Ruby was still lying on the bed, her head propped up by pillows. Her body was covered in a shiny coat of glistening perspiration. The sapphire bracelet sparkled on her wrist. For a moment, I imagined her body covered in a bikini made of sapphires and platinum. Maybe a few small diamonds for glitter.

But Ruby didn’t need that kind of ornamentation. She was at her most beautiful naked, with her hair down. Right now, it was still in the messy ponytail. I pulled her forward and worked the band out of her hair.

“God, Ryan. It’s going to be a big tangled mess.”

“No. It’s beautiful.”

She looked down shyly.

I tipped her chin up, forcing her gaze to mine. “Everything about you is beautiful, Ruby. You’re the only one who never saw it. You tried hiding away your beauty, covering it up, but I saw it.” I smiled. “And you know what? I don’t think you’ve had nearly enough orgasms.” I gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then nuzzled her neck, sliding down, giving each nipple a tug with my lips and then spreading her legs. I inhaled her sweet scent.

Then I dived in. I slid my tongue between her wet folds, nipping at her clit. She tasted so good, our juices mingled together. I looked up at her, her eyes glazed over as she watched me. “I think I could eat you forever, baby.”

I continued my assault, thrusting my tongue into her wetness and then adding two fingers. That was all it took to send her over the edge. She clamped down on my hand, and I took my mouth from her for a moment and watched her lips quiver with the contractions of her climax.

But only for a moment. Then I sank my tongue back into that beautiful, delicious pussy.

“Ryan!” she cried out. “God, Ryan!”

Her voice spurred me on, and I continued to fuck her with my fingers while I nipped at her clit. She smothered me in her cream and I savored it, licking my lips. When she came again, this time I didn’t lean back. I clamped my lips around her clit and sucked, taking her higher and higher.

When her shuddering slowed, I pushed her thighs forward. Her little rose of an asshole beckoned. It shone with the juices that had dripped from her pussy. How I longed to stroke it with my tongue once again, to show her the pleasures it would bring.

Ruby was still so inexperienced. No way would she be ready for real ass play.

One day. And hopefully soon.

“Beautiful,” I whispered, looking at the paradise between her legs.

Then I couldn’t help myself. I swiped my tongue over her rosy anus.

Before she could object, I went back to her pussy, sucking her labia between my teeth and tugging.

But she grabbed my hair and pulled me forward. “Need you inside me now. Please.”

Since she said please. I crawled upward, giving each turgid nipple a tug as I went, and plunged into her heat.

Sweet home.

She hugged me so completely. So effortlessly. As if she’d been created to perfectly cast my cock. I groaned as I pulled out and thrust back in. Heaven. Sweet paradise. Paradise between the legs of the woman I loved.

I closed my eyes and surrendered to the moment, to this woman, as I—

Someone knocked at the door.

I stopped in midthrust.

Ruby chuckled. “Pizza.”

As if on cue, my stomach growled.

“Shit,” I said.

“You have to answer it, or he’ll leave.”

“Guess I’ll have blue balls for a while.” I pulled out—with great effort—and stood, shucking my jeans over my legs, my hard on apparent.

Ruby burst out laughing. “I’ll get the door.” She got up and yelled, “Just a minute!” Then she put on a robe from the bathroom and left the bedroom.

I willed my cock down to half-mast—that was the best I was going to get—and went into the living area to join her. She had poured two more glasses of the merlot and dished out two slices of pizza onto napkins.

“Come and get it,” she said.

I inhaled the spicy tomato aroma. Pizza and wine. Then sleep.

And then…tomorrow.

---

Back at the ranch, I rode through the vineyards to check on things and then went to do my usual tastings of what was aging in the barrels. I needed to hire some help. Jade had helped me in the office when she first came to town but had left to work in the city attorney’s office once she passed the bar exam. I hadn’t gotten around to hiring anyone else.

Ruby popped into my mind.

She’d be great. She was smart and she learned quickly. Plus, she liked wine and wanted to know more about it. But she’d never leave the police force. I couldn’t ask her to. She’d consider it an insult.

She was at work now, most likely answering questions about her boss’s death. One more death at the hands of Theodore Mathias. She and I had come from some paragons of parenthood between the two of us.

DNA didn’t lie. I wondered if Ruby had ever considered having her DNA tested. My fate was sealed at this point, but maybe hers wasn’t. Did she know for sure that she was Theodore Mathias’s daughter? She didn’t look anything like him, except for her hair color. Of course that didn’t mean anything. Talon and Joe didn’t look anything like Daphne Steel, except for their hair color.

I wouldn’t bring it up, but if she did, I’d support her in getting a test. To do a test, though, we’d need Mathias’s DNA. Getting that could be a problem.

I looked at my phone for the time. Nearly lunch. I was meeting Talon and Joe at the main house to discuss the future lawmakers ring. I had a lot to tell them.

---

“Yeah, that’s what he said.” I took a bite of my juicy hamburger. “‘The devil is in the details.’”

“It could mean nothing,” Talon said.

“Or it could mean everything,” Joe contradicted. “It could be one of his obscure clues, like Melanie said.”

“But how likely is it that Bryce’s uncle figured the whole thing out just by using a computer program to twist and realign the symbol? It could have come up as anything.” Talon sipped his iced tea.

“True,” Joe said. “But there’s no denying that it’s a form of the female symbol. The other meanings may or may not be accurate.”

“Mathias has the phoenix tattoo,” I interjected. “Another symbol of evil or the devil.”

“Look,” Talon said, “I’ll be the last person to take Mathias’s side, but lots of people like the symbolism of the phoenix. Most people probably don’t even know that occultists associate it with the devil. Hell, Jade was going to get one herself. Thank God she didn’t.”

“My mother was no help,” I said. “But that’s no surprise.”

“And she won’t budge on Dad?”

I shook my head. “Just says he’ll come to us when he’s ready to. Oh”—I swallowed—“she seemed to indicate that he was being held captive somewhere.”

“What?”

“Don’t take anything she says too seriously,” I said. “But that’s what she seemed to be getting at.”

“We have to find him,” Joe said.

“How? Larry won’t say anything,” Talon said. “And Wendy doesn’t even know what the truth is.”

“She might know,” I said. “Ruby has this theory that there are reasons behind all of Wendy’s lies. That she’s very calculating.”

“Larry did say she was a genius,” Joe said.

“Larry’s a psycho,” Talon said. “Don’t forget that he took part in everything they did to me. He didn’t just stand idly by and watch.”

“Tal, they’re all psychos. That’s a given.” Joe cleared his throat. “In fact, there’s something we really need to consider.”

“What?” I asked.

“We need to consider that Dad might be just as psychotic as the rest of these people.”