Page 36 of Seaside Cowboy's Second Chance

Surely, he thought about what had happened at that place, too. Well, lots of things had happened there, but one of them concerned their family directly.

“No. Someone might need help. We don’t have to go insidethatcottage.” The coppery scent of blood appeared in his nostrils at the memory, and forgotten fear rippled over his skin again. Weird because Dallas hadn’t been at that place the night his father died there. He’d learned about it from his brothers. Yet the mention of the place sent a shiver over his back.

But if the recent sound was a gunshot, after all, and someone got hurt, he needed to help them. Before he could change his mind, he took off in a gallop without waiting for his brother.

Based on the sound behind him, Kai didn’t wait to follow, though Dallas wouldn’t blame his brother if he’d stayed. Dallas leaned closer to Garnet and listened intently. Hopefully, it was just his imagination indeed. Such a blast could be other things. But his gut tightened nonetheless.

They stopped at the border of their property and eyed the distant sandy beach. It spread out before him, peaceful and surprisingly deserted. Waves lulled against the shore and reflected the sky, clear and bright. Deceptively peaceful?

Dallas’s gaze strayed in the direction he didn’t want to go. At all. “Do you think it came fromthatcottage?”

“Hmm.” Kai shrugged. “I don’t think so. I don’t know. It could’ve come from the road further down and been a tire blowout. Or it could’ve been a twig.”

A twig? Seriously?

“Or not? We should make sure.” Not that Dallas wanted to. Reluctantly, he steered Garnet toward the cottage.

Kai grunted. “Do you always have to be the good guy?”

“That’s the way Mom raised us.”

With no vehicle near the run-down place or lights inside, it was difficult to believe it could be inhabited. Dallas dismounted, ground his teeth, and forced his legs to walk toward the porch, even if it seemed like huge weights encased his feet. Blood pounded in his temples, just like the night he’d found out about his father. Should he be ashamed that his first feeling was relief? Guilt had replaced it soon enough. But the second feeling had been fear and worry that one of the people he loved so much had done it.

His father wasn’t the type of person to take his own life, but then what did Dallas know?

Neither Kai nor Dallas had been here that night. They only knew from their brother about what had happened. They didn’t have the horrifying images seared in their brain. But one of their brothers did. Dallas could still hear the whisper that sent a shiver down his spine.

He can’t hurt us anymore. Right?

It was a long time ago. Dallas had to man up and get this done. He squared his shoulders as he ran up the porch. He knocked on the door but received no answer.

Kai didn’t dismount and waved from the horse’s back. “Do you want to break and enter? I can try to pick the lock.”

And here Dallas thought his brother’s rebellious years were behind him. “It’s private property. You wouldn’t!” But he wasn’t so sure about the latter. Either way, he mounted Garnet again, eager to get out of here as fast as possible. “Never mind. Let’s go.”

Without discussing it, they both went into a gallop.

Why had his father gone to that cottage that night? Why had he done what later had been ruled a suicide?

All these years later, Dallas still had no answers. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

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