Page 26 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

And then it wason.

I didn’t have a clue who I was hitting or who was hitting me. Frankly, I did not give a shit. There wasn’t a damn thing I wasn’t pissed at right then.

Hurricane Red, for stomping me.

Every goddamn person in the rodeo circuit who didn’t protect Hurricane Red from the repercussions of stomping me.

The piece of shit who dared to call a fourteen-year-old girl his wife.

Adam, for not ordering breeding gloves a month ago.

Brax, for telling Adam to be fuckinggentlewith me.

I couldn’t do anything about Hurricane Red or the shithead who married Hannah—I refused to call him her husband, even in my head—but I could damn sure make my brothers hurt as much as I did.

Voices floated through the red haze of rage, sounding far away and close at the same time.

“Should we do something?” James asked.

“Like make popcorn, you mean?” Essie said. “Oh, mygod. We should make this a rodeo event. Three hot brothers wrestling in the hay. Do you think we could convince them to do it shirtless? Maybe oil them up a little? People would pay good money for that, I guarantee it. What do you think, Hannah?”

Brax snickered, the sound of his wife’s voice making him lose focus and miss an easy shot, which I took full advantage of.Pussy-whipped sucker.

“Boys.” Hannah didn’t even have to raise her voice to get my attention. My whole body froze instantly. She clapped her hands three times. “Stop that right now.”

I pushed through my brothers and rolled to my feet with a smile. Hannah was flanked on either side by James and Essie, but she was the one I greeted. “Hey, there, duchess.”

She blinked like I had caught her off guard, but then she adjusted her glasses and pursed her lips. “You’re bleeding.”

“You should see the other guys,” I drawled.

“I’m looking right at them,” she said crisply. “No one else is bleeding.”

But she wasn’t looking at them. Her eyes never strayed from me. All that red-hot rage that had set my blood boiling a moment ago eased to a warm, friendly simmer.

“I’mbleeding,” Brax protested. “I think the hay scraped up my cuticle.”

Essie sniggered softly. “Poor baby. Come on, husband. Let’s get you patched up.”

James gave Adam a quick once-over and then, apparently satisfied, turned to me with concern in her big brown eyes. “Are you okay, Zack?”

I laughed, already steering Hannah out the door. “What, this? Brothers roughhouse, honey. See to your man, and don’t you worry about me. Hannah has me in hand.”

Hannah gave me an adorably befuddled frown. “You havemein hand, actually.”

“Exactly, duchess. Now take me to my cabin so I can get cleaned up.”

“This isthe second time you’ve bloodied your lip in less than two weeks, and both times it was for a stupid fight that wasn’t worth it.” Hannah’s voice was sharp, but her hand was gentle as she held a paper towel to my lower lip.

“Now, that’s not true,” I said. “Adam won’t ever forget to order breeding gloves again, so I’d say that was worth it.”

Unimpressed, she arched her brows. “And the first fight? The one at the Painted Cat?”

“Who’s to say? For all I know, a great injustice had been done, and I was doing my part to rectify that.”

“Hmm.” She pursed her lips.

With a lazy grin, I leaned back against the counter and widened my legs so she pitched forward between my thighs.

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