The Marine's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 3) (18 page)

“Sounds like you have a lot of plans for the place,” he said, coming toward her. Storm watched him warily. Zane had never acted like this before with her and she didn’t like it. “So tell me, did you ever plan—”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m just back for another load,” Belinda said, coming out of the store room.

Zane whirled around. “Belinda?” He turned back to Storm, incredulous. “What the hell is she doing here? Is she part of your trick? Did she put you up to it?” When Storm didn’t answer, he swung around again. “God damn it, Belinda—you and Darren take the cake. Get out of here. Go!” He pointed toward the door.

Belinda’s face crumpled and she ran for it, grabbing her purse as she fled. Storm scrambled to follow her. “Wait! Belinda! Zane, what the hell?”

“What do you mean, what the hell? You’re all in this together, aren’t you! All of you trying to destroy me!”

“Because I invited Belinda here to help?” He wasn’t making sense.

“You invited her? Don’t you mean she invited you? You pretend to love me while all the while working for the man who wants to steal my ranch? What the fuck?” He kicked a rack aside.

Storm scrambled backwards. “I’m not working for Darren. I’m prepping Belinda to help me run the store. When I leave she’s going to take it over.”

Zane pulled back, his face hardening into a mask of anger. “When you
leave
?”

“
If
I leave. I mean… you know what I mean!”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. You’ve been bullshitting me this whole time. You’ve been setting me up. You and Darren and Belinda. You want my home. You want my ranch. Well, guess what? You’re not going to get it.”

“Zane!”

“You know what? I don’t want to hear it! Not one word.” Zane put up a hand to stop her. “Here’s the way things are going to go from now on. You’re working for me now and you’re going to act your socks off when you’re at the ranch or we’re around other people. Otherwise, you keep the hell away from me. Don’t think I’ll touch you again, either. I can’t believe—” He ran a hand through his hair and turned away, his disgust plain to see. He stalked toward the front door. “By the way, this store isn’t yours to give to anyone—certainly not to the family who made my family’s life a living hell. When the time’s up and you’re gone, you’re just gone.”

‡

Z
ane swung the
axe with all his might, grunting when the blade bit into wood. The pile of split logs by his feet was growing by the minute, but his anger wasn’t diminishing at all as the crisp smell of wood chips blended with the other scents of a cool fall day.

Storm had lied to him from the start—about everything. Who she was, why she was there, who she worked for—

That she wanted a baby.

He swung the axe again.

He’d fucked her without a condom. No—even now he couldn’t use that word to characterize what he’d done. He wasn’t the villain here. He hadn’t fucked her; he’d made love to her. Because he’d thought he
had
loved her.

What he loved was a lie.

He wasn’t sure which infuriated him more, that she’d played him so hard he’d lost his head over her, or that Darren had been clever enough to pull this off. Hell, he’d been surprised that the man would have the gumption to tamper with his pasture fence. This—this was something else.

Zane stopped.

This was beyond Darren.

He leaned on the axe, feeling suddenly ill at ease. That was the truth of it; his cousin wasn’t dumb, but he wasn’t worldly, either. He had never left Chance Creek, and he still worked a job that he’d picked up as a teenager. Formulating this plan had taken a level of sophistication he couldn’t credit to the man. Storm had identification that hadn’t tripped up the Judge one bit, and he figured Masters was someone who’d seen his share of ID’s.

So who was Storm really? Why was she here?

When I’m gone
. She’d tossed off the phrase so casually, as if nothing different had ever been on the table. As if they weren’t married already. As if they hadn’t pledged their love to each other just last night.

As if he didn’t mean a thing to her.

“What are you going to do now?”

Zane swung around when Austin approached.

“I don’t know. I went to the store to confront Storm and Belinda was there. Storm hired her, for crying out loud, so I jumped to the only conclusion I could—that Darren set this all up.”

Austin cocked his head. “Darren? What, you think he saw your wife-wanted ad and hired Storm to answer it? That seems a bit out of his league, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. I do now that I’ve had time to think about it.”

“This is a goddamn mess.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

“You’ve got to fix it.”

“Wish I knew how.”

“Figure it out.”

Austin was angry and he couldn’t blame him. They both turned to face the Hall. If he lost them the ranch again through his own stupidity…

“I’ll get it done—somehow.” He’d set Storm straight on what he expected from her. He’d get through the next few months somehow. He’d convince Heloise to sign the papers over for the goddamn ranch. Then—

Then he’d let Storm go and hope he never saw her again.

Storm stayed at
the store as long as possible, but when the shadows grew thick outside her door and traffic thinned out, she knew she had to face the music. She’d long since cried herself dry. Her throat ached, her eyes stung, but more was yet to come. She didn’t know what she’d find back at the ranch. Her only consolation was that she doubted she could feel worse than she did now.

She gathered her things, called a taxi and waited by the front window. All her joy in owning a store was gone. Coming to Chance Creek had been a big mistake.

The cabbie tried to chat as he drove down the country highway south of town, but Storm couldn’t focus. She hesitated at the base of the Hall’s steps when they arrived, wishing she didn’t have to go inside. If only she had told Zane right from the start about her plan to hire Belinda. She should have trusted him to be able to talk it through, although judging from his reaction today, could he really blame her that she hadn’t?

Yes, she decided in the end. He could. She kept trying to circumvent her problems rather than dealing with them head on. Why was that?

She traced her hand along the worn wooden railing of the front stairs. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out, she decided. Cheyenne did the same thing. They were two of a kind.

She resolved to find Zane, explain the sequence of events that had led to her hiring Belinda on the sly and promise him it wouldn’t happen again. Before she could climb the steps, however, headlights flashed across the Hall and another taxi drove in behind her. She waited until it pulled to a stop in front of the house. The rear door flung open and a small shape exited it. “Storm!”

“Zoe?” Storm couldn’t believe her eyes. “Daisy? Violet? What are you doing here?”

Cheyenne was the last to exit the cab. “Since you’ve decreed I have to give up my home, we’ve come to stay with you,” she announced.

Zane breathed a
sigh of relief when the front door opened and Storm walked in. He’d half convinced himself she’d leave Chance Creek directly and he’d never see her again. If that was the case, he should have been happy, but he knew he’d be anything but. As angry as he was, he wanted answers. The only person who could give them to him was Storm.

He rose to his feet from the dinner table where he’d been trying to eat, but stopped when more people spilled into the entryway behind her.

“The airplanes were so cool—”

“I had to sit next to—”

“I saw the Rocky Mountains—”

“Who’s here?” Regan said, turning in her seat.

Storm entered the dining room, her face pale. She looked tired and vulnerable, and she’d obviously been crying. Zane’s first instinct was to kiss the shadows beneath her eyes away. He steeled himself against any such desires.

“My mother and sisters are here,” Storm said in a flat tone, as if she too was beyond the capacity to feel. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were coming or I would have warned you. Zane, this is Cheyenne. Cheyenne, this is Zane—”

Cheyenne fixed him with an angry look. “Where else were we supposed to go?” she said before he could make up his mind how to greet her. “When you decided to steal my daughter away, you left me high and dry.” Her daughters crowded around Storm, who circled them in her arms, but kept her attention on Cheyenne, eyeing the woman like she might set off a bomb at any moment. As far as he was concerned, Storm had already set off a bomb back at Mandy’s Emporium. His future lay in ruins. He didn’t need more confusion.

“I… uh… hello.” Zane didn’t know what else to say. Was this woman in on it too? Did Storm—Kenna—whoever she was—even have a mother? He couldn’t remember her ever mentioning one, and hadn’t she said she was an only child?

Anger built within him at this new twist. How many lies had Storm set out to tell? Did she really think this new cover-up job could paste over the failed one? How had she even wrangled a fake mother and three sisters in the scant hours since he’d confronted her?

“There’s no way I can balance a full-time job with raising three children,” Cheyenne went on. “You’re selfish to demand it. Of course, you obviously think it’s perfectly reasonable to force me from my house, so I suppose I should have expected it.”

“I—what the hell is this?” He turned to Storm for an explanation. Storm shook her head helplessly as the girls clamored for her attention.

“Zane—I’m sorry. About everything.”

He wanted to block out her words and her pleading expression. Every instinct he had made him want to sweep her into his arms and away from all the chaos, but how could he do that when she’d caused all of it?

Not all of it,
a little voice in his head said. He was the one who’d advertised for a fake wife.

That was different, though. He hadn’t set out to make Storm love him, knowing all the while he meant to leave her at the end.

Before he could say a word, Cheyenne whirled to face Storm. “I knew it,” she said. “You didn’t tell him anything, did you? All that baloney about marrying him for real. You were lying! There’s no reason you can’t get your bonus and come home.”

“Mom!”

Zane caught the looks passing between his brothers and their wives. The situation was about to get out of hand. “That’s enough,” he said loudly. “Everybody, sit down and shut up.” His military experience kicked in and he assessed the situation automatically. Goal—information. As much as possible. Priorities—get people fed and talking. There was no need for shouting and dramatics. The game Storm was playing was over, no matter who was the one who’d started it—even Storm must know that.

“I bet these girls are tired and hungry.” He hoped his tone made it clear that he expected everyone to settle down. With a look to her husband, Regan stood up and began to shift the chairs to make room for their unexpected guests. Mason went to get a couple more chairs from the kitchen. The girls plunked down on the vacant seats happily while Ella poured glasses of milk. Storm began to ladle food onto the plates Regan fetched. Only Zane and Cheyenne remained standing.

“I’m not eating until Storm comes to her senses and—”

“Then don’t eat.” Zane cut across her words and jabbed a finger at an empty chair. Cheyenne opened her mouth, closed it. Sat down.

“You still haven’t said anything about my hair, Storm,” Zoe cried suddenly. “Didn’t you notice? I cut it short!”

Zane blessed her for the change of subject. Regan and Ella immediately exclaimed over her hairdo, clearly glad to diffuse the tension in the room.

Storm sent him a grateful look he tried to ignore. He was not on her side. He wouldn’t be taken in by her again.

“The twins need haircuts soon, too,” Cheyenne suddenly said to Storm in a conversational tone. “I hope there’s someone good in town.”

“I know an excellent hairdresser,” Regan assured her.

Cheyenne looked at the plates of food Regan and Ella were preparing. “Maybe I’m a tiny bit hungry after all.”

Zane sat down in his own chair with a thump. How was he ever going to straighten this out?

Storm couldn’t believe
her mother had chosen this disastrous moment to arrive, and she said a silent prayer of thanks that everyone was now doing their best to smooth things over. As for Zane, he still looked as furious as he’d been when he walked out of Mandy’s, but as she watched, he sat down heavily, took a deep breath, got himself under control and bent to look at Zoe’s hair.

“You look like a princess, sweetheart.”

Storm’s heart melted. That was exactly why she’d fallen for Zane. Only a special man could be kind to a little girl in the midst of all this turmoil.

Austin was sitting next to him. Violet looked from one to the other. “You’re twins, just like us!”

“That’s right,” Austin said to her. “You and your sister and Zane and I are the twin brigade.”

“Hear that, Storm? I’m in the twin brigade.” Violet beamed at her.

“So you are. I guess I feel left out,” Storm made herself say in an even tone. She was close to breaking down, though. Everything was falling apart. She was losing Zane even as she sat here conversing as if nothing was wrong. Not only Zane—all the residents of Crescent Hall. She didn’t think she could stand that.