Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(29)

Letting out a frustrated breath, she muttered, “Well, one thing I can say. Depression has taken a back seat to confusion.”

She gathered up her blanket and phone and got underway to the little bed-and-breakfast. The knots in her shoulders told her that her lame attempt at wanderlust had been a bust.



* * * *



Vincent tossed his sunglasses and keys on the table by the door, frustration burning his gut as James followed him in the front door, helping him carry in groceries. He’d had hell keeping his mind occupied during his day off, and the news James had just given him did nothing to improve his mood.

He dropped the bag of dog food by the back door and set the bag containing the produce down on the counter a little harder than necessary. “Damn it. So much for fixing steaks and inviting her over.”

James sighed, took the bag from him, and looked inside. “You trying to make spaghetti sauce out of those tomatoes? What’d they ever do to you? She needed time alone to think, Vince. It happens. If you have any hope of being in a relationship with her, coming to terms with that and reining in these impulses isn’t optional. Give her a little time and space.”

James had always been the soft touch in their family. He seemed to understand Leah’s moods best of all of them…even when Patterson was still around. That thought led to another and he rounded on his brother. “You’ve talked to her since then, haven’t you?”

James began removing items from the bags and putting them in the cabinets and the refrigerator. “Not the way you’re thinking. She phoned me this morning while I was on a dispatch call and left a message on voice mail. That’s how I knew her plans. I called and left a reply message for her since she’s not in a good cell coverage area.”

“Figures she’d call you.”

James rounded on him with the package of fresh steaks in his hand. “Maybe if you weren’t so damned bossy she’d have called you, too. Did you ever think of that?” He let out a long breath and then added. “She just needs space, Vince. You keep pushing and you’re liable to push her away. You manage to do that and you’re going to have a problem with me as well.”

Vincent’s response was a deep growl as he slung the forty-pound bag of dog food on his shoulder and stomped out onto the back porch. He ripped the top tab off the bag and dumped it in the sealed container they kept the dog’s food in and then hollered, “Blue!”

A distance bark sounded from the barn and then he heard the sound of Blue making double time as he scooped out food into his big bowl for him. Blue’s loping steps vibrated on the floorboards seconds before he crashed into Vincent.

“Thought you’d have to go hunting, didn’t you, buddy?” Vincent asked as he gave Blue’s head a vigorous rub. Blue wiggled back and forth from head to toe as he gave him a good thorough back scratch and then he let him alone so he could eat.

Blue woofed happily and started in on his bowl. The dog had too many breeds mixed in him to be certain but seemed to have quite a bit of Labrador and mastiff in him, with a bit of bloodhound mixed in, for good measure. Whatever he was, he’d adopted them as a stray puppy the year before and at well over one hundred pounds, he was rapidly eating them out of house and home.

He looked out over the large backyard that sloped gradually to the river. He knew there was something to what James was telling him but it didn’t make the absence or the distance any easier to bear. He wanted her there. In their home. End of story.

James came out and dumped charcoal into the grill and lit it to heat for the steaks. “You okay?”

He jumped when cold hit his shoulder and saw the ice-cold bottle of beer, dripping with condensation that James held out to him before taking a seat in the porch swing. He took a deep drink and sighed as it created a cold path down his throat.

“Yeah. Just disappointed.”

“I know.”

He stared at the deep-gold-colored liquid in the bottle and murmured, “This isn’t some little thing going on the last few months that I’m ready to have resolved. It’s been nearly three years. I’m ready to be thrown a fucking bone already.”

James’s deep sigh drew his eyes and he knew he stuck his foot in his mouth yet again. “That’s what thinking with your dick will do for you, asshole. If that’s all you want, then I guess you got your bone last night. I want the whole feast.”

“You know that I wasn’t just talking about sex,” Vincent ground out.

“I know. It’s just easier for you to communicate on that level, like a fucking caveman.”

Vincent gave him a single-finger salute and both men chuckled. Vincent said, “I love her just as much as you do.”