Chapter One #4
“We should go. I’m being ridiculous. Like they’ll even
notice.” He pulled out the cash and set it on the table. And then pulled a few
more dollars out. He didn’t mean to be tight with money but money was always
tight.
The woman from the booth in front of him strode back, a huge
smile on her face. “I have a solution. I ran into Brooke Harper. She’s
literally got a degree from Parsons, and she’s in town for a couple of weeks.
She’s coming to the party at Hell on Wheels tonight, and we’re going to make
her part of the team. She’s fabulous, so everyone is expected to treat her like
the queen she is.”
The group got up, all chattering about the party tonight.
The party Brooke Harper was attending.
Bay stopped, his eyes catching Shane’s. “She’s here? She’s
not supposed to be in town. I haven’t heard anything about her coming to town.”
They both listened to town gossip whenever they could.
Strangely, Bo was the helpful one. The man was always willing to talk about
what he heard. She’d turned them down once, but asking her again as long as
they were polite and not aggressive was fine. They’d discussed it endlessly.
She hadn’t told them she didn’t want to see them. She’d explained she needed to
spend time with her family.
He knew it was an excuse, but he was taking it.
“She walked in fifteen minutes ago with a big-ass suitcase,
and despite the smile she gave her brothers, I don’t buy it. She’s had some
trouble,” Shane explained. He leaned over and let his voice go low. “And now we
know where she’s going to be tonight. A bar.”
A public place. Where they could be as well.
He kind of wished he’d heard when that party was supposed to
start.
Bay’s lips curled up as though he was thinking the whole
plan through. “And we have tomorrow off.”
Shane held up a hand. “She’ll probably turn us down, and we
need to be ready for that.”
Bay looked back, and Brooke was sliding into the booth. He
stared for a moment, and there was a determined look on his face. “I’m ready
for anything. I want a shot with her. I haven’t been able to get that girl out
of my head for years. It’s always been the wrong time.”
“Let’s hope it’s the right time now,” Shane said.
Bay nodded and stood, putting his hat on his head and
turning toward the exit with a resolute expression on his face. “Then I should
probably start being polite to her family.”
They were always polite to Rachel Harper, and mostly to Rye.
Max would be a new experience.
Brooke looked up as they approached the table, and her eyes
went wide. Not scared wide. Nope. Her eyes were like a kid in a candy store,
and she was wondering how much she could eat before someone stopped her. Her
breath seemed to catch, and she bit her bottom lip.
“Miss Brooke,” Shane said with a tip of his hat. “Good to
see you again. Mr. Harper. Mr. Harper.”
Max turned like a hawk scenting prey. Oddly, so did that
baby boy in his arms. Father and son both stared at them with narrowed eyes.
“You two. What are you doing here?”
“We came into town to pick up some parts for the mower.
We’re clearing the back field for hay,” Bay explained, and didn’t even say a
damn thing about how Max could use a haircut or how he should understand
because he was so old he could probably use a few new parts, too.
Max frowned. “Yeah, it’s getting to be that time. You boys
should head back to the G.”
Shane nodded his way. “Will do. Miss Brooke.”
“Just Brooke,” she said in a breathy tone, and then she
seemed to realize how she’d sounded. She shook off the sex-kitten voice and
sounded more normal. “It’s nice to see you, Shane. And Bay.”
Rye Harper sipped his coke and looked from his sister then
back to them. “Shane, could you tell Trev we got Beth’s saddle in? I’ll bring
it out for our session tomorrow.”
The boss’s wife had ordered a custom saddle for her riding
lessons. She’d driven her husbands a little insane by requesting the Harper
brothers teach her instead of one of them. Rye Harper had been coming out for a
couple of weeks, teaching her how to ride and take care of her gentle mare.
“Will do, sir. Have a nice day, Brooke. It’s good to see you
in our town again,” Shane said.
“Hey, what do you mean by our town?” Max asked, and Shane
could have sworn the baby nodded as though he wanted to know, too. The kid was
the spitting image of his dads, with golden brown hair and serious eyes. “You
boys are going to be out of here by summer, right?”
Bay simply tipped his hat Brooke’s way, giving her a slight
smile. “Y’all have a nice afternoon.”
“And what the hell did he mean with that bullshit mister
stuff,” Max was saying as they started out the door.
“I do believe we call that a polite hello,” Rye replied with
a chuckle.
“Those two assholes are planning something,” Max declared.
His brother looked back as he walked through the door. “Told
you.”
Shane wasn’t listening. He was aware that Brooke watched
them. The whole way.
They had their shot, and they were going to take it.