Page 60 of Recurve Ridge

Forcing my thoughts forward, I padded across the hard floorboards to the bedroom door. A gurgle from my empty stomach offered the perfect distraction, and Inearlysmiled. My head full of the expectation of coffee and toast, two things that differed from the UK that couldn’t be simpler, the bitter bite of British coffee and crisp toast that tasted different there. Those were the things that I missed so much, I didn’t pay attention to anything but a drive to get to that steaming mug.

Alan provided me with my preferred forms of nourishment every morning. Though I’d only been about for a short period, I knew that when I left Robe’s odd band of men and his handcrafted mountain home, I would miss this place.

Even grumpy old Miller. Well, not so old, maybe. He seemed about Robe’s and Jon’s age, midthirties, perhaps a few years younger. And no part of himlookedold; I’d seen him train, and on one memorable occasion, I passed the boys’ bathroom in the hall when the door stood ajar. Stocky, barrel-chested, inked—call him what you would, but the beefed-up man possessed more muscle than any regular person should, including Robe and Jon.

Miller might hate me, but I knew he was right where he needed to be—at Robe’s side.

Gripping the cold doorhandle, I shook my head at the romanticized notion. Coffee wafted beneath my nostrils, and I took a heady inhale that stopped me from pulling the door open any farther.

A good thing, as someone I didn’t know stood in the middle of the room.

My eyes snapped open, and I froze. Peering through the tiny gap showed me nothing more, but it let me hear everything. A voice I didn’t know filtered through to me, giving me pause. I listened for Robe’s deeper tones, straining my ears and clutching the door tight.

“Are you sure it’s all right to use your land, then? It’s only a deforestation protest. I know you’re not keen on losing your trees off the ridgeline, to keep your privacy and all. Hoped you’d support us. I can keep my group on the other side of the road if you need.”

“It’s fine. The land ends at the dirt road. You won’t offend anybody. Plus, if you don’t protest, who will?” That came from Jon.

“Thoseneighborsneed to pull their heads out and take care of the world around them.” That deep growl resonated beneath everyone else’s voice.

I bit my lip, smiling anyway.Good to know it’s not just me he gets his grump on at.I got the impression Robe would be angry at anything at this point, though not as much as Miller, perhaps.

“And there’s the other matter of?—”

“I don’t think we need to work that over again,” Robe threw out.

I rested against the cool wood of the door as he attempted his favorite form of distraction: misdirection.

Grumpy ass number two spoke up. “A mil bounty is nothing to be laughed at.”

I searched the room and found Miller leaning against one corner, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at Robe or maybe the room in general.

Fail on that front, Robe.

Then the implications hit.Bounty? As in bountyhunters? A mil… fuck, a million dollars?My mind was jarred, unable to process anything else. I let my gaze wander around the sliver of the room I could see.

Robe shifted just enough to give me his side profile. One hand rose to stroke his beard in that unconscious way of his. A blue-and-black checked shirt covered his broad shoulders, and though I just pulled my sorry rear end out of bed, he looked like he’d been up for hours.

Or maybe he never went to sleep.

I still hadn’t figured out where Robe slept each night that I occupied his bed alone—or with whom.

The man in question smiled—smiled—at the number Miller threw out there. “That’s nowhere near enough to play with the big boys. He’ll have to double it or more.”

“You want them pawing at our door?” Miller snarled, rapping one fist on the wood at his back.

Robe turned away from me and stared at the stocky ex-soldier. Though his larger frame obscured my view, his straight spine suggested neither man had backed down. From the little I’d learned about them, I suspected this fight might end up being one they took to the literal death.

The other half of what Robe said registered. That small smile, the banter at a death sentence hanging over his head—heenjoyedthis. Being the hunted, the outlaw. Like kids playing cops and robbers, but this time it read back to front. He was the good guy, and the others…. Well, whoever hunted him had to be the opposite.

Right?

Robe turned back to the other man in the room. A flash of bright royal blue obscured my vision for a brief moment before Robe came back into view again.

“Appreciate you coming all the way up to ask permission, Brandon. You’re always welcome to do a little light protesting on my behalf and for others on the mountain. I understand the water has to flow through the properties and not be cut off or redirected from above. Keep your people inside my boundary lines and the violence to a minimum, please. I’ve got enough issues with?—”

The rest of Robe’s sentence cut off as the door shoved inward from the other side. I stumbled back, too absorbed in the conversation that wasn’t mine to start with to react properly. The unexpected movement pulled me off-balance. A roughened hand shot through the opening and yanked me forward. I swore like Alan as I tripped over myself on my way into the short alcove that separated the living area and Robe’s part of the house.

Heads turned in my direction, but I barely saw them, lost in the pair of narrowed eyes crowned with yellow spikes around the iris that were set in Miller’s hard and unwelcoming face.

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