Chapter 8
Archer
Eve refused to speak to me at breakfast, and I wouldn’t stop work during the day to flirt with her. That left evenings, with a small window when everyone left for the night.
Before Black Hill boy arrived.
I still didn’t know what his game was with my girl, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. But he wouldn’t get another night with her if she objected.
My trust with Black Hill had never been a strong point. And though I had little to base that on apart from a gut feeling, I'd lived that same feeling for the last twenty something years as first a cop then a Texas Ranger.
And I could count on one hand the amount of times that it had steered me wrong.
“Whiskey?” I rose from the long table, my plate in hand as I held out my other for Jude’s.
He looked up at me, considering. “Not tonight,” he said after a moment. “Feel like I might turn in early.” He looked aside at Will Kirk. “You up for an early night, kid?”
Will stared at his half drunk beer like it might magically evaporate, and sighed. “Guess I do, then.” He took a long drink that didn’t quite reach the bottom and clapped Odin on the shoulder. “We’re done here.”
The man looked up from his chatter. “No, I’m not.”
Will hauled him up physically from the table with one hand. The chatter fell silent.
“Yes, you are. Early morning. Move it. Unless you’re walking back to White Cap at the end of the season.”
That little move had most of the ranch hands moving their behinds, finishing up their drinks with less class and more ass than Will, but move they did.
“Not bad,” Jude murmured, stretching his shoulders.
I watched Odon, who sank back into his seat, and raised my eyebrows at Will. There’s your problem child.
Will nodded, running a hand through his hair. I know.
“What if I want to stay on at the end of the season? Seems there’s decent pickings here.” Odin leaned his elbows on the table making a show of taking his time finishing his drink.
His one mistake? His sights were set on Eve where she cleaned up the kitchen alone.
Will sent me an easy grin as he passed me with Jude. “This one’s yours."
I coughed into my fist. “Decent delegation skills.”
“Told you he leveled up.” Jude slung an arm around Will’s shoulders in a show of support, leading the swarm outside, until there were just the four of us left in the house.
Odin watching Eve. Joe watched Odin and me with a speculative eye.
“Well, as much as I’m sure this will be fun, I like my paycheck. So…I’ll see one of you in the morning.” He smiled.
I didn’t. “Bye, Joe,” I said softly.
He stalled next to Odin. “I’d take the out he gives you.” Joe patted the heavier man’s shoulder, but the seated ranch hand never so much as budged, his eyes still fixed on his prize like he never heard a word.
I needed to have a chat with Jude about letting the hands drink every damn night. Maybe every second. It might cause a mutiny, but this season we had enough problems.
“Do you want to do this here, or outside?”
Joe disappeared discreetly as Odin finally turned his attention to me. “Do what?”
I shrugged, propping my ass on the edge of the long wooden table that sat beneath Red Hart’s magnificent antler chandelier.
“I mean, we can do this inside, but it’ll make a mess.
I’ve got some things to say to Eve after, and I don’t want to waste time cleaning up.
” I unbuttoned my shirt, conscious of Eve listening to our conversation, making sure my voice was loud enough to fill the suddenly empty space that I’d engineered.
Odin frowned at me. “Hey, I didn't mean anything by that, you know.”
I nodded. “Sure. The comment about staying on another season so you can screw with my girl. That one?”
Odin’s mouth opened and shut in quick succession.
I offered him a faint smile. “I didn’t think so.
” I dropped my shirt on the bench seat, holding his gaze.
I might be a handful of years older than the man still seated at the table and apparently collecting his jaw from the floor, but I worked my ass off to keep up with the younger Rangers who entered the unit each year.
My theory had always been that if I wanted to lead them, then I had to match them at the very least.
And matching anyone had never been my strength.
“Yeah. I got it.” Odin shoved his plate away and stood. His height left him a few inches taller than me, but at nearly six feet I was no slouch.
“Outside is better,” I murmured, holding my ground.
Odin glared at me for another minute, then stormed away. The door to the big house slammed behind him.
I shook my head, gathering the leftover plates. The kitchen was empty, and I finished cleaning up alone. Damnit. I knew better than to show pony around Eve. She hated every inch of it. Subtle and snarky was more her style.
Finishing up, I wiped down the enormous bench that ran the length of the kitchen and stacked the dishes in their places.
“I’m impressed you remember where everything goes.
” Eve appeared from behind the divider that led into the larger living room on the other side of the pantry.
The windows there looked out into the foothills of the mountain behind the house.
At night the outlook would be pitch black, but the light to my cabin would be visible off to the east, the bunkhouse in the opposite direction.
Maybe that was why she put me there in the first place.
“Smart girl,” I murmured.
“That’s not the usual response to that comment you know.” Eve placed a bottle of whiskey in front of me. “Share?”
I pulled a pair of glasses out from a nook beside the fridge. “Always.”
The faint smile that curled the corners of her lips left me aching for her.
“You lost your shirt,” she observed, her gaze sweeping over me. Somehow her study meant more than Odin’s pithy assessment.
I breathed shallowly. “What do you think? Am I too old for you, Eve?” I asked softly, the decade’s difference in our ages having always been a sore spot for me.
She shrugged. “I’ve never really cared how old you are, Rhys. Just how much of an asshole on occasion. Come on.”
I blinked. “Ouch.”
Her laughter led the way through the house to the living area on the other side. She’d left the lights off, the kitchen providing an ambient glow.
“Have you always been so vicious, or did I not notice last time?” I grinned as she tossed my shirt at me.
“Put that on. Don’t button it up,” Eve instructed me. Her eyes dark voids in the shadows.
I pulled my shirt on, leaving it open like she commanded. “Is this a game of reverse poker, then?” I raised an eyebrow in challenge as she poured a double finger of whiskey for both of us. Honey and peat scented the air.
“I like the view.” Eve curled at one end of the two seater sofa, one leg tucked beneath her, facing me. Her gaze soaked in everything as I stilled beneath her study.
“I have questions," I murmured.
“It’s the cop in you. It’s a habit that’ll pass when you retire."
“You’re still a sassy little firecracker.” I sipped the whiskey and nearly groaned. “Shit, eve. This is good.”
Her lips turned up in a full, wicked smile. “I know.” She took her own sip, her eyes falling closed as she appreciated the flavor. “It was Dad’s favorite. I figure he won’t mind if I share it with you. He liked you, you know.”
I swallowed hard. She wasn’t the only one who struggled to talk about that Christmas. “He was a good man. His judgement might have been a bit shitty if he approved of me though." I let a man into his home who did unspeakable things to his family.
Len Beaumont should never have trusted me. Neither, perhaps, should Eve.
“Stop that.” Her voice whiplashed around me.
Cool fingers gripped my glass, tugging it free of my grip. I gave in, letting her have it.
Tell me what you want, Eve.
“What’s Black Hill Boy do here each night?”
Eve frowned as she placed my glass on the Blackheart sassafras coffee table. “I— Rhys, his father did a little while back. He comes here because I know how he feels.”
He comes here because he can poach on your feelings like an emotional fucking vampire.
“If he needs support, maybe he should seek professional help,” I said recently.
She toyed with the whiskey glass. “I suggested that. But out here, we’re a long way from everything. You know that,” she reproached me.
“I also know you have decent internet thanks to the satellite connection you both paid for. Remember?” I fixed her with a hard look. Eve said nothing. I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair. “Eve, I’m here. I want to be here for you. And seeing you with other men—”
“You’re jealous?” she hushed, her gaze sliding up to meet mine.
I stared at her, my mouth forming words that refused to come out right the first time.
I put my thoughts in order as I reached across the table and captured one trembling hand.
“Damn right I’m jealous, girl. The only hands I want on you are mine.
The only man near you should be me—if that’s what you want.
” I watched her reaction, the doubts flaring free.
Fuck, I was so out of practice with this.
But hell, it was Eve. I shouldn’t have to worry.
But I did. Because she was my one, and there wasn’t anyone else for me, ever.
“I wasn’t sure.” Eve tugged her hand free, wrapping her arms around herself.
“About what, honey?” My heart clenched tight in my chest, bleeding fresh with every word that fell from her soft lips.
“That I was who you still wanted. That you hadn’t found someone…else. Someone who could give you—”
“Evie.” My voice strained on her name.
“More. A family,” she whispered, curling into a ball at the other end of the sofa.
I launched forward into her space, pinning her in, but my hands when they framed her face were soft, cradling her like she was glass. The most precious creation.
“Do you know what Will did when he brought you out of that fire?” I demanded, my voice harsh and rough, the softest I could make it.
She shook her head, trying to free herself but I refused to let her look away.
“He gave me you, Eve. Everything I want in this life. The woman I need, the woman I’ll do anything for.
Anything,” I whispered, stoking her temples with my thumbs. “Christ, I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“But I'm not.” Her voice cracked as the flood gates finally, fucking finally opened.
I cradled her to me, weathering the torrents that shattered against my chest like waves upon a rock in a storm laden sea.
I held her until she cried herself out, my shirt damp with her tears, and mine. My fingers tangled in her hair.
And this time when I picked Eve up and carried her, it was to the sofa in front of the fire in the living room, a place where I’d slept with her once before.
I tucked us together beneath a blanket, the fire still filling the fireplace, knowing it would see us through until morning. Because right now, that was what mattered.
Just one more night together. And Eve held on, never letting go.
Not once.