Chapter 1
Using a forearm, Tanner Patrick swiped the sweat and dirt away from his eyes. The sun had already set low in the sky, leaving everything in shadows, but the unseasonable spring heatwave remained. Starting at six A.M. and working through dinner had left him ready for a shower, something more substantial than a sandwich, and then an ice cold beer.
With Blu at his side, his tools in a wheelbarrow, Tanner headed past the trees toward the house.
“It’s a freaking horror movie,” was whispered somewhere to his right, in his woods. After all the recent rains the honeysuckle, black locust, and ash trees made the trails nearly impenetrable.
Giving mixed signals, his German shepherd, Blu, went alert with a low growl, but at the same time swished his tail through the air.
Tanner quickly put a hand to his collar. “Shh.”
Obediently, the dog quieted, sat at attention and perked his ears.
“It’s not that bad.”
“No, it’s worse. The house is probably rat infested. I heard rodents in the yard.”
“I think those might have been chickens.”
Tanner cocked an eyebrow. Who the hell confused chickens with rats?
“C’mon, Callie. You can’t mean to actually live here.”
“Actually, I can, because I do.”
Live here? On his property? Like hell.
“You’re always so damned stubborn.”
“And you’re being a nag. God, Glory, I didn’t even ask you to come along.”
So, Callie and…Glory? The women clearly didn’t understand how voices carried on the evening air.
“Oh, I like that. You know you wanted me here, and you know you’re being outrageous.”
The intruding voices were most definitely female, and they were getting closer.
“Ow, damn it. My shirt just caught on something.”
“Thorns, probably. Did you see the size of those things on that tree?” And then with a grumble, “I have little sticky things all over me, now.”
Probably the thorns of a honey locust tree, Tanner thought. They were so long and needle sharp they could be weapons. As a kid he’d been wounded by them more than once. Thankfully, they weren’t as plentiful as the black locust or ash trees – though the ash trees brought problems of their own.
The little sticky things had to be burrs. Whoever had gotten into them was going to have a hell of a time getting them out of their clothes.
“It’s getting dark and we’re in the boondocks. They probably have alligators.”
“In Kentucky?”
“I expect to see some crazed person wielding a chainsaw at any moment.”
Tanner glanced at the large chainsaw in his wagon. An evil grin tipped his mouth and he decided, why not? He had no idea who the intruders were, but the roar of a saw ought to send them running.
“You have a wild imagination, Glory.”
“And you don’t? Come on, Callie, let’s go home.”
“No. I want to see the property, all of it. I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“You’re dealing with a mess.”
“Agreed. Although the mess is Sutter, a wedding I don’t want, and everyone trying to tell me what I should do.”
There was a moment of silence. “Don’t you think that whole thing with Sutter could be a simple misunderstanding?”
“No.” In the driest tone he’d heard from Callie so far, she said, “I didn’t imagine seeing his dick in her hand.”
Tanner choked.
“Shh. Did you hear that?”
“I hear you trying to talk me out of moving on.”
Distracted, the one named Glory huffed. “He said it didn’t mean anything.”
“That actually makes it worse!”
That last impassioned statement gave Tanner pause. Whoever she was, apparently she’d dealt with a creep. He hoped she didn’t relent but he also hoped she moseyed off his property so he could wrap up his day.
“If you’d just talk to him –”
“I did – to tell him it was over.”
“Callie…”
“No! I’ve made up my mind – whether anyone else accepts it or not.”
Tanner had a pretty low opinion of cheaters. Far as he was concerned, people didn’t change their basic natures. So good for her – but she still had no business skulking around on his property.
“Callie,” the other woman complained. “You know what hinges on this.”
“I don’t care.”
“You’re being selfish!” Another heavy silence descended and a charge filled the air before the speaker said, more quietly, “I’m sorry, Callie, I really am, but a lot of people will be hurt by this.”
“If you’re so keen on uniting the families, why don’t you marry him?”
“Eew. No, thank you. I have no desire to pick up your leftovers, and in case I need to remind you, there are many.”
“No,” the more determined voice of Callie said, while loudly thrashing through the woods. “There are three.”
“Three?” The sound of charging feet followed a disbelieving snort. “Get real. I know you too well to buy that.”
“Apparently not as well as you think, because the number is exactly three,” Callie insisted. “Buell in high school, and that was nothing grand, believe me.”
Wait a minute. Suspicion loomed hot, bringing a scowl to Tanner’s face. There’d been a Buell in his high school, too, a major prick with more money than brains. And in fact, Buell had dated…
Sweet little Callie McCallahan, the princess of Hoker high school. Tanner could still see her in his mind with her silky brown hair and innocent blue eyes. Given how he’d crushed on her back then, he’d probably always remember her. She’d represented everything he wasn’t. And of course, she’d never acknowledged him.
“Then there was Warren in college,” Callie continued. “But he went on that testosterone rager that scared me off guys for quite a while.”
“I remember,” Glory said quietly. “That was awful.”
Awful how? An insidious tension invaded Tanner’s muscles, making him clench all over. Had she been hurt by some dude named Warren?
Glory pressed her. “And then Sutter?”
“Yup. Sutter – who can’t keep it in his pants.”
“Seriously, that’s it? Literally, only three?”
“You say it like I’m unnatural or something.”
“Well, no, but…only three?”
“Stop carrying on, Glory. So I don’t get around nearly as often as people want to think. It’s not a big deal.”
“It is when you’re canceling all our plans.”
Blu looked at Tanner, then back at where the voices loomed ever closer. Despite his arms feeling leaden, Tanner hefted the chainsaw from the wagon. It pulled at his already tired shoulders.
“I’m done with Sutter. The rest of you can do whatever you want with him.” On the heels of that statement, the woman shoved out of the thick foliage. Her long brown hair sported a few twigs, and her fancy white blouse was ripped at the shoulder over a welt. Clearly disgruntled and oblivious of her surroundings – of him – she lifted one foot, eyeing a heeled shoe totally unsuitable for where she’d been.
Ah, hell. It really was her. None other than the Callie McCallahan. The one woman who epitomized his tormented past.
A woman who, in the dark of night, still occasionally invaded his thoughts.
Physically, the past ten years had been kind to her. But based on what he’d heard, her relationships hadn’t been kind at all. Funny how he’d just caught up on her life without having to ask a single question.
Sucked that she was still so sexy, even more so with the added maturity that now curved her once-willowy figure in all the right ways. A little weight made her hips rounder, her breasts heavier, but those crazy long legs were the same. A man couldn’t help imagining them tight around his waist as he rode her hard and deep, or locked over his shoulders while he brought her to a climax with his mouth.
Damn it, she was already stirring him.
A sick sort of dread gripped his guts. He couldn’t blink. Couldn’t look away.
A second woman appeared, picking her way out of the woods more delicately.
With the devil riding him hard, and desperate to get the upper hand with her for once, Tanner gave the rip cord on the chainsaw a hard tug.
The thunderous roar filled the evening air, and quickly snagged the attention of both women.
* * *
Before the unfolding scene could register, Glory flattened herself to Callie’s back and let out a blood curdling scream that nearly froze Callie’s blood. It didn’t help that she kept on screaming.
Honestly, Callie couldn’t tell which was louder, her cousin or the tool.
It took her a startled second before she spotted the man a few yards away from her, standing in a grove of saplings. Moment’s ago, a sense of danger had closed in around her, as if someone or something lurked in those woods, but it was nothing compared to the suffocating future she’d left behind.
She’d escaped – that was the only way to describe how she felt.
Catching her fiancé cheating, along with the timely inheritance of a house, had been all the impetus she’d needed to grab for a different path.
This place – spooky woods and all – would be her haven for now.
The chainsaw, however, was a little over the top. The man wielding it?
Mmm. She knew a really heinous villain could look like a nice everyday guy. But hey, she’d already decided that she would face a den of hungry lions for a week rather than a lifetime of the mediocre existence her family had laid out for her.
So what was one guy with a chainsaw?
Hot, that’s what he was. Like her most forbidden fantasy…in the flesh.
Real life men didn’t look like him, at least no man that she’d ever met. Did that make him more dangerous, or less so?
Glory gasped, “Oh my God, do you see him?”
Six feet of honed body and piercing brown eyes, staring right at her? Yup, she saw him. Her heart, already in her throat, kicked into a racing beat.
His hair, damp with sweat, curled around his ears and on his neck, somewhat showcasing those broad naked shoulders. Denim covered legs were braced apart, with sturdy, well-worn brown work boots planted on the ground.
She forgot all about her cousin, and barely noticed the massive dog beside the man. If she was about to be murdered, well, she’d take that vision with her…
What? No, she wouldn’t die.
She hadn’t come here just to be frightened to death by some backwoods cretin, no matter how gorgeous he might be.
Irritably, she shrugged off Glory, or tried to, but her clingy cousin wasn’t going anywhere. Callie frowned at the man, then took one decisive step closer.
The dog shot to his feet, a bushy tail wagging and a look of expectation in his intelligent brown eyes. Nice dog. Much nicer than the man who continued to stare daggers at her and did nothing to silence that obnoxiously loud chainsaw.
Shouting to be heard, she asked, “Would you mind?”
He merely smiled, not a pleasant smile, either. More like one that taunted.
Again, she tried to shake off Glory.
The dog’s loping approach did the trick. With one final screech, Glory raced off into the thickets, thrashing and crashing behind her.
Abandoned. Oh, well. Glory wasn’t being much help anyway. With nothing else to do, Callie knelt to greet the dog. He, at least, seemed happy to meet her. She’d always loved animals, even though she’d grown up in a pet-free home. Whenever she’d visited her friends, she’d spent time with their dogs and cats.
Animals fascinated her, entertained her, and didn’t leave her blank-brained as the hot lumberjack-looking dude did.
Abruptly, the chainsaw went silent.
Thank God for small favors. Her ears continued to buzz while she stroked the dog’s thick, soft fur. Show no fear, she told herself as she sensed the man’s approach. He’s probably just a neighbor. Don’t let him intimidate you.
Right. Easier said than done, especially when those big booted feet stepped directly into her line of vision. He stopped right behind the dog.
When he still said nothing, Callie slowly tracked her gaze up his body – as far as his flat, firm stomach, where she stalled. And stared, and… She might have licked her lips.
Not my fault.
She was used to precisely groomed, nearly hairless men, but there was definitely something to be said for body hair on a sturdy male form. Unlike the hair on his head, his chest hair was darker and tapered down to a silky, tantalizing line that bisected his muscular torso, framed his navel, and then disappeared into low-hanging, faded jeans.
“This is awkward as shit, with you down there ogling me.”
Embarrassed and possibly a little turned on, Callie cringed at that dark, husky voice. Clearly, that was the wrong reaction, but according to her family and friends, she hadn’t had a correct reaction since cutting Sutter loose.
“Sorry.” Coming to her feet, she racked her brain for an excuse and settled on saying, “Your chainsaw startled me.”
“It’s not behind my zipper.”
Her jaw dropped at the risqué comment, but then she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “No, I’m sure it’s not.” Peering around him, she saw the tool in his large garden wagon. He was close enough now that she detected the scents of hot skin and clean male sweat. Oddly, it hit her like an aphrodisiac. All the recent changes in her life must’ve really stirred up her system. Breaking free of lifelong bonds could do that. Maybe. Seemed like a viable excuse for now.
Deciding to change the topic, she said, “I’m afraid you scared off my cousin.” She had no idea where Glory had gone, and for the moment she couldn’t worry about it. Glory was twenty-five, three years younger than Callie. Surely, she could find her way back to the house.
“I didn’t know you had a cousin.”
That odd answer took her by surprise. “No reason you should.” Since they were strangers, how could he have known anything about her? After brushing her hand on her jeans to remove the dog hair, she offered it to him. “I’m Callie McCallahan. I grew up around here.”
Some emotion, maybe irritation, narrowed his eyes, making them even darker. He didn’t take her hand. “I know who you are, princess.”
Her jaw locked. That was the awful nickname given to her back when her family lived in the area. She’d always hated it, even though it hadn’t necessarily been meant as an insult. It made her sound aloof, untouchable. Unfeeling, when she’d often felt too much.
It insinuated that her mother and father were royalty, and to small town Hoker, Kentucky, maybe they were. Her parents had either owned, or had interests in, nearly every business in town. They had the biggest house, sponsored everything from little league to prom, and kept company with state politicians.
Until recently, they’d dictated every aspect of Callie’s life…and she’d let them.
But no more.
She’d taken a good hard look at her life, at what she wanted, and decided to use the inheritance as the start of a new beginning.