His arms contracted around her. She settled into his big body, letting his warmth envelop her. The ripples of heat, the pulse of the pull between them, the way it felt right to sit in his arms resonated through her.
“I can’t get much closer to you,” she teased, trying to keep things light as nerves sent butterflies fluttering in her belly.
“You could.” He slid his hand up her thigh and squeezed her hip. A deep groan rumbled in his chest. “It’s never been easy for me to get to know people, especially women. Ford and Colt say I spend too much time alone on the ranch working. They’re probably right.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them you said so.” She loved the way the brothers teased one another. All in good fun. Rory had forgone a lot of the social aspects of life to fulfill his obligation to family and business. He knew what was important.
“Please don’t. I’ll never live it down.” He kissed her on the side of the head. “What I’m trying to say is that everything seems easy with you.”
She laughed under her breath. “You think finding me the way you did, staying up all night at the hospital, losing your cattle, what that means to your business and family, and my brother a sore spot between us is easy? If so, then the rest of our lives should be a piece of cake.” She heard her words echo in her ears and backtracked. “What I meant was . . .”
He squeezed her thigh again. “Relax. I know what you mean. All that stuff is hard, but when it’s just you and me”—he hugged her close—“like this, it’s simple.”
Someone hammered something heavy against metal outside. Rory stiffened against her. She tried not to think the worst, but had to face reality.
“Trouble just came home.”
“Your brother?”
“Probably. It’s coming from the barn.”
“Stay here.” Rory stood, pushing her off his lap and gently setting her away from him. “Is your brother armed?”
“With stupidity.” She remembered the last time she saw him. “And yes, he had a handgun the last time he came home. I don’t know where he got it. I’ll be surprised if he hasn’t shot himself in the foot yet.”
That made him smile. He headed for the door, but she grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“I’m going with you. He’ll listen to me.”
Rory pressed his lips together and one eyebrow shot up. He eyed her, not believing a word she said. “Yeah, right.”
“Rory, please, he’s my brother.”
He peeled her fingers from the grasp she held on his shirt. “I don’t want you to get hurt again. If he brought his friends with him . . .”
“You’ll be outnumbered.”
“Trust me, sweetheart, that won’t be a problem.”
His assurance didn’t help. Neither did the sheer size of him. All those muscles were impressive when combined with his height, but all she saw in her mind was that knife Derek liked to use. Her mind conjured one nightmare after the next, all of them filled with images of that knife plunging into Rory’s chest.
Sadie let loose Rory’s shirt and went to the cabinet near the front door. She opened the door and pulled out the rifle she’d cleaned, loaded, and tucked away just in case something like this happened.
“What are you doing with that?”
“Protecting what’s mine.”
Rory eyed her. “I am going out there.”
“I’m not stopping you, but I’m not going out there without this gun. If Derek is with my brother, I’m not letting him get a piece of me. Or you.”
“Do you know how to use that thing?”
“Yes. I do. Very well.”
The banging stopped. The ensuing quiet turned to an eerie silence that thickened the tension between her and Rory.
“Let me go in first. If it’s just your brother, we’ll talk to him, see if we can get him to turn himself in.” Rory pulled out his cell phone, scrolled through his contact list, and hit dial.
“Who are you calling?”
“Deputy Foster—”
“Mark? You’re calling the cops.” She shook her head and pinched back one side of her mouth in a half frown that didn’t even faze him.
“It’s Rory Kendrick. I’m at the Higgins place. Connor and maybe some of his friends are out in the barn. I’ll try to detain him until you get here,” Rory told Mark.
Sadie sighed, opened the front door, and walked away from Rory. He had every right to call the deputy sheriff and let him know her brother was here, but she didn’t have to like it. She wanted to protect the little boy she held on to in her mind, but she knew she could no longer help the man who’d chosen a life that led to nothing but ruin. Connor needed to face reality. If she could get him to see reason and turn himself in to Mark, he might have a decent shot at making a deal to turn Derek over to the authorities. After all, Derek was the one forcing her brother to cook meth and sell it.