His By Any Means. Maureen Child

seem to stop myself.”

      “Hey,” he said, dropping one arm around her shoulder and pulling her in for a hug, “that’s my baby sister you’re talking about.”

      Angie wrapped both arms around his waist and held on. Tenderness swamped Sage as he simply stood there holding her, knowing there was nothing he could say to make things better. Since she was a little girl, Sage had done everything he could to protect her. To take care of her. He hated not being able to help her now.

      After a long minute or two, she pulled back and looked up at him. “You always steady me. How do you do that?”

      “It’s a gift,” he quipped and gave her another squeeze. “Now, you want to fill me in on what’s happening?”

      She leaned into him. “It’s just a rumor.”

      “Plenty of them to go around,” Sage said, giving her a squeeze. “Tell me what you heard.”

      Tipping her head back, she looked up at him and bit her lip. Then she finally blurted, “The word is, Jack Reed is interested in Lassiter Media.”

      Jack Reed. Sage wasn’t really surprised...how could he be? Jack Reed had the reputation of a great white shark. He bought up companies in trouble, then broke them down to the bare bones and sold off the pieces.

      If Reed was interested, then it wouldn’t be long before more sharks started circling the Lassiter family. They couldn’t afford to be divided right now. They had to stand together against all comers. Which was just what he told Angie.

      “We are together,” she argued.

      “What we are is pissed,” he said flatly. “We all are. And we’re spending too damn much time trying to figure out what was running through J.D.’s mind when he made that will.”

      “I know, I know.” She stepped away from him, pulled the edges of her sweater tighter and wrapped her arms around her middle. “My first instinct, you know, was to contest the will.”

      “Yeah, I felt the same way,” he said, “so did Dylan.” He didn’t add that he and their brother hadn’t been able to come to a decision.

      She took a deep breath and tossed her hair back from her face. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore, Sage. I want that company, but now I don’t know how to get it. Do I fight my father’s dying wishes? Do I try to accept this? How?”

      “The whole situation’s screwed up, that’s for damn sure. But we’ll figure something out,” Sage said. He knew what J.D. had done had eaten away at her confidence, her self-assurance—hell, even her own image of herself. Their dad had spent a lifetime building her up and then with one stroke of the pen, he’d torn her down.

      Why?

      She laughed shortly and threw both hands into the air. “I’m a mess, sorry. I shouldn’t have just driven up here and thrown myself on you. But I really needed someone to talk to. Someone who would understand.”

      “You can drop in on me any damn time you want and you know that, Angie,” he told her. “But just out of curiosity, where’s Marlene?”

      “Oh, she’s at the ranch,” she said, and started walking toward the wraparound porch on the main house. Sage matched his strides to her shorter ones. “And yes, she’s always willing to listen, but she can’t be objective about Dad...and I really wish Colleen were still at Big Blue. She was super easy to talk to.”

      Yeah, he thought. Colleen was easy to talk to. Easy to look at. She also made it easy for him to forget why he’d started all of this.

      As if just thinking about her could make her appear, an old red Jeep pulled up the drive and everything in Sage quickened. Like a damn kid waiting for a date with the girl of his dreams, he felt his heartbeat thundering in his chest, and an all-too-familiar ache settled low in his gut and grabbed hold.

      “Well,” Angie said thoughtfully, with a pointed glance at him. “This is interesting.”

      Instantly, Sage tamped down the internal fires raging through him. He didn’t need his sister making more of this than there was. “It’s not what you’re thinking, so dial it down.”

      “Really?” she asked as the car engine cut off and the driver’s side door opened. “Because that looks like a suitcase she’s pulling out of her car....”

      His insides tightened even further. “Don’t even start, Angie....”

      * * *

      Colleen wrangled her overnight bag out of the car and set it at her feet. She looked at the ranch house and quickly swept it in one thorough gaze. It was smaller than Big Blue, but not by much. Its windows gleamed in the afternoon sun and the long wraparound porch boasted plenty of chairs for sitting out and enjoying the view. The honey-colored logs looked warm and inviting, the scent of pine was pervasive, and the two people on the porch were both watching her.

      She hadn’t expected to find Sage’s sister here, too, but maybe that was a good thing. All morning, Colleen’s stomach had been twisting and turning in anticipation of her arrival here at Sage’s ranch. For longer than she cared to think about she had been fascinated by him. And now that they’d actually been spending time together, that fascination had escalated into something that was as scary as it was thrilling. Having Angie as a buffer might make these first few minutes easier.

      “Angie, hi.” Though she spoke to his sister, Colleen’s gaze went first to Sage, and even that one brief connection with his intense blue eyes sent goose bumps racing along her spine.

      “Hi, yourself.” Angelica walked out to meet her and gave Colleen a hug. “I’ve missed you since you moved out of Big Blue.”

      “I missed you, too.” Focusing on his sister gave Colleen the chance to tear her gaze from Sage’s. “How is everyone doing? Marlene?”

      “She really misses Dad. A lot. We all do, of course, but...” Angie shrugged. “It’s hard. And since the reading of the will, it’s even harder.” Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Sage. “Why don’t you get Colleen’s suitcase and I’ll walk her in.”

      “Oh, that’s okay, I can—”

      Sage nudged her hand off the handle, and a now-familiar buzz of sensation hummed from her fingers, up her arm, to rocket around in the center of her chest. He looked at her, and in his eyes, she saw the realization that he’d felt it, too. That electric spark that happened whenever they touched. As if a match had been held to a slow burning fuse that was about to reach the explosives it was attached to.

      Then he picked up her suitcase as if it weighed nothing—and Colleen knew she hadn’t packed light. For another long second, he looked at her and Colleen’s heart beat began to race. Her mouth went dry, her knees went weak and if Angie hadn’t been there, watching the two of them, she might have just thrown herself at Sage.

      “Come on,” Angie said then, splintering that happy little fantasy. Colleen followed her into the house and once she was there, she buried those feelings in the curiosity she had for Sage’s ranch. She’d heard J.D. describe it, of course, but the reality was so much more.

      Outside, it was set up much like the Big Blue. Outbuildings, barns, stables, though from what she’d seen at a quick glance, there was a much bigger corral for working horses than J.D.’s ranch provided. Obviously, that made sense, because she knew that Sage bred and raised racehorses. But it was the inside of the main house that had her captivated.

      It, too, was constructed of hand-hewn logs, but there the similarity with Big Blue ended. Instead of the ironwork that made up much of the Lassiter home ranch, Sage’s place was all wood and glass. Wood banisters on the wide staircase, intricately carved to look like vines climbing up posts. Bookcases that looked as though they’d been sculpted into the walls, boasted hundreds of leather-bound and paperback books.

      The wide front windows afforded a view that was so spectacular it took her breath