Chapter 6
Archer
My first mistake was that I didn’t fuck Eve the night before because I knew she’d regret it today. My second was leaving her before she woke.
Fast cooling coffee didn’t sear my throat half as much as I required it too as my little hellion in caramel calf boots that I'd bought her the season before sauntered down the steps of the big house and straight across the yard past me without a single flicker of recognition. I watched Eve’s ass sway in those damned tight jeans I wanted to peel from her body and cursed inwardly.
Shoulda gone all the way, cowboy.
But the fact that I was a Texas Ranger on Montana soil sliced through me as she strode right up to Joe Brunel and flipped her hair over her shoulder, chatting animatedly about whatever project she’d woken with on her mind.
A project that clearly wasn’t me.
A throat cleared at my side. I didn’t need to look up to know Jude studied me like I was a misbehaving buck he wanted to understand better.
“I spent time with her last night, alright?” I groused finally when his pensive silence grew too thick.
A subtle cough raised my irritation levels beyond my capacity. “Not good enough, apparently. Didn’t I tell you she needed a damn good loving, Archer?”
I let out a frustrated noise. “I wanted to take it slow with her, alright? Something’s happened since I was last here and…
Fuck it.” I blew out a breath and faced him, turning my back on the sight of Eve flirting with another man.
I knew she did it just to shit me—hell, I hoped that was the case.
“She told me about the baby, Jude. It's broken something inside of her.”
He watched me and nodded, turning back to his work. “Which one?”
My world plummeted.
The fact he didn’t look at me when he said it should have been my first clue. I grabbed his shirt and yanked him back to me. “What the fuck do you mean, which one?” I kept my voice low, though blood pounded at my ear drums. I barely made out his answer, sound catching up halfway in.
“...I told you Will Kirk saved her life last season, when we saw him in White Cap, right?”
I nodded as he peeled my fingers from their death grip on his shirt. “Yeah, you mentioned.” My voice came out hoarse, but Jude remained steady and quiet.
“He carried her out of the forest when it lit up. We had a huge fire here a few weeks back. Up in the eastern corner, on the way up to Walker Roan’s, right before the storm that put it all out.
We found the source…” Jude shook his head.
“Anyway, Will walked out Eve in his arms, carried her through the smoke and mother fucking flames like a wraith. He nearly died, picked his ass right up again, went back in with Gage and one other for the woman he loves, and dragged her out too. He’s covered in scars head to toe from it.
Not quite the pretty boy he used to be.” Jude ran out of air and sound from the longest speech I’d ever heard from him.
Every word was worth it, but he still hadn’t said what I needed to hear.
“And Eve?”
Jude’s mouth set in a tight line. “Trav and I took her back to the house, called the doc, but we couldn’t—” He exhaled a slow breath. “It’s why Trav stays away. He can’t bear to look at the sister he couldn’t help.”
I stared him straight in the face. “And you?”
He met my eyes without flinching. “I’ll be here to pay my penance for not being able to save the baby she lost twice over. I’m sorry, Archer.”
Fuck.
I closed my eyes as my heart shattered. For her. For both of us. Again.
Jesus, she’d already been through this and to lose what she wanted, what I thought she wanted a second time, under those circumstances…
And I still hadn’t been here.
Last night, I thought I made the best choice for both of us. The safest choice.
I blew out a harsh breath as Jude’s hand gripped my shoulder tight, hard enough to hurt. I took the pain he offered, turned it into something useful.
“What jobs have you got for the rest of the day?” I turned the rope over in my hands that I’d been splicing.
Jude was silent for a second, then his hand dropped away. “Maybe I’m not the best person to ask that.”
I raised my head, thankful my vision was clear as I looked up.
Eve stood before me, her hair slung back over her shoulder, phone clutched in her hand.
My lips managed to turn up at the corners at that one, though my smile died a short death at the fire that blazed in her eyes as stared back at me.
Not impassive, and it was a glare, but somewhere in between.
I wanted to fall on my knees and beg her forgiveness.
I wanted to kiss the hell out of her before every man in the yard.
I wanted to take her upstairs and spank the shit out of her and—
Damnit, Jude was right. And that advice wasn’t a one way street. The realization hit me far too late, but I couldn’t rectify that right now.
“What can I do for you today, Miss Eve?” I risked the use of her first name, holding her gaze as I always had, daring her to meet me head on.
Last night was everything I wanted.
Falling asleep with her in my arms, exhausted and boneless and stunning. I could only pray it was enough. What she wanted too.
“I don’t need you today, Archer,” Eve’s voice was distant, her gaze fixed at some distant point beyond me.
“You don’t.” My teeth clenched hard. Pity my tongue was in the way. My eyes watered.
Fucked that one up well and truly.
Over Eve’s shoulder, Joe sent me a wink.
“Maybe you could work with Jude for a while,” Eve murmured, drifting away. I could almost see her mind ticking over as she moved on to other things, the way she always had.
I caught her hand as she turned away. A deep flush stained her cheeks. I managed not to brush my knuckles over the spots of color or kiss her. Just.
“Eve—”
“Please, Archer,” Eve murmured, tugging her hand from mine.
I let her go.
Jude met me out at his truck, but I shook my head, grabbing the driver’s door to my own vehicle.
“I don’t want to break yours.”
“Fair enough.” Jude made it around to the passenger’s door before I threw my truck into gear and peeled out of the yard in a cloud of dust.
It was childish, but a far better option than laying Joe out cold on the hard packed dirt in front of the big house where Eve could see the venom ripping through my veins.
Maybe.
My gaze narrowed, zeroed in on that firm, round behind that I wanted to slap, or maybe bite. But it wasn’t where my brain was at.
Eve needed cowboys. Real ones. I’d get them for her, with a little help.
“Jude, we’re going into town.”
The introverted foreman groaned, lifting pain-filled eyes to meet mine. Though he hadn’t spoken, I answered him anyway.
“Yes. We do.”
Jude grumbled the entire way down the drive.
The man’s hard work ethic was undeniable, with his loyalty still clearly to Eve and the ranch, despite her brother’s obvious absence, but he hated leaving the land.
He’d spent so many years on the ranch that getting back out into town nearly crippled him, though I was grateful for his company. I’d need that loyalty later in the day.
Thankfully, there was reception at the gate, and Suzy picked up faster than I expected, my snow chains barely grabbing in the light slush.
“Mister Texas Ranger! How are things up on the mountain?” Suzy’s voice blared through the speaker where it dangled on my knee, background noise providing additional static.
I gritted my teeth, and threw a cautionary look at Jude, but the foreman sat with his hands pressed to his knees, his elbows locked.
Maybe it was my driving.
“It’s all good, Suzy. We’re good.”
“Uh huh.” Skepticism filled her tone, and I bit back a laugh.
“Fine, that was bullshit. I need hands up here, and Eve needs a friend. Any chance you can come up and bring half the town to work on the ranch for the season?”
“Now you’re swearing? You never cease to amaze. I can’t come up, and I can’t bring the town, but I'll send a truck load of boys back with you. Got a certain Mister here who can’t stay on the back of a cow—uh, a bull—and would love some work. Are you just leaving Red Hart now?”
I grinned at her enthusiasm. “I’m already on the road.”
Jude jerked his head in an abrupt nod.
Nope, that was my driving.
“I’ll have your care package ready to ride when you get down here." Approval coated Suzy’s voice. “And Archer? You’d best be looking after my girl.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I hung up, shaking my head with a soft laugh.
Suzy was certainly one of a kind. But she loved Eve, and she probably knew something was up. I’d had that sense from her when I was in Beanies before at White Cap. Maybe driving at hellhound speed across the country had been a blessing for more than one reason.
I put my foot down, tearing a trail through the pristine snow, and wondered how many miles I’d make it down the highway before the snow chains failed me.
Not too far, as it turned out. I pulled up outside of Beanie’s, my truck crusted in mud and slush that wasn’t entirely dry.
Apparently only the top third of the drive into town required snow chains, though from the clouds gathering to the north, we might have more luck on the way back, providing the slush didn’t transform into black ice as the chill set in for the evening.
A truckload of young men hung over the back of a white pick up — I thought it was meant to be white — that had seen better days. I eyed them as I locked up my own truck, half hoping they were the crew Suzy had put together. The other half of me wondered if my truck was safe.
“Archer!” A familiar shape jumped down from the bed of the track and stumbled on the landing.
The cowboy managed to catch his hat before it tumbled to the ground, displaying a head of rusty brown hair and a cheeky grin.
The entire five foot ten inches of Will Kirk barreled forward, clapping me on the back, then Jude.
The stocky foreman straightened, otherwise not reacting to the newcomer’s presence. He tilted his head down to obscure his face.
I turned back to the compact ball of enthusiasm that bounced beneath his habitual Stetson, noting the lean muscle Red Hart’s prospective rodeo rider had developed. “Can you stay on a bull yet, Will?”
The cowhands on the truck bed hooted and cheered, raining shit on the poor lad.
“Not yet, sir.” Will’s grin turned rueful, his eyes crinkling as he took the ribbing with good natured humor. “Mighta got myself a place on the circuit though. Heard you needed some help?” Bright eyes turned concerned.
Jude coughed into his fist. “Will Kirk spent a recent season at Red Hart, Archer. He… stepped up and filled my role while I was absent from the property.”
I eyeballed Will. “There’s a lot of that going round at the moment.”
“Stepping up or absent?” Will asked, staring me right back in the face.”
I huffed a laugh. “Damn, kid. I’m glad you’re not in Texas, otherwise you’d be stealing the desk out from under my best Rangers.”
“Not you, huh?” Will tilted his head to one side, his dark eyes missing nothing.
My grin never faltered as I returned his study. I’d been away for a whole lot longer than I thought, perhaps. In that time the kid who wanted to ride a bull not only fulfilled that dream, or was on the way to doing it, had taken the reins of his own life and grown up in the meantime.
“Will carried Eve out of the fire up on the ridgeline about a month back, wasn’t it?” Jude cut in.
Will rolled his shoulders. “Maybe six weeks or so,” he acknowledged. Before the snow set in. I took Cassie back to college.”
I raised both eyebrows. “Shit. you got yourself a girl and you grew up? I’m fucking old then.”
Jude snorted. “Are you driving this lot up, then?” He nodded toward the truckload of rowdy men ready to fill Red Hart's big house with noise to drown out Eve’s borrowed workers.
I couldn’t wait to ship Black Hill Boy’s smell off my girl’s land.
“We’re all ready to work, for you Jude.” Will nodded once.
A year ago, I would have expected the kid to bounce on his toes. Today he stood still, waiting for orders.
Jude cracked a rare smile. “Shit, no. These men are yours. You bring ‘em in, you train ‘em to work your way. That means how they behave at the house and on the land also reflects on you, kid. Got it?”
Will looked disconcerted for a fraction of a second before his shoulder straightened. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Follow us back in ten.” Jude looked sideways at me. “You know Eve will want her coffee beans even if she didn’t ask for any.”
“I’m on it.” I headed into Beanies, searching for Suzy.
The cafe owner was nowhere in sight. I inhaled a lungful of cinnamon and gingerbread. My nose itched as I weaved my way between patrons and came up with a pair of flavored lattes.
“Those aren’t mine,” I said politely.
“Sure they are!” Suzy popped up out of nowhere, I swore. Or at least, out of the crowd. “Eve’ll love you forever if you take her one of these.”
I collected the steaming gingerbread spiced lattes in careful hands. “I’m sure Jude will appreciate the effort.”
Suzy’s face fell. “She didn’t come with you, Ranger?” Her tone came out accusatory.
I held her aquamarine gaze that sliced through me, but it was nothing that I hadn't already asked myself.
“No.”
The coffee shop owner huffed out a breath as the conversational level insider Beanies swelled to a whole new level. “Alright, then. It looks like I might get to make a trip up to the ranch for Christmas morning, then, whaddya say?”
I grinned. “I say she’ll appreciate the surprise. Especially if you top her coffee habit up.”
“Done and done.” Blue eyes twinkled back at me, almost hiding the older woman’s concern. Then she was gone again, disappearing into the flurry of customers. Her voice called out, though I didn't see her again as I waded through clamoring coffee fiends to find the door.
A moment later I burst back into pale Montana sunshine.
“You survived.” Jude liberated one of the spiced lattes with more enthusiasm than I expected.
“I wouldn’t have taken you as a coffee snob.”
He shrugged. “I married a girl with decent taste. What can I say?”
“It changes you, huh?” I gave Will Kirk a wave, and he organized his truck full of boys to follow us as we headed out of White cap and back up the range.
Jude was silent for a few minutes, concentrating on the road. “It does. In the best ways.”
I hoped to hell that Eve would give me the chance to find out what that looked like for us, but as we headed back toward Red Hart, the doubts that had remained at low level for so long began to clamor.
And I could no longer keep their volume turned down.