Corbin County was changing, and it had been changing for several years. But for all the changes that had occurred, it was still mired in the past and the wealth of the barons.
The barons were old now, though. Each man was nearing his seventies, and though they might yet have several years left in them, still their strength was waning, and with it, their power.
And they knew it.
She had seen it in Marshal Roberts’s eyes, that knowledge that he wasn’t the man he had been thirty-two years ago, and Corbin County wasn’t the county it was thirty-two years ago either.
If they had killed Rafer’s grandparents, parents, and uncle, and if they had been behind the deaths that had swept the county twenty-two years ago, then it wouldn’t happen as easily now. The mayor hadn’t been just a part of the military; he had been rather high-ranking as well. Such tactics, despite his ability to adopt them, didn’t seem to be his style.
They were still dangerous, though, and she believed that was part of the message Marshal Roberts had tried to get across to her that night.
Their power was waning, but it was by no means gone. They would still make very formidable enemies.
CHAPTER 14
The dress was rich black and gold velvet with silver thread trimming the scalloped bodice and emphasizing her full breasts.
The empire waist of the design gave her such a delicate, fragile appearance that Rafe wondered that he hadn’t managed to break her each time he’d fucked her as though he were dying for her.
The short, sassy cut of her hair framed her fine-boned face in a multitude of browns, the natural highlights almost fascinating to him each time he’d concentrated on them.
And her gray eyes. She watched the dancing with a sense of hunger, the slow, sensual sway of the bodies holding her attention as though she was imagining herself on the floor as well: What would it feel like? How would it be to be held against his body, to feel him moving against her?
At least, it damned well better be him she was fantasizing about. And how the hell was he supposed to ensure it when so much distance separated them? When the past and the whole of Corbin County stood between them?
What was he doing here? He should have never let Crowe and Logan convince him to accompany them here. What was Crowe doing even wanting to attend this crap? Hell, they’d even avoided it as teenagers, so why were they here now?
Had Crowe lost his mind as he’d matured? Perhaps taken a bullet to the head? Had he somehow lost his mind? Crowe was sure making some odd-assed decisions lately.
Attending the Spring Fling Social was just one of those decisions.
Everyone in Corbin County seemed to attend the more important socials, as City Hall liked to call them. Through the spring, summer, and early fall, every Saturday the county paid for either a band or DJ and the guests partied, sometimes until the next day’s dawn.
The bar facing the town square remained open even past last call, though alcohol wasn’t sold past a certain time. That didn’t mean many of the partygoers didn’t bring their own. The community center, also facing the square, remained open the full weekend. From Friday afternoon through Sunday evening teenagers as well as young children joined the weekend slumber parties.
If Rafe remembered correctly, the teenagers brought their own sleeping bags or pillows, supplies were donated for pizza making, chips and drinks were brought by the sponsors and chaperones. In holding the weekend events a place was provided to keep the kids off the streets and entertained through the summer months, keeping them from running wild.
It was a pretty cool little setup. And to give the county credit, there hadn’t been a single time that he and his cousins had been turned away when they were younger. Despite the fact that Clyde Ramsey used the weekend activity as a babysitter while he went to Aspen for what he called his adult fun.
Never had the Callahans been turned away from a weekend social or ostracized during one, unless it was their peers ostracizing them. Which it usally was.
And that was enough for the cousins. As soon as they were old enough, Rafe, Logan, and Crowe had begun camping out on the weekends Clyde was gone. He hadn’t totally trusted any of them.
Not that the cousins had ever stolen a damned thing in their lives. They hadn’t. And they hadn’t been able to find a single time when anyone had been certain their fathers had stolen anything. It was all supposition and suspicion.
The cousins might not have been ostracized from the socials as teenagers, but as adults it was another story. Standing together in their dress blacks, combed and polished, they were well aware of the looks they were receiving and from which direction.
The citizens of the county who had been there when the Callahan cousins were growing up watched them suspiciously while the new residents, those who had come in since, watched them curiously. And more of the single women than not at least glanced their way in appreciation.
There had been a time Rafe and his cousins would have shown this county exactly how their fathers had managed to catch and marry the boys’ mothers, heiresses though they were. There were several Corbin County moneyed daughters as well as a few he recognized from the social pages from Denver, Grand Junction, and Aspen. And if he wasn’t mistaken— He allowed his lips quirk into a grin as one of those moneyed daughters arched her brow in invitation.
At any other time he would have taken her up on the silent invitation, especially here, in front of every bastard who had ever turned his nose up at a Callahan.
But then Cami had happened.
He was damned if he would mess up a chance to experience the pleasure he found in the sleek, hot depths of the sweetest pussy he’d ever known. And he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, if he so much as considered taking another woman to his bed, then he would never so much as glimpse Cami’s bed again.
Rafe’s gaze slid to her once again, watched as she stood talking to one of the other teachers at the elementary school where she taught.
The bouncy little redhead was full of vivacious laughter, and her gaze kept straying to him, then back to Cami. As though she knew more than she had seen the night before. More than Martin Eisner had told.
Though, honestly, Eisner hadn’t told near as much as Rafe had expected him to. For a damned gossip, he’d been amazingly reticent so far.
“Tell me why we’re here again?” Logan muttered behind Rafe, just loud enough to reach both his and Crowe’s ears.
Logan wasn’t happy to be here either, evidently. But, just as he had done when they were younger, Crowe had all but forced them out of the house and into town.
“Because we’re not hiding anymore,” Crowe answered firmly, not bothering to lower his tone any more than necessary. He wasn’t trying to keep anyone from hearing him, but neither was he trying to tell everyone around them either.
“I wasn’t aware we were hiding before,” Rafe snorted. “Simply uninterested. I’m still not interested.”
And that was a lie of major proportions. The more he watched Cami, the more interested he became in the Sweetrock Saturday night social. He could see where and why the event could come in handy. At least he had a legitimate excuse for being in the same vicinity she was in. If he had his way, he’d have a hell of an excuse for holding her in his arms and staking a silent, though very clear claim on the woman he was considered his own. That sense of possession was growing stronger by the day.
“Well, I am,” Crowe drawled. “If you two want to leave, then find your own ride. Personally, I intend to have
