Page 12 of The Rough Rider

There was a ripple through the entire crowd of people. And Gus began to lead her away from the bonfire.

Until Hunter stopped them.

“I’m sorry,” he held his hand up like he was calling a time-out, “you don’t get to do that and then give no explanation,” Hunter said.

“I do,” Gus said. “Because I don’t owe anyone an explanation.”

“Gus...”

“If you have something to say to me, Hunter, we can do it back at the homestead. You know where I live. So why don’t we deal with our stuff in private. That’s the relevant information that everybody at the ranch needed to know, because I expect them all to be there. Throwing rice or whatever the hell.”

There was a smattering of very uncomfortable applause, and they were predictably rushed by her sisters. Fia, Quinn and Rory. Quinn and Rory looked... Well, they looked outraged.

“What in the world?” Quinn asked.

“I... Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”

“I might congratulate you if this didn’t seem so desperately random.”

“How was it random?” Gus asked, slinging his arm around her like it was the most natural thing in the entire world. “People at the ranch hook up these days, right? It’s what they do. Look at Hunter and Elsie. How is this different?”

“You’re...older,” Rory said.

“And...you,” Fia added.

“I’m pregnant,” said Alaina.

The explosion of curse words from Quinn was epic and Rory was looking back and forth between herself and Gus, obviously trying to decide if this was a surprise, romantic triumph, or if she was going to pick up her steak knife and launch into a rage like Quinn.

“How?”Rory asked.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Rory,” Quinn said.

“I knowhowbut...how?”

Alaina wished she had a good story to tell but she felt skinned and rolled in salt. Stinging, exposed and all things she hated, and it was Gus. Gus, who had always been there for her in his way but they would never...

“All you need to know,” said Gus, “is that I care about your sister. And I would never hurt her. Do you believe that?”

Fia eyed him hard. “I do.”

“We need to talk by ourselves,” Quinn said.

“If you want to accuse me of murder, Quinn,” Gus said, “why don’t you do it in front of me? I’m not afraid.”

“Well, maybe I am,” Quinn said.

“For the record, I didn’t kill my father.” Alaina had never heard Gus outright deny it before. “It suits me to let that rumor go around. Maybe because I like a little fantasy. And hell, that’s a pretty compelling one, I have to admit. There was no love lost between me and the old man. But no. I didn’t kill him. I just made sure he would never come back. I made sure he signed the ranch over to me and my brothers so that we never had to see him ever again. And I made sure he knew that if his trifling ass ever wandered back on Four Corners, I’d finish what I started. Because when I handle something, I handle it.”

Those words sent a shiver down Alaina’s spine. He was handling her, wasn’t he?

And suddenly, she was brimming with questions. She had agreed to this, and now it was a public announcement. News of her pregnancy was bound to get around and quickly. So she should be thankful, but she found herself wanting details.

“We need to talk,” Alaina said to Gus.

“I expect so.”

“Not tonight,” Rory said, grabbing hold of her arm, and Alaina felt like a rag doll, being pulled between things.

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