Page 3 of The Darkest Knight

CHAPTER ONE

Seth shot up from his bed, looking for the shooter.

He realized almost immediately it was just another bad dream. One of a long list of many he’d had over the last year. Sweat beaded his body and he grabbed the towel that he’d dropped on the floor after his shower last night, wiping away the moisture. He pushed out of bed, pulled on a clean pair of jeans and left his bedroom. He went straight to his laptop, opened the lid and turned it on. A pain shot through his bicep, an old wound that brought back painful memories of that fateful day in Syria when he’d not only been struck with shrapnel from the bomb, but he’d loss of three of his men, his brothers of honor, to a filthy terrorist.

The only reprieve was knowing that the bastard Torsev was dead, too, from one bullet to the head from Seth’s rifle.

Seth had thought he’d die too, even though he’d called for a “Dust off”. He woke up a day later in the hospital after the medivac helicopter and trained personnel saved his life.

What followed was an investigation into the bombing and where the failure had occurred. Later it was proven that Seth was innocent of the disaster in Syria, and he’d been given a medal of honor for taking down Torsev. He hadn’t felt much like a hero.

Free from his duties as a Ranger, he came home, but nothing felt or seemed the same. He had his fair share of demons that were resistant to any influence.

He stared at the computer screen, opened his emails and scrolled through the top five that were from his brothers, Declan and Victor. Family business needed handled and Seth hadn’t been as prompt as he should be. He’d excused himself from the millionaire elbow rubbing years ago, but they still kept him in the business loop for ‘just-in-case’ purposes. Making a mental note to Facetime them later, he flagged the emails and moved on.

The next email was from Reese Shane with the word URGENT written in the subject line. He growled and closed the lid to the laptop. He’d never met the woman, but she’d made herself known through a dozen phone calls and messages. Sure, he respected the fact that she was helping veterans who’d suffered head trauma, but he wasn’t the man to be her sidekick. The woman had even suggested that his sister, Angelina, had promised financial backing for the project. What kind of person uses a late woman’s name to earn sympathy? A con, that’s who.

He couldn’t count how many times he’d been asked for money. Hell, all his brothers were hit up for investment adventures, the newest gadgets and tools, or the next big thing.

Seth guessed this was the price for being a millionaire. A target for every inventor, scam artist, and greedy soul. Here lately, since he’d holed himself up at Landing Knight and had dropped off the face of the earth, he was left alone—except for this Shane chic who could easily be described as persistent. She could keep up the communication and he’d continue to ignore her. He wasn’t planning on coming out of hiding any time soon. He liked his privacy.

Even as a kid, Seth never enjoyed the spotlight. While most of his brothers decided to follow in the footsteps of their father and run the Knight Corporations, Seth had gone the opposite direction. He’d joined the Army Rangers. Military had been his life, his love, until…

And now here he was, sitting smack dab on a property worth millions, that was if he made the necessary renovations and set a plan into forward motion. He had twelve cabins, not including his, scattered on the prime location with a sinful view. He’d been hounded by his brothers to do something, anything, with the place. Even sell it. They saw things from a business perspective. He saw Landing Knight as his haven. No way in hell would he get rid of it. Yet he needed to start thinking long and hard on what he would do to make the place a working property again.

For now, he put his thoughts on the back-burner, went into the bathroom and flipped on the light. The modern space seemed out of place here in his hideaway, especially for someone who didn’t care about granite counters and an Italian tiled shower—or wherever the tiles were exported from. Angelina had wanted to surprise him and had redone the entire cabin, that once didn’t even have running water, making it look more like a luxurious getaway instead of a bachelor’s kickback. He appreciated her consideration, but he was a simple man and didn’t need much.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror above the sink, he squinted. As polished as his cabin was, it certainly wasn’t rubbing off on him. He’d sort of allowed things to get out of hand in regard to his appearance. He’d gone from a man who’d always worn his hair in a buzz cut to a shaggy mass that touched his collar. His beard was a bit too thick too. He reminded himself of a caveman.

He laughed and considered shaving.

A hundred shaves and haircuts wouldn’t change the scars on his body that were a constant reminder of the explosion and death.

His smile faded as a sharp, invisible blade struck him in the chest. He wouldn’t allow his mind to travel down the past, not right now.

Three beeps sounded from his laptop, alerting him that he had company. Back in the kitchen, he opened the lid, clicked on the camera icon and six view boxes popped up on the screen. He’d installed the security cameras at strategic locations on the property when he moved here. Some might see it as overkill, but he needed to know what was going on around him. The detectors sounded, warning him that the car had passed the halfway point onto the property. Many cars used his driveway to turn around because Landing Knight sat on a dead-end country road, but this wasn’t the case. This car—a cab to be more exact—continued on the narrow lane scattered with ‘no trespassing signs’. The vehicle parked in front of his cabin and he could see the driver—a white male, about two-hundred pounds, wearing a red baseball cap and a black shirt with a pocket.

Seth’s two-year-old Boxer growled and popped his ears up from his favorite spot in front of the fireplace. “Calm down, Spike. No need to bare your teeth yet, boy.” As if he understood, he relaxed his chin on his paws and snorted.

Seth wasn’t expecting anyone. Watching the different camera angles, the back door to the cab opened and a brunette stepped out. His curiosity spiked. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman visited him. He riddled his brain, filing through his memories. Did he know her?

Her hair was piled into a bun with tendrils of hair floating around her cheeks. He guessed she was about five-five and in her late twenties or early thirties, yet he’d never been good at estimating a woman’s age. The camera shot was too grainy for him to see the color of her eyes, but he got a good shot of her face. No, he didn’t recognize her.

She bent over to retrieve something from the backseat and, although a bit insolent of him, he took a leisure stroll over her slightly arched back to the full rounded curve of her bottom in the skinny jeans, down the long line of her legs all the way to the black flats. No, he still didn’t recognize her, and with a shape like hers, he had no doubt he’d recall if he’d met her.

A dog jumped out and she held the German Shepherd’s leash close. She must have given a command because without hesitation, the dog sat down at the woman’s feet and held its ears up in expectation.

She fumbled in her purse, or maybe it was an overnight bag. These days women believed size mattered in everything. The bag was large enough to carry a small arsenal of weapons. He couldn’t trust anyone.

She brought out a few bills and handed them over to the driver.

His curiosity piqued. What was she doing?

On occasion, he did know people who needed a place to recoup, or just wanted to get away for a bit, and they stayed in one of the cabins…the only one that was livable besides his. At times, he even had strangers showing up because his buddies had passed the word along that Seth welcomed veterans. But none of the visitors had ever looked this good, and most importantly, she didn’t seem the type to want to be stuck out in the boonies, especially with a tough, bearded man who had enough rough edges to piss anyone off. The guest cabin was far from luxurious. It did have a kitchen and bathroom, and sometimes that was all people needed.

She rounded the back of the cab and retrieved another bag. That solidified his earlier thought. She was here to grab a few nights in the cabin. He wasn’t sure he liked this much.

The soft knock sounded and he counted to ten before finally walking to the door. He fiddled through his mind, trying to form an excuse why she couldn’t stay. He could say the cabin wasn’t available. Wouldn’t work though. He couldn’t seem to come up with one plausible reason. And when he opened the door and she looked up, her eyes wide and her mouth open slightly, he believed maybe he wouldn’t need to come up with a reason for her to leave.

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