Whatever It Takes (3 page)

“What do you mean she has a sister?” I asked my parents, having put them on speakerphone.

They’d come by a couple days after I found Ana and promised that they’d do all they could to help me keep her safe. Her recovery was moving faster than the doctor predicted, but it wasn’t enough yet. Her memories were vague, and she still didn’t know more than a few small things from when she was a little girl.

“She showed up today looking for her.”
Shit. What if this was someone pretending to be family?
This woman could be working with Santini.

“How did you know she was her sister? She could have been someone pretending to be related,” I challenged.

“Calm down, William. We didn’t tell her that she was alive. Although, truth be told, it was hard to lie to her. She seemed heartbroken and full of concern,” my mother said. She was a shrewd woman but truly did have a kind heart. I closed my eyes and hoped that I could keep Ana a secret for as long as possible.

“Yeah, well, so did her husband, and we know all about him,” I reminded her.

“The difference is that they must be twins,” she said.

“What? Do they look that much alike?”

“From what I could see of Ana’s bruised face, they have to be at least sisters.”

“Damn it, I don’t want to keep her from her, but his men are still in the area just waiting to see if something comes up and leads them to her.” It was a tough decision to make, but Ana’s survival was a lot more important than a family visit.

“I know. It’s another reason I kept the secret. It did help that your father stepped in and brushed off the young lady.”

“I’ve got to go. There’s a lot to do. Just keep me informed, Mom.”

“Be careful, baby.”

“I will. I love you.” I hung up the phone then rode back to the farthest fields to get some work done. The whole time I kept busy, I felt guilty as fuck. The sister could be an innocent victim in this too, but I had to think about Ana. I could only trust those I knew. And until Ana was sure of who this woman was and that she had Ana’s best interest at heart, she was an enemy.

~~~~~

As time passed, several people in town, my parents included, kept me informed about the supposed concerned sister. The woman left town when everyone claimed that they had no idea where Ana could have gone. The same story Santini spread around about his wife leaving him and hitching a ride with another man was what she was told. She pressed once more, but still got the same results, especially when she was caught talking to one of Santini’s men in a very cozy, intimate manner.

With Santini’s men slowly scattering and Ana’s health improving, I was able to take her to a local hospital a town away. No one asked questions and did their jobs. It was amazing what money could buy and made sense how someone like Santini could let it corrupt them. I’d had money so long that I knew I couldn’t be bought.

She was given x-rays and several scans and like we thought, other than the broken arm there was nothing else too concerning. The head trauma and emotional torture of the event could have led to her amnesia, but her brain was clear and healthy.

“Only time will tell,” the doctor said as we stepped out into the hall to talk. “I don’t think helping her with her memory would be such a good idea during her early recovery. In a couple of weeks, if she’s still lost about the past, then I’d help her work on it. There are therapists for things like this. Battered women lock away the pain—compartmentalize it.

“Thanks, doc. We’ll consider that as time goes on and I feel she’s safe enough to let more people in on our secret.”

“That’s a good idea. A man like him wouldn’t stop until she was dead, and not just you, but anyone who had a hand in protecting her. Keeping her a secret will be worth it for as long as you can manage it.”

I left the doc to tend to his other patients and went to go see my woman. She was going to be mine no matter how long it took. From what I had learned, Santini was done looking for her personally and claiming she’d run out on him, earning her a divorce.

She would be mine once the time was right. I stepped back into the room to see her sitting there with my mother. The two women in my life both turned to smile at me.

“Damn, I could get used to that beautiful smile, sugar.” I walked up to them and said, “So it looks like we’re about ready to go. Are you feeling well enough to leave tonight, or we could wait until the morning?” 

“Are you too tired to drive?” she asked, looking concerned. I didn’t want to take the chance of waiting until daylight to drive, so I’d prefer to go now.

“No, I’m not, but if you’re tired, then we can stay,” I said. My guys were on alert at the house, but there were only two of Santini’s men in town. The rest split when he did, and we had an eye on the stragglers.

“Good, then I’d prefer to go in the night. That way they won’t come looking.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

I woke again, the nightmare the same. I could feel my face being kicked. I remembered falling down hard, my body burning in pain. The rushing of the water running through my brain. Whether it was real or not, I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that William found me. His eyes met mine, and they seemed so familiar, like they were home. When I felt the ring on my finger, I thought that Will had been my husband. The way he looked at me, it was like I was his everything. Now that I knew the truth, it felt terrible. He wasn’t the man I was married to, but he had been my hero. Neither the fact that I had no clue who I was nor where I came from mattered as much as the pain consuming me at not belonging to Will. Over the past two weeks, his clear care and devotion to my well-being had only made the attraction stronger. My body was beaten to hell, yet he looked at me like I was the most precious person in the world. Which couldn’t be true because I was married to a monster. His dark brown eyes showed every emotion he had locked and hidden from me.

It didn’t fail to catch my notice that William wasn’t happy with my husband. I learned that it was because the bastard had tried to kill me. I guess I was to blame for this happening to me; I made the choice to marry the man. I regretted so much, even without my full memory.

Every day, as the pain would ease, a bit of my life as a child would pop into my head. From my memories, I must have been destined to repeat the past. I laid in bed trying to fill in the gaps. There was always a little girl with me. Or so I thought. Maybe it was me that I was seeing. I didn’t know, but each memory was like an out-of-body experience.

The latest memory was of when I was a teen and saw my father laying on the floor, blood everywhere. The girl that looked like me was pulling me away. I wondered if I somehow did that. It scared me that maybe I was that evil and this woman falling for a stranger wasn’t the real me.

“Hey, sugar. How are you feeling?” I turned my head to see the man whose voice sent unacceptable shivers down my body. It was wrong, but I longed for him to hold me and make me better. I hated that I was so wicked in my pre-amnesia life.

Unable to stop myself from smiling at him when our eyes connected, I replied, “I’m doing much better. It’s been two weeks since I started functioning a little more coherently and a month since he tried to kill me. I think it’s time I start getting out of bed more than just to use the bathroom.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but something in him decided against it. “Fine, but you can only do it when I’m around.”

“Thanks. It’s better than nothing,” I offered with a frown. It wasn’t that I was upset by his mandate because I knew it was for a good reason, it was because I knew he’d walk with me and hold my hand for support. Being that close was too much.

“Look, sugar, I ain’t trying to keep you locked up. I’m just trying to keep him from finding you.”

“I thought you said he left town.”

“He did, but he still has informants all around looking for you or your body.”

“Do you have a way for me to see his picture?” I asked. I couldn’t remember his face and something about that scared me. Should he come around and I not know who he was, I’d be an easy target.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The look he was sporting told me I was wasting my time.

“Why not?”

“Because, what if you see it and realize that you still love him?”

“There’s not enough love in the world to forgive a man for trying to kill you.”

"Let me see what I can scrounge up, and we'll go from there," he said hesitantly.

"Will," I said, gently placing my hand on his arm. "I'm not going to lose it or fall madly in love. It's too late for that."

"Ana, sweets. I don't know if it's a good idea. Let me talk to the doctor about it."

"He hasn't been here in two days, and he won't be back for almost a week."

"I can call him."

I knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon. If there were one thing I had learned about William, it was that he was stubborn. He'd fought me on everything. From needing to be carried, to opening my window for air. All of it, he swore, was because he was worried about them finding me. And don't get me started on how he got when any of his men helped me...If they were in the house, they'd check on me, and once he found out, he'd been grumbling about, asking questions about their visit. Did they sit near me? The last time he asked that I snapped and said it didn't matter because I was a married woman. He lost his mind then barked back, "One day to me, sugar, but as far as I'm concerned, you're not married to that fucker."

It was the first time I had ever felt pure lust in my life. The pain in my body would ease the moment I heard him coming up the stairs. My body would shift from agonizing stiffness to aching desire.

"William, are you going to do it?"

"Do what, sugar?"

"Keep your promise." I sounded whiny, but from the dreams I had been having, I was always dealing with disappointment.

“Of course, even though I don’t want to,” he said just above a grumbling whisper.

“Why?” I asked. I knew he was worried about me, but it seemed excessive since my husband wasn’t in town anymore.

“What if you freak out when you see his picture?” he asked sincerely.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” I said confidently, but I didn’t know if I could handle it.

“Bear with me,” he said, tapping my knee before getting up and leaving the room.

~~~~~

The next day, I was sighing throughout the day, every time I thought about the fact that this room belonged to William. The whole ranch did, but this was his actual room. There were plenty of places he could have set me up in, but he chose to lay me down here. I wanted to think it was more than just a mistake, but that was probably what it was. This bedroom had everything in it I could need, and they’d been in a hurry to get me set up safely.

“Ana, how’s everything going for you today?” Laura had come in to check on me. She was a sweetheart. Everybody seemed to be kind to me.

“It’s fine. Do you know when William will be back?” I asked, looking toward the window from my bed even though I could only see the sky.

“Tomorrow morning. He had to travel for the sale of some cattle. You miss him, don’t you?”

“It’s that obvious.” I gave her a sheepish smile.

“Yes, it is. He’s a great man and has made it clear that you’re the one he wants.”

“Thanks, but we’ll cross that bridge once we get to it.”

“You two would be perfect for each other.”

“Thanks, Laura. I know he’s perfect for me, but he could do a lot better.”

“No, sweet girl. We don’t know a lot about you, but what we do know is that you’re what he needs.”

“Can you tell me a little about him?”

“I will after you get some sleep.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

It was the next morning when Laura walked into the room and handed me the phone. “It’s him, Ana. He misses you,” she said with her hand covering the phone. I smiled at her full and bright. The sleepiness I felt a moment ago was gone.

She handed it to me, and I greeted him. “Good morning, William.”

“Hey sugar, how are you feeling?” The sound of his rich, gravelly voice ran a jolt of desire through my body.

Once I gathered my wooly, dirty mind, I answered, “I’m feeling okay. Getting a little bored, lately.” Truthfully, it was no fun without him here. We didn’t talk that much when he was around, but we’d watch some television, or he’d read to me. A girl could fall in love with a man who read.

“I’m sorry, Ana. I miss you. It’s taking a little longer than I expected with the weather going wild.” I hated to hear that. I got the feeling that he wasn’t going to be back today like Laura said last night.

“Of course, I can’t risk not hearing my sweet Ana’s voice.” The man pushed the limits of my resistance with his sweet talking.

“Babe, I just called to tell you it’ll be awhile, but I got to go. Talk to you later.”

“See you, William,” I said goodbye and hung up.

~~~~~

He was two days late, but Laura told me he’d be coming home today. My head was all over the place wondering if Santini had done something to him or he met up with some chick. Laura told me that he was once a bull rider, and from what I heard the guys say, bull riders get tons of women. They called them buckle bunnies, and I got immediately jealous. Thoughts of him welcoming a woman to his hotel room while I was laying in his bed made me cry.

Laura knocked just as I shook off the tears. “Just a minute,” I called out, the sound of tears caught in my throat. I closed my eyes because she didn’t hesitate to enter.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on now. Don’t make me call Will. He’ll be very upset and drive faster to get here.”

“He’s on his way?”

“Yes, he’s already on the road. Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Yes, and…well,”

“What?”

“That he’s meeting up with some woman.”

“Honey, there’s some things you need to talk to Will about, but I assure you that he’s not meeting any women while he’s got the woman he’d do anything for waiting for him.”

“Thanks. I think I’m becoming too addicted to him,” I admitted.

“I don’t think he would agree with that. He wants you crazy about him as much as he’s nuts about you.”

“Thanks, Laura,” I said appreciatively.

“There’s lunch ready for you. The remaining guys are just finishing up.”

I went down for some lunch then came back up before Will returned. He got antsy when he thought I was roaming the area without him. He acted like he was the only person capable of protecting me, but I was starting to understand that he was paranoid that Santini would get me when he wasn’t around or that I would fall for one of his men. Silly man.

I had started watching some TV when I heard the gates. It was the fastest I’d gotten to the window yet. I saw the truck pull up and knew he was back. Mentally, I jumped up and down like a kid at Christmas. Physically, I just stared out the window waiting for him to climb out of the truck. It seemed to take forever. Biting my lip to stop the squeal of pleasure as I saw the truck door pop open, the first boot hit directly on the driveway, and I swore I could hear the boot crush the gravel.

A moan slipped past my mouth, and it was like he had heard it. His eyes trained upward, looking into my window. He smiled up at me causing me to return it like a giddy fool.

It was then that he ran to the house and through the door. I heard the fast footsteps coming up the stairs in a hurry. Before I knew it, my handsome cowboy burst through the door, wrapping his arms around me. His eyes stared into mine, his intent was clear. They lowered to my mouth, I immediately bit my lip.

“I missed you, sugar,” he growled, his lips followed his eyes. The kiss was perfect. His strong jaw clenched as he nipped at my lips before pushing them apart with his tongue. I moaned, feeling like I could never get enough.

Our kiss intensified to the point where he held me so tight, I yelped. The instant he heard my cry of pain everything stopped. We both froze for a second before he stepped back and guilt flooded his expression.

“I’m so sorry, Ana.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Still. I shouldn’t have. I knew it, damn it,” he grumbled.

I reached for his face, but he flinched. The hurt was felt even though I knew why he pushed me away. “Don’t do that. Don’t turn away because you’re afraid of this between us. I won’t let you.”

“Please, I need to back off until you’re healed some more. Please understand.”

He stepped back and left.

I wanted to chase after him, but he was afraid he’d hurt me with his passion. Waiting a little longer would be worth the hidden beast that I got a taste of today.

So for the time being, I’d just harass him for the picture until he caved one way or another.