Strands of Love (13 page)

Several journals sat on the desk and she opened one, staring
at the numbers. She closed it just as quickly, knowing the bottom line already.
Sam stood and went to the family picture on the wall. She lifted it off its
hook and revealed the safe beneath. The combination hadn’t changed since she
was a kid. She put in her father’s birthdate, then her mother’s, then her
brother’s and finally hers. “Twelve, thirty, seventeen, twenty-two,” she
muttered as she spun the dial.

The handle turned easily and she opened the safe, pulling
out the documents she wanted before closing it and returning the picture to its
original spot. Sam sat back at the desk, took another drink and unfolded the
papers. She stared at them for at least ten minutes before picking up a pen and
drawing a fresh piece of paper to her. There had to be a way to make things work.

She thought and wrote and thought some more. Finally, she
gave up, folding all the documents together and placed them on the corner of
the desk. Tim’s phone was still in the kitchen. She hadn’t planned on using it,
especially not so late at night, but she had to talk to someone not involved in
the situation.

Sam turned off the light, grabbed her drink and padded
silently back to the kitchen. She turned on the light above the stove and
picked up the phone from the table, dialing before she talked herself out of
it.

It rang twice before it was answered by a gruff male voice.
“Sam? You okay, little girl?”

Tears pricked her eyes. How she loved Tim and Mary. They
were like second parents to her. Sam lowered herself to one of the kitchen
chairs, the phone clenched tight in her hands. “Hey, Tim.”

She heard rustling and knew he was getting out of bed. “What
happened?”

She’d worried him for no reason and guilt filled her.
“Nothing happened. I just can’t sleep. I don’t know what to do.”

Tim sighed. “Just the fact that you’re thinking about it at
all means you have feelings for those fellas.” Tim gave a gruff laugh. “I still
can’t wrap my head around that one. Neither could Mary when I told her. Let me
tell you, it took some doing to keep her away from your place. She wanted to
march right over and check them both out.”

Sam chuckled. She could easily imagine big Tim having a hard
time corralling his tiny wife. “I’m surprised you won.”

“Well.” Tim paused for a moment. “I pointed out that you
might be busy, so to speak.”

Sam felt her cheeks turning red. Tim and Mary would have
definitely gotten an eyeful if they’d turned up after supper. “Yeah, that was
probably for the best.”

Tim cleared his throat. “So what’s on your mind?”

She pulled one foot up onto her chair. “I love this farm,
this land. It’s my home.”

“But?” he prompted.

“I might lose it. Not now, but maybe a year or two down the
road.” She picked at a loose thread on her robe. “But how can I let it go
without a fight? It would be cowardly to walk away from the farm, from my
family.”

She could almost hear Tim thinking through the silence on
the other end. Finally he spoke. “Well, like I said earlier, one of them boys
could stay with you.”

Sam shook her head. “No, Tim. That’s not right. Their mother
would be heartbroken and they have so many people depending on them.”

“It’s their choice,” Tim pointed out. “How long do you
have?”

“One full day and another night. Then it’s anyone’s guess if
the tapestry will even reappear.”

“Take tomorrow to think about things. Show the boys around
and let them see your land. I assume they showed you around their home?”

“Yeah.” Not quite as much as she would have liked, but she’d
seen the stables, the fields and the people living in and around the small
castle. She’d hung back, determined to return home and hadn’t given any of them
the chance to really meet her. Now it was too late.

“There you go. Let them work with you and see how you feel
tomorrow night. Why don’t you all come over for dinner?”

“I’m going to take a rain check on that, Tim. I think we
need to be alone to figure this out.”

“Good enough. But, Sam, call any time you want. And
remember, I love you.”

Sam wished he was close enough to hug. “Love you too.”

“I’ll see you day after tomorrow. Early. Whatever happens,
I’m gonna be there.”

“Okay. Thanks, Tim.” She ended the call and put the phone
back on the table. Sighing, Sam downed the last of the whiskey before she
pushed away from the table. She placed the empty glass in the sink and turned
off the light before heading back to bed.

Sam paused in the doorway of her bedroom, studying the two
men who currently occupied it. Thank the heavens she had a king-size bed, but
even with that it was a tight squeeze. She removed her robe and quietly climbed
between Jace and Darian. Sighing, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Beside her, Jace lay still as a stone. He’d awoken the
moment Sam climbed out of bed and it had taken all his self-control not to go
after her. Darian was wide-awake too. Neither of them had spoken, but Jace knew
his brother was as worried as he was. Two days were almost over. Tomorrow was
their final full day together.

He had to go home to Hunter Keep. Too many people depended
on him and then there was his mother. He couldn’t leave her alone.

But Darian could stay if he wanted. Jace swallowed hard as
emotion threatened to choke him. How would he lived without his brother and
Sam?

A heavy hand fell on top of his and he clasped his brother’s
hand, knowing Darian was thinking about tomorrow as well. Jace sighed and
released his brother and wrapped his arm around Sam.

All he could do was try to change her mind. Although the
longer he spent with her here in her home, the less likely that possibility
became.

The sun was high in the sky by the time the three of them
finished breakfast. Sam had run upstairs to use the bathroom while Jace and
Darian headed outside. She was just washing her hands when she heard a vehicle
pull up outside. Assuming it was Tim, she didn’t hurry. Sam rubbed some
moisturizer with sunscreen on her face and neck and slicked some lip balm on.
That would help protect her against the unforgiving Texas sun.

She was almost to the back
door when she
realized the voice she was hearing didn’t belong to Tim. “Son of a bitch,” she
muttered. George was back.

Darian and Jace had both faced off against George. The white
T-shirts they wore—which had belonged to her father—were pulled tight across
the shoulders and around the biceps. The material looked as though it would rip
at any moment. Her father hadn’t been a small man, but the Hunter brothers were
much wider through the shoulders and arms.

“What’s going on?” Sam stepped out onto the back porch and
glared at her former lover. Honestly, the more time she spent in his company
the more she wondered what she’d ever seen in him.

She supposed he wasn’t bad looking, when taken on his own.
But next to the brothers he was lacking, not just in size, but in character
too.

“Wanted to see if you’re ready to talk business.” George
removed his sunglasses and twirled them between his fingers. Sam found herself
wishing the slender sidepiece would snap off. Then she felt petty for thinking
it, which only irritated her further.

“I’m not selling the farm to you, George. Get over it.” She
didn’t step out from beneath the meager shade of the porch. Today was another
scorcher and she wasn’t going to bake her skin until she absolutely had to.

“Come on, Sam. You know you’re not going to be able to get
another loan so where does that leave you?” George turned to Jace and Darian,
who had been silent since she appeared. “Sam trying to get the two of you to
invest in the farm? Is that why you’re here?”

He turned back to her. “Shame on you, Sam, for trying to get
two army veterans, friends of your brother, to flush their money down the
drain.”

Sam fisted her hands by her sides. Over and over she
repeated to herself,
If I hit him, he’ll call the sheriff
. It didn’t
help. Sam still wanted to sock George in the mouth and rattle his perfect
teeth.

George looked her up and down, a sneer marring the
perfection of his face. “Or maybe you sweetened the pot a bit. I know what
she’s like in bed and she’s not that good.”

Jace moved so fast, he was a blur. One moment George was
talking, his shirt crisp, despite the morning heat, his jeans pressed. The
next, he was on his butt on the ground with Jace standing over him. “You don’t
talk to her like that.”

As much as Sam enjoyed seeing George on his ass, she
couldn’t allow the scene to escalate out of control.

Jace reached down and yanked George to his feet, dragging
him toward his truck. “Leave.” He yanked open the door and threw George behind
the wheel, with one hand. Sam tried not to be impressed, but couldn’t help
being just a tiny bit amazed by Jace’s show of strength.

Darian was beside his brother holding George’s sunglasses,
which he’d dropped when he’d landed on the ground. Darian held them out. “You
might need these.” The words were polite enough but they were laced with pure
menace.

Sam pushed her way between the two Hunter brothers and faced
George. “Don’t come back. You’re not welcome here. I’ll sell to anyone else in
the world before I’ll sell my land to you.”

“No one around here will buy it if the time comes. I’ll see
to that.” George grabbed the door and slammed it shut. “You’re lucky I’m not
pressing charges against him.” George jerked his thumb toward Jace.

“You do that, George, and I’ll tell everyone in town you
slept with me so you could cheat me on the price of my land. Then we’ll see who
loses.”

Sam hadn’t told a soul, not even Tim, what had happened with
George. As far as anyone else knew, she’d sold off some land and pocketed what
it was worth. She hadn’t kept silent to protect George’s reputation, but to
keep herself from appearing foolish. Maybe she should have spoken out, but
she’d been too raw, too hurt at the time. By the time she was over it so much
time had passed there hadn’t seemed to be any point in making a big deal over
it. But she would if it meant protecting Jace.

George’s face darkened with anger, but he started his truck
and drove away. She’d seen the last of him, for now. But he’d be back. She
could count on that as easily as she could count on the hot, dry Texas summer.

“Well, that wasn’t pleasant. Sorry about that.” She barely
had the words out of her mouth when Jace grabbed her by the shoulders and
lightly shook her.

“You are going to lose your land? Your home?”

Jace’s concern was a soothing balm against the harshness of
George’s nastiness. Sam shrugged. “Maybe. But that’s my problem, not yours.”

Jace frowned, his eyes narrowing, his jaw tightening. He
dropped his hands and stalked off toward the barn. Beside her, Darian sighed.
“He worries about you. We both do.”

Darian took her hand in his and pulled her until she was
resting against his chest. “I know you say you must stay, but that doesn’t
lessen what I feel for you, what we feel for you.”

Sam breathed in the fresh scent of soap Darian had used in
his morning shower. Both men had been fascinated by the shower, each of them
spending almost a half hour there. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to care
when the water went cold on them.

Sam gave a rueful laugh. “Right now I’m thinking Jace finds
me more of a nuisance than anything.”

Darian sighed again and this time it ruffled the top of her
hair. “Don’t let his outward appearance fool you.” He pulled away and led her
toward the porch. “Let me tell you a story.” He sat in one of the Adirondack
chairs and pulled her down onto his lap.

The air was still and warm and thick, but it was slightly
cooler beneath the shade of the porch. Bees hummed as they flitted from one
sunflower to another that grew along the edge of the porch rail.

Sam stared out over the land. For as far as her eyes could
see belonged to her family, to her. It was dry, harsh land, but it was theirs and
they’d managed to hack a living from it even during hard times. She wouldn’t be
the one to throw in the towel and give up. She couldn’t. Not without tainting
everything her family had sacrificed their lives for.

Darian’s big palm cupped the back of her head and eased it
down onto his shoulder. “Our father was a good man, but not a wise one. He and
his brothers squandered the wealth of our home, what our forefathers had built
up. There were hard winters, hungry winters for our people.”

And for him and his brother too. Sam knew without him saying
that neither brother would have a full belly if there were others in need. It
pained her to think of them as two little boys, cold and hungry.

“What about your mother?” She hadn’t spent much time with
Edwina, but the woman seemed very kind and compassionate.

“She did what she could when we were boys. I remember going
with her when she visited the homes of Hunter Keep bringing grain and whatever
vegetables she could scrounge. She started hiding part of the harvest from my
father and uncle, storing it in a cave at the base of the mountain.”

“Wise woman, your mother.”

“She is.” Darian paused and Sam felt his lips brush the top
of her head. “We grew older and started taking more of an active role in the
running of the keep, but our father’s word was law and there was only so much
we could do. The stables grew thin as he sold off the best of the stock, the
sheep herd grew smaller and smaller. It was hard on all of us, but especially
Jace. The land and the people are his to protect, his very soul, his reason for
being.”

“I know.” And she did. It was one of the reasons she
respected him so much.

“It was as much a blessing as a curse when our father and
uncles were killed in a freak landslide. We all mourned deeply, but we now had
the power to change our lives. Jace threw himself into rebuilding our home.
I’ve never seen my brother let anything get in the way of his plans for Hunter
Keep. We’ve come a long way, but still have a ways to go. A strong woman by his
side would be a great help to him, to us.”

Sam stilled. “Are you trying to convince me I should be with
Jace?” Honestly, she still had a hard time wrapping her brain around this whole
idea of sharing herself with two men.

Darian flashed her a mischievous smile. “With him, with me.
It’s one and the same. We make our own rules behind closed doors. The children
will have one father, but we will both care for them.”

Children. The thought of two little boys with blond hair and
blue eyes left her breathless. She’d always wanted a family, but had put those
dreams on hold when her brother died and her parents fell into a depression,
bad health and eventually died.

“For the first time in our lives, there is something more
important to Jace than the land and the people under our care.”

“What?” Sam couldn’t imagine Jace not being focused on
Hunter Keep. There was no doubting his love of the land, his family and all
those who lived there.

“You, Sam.” Darian tipped his arm so she was looking up at
him. “He cares deeply for you. That is why he is acting so aloof. He is trying
to protect himself from the hurt he will experience when we return home without
you.”

Sam swallowed the thick lump in her throat. What could she
say? She cared deeply for both men, but enough to give up her home, her legacy,
and live in an unfamiliar land? That was too much for them to ask of her.
Wasn’t it?

“What about you?” she blurted out. “Why aren’t you hiding
your feelings?”

Darian kissed her gently on the lips. His mouth lingered on
hers until she sighed with pleasure and kissed him back.

“Ah, Sam. Because I still have hope that things can work out
for all of us. I want you to come home with us. We can offer you a land to
replace what you’ll be losing, people who will grow to care for you, a mother
who will treat you as her own daughter, and two men who will love you and put
you before all others.”

Slightly breathless, Sam stared up at Darian, not quite
believing what he was offering. She’d believed a handsome man once before and
where had that gotten her—cheated and alone. If she went with them to Javara
and it didn’t work out, there was no going back. She’d be stuck there for the
rest of her life.

Darian stood and let her body slide down his. “Think about
it, Sam. And I will think about staying here if you refuse to return with us.”

“What?” To say she was dumbstruck was like saying a twister
was a slight breeze. It went far beyond dumbstruck into total disbelief. “You
can’t stay here. Your life, your family is in Javara.”

Darian cupped her face, his eyes filled with emotion. “But
you are here, Sam, and you are my heart. What man can live without his heart?”

He stepped away from her and held out her hand. Feeling as
though her entire world had been knocked off-kilter, she reached for it to
anchor herself. Not once had she truly considered the possibility that Darian
or Jace would stay with her.

“Jace cannot stay,” Darian continued. “No matter how much he
might wish to. He is responsible for all those who live in Hunter Keep. And,”
he added, “it would break our mother’s heart to lose both sons.”

Sam opened her mouth but closed it again. What could she
say? She loved the thought of having Darian stay with her. But she would miss
Jace terribly. And what about his mother and friends? What would they do
without Darian if he stayed with her? She knew how much the loss of her brother
had affected her parents. It wasn’t right to put someone else through such
pain.

Her temples throbbed and she absently rubbed one of them.
What were they going to do?

“Don’t think about it now, Sam.”

She snorted in disbelief as they walked toward the barn.
Jace was in there by himself and that just felt wrong. He belonged with them.

Sam stumbled over her feet before she regained her balance.
Not that she would have fallen, not with Darian holding on to her. It felt
right when the three of them were together. There was no denying it.

How had that happened so quickly?

Only a couple days ago she hadn’t even known who they were.
Now they were a part of her, like the air she breathed and the land she walked.

Jace stepped out of the barn as they neared. He looked
totally unapproachable, but after talking with Darian she knew better. She’d
known better before that, she reminded herself. Jace was a lot like she was.
Both doing what needed to be done, shouldering the bulk of the responsibilities
because someone had to.

Sam held out her free hand to Jace, not wanting him to be
alone anymore. “Come with us. I want to show you my home.”

* * * * *

Hours later, Jace sat on a deeply padded seat in what Sam
referred to as the living room. The three of them had walked the land for hours
today as Sam showed them the various crops she had planted. They were stunted
and desperate for water and he knew if rain didn’t show up soon all would be
lost. This was indeed a harsh land and took a courageous, strong woman to work
it.

She knew her land as well as he knew his—every field, every
slope, the weaknesses and strengths. She loved it too.

He glanced over at his brother, but Darian was watching Sam
remove something from a shelf. Jace swallowed hard, still tasting the dust on
his tongue even though he’d had many glasses of water since they returned from
their tour of the farm. He was losing his brother.

Darian was going to stay with Sam. Jace didn’t blame him. If
not for his mother and responsibilities he might stay too. This land was
strange to him with its dry heat and unforgiving soil, very unlike the lush
hills beneath the protective embrace of the mountains at Hunter Keep. The
weapons, the machinery, the customs were all strange too.