“You’d do that?”
He shrugged. “You’re the only family I’ve got, Callie. I don’t want to lose you over a woman I don’t even know.”
Damn it. She hated it when he capitulated like this. His reasonable reaction always made her feel like a cad. She was jealous, plain and simple; she had no right to interfere with him finding someone with whom to settle down. Just because she didn’t feel the urge to get hitched to a disgusting hairy bastard who’d make the rest of her life miserable didn’t mean Jasper couldn’t get married.
Jasper had already turned away, taking her silence as agreement. He trudged toward the cabin.
“Wait.” Callie closed the distance between them. She took his hand in hers. The bones of their fingers and their fingernails were identical despite the difference in size, echoing their familial ties as strongly as the shared blood beneath their skins. “You’re right. I’m the only family you’ve got, but that’s because you need to get to work on it.” She squeezed his hand. “Write her back. Tell her to come.”
His face lit up. “Are you sure? I don’t want to—”
Scoffing, she released his hand and pushed him away. “I said it, didn’t I? What more do I have to do? Write her a letter myself?”
Jasper’s smile faded. “About that…”
Immediate suspicion leeched the forced levity from Callie’s spirits. “What?”
“Your writing is much better than mine,” he began.
“Aw, you’re joking! You want me to write the letter?” Callie punched him in the arm.
Jasper grunted with the force of the strike. He stepped out of reach and rubbed the injured area. “Would you? Please? I don’t want to frighten her with my chicken scratches.”
Callie didn’t like the brassy woman as the situation already stood. That dislike wouldn’t take much to tip over into active hatred.
When Callie didn’t answer, Jasper wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ll run your trapline all week,” he offered, his expression one of hopefulness.
Callie pointed a finger at him. “You’re damned lucky I love you.”
Jasper laughed with relief, knowing that this was his sister’s way of saying she conceded. “Come on. I have a pot of blackstrap on the stove. I know just what I want to tell her.”
Callie allowed herself to be dragged into the cabin, half pleased by Jasper’s high spirits and half disgusted by the cause of them. Whoever this woman was, she’d better be the best thing in the world for her brother. If she wasn’t, Callie was prepared to make her life a living hell.
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