Jace: The Pride of the Double Deuce (3 page)

Snow laughed. Not a little, but a hardy laugh that made Jace want to join him. When he stopped and looked around the table, Jace was embarrassed, a feeling he hated almost as much as he did being made fun of.

“If you don’t want my daughter in your life, Jace, then it will be your loss. And to think that I could rule her in any way…well, I learned a long time ago that if she wants it, no matter how big, she’ll get it. And not from my money either. She’s done very well for herself.” Snow picked up his glass and stared at it before looking at him again. “As for you being a kept man? I’m not really sure where you got an idea like that, but I will tell you that I was dirt poor when I met her mother, poorer than you are right now. And I never felt anything but her love. And if she would ‘lower herself to your level,’ as you put it, she’d do it because she wanted to, not because she felt like she was obligated to.”

“Mr. Snow, I don’t need a mate in my life. We can barely keep a roof over our heads, much less try to keep up with what is no doubt a large spending habit.” The man stood up, and so did Jace. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I was just going to tell you that my daughter’s spending habit is her business. She has, as I’ve said to you, done very well for herself. All the money that went to buying the farms that were in worse shape than yours was her own money…money that she earned or inherited from her mother and aunt. I didn’t offer her a dime until today. And had I known that your family was in such trouble, I would never have let it get that far. I owe the Douglas family more than I’ll ever be able to repay.” Jace started to ask him why, but the wait staff came in with menus and began taking orders. By the time they were gone, Jace saw that Snow and his aunt were having a good time, and decided that it really didn’t matter what he thought of her or her money. He just couldn’t afford to be her mate.

Dinner wasn’t a loud affair, but it was enjoyable. He even loosened up enough to laugh with his family for a bit, forgetting all about the woman and her claim on him. Jace was in the car with Mason when he finally loosened his tie. He glanced at his big brother when he laughed.

“You are so in the shit house right now.” He knew that too. His aunt wasn’t a mean woman—in fact, she was the nicest person he’d ever known—but when she was unhappy…Christ, she could make him feel about an inch tall. And he knew that he’d embarrassed her a great deal tonight.

“I have a right to voice my opinion.” Yeah, he thought, he could, just not in public. “Besides, I bet once Snow thinks about it, he’ll see that I’m not a match for his kid. For all I know, she might be a real bitch and we won’t even like each other.”

“You mean a ‘like you were tonight’ kind of bitch?” Jace ignored his brother, hoping that he’d just shut up. “From what Clarke was saying, she’s not only one of the sweetest people he’s ever had the pleasure of working for, but she’s smart and has her head on straight. Now that I think about it, you are completely unsuited for her. She’s way better than you’ll ever be.”

“Fuck off.” Jace leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He refused to rise to the bait of his brother’s taunting. Instead, he tried to think of all the shit he had to do tomorrow before work. First and foremost, he had to find a place to live. Staying at the house, one that she owned, was not going to be an option.

As soon as he got home, he went out onto the deck. The cows were mooing, and the bright moon made them easy to see. Cougars having cows was an oddity, but they had made it work. Their parents had raised the first few from calves, getting them used to having cougars around them, and after that it had become easier. And when they had to restock the herd, they simply got young ones so as not to have to train older ones to not only get used to the scent they gave off, but also to their way of raising cattle. It had worked for them all. Jace looked out over the field toward town.

Before he could think about what he was doing, he got into his truck and headed toward the hospital. He kept telling himself that he was only going to check on her, not talk to her, and certainly no touching. He charmed a nurse into letting him go to Miss Snow’s room, and he stood near her bed.

His cat wasn’t happy with her injuries. There were stitches in her forehead and her lip was swollen. Her left eye was also swollen shut, and he could see that there was a wrap around her arm. Not moving any closer to the bed or her, he opened his mouth to take more of her scent in. The smell of her was enough to make him slightly dizzy. Holding onto the bottom of the bed, he watched her sleep. As quietly as he could, he told her what was going on.

“I’m not much of a man. Tonight I insulted your father and you. Not a good start if there was going to be one.” He nodded when she didn’t move. “I don’t know what to do with you. I mean, I’m pretty sure we’re going to have lots of sex, but that’ll not be enough after a while. I’ll want you in ways that proper young women like you aren’t supposed to think of.”

Just the thought of some of the ways he’d like to take her made his cock stretch in his pants. Thinking about them, all the ways he could take her, his cougar could take her, made him bolder. Rubbing his hand over his cock, wanting to free it but knowing it was a bad idea, he talked to her. Christ, it was that or he was going to crawl into bed with an injured woman and take her.

“I would love to bend you over this bed and fuck you from behind. Spank that ass of yours until it’s bright red and burning. Then I’d want to slide my fingers into your pussy and over your hard clit.” He was shaking with the need to free his cock and he did, fisting himself while he thought of her naked under him. “Christ, I’ve never even touched you, and all I can think about is fucking you.”

He held onto her bed while he lost himself in thinking of her. When his balls tightened up to his body, he grabbed her sheet to hold over him when he came. As he tried his best not to howl, not to announce to the world that he was coming, he felt his cock empty and his need for her spike. As he finished, his cock still hard as stone, he noticed that several sprays of his cum had fallen on her leg. He watched it as it slipped down her creamy leg to the bed, and knew he was so fucked right now. But it did little to lessen the fact that he wanted her more now than he had before.

Chapter 3

Holly woke to the sound of shuffling shoes. She had no idea where she was for a few moments, and lay there trying to think. When the smell of hospital came to her, she sat up and looked around. She smiled when she saw her dad asleep in the chair.

She felt like she’d been beaten up, which she supposed was right since that was just what had happened. But she was proud of herself for getting in a few licks of her own. The fucking bastard had started it. When her dad cleared his throat, Holly blushed.

“You’ve been busy.” He sat up as he stretched and smiled at her. She wanted to tell him she was sorry for it, but really, she wasn’t. Not even close. “Rogers isn’t pressing charges. Nor is the bank for breaking his desk.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with his desk. He might consider getting a better made one if he’s going to land on it next time. He is a fat prig.” Her dad laughed and she sat up better in the bed. “I’m really sorry that you had to miss your meetings to come and bail me out. I appreciate it, but I’m sorry.”

“It was fun, actually. And I had dinner with the Douglas family. It’s been a long time since I’ve talked with and enjoyed a woman that doesn’t beat her idea into someone’s head.” She frowned at him. “I’m kidding, love. Really I am.”

“Poor Georgie. She was so upset. I was hurting, but she seemed to know I was trying to hide it from her.” She leaned back on the bed. “When can I get out of here? I have a lot of stuff to do. And I have three meetings today with ranchers.”

“You have to take it easy for a couple of days.” She was shaking her head even as he continued. “Honey, you were beaten up pretty well. Just reschedule them for next week when you’ll feel much better.”

“I can’t do that anymore than you could. I have to meet with the ranchers. I think…what if I told you that the bank is still telling them that they’re going to be foreclosed on?” He asked her which one. “The one next to the Double Deuce, Georgie’s ranch.”

“The Madison Ranch?” She nodded at his question. “I thought that was one of the first one’s you got taken care of. What the hell is he pulling over there? And so you know, I’ve done a little digging myself on the feed mill. The Double Deuce is not the only one that has a higher bill than they should. There are five more.”

“I wondered about that. Georgie said her nephews do most of the buying, and they’d never order more stock than they could use. And she was looking over the list of things she’d purchased that was in the file. She said that she couldn’t remember buying any fencing, but she’d ask one of her nephews about it.” Holly moved off the bed and started for the bathroom as she told her dad what else had been said. “Rogers said that they wanted the property and that the other ranchers that I’ve helped would be changing their mind by the end of the day. I guess that would have been yesterday. Anyway, he said he’d have their deeds back. What do you suppose that means?”

If her dad answered her, she didn’t hear him. She’d gone into the bathroom to change and the light was equipped with a nice, loud fan. She could barely hear herself, much less someone on the other side of the door. Avoiding looking in the mirror was difficult, and after she put on her clothing, she did look.

“Christ. No wonder he wants me to rest a few days.” Turning her face to the right then left didn’t improve things overly much. So pulling her hair up into a pony tail, she stepped out into her room. The man standing there was…good lord, he was scrumptious.

“Holly, this is Mr. Mason Douglas. He’s one of Georgie’s nephews. She asked him to come around to make sure you were all right and to help you with the list she gave you.” Holly glanced at her dad, then at the man again. She was going to have to work with him?

“Miss Snow.” He actually tipped his hat at her, and she wanted to drop to her knees and beg him to do it again. “I’m sort of the purchase guy. The others bring me what they need and I’m the one that sees where I can get the best price. Jace and Gerard do most of the equipment list. Logan keeps up with repair items. Darin and Zach are in charge of husbandry.”

“There are six of you?” Her voice sort of squeaked and she flushed. “Sorry. I’ve been…hurt.”

It sounded lame even to her ears. But holy Christ, six of them looking like this guy was going to overload her senses. She decided that Mr. Clarke was going to deal with these guys. There would be no way she’d be able to get a lick of work done if they were…she wondered if any of them would be shirtless, and had to stop that train of thought right then and there. She looked at Mason when he gave a little laugh.

“I’m going home to rest. For a few days. Alone.” She snapped her mouth closed when her dad looked at her oddly. “I’ll be at home resting. If you want to go over the list…perhaps it would be best if you called Mr. Clarke. He’s…he’s….”

“I understand.” Did he? Because she wasn’t sure she did. When Mason nodded to her she thought the relief should have been just a little more. But when he spoke again, she wanted to whimper. “But I’m not going to have time this morning anyway. Jace, my brother, is going to help you. Mr. Clarke doesn’t know it as well as you do. He told us last night.”

“At dinner,” her dad clarified. “Remember, we had dinner together. And I’d forgotten about Clarke having that thing today.”

“Thing?” Her dad nodded and turned from her. Holly had a feeling she was being had but wasn’t sure why. Her dad had never lied to her before, but she had a feeling that was exactly what was going on. And Mason, for whatever reason, was in on it. “This Jace person, he’s only in charge of equipment. What does that mean for me?”

The smile on Mason’s face was mirrored on her dad’s, and for some strange reason she felt the need to blush hotly. When Mason only nodded and tipped his hat at her, she returned the nod, still extremely confused. Maybe it was her injury, but she felt out of sorts.

It took the doctor another ten minutes to come in and release her. He gave her strict orders not to do any driving for two days, and to see her own doctor in a week. She just needed to get out. The walls felt like they were closing in, and she wanted to scream at both the men. By the time she was buckled in the car, she had an appointment with Jace.

“And you say he can answer my questions?” Mason nodded and grinned again. “What the hell is going on? Why are you acting like you have the best kept secret in the world and I’m going to be the butt of it?”

“No secrets from me, Holly. As for you being the butt…well, ma’am, you’re going to have to wait and talk to Jace about that one.” The urge to smack him was great. And even more so, she didn’t believe the good old boy thing he was doing anymore than she believed there was nothing going on. They were being too weird.

By the time she was home, she felt like she’d been run through a wringer. Her body hurt and her head was pounding. Her dad didn’t even ask her but led her up the stairs to her room and had Sally, her maid, come in and help her get into bed. She thought maybe she was asleep before the lights were turned off.

~~~

“You’re doing this on purpose. You think that you can get me around her and I’ll…I’ll do something stupid.” Mason snorted and Jace crossed his arms over his chest to wait. “I’m not caving.”

“I have an appointment with her too. All of us do. Each of us have to help her figure out what we’ve purchased at the mill, and I don’t know the entire list.” Jace didn’t believe that either. His brother could remember what he’d bought for his first girlfriend way back in kindergarten. He more than likely still had the receipt too.

“You have a file cabinet that is in more order than my sock drawer. You keep every receipt we get, have them filed, copied, and scanned into the computer that is backed up onto a thumb drive and a disc. You even have a ledger that has this neat row of numbers that you always add up and balance daily. What the fuck do you think I’m going to be able to tell her that you couldn’t?” Mason climbed up on the fence and sat on it next to him. Jace was still trying to come to terms with having a mate, and they were trying to throw them together.

“She smells like you.” Jace felt his body heat up. Not just in embarrassment, but in need as well. He wanted her, there was no doubt about it, but more than that, his cat wanted her as well. “Where did you go last night after you left the house?”

“I didn’t mean to do it.” Mason didn’t say anything. “I only went there to see her. To…I guess to check up on her. And there she was. I wanted her. Worse than I ever wanted a woman before. And not…I’ve been trying to reason with my cat all day. But he wants her too. To taste her. Jerking off on her was a mistake.” Mason laughed. Hard and long. He had to hold tightly onto the fencing or fall off, his mirth was so great. Jace had the most incredible urge to not just knock him off but to stomp his ass too while he was down. But it wasn’t Mason’s fault, and getting the shit beat out of him—and there was no doubt to Jace that he would—would only make him madder and no closer to being finished with Holly.

“You’re fucked. I mean really well and truly fucked.” Jace nodded and said nothing more as his brother continued. “Palmer is pushing you two together as well. He wants her happy. And there is this…I’m not sure you want to hear this, but there is this other guy sort of stalking her.”

“Stalking her? I don’t understand. He’s not hurt her, has he? Of course not. Had he, there would no longer be a problem, would there? Why hasn’t she done…or her father done anything about him?” Jace tried to think how he could help, then thought of something else. “He’s not dangerous, is he?”

“So far, no. But you know how those kinds of men are.” He did. His friend from high school had had a guy from town stalking her. He was a good deal older than any of them, but he’d wanted Anna to be his. That had not ended well, for either him or Anna. “I think she needs to be made aware of how this could go, or someone has to talk with the guy. But Palmer said she can handle it.”

“Is this why you’re shoving us together?” Mason said it was some of it. “What else? Do you think I need to take her as my mate? Mason, look where we live and where she lives. I don’t mean to sound snobbish, but damn it, she is rich enough to buy us out. And she did.”

“She paid our bills and has a contract with Aunt Georgie to pay it all back. Before you ask, yes, we had someone look it over. The person who benefits the most is us. The only thing we have to do is give her first refusal if we decide to sell.” Jace had heard that from his aunt. “Also, she and her dad are really looking into these charges, not just the bank but others as well. The mill said we owed them over forty grand. There is no way we owe that much. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we started falling behind.”

Right around the time that the taxes had come due and they’d been told that they were four times what they normally paid. It nearly bankrupted them, and as the years went by and the taxes kept rising, they got more and more behind.

“I’ve got a lead on some cattle.” Mason asked him where. “The Carter farm. They’re selling out. While the cattle are older and not used to us, we might be able to make it work out. It’s over five hundred head. Good milking cows.”

“That’ll put our herd up to around a thousand. That means more grain, more vet calls…I’m not sure.” Jace nodded. He’d figured that his brother would say that. “How much?”

“Eight cents on the dollar.” Mason asked him to repeat it. “You heard me. I told you they want to sell. They’re behind on things too, and I think the bank is hurting them as well. Not as badly as us, but they are giving up. The land is up for sale too. They’re giving us the rights first if we want to purchase it.”

“We can’t do that. Not now.” Jace also knew that was true. But he was thinking about asking Palmer. The man had said last night that he was looking to invest more. “I wish we could. You do know that was part of the family land when Grandma and Grandpa came out here.”

“I know.” He looked out over the cattle grazing in the deep field. “I want to run it. I mean…the land butts up to this ranch, right? I could run the cattle there and help here. There’s a nice house there too. Might take Darin with me and lessen the strain on this house. Aunt Georgie was right, we should have moved out long ago.”

“How will you swing…Palmer?” Jace nodded. “That’ll be a big investment on his part even at the lower cost. What do you have to trade him for?”

He thought his brother was going to tell him to take the daughter and he’d be set, but that’s not what he wanted. And when Mason didn’t suggest it, he felt reasonably better about what he needed to say.

“I’m not a prize. I don’t have any money, nothing of my own. And I’m pretty sure that even if I could make a go at this, I’m just a dirt poor rancher that will never be able to support his daughter in the style that she lives now. I was thinking….” He looked out again instead of at Mason. “I was thinking that if he lent me the money, I’d guarantee that I’d never bother his little girl again.”

“You think he wants that?” Jace nodded. “I don’t. And you heard him last night. When he married Holly’s mom, he didn’t have as much as we do. I think you’re dead wrong on that.”

The dinner bell gonged behind them. Jace leapt off the fence and waited for Mason to get down and come with him. He had a plan worked out in his head, and no matter what Mason or Palmer said he knew that Holly would never stoop to living with a man like him. No matter if they were mates or not.

“I would like for you to go and give her your part of the billing. I’m serious when I tell you that we have to get this resolved. If not for us, then the other ranches around. All you have to do is give her an accounting of what you’ve spent and how much of it was charged.” Jace was nodding before he could think of a way out of it. “Good. This afternoon. I know you have the day off, and since the milker on line two is down, Logan can work on it without the two of you getting into trouble.”