Page 9 of Disarming The Rancher

Rather than turn around and tell him off, she bit down on her temper and headed to the bathroom instead. A nice shower was all she needed to wash the day away. Of course, that annoying voice said she should have stayed in the barn with Brax longer.

The shower was just what the doctor ordered. She closed the door to her bedroom when she’d finished, thankful for a little privacy. It was a rare thing being on the road with seven guys at all times, sometimes eight when Wade showed up. She retrieved her laptop from her bag. She imagined it had been Kenny who’d been ‘kind’ enough to bring her suitcase upstairs and into the room he thought they would be sharing. She shook off her frustration, figuring she had enough on her mind without dealing with him.

She opened her laptop, powered up, and climbed onto her bed. Someone had washed the blanket. She owed them a thank-you come morning. Either the generator was doing its job or they’d tripped a breaker instead of losing all power. The latter was most likely considering it used to happen all the time with the old house.

Wade would have phoned if a suspect was in custody, but she googled the incident anyway. Seeing the images of the venue roped off behind ‘crime scene’ tape and people held behind barricades sent a shiver racing down her spine. The thought of being some obsessed person’s target sent another.

Looking at these images much longer and sleep would be impossible. Raleigh opened her e-mail instead. Wade was supposed to e-mail her financial statements for the past six months. Did he? No.

She glanced at the clock. Was it too late to call him? Probably. She sent a text instead, asking when he planned to join them.

No response came.

She would try again at first light. It was getting late and she should probably shut down for the night. A couple of minutes later, she was tucked under her covers, looking out the same window she had when she’d dreamed of being a country singer.

Dreams really did come true. She loved her job. She loved meeting fans. Most of all, she loved making music and sharing it with her small corner of the world. She might not be ‘world tour’ big, but she had a nice following and got to do the music she wanted to with people who were like family at this point. Kenny had always marched to his own drummer. He’d get the hint at some point and their friendship could get back on track. For now, she planned to keep him at arm’s length until he moved on to someone else. And he would. Kenny wasn’t the type to stay single for long.

Her thoughts drifted to Brax. If she was going to be in a relationship with someone, she’d want it to be with someone like him. Well someone like him who was a little less annoying.

Brax punched his pillow. He rolled onto his left side. Then, his right. For reasons he didn’t want to examine, he was concerned about Raleigh’s life. He tried to chalk his restlessness up to the fact he knew her on a personal level, but it ran deeper. He tried to convince himself she was like a sister but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not even when his mother used to babysit her when they were younger did he ever look at her in that light.

Why couldn’t he stop thinking about her?

Four a.m. couldn’t get there fast enough. At three-thirty, he gave up trying to sleep in favor of a morning workout and shower. He decided to head to the barn early to see if anyone was there.

He struck out there too. There were lights on in the main house so he figured he’d check on his brother Adam and his new family. Adam was recovering from being stabbed during an altercation with an attorney who’d been fixated on Adam’s daughter Angel. His brother was recovering and probably needed a hand while healing despite having found the love of his life, a woman by the name of Prudence. Plus, the coffee was better there.

Brax slipped in through the backdoor and immediately heard voices in the kitchen. He recognized Adam’s and their mother’s immediately. It made sense for their mother to be at Adam’s new place considering she had a long history of jumping at the chance to babysit girls and now officially had a granddaughter.

“That’s not important,” his mother said in her defensive tone.

“What’s not?” Brax asked from behind her, figuring Adam needed an assist. Their mother was one of the most caring and loving people on the planet. She had a heart of gold but was born stubborn as an ox.

Their mother gasped and brought her hand up to cover her mouth the minute she turned and saw him. Her cheeks turned several shades of red, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Nothing,” she said a little too quickly.

“I’m trying to get our mother to explain to me why she knows someone who can doctor a birth certificate,” Adam said plain as day.

“What on earth?” Brax asked, completely thrown off guard.

“I was merely suggesting that I might be able to help.” She threw her hands up in the air and sucked in a breath. More moves he’d seen her pull when she was guilty of something. But what?

The woman was practically a saint. Anyone in town would agree except maybe their aunt but she was a piece of work. Their mother brought up her own sons with very little outside help while caring for her friends’ children when needed. She was the first to volunteer if there was a committee for park cleanup or a toy drive for underprivileged kids. She managed this side of the family’s charitable contributions and their father had groaned more than once about her generosity.

“With her network of friends, I guess I’m not as surprised as I probably should be,” Brax quipped. He pointed toward the coffee maker and got a nod of approval from Adam. “You want a cup?”

“I’ll take a refill,” Adam picked up his mug and stood. He winced, froze, and then looked like he was trying to shake off the pain. “I don’t care how much it hurts, I’m not taking any more of those pain meds. They make me dizzy and nauseous, not a great combination. I knew I should have stuck with two ibuprofen and called it a day.”

“Eat something and drink some milk to coat your stomach,” their mom said. She was already on her way to the fridge.

“It won’t do any good to argue,” Brax said to his brother as Adam started to protest.

Adam laughed instead.

“There isn’t an animal alive more stubborn than our mother,” Adam said. He sat back down, accepting his fate.

Brax grabbed his brother’s mug, refilled it and had it back in two shakes. He took a sip of coffee and waited for the burn to kick in.