Page 14 of Rescued Hearts

Emotion flooded over Honor. She leaned across the table toward her sister. “Really? You’re the best sister I could ever ask for.”

Her sister patted her hand, beaming. “You know…there’s an open building down the street from the bookstore.”

“Which building?”

“The one with the peeling green paint on the front.”

“Oh.” Her mind sifted through her memories of the location she’d walked by earlier that day on her way to the art shop. “It’s a little rundown and in need of repairs.”

“Yes, but it has a lot of potential. There’s living space above it if you wanted to rent it out or live there yourself. And I’ve seen the back yard. It’s sheltered from the street.”

For a minute, she drowned in daydreams of how she’d fix up the building for her own little shop. A striped awning over the entrance. Inside, the walls would be white and the design minimal so the surroundings wouldn’t compete with her jewelry and let it shine.

She shook her head. “I can’t even buythat.”

“There’s no rush. That building has been empty all the years I’ve owned the bookstore. You have time to build your fund back up. Now about our dinner…”

Her sister got up from the table and began to bustle around the kitchen. Honor tried to focus once more on her notebook, but her head was filled with new and exciting prospects. Leaving her old life was the best decision she ever made. Because of her choice, she had so much opportunity ahead of her.

She grabbed her pen again and started making lists. She couldn’t wait to get started.

* * * * *

Over the past few months since Gray returned to the ranch, he’d grown to consider the Black Heart Security office to be controlled chaos. Never quiet, never entirely still. The low hum of a one-sided phone conversation came from the corner wherehis brother Oaks was lounging on the long leather sofa. Beside him sat a computer tablet, and occasionally he swiped a finger across the screen, taking notes.

This was the place Gray came whenever he needed to speak to one of his brothers. But he wasn’t sure it was where he belonged.

He sauntered across the small space and dropped into the chair across the desk from Carson. His oldest brother had summoned Gray here, but now he was involved in a phone call too.

Gray stretched out one leg, taking it all in. In a very short time, his brothers had built the company into a highly reputable one. Carson, Oaks and Colt were always coming and going, busy with providing protection to people from all walks of life.

Just last week Carson was acting as bodyguard to a high-profile person, while Oaks traveled throughout the state, protecting a construction team being targeted by protestors on the job, and Colt stayed behind to run the office. Whenever he wasn’t around, Willow answered the phones.

He caught Carson’s eye and cocked a brow in question.

His brother held up a finger for him to wait a minute.

It was impossible to ignore the snippets of conversation. Carson seemed to be getting grilled by his future wife about wedding plans.

“We can hold it on the ranch the way Oaks and Shiloh did,” he told her. A moment later, he picked up a pen and scribbled on a notepad. “Cake tasting Thursday one o’clock. Got it.”

He fixed Gray in his stare and gave a bored wag of his head. “Look, love. I have to go. Why don’t we go out to dinner and hash out the rest of the plans then?” Another beat passed. Then Carson said, “Prairie Ember. Can you make reservations or should I? Okay, sounds great. Yep. Love you.”

When he ended the call, Gray scrubbed a finger across his upper lip but not even that controlled his smile. “Love you,” he mocked.

Carson gave him a dark look though it was tinged with amusement. “I don’t need any crap from you, brother.”

He extended his other leg and crossed them at the ankles. “You summoned me. I’m here. What do you need?”

Carson’s expression grew unreadable. “You’ve been at the ranch a while.”

His brother was getting right to it.

“Yeah.”

“You spent all winter bouncing between ranch work and working on that novel of yours.”

“You keeping tabs?”

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