Mastered by Malone (Haven Texas Book 6) Page 2

  “I’ll have to tell them,” he warned Jardin. “They’ll need to be on high alert.” Fuck, it just might be what they needed to keep them focused for a while and out of trouble. Give him a bit of breathing room to get some shit done around there.

  Jardin grimaced. “Jesus, do we have to tell them?”

  “Don’t you think they’ll notice a woman living in the house? Unless you expect me to keep her locked in her room.” He pretended to consider that. “Not a bad idea. Easiest way to keep her safe.” And out of his hair. Fuck. Why was he agreeing to this? Some strange woman in his house. A woman bringing trouble with her.

  “You can’t keep her locked in a room. How do we get them to keep their hands off her?”

  “Guess that’s up to her now, isn’t it? My brothers would never force a woman.”

  “Of course they wouldn’t. They’d just charm her into bed and then kick her out the next day when she started to bore them. Because they have short attention spans. And then where does that leave her? Stuck here for another two months with no way to get away from them.”

  Alec sighed. Why him? “Fine, I’ll make sure they know she’s off limits.”

  “Let’s hope they’ll listen. I’m starting to have second thoughts.”

  “Jesus, will you stop whining. You brought this up because you know I can keep her safe. I’ll keep them away from her. So, just be grateful.”

  “And will they keep her presence here a secret?”

  “They know how to keep their mouths shut. They learned that young. Especially when it comes to fucking family shit.”

  “You have such a way with words.”

  “Hey, we can’t all have degrees from some fancy college, city boy,” Alec said, putting on his best ol’ boy Texas drawl. “We jus’ be poor hillbillies here.”

  Jardin ignored his sarcasm. “You sure about this? I know I’m asking you to put yourselves at risk for a stranger.”

  “It’s not for a stranger, it’s for Lottie.”

  Jardin gave a nod. But there was a note of something in his gaze. Sadness. Fear. Gratitude.

  “I’ll keep her safe,” Alec told him.

  A sound like cattle stampeding could be heard through the house. Things rattled on Alec’s desk and he sighed.

  Jardin ran his hand over his face. “Maybe locking her in her room is a better idea that having her meet your brothers. They’ll probably have her running for the hills in a day.”

  Alec shrugged. His obligation was to keep her alive. He’d do that however he needed to. It wasn’t his problem to worry about her feelings.

  “She’s a good cook. She’s worked in restaurants before. I thought you could tell people you’d hired a cook.”

  Alec just sent him a look. “I don’t need to tell anyone anything. And the last time I hired a cook, he ended up running down the driveway, buck naked, screaming that the spawn of Satan was on his tail.”

  “Christ.”

  “Told those boys I wasn’t hiring anyone else to take care of their asses.”

  “Which is why this house is always a disaster,” Jardin muttered.

  Alec didn’t think that required an answer. Besides, it was true. The place was a cesspool. Wasn’t so bad when Alice had lived there. The older woman had kept house for him. But she’d retired and moved to Baltimore to help her daughter look after her babies about a year ago. He’d hired a cook to help out and he hadn’t even lasted a week. He’d given up after that.

  Alec stood and left the office, walking into the kitchen and the chaos that was his family. Mounds of sandwiches, which is what they all basically lived on, were being created on the table in the center of the huge kitchen. This place had once looked like a showroom. And now, well, it resembled feeding time at the zoo.

  He let out a piercing whistle and his brothers all shut up, looking over at him.

  “I’ve got to learn to do that,” Jardin muttered behind him.

  “They won’t pay any attention if you do it,” Alec told him. “Listen up. Got a situation. We got a woman coming to stay, she’s a witness to a mob hit. Now she’s got a hit on her. We’re gonna protect her.”

  “She hot?” Tanner asked.

  “How old is she?” Beau asked.

  “Can she cook?” Raid added.

  Alec glared at them all. “It doesn’t matter what she looks like, you’re all going to keep your fucking dicks in your pants. Understand me? She needs protecting, not seducing.”

  “Why are we looking out for her? What’s she to us?” West asked. West was the quietest of the lot. And the one least likely to get in trouble. Or at least any trouble Alec knew of. West was tight-lipped. And smart.

  “Jardin’s friend—”

  “Wait,” Jaret interrupted. “Jardin has a friend? By God, now I’ve heard it all.”

  They all laughed. Even West cracked a smile.

  “For fuck’s sake,” Jardin muttered.

  “Came as a shock to me too,” Alec agreed.

  “You’re just egging them on,” Jardin complained, sending him a look.

  “But his supposed friend is this woman’s cousin. He’s been hiding her, but the hit man found her and killed her next-door neighbor, thinking it was her.”

  “Still don’t see why we need to stick our necks out for her, especially if we don’t get anything out of it,” Maddox complained.

  “You ever heard of being good Samaritans?” Jardin asked.

  Alec just sent him a look as his brothers started to scoff at that idea. “Don’t try to help.” He turned to his brothers. “The reason we’re going to help is because Jardin’s friend is the one who found Lottie.”

  They all fell silent and looked over at Jardin.

  “So, you all in? You got to keep this quiet, keep your dicks in your pants, and be prepared for shit to go down.”

  Raid smiled wide. “I’m always ready for shit to go down.”

  “That’s cause you cause most of that shit.” Beau gave him a dark look. “Not a chance in hell of you keepin’ your fucking dick in your pants.”

  “You’re just jealous because I had a taste of Lucy first. Fuck that woman could—” His words were drowned out as Beau jumped on him with a roar of fury.

  Alec ran his hand over his face. He was too old for this shit. Knowing he wouldn’t get any sense out of them until they’d worked off some steam, he turned and walked out.

  “Christ, I think I’ve just made a huge mistake,” Jardin said from behind him.

  He glanced back. “What? Wearing a three-piece suit during summer in Texas, yeah, well . . . ”

  “I mean asking those louts in there to protect the only witness to a horrific crime. Her testimony is going to send Frankie Angelo to prison for a long fucking time—”

  “Wait, Frankie Angelo?” Alec turned back sharply to gape at his cousin. “The Monster of Manhattan?”

  “Yep, first time there’s ever been a live witness.”

  “You didn’t tell me it was Frankie Angelo who has a hard-on for her.” Fuck. Shit.

  “Problem? I didn’t know you knew him.”

  “I don’t,” Alec said quickly. “Met his dad a few times.” That had been enough. “He finds out she’s here and he’ll come after all of us. Not just me and my brothers, he’ll come after the rest of the family as well.”

  “Then we need to make sure he doesn’t find out,” Jardin said grimly.

  “I want her name first,” Alec told him. “I want to do some checking before she gets here.”

  Jardin nodded. “As long as you can do it without raising any alarm bells.”

  Alec just shot him a look.

  There was a loud yell from the kitchen. Jardin grimaced. “You sure they can be trusted?”

  “They may act like overgrown children, but they’re tough, they’re loyal, and occasionally they even use their brains.”

  “Glad to hear they’ve got some.”

  “Relax. I have everything under control. But I won’t be forgetting you owe me.
”

  “I didn’t think you would.”

  2

  She stared at the imposing gates looming in front of her.

  “I think this is the place,” her cousin muttered from beside her as he stared out the window. They’d been driving for days. Staying in crappy motels that didn’t give a shit whether your ID was fake as long as your cash was real.

  They hadn’t taken the most direct route to get there. Instead, Mike had done a lot of backtracking, to ensure they weren’t being followed. Neither of them had slept much over the past few days, Mike because he was in bodyguard mode, worried about protecting her. Her, because she knew if she fell asleep the nightmares would get hold of her.

  Wrought iron gates hung between concrete posts. On one post was a small wooden sign: Lonely Horse Ranch.

  “You don’t have to do this, sunshine,” Mike said quietly. “We can leave. I can protect you.”

  Mike was a warrior, a guardian, and it chafed not being able to look after her. Especially as this place and the man who owned it were unknowns to them both.

  Alec Malone.

  She liked his name. It was a strong name.

  “I know you can,” she told him. Not for the world would she ever say she doubted his ability to keep her safe. But if anything happened to Mike while he was protecting her, she’d never forgive herself.

  Oh, but it’s fine to put a stranger at risk?

  “But we’d be running for the next two months trying to stay ahead of this hit man. This is a better solution.” I hope.

  Mike reached over and took hold of her hand in his. Drat, she’d been tapping her fingers against her thigh. Something she only did when she was feeling nervous or scared. He gave her hand a squeeze. “If you hate it here, if you want to leave, if you need anything, you call me, and I’ll come.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away before looking over at him. “I love you.” He was her everything. Her only family. She wouldn’t risk him for anything.

  “Love you too, sunshine.” He gave her hand a final squeeze and let it go. Then he drove forward and opened the car window, reaching out with his hand to press down on the buzzer.

  Here goes nothing.

  “What the hell is Tanner doing?” Jardin asked.

  Alec studied the dusty sedan making its way slowly up the driveway. It hit a pothole and bounced. It wasn’t made for country driving. Of course, he kept his driveway purposely rough in order to dissuade anyone from visiting—or returning. Tanner was sitting on the trunk, his arm resting along the roof.

  “I sent him down to greet them.”

  Jardin turned to give him a look. “You did what?”

  “Someone had to go.”

  “Yes, but Tanner? He doesn’t have a filter on his mouth. Polite isn’t in his vocabulary.”

  Alec shrugged. “Figured she should know what she’s in for.”

  “Or you were hoping she’d call things off and then you wouldn’t have to take her in,” Jardin muttered.

  Alec sent him a look. “Either works.”

  The sedan came to a stop. Yeah, it had probably been a dick move. Tanner wasn’t a jerk; he didn’t have a nasty bone in his body. But there was little he took seriously, and he was an incorrigible flirt.

  He jumped off and raced over to open the passenger door to the car. That didn’t surprise Alec. His brothers didn’t have many manners, but they knew how to charm the pants off a woman. Fuck. Maybe he’d made a mistake in sending Tanner. Knowing his luck, the woman in the car wouldn’t take offense and refuse to stay, she’d fall in love and follow his brother around like a lovesick teenager.

  Alec sighed. Then she stepped out and raised her hand to her face to shield her eyes as she stared up at Tanner. Her gaze dropped to the ground and his stomach clenched. Then she turned and looked up to where he and Jardin stood on the porch and it felt like he’d been sucker-punched.

  She was gorgeous. Her long, wavy, red-blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. If she were his, he’d want that hair down when they were playing. He’d wrap his hand around it and use it to control her movements as she went down on him.

  Shit. He needed to stop thinking like that.

  She was his responsibility for the next two months. Not his plaything. Getting involved with her would be a terrible idea. He’d warned his brothers away, he couldn’t turn around and invite her into his bed.

  “You didn’t tell me she looked like that,” Alec grumbled. The photo he’d dug up on her background check had done her no justice at all.

  A big bruiser of a man climbed out of the driver’s side. Her cousin. The cop. He couldn’t believe he was letting a cop onto his land voluntarily. It was a wonder lightning wasn’t striking him down. Every time Jake, Haven’s sheriff, came out to the ranch he got a case of acid reflux.

  The man stared around him, his eyes not missing a thing, his body tense and ready. Tanner must have said something to him, because he turned to his brother with a glare hot enough to fry a lesser man. Tanner just grinned and sent him a salute.

  “Like what?” Jardin asked innocently.

  “Don’t try my patience. You know what the hell I’m talking about. How the fuck am I supposed to keep them off her?” As soon as they saw her, they’d descend. And the one thing standing between her and them was him.

  “Problems? I thought you had them under control,” Jardin shot his own words back at him.

  “Fuck you,” Alec muttered. “I can control my brothers and protect her. But you damn well owe me.” The headache her presence was going to give him for the next two months was not something he was looking forward to.

  He watched her move forward, pressed against the side of the big guy and felt a surge of protectiveness that shocked him. He didn’t feel protective towards anyone who wasn’t family. Sure, he pretended to tow Haven’s rules, that every man was supposed to look out for the women in town. Protect them. All so he could go to Saxon’s a few times a year.

  Otherwise he’d have to drive several hours to get to a decent BDSM club and he didn’t have that sort of time to waste. So he paid lip service to the rules, while not really believing in them. So why did this woman stir the Dominant inside him? The part of him that said protect, possess, play.

  Oh, she would be fun to play with. With those curves and her fuck-me eyes, he could see her tied to a cross, naked, his whip biting into her back and buttocks. Him licking his way along each mark until he reached down between her pussy and—

  “Alec. For fucks sake, Alec.” Jardin poked his elbow into his side.

  “What?” he snapped.

  “You’re staring and it’s freaking her out.”

  As she got closer, he could see how pale her skin was, the dark crescents under her eyes. She had a haunted, fragile look. And, just like that, he shut down those instincts to take and command. This woman had been through hell. And she didn’t look like it would take much to push her over the edge.

  No way could she handle what he would want.

  And no way he should want it with an innocent like her. His background check had unearthed very little of interest, other than the fact her parents had died when she was a kid and she’d moved in with her aunt and uncle. She hadn’t even had so much as a parking ticket. She was a veritable saint and he was anything but.

  “Hey, Mike, Mia,” Jardin said stepping forward. “Drive here uneventful?”

  “I wasn’t followed, made sure of that,” Mike replied, looking Alec up and down. He had a tense look on his face as he glanced over at Jardin. “You sure this is a good idea?”

  “Nope,” Jardin replied. “But right now, it’s the best option I can think of to keep her alive.”

  Mia sucked in a sharp breath, and Alec turned his gaze from Mike back to her. Her expression hadn’t changed, but he saw a shudder run through her body.

  Yep, fragile.

  “What makes you think he can protect her?” Mike asked, ignoring him. A deliberate insult. Rude considering he was
opening his home to protect a stranger. “Sure, you’ve got a fancy gate, cameras, and some high fencing out by the road, but you can’t tell me this place is entirely secure. What’s to stop someone coming in the back?”

  “It’s not impossible to get onto the ranch,” Alec admitted. “But there are no back roads. We’re surrounded on two sides by other ranches and the mountains at the back. They’d have to come in by foot or horse or bike. Then they’d have to get past the cameras and my security system. As long as she stays inside or near the house it’s going to be damn hard for anyone to get to her. And, provided you held up your end and weren’t followed, no one should know she’s here.”

  “I wasn’t fucking followed.” Mike took a step forward and, surprisingly, it was the girl who stopped him from exploding. She moved in front of Mike, between the two them.

  What the fuck? Had no one taught her she shouldn’t get between two aggressive men. She was supposed to stand behind the muscle. He narrowed his gaze, shifting it down to her, unsurprised when she looked away.

  “Mia, get behind me.” Mike tried to shove her behind him. But, for some reason, Alec didn’t like him touching her. Especially when she stumbled slightly as he pulled at her.

  “Easy,” Alec growled.

  Her eyes widened as she stared up at him.

  “Maybe everyone could just calm down a bit,” Jardin said, giving Alec a look that clearly said he needed to remember they owed Mike. Big. He hated owing anyone anything. But Jardin was right. He needed to play nice.

  He just needed to remember how.

  Jardin turned to Mike. “Mike, I get that you’re feeling protective of Mia. You guys have been driving for hours, you probably haven’t slept properly or eaten, why don’t you come in and have a coffee and something to eat and we’ll talk, all right?”

  Mike continued to glare at him. Mia peered around the wide man and he could see the exhaustion in her gaze, the slump of her shoulders. She needed rest, not to be in the middle of a pissing contest.

  “Come inside.” There, that had been nice, right? Although from the look Jardin sent him, maybe not.