Shattered: Steel Brothers Saga: Book Seven Read online

  Because of Talon, I had been spared the torture that he endured for two months. He and I had been walking together that day, trying to dig up clues about the disappearance of his friend Luke Walker.

  When the two men attacked us, Talon had gotten me free and yelled at me to run.

  And damn, I had run.

  I’d run like my life depended on it, which it most likely had.

  That was the day. The terrible day. The day that had brought us to where we were now.

  Talon was finally getting the help he needed and was healing. He was better each day. Now he was strong enough to take the plunge with Jade and get married.

  I was ecstatic for him. And I was honored to be Jonah’s best man. Still, Talon meant so much to me.

  No matter.

  This was going to be a great vacation for all of us. And I was just as happy for Jonah and his new bride, Melanie. Melanie had worked miracles as Talon’s therapist and was now working more miracles with Joe. She was pregnant, too. I would be an uncle.

  Watching my brothers fall in love and prepare to get married made me happy. But it was all just a little bittersweet. I wasn’t sure anything like that was in the cards for me. Oddly, I was the only one of the three of us who had ever had a serious relationship. I had been in a relationship with Anna Shane, a woman from a neighboring ranch, for several years. We were comfortable together, we’d thought we were in love with each other, but now, seeing what Jonah and Talon had with their women, I knew Anna and I had made the right choice not to continue. We’d had a lot in common. But that fire? That fire that I witnessed between Talon and Jade, and Jonah and Melanie? That had been missing.

  I kept busy at the ranch. We all did. But winemaking was especially tedious in the summer and fall. I had been working twenty hours a day the last three months, and I was looking forward to a break.

  So I wasn’t getting married. So I wasn’t Talon’s best man. So what? I was Ryan Steel, and Ryan Steel had fun no matter what he did.

  I was known around town as being the most jovial and having the best personality of all three Steel brothers. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I did like to have a good time.

  And next week in Jamaica? I was going to party it up, Ryan Steel style.

  Rum punch, beach bunnies, a little boating, a little surfing.

  And, I hoped, a whole lot of fucking.

  Quite a while had passed since I’d had a woman. I planned on taking a case of condoms with me to Jamaica. And even that might not be enough.

  * * *

  We were situated on the plane, all of us in first class except for Melanie’s friend, a mousy detective named Ruby Lee, who just happened to be the daughter of Theodore Mathias. I’d given her a once-over at the gate. Her nearly black hair was pulled back in a schoolteacher style, and she wore no makeup that I could see—although her face didn’t seem to need it. Her cheeks had a natural rosy glow. She wore a white button-down shirt and green Dockers. What might that body look like under those boyish clothes?

  One thing I didn’t lack was imagination. My imagination was what made me a good winemaker. It was also what allowed me to envision the curves hidden underneath Ruby Lee’s garments.

  Very nice.

  Jonah and Melanie had tried to persuade Ruby to join us in first class, but she’d been determined to pay her own way and simply didn’t want to spend extra to upgrade.

  The seat next to me was empty, as were several other first class seats. I flagged down a flight attendant as soon as the captain had turned off the seat belt signs.

  “Yes?” she said.

  “There’s a woman in coach I’d like to have join us.”

  “You can certainly do so. She’ll need to pay the upgrade fee.”

  I whipped my wallet out of my back pocket, took out a credit card, and handed it to her. “That’s on me.”

  “How generous of you. Which passenger do you want to upgrade?”

  “Ruby Lee. She’s near the middle of the plane.”

  “Of course. Give me a moment.”

  She returned with my card a few minutes later. “All taken care of. I’ll tell Ms. Lee that she’s been upgraded.”

  I put my card away. “No, that’s okay. I’ll tell her.”

  She nodded and walked toward the front of the plane.

  One thing I wasn’t was shy. I got up, walked through first class and back into coach, found Ruby sitting in an aisle seat, and touched her shoulder.

  She looked up at me, her cheeks reddening. “Yes?”

  “Come with me,” I said.

  Her cheeks reddened even further. “You mean me?”

  “You’ve been upgraded. To first class. With the rest of us.”

  “I already told Melanie. I’m paying my way.”

  “Melanie has nothing to do with this.”

  “Then what’s going on?”

  I smiled. Women always said they couldn’t resist my smile. And while I had no physical interest in Ruby Lee—though she did look amazing naked in my imagination—I did want to do something nice for her. After all, she was in a similar boat as the rest of us. Her father was the last of Talon’s abductors and was still at large. Her life couldn’t have been easy.

  “I upgraded you.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “You? Why?”

  “Because you’re one of our party. Because it was a nice thing to do. Because I have the money. Because there are vacancies in first class. You want me to continue listing more reasons?”

  “Look, it’s decent of you, but I couldn’t possibly—”

  “Say no. That’s what you were about to say, right?” I smiled again.

  “Well…no, actually.”

  “Come on. I’ve already spent the money to upgrade you. The flight attendant took my credit card and everything. So if you stay back here, you’re just wasting my money.”

  That seemed to get to her. She twisted her lips. “I never asked you to do this.”

  “I know you didn’t. I did it because I wanted to.”

  “Why would you want to?”

  “Look, why don’t we continue this conversation up in first class, where it’s more comfortable? Once you settle in there, I’ll be happy to regale you with tales of why I made the offer.”

  That got a smile out of her. Well, only a half smile, but I could tell she was holding back.

  “I’ve never sat in first class before.”

  “Then you’re in for a treat.” I opened the overhead bin. “Which one is your bag?”

  “The plain black one.”

  There were several plain black ones, but I quickly found the one with her name on it and grabbed it. “Get your other stuff and follow me.” I moved toward first class.

  When I got back to my seat, I stowed her bag in the overhead bin and then looked behind me. She was holding her laptop case. I took it from her and put it in the overhead bin as well.

  “I’ll keep that,” she said. “I thought I might do some work.”

  “Nope. No work. Part of my treat. You’re going to sit in first class, let the airline staff pamper you, have a mimosa or martini or whatever your drink of choice is.”

  “Red wine,” she said.

  I arched my eyebrows. “Really? I love red wine too. In fact, it’s what I do for a living.”

  She smiled shyly. “Yes, I know. Melanie says you’re a genius.”

  “Melanie is overstating my prowess, I’m afraid.” Though my winemaking skills were well documented by the array of awards my wines had won. But I didn’t need to blab about that right now.

  “That’s not what I hear. She said I definitely need to try your wine.”

  “Unfortunately, I doubt my wines are stocked at the resort in Jamaica. When we get back, I’ll make sure you get a case of my finest.”

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Of course I do. If you like red wine, I have to see if you like mine.”

  “That’s very generous of you. In fact, all of this is generous o
f you. I’m afraid I don’t understand why—”

  I placed two fingers over her lips, which were surprisingly soft. “I’ve already explained that. Then again, we did agree to continue the conversation about why.”

  Her rosy cheeks pinked up a bit more. “I’m just…not used to people being so nice to me.”

  “Get used to it. We Steels try to be nice to everyone. Everyone who’s nice to us, that is.”

  “I hear that,” she said. “I’ve been crossed myself.”

  Something in me wanted to ask more. To find out exactly what she’d been through. But damn it, we were on our way to Jamaica. For a relaxing vacation. A happy vacation. To watch my brothers get married.

  Still, something about her… I couldn’t help myself.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Chapter Three

  Ruby

  How I wished I could take back that statement. Now was certainly not the time to get into my life. This was Ryan Steel, a man I hardly knew.

  And the best-looking man I had ever laid my eyes on.

  God, it was true what the gossipers said. Ryan was the most handsome of all the Steel brothers. Having seen only Talon and Jonah before now, I’d had a hard time imagining that anyone could be better looking than those two.

  But Ryan was. Where Jonah and Talon were rugged and handsome with dark hair, dark eyes, a couple days’ worth of stubble on their cheeks, Ryan Steel was Greek god gorgeous. He had a sculpted jawline, a chin with just the right amount of prominence, a perfect Grecian nose, and lips… Was it possible for a man’s lips to be beautiful? It was now. His were full, and pink, and… Dare I think it? Kissable.

  Kissing was something I knew nothing about. Hell, I knew nothing about men, period. Men didn’t pay much attention to me, which was how I preferred it. I was often mistaken for a lesbian, no doubt because of the way I dressed in mostly masculine clothing. I rarely wore makeup, and I pulled my long hair back in a tight bun most of the time. I’d considered cutting it off more than once, but I couldn’t. It was my one link to my mother. She’d had long, lustrous hair, though lighter than mine.

  Being a lesbian might’ve made my life easier. But no, I was attracted to men. I just didn’t act on it. I kept myself under the radar, tried to keep myself from being attractive. The truth was, I was scared shitless of men.

  I had often thought about going to therapy. I was smart enough to know that my fear of men stemmed from being attacked at the age of fifteen by my own father. But I was so consumed by my work and my fear of delving inside myself that I’d never bothered to get any help.

  My new friend, Melanie Carmichael, was a renowned psychotherapist. She was currently on a leave of absence because of my cousin’s suicide and my shithead uncle’s malpractice suit against her, but I was hoping that maybe she and I could do a little talking during vacation.

  That was selfish of me. This was her wedding. I couldn’t saddle her with my problems. Nope, there’d be no free therapy for me during this trip. In fact, there’d be no free therapy for me at all. Once Melanie went back to her practice, I’d pay her. I had insurance.

  I always paid my own way. Had since I was fifteen. Until now.

  I looked around at the wide comfortable seat I sat in, the leg room, the menu of fine spirits…

  This wasn’t paying my way.

  “Earth to Ruby.”

  I turned my head toward Ryan. I’d nearly forgotten he had asked me a question. What was it again? Right. I’d said that I’d been crossed before, and he’d asked what I meant.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  Nothing. So far from the truth. But I wouldn’t saddle any of the Steels or their brides with my issues. Not now. Perhaps not ever. Already I was having second thoughts about seeing Melanie for therapy.

  Was it possible for me to relax during this vacation?

  I had to try. I had to.

  “Nothing?” Ryan said.

  “Yes. Nothing.”

  “You said you’d been crossed before. That’s not nothing.”

  I sighed. “You know who I am. Who my father is. You know my whole story.”

  He nodded. “I wouldn’t say I know your whole story. Tell me about you.”

  Why in the world would this western god be interested in me? “It’s a long, boring tale.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.” He called the flight attendant and then perused the wines available on the menu. “Not a great selection…”

  The flight attendant approached. “Yes, sir?”

  “Two glasses of the Sioux Valley Meritage red, please.”

  “Right away.”

  He turned to me. “Not great, but passable.”

  “I don’t usually drink before five.”

  “We’re in the air! It’s five o’clock somewhere. Besides, this is vacation.”

  I turned to him and smiled. Or tried to. “Right. Vacation. Which means I don’t want to talk about how I’ve been crossed. I’d much rather talk about something a little less…intense.”

  He laughed. “I hear that. Good enough for me.”

  The flight attendant returned with our wine. “Thanks, sweetheart,” Ryan said.

  Something niggled in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what it was, except that Ryan calling the attractive blond stewardess “sweetheart” kind of hit me the wrong way.

  The very wrong way.

  Get over yourself, Ruby. Someone like Ryan Steel would never look twice at you. And even if he did? You wouldn’t know what to do with him.

  My lot in life was to stay single. To take care of myself. I’d been doing it for seventeen years. I didn’t need to change my way of life now.

  Truthfully, I was scared to change. Scared of men. Scared of feeling anything for a man.

  Ryan interrupted my thoughts. “So what do you want to talk about?”

  Good question. He was a winemaker, and I was interested in wine. “Wine?”

  “I do know something about that.”

  He swirled the wine around and then stuck his nose into the glass and inhaled. His nose was so far in I thought he might have wine dripping from it when he pulled it out. But he didn’t.

  “Nice nose.”

  I touched my nose. “Huh?”

  He laughed. “I mean the nose of the wine. Its fragrance. But your nose is nice too.”

  Oh. My. God. Embarrassment swept through me. What a moron I was. And here I’d thought I knew a few things about wine. “Of course.”

  “What do you smell on the nose?”

  I stuck my nose into the glass.

  “Swirl it around first,” he said. “To release the aroma.”

  “Sure. Right.” I swirled the wine and then sniffed it. “I don’t know. Red plum, I think. Maybe a little vanilla?”

  “Good! I got those too. Also some tobacco. A little shitake mushroom.”

  Shitake mushroom? Was he serious? “Okay.”

  “You don’t seem to believe me.”

  “I’m not even sure what shitake mushrooms smell like. Do mushrooms even have a smell? I mean, outside of soup.”

  “It’s kind of a savory, funky odor. Go ahead and taste. Tell me what you think.”

  “Okay.” I swirled the wine in the glass again, took a sip, trickled it along my tongue, and swallowed. “Definitely plum, but some earthy tones too. It’s kind of dry on my tongue. I don’t mean not sweet.”

  “Those are the tannins. Common in Bordeaux blends.” He took a sip. “I taste the plum and the earth. A little vanilla, a little chocolate. A lot of tannin. I like tannin, but this is a little much.” He took another sip. “Not a bad blend, but overrated based on the awards it’s received. In my opinion, anyway.”

  I took another sip. I liked it. “What are the grapes in this blend?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. It’s a Meritage, so it’s made with Bordeaux grapes. Mostly cabernet sauvignon, I’d say. Some merlot and malbec as well. But I’m getting mostly cab.”

  The flight attendant returned. “We
’ll be serving dinner soon. We have two choices today. Boeuf bourguignon aux champignons or chicken cacciatore.”

  “The lady and I will have the beef,” Ryan said.

  Why was he ordering for me? “I’d prefer the chicken,” I said. “I’m not really a beef person.”

  “Not a beef person?” Ryan clutched his heart. “When I’m part owner of the greatest beef ranch in the world?”

  “I thought you were the winemaker.”

  “I am. But beef is the biggest part of our enterprise.” He held up two fingers to the flight attendant while still looking at me. “Two chickens.”

  She smiled and hurried away, while my skin warmed me in a cocoon. He was looking at me. Me. Instead of the pretty stewardess.

  “I’m used to prime beef,” he continued, smiling, “and I doubt the airline has access to that.”

  I returned his smile. How could I not? Ryan Steel wasn’t just gorgeous. He was a damned nice guy. I liked him.

  God help me.

  Chapter Four

  Ryan

  After I settled in to my room at the resort, I changed into board shorts and a muscle shirt and decided to look around. No one would miss me. I had promised to meet up with the rest of the clan for a late dinner at ten, but for now I was going to check out the place…and possibly wander onto the nude beach. I knew there was zero chance of encountering anyone in my family there.

  I walked along the beach and found the nude section. Bodies of all shapes and sizes greeted me, and before I knew it, I had walked off of the sand and found a nude swimming pool. I stripped off my shorts and shirt, entered, and swam to the pool bar.

  “What’ll it be, mon?” the bartender said in his Jamaican accent.

  “Rum punch.”

  He handed me my drink with a toothy smile. “Enjoy.”

  I took a sip of what I expected to be refreshing and sparkling. Instead, it was cloyingly sweet.

  What was the big deal about rum punch anyway? Give me a good red wine any day. I drank the rest down and then turned around. Naked bodies were everywhere, including a luscious-looking blonde on the other side of the pool who was checking me out. I gave her a smile.