Sisters Found

“Hope Butler is very much a part of this,” Rabb said in a low, urgent voice. “Because I think you’re in love with her.”

“How I feel about Hope is none of your business, either,” Jake said heatedly.

“You have to break off this engagement, Jake. You have to set Amanda free.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Jake said. “I proposed to Amanda, and unless she calls it off, I intend to go through with the wedding. Because she’ll make a damned fine wife!”

“You are the most stubborn, bullheaded—”

“If you’re done—”

“I’m not done,” Rabb said, grabbing at Jake’s shoulder to keep him from walking away. “If that sexpot Hope Butler wasn’t wagging her tail—”

Rabb never got to finish his sentence, because Jake swung a fist at his chin. He reacted quickly enough that the blow only grazed him, but even that was enough to knock him off his feet. Rabb lay on the ground staring up at his stunned brother.

“Damn it, Rabb. I’m sorry,” Jake said. “I don’t know—”

Rabb avoided the hand his brother offered and quickly got back on his feet. “I know exactly what’s wrong with you. You’re in love up to your eyeballs with Hope Butler, and you’re marrying Amanda Carter out of some misplaced sense of honor. You’re not doing either one of them any favors.”

“Hope’s too young for me,” Jake said bleakly.

“Yeah, I know. And because Amanda’s the right age you’re going to marry her and live miserably ever after. I’m giving you fair warning that I intend to do everything in my power to stop this wedding.”

“Amanda loves me, Rabb. I don’t want to see her hurt.”

Rabb was taken aback by Jake’s statement, because it was something he feared might very well be true. “Maybe she does. And maybe she doesn’t know her own mind.”

They were both distracted by a commotion in the gazebo.

“What the hell?” Jake muttered.

Hope screamed.

Rabb was left standing by himself as Jake raced to the rescue.

Rabb quickly followed after him, but while Jake’s attention was focused on Hope and the cowboy whose arms were wrapped tightly around her, Rabb had eyes only for Amanda.

She looked distressed as Jake marched up the steps of the gazebo and yanked Hope free of the cowboy’s drunken embrace. When the man took a swing at him, Jake ducked, then planted his powerful fist in the cowboy’s solar plexus.

The man stumbled backward, then went crashing through the delicate lattice that formed one of the five sides of the gazebo. That would have been bad enough, but as the drunken cowboy stumbled, he careened into another guest, who windmilled helplessly before smashing backward through another one of the fragile walls.

“Oh, no!” Amanda cried.

Rabb was beside her an instant later. “It’s all right, Amanda,” he said. “I can fix it.”

“I don’t care about the gazebo,” she shot back. And then realizing who was standing beside her amended, “Well, of course I do, but…”

He followed her gaze to the gazebo and saw what was really troubling her. Jake was gripping Hope Butler tightly by the arm, dragging her out of the gazebo behind him and hauling her toward the house.

“That poor girl,” Amanda said, staring after them. “I’d better go see what I can do to help.”

For a moment Rabb was tempted to let her follow his brother, because he had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen when Jake got Hope alone. But he didn’t want Amanda hurt any more than necessary. Which meant he had to distract her long enough for Jake to finish his “talk” with Hope.

“Wait,” he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Jake can handle Hope.” Which was probably the biggest lie he’d told in a good long while. “You’d better see to your guests,” he said, pointing toward the disaster in and around the gazebo.

She glanced once more toward the house, where Jake and Hope had disappeared, then turned back to the gazebo. “You’re right. I’d better see what I can do to smooth things over.”

Rabb went with her, to make sure the drunken cowboy didn’t repeat whatever insult had created havoc with Hope in the first place. He found Hope’s twin Faith standing beside the fallen cowboy, her boyfriend Randy at her side.

“I’m so sorry,” Faith was saying. “I swear I thought Hope said she liked you. But maybe it was some other cowboy,” she was explaining.

“You’d better saddle up and move along,” Rabb said as he approached the man.

“No argument from me,” the cowboy muttered as Faith’s boyfriend helped him to his feet.

The other guest who’d fallen turned out to be Amanda’s principal, Mr. Denton. And his arm was broken.

“I’m so sorry,” Amanda said as she stared helplessly at the older man.

“Aw, hell,” Denton said as Rabb helped him to his feet. “I’ve been hurt worse. But this is going to make it a little harder to put together some of the Christmas presents I bought the kids—bicycles, baby carriages and the like.”

“I can help you with that,” Rabb volunteered.

“I’ll help, too,” Amanda said. “Just let us know when and where to show up.”

“You got it,” Denton said.

Rabb could see Amanda’s hands were trembling as a couple of other teachers escorted Denton toward a car to take him to the hospital. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said. “It could have happened—”

“I should have been watching more carefully,” she said. “I should have kept an eye on—”

“You can’t watch everyone all of the time,” Rabb interrupted.

“My beautiful gazebo,” she said as she stared at the destruction. Her chin was wobbling and tears began to brim in her beautiful blue eyes.

Rabb put an arm around her waist, wanting to comfort. “I can fix it, Amanda. Really, I can.”

She turned her face up to him and said, “Can you? Really?”

He wondered if she was talking about the gazebo…or her relationship with Jake. Amanda Carter was no dummy. She must have some inkling of what was going on between Jake and Hope. But if she did, why didn’t she call off the wedding herself?

A moment later, Amanda had her face pressed against his shirtfront, sobbing.

“I’ll start tomorrow,” he promised her. And be at her back door every day for the next two weeks, he promised himself. He enfolded her in his arms, rocking her and murmuring soothing words, his eyes warning the guests not to make anything of it. He was merely deputizing for his brother.

But where the hell was Jake? Why hadn’t he come back to comfort his fiancée?

CHAPTER TWO