Page 95 of Roaring Fork Wrangler

He chuckled. “I guess I did. I’m also sure that, if I were in your shoes, I’d have finished the bottle by now.”

“Brianna had no idea how she ended up in Colorado?”

“She said your mom didn’t tell her where she was headed.”

“What about the phone number in her letter to Joe?”

“Brianna burned it and says she has no recollection of the area code.”

I snarled. “Of course she doesn’t.”

The personal ramifications of everything I’d just learned came barreling at me. If my mom hadn’t gotten pregnant, if her brother had succeeded in pushing her into having an abortion, if she hadn’t gone to Colorado and met my dad, Buck, Porter, Holt, Flynn, and me wouldn’t exist.

“What do you want to do?” Deck asked.

“If you mean when do I want to leave, that’s up to you.”

“Is Juni going withus?”

“She wants to.”

“First thing tomorrow morning. I don’t have it in me to tell this story again tonight, and I doubt you do either.” When he stood, I did too, and he put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re doin’ the right thing by telling Buck all this in person. I admire you for that. Just don’t have anything more to drink before you do.”

I already felt woozy. “Yes, sir.” Before Decker got to the door, I stopped him. “Can you ask Juni to come down?”

“You got it.”

I’d never understand why this woman and her son thought killing me would result in her actions all those years ago remaining a secret. Worse, I still had no fucking idea who’d sent me here or why.

If it was just to uncover the secret about Buck’s real father, why not send him? Why had the burden of exposing my mother’s lies fallen on my shoulders?

In every memory I had of her, and there weren’t many, she was loving and kind—the nurturer our father wasn’t and could never be. Why did the precious time we’d had with her have to be tainted now? Why couldn’t we live the rest of our lives believing we’d had one parent who loved us?

I even dreaded setting foot on the ranch I swore I’d never leave—willingly, anyway. Could my brothers, sister, and I ever purge that earth of what we’d all suffered at the hands of Roscoe Buchtold Wheaton? Especially after I heaped my mother’s lies on that pile of horseshit? I couldn’t keep the secret, though. Buck deserved to know the truth regardless of the questions it brought, most of which we’d never get answers to.

When I heard a soft knock,followed by the door creaking open, I stood and met Juni halfway. Once she was in my arms, I felt the anger and sadness inside me leave as quickly as it had come.

I closed my eyes and stroked her hair, thanking God she’d given me another chance, that she loved me even with all I’d done to hurt her. I just wished to hell I hadn’t had so much to drink in the short time it took Decker to tell me what he’d learned.

“I, uh, might be a little shitfaced,” I admitted.

She smiled when I weaved back and forth. “A little?”

“Would you mind if we lie down?”

Juni kept one arm around me and led me into the bedroom.

“Here we go again, you taking care of me instead of the other way around.”

“We have the rest of our lives for you to take care of me, Cord,” she said, stretching out beside me on the bed after she’d pulled back the covers.

“Did you just ask me to marry you, Juniper Rose?”

“I don’t recall asking you anything.”

“Damn, I love you.”

She unfastened the buttons of my shirt, and I rolled to my side. When she slid it off my shoulders, down my arms, and onto the floor, then unzipped my jeans, I raised my butt, and when she pulled them off, both our eyes opened wide when my erection sprang out and hit my stomach.

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