The Renegade Returns

“Not that we can tell,” Aiden said with a slow shake of his head. He pressed his palms against the desktop. “As soon as we cut off one avenue, he finds another. All too easily.”

Luke paced across the room despite some lingering muscle pain from his therapy session. His rising anxiety made the walls close in, leaving him eager to move, to escape. An all-too-familiar feeling. “That’s disheartening.”

“Well,” Aiden said, “I hope I can cheer you up with my news.”

“Yeah?” the twins said in chorus.

“The legalities of Grandfather’s will are all finished. The mill is now mine,” Aiden said.

“Wow. That was quicker than you thought,” Luke said. “Congratulations.”

“It was quicker than I thought,” Aiden conceded. “But I’m glad, because now I can move on to plan B.”

A short glance at Jake didn’t provide any clues as to what that might be. He looked as expectant as Luke felt. Aiden pulled a thick envelope out of his inner jacket pocket.

“I’ve had my personal lawyer pull up this paperwork,” he said. “I’m changing the ownership of the mill to all three of us, instead of just me.”

Luke simply stared, not fully comprehending.

Jacob spoke for both of them. “But Aiden, this is your inheritance.”

“It shouldn’t be. It should be ours. Not just mine. Not a weapon to turn us against each other, as Grandfather intended.” He took a solid breath. “A family investment. We’re all putting our lives into the mill, the town. We’re sharing the responsibility. We should share the benefits.”

“Whoa. Wait a minute.”

Jacob’s smile faded as he looked over at Luke, but Luke couldn’t give in just to make his twin happy.

“I’m not staying here,” he reminded them. “The only thing I plan on investing my life in is my racing career—the minute I’m cleared to get behind the wheel. I’m here only because I have to be.”

Luke could almost feel Jacob’s emotions fall along with his expression. Aiden remained more stoic as he said, “You never know what might happen in the future, Luke.”

“Is this why you insisted I come home?” Luke asked, panic rising in his chest. “Did you think you could force me home, force me to find something of value here, and then I’d never want to leave? Like you two have?”

He didn’t even realize his voice had risen until he stopped talking. The three of them stared at each other in silence. Embarrassment swept over Luke like a heated blanket. Where had that come from? “Look, I’m sorry. I know y’all would never do that to me.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Aiden agreed quietly. “I would never trick you into coming here. After all, I know very well how that feels.”

Their grandfather had faked his own death, bringing Aiden home to care for their sick mother, but it was only a trick to force Aiden and Christina into marrying. Even though the man really was dead now, Aiden faced what James Blackstone had done to him every day. Luckily, he’d been given a happy ending.

Luke didn’t want one. Not here.

Aiden wasn’t finished. “I’d never force you to sign this paperwork,” he said, giving the envelope a little shake. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t wish you would. Regardless of what your immediate future holds, you’re still a part of this family. I hope one day you can willingly put your name on the mill, and reap the benefits along with the rest of your family.”

All the work would be done by Aiden and Jacob. They should have the rewards—they would have the rewards. And Luke would have his freedom. He loved his brothers, loved the new family they’d built. But how could he stay here and still feed his love for the road?

Unbidden, an image of Avery’s face as she flushed with embarrassment came to him. He shook the enticing image away. He had never let anything in Black Hills hold him back. He certainly wasn’t going to start now.

He and Avery would have a little fun, something to liven up his time here, but he could still walk away on his own terms. When he was good and ready.

Three (#ulink_eb6768c9-5041-5eb3-aad6-dd06355520b5)

All work and no play made Avery a dull girl—and apparently made Luke a frisky boy. Just the look on his face as he settled into one of the treatment rooms warned her he would be trouble.

Avery experienced a lot of feelings during her therapy sessions with clients: pride, sympathy, joy...but never this mixture of irritation and interest. How did he get under her skin with such little effort? A few words and she was tripping over her own feet.

His very presence seemed to inject her with pheromones that clouded her mind and drew her thoughts where they shouldn’t go in a professional setting. Especially when her work required her to have her hands all over him.

Then there was the return of the awkwardness. She’d stopped dating because of it. Better to avoid it than to wonder if she had a medical condition—one that caused shaking, clumsiness and unintelligent muttering—all with a single look from any eligible, attractive man. The sight of a handsome man shot her adrenaline up, and if he spoke to her, she immediately became all thumbs. Her considerable intelligence didn’t help at all. And her fellow citizens’ determination to marry her off meant she’d had a wealth of humiliating experiences.

Dropping things, stumbling into door frames, bumping into all manner of furniture, and—her favorite—jerking her fork so that food ended up in all kinds of crazy places. One time, she’d actually flicked pasta onto her date’s eyebrow. She couldn’t remember that incident without cringing. So Mark escorted her to many functions, which gave her a reprieve from the matchmaking mamas.

The only time it didn’t happen was when she put on her scrubs and became her professional self—comfortable in her knowledge and authority.

Until Luke. And he knew it, too.

Luke—with his sexy stare and flirty ways—jump-started the phenomenon quicker than any guy ever had. Which was why she approached him for this second session with her professional facade firmly in place. And it would stay that way. “I’ve worked up a comprehensive plan for you,” she said, “now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate you firsthand—”

“Firsthand evaluation?” he asked, bending to catch her gaze. “How did I miss that? Can I have a do-over?” His wiggling brows didn’t help her nerves. She gripped his chart hard before it could get loose.

“Behave,” she said in her sternest voice.

“Oh, honey, I don’t know how,” he said with a wicked grin that sent shivers racing over her.

How could he derail her so easily, so completely? She dared not speak for a moment, afraid she’d get out no more than a croak as her throat tried to close. That would be humiliating.

Finally, she cleared the constriction. “Look, in this clinic, I’m the boss. This is my career.” She adopted a stern look, despite the amusement on his face. “Here, I’m not your friend, family, or—” She almost said girlfriend. Where the heck had that come from? “So stop playing and get busy.”

He didn’t respond right away, which surprised her. Luke always seemed quick on the draw. But she could feel him watching her. Probably preparing for battle.

Lord, have mercy. His teasing made her want to combust from the inside out. Her cheeks burned in a flash fire she couldn’t control. She hadn’t felt like this since, well, since Luke had jokingly teased her in high school. Good or bad, she wasn’t sure. The mixture of irritation and utter fascination with someone who could dive right into the good parts of life while she was left hugging the walls in fear confused her.

“You know what I mean,” she finally said, swallowing her emotions down. “We can be friends elsewhere—”

“We can?”

“—but here, business only.” Maybe the less she spoke the better. He seemed intent on twisting her words for his own amusement.

“So out there you’re fair game?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. Smart-ass.

“Down to work. Now,” she said, holding out the folder, open to the plan she’d worked up for him.

“Can I just say one thing before the friendship blackout starts?” he asked.

Knowing anything she said would just encourage him, she simply watched him without responding.

“Look, I wasn’t kidding about dinner,” he said, bending a little to look her in the eyes.

Startled, she met his gaze without hesitation, getting a spark of deep connection before turning away. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, hoping to shoo the subject away like an unwelcome bug.