Wild Revenge: The Dangerous Jacob Wilde / The Ruthless Caleb Wilde / The Merciless Travis Wilde

Two lies in two minutes. Had to be a record, even for him.

“Then, let’s do it,” Caleb said. “’Cause the sooner we make it to the end zone, the sooner we can get those beers.”

A second laugh was more than he could manage. He smiled instead, took a deep breath and let his brothers lead him forward.

The crowd swallowed him up.

He shook more hands, returned more smiles, did his best to ignore the glitter of tears in the eyes of some of the women, said, Yeah, it was good to be back and Absolutely, it had been a long time and finally, mercifully, he, Travis and Caleb reached the long trestle table that held platters of barbecued ribs and chicken wings alongside tiny sandwiches and bowls of tiny grilled vegetables.

“Real food and girl food,” Caleb said, and this time, Jake’s laughter was genuine.

“And the holy grail,” Travis said, pulling three long-necked bottles from an ice-filled copper tub.

Jake took one, nodded his thanks and raised the bottle to his lips.

“Wait!” Caleb touched his bottle first to Travis’s, then to Jake’s. “Here’s to having you home, brother,” he said softly.

Was it time to point out that the toast was a little premature? No, Jake thought, and they clinked bottles, then drank.

The beer was cold and bitter, maybe what he needed to head off the still-throbbing ache behind his eye. Tension, the docs had said, and told him, earnestly, he had to learn to avoid stress.

Right, Jake thought, and took another long swallow.

“We’ve missed you.”

He looked at Travis. “Yeah. Me, too.”

“Hell,” Caleb said, his voice gruff, “it just wasn’t the same with you gone. This is where you belong, Jacob.”

Okay. Jake could see where this was going.

“About that,” he began, but Travis shook his head.

“We know. You’re not staying. But you’re here tonight. Let’s just celebrate that, okay?”

The suggestion was harmless; it changed nothing. And the truth was, right now, it felt good to be with his family.

“Okay,” he said, and then he smiled and touched his bottle to theirs again. “A toast to The Wilde Ones.”

The old nickname made the brothers grin. And when Bill Sullivan from the feed store came up, clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey, Jake, great to see you,” Jake shook hands, said whatever he was supposed to say….

Until, in a sudden break in the crowd, he saw the woman again.

He had a clearer look at her now, and more time to savor it.

Her hair was the color of rich coffee, thick and shiny; she’d pulled it back with something he couldn’t quite make out, pins or maybe combs.

The style, if you could call it that, was simple …

So was the image that came into his head.

He could see her brushing those lush locks into submission. Her arms were raised, her breasts were thrust up so the nipples were elevated—

Elevated and ready for the whisper of a man’s tongue, for the heat of his mouth …

“Jake?”

His groin tightened.

And that face.

Sculpted bones beneath creamy skin. Gray eyes. No. They were more silver than gray. A straight, no-nonsense nose above a mouth made for things best dreamed of in the deepest dark of the night….

“Jake?”

A hot rush of lust drove through his belly, so quick and fierce that it stunned him. He hadn’t felt anything like it for a long time.

A very long time.

“Hey, man, where’d you go?”

He blinked himself back to reality, swung toward Travis, saw the plate of food he was holding out. Food was the last thing he wanted right now, but he took the plate and forced a smile to his lips.

“Just what I needed,” he said briskly. “Thanks.”

Travis and Caleb began eating. He did, too, though nothing he put in his mouth had any taste.

He wanted to turn around and look at the woman with the silver eyes.

Ridiculous, really.

What would be the point? Forget that moment of lust or hunger or whatever in hell it had been.

At most, it had been an aberration.

The unbelievable truth was that he wasn’t into sex anymore, wasn’t into wanting it or even thinking about it. His sex drive had gone south.

Like the eye, it simply wasn’t there anymore.

Besides, he knew what he looked like. A guy with a Halloween mask for a face …

“… and damned if Lissa didn’t say, ‘Barbecue? Barbecue?’ In that way she has, you know, of making you feel as if it’s you who’s crazy, not her?”

Travis laughed, so Jake laughed, too, but his thoughts returned to the woman.

And to the sudden certainty that she was watching him.

Slowly, with what he hoped was an elaborate show of disinterest, he glanced over his shoulder.

His pulse jumped.

She was. Watching him. Not with curiosity. Not with disgust.

With interest.

And she was alone.

Not in the sense that she was here by herself, though he was sure she was. What man would bring a woman who looked like this to a party and walk away from her?

What he meant was that she was alone in the full sense of the word, separate and apart from everyone and everything….

Except him.

He felt the sudden leap of his blood. And, once again, that urgent pull of desire.

Which was crazy.

Now? he thought. In a room full of people? His long-dormant libido was going to kick in and—holy hell—kick in and add a boner to the fright mask that already made him a standout in the crowd?

God knew, he’d tried to get a rise out of himself—no pun intended—once his wounds had healed.

And fright mask or not, there’d been women who’d made it clear they’d have enjoyed his attention. Nurses. Therapists. A couple of pretty MDs. He had no idea whether it was out of pity or curiosity, or if, as one woman had whispered, that eye patch made him look hot….

The thing was, women had shown interest.

His reaction?

Nothing.

He might as well have been a monk. No erections, no steamy thoughts, not even an X-rated dream.

A few weeks ago, one of his doctors—the Shrink of the Month, was how Jake thought of it—had apparently figured out that he wasn’t fully back in the land of the living.

“So, how’s sex?” the shrink had suddenly asked.

Jake had given the kind of answer he’d hoped would end the discussion.

“Hey, Doc,” he’d said with what he’d hoped was a careless grin, “you’re over twenty-one. Find out for yourself.”

His pathetic attempt at humor hadn’t worked.

“Takes time for everything to function again,” the doc had said. “Not just physically. Emotionally. Trauma takes a toll, Captain, but you’re young. You’re healthy. Give yourself time and, you’ll see, your sex drive will return.”

“Sure,” Jake had said.

But it hadn’t.

Maybe he’d had too many other things to think about. What to do about his future. What to do about his past. How to get through the long days and longer nights.

Whatever the reason, sex—for a man who’d always had his pick of beautiful women—had suddenly become unimportant.

Desire, lust, call it what you liked, had not returned. He hadn’t been with a woman since he’d been wounded, hadn’t wanted to be with one….

Until now.

He took a deep breath. Told himself to look away from the brunette with the silver eyes, but he couldn’t.

Not while she was looking at him.

He searched hard for that oh-you-poor-thing expression half the women in the room had showed him tonight.

It wasn’t there.

She was simply watching him, assessing him with a steadiness that was unsettling.

His jaw tightened.

Now she was smiling, her lips curving in a way that reached deep into his gut.

She mouthed a word.

Hi.

And lifted her wineglass in … what could it be but invitation?

“Her name is Addison. Addison McDowell.”

Caleb’s voice was low. Jake looked at him.

“What?”

“The woman you’re looking at.”

“I wasn’t looking at anybody.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, well, just in case you were—”

“I just told you, I wasn’t.”

“My mistake,” Caleb said calmly. “I only meant—”

“What’s she doing in Wilde’s Crossing?”

His brothers exchanged a quick glance.

“She owns the Chambers ranch,” Travis said.

Jake cocked his head. “What do you mean, she owns the Chambers ranch? The old man always said he’d never sell it. The General tried to buy it a dozen times, remember? And—”

“And got turned down. Well, the old guy died. Pretty much the way you’d expect, still working his skinny butt off, refusing help from anybody, his temper nasty as ever. Turned out he’d mortgaged the place to the hilt. The General found out, told his lawyer to buy it, but the bank had already turned it over.”

“To her?”

“To some old rich guy from New York.”

A muscle knotted in Jake’s jaw.

“And she’s the old rich guy’s wife,” he said flatly.

“The rich guy kicked the bucket right after he took ownership.” Travis jerked his head toward the woman. “She inherited it.”

“So, she’s his widow.”

“No.”

“His daughter?”

“She was his friend.”

Jake looked at the woman again. She was still watching him, her gaze unfaltering.

“Must have been his very good friend,” he said coolly.

“Listen, man—”

“She doesn’t look much like a rancher to me.”

Travis laughed. “The understatement of the year.”

“It doesn’t help that the Chambers place is a disaster,” Caleb said.

“It almost always was.”

“Remember when we were kids and you worked there a couple of summers? You had lots of ideas about how to improve things.”

“Yeah, well, old man Chambers didn’t want to hear any ideas but his own.”

“Addison would.”

Jake looked at Caleb. “Addison?”

“She’s a friend.”

Jake brought his beer to his lips and took a long swallow. Why was the taste of it more bitter than before?

“Woman looks like that probably has a lot of ‘friends.’”

“She is,” Caleb repeated, his tone as cool as Jake’s, “exactly what I said. A friend.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Dammit, Jacob—”

“The point is,” Travis said quickly, “we thought you might help her.”

Jake almost laughed. He wasn’t having much luck helping himself, much less somebody else.

“You know, take a look at the land, the buildings—”

“Here’s the deal, Trav. I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“We figured it would be something like that. Well, no sweat. Check the property for her, leave next week instead. A business deal.”

“Is that what you call your arrangement with her? A business deal?”

Why in hell had he said that? What did his brother’s relationship with a woman he’d never met—and never would meet—matter?

He saw Travis’s eyes narrow and he put out his hand and squeezed his shoulder.

“Sorry.” He managed a quick smile. “I guess I’m not used to talking to people who aren’t wearing cotton nightgowns that leave their butts hanging out.”

“As a matter of fact, the answer is yes. She’s my client. Caleb’s, too. I’m her financial consultant. He’s her lawyer. She’s a smart, tough broad. An attorney, like Caleb, but from New York. If I were you, I wouldn’t underestimate her.”

No. A man would be foolish to underestimate a woman who could pin him with a look.

“No danger of that,” Jake said. “I told you, I’m not staying, so you’d best not recommend me to—”

“We already did. Well, hell, why wouldn’t we? We told her you were the man she wanted. She’s, ah, she’s damn near convinced.”

Jake wasn’t listening. He was watching the woman again. And as he did, she raised her glass of wine to her lips, sipped at the ruby liquid, then ran the tip of her tongue over her lips.

A soft, low sound formed in the back of his throat.

“Jake? You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, his gaze never leaving her.

“Did you hear what I said? She’s pretty much convinced.”

“Convinced of what?”

“That you’re the guy for her.”

“That I’m—”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “That you’re the man she should hire. See how she’s looking at you? She probably figures we’re telling you about her.” He gave a quick, all-too-cheerful laugh. “We told her she’d have to turn on the charm, come up with somethin’ special to convince you to—”

Travis, watching Jake’s face, said, “Caleb,” in a sharp, low voice.

“Something special,” Jake repeated carefully.

“And she will. She’s one hell of a resourceful female, Jake. If she decides she wants to grab your attention—”

“Dammit, Caleb,” Travis growled. “Will you shut up?”

“Wait a minute, okay? I’m explaining things here. Jake needs to know this is all about business, that Addison’s all about business …” His voice trailed off. “Jake?”

“Jake!” Travis called, but Jake was already shouldering his way through the crowd, anger churning in his belly where, moments before, there’d been heat.

CHAPTER FOUR

AT NINE, Addison had run away from home.

She’d done it before.

No special reason, just the childish hope that somewhere out there was a place where people read books instead of watching soap operas, where your mother didn’t spend hours putting curls in her hair and paint on her nails and then, though you hated it, doing those same things to you.

That time, instead of heading for the highway, she’d cut through the woods that led into the mountains.

Branches had slapped at her face, brambles had torn her shirt and jeans.

At last, she’d emerged into a clearing. And found herself face-to-face with a mountain lion.

The big cat had put back its ears and snarled.

Addison’s heart leaped. She knew a lot about mountain lions. They were fast. They were unpredictable. They were beautiful and intelligent….

They were also incredibly dangerous.

Adrenaline pumped through her muscles. Run, every instinct said.

Fortunately, her head knew better. Showing weakness would be the kiss of death.

So, though she was terrified, she’d held her ground. And—such a silly cliché—time stood still.

How else to describe what happened when predator and prey confronted each other?

Now, almost two decades later, she flashed back to that memory. She hadn’t run and after what had seemed like hours, but had surely been only seconds, the cat had turned and bounded away.

Jacob Wilde was coming toward her, and he looked every bit as dangerous as the mountain lion.

Until a few minutes ago, he’d watched her with an intensity that had been … What was the word? Disconcerting. His brothers had been talking to him. About her, she’d assumed, from the way he, then they, had looked at her.

She’d waited for something to happen.

For Travis and Caleb to bring him over to introduce him. Or for him to acknowledge her with a smile, a nod.

She’d waited. And waited. His stillness baffled her. Annoyed her.

Irritated her.

Was he expecting her to make the first move?

Okay, she’d finally decided, why not? She’d smiled. Raised her glass. She’d done all she could to convey the message, Hello, I’m Addison and you’re Jake, and though I don’t think we’ll really do business together, we probably should at least meet to make your brothers happy….

And then everything changed.

His jaw tightened. His mouth thinned. A hot, hungry look swept across his face.

She knew that look. It was one of pure sexuality.

She hated when men looked at her like that. They always had, from the time she’d first grown breasts.

See that, baby girl? her mother would say. Boys like you. Isn’t that nice?

It wasn’t, not when you knew, even then, that you wanted to make it on your intelligence, not on whatever it was boys liked.

So, yes, she hated that look men got….

Except, this time, a stranger looked at her the way a starving man would look at a steak, and she felt her knees go weak.

It shocked her. Flustered her. She felt breathless.

She’d tried to deal with it by changing focus.

She’d taken a mouthful of wine….

And everything had gone to hell.

His brothers said something. Jacob Wilde swung toward them. There was a fast, obviously unpleasant exchange of words.

And then he’d headed straight at her, and all she could think of was that mountain lion and how she’d felt when it had turned its savage eyes on her….

Except, he wasn’t a lion and she wasn’t a scared kid, and she’d be damned if she’d let him intimidate her.

The thing was, it was all happening in slow motion.

His single-minded approach.

His brothers hurrying after him.

“Jake,” Caleb called. “Jake, wait a minute!”

“Dammit,” Travis said, “you’re making a big mistake.”

By now, heads were turning. People were staring. That was the last thing she needed.

A public scene over who-knew-what when she’d spent the past weeks doing everything she could to avoid public anythings!

Okay.

She took a step back.

Forget facing the lion. Forget refusing to be intimidated. The man was crazy, and she was absolutely not going to permit him to—

Too late.

His hand, hard as steel, wrapped around her wrist.

“Going somewhere?” he said in a low voice.

Addison’s heart was racing. It was difficult to speak calmly, but she did.

“Let go of me.”

“Why? My brothers said you were eager to meet me.”

“Hardly eager.” Her gaze went from his face to her wrist, then back again. “Are you deaf? I said—”

“Deaf as well as blind?” He smiled thinly. “No, Miss McDowell. One disability at a time is my limit.”

She winced. The guy was a nut-job but she had no intention of insulting him.

“I can assure you, I didn’t mean—”

“No. And you can also assure me you didn’t tell my brothers how much you wanted to meet me.”

“Jake,” Travis said in a warning tone.

Addison looked past Jacob Wilde. His brothers had positioned themselves slightly behind him, one on either side. They seemed ready to grab him and march him away.

The idea should have been comforting. It wasn’t. All three Wildes were big and strong and hard-bodied, but she had no doubt that this one’s icy rage would surely give him an edge.

Maybe a calm approach would work.

“I told them I’d agree to meet you,” Addison said. “It seemed to mean a lot to them.”

“You wanted to meet me,” he said coldly. “And when they told you they knew damned well I wasn’t going to be interested in taking you on as a client—”

“A client?” Her eyes narrowed. “What they wanted was for me to give you a job.”

“The hell they did.”

Addison felt her resolve to stay calm slipping.

“They close to begged me to give you a reason to hang around.”

“Right,” Jake snapped. “That’s why you went into that—that routine.”

What was he talking about?

“Look,” she said carefully, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding—”

“The look. The smile. That last little touch, the sip of wine and that sexy lick of your lips.”

“You,” she said flatly, “are a lunatic.”

“Holy hell,” Caleb growled, “Jake. Man, you’ve got this all wrong.”

Jake ignored him.

“Has it ever failed you before, or is this a first?”

Addison stared at him. The ridged scars below the black eye patch were red and angry-looking.

She felt a twinge of compassion.

His visible wounds were brutal. Maybe they went even deeper. Was his behavior yet another indication of what he’d gone through?

He’d sacrificed for his country. For people like her. If he’d come away from the war with some idiosyncrasy, some behavioral tic—

“Don’t,” he said sharply.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t look at me as if I were a dog lying by the side of the road.” His hand tightened on her wrist; he gave a little twist that brought her to her toes and she gave a soft, inadvertent gasp. “I don’t need your pity any more than I needed your come-on.”

So much for compassion.

“Come-on? You think I—” Addison glared at his brothers over Jake Wilde’s shoulder. “Get your lunatic brother away from me,” she said through her teeth, “and do it fast!”

“Jacob,” Travis said, “let’s go outside, okay? Get some fresh air—”

“Jake,” Caleb said, “man, let go of the lady.”

The certifiably insane Wilde brother didn’t respond. Then, after what seemed an eternity, he dropped his hand from hers.

She wanted to look and see if his fingers had left marks, but she’d sooner have let her hand fall off than give him the satisfaction.

“I want to be sure you get the message, Ms. McDowell,” he said. “You can pull out all the stops. I still won’t assess the Chambers ranch.”

“It’s not the Chambers ranch. It’s mine. And I’d sooner see the place dry up and blow away before I’d let you step on it.”

He flashed a cold smile.

“It’s yours because you managed to con a sick old man into buying it for you.”

“You,” Addison said, “are a horrible man.”

“Why? Because I’m not an easy mark the way he was?”

Travis and Caleb groaned. Addison’s gaze flew to them again and seared them with fire.

“My, oh, my,” she said with a deadly calm, “you boys had quite an interesting chat.”

“Addison,” Travis said, “if you’re suggesting—”

“What I’m ‘suggesting,’” she snapped, “is that I’d sooner take advice from Elsie the cow than from this—this all-ego, no-brains brother of yours.”

“Listen, lady—”

“No,” Addison said, “you listen!” She took a quick step forward, lifted her chin, slapped her hands on her hips and glared. “Your brothers spent hours trying to sell you to me. You were a genius. You were brilliant. You—you were in communion with the soil and the grass and the horses—”

“Jake,” Caleb said quickly, “man, we never—”

“One look at my ranch, they said, and, poof, you’d know exactly what it needed.”

“And?”

“And even though I didn’t see any point to getting your assessment of something any fool can see is a disaster, I thought—thought,” she said coldly, glaring at Travis and Caleb again, “that I could trust them.”

“You can,” Travis said quickly. “We never—”

“And,” Addison said, ignoring the interruption, “because I was also foolish enough to believe your brothers were my friends, I said, okay, I’d give the Ranch Guru five minutes of my time.”

Jake wanted to laugh. Ridiculous, when he was so ticked off. Instead, he folded his arms over his chest.

“How generous,” he growled.

“Addison. Jake. You guys are both—”

“Which is why,” Addison continued, with a withering glace at Caleb, “which is the only reason I came to this—this hail-the-conquering-hero party where I endured being hit on by every dumbass cowboy over the age of twelve, and the way the women looked at me, as if my sole purpose in life was to steal their homely, fat, drooling husbands.”

Travis made a choking sound. Caleb rubbed his forehead. Jake had a hard time keeping from doing the same.

“And I waited, patiently, for the main event.”

“The what?” Jake said.

“The main event, Captain. You. I waited and waited, and you finally showed up, but did your sainted sisters or your magnificent brothers introduce us?”

“Our sisters don’t know anything about this,” Travis said. He looked around. “And could we take this in another room? We really don’t need an aud—”

“I watched the three of you standing there, swilling beer—a disgusting beverage but then, what could anyone expect from Texans?”