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“Nice to meet you both. Let’s take this inside.”
Sydney jerked away from her uncle. “What have you done?” she hissed as Caden drew her away from David and hugged her close before ushering everyone inside, with Connor and Grayson joining them. Her breathing grew short as she fretted over what the sudden appearance of her relatives might mean.
“It pays to have friends with easy access to government records. It didn’t take Grayson long after running your license plate this morning to unearth where you’re from and more about your family. About an hour after our talk, he called back with your uncles’ names and numbers. The only thing he wasn’t able to learn is why you took off two months ago.” Caden nodded toward her uncles. “I called them this morning. I have to say, they made damn good time.”
“We grabbed the first available flight,” David said.
She had trouble wrapping her mind around Caden’s subterfuge and determination until a sudden thought added to her concerns. “Did… did you talk to anyone else?” She prayed he hadn’t contacted her grandmother and upset her.
Robert faced her as soon as they entered the den, hands on his hips, eyes snapping with impatience as he answered, “You’re the one who has caused her grief. And we’re,” he nodded to his brother, “guessing this has something to do with Mike and the substantial debt he owes. He’s been scarce ever since you took off.”
“You know?” Sydney sank onto the sofa in shock. “But, he told me no one in the family knew, or could find out as it would break Grandma’s heart.”
David crouched in front of her and clasped her hands. “Lucille Greenbriar is tougher than you think, sweetheart, and a gambling debt incurred by Mike won’t surprise her. He’s always been bad wi
th money, and lazy to boot. But none of that is why you left. He threatened you for help, didn’t he?”
She shook her head, not wanting to be the one to reveal how immoral and corrupt in his desperation Mike had become. “I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone else. It’s bad enough Caden’s ranch has suffered because of him, and me.”
“Don’t make me turn you over my knee in front of your relatives,” Caden warned, his stern look saying he wouldn’t hesitate if she didn’t stop with the self-blame. “While it’s damn admirable for you to want to spare your family’s feelings, darlin’, in this case it’s no longer wise,” Caden growled in his usual impatient, caring way. “The truth has to come out sometime. And I say now.”
“Taking on that burden alone was never a smart thing to do,” David admonished. “Magnanimous and selfless, but wrong, nonetheless.”
Sydney wanted to hide from everyone’s nods, but now wasn’t the time to turn coward. Caving to the pressure bearing down on her, she relayed Mike’s desperate actions at her apartment and the thug he hired to threaten her into returning. “For months, he’d been pestering me to trust him with the shares Mom left me, saying he could invest them and turn a nice profit for both of us. I may not know much about such things, but enough to know he was conning me. When he became really desperate, he let slip he owed a lot of people, some who didn’t like to be kept waiting for payment.” She shuddered at the memory, but when she looked up into Caden’s cobalt gaze and saw the anger on her behalf, that warm, fuzzy sensation in her chest she first experienced when he’d found her spying through the window of his club, returned.
For the first time since Mike’s hired bully had approached her, Sydney felt a spurt of optimism and giddy glee. Flipping her rancher one of her cheeky grins, she quipped, “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but a very caring one,” David answered with a smile as he rose. Caden just lifted one eyebrow, as if to say, ‘you damn well are’.
“We knew it was bad, but not how bad,” Robert sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. “But there’s no excuse for his behavior. Under the circumstances, I think it’s best if you stay here while we dish out some tough love to our baby brother.”
“What about Nana?” Unbidden, tears welled as she thought of all her grandmother had endured already.
“You’re a good girl, Sydney. We’ll give her the details on his debt, but just say he wanted your shares and leave it at that. That’ll be enough for her to come down on Mike like a ton of bricks. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to come home soon, I promise,” David assured her.
“In the meantime, give me a description of the man who accosted you in town,” Grayson said as he took a seat next to her and pulled out a small notebook. “Was that the only time you saw him, last week?”
This isn’t going to go over well, she mused before telling the truth and bracing for Caden’s wrath. “No. He showed up at the mess hall yesterday, while everyone was out. That’s when he admitted he’d poisoned the water and suggested it could be someone on the ranch who got hurt next time.”
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Connor muttered.
Caden remained silent, but his glacial look spoke volumes. Her uncles’ faces were creased with concern, and guilt slithered under her skin again, making her regret her choices.
Funny, Sydney thought fifteen minutes later as Caden showed her uncles the guest rooms they could use tonight before catching their flight in the morning. Somehow, in the past few weeks, her desire to return home had shifted into second priority, while remaining here on the ranch, with her rancher, slid into the first slot. She made it through dinner and the evening of catching up before she turned to Caden with a beaming smile as he shut them into the privacy of his room.
Keeping her eyes on his, she slowly unzipped her jeans and shimmied out of them. “It looks like you’re stuck with me a little longer, boss.”
Arms crossed, he replied in a cool tone, “Looks like.”
Her top went sailing onto a chair next, followed by her bra and panties. “Gee, what will you do with me?” She cupped her breasts, a shiver rippling down her spine at the raw lust stamped on his sun-bronzed face.
He reached out, hauled her up against him and took her mouth in a deep, tongue-stroking kiss before swatting her ass, hard.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“For not trusting me or your family sooner.” With a small push, he sent her toppling onto the bed. “Continue.” He placed her hands back on her breasts then rid himself of his clothes.
Sydney’s arousal skyrocketed by the time he draped the full length of his rock-hard body on top of her, clasped her hands and held them above her head. The relief of having shared her burden and her uncle’s promise to take Mike in hand brought a whole new level of excitement to submitting to Caden.
