Authors: Gigi Moore
Could he in good conscience deny Sam’s chance to achieve Mama and Daddy’s sort of love with Desiree if that proved his fate?
Sam hadn’t been all that young, granted, but family loyalty had allowed him to be dragged along for the ride when Kara helped Mama break Carson out of Remy’s stronghold.
Over their years on the run, Carson often wondered what had become of his ex-girlfriend. Kara had been a good friend to the family even after their breakup and one of their only allies, at least the only one willing to act so boldly. She’d risked much to help them. Knowing Remy as he did, she couldn’t have fared well, and this bothered Carson more than he could say. Protecting the smaller and the weak—children, females, humans—had been a part of his DNA since before his father’s death. The instinct had only grown stronger after Dad’s death. To think that he had failed to protect Kara—someone he cared about and knew intimately—or that Kara had suffered for helping him and his family made him feel like more of a failure than he did already.
Much like Kara, however, when the three of them went on the run, they’d challenged Remy’s authority, adding fuel to the fire after what Carson had done. Sam’s going along had probably saved his life. No telling what Remy would have convinced the pack to do to him as punishment against Mama and Carson. He’d been in a pretty self-righteous mood and well within his rights to ask for blood. Not to mention it was his perfect opportunity to bargain for Mama’s allegiance. Carson would keep his life and freedom if Mama gave herself to Remy.
Remy and the pack weren’t here, though, and Sam and Carson were.
“Do what you have to do, Sam.”
“You mean that?”
“Yeah. Go for it.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll do what needs to be done one way or the other.” Lay in the cut, have his brother’s back like Sam and his mama had his back, and make sure Sam didn’t get hurt too bad when the bottom finally fell out and they all had to go on the run again.
If
we go on the run again.
Carson intended to make a stand. He was old enough now, strong enough to at least try.
Remy needed to pay for what he had taken from all of them. It was long past due.
Chapter 6
Remy sat back on the overstuffed leather sofa and crossed one ankle over the opposite knee, taking in his opulent surroundings and impressed with what he found.
The carpet on which his sole rested was plush, cushioning his feet in decadent comfort, the burgundy color complimenting the vivid earth tones of the walls and the furniture. The gender-neutral appearance appealed to his alpha sensibilities. A sensualist by nature, Remy also liked the artwork—sculptures and paintings—strategically scattered throughout the waiting area along with lush, broad-leaved potted plants. He thought the overall effect was an elegant and stylish reflection of the beautiful and intelligent owner.
Tamara Carpenter-Reynolds had been in Colorado not much more than a year, according to his research, and had managed to build a notable clientele. Her law offices were appropriately outfitted in the trappings of a thriving business and able to attract and keep her rich and successful clientele.
The office’s appearance and Tamara’s professionalism engendered his confidence in signing on with Carpenter-Reynolds Law as a client, and he specifically hired the law office’s newest addition as his personal CPA. He doubted that Tamara would hire on someone who couldn’t do a more-than-competent job, even if that someone was family.
Very beautiful family, Remy thought as the CPA in question came through the glass doors in a pair of tasteful, three-inch pumps that made her smooth, stocking-encased legs look longer than they were. He put the woman at just five foot five, a couple of inches more than petite, but heels and her erect carriage made her seem taller.
He still towered over her by more than several inches but liked the way Desiree carried herself. He especially liked the way she smelled—vanilla and musk, sweet, and all woman. He could definitely see her appeal to the Guidry boys. She reminded him of Helena—aloof, cool, and untouchable, except to those she chose to open her heart to and trust.
From what he had seen out at the Western town over the weekend, Desiree had chosen to open some part of herself to Carson, if not her heart.
Remy considered the slap a mere setback, the mark of a woman who needed to be handled with a firm and sure hand. He remained certain that Carson had that hand and perhaps, to a smaller degree, so did his brother, Sam.
Admittedly, something was amiss with the female, who gave every outward appearance of an unruffled professional while deep down, there existed a hidden well of unrestrained passion.
In this, too, she was much like Helena, and Remy envied the two brothers their opportunity to tap such a heated well of lust in Desiree. The situation between the three made him hungry to do his own tapping.
He could barely contain his excitement at the upcoming meeting, one that would bring him that much nearer to achieving his goal of getting closer to Helena and her sons.
His plan could not be rushed, would not be, and he intended to have as much fun with the family as he could as he went about carrying it out. He deserved the diversion after all they had put him through, chasing them around the country in their foolish attempts to avoid his punishment. He would use every means at his fingertips to bring them all to heel the way he should have five years ago.
Caring for Helena as he had no other woman, not even Duane’s mother, had made him soft, had made him let down his guard. There was no other explanation for him to allow the escape from his stronghold, as cleverly as it had been executed.
Kara had been dutifully dealt with since, her punishment much more cruel and swift than that which would be dealt to the Guidry family.
“Mr. Bastien?”
“That would be me.” Remy stood and proffered a hand. “And please, call me Remy.”
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Remy. I’m Desiree Jensen.”
“The pleasure is mine, Desiree,” he said with all sincerity, not waiting for her to invite the familiarity of using her first name and just taking it. Usually he loathed participating in such banalities, but in Desiree’s case, he would make an exception.
From the wavy, copper hair piled on the back of her head in a sophisticated chignon with a bang and tendrils artfully arranged on each side of her face to the gleaming whiskey eyes observing him with astuteness and mild appreciation, he found the woman anything but banal.
He noticed that she did not shy from his firm shake, only returned his slight squeeze with a cool grip of her own. Remy met her gaze as she tried to slip her hand out of his after a moment and held on for a few seconds longer than proper under the circumstances, testing her.
The alpha in him never remained far away, but in civilized, full-human company, he usually found it necessary to tamp down the instincts of his beast. However, staying in the state for the last several months where Helena dwelled, living so close and having what he had sought for so long at his fingertips, made him act a little reckless, willing to allow the wolf off his leash, if only for the minute it took him to mark his territory.
Remy released Desiree’s hand at the same instant she gave a jerk and took a step back to glance up at him with a confused, wary expression.
His motto was always to keep people off-balance, never let them know exactly where or when he came from. It had worked for him in business, helping him broker several lucrative deals with competitors over the years and helping him keep his pack in line. Knowing when to put his foot in someone’s neck or allow them just enough rope to run or hang themselves with proved an invaluable tool to an alpha if he had any hope of flourishing or staying on top. Physical prowess, strength, and fighting abilities were just half the picture that made up a complete leader.
Remy smiled to soften his features, knowing he could look downright feral and predatory when he didn’t smile, and motioned toward the offices in the back, beyond the reception desk. “Shall we?” He watched her back stiffen as she tilted up her chin, the cool façade sliding back into place when she nodded her head and led the way back toward her office.
On the way, they bumped into the boss herself and stopped for some minor chit-chat.
“Remy, I’d heard you were in our offices today. I hope my sister is taking good care of you,” Tamara said.
Remy liked the way she verbally claimed Desiree, making it known to all far and wide that the woman was not alone. He respected that sort of familial ownership. The way Tamara acted toward her younger sister reminded him of pack. It reminded him of how Carson acted with Sam and their mother, protective and proprietary.
He watched Desiree’s face color with an attractive blush as Tamara rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “So far, so good,” Remy said.
“I’m sure there’s no reason for that to change.”
Remy heard the unsaid words and understood perfectly. As long as he played nice and treated Desiree right, she would continue to “take good care” of him. Tamara didn’t appear to care how much business and money he could bring her company. If he posed a threat to anyone, but especially to Desiree, he could just take his business elsewhere.
Hmm, interesting
. He wondered again what caused Desiree’s ambivalence toward Carson, wondered, too, if it had anything to do with how shielding Tamara acted toward her. Was it just the typical overprotectiveness of an older sibling toward a younger, or something more, something he hadn’t yet discovered in his research of the Carpenter-Jensen family?
“Well, I’ll leave you two to your business, then.” Tamara gave Desiree’s shoulder another squeeze and Remy a firm pat on the back as she left them.
Desiree preceded him into her office. It was a spacious, eclectically furnished room with personal touches here and there in a few framed family pictures on the glass-topped desk and some potted plants in a couple of corners of the corner-window office.
Remy took a seat in the designer chair before the desk as Desiree circled the desk and took the seat behind it.
The
clickety-clack
of her fingers flying across the keyboard filled the silence immediately as she pulled up the needed information about his financials.
“From what Tamara says and what you told me over the phone, you want to diversify your assets and invest in some businesses here in the Colorado area.”
“That’s correct. As you probably know, I’ve already rented a condo here and plan to remain for a time as we expand my portfolio.”
Desiree smiled, and it lit up her entire face, smoothing the slight lines from her serious expression. Her face proved as intoxicating as the color of her eyes. He didn’t think either Guidry boy would stand a chance against this woman, much like he hadn’t stood a chance against Helena Styles’s charms when Ben Guidry brought the female hybrid home to the pack.
Remy had already been married at the time, but this didn’t stop him from admiring Helena’s beauty or her inner fire and spirit from afar.
Remy was not the
from afar
type and was not the sort to sit back and wait for things to come to him. He saw something he wanted, and he went out and took it.
Besides, Helena was made to be an alpha’s mate,
his
mate, despite her hybrid status, not the mate of a lowly beta like Ben.
“I’m glad you put it that way, Remy, as we will be a team in deciding exactly which investments will work for you and which ones won’t.”
Remy came back to the present and stared at the young woman behind the desk as if awaking from a coma. He smiled at the accuracy of her words. He planned to stick to her and her family like a predator on the trail of prey until he got what he’d come to Colorado for. “Yes, a team. That sounds perfect.”
* * * *