Page 32 of Wrangle Me, Cowboys

“I don’t know if he can be replaced,” Holden said quietly. “He runs this ranch as much as the three of us.”

“We’ll just have to make do,” Waylon said.

And even though they said it wasn’t my fault, it sure felt like it. I sat up straighter, grateful for Holden’s strong body beside mine. “I’ll take over the rest of the chores with the horses,” I said. “I feed and exercise them every day, but I can muck out the stalls and put their bedding down, too.”

“You don’t have to do all that,” Holden said.

“I’m not a vet, and I can’t put shoes on them or anything, but I can take over their general care,” I said. “And I can do the recordkeeping and accounting stuff for the whole ranch. I’m getting bored with decorating, anyway.”

The guys looked around the room, taking in the new throw pillows on the couch, the decorative gourds on the coffee table, the candles on the end tables and the mantle, the wreathes hanging on either side of the fireplace.

“It looks nice,” Sawyer said.

“Yeah, like a home,” I said. “But seriously, let me help. Even if it’s not my fault that Grimes is gone. If I’m part of this family now, if I’m going to be part of your lives, really let me in. Not as a guest, but as an equal, who does her fair share just like the three of you.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty to keep you busy at night,” Sawyer said. “It’s going to be a lot of work taking care of the needs of three men. We need you well rested.”

“She’s not a sex slave,” Waylon growled. “If she wants to work, she can work.”

“Thank you,” I said, shooting him a grateful look. I was surprised he’d step in on my behalf. If anything, I thought he’d be the one who insisted I have nothing to do with the ranch business. He was so private about everything else, I didn’t feel like I knew him at all yet.

You know what his tongue feels like inside you, a little voice reminded me. Excitement blossomed in my belly at the thought. Would they want to taste me again tonight?

“We haven’t had a good bookkeeper in a while,” Sawyer said. “Not since…”

“Maria?” I asked.

“I’m going to work on my car,” Waylon said, pushing his hat lower and stomping out.

“Okay, then,” I said. “I guess I hit the nail on the head there.”

“Not Maria,” Sawyer said.

“Ah,” I said, nodding. “Your brother, then.”

Holden nodded. “Waylon took it hardest.”

I was pretty sure they’d all taken it hard, but it had been Waylon’s fiancé. At first, I’d thought he had no feelings to hurt, but now I knew why he’d built those walls around his heart. My heart went out to him. I knew what it felt like to be cheated on, discarded for someone else. I knew how that betrayal felt, and it was bad enough when I’d gone through it. I couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt if the girl he betrayed me with had been Haley, the closest thing I had to a sister. I probably would have died.

I stood and plucked my jacket from a peg near the door. “I’ll go talk to him.”

19

Amber

I was halfway to the shop when a disheveled, wheezing, red-faced Mrs. Grimes came rushing to intercept me. I froze in midstride. Somehow, I’d forgotten about her. But of course the guys hadn’t roughed up an old woman and left her in a ditch somewhere. Which was a tiny bit unfortunate, because she looked like she was about to rough me up. I had no idea how to fight, let alone how to fend off cowgirl justice.

“You little hussy,” Mrs. Grimes huffed. “I know what you did, and you’re going to pay for it.”

I held up both hands. “Um, please don’t hit me?”

“You deserve everything you’ve got coming to you,” she snarled, her round face contorted into an ugly mask of hatred. “Trying to seduce a godly, married man!”

“What?” I asked, dropping my hands. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she said. “As if spreading your legs for your own stepbrothers wasn’t enough, you had to go after a hardworking, honest man like my husband? And to get him fired when he refused you! You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “Look here, I don’t know what your husband told you, but I definitely did not go after him. Not that there’s anything wrong with your husband, I’m sure he’s great and all, but not my type.”