Captured by Cowboys (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 1)

“But…?”

“You know, darling. You know.”

Her lower lip quivered violently, but only a single tear fell from her right eye. “I do know. I don’t want to wait, Emmett, but I will for you. You’ll see I’m right about this. I know what love is. I’m in love with you and with Cody and Bryant. There is no way in the world any other man has my heart. You’ll see.” He could hear the doubt in her voice.

He stood up, came around the table, and put his arms around her. “God, I hope so, love. I really do.”

She tilted her head up until their eyes locked together. “Whatever news we get, cowboy, we will stay together. I am a full-grown woman. I know what I want, and that’s you and your brothers. No one is taking that away from me.”

God, who would’ve known such a tiny thing as her would have so much strength inside her? How could someone so wonderful not be attached? He recalled what had happened right before he’d given in to his own desires and taken her into the playroom. She’d been having a nightmare. Fully conscious, she couldn’t remember anything about the bad dream. Perhaps there was an asshole in her past, be it a boyfriend, fiancé, or husband. If so, whoever he was better not show his face in Destiny. If the prick did, he vowed to pound the guy into a pile of dust.

Chapter Twelve

Amber’s thoughts were heavy with dread. Though she would rather stay on the mountain in the cabin for the rest of her life, she knew she couldn’t. Her past was waiting for her in Destiny.

She was fine with Emmett helping her onto his horse. They’d all agreed to the plan last night around the kitchen table. He would ride in the saddle behind her. Bryant and Cody would head to town on their own horses. She looked at the three Stone brothers, each looking like they belonged in another place and time. They weren’t dime-store cowboys by any means. From their hats to their boots to the guns in the belts around their waists, they were authentic through and through, and each of them, in their own way, had captured all of her heart.

The news the twins had returned to the cabin with had put her in a kind of walking coma. She could hear them, see them, respond to them, but her mind was far away, adrift by the wall that held her memories from her.

After they’d put away the groceries last night, all three of them had tucked her into bed. Few words were spoken by any of them, but her cowboys’ eyes voiced much more than their lips did. They shared a crushing apprehension that she also felt inside herself.

The officer in Chicago had e-mailed a photo to the office in Destiny. Cody and Bryant had reluctantly admitted she was a dead ringer for the woman in the picture. Sheriff Wolfe had printed off a paper copy of the image for them to bring to the cabin. For hours, she’d looked from the photo to her reflection in the bathroom mirror. With each glance, her doubt vanished, as did her hope for the future she’d dreamed of since coming to her cowboys’ cabin.

It wasn’t the photo that took away the future she longed for. It was the details in the report it was attached to, the details that gave the facts about her past life.

None of them had called her by her now-known name, Kathy White, but they also hadn’t called her Amber since they’d read the report and seen the picture. Chicago was her home, not this cabin. But of all the facts she’d read about herself, only one continued to swirl in her head again and again.

“Ready, sweetheart?” Emmett said behind her.

She nodded, too afraid to speak aloud. I’m married.

* * * *

Cody left his steed’s back for the ground. Less than ten words had been uttered between the four of them. Without a doubt, the heavy gloom hanging over him also was hanging over Emmett, Bryant, and Amber, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. But he was no longer certain he would have such a future.

Ever since leaving Jason’s office yesterday morning, his heart had been shredded into a scrap pile of loss and pain. His faith had crumbled into ashes the moment he’d gazed at the photo sent from the officer in Chicago. Either she had a twin or the woman in the picture was Amber, which meant she was married. Though he’d tried his best, he’d failed to stretch his imagination to the possibility she had her own duplicate, just like he did in Bryant.

“It’s down here, Amber. There is no way you were in the van when it went over the side. You wouldn’t have lived through that. I suspect it was pushed off when the rocks fell.” He wanted to get closer to the van he and Bryant had passed twice, once on the way down to town and just last night on the way up to the cabin. It had to be Amber’s, and he wanted to get inside it.

“I want to look, too,” she said.

“All right, but stay next to us.” Emmett dismounted and helped the woman of all their dreams to the ground.

Her tiny fingers pulled up the jeans she was wearing which were too big for her tiny feminine body. Damn, he and Bryant should’ve thought to get her some clothes while they were in town, but the news they’d learned from the report had sent them into a total tailspin.

She walked between Emmett and Bryant to the drop-off. They each held one of her arms. Like him, they would do anything to keep her safe. Whatever length he and his brothers needed to go to ensure she was protected from harm, they would do it.

She leaned over the edge slightly. “I see it. That’s a long way down, guys.”

Cody agreed. “I’m going to climb down and get whatever belongs to you and bring it back up.”

“No way,” she said. “You’re coming with us to Destiny. That’s what we all agreed to.”

Her mettle was just one of the things he loved about her. “I don’t remember me making that commitment, sweetheart. You head to town with my brothers. I’ll join you shortly.”

“Are you sure about this, bro?” his twin asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m the best climber of the three of us and you know it. You might’ve been the calm one when Emmett broke his legs but I was the one who was able to climb down and get him.”