Page 13 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“Her judgment is fine,” I added, though I tended to agree with Lidia on that one. It was something else altogether that we desired, something that relied on her lack of good judgment. For the hundredth time, I cursed the shit luck that had made her our stepsister. We’d been looking for a woman with her kind of questionable judgment for years. A woman who wouldn’t pass judgment on us, who might think this insane lifestyle we were after was something desirable. If only we could find someone openminded enough to give it a shot, someone who didn’t give a fuck what people in town thought.

In short, the opposite of Amber fucking Durant.

“It would be good for her to be under a more watchful eye,” Lidia said. “She’ll learn a thing or two from living with a parent who sets her straight when she makes mistakes instead of letting it get to the point where she has to be hidden away across the country.”

“We don’t mind looking out for her,” Holden said quietly. “We like having her around.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Lidia said, giving Amber a critical look. “Honey, you aren’t pregnant, are you? Because I know a thing or two about babies, too.”

“I’m not pregnant,” Amber snapped. “For your information, I’ve never even had sex. So I guess I’m not the spawn of Satan after all, just a regular old lush.”

She was a virgin? Fucking hell. How much worse could this get?

Sawyer choked on the v-bomb, covering it with a forced cough. Holden’s face blanched.

“All the more reason not to let the gossip tarnish your reputation,” Ma said. “Come on, honey. I’ll take good care of you and keep you out of trouble.”

“What’s she going to do at your place?” Sawyer asked. “Go to bridge club and bingo night? She’s eighteen, Ma, not eighty.”

I looked at that girl, standing there so innocently, swaying after only a couple glasses of wine. And I knew if she went to live with our mother, we’d never get to know her. We’d never know if she was all talk or if she’d meant what she said to Holden about being interested in all of us.

That was a good thing. We couldn’t have her, even if we wanted her, so there was no point in finding out, only to have her ripped away in two months’ time.

I knew exactly how my mother’s controlling style had stifled and smothered us all our lives. Hell, we were grown men and she was still here meddling, trying to make decisions for us and Amber both. If we let her take Amber, Amber would never forgive us. More than that, Dad wouldn’t. We’d promised to take care of her, and now, as I thought of the tedium of her days with our mother, I knew that would break her wild spirit.

But what we wanted to do to her would wreck her, body and soul.

8

Amber

I looked from one of my stepbrothers to the next. Sawyer was going to fight for me to stay, as evidenced by our united stand. He had wrapped a protective arm around me, and I could have kissed him for it. Well, if I hadn’t already kissed him. Oops.

Holden was watching me and his mother with a troubled expression, as if it hurt him to go against his mother’s wishes and vote for me to stay. But he’d been the one to hint at a relationship, hint at something more than a lusty kiss. And he’d defended me to his mother, whom he clearly loved. My heart warmed at the thought.

Only Waylon hadn’t spoken up in my defense. When I turned to him, his hard, dark eyes glowered back at me. I gulped, quaking in my Ugg boots. There was no way he was going to agree, and they’d already told me, nothing happened around here without a unanimous decision. Which meant I was fucked, but not in the good way.

Although something in his eyes hinted at a dark desire. Under that steely exterior he must have formed when his fiancé ran off with his brother, I was sure that there was a storm of passion that I could unleash. The thought made me shiver in more ways than one.

I tore my eyes away from Waylon, focusing instead of Lidia. She was looking at me like she couldn’t wait to get me away from her precious sons. But surely they wouldn’t send me off to live with this horrid woman. I’d die. I had enough conflict with my own mother, and she let me do pretty much anything I wanted, as long as I didn’t end up in a gossip column. Or, you know, the police station.

This woman was looking at me like she was already making plans to lock me up in a nunnery because I was still young and God forbid, had a sexual thought in my head about her undeniably sexy sons. And frankly, I’d had quite enough of being locked away from who I was. Yes, I wanted to have sex. I wanted to have so much sex that if she could’ve read my mind, she’d have dropped dead from shock.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t control myself. If I had to hole up in my room and order vibrators online for the next two months, that’s what I’d do. But I was not going with her.

“Well,” Lidia said to Holden after a long silence. “I’m glad you boys have your opinions, but your oldest brother has the most say in this ranch, and he knows you don’t have time for all this nonsense on top of running the place. The last thing you need is the headache of raising a teenage girl with wild ways. Isn’t that right, Waylon?”

His jaw tensed, and his eyes settled on mine, piercing through me. Suddenly I felt like I was standing in front of him stripped naked again, frozen and at his mercy. But this time, it felt completely different.

“I want to stay,” I said before he could answer. “I’ll help with the horses, and decorate the house when you’re out, and when you’re in the house, I’ll stay in my room and be so quiet you won’t even know I’m there.”

“We’ll know you’re there,” Sawyer murmured.

“You don’t have to,” I said, pulling away from him and focusing on staying steady and sounding reasonable, sober, and responsible, just like everyone wanted me to be. “I came out here to get away, and I admit, drinking today was obviously a mistake. But I don’t want to make anyone’s life harder. No one is responsible for me except me. And I’m going to do better from now on. If I mess up again, I’ll come live with you, Lidia. Does that sound fair?”

She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Waylon did. “That’s fair.”

I gaped at him. He was the last one I expected to speak up for me. I figured I’d have to fight it out with Sawyer, and maybe Holden, though he’d probably cave to his brother and mother after a couple minutes. Instead, Waylon had shut his mother down with two words.