Straight From the Hip(58)
IZZY FELT LIKE a princess in a cartoon musical. She felt so good, she half expected little woodland creatures to show up and dress her the next morning after she crept back to her own room.
Her whole body hummed with satisfaction. She was achy and sore, in the best way possible. She and Nick had made love all night. It might be a couple of days before she was healed enough to go horseback riding, but that was a small price to pay for hours of incredible pleasure.It wasn’t just the sex, she thought as she stepped into the shower. It was how he joked with her and got her sense of humor. Not everyone did. He was gentle and forceful, caring and stubborn. And the man had a mouth that could make her give up state secrets, assuming she had any.
She hummed her way through the morning, happily working with the horses and avoiding Aaron. She had a feeling he would take one look at her silly grin and know exactly what had happened. Not that she was keeping secrets, exactly. It was more that she wanted to hug the information close for a little while.
A little after ten, she heard familiar voices and went outside to find her sisters walking toward the barn.
“What’s up?” she called, not sure why they’d stopped by without calling first. “Is everything all right?”
The hesitation before either of them spoke burst her happy bubble. “What?”
“Jed’s being named in a prostitution ring,” Lexi said. “He’s going to be charged with importing underage girls and holding them as sex slaves.”
Izzy sank onto the bench by the door and cupped her head in her hands. “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true,” Skye said. “The never-ending nightmare. Between this and the potential treason charges, Jed is going to lose everything. We’re talking to Dana later. She’s going to give us the names of a few attorneys.”
Izzy dropped her hands and straightened. “Why? Has he come after you again?”
“No, but we need to start protecting ourselves. We’re tired of reacting. We need to go after him.”
“We’ve talked about this,” Lexi added. “We’re taking the fight to him.”
“Not a good idea,” Izzy told them. “You’re out of your league.” She heard more footsteps and recognized them. “It’s Nick.”
“Then we’ll talk later,” Skye said.
“We can talk now. He knows most of what’s going on.”
“You told him?” Lexi sounded surprised.
“Jed was by a few days ago. He wanted to confirm I was still blind and make sure I understood how inconvenient that was for him. Sweet guy, our father. If he can’t use me, I don’t exist. Oh, and he made it clear I was never in the will. Which is hardly a surprise.”
Even she heard the bitterness in her voice, but before she could figure out what to say so her sisters didn’t worry, Nick had joined them.
“Ladies.”
“We’re talking about Garth,” Izzy said bluntly and told him the latest news. “It’s not that Jed is my favorite person, but these days I’m liking Garth even less. Do you have any ideas of what we could do?”
“Do you know what he wants?” Nick asked.
Izzy frowned. There was something strange about his voice. She couldn’t figure out what, but it was there. As if…But she couldn’t pin it down.
“Revenge,” Lexi said. “Obviously. But maybe there’s more. Maybe he wants the family annihilated. Maybe he wants everything. The business, the land, the house.”
“The house is available,” Skye said. “Dad’s moved out. He’s mostly staying in his condo in Dallas. I’m with Mitch, Lexi’s with Cruz and you’re here.”
Temporarily, Izzy thought. When she left the ranch, she didn’t know where she was going to go. A worry for another time, she reminded herself.
“If he hadn’t gone after Izzy, I would have considered letting him just take it all,” Lexi grumbled. “But he crossed the line when he hurt you.”
Izzy smiled at her. “Thanks for the support.” She turned toward Nick. “No brilliant ideas?”
“Not right now. I’ll get back to you.”
Something was wrong, she thought, still not sure what Nick was thinking. Was he upset that they were dragging him into their family business? Or was it something else? The next time they were alone, she was going to have to remember to ask.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NICK PACED THE LENGTH of Garth’s office. He’d stopped by to see his friend because he didn’t know what else to do.
“You have to stop this,” he said forcefully, turning back to stare at the one person he’d considered his family. The one person he trusted above all.“Going after the Titans?” Garth leaned back in his chair and slowly shook his head. “Nick, don’t get involved in this. You’re helping Izzy. Make that enough.”