Maya Banks - Colters’ Woman

To their surprise, the door opened and Lacey McMillan stuck her head in. “You in there?” she called out. She stopped when her gaze rested on Ryan and Adam.

Adam relaxed. Lacey was the county sheriff, and she paid a call from time to time to see how things were in the high country. Tall, lanky and redheaded. All the things Holly wasn’t. At one time, Adam had thought Lacey might be the one, but his brothers hadn’t shared his attraction.

She removed her Stetson as she walked further into the cabin. She threw Adam a saucy grin. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

Ryan scowled and sat back down at the bar.

“What brings you out?” Adam asked, folding his arms and affecting what he knew to be an intimidating stance. Normally he wouldn’t mind shooting the shit with Lacey, even doing a little light flirting, but that was in the past. Now he just wanted her to be gone as soon as possible.

Lacey slid onto a barstool beside Ryan, hitching her long legs up to balance on the lower rung of the stool.

“Where’s the third stooge?” she asked, looking around for Ethan.

“Around,” Adam said.

She arched a brow but didn’t comment further on his being so close-mouthed.

“I’m up here to find out if y’all have seen a young woman. Early twenties. Brunette. Short, maybe five two. We’re dealing with a possible abduction, though she may have escaped. We found an abandoned car at the base of the mountain, and we’re checking out the area. Maybe you saw something?”

Adam shook his head then fixed his gaze on Ryan. “You and Ethan see anything when you were out?”

“Nope.”

He turned his attention back to Lacey. “You think she’s still in the area?”

Lacey shrugged. “Dunno. Could be, though if she’s on her own, I don’t imagine she’ll last long in the backcountry. City girl from what I gathered. Got a bulletin from the Denver PD and the Feds wanting our department to be on the lookout. Seemed to think she might be headed this way.”

“Do you need trackers?” Adam asked, knowing if he didn’t offer, it would seem odd. He and his brothers had tracked missing persons before for the sheriff’s department. Last summer, they had found a little girl who had wandered off from her parents’ campsite.

Lacey shook her head. “Nah. Like I said, I’m just checking out the possibility anyone saw something. We don’t even know who the car belongs to. Teddy’s running the plates as we speak. Could be she never came this way.”

Adam itched to ask more questions. Who did Holly belong to and who supposedly kidnapped her? But he knew it would arouse Lacey’s suspicions, because if nothing else, the Colter brothers kept to themselves and didn’t borrow trouble from anyone.

“Well, let us know if we can help,” he said shortly, dismissively.

Lacey chuckled then rose from the barstool. “There was a time when you were more welcoming,” she said softly as she brushed by him, letting her full breasts rasp across his folded arms.

He stepped back, only anxious for her to be gone so he could question Holly.

“I guess I’ll see you around,” Lacey said, a resigned expression on her face. She replaced her hat then walked to the door. “Let me know if you see anything, okay?”

“Will do,” Adam said.

When she shut the door, Adam let out his breath.

Ryan glanced up, his expression brooding.

“She was looking for Holly,” Adam said, a frown twisting his brows.

He turned and strode for the bedroom, Ryan following close behind. An invisible hand squeezed his chest when he saw Holly huddled on the bed, her knees hugged to her chest. Ethan sat beside her, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back, but she barely registered his presence.

Adam cursed under his breath and knelt down on the floor in front of the bed. He reached a hand for hers and pried it away from her legs.

“Baby, listen to me. You’re safe here. That was just our sheriff.”

Holly’s eyes widened in alarm, and she shivered in fear.

“No police,” she croaked.

“No police,” he agreed.

“Promise me,” she said, her voice coming out in a pathetic squeak.

“You can trust us,” Ethan said quietly. “We won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”

She relaxed a tiny bit, leaning more into Ethan’s caress.

Adam still held her hand in his, and he brushed his fingers over her upturned palm, trying to infuse his calm into her. “Listen to me, baby. We need to ask you some questions.”

She let out a panicked moan. “No, no questions. Please, let me go. I need to leave.”

Ethan’s hand stilled on her back, and beside Adam, Ryan stiffened. Adam knew he had to handle this just right. He couldn’t chance her running. They couldn’t keep her safe if she ran.

He exchanged looks with his brothers. They were all united in this cause. They were not going to let her go. And they sure as hell weren’t going to let anyone hurt her.

He stood then sat down on the bed beside her. “Honey, you can trust us. We aren’t going to hurt you. We aren’t going to let anyone else hurt you. But we need to know what’s going on. What happened to you.”

Panic flared in her eyes. Fear spread out like a forest fire over her face. “Y-y-you don’t understand,” she stammered out. “No one can help. No one can stop h-h-him.” She said him like she spoke of the devil himself.

“Who, baby? Who are you talking about?” Adam whispered.

She shook her head, her agitation increasing with each second. On the other side of her, Ethan shook his head, a warning to Adam that he was pushing too far. She looked about ready to shatter.

“Why don’t you get some rest?” Adam said, though he wanted very badly to have all the answers to his questions.

Ethan gently pulled her to him then lifted her up off the comforter. He stood beside the bed while Adam and Ryan turned back the covers. Then Ethan laid her down and pulled the sheets over her. “We’ll be right outside if you need us,” Ethan said, bending down to kiss her forehead.

Her eyes were closed before they even left the room.

The brothers assembled in the kitchen, all of them wearing grim expressions.

“What did Lacey want?” Ethan asked.

Adam quickly filled Ethan in on all Lacey had to say.

“So someone kidnapped her?” Ethan asked incredulously. “That doesn’t make any sense. Wouldn’t she be more than willing to spill the story and go to the police?”

“I agree it makes no sense,” Adam replied. “Which is why we aren’t going to tell anyone about Holly. At least not until we have the full story from her. She’s scared to death of someone. A man. The son of a bitch has hurt her.”

“She’s attracted to us,” Ethan said. “All three of us. It confuses her, but her reaction to us is there.”

Adam nodded, satisfaction filling every inch of his body. After so long of waiting, they finally had the woman they would spend the rest of their lives with.

She dreamed of them. They came to her on the heels of a nightmare. A sweet balm to her battered senses. They replaced images of the devil and hell. Their hands soothed away the hurt. Adam, Ethan and Ryan, their touch gentle, yet demanding, their lips worshipping her body.

Holly awoke dripping with sweat, need and a healthy dose of embarrassment. Maybe she wasn’t any better than a whore. Maybe Mason was right.

She shivered as a chill settled over her damp skin. She looked at the window to see darkness beyond. How long had she slept? Her gaze settled on the bedside clock. Four-thirty. In the morning? It must be.

Chances were the brothers weren’t even awake. It would be a perfect opportunity for her to steal away. She endangered them by staying here. Mason would find her, and he would kill anyone in his way. And the idea of her three saviors being harmed because of her hurt in a way she couldn’t explain.

She slid her legs from the covers, careful not to make a sound when her feet hit the floor. Her shoes, a simple pair of sneakers, lay by the door, her socks stuffed inside.

She quickly pulled on her socks then laced up her shoes. She had no coat to wear over her thin sweater so she retrieved the flannel shirt she had worn yesterday. It would have to do.

With extreme care, she opened the bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. The other bedroom doors were slightly ajar, much to her chagrin. She’d have to sneak past them the best she could.

She tiptoed down the hall and breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the living room. That is until she saw Adam lying on the couch. He must have slept there last night since she’d taken over his room.

A low fire burned in the fireplace, and she longed to go stand in front of it, anything to infuse as much warmth as she could before she stepped into the cold.

Taking in a deep breath, she took small measured steps toward the door. If she could just reach the door. She glanced over at Adam who didn’t stir. She reached out a hand for the door and held her breath as she turned the handle.

She opened it a crack and slipped out before a rush of cold air could blow in. She eased the door shut behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d made it.

The icy cold air made quick work of her inadequate clothing and infused an uncomfortable chill into her body. The Land Rover stood parked in the drive, and for a moment she contemplated taking it, but she wouldn’t steal from the men who had been nothing but kind to her.

She’d walk until she found another means of transportation.

“Going somewhere, doll?”

She whirled in the direction of the voice to see Ethan and Ryan standing a few feet away, their arms loaded with firewood.

Her jaw worked up and down, and she struggled to say something, to respond. But nothing would come out.  So she did the only thing she could think of. She ran.

Behind her, a set of curses rang out as she sped as quickly as she could across the snow. She had no idea where she was going. She only knew she had to get away.

She hadn’t gotten far when arms plucked her off her feet. She met with a hard chest and found herself staring up into Ethan’s face.

“Damn it, don’t look at me like that,” he ground out. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’d kill anyone who hurt you.”

She looked at him in complete bewilderment at the possessiveness in his tone. “Let me go,” she begged. “I can’t stay here.”

“And where would you go?” Ryan demanded beside them. “You wouldn’t survive an hour out here.”

She knew he had a point, but she couldn’t stay here. She didn’t understand the attraction she felt for the brothers, why she shivered if one of them so much as looked at her. One she could understand, but all three of them? What kind of freak did that make her?

“Give me your coat,” Ethan said to Ryan. “She’s freezing already.”

A moment later, she was bathed in warmth as Ryan’s body heat bled into her. His coat smelled like him, felt like him, as if he held her instead of Ethan.

“I can’t stay here,” she whispered, dangerously close to tears.

Ethan stared down at her for a long moment. Then to her complete surprise, he bent his lips to hers and caught her in a long, intense kiss.

He caught her gasp of shock and swallowed it up as his tongue danced over hers. She forgot all resistance as she melted like hot butter into his chest.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He was every bit as lethal as Adam. And she shouldn’t be reacting this way to him. Not after what she had done with Adam.

Hot tears flooded her eyes, and she let out a moan of distress.

“You’re scaring her, Ethan,” Ryan growled beside them.

“I’m a whore,” she whispered. “Just like he said.”

Ethan went rigid, his arms like bands of steel around her body. “Who called you a whore?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet.

She struggled in his arms until he was forced to put her down, but he still kept a firm grip around her wrist.

“Does it matter? He was obviously right,” she said in a tortured voice. “All any of you have to do is look at me and I go up in flames. What kind of woman am I?” she demanded.

“Our woman,” Ryan answered. “That’s the kind it makes you.”

Her mouth rounded in shock at his announcement. She looked back and forth between the two men, looking for an avenue of escape.

“Come on, doll,” Ethan said gently. “Let’s get you back to the house. You’re freezing. Adam’s not going to be happy about you running.”