“Well, somebody does, and I’m going to find out what’s going on,” Sage promised, then snapped his gaze to the door. Colleen Falkner was slipping out of the office like a damn ghost.
She’d gotten what she wanted, he told himself. He only wondered what she’d had to do for three million dollars. And he also had to ask himself if she’d known about J.D.’s plans. Had she been involved in his decision to rob Angelica of the very thing she cared most about?
Damned if he wouldn’t find out.
* * *
Colleen leaned back against the door briefly, closing her eyes and forcing herself to drag a deep breath into her lungs. Her heart was pounding so hard and so fast she felt dizzy.
She hadn’t expected anything like this.
Three million dollars?
Tears burned her eyes, but she frantically blinked them back. Now wasn’t the time to indulge in tears for the loss of her friend—or for thinking about the future he had just made possible.
Behind her, she heard muffled shouts through the closed door. Sage Lassiter’s voice was the most unmistakable. Though he didn’t have to shout to be heard. The cold steel in his deep voice was enough to get the attention of anyone in the room.
God knew, he’d had her attention.
She’d felt him watching her earlier. Had sneaked a peek or two over her shoulder at him in return. He made her nervous. Always had. Which was why any time he’d come to the Big Blue ranch to visit his father—which wasn’t often—Colleen had made herself scarce.
He was so...male.
Sage Lassiter was a force of nature. The kind of man women drooled over. And she was the kind of woman men like him never noticed. Well, not usually. He’d certainly noticed her today, though. And he hadn’t looked very happy about it.
Tossing a quick look at the closed door behind her, Colleen hurried down the long beige hallway toward the elevators. She wanted to be long gone before Sage left that room.
Two
She made it as far as the parking lot.
“Colleen!”
Standing beside her car, Colleen took a breath and braced herself. That deep voice was unmistakable.
Goose bumps broke out on her arms and it wasn’t because of the icy wind buffeting her. Blast Wyoming weather anyway. One day it was spring and the next, it was winter again. But the cold was the least of her worries.
It was him. Colleen had only been close to Sage Lassiter one time before today. The night of Angelica’s rehearsal dinner. From across that crowded restaurant, she’d felt him watching her. The heat of his gaze had swamped her, sending ribbons of expectation unfurling throughout her body. He smiled and her stomach churned with swarms of butterflies. He headed toward her, and she told herself to be calm. Cool. But it hadn’t worked. Nerves fired, knees weakened.
And just as he was close enough to her that she could see the gleam in his eyes, J.D. had his heart attack and everything had changed forever.
Looking back on that night, she told herself she was being silly even thinking that Sage might have been interested in her. He’d probably only wanted to ask her questions about his father’s care. Or where the restrooms were.
In her own mind, she’d built up the memory of that night into something magical. But it was time to remember that she simply wasn’t the kind of woman a man like him would ever notice. Sadly, that didn’t stop her from noticing him and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since that night.
Now he was here, and she had to battle down a flurry of nerves. She turned and brushed a few stray, windblown hairs out of her face as she watched him approach.
Her heartbeat sped up at the picture he made. Sage Lassiter stalked across the parking lot toward her. It was the only word that could describe that long, determined stride. He was like a man on a mission. He wore dark jeans, boots and an expensively cut black sports jacket over a long-sleeved white shirt. His brown hair flew across his forehead and his blue eyes were narrowed against the wind. His long legs closed the distance between them in a few short seconds and then he was there. Right in front of her.
She had to tip her head back to meet his gaze and when she did, nerves skated down along her spine. For three months, she’d listened to J.D. Lassiter as he talked about his family. Thanks to those chats, she knew that Sage was ruthless in business, quiet, hardheaded and determined to make his own way rather than capitalize on the Lassiter name. And though that last part had irritated J.D., she knew that he’d also admired Sage for it. How could he not? The older man had done the same thing when he was starting out.