Mr. Taken Read online

  Sure, the sex had been great, but there was so much more to it and the way he was feeling about her. He couldn’t even really remember what his life had been like before her, as she seemed to fill him up. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was her smile and the way her hair had haloed around her head on her pillow when he forced himself to get out of bed.

  He hadn’t wanted to leave, but he had thought it better that way—he didn’t want anyone at the ranch to know their private life and about the moments they shared.

  Though he knew they wouldn’t be able to keep their blooming relationship secret for long, he had to honor her request for utmost privacy—though he wanted to shout her name from the top of the grain silos for the whole world to hear and to know that she was his entire world.

  He raked the hay as he was met with the telltale sound of the grinding metal as the barn door opened.

  “Hello?” he asked, unintentionally sounding annoyed at the prospect of someone disturbing the thoughts he was having of last night and being in Whitney’s arms.

  “Colter?” Whitney called. “Are you in here?”

  He dumped his rake and poked his head out of the stall. “I’m in here. How’d you sleep?”

  She left the door open, looking at it one more time before making her way toward him. “It was just fine until I woke up to find that you were gone. Did I do something wrong?”

  It hadn’t even occurred to him that she would have thought something like that after everything that had passed between them.

  “Absolutely not. Are you crazy?” he said, wiping the thin sheen of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “I just didn’t want anyone to find out that...you know.” He walked over to her and kissed her on the head. “You could never do anything wrong. At least not in bed. You were incredible.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “I think you did the lion’s share. Tonight I want to have a chance to take the reins.”

  He smiled wildly at her open invitation to once again share her bed. “I’m pretty sure you took the reins several times last night, but I’m more than happy to let you do as you wish to my body.” He laughed.

  There was a light cough from the open door of the barn. His mother was standing in the open doorway, the snow behind her making her look like nothing more than a silhouette.

  “Hey, Mom. Good morning,” he said, stepping back from Whitney. His face warmed as he realized what his mother might have just heard him say.

  “Mornin’,” she said, coming in and starting to close the door behind her.

  Whitney’s eyes opened wide with fear as she watched Eloise.

  “Mom, you mind leaving that open?” he asked, motioning for her to stop.

  “Oh, yeah,” she said, glancing toward Whitney with an apologetic tip of her head. “I forget, my dear. My apologies.”

  Whitney waved it off. “It’s okay... It’s getting better. It’s just with last night...and the fire...”

  “I completely understand. I was just being an old fool for forgetting,” his mother said, moving toward them. “And actually, last night’s fire was why I was coming to look for you. Wyatt told me everything about what you’ve found and the note. You shouldn’t have kept it a secret.”

  “I was just trying to protect you.”

  “That’s what Wyatt said, but you should know that I can handle the truth by now.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you had enough on your plate.”

  She reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze. “Have you talked to Sarah this morning?”

  “No. Why?” Whitney did a good job of not letting her distaste for the other woman flicker over her face, though he was sure that she was thinking about her.

  “I’ve been trying to reach her. She called and left a message that all the food for tonight’s party was in the café. It’s ruined.” She sighed, but he could still see the stress and panic in her eyes. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Who is going to want to come tonight when we don’t have any food to give them? I wouldn’t pay good money to come to a party only to be left hungry.” She threw her hands up in the air with exasperation.

  “Mom, no one is coming to Yule Night for the food. They come here to be with the people of the ranch, to celebrate.”

  She looked at him and gave him a weak smile. “That fire is going to be another mark against us. Whether we like it or not, people are talking about the fire and are starting to say that they think it had something to do with this ranch.” She hugged her arms around herself and looked down at the concrete floor. “Maybe we should just cancel tonight. We can’t risk the lives of our family, friends and guests just for some party.”

  “No,” Whitney said, shaking her head as though by doing so she could stop his mother’s words from filling her thoughts. “We can’t let fear stop us from having the party—it has to go on. The ranch needs this source of income—”

  “And we need to show the community that we’re not going anywhere—that we’re not afraid,” Colter added.

  “What if something does happen? What if everyone is right and whoever set the café on fire is just waiting for the right time? When everyone is in the barn? The last thing we need is another tragedy on our hands.”

  His mother was right. There could possibly be hundreds of people filling the barn and pouring out into the ranch’s yards tonight. If someone wanted to send a horrendous message—tonight would be the night. They had been warned.

  “What if we call in reinforcements?” he asked, smiling at his idea.

  “Huh? What do you mean?” his mother asked.

  “We could have Wyatt call a few of his department buddies, and I could call some of the guys from the station. I’m sure that they would all be happy to pitch in and help with security if we told them what was going on.”

  “You don’t think they would try and stop tonight from happening? You know, we don’t want to put them at risk, too.”

  “First, we don’t know for sure if that fire had anything to do with the ranch or the threats it has received.” As he spoke, he knew how ridiculous that sounded. Of course the fire had something to do with the ranch and him—the green beer bottles and the fact that it happened the night before their party had to be more than coincidental. Whoever was after them was amping up their game.

  Who knew what else they would be capable of? They were just lucky that no one had gotten hurt so far—though Whitney had come painfully close.

  His mother gave him the look that told him that she had heard how ridiculous he had sounded, too.

  “Okay, what if we do cancel it?” he asked. “What about the ranch?”

  His mother’s face pinched. “We’ve invested quite a bit into the party already, marketing, food, drink, invitations, deejay... The whole shebang, but it’ll be okay.”

  “It won’t be if you don’t turn a profit from the event,” Whitney said. “I saw the letter on your desk. You don’t have to hide it.”

  “What were you doing looking at my private things?” His mother jumped and anger flashed over her features.

  “I...I didn’t mean to... I just meant...” Whitney stammered.

  “Mom, she didn’t mean to invade your privacy. Besides, it’s not as if we didn’t know this place was going through a hard time.”

  Eloise’s face fell and she sighed. “Of course. I’m sorry, Whitney. I didn’t mean to get upset. It’s just that...”

  “You thought you could protect us,” he said, reaching over and giving his mother’s fingers a light squeeze. “And we love you for it, Mom. But for once, let us help you. Let’s work together and do this for the place that we all love. We want this to be a success.”

  “What about the food?” she asked, not letting it go.

  “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m sure that we can figur
e something out. You just focus on getting everything lined up for tonight here.”

  His mother’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “You really are a sweet boy. I’m so lucky to have you in my life.” She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying out of the barn.

  His mother wasn’t the kind who displayed much emotion. She was always metered in her approach and he could think of only a handful of times when he had seen her that close to tears. It only made him want to help her that much more.

  Whitney turned to him. “What are we going to do?”

  He waited until he couldn’t see his mother. “I have no idea. Go to the store?”

  “It would take hours to get everything we need and get back and put it all together,” Whitney said, glancing down at her phone to check the time. “But I guess if we hurry, we can put something together.”

  “Are you a good cook?” he asked.

  She gave him a guilty smile. “I can make grilled cheese sandwiches like nobody’s business.”

  “And I can make peanut butter and jellies,” he added.

  Whitney laughed. “Okay, so cooking may not be our strong suit, but if it makes you feel any better, I can order takeout like nobody’s business.”

  “I thought all Southern girls knew how to cook,” he teased.

  “And I thought all Northern boys knew how to mind their manners and be quiet,” she said with a gentle, playful nudge.

  “Whenever I’m with you, the last thing I want to do is be quiet.” Before she could come up with a rebuttal, he pressed his lips against hers, hoping that it would make her think of last night and all the time they had shared making noise.

  She pulled him closer, taking his lips with a hunger that made his thoughts race to the memory of her climbing on top of him. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t stop his body from coming back to life and yearning for him to re-create last night.

  She rubbed against him, teasing his body with the graze of her touch. “We have sandwiches to make,” she said, pulling him back to some semblance of reality.

  He groaned. She was right, but the last thing he wanted to do was go back to real life, where chores and danger waited.

  Whitney stepped back from him and gave him a longing smile that told him that she wanted to continue things just as badly as he did.

  A thought struck him. “You know who is a fantastic cook? Wyatt. I need to call him. Maybe he can help us out, too.” He took out his phone, but before he dialed he took a few breaths and allowed his body to come back to normal.

  “Even with him and Gwen, that is still going to be tough to get all the food bought, prepped and ready before the event. I mean, depending on what we end up doing, we may not even have enough oven space,” Whitney said.

  “I know, but if we don’t have him help, we really will be stuck with sandwiches,” he said, dialing his brother’s number. “My mom and dad have been through enough. I want to make this special for them—something that they will never forget.”

  “I have a feeling, no matter what the food is—this is one Christmas that will be going down in their record books,” she said with a sad smile.

  “True, but I want it to be for something positive—not the year everything went to hell.” He pressed the phone to his ear as it rang.

  “Hey, brother, what’s up?” Wyatt sounded tired and drawn.

  “Did you guys find anything that could help us nail down the suspect?” Colter asked, hoping beyond all hopes that his brother would tell him that they had found the person responsible and that all his worries were for naught.

  Wyatt sighed on the other end of the line. “Just some fragments of the bottles we were able to retrieve from the fire. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get any fingerprints. So I gave them some of the bottles we recovered from the barn. Same deal. It’s almost as if whoever is behind this knew what our next play would be. They’re brazen, but they’re not entirely stupid.

  “Did you come up with anything?” Wyatt asked.

  Colter glanced over at Whitney and put his phone on mute. “I have to tell him about what you saw, or you do.”

  She nodded and motioned for the phone. Unmuting it, he handed it over.

  “Hey, Wyatt, this is Whit. About last night...” She put it on speakerphone.

  “What about it?”

  Colter could hear the apprehension in his brother’s tone.

  “I saw someone as they were leaving. I didn’t see their face, but from the body type, I think it was a man. He was wearing a dark brown knit hat and one of those buckskin-colored work jackets. You know, Carhartt or something.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us about this last night?”

  “I—”

  “You can’t be serious. You held back information that could have helped us figure out who this person is. The only real information we’ve gotten so far,” Wyatt said, cutting her off in his rush to anger.

  “Don’t be upset with her, Wyatt. She thought she was doing the right thing,” Colter said, trying to talk his brother down from the ledge.

  “You two haven’t done a single right thing over the last few days,” Wyatt seethed. “I can’t believe you. You should know better—and you should know what could be at stake by keeping something like this from me.”

  The world was pressing in on Colter from all directions. His brother wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t and couldn’t possibly understand the kind of pressure and fear Whitney was feeling. All he seemed to see was the world from an officer’s perspective—which was great, but also stopped him from feeling as Colter did.

  “Whitney was upset. She’s been through a lot. Cut her some slack.”

  There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Colter doubted his brother would step down; he wasn’t the kind. With something like this he was like a dog with a bone—he wasn’t going to let it go.

  “Fine. I’ll let the detective know about it. Is there anything else you guys need to tell me—anything else you’ve been keeping a secret?” Wyatt pressed.

  There were a lot of secrets floating around the place, but none he needed to know.

  “We just talked to Mom. She’s upset. All the food for tonight’s party is gone.”

  Wyatt sucked in a long breath. “Does she have a plan?”

  “She’s totally overwhelmed. We managed to convince her not to cancel the party.”

  “Maybe that would have been for the best,” Wyatt said.

  “No. If they do, they’d lose thousands—and they needed to draw revenue from the event. Without it... I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

  “What do you need from me?” Wyatt said, not pressing the issue.

  “First, we need to make sure that everyone here is going to stay safe. Do you think you can call some of your guys and have them come and keep a watch?” A truck rumbled to a stop in front of the barn, and from outside he could hear his mother talking to what sounded like a deliveryman.

  “Done. I’ll send a few down as soon as I can.”

  “Yeah,” he said, looking out the window to see the florist’s truck sitting in the parking lot. “There are going to be a lot of comings and goings today. If we could keep an eye on things, that would be great.”

  “About the food,” Wyatt said. “I have an idea. You guys don’t worry about a thing. I have a few favors I think I could call in.”

  “What favors?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just know that I’ve got it handled,” Wyatt said, but some of the dryness had left his voice and he almost sounded excited.

  It was in times like these, when the world was nothing more than a spinning ball of stress, that Colter loved being a part of this family. Though they had their problems and their histories, when push came to shove they all had each othe
r’s backs. Even more, they had been taught the art of forgiveness, understanding, the power and support that it meant to be a family, and above all—love.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As she laced a string of garland over the barn’s door, Colter and his father set up the Christmas tree, and several of the staffers added lights and decorations to the barn. The place still carried the aroma of horses, but lingering over it was the scent of pine and the fresh cedar chips that they had put on the floor for the party. With each hour that passed, the place was starting to look more and more like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting and less like a place where disturbing events had occurred.

  Colter and his family always left Whitney in awe. They weren’t all biological family, yet they shared a bond and a love for each other that seemed to transcend any and all differences. She thought back to her own family. Not every Christmas was like this. There were the two years in which the holidays had ended in fights and turmoil between her boyfriend’s family and her parents, and both had ended in tears.

  She had always thought she’d had a good family, but watching this one made her realize that, while they were in the midst of turmoil, their true strength lay in their apparent ability to love each other—no matter what.

  It was almost as if this family was the embodiment of what the Christmas spirit was meant to be. They were all selfless, protective, loving, caring and generous.

  She loved Colter, but now seeing them together, she questioned her place in all of it. There was a part of her that made her wonder if she was good enough to fit into so much greatness. She had so many skeletons in her closet—and if Frank was behind this... As kind and affectionate as the family was, she wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t have the ability to forgive her for bringing that kind of turmoil into their already problem-ridden world.

  Closing her eyes, she tried to remember exactly what she had seen when the man left the café. There was nothing that told her it was Frank, but there was nothing that told her it couldn’t have been, either.