Joe looked up from his work as a long piece of barbed wire that I remembered vividly sprang free, slicing the arm of the man beside him.
“You’ll want leather gloves for that.” I nodded to the freely bleeding mark on the man’s arm.
“Shane. I have something for that.” Eve turned back to my truck and sighed. “Wait. No I don’t. Not my truck. Archer, do you?—”
“In the back.” I tossed her my keys. Eve rummaged around, intent on saving the man from his own stupidity in rolling his sleeves and not bringing his own first aid kit.
Instead, she ransacked mine, patching up the minor hurt and talking quietly. Joe downed tools, wandering over. I straightened, all too aware that the man never did anything casually, without a deeper purpose.
“Pierce mentioned that you traveled all the way across the country to be with the lovely Miss Eve,” Joe folded his arms across the fence post, leaning into Eve’s side of the property. His greasy hair dangled across his face.
I doubted I could keep the dislike off mine.
“Did he?” I clenched my teeth.
Pierce smiled with his own brand of slimy as he observed our exchange, keeping one eye on Eve and his other man.
“She’s a beautiful woman,” Joe continued, as though Eve wasn’t there to hear, or that worse, he thought the words a compliment. “You’re blessed to have found each other. Such love is a rarity.” He nodded to Eve, pushing away.
Joe disappeared into the knot of men who continued working as the one Eve tended excused himself without so much as athank youfor her efforts and joined his brethren.
Eve glanced at Pierce who reached for her. She sidled away, slipping through the gap in the fence unscathed. I slipped my arm around her shoulder, my interest peaked when he used Eve’s neighbor’s first name so readily.Weren't you a Black Hill hire, Joe?I doubted they were meant to be on a peer to peer basis.
Eve stiffened at the contact before the workers, her body jerking in a hard line. Too late I recalled her policy on sharing relationships before the staff, but hell, they’d have to get used to it, if she let me stay around. I didn’t drop my arm, both of us still watching Pierce with a close gaze, half expecting him to let loose with something else crazy to screw with our day.
After a moment, Eve relaxed the slightest fraction, leaning back into me. A soft breath left her at the admission. I sent Pierce a shit eating grin. His eyes flashed as he turned away, barking orders to his crew working his land.
A slight ripple coursed through her and I wondered who she watched more closely—Peirce or Joe. The level of distrust grew with each until I knew exactly how she felt.
As we turned away, I couldn't help risking a glance over my shoulder.
Joe waved genially, smiling at Eve, who made no move to wave back. The longer I studied him, the more my gut tightened. Something about the way his smile and his eyes didn’t match up left me on edge, like there was something missing in him. A connection with his brain that made him more predator and less human.
Loathe to turn my back on the man, I waited until Eve started off, disappearing between the trees as she headed back to the truck. She paused in the shadow, waiting for me with a small frown on her face.
Offering her a quick grin that I didn’t feel I followed her lead, my heart jerking when the backs of her fingers brushed mine, then curled inward, seeking more contact.
I interlaced our hands, torn between the hope that the woman I loved still felt the same about me. That same emotion warred with the fear that Joe saw just how much Eve meant to me as a weakness.
Especially when I couldn't see him—either his men, or Pierce—as anything but a threat that lay far too close to home.
Chapter 10
Archer
Inside, the big house was cool and quiet when we returned. Eve scooted away from me the moment the door closed behind us, disappearing up the stairs. I let her go, knowing that people seeing us together spooked her. We’d packed the kitchen up together earlier in the day and I knew she’d want to get the evening meal on shortly, but she’d said we were up for a day of chores.
I wandered about the bottom floor, respecting Red hart’s unspokenno non family members upstairsfor once. The Christmas tree needed water. I topped up the firewood, split a little extra and topped up the rooms inside. My arms ached from swinging the axe, but in a good way. I preferred work to sitting around. Driving a desk had never been my style, but I’d done the job for the last few years, anyway.
I paused, slugging a bottle of water. Sweat trickled along my spine beneath my jacket, but I wasn't stupid enough to shuck the thing off until I was back inside. Behind me, the weight of the mountain's gaze weighed on my back. I placed the axe carefully by the split rounds I’d already cut, and turned to face the behemoth that had been there far longer than the ranch or any of the people on it.
The white capped peak was invisible behind a fluffy bank of clouds, but that didn’t disguise the mountain's harsh gaze that watched me, anyway. I stood still, letting the mountain see me. We hadn’t talked last time I was here. Then I'd thought I was a temporary fixture. Now that I sought something more permanent, it was time.
Travis spoke to the mountain. I knew that because Jude told me so. He had his own understanding with the presence that watched over the land Eve’s family lived on for the past few generations. Len, too, from what I’d understood. Her father respected both the sense of peace and brutality that Red Hart existed on.
It wasn’t in me to do anything less.
“She’s been here for much longer than I have,” I acknowledged, speaking softly, unclear if I meant Eve or the land Red hart stood on. “And I’m new. But I’ve been here before. I’ve seen a season here, and I’ve protected those I love. I’ll do it again, as many times as it takes. That’s what I give.”
