Rugged Texas Cowboy Read online

  “I can’t do it, Papa,” she whispered miserably, hunching her shoulders against the tension that filled the room.

  She was too sensitive. She had known that all her life. Her parents’ happiness and her family’s success had always meant more to her than her own happiness. At least it had until she faced Lucas Jardin and the knowledge of how far Maria would go to save her own skin and escape punishment. She hadn’t slept for months after her brother had finally managed to get her released; even now, two years later, the nightmares plagued her.

  “I cannot believe you would say no.” His voice clearly reflected his surprise. “I cannot believe you would allow your sister—your twin, for God’s sake—to suffer so horribly.”

  “My sister isn’t an innocent here.” Melina’s head rose as her own anger came to the fore. “She uses you to get her out of trouble and then goes on with business as usual when it’s all over with. She’s getting worse, Papa. You know it and I know it. I won’t suffer her punishment for her.”

  “What punishment?” He threw his hands into the air a second before he clenched his thick silver-and-brown hair in frustration. “There will be none if you just do as the lawyer directs you.”

  “I won’t take that chance again,” she cried out painfully. “Papa, they beat me—more than once—and almost raped me. You know this. You know what I suffered in that jail, and still you ask this of me? How could you?”

  Melina couldn’t understand her parents’ complete loyalty to her sister. It made no sense. They were trading the daughter who loved them unconditionally for the daughter who loved only their ability to get her out of trouble.

  “Almost,” he blustered, his face paling as it had the first time she had told him. “I will not let it happen again.”

  “No, Papa. I won’t let it happen again,” she said gently, trying desperately to hold back her own hurt and anger. “I had enough two years ago, you know this. I won’t let her ruin my life.”

  Her mother was wailing now. Deep, pain-filled sobs interspersed with ragged prayers for her “baby.” Her “sweet Maria.” Melina wanted to crawl into a hole and cry herself. She gazed back at her father’s disappointed face, the helplessness reflected in his deep-brown eyes.

  “I cannot believe you would do this,” he whispered. “Go, Melina. Leave this house until your mother can deal with this betrayal you have dealt us. I will tell your sister of your refusal and pray it does not break her.”

  Melina blinked back at him in shock. “You’re disowning me?” she whispered, her voice bleak. “Papa? You would disown me for this?”

  His gaze was hard, remote. “I do not know you. You are not the child of my heart as I believed, Melina. Until you can aid your sister as you should, then you are of no consequence to me.”

  *

  He turned from her and went to her mother, enclosing Margaret in his arms and letting her weep against his chest. Later, he would hold Maria the same way. Console her, pat her back, and whisper his love to her. He hadn’t held Melina like that in years. Even when he’d arrived at the jail to learn she had been beaten and nearly raped, her face bruised and horribly swollen, he hadn’t comforted her. It had been her brother, Joe, who had picked her up from the gurney, whispering senseless phrases of grief as he carried her from the jailhouse.

  It had always been her brother who had eased her fears, her tears. But even he was gone now. He had left the family and the business before Melina had; his own disgust at his parents’ foolishness where Maria was concerned had gone too deep for him to stay. She wasn’t even certain where he was now.

  Sighing deeply, holding back her tears, she did as her Papa ordered and turned and left the house. The butler was silent as he held the door open for her, his expression impassive. She knew there was little sympathy to be found there. All loyalties were given to Maria exclusively. Melina had never understood it, but she accepted it.

  Night had fallen, casting hazy shadows over the Pennsylvania countryside and wrapping around Melina with trailing fingers of warmth. On nights like this, she thought of Jardin. Wondered if his friend had survived his wounds, if he had ever realized the young woman he had cursed so vehemently had been the wrong woman.

  She shook her head mockingly. Her parents accepted praise for the work Melina used to do as Maria’s successes. The charities had been in Maria’s name, the work attributed to her until that day. They had all fallen apart when Melina left. Just as the rest of the family was falling apart.

  She turned the key in the ignition of her car and pulled out of her parents’ driveway. She fought back the tears and the regrets and thought about trying to contact her brother before too long. She knew a few of his old friends who might know where to find him. Joey had always seemed to care about her and seen past her likeness to Maria. He would understand the grief tightening in her chest even if she didn’t.

  She should have answered his messages those first few months after her release from the hospital, she thought regretfully. Facing him hadn’t been easy, though. He knew what had happened to her, and every time she thought of the pity she would have seen in his face, or heard in his voice, she had cringed. It was time to put it behind her, time to make the final break with her parents and her sister. Joe knew how to do that and, hopefully, he would now teach her how. Because she’d be damned if she knew.

  TWO

  Luc narrowed his eyes against the darkness of the apartment and waited. He was a patient man. He had planned this night down to the last detail and he wasn’t going to rush it. He had watched the parking lot carefully for her car to drive in. He didn’t want her surprising him by coming in unannounced.

  He knew she had been visiting her parents, likely pleading for help after the last scrape she had managed to get into. The woman was heading down a path of self-destruction and he was more than willing to help her along. After he got his pound of flesh.

  She had made her parents relent in their war against him, but she had started the war to begin with. She had paid for Jack’s medical bills and recovery then called and turned ol’ Jack’s heart with her tears and her apologies. But Jack was well known for his soft spot and his love for a pretty woman. Especially one who could suck cock like a dream and swallow without a grimace.

  She had even called Luc.

  Luc remembered the overwhelming rage and fury he had felt at the quiet dignity in her voice as she whispered her apology and offered to pay for the plane he had crashed upon landing that day. He had heard the thickness of tears in her voice, but she hadn’t sniveled. She swore she hadn’t known what would happen and had no idea what was in the crate. He didn’t believe her. Hell, he knew better. But she spun a damned fine tale; he had to give her credit for that one.

  He had waited two years for his chance for vengeance and, surprisingly, it had come from someone he’d least expected it to. It wasn’t that he didn’t have other things to do in that time; vengeance hadn’t consumed him. But seeing her face plastered all over the papers over another drug charge brought it all back. He could do society a real favor. Clean her up and teach her the value of a hard day’s work, all with the permission of her family.

  He smiled slowly. He knew his main problem was boredom rather than revenge. It had been too long since he had allowed himself to ride the edge of danger. The ranching was easy. Hell, some days it was too damned easy. Jack took care of the business stuff when he wasn’t running around the fool planet trying to sell the horses.

  Luc took care of the actual ranch, oversaw the training and breeding of the prized Clydesdales, and worked at making the ranch even more successful than it had become in the past two years. But he hadn’t forgotten the blatant disregard Maria Angeles had shown with her decision to allow her drug-running buddies to ambush them.

  Boredom could do strange things to a man. Make him do things like accept her brother’s suggestion that maybe his sister needed a place where she would have no choice but to clean up her act. Make him plot and plan and carry out a kidnap
ping that was sanctioned by her brother. There was no fear of legal reprisals, and he had complete control of her. That was all that mattered to him.

  Her bags were packed and stored in the trunk of the car; a private plane was waiting at the nearby airfield. Before Miss Maria Catarina Angeles knew what hit her she would be on the road to recovery. He chuckled in amusement, imagining the coming battle. He thrived on a good fight, and teaching the spoiled little brat how to be a drug-free member of society was going to be a battle.

  He shook his head at the thought. He’d never understood the attraction to drugs. The loss of control, the addiction, and the mistakes that came from it. He was still just pissed enough to have very little mercy for the young woman he was about to kidnap. He wouldn’t hurt her, but he’d be damned if he wouldn’t paddle her ass good if she didn’t toe the line. He was starting to think that might well have been her problem all along. Her daddy should have spanked her more often.

  As he hid in the shadows moments later, he heard the key turn in the lock. Stepping farther into the darkness behind the bedroom door, he listened closely as the door opened and the sounds of entrance could be heard.

  “Mason, Momma’s home.” Her voice struck Luc immediately. Husky, tear-filled, and miserable. At the same time he watched in surprise as the dark lump on her bed moved. A black shadow rose and stretched into the form of a fat cat that glanced at Luc disdainfully and jumped from the bed.

  Hell, what was he supposed to do about the cat? He’d have to call Joe and have him collect his sister’s little familiar. He didn’t like cats much anyway, and black cats were even worse.

  “There’s my baby,” he heard her croon softly moments later. “Are you hungry yet or are you still pouting at me for leaving? I’ll take you to the park tomorrow instead. How’s that?”

  Luc frowned at her voice. She didn’t sound drugged. She sounded immeasurably saddened. Almost broken. That wasn’t the voice he remembered, but he admitted the events of that day were so fuzzy now that he couldn’t be certain. He knew it was Maria, though. He had seen the car drive up and watched her step from the vehicle minutes before. He had the right woman. And it was just his luck she had a cat. A small smile tipped his lips. She didn’t seem as hard as he remembered. She sounded softer, sadder. More a Catarina than a Maria. The Maria he remembered would have never bothered to look beyond herself long enough to worry about feeding a cat.

  “Hungry little thing, aren’t you?” she said from the other room. “Let’s hope Momma can keep the goodies coming. If I don’t get that job tomorrow, we might be raiding trash bins.” She didn’t sound like she was joking. “Sucks when your parents hate you, Mason.”

  He lifted his brows. She had a strange definition of hatred. They had likely managed to buy her out of a damned drug-smuggling charge. That didn’t sound like hatred to him.

  As he heard her moving around again, he slipped the chloroformed cloth from his jacket pocket. She would have to come into the bedroom eventually, and when she did, he would be waiting for her.

  “Shower,” he heard her mutter. “Damn if Papa can’t make me feel like dirt after listening to his accusations. And I think he disowned me, Mason.” She sounded lost. “Being out of the family isn’t nearly as bad as being disowned.”

  Luc ignored the funny little feeling in his chest, the one that warned him he was about to feel sorry for the waifish-sounding hellcat. If she had paid attention to her father’s pleas years ago, maybe she wouldn’t be in this mess now.

  He remembered his visit to the mansion. She had been surprised at first when her father had introduced her to him. As though he had needed the introduction. Then resignation had filled her gaze. She hadn’t even known who the hell he was. His cock had hardened, though, despite his fury, despite his need to beat some sense into her. He had been stone-hard aroused in ways he had never been before, even the day she had sucked his dick down her throat.

  Hell, she had looked so innocent that first day at the ranch, he would have sworn she wouldn’t know what to do with a cock if he did push it between her lips, let alone how she would react to having his semen filling her mouth. But the thought of it had fueled more than one hot daydream.

  “Enjoy dinner, Mason. I’m going to shower and see if I can’t get hold of Joey. Maybe he can help us.”

  Luc smirked. Joe had already taken care of her.

  He palmed the damp cloth and prepared himself to place it over her nose and mouth. He heard her quiet footfalls, heard the cat meow, then she was walking into the room, flipping on the light and passing by him.

  Luc moved. He had a second to glimpse her wide, terrified eyes before they closed and she slumped against him. Catching her in his arms Luc moved to the bed, lowered her onto it, and gazed at the cat that jumped up after her. The beast stared at him with narrowed eyes.

  “You’re going to be a problem, aren’t you, boy?” He sighed as the animal growled low in his throat. “I thought cats were supposed to be aloof, uncaring. You’re a cat, not a dog.”

  He placed his hands on his hips and watched the confrontational animal.

  “Hell, just what I need. An attack cat. I wonder if she has a carrier for you.”

  He found the carrier. He received a brutal scratch for catching the animal by the thick fur of his neck and stuffing him in. He’d have to remind Joe that he wasn’t a cat lover next time he talked to him. In explicit terms.

  “Well now, let’s get you ready.” He lifted Catarina in his arms, caught the carrier with one hand, and carried her quickly out of the apartment and to the nearby service elevator. It was a short trip to the car parked next to the elevator doors in the basement. Once there, he laid her in the backseat, quickly bound her hands, and set the cat’s carrier on the floorboard.

  Mission accomplished. Well, partially anyway, he thought with a grunt. He still had to control her once she woke up. Thanks to the chloroform, it should be several hours, though. By then he would have her safely at the ranch and everything in place to teach her the error of her ways.

  As he started the car and headed for the airport, his gut warned him it couldn’t possibly be this easy. He grimaced at the thought.

  Pulling the cell phone from the carrier on his belt, he punched in Joe Angeles’s number and waited for the other man to pick up.

  “You have her, Jardin?” The other man sounded worried.

  “I have her. We’re headed to the airport. Is the plane ready?”

  “Fueled and ready to go. Just pull into the hangar; the guard is waiting on you. Remember, it’s a company airfield so you shouldn’t have any problems. Did you get her cat?”

  Luc frowned at the other man’s tone. He almost sounded as though he was afraid to ask.

  “Yeah, I got the black bastard,” Luc told him. “I’m still bleeding for my efforts, too.”

  Joe chuckled, suddenly sounding more relaxed. “Mason is a bit protective of her, but he’s easy enough to get along with. Keep me updated and make sure you don’t fall for any of her tricks. She’s really a good kid, Luc. I know you don’t believe that right now, but you’ll see.”

  Luc shook his head. Her brother’s belief in her was to be commended. Stupid, but commendable.

  “Good kids don’t turn a blind eye to murder, Joe. But I promise I won’t hurt her. You know me better than that.”

  Joe had come to the ranch two years before, after Luc’s trip to the Angeles mansion.

  For months, Luc had had no idea who he was as the younger man worked with the horses and they formed a wary friendship. Finally, Joe had come to him with the truth, that he needed to know how far his parents were willing to go to protect Maria, so he could protect them. Luc had understood it, but damn if he hadn’t been pissed for a while.

  “Yeah.” Joe sighed. “I know you won’t hurt her, Luc. That’s the reason you have her. You’re the only one I can trust with her. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “I’ll call you when we lift off,” Luc promised. “Later.”
/>   He disconnected the phone and turned away from the apartment building, heading for the airport. Joe hadn’t seemed quite this fond of his sister during the long talks they had shared through the past two years.

  The brotherly concern he was showing now didn’t sit well with Luc. Not that he thought Joe was lying. It was just a bit odd considering the other man’s reticence in discussing his family, or his sister. That boy hated lies, but something wasn’t right. He shook his head and sighed wearily. Whatever it was, Luc thought, he had no doubt it would rise up and bite him in the ass soon. When it did, then he would deal with it.

  Until then, he had vengeance to secure.

  THREE

  Joe hung up the phone and stared across his desk at the tall, slender figure of his father’s butler. Johann held the same cool, aloof expression that Joe knew he always held. He had seen it crack once in the past thirty years. And only once. The week before when Johann had shown up late in the evening and informed Joe that his parents were going to attempt to convince Melina to once again stand in Maria’s place.

  “Mr. Joe, if she walks into the courtroom as Maria, she might as well stick to it. Miss Maria is going to be locked up, one way or the other; I’ve already found that out. Her parents know it, but they won’t accept it. If Melina stands in for her, they’ll lock her away, and she’s just not hard enough to survive that.”

  Johann had shed tears at the thought of it. His faded-blue eyes had welled with the moisture and they spilled down his cheeks as fear overcame his reserve.

  “Miss Melina doesn’t deserve this,” he had sniffed. “She’s a good girl, Mr. Joe. They’ll hurt her worse next time she gets locked up.”

  Joe had been in shock. Not because of the tears, though those had contributed, but because of his parents’ depth of ignorance. Maria slept with every lawyer they hired for her, and they would tell her parents whatever she wanted them to hear. And as usual, she wanted Melina to take the fall.