His By Any Means: The Black Sheep's Inheritance

Two (#u37696086-b3d5-5af3-8c22-fdc2e2c3d438)

She made it as far as the parking lot.

“Colleen!”

Standing beside her car, Colleen took a breath and braced herself. That deep voice was unmistakable.

Goose bumps broke out on her arms and it wasn’t because of the icy wind buffeting her. Blast Wyoming weather anyway. One day it was spring and the next, it was winter again. But the cold was the least of her worries.

It was him. Colleen had only been close to Sage Lassiter one time before today. The night of Angelica’s rehearsal dinner. From across that crowded restaurant, she’d felt him watching her. The heat of his gaze had swamped her, sending ribbons of expectation unfurling throughout her body. He smiled and her stomach churned with swarms of butterflies. He headed toward her, and she told herself to be calm. Cool. But it hadn’t worked. Nerves fired, knees weakened.

And just as he was close enough to her that she could see the gleam in his eyes, J.D. had his heart attack and everything had changed forever.

Looking back on that night, she told herself she was being silly even thinking that Sage might have been interested in her. He’d probably only wanted to ask her questions about his father’s care. Or where the restrooms were.

In her own mind, she’d built up the memory of that night into something magical. But it was time to remember that she simply wasn’t the kind of woman a man like him would ever notice. Sadly, that didn’t stop her from noticing him and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since that night.

Now he was here, and she had to battle down a flurry of nerves. She turned and brushed a few stray, windblown hairs out of her face as she watched him approach.

Her heartbeat sped up at the picture he made. Sage Lassiter stalked across the parking lot toward her. It was the only word that could describe that long, determined stride. He was like a man on a mission. He wore dark jeans, boots and an expensively cut black sports jacket over a long-sleeved white shirt. His brown hair flew across his forehead and his blue eyes were narrowed against the wind. His long legs closed the distance between them in a few short seconds and then he was there. Right in front of her.

She had to tip her head back to meet his gaze and when she did, nerves skated down along her spine. For three months, she’d listened to J.D. Lassiter as he talked about his family. Thanks to those chats, she knew that Sage was ruthless in business, quiet, hardheaded and determined to make his own way rather than capitalize on the Lassiter name. And though that last part had irritated J.D., she knew that he’d also admired Sage for it. How could he not? The older man had done the same thing when he was starting out.

Still, being face-to-face with the man who had filled her mind for weeks was a little unnerving. Maybe if she hadn’t spent so much time daydreaming about him, she wouldn’t feel so awkward right now. Colleen took another deep breath and held it for a moment, hoping to calm herself. But there was a flash of something she couldn’t quite read in his eyes and the nerves won.

Wind slid down off the mountain, wrapped itself around them briefly then rushed on, delivering chills to the rest of Cheyenne. Ridiculously, Colleen was grateful for the cold wind. It was like a slap of common sense and though it wasn’t enough to completely dampen her hormones, her next thought absolutely was.

The only reason she and Sage were here, about to talk, was because they had both attended the reading of his father’s will. Remembering that helped her keep her voice steady as she gave him a smile and blurted, “I’m so sorry about your father.”

A slight frown crossed his face briefly. “Thanks. Look, I wanted to talk to you—”

“You did?” There went her silly heart again, jumping into a gallop. He really was impossibly handsome, she thought absently—tall, dark and glower-y. There was an aura of undeniable strength that emanated from him. He was the kind of man other men envied and women wanted. Herself included. A brand-new flock of butterflies took off and flew in formation in the pit of her stomach. “You want to talk to me?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice a deep rumble that seemed to roll across every one of her nerve endings. “I’ve got a couple questions...”

Fascination dissolved into truth. Instantly, Colleen gave herself a mental kick. Here she was, daydreaming about a gorgeous man suddenly paying attention to her when the reality was, he’d just lost his father. She knew all too well that the families left behind after a loss often had questions. Wanted to know how their loved one had been feeling. What they’d been thinking. And as J.D.’s private nurse, she had been with him the most during those final days.

And now that reality had jumped up to slap her, she was forced to acknowledge that Sage Lassiter had probably planned to talk to her the night of the party for the same reason. What had she been thinking? She’d half convinced herself that the rich, gorgeous Sage Lassiter was interested in her. God, what an idiot. Embarrassment tangled with a wash of disappointment before she fought past both sensations, allowing her natural empathy to come rushing to the surface.

“Of course you do.” Instinctively, she reached out, laid her hand on his and felt a swift jolt of electricity jump from his body to hers. Totally unexpected, she felt the heat from that brief contact sizzle inside her. It was so strong, so real, she wouldn’t have been surprised to actually see the arc of light shimmering between them. Quickly, she drew her hand back, then curled her fingers into her palm, determined to ignore the startling sensation.

His eyes narrowed further and she knew he’d felt it, too. Frowning a little, he pushed one hand through his hair, fixed his gaze on hers and let her know immediately that whatever he might have felt, he was as determined as she to ignore it.

Shaking his head, he said, “No. I don’t have any questions about J.D. Actually, you’re the mystery here.”

“Me?” Surprised, Colleen stared up at him, practically mesmerized by those cool blue eyes of his. “You think I’m a mystery? I’m really not.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he mused. “You went from nurse to millionaire in a few short months.”

“What?” Confused now, she shook her head as if that might help clear things up a little. It didn’t.

His lips curved but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Sure, it’s a big step, isn’t it? I just wanted to say congratulations.”

“Con—what? Oh. What?” Colleen’s mind was slowly working its way past the hormonal surge she’d first felt when Sage had walked up to her. And now that she was able to think almost clearly again, it finally dawned on her what he was talking about. The bequest. The money J.D. had left her. He was making it sound...ugly.

Stung, she said quietly, “I don’t know if congratulations is the right word.”

“Why not?” He set one hand on the roof of her old, but completely reliable, Jeep and leaned in closer. “From private nurse to millionaire in one easy step. Not many people could have pulled that off.”

Cold slithered through her and it was an icier feeling than anything the weather could provide. She glanced around the nearly empty parking lot. Only a half dozen or so cars were sprinkled around the area. The law office adjoining the lot seemed to loom over her, so for a second or two, she let her gaze drift past the city to the mountains in the distance. Sunlight glanced off the snow still covering the peaks. Gray clouds scudded across the deep blue sky and the ever-present wind tugged at her hair.

Just like always, the view of the mountains soothed her. She and her mother had moved to Cheyenne several years ago, and from the moment they arrived, Colleen had felt at home. She hadn’t missed California and the beaches. It was the mountains that called to her. The wide-open spaces, the trees, the bite of cold in the air. In a moment, she was ready to face the man glaring at her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

But she did. She really did. His eyes were icy, detached and a muscle in his jaw ticked as if he were biting back all kinds of words he really wanted to say. J.D. had told her so much about Sage, and for the first time, she was seeing the less than pleasant aspects. Ruthless. Hard.

He was more different now from the man who had flirted with her from across a crowded room not two weeks ago than she would have thought possible. Did he really believe she had somehow engineered this bequest? That she’d tricked J.D. into leaving her money?

“I think you know exactly what I mean.” His head tilted to one side as he studied her. “I just find it interesting that J.D. would bequeath three million dollars to a woman he didn’t even know three months ago.”

While she stood there, pinned in place by the sheer power of his gaze, Colleen felt like a bug on a glass slide under a microscope. The cold inside her began to melt beneath the steam of insult. She was still feeling a little shaky over J.D.’s death and the fact that he’d remembered her in his will. Now, staring up into Sage’s eyes, seeing the flash of accusation gleaming there, she had to wonder if others would be thinking the same thing. What about the rest of the Lassiter family? Did they feel the same way? Would they also be looking at her with suspicion? Suddenly, she had a vision of not just the Lassiters but the whole town of Cheyenne whispering about her, gossiping.

That thought was chilling. She’d made Cheyenne her home and she didn’t want her life destroyed by loose tongues spreading lies. Anger jumped to life inside her. She’d done nothing wrong. She’d helped an old man through his last days and she’d enjoyed his company, too. Since when was that a crime?

Gorgeous or not, Sage Lassiter had no right to imply that she’d somehow tricked J.D. into leaving her money in his will. Lifting her chin, she glared at him. “I didn’t know he was going to do that.”

“And you would have stopped him if you had known?”

The sarcasm in his tone only made the sense of insult deeper. She met his gaze squarely. On this, she could be completely honest. And she would keep being honest until people believed her. “I would have tried.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, it is,” she snapped, and had the satisfaction of seeing surprise flicker in his eyes. “Whatever you might think of me, I’m very good at my job. And I don’t ordinarily receive gifts from my patients.”

“Really?” He snorted. “You consider three million dollars a gift?”

“What it represents was the gift,” she countered, then stopped herself. She didn’t owe him an explanation and if she tried, he probably wouldn’t accept it.

His features looked as if they’d been carved from marble. There was no emotion there, nothing to soften the harsh gaze that seemed to bore right through her as if he were trying to read everything she was.

Colleen fought past the temper still bubbling into a froth in the pit of her stomach and tried to remember that people grieved in different ways. He’d lost a father he’d been estranged from. There had to be conflicting emotions roiling inside him and maybe it was easier for Sage to lash out at a stranger than to deal with what he must be feeling at the moment. Though she knew from her many long talks with J.D. that he and his oldest son weren’t close, Sage was clearly still dealing with a loss he hadn’t been prepared for. That was bound to hit him hard and it was scarcely surprising that he wasn’t acting rationally at the moment.

With that thought in mind, the tension inside her drained away. “You don’t know me, so I can understand how you might feel that way. But what J.D. did was as big a shock to me as it was to you.”

A long second or two ticked past as he watched her through those deep blue eyes of his. She couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking, but his features gave her no clue at all. Seconds ticked past as the wind blew, the sky grew darker and the silence between them stretched taut. Finally, he straightened up and away from the car, shoved both hands into his pockets and allowed, “Maybe I was a little harsh.”

She gave him a tentative smile that wasn’t returned. Despite his words, he wasn’t really bending. Sighing, she said, “A little. But it’s understandable, considering what you’re going through. I mean...I understand.”

“Do you?” Still watching her, though the ice in his eyes had melted a bit.