Chapter 19
TRIG
I agreed–through gritted teeth and with clenched fists–to let Conrad Trout walk through my house.
I escorted him room to room, ensuring he didn’t touch shit.
Colt and Lance Mann stayed on the porch.
Colt trusted me enough not to kill Trout in my own fucking house, but it was a harder task than staying on the back of a bull for eight seconds.
He was an asshole. And he was engaged to Ellie.
Not Ellie. Ellis Mann.
When every corner had been checked, Trout stormed out of the house and back to the patrol car. Mann followed, halfway through his second smoke.
Colt remained on the porch with me. “Lainey’s?” he asked, wondering where Ellie was.
“Yeah.” Thank fuck.
“Let me get rid of these fuckers and I’ll circle back. There’s some shady shit going on with those two.” He put on his sunglasses and left.
I stayed on my porch while Colt yelled at Mann that he couldn’t smoke in the car, then he got in and drove his patrol SUV down the road.
It took me ten minutes to get to Lainey’s by snowmobile. To my woman.
Ellie set her mug on the counter with unsteady hands. Her face lost all color and she began to shake.
“You’re engaged?” Lainey asked, stunned. “Holy shit, it’s like I’m in a Spanish-speaking soap opera.”
“Lainey, shut it,” I snapped.
“Trig,” Ellie whispered, ignoring my sister, even though she was right next to her.
I cut across the room. “I gotta say, sugar, I was real mad when your daddy and Conrad Trout showed up on my doorstep earlier with the sheriff. Seems they’re real concerned for your wellbeing, since one’s your father and the other says you’re his fiancée and all.”
I was mad. Furious with her for lying to me. Even after all that we’d done. Especially after what we’d done. She might be carrying my baby while engaged to another man.
Her head whipped up and her eyes widened. “They’re here?”
She ran around me, headed straight for the door. She was completely freaked, just like when my family showed up for dinner the night before. It made sense now. She hadn’t panicked because of them. She panicked because she thought her father and Trout had found her.
“Trig!” Lainey shouted, then smacked me on the arm.
I blinked, then ran after Ellie. “Where are you going?” I asked her.
She turned a little, but didn’t look at me. “I told you I couldn’t stay. They’re why. They can’t find me. If they do then–Now, you’re mad and you have every right to be but I need to go before they–”
“Stop talking,” I snapped.
“Trig!” Lainey smacked me again.
“I don’t want you to get hurt!” Ellie shouted.
My eyes flared. “Me? Hurt?”
Tears filled her eyes and she nodded.
“You are not goin’ anywhere, sugar. Ever. I’ll tie you up if I have to and I’m real good with a lasso. You need to tell me the truth. I deserve it, don’t you think? I mean, you might be carrying my baby.”
Lainey gasped. Ellie flinched, then started to cry.
“You are an idiot,” Lainey said to me, coming to stand right in front of me. She had to tip her head way back to look in my eye, but she let me have it. “You made her cry. A Wilder doesn’t let his woman be alone like she is.”
“She’s not alone. She’s right there!”
“You just barged in here and accused her of being engaged and made her feel like shit because she might be having your baby, which is scary because you’re a moron. Have you asked her what the hell is going on instead of stomping around and shouting like a caveman?”
I pointed right in my sister’s face. She was the perfect height to do so. “You’re the one who’s shouting.”
Lainey glared.
I glared back, then sighed. I was going about this the wrong way. All Ellie wanted to do was be my good girl and I was giving off every single vibe that screamed she’d never be that again. That I was disappointed in her. That she’d done wrong.
I made her cry.
Putting my hand over Lainey’s face, I gave her a brotherly shove out of the way.
“Hey!”
“Go make yourself scarce,” I said, walking over to Ellie.
I didn’t wait to see what my sister did, but I heard her bedroom door quietly shut. I dropped onto the couch beside Ellie and pulled her into my lap so her legs dangled off one side.
With my arms wrapped around her, I held her tight. Let her cry.
Her arms went around my waist and she held on. I stroked her hair, her back. Kissed the top of her head.
Whatever the fuck was going on was bad. No way in hell my sweet Ellie was engaged to that fucker Trout. When he’d said that Ellie belonged to him, I got a chill down my spine. And it wasn’t from the fucking cold weather.
I’d said the same thing to her. That she was mine.
She hadn’t liked that and told me she didn’t want to belong to anybody.
She meant Trout. And me. A stranger. At least, at first.
I had no idea how long she cried for, but it was a fucking long time. She finally ran out of tears and I tipped her face up. Used my thumbs to swipe at her damp cheeks.
“Think we gotta start over, sugar. I’m Trig Wilder. What’s your name?”
Her eyes widened, then she licked her lips. Lips that I loved to kiss. That I hoped would someday wrap around my dick.
“Ellis Mann.”
“Hi, Ellis,” I said, giving her a small smile.
“I like when you call me Ellie.”
“Okay, Ellie. Tell me. Tell me everything.”
She sighed, then let out a deep breath. “My father’s Lance Mann, as you know. He owns Rocking M Ranch.”
I nodded, because I knew that. I knew of Mann. Everyone in Devil’s Ditch did. He was an asshole through and through. And he was Ellie’s father. FUCK.
“Everything I told you was the truth. I just left some things out. I was born here. Lived on the ranch until my parents divorced. I never came back after.”
“Until now.”
“Yes. Three weeks ago, he called and said he wanted me to visit. Missed me.”
After thirteen years? What the fuck?
I travelled the circuit but I kept up with my family every day.
Sometimes several times a day with the group text.
I couldn’t imagine not having my parents involved in my life.
Interested in me and what I did. Hell, they had so many trophies and awards on their walls from all my wins, their family room looked like a high school gym hallway.
“He doesn’t seem the lovin’ type. Why’d he really want you home?”
“He’s in debt.”
That made sense after his history of stealing money from the city.
“Wagered me in a poker game,” she continued. “Conrad Trout won me and paid off his debt. I was the marker. To be his wife.”
I maneuvered Ellie on my lap so she straddled my waist. I cupped her cheeks, held her head in place so I could look her in the eye.
“That’s why you asked me about playing poker.”
She nodded.
“He was gonna marry you.”
She nodded again. “Yes. The other night, Mr. Trout–I can’t call him by his first name–told me what he had planned for me.” She looked away. “I… I didn’t like any of it. It scared me.”
I could only imagine what that fucker told her. She’d been a virgin. No fucking way was that asshole touching her, let alone breathing near her.
“I took the housekeeper’s car and escaped. You know the rest.”
“You kept saying you couldn’t stay in Devil’s Ditch.”
She nodded. “If I stayed here, they’d find me. I was right. They did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this right away? Colt’s the sheriff. There are eight Wilder boys and Pops can more than hold his own. We protect what’s ours.”
She gave me a sad smile. “Because Mr. Trout told me if I went to the police, they’d only return me.”
“He was bluffin’. Colt’s the sheriff. No fuckin’ way he’d do that.”
“I didn’t know. This is a small town and I couldn’t trust anyone. What if you took me back?”
“I’d never give you back to them. Never.
You’re mine.” I kissed her. Gentle and light, even though I wanted to ravage her.
Consume her. Make her come and scream my name so she knew that I would only bring her pleasure and happiness.
“That was why you hated when I said that. One guy in town said you belonged to him and you ran off. Right into my bed where I said the same thing.”
She shrugged her slim shoulder. “You’re not like him.”
“Damned straight.”
“He said he’d hurt anyone who helped me. I didn’t want any of you to get hurt. I’ve–”
“You’ve, what?”
“I’ve fallen for you and your family.”
I couldn’t help but grin and my heart pretty much fuckin’ burst. “I want you to fall for only me, sugar. My family’s a bonus.”
She cocked her head. “Okay.”
“There’s my good girl.”
A smile tipped her lips for the first time, then slipped.
“Trig, I don’t know how to get out of this. Conrad Trout’s not going to let me go. My father’s going to make it happen because he owes the guy a lot of money otherwise.”
For the first time since Colt showed up at my house with those fuckers, I relaxed. Smiled.
There was an answer.
“Easy. You’re going to marry me instead.”