Strands of Love

Chapter Thirteen

The sun was high in the sky by the time the three of them finished breakfast. Sam had run upstairs to use the bathroom while Jace and Darian headed outside. She was just washing her hands when she heard a vehicle pull up outside. Assuming it was Tim, she didn’t hurry. Sam rubbed some moisturizer with sunscreen on her face and neck and slicked some lip balm on. That would help protect her against the unforgiving Texas sun.

She was almost to the back door when she realized the voice she was hearing didn’t belong to Tim. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered. George was back.

Darian and Jace had both faced off against George. The white T-shirts they wore—which had belonged to her father—were pulled tight across the shoulders and around the biceps. The material looked as though it would rip at any moment. Her father hadn’t been a small man, but the Hunter brothers were much wider through the shoulders and arms.

“What’s going on?” Sam stepped out onto the back porch and glared at her former lover. Honestly, the more time she spent in his company the more she wondered what she’d ever seen in him.

She supposed he wasn’t bad looking, when taken on his own. But next to the brothers he was lacking, not just in size, but in character too.

“Wanted to see if you’re ready to talk business.” George removed his sunglasses and twirled them between his fingers. Sam found herself wishing the slender sidepiece would snap off. Then she felt petty for thinking it, which only irritated her further.

“I’m not selling the farm to you, George. Get over it.” She didn’t step out from beneath the meager shade of the porch. Today was another scorcher and she wasn’t going to bake her skin until she absolutely had to.

“Come on, Sam. You know you’re not going to be able to get another loan so where does that leave you?” George turned to Jace and Darian, who had been silent since she appeared. “Sam trying to get the two of you to invest in the farm? Is that why you’re here?”

He turned back to her. “Shame on you, Sam, for trying to get two army veterans, friends of your brother, to flush their money down the drain.”

Sam fisted her hands by her sides. Over and over she repeated to herself, If I hit him, he’ll call the sheriff. It didn’t help. Sam still wanted to sock George in the mouth and rattle his perfect teeth.

George looked her up and down, a sneer marring the perfection of his face. “Or maybe you sweetened the pot a bit. I know what she’s like in bed and she’s not that good.”

Jace moved so fast, he was a blur. One moment George was talking, his shirt crisp, despite the morning heat, his jeans pressed. The next, he was on his butt on the ground with Jace standing over him. “You don’t talk to her like that.”

As much as Sam enjoyed seeing George on his ass, she couldn’t allow the scene to escalate out of control.

Jace reached down and yanked George to his feet, dragging him toward his truck. “Leave.” He yanked open the door and threw George behind the wheel, with one hand. Sam tried not to be impressed, but couldn’t help being just a tiny bit amazed by Jace’s show of strength.

Darian was beside his brother holding George’s sunglasses, which he’d dropped when he’d landed on the ground. Darian held them out. “You might need these.” The words were polite enough but they were laced with pure menace.

Sam pushed her way between the two Hunter brothers and faced George. “Don’t come back. You’re not welcome here. I’ll sell to anyone else in the world before I’ll sell my land to you.”

“No one around here will buy it if the time comes. I’ll see to that.” George grabbed the door and slammed it shut. “You’re lucky I’m not pressing charges against him.” George jerked his thumb toward Jace.

“You do that, George, and I’ll tell everyone in town you slept with me so you could cheat me on the price of my land. Then we’ll see who loses.”

Sam hadn’t told a soul, not even Tim, what had happened with George. As far as anyone else knew, she’d sold off some land and pocketed what it was worth. She hadn’t kept silent to protect George’s reputation, but to keep herself from appearing foolish. Maybe she should have spoken out, but she’d been too raw, too hurt at the time. By the time she was over it so much time had passed there hadn’t seemed to be any point in making a big deal over it. But she would if it meant protecting Jace.

George’s face darkened with anger, but he started his truck and drove away. She’d seen the last of him, for now. But he’d be back. She could count on that as easily as she could count on the hot, dry Texas summer.

“Well, that wasn’t pleasant. Sorry about that.” She barely had the words out of her mouth when Jace grabbed her by the shoulders and lightly shook her.

“You are going to lose your land? Your home?”

Jace’s concern was a soothing balm against the harshness of George’s nastiness. Sam shrugged. “Maybe. But that’s my problem, not yours.”

Jace frowned, his eyes narrowing, his jaw tightening. He dropped his hands and stalked off toward the barn. Beside her, Darian sighed. “He worries about you. We both do.”

Darian took her hand in his and pulled her until she was resting against his chest. “I know you say you must stay, but that doesn’t lessen what I feel for you, what we feel for you.”

Sam breathed in the fresh scent of soap Darian had used in his morning shower. Both men had been fascinated by the shower, each of them spending almost a half hour there. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to care when the water went cold on them.

Sam gave a rueful laugh. “Right now I’m thinking Jace finds me more of a nuisance than anything.”

Darian sighed again and this time it ruffled the top of her hair. “Don’t let his outward appearance fool you.” He pulled away and led her toward the porch. “Let me tell you a story.” He sat in one of the Adirondack chairs and pulled her down onto his lap.

The air was still and warm and thick, but it was slightly cooler beneath the shade of the porch. Bees hummed as they flitted from one sunflower to another that grew along the edge of the porch rail.

Sam stared out over the land. For as far as her eyes could see belonged to her family, to her. It was dry, harsh land, but it was theirs and they’d managed to hack a living from it even during hard times. She wouldn’t be the one to throw in the towel and give up. She couldn’t. Not without tainting everything her family had sacrificed their lives for.

Darian’s big palm cupped the back of her head and eased it down onto his shoulder. “Our father was a good man, but not a wise one. He and his brothers squandered the wealth of our home, what our forefathers had built up. There were hard winters, hungry winters for our people.”

And for him and his brother too. Sam knew without him saying that neither brother would have a full belly if there were others in need. It pained her to think of them as two little boys, cold and hungry.

“What about your mother?” She hadn’t spent much time with Edwina, but the woman seemed very kind and compassionate.

“She did what she could when we were boys. I remember going with her when she visited the homes of Hunter Keep bringing grain and whatever vegetables she could scrounge. She started hiding part of the harvest from my father and uncle, storing it in a cave at the base of the mountain.”

“Wise woman, your mother.”

“She is.” Darian paused and Sam felt his lips brush the top of her head. “We grew older and started taking more of an active role in the running of the keep, but our father’s word was law and there was only so much we could do. The stables grew thin as he sold off the best of the stock, the sheep herd grew smaller and smaller. It was hard on all of us, but especially Jace. The land and the people are his to protect, his very soul, his reason for being.”

“I know.” And she did. It was one of the reasons she respected him so much.

“It was as much a blessing as a curse when our father and uncles were killed in a freak landslide. We all mourned deeply, but we now had the power to change our lives. Jace threw himself into rebuilding our home. I’ve never seen my brother let anything get in the way of his plans for Hunter Keep. We’ve come a long way, but still have a ways to go. A strong woman by his side would be a great help to him, to us.”

Sam stilled. “Are you trying to convince me I should be with Jace?” Honestly, she still had a hard time wrapping her brain around this whole idea of sharing herself with two men.

Darian flashed her a mischievous smile. “With him, with me. It’s one and the same. We make our own rules behind closed doors. The children will have one father, but we will both care for them.”

Children. The thought of two little boys with blond hair and blue eyes left her breathless. She’d always wanted a family, but had put those dreams on hold when her brother died and her parents fell into a depression, bad health and eventually died.

“For the first time in our lives, there is something more important to Jace than the land and the people under our care.”

“What?” Sam couldn’t imagine Jace not being focused on Hunter Keep. There was no doubting his love of the land, his family and all those who lived there.

“You, Sam.” Darian tipped his arm so she was looking up at him. “He cares deeply for you. That is why he is acting so aloof. He is trying to protect himself from the hurt he will experience when we return home without you.”

Sam swallowed the thick lump in her throat. What could she say? She cared deeply for both men, but enough to give up her home, her legacy, and live in an unfamiliar land? That was too much for them to ask of her. Wasn’t it?

“What about you?” she blurted out. “Why aren’t you hiding your feelings?”

Darian kissed her gently on the lips. His mouth lingered on hers until she sighed with pleasure and kissed him back.

“Ah, Sam. Because I still have hope that things can work out for all of us. I want you to come home with us. We can offer you a land to replace what you’ll be losing, people who will grow to care for you, a mother who will treat you as her own daughter, and two men who will love you and put you before all others.”

Slightly breathless, Sam stared up at Darian, not quite believing what he was offering. She’d believed a handsome man once before and where had that gotten her—cheated and alone. If she went with them to Javara and it didn’t work out, there was no going back. She’d be stuck there for the rest of her life.

Darian stood and let her body slide down his. “Think about it, Sam. And I will think about staying here if you refuse to return with us.”

“What?” To say she was dumbstruck was like saying a twister was a slight breeze. It went far beyond dumbstruck into total disbelief. “You can’t stay here. Your life, your family is in Javara.”

Darian cupped her face, his eyes filled with emotion. “But you are here, Sam, and you are my heart. What man can live without his heart?”

He stepped away from her and held out her hand. Feeling as though her entire world had been knocked off-kilter, she reached for it to anchor herself. Not once had she truly considered the possibility that Darian or Jace would stay with her.

“Jace cannot stay,” Darian continued. “No matter how much he might wish to. He is responsible for all those who live in Hunter Keep. And,” he added, “it would break our mother’s heart to lose both sons.”

Sam opened her mouth but closed it again. What could she say? She loved the thought of having Darian stay with her. But she would miss Jace terribly. And what about his mother and friends? What would they do without Darian if he stayed with her? She knew how much the loss of her brother had affected her parents. It wasn’t right to put someone else through such pain.

Her temples throbbed and she absently rubbed one of them. What were they going to do?

“Don’t think about it now, Sam.”

She snorted in disbelief as they walked toward the barn. Jace was in there by himself and that just felt wrong. He belonged with them.

Sam stumbled over her feet before she regained her balance. Not that she would have fallen, not with Darian holding on to her. It felt right when the three of them were together. There was no denying it.

How had that happened so quickly?

Only a couple days ago she hadn’t even known who they were. Now they were a part of her, like the air she breathed and the land she walked.

Jace stepped out of the barn as they neared. He looked totally unapproachable, but after talking with Darian she knew better. She’d known better before that, she reminded herself. Jace was a lot like she was. Both doing what needed to be done, shouldering the bulk of the responsibilities because someone had to.

Sam held out her free hand to Jace, not wanting him to be alone anymore. “Come with us. I want to show you my home.”

Hours later, Jace sat on a deeply padded seat in what Sam referred to as the living room. The three of them had walked the land for hours today as Sam showed them the various crops she had planted. They were stunted and desperate for water and he knew if rain didn’t show up soon all would be lost. This was indeed a harsh land and took a courageous, strong woman to work it.

She knew her land as well as he knew his—every field, every slope, the weaknesses and strengths. She loved it too.

He glanced over at his brother, but Darian was watching Sam remove something from a shelf. Jace swallowed hard, still tasting the dust on his tongue even though he’d had many glasses of water since they returned from their tour of the farm. He was losing his brother.

Darian was going to stay with Sam. Jace didn’t blame him. If not for his mother and responsibilities he might stay too. This land was strange to him with its dry heat and unforgiving soil, very unlike the lush hills beneath the protective embrace of the mountains at Hunter Keep. The weapons, the machinery, the customs were all strange too.

The tapestry and the people of Javara asked a lot of the women who were brought to their world. How strange it must all seem. And how much must they miss their homes? Such bravery was to be respected and commended.

And what did the women get in return? Love, undying and complete. Respect. A new home that was strange. Was it easy for them to find a place in their new home? Jace could easily picture Sam on the back of a horse riding through the fields. He could just as easily see her working those fields side-by-side with his people. They would adore Sam as much as he and Darian did.

Sam returned and sat between them on the padded bench. No, sofa. She’d called it a sofa. She opened a large bound book to reveal lifelike images. “This is my father and mother when they were young.”

Jace touched the page. “What magic is this?” There was powerful magic in the world Sam lived in. The ability to speak to people over long distances, artificial fire and light, machines that moved without the power of horses and now this. It was a strange and fascinating world.

“Not magic, photography. Although, I suppose it is a form of magic.” She turned a page. “This is me when I was a kid.”

Jace studied the image of a younger Sam. He could recognize her features, see the woman she would become in the child she’d been. He wanted a child like this, a dark-haired little girl who would fill his arms with love and his home with laughter. She’d have brothers who would look out for her and protect her. But her mother would make sure she could take care of herself.

His blood ran cold as the image faded. Neither the child nor the woman would ever belong to him. But his brother had a chance. Agony ate at his soul at the thought of never seeing either Darian or Sam again. But he could survive if he knew they were here in her world, happy and healthy. Darian had a chance at a family of his own and should take it.

He would talk to his brother tomorrow morning, but it would have to be early. No telling exactly what time the tapestry would arrive to whisk them home. Jace wondered how his mother was. Was she grieving? Did she hold out hope that the tapestry would return them?

Sam turned another page and pointed. “This is John in his military uniform.”

Jace could hear the love and sorrow in her voice. He understood what it was to care deeply for a brother. She understood what it meant to lose one and he was sorely afraid he was about to learn the same thing. Difference was, his brother would still be alive and happy. Hers would never have that chance.

For the first time in his entire life, Jace resented Hunter Keep and everyone who lived there. Almost as soon as he had the negative feeling, it disappeared. He wouldn’t change his life for anything. He loved the land, his family and people. He only wished Sam could share it with him, with all of them.

Jace sat back against the cushions and listened to Sam’s voice, soaking in the excitement, the emotion as she shared her world, her family with them. Darian was leaning against her, asking questions and pointing at things in the book. A lock of his brother’s hair draped over Sam’s darker tresses. She turned to his brother and smiled and Jace wanted to roar as pain sliced through him.

Even though he was still with them, Jace felt alone. He hardened his heart even as it threatened to shatter under the pressure. Morning would come soon enough. By this time tomorrow evening, he would be back at Hunter Keep and he was very afraid he would be alone.