Hayden's Hellion Read online

  Honor and Serena had interrogated her. It had taken everything she had in her to deny the feelings she felt for Hayden. They knew it, she could see it in their eyes and hated lying to them as well as herself, but it was the only thing she could think to do at the time to protect herself.

  Austin was mentally preparing for the battle she was sure would come. Just thinking of Hayden brought her chin up a notch. She was in a stubborn mood and almost as excited about the upcoming confrontation, as she was nervous. It took every thing in her not to let her nervousness show. Instead, she told jokes and enjoyed the laughter of those around her.

  Austin watched Serena and Honor closely. Honor seemed to flutter around the room as if the anticipation was too much. She seemed to be in awe of the large selection of toys Austin had set around the room, buying several for herself.

  Serena, on the other hand, sat quietly. Her fingers rubbed over the gold choker she always wore. They trembled slightly with each pass over the gold’s gleaming surface making Austin speculate whether or not they might have carried the ruse a bit too far. As she continued to watch Serena, Austin noticed the way her eyes almost glowed with excitement. Her head was cocked to the side as if she were listening, waiting.

  There wasn’t even a knock before the door flew open. It banged into the wall behind it. The sound was loud as it reverberated throughout the room.

  She’d been ready for hours. Wrapping her stubborn pride around her like a shield, she’d prepared for just this moment.

  Winking at Honor, she mouthed the words, “Let the games begin.”

  Three very large, very imposing men stood on the threshold of the door. She couldn’t focus on anyone but Hayden. The room cleared, women excusing themselves one by one then leaving.

  Tension was mounting. It was so thick you could scoop it with a spoon. Everything seemed to happen in a blur of activity.

  Completely fascinated, Austin watched as Sean lifted Honor to her feet. A warm smile crossed her lips before she made a comment to him about being home early. Austin didn’t believe for a minute that, that particular comment would get Honor very far where Sean was concerned.

  Austin figured she’d have to play it up just a bit. The whole thing had been planned to help her new friends after all. “Son of a bitch, Sean. Ya couldn’t wait ‘til the party was over? Those women you just scared off seemed real interested in ordering some of my stuff.” She motioned around the room bringing attention to the assortment of toys.

  The look on Sean’s face as he followed her gestures, finally noticing the assortment of dildos and vibrators, was priceless. When his hand slowly wandered the length of Honor’s back before settling on her ass, Austin mentally patted herself on the back.

  One down, one to go.

  Austin shifted her attention to where Zane stood holding Serena in front of him. Those two needed no help, was Austin’s first and final thought as Zane lowered his head to speak to Serena. A look of pure contentment crossed her face before she turned and strode from the room.

  Zane’s hazel eyes pinned her to the spot. “You can collect for this later,” he said, lifting a red leather flogger from the coffee table.

  The thought of leather against her ass was beyond her comprehension. Would she like that as much as she’d liked the palm of Hayden’s hand against her ass?

  Sean said something to Hayden about taking care of her while he took care of Honor and it royally pissed her off.

  She began collecting her stuff, thrusting them into the empty duffle in disarray instead of neatly packing as usual.

  “I don’t need you to take care of me, Hayden O’Malley.” She tried to hide the hurt in her voice but it was no use.

  “It’s after hours, I’ll do as I damned well please. I’m beginning to think that thirty days with Judge Gumar might just be safer anyway.”

  She needed to get away from him. She’d been in love with him since just after her ninth birthday and never once did she think a day would come that she’d be willing to give up that love but it had.

  It just hurt too damned much to love and not be loved back. She’d go see the judge and do what he asked—it was the only way she would get out of the mess she’d created with at least a tiny bit of her heart intact.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hayden tried not to think about the hurt in Austin’s voice. He wanted to take her home and drop her off so he could think. He needed some time alone to figure out what the next step was.

  When he reached for the duffle she’d just stuffed full of sex toys of all different shapes and sizes, she batted his hand away.

  “Don’t you touch any of my stuff, you big ass. You gave up that right when you climbed out of my bed without so much as a word.”

  That sounded too much like a kiss-off for Hayden’s liking.

  “The hell I did,” he snarled, his voice low and ominous. He wasn’t ready to give her up completely, he just wasn’t ready for a commitment. Couldn’t the damned woman understand that?

  She might if you ever took the time to tell her that you at least care, the voice in his head taunted.

  He’d do that, just as soon as he had some time to think it over, they’d talk. Until then, she belonged to him and he’d touch every inch of her body if he damned well pleased.

  Hayden led Austin from the house. “Now get in and stop arguing.”

  “I’ve got my own car, Hayden. I’m not leaving Jolene here.”

  The wind had kicked up and it looked like it might storm. One never could tell what would come out of a little Texas wind.

  “Yes, Austin. Tonight you are. I’m giving you a lift home if I have to pick you up and put you in the cab. Make up your mind. It looks like rain’s comin’.”

  It was a lame excuse but he was willing to use just about anything. Continuing to stare her down, he was glad to see when she shrugged as if it made no difference then climbed into his truck.

  The ride back to her trailer was silent and not the friendly type of silence between two companions. This silence yawned around him like a deep chasm making his shoulders tight with tension.

  He was glad when he finally reached her door. After he placed her duffle inside, he turned to her and took her into his arms.

  The kiss was hot and hard. He was angry at the both of them but hadn’t meant to punish her in such a way.

  “Fuck, Hayden. I wish to hell you’d stop doing that.” The fact she didn’t want his kiss irked him. He wanted to hold her so tight against him that she’d feel every inch of his engorged cock and she didn’t even want a damned kiss.

  “And I wish you’d watch that filthy mouth. Why can’t you be more like Honor? Now that’s one classy lady.”

  He regretted the words the minute they were out. Her face paled and her eyes pooled with unshed tears but it didn’t last long. In the next instant, she was on him like flies on shit.

  “If you don’t like who I am then you can go straight to hell, Hayden O’Malley, because believe me when I say that you’re not the catch of a lifetime either.”

  Each word was punctuated with a finger to the chest forcing him to step back, taking him closer to the door.

  “We’ve all got our faults and if mine are too much for you then it’s probably a good thing I never told you exactly how much I love you.”

  It seemed like his heart stopped beating. He’d known she loved him. Every time she looked at him, he could see it in the deep pools of her blue eyes but he’d never heard her say the words.

  She seemed just as surprised as he felt. Her face had gone even paler if that was possible. Her demeanor worried him.

  “Just go already. I’ve made a big enough ass out of myself for one day, Hayden. Don’t you think?”

  Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Turning on her heel, she disappeared into the tiny, closet-sized bathroom and locked the door behind her.

  He wasn’t at all sure what he was going to do now. His heart urged him to break down the door and pull her out of there. She made
his life complicated as hell but for the first time in years, he felt complete.

  On the other hand, he remembered exactly what it had felt like to be the fool. To give his heart to a woman who wanted him only for his money and the status being a rancher’s wife would bring her. He needed some time to think.

  As he pulled back onto the highway, he had an odd feeling that he shouldn’t wait to talk to Austin but he ignored it. Tomorrow would be soon enough.

  Only it wasn’t tomorrow when he was jerked from a restless sleep by somebody pounding on his front door.

  “Hold on,” he grouched as he fumbled with a pair of jeans.

  The pounding didn’t slow. If anything, it became louder.

  “I said hold on just a damned minute.” No more grumbling. He was wide awake now as he bellowed down the hall.

  When he’d finally managed to wrestle his jeans on, he stomped from the room to see who in the hell would dare come to the Big O in the middle of the night.

  He was ready to lay into someone but changed his mind when he swung the heavy wooden door open and found his father there. Soaked to the bone and covered with mud, his father had a frantic look on his face.

  “What is it?” Hayden insisted. “What’s happened?” He looked past his father but saw no one else.

  “You’ve got to come into town son. You’re needed.”

  “All right, just calm down and tell me what’s going on,” he said as he strode into the house.

  Turning on the light, he made his way to the room for his boots, grabbing a shirt along the way.

  “A tornado touched down in town,” he heard his father say. His ears started to ring and he almost let panic set in before gaining control over his emotions.

  “Zane and Sean?” he asked. Zane and Serena had decided to stay in town at a motel after the party break-up. They’d left a message on his answering machine letting him know.

  “They’re fine son, Sean and Honor, too. The only place damaged was the trailer park.”

  He was on his way out the door before his father could get another word out. He wouldn’t be able to get there fast enough and his hands were shaking so badly he wasn’t at all sure he’d make it in one piece.

  He didn’t want to ask but he had to know. “Austin?”

  “There have been no reported deaths, numerous injuries but no deaths so far. The only thing is, Austin’s trailer is a complete loss and she is as of yet unaccounted for. I was hoping she was here on the ranch with you but…”

  * * * * *

  It took a moment for the darkness to recede but even then, everything seemed blurry. All around her it was quiet. After the freight train-like noise, the silence was eerie.

  There were voices but they sounded so far away and she couldn’t seem to get her bearings so she had no idea which way to go to find them.

  Something had happened but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was. All she knew was that she needed help and she needed to get out of wherever it was she was lying.

  Bracing her hands on the ground…the ground? Why was she outside? Damn, something wasn’t right.

  Austin tried to push herself up, but there was something heavy on top of her. After a few minutes, she gave up and tried to kick out with her leg only to feel excruciating pain shoot all the way to her thigh. Oh, shit! Something definitely wasn’t right.

  Using her hands, she banged loudly against whatever was on top of her and yelled. Her voice was hoarse at first and came out as more of a croak but soon she was up to her full lung potential and was squalling like a wild banshee.

  When she thought she’d lose her voice she quieted down. Taking a break from the efforts to remove herself, she listened intently. The voices were getting closer. Her heart pounded in her chest at the thought of them overlooking where she was trapped.

  “Help me!” she sobbed. Her voice seemed to echo back at her causing her head to hurt even more. She couldn’t let the pain stop her so she pounded and yelled. “Somebody help me.”

  When the voices drew closer until she could make out someone calling her name, she yelled, “Over here! I’m over here.”

  The shifting of whatever was on top of her made her leg hurt so bad she felt lightheaded. With everything she had, with everything she was, she held on. She had to be sure they wouldn’t miss her.

  The weight on top of her shifted again and she thought they’d kill her trying to rescue her.

  “Oh, God, stop. Please stop.” Complaining was not her intention but the blinding pain in her leg left her no choice in the matter. And then she heard his voice.

  “Austin! Austin can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you. Hayden, please don’t let them move it anymore, it hurts.” The tears rolling down her face tasted salty but reminded her she was alive and was going to make it out of this. His next words gave her no alternative.

  “Hold on, baby, just hold on.” She couldn’t help but cry out at the pain. “I love you, darlin’. Do you hear me, Austin? Don’t you leave me, okay?”

  She had no more time to talk. It seemed as if everything around her erupted in chaos. She was told they would have her out in a minute then warned that the heavy object on top of her was going to be moved.

  The pain as it was done left her breathless but she held on. She had to know for sure that Hayden was really there and that he really loved her. When she was free of the heavy weight, his was the first face she saw.

  He wiped the tears from her cheeks and leaned in to kiss her very lightly on her lips. His eyes shone bright but he wouldn’t pick her up and hold her—she couldn’t understand why.

  “Stay still, the paramedics are on their way.” Now she understood his reluctance to move her.

  “Tell me,” she insisted her voice barely a whisper.

  “I love you. I don’t deserve you, but I love you with all I am.”

  They were the words she had waited so long to hear. They seemed to set her free and hold her tight all at the same time.

  They were the last words she heard before the blackness overtook her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Hayden still couldn’t believe how lucky she had been and how lucky he was. A slight concussion and a badly broken leg had been the extent of her injuries when she was ripped from her trailer and blindsided by a huge billboard.

  The stubborn woman didn’t make a very good patient. Hayden secretly believed the doctor who treated her at the hospital was happy to see her go considering she had cussed him out more than once in her drug-induced stupor.

  The past two weeks had been hard on the both of them but it accomplished two very important things. He’d been forced to come to terms with his true feelings for the obnoxious woman he loved, body, heart and soul and she’d had no choice but to move in with him.

  Zane and Serena had found a house in town they loved and had spent the past few days moving. But by far, the most exciting thing was the fact that he’d gotten down on bended knee and proposed. Austin had been so happy she’d clobbered him with her bulky cast while trying to throw herself in his arms. He still had the bruise to prove it.

  “Hayden,” she called from the kitchen interrupting his thoughts. It was something she was good at, something that would take some getting used to.

  “Yeah, darlin’,” he answered as he made his way to her, her cast-covered foot resting on a pillow on a chair across from her.

  “Are you sure your dad doesn’t mind giving all three of us away? I know he seemed happy when I asked him but Serena and Honor did ask first.”

  “Austin, if you don’t want to have a triple wedding just say so. I’ll go with whatever you want. I just want it to be real soon.” He waggled his brows suggestively. Her cast had put a damper on their sex life but not much. It continued to amaze him how well they fit together, in every way possible.

  “No, I want to. I already feel close with your dad. I just don’t want to intrude.”

  “You’re not. We’re not, so let’s just do it
, okay?”

  “Okay,” she answered then moaned when he kissed her lips passionately. “I can’t wait until I’m your wife, Mr. O’Malley.”

  He nibbled her ear as his hand caressed the taut tip of her breast. “Neither can I my little Texas tornado.”

  * * * * *

  It was an improvement, she thought wryly. To go from Hellion to Texas tornado would have to do because it seemed like all she was going to get for now.

  When he licked her ear then whispered seductively in it, she felt her pussy spasm, soaking her panties.

  “When you are Mrs. O’Malley I’ll have you every night and every day and when you’re a naughty girl, I’ll paddle your ass just the way you like.”

  “Thanks for the warning, Hayden,” she chuckled. “Now let’s go. We’ve got a rehearsal to attend if we plan on getting married with the rest of the crew.”

  She smiled when he groaned as if not having her right then and there was going to kill him.

  “You big ole baby,” she taunted him as she struggled to the door on her crutches.

  The wedding rehearsal went off without a hitch. Austin enjoyed every minute of her time afterward visiting with her soon-to-be new family. Her mind was spinning with excitement at the knowledge that Hayden loved her. Becoming Mrs. Hayden O’Malley would be a dream come true.

  Later that night, Austin cursed her crutches as she struggled into one of Hayden’s threadbare T-shirts. It barely reached the top of her thighs thanks to her large breasts. The thin cotton fabric showed more than it covered but it didn’t matter. If she knew Hayden at all, she wouldn’t be wearing it for very long.

  By the time she finished, Austin was ready to throw the crutches across the room. The dull ache in her leg reminded her just how stupid that outburst would be.

  “You all right in there?” Hayden called from the bedroom.

  Austin opened the bathroom door, banging it against her crutch, almost tripping in the process. She swore a blue streak before finally looking up. Hayden was sitting on the bed in nothing but his boxer briefs, making tsking noises at her.