Page 30 of Dark Side of the River

She swallowed, tempted. “She just needs to wake up. Apparently, along with being shot, when she fell from her horse, she hit her head. She has a concussion. The doctor said that when the swelling in her brain goes down, she’ll wake up. But when she does...” The doctors just didn’t know if she would be the same or not.

“She’ll be just fine,” Alexander said. “You have to have faith.”

Faith? She had to turn away, trying to remember how long it had been since she’d had faith in anything—or anyone.

At a sound at the door, she looked over and saw her sons standing there giving Alexander looks filled with animosity. He saw them and their expressions and said, “I should go. I have a big meeting tomorrow in Denver. But if you need me, I’ll hustle right back up here.” He placed his hand over hers. “You just call me.”

She met his gaze and nodded. He leaned to her, kissed her softly on the mouth, then pulled back to smile at her. She knew what he wanted from her. Marriage. He’d come to Montana looking to buy a large ranch. He’d wanted hers and had offered more than she had ever imagined she could get for it. This part of Montana wasn’t as desirable to most buyers as the mountainous, pine-tree-filled western part. That she’d been tempted to take what he offered along with money brought home how desperate she was.

“Thank you and thank you for coming.” She hadn’t called him. He seemed to have his ear to the ground when it came to her. She wondered if he’d made offers on any other ranches in the area run by women.

He tipped his hat on the way past her sons. She gave them a scolding look and turned away. It felt impossible to deal with other people right now, maybe especially her own children.

Brand came in, hugged her, then went over to say something to his sister. That Brand was her favorite was no secret to anyone. At thirty-two, he worked harder on the ranch than his brothers. He caused no problems. He was her gift—but also the talk of the Powder River Valley since everyone thought he looked like a younger Holden McKenna. He had blue eyes and darker blond hair and was drop-dead gorgeous—like his father.

Her eldest son hadn’t moved from the doorway. She depended on CJ as much as Brand, often even more because she knew that he loved building the ranch as much as or more than she did. She knew that he would fight for it beside her no matter what she did. Not that he wasn’t the most judgmental of her children and always had been.

“You okay?” Ryder asked as he walked over to Oakley’s bed, put his hand on his sister’s arm for a moment, then turned to her. “Two sheriff’s deputies came to the ranch with a warrant. They took all of the rifles. Now the sheriff is checking our horses. Apparently, he’s looking to match the hoofprints found at the spot on the McKenna Ranch where they think Oakley was shot.”

“Stuart Layton thinks someone on our ranch shot Oakley?” Brand cried. “That’s ridiculous. What do you want us to do?”

There was nothing to do. She shook her head. “Let them take our guns, let the sheriff look. We have nothing to hide.” She saw a look cross CJ’s face. “Do we?”

“You really need to go home for a while,” Ryder said. Like CJ, he had the Stafford blond hair and green eyes. Like Brand, he was handsome, only unlike Brand, Ryder knew it and used it to his benefit. At thirty, he made no secret of the fact that he would much rather be chasing young women than cows. “We can stay with Oakley while you’re gone.”

She shook her head. “I’m not leaving until she wakes up.”

“And if she never wakes up?” CJ said from the door.

She shot him a warning look. “Oakley will wake up. She will come back to us.” Her sons shifted on their boots, clearly anxious to leave. “Go. Take care of the ranch.”

Brand hesitated, touching her arm before following Ryder out. CJ, she saw, was still in the doorway, his green eyes on her. She wondered if she’d made him like he was, often so angry.

As Ryder and Brand went down the hall, CJ stepped into the room. “Why are you leading him on?” he demanded. She didn’t have to ask who he was referring to. Alexander. “You aren’t going to marry Al. Hopefully, you aren’t going to marry anyone ever again.”

“It’s my business. Anyway, you don’t know. I might remarry someday.”

He let out a bark of a laugh. “I do know, though. There isn’t a man on this earth that you could live with. Alexander? He isn’t the type to stand back and let you run the ranch. The minute he took over, we both know what would happen. You want to go through that again? I sure as hell don’t. Remember, I was there last time.”

She would have drawn up to her full height, told him he couldn’t talk to her like that, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. He was right. She’d put her children through her last disastrous marriage. She couldn’t do anything like that again.

But still, she couldn’t have her son talking to her like that. Before she could get air back into her lungs to put him in his place, CJ had turned and walked out.

Grinding her teeth, she watched him go, hating that what he’d said was true. Would she have been happy with Holden, the one man she’d truly loved? She had never had a chance to find out, she thought bitterly, and now they were both alone—no doubt what they deserved.

But as CJ left, his words still burned inside her. Sometimes she thought he was the most like her, that brittle hurt part that always felt on the edge of breaking. Her excuse was that she’d been through too much, done things she’d never thought she’d do and survived by taking another breath when she just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry.

She watched CJ go down the hall to where his brothers were waiting for him. The eldest, CJ had been through more with her than his brothers. She hated to think how much he remembered, how much he actually knew. He knew enough to be suspicious, she reminded herself. Wasn’t that enough?

CHAPTER TEN

ATTHEBUFFALOBARin Miles City, Cooper had been nursing a beer and keeping an eye on the table in the back where the Texan was doing his best to charm Tilly. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could pretend to be drinking his now-lukewarm beer. Not only was he her designated driver tonight, but also he was here to protect her—not that he would ever admit that to her. For those reasons, he didn’t want to drink too much.

“Cooper Frigging McKenna? You’ve got to be kidding me. I hope to hell you’re lost.”

Groaning inwardly, he set down his beer bottle on the bar. He’d known it was only a matter of time before he ran into Leann’s brother. He turned slowly on his stool, knowing how ugly this could get, and quickly.

“Billy.” Billy Hayes moved closer, towering over him since he was still sitting on the stool. But getting to his feet might be all Billy needed to throw the first punch in this crowded bar.

---