Sienna (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 5) Read online

  Jace . . .

  She’d made a mistake talking to him yesterday. He could be as sincere as he appeared, or he could be trying to worm his way in, to get to her like they got to her mom. Talking to him had been a huge mistake, and she was going to have to pull away before she ended up any deeper involved with him. But damn, that smile.

  What was she thinking?! It couldn’t go anywhere. Even if he was one of the good guys, she couldn’t start anything. There were more important things she had to deal with. She didn’t even know if Sienna was her real name! Until she figured out who had hurt her mom, and what—if anything—they wanted from her, then that’s what she was going to do. That’s all she was going to do.

  She peeled into the parking lot of the convenience store and bought herself the smallest, cheapest bottle of the strongest stuff she could find. Until she had stocked up a few more tips, it was going to have to do. Stashing the bottle inside the car, Sienna turned her car toward the hills. She wasn’t ready to go back to the truck stop, but she needed to find somewhere to hole up for awhile. She might be in the middle of crazy, but that didn’t mean she was about to drive drunk. She’d find somewhere she could sit for at least a couple of hours.

  As she drove, memories of her mom washed over her. Thoughts, little snapshots she’d long ago thought lost, popped into her mind. Sitting on the rug as a little girl, drawing crayon pictures, racing home to show her mom her report card. In every mental picture, it was her and her mom, just the two of them. There had never been anyone else, and with her mother gone, there was a hole left inside Sienna, a part of herself that she was never going to get back.

  Sienna pulled over before she got into an accident, breathing deeply to try to force herself to calm down and push the memories away. All the cowboys in the world couldn’t fix the gaping hole caused by losing the only parent she’d ever known. Finally, the pressure on her chest eased and she could pull the car out onto the road again. She drove slowly, until a road leading through the mountains caught her eye. It was paved, but small, like it had been placed there just for her. She turned onto it, driving faster as it straightened out through the desert, before winding through a pass. Higher up on the mountain, the pass bottomed out until she was driving along the edge of a cliff. The desert stretched out before her, a barren landscape in the sun’s heat, dotted with buttes and hills that stuck out of the ground like the earth’s appendages.

  A spot of green caught her eye as she finally turned a corner, the road opening up to the tree line and past that, a glimpse of forest. The shades of green were soft on the eyes after the harsh tones of the hills. This was it. She’d get out and explore, find a place to sit in among the shady branches. She’d loved the mountains as a child. They’d go hiking together—she and her mom—exploring places just like this, where magic seemed real and fairies were hiding around every corner. Until she’d driven here, she’d had no idea how dry she felt, how much she’d needed to get out again among the trees. Of course, today there’d be more drinking than hiking.

  She parked on the shoulder of the road, and then grabbed her cheap bottle of fucking-forget-it-all and meandered into the forest. The pine needles crunched beneath her feet as she followed a deer trail she spotted hidden among the brush. The tiny line led her downhill, probably to a lake where she could sit and relax. The forest was different from the one near her home, the trees thicker and wilder, with plants she didn’t recognize. There were more insects, too, and she swatted them away with her hand as she walked, taking the occasional shot as she went.

  As she moved further down the trail, the noise of the world faded away until all she could hear was the soft buzzing of a summer’s day, along with the buzzing in her head from the alcohol. She could totally live in a place just like this. Become part of the wilderness and cast off humanity altogether. She’d be safe—both from men trying to kill her and flirting cowboys. No one would ever know where she’d gone.

  For just a moment, it all sounded like a wonderful idea. Until she wondered what there was to eat. Did it ever get cold there? She didn’t want to wake up one day and find herself sleeping next to a hibernating bear. Nope, sadly, her adventure probably wouldn’t work out. She stopped, sitting on a boulder, the sides slippery with moss, and took another drink, letting the forest spin by her for just a moment.

  Hmm. Maybe getting drunk out in the middle of nowhere wasn’t such a great idea.

  All she’d wanted was a time-out, a few hours where she didn’t have to worry about what happened to her mom, or who was trying to kill her and who just wanted to get in her pants.

  What the hell was so special about her that she was getting all this attention?

  “Fuck!”

  Sienna screamed it at the top of her lungs, trying to drown out the anger surging through her. It didn’t work. She was going to die sooner or later, may as well make it easy. She was never going to be able to fight back against anyone much, let alone someone with a gun. If she handed herself over, stood in the middle of the road and yelled for them to come find her, maybe they’d go easy on her, make it quick. She threw the bottle aside and closed her eyes. Maybe she’d just have a little nap while she waited for the bad guys to show up.

  Five minutes—or five hours—later, she opened her eyes. She had no idea how much time had passed, if any at all. The sun was partially hidden by the trees, but it was warmer than it had been. She hauled herself up and looked around. Behind her, the trees thinned and gave way to a meadow, illuminated by the sun like a spotlight on a stage. Tiny flowers—purple, pink, and yellow—spread out over the field. Their colors and vibrancy were so beautiful that Sienna just had to touch it. She wanted to swim through them and soak up the sunlight, getting lost in the beauty.

  She stood, wobbling toward the field. A blue butterfly shot out of the trees and guided her path. She’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life. Maybe it was a sign that everything was going to be okay. Maybe there was something she could do to save her life. She took a swig from the bottle. Maybe a little more would help her figure it out. The butterfly flitted forward and Sienna followed, moving faster. She didn’t want to lose it. It slipped through a gap in the trees and she stepped after it, using her hands to part the branches. There it was! Another step forward, and another. That was when something slammed into her from behind, knocking her off her feet. She punched blindly, struggling against them like her life depended on it . . . because it fucking did!

  “Stop moving! If you keep moving, you’re going to die!”

  “Fuck you! I’ll kill you first, you bastard.”

  “Sienna! Calm down!”

  Shit, they knew her name!

  “Sienna!” Arms wrapped around her, pulling her against a very hard chest. “Stop struggling. Please. For me?”

  Fuck.

  “Jace?”

  “Shhh,” he whispered, still trying to hold her still. “It’s all going to be okay.”

  The blood drained from her face as her hands trembled and all the fight went out of her. “It’s you? You were the one all along?”

  He pulled her up, leaving a strong arm still wrapped around her waist. “What are you talking about? I was saving you from nearly walking off a damn cliff! What the hell is going on, Sienna?”

  She turned slowly, the world still sloshing about. “A cliff?” She stepped forward again and Jace lunged, wrapping his other arm across her chest.

  “Yes, a fucking cliff, right in front of you. Stop walking.”

  He was right. In front of her was nothing but a drop so high she might have fallen for a mile before she splattered all over the rocks. “How the hell did you find me? Were you following me?”

  “I saw your car, racing like a demon through my property. Sienna, what are you doing here? What’s going on?” He moved her to face him, his face twisted with concern.

  “Nothing. I’m fine.” She looked over at the bottle lying a couple of yards away. “Maybe just had a bit too much whiskey.”

 
; “Nope. The whiskey doesn’t explain what you were so upset about yesterday, or why you’ve looked like you’re ready to bolt ever since you walked through the diner’s doors. No more bullshit. What is going on? Is someone after you?”

  She turned to walk away, but he held firmly onto her arm. “Let me go, Asshole!” She kicked him in the leg. Jace grunted but didn’t move.

  “Sit down, Sienna. Just for a moment?”

  She plopped back down next to a boulder and let her face fall forward onto her arms. “This is a really bad idea.”

  He crouched in front of her. “I’m not walking away, Sienna. Not unless you convince me that you’re not in danger.” He took her hand in his. “You’re not crazy, and I don’t think you were trying to hurt yourself, but you can’t go wandering off fucking cliffs.”

  She pulled away, but he touched her cheek, turning her face back toward him. “Please. Let me help you with whatever this is.”

  “No.”

  He sighed loudly. “I’ll get inside those walls sooner or later, believe me, but okay. At least come back to my place for a bit, let the liquid lunch dissipate a little.”

  “Fine.” It wasn’t like she would be able to drive herself anywhere for a good few hours, and her stomach was starting to regret skipping breakfast. “But no more questions.”

  His mouth thinned into a firm line. “Okay. But don’t think for a second I’m buying that story. When you’re sober, we’re talking.”

  12

  Jace

  Jace drove her back to his place. They’d fetch her car later. There was no way she was driving after the way she’d spent her afternoon. The near miss at the cliff had sobered her up enough that they could talk, but not enough for her to get behind the wheel. He was thankful she didn’t fight him on that, too. At least sense won out over sheer stubbornness. He’d found most of a ten dollar bottle of whiskey lying nearby on the ground. It wouldn’t be enough to make him wobble, but she was so damn tiny.

  Damn, what was she hiding? Was she ashamed of whatever it was? No, it wasn’t shame he saw whenever he started getting close to her. No, that was outright fear.

  He’d let her keep her secret for the time being They both knew she was lying, but it wouldn’t do him or the situation any good to point it out. Whatever she was hiding wasn’t something small. No, a big fucking bomb had gone off somewhere in her life. It was the only reason she’d end up with her entire life bundled into the back of a car that was ready to fall apart itself. The only reason she’d be hiding out in the middle of nowhere, refusing to talk to anyone. Something had forced her to leave home—leave the entire city. If her parents had just kicked her out, there likely would have been any number of friends who could have taken her in, or even a cheap motel. That was one thing she didn’t need to drive for hours to find.

  He could help, if she’d only open up to him. He had a large bank account, and an even larger gun cabinet. Whatever fucked-up mess she was in, he’d help her out of it, whether she wanted him to or not. His instincts were sharp, always had been, and the whole situation was screaming at him. She couldn’t even keep herself safe in the middle of the restaurant. He’d been ready to kill the trucker for daring to lay a hand on her, and now he found her wandering about the countryside, nearly walking off a goddamn cliff!

  He just had to work out how to get her to talk. She was under siege, from both inside and out. Sienna was smart, but she trusted no one. He was just going to have to change that.

  “Come on inside.” He ushered her in, pulling her through the door with an arm around her waist. She was still shaking a little, so he tried to distract her by giving her a tour, ending at the back porch, where they sat down. By then, her hands had stopped trembling and a little color had returned to her face. “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “Yeah. It’s different than I expected.”

  He grinned. “What did you expect? A fifth-wheel and an outhouse?”

  She swatted his arm. Ahh, so that was the trick to get her to talk. “No,” she said. “I just mean—I didn’t even know there were houses out here, much less something like this.”

  Her gaze took in the landscape in front of her. The view still made him smile every morning, and so for a city girl, it was probably pretty amazing. He hadn’t built a full barn yet—a massive structure that would hold more than a hundred head of cattle—but he was still proud of his place. Set on a decent acreage, the main home fitted perfectly into the landscape, with bricks that looked hand-placed, and a dusty red tiled roof. Elsewhere on the sprawling grounds was a small guest house made from old-fashioned timber. It had likely been the original residence on the property, and he planned on keeping it around—for history’s sake, and if any of his friends or family from home ever decided to forgive him for whatever sins they deemed he’d committed and finally come visit. He’d modernized it inside, but the outside of the cottage still looked like the day it had been raised. “We’re not all country hicks, you know,” he said, chuckling. “I have some style.”

  “It’s not bad.” She stole a look at him then turned back to the vista before her. “A lot of work though, I bet.”

  “I love it, though. I might be exhausted when I get to the end of the day, but the work keeps me alive. It clears my head.” Jace watched Sienna stare out to the mountains. “What do you do when you need a break from everything? Besides nearly walk off cliffs?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes, I think there’s nothing you can do.”

  “I don’t believe that.” He reached over, resting his hand lightly on top of hers. “Sometimes the biggest battles are the ones we fight inside ourselves. What happened to make you end up here?” She stilled, waiting a moment before sliding her hand out and placing it in her lap. “Something happened, Sienna, something you won’t tell anyone. Maybe you think you can just bottle it all up and it will all go away, but life doesn’t work like that.”

  “My mother died.”

  Fuck. The haunted looks, quiet reflections when she thought no one was looking. He should have known. She was grieving.

  Sienna let her tears fall freely, her emotions almost unstopped now that he’d uncorked the bottle. “Her fingers were all twisted and she had cuts all over her body, like someone had tortured her. I have no idea why.”

  She was lying again, but right then he didn’t care. All Jace wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and hold her, to wipe away her tears and protect her so she’d never have to cry another one in her life. But he didn’t want her to run again, and she was on the edge of her seat already, like a scared doe that would easily startle. He picked up her hand instead, wrapping his fingers around hers when she didn’t resist.

  “My mom was my world, my best friend, and the most amazing person. We didn’t always see eye to eye as I got older, but she would have done anything for me. She was always worried—giving me advice and telling me when I was heading down the wrong path.” She paused and shifted in her seat, but he refused to let go of her hand, squeezing tighter. “The night she died, we got into a fight. She didn’t like a guy I was dating. I just thought she was being too clingy again, wanting me to stay home with her, and so I stormed off to a party. That night I walked in on him fucking another girl and so I left the party early.” She hiccupped, before taking a deep breath and talking again. “I got home and found my mom. Sh—she’d been tortured. Her fingers were all twisted and her body was covered in cuts.”

  Holy shit. Had Sienna actually witnessed her mom’s murder? It would certainly explain more than a few things. Jace looked skyward, silently looking for strength of his own, while still gripping tightly onto her hand. To lose a parent at such a young age would be hard enough. To actually find the body, or maybe even worse? He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and never let her go again.

  “I never got to apologize for the fight. I . . . ” She broke down again and this time, there was nothing that was going to stop him gathering her up and holding her close. Sienna wept in his arms, shud
dering in his embrace as emotions that she’d likely kept bottled up for weeks poured out. Finally she quieted, taking gulping breaths of air, her cheeks wet against his shirt. Then she spoke again, so quietly he wasn’t sure he’d even heard correctly. “She was my best friend, but now I wonder if I even knew her.”

  What? “Sienna? What do you mean?” He wiped this thumbs across her cheeks, but more tears trickled down to replace those he wiped away. “You can’t keep carrying whatever this is alone. It’s going to destroy you.”

  She pulled back, and the moment was broken again. Sienna shook her head, wrenching herself out his arms. “I can’t do this. I can’t be around anyone. Crap! I shouldn’t have even said anything. Forget it all, please.”

  “For God’s sake, why?” He reached for her, but she jerked back.

  “I should get going.”

  “Sienna, please. Don’t just shut me out.”

  For just a moment, a pained look crossed her face, before her expression hardened. “I don’t have any other choice.”

  “Yes, you do. You can stay here with me.”

  “No. I’m . . . I’m just tired, Jace. I need to go.”

  “You’re in trouble. I know you’re in trouble, but Jesus Christ, I can help you. I meant that. What happened to your mom, Sienna? Are you in danger, too?”

  “No.” She swallowed hard, looking away.

  “You’re lying.”

  “No!”

  “Please.” Jace took a step toward her. She didn’t step away, but her arms stayed by her side, her gaze on the floor.

  “Just take me back to my car, Jace. That’s how you can help me.”

  He could push some more, insist he wasn’t taking her home until she told him the truth, but what good would that do? She’d just push back harder, maybe even disappear entirely and he’d never see her again. She might not be telling him the whole truth yet, but she was talking. It was progress from dumping his drink over his head just a few days ago.