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Stone Cold Cowboy(14)

By:Jennifer Ryan


“No way she can come up with the cash for the herd. Fuck. Those were some prime beef cattle.” Colt might be the youngest and the most reckless of them, but he understood that he was just as responsible for the success of the ranch as any of them. Oh, he’d skipped out on work plenty of times, but when he was really needed and the chips were down, Colt came through.

“Since when did you two start keeping tabs on Sadie’s family?” The last thing Rory wanted to find out was that either one of them was dating her, or had in the past. They were brothers. There was an unwritten, unspoken code to follow. Why Rory was even thinking about dating her, he didn’t know. Nothing had changed. Based on the few times they’d run into each other, she had no interest in him.

“If you spent any amount of time off the ranch, you’d know all this,” Ford scolded. “Everyone in town knows that everything at the Higgins place went to shit when Sadie’s mother died. She’s been mother, maid, and caretaker of her brother and father since she was sixteen.”

“She missed all the fun in high school,” Colt added. “She kept her head in her books, after-school work at the diner and gas station, and tending to her daddy’s ranch the best she could. Guys would hit on her in school, ask her to bonfires and dances, but she never accepted.”

“Ah, little brother, is there a woman out there who actually turned you down?” Ford teased Colt.

“She was damn pretty then, even more beautiful now.” His eyes held a gleam of sadness when he glanced at her and took in all her injuries. “I never asked her out, but I wanted to. She doesn’t smile very much. I always thought she needed a break.”

Rory understood exactly what Colt meant. Sadie had been running hard her whole life just to keep up, but no matter how hard she ran, she just kept falling behind, her brother putting one obstacle after another in her path, keeping her from getting ahead.

“Her daddy used to run some pretty nice horses,” Colt went on. “The ones I saw today are the last of his stock. Looks like she’s sold them off over the years.”

“Yeah, to pay off her brother’s debts.”

“I wouldn’t mind having a few of those horses to breed,” Colt said. “Her place is falling into disrepair. Looks like her father’s health is declining fast.”

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Rory asked.

“I didn’t ask. He didn’t say.”

Sadie began to stir in the bed. Whether disturbed by their voices or another nightmare, she flinched and shook.

“What’s wrong with her?” Colt asked.

“Bell said she’d probably do this off and on through the night due to the trauma she suffered.” Rory slid his fingers up her arm and down, trying to soothe her.

“Rory,” she whispered, tensing under his hand. “Dev-vil,” she mumbled.

Ford and Colt both turned to him. Colt busted out laughing. “She thinks you’re the devil, man.” He tipped his head. “You two know each other? Did you actually leave your monastery and we don’t know about it, monk?”

Rory hated that nickname. The glare he sent his brothers only made them smile more. “I don’t know her.”

“In the biblical sense,” Colt prodded. He never knew when to quit.

Rory leaned forward in his chair and bit out, “You want to live, you’ll shut the fuck up.”

Ford planted his hand on Colt’s chest to stop him from sputtering another smart-ass remark. “Let it go, little brother, or you’ll be laid out on the floor.”

“Rory. Devil,” Sadie muttered again. “Get him.” She thrashed about in the bed.

Rory stood and pressed lightly on her shoulders to hold her down so she didn’t hurt herself more. “Shh. You’re okay.” He gently ran his fingers down her hair again and again. “Shh.” She settled back into a deep sleep and his fisted gut let loose again, but the band around his chest remained tight. He didn’t understand why she called his name and thought him some kind of devil. He’d helped her. He’d never done anything to her. So why did she fear him this way?

“Hey, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. The way you looked when I got to the two of you. I can’t imagine what you saw and felt seeing her strung up like that.” Colt hung his head and shook it. “I see you want to—”

“Doesn’t matter what I want,” Rory cut him off. “I found her. I’ll see she gets home safe. That’s all there is to this.”

Ford laid a hand on Rory’s shoulder. “If there’s more—”