ShotgunRelations, page 12
But Jack had been the rock that had kept Liz relatively sane. As she wrapped the bath sheet more tightly around her and crossed the room to answer the ranch phone, she reached up and felt the gold collar he’d put around her neck the other night. “This is Liz at the Laughing Wolf. Can I help you?”
She listened to Nancy Williams whine about being put out of the foreman’s house where she’d stayed for so many years. “Nancy, the men are loading Frank’s and your things into a truck right now. They’ll be brought to you at the apartment you found in town. We’re trying to make this as easy as possible for you, considering the circumstances.”
Damn it, the woman shouldn’t even have asked to stay in the house, not after Frank had been caught red-handed rustling their nearest neighbor’s cattle. Not to mention that he’d also been charged yesterday with killing two ranch employees. Liz held the phone away from her ear while Nancy complained.
When she’d had enough Liz interrupted. “I have too much to do to listen to your complaints. You will have your personal belongings this evening. Goodbye.”
When the phone rang again she ignored it. Without bothering with underwear—it got her hot knowing that Jack liked her accessible all the time—she put on a low-cut red satin top and the matching cut-velvet skirt. They were way too dressy for a stay-at-home evening but she didn’t care. She wanted to look good for her master.
Funny, she thought when she looked in the full-length mirror. Loving her master had done wonders for her appearance, or at least for the way she saw herself. Her hair looked good, a riot of curls on her shoulders. This dress did far more for her than most of the insipid pastel dresses in her closet. She looked practically sexy. No, she did look sexy and it was all her master’s doing.
His collar was the perfect touch. Knowing what it meant and that it was securely locked, a symbol of his possession, made her feel owned. Beautiful. Like a butterfly released by love from the caterpillar she’d been before Jack had come into her life Before he’d worked his magic on her.
Impatient now, she went downstairs and checked one last time with Maria to be sure dinner would be ready at six o’clock. Then she grabbed one of her mother’s black lace shawls from the coat closet, wrapped it around her bare shoulders and stepped out onto the porch, watching and waiting eagerly for Jack to arrive.
When he was halfway down the driveway he saw her on the porch. His heart beat faster and blood slammed straight into his dick. Good thing he’d worn the cock ring and loose pants, or he’d be embarrassing himself in front of Maria the housekeeper.
How the fuck did I ever think Liz was anything but beautiful?
She had on something red tonight, a loose skirt that got caught in the cool breeze. The wind made it caress her slender curves and gave him an occasional glance at the long, athletic legs she liked to wrap around his waist when they fucked. He got instantly hard when he imagined bunching the soft fabric in both hands and settling it around her waist so he could look his fill at the pussy she kept smooth for him. His pussy, with his mark in plain sight on her smooth, pale mound.
A black lace wrap let hints of pale skin show through a red top cut low enough for him to reach inside and cup her small but amazingly sensitive tits. As he walked up on the porch his gaze settled on his collar, the dagger-shaped lock she proudly displayed in the hollow of her throat.
His rock-hard cock protested at its restraint. His balls ached. It took all the control he possessed to refrain from carrying her to her bed and claiming her right now, without preliminaries. His cunt. His ass. His beautiful, talented mouth.
He could barely hold back from taking her again without telling her everything. Without making the confession that might lose him the only woman who’d ever meant more to him than a submissive outlet for his lust.
“I ought to paddle your naughty ass for tempting me so,” he growled as he grasped her lace-clad shoulders and dropped a light kiss on her lips. “But we’re going to talk before we play.” Even if it kills me.
“All right, Master. Maria has dinner ready. I thought you might be hungry after working all day without a break.”
What I want is to eat you. For hours and hours. I’m scared shitless that you’ll never let me do that again. “All right. I am hungry, now that you mention it. But you do look good enough to feast on.”
Her cheeks were a pretty pink when he said that. His submissive lover still held on to a good bit of innocence even though he’d fucked her every which way but loose, in front of a crowd of admirers at the club as well as in his bed and hers.
Just another reason why he loved her…and why he had to level with her about who he was.
* * * * *
“We have to talk.” He’d put it off as long as he could, even letting Maria serve him seconds of the flan that reminded him of what Hortensia used to make when he’d been a little boy. Now they sat in Liz’s old-fashioned living room on a tapestry-covered Victorian sofa that would have done justice to a medieval torture chamber. A perfect place to drop secrets that could well have unpleasant consequences.
Jack turned to Liz and took her hand, trying hard not to get distracted by the sight of his collar, its dagger clasp lying comfortably in the hollow of her pale, very kissable throat. “Four mentioned to me last week that your father left the Laughing Wolf to you, not your mother.”
“No. That can’t be.” Liz shot him a disbelieving look. “If that’s true why wasn’t I told?”
“Here. Take a look at the papers I got from the courthouse. Your father added a codicil to his will before he died. It stated your mother would have control of the ranch until you turned twenty-one, and that you shouldn’t be told of your inheritance until that time. The Merriman law firm—the one I bought from the original Dan Merriman’s son after he was disbarred—was charged with informing you.”
Liz’s hand shook when she took the will and began to read it. “Why didn’t anybody tell me this until now? It makes no sense.”
Jack sighed. “Seven years ago when you turned twenty-one, Dan Merriman Junior was still practicing law. His father had died several years before that, long before he was charged with fulfilling his responsibility to inform you of your inheritance. As you probably know, the son made a mess out of his clients’ legal affairs, so much so that he was disbarred four years ago, before he sold what was left of his practice to me.
“I still haven’t found your father’s file among the papers that came to me when I bought the Merriman practice. There should be a file for the Laughing Wolf somewhere in the papers I found in the storeroom at my office, and that file should contain a copy of your father’s will. Mary Ellen has spent days searching through that nightmare jumble of papers but she still hasn’t found it. The copy in your hand came from the probate office in the courthouse.”
Hoping Liz wasn’t looking at him and thinking what he was afraid of, Jack decided to say it first. “You know you’re a very rich young woman now, probably too rich to want to be the 24/7 sex slave of a simple country lawyer.” He took a deep breath and said a silent prayer that he hadn’t fucked up their relationship beyond repair.
She took his hand. “I love country lawyers. And I love my master. It’s not your fault that old Dan Merriman’s son was a worthless drunk. From what I’ve heard, you’ve had to put out fires he started for a lot of clients since you first moved to Caden.”
Then she turned and met his gaze, deep hurt apparent in her expression. “Mother must have known about Daddy’s will. Why didn’t she tell me?” she asked, her voice almost childlike.
“I don’t know, unless what Four said is true. He told me he wouldn’t be surprised if Mavis thinks there’s some treasure on the place that nobody knows about and she wants to profit from it. That sounds farfetched as hell, but I can’t imagine any other reason she might not want you to know the Laughing Wolf belongs to you.”
Jack wished to hell Liz didn’t look as though she were about to cry. She didn’t deserve to find out this way that Mavis had deliberately kept her in the dark for all this time since she should have been told of her inheritance, and there was not a fucking thing he could say to mitigate her pain.
“You really didn’t know about this until last week?” She spoke quietly but in a tone that fairly begged him for reassurance.
“I didn’t know. I feel rotten because I should have sorted through every one of those jumbled-up files as soon as I bought the Merriman practice. Your father’s will may be in that storeroom somewhere, but so far we haven’t been able to find it. Dan Junior told me when we closed on the sale that some of the files had gotten lost or destroyed, but that’s no excuse. I should have gone through the entire mess with a fine-tooth comb. If I had, I’d have contacted you immediately, as soon as I knew.”
“It’s okay. You’ve told me now. What do I do about Mother?” Liz still looked shell-shocked.
He wished he could do something to erase her sense of betrayal. “You don’t have to do anything. If you want I’ll show Mavis a copy of the will and let her know you’re aware that you’re the sole owner of the Laughing Wolf. According to your father’s will, she has the right to live here as long as she wants and to receive a generous allowance from the ranch’s profits, so nothing much has to change about her living arrangements.”
“Oh.”
Liz was hurt—justifiably so—that her mother had apparently decided to keep her father’s bequest a secret. All Jack knew to do was hold her, so he did. He hoped to hell she’d still want him after he hit her with the other secret.
He didn’t dare keep it from her any longer. Four wouldn’t say anything and neither would Bye or Karen, but Jack had the feeling that Deidre would soon come home to stay. He was certain she’d do anything in her power to hurt him as badly as she believed he’d hurt her. No one had been able to convince his spoiled half-sister that he hadn’t intentionally caused her pain.
He summoned up the courage to plunge ahead. “Honey, are you up to hearing something else I should have told you as soon as I realized we had something worth fighting for?”
“I—I guess so.”
“Okay. This spring my mother told me that Four is my biological father. She waited to spill the news to Four—and his legitimate children—until the day of Mae Caden’s funeral, when she made a blatant play for Four. Up until then Bye had been my friend. Needless to say, learning that we shared the same father put a strain on the friendship. Bye was furious because he and I had played together with Karen before either of us knew the same blood ran through our veins.
“Deidre had decided months earlier that she wanted me for a playmate and I suppose now that I didn’t do enough to discourage her flirtation even after I knew the truth.” Jack ran his fingers through the short bristles on his head, trying to think of a way to put the best light on the fucking crazy situation. “Deidre went off the deep end, thinking I’d led her on knowing we couldn’t be together.”
“My God, Jack. Now I know why you and Four were barely civil to each other. You’ve made peace now, though. Haven’t you?”
“Somewhat. I still resent the fact that he and Marianne let me believe for thirty-two years that my father had died before I was born. And I imagine he’s still smarting because Mother gave him a figurative black eye with Bye and Deidre—not to mention that she drove Deidre away from home because of her spiteful revelation.”
Liz looked at him with tear-filled eyes. “Were you interested in her before you knew?”
“No.” No way did he want Liz to think he’d set his sights on the Caden heiress before learning that she was his half-sister. “Deidre is hot as hell, but she was too young and way too sheltered for a guy like me. Not to mention that I didn’t make anywhere near enough money to keep her in the style to which my old man has accustomed her.”
“Oh.”
He wished he could guess what was going through Liz’s head. She’d gotten quiet. Too quiet. That scared him more than if she’d yelled and railed at him. “Yeah, oh. Well, my situation changed some before we started going out, because Four made me the owner of a trust fund he established so the earnings of the trust would pay Marianne’s bills for the rest of her life. With conscience money that probably didn’t make a dent in Four’s holdings, he made me a potentially wealthy man.”
Liz nibbled at her lower lip, as though deep in thought. “I see. So you felt when you asked me out that you wouldn’t be taking on more than you could afford?”
This wasn’t going well, but then Jack hadn’t expected that it would. “Not exactly. I hadn’t been looking for a relationship. I had my practice to repair and grow, and a sexual outlet at the Neon Lasso.”
He owed her the whole truth, so he took a deep breath and said it straight out. “The first time I asked you for a date it was out of spite toward Four, because I’d heard he was interested in annexing the Laughing Wolf by marrying your mother.” He paused, his gaze on Liz’s tear-stained face. “After spending a little time with you, though, I kept coming back because I liked being with you. Because I wanted you, just you. For God’s sake, honey, please believe me.
“When we’d slept together the first time I knew I wanted you for a lifetime, not just a few nights’ play. I didn’t give a rat’s ass whether or not Four married your mom and annexed the Laughing Wolf. I still don’t care if you want to hand over your ranch to your mother or Four or some charity. I want to marry you for yourself. For no reason besides that I love you.”
Taking a chance that she’d believe him, Jack pulled the heart-shaped box out of his briefcase and set it down in front of her. “Marry me, Liz. Be my friend and lover as well as my sex slave. Have my children. Grow old with me.”
“Why should I?” Her words came out practically drowned in tears and that made him feel like shit.
“Because I love you. Because I want to spend the rest of my life making up for having hurt you. Please, honey.” He opened the box and picked up the ring with etched bluebells on the age-softened rose-gold band and a pretty oval-shaped diamond that sparkled in the light of the antique lamp on the table next to the sofa. “Give me your hand.”
When she didn’t respond he repeated himself, his tone stern—a master’s order he prayed she would heed. When she met his gaze and slowly put her left hand in his, he said a silent prayer of thanks.
Then he slid the ring on her finger and lifted her hand to his lips. “I may have started out the wrong way, for the wrong reasons. I give you my word I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.”
“I love you too, Master. Enough to forgive you anything. Now we have to make peace with my mother. She’ll have a ball planning our wedding.”
Jack gathered Liz in his arms. “Just as long as this wedding takes place soon. I want to sleep next to you every night and wake up with you every morning. Okay with you?”
“Yes, Master.”
Chapter Nine
“We’re going to the Neon Lasso tonight. It’s been too much work and too little play for both of us this last month,” Jack told Liz when he called her one Friday afternoon. “Be ready in an hour. I want you to put a plug in your tight little ass to warm you up for me.”
Liz could hardly wait. Stripping off her filthy jeans and shirt—getting stock into barns in preparation for a freezing November night was dirty work—she stepped in the shower and scrubbed off the grime before carefully shaving herself for her master’s pleasure. She looked down at her tattoo, as pleased by its message as she was with the gold collar around her neck.
She was proud to belong to Jack. She loved him and looked forward to next month, when they’d get married in the living room of the house where she’d lived all her life. Every once in a while she’d have doubts about his feelings because he’d admitted he had asked her out at first to spite the father who still denied him publicly and probably always would.
Tonight wasn’t the time to let her insecurities take over, she told herself while she applied fragrant, arousing lotion over her freshly shaved pussy. Feeling brave, she rouged her nipples after making up her face more dramatically than usual.
Back in her bedroom, she checked the door to make sure it was shut before opening the bottom drawer of her dresser and taking out the butt plug Jack had made her buy in the club’s well-equipped toy shop. Trying hard not to be embarrassed by what she was doing, she worked it up her ass. Your master told you to do this, she kept repeating to herself even after the plug was fully seated, its flat base flush against her anus.
Putting on the cowgirl costume Jack had bought her the last time they’d played at the club, she looked at herself in the mirror and watched her cheeks turn bright red at the sight of her swollen, reddened nipples poking out from the strategically placed holes in the bolero top.
Maybe my master will have them pierced, the way he mentioned the first time we made love. She imagined how they’d look in this outfit if they had hoops dangling from them and the thought excited her a lot.
Her collar shone brightly, shouting to anybody in the BDSM lifestyle that she was her master’s slave—his property to do with in whatever way he wished. She often fantasized that Jack would attach the leash she knew had come with the collar and lead her around like the sex slave she was.
The bottom of her costume reminded her of a cowboy’s chaps—mighty skimpy ones, she thought, laughing at the absurd comparison. Made of red leather to match the bolero, the chaps covered the outsides of her legs, leaving the insides bare except for narrow straps around her thighs and calves that kept the legs in place. A slightly wider band low on her hips curved around her mound and formed a frame for the dagger tattoo it left completely exposed, a clear warning that she was her master’s prize possession.
