagine such a chain of events. What if he had to sell the Flying W? What if crime was the only way to avoid losing his ranch and moving to Ohio to start a spa?
Liam shook his head. He didn’t know what he’d do in that scenario, but he wouldn’t plant a pot crop in his backyard.
His father had, however, if he could believe what Enid had said.
Liam sat up when he spotted Steel’s truck in the rearview mirror. It slowed a little when it came abreast of him but sped up again and rattled right past. When Steel turned into the Ridley property’s lane, Liam fired up the engine of his truck and followed him.
They trundled past overgrown pastures and parked near one of the outbuildings. Liam hoped like hell he wasn’t walking into an ambush, but he doubted Steel meant to play it that way. He got out and walked slowly to meet the other man.
“What are you doing here?” Steel folded his arms over his chest, leaned against his truck and waited.
Liam had been asking himself the same thing and had come to a simple answer.
He was there for Tory.
She had just come back into his life, and it was a lot to process so quickly, but their last conversation had made one thing clear. He loved her, and he wasn’t going to lose her—if he hadn’t already by putting his foot in his mouth every time he tried to help her.
“I came here to see you,” Liam said, which was a version of the truth. He watched Steel’s eyes flick to one of the not-so-abandoned outbuildings and nodded gravely. “I know about your operation. Saw your crop with my own eyes. I decided to give you a chance to explain what the hell you think you’re doing before I did anything rash.” Besides confronting a criminal on his home turf, alone and unarmed.
Steel met his gaze, unflinching. “Working,” he said, which was closer to an admission of guilt than Liam had thought he would get out of the man. “Working tirelessly every day from dawn to dusk. For my ranch. For my home. For my family—and my community. Just like you.”
“Not like me,” Liam said with conviction. “And if you were really thinking about your community or family, you wouldn’t be doing this.” He waved his hand at the crop he knew was hidden behind the nearby hedgerow. “You know how this could affect them—how it could affect Tory.” He hadn’t meant to let her name slip out, but how could he not, when she was all he could think about?
“Tory?” Steel’s eyes flashed with something. Possibly humor, but Liam couldn’t be sure. “If you’re looking for a damsel in distress to save, you’ve got the wrong castle.”
“Do I?” Steel had hit a nerve. “She went off on her own in the first place because of shit like this. You know she’d never want this.” As he said the words, Liam realized how much of an ass he’d been when he’d spoken to her. How could he have thought for one second Tory had come back to Chance Creek to participate in the very thing that had driven her away?
Steel shrugged. “I know a lot of things I wish I didn’t. If you keep pushing, you’re going to find yourself feeling the same way. Mark my words.”
Liam stiffened. “Is that a threat?”
A rare half smile pulled at Steel’s mouth. “More of a warning, from a man who jumped off a cliff to one who still has time to turn around.”
Liam crossed his arms. “Maybe I’ll just call the sheriff and let him get to the bottom of this cliff once and for all.”
“No, you won’t.” Steel turned and started walking casually toward his hidden crop.
Liam frowned. “Why shouldn’t I?”
Steel looked back over his shoulder. “Because deep down, I think you know this isn’t just some lark. I’m finishing what our fathers started. Both of them. Now get out of here, and let me get to work.”
Both of them?
Liam didn’t know why it hurt to hear it. Hadn’t Enid said William was working with Dale to grow a crop like this? One thing had bothered him since he’d heard the story, though.
“Did my dad let your dad take the fall for a crime they both committed?”
Steel stopped in his tracks. Turned all the way around.
“You really want to know the answer to that?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I do.” He had to know the worst if he wanted to somehow atone for it.
“You’re right, he did. But only because my dad asked him to. Dale didn’t have a lot of respect for the law, which was what made him a good candidate to help your dad when trouble came to town.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t have time to go into it the way you’d like,” Steel said. “And you’ll have to leave soon, or we’ll both find ourselves in a fix we won’t be able to get out of. Let’s just say they were working on something, and they’d almost accomplished it, but then everything went to hell. So your dad made a big show of arresting my dad and got on with finishing it.”
“Your dad died in jail.”
Steel sighed. Hung his head a moment. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it? I don’t want him to have died for nothing.”
Liam thought about this. “You mean my father didn’t manage to get the job done—whatever it was they were working on.”
“He thought he did,” Steel said almost apologetically, which was strange given their positions. “Unfortunately, he was wrong. Now it’s up to me.”
“I’d like to help.”
Steel opened his mouth. Seemed to think better of what he was going to say. “Let me ask you something,” he said instead. “How seri
ous are you about my sister?”
“Serious.”
After a moment, Steel nodded. “Then I want you to stay the hell away from this ranch until I say otherwise. And keep Tory away, too. I’ll get it done. I promise. You just make sure you keep her safe—and don’t break her heart.”
A week had passed since Tory had decided not to run away. A week in which she’d barely heard from Steel, except one fleeting conversation on the phone in which he’d told her to keep well away from the Ridley property—and to keep her mouth shut if she knew what was good for the family.
“You going to take us all down with you?” she’d shot back at him.
“No” was all he’d said. “Not unless someone trips me up.”
The implication was clear.
That same day, Liam texted her: I said some things I didn’t mean. I’m sorry. Can I give you a call?
She stared at the message a long time before she answered, Sure.
Her phone trilled a minute later. “I’ve missed you,” Liam said without preamble, “and I know you didn’t come back to Chance Creek to get into trouble. I don’t know why I said that.”
“You were afraid something bad was going to happen. I’m afraid, too.”
“I talked to Steel.”
“Really?” She tried to picture that confrontation.
“He says he’s trying to finish up something our fathers started. Told me to stay the hell away from the Ridley property.”
“Me, too.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Tory paced her small bedroom. “Honestly? I think we should leave it alone. We’re not part of whatever he’s doing. We’re both working on building up our families—and this town. If he wants to break the law, that’s his business. I’m tired of worrying about everyone else. I want to focus on my own future.”
“Heard you were working for Jonah Winters.”
Tory wondered where Liam was. Was he stretched out on his bed calling her? When they’d worked together in his room, she’d found her attention straying to it more than once. What would it be like to share it with him?
She sat down on her own bed.
“Mom helped me get the work. I’m going in three days a week for now.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do,” she said. It was surprisingly interesting to be a part of the small—and large—concerns of the citizens of the town. Maybe it wasn’t as exciting as working for a big firm could be, but she’d found the work engaging so far.
Liam was quiet a moment. “Wish I was with you.”
“Wish you were, too.”
Neither of them suggested meeting, but after that they talked or texted most days. Tory wondered if Liam was waiting to see what happened at the Ridley property before he asked her out again. She told herself it was for the best. She wasn’t here for the long term. She shouldn’t be starting a relationship she knew couldn’t last.
That didn’t mean she didn’t rush to answer Liam’s call when her phone buzzed in her pocket late one evening.
“Hi,” she said, wondering why seeing Liam’s name on her phone made her so happy.
“I can’t stand much more of this,” Liam said.
Tory’s heart dropped. “Much more of what?”
“Much more of being over here when you’re over there. Can I come get you?”
She smiled. “To do what?”
“I’ll throw some blankets in the back of my truck. We’ll drive out of town. Park somewhere. Do some stargazing.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be outside waiting.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Stargazing was one of his best ideas ever, Liam mused as he lay on his back next to Tory in the bed of his truck and took in the show overhead. They’d driven as far away from town as they could get in a half hour. He’d piled up his camping mats and several old blankets and comforters in the bed to make a soft nest for them. He’d added pillows for good measure. With Tory tucked under his arm and a billion stars twinkling in the sky, he figured he had to be in heaven.
“What’s your favorite food?” Tory asked.
“You going to cook for me?”
“Just want to think of anything other than the Ridley property, the Founder’s Prize, my mother and all the rest of that stuff.”
“Good idea.” He thought about it. “Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.”
“Are you serious?” Tory pushed up on an elbow to look at him. “Grilled cheese?”
“Best food ever after a long day working outside in cold weather. What about you?”
“I like Fila’s food a lot. Anything spicy. I don’t cook much myself, though.”
“I’m a fairly good cook. What kind of music do you listen to?”
“Country. What else?”
“I kinda like classic rock better,” Liam admitted.
“What’s your favorite book? Do you even have a favorite book?”
“Anything by Stephen King.”
Tory made a face. “Way too scary for me,” she said.
“What about you? What do you read?” He went up on one elbow, too, and traced her jaw with his finger.
“Historical fiction. And horse stories,” she added sheepishly. “I like horse stories.”
“I like you,” he said and pulled her closer. “A lot.”
“I like you, too.”
“What are we going to do about that?” He claimed a long, slow, searching kiss. It was killing him to be so close to Tory but not close enough.
“I don’t know.” She sighed but edged nearer. Liam decided not to ask any more questions. Less chance of getting answers he didn’t want that way. Instead he undid a button or two of her blouse and slipped his hand inside. Tory moaned softly as he cupped one of her breasts through her bra, and she slipped an arm around his waist to tug at the tail of his shirt.
Liam knew what she wanted. He wanted it, too. Leaning back, he pulled his shirt up and over his head, then got to work on hers, struggling with her buttons for several minutes before managing to get it off. Tory made short work of her bra, and he pulled her close again, the sensation of her bare skin an aphrodisiac he couldn’t ignore.
Tory pulled a light blanket over them, and they got to work getting rid of the rest of their clothes.
“You sure no one’s going to come this way?”
“They’d better not,” Liam growled. He rolled to his back and tugged her with him until she sat straddling him, the blanket hanging over her shoulders. “You are beautiful, Tory Cooper. I could look at you all day.”
She squirmed a little at the flattery, a maneuver that revved him up even more, if that was possible, and when he lifted his hips, she rocked against him in a way that made him ache. Her breasts swayed mesmerizingly with her movements. Liam found himself sweeping his hands over her body in long strokes, wanting to touch her everywhere, blazing with need but wanting to take his time.
When Tory bent to kiss him, her nipples brushed his chest, sending fiery sensations deep inside him. Liam met her kiss for a long moment, then cupped her breasts and took her nipples into his mouth, first one, then the other. Tory moaned again. She was hot and slick with need against him, and he wasn’t going to be able to hold on too long—
“I want more,” she breathed against his neck. “Liam, I don’t want to wait.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. Liam gripped her hips, lifted them, positioned himself and slid slowly inside her, both of them breathing out with the wonderful sensation of it. Liam tangled one hand in her hair at the nape of her neck, kept the other on her hip and began to move inside her. It didn’t take Tory long to match his rhythm, and soon he wasn’t sure who was leading and who was being led in the endeavor.
It didn’t matter.
They were well matched, and the tension coiling within him didn’t let him think of anything else. Being with Tory was so easy—unlike most things in his life. She was worth fighting for with everything he had, he deci
ded.
He never wanted to let her go.
When Tory came, tossing her head back and moaning aloud, Liam quickly followed, his release shuddering through him in pleasurable waves until he thought it would go on forever.
Sated, they untangled themselves and fell back among the covers.
“Those stars must see a lot of risky business,” Tory remarked.
Liam chuckled. “No doubt.”
“I could stay here forever,” she murmured, tucked once more in the crook of his arm, her head resting on his chest.
Liam didn’t move. He didn’t think she realized what she’d just said, and he didn’t want to ruin the moment. Tory Cooper, who swore she’d never settle down in Chance Creek, had just admitted she might like to stay.
“Me, too” was all he said.
He was still floating on air the next day when Uncle Jed confronted him outside his bedroom door.
“You’re a damn fool,” he said.
“Oh yeah? How do you figure.” Liam was determined Jed wouldn’t ruin his good mood.
“Met up with Virginia Cooper last night at the bingo hall. Guess what she told me?”
“What did she tell you?” Liam pushed past him down the hall to the stairs. He hadn’t slept much last night—hadn’t gotten home until well past four in the morning—and he needed food if he was going to get through his chores today.
“She told me Tory has a plan to win the Founder’s Prize.”
“Tory does?” Liam’s steps faltered. He turned to face Jed. “What plan?”
“She’s going to save the hospital’s dialysis unit. Virginia said it plain as day. Said she’d been working on it for weeks.”
“But—” That couldn’t be right. He was the one saving the dialysis unit. Tory knew that—
Had she stolen his idea? Kept him distracted all this time flirting with him?
Making love to him?
“Weeks?” he repeated helplessly.
“Weeks,” Jed said. “Stop thinking with your—well, you know. Start using your brain. For once.” He looked Liam up and down. “And you’d better hurry up and save the dialysis unit yourself, or you’re going to end up the loser—again. Only this time, we’ll all lose with you.”
