Grace’s head on his shoulder added to the heat, but Carter didn’t mind. They were naked and alone, sprawled on top of the bed, a block of sunshine soft on Grace’s skin.
Her breasts pressed his side, one of her nipples in view, pale brown and relaxed now. Carter moved his hand to it, marveling at the contrast of his sun-baked, scarred fingers against the incredible satin sleekness of Grace.
She smiled, and her eyes fluttered open. “Mmm,” she said.
No shock, no shame that she’d let Carter coerce her into bed. No embarrassed alarm, no trying to hide herself while she sprang away and fled.
Grace only gave him a sleepy look, her hair in loose tangles, one hand resting on his chest.
“Here I am with the baddest boy in Riverbend,” she said.
“Here’s me with the sweetest girl,” Carter rumbled. “How the hell did I do that?”
“You took off your clothes and kissed me.” Grace traced a curl of his dark hair, letting it wrap around her finger.
“Man, that was smart of me.”
Grace snuggled against him, her breath cool on his hot skin. Her hand moved to his abdomen, below which was his cock, already hardening again.
The corners of her lips twitched as she noticed. “I’m the smart one.”
Yeah, she’d always been the one out of reach, like the angel at the top of the Christmas tree. Today she’d flown down to be with him.
Carter ran his hand over her soft hair. “I remember seeing you when you went to your dance. Your debutante thing. All pretty in white, with flowers.”
“You remember that?” Grace’s body moved with her laugh, pressing her closer. “That was, what … eight years ago?”
“Don’t seem that long. What happened to the guy you were with? The one in the tux, proud of himself for having you on his arm?”
“Who? Oh, him. Darrell Halburtson. He turned out to be a dick.”
“Yeah?” Carter raised his head to look at her. “Strong word from the good girl.”
“It’s true.” Grace made a face. “He proposed to me two days later, but I said no. All I could do not to say, No way in hell. He wanted a little wifey to provide his every comfort at home while he stayed out all day and night with his friends and girlfriends. He thought that because his daddy had money, I’d be happy to go along with it. Go shopping and to the spa while he slept around all he pleased.” Grace shivered. “The trouble is, that’s the way women like me are supposed to think. And then wonder one day why we’re unhappy. I decided then that I’d pursue a career instead of a husband.”
“Glad you did.” Carter’s heart burned as he thought about the ways he could twist Darrell Halburtson’s limbs. The man was not only a dick, but a stupid dick. “’Cause now, I get to eat all your good food.”
Grace thumped him on the belly. Carter oomphed and wanted to laugh.
Damn, it felt good to cuddle up to her. Making jokes like they were true lovers, who knew they could do this every day.
But Carter was who he was, with a crazy ex chasing him around trying to steal his daughter. He was pretty sure Joss had put her up to it—he put her up to almost everything else in her life. Joss had probably told Lizzie to take Faith to Carter in the first place, knowing Lizzie couldn’t care for a baby and not about to do it himself.
Grace would be hurt caught up in Carter’s life. He had to keep this casual for now. Maybe, once he could convince Lizzie to disappear forever, it might be more.
But then, he might have just pulled Grace irrevocably into his life, because he hadn’t used a condom. Carter didn’t keep a stash handy by his bed, because he never brought women back here. He had condoms in his truck, in case he met someone while he was out. He also had a stash hidden in his bathroom, where Faith wouldn’t find them. In the heat of the moment, he’d forgotten about the damned things, and anyway, he’d have been too afraid she’d be gone if he left the room to fetch them.
Well, if a baby came of this, it did. Carter would take care of him or her, just like he did Faith.
And maybe he hoped a baby would come. Give him an excuse to bring Grace here to live, for always.
“Hey.” Her gentle voice cut through his thoughts. “Whatcha thinking about?”
Carter kissed the top of her head. “Just you.”
She didn’t believe him. “You’re not going to get all weird on me and not speak to me anymore, are you? Afraid I’ll cry and embarrass you in front of everyone? Well, I won’t. This is private.”
Embarrass him? Carter wanted to shout it to the world. He’d just been with the most amazing girl in Riverbend.
Of course, if he shouted it, her two big brothers, Ray and Kyle, would come and kill him. Carter, as strong as he was, knew he wouldn’t last between the two of them. Adam, Grant, Ross, and Tyler would probably let him get his ass kicked for defiling their sweetheart, Grace.
And what would Faith think?
Faith’s name flashing through his head made him look at the clock. “Shit.” Carter reluctantly unwound himself from Grace. “I haveta get Faith from school.”
Grace understood. Carter knew she did without words. He’d have to hurry—he liked to make sure he arrived fifteen minutes before she was due to leave anyplace. That way, of Faith came out early, she wouldn’t be standing and waiting for him, alone.
Carter rose from the bed and looked down at Grace, who had stretched out on her side, propped on her elbow.
Oh, man. Tyler liked to go to strip clubs, but Carter could never get into them. Why watch a woman who had no intention of being with you, when you could have a real woman lying here like this?
His treacherous thoughts zoomed to Grace doing a pole dance—for him only—then he forcefully pulled them back.
He cleared his throat, his shyness rushing at him again. “Come with me.”
Grace raised her brows. She considered this for a few seconds, then regretfully shook her head. “No, I have a lot of work to do.” She rolled over and lithely came off the bed, reaching for the clothes Carter had dropped. “I’m way behind.”
Watching her backside as she went for the clothes made Carter’s hard-on flare to life.
Well, maybe when he got back home …
No, Carter couldn’t think of a single time he could be with her again tonight. There would be picking up Faith, dinner with the family, and then Grace would go back to her house with her guardian brothers, and that would be it.
Tomorrow, Carter would meet again with Billy to find out what he had to do to prepare for the custody battle, plus he had a boatload of things to do at the ranch. New show to rehearse, horses to train, contracts to negotiate, an ex to fight for his daughter.
Real life, in all its tawdriness, came back to bite him.
Grace finished sliding on her clothes. Instead of running off, she came around to Carter’s side of the bed and took his hands.
“Just between you and me.” Grace rose on tiptoe, her scent combining baking and a woman who’d just given him a session of mind-blowing sex.
She kissed him lightly on the lips, sent him her smile, and left the room.
Carter blew out his breath, basking in the lingering feeling of her body on his. If this turned out to be the last time he’d ever be with her, he’d hug the experience to him, and never let it go.
***
“So, baby …” Carter glanced at Faith, who was looking out the truck window with the avid interest she applied to everything.
He’d shoved himself through another quick shower, tugged on his clothes, and dashed out of the house, breaking the speed limit to get to the small community of White Fork where the kids from three towns and the farms in between went to school.
He’d made it with five minutes to spare. Faith had come out with her friends, seen him, waved. Took time to say good-bye to the group, climbed into the truck, and gave Carter an unworried kiss on the cheek.
“What?” Faith asked him now. “See, I stayed after school and no one bothered me. Everything was fi
ne. What happened to you?”
She glanced at the cut on his face and the one peeking out from under his sleeve. The bandage on Carter’s cheek had come off in his second shower, and he hadn’t bothered to replace it.
“Nothing important,” he said. “I mean, this is …” He waved his hand at his face. “Nothing. What I wanted to ask you was, what would you think if I told you …” Carter broke off. Damn, he was nervous talking to his nine-year-old daughter. “If I told you Grace and I … kissed?”
Faith stared at him a moment, her small lips parted. Then she grinned hugely. “I’d say it was about effing time.”
Carter jerked the wheel, righting it before he went into the oncoming lane. “Where’d you learn to talk like that?”
“Really, Dad? I grew up at Circle C Ranch with you and my uncles. He-llo.”
“So it doesn’t bug you that me and Grace …”
“No.” Faith gave him her best serious look. “She likes you. I’ve always said that. You like her. What’s the problem?”
Carter gazed straight down the road. “It’s complicated when you’re an adult.”
“It’s complicated, because you make it complicated. All you do is, you marry Grace, she comes to live at the ranch, and then I bet that all the crap about my mom wanting to take me away would disappear.”
Maybe. Maybe not. “You know, Faith, you have a say in this too.” Carter’s throat tightened as he spoke, but she deserved to understand. “Your grandparents have big places in Austin and Houston, and a lot of money. You’d have more stuff than I can buy you. You could come and visit Circle C whenever you wanted—”
He broke off, feeling the weight of Faith’s stare. “No way,” she said.
“I want you to be sure,” Carter answered. “I’m always busy, what I do for a living can be dangerous—”
“Dad.” Faith held up one slim hand, cutting him off. “Look, I became reconciled to the fact that my own mom didn’t want me a long time ago. I don’t like it—it hurts—but there’s not a lot I can do about it. But I’m okay. I live with you, and terrific uncles, and now aunts like Bailey and Christina. Plus, I have the best grandma in the entire world. If you want to make me happy, don’t send me to the mom I’ve never met. Keep me with you and marry Grace. Everyone loves her.”
“And where did you learn words like became reconciled?” Carter asked as he relaxed a little in relief.
“I go to school, read books,” Faith said, waving a hand. “What we have to ask, Dad, is why my mom is so adamant about taking me back. She hasn’t wanted me all this time. Why now, all the sudden, hmm? What’s she up to?”
***
Grace was back in the kitchen by the time Faith and Carter made it home. She’d grabbed her purse and ducked into the guest bathroom out front to clean herself up and comb her hair, which she pulled into a ponytail to hide how mussed it was.
She felt brighter, somehow, awake in spite of the languor of afterglow, renewed.
Also scared, uncertain, and mad at herself, wondering if that had been the last time Carter would ever speak without inhibition to her. Carter often withdrew from his family, friends, even himself, and when he did, no one could crack the shell around him.
Carter, she knew both from observation and other people’s gossip, wasn’t a guy who went beyond one- or two-night stands. He was far too careful about what women came around Faith.
Had Grace, following her wild impulses, just shut down any chance she’d had with Carter? In her dreams, theirs was a long, wonderful courtship, not snatched lovemaking in his room on a sunny afternoon.
Although, if that was all she could have … what a way to go.
Carter’s truck pulled up out front. Faith hopped from the tall pickup’s cab, landing nimbly on the ground. She saw Grace, who’d stepped out onto the porch. Her grin went impossibly wide, and she waved.
“Hey, Grace.” Faith started for her. “Guess what my dad told—”
She broke off as three sheriff’s vehicles—two cars and an SUV—stormed up the drive past the stables to the front of the house, dust boiling up behind them. No sirens, but lights flashed as they surrounded Carter’s truck.
Grace’s heart banged in alarm. Had something happened to Olivia? To one of the brothers? To Bailey or Christina? Had Lizzie returned to endanger them again?
Grace went down the porch steps, catching Faith’s hand. They both watched, motionless, as the deputies surged toward Carter, now out of his truck. Ross was one of them, but he hung back, looking angry.
The Sheriff of River County emerged from one of the cars. Noah Hennessy had been sheriff for as long as Grace could remember, had been for most of her mom’s life as well. He was nearing retirement, but still held a lot of power and influence in the county. Hennessy’s presence meant something truly bad was going on.
“Carter Sullivan,” Hennessy said. “I want to talk to you about the abduction of Elizabeth Fredrickson. I need you to come with me.”
Chapter Nine
Carter stopped, growing so still that Grace could no longer see the lift of his breath.
“What?” he asked, his voice deadly quiet.
Grace’s feet took her forward, her question far louder than Carter’s. “Sheriff Hennessy, what the hell are you talking about?”
The sheriff didn’t look at her, though Ross did. Ross was troubled, angry, but he said nothing.
“I just want to talk to you, Sullivan,” Hennessy went on. “Get in, and we’ll have a gab at the courthouse. You can call your lawyer—in fact, I’d advise it. You’re not under arrest.” He quickly lifted his big hands, as though showing he came without hostility. “But we need to talk.”
If Grace had been Carter, she’d have been yelling, What do you mean, abduction? Of Lizzie? You explain yourself right now.
Carter went absolutely silent. Grace watched him revert from the man who’d given Grace his lazy smile in his bed, who’d hurried away from his lover to make sure his daughter was safe, to the teenaged boy she’d seen the first day Carter had come to the school in White Fork. Angry, wary, refusing to engage with anyone. Grace had plucked up the courage at lunch to approach him and say, “Hi. I know you’re new, but I think you’ll like it here.”
Carter had looked at her as though he had no clue why a bratty little girl wearing bright plastic bracelets had thought it all right to talk to him. Grace had flushed, said, “Well, anyway,” and run away after her friends.
The past faded, and Carter gazed at the sheriff in much the same way he had Grace when she’d had the temerity to approach him.
Faith started to run to Carter, but Grace held her back with a hand on her shoulder. Whatever was going on, she and Faith jumping up and down and screaming wouldn’t help him.
Finally Carter gave Hennessy a brief nod, walked unwaveringly to the open back door of Hennessy’s car, and folded himself inside.
“Daddy?” Faith’s voice was filled with tears. Grace hugged the girl to her side.
The door slammed, Hennessy climbed into the front passenger seat, and his deputy drove him away. The other sedan followed.
Ross waited until both were heading down the driveway before he jogged to Grace. Ross was in his crisply pressed uniform, all creased and official. The westering sun gleamed on his badge and the sunglasses that hid his eyes.
“Grace, call Carter’s lawyer for him, will you? The stubborn shit might not do it. Billy Emmons—there’s probably a card stashed for him somewhere in Carter’s room, or he’s in the book. Call our mom too; tell her what’s happened.”
“I don’t know what’s happened,” Grace protested. “Why don’t you call her? She’s your mother.”
“Because if she hears it from you, her head is less likely to explode,” Ross said grimly. “Plus, she’ll waste a lot of time ripping me a new one for letting him get arrested.”
“The sheriff just said he’s not arrested,” Grace pointed out.
Ross jerked off his sunglasses, revealing troubled blue e
yes. “Not officially. I can’t talk about it with you, but right now, Carter needs his lawyer. Trust me.”
Faith interrupted by wrapping her hands around one of Ross’s strong ones. “Will you make sure he’s okay?” she asked in a small voice. “Please, Uncle Ross?”
Ross softened down from county deputy to human being and worried uncle. “I will, sweetie. I’ll take good care of him, promise.”
Faith nodded, scared and trying not to show it. Grace put her arm around her and drew her close. The poor girl’s crazy mother was trying to take her away from all she knew, and now Faith had just watched her father be led off by the county sheriff. They hadn’t put cuffs on him at least, but by the way the deputies watched him, they’d been prepared to if Carter had made any sign of resistance.
Ross bent down to give Faith a quick hug, met Grace’s gaze, then shoved his sunglasses back on and strode to his SUV. He leapt into it as easily as his brothers swung onto horses, and drove away in the convoy’s wake.
***
Carter hated interrogation rooms even more than he hated jail cells. In a jail cell, at least people left him the hell alone. In an interrogation room, he had to face someone across a table while they asked him very personal questions and recorded every word he said.
He’d learned early in his life that his best recourse was silence. The burden of proof lay on the cops, he’d been told. Carter didn’t have to prove his innocence—they had to prove he’d done something wrong. That was the theory anyway.
Carter had also learned to shut up until his lawyer was in the room. The minute he started talking, things could go bad fast. Unlike on television shows he rarely watched, the lawyer didn’t just sit there and let his client be goaded into answering the clever detectives. The lawyer assessed the questions and decided whether it was in the best interest of his client for the question to be answered at all.
So Carter sat still, his hands flat on the edge of the table, and waited.
The men facing him were the sheriff and a deputy, not Ross.
Ross had driven up when Carter had been unloaded at the courthouse and started to follow them in, but the sheriff had said, “Conflict of interest, Campbell,” and walked Carter away.