LITMIR.BIZ

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focus on ranching and Edie Burnett, the new woman in his life.

      “Layla, heard you’ve had a bit of a rough night,” he said.

      She forced a smile. “That would be the understatement of the year.”

      “You ready to head out?”

      She looked at Tom, who nodded his assent. “I’ll be in touch to let you know what’s going on. And don’t worry about your cat. I’ll see he gets to Norwood’s later tonight or first thing in the morning.”

      She stood in an uneven stance minus one shoe. “Can I get my other high heel from the car?” she asked.

      “It’s evidence,” Tom replied. “I’m hoping that if you managed to hit him and break some skin then we might have some DNA on the shoe.”

      She took off the shoe she still wore and then looked at Benjamin. “Then I guess I’m ready to go.” A new burst of fear swept through her as she realized she wasn’t going home to Mr. Whiskers and her own bed, but rather was in effect going into protective custody.

      It took only ten minutes for Benjamin to get her from the sheriff’s office to her small house. She’d always felt safe in the three-bedroom ranch house she’d bought five years before. But she didn’t feel safe now. The shadows in the rooms suddenly felt ominous and she jumped at every ordinary noise. She was grateful to have Benjamin with her.

      She packed a large suitcase of the things she considered essential, kissed Mr. Whiskers goodbye and then they were back in Benjamin’s truck and on their way to his ranch.

      The adrenaline that had pumped through her from the moment the arm had wrapped around her neck eased away, leaving a gnawing fear that had her shaky.

      “Please tell me this cabin has electricity,” she said as she leaned forward to get the benefit of the warmth blowing from the heater vents.

      Benjamin smiled. “Electricity, running water and cable television,” he replied. The smile faltered somewhat. “There’s something else you need to know. Jacob is staying at the cabin.”

      Shock waves shot through her. “Jacob? But, I thought he was in Kansas City working for the FBI.” As far as Layla was concerned Jacob had always been the hottest of the Grayson men. She’d had a major crush on him before he’d left town to become an FBI agent.

      “He was, but he’s been back for about six months and staying in the cabin.”

      “Did he get hurt or something?”

      “Or something,” Benjamin replied. “He hasn’t told any of us what brought him back, but he’s not the same man he was when he left Black Rock. Anyway, I just thought I should let you know that you’ll be sharing the space with him.”

      Layla leaned back and digested this new information. At least she’d have some company and it didn’t hurt that her company was a man who had always intrigued her. “I’m sure we’ll get along just fine,” she said. It also didn’t hurt that her protective custody involved an FBI agent.

      “Good luck with that,” Benjamin muttered under his breath as he turned into the entrance of his ranch.

      They drove past the ranch house and across the pasture. “How’s Edie?” she asked.

      A smile flashed across Benjamin’s face. “Terrific.”

      Edie Burnett had come to town to check on the well-being of her grandfather, Walt Tolliver. She and Benjamin had fallen hard for each other and Edie had moved in with him.

      A fist of loneliness slammed Layla in the stomach. It wasn’t an unfamiliar punch. Sometimes she thought that she’d been born lonely and that she’d never find somebody who might help ease that affliction.

      It certainly wasn’t from lack of trying. She felt as if she’d dated every eligible bachelor in Black Rock between the age of twenty-one and forty.

      She shook her head, wondering if she was losing her mind. Somebody had just tried to kidnap or kill her and she was thinking about her love life. Because that’s not scary to think about, she told herself, because that didn’t fill her soul with terror.

      They drove over a rise and in the beams of the headlights in the distance she saw the small cabin nearly hidden by evergreen trees crowding in on every side.

      A faint light glowed at the front window, but it didn’t add any sense of real welcome to the isolated place. The front porch was bare and the exterior paint was starting to show signs of age.

      “You’ll be safe here. Few people even know this cabin exists,” Benjamin said as he parked the truck in front of the small structure and turned off the engine.

      Layla got out of the truck, a bit unsteady on the uneven ground in the red high heels she’d put on at her house. With her tight jeans and in a new red sweater she felt ready to face whatever life threw at her.

      Benjamin grabbed her oversize suitcase from the back of his truck and together they walked up the stairs to the small porch and the front door.

      Benjamin knocked and a deep voice replied. He opened the door and Layla stepped inside. Her first impression was that the place was downright cozy with a fire crackling merrily in the stone fireplace and a thick throw rug covering an expanse of the gleaming hardwood floor.

      “What in the hell is she doing here?” The deep voice came from a recliner and a stunned surprise fluttered through her as she got her first glimpse of Jacob Grayson.

      His dark hair hung almost to his shoulders and his jaw was covered with a thick growth of whiskers. She could tell from the hollows in his cheeks that he’d lost weight, but his shoulders were still broad beneath the navy sweater he wore and his jeans hugged the length of his long legs.

      It was his eyes that made her breath catch in her throat. Dark as night and filled with the shadows of hell, they bore into her with intensity. He looked at her, her suitcase and then at Benjamin. “What the hell is going on here?”

      A bubble of laughter unintentionally escaped her. “I guess you didn’t get the memo,” she said. “I’m your new roomie.”

       Chapter 2

      Jacob recognized her immediately even though the last time he’d seen her Layla West had been about nineteen years old. Even back then she’d liked her jeans tight and her heels high and it looked as if nothing had changed. She’d be about twenty-eight now, definitely not a kid anymore.

      There was some small part of his brain that processed the scent of her sexy perfume in the air, part of him that was drawn to the shine of her long blond hair, but the bigger part of his brain stared at Benjamin through angry narrowed eyes.

      It would be just like his well-meaning brothers to set up something like this in an effort to pull him from his self-imposed isolation. Nothing like a hot, sexy woman to pull a man back into life. Yeah, right, he thought bitterly.

      “Is this some kind of a joke because if it is I’m not laughing.” What he wanted to do was shove both Benjamin and the lovely Layla West right back out the door. Instead he got out of the chair and approached where Benjamin stood.

      “Of course you’re not laughing,” Benjamin replied tightly. “That might make you human.” He dropped Layla’s suitcase on the floor and looked at her. “Layla, would you excuse us for a minute?”

      He grabbed Jacob’s arm and pulled him toward the door. The two men stepped out on the porch and into the cold night air. “This is not a joke,” Benjamin said, a touch of uncharacteristic anger in his voice. “This isn’t about you and any issues you might have, Jacob. We’ve all pretty much left you alone out here for the last six months. We’ve asked damn little of you and hoped to hell you’d pull yourself together.”

      The cold December wind sliced through Jacob’s sweater almost as effectively as the disgust in his younger brother’s voice. He jammed his hands into

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