Page 50 of His Texas Claim

"I know what you're gonna say." She sat up straighter, one hand still resting on her belly. "That he's still tangled up in whatever Arlo's doing. That he's not exactly earned a seat at the table. I know all of it."

"Then why."

"Because he talked his own father off finding that cave with my whole future standing twenty feet away, and he's never gotten so much as a thank you for it." She held my eyes, steady. "Figured that was worth an invitation, even if he doesn't take it."

Across the room, Marlena was still talking low to Peggy, her hand firm on my aunt's arm. Peggy's jaw was tight, but she wasn't moving to throw him out either—just watching him the way you'd watch an approaching thunderhead.

Cooper hadn't moved from the doorway. Hands in his pockets, eyes doing a slow sweep of the room like he was calculating exits, the easy confidence I usually saw on him nowhere in sight. Just a man standing very still, waiting to find out if he was about to get told to leave.

I got up before I'd fully decided to.

Crossed the room.

His eyes found mine and went wary, bracing.

"You gonna throw me out?" he muttered.

"Nope.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “Because you knew we were hiding in that cave, didn’t you?”

It was a gamble; I had no idea if he’d known, and that was months ago now.

But he knew right away.

Swallowed.

“Don’t know why he’s so hellbent on takin’ your land,” Cooper muttered. “It’s not that special. More money elsewhere.”

He didn’t mention how Arlo had shoved him. Didn’t need to.

"Doesn't have to make sense," I said. "Never has, with him."

Cooper's jaw worked, eyes still doing that careful sweep of the room, like he hadn't decided yet whether he trusted the ground under him.

"You could've told him," I said. "That day. Would've made things easier for you."

"Yeah." He didn't offer more than that.

"Why didn't you?"

He was quiet a second, long enough that I didn't think he'd answer at all.

"Didn't feel like it," he said finally, which wasn't an answer, and we both knew it.

"Cooper."

"Don't make it a thing, Stetson."

"Not makin' it a thing." I clapped a hand on his shoulder, same rough way I would've done for Gage or Wyatt without thinking twice about it. "Just sayin' I noticed."

Something in his face shifted, quick, gone before I could name it, same as it always did with him.

"She always this stubborn?" he asked, nodding toward Bryn. "Inviting people who weren't asked."

"You have no idea."