She fell asleep feeling safer than she ever had before.
* * * *
Deep in the night, Tommy Lane watched the three lovers cavort in a hot tub. If he thought he could get away with it, he would march across the yard and drive a knife into all three of their hearts. It was all he wanted to do, force that bitch to watch as he killed the men who’d taken what was his.
What a whore she had turned out to be. He had to take a deep breath before he pulled the binoculars back up to his face. She held out on him, but she gave it up for two brothers? It was disgusting. It was completely perverted. It had been bad when he thought she was fucking around with one of the twins. Now he could see what a piece of trash she was.
They passed her between them like a toy they were playing with. It made him sick. Liz, that slut, was laughing and kissing them in turn. She was such an idiot. They were just screwing around with her. Those two cowboys would kick her to the curb when they were finished because that was what you did with a piece of garbage.
He would have treated her right. Women couldn’t see a good thing when it stood in front of them. But he would show her. He would stand in front of her, and he would show her the mistake she had made. She would beg him for forgiveness before she died.
Liz’s laughter rang across the yard. It made his hands twitch. He wanted them wrapped around the bitch’s throat. He wanted to watch her cry and plead. He wanted to see that moment when she realized he had no mercy. That was the moment he was waiting for. It was the moment when he would feel like the king of the world.
It had been far too long since he’d felt that power. It was time to take it once again.
She threw her head back. It was obvious she was fucking one of the brothers. The other one sat back and watched. Pervert. Disgusting deviant freaks, all of them. They didn’t deserve to live.
Tommy tossed the binoculars down and barely contained his scream of rage.
He wouldn’t watch any more. He turned to walk back through the woods. He hated this fucking place. It was full of weirdoes and freaks. He stalked back to where he had left his truck, his mind playing through the last several months. She’d been tricky, but he was smarter. She would learn that soon enough.
He’d tracked her to San Diego roughly six months before. Before he started dating a woman, he always did his research. It was best to go into a situation with the upper hand from the get-go. Before he even met her, he’d known where she worked, where she lived, how many parking tickets she had, and who she hung out with. He had certainly checked on her family. The fact that she didn’t have parents or siblings to deal with had made her all the more appealing to Tommy. Liz Courtney had one relative in the world, an elderly aunt. He knew from her coworkers that Liz contacted her once a week. He couldn’t imagine Liz dumping old Auntie Sadie simply because she was on the run. It was only a matter of time before she showed up there. Especially after the old girl fell down some stairs and died.
He grinned in the darkness, remembering how the old lady had begged him to call an ambulance. She’d lain at the bottom of those stairs, pleading with him while he’d made himself a sandwich. She’d been a tough old broad, but they all died in the end.
He’d been waiting when Liz showed up to say good-bye to her last relative. At the time, her hair had been auburn, but he’d known it was her right away. She couldn’t hide from him.
But she’d slipped through his fingers. She was quicker and more attentive than he’d expected her to be. She must have caught sight of him watching her at the funeral home. He’d waited, but she’d never come back out. Somehow she’d gotten past him, and by the time he’d seen her sedan fly down the road, it had been far too late. She’d changed her name again and disappeared.
Tommy got into his truck and started the engine.
He’d been a little more creative this time around. It hadn’t taken a genius to know that Liz had help. She wasn’t smart enough to do it on her own, and suburban girls without records didn’t know how to get the kind of fake identification one needed to truly hide. One of his cop buddies remembered that the nurse on Liz’s floor had lost her daughter years before. All it took was simple surveillance to discover she was quite the helper of “downtrodden women.” Once he knew who her source was for fake IDs, it had been simple to ferret out what names Liz would use. He’d started looking for Shannon Matthews and Rachel Swift immediately.
He couldn’t believe it when he heard some asshole from a podunk Colorado town was looking for information on one Rachel Swift. The cop community was small, and despite the internal affairs investigations into him, Tommy maintained his friendships. It served him well, as he’d found her and intended to take care of the problem once and for all.
Tommy thought about those damn brothers as he turned his car toward their ranch. It was obvious they were holed up with Liz for the night at the rich guy’s place. Tomorrow they would come home, and there would be a surprise waiting for them. He wouldn’t underestimate any of them this time. Shooting the first brother hadn’t worked. Making sure Liz’s tire blew out hadn’t worked, either. He’d gotten there moments too late. When he’d chased after her, she’d managed to find some idiot with a flipping AK-47. He shook his head. The whole town was freaking nuts, and he was pretty sure they all had guns.
It didn’t matter. After tomorrow, Liz would be dead. Those brothers would be gone, too. They should enjoy the night together.
It would be their last.
Chapter Seventeen
Rachel woke up to the sound of shouting. She tried to snuggle back under the warmth of the comforter but was disconcerted to find herself alone. When she’d been allowed to sleep the night before, she’d been wrapped in their arms, safe and cozy. She was rapidly getting used to cuddling.
“Fuck you, Stef!” Max yelled. His loud voice pulled her roughly from her attempt to get back to sleep.
“I can’t believe you’re yelling at me.” Stefan’s voice was calmer than Max’s, but it rang across the yard all the same. “Why are you upset? You got exactly what you wanted.”
She forced her eyes open and saw Rye kneeling on the bed. He was looking out the window behind the big king-sized four-poster bed.
“Is Max making an ass of himself?” Her voice was husky with sleep. It was fitting. She hadn’t gotten much of it the night before. Max and Rye had been incredibly demanding. She was sore, but she already felt her body heating up at the sight of Rye’s gorgeous backside. He hadn’t bothered with clothes.
“I think this is going to be a spectacular scene, darlin’.” He reached down and helped her up. “Really, you shouldn’t miss it.”
She rubbed her eyes, leaning against Rye and watching as Max stalked after their host. Stefan was already a vision of elegant masculinity in a dress shirt, slacks, and shoes that were probably worth a fortune. Max, on the other hand, only had on a worn pair of Levi’s. His hair was slightly unkempt. His six-pack was on heart-stopping display. He looked delicious.
“You manipulative son of a bitch,” Max growled. “How dare you go behind my back and talk my woman into doing something as stupid as auctioning herself off in front of the whole town!”
“I didn’t think it was stupid.” It had seemed like a good plan at the time.
Rye patted her ass comfortingly. “I thought it was a brilliant plan.”
She smiled, remembering how pissed he’d been. One night of incredibly indulgent sex seemed to have done wonders for Rye’s mood. She filed that information away for future reference. When Rye got upset with her, she’d take him to the bedroom and end the argument.
“How do you know it wasn’t Rachel’s idea in the first place?” Stefan crossed his arms over his chest. His handsome face was contorted into an expression that conveyed his general annoyance.
“Because she’s a sweet girl,” Max proclaimed righteously. “She is just a little naïve. You used her.”
She shook her head. Maybe Max didn’t know her as well as he thought he did. “Naï
ve?”
Rye shrugged. “I was going to take issue with sweet.”
She elbowed him playfully.
“I want my three thousand dollars back,” Max shouted.
Even from a distance, she could see Stefan rolling his eyes. “You cheap son of a bitch. You think I don’t know how much you have in the bank? You might not be rich, but you’re not going to starve. That money went to charity. You’re not getting it back. Besides, you only chipped in a grand. I hope Rye got two-thirds of the sex last night.”
Max stood his ground. His body was tense, and he looked ready to attack. “You tell me something, Stef. Did you or did you not bring in those dumbass boys to drive her price up and make me crazy?”
A wicked grin flashed on the artist’s face before he became serious again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Did you bring those boys to town to ogle my wife and milk me for cash? They were talking about my sister, you know.”
Stef held his hands out as though to placate the beast he found himself with. Rachel thought he should have brought out a chair and maybe a whip. “I would never let Bay and Shane anywhere near Brooke. Brooke would eat them alive, and Bay is too talented an artist to die. Seriously, I’ve recently started collecting him. His stuff is going to be worth millions one day. I don’t want Brooke to screw that up.”
“Shit. He shouldn’t have done that.” Rye sighed like the outcome was now inevitable. He shifted and she felt his hands wrap around her waist.
Max practically vibrated with rage. “Asshole! That’s exactly what you did. I bet you gave them the cash they bid with. Those cowboys couldn’t afford two grand.”
Stefan gave it up and began laughing loudly. “That asshole cowboy is who the grant is for. He’s a sculptor. He applied for the foundation grant this year. You paid three thousand dollars for a woman who already wanted you, and one of the guys you were trying to keep her away from is getting the money.”
Rye pulled her away from the window. She found herself flat on her back, legs spread, with Rye’s face nuzzling her neck. “They’ll be at it for a while, baby. We’ll have to find something to occupy our time while they beat each other down.”
“I’m gonna kill you this time, Stef!”
She tried to get up, but Rye held her down.
“Don’t you think we should stop that?” she asked.
“Hey! Not my hands,” Stefan was screaming back at Max. “Or my face!”
There was a loud groan as someone got smacked.
Rye seemed blissfully unconcerned. “Nah. They do this at least once a year. I think they both have an inner need to kick some ass, and this way no one gets hurt. I mean, at least Max doesn’t get hurt. Usually.”
Rye continued kissing her neck as his hard cock found her pussy. He entered her with one long thrust.
She gasped and locked her legs around Rye’s waist. He thrust in and out easily, as though he enjoyed the exercise.
His face was serene as he gazed down at her. “I think a psychiatrist would say Stef has some deep-seated issues that cause him to seek out pain. Max is therapy for him. About once a year, he pulls something that causes Max to beat the shit out of him. The next day, Max has to buy the beer, and we all go back to being friends.”
“That’s terrible.” She managed to breathe through the pounding of her heart. Rye was slowly grinding against her clit. He knew exactly how to play her.
He shrugged and continued fucking her. “That’s just Max.” She could see he was still looking out the small window over the bed. He grimaced. “And that’s a black eye. Sorry, Stef got in a lucky shot.”
She was about to ask if Max was all right when Rye exerted exactly the right amount of pressure. The orgasm caught her off guard. She gasped as her body seized and released in spasms of pleasure. Through it all, she could see Rye looking incredibly pleased with himself. She had the feeling he could go on for hours, but the door to the cabin slammed open, and he grimaced.
“Time’s almost up. Next time you come five times before I let go.” Rye picked up the pace. Within a minute she felt the wash of his release as Max slammed into the room.
Rye rolled off her. He was every inch the satisfied man. His eyes were lazy as he looked at his brother. “What did you force him into this time?”
Max was sporting a hell of a cut over his right eye. She sat up and tried to look at it.
“He’s paying for our honeymoon. So, baby, you pick someplace expensive. We’re going first class all the way. That should teach him to mess with me.” Max reached down and scooped her up into his arms before she could protest. He glared at Rye. “And you. She’s probably sore. Did you give her any time at all to recoup from our sexual marathon? Hell, no. You’re on top of her the minute you wake up.”
Rye grinned. He was devastating when he smiled. “Not the minute. We watched you yell at Stef for a while.”
“I’m going to take her to bathe,” Max said, sounding as prim as a half-naked man with a black eye could sound. “Maybe she’ll feel better after a nice long soak.”
He started to carry her off when Rye laughed. “Baby, you do realize he’s going to fuck you in the tub, don’t you?”
Max’s hungry smile told her everything she needed to know.
Thirty minutes later, the water was still warm around her as Rye eased into the marble monstrosity of a tub. Max moved back, making room for his brother to sit opposite them. His arms were lazily wrapped around Rachel. She let her head fall back against his chest. She was going to take a long nap when they got home. Rye pulled her feet into his hands and started rubbing.
“That feels good.” Rachel sighed.
“I’m glad to help,” Rye replied with a wink. “Tell me, baby, did he even let you get into the tub, or did he just bend you over the sink?”
Max’s head came up. “Hey, I was a gentleman. I shoved her up against the wall. I did all the work. All she had to do was hold on.”
“Yes, it was all very polite.” She reached down in the warm water and found Max’s hand, winding her fingers through his. “Listen, Max, I never meant for the bidding to get crazy like that. I have some money…”
Max nibbled on her ear. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m pissed at Stef, not you. I can’t be mad at you for bringing us together.”
She shivered as Max sucked on her sensitive earlobe. “No, I want to put in my share. I have about seven hundred dollars. I know it’s not much.”
“We’ll take it,” Rye announced, never letting up on his slow rub. His strong hands worked the arches of her feet. She would have given him every cent simply for him to continue.
“Rye, she is not paying us back.”
Rye shrugged. “All right. I just thought that since we were getting married, we should probably set up a household account and put all the money in it. If you think Rachel should have a separate account…”
“Hell, no!” Max turned her around so he could see her face. Rachel protested the loss of her foot massage, but Max didn’t seem to care. “Let’s get one thing straight, Rachel. This is not one of those roommate-style marriages where we only come together for sex. This is a traditional family. We make the decisions together, and everything we have is ours.”
She suppressed her need to laugh. “Yes, I can plainly see how traditional we are,” she remarked to the man she planned on referring to as Husband Number One.
Husband Number Two smiled brightly. “Maybe we should change the name of the business to the Harper-Swift Stables. I don’t want Rachel to feel left out.”
A vein right above Max’s left eye throbbed and looked as though it might explode. “Why the hell would you keep your name? You’re marrying us, Rachel. You’ll take our name. Even if this marriage is a damn democracy, we can outvote you. You’re going to be Mrs. Harper.”
Rachel stared at Husband Number Two. “Will you stop baiting him?”
Rye grinned. “But it’s fun.
”
“Stop it.” She turned to Max. “You calm down, you Neanderthal. I never said I wanted a separate account, and I never wanted to keep my last name.” She bit her bottom lip, gnawing at it nervously. Now was as good a time as any to fess up. It was time they knew about her past. She was surprised to find she wasn’t terribly worried about how they would react. Something soft, but infinitely strong, settled into her heart. They loved her. They would never leave her. It gave her enormous security. She reached out and took both their hands in hers. “The truth is, I’m not that attached to this name.”
She felt both of them tense.
“How attached are you to Elizabeth Courtney?” Rye asked quietly.
She felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop open. “You know?”
Max nodded. “Yeah, baby. I searched your car and found your fake IDs.”
“You searched my car?”
Max didn’t even bother to look guilty. He simply nodded. “Oh, yeah. I would have searched your house, if you had one.”
“He’s a nosy guy,” Rye interjected.
“Well, you were obviously hiding something.” Max’s fingers curled around hers.
“And it never occurred to you to give me my privacy?” Rachel knew the answer but felt compelled to ask anyway.
“Nope,” Max replied.
Rye joined him. “No, darlin’. And just to fess up, I would have searched your car, but Max got there first. You know, I did run a trace on you.”
Her heart raced a little. She had tried not to think about the fact that Rye had requested information on her. Tommy still had contacts in police departments all across the southwest. All it would take was for him to have found out her new name.
Rye’s face was set in stern lines as he sat back against the curved wall of the tub. He did not look like a man who was going to let her go because he was shocked at the truth. “You were running. No one shows up in Bliss with just the clothes on their back and a beat-up Jeep as a living space.”
Max immediately refuted his brother’s statement. “Now, the way Mom told it, that was pretty much the way Teeny showed up. And Holly Lang, you know, that waitress at the Bear Creek Lounge. Oh, and don’t forget Laura Niles. She’s the checkout girl at the Stop ’n’ Shop. She didn’t even have a car, though. She hitchhiked into town and liked it so much she stayed.”