Love and Light Read online

  

  Slick Rock 25

  Love and Light

  Talia Maxine is waylaid when two masked men accost her, knock her out, and kidnap her after working late one night at a restaurant in Denver, Colorado.

  She’s beaten to within an inch of her life and left for dead.

  Jay, Jarrett, and Jebediah Sonny, part owners of the Triple L Ranch find Talia beaten just outside the of the ranch. Even though Talia’s face is swollen and bruised, they can’t deny the attraction they feel toward the hurt woman.

  When Talia’s released from hospital the Sonny brothers take her to their home so she can recuperate.

  The attraction between Talia and the three men is off-the-charts hot, but she tries to resist them. However, her fascination with the men is too strong to ignore for long and she agrees to a relationship.

  Danger comes after Talia again and she’s abducted but since her men don’t know she’s even missing, this time she doesn’t think she’s going to survive.

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense

  Length: 68,806

  LOVE AND LIGHT

  Slick Rock 25

  Becca Van

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Love and Light

  Copyright © 2019 by Becca Van

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-961-8

  First Publication: August 2019

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to all my loyal readers. I love getting emails from you and reading the suggestions you make.

  Thank you for all your kind words and your encouragement.

  Love Becca Van. xxoo

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  My name is Becca Van. I live in Australia with my wonderful hubby of many years, as well as my two children.

  I read my first romance, which I found in the school library, at the age of thirteen and haven’t stopped reading them since. It is so wonderful to know that love is still alive and strong when there seems to be so much conflict in the world.

  I dreamed of writing my own book one day but, unfortunately, didn’t follow my dream for many years. But once I started I knew writing was what I wanted to continue doing.

  I love to escape from the world and curl up with a good romance, to see how the characters unfold and conflict is dealt with. I have read many books and love all facets of the romance genre, from historical to erotic romance. I am a sucker for a happy ending.

  For all titles by Becca Van, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/becca-van

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  LOVE AND LIGHT

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  LOVE AND LIGHT

  Slick Rock 25

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2019

  Prologue

  “What time is she supposed to finish?” Hank turned to gaze at Gilbert.

  “Around eleven I think, but it usually takes a couple of hours for her and the staff to clean and finish up.” Gilbert rubbed his chin.

  “How are we going to do this without getting caught?” Hank asked.

  Gilbert sighed and scowled at him. “Use your fucking brains, soldier. I swear I don’t know how the hell you survived against the enemy.”

  “Fuck you, asshole,” Hank snapped.

  “Back at ya, motherfucker,” Gilbert snarled. Gil was having a hard time controlling his temper and his frustration. The men they’d fought alongside of were all dead, and if he and his comrade didn’t find that fucking information and get it back, they may as well put a gun to their heads and pull the trigger. He and Hank had been following the bitch for over a week, and now it was time to make their move.

  They’d searched the apartment the cunt had shared with her dead brother, looking for something that could have the file about him and Hank on it, but so far nada. They’d ransacked the place and had even stolen her laptop and all the thumb drives, but there was nothing on the USBs but photos and other useless shit.

  He kind of felt bad for Talia Maxine since she was an innocent party in all this, but he wasn’t going to let his compassion ruin his whole life.

  If only Talia’s brother, Callen, hadn’t happened upon him and Hank when they’d been making a deal to sell firearms with one of the villagers, who also happened to be one of the insurgents they’d been supposedly hunting down.

  Gil hadn’t hesitated to shoot Callen. His aim had been a little off and he’d missed the assholes heart. Hank had finished him off with a bullet to the head. Though he and Hank had come up with a story about the enemy creeping up on them from behind, he wasn’t sure the rest of the guys had believed them. Thankfully, Hank and he had had time to get their stories straight before being interrogated from the brass.

  He’d felt remorseful for taking a fellow soldier’s life, but that remorse had quickly changed to panic after he’d offered to pack up Callen’s stuff. He’d found the bastard’s phone, and although reception had been sporadic the fucker had managed to send a text message to his sister telling her he was sending her a gift. It hadn’t taken a genius to figure out that he was sending his sister highly classified information. Further investigation on Gil’s part and he’d started sweating bullets.

  Callen Maxine had to have been there to watch him and Hank. What worried the shit out of Gil was whether or not the bastard had been following them before the night he and Hank had been caught.

  He’d been on pins and needles the rest of the tour, waiting for the brass and or the MPs to come and arrest him and his friend. Luckily, that hadn’t happened, and now that he and Hank were retired from the army, as of two weeks ago, they’d spent the first week traveling and the second searching for the files he was sure Maxine had sent to his sister.

  So far they’d had no luck, and the only way he and Hank were going to get their hands on any incriminating evidence was to get to the sister.

  Gil looked at his watch, then gazed toward the restaurant where Maxine’s sister worked as the manager. He was wishing that she was going to be the last person to leave like she had for the other nights he and Hank had staked out the joint.

  When he saw the kitchen staff exiting the f
ront entrance and heading toward their vehicles, he sat up straighter. There was no need to worry about him and Hank being seen since he’d parked his truck in the back of the parking lot away from any lights, and from what he could tell, there wasn’t any security or CCTV cameras around either.

  One by one the lights inside the restaurant were turned off. Gil tugged the cover of the trucks interior light off and pulled the small bulb out. After another glance around to make sure all the other staff were gone, he nodded to Hank and got out of his vehicle.

  There was a lone car left in the lot, and it was right near the edge of the asphalt with trees conveniently planted along the rim. He and Hank hurried their way over toward the trees and hid behind the thick trunks, waiting to make their move.

  Though he wasn’t looking forward to the next few or so hours, Gil couldn’t afford to let his feelings get in the way.

  His and Hank’s lives depended on them getting back the files Maxine had to have posted to his sister.

  There was no fucking way he was going to spend the rest of his life behind bars for treason.

  * * * *

  Talia was so exhausted she could barely walk straight. The last few months had been the hardest of her entire life. While she’d been devastated over her parents’ death eight years ago, being informed that her brother, Callen, had been shot and killed had almost broken her. Callen had been ten years older than her, and he’d become her parent as well as being her big brother, and now he was gone, too. The grief had never left, but unless she was working so her mind didn’t wander, the pain of her brother’s loss was so bad it almost brought her to her knees. The only reprieve she got from the agony of mourning was when she was busy at work.

  She hated going back home to the apartment she’d shared with Callen because she always expected him to walk through the door, calling out to her and greeting her with his beautiful smile.

  Talia swiped at her face angrily, ridding the tears from her cheeks as she turned the last light off. After exiting the restaurant and locking the front door, she wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to ward the chill off. Not that it was cold, because it wasn’t, but right now she was so tired her body was aching and she felt chilled to the bone.

  After glancing about the parking lot to see that everyone else had already gone, she began walking toward her car. When the hair on her nape stood on end, she stopped and gazed about but put her nervousness down to the late hour as well as the dark shadows of the night.

  Ever since she’d been told that Callen had died and that she was all alone, with no other family, she’d become afraid. She hated being the last one out of the restaurant, but she hated being alone more so.

  Talia clutched at the necklace around her neck. Callan had sent her the heart-shaped locket as a gift for her birthday a couple of days before he’d been killed. The second she’d put it on she’d vowed to herself to never take it off again. However, she would if she was worried about losing it. The sentimental value of the gift was priceless and she’d be devastated if she ever lost it. She’d tried opening the heart time after time but hadn’t been able to get the clasp to release. She loved the jewelry piece but wished she could open it to see what was inside. She had a feeling that her brother had placed a photo of him and her in the heart, or maybe one of him and a picture of their parents on the other side.

  She’d thought about going to a jeweler to get them to open the stuck clasp, but so far she hadn’t found the time or the inclination.

  A shiver of trepidation raced up her spine when she remembered calling the police just a week ago after walking into her home and finding the place ransacked. Nothing of value had been taken. At least what she considered valuable. Her laptop, the TV, and the stereo had been stolen, but she and Callen had had insurance to cover the items. What had gutted her was that all her thumb drives had been stolen, too. They’d had a load of pictures on them, and while she’d always backed things up on an internet cloud, she wasn’t sure that all the photos had been saved. She didn’t understand why someone would want to steal something that was only precious to her. All those pictures and memories gone, but not lost. Her brother and her parents would always be in her heart no matter where she was.

  She’d just been glad that she kept the necklace around her neck and close to her heart because she wasn’t sure she’d have been able to cope with the theft of the locket, or if any of the printed photos of her, her brother, and her parents had been stolen or destroyed.

  Talia’s footsteps echoed across the hard ground as she hurried toward her car, keys in hand. She unlocked it when she was close enough for the remote fob to work, and just as she opened the driver’s door, she heard a sound behind her.

  She spun around and gasped when she was confronted with two masked men dressed in dark clothes. Before she could dive into her car or run from them, one of the men grasped her upper arm in a hard grip.

  “Where is it, bitch?” he asked in a raspy voice as if he was trying to disguise it.

  She shook her head as she tried to pull her arm from his grip. When he tightened his hold on her, she cried out. “Let me go. Please? I have a hundred dollars on me. It’s yours, but please just let me go.”

  “He sent you something,” the other man said. “We want it back.”

  “I don’t know what or who you’re talking about,” Talia cried. Her heart was thundering hard and fast in her chest. Her legs were trembling with fear, and her knees were threatening to give out.

  She moaned when the guy holding her slapped her across the face with his gloved hand. The leather covering his palm and fingers didn’t do anything to alleviate the searing pain of being hit in the cheek. Tears welled and rolled down her face. She was scared, but she was also angry.

  The guy grasped her other arm and shook her so hard she was sure she was going to end up with whiplash. No matter how hard she tried to keep her head from wobbling on her neck, it didn’t work. He was too big and strong, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt her without a fight.

  She kicked out at his shin, almost laughing hysterically when he grunted in pain. Just as she was about to bring her knee up hard between his legs, the other man moved in behind her, wrapped his arms around her arms and waist, pinning her limbs to her sides.

  The other guy with the raspy voice held her face, digging his fingers into the joints of her jaw. They were big men but not quite as big as Callen had been.

  “Your brother sent you a package,” Raspy Voice said. “Where the fuck is it?”

  She tried to shake her head again, but he was holding her too tightly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said as best she could through clenched teeth.

  “This’ll go a lot easier for you if you just tell us where it is,” the guy behind her said as he squeezed her harder. Talia tried to gasp in a lungful of air as she felt her ribs move and wondered if he was going to break them.

  “Stop fucking lying to me,” Raspy Voice said angrily. “We know you have it. If you don’t tell us where it is or hand it over, you’ll be sorry.”

  Talia was shaking so badly now she was visibly trembling, but she’d been honest when she’d said she didn’t know what he was going on about. Callen hadn’t sent her any package. However, even if she did give them what they wanted, she wouldn’t have any bargaining tool. They’d probably kill her and dump her body somewhere.

  She didn’t see the fist coming toward her face until it was far too late. The blow was so hard she saw stars, and while she tried to remain on her feet, her legs buckled. If the guy behind her hadn’t been holding her, she would have fallen to the ground.

  “You’ll tell me what I want to know before the night is over. If you don’t start talking, I’ll put a gun to your head and pull the trigger.”

  Those were the last words Talia heard before she passed out.

  Chapter One

  “It’s really fucking hot today.” Jay Sonny sighed, took his hat off, and swiped his forehead with his arm to
stop the sweat from dripping into his eyes.

  “It sure as fuck is,” one of his younger brothers, Jarrett, said.

  “I’m just happy we’ve got our own place now,” Jebediah, Jay’s other brother and the youngest of the three of them, said. “I’m so fucking glad we don’t have to try and sleep in that hot as hell bunkhouse in this weather.”

  “You and me both bro.” Jay grinned. He still couldn’t believe that Brent, Hes, and Rig Lyndon, who were also their cousins on their mother’s side, had let him and his brothers buy into the ranch, pick out a spot, and build on their land. It was so peaceful here in Slick Rock, Colorado, after spending years doing tours as Marines and fighting for their country.

  “Did any of you plan anything for dinner tonight?” Jarrett asked.

  “Who the fuck has the time?” Jeb grinned as he shook his head.

  “I was thinking that maybe we should head into the diner for dinner. The food there is amazing, and the owners are so sweet.” Jarrett smiled.

  “Don’t let their men hear you talking like that,” Jay said. “They’re likely to clean your clock for you.”

  Jeb chuckled. “Yeah, those men are so protective they’d hit first and ask questions later.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Jarrett said. “I like how alert and protective all the men in this town and the surrounding county are.”

  Jay nodded his agreement and sighed again. He was content, but there was still something missing from his and his brothers’ lives. He wished that they’d found a woman they could have a relationship with, too, but so far they hadn’t found anyone. While he was glad that they had their own place which had just been finished being built, their home felt so damn empty.

  Pushing his thoughts aside he nudged his horse into a walk, his brothers following on their own mounts. While it was only mid-spring, it was unusually hot, and he had a feeling they were going to be in for a long hot summer. After fighting in the Middle East, he hated the heat, but at least they hadn’t picked up stakes and moved to Texas. At least here the hot spells were easier to take, and there was usually a cool change to ease the heat away before the next hot spell.