Page 22 of Spirit on the Range

To her credit she didn’t back off or speak to him.

Her hands twitched at her side, from the tiny amount of her I could see from my angle. His friends, dressed up like they were headed for a wedding in their Sunday Best and not just a regular work day, closed in.

“Morning,” I called cheerfully, fighting the urge to flatten the asshole looming over my girl.

The tall man turned to face me and without a single word passing his lips, I knew exactly who he was from the derisive sneer on his face as he looked me up and down and turned away.

Jamie Quintel, heir apparent to the Double B ranch down south. Born to money, and worked as hard as anyone born with a silver spoon in his mouth who never had to earn a single dime of it alone–only from the backs of others.

Like my mother.

Double B was off-limits. Every trader in the state knew that. The hands weren’t watched to ensure cash and small items didn’t disappear without being paid a fair price for. No trader went there after one was tossed onto the road in front of the place with only the clothes on his back and a few blooming bruises. The owner redistributed his stock and reallocated his truck. None of it was ever reported because he had the local sheriffs–plural–in his pocket so deep I was surprised any of them looked anything but pasty white.

“I won’t ask again, Sienna.” He turned back to her, reaching out to cup her face. His fingers dimpled on her cheek as she tried to shake him free.

“I don’t think she likes that,” I said softly, but clearly enough to be heard across the yard.

The house’s front door opened, banging against the wall as Brendan lurched out of it. “That you, Jamie?”

Bang on the money, old man.

From the set of his mouth, the taste of shit in his yard carried in both directions from the man with his hands on his daughter.

And my girl.

“Just came to collect, is all,” Jaimie called back easily, though he never dropped his hand.

Brendan slapped his hand against the veranda struts, finding his balance. “Sienna? You out here, girl?”

“Here, daddy,’ she called in a soft, sweet voice that stilled every man in the yard. “I’m fine.”

Liar.

And she was damn good at it. Practice did that to a person, perfecting their lies until they believed every one they told.

One of the men reached out to trail his hand down her arm, and I was done. Three guesses on who put the bruises on her body, and only one counted.

“Hands off my girl.” I didn’t spare a glance for Brendan; the old man had to know Jamie was hurting her.

“What did you say?” Jamie didn’t so much as turn his head.

I shook mine and stepped between them, knocking his hand from Sienna’s face and drawing her into my arms as I stepped back to put a decent amount of distance between them. “I said, hands off. You don’t get to be an asshole off your own land.” I paused, my head tilted to one side. “I mean, your daddy’s land.”

Jamie stilled, his hand half raised as I pushed Sienna behind me. Tiny hands curled into my shirt, her frame trembling though I suspected I was the only one who knew it.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ice blue eyes turned in my direction. His chin jerked up.

“She’s not–”

A fist smashed into my cheek from one side with enough force to bend my knees. I tasted blood and swallowed it back, giving her a push but she wouldn’t damn well let go.This happened because I wouldn’t leave well enough alone.

Trav’s voice would haunt me for the next years, and I knew I’d fucked up.

“Let go, wild child,” I murmured as a hand gripped my hair and wrenched my head back.

I threw an elbow up, connecting with something hard–hopefully a jaw. Cursing followed, and Brendan bellowed something from the veranda. The hands left my back, and I knew she hadn’t let go of her own violation, because that girl was stubborn as fuck. Right now all I wanted was to get her awayfrom the men who had nothing but bad intentions when it came to her.

But when I looked up, Brendan stumbled to the top step of the veranda, teetering forward. Forgetting Sienna for a second, I dashed forward in time to take his weight across my shoulders as he crashed toward the hard ground. Dust rose up around us as my knee hit the dirt at the same time Sienna let out a cry.

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