Julian turned the Audi down the long gravel drive that led to the Barnes-Fleetwood ranch. A warm sense of satisfaction poured over his system. Jackson Barnes was a man he admired. Jackson had done well. He’d come from less than nothing and truly built a life for himself. The house in the distance was lovely. He could see a large main house and a guesthouse. From Jackson’s descriptions he knew there was also housing for something Jackson had called the “hands.” It was his first visit to the ranch, and he suspected his former protégé would teach him all about ranching. Despite having been born and raised in Texas, Julian had never been close to a cow that wasn’t sitting on his dinner plate and cooked to medium rare.

“You know Jack Barnes?” Danielle sat up straight in her seat now, her eyes on the house in front of them.

It had taken roughly ten minutes to get from that tiny town she was fleeing to the ranch. He’d been amused at how quickly she’d relaxed and allowed her eyes to drift closed. She trusted quickly. It could be a dangerous thing if she met the wrong person. He had the feeling the woman beside him was a true submissive. She’d probably been taken advantage of all her life for that reason. She needed a strong, dominant partner. It was a good bet she wouldn’t find one here.

“He’s a friend,” Julian replied simply.

She didn’t need to know that Jackson Barnes used to be the Dom in residence at the sex club Julian owned and operated. The Club was his own personal haven. It was for experienced Dominants and their submissives. This soft little thing was obviously submissive, but she would never see the inside of a BDSM club. It simply wasn’t her world. Despite her attempt at freedom, Julian knew she would end up right back in that church marrying the yokel next door.

People didn’t change.

He studied the curve of her porcelain cheek. She wasn’t a delicate girl. She was all curves and breasts. And the ridiculous gown she was wearing still overpowered her. If he had been dressing her, he would have kept it simple. He would have put her in a simple tailored gown that showed off her perfect skin and what looked to be an hourglass figure. Julian was surprised at how aroused he’d been while kissing the woman beside him. She’d gotten to him, and he wasn’t sure how. Somewhere between making the decision to calm her down and that moment when she sighed and went languid in his arms, she’d flicked a switch on. Julian wasn’t sure he wanted it switched off again. His cock certainly didn’t. He was still hard.

“Are you staying here, or just saying hello?” Danielle asked.

He had an almost irresistible urge to reach out and place his hand on her hair. He wanted to smooth it down and calm the panic he could see was clearly rising in her. He forced his hand to stay on the steering wheel. “I told you I was on vacation. I’m spending the week here with my friends.”

He had to admit it felt good to want someone. He would enjoy peeling back her layers and getting to the woman underneath. A smart idea? Perhaps not. Danielle seemed to be trouble. The tight feeling in his groin told him he might not mind a bit of trouble. He would have to ponder it. He never made snap decisions. Getting involved with the woman next to him carried certain risks he would have to carefully contemplate. He would sit down after dinner and give the decision the consideration it deserved. She obviously needed kindness. He had to decide if he could give that to her.

She was staring at her hands. It seemed to Julian that she was trying to make a decision. Perhaps she needed a bit of space. “When you’re ready, come inside and find me. If you choose to stay, I’ll have Jackson make up a room for you. If you choose to go, I’ll arrange transportation. Is there anything you need right now?”

She shook her head and didn’t look at him, instead staring at her hands as they twisted in her lap. He thought briefly about kissing her again. It had worked the first time. He discarded the idea as dangerous. He set the parking brake as the door to the ranch house opened.

Jackson was suddenly in the doorway, a wide smile on his face and something odd attached to his chest. It moved, then appeared to yawn.

“Julian! Damn, man, it’s good to see you.” Jackson Barnes’s voice carried over the huge front lawn. He was a tall, broad man with dark hair. It wasn’t covered with a cowboy hat this afternoon. Julian had rarely seen Jackson without a Stetson on his head in years.

Julian slipped out of the car and had his hand out as he crossed the yard. “I thought I would never get here. This is a beautiful place you have.”

“That’s all Abby’s work. She’s whipped this place into shape. She has your room all fixed up.” Jackson’s face split in a wide grin as he shook hands with Julian.

Julian studied the contraption Jackson was wearing. It looked like someone had tied a large scarf around his neck and back and formed a pouch. It was not what he had expected his tough cowboy friend to wear. The small child on his chest opened its eyes. Emerald green orbs studied him carefully. A tuft of dark hair sat on top of the baby’s head.

Julian stared at the small human. “Well, there is no question who fathered this child.” He was the spitting image of his father. He yawned like a tiny lion.

Jackson flushed slightly. His big hand came out to cover the baby’s belly, holding him close. “They tricked me. Abby wanted one more baby. I agreed. What I didn’t agree to was Sam getting a vasectomy while I was away on business. Let me tell you, that was a whipping he won’t forget.”

“Why on earth would Samuel do that?” The very thought made his blood boil. If one of his subs had done that, he would have dismissed him immediately. Any decision like that should have been cleared through the sub’s Dom. But of course, Jackson couldn’t dismiss Sam. They had a family together. This was why marriage could never work for him. “If Abigail wanted another child, why should Sam cut out half of her chances?”

“They wanted this baby to be mine.”

The black-haired baby smiled. His sleepy green eyes were barely open. He was a cute thing. “I thought the three of you decided you wouldn’t do a paternity test on Olivia unless it became medically necessary.”

Jackson’s hand gently smoothed the baby boy’s hair down. “Yeah, well, sometimes you don’t need a paternity test. Look at Josh here.”

“But Olivia looks like Abigail. You can’t know which one of you fathered her.”

There was a tremendous crash as the front door slammed open, and a small ball of energy ran out of the house at breakneck speed. Julian had a brief glimpse of a red-haired girl in overalls and sneakers.

“Look, Daddy!” the girl screamed at the top of her lungs. “I’m running. I’m running, Daddy!” She motored across the yard and then began sprinting in circles, giggling madly. Her small face was turned up to the sun. “Watch me, Daddy.”

Jackson watched the girl with the softest look in his eyes. “We’re watching you, baby girl. Josh and me wouldn’t want to watch anything else.” He kept his eyes on the three-year-old. “She has Sam’s smile. She might look like Abby, but everything else is pure Sam.” Jack turned, and his whole face was lit up. “She is hell on wheels. Keeping her alive is a full-time occupation. She’s already climbed the bookshelves. She’s brilliant at escaping any crib or playpen we put her in, and she loves to try to ride the dogs. She’s only three. I can’t wait to see what she tries next.”

It sounded perfectly atrocious to Julian. A child couldn’t be reasoned with. A child wouldn’t understand what he was willing to give and what he needed to withhold. A child simply needed everything. There was no contract one signed with a child. There was no out clause. Being a parent was messy. Like being a husband was messy. But being a Dom, that was neat and clean, with firmly placed boundaries.

He stared at the tiny girl. She was petite with a mass of wild red hair. She grinned as she ran, her joy completely infectious. Like Sam. Sam had a child. Six-month-old Josh was more awake now. He watched his sister with a lazy smile on his face. The baby looked almost indulgently affectionate, just like his father. What did Jack feel when he looked into the face of his son? A strange sentimentality stole across Julian. His own father had died when Julian was a child. Had his father had the same odd look of wonder on his face when he looked down at Julian as Jackson had on his?

Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood continued her crazy play. Jackson’s eyebrows crept up, and he suddenly was focused on the car in the drive. “Is there something you would like to announce, Julian? Has this vacation turned into a honeymoon? It looks like your bride is getting away.”

Sure enough, Danielle was making her way slowly down the drive. She walked lopsidedly, as though one of her heels had broken. Where did she think she was going? It was apparent to him that she had no one to rely on and nowhere to go. He checked the sudden urge to chase after her. If she wanted to go, he should allow her to do so. He’d never once forced a girlfriend to stay with him. Girlfriend? He hadn’t had one of those in so long, he almost didn’t remember the last one’s face. He didn’t have girlfriends or boyfriends. He had submissives. And he had never forced one to stay when they wanted to leave.

Although he couldn’t allow her to simply stumble down the road in that hideous dress. She would get into trouble.

“She says her name is Danielle.” Julian was well aware that his former protégé was studying him carefully. He’d trained Jackson himself, and one of the things he had been good at was reading body language. Julian worked to keep his face as placid as possible.

Jack obviously had lost that particular talent. His eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open. “Danielle Bay? You married Abby’s clinic manager? I thought she was supposed to marry that mechanic Jimbo today. Sam and Abby went to the wedding.”

“Not my bride, but she is very insistent on running away. Oh, look, your daughter is much better at catching her than her poor groom.”

Jackson threw his head back and laughed as Olivia parked herself on Danielle’s train. She sat right down on the extra-long satin extension.

“Daddy, I’m getting a ride!”

Danielle stopped and pulled at her train. When she couldn’t dislodge the child, she pleaded for a moment. Julian waited to see if she would shove the child off. She simply sat down next to the little girl in the middle of the driveway. It was mere seconds before she began to sob into her hands.

“Damn, things must have gone awfully wrong for that girl.” Jackson started to walk across the lawn.

Little Olivia stood, walking across the white train. She placed her hand on the strange woman’s head and started to speak. Whatever the girl said made Danielle open her arms and draw the child in. She clung to her small body and wept.

Julian sighed and couldn’t stand another moment of indecision. He gave in to his instinct. He reached the crying bride long before Jack could. In the end, he simply kneeled and wrapped his arms around both woman and child. As Dani’s hands found his shoulders he realized how much trouble he was in.

He really shouldn’t have stopped at that light.

 

* * * *

 

The air conditioner hummed to life, blowing cold air into the hallway of the church. Valerie Bay was grateful for the chill. The heat outside was nothing compared to the flames when she thought about what had happened. That cool breeze hitting the back of her neck was the only thing she was grateful for today.

“Well, I never. I swear this town is going straight to the d-e-v-i-l.” Audrey Miller always spelled out the devil’s name because to actually say it was to invite him in.

Her friend Miranda Knight shook her head in agreement.

Idiots. Valerie was surrounded by them. She was in a church full of them, but she couldn’t run away. Her stupid bitch sister had already pulled the vanishing act for the day. She needed a drink, but she wasn’t going to find that in the First Methodist Church of Willow Fork.

Audrey Miller shook her finger Valerie’s way. She was dressed in her very best ankle-length cotton skirt and button-up shirt. It was, of course, buttoned all the way to the top, as though she was worried anyone would want to catch a glimpse of those old boobs. Her thin lips pressed together. “Your poor mother would simply die, if the good Lord hadn’t already called her home.”

While Val couldn’t stand the old woman, she was on the church’s social board. Audrey Miller had power in Willow Fork. Val forced herself to nod. “You’re right. It’s the only thing to explain my sister’s actions, Mrs. Miller. The d-e-v-i-l must have gotten to Dani.”

Something had gotten to her, that was for sure. Danielle had started walking down the aisle, looking like a fat cow in white satin, then her face had gone as white as her dress, and she turned and ran. Jimbo had looked surprised, but that queer of hers had been the one to take off after her. Finn had made an even bigger scene than Dani. He’d screeched her name all up and down Main Street until Dani had hopped into someone’s car and it had driven off. God only knew where she was now. If she had any sense at all, she would get herself murdered and spare them all the shame of having to see her again.

“And she must have been planning it.” Hillary Glass’s voice grated on Val’s last nerve. The terror with a walker wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste. “She had a car waiting for her and everything.”

Val checked her instinct to flee. The elderly were circling like judgmental sharks sensing blood. Val moved back from Hillary Glass. Many a toe had suffered damage from the old biddy’s walker, and Val was pretty sure they weren’t all accidents. “I don’t think she planned it. Dani has impulse control issues.”

She had to turn this around, find a way to illicit sympathy for herself or all might be lost. All her hard work gone because Dani was chicken shit.

“Poor Jimbo’s momma is crying in the bathroom.” Miranda Knight had strangely bright blonde hair for a woman her age. It formed an old-style beehive and might weigh more than the woman herself. She was cadaverously thin. “Leah says she should have known the lord was trying to send her a message by allowing the engagement party to be ruined by That Woman deciding to have her child right there in the community center. It was scandalous.”

Val nodded, eager to pile on Abigail Barnes. They never said her name out loud, either. She was simply That Woman. They claimed Abby Barnes had killed Ruby Echols. Any woman who could take on that nasty old witch and come out on top was a woman Val didn’t want to cross. Not that she would mention that to this group. Hating Abby Barnes was practically a religion to these women. “I tried to convince Dani she shouldn’t invite That Woman, but she never listens to me.”

And she damn well should. She’d been left to pick up Dani’s mess. At least she had some sense. She’d moved everyone into the reception hall where the gossip had started to flow thicker than molasses in winter. The older people were all discussing Satan, and by Satan, they meant Jack Barnes. The rancher and his wife and whatever the hell Sam Fleetwood was were the subject of most of the gossip around town. Oh, no one in their right mind would be anything but polite to the trio. They were far too scared of Barnes, and then there were the rumors about what Sam could do to a person who insulted Abby.

When Dani had gone to work for Abby Barnes, everyone had said it was only a matter of time before she got pulled into whatever crazy sex things went on at that ranch. Val had tried to talk Dani out of it, but she was adamant about working in the clinic. Now look what had happened. That fat cow had walked out on the only man who ever gave her a second glance.

“You poor thing.” Audrey Miller patted her shoulder. “You’ve had to put up with so much.”

Val felt herself flush as shame flooded her body. She prayed no one noticed. She hated to be the object of their pity.

“First your father up and runs away,” Audrey continued.

“If that was her father. You can’t ever be sure with that type.” Hillary said it to Miranda, but Val didn’t miss the jibe. There was nothing to do but take it.

“Then your mother dies, and you have to depend on Danielle. We all know she doesn’t make the best choices when it comes to friends.”

Just like clockwork, the doors opened and Finn Taylor walked through looking like a zombie. His face was slack, and he sort of stumbled through, not paying any attention to the people around him. He disappeared behind the door to the bridal room.

“It’s wrong.” Hillary shook her head as she stared at the door Finn Taylor had closed.

Val mumbled something about getting a glass of water and fled. She avoided the reception hall, needing a moment. She turned down a quiet hall that led to the Sunday school rooms.

Val glanced at herself in the reflective glass of the trophy case. The Methodists regularly trounced the Presbyterians in softball and had the trophies to prove it. Damn, she looked good. She had picked out the bridesmaid dresses herself. The pink brought out her delicate skin, and the sheath emphasized her slender figure. She could still fit into her old cheerleader uniform. Not many people could say that. Certainly not Dani, though Dani had already been portly in high school.

Damn her. Val had worked her ass off to make sure this was a great social event. She’d intended to use this as a stepping stone. She wasn’t going to be one of those trashy Bay girls anymore. The Smart family might not be the cream of the crop, but they were a definite move in the right direction. They owned their own land and attended the right church. They didn’t live in a rundown old house and scrape for every penny the way the Bays had for decades.

She was grateful to her sister for sticking around after their mom died. Dani had put her through college. Of course that had been the sensible thing to do. She was the one with potential. She was the one who made good choices. By the time she was in junior high, Val had already eclipsed her older sister in every way that mattered. Dani might have been a straight A student, but that wasn’t what counted, not really. What counted was how well you fit in. Val had ruled the school with an iron fist. She’d been the Queen Bee.

She was going to be that again. Marrying her sister off had been the first step. Then all she had to do was get Dani to sell Val her half of the land they’d inherited. How the hell was she going to do that if Dani didn’t leave? She was on a timetable. Sooner or later the mayor was going to announce the development of that land, and then Dani would get half of the six figures their pitiful piece of Willow Fork was going to go for. The only reason John Hartley hadn’t announced the development yet was the fact that Val would cut him off. She couldn’t keep him on her sexual string forever.

“You got any idea where Dani went?”

Val spun around. Jimbo Smart stood behind her in his tuxedo jacket and black denims. She hadn’t been able to convince him to wear the trousers. Jimbo might be all right in the sack, but he was a dumbass everywhere else. It briefly ran through Val’s mind that maybe her sister had found out she was screwing Jimbo. She decided the only way to deal with the situation was to power through. “None whatsoever. You want to tell me what you did?”

That was the way to do it. Put the blame on everyone but herself. It worked almost every time. Sure enough, the dumbass mechanic reddened.

“I didn’t do nothing, Val. Hell, I ain’t even talked to her in a couple of days except at the rehearsal dinner. I did exactly what you told me to and laid low.” His boots moved restlessly across the floor. He kept his voice quiet. “I let Momma handle her. I have no damn idea why she did that. She seemed fine last night. She spent all her time with Finn, but she seemed happy.”

Finn. Damn him. Finn was the cause of all this chaos, Val knew it. Dani had been fine with her fate right up to the minute Finn drove into town and got out of his fancy car. It was pathetic. Val wasn’t stupid. She knew her sister was in love with a man who would never return it, not the way a woman needed to be loved. Jimbo would have given Dani kids and a house to keep and some sort of place in the community, besides her current place of pathetic doormat old maid. Now Dani was going to be the crazy, pathetic doormat old maid. And Val was her sister, painted with the same damn brush.

“Obviously she wasn’t happy or she would still be here getting ready to toast her new marriage.”

Jimbo shrugged out of his tuxedo coat. “Maybe it’s for the best. She’s a nice enough girl and all, but she’s pretty damn cold in the sack.” He winked at Val. “Not like you, sweet thing.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not here. Will you try to look like a sad groom?”

He leaned against the faded paneling beside the trophy case. “I’m not really. Look, Val, my momma told me I had to get married. Dani was sweet, but she sucks in bed. I don’t get it. She’s got a rocking body. Anyway, she doesn’t want to get married. Fine. I’ll find someone else. You’re available, right?”

Val’s stomach twisted in revulsion. As much as she enjoyed Jimbo, she was never going to be the wife of a mechanic. Now, the wife of a politician, that she might be able to handle. But John Hartley was never going to leave his middle-aged wife for a retail clerk. She had to bring in some cash of her own. And that meant getting rid of her sister. One way or another.

Val turned on her stilettos, not bothering to answer the redneck who couldn’t even get someone like Dani to marry him. It had all gone to hell. She strode into the reception hall, determined to figure out a way out of the mess her sister had left her with.