Page 75 of The Reluctant Siren
Of course she’d also looked adorable naked when he’d lefther in bed. He didn’t suppose it was a good idea to be bossy and tell her totake off her clothes out here.
“I thought you were sleeping. Everything okay?” He gesturedfor her to join him.
“Can’t sleep, and it isn’t because I’m sore.” She huffed asshe shifted to the chair across from him.
They’d moved her up to a much bigger plug earlier thisevening after they’d used a violet wand on her and made her cry out. Aftershe’d come three times.
He had to bite back a laugh because she sat down gingerly.Poor princess. “Do you want me to massage you?”
She snorted. “I think I’ll pass on the asshole massage. I’vehad that a couple of times already today.” She sat back. “It’s nice out here. Iguess when Jensen talked to me about this place I got an idea in my head thatit was awful. It’s beautiful here. The house needs some work, but you can’targue with the view.”
She tilted her head up, looking at the blanket of starsspread across the sky.
It was spectacular, but nothing compared to her. She was themost beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he was worried he was going to loseher. There was a distance during the day. When they were in bed or playing, shegave them everything. But she held back slightly in everything else. Nothingthat would make it necessary to talk about, just distance that worried him.
The moonlight played over the river making it look like itwas dancing. In the distance he could see the high grass sway. “No, you can’t.It is beautiful out here. During the summers there’s a pond about half a milefrom the house where we used to swim when it got too hot to do anything else. Ihave no idea how, but the pond always stayed cool even when it was a hundreddegrees out. I think when Jensen talks about this place, he’s talking about theemotional toll of living here. It’s beautiful land, but the town was hard onJensen. Hard on his whole family.”
“He never liked to talk about his mother,” she said quietly.“He kind of avoided the subject. He didn’t talk much about his childhood, buthe wouldn’t talk about her at all.”
It didn’t surprise Niall that Jensen had never gone intodetails with Harlow. “Well, I knew her. She was… She longed for something morethan this place but had no idea how to get out. That’s not exactly right. Shedecided she did know.”
Harlow nodded. “Let me guess. She thought a man would takeher away.”
She was a perceptive woman. One of her many talents. “Yes.She was the only daughter of ranchers, but they died in a car accident a yearbefore Jensen was born. I don’t think they prepared her for much more thangetting married and helping her husband with the ranch. They never expected herto run it herself. She was supposed to get married to someone they approved ofand he would be trained.”
Harlow’s nose wrinkled. “That sounds terrible but then it’snot like my dad wanted me to take over the family business either.”
“I don’t think it’s exactly the same. They weren’t worriedabout Jensen’s momma getting killed in the line of duty,” he explained. “Theysimply didn’t think a woman could run the ranch.”
“She wasn’t married when her parents died? How old was she?How did she handle things?”
He was glad she was at least curious. “She was barelynineteen, and she didn’t. She spent all her time either helping her mom withchores or going to the church in town. She had no idea what to do. Jensen’s dadwas their foreman, and he almost immediately married her and got her pregnant,but what he actually wanted was the ranch.”
“Did something happen to him? Because I know she sold offmost of the land to a big ranch collective,” she replied. “I have someconnections in that world. Jack’s parents own a big ranch outside of Austin, asdo some of my parents’ closest friends. Selling any land would be the option oflast resort for them. The ranchers I know would never sell unless they weregoing to lose it all.”
She did know how to point out a problem. “Jensen’s dad mighthave been a foreman, but ranching wasn’t exactly his dream. From what I’veheard he mostly wanted to be rich. Didn’t care how it happened. What he wantedwas the money that came with the ranch. He convinced her to sell off some ofthe land so they could upgrade the house. Which was always going to happensoon. He kept putting it off. She was pregnant and she’d been taught that agood wife didn’t question her husband, so she did what he asked. A little landbecame a lot of land until they were left with this space and then Jensen’s dadtook off with the cash.”
“And left her with two kids, right?”
Niall shook his head. He wondered how much Jensen told her.It didn’t seem like a lot. “No. Tommy was technically his half brother. WhenJensen’s dad left, she tried waitressing, but she ended up letting her latestboyfriend move in, and that worked for a while. She got pregnant again and hadTommy and then Tommy’s dad left her for another woman. From there on it was aseries of men she let move in and out of their lives. Always looking for theone who would sweep her off her feet and take her family away from here.”
She sighed, a sympathetic sound. “That had to be hard. Ithink the worst thing a child can go through is chaos.” She wrapped her armsaround her legs, hugging them to her chest. “I don’t like to think about whatmy parents went through. It was similar, but it was their dad, and he had amega shit ton of money. My dads have three brothers and one sister, and theymostly have different moms. I think my grandfather married three times, but theaffairs were too many to count. They kind of had to raise themselves. And bykind of, I mean they did. My Uncle Win—Gigi’s dad—he was pretty much the fatherto his younger siblings. Was it like that for Jensen and Tommy?”
Niall nodded. “Very much so. Jensen was five years olderthan Tommy. He was Tommy’s protector. By the time he was eight or nine he wasleft alone with Tommy while their mom worked or went on a date. It was bothbetter and worse when their mom got a boyfriend and settled down for a while.It depended on the guy. Some were nice. Some were abusive bastards.”
“My dad once told me it was like trying to walk through anearthquake. The ground was always shifting under their feet. Sometimes it wasgood. They liked one of their stepmoms, but he divorced her quite quickly,”Harlow explained. “Sometimes they would have a nanny who helped, but Granddadalmost always fucked that up by sleeping with her. So my dad and his brothersand sister had to grow up on their own.”
It felt so good to be talking, really talking. They’d spenta lot of time joking around and discussing the case and D/s philosophy, butthis felt real. “That had to be hard. I’m glad they found someone to settledown with. I know sometimes when you grow up like that, relationships can bedifficult.”
“My mom is great. Her parents are wonderful people.”Harlow’s voice softened, love coming through in the tone. “I never met mypaternal grandparents. Crazy thing. They are both still alive. They just don’tcare, but my mom’s parents are the best. And you know they prove that you cando everything right and it can all go wrong. My mom…she got kidnapped and rapedand pretty much all the bad things in the world.”
His heart threatened to hitch. “Your mom?”
She nodded. “I’m not like betraying her or anything. Shewould tell you the whole story herself because she did nothing wrong. She talksabout it so other people…other victims don’t feel alone. My mom is, well, she’stotally my hero. I think I do the things I do because I want to be there forwomen like her.”
“Have you told your father that? Put it that way?” Niallasked. He knew she loved her dad, loved all of her parents, but he had towonder if she had truly talked to the one parent she clashed with.
She sniffled. “No. I guess I haven’t. I get way too upsetthat he doesn’t think I’m competent. I’m coming to realize that I’m a lot likemy dad. I think we spark off each other and don’t talk enough. But he can beobnoxious. Is it wrong that I kind of miss him right now?”
