“Have a nice swim?” Brick asked, grinning.
“I did.” He saw his brother look past him toward the creek. “Don’t even think about it.”
Brick gave him his best innocent face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Jinx. She isn’t some prize to be won. She’s got serious problems and is in no shape to even think about getting involved with another man.”
Brick cocked his head. “Is that what you keep telling yourself?”
Angus sighed. “We’re almost done here. Once the cattle are in the high country, there will be nothing keeping us here.”
His brother shook his head. “And you’ll just be able to leave her knowing that her jackass of a husband isn’t through tormenting her?” He didn’t give Angus time to answer. “That’s what I thought. You don’t want a part of this, brother, trust me. How do you even know that she’s over him?”
He thought about the kiss still tingling on his lips. Jinx was over T.D., that he was sure of. But that didn’t mean that she was ready for another relationship, especially after her last one. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but you definitely won’t have to stay. You and Ella can go back home and—”
Brick was shaking his head. “The three of us signed on and the three of us will leave together. You stay here and you’ll get yourself killed.”
He wanted to argue that his twin didn’t know squat, but unfortunately, Brick was right. He would only make things worse if he stayed. But how could he leave knowing the kind of trouble Jinx was in?
“I just hate to see you falling for her,” Brick said. “You’re dead right that she’s not ready for another man. Hell, she hasn’t gotten rid of the one she has.”
“There’s no reason to be talking about this,” Angus said as he started past his brother. “Let’s just get these cattle safely up to the high country. That’s the job we’re being paid for. That’s enough to worry about since I really doubt that T.D. and his friends are through with us.”
His twin caught his arm to stop him. “I’m just worried about you, Angus.”
“Maybe it’s time you quit worrying about me.”
Brick laughed. “We’re brothers. Womb mates. I’m going to worry especially when I see you headed down a dangerous path. You just can’t stand to see a woman who needs rescuing and not try to rescue her. It’s in your DNA. But you almost got killed the last time you got involved in a domestic situation that wasn’t any of your business.”
He’d gotten between his girlfriend and her former boyfriend, a mistake in so many ways. “This is different.”
“Is it? Jinx can divorce T.D., give him what he wants and be done with him. But maybe she’s dragging her feet on the property settlement because she is still in love with him. Like you said, she needs time to figure it all out.”
“I know that,” he said as he stepped past his brother and started again toward camp. He glanced back. It had crossed his mind that Brick might go down to the creek. But to his surprise, his brother now followed him.
“He’ll hit us again,” Brick said, thankfully changing the subject. “Maybe we should try to find him no matter what Jinx says.”
“We can’t leave the camp unprotected. Jinx is right. With two of us gone, it would be a perfect time for T.D. to strike.”
Brick said nothing, but Angus could tell his brother was chewing it over. He just hoped Brick didn’t do anything impulsive.
WYATT THOUGHT ABOUT riding out of the mountains and not looking back. T.D. had sent him out to see what damage had been done to Jinx and her herd after the fire. He hated to report that Jinx and her crew had put out the fire with the rainstorm finishing the job. He knew that news was going to put T.D. into a tailspin. He’d thought he was so smart starting the fire.
“Well?” T.D. demanded as he dismounted. “Took you long enough. I thought I was going to have to come look for you.”
Wyatt already anticipated the cowboy’s reaction to what he had to tell him. “They fought the fire, putting it almost out. Then the rain did the rest. The fire’s out.”
“What about the herd?” T.D. demanded. “Surely it scattered some of them.”
He shook his head. “Sorry.”
T.D. swore and stomped around the wet camp. Royce was trying to get a fire going again but everything was soaking wet after the squall that had come through. He and Cash were arguing, Cash saying he was hungry and might ride down to town.
“We should all ride out of here,” Travis said, watching them. He looked wet and miserable. “I don’t know what we’re doing up here anyway.”
T.D. turned on him so quickly Travis didn’t have a chance to react. The blow sent him sprawling onto the wet ground. “I’m sick of your whining. Nothing is keeping you here and while you’re at it, take those two with you.”
Royce looked up, seeming surprised that T.D. meant him and Cash. He’d managed to get a small blaze going. He continued building the fire. Cash, Wyatt noted, had gone silent.
“That’s all you saw?” T.D. asked as Wyatt hung up his slicker on a tree limb to dry in the sun. “I thought for sure that the fire would spook the herd. Or at least scatter them.”
Wyatt shook his head. All the way back, he’d debated telling T.D. what he’d seen through his binoculars near the stream. Maybe it would end this once and for all. Or maybe it would make T.D. even crazier.
He had no idea what T.D. would do if he told him that he’d seen Jinx and one of her wranglers down by the stream swimming together, then talking while sitting in the sun and then kissing.
Wyatt had watched, unable to pull his eyes away.
