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She was going to be here. Every day. Every night. He could hear her voice in his mind again: Will you show me what I need to know? Oh, there was plenty that he wanted to show her and very little of it had to do with survival.
What the hell had he been thinking, asking her to stay here? “Must be a closet masochist,” he muttered darkly.
Or he had been, before he’d altered his plan. But things were different now. When Colleen finally showed up here at the house today, he was going to do what he should have done days ago: kiss the hell out of her. And then he’d get her into his bed as quickly as possible and scramble her mind so completely, she’d tell him whatever he needed to know.
Gritting his teeth against yet another wave of desire thrumming inside him, he turned into the stable and headed down the long center aisle. The familiar scents of horses, straw and leather combined to welcome him and he sighed in gratitude. One thing he could count on was that being with the horses he bred and raised eased his mind. Here, he could push thoughts of Colleen aside—however briefly.
He paused long enough to greet one of the mares who poked her head through the half door to her stall.
“Belle, you’re a beauty,” he whispered. The chestnut mare butted his shoulder with her head as he stroked her jaw and neck, murmuring soft words that had the animal whickering in delight. It was this he lived for. Being around these animals that he loved. Caring for them, training them. Horses didn’t lie. Didn’t betray you. They were who they were and you accepted them at face value. You always knew where you stood with an animal.
It was people who let you down.
“Hey, boss!”
Frowning at the interruption, Sage gave the horse one last pat and turned to look back at one of the cowboys who lived on his ranch. “What is it, Pete?”
“Thought you’d like to know your sister just drove up.”
Of course she did. Grimacing tightly, Sage muttered, “Okay, thanks.”
So much for looking in on the newest foal born on the ranch. Instead, he gave the mare another long stroke over her neck, then headed back out of the stable. Pushing one hand through his hair, he told himself that it seemed women were destined to plague him lately. Wouldn’t you know his sister would show up on the very day he was at last going to taste Colleen Falkner?
Sage couldn’t even remember the last time Angie had come up the mountain to see him. Hell, usually she was living in L.A., but when she did come home, she stayed at Big Blue and visited her friends in Cheyenne.
But this visit was different, wasn’t it? She’d lost her father, and then lost faith in him. She was upset about the will and having lost control of Lassiter Media, he knew. What he didn’t know was what he could do about it. He and Dylan had talked this through several times and neither of them had come up with a way to challenge J.D.’s will.
So far, it had been made plain to them all that J.D. had definitely been in his right mind when he had the will drafted, and fighting his last wishes might very well invalidate the whole document. Until they could be sure of their next moves, he and Dylan at least had agreed to take this slowly.
Since J.D. was gone now, that made Sage the head of the family—and he had to consider everyone’s inheritances, not just Angie’s. He didn’t want to risk Chance losing the ranch, or their aunt Marlene losing her bequest.
As much as it pained him, Sage couldn’t make this any easier on the sister he loved. All he could really do was listen. A damned helpless feeling for a man more accustomed to having the answers than scrambling unsuccessfully for them. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he pushed those unsettling thoughts from his mind and headed for the main house.
The ranch yard was laid out a lot like Big Blue, he thought as he walked across it. But that wasn’t a homage to J.D., he assured himself. It just made sense. The main house was set back at the end of a curving drive. A landscaped sweep of greenery and flowers spread out in front of it in barely tamed splendor. The barn, stables and cabins for the cowhands who worked and lived on the ranch were set farther back and there was a pool that curved around a rock waterfall, with a stone patio surrounding it.
And from every spot on his property, the views were tremendous. He’d had his architect build the house to accommodate the beauty and become a part of the mountains itself. Acres of wood and glass and stone made the house look as though it had always been there, as if it had grown from the rocks and the forest. Trees were everywhere, and the scent of pine flavored every breath.
In Wyoming, winter held on, sometimes even into summer, especially this high up the mountain. An icy wind tore at Sage’s hair as he walked toward his sister. Angelica was just climbing out of her car when he approached, and one look at her told Sage that she wasn’t in much better shape than she had been when he’d seen her a couple nights ago.
True to their plan, he and Dylan had dropped in on their sister at Big Blue. It still wasn’t easy walking into that house, cluttered with memories, but for his sister, he was willing to bite the bullet.
Evan had been there too, of course, but the tension between the formerly happy couple was unmistakable. Evan was doing his best to make this work, but Angie was so hurt and angry at her father that there wasn’t a lot of give in her at the moment. How they were managing to work together through this was a mystery to Sage. Judging by the tight expression on Angie’s face now, that tension hadn’t eased up any either.
“Sorry to just drop in,” she blurted, shrugging into a navy blue sweater that dropped to midthigh. “I had to get out of the house.”
“You’re welcome here anytime,” Sage told her, mentally letting go of his plans for Colleen—at least until his sister was on her way again. “What’s going on now?”
“What isn’t?” she snapped, then stopped, gave him a sheepish look and said, “I’m sorry, Sage. Seriously, I’m acting like queen bitch of the universe and I can’t seem to stop myself.”
“Hey,” he said, dropping one arm around her shoulder and pulling her in for a hug, “that’s my baby sister you’re talking about.”
Angie wrapped both arms around his waist and held on. Tenderness swamped Sage as he simply stood there holding her, knowing there was nothing he could say to make things better. Since she was a little girl, Sage had done everything he could to protect her. To take care of her. He hated not being able to help her now.
After a long minute or two, she pulled back and looked up at him. “You always steady me. How do you do that?”
“It’s a gift,” he quipped and gave her another squeeze. “Now, you want to fill me in on what’s happening?”
She leaned into him. “It’s just a rumor.”
“Plenty of them to go around,” Sage said, giving her a squeeze. “Tell me what you heard.”
Tipping her head back, she looked up at him and bit her lip. Then she finally blurted, “The word is, Jack Reed is interested in Lassiter Media.”
Jack Reed. Sage wasn’t really surprised...how could he be? Jack Reed had the reputation of a great white shark. He bought up companies in trouble, then broke them down to the bare bones and sold off the pieces.
If Reed was interested, then it wouldn’t be long before more sharks started circling the Lassiter family. They couldn’t afford to be divided right now. They had to stand together against all comers. Which was just what he told Angie.
“We are together,” she argued.
“What we are is pissed,” he said flatly. “We all are. And we’re spending too damn much time trying to figure out what was running through J.D.’s mind when he made that will.”
“I know, I know.” She stepped away from him, pulled the edges of her sweater tighter and wrapped her arms around her middle. “My first instinct, you know, was to contest the will.”
“Yeah, I felt the same way,” he said, “so did Dylan.” He didn’t add that he and their brother hadn’t been able to come to a decision.
She took a deep breath and tossed her hair back from her face. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore, Sage. I want that company, but now I don’t know how to get it. Do I fight my father’s dying wishes? Do I try to accept this? How?”
“The whole situation’s screwed up, that’s for damn sure. But we’ll figure something out,” Sage said. He knew what J.D. had done had eaten away at her confidence, her self-assurance—hell, even her own image of herself. Their dad had spent a lifetime building her up and then with one stroke of the pen, he’d torn her down.
Why?
She laughed shortly and threw both hands into the air. “I’m a mess, sorry. I shouldn’t have just driven up here and thrown myself on you. But I really needed someone to talk to. Someone who would understand.”
“You can drop in on me any damn time you want and you know that, Angie,” he told her. “But just out of curiosity, where’s Marlene?”
“Oh, she’s at the ranch,” she said, and started walking toward the wraparound porch on the main house. Sage matched his strides to her shorter ones. “And yes, she’s always willing to listen, but she can’t be objective about Dad...and I really wish Colleen were still at Big Blue. She was super easy to talk to.”
Yeah, he thought. Colleen was easy to talk to. Easy to look at. She also made it easy for him to forget why he’d started all of this.
As if just thinking about her could make her appear, an old red Jeep pulled up the drive and everything in Sage quickened. Like a damn kid waiting for a date with the girl of his dreams, he felt his heartbeat thundering in his chest, and an all-too-familiar ache settled low in his gut and grabbed hold.
“Well,” Angie said thoughtfully, with a pointed glance at him. “This is interesting.”
Instantly, Sage tamped down the internal fires raging through him. He didn’t need his sister making more of this than there was. “It’s not what you’re thinking, so dial it down.”
“Really?” she asked as the car engine cut off and the driver’s side door opened. “Because that looks like a suitcase she’s pulling out of her car....”
His insides tightened even further. “Don’t even start, Angie....”
* * *
Colleen wrangled her overnight bag out of the car and set it at her feet. She looked at the ranch house and quickly swept it in one thorough gaze. It was smaller than Big Blue, but not by much. Its windows gleamed in the afternoon sun and the long wraparound porch boasted plenty of chairs for sitting out and enjoying the view. The honey-colored logs looked warm and inviting, the scent of pine was pervasive, and the two people on the porch were both watching her.
She hadn’t expected to find Sage’s sister here, too, but maybe that was a good thing. All morning, Colleen’s stomach had been twisting and turning in anticipation of her arrival here at Sage’s ranch. For longer than she cared to think about she had been fascinated by him. And now that they’d actually been spending time together, that fascination had escalated into something that was as scary as it was thrilling. Having Angie as a buffer might make these first few minutes easier.
“Angie, hi.” Though she spoke to his sister, Colleen’s gaze went first to Sage, and even that one brief connection with his intense blue eyes sent goose bumps racing along her spine.
“Hi, yourself.” Angelica walked out to meet her and gave Colleen a hug. “I’ve missed you since you moved out of Big Blue.”
“I missed you, too.” Focusing on his sister gave Colleen the chance to tear her gaze from Sage’s. “How is everyone doing? Marlene?”
“She really misses Dad. A lot. We all do, of course, but...” Angie shrugged. “It’s hard. And since the reading of the will, it’s even harder.” Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Sage. “Why don’t you get Colleen’s suitcase and I’ll walk her in.”
“Oh, that’s okay, I can—”
Sage nudged her hand off the handle, and a now-familiar buzz of sensation hummed from her fingers, up her arm, to rocket around in the center of her chest. He looked at her, and in his eyes, she saw the realization that he’d felt it, too. That electric spark that happened whenever they touched. As if a match had been held to a slow burning fuse that was about to reach the explosives it was attached to.
Then he picked up her suitcase as if it weighed nothing—and Colleen knew she hadn’t packed light. For another long second, he looked at her and Colleen’s heart beat began to race. Her mouth went dry, her knees went weak and if Angie hadn’t been there, watching the two of them, she might have just thrown herself at Sage.
“Come on,” Angie said then, splintering that happy little fantasy. Colleen followed her into the house and once she was there, she buried those feelings in the curiosity she had for Sage’s ranch. She’d heard J.D. describe it, of course, but the reality was so much more.
Outside, it was set up much like the Big Blue. Outbuildings, barns, stables, though from what she’d seen at a quick glance, there was a much bigger corral for working horses than J.D.’s ranch provided. Obviously, that made sense, because she knew that Sage bred and raised racehorses. But it was the inside of the main house that had her captivated.
It, too, was constructed of hand-hewn logs, but there the similarity with Big Blue ended. Instead of the ironwork that made up much of the Lassiter home ranch, Sage’s place was all wood and glass. Wood banisters on the wide staircase, intricately carved to look like vines climbing up posts. Bookcases that looked as though they’d been sculpted into the walls, boasted hundreds of leather-bound and paperback books.
The wide front windows afforded a view that was so spectacular it took her breath away. Despite the number of trees on the property, the view was wide-open and provided a glimpse of the valley and the city of Cheyenne that at night must be staggering. A stone fireplace dominated one wall and the hand-carved mantel displayed pictures of his brother and sister and a young couple who must have been his biological parents.
While Sage and Angie talked, their conversation veering from muted tones to half shouts, Colleen wandered around the great room. Oak floorboards shone in the sunlight slanting through the windows. Brightly colored rugs dotted the floor, adding more warmth to a room that rang with comfort. Overstuffed brown leather chairs and sofas were gathered in conversational knots and heavy oak tables were laden with yet more stacks of books. She loved it.
The house was perfect and she couldn’t wait to explore the rest of it. It was just as she would like her own home to be—on a smaller scale, of course. A comfortable refuge.
“You don’t understand,” Angie was saying and had Colleen turning around to face the siblings. “Evan is acting as if this is nothing. He keeps offering to let me run the company. But he doesn’t get that him giving me control isn’t the same as having control. He’s trying to take a step back for me at the office, but I don’t want him doing that, so it’s a vicious circle. He thinks I should have control, and I want it, but if Dad didn’t want me to have it, how can I try to claim it? We’re arguing all the time now, and I can’t help wondering why Dad did this. Did he want Evan and I to break up? Or was he really that disappointed in me?”
Colleen saw the torment on Sage’s face and when he reached for his sister, pulling her in tight and wrapping his arms around her, Colleen felt a pang in her tender heart. He was so kind. So loving. Yet when she’d told him just that, he’d denied it. Why couldn’t he see it?
“Dad loved you,” he said simply. “Something else is going on here, Angie, and we will find out what it is.”
His gaze speared into Colleen’s and she felt a quick bolt of ice that snaked along her spine and made her shiver. There was nothing tender in that look. But before she could really wonder what he was thinking, the expression dissolved once again into concern for his sister.
Angie pulled away, spun around and looked at Colleen. “You’re the one who spent the most time with him toward the end. Did he tell you why he was doing this? Why he cut me out as if I were nothing?”
With both Lassiters staring at her, Colleen felt completely ill at ease. She didn’t have answers for them, though she wished she had.
Shaking her head, she could only say, “No, Angie. He didn’t talk about his will with me. I had no idea what he was going to bequeath to everyone.”
“That’s really not an answer though, is it?” Sage muttered and her gaze locked on his. The shutters were in place, but even with him closing her out, she felt the cold emanating from him. Only minutes ago, he’d given her a look filled with heat, and now it was as if he’d shut that part of himself down.
“He talked to you, Colleen,” he prodded. “If not about his will, then about how he was feeling. What he was thinking. And you know what he said. So tell us.”
She blinked at him. “What can I tell you that you don’t already know? He loved you all. He talked about you with such warmth. So much pride...”
“Then why would he do this?” Angie demanded. “Why?”
“I just don’t know.” Colleen sighed heavily. “I wish I did.”
Sage’s features went very still, as if he were considering what she said and wondering if she was holding something back. Finally he muttered, “Angie, she doesn’t know. No one does. Yet. We’ll find out, though, I swear.”
“For all the good it’ll do,” she said and forced a smile. “I’m really sorry. I don’t mean to dump on you guys. I’m just so torn up about this and so...confused.”
“Your father loved you, Angie,” Colleen said softly. “He was proud of you.”
Her eyes glistened with tears, but she blinked them back and lifted her chin. “I want to believe you, Colleen. I really do.”
“You can.”
“I hope so.” Nodding, she turned to her brother. “I’m gonna go. I promised Marlene I’d take her into town for a nice dinner, and if I’m going to make it, I’ve got to start back now.”
“Okay,” Sage said, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Try not to worry. We’ll work this out.”
“Sure.” She flashed a smile at Colleen. “And now, I can leave you two alone to do...whatever you were planning before I showed up.”
Colleen flushed. “Oh, please don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just here so Sage can show me what life in the mountains is like. I want to move up here and—”
“You’re going to move here?” Angie interrupted.
“Not here, here,” Colleen corrected with a fast glance at Sage to see what his reaction was to his sister’s teasing. But it was as if he wasn’t listening to Angie at all. His gaze was locked with hers and the heat in his eyes warmed her all the way to her toes. Still, she added for Angie’s benefit, “Just here in the mountains, here.”
She was babbling and now felt like an idiot. Of course Angie hadn’t meant anything by what she’d said. She knew that there was nothing between Colleen and Sage. Nothing but a lot of chemistry that neither of them had acted on.
“Right, so you have a place in mind?”
“I have the addresses of a couple of cabins that are for sale. I was hoping Sage could show me where they are.”
“Oh, my big brother is so helpful, I’m sure he won’t mind at all.” She smiled at him. “Will you, Sage?”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he asked pointedly.
Brother and sister stared at each other for a long minute or two, then finally Angie said, “Yeah. I guess I do. After dinner with Marlene, I’m meeting Evan in town tonight. We both thought it would be better to talk away from the office. It’s just too...hard when we’re there. But we do have to talk about plans for the company.”
“That’s good, Angie.”
“In theory,” she said. “We’ll have to see, now that he’s my boss.”
Colleen winced and wished she knew why J.D. had done this to his daughter. She would love to be able to give Angie a reason. An explanation. Something. But she simply had no idea why he would turn his family on its head like he had. And she couldn’t help but feel guilty every time she thought about what Angelica was going through. She’d been hurt by her father’s will while Colleen had been given a gift for which she was immensely grateful.
“Anyway,” Angie said, crossing the room to hug Colleen. “You guys have fun or whatever. Don’t let him turn you into Dan’l Boone or something, okay?”
Colleen laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”
