Protected: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella Read online

  He rolled off her but pulled her in close. “God, I’m going to miss this while I’m gone. Ten weeks. What was I thinking? I don’t think I can be away from you for ten weeks.”

  She let her head rest on his chest. There was nothing she loved more than the sound of his heartbeat. “You’re thinking we’ll have a much better chance of eating and having a roof over our heads if you have a job. We can’t stay here. Not unless you’ve changed your mind and you want to work on the ranch.”

  “There’s no way. I can’t stay here. I love my family, but I want more than to spend my life herding cattle and watching my back to make sure some rich shit doesn’t stab me in it.”

  She winced but held on to him. She agreed with him about leaving but wished he would try to get along with everyone. He had a temper and sometimes it flared and struck out at the people around him. Especially Brock. “He’s not that bad.”

  Wade sat up and she wished she hadn’t said anything. “Maybe not around you. He plays nice around you, but there’s something twisted about him. I wish you would stay away from him.”

  “My dad works for his mom. He’s been their company accountant for years,” she pointed out. “I can’t exactly tell him I won’t talk to him.”

  “You encourage him.” He strode to her small bathroom, likely to dispose of the condom he’d used.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” She held the sheet against her torso as she sat up in bed.

  He strode back in, reaching for his boxers. “Baby, it means you’re naïve and you don’t see that massive ass for what he is.” He leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. “And that won’t matter because by the time summer is done, we’ll be married and far out of the reach of Brock Howard and his wretched mother. Hell, if I’m being honest, it’ll be good to be away from my family, too. I know things are tough and I can send some money back home. I love my mom, but that house…it’s not the same since Dad died.”

  She reached out to him, taking his hand. His father had passed away a few months before of a sudden heart attack. All six Rycroft brothers and their mom were still reeling. “Are you sure you’re ready to leave? Because we can stay here for a while. There’s a community college I can go to.”

  He shook his head. “That’s forty miles away. Absolutely not. You take this summer and have fun because in ten weeks you’re going to be mine.” He sat down on the edge of her bed, his hand on her hair. “I’ll take care of you, Genny. You know that, right? We don’t need a ton of money and we don’t need this town.”

  Things would be lean. She would have to find a job, too, but that was nothing new. She’d started working her junior year of high school. Two jobs. She worked after school at the furniture factory Brock’s parents owned, and she tutored junior high and high school kids. She wasn’t afraid of hard work, and then they could send more money back to his mom. Her dad would be all right.

  She nodded and wrapped her arms around him. “We only need each other.”

  “I wish you could come with me to the bus stop in the morning.” He looked down at her wistfully.

  “I can’t make it.” She would potentially lose her job, but she wanted to be with him.

  He winced. “We need the money to buy a car. I wish…”

  She wrapped her arms around him. “It’s fine. This is our plan and we’re going to make it work. The money I earn this summer will set us up.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Damn, baby, I wish I could stay. I don’t want to spend our last night apart. Ten weeks.”

  It sounded like forever, but she wasn’t going to be anything less than optimistic. “The time will fly by. I promise, and you should spend tonight with your brothers. We have the rest of our lives.”

  “I love you.”

  She still couldn’t imagine why he loved her, but she was happy he did. “I love you, too.”

  Two hours later, she’d showered and changed. Her father would be home soon and she was going to have to tell him she was leaving town and marrying Wade at the end of the summer. She wasn’t taking the scholarship to UT Austin. She was choosing love.

  He wasn’t going to be happy about it. To mitigate his anger, she’d decided to make his favorite supper. It might get him in a better mood. After lemon pepper chicken and green beans with almonds, he would surely understand why she was dumping a scholarship in order to marry a soldier.

  Her father had never liked Wade. She doubted some well-cooked poultry would change anything, but she had to try.

  She took the stairs with a little hop in her step because it didn’t matter. Her dad would be upset, but she knew what she wanted and she wanted Wade. She was eighteen years old and she got to make the decisions now.

  She stopped in her tracks when she realized she wasn’t alone in the house. Though it wasn’t time for her father to come home, he sat in the living room. There was a grim look on his face, and he wasn’t the only one. Emily Howard sat on the edge of the old brown sofa that had been in the living room since long before her mother had left them behind. The Howard matriarch perched there like she wanted to be able to move at the first possible moment. She was what Genny had heard called a “handsome” woman, with light blonde hair and a patrician face that would have been attractive if every feature didn’t seem pinched with disdain. She sat next to Brock, who looked awfully self-satisfied.

  And maybe Genny wouldn’t be as scared if she’d merely come face to face with those three. Her father worked for the Howards. It wasn’t so surprising they would be here.

  But the fact that Alma Rycroft and her oldest son, Clint, were in the living room, too, was a shock to her system.

  Brock stood. “Geneva, come and join us, sweetheart.”

  Was Wade right and she was being naïve about Brock? She was foolish. He’d only noticed her as anything more than a friend when she’d started dating Wade. “What’s going on?”

  Alma started crying and Clint held her hand.

  “What’s happened? Where’s Wade?” Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Had something happened to Wade?

  Clint stood. “Wade’s fine, Genny. He’s out with Heath and Clay. But we’re here about Wade. I know you’re planning on joining him when his training is done.”

  Her father looked up at her. “I was surprised to hear that.”

  “I was going to tell you,” she said weakly. Okay, it wasn’t the ideal way to tell him, but it was good to get it all out in the open. Why hadn’t Wade come with them?

  “Sit down,” Mrs. Howard said. “It’s time to explain how your future is going to work, dear. I’m afraid you won’t be joining your little boyfriend after all. You have a life here in Broken Bend.”

  How had they found out? This was precisely why she hadn’t told her father. “I think I’ll make that decision on my own. If you’ll excuse me.”

  When she turned to walk away, Brock blocked her path.

  Genny felt a chill go down her spine and knew nothing would be the same again.

  Chapter One

  Wade Rycroft looked out over the yard where the reception was being held. It was still hard to believe that one of his brothers had finally taken the plunge. His oldest brother, Clint, had done the unthinkable and said I do.

  What was even harder to believe was that Clint had invited Geneva Harris Howard to the festivities. Anger burned in his chest as he looked at the raven-haired beauty. Shouldn’t greed show on that face of hers? How was it possible that she was even more beautiful than she’d been in high school? She should have gotten fat and ugly but no, she was curvy and gorgeous, and his dick still responded to her even when his brain knew she was toxic.

  He took a deep breath and tried to let it go. He shouldn’t let her ruin anything else in his life. On that night fifteen years ago, he’d sworn she had no power over him. Not anymore. She’d made her choice and she could live with it.

  “I can’t believe that harlot is here.”

  He wasn’t the only one watching Geneva. The old bi
ddies of Broken Bend were out in numbers, and they’d made their opinions of Geneva Howard plain. No one had sat with her. She’d taken a place at the back of the church on the bride’s side. She’d been the only one in her row.

  “Well, she’s probably on the prowl, if you know what I mean,” another said. “I heard she’s desperate. The only asset the government didn’t seize was the house, and Brock got that in the divorce.”

  “Brock got everything in the divorce. She signed a prenup. Even though she managed to lie and get poor Brock put in jail, the judge here wasn’t fooled. It’s those Austin types. They think they’re so smart. They ruined this county.”

  “No, she did that. One of these days someone is going to give her what she deserves…”

  Wade took a slow swallow from his longneck and glanced over at the tables set out on the lawn. They were a vivid white against the stark green of the grass. Damn, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this place. The Rockin’ R Ranch was where he’d grown up. He’d been born in the big house and spent his childhood running wild here. When he closed his eyes, he could still see his father on horseback, riding herd, and his momma ringing the bell that brought them all in for dinner.

  Of course, he could also see Genny Harris, lying back on the grass by the pond, her eyes widening as he lowered his body to hers.

  There was a reason he didn’t come back often. Too many ghosts.

  A hand clasped on his shoulder and he found himself smiling at his younger brothers. West and Rand were twins, both leanly muscled with all-American good looks and sandy blond hair.

  He’d missed years with his brothers because of that woman, because he couldn’t stand the thought of seeing her again. Even when he’d returned to Broken Bend, he would spend most of his time here trying to avoid Genny. That had been a stupid mistake.

  It looked like karma was having its sweet way with her. It was definitely time to let go. It was time to forgive himself for being her fool. Maybe now he could relax and have a good time getting to know his brothers again.

  “Clint looks good. I never thought she would get him in that tux,” West said, tipping back his beer.

  “You underestimate our new sister-in-law,” Rand replied. “She’s super sweet until you cross her, and then that girl can take a man down. When I complained about wearing a bow tie and asked her if I could maybe be a bit more casual, she told me I could wear the tie around my neck or she would find a new place to put it. I think she meant my balls. Now she didn’t say she would wrap that bowtie around my balls, but she got that look. You know that look that lets a man know his balls are in trouble? Needless to say, I wore the tie in the traditional way.”

  West sighed as though he’d heard this all before. “You can take it off now. Your balls are safe.”

  Rand shrugged. “I want to be sure. When she’s on a plane to Hawaii, I’ll take it off.”

  It was good to know there was a new matriarch of the Rycroft family. His mom had died ten years before and Clint had been left to keep the brothers in line. He’d been left to save the ranch.

  Of course, that had become a hell of a lot easier when they’d found a rich natural gas reserve right beneath their feet a year and a half before. Another bit of karma. Genny had left him because she didn’t want to be the wife of a poor soldier from an even poorer ranching family, and how those tables had turned.

  Now the first family of Tellis County was in ruins, and the Rycrofts were enjoying more success than their daddy could have dreamed of. Clint had taken the initial money from the natural gas and brought the ranch into the 21st century. He’d joined a collective of independent ranchers, and the Rockin’ R now supplied southern Texas with organic beef. Clint had been smart as hell.

  Clint hadn’t faltered because some girl dumped him.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he said, realizing how much he’d missed out on. “I’m sorry I let so many years go by.”

  West was staring at him like he’d grown two heads. “Sorry? You were serving your country, man. We’re proud of you.”

  “I am in particular.” Rand pulled at the hated tie but still didn’t take it off. “Someone had to do it. There’s been a Rycroft in the military for three generations. Momma used to say we produce too many damn boys. At least one of them had to be sacrificed to the US military. If only to feed him. I’m glad I didn’t have to go. I don’t think I would have been very good at it.”

  “I don’t know,” West said with a shake of his head. “You follow orders really well.”

  “Only if my balls are in question,” Rand replied.

  West sent him a look that had his brother snorting.

  His youngest brothers had a shorthand of their own. Twins. He envied them. Sometimes he felt so solitary he ached with it. Especially now that all his friends were getting married and moving on with their lives. In the past couple of months, he’d watched the whole crew he worked with at McKay-Taggart Security fall for the women of their dreams and get married. A few of them had moved on, leaving him behind to start to rebuild his unit. Even his childhood friends were getting hitched, and now it looked like he would get to watch his brothers start their lives.

  And he was still stuck. He looked out over the lawn again and she was sitting on her own, staring down at her phone. She hadn’t eaten anything at the lovely plated dinner that had been served, and it looked like she wasn’t going to partake of the open bar his brother had provided. He wondered if it wasn’t lavish enough for her. He was certain the parties she’d gone to as Brock Howard’s wife had been much more luxurious than a reception at a ranch.

  Why the hell had she come? No one wanted her here.

  “Who invited her?” The question was out of his mouth before he could think about it. Of course, if he’d thought about it at all, he wouldn’t have asked. The last thing he wanted was for his brothers to think he was pining for a woman who’d dumped him years before.

  Because he wasn’t pining for her. It wasn’t like he compared every woman to her and found them lacking. That would be stupid. He compared them to the woman he thought she’d been. He couldn’t quite find anyone who moved him the way her lies had.

  No, he was grateful to her. She’d saved him from his dumbass younger self.

  West’s jaw had gone stubbornly straight. “It sure as hell wasn’t me.”

  “Hey, we talked about this.” Rand sighed as though he knew he had to take the more mature role. “She’s Lori’s friend.”

  “Friend? I have no idea why Lori puts up with her.” West had crossed his arms over his chest. “Clint has a soft spot for Genny. Always has. Even after she pulled that crap she pulled on you, Clint was right there. More than once I caught him in town having coffee with her over the years. He’s the one who helped her move out of the mansion when they had to sell it because that husband of hers finally got what he deserved.”

  “Clint’s not sleeping with her,” Rand insisted.

  Wade felt his gut twist at the thought of Clint and Genny together. How long had it been going on? Had she been cheating on him with more than one man? He wouldn’t put it past her, but he’d thought better of his brother. “He spends time with her? And Lori lets him?”

  “Of course she lets him because he’s not sleeping with Genny.” Rand was shaking his head. “Look, I don’t begin to claim that I know what is going on between the two of them, but Genny’s not a bad woman. I know she hurt you, Wade. But I think she’s paid for that mistake. I feel bad for her, and I think Clint does, too. There are rumors I don’t like to think about.”

  Rumors? When he’d left Broken Bend, he’d cut himself off from everything but news of his family. When Clint tried to relate some information that might have touched on Genny, he’d shut that shit down and fast. His big brother had learned not to mention her name if he wanted Wade to keep talking. He knew that the years he’d been gone, especially in the beginning, had been tough on Clint. Their mom died while Wade had been deployed. Clint had to keep everyth
ing together but if he’d sought comfort in Genny’s arms, Wade wasn’t sure he could ever forgive his brother.

  Was he really thinking that way? It was obvious Clint loved his new bride, but Genny had a way of getting what she wanted.

  “I’m glad you think so,” West was saying. “I’ve never understood why Clint felt like he needed to help her out. You know he paid for her divorce attorney.”

  Wade’s stomach took a deep dive. He looked out over the lawn, the twinkle lights coming on as the band began to play. Clint escorted his bride out to the floor for their first dance as man and wife.

  Genny still sat by herself, her face tight and drawn as she looked out over the dance floor. Was she pissed off that she might lose her sugar daddy? Or was she planning on how to catch another wealthy husband? There were a couple of men at this wedding who could keep her in lavish style. Jack Barnes, the man who owned the successful ranching collective his brother had joined, was sitting with his wife, Abby, and his partner, Sam Fleetwood. Barnes was a highly connected businessman and rancher who could introduce her to any number of rich men. He was sure she would prefer to be married to one of them, but she wasn’t eighteen anymore and she came with the encumbrance of a kid. There were men who wouldn’t want to raise Brock Howard the fourth. She might have to settle for being some rich man’s mistress.

  But she wasn’t going to be his brother’s mistress. No fucking way.

  “Wade?”

  He wasn’t sure which brother called out his name. All he knew was it was time to break his silence with her. He’d tried to avoid her, but now he realized he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to allow her to ruin his brother’s life.

  She glanced up, her eyes widening when she realized he was coming her way. She stood, straightening the dress that was a bit too loose on her. Now that he was closer to her, he could see the fine lines around her eyes. It was good to know time hadn’t left her completely unmarked.