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“Carson men don’t belong in the bunkhouse,” Garrett argues, his narrow eyes focused on Cole as if he’s serving him a reminder.
“I appreciate that. But the bunkhouse is all I’ve ever known, and I like it out there just fine,” Dalton tells him.
“Good shout, it gets kinda hectic in here. Hell, I’ve even thought about spending a night out at the bunkhouse myself.” Savannah laughs at her own attempt to lighten the mood.
“No!” Cole snaps unexpectedly, making all eyes turn to him. Seeing my brother look embarrassed about his own reaction has me hiding my smirk beneath my hand.
“I think what Cole’s sayin’ is that the bunkhouse ain’t no place for a lady, ma’am,” Dalton explains, glancing his eyes over to me and wearing a snigger of his own.
“Well, it’s a good job I’m not a lady then, huh?”
The tension eases a little when everyone laughs, even Mom finds it funny and smiles for the first time since her confession last night, and I can’t help wondering what she thinks of the new Dalton shock.
“Sorry to interrupt ya dinner, boss.” Finn appears in the doorway.
“We weren’t eating yet, what's troublin’ ya?” Garrett takes his wife's hand across the table and looks up at him.
“There’s a truck just pulled up front, we got some men here lookin’ for work.”
The smile instantly drops from Garrett's face, and he looks shiftily between me and Cole.
“Excuse us, ladies, we got somethin’ to take care of.” Garrett kisses Maisie’s cheek as he gets up and starts leading us toward the door.
“You too, Dalton.” He looks back over his shoulder at our other brother.
“Sure, si…” He manages to stop himself before he scrambles up from the table and follows us out.
When we get outside there are four men standing in front of a rusty, old pickup truck, and the one in the middle puffs out his chest and nods his head as a greeting.
“Take it you're the boss?” He steps forward and holds out his hand for Garrett.
“This is the Carson Ranch, we’re all Carsons, which means we’re all the boss.” Garrett looks down at the hand and shows he has no intention of taking it.
“Well, me and my friends here are lookin’ for some work, figure a big place like this is always in need of some extra hands.”
“There ain’t nothin’ for you here,” Garrett tells him firmly.
“C’mon, you gotta have somethin’?” The guy chuckles.
“Like I said… ain’t nothin’ for ya here,” he repeats through gritted teeth.
“Not even out on the—”
“You got a hearin’ problem or ya just stupid?” Cole steps up beside Garrett and sizes the guy up.
“We’re just four guys lookin’ for some work.” The guy takes a pace back and holds up his hands defensively.
“Well, move on and keep lookin’, this ain’t the town where you're gonna find it,” Garrett warns.
“You own the town, as well as this ranch?” One of his buddies spits at the ground, and I notice the way Garrett’s fists tense before he loosens his shoulders. “That’s a matter of opinion. Now, we gotta family dinner to get back to, so if you could find your own way out the gates.”
“Talk about hostile,” one of ‘em huffs under his breath as they all pile back inside the truck.
All four of us stand and stare as they start up their engine and pull away.
“You think they're the guys Durston called about?” I ask.
“I’m certain of it. He sent me a picture of one of their licenses.”
