The very next day, Beth wondered if she had dreamed of Joshua being in her room. She had surged awake, and her chamber was frightfully empty. Then she had shifted and winced. That ache between her thighs wasn’t a dream, nor was the three times they had made love for the night, frantic with need for each other.

Where was he? His smell lingered, but the dratted man was nowhere to be found. She went through the motions of the day but paused several times to check her chamber to see if he had returned. It was only hours later, as she dressed for the dinner party that he slipped into her room. Where he came from she hardly knew, for she had been watching the windows. “Where have you been?” she whispered furiously.

“Missed me, did you,” he said with a devastating grin.

She scowled. “I was worried.”

“About me?” He sounded truly shocked.

She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re dangerous and all, but I still worry.”

“I checked myself into a hotel and caught up on some sleep.”

She sighed happily when he came over to her and kissed her. It didn’t take long for the heat to build between them. With a regretful moan, she pulled away. “I have to go. My mother will come looking for me soon. I do not think she would respond well to seeing you here.”

“We need to talk, brown eyes.”

Her heart stilled, and she searched his eyes. "Are you leaving so soon?"

His gaze shuttered. “No.”

Relief filled her. “Please don’t disappear on me. I will stay at the dinner for an hour, and then politely excuse myself. Don’t leave this room.”

He smiled, and her heart flipped in her chest. Joshua made his way to her bed and tugged a book from his back pocket. Then he leaned against the headboard and watched her. She placed the finishing touches on her hair and dabbed perfume behind her ears. Then she twirled to face him. “Do I pass muster?”

The teasing grin on her face slowly faded and a lump formed in her throat. He was staring at her as if she was the most precious thing he had ever seen. She strolled over to him, leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I love you. I shall be up soon.”

After kissing him for a few more minutes, she laughingly pulled away and made her way downstairs. She waited by the entrance with her mother, meeting and greeting their guests. Beth made her way to the drawing room, effortlessly socializing with the well-dressed ladies and gentlemen there while her mother waited for the remainder of the guests to arrive. Champagne flowed freely, and dinner would start soon.

Beth turned around and froze as her mother entered with two men and a woman. One of those men was Cassidy Bartley. There was no mistaking it. He was dressed impeccably, his hair was well groomed, but this was the man who had shot Sheridan and fled like the coward he was to escape justice, all the way to Boston. Who would have thought it?

What was he doing in her mother’s house? They had willingly let a snake into their nest. As if he felt her stare, he glanced in her direction and faltered. He recognized her. Danger rippled across her skin, and Beth acknowledged how much peril her life was in. She looked away, but the man hadn’t the social graces to stop staring. He started to make his way toward her, grim determination in his eyes, a curve of cruelty in his smile.

What he hoped to achieve by approaching her so publicly she couldn’t imagine, but she wasn’t waiting to find out. Though Beth knew what she risked—her reputation, her position in Boston’s society, she pushed through the crowd, moving as fast as possible, circling the room to not cross his path. She did not head to her mother or even Mr. Shaw, but down the hallways and up the winding staircase to Joshua—her safe heaven, her dark knight, and the man she loved with her entire being.

Shoes echoed on the marble floor. Beth glanced down, and she gasped when she saw Bartley rushing behind her, a knife held low against his thigh. Dear God. Beth grabbed the skirt of her dress and ran up the stairs and down to her room. The door was locked, and she banged on it. “Joshua!”

It swung open, he assessed her face.

“It’s Cassidy Bartley,” she said, quite aware the man was almost upon her. She pushed into the room, gasping for she was out of breath.

“Where is he?”

The man hurtled through her open door, and it was almost comical the manner into which Bartley faltered in his headlong rush to reach her when he saw Joshua. Bartley’s face whitened, but her man was already rolling into action. He delivered a powerful hit to the man’s gut and a smashing right to the body, a left that broke Bartley's nose. Joshua dragged him from the room, out into the hallways and pushed him down the stairs. The commotion seemed to alert the household, for her mother appeared in the hall, with David, her husband, and a couple of other ladies in tow.

“Who are you sir and why are you assaulting my guest? Emmet!” her mother all but screeched, looking to her husband for guidance.

“Bethany, what is happening?” her mother whispered, appearing ready to faint.

She closed her eyes. There was no time to explain anything. She had to prevent her love from killing Bartley. Who in truth did not deserve her trying to save him.

Joshua had reached the bottom of the stairs, and Bartley stood his face streaming blood from his broken nose and smashed lips. With a roar of anger, he lunged at Joshua, striking viciously with his knife. Joshua slapped the knife wrist aside, then caught the arm and threw the man over his hip, breaking the arm in the process.

The calm brutality of Joshua was shocking.

Bartley collapsed in a faint.

“Who is that man, and my God, is he wearing guns?” one of the women demanded.

Joshua was indeed wearing two tied-down guns and had the look of a man who knew how to use them. Her mother’s eyes flared wide, and Mrs. Sanderson gasped audibly. He looked so out of place, so raw, so savage, and so…beautiful. Beth’s mouth was dry and her heart pounding. Her mother looked at him like he was the strangest of creatures and Beth grinned. She couldn’t help it. Then she laughed, pulling everyone attention to her.

“Mamma, I would like to introduce you to, Joshua Kincaid, he’s…he’s…” Friend seemed inadequate, but he’s Grayson father did not cover who he was to her, yet they were unmarried. The very notion of even admitting he was anything to her was scandalous and bordered on indecent. “He’s the man I love with every emotion in my heart and soul. And the one I’ll be riding beside always. He is my fiancé.”

Her mother's gaze swung to David. "But…but I thought…oh dear." She'd still possessed foolish hopes for an alliance.

“My word,” Mrs. Sanderson remarked to no one in particular. “This is the second time I’ve seen eyes so green and piercing.”

Her mother blanched and shot accusing eyes towards Beth. It did not ruffle her, in fact, she was proud he was Grayson’s father.

“Joshua Kincaid is Grayson’s father.”

She knew what it implied, and she did not care. The only thing that mattered was the man staring up at her, with that impossibly beautiful smile of his.

He walked away from Bartley who was unconscious and made his way up to her, uncaring of their audience. Emmet Shaw observed it all, quiet contemplation in his eyes. David Shaw looked worried, and he had all right to be.

Joshua reached her and brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheeks. “So, you’ll ride beside me?”

Her heart pounded, and she stepped close to him, ignoring her mother’s gasp. “I will. I love you more than anything.”

“And you’ll marry me, brown eyes?”

“Oh yes.”

He kissed her, wild and hungry, and though Beth blushed fiercely, she was helpless against his tender assault and responded hotly. Joshua pulled from her. “I’ll stay here in Boston with you and Grayson. We could buy a house on the hill, and perhaps I could write a book.”

Happiness burst in her soul. “You’d do that for me?”

“I’d do anything for you. Didn’t you realize Bartley isn’t dead?”

She nodded happily. “I did.”

“That’s because you’ve shown me there can be another way, brown eyes. I’ll let the law take him back to Blue Lagoon for justice.”

She flung her arms around his neck. “Oh Joshua, I love you. And while I think our home in Boston is a wonderful idea, I want to go home with you.”

He stilled, hope flaring in his gaze. “Home…to the Triple K?”

“Yes, and to our cabin.”

“You sure? The west is still savage.”

“I know…and I am less afraid of it. I’ve since realized men can be ugly anywhere, but I know I have the courage to stand against them. I won’t stop learning to shoot and to use my knife, even though I pray I won’t be called upon to use them. But if I am, I will never hesitate to defend those I love, Joshua.”

He kissed her again, and the rough clearing of a throat pulled them apart. Beth stared down at the small gathering. Her mother still seemed dazed, but there was an acceptance in her eyes. David Shaw again looked worried, but Beth ignored him.

“We’ll have to visit Boston often though,” she murmured, smiling at her mother.

“We will,” Joshua promised.

“I think it’s time I introduce you to my mother, and time I tell her what you mean to me, Joshua Kincaid.”

Then they strolled down the hallway, fingers laced together.

Six weeks later…

Boston, Dorchester.

Bethany strolled into the drawing room of the beautiful home Joshua had bought them in Dorchester. In front of the fire, on the large, soft rug before it, Joshua lay with Grayson.

“Papa,” her son chortled attempting to walk again before stumbling.

Joshua caught him, and the sight of father and son had a lump forming in her throat. Though she was happy to travel home to the Triple K, he had been determined to establish them here first. They had married only a few days after he had come for her, and then to her delight they had started house hunting. She had fallen in love with a twenty-room Victorian Mansion that sat on five acres of land. Her shock had been great when her love had bought it for her. She hadn't realized the depth to their wealth.

Their days had been filled with lovemaking, and Joshua had been the picture of elegance as he'd attended a few formal affairs with Beth at her mother's invitation. He'd still been a sore thumb, his aura of ruthlessness impossible to suppress. And perplexingly Boston's elite was intrigued by the wolf clearly in their midst. Beth found it all delightfully absurd.

Though Joshua rode daily on the lanes of their home, at times, she saw a hunger in his eyes for the wild beauty of the land he'd left behind. And Beth had found a likewise echo in her soul to travel home. They had decided a few days ago to go west, for Elijah and Sheridan's wedding drew close, and they missed the Triple K. There they would spend most of their time and would visit Boston a few months out of every year. Kathy would stay with Beth's mother when they traveled west, for she enrolled in school and was determined to succeed.

Beth strolled over, and father and son looked up, identical eyes glowing with pleasure to see her. She lowered herself beside them, first kissing her son, and then her husband.

“I love you,” she whispered, resting her head on her husband’s chest, smiling in pleasure when he started to read.

Life had never been more perfect.