Page 27 of Branded Betrayal

Blaze raises an eyebrow. “You were with the cattle? Because I just found a bunch of nails out by the pasture.”

Tyler’s eyebrows fly up. “You’re kidding. I didn’t notice anything.” He turns to me. “Savannah, I’m so sorry. I’m glad your friend here found them. He’s right. Hardware disease is really serious.” He looks at Blaze. “You just might have saved a few of those cattle.”

Blaze doesn’t respond. He just stares at Tyler.

“Okay,” Tyler says with a wide smile. “I’ll check in on you again soon, Savannah. Sorry I couldn’t stick around for that cake. It smells like a real work of culinary art.”

Blaze leans back against the wall with his arms folded. The brim of his hat is pulled low, casting a dark shadow over his chiseled face. Makes him look even more devastatingly sexy.

Ugh, stop it!

“Take care, Doc,” Blaze says. “I’ll have a slice for you.”

Tyler looks at Blaze like he wants to say something. But he doesn’t. Just raises his hand in a wave and walks out of the house.

I slap a hand against Blaze’s chest. It hits hard, sculpted muscle. I grit my teeth, glowering at him. “There was no need to be rude. Tyler is a nice guy who stopped by to help me out.”

“Didn’t seem like he helped you out too much since he missed a pretty big fucking problem in that pasture.”

“Did it ever occur to you that he wasn’t in the spot where the nails were?”

“Nope. He’d have had to be blind to miss ’em.” His lips pull into a tight line. “Don’t be so naive, Savvie. He didn’t come here to help you out. He’s a guy. And you’re . . .” His voice trails off, and the hairs on my arms spring to attention.

“You sound jealous,” I say, my breath catching. “But if memory serves, you gave me up.”

He catches my wrist in his hand, and my pulse spikes. His thumb runs over my skin, goose bumps pebbling the surface at his touch. “Does he do this to you too?” Then he trails his fingertips down the side of my throat, right over the spot where my pulse is damn near ready to explode out of it. “Does he make your pulse race?”

My blood burns at his nearness, searing my veins, flooding me with heat and need. “None of that matters,” I finally rasp when my mouth decides to form words. “Because, yeah, you made me feel all those things. But you also made me cry. And I’m finished shedding tears over you, Blaze Hartman.”

His whiskey eyes pierce my soul, reaching down deep into a place nobody has ever been before.

“Careful, Savvie,” he says, the warning in his voice making my heart rattle. “Tears are the least of what I’ll take from you.”

He turns for the door, the wood floorboards creaking under the weight of his footsteps. But when his hand hits the frame, he pauses. Just for a second. His shoulders sag, and his head dips like the weight of something invisible is crushing him. It’s gone as suddenly as it came, and he’s Blaze Hartman again, raging storm and inferno as he slams the door behind him.

The windows rattle at the sudden force, but it’s nothing compared to the tremor in my chest. Because for a fleeting second, I swear he looked . . . broken. And that terrifies me more than all of his rage.

Chapter Ten

Blaze

I told myself I was only going over there to keep an eye on her, and then that guy walks out of her kitchen. Shit, my self-control damn near cracked like a frozen pipe.

“That fucking guy. Showing up like that, telling her he’s gonna look after her animals.” I scoff. “What the hell was he lookin’ at when those nails were there, plain as day?”

The way he looked at her . . .

Like a predator, tearing off every piece of clothing she had on . . . with his teeth. I shoulda knocked them out when I had the chance. And I will if he shows up again. Guy’s probably starved for pussy. He’d better find it somewhere else.

I slam my fist on the steering wheel and my foot on the gas to get as far away from Red Rock as I can, my heart thumping hard.

I know I’m being a jealous asshole. The expression on her face when she saw me made it pretty clear she was enjoying herself and that I wasn’t welcome. Her smile, the sound of her laughter, the glint in her eyes . . . that all used to be reserved for me. I thought I’d buried all the useless feelings and emotions after six long years, but the craving is more intense than ever now.

It’s inconvenient as fuck since now I’m supposed to be destroying her chances with the ranch and sending her all the way back to Denver again. Not keeping her close where my body needs her.

Where my heart aches for her.

Guilt chews at my insides. If she fails, Wilkerson leaves her alone, and she loses her family legacy. If she wins, Wilkerson crushes her.