Logan's Woman (25 page)

“Cale had you doing this alone?”

“He said it wasn’t that important
that it needed an extra team. He had guards on his daughter since
her first day there
—
Marcy showing up was a complete accident.”

“What were they doing there in the first
place?”

“Raelyn was doing an art tour, or something
like that. Marcy just wanted something to bitch about, I guess.
Cale told me that the two females didn’t have a very good
relationship to begin with.”

“Right. Okay, tell me what else you
remember.”

“Ah…” Chase closed his eyes for a second,
pressing thumbs to his temples. “Here’s where it gets hard. I was
right there. Raelyn was arguing with Marcy right when I was coming
up to them. Two cars pulled up down the ally way. I don’t remember
what kind they were, I just know that I noticed them. Black cars.
Small.

“Was just reaching Raelyn when the bomb went
off. The last thing I saw was Raelyn and Marcy slamming into the
opposite building and I was out. When I woke up, the hotel was in
rubble and I was burried under most of it. I was out for two hours.
No one came to the site to do clean-up, and no one was notified, so
I know it was planned.”

“How do you get that?”

Chase looked at his brother. “People were
warned beforehand not to come near it. That’s the only reason that
I can think of. No one was around besides Raelyn, Marcy, and me.
The place was completely barren and when I woke up, it was
empty.

Logan nodded. “Alright, that does make
sense.”

“I was up for only a couple of minutes before I
passed out again. I only made it a couple of feet. Lifting the shit
was too much.”

“And you woke up in one of our jail
cells?”

Chase nodded. “Yeah. Cale didn’t
come to see me personally, but I heard the guards talking about
it
—
about me.
About what was going to happen to me. I’m fucking
glad
that Cale didn’t come
to see me
—
I never
would have gotten out.”

“Were you based in Colorado?” They had bases
all over the place. Cale went to each one frequently so he was
constantly moving around. Most of the bases were overseas so they
could keep a better eye on things. The closest one to where they
lived was in Colorado.

“Yeah. I waited till the guards were out and
snuck out.”

Logan glowered. “Security was poor,
then?”

“Not that. I’ve just worked there long enough
that I know all of the tricks. The guards were obviously
new.”

He nodded in response to Chase’s words. “Do you
think Cale knows you escaped?”

“More than positive. I waited a couple weeks
before coming here, though. I know the risk of you being caught
with a ‘traitor’ in your house.”

“Chase, you know better than I do that he would
never do anything without concrete proof.” But this was different.
This was his daughter they were talking about. He might be an old
fart, but she was young and full of life, barely Chase’s age,
probably Claire’s… His heart clenched at the thought. He wouldn’t
be thinking rationally if it were Claire instead of Raelyn. All
bets were off right now. Cale was either sticking to procedure or
letting his anger lead him.

Chase must have read his mind because his dark
head shook. “You know better than I do that he will do whatever it
takes to not only find Raelyn, but also avenge her.”

“What do you plan on doing?”

It was silent. Logan crossed his
arms over his chest, waiting for his brother to answer. He had
Chase’s best interests at heart, but he also knew that he was
struggling internally. Being called a traitor, being
treated
like one, after
you risk every day of your life for your country…it rankled. He
couldn’t
not
tell
Chase to do something – he knew his brother’s first concern was
redeeming himself in the eyes of his country.

“I’m going to find her,” he said, straightening
his back, meeting Logan’s eyes with hard intent.

Logan nodded. “I thought as much. Do
you have a lead?” He really hated saying the words. He didn’t want
his brother going into a battle field that had clearly been meant
to
kill
him and
capture the girl. Logan kept his thoughts to himself though – no
use in letting his brother think that he’d lost his pride in him,
just like Cale had.

Chase had dedicated his whole life to foreign
affairs – the second their mother had died, he’d thrown himself
into his school and education. Mechanical engineering, computer
science, foreign languages. Chase had been an early graduate – at
eighteen, he’d been in his fourth year of college. And the boost to
college hadn’t been because of money; he had the brain of Einstein
and was one of the fastest learners that Logan had ever met – and
that was probably why he was so cold and calculating.

He’d lived, breathed, and ate to come where he
was now. Logan had always assumed that it was to make up for all of
the trouble he’d but his mother through, and paying back his
country what his father had stolen from them.

But he was still a young man. Logan was in his
mid-thirties – Chase would be twenty-nine in just a
month.

“I don’t…but Cale does. And I know what his men
are up to and I’m not new at hacking into comm. links. I’m going to
find her and get my questions answered.” There was a building anger
in his voice that caused Logan to pause.

“You think she knew what was
happening?”

“She looked at me. Right before it happened.
There was something in her eyes…like she was aware.” Chase inhaled
deeply, clearly frustrated with himself. I don’t know how I’m going
to do this, but I’m going to be the one finding her. Not Cale. Not
his guys. And if you don’t want to help me, don’t try to stop
me.”

Logan clapped his hand on his brother’s
shoulder, his smile deadly. “You got me. We’ll find her. And Cale
will have a big ‘fuck you’ taped to his door by the time this
over.”

Chapter 27

For the rest of the day, Claire
didn’t hear
or
see
from Logan. He was locked up in his study with Chase and every time
she tried to knock on the door to ask him something, she was shooed
away.

He didn’t even bother to open the
door.

All he said was a brief, hard, “I’ll
be out later.” For the first time, she was actually furious at
Logan. What were they talking about that was so important that he
couldn’t listen to
one
thing she said? Yeah, they probably had a lot to catch up on –
but ignoring her in front of his brother? What kind of cred did
that give her in front of Chase?

She was pretty sure he thought of her as
nothing more than a spoiled brat with nothing better to do than
cause trouble and gain attention. Which, she would admit, she felt
like. She tried busying herself with gardening and taking care of
the general lawn outside the house. By the time an two hours had
passed, she’d weeded the garden maybe twenty times, cleaned up
garbage twice, and went to the stables five times.

There was
nothing
to do.

Was this how it was going to be for the rest of
her life? Waiting for Logan every day? Getting shooed away so he
could do business?

Claire stopped in the middle of the walkway as
she was making her way to the house.

Maybe he would teach it to her! When her father
was gone and she forgot to make an appointment with his
accountants, she sometimes had to take care of the numbers. She
loved math and being organized – maybe he would let her take that
off of his hands and give her something to do!

There were enough people working on the ranch
that she had no use to help around – she’d felt like a bother when
she’d gone down there the first time to ask if she could help. The
cowboys had gently led her back to the house, explaining to her
that the work they did was too rough for her.

She’d watched them from a distance as they’d
wrangled – or whatever the term was – the horses and herded the
cows. She knew how to ride a horse, but swinging a rope over her
head and braking one in? Training it? She had no clue on the how’s
or why’s.

As Logan’s wife, she had to find some way to
help him with his business. Walking around and doing nothing seemed
like a poor excuse of a wife to her. With a smile on her face, she
opened up the door to the kitchen and stepped inside, making a
beeline for his study. This time, she would not be
deterred!

She was lifting her hand to knock on the door
when it opened abruptly. At the same time, a big, warm chest
collided with her face and she squeaked. Thick hands grabbed her
shoulders to keep her from falling back.

“Oh my god!” she gasped out in pain as her nose
started to throb. She looked up…and up…and up, until she met stormy
grey eyes set against dark skin.

Chase. She jerked out of his grasp as a reflex
and completely lost her balance.

She fell on her ass.

“Claire?”

Logan stepped out from behind Chase and knelt
down in front of her. She could tell he was trying not to laugh and
her face burned. “Get your hands off of me!” she said with what
little dignity she could manage. Claire knew she’d failed when she
let him help her to her feet.

His arm came around her waist in a tight,
comforting hold and his laugh rang in her ear.

Anger shot through her at the sound, and she
forgot that she had fallen. “Get your big butt back in that office!
We need to talk.”

Chase looked between them with narrowed eyes.
Then his lips quirked. “I think I’ll let you two be
alone…”

Claire rounded on Chase. “And
you!
You get in there,
too! Go,” she shooed, slipping out of Logan’s arm and shoving both
men at their backs in the direction of the office.

“Great,” she heard Logan mumble. “Already
getting me in trouble.”

“I didn’t know she was going to be right
there,” Chase hissed back, shoving his brother’s
shoulder.

“Bullshit, you –“

“Boys!” she snapped as they came to a stop
inside the office. “Shut up.” Claire went behind the desk and sat
in Logan’s chair, fighting to calm her nerves. They looked at her
as if she were the master and they were her loyal dogs – dogs that
had peed all over the house.

“Logan,” she started, folding her hands in
front of her. She forced herself to smile sweetly and began her
tale. “Now, I understand that you are a working man. A busy,
working man with many things that need to get done during the
day.”

A weary look came over his eyes, and his
brother and he shared a look. “Yes…”

“And now that Chase is here, I assume that he
is going to be staying for a bit?”

She looked at Chase expectantly as he raised
his hand like a guilty child. “Actually, I’m not…”

“Oh? How long will you be staying
here?”

He looked at Logan like he needed help. Logan
looked ahead without paying attention to him… obviously on purpose.
“For a couple of weeks, that’s it.”

“Ahh. Perfect!” she said brightly, peering at
Logan again. “Now. Logan. We need to get on the same page here,
before we start.” She paused, waiting for him to interrupt her.
When they didn’t, she started. “I came to you maybe five times
today. The last time I saw you was at eleven. Do you know what time
it is now?”

Logan looked at the clock that was on the wall,
then turned back to her. “Quarter till six.”

“Do you know how long that it?
Almost seven hours.
Seven
hours
.”

Chase opened his mouth to speak, but
she held her hand up. “
Although
, I do understand that you had
things to talk about, I do not want to waste my time like I did
today while waiting for you. I weeded, I tried to help with the
horses, I cleaned, I did everything I could think to do besides
coming up here and demanding your attention.”

“However. I cannot be doing this day after day.
I want to propose to you, as your wife, a deal.”

Logan suddenly looked frightened. Chase stared
at her as if she’d lost her head. She fought for control of her
anger and smiled even sweeter, feeling like she was going to kill
something.

“And this deal is…” Whereas Chase had been
begging for help before, it was Logan’s turn.

“I’m very good at math. I know a lot of
accounting and transactions go on, being a ranch and all. I used to
keep my father’s accounts when he would be too busy to, and I want
to be a part of the ranch. Not just the ranchers wife, but as
someone who actually helps instead of wasting her time every day,
doing nothing to help.”

Silence. A long, terrible silence. Logan and
Chase both froze, staring at her as if she’d lost her head. She
felt her composure crack a little, and she bit her lip to keep from
saying anything that would ruin whatever gain she’d made with
them.