Hay and grain doled out, Seth closed the stall gate firmly and followed the voices he heard down the corridor, toward the small indoor riding ring. There, he found Sawyer and Court, arguing.
“I thought it would help!” Sawyer was insisting as Seth rounded the corner and his two younger brothers came into view.
“Oh, eat shit!” Court snapped.
Both men turned to look at him—one glaring, one laughing. “I couldn’t find a turtle this early in spring!” Sawyer called out, gesturing to a hay bale a few feet away. He’d swiped the set of longhorns from above the barn door and tied them to the bale, so that it looked like a rectangular green cow…with no legs. Seth took in the scene and was unable to suppress a sudden snort.
Sawyer turned back to Court. “You had so much trouble snaring that little mare. I thought you could use the practice. I think this is slow enough for you.”
Court spit at the bullshit bovine and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I ride ’em,” he countered. “I don’t rope ’em.” It was true. Court was better at bronc busting and bull riding than he’d ever been at roping. Sawyer needed a partner, though, for the rodeo, so Court played his part in their team-roping duo as best he could.
Sawyer laughed and slapped his thigh. “Are you talking about mares…or women?”
Court’s scowl up-ticked to a smile. “Both,” he said proudly. Also true. Court Barlow was a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy.
Sawyer turned to Seth and jerked his thumb at Court. “Our brother. The Rodeo Romeo. Last year, he—”
Court’s features pinched again. “No one wants to hear about the rodeo.”
Seth supposed they could thank Walker, at least partially, for Court’s perpetual foul mood. Seth himself didn’t begrudge Court for leaving home, or Sawyer for following him. Seth had missed them, sure, but those had been easier times, when Manny oversaw half a dozen ranch hands and the bunk house was full. They were all gone now, let go one by one as the proverbial belt was tightened. Dakota took some of the load off now that she was done with school and could work full time.
Seth suspected that Sawyer and Court had never returned before because Dad had been too proud to ask. They’d always promised to come home, when they were too old to compete. Seth had believed them.
But having to cut their careers short must have been hard. Maybe not much for Sawyer, who rarely talked about his own success. Unlike Court, Sawyer’s hat fit his own head, so to speak. Seth knew Court’s ego was a little bruised and he did feel a bit sorry for his little brother as he turned to walk away.
“You really should practice,” Sawyer declared, more somberly this time.
“Later,” Court muttered.
“Then let’s go out,” Sawyer decided, slinging an arm around Court. He looked at Seth. “Will you come? While the others are out making camp?”
Seth was a little tired for drinking and dancing, but what the hell, it had been a rough several weeks, and he could use a stiff drink and a flexible female to drag around the dance floor for a few turns. “All right,” he agreed.
The three of them headed out of the barn. Sawyer and Court were about to head into the bunkhouse, when the front door of the Big House burst open. Walker stomped outside with Austin hot on his heels.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” Walker said, his large steel-toed boots clomping across the wooden floor of the porch.
“We haven’t talked about it at all!” Austin replied.
Sawyer, Seth, and Court edged closer to the Big House to see what was going on.
“I wouldn’t take it out of the farm account!” Austin was shouting as the trio drew near.
If that was supposed to placate Walker, it had exactly the opposite effect. His features went from icy to molten in an instant. When he spoke, it was barely above a whisper. Seth had to strain to be sure he heard him right.
“Don’t say it.”
Seth didn’t know what they were fighting about, but he could tell that Austin had gone one step too far. But Austin either didn’t understand that the thin ice that he was treading on was about to give way under a sudden blast of heated rage, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way, he threw up his hands. “We have the money, Walker! And if you’d just let me take some and—”
“Don’t you dare!” Walker growled.
“Well, it’s not just yours, you know!” Austin shot back.
And that was the final straw, the red flag waved at the six-foot-six, 225-pound bull. “No one is touching that insurance money! Not even me!” Walker bellowed as he charged at Austin. He caught his twin brother around the waist, and they both flew off the steps of the front porch.
They landed with a crunch in the slush, neither of them pausing in their punches to even really notice they were getting soaked to the bone. Walker caught Austin with a crushing blow to the ribs. Austin, who was possibly more like his twin than he wanted to admit, was a vicious, capable fighter as well. He hit Walker in the jaw and sent him sprawling, at least enough to scramble to his feet. Both men circled each other now, swinging and retreating, bobbing and weaving as they traded blows like prizefighters.
They didn’t fight often. Seth could maybe count on one hand the times that things ever got more serious than the occasional shove or half-hearted punch. Mostly Walker and Austin just stayed away from each other if things got too heated.
Someone else shouted, and everyone turned to see Dakota racing from the round pen, new mare abandoned, in favor of breaking up the fisticuffs. She arrived at the group breathless and angry. She threw herself between Walker and Austin, mostly at Austin, eyeing his rapidly swelling lip. She glanced over her shoulder and glared at Walker. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Walker scowled at her.
Dakota was the only person who could yell at Walker that way and not get a fat lip out of the deal. He stared down at the two of them, hands clenching and unclenching into fists. Seth wasn’t sure what was bothering Walker more, the fact that he and Austin had come to blows over Dad’s insurance money for some reason, or that Dakota had apparently taken Austin’s side and was now pressed tightly against him, protecting the younger twin from the older.
Walker snorted and picked his hat up off the frozen ground, swiping it on his wet jeans. It seemed to be the theme for the day. “The two of you,” he growled while shaking his head, as though they were always together, somehow conspiring against him.
Seth didn’t understand it and wasn’t sure he wanted to.
Walker slammed his crushed hat down on his head and tweaked the brim for good measure as he shot Austin a cold, hard look. “No one’s touching that money.” Before anyone could respond, he turned and stormed back into the house.
Seth picked up Austin’s hat and handed it to him. “Do you want me to stay?” he offered. “I can make camp this week, if you’d rather not go.”
Austin practically ripped the hat from Seth’s hand, but Seth understood who he was really mad at. “Hell no. He’s not going to run me off just by being a bullheaded ass.”
Seth nodded. He supposed it wasn’t really a surprise. Snake River came first, before everything, even family feuds.
“Are you okay?” Dakota asked. She still hadn’t let go of him.
Austin grinned at her and chucked her under the chin. “I’m fine, darling. You know how he is.”
Dakota sighed and rolled her eyes.
Seth studied them both, thinking maybe he was seeing things through Walker’s eyes. Dakota and Austin were getting closer…at the same time that Austin and Walker were drifting apart, it seemed. It was something to think about, anyway. Something to keep an eye on.
Austin and Dakota headed into the Big House, leaving Sawyer, Court, and Seth all staring at each other.
“What the hell was all that?” Sawyer asked Seth. “What does Austin need money for?”
Seth shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m not sure I want to find out.”
“Just Walker,” Court muttered. “Throwing his weight around.”
“We don’t know that,” Seth reminded him.
Court glared at him. “I do.”
“Who cares?” said Sawyer, clapping his hands together. “Let’s shit, shower, shave, and see if you can do any better at rustling up a few of these local fillies. I’ll lend you a reata if you need one.”
Court smirked. “I’ve had all the local fillies.”
Sawyer shrugged. “They’re new ones,” he pointed out, “that weren’t legal yet when we left.”
Court considered it for a moment before his face broke into a wide grin. “Yeah, all right.” To Seth, he said, “Let’s be ready in thirty minutes. You can be our designated driver.”
Seth watched them head back to the bunkhouse, wondering when he’d become the chaperone. Was he really that old? But his aching legs and back told him, yes, he certainly wasn’t as young as he used to be. He turned to the front door to get himself ready as well for a night on the town.
Chapter Six
‡
Rowan took the highway into town early the next morning and crept quietly into her father’s hospital room so as not to wake him. It didn’t work, though, and he stirred on the bed, as though he somehow had sensed her presence. Or maybe he just wasn’t sleeping. Hospitals weren’t exactly the most relaxing vacation spots.