His By Any Means: The Black Sheep's Inheritance

“I know, I know.” She stepped away from him, pulled the edges of her sweater tighter and wrapped her arms around her middle. “My first instinct, you know, was to contest the will.”

“Yeah, I felt the same way,” he said, “so did Dylan.” He didn’t add that he and their brother hadn’t been able to come to a decision.

She took a deep breath and tossed her hair back from her face. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore, Sage. I want that company, but now I don’t know how to get it. Do I fight my father’s dying wishes? Do I try to accept this? How?”

“The whole situation’s screwed up, that’s for damn sure. But we’ll figure something out,” Sage said. He knew what J.D. had done had eaten away at her confidence, her self-assurance—hell, even her own image of herself. Their dad had spent a lifetime building her up and then with one stroke of the pen, he’d torn her down.

Why?

She laughed shortly and threw both hands into the air. “I’m a mess, sorry. I shouldn’t have just driven up here and thrown myself on you. But I really needed someone to talk to. Someone who would understand.”

“You can drop in on me any damn time you want and you know that, Angie,” he told her. “But just out of curiosity, where’s Marlene?”

“Oh, she’s at the ranch,” she said, and started walking toward the wraparound porch on the main house. Sage matched his strides to her shorter ones. “And yes, she’s always willing to listen, but she can’t be objective about Dad...and I really wish Colleen were still at Big Blue. She was super easy to talk to.”

Yeah, he thought. Colleen was easy to talk to. Easy to look at. She also made it easy for him to forget why he’d started all of this.

As if just thinking about her could make her appear, an old red Jeep pulled up the drive and everything in Sage quickened. Like a damn kid waiting for a date with the girl of his dreams, he felt his heartbeat thundering in his chest, and an all-too-familiar ache settled low in his gut and grabbed hold.

“Well,” Angie said thoughtfully, with a pointed glance at him. “This is interesting.”

Instantly, Sage tamped down the internal fires raging through him. He didn’t need his sister making more of this than there was. “It’s not what you’re thinking, so dial it down.”

“Really?” she asked as the car engine cut off and the driver’s side door opened. “Because that looks like a suitcase she’s pulling out of her car....”

His insides tightened even further. “Don’t even start, Angie....”

* * *

Colleen wrangled her overnight bag out of the car and set it at her feet. She looked at the ranch house and quickly swept it in one thorough gaze. It was smaller than Big Blue, but not by much. Its windows gleamed in the afternoon sun and the long wraparound porch boasted plenty of chairs for sitting out and enjoying the view. The honey-colored logs looked warm and inviting, the scent of pine was pervasive, and the two people on the porch were both watching her.

She hadn’t expected to find Sage’s sister here, too, but maybe that was a good thing. All morning, Colleen’s stomach had been twisting and turning in anticipation of her arrival here at Sage’s ranch. For longer than she cared to think about she had been fascinated by him. And now that they’d actually been spending time together, that fascination had escalated into something that was as scary as it was thrilling. Having Angie as a buffer might make these first few minutes easier.

“Angie, hi.” Though she spoke to his sister, Colleen’s gaze went first to Sage, and even that one brief connection with his intense blue eyes sent goose bumps racing along her spine.

“Hi, yourself.” Angelica walked out to meet her and gave Colleen a hug. “I’ve missed you since you moved out of Big Blue.”

“I missed you, too.” Focusing on his sister gave Colleen the chance to tear her gaze from Sage’s. “How is everyone doing? Marlene?”

“She really misses Dad. A lot. We all do, of course, but...” Angie shrugged. “It’s hard. And since the reading of the will, it’s even harder.” Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Sage. “Why don’t you get Colleen’s suitcase and I’ll walk her in.”

“Oh, that’s okay, I can—”

Sage nudged her hand off the handle, and a now-familiar buzz of sensation hummed from her fingers, up her arm, to rocket around in the center of her chest. He looked at her, and in his eyes, she saw the realization that he’d felt it, too. That electric spark that happened whenever they touched. As if a match had been held to a slow burning fuse that was about to reach the explosives it was attached to.

Then he picked up her suitcase as if it weighed nothing—and Colleen knew she hadn’t packed light. For another long second, he looked at her and Colleen’s heart beat began to race. Her mouth went dry, her knees went weak and if Angie hadn’t been there, watching the two of them, she might have just thrown herself at Sage.

“Come on,” Angie said then, splintering that happy little fantasy. Colleen followed her into the house and once she was there, she buried those feelings in the curiosity she had for Sage’s ranch. She’d heard J.D. describe it, of course, but the reality was so much more.

Outside, it was set up much like the Big Blue. Outbuildings, barns, stables, though from what she’d seen at a quick glance, there was a much bigger corral for working horses than J.D.’s ranch provided. Obviously, that made sense, because she knew that Sage bred and raised racehorses. But it was the inside of the main house that had her captivated.

It, too, was constructed of hand-hewn logs, but there the similarity with Big Blue ended. Instead of the ironwork that made up much of the Lassiter home ranch, Sage’s place was all wood and glass. Wood banisters on the wide staircase, intricately carved to look like vines climbing up posts. Bookcases that looked as though they’d been sculpted into the walls, boasted hundreds of leather-bound and paperback books.

The wide front windows afforded a view that was so spectacular it took her breath away. Despite the number of trees on the property, the view was wide-open and provided a glimpse of the valley and the city of Cheyenne that at night must be staggering. A stone fireplace dominated one wall and the hand-carved mantel displayed pictures of his brother and sister and a young couple who must have been his biological parents.

While Sage and Angie talked, their conversation veering from muted tones to half shouts, Colleen wandered around the great room. Oak floorboards shone in the sunlight slanting through the windows. Brightly colored rugs dotted the floor, adding more warmth to a room that rang with comfort. Overstuffed brown leather chairs and sofas were gathered in conversational knots and heavy oak tables were laden with yet more stacks of books. She loved it.

The house was perfect and she couldn’t wait to explore the rest of it. It was just as she would like her own home to be—on a smaller scale, of course. A comfortable refuge.

“You don’t understand,” Angie was saying and had Colleen turning around to face the siblings. “Evan is acting as if this is nothing. He keeps offering to let me run the company. But he doesn’t get that him giving me control isn’t the same as having control. He’s trying to take a step back for me at the office, but I don’t want him doing that, so it’s a vicious circle. He thinks I should have control, and I want it, but if Dad didn’t want me to have it, how can I try to claim it? We’re arguing all the time now, and I can’t help wondering why Dad did this. Did he want Evan and I to break up? Or was he really that disappointed in me?”

Colleen saw the torment on Sage’s face and when he reached for his sister, pulling her in tight and wrapping his arms around her, Colleen felt a pang in her tender heart. He was so kind. So loving. Yet when she’d told him just that, he’d denied it. Why couldn’t he see it?

“Dad loved you,” he said simply. “Something else is going on here, Angie, and we will find out what it is.”

His gaze speared into Colleen’s and she felt a quick bolt of ice that snaked along her spine and made her shiver. There was nothing tender in that look. But before she could really wonder what he was thinking, the expression dissolved once again into concern for his sister.

Angie pulled away, spun around and looked at Colleen. “You’re the one who spent the most time with him toward the end. Did he tell you why he was doing this? Why he cut me out as if I were nothing?”

With both Lassiters staring at her, Colleen felt completely ill at ease. She didn’t have answers for them, though she wished she had.

Shaking her head, she could only say, “No, Angie. He didn’t talk about his will with me. I had no idea what he was going to bequeath to everyone.”

“That’s really not an answer though, is it?” Sage muttered and her gaze locked on his. The shutters were in place, but even with him closing her out, she felt the cold emanating from him. Only minutes ago, he’d given her a look filled with heat, and now it was as if he’d shut that part of himself down.

“He talked to you, Colleen,” he prodded. “If not about his will, then about how he was feeling. What he was thinking. And you know what he said. So tell us.”

She blinked at him. “What can I tell you that you don’t already know? He loved you all. He talked about you with such warmth. So much pride...”

“Then why would he do this?” Angie demanded. “Why?”

“I just don’t know.” Colleen sighed heavily. “I wish I did.”

Sage’s features went very still, as if he were considering what she said and wondering if she was holding something back. Finally he muttered, “Angie, she doesn’t know. No one does. Yet. We’ll find out, though, I swear.”

“For all the good it’ll do,” she said and forced a smile. “I’m really sorry. I don’t mean to dump on you guys. I’m just so torn up about this and so...confused.”

“Your father loved you, Angie,” Colleen said softly. “He was proud of you.”

Her eyes glistened with tears, but she blinked them back and lifted her chin. “I want to believe you, Colleen. I really do.”

“You can.”

“I hope so.” Nodding, she turned to her brother. “I’m gonna go. I promised Marlene I’d take her into town for a nice dinner, and if I’m going to make it, I’ve got to start back now.”

“Okay,” Sage said, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Try not to worry. We’ll work this out.”

“Sure.” She flashed a smile at Colleen. “And now, I can leave you two alone to do...whatever you were planning before I showed up.”

Colleen flushed. “Oh, please don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just here so Sage can show me what life in the mountains is like. I want to move up here and—”

“You’re going to move here?” Angie interrupted.

“Not here, here,” Colleen corrected with a fast glance at Sage to see what his reaction was to his sister’s teasing. But it was as if he wasn’t listening to Angie at all. His gaze was locked with hers and the heat in his eyes warmed her all the way to her toes. Still, she added for Angie’s benefit, “Just here in the mountains, here.”

She was babbling and now felt like an idiot. Of course Angie hadn’t meant anything by what she’d said. She knew that there was nothing between Colleen and Sage. Nothing but a lot of chemistry that neither of them had acted on.

“Right, so you have a place in mind?”

“I have the addresses of a couple of cabins that are for sale. I was hoping Sage could show me where they are.”

“Oh, my big brother is so helpful, I’m sure he won’t mind at all.” She smiled at him. “Will you, Sage?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he asked pointedly.

Brother and sister stared at each other for a long minute or two, then finally Angie said, “Yeah. I guess I do. After dinner with Marlene, I’m meeting Evan in town tonight. We both thought it would be better to talk away from the office. It’s just too...hard when we’re there. But we do have to talk about plans for the company.”

“That’s good, Angie.”

“In theory,” she said. “We’ll have to see, now that he’s my boss.”

Colleen winced and wished she knew why J.D. had done this to his daughter. She would love to be able to give Angie a reason. An explanation. Something. But she simply had no idea why he would turn his family on its head like he had. And she couldn’t help but feel guilty every time she thought about what Angelica was going through. She’d been hurt by her father’s will while Colleen had been given a gift for which she was immensely grateful.

“Anyway,” Angie said, crossing the room to hug Colleen. “You guys have fun or whatever. Don’t let him turn you into Dan’l Boone or something, okay?”

Colleen laughed. “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”

“You never know when the hermit of the mountain’s involved.”

“’Bye, Angie,” Sage said firmly.

“Uh-huh.” Angie shifted a sly look between the two of them then flashed a knowing smile at Colleen. “I’m sure Sage will show you everything you’ll ever need to know.”

And with that loaded insinuation, she left, Sage walking her out. Alone in the great room, Colleen found herself suddenly wondering if the lessons she came to learn weren’t going to be very different than what she’d expected.

Eight

Once his sister was gone, Sage went back into the house and stopped in the doorway of the great room. Colleen had her back to him as she stared out the windows at the wide, uninterrupted view of trees and sky. His gaze raked her up and down and his body roared into life in response.

Hell, he’d been with beautiful, glamorous women who spent hours in front of mirrors, and had their own fashion stylists, hair people, makeup artists, and he’d never felt the pulse-pounding desire for them that he did for Colleen. Her hair was loose, hanging over her shoulders in a windblown tousle of waves and curls. She wore jeans, sneakers and a red sweater over a white shirt. And she looked amazing.

As if sensing his presence, she turned to face him and their eyes locked.

“I feel really bad about all of this will business,” she said, her soft voice barely discernible in the cavernous room.

A brief spark of suspicion rose up inside him. Was she going to confess to conspiring with J.D. to cheat Angie out of what was rightfully hers? Hell, he almost hoped not, because he really wanted to seduce it out of her. “Why should you?”

“I know how upset she is over the will...and yet for me, it was life changing.”

“For her, too,” Sage said wryly.

She winced. “I know. I wish I could help.”

With the afternoon sunlight streaming in through the window behind her, Colleen looked as though the tips of her hair were dusted with gold. She seemed to shimmer in that soft light and damned if he didn’t feel that lurch of something that was more than attraction. More than simple desire.

Shaking his head, he asked, “You actually mean that, don’t you?”

“Of course I mean it,” she said, clearly confused by the question. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Why indeed. If she was hiding something, she was damn good at it. And if she was innocent—that didn’t change anything. He still wanted her and he would still have her.

“Never mind,” he said, walking toward her in long, easy strides. “Let me see the addresses of those cabins.”

She dug the paper out of her pocket and handed it over. He knew both places. One wasn’t far. The other was much higher up the mountain. “Okay, let’s go take a look.”

* * *

“This is Ed Jackson’s place,” Sage said as he steered Colleen down the rocky path toward the small one-bedroom cabin. The first address she’d given him was about two miles higher up the mountain from Sage’s ranch. The roads were in good repair, but the sharp curves and the straight-down drop off the edge were enough to give even the best drivers nightmares.

And he hadn’t missed the fact that Colleen had had a death grip on the armrest every time he maneuvered around one of those curves that had been carved out of the mountain. But now that they’d arrived, the look on her face told him that she was so entranced by the setting she’d already forgotten the treacherous ride to get there. He held on to her hand as they took the narrow path to the front door, relishing the buzz of sensation that simply touching her caused.

The flower beds had long ago gone to seed and now there were only monstrous weeds fighting each other for space. The cabin itself was well built, but the white paint on the wood-plank walls was cracked and peeling. The front porch still boasted two chairs, and he remembered coming up here as a kid to find Ed and his wife sitting side by side, talking and laughing together. But then Helen had died five years ago and Ed lived here alone, refusing to move to the city. Finally, though, age had conquered his stubbornness, forcing him to put the home he loved up for sale and move to an assisted-living apartment in Cheyenne.

“It’s pretty,” she said, stopping to take it all in. “I love all the trees standing like guarding sentries around it.”

“Nice spot,” he agreed, trying to keep his mind off the fact that she was close enough to touch. Close enough to— “Come on. I’ll show you the inside.”

“We can get in?”

“Ed always left a key above the doorframe.” He found it, unlocked the front door and stepped into the past. The furnishings were at least forty years old and the air smelled of neglect and loneliness.

He watched as Colleen walked through the small house, checking out the tiny bedroom, the single bath and then the functional but narrow kitchen. Every window sported a view of the surrounding forest and the deep ravine that tracked off to one side of the house. “Why’s the owner selling?”

He told her Ed’s story and watched as sympathy filled her eyes. She was intriguing. Always. He liked that she cared why a house was for sale and that she felt pity for the man forced by time to give up the house he loved. He felt a swift stab of something beyond the pulsing desire still throbbing inside him, but he ignored it and looked at the cabin through objective eyes.

“You’d have to get a generator,” he said, scanning the interior. “Ed didn’t care about losing power, but I’m thinking you would.”

She smiled and his heart rate jumped into a gallop. “You’re right.”

“You’ve got a wood-burning stove, so that’s good,” he continued, slapping one hand down on the dusty cast-iron fireplace in one corner of the living room. “But those pines along the side of the house will have to be cut way back or down altogether. Too dangerous. A heavy snowfall or a high wind could bring them crashing down on your roof. Not to mention, you should have a clearing around the house in case of forest fires.”

“But those trees have been there for years.”

“Yeah, Ed wasn’t worried about the what-ifs, because he could patch a roof or get out there and hack out a clearing fast if he needed to.” He paused meaningfully. “You couldn’t.”

She frowned slightly, walking through the room, running her fingertips across the backs of the chairs, straightening framed photographs on the walls.

“Structure’s sound enough, I guess,” he mused, looking around in an effort to keep from staring at her. “But you’d have to have an inspection to be sure. County road’s at the end of the drive, so the snow would get cleared fairly quickly out there.”

She glanced at him. “What about the drive itself?”

He looked at her then and shook his head. “The county’s not going to clear your drive. You’d have to get a snowblower or hire someone to come in after a storm.”

Colleen nodded and huffed out a breath as she considered everything he was saying. She was getting a hard lesson in what it meant to live so far from the city, and he almost felt sorry for her. Almost, but not quite, because he still didn’t like the idea of her being up here on her own. There were women on this mountain capable of taking care of any kind of emergency, and he knew that. But Colleen was city through and through, and she had no idea of what she might be letting herself in for.

“You’ll want the roof checked out, too,” he added. “We had heavy snows last winter and Ed wasn’t in shape to take care of things like that himself.”

“Right. Another inspection,” she murmured, looking around the room wistfully.

“This lot’s on high ground, so you don’t have to worry too much about spring runoff, but you should have the gullies cleared so melting snow won’t get backed up and flood the house.”

She laughed a little. “So I have to worry about the snowfall and then about when the snow melts.”

“Pretty much.” He leaned against one wall and watched as she peered through the kitchen window at the surrounding trees.

“How long did Ed and his wife live here?”

“About forty years,” he said with a shrug. “After Helen died, Ed didn’t visit much with anyone. They never had kids—it was always just the two of them. And without her, he kept to himself. Didn’t really keep up with the cabin, either.”

“He missed her.” She turned to look at him.

Gaze locked with hers, he nodded. “Yeah, he did.”

Which was yet another reason to keep to yourself. If you never let anyone in, you didn’t miss them when they were gone. He’d learned that lesson as a kid—and then again later on, when he should have known better, but took a risk, only to be slammed for it.

“I want to look around outside,” she said and he wondered if she could read minds. She was staring at him oddly and she’d suddenly gone quiet, and that just wasn’t like Colleen.

But he followed her out, locked the door after them and returned the key to its resting place. She walked to the end of the porch, leaned on the railing and gazed out over the rocky ravine that dropped from the edge of the porch and ran down the side of the mountain. Her hair trailed over her shoulders and as she leaned out farther, her jeans tightened over her behind, making Sage’s breathing a hell of a lot harder to control.

Then everything changed.

He heard a snap, then a squeak of alarm, and he was moving before he even realized it. In a blink, he reached out and caught her arm as the railing gave way. He heard the crash and rattle as the heavy wood barrier, rotted by time and weather, clattered and rolled down into the rocks below.

Pulling Colleen tight against him, he wrapped both arms around her and held on. He felt her trembling and knew that he was doing the same damn thing. “I told you he hadn’t kept the place up.” His voice came out in a harsh rasp of tension and what felt a lot like fear. “Never lean on a railing you’re not sure about. Hell. Never lean on a railing no matter what.”

“Good advice,” she murmured, her voice muffled against his chest. When she lifted her head and looked up at him, Sage felt the last of his control snap as completely as that rotted-out railing had.

Her mouth was right there. Her breathing was fast and the pulse point in her throat throbbed. He knew she was shaken. So was he. If he hadn’t grabbed her so quickly, she might now be at the bottom of that damned ravine. Broken. Bleeding. Hell, she’d have been lucky to survive the fall.

But she hadn’t fallen. And now she was pressed close to him and when his control snapped, all he could think was thank God. He bent his head, covered her mouth with his and tasted her for the first time.

Heat slammed into him and Sage surrendered to it. His kiss was hard and fierce and desperate. No time for subtle seduction. This was need. Hot and thick and running through his body like lava. He ground his mouth over hers and felt her surrender when she lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck.

He groaned in response and flipped them around until her back was braced against the cabin wall. His tongue parted her lips and he delved deep, determined to taste all of her after waiting so long. Longer than he’d ever waited before to claim a woman he desired. And he’d never wanted a woman as he wanted Colleen.

Fire roared through his veins, blurring his mind, leaving only his body in charge, and the aching throb in his groin let him know he couldn’t wait much longer. Need pounded inside him, feeding the flames threatening to consume him. Her breasts pressed to his chest, her fingers sliding up into his hair and all he could think was too many clothes.