Page 4 of Passion in Bloom

Chapter 2

Roarke

“She’s not going totell me to leave,” the man said, flicking his blond hair back from his brow like he couldn’t bear to be bothered like this. “She knows she belongs with me.”

Heather couldn’t. I didn’t see any way in hell that the gorgeous, guarded woman cowering behind me could ever fit with this douchebag.

If she was willing to return to her so-called boyfriend, she wouldn’t be hiding at my side.

If she was at interested in being near this guy, she wouldn’t be rigid with fear.

Even though we’d only had that one incident of intimacy, I couldn’t see how she’d be the kind of woman to fool around with someone else when she was in a committed relationship.

None of it made sense.

Heather wasn’t dating this rich-looking asshole.

She couldn’t be.

But it seemed like she lacked the backbone to tell him so.

“I’m going to give you five seconds to get the hell out of here,” I warned, fed up with how scared Heather was. She didn’t seem to think I’d keep her safe. I hadn’t forgotten how doubtful she was when I left her my number and told her that I’d always be available to help her with her safety.

This was my chance to show her. To prove to her that I wasn’t just talking the talk. I’d walk the walk. If this guy tried to lay a single finger on her, I would physically remove him from this cabin site.

The punk laughed, smiling. “Oh, yeah? You’re not in charge here.”

Heather should’ve been the one in charge. She should be the one telling him to get out of here, because I knew that was what she wanted. Until she could snap out of this trance-like fear, I’d take over this situation.

I lacked the opportunity to do so.

Tires crunched as Todd’s rusted, beat-up truck rolled to a stop. He braked behind my truck, and through the slightly cracked windshield, I saw him narrowing his eyes with suspicion.

While he didn’t come out this way often, he had every right to be cruising by. As the official manager of these cabins, he could come and go through here all he wanted. He didn’t. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him out here, but I was damned glad that he arrived now.

“For shit’s sake. You’re calling on some redneck backup now?” the man asked. He looked back as Todd got out of the cab.

The old man didn’t take his stern glare off any of us. Not as he exited. Not as he seemed to hesitate, eying the situation.

“What’s goin’ on out here?” he called out, right by the truck still.

I didn’t change my expression once. Tense and defensive, keeping Heather to my side and slightly behind me, I tipped my chin at the guy claiming to be her boyfriend.

“Get lost, old man,” he said, flipping him off before reaching again for Heather.

I stepped to the side again, letting him drop his hand after hitting it on my side as I blocked her from him.

“What you say, boy?” Todd asked as he reached into his truck bed.

He stood facing us with a rifle in both hands. His gait wasn’t the steadiest for a lifelong rancher passing eighty years of life, but he didn’t tremble with that gun in his hands. That firm, no-nonsense glower didn’t falter for one second.

“What the hell,” the man whispered and stepped back at the sight of a gun. “I said get lost.”

“You talkin’ to me?” Todd asked as he walked back. “Me?”

“If you threaten me with a firearm—”

“He’s not doing anything,” I told him.