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  Then he stopped. Had she heard? Did she know it was her name he cried out as he pumped his semen deep inside Sarah’s body?

  “Where were you earlier?” He couldn’t stop the question. Couldn’t stop the need to know.

  “I wasn’t watching, if that’s what you want to know.” The amusement was gone from her voice. “I was tucked nice and safe in the camper, hon, so you don’t have to worry.”

  He heard the hurt, the lingering question in her voice, and fought to ignore it.

  “Who was worried?” Hell, he almost came in his jeans just thinking about her watching.

  “Sam.” Her voice warned him that he was treading dangerous ground. A subject she didn’t want to discuss, one she refused to understand.

  “Fine, Heather.” He breathed out roughly. “Now go tuck yourself into bed and I’ll play nice and stay in the house tonight. How’s that? But get your ass off my bed and out of my bedroom before I forget why you were attacked, and why I can’t have you. Because God’s truth, I’m within minutes of fucking you until you can’t move.”

  “Amazing.” Her voice was mocking. “I’m convinced the August men stole testosterone and stamina at birth. You three are like bunnies.”

  “Keep it up and you’ll find out,” he grunted, fighting not to touch her as she moved slowly from the bed.

  “Fine, I need to sleep anyway.” She shrugged, though he could feel the hurt echoing in the air around him. “More damned shopping tomorrow. As though either of those women need more dresses. Rick’s going to have to give this up soon.”

  Sam stilled, watching her closely as she leaned against the tall poster of the bed.

  “He’s still trying to draw the stalker out?” It would make the fourth venture into town.

  Rick was convinced that the stalker had to be living close, in a position to hear the gossip concerning the August men and to sneak in and out of the ranch unnoticed.

  “We have to do something, Sam. We can’t just wait on him to strike.” She shook her head, sighing roughly. “No one will be safe until he’s stopped.”

  “Putting the three of you in danger isn’t the answer.” He turned away from her, rage ricocheting through him. “Goddammit. The bastard isn’t sane.” He shuddered as dark memories twisted inside him. “Heather, you don’t know. You don’t know what he could do to you.”

  But Sam knew. He knew the pain and the horror, the bleak evil that could infect such men’s minds.

  “We aren’t in danger, Sam.” She came to him, moving easily, comfortably into his arms as he opened them for her.

  He needed to hold her. Just hold her. To feel her soft and warm against him, to feel, that for a moment, he was keeping her safe, keeping her sheltered. It was all he could allow himself for now.

  “You’re all in danger.” He lowered his head, inhaling the clean, delicate scent of her.

  “Rick will take care of us, and we’ll be surrounded by the bodyguards.” She moved back from him a second after he felt her tight nipples pressing into his chest through their shirts, though he kept her in the circle of his arms. “I just hate the shopping part.” The wry amusement in her voice was designed to distract him. He knew that, and for the moment allowed her to believe she had succeeded.

  “Buy a dress,” he whispered, bending down to nuzzle her ear as she shivered sensually. “Something short and light. Something to show off those pretty legs of yours.”

  “I don’t think so.” He could hear the breathless quality of her voice. “I’ve seen what happens to the women in this house when they wear dresses. I’ll just keep my jeans for now, thank you.” She pressed against his chest, an indication of her need for escape.

  “Heather.” His arms contracted around her, loathe to release her. “If the danger weren’t so high, the situation so desperate, I’d show you in a way you could understand. Explain everything in such sensual actions that you would never forget. I’d love you, baby, in ways you can’t even imagine.”

  “Sounds good, Sammy.” Her voice was soft, sad. “Let me know when you run out of excuses, okay? I might be willing to try then.”

  She moved away from him, glancing over her shoulder as she turned her back on him. For a moment, from the light of the other bedroom, he thought he saw a sheen of tears. But then she turned away and stepped slowly into her own room, closing the door behind her. The darkness enveloped him, inside and out.

  “Son of a bitch,” he cursed the situation, cursed the throbbing desperation of his hard cock. He couldn’t be around her, couldn’t think about her, without growing spike hard.

  Being with Sarah or Marly didn’t help. It eased the demons, but not the emotional and physical demands that Heather inspired. He grimaced as he undressed for bed, throwing the clothes carelessly on the floor.

  The bed was big, wide enough for three, and too damned lonely. He lay atop the blankets, staring up at the ceiling bleakly, then to the door that separated the two rooms as his eyes narrowed in intent.

  Jerking a tube of lubrication from the beside table drawer, he squeezed a healthy amount into the palm of his hand, then stroked it over his straining cock as he imagined her. Imagined her coming to him, her soft body naked, hot, taking him, needing him.

  His fingers tightened around the throbbing shaft as the images of Heather, naked, wet and wild, drifted through his mind. She would be tight. So damned tight. He stifled his groan as he stroked his straining cock, his fingers moving slowly over the scarred flesh as they tightened with the thought of Heather’s tight, soft cunt.

  She would grip him, sear him. His hips flexed, his cock pulsing to the imagined sensation as his fingers stroked over the bulging flesh. The pace of his hand increased as he imagined her cries, her expression going slack with pleasure, her pussy tightening, spasming. He couldn’t stop the strangled groan as his cock exploded, spewing his creamy release over his hard abdomen as the pleasure tingled up his spine.

  “Now that wasn’t fair.” His eyes snapped open as Heather stared at him from the doorway. And she was pissed. “Don’t use my fucking name, Sam, unless it’s me you’re actually fucking.”

  She turned and slammed the door as she left again, leaving him surprised, a shade embarrassed, and so damned hard again he could do nothing but growl in misery.

  Chapter Two

  “Heather, you’ll be with Marly and Sarah shopping,” Tara told her firmly the next morning as the group of bodyguards met in the bunkhouse for a final briefing. “Helena and Calvin’s team will be moving into place soon in the shops along the street while Rick and his team set up to watch the street from the café across the street. We’ll keep it simple and short and see what happens.”

  “Nothing’s happened yet.” Raider, a big, rawboned ex-mercenary shifted dangerously in his seat. “And it won’t until Sam makes his move. What you’re dealing with here is someone too smart to mess up until you make him mad. I say we make him mad.”

  Heather glanced over at the big man, frowning. Raider wasn’t his real name, and he hadn’t been with the team long enough for her to get to know him very well. His black eyes were cold; his expression, more often than not, devoid of emotion or feeling. But sometimes, like now, she caught a lingering glimpse of humor in the corners of his lips when he watched Tara.

  “What do you suggest, Raider, an August orgy in the center of town?” Tara sneered coldly.

  “Only if Heather’s in the center of it.” He shrugged. “But it seems like overkill to me, Tara. The stalker’s got a line on that house somehow. He’ll know if she’s fucking him.”

  Heather flushed and cursed the flare of arousal that lit, fast and furious, in her body at the thought of Sam. He had carefully avoided the “family times,” as Tara had labeled them, several months before, until the past night. But in walking away from them, it seemed that he only grew darker, edgier, more dangerous.

  “My sister isn’t being pimped out for this assignment,” Tara snapped furiously.

  “That’s enough, Tara,” H
eather said softly as she turned to her sister. “The bad part is, he’s right. These little outings aren’t doing anything but wearing on those women’s nerves, and mine.” She was tired of shopping, tired of the tension and fear that marked Heather and Sarah’s gazes while they were out.

  She looked at Raider, and for a second, caught an edge of savage mercilessness in his eyes. Only Rick and Tara seemed to know the other man very well, there were times he flat terrified her.

  “Until we come up with something better, this is it,” Tara informed them both ruthlessly. “If you don’t like following orders, Raider, you can pack up and head out anytime. No one forces you to stay here.”

  The tension thickened instantly. Raider drew slowly to his feet as the other six agents in the room watched warily.

  “Yeah, someone does, Tara,” he growled, his voice deadly. “But I’ll take that up with her when the time’s right. Let me know when you’re ready to leave.”

  He stalked from the room. He didn’t move fast, he didn’t stomp. You never heard a footfall, he was so damned quiet. And it was all the more terrifying for the complete silence. The door clicked quietly behind him before all eyes turned to Tara.

  “He’ll live.” She shrugged as though unconcerned, but Heather saw the worry that lit her light green eyes.

  “That boy’s going to slip his leash one day. When he does, there’ll be hell to pay.” Bret Austin, the August employee who had joined the group months before, shook his head warily. “I’d watch that one.”

  “Don’t you have cattle to watch?” Tara frowned, her voice reproving.

  A careless grin tipped the cowboy’s face as his hazel eyes lit up with laughter. “Hell, cows ain’t this much fun. Can’t I stay around and watch some more?”

  “Show’s over,” Tara grunted. “You’re here on house detail. Make sure you keep those damned men here at the house, Bret. It defeats the purpose if they follow us.”

  Bret grimaced. “Damned good thing Rick promised me work when Cade fires me. ‘Cause by damned, he will eventually. Keep him home,” he snorted. “That’s like ordering me to keep a momma bear in her den while you torture her cubs.”

  Tara rolled her eyes. “At least warn me if they head out. They made the deal. One more trip out. Don’t let them screw us over without warning.”

  “Will do.” He nodded shortly, though Heather doubted seriously that he would go against Cade August if push came to shove. Hell, even Rick hesitated before going up against the oldest brother.

  “And you,” Tara hissed as the men filed from the room. “Stay the hell out of Sam August’s bedroom.”

  Heather arched her brow slowly. “You’re not my keeper, Tara.”

  “No, I’m your sister, and I’m telling you that the August men are more than you can handle. Stop playing with fire and concentrate on your job.”

  “Sam August is my job,” she said softly. “I won’t pretend I don’t care for him. Even for you.”

  She understood Tara’s worry, knew the dark experiences from her sister’s past that fueled her concern.

  “God, Heather, haven’t you learned how dangerous this is yet?” Tara bit out. “You’re scarred forever. Dead lasts just as long. You were lucky the first time, now pull back.”

  “Stop, Tara.” Heather faced her sister slowly, tucking her hands in her jeans pockets to still the need to wrap her arms around the other woman. She could see Tara’s pain, the ghosts that haunted her. “You can’t protect me from this, and you can’t order me away from him as though I were a child.”

  “I can fire you,” she snapped angrily.

  “Then fire me.” Heather shrugged. “I won’t leave, and I won’t stay any farther away from Sam than he keeps me pushed back, anyway.”

  Her sister’s expression tightened, her lips thinning out to a cold, ruthless line.

  “He wants to share you, Heather,” Tara said tightly. “Do you want to know what that’s like? Do you really want to know just how loveless that is? You think you love him. You think he loves you. But he doesn’t. Love isn’t packaged like that. It’s sex. It’s lust. Period.”

  It was Tara’s lifestyle. She had lived it with her husband before Rick had pulled her out. She had lain between the man she hated and the man who pitied her, and Heather knew it had nearly destroyed her. And yet, now that there was no chance of emotion, no chance of caring, the sexual lifestyle was one she embraced rather than denied.

  Heather knew the destruction that could be waiting for the Augusts. She knew the pain, the betrayal, the loss of self-respect that came from such a relationship. She had watched it with her sister, Rick and his brother, Carl, before Carl’s accident and death.

  “It’s not the same here,” she whispered, knowing her sister couldn’t see it, couldn’t look beyond her own past to see the reality of these men. “I don’t know how it’s different, Tara, but I know it is. And I won’t argue it with you. I don’t want to share Sam, and I don’t want to be more than a hug and a peck on the cheek to those brothers. But I won’t leave him like this. I won’t walk away while some bastard wants him destroyed. I won’t do it. Not even for you.”

  Tara’s eyes sparked with fury, and Heather knew the explosion was coming. Thankfully, the door swung open at the same time.

  “Time to go, wildcat.” Raider’s dark voice matched the black shadow he cast over the floor. “Rick just called in, everyone’s in place. Time to go shopping.”

  “I need to change.” Heather shook her head as she glanced at her sister, seeing the conflicting anger and fear in her face. “Give me half an hour and I’ll be back out.”

  She didn’t wait for a comment or a refusal, but turned on her heel and rushed past Raider as he stood carefully aside. She shivered as she glanced in his face. Cold, hard. He watched her with an edge of steel that was almost frightening, but the way he watched Tara should have terrified her. Heather was more than surprised by the fact that it didn’t.

  Chapter Three

  The stalker watched the woman, her pretty features filled with humor as she smiled with the other two who were window shopping with her. She was a beauty, just as the others were. Her long red hair flowed down her back like a living flame, almost touching her slender, curved hips. She was petite, almost tiny, delicately made and looked like one of those pretty pixies found in fairy tales.

  She was dressed in a light linen sundress that barely covered her thighs. Such scandalous clothing. Evidently the lesson she had received last month hadn’t impressed upon her how serious her sins were. She was tempting those men, even more so than Marly and Sarah had.

  While with those August men, she would swing her curvy hips, laugh and flirt with them all at all hours. She was a Jezebel, and she knew it. A flame-haired temptation drawing the men further into their perversions. Soon, the final boundary would be breached, and something would have to be done.

  She reached back, lifting a dainty foot to adjust the strap of her sandal. So pretty. Her skin was soft, like silk. The sight of it brought to mind the smooth contours of her pretty cunt, the little slit that separated it was incredibly soft. Soft and marked with the proof of her wayward sensuality. She carried the mark of temptation there now, on the very flesh that tempted mortal men past their boundaries of control.

  The smooth mound had been striped by the knife, and the scars that were left would never be forgotten. Slender, almost invisible scars that she would wear forever. Scars that any man who touched her would feel, would know, and therefore, know her for the temptress she was.

  The other two women were no more than a minor irritation. Marly should have, of course, known better. She was an angel, so sweet and lovely, so tempting and pure before the bastards corrupted her with their depravities. Sarah was older, supposedly wiser, but even she had been impossible to get rid of effectively.

  It had been impossible to kill her. But the desire to kill hadn’t really been there. No one wanted to listen anymore, was the problem. It was as though the warnings of t
he past had been completely forgotten, overlooked and ignored. Words of wisdom had been tossed away, and all the dreams destroyed. In one blow—one remorseless, powerful blow—the bastard had taken it all, and it would never return.

  But then, an idea began to form. Perhaps the plan was being executed in the wrong way. Punishing innocents for the crimes of the guilty. The punishment should go to the one who committed the crime. The one who refused to understand. Refused to know his place, and his crimes. For with every crime comes punishment, and he had committed the ultimate crime.

  For the first time in months, a true plan began to form. The women were pure, innocent. They were doing as women should, submitting to who they believed were their rightful masters. They didn’t know. Bless their hearts, they weren’t aware of the demon defiling them. They were too sweet, their hearts too kind to see or to understand such evil.

  The knowledge was clear now. Eyes narrowed, fists clenching as the women walked to the next window, the next shop that displayed their frilly items. They were being corrupted, and it must stop.

  A moment of distraction came as a husky brute began to move in on the women. The man, Sarah’s ex-husband, was a pitiful excuse of a male. Unable to control his woman or his home.

  The man paused. It was obvious that whatever he said was upsetting the women. They moved to walk away, but the bastard reached out, grabbing Sarah’s arm, jerking her to him. The little redhead dynamo would have chewed his ass up good with the fist she was ready to let fly, but she wasn’t expecting the bastard to kick out at her tender legs. She fell, but she was neither weak-willed, nor willing to give up. She was up again and going for him when another male moved in.

  From across the street, the door to a dark, window-tinted truck flew open and a male raced across the street. Sam. He pushed her back, his hand going for Tate’s throat as the other man twisted Sarah’s arm. Tate let go of her quickly, his hands clawing at Sam’s fingers, his eyes bulging from his head as he was thrown against the wall of the building.