Ryland (16 page)

“Christ, you have a warm
mouth.” She pulled his pants down further as she took his head into her. Bobbing
up and down, she took his pants down to his calves, making it so she could
reach his balls. They were already tight and so heavy. Every time she pulled up,
he would follow her by rocking upward. She was getting into a smooth rhythm of
swallowing him down with every stroke when he tightened his grip in her hair
and lifted her up.

“You keep that up and I’m
coming down your throat. As much as I want to, I’d rather be inside of you when
I come.” She shook her head and took him again. “You’ll pay for this.”

He rocked up harder and
faster. She reached between her legs and into her panties. She nipped at his
cock when she touched her clit. He cried out and she looked up at him.

“Again. Do that again. But a
little harder.”

She bit him gently and was
rewarded with a stream of precum. When she cupped his balls a little tight, he
nearly bucked her off him. Then he held her head tightly over him as she felt
his first ejaculation hit the back of her throat. She pulled at his balls again
and he cried out, his cock filling her mouth with his cum. Licking him clean,
she sat back and let him see what she was doing. Her fingers were wet, and she
was aching. “I love having you come down my throat.”

He lifted her onto the seat
and laid her back. She spread her legs and looked at him as he leaned down. She
moaned when he moved her fingers and suckled on them. His fingers replaced her
own.

“Come in my mouth.” She
nearly came up off the seat when he bit her clit. “Christ, do you have any idea
how delicious you taste? Come now, Bronwyn, come hard.”

She didn’t mean to scream,
she had tried hard not to, but when he pressed his finger past the tight
muscles of her ass, she couldn’t help it. As his tongue fucked her, his finger
took her to new heights and she came apart twice more. When she lifted his head
up, begging him to stop, he laughed.

“Any time you want to ride
me in a limo, I’m all game. I will have to put up a better barrier between us
and Charles, though. The poor man will be deaf if I don’t.” She looked at the
glass between them and the driver. “He didn’t hear you. I made sure of that. I
was teasing you, love.”

Ten minutes later they were
pulling in front of the house. She hopped out before the driver could open the
door and she grinned at him. He smiled back and tipped his hat at her. Ryland
told him that if he could come back and get them around dinner time, he’d
appreciate it. After Charles left, she and Ryland when into the house.

They had seen very little of
it yesterday and now they explored. They went to the left out of the foyer and
found a huge room. The chandelier was in the middle of the room and there was a
nice fireplace against the wall. He told her a cleaning crew had come in and
made sure that everything was put to rights. She looked out the large floor-to-ceiling
windows on either side of the fireplace. Built-in book cases lined the walls on
either side of it and dark wainscoting lined the other wall. She loved this
room immediately.

“I think this is the
library. The specs said there was one and this would be the perfect room for
it.”

She nodded.

“The office is supposed to
be next door.”

In the office, his desk was
sitting in the perfect place. She moved over to it and found the lamp already
plugged in and a note on top of the desk. She turned to hand it to Ryland when
she noticed he was still standing in the doorway. She asked him if he was
alright.

“Did you see this desk
before you got if for me?”

She shook her head.

“It’s…Christ, Bronwyn, it’s
just like my dad’s in his office. Exactly, including the lamp.”

She looked it over and
supposed he’d know better than her. She handed him the note from Alistair, who
had come over to let the delivery person in. He leaned against the wall and
handed it to her after he read it.

“Excellent choice. My God.
How you found this thing is beyond me. If you ever want to get rid of it, let
me know. I will pay whatever price you’re asking for it. I can’t believe you
found it. Love to you both, Alistair”

She asked him what he meant.

“When mom found the desk for
Dad right after I turned five, the man who had it said that there were only two
in the world like it. He told her that he’d made one for him and one for his
brother. But the brother had gone into a different line of work and hadn’t
wanted it. That was the one that Mom bought. Years later, after Dad passed away,
we heard that the man had died as well and went to the auction of his home. The
desk wasn’t there. I’ve been looking since, so have Alistair and the rest of
us. And you found it for us without even knowing it.”

He ran his hand along the
top of it and smiled at the small signature in the corner. She looked at it
when he asked her to come and see it. She put her hand over it and felt the
warmth and love of the man who had made it for himself. And his hope that his
brother would love his as well and give up his notion of becoming an actor. She
told Ryland what she’d discovered.

“I love you, Bronwyn. Not
just for this, but because I simply love you.” He held her for several minutes
before letting her go slightly. “We’d better look around if we ever want to
move in here.”

She nodded. She’d never had
a house before and as they discovered each room and the small treasures left
behind by the last owner, she knew that this one was special. But the time the
limo came back for them, they had a huge list of furniture they needed, as well
as a bigger list of things they needed to get in place. The house was perfect.

Chapter 13

They were just sitting down to dinner
when someone knocked at the door. Sandra looked at her family and none of them
seemed to know of any visitors. Bronwyn grabbed her hand and she stilled. Getting
used to this girl was going to take some time, but she already loved her.

“He’s here. Crawford is here.” She
looked at Ryland. “You have to stay here so that he doesn’t know who you are
yet. Let your mom go and I’ll go—”

“You will not.” Sandra had to laugh at
the way Ryland thundered at her. “I will put this man in his place and he’ll—”

“Kill you and your mom. We’re not
prepared for him.” Bronwyn looked at her. “Tell him. Tell him that if he gets
killed today that the man will stop at nothing to kill all of you. I’ll be
right behind the door. I swear he won’t be able to harm you, but if he pisses
in his oats then I won’t be able to help before some of us are killed.”

“Ryland, let’s do it her way. You can be
ready in the event that he tries anything, but she’s right. We have no recourse
but to do it this way, to figure out what he wants.”

Ryland sat down and looked around the
room.

“She’ll protect me. You know she will.”

“I know it. I don’t like it, but I know
it.” He looked at his brothers, who were as tense as he was. “Go to the doors
and wait. Don’t go outside and shift if—”

“No. Don’t shift until I say so. If they
do, he’ll know it. He’ll take it as a sign of aggression, right?” Ryland nodded
again at his mate. “I want you to trust me. I won’t allow any of you to get
hurt.”

“It’s not us he’s worried about,
sweetheart, but you.” Sandra patted her hand and went to the door. When Bronwyn
was behind it with her gun out she saw her boys go to the other doors, each of
them looking like they would rather be where they could watch her. She’d never
felt so safe in her life. She opened the door.

“You sure took your time.” He huffed at
her and she nearly slammed the door back in his face. “I comed to find out if
this here house has a male here. I want to talk to the male, not his lesser
female.”

“Do I strike you as a lesser female,
young man?” He took a step back and she nearly followed him, but the hand at
her elbow stopped her. “What do you want?”

“I done already told you. Where is your
male? I know that he’s here. There’s cat everywhere.” She watched as he raised
his head to the air and sniffed. “Yeap, cat.”

“Well of course there’s cat here. I’m a
tiger, you idiot. How on earth do you expect there to not be a cat here? You
knew that when you came here, did you not?”

He looked confused. She nearly laughed
when the man standing next to him leaned in to whisper to him. “She’s a cat,
there’d be cat smells. Ask her about her sons. That’s what we came here for.”

“Where’s your sons? Says here you got
six of them.” He looked at her suspiciously after consulting the paper twice.
“Six sons. That’s a lot of males.”

“Yes it is. Six sons would be six males.
You never answered my question. What do you want? And who are you anyway? I
already answered the census questions years ago.” He now looked so confused she
almost felt sorry for him, almost. “Well? I’m waiting.”

“You’re supposed to be afraid of me.”

She did laugh then. It was just too
much. When he looked like he was going to come in the door, she pulled out the
gun in her apron pocket. She’d been carrying it since she’d been living out
here alone. He took a step back. “You come through this door and I will take
your penis off at the root.” She heard Bronwyn giggle and felt stronger for it.
“I’m not one of those push-over types and I know how to use this sucker. You
get off my property right now or, so help me, you’ll be losing an appendage
you’re fond of.”

He looked at the man again who said, “Your
dick” before he turned back to her. “Now you listen here, I won’t be putting up
with you thinking that you can—”

The softly spoken
“shoot the deck”
through her mind had her firing so quickly that she nearly jumped herself. When
he leaped back, she took a step forward and held the gun pointed at his groin. She’d
had enough of this. “You come near this house again and they’ll be wondering
what sex you are when they find your dead body on the side of the road.”

“You should know that I’m coming here as
a mercenary.” The man whispered again. “Emissary. I come here to talk to you
about me razing your ambush. You shouldn’t be treating me this way. Might go
better for you if I was treated with a bit more respect.”

“Respect is earned, not forced.” She
fired the gun again, this time over his head. “Get out of here before I lose my
temper.”

He left. Shifting on the deck and then
lifting his leg on her flower pot made her want to go out after him, but Bronwyn
held her back again. She glared at the woman and nearly laughed on seeing her
barely holding onto her own mirth. When she slammed the door, she turned to see
her sons there and not one of them looked pleased.

“You will not pee on my pot to re-mark
it or, so help me, I will tan your hides. Literally.” Sandra handed her gun to Bronwyn.
“Would you be a dear and reload this for me, please? I have dinner on the table
and it must be getting cold.”

Bronwyn burst out laughing. When Sandra
turned to look at her, she stood up and hugged her. It was the first time since
she’d been here that Bronwyn had done it without someone hugging her first. Sandra
held her tightly in her arms and fell in love with her. Good heavens, she had a
daughter.

“You are the best. When you shot that
deck, I nearly wet myself.” With her gun in her hand, Bronwyn was still
laughing as she went to the kitchen.

Sandra looked at her sons. “Well? You
have nothing to say to me?” None of them moved. “I think I did very well for an
old woman, if I do say so myself.”

“Where…” Ryland glanced at his brothers
as he cleared his throat. “Where did you get that gun? And how long have you
been carrying it?”

“You father gave it to me just after you
were born. I was afraid most nights when he went off to work, so he showed me
how to shoot it. He said he felt better knowing that I wasn’t helpless. Smart
man, your father. And I’ve been carrying it on my person since.” She grinned at
him. “I tuck it under my pillow at night too. So don’t come in without knocking
first. I may do you some serious harm.”

All of them nodded and she had to bite
her lips to keep from laughing. When she started to go toward the kitchen again
she turned when Alistair called to her. She put her arms over her chest,
thinking he was going to lecture her.

“Would you have really shot him in the
groin? I mean, it was a great threat and one I would never have…one I didn’t
think you’d use, but a good one.” She nodded and he laughed. “Bronwyn is right,
Mom, you are the best.”

As they entered the dining room Bronwyn
handed her the gun and she put it back in her pocket. Dinner was a little
chilled, but the atmosphere was a good deal more relaxed. When they all stood
to help clear, Bronwyn stopped her.

“You know that we’ve just pissed in his
oats, right?”

Sandra nodded and told her that she knew
that she’d made an enemy.

“Well, you’ve actually made two. Cunningham
will hear about this too and not be all that happy with the turn of events. I
wanted to tell you something. Something that I’m sure you already know because
of what you are. The gun is now loaded with silver. And when you shoot next
time, go for the chest, as close to the heart as you can. Dead men can’t shoot
back.”