“Well, shit,” Beck said, turning around to look at her land and the long, dusty drive that led up to her place where his truck was parked.
He’d move it out of sight so she thought he was gone.
But the lady was in trouble. That much was certain.
And Beck planned to stay around until he found out what was putting that fear in her gorgeous eyes.
It had nothing to do with being close to the lady or the way his dragon kept practically purring whenever she was close.
No, he was a monster, and he wouldn’t forget it.
He got in his truck and drove it around the back of the property, parking behind a line of thick trees where she wouldn’t see him.
Then he grabbed his camping supplies out of the back of his truck and walked over to a grassy area on the border between her land and Dragonclaw Ranch.
As he set up his camp, he still felt slightly guilty for putting her in the proximity of a monster.
But if she really was in danger, perhaps a monster could be exactly the man for the job.
5
That night, as she sat at a campfire with Lasso, watching the flames dance, Sierra allowed herself some time to mope.
It might be the last night it’d be safe to sit out by her fire pit.
Ross tended to leave her alone for a few days every time he made a threat. Then again, he’d never had that crazy look in his eyes before.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to do now. How she would handle protecting her property.
She supposed Beck was right. She could ask another of the men at the ranch. However, she could never bother Harrison or Marian, and she didn’t trust anyone she hadn’t met.
Plus, the whole situation was embarrassing. No one else should have to deal with her problems.
She wished she hadn’t even thought of asking Beck for help.
Then it wouldn’t have hurt so much when he prematurely rejected her.
Sierra lifted her chin, watching the embers rise on the night air, sparking like tiny pieces of flame. She was Texas stock. She wouldn’t let Ross scare her.
She’d find a way to fight. Somehow.
“I’ll never marry that piece of trash,” she muttered. “That son of a bee sting. That shitake mushroom!”
But then she was distracted by movement in the darkness down by the end of her drive. Dust was moving in a cloud, indicating a vehicle was coming. The ground rumbled, and she could hear the engine of a truck.
Please be Beck, she thought.
But as the dust cleared, the overhead lights around her drive shone on a beat-up pickup coming down the road. The back was full of men who were yelling and hollering.
As they got closer, she saw their rough clothing. Their bandanas. Their disheveled, dirty appearance.
Copperheads.
A dirty, disgraceful gang from a nearby ranch that made their living mostly harassing peaceful neighbors and stealing cattle and other such things.
But they’d left her alone before due to her association with Ross. For better or worse, he’d told everyone in town that she belonged to him.
And Ross’s father ran the whole town. There was no one that didn’t answer to him in some way.
So it made sense that he scared away even the Copperheads.
Not anymore, though, apparently.
Heck in a handbasket, maybe Ross had sent them.
Sierra’s fears were confirmed when one of the Copperheads, a younger man with stubble and wild hair pulled back by a bandana, hopped out of the back of the truck and opened the bed so the others could pile out.
He grinned at her with crooked yellow teeth. “Gotta make a living somehow, right, lady?”
She just sat there frozen as the men made a semicircle and approached. Their lips were pulled back, baring rictus grins. Excitement and sadism radiated off them in the darkness. Or perhaps that was just the firelight casting an evil glow.
Lasso barked, running forward, but she snapped her fingers, and he instantly came back to her side where she pointed for him to sit.
She stood, putting herself in front of him. The last thing she’d let happen was someone hurting her dog.
“Remember what Ross said,” the Copperhead in the lead said to the others. “We ain’t gonna hurt her much. Just scare her.”
“I want to see the fear on her face,” one of the other Copperheads said, licking his lips. “She’s so perty.”
“Make her run,” another snarled. “Then we can chase her.”
Another made a mock wolf howl, and a few others joined, making chills run up Sierra’s back.
The lead Copperhead came forward, and she stayed there facing him stubbornly. She knew even if she ran, there would be no way to keep him out.
If they were just there to scare her, then well, she’d show them she couldn’t be scared.
The Copperhead came close to her until she was forced to look up into his face to meet his eyes.
He reached down, tilting her chin up. She jerked her head away, but he caught her chin again, this time forcing her to look at him.
Her heart was hammering, her body rigid with fear. But she faced him, trying to fight her own terror response.
“Come on,” the guy said. “You don’t even look scared yet.”
“Scared of what?” a deep, growly voice called out.
Sierra jolted at the familiar voice coming from the other side of her yard. She looked up to see Beck walking in from her back tree line, his huge figure silhouetted by the moonlight.
He was gorgeous even from here.
“You let the lady go,” he said, walking forward.
“Dragonclaw,” one of the Copperheads muttered.
The man holding Sierra’s chin just shook his head.
“Get him,” he mumbled.
“Beck, run!” Sierra yelled as the man next to her moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and picked her up, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle any response.
Sierra looked desperately at Beck, trying to warn him since there was no way even a huge man like him could take this many men.
There had to be at least ten Copperheads, and they were all muscled and rangy and raring to fight.
Beck cracked his knuckles, striding toward them, his eyes locked on Sierra and the man holding her. “This is your trouble? A couple of Copperheads?” His grin was feral. “Not a problem, sweetheart.”
She kinda liked him calling her sweetheart even though she knew it wasn’t personal. But that wasn’t what she should be focusing on, she realized, as she watched Beck reach the group of Copperheads that had left the leader to walk to the middle of the lawn to confront him.
Moonlight streamed over the scene as Beck folded his arms and faced the men forming a circle around him. He didn’t look scared for one moment.
Sierra wondered what he knew that she didn’t.
“It is Beck,” one of them called to the man holding her. Though he was trying to hide it, fear was plain in his voice.
“She was supposed to be alone,” another Copperhead yelled out.
“She ain’t,” Beck said. And with that, he lunged forward, hitting the forwardmost one with his fist.
A loud crack rent the night air as the man he’d struck flew backward, rolling onto the dirt while the mass of bodies surrounding Beck flew into motion. Sierra tried to struggle against the man holding her to try to help Beck, to do anything, but it was no use. All she could do was watch.