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“Briar, I won’t argue with you. Now, go get those three and leave.” His arm slid away from my waist.
“Please! Be smart about this!” I begged, refusing to leave.
“Then I’ll have Butch stay to give me cover or something. Now, go! Take Keaton and Millie!” he snarled and took a threatening step toward the uninvited guest.
Chapter 27
CASSIDY
Butch breathed slowly beside me as we stalked toward the vehicle that simply idled in front of the main house. “Cassidy,” he began as we reached the bottom of the hill. “We don’t have actual guns; you know that, right? Yours is—”
“I know. But they don’t know that. Look, I only agreed to have you with me to get Briar to go home.” I stopped and spun to face him. Placing a hand against his chest, I shook my head. “Now, it’s your turn to get lost.”
“What?” Butch gasped. “No. I won’t let you deal with whatever’s going on alone. I know it has something to do with her and that horse she showed up with. I know it has to do with whatever reason there was blood on your floor and a nasty bruise on your rib when I stopped by earlier. You can play everything off all you want, but I’m not a kid anymore.”
Clenching my jaw, I shot one last glance at the vehicle holding death so close, and then looked back at my nephew who suddenly seemed way too grown. “Alright,” I answered. He nodded once, clamping a hand on my shoulder.
Man, things had changed so fast. Too fast. This kid was supposed to still be that—a kid just learning about girls, just beginning to experience the ups and downs of growing up. But he was right. He stood nearly as tall as me, nearly as broad, and I was in the wrong for seeing him still as that lanky child he wasn’t anymore.
“Alright,” I said one more time.
Then we turned around, and like the grim reaper coming to collect his dues, we stalked straight toward the Escalade.
The passenger door swung open, and my hand flew to the empty holster on my hip. Crap! Millie still had my airsoft gun. So, I wasn’t just armed with something fake, I wasn’t armed at all.
Butch’s fingers rested on the hilt of his pistol as a pair of white, strappy high heels plunked against the rocky dirt road. We both stopped, staring at the strangest sight my eyes had ever laid on here at The Duke Ranch—which was saying something, ’cause I’d seen some things in my life.
Tanned legs appeared from the vehicle next, followed by a black miniskirt and an-off-the-shoulder lavender blouse. Bleached blonde hair, and not the beautiful silky sheen like Briar’s, hung in coarse waves, framing a face with sharp features and pronounced cheekbones. A pair of massive, dark sunglasses hid this familiar woman’s eyes from view.
Butch looked as if he was about to drool all over the road as a smile caressed her perfectly painted lips. A smile that told me she knew she was absolutely gorgeous and always got what she wanted.
Pulling my own lips into a thin line, I watched this uninvited guest raise her freshly manicured fingers to her sunglasses and gently slide them from her face.
Then I inhaled a deep, fresh breath of relief.
“Well, hello there, cowboys!” she exclaimed, shutting the door behind her.
“H…Hi,” Butch gushed, his cheeks turning red, and I whacked him over the back of his head. “Ow.” He rubbed where I’d hit him.
“You’ve met her before, and she’s married, numbnuts,” I hissed at him and then turned toward our visitor. “Hey, Trixie,” I said, giving her a small smile as Butch’s cheeks blazed bright red and he ran a hand over the back of his neck.
The smile didn’t falter from her lips as she took a couple of wobbly steps toward us. “These were not the right shoes at all, were they?” She giggled, stopped, and quickly kicked them off. Snatching them up, she returned her attention toward me as the driver’s side door popped open.
“Tenley and Weston aren’t back from the hospital yet,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets.
She giggled as a tall, thin, light brown-haired man stepped out. He had perfectly gelled hair and a pair of slacks that had never seen a speck of dirt before. Her husband, Simon, walked to the back of the vehicle. “I know that, silly; I’m here to help set up for their small ‘Welcome to This World, Baby Girl’ party. And before you say anything, it was her mom’s idea, and you know as best friend, I volunteered to be the host so she wouldn’t have to do any cleaning or anything.”
Butch chuckled beside me. “Sounds like Mom.”
“Yeah, her and Rosemary are quite the pair,” I agreed and shifted my attention back to Trixie. “So, is this happening at the main house?”
She shook her head as Simon popped open the trunk. “No, at Weston and Tenley’s house, obviously. That way if she needs to disappear to nap or something, Tenley doesn’t have to go anywhere.”
“Ah, well, alright. Do you need any help?” I offered, watching as Simon slowly began unloading boxes with unknown contents I assumed were for the party.
“Just point us in the right direction. Believe it or not, I’ve never actually been to Tenley’s house,” she said as Simon slowly lifted a stack of boxes that were teetering, threatening to tip over at any minute.
I chuckled, watching the delicate balancing act. “’Fraid it’s too far to walk and carry all of that stuff. But we can load whatever you’ve got to a Razor; I can take you up to their house that way.”
