The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It was even hotter now than it had been earlier. The dry heat had a way of making the smells in cattle country more pungent. Dark clouds were beginning to gather in the distance, and the scent of rain lingered, promising to fill the wells and ponds of the surrounding ranches. It’d be a temporary reprieve, cooling the air and temporarily cutting down on the dust. Jed obviously hated air conditioning, as he drove with the window open, resting his arm out as many a driver in these parts did.

Diana knew where he was taking her as he steered down a paved driveway through the open gates to a huge estate. Diana had only seen this house a few times from the back, where it met the forest, the place she had played and escaped to as a child. She gripped the door handle and pressed her foot against the floorboard when Jed braked hard, stopping at the base of the most magnificent stone stairs she’d ever seen. This time he didn’t say anything as he leaped out of the SUV and up the stone steps two at a time. He didn’t knock, but burst in through the large front door.

Diana started to follow when a strong hand grabbed her arm and dragged her behind her SUV. She swung around by instinct, anger flashed through her “Get your hands off me,” she yelled.

Andy didn’t smile and he didn’t let her go.

“Damn you, Andy. Let me go.”

Her hair had loosened from the ponytail, and he reached out and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. Diana jerked away before he could touch her again.

“Why’d you grab me like that?”

“Oh, I was just heading back to the house when I saw your fancy vehicle pull in, and I saw my cousin hop out and barge into my house. Only seen him fired up like that once or twice. Then I see you standing there and can’t help wondering what a Claremont has gone and stirred up now.”

“How dare you? At least your cousin has integrity and won’t stand by while a bunch of schoolyard bullies try to make things difficult for a woman. And I can tell you: I’ve never stirred anything up. Now just leave me alone.” Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Diana glanced up. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll wait in the car.” Diana tried to move past him, but he blocked her way.

“I have a few things to say to you. Let’s go into the stable so we can have a little chat.”

“No. I’m not going in any stable with you. I’m getting back in my car.” She had no intention of being anywhere alone with Andy. She didn’t trust him any more than she’d trust a viper not to strike.

“You sure like the drama just like your mama. Don’t you?” He’d backed her against the SUV, and he looked down at her, eyeing her breasts, which were almost brushing his shirt. The way he watched and ran his gaze intimately over her breasts and downward, she could almost picture what he thought of doing to her. She should have been horrified and repulsed, but she wasn’t; that in turn only made her angrier.

“Well at least you’re smarter than Faye. I just bet you have a plan all worked out and it involves my cousin. And because I don’t want my cousin hurt, I’ll pay you to leave. How much do you want?”

Diana narrowed her eyes and tried to shove him away. But he grabbed both her hands and held tight. “I’m not my mother—I can’t be bought.” Diana tried to yank her hands away.

“I wonder how different you really are from your mother.” He was still holding her hand, and smiled wickedly when she tried again to pull away.

“I want nothing from you, Andy. I asked you for help when I was a kid, you said you would, but you lied. Now just let me go.” She didn’t try to pull away this time, as she realized he liked her struggling against him a little too much. He expected her to be like Faye. And the thought made her ill.

He stared at her and frowned.

“I’m not that same pathetic, little girl you ignored and left with that woman. You never tried to help me or my sister. Your dad was there, he saw all of those parties, all the men she was with, the booze, the drugs… why didn’t you help us?”

She studied his face, seeing confusion and something else, something that betrayed the tough guy who influenced this county. “I’m not going anywhere, Andy.”

He studied her face. And for a minute she saw the hero who’d given her a new bike so many years ago. The hero she’d gone to and expected he’d make everything okay—but he hadn’t. Instead he now traced his finger down her cheek. He was closer, and she could feel his hardness pressed against her stomach, his warm breath against her ear. His gaze lowered to her lips, and he pulled her closer until her slender body nestled against him, her breasts pressing against his chest. She was so shocked when he lifted her and bent his head, touching her lips. He walked her backward, pressing her against the back of her SUV. A low growl sounded deep in his chest, and his tongue teased her, touched her. Something sharp jabbed into her back and thankfully broke the spell, and kick-started her common sense as she stiffened and shoved his chest, pushing him back until he put her down.

“Don’t you ever touch me like that again.” She was breathing hard, and she almost didn’t recognize her own voice, which sounded husky and breathless. Her hands were trembling when she jerked the passenger door open and crawled in, locking the door behind her and pressing her forehead into the palms of her hands.

“You stupid i***t! What the hell were you thinking?” she asked herself. That man thought she was cut from the same cloth as her mother, and had turned a blind eye to her plight as a child. And here she was letting him kiss her and letting him grope her. And what sickened her, is she hadn’t been repulsed. The man was a predator, and what did she do but let him see her weakness to him? She knew better, and this is not why she came back here. Whatever imaginary fantasies she’d had of him as a child had died long ago. The driver’s door jerked, and Jed banged on the window. Diana clicked the lock, and he slid in. The rain was pelting down in buckets now.

“Let’s get out of here,” was all he said, but he glanced suspiciously at her face, watching her in a way that made her wonder if he knew what she’d done. She couldn’t help feeling a sense of guilt, as if she’d done something she shouldn’t have. She glanced out her window in the side mirror, and there stood Andy, watching her from the shelter of the porch. His gaze was hard, giving her a warning that had her shivering in shame. An ache filled her at the thought of being casually used for s*x, as Faye had, and then tossed away with little thought to her feelings. She knew that’s exactly what he would have done, screwed her, and tossed her away, and it would have destroyed her. As a child she’d prayed every night to be loved by him, to one day be his wife. But that fairy tale dream had only one ending, and that was heartbreak. He could never love her, she’d found that out as a child. She came back here for justice, not to get close to him.

What she needed to do was regroup and figure out what she hoped to accomplish here. Because if she was truly intent on putting those men behind bars and put an end to their feudal rule of this county, she needed to get her head screwed on straight. Andy and Todd Friessen had destroyed her trust, her hope, and her shaky foundation and it had taken Diana years before she'd been able to hold her head up high. And because of them—Louisa was dead.