And from every spot on his property, the views were tremendous. He’d had his architect build the house to accommodate the beauty and become a part of the mountains itself. Acres of wood and glass and stone made the house look as though it had always been there, as if it had grown from the rocks and the forest. Trees were everywhere, and the scent of pine flavored every breath.
In Wyoming, winter held on, sometimes even into summer, especially this high up the mountain. An icy wind tore at Sage’s hair as he walked toward his sister. Angelica was just climbing out of her car when he approached, and one look at her told Sage that she wasn’t in much better shape than she had been when he’d seen her a couple nights ago.
True to their plan, he and Dylan had dropped in on their sister at Big Blue. It still wasn’t easy walking into that house, cluttered with memories, but for his sister, he was willing to bite the bullet.
Evan had been there too, of course, but the tension between the formerly happy couple was unmistakable. Evan was doing his best to make this work, but Angie was so hurt and angry at her father that there wasn’t a lot of give in her at the moment. How they were managing to work together through this was a mystery to Sage. Judging by the tight expression on Angie’s face now, that tension hadn’t eased up any either.
“Sorry to just drop in,” she blurted, shrugging into a navy blue sweater that dropped to midthigh. “I had to get out of the house.”
“You’re welcome here anytime,” Sage told her, mentally letting go of his plans for Colleen—at least until his sister was on her way again. “What’s going on now?”
“What isn’t?” she snapped, then stopped, gave him a sheepish look and said, “I’m sorry, Sage. Seriously, I’m acting like queen bitch of the universe and I can’t 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
