The Cowboy's Way(33)

T.J. laughed. “I can’t say I blame Sam for not wanting to hang around for the hairstyling. And as protective as Ryder is, I’m surprised he hasn’t covered both Summer and the baby in bubble wrap.”

Grinning, Lane nodded. “Can you imagine what Ryder will eventually put some poor, pimple-faced boy through when the kid comes around trying to date Katie?”

“What do you want to bet Ryder makes sure he’s cleaning one of his guns when the kid comes to pick her up?” T.J. asked, feeling sorry for whoever dared to ask out his niece.

“Yeah, he’ll intimidate the stuffing out of the kid,” Lane agreed.

“But you’ll have to admit, the boy will think twice before trying anything out of line with Katie,” T.J. added. “By the way, have you talked to Jaron since Mariah made her announcement Christmas night?” he asked, knowing their brother hadn’t been happy to hear the news that she was seeing someone.

“When I called to ask him to join us tonight, I tried to talk to him about it.” Lane shrugged. “He told me to mind my own business and said he had something else he had to do.”

T.J. nodded. “You know how he is. He’s not much on talking about his troubles. He tends to brood about things that are bothering him more than the rest of us do.”

“Yeah,” Lane agreed. “But until he’s ready, it doesn’t do any good to try to draw him out.”

“Nope.” T.J. took a long draw of his beer. “Jaron knows where to find us when he’s ready to talk.”

“There’s Sam and Ryder,” Lane said, pointing toward the bar’s front door.

As T.J. watched his brothers make their way to the booth, he slid to the far side for one of them to sit down. When Sam and Ryder joined them, T.J. asked, “What about Nate? Is he going to be here?”

Lane shrugged. “He said he was heading to Waco this evening.”

“He really needs to marry that girl and get it over with.” Ryder was only saying what they were all thinking.

“He told me the other night that they broke up again,” T.J. commented. “Right before he tried to give me advice on women.”

They all laughed.

“And who was he trying to give you advice about?” Sam asked. “The only woman I know of that you’ve been seeing on a semi-regular basis is that neighbor of yours with the stallion.”

T.J. almost choked on his beer. He knew that if his brothers got wind that he had been over at Heather’s more than he’d been home for the past couple of days, they would never let him hear the end of it. But he wasn’t sure how he could answer Sam without lying to him. And that’s one thing he refused to do. He had never been dishonest with his brothers about anything and he wasn’t going to start now.

Shrugging, he tried to be evasive. “He was telling me that I mishandled the situation with Hea—that Wilson woman about her horse.”

“Whoa!” Ryder exclaimed.

Lane raised an eyebrow and slowly set his beer bottle on the table. “When did this come about, T.J.?”

He knew feigning ignorance wasn’t going to stop the coming interrogation, but he tried anyway. “What?”

“You seeing your neighbor,” Sam answered.

“Who said I’ve been seeing her?” he asked defensively. It was the first time he had been in the hot seat with his brothers over a woman and he suddenly knew how Sam, Ryder and Lane felt when they were the ones being counseled about their relationships.

“Any time we’ve mentioned her before you’ve always gone ballistic about her and her horse,” Ryder stated flatly.

“I’ve let that go,” T.J. said.

Sam shook his head. “I’m not buying it. The other night over at my place your reaction was as strong as ever. What’s happened in the past few days that’s changed your mind about her?”

“What makes you think something happened?” T.J. asked, knowing that he was only delaying the inevitable. His brothers weren’t going to give up until they found out what was going on with him and Heather.

“The fact that you’re answering every question we ask with one of your own is a pretty good clue,” Lane said, his smile about as irritating as any T.J. had ever seen.

“Is that your expert opinion, Freud?” T.J. retorted.

Lane laughed. “Yup.”

“Fess up, bro,” Ryder said, grinning like a damned jackass.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, T.J. gave in and explained about finding Heather and Seth stranded on his side of the creek Christmas night.

“They were both sick and I couldn’t leave them sitting along the side of the road to fend for themselves,” T.J. said, shaking his head. “Hank would come back from the grave to haunt me.”