One Night with a Red-Hot Rancher: Tough to Tame / Carrying the Rancher's Heir / One Dance with the Cowboy

He let out a long breath. “My stepfather hit my mother once, for burning the bacon, when they were first married. I was fifteen.”

“What did she do?” she asked.

“She told me. I took him out back and knocked him around the yard for five minutes, and told him if he did it again, I’d load my shotgun and we’d have another, shorter, conversation. He never touched her again. He also stopped drinking.”

“I don’t think that would have worked with Frank.”

“I rather doubt it.” He studied her wan, drawn face. “You’ve been through hell, and I haven’t helped. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I know that won’t erase what I said. But maybe it will help a little.”

“Thanks.” She finished her roll and coffee. But when she got through, she put two dollar bills on the table and pushed them toward him.

“No!” he exclaimed, his high cheekbones flushing as he recalled with painful clarity his opinion of her as a gold digger.

“I pay my own way, despite what you think of me,” she said with quiet pride. She stood up. “Money doesn’t mean so much to me. I’m happy if I can pay bills. I’m sorry I gave you the impression that I’d do anything for it. I won’t.”

She turned and left him sitting there, with his own harsh words echoing in his mind.

Kell was lying on his stomach in bed. His bruises were much more obvious now, and he was pale and weak from the surgery. She sat down beside him in a chair and smiled.

“How’s it going?” she asked gently.

“Badly,” he said with a long sigh. “Hurts like hell. But they think I might be able to walk again. They have to wait until I start healing and the bruising abates before they’ll know for sure. But I can wiggle my toes.” He smiled. “I’m not going to prove it, because it hurts. You can take my word for it.”

“Deal.” She brushed back his unkempt hair.

“Your old boss came by last night,” he said coldly. “He explained what happened. I gave him an earful.”

“So did I. He’s back.”

“I’m not surprised. He was pretty contrite.”

“It won’t do any good,” she said sadly. “I won’t forget what he said to me. He didn’t believe me.”

“Apparently he’s had some hard knocks of his own.”

“Yes, that explains it, but it doesn’t excuse it.”

“Point taken.” He glanced past her toward the door. “You’ve got bodyguards.”

“Yes. Some of Eb Scott’s guys. They don’t like each other.”

“Chet has a chip on his shoulder, and Rourke likes to take potshots at it.”

“Which is which?” she asked.

“Rourke lost an eye overseas.”

“Oh. Dead-Eye.”

He chuckled and then winced. “That’s what he calls himself. He’s got quite a history. He worked for the CIA over in the South Pacific for several years. Now he’s trying to get back in. His language skills are rusty, and he’s not up on the latest communications protocols, so he’s studying with Eb. Chet, on the other hand, is trying to land a job doing private security for overseas embassies. He has anger issues.”

“Anger issues?”

“He tends to slug people who make him angry. Doesn’t go over well in embassies.”

“I can understand that.” She frowned. “How do you know them?”

He sighed. “That’s a long story. We’ll have to talk about it when I get out of here.”

She was adding up things and getting uncomfortable totals. “Kell, you weren’t working for a magazine when you went to Africa, were you?” she asked.

He hesitated. “That’s one of the things we’ll talk about. But not now. Okay?”

She relented. He did look very rocky. “Okay.” She laid a gentle hand on his muscular arm. “You’re my brother and I love you. That won’t change, even if you tell me blatant lies and think I’ll never know about them.”

“You’re too sharp for your own good.”

“I’ve been told that.”

“Don’t stray from your bodyguards,” he cautioned. “I have to agree with them. I think Frank’s not planning to go back to jail. He’ll do whatever it takes to get even with you, and then he’ll try suicide-by-cop.”

“Jail would be better than dead, certainly?”

“Frank has anger issues, too.”

She flexed the arm he’d broken. “I noticed.”

“Don’t take chances. Promise me.”

“I promise. Please get well. Being an orphan is bad enough. I can’t lose you, too.”

He smiled. “I’m not going anywhere. After all, I’ve got a book to finish. I have to get well in order to do that.”

She hesitated. “Kell, he wouldn’t come here, and try to finish the job he did on you?” she asked worriedly.

“I have company.”

“You do?”

“Move it, you military rejects,” came a deep voice from the door. A tall, familiar-looking man with silver eyes and jet-black hair moved into the room, dressed in boots and jeans and a chambray shirt, carrying a foam cup of coffee.

“Kilraven?” she asked, surprised. “Aren’t you working?”

He shook his head. “Not tonight,” he said. “I had a couple of vacation days I was owed, so I’m babysitting your brother.”

“Thanks,” she said with a broad grin.

“I’m getting something out of it,” he chuckled. “I’m stuck on the middle level of a video game, and Kell knows how to crack it.”