Goddess Rising (32 page)

Robert unlocked the desk drawer, pulling out a file his investigator had sent him on the boy.

“What can you do to keep him away from her?” Robert asked.

David chuckled. “I’m her Commanding Officer, Rob. Not her den mother. It’s clear this guy has an eye for her, but outside of excluding him from some of the exercises, he’s gotten the green light to cover this. The president thinks it’s great press for the school and for the program.”

“I’ll write a check so big to get that boy’s access revoked, it’ll choke a damn herd. The president will be too focused on how to spend it to care,” Robert replied.

“That may be the case, but in the meantime, best I can do is keep him off the final elimination drill this weekend. It’s a night land navigation exercise. He won’t be able to see anything to photograph anyway.”

“I want you to work on finding ways to put the kibosh on this story, David. When Samantha wins this Challenge—”

“Now, Rob, you don’t know that—”

“She will,” Robert responded, certain of it. “She grew up with military men her whole life. She’s a born warrior—Cherokee on my side and samurai on her mama’s. I’ve seen your roster, David. You’ve got some good ones, but I know she’s one of the best, and she’s not even an upperclassman yet.”

David sighed.

Robert continued. “When she wins the Challenge, she’s going to come to you asking about Ranger School.”

“She already has,” David told him.

“What?”

“I said, she already has. She asked me this week what I thought the chances were of her becoming one of the first female Army Rangers.”

Robert sat up. “And what did you tell her?”

“I told her she was incredibly smart and extremely talented. But you and I both know that trying to change the American military complex is like pissing up a rope. She won’t make it in, no matter how many people support her. Because they aren’t ready for women in the Rangers. Doesn’t matter how good she is—they don’t want it.”

“That’s exactly why you’ve got to keep this Wes Elliott kid off the story,” Robert responded. “I don’t want him spinning yarn and getting people all excited about it,” Robert pointed out. “I won’t have my daughter going down in history as the girl who failed to make it into the Rangers. I’d rather she take that blow in private, away from prying eyes.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Sasser promised.

“Thank you, David,” Robert replied. “I appreciate your taking care of my daughter.”

“Well, I appreciate the bearer bonds.”

Robert smiled. “Least I can do to help a fellow veteran out. You send my regards to your wife.”

“Will do. And I’ll see what I can do about keeping Elliott out.”

Robert hung up, staring at the contents of the file in his lap. It was meager. Not much about Wesley or his mother. The bare bones was that he was a talented photographer with decent grades, though he never really seemed to fully apply himself. Wes had a partial National Merit Scholarship, but he somehow managed to pay for his living expenses at college and help his mother out despite his meager bartending checks. Rob guessed he was funding himself through side gigs and photography. No credit history. Paid cash. No girlfriends but a lot of girls. A couple close friends, many acquaintances.

Robert wondered what his gig was. Was he after Sammy for the money? The clout? Wes could nail any girl he wanted, and
had
, from the looks of it. Maybe his daughter was just posing a challenge.

Thinking of challenges—

Robert picked up the phone again.

“Hey, Boss. What’s doin’?” Gus asked from the stable phone.

“I want you to have a couple of the hands drive Sam’s car back to A&M tonight. She’s going out with me on one of the rigs tomorrow, and she won’t be able to take it back herself.”

“You got it. Where should they leave the keys?”

“At the ROTC office. With Colonel David Sasser,” Robert replied. “I’ll make sure she knows.”

“No problem,
jefe
,” Gus replied.

Robert hung up and sat back in his leather seat, gazing at the photo Wes had taken of his daughter.

September—Sunday Night

Wyatt Ranch, Texas

S A M A N T H A

S
ammy lay back
on an old quilt under a sky awash in a sea of stars, Carey and Ry tucked up beside her as they joked and laughed. She had a belly full of Aunt Hannah’s pot roast, and the boys nibbled their chocolate chip cookies, still warm from the oven. Lying out on a clear night while looking at all the constellations had been one of her favorite pastimes growing up. Sam could still hear her granddaddy telling her about each one as they changed from season to season, his thick, knobbed fingers pointing out the ones that were becoming more bright or distinct than the others with each new season.

“Tell us about the Cygnus constellation, Sammy,” Ry asked, licking his fingers, gooey from the chocolate.

“I’ve told you boys the story about a hundred times,” she murmured, smiling.

“Yeah, but I like the way you tell it,” he replied, handing her a cookie.

Carey nudged her gently. “Please, Sammy.”

These rascals knew how to play her like a fiddle, but she loved them and she didn’t see enough of them anymore, so she figured there was no harm in spoiling them a little.

“Oh, all right,” she said on a sigh, though she felt nothing but sweetness and light as their heads lolled against her shoulders. Sam pointed up at the bright cross constellation in the sky.

“There are a lot of myths and legends around this constellation, but my favorite was always the Greek story of Phaethon, son of Helios—”

“God of the sun,” Ry finished for her, snuggling closer.

“That’s right.” Sam smiled, wrapping her arm around him. “According to the myth, Phaethon was the son of the Oceanid Clymene, but he didn’t find out until he was about your age that his father was the sun god,” she explained, looking up at the bright constellation on the sky. “When he realized who his father was, he traveled to the east to find his father’s grand palace.”

“Do you think it’s in Japan?” Ry asked.

“Well, it
is
called the Land of the Rising Sun,” Carey pointed out.

“I want to go there one day,” Ry told her, his voice quiet. “Just to visit.”

Sam kissed his brow. “You will.”

“And I’ll go with you,” Carey declared. “We’ll find your mama’s family and take them with us to Helios’s palace.” Ryland reached across Sam and high-fived his best friend.

Sam smiled. “Now as you can imagine, Phaethon was so excited to meet his father—one of the most powerful and influential gods, and Helios was thrilled to meet his young son as well. So when Phaethon asked for a favor, his father granted him the wish without knowing what his boy would ask.”

“He should’ve asked Phaethon what he wanted first,” Ry replied smartly. “Daddy always say you oughtta have all the facts before you make any decisions.”

“That’s true,” she agreed. “So Phaethon wanted to prove to his friends that Helios was his father, and he asked to drive his father’s sun chariot across the sky for a day. His father knew it was a big risk and that it was dangerous, but he’d made a promise and he didn’t want to back out on his word.”

“I can understand that,” Carey murmured, crossing his arms behind his head. “A man’s word is his bond. Dad always says so.”

Sam ruffled his blonde hair. So much like his father. She couldn’t have picked a better brother for Ryland.

“So Phaethon leapt into the sun chariot and took hold of the reins, but those horses were powerful—”

“More powerful than a hundred Clydesdales all roped together, right?” Ry said.

“More powerful than even that,” Sam echoed. “You see, the horses were immortal, built to pull the sun across the sky. They were far too strong for little Phaethon. So they dragged him in the chariot across the sky, getting too close to the earth and burning everything up, making craters and volcanoes and melting all the ice in the snowcaps. In so doing, Phaethon caught the attention of Zeus, the most powerful god of all.”

“Do you think he knew it wasn’t Helios in the chariot?” Carey asked.

“I do. You see, Helios was a massive and powerful god,” Sam explained. “But here was a young boy, probably half his size, maybe less, and he was out of control. Zeus knew he needed to stop the earth from being burned up, so to prevent the disaster, he had to act. It was his job to be the protector of earth—his job to make sure everyone else was safe.”

“Helios shouldn’t have let his son have the chariot in the first place,” Ry huffed. “That was just stupid.”

“And if Dad told you that you couldn’t do something, how likely do you think you’d be to listen?” she asked.

Ry shrugged. “Yeah, well, that’s different.”

“You want me to finish the story or are you going to go pick a fight with Helios?” she asked, poking Ry in the ribs.

“Finish the story, Sammy,” Carey urged. “Ry just doesn’t like this part ’cause it’s sad.”

Sam glanced down at Ry, saw his mouth turned down, the remnants of chocolate in one corner. She rubbed it away with her thumb. “It’s not all sad, Ry.”

“I know it,” he sighed.

Her heart ached a little for him. Her baby brother, who’d never known his mother, who could barely recall their granddaddy. She always wondered why he asked her to tell this story, even though he knew how it would end.

“So Zeus had a tough decision to make, but he did what was right for earth, and he threw a thunderbolt directly at Phaethon, killing him instantly. His body fell into the Eridanus river, and his brother, Cygnus, was so sad, he spent days diving into the river to gather all of Phaethon’s bones so he could give him a proper burial. The gods were so touched by Cygnus’s devotion to his brother that they turned him into a swan and placed him into the sky so his family could see him for all of eternity.”

“I looked it up—Phaethon means ‘shining one,’” Ry told her. “I like that part. That his family can always see him.”

“As long as they’re in the Northern Hemisphere,” Carey reminded him.

Ry sighed gently, a puff of air. “Why would you want to be anywhere but here?” he said softly. “I’m gonna live on the ranch all my life.” He glanced up at Sammy, then at Carey. “And you all will too. I’ll build a house for each of you.”

Sam laughed gently, wondering how long her little brother would feel that way, or if he’d start to wonder what the rest of the world looked like, the way she had.

Her father had taken her out on a few trips with him over the years. Paris, London, Amsterdam, Dubai. While he’d been sequestered away in business meetings negotiating oil deals, Sam’d been given free rein to explore, and the world had expanded before her very eyes. She’d realized immediately how much she didn’t know, understood how much she’d never experienced growing up at the insulated safety of the ranch. She discovered at a young age that the world was at her fingertips—she only needed to reach out to touch it.

But her little brother seemed to have the opposite perspective. Ryland was content to lie on his back and listen to the same stories, stargazing at the same sky he’d grown up with all his life. Sam wondered then if that’s why her father had pushed her toward running Wyatt Petroleum and not him. Because her father knew, inherently, that Ry wasn’t suited to it. That he’d never really wanted to leave the confines of the ranch. He was exactly the type who’d happily live out his days roping steer and mending fences.

Sam dropped a kiss on her little brother’s hair and squeezed Carey in the crook of her arm.

“Time for you both to hit the hay.”

She stood up slowly, and the boys helped her fold up the quilt. It was late, but she could still make it back to campus in a couple hours. Night like this, the drive might be relaxing—a balm even.

Sam tucked the quilt under her arm and walked them back up to the house.

“You staying the night, Sammy?” Ryland asked, looking up at her.

They rounded the porch before she could answer, and Sam glanced casually at the circular driveway before doing a double take. Her Mustang was gone. Sam experienced a brief moment of panic before she realized no one could have taken it without her father’s say-so.

“Did Dad have my car moved to the garage?” she wondered aloud.

“No,” Carey answered, looking at her oddly. “He had a couple hands drive it back to school for you.”

Sam rounded on him. “How do you know?”

Carey shrugged. “I saw them and asked why they were leaving. It was right before dinner, I think.”

Dammit, there was no way she was making it home to A&M tonight. Sam blew out a frustrated sigh.

Checkmated by her father again.

*