Pure Bliss

Chapter Nine

“So he just left Noah there?” Nell asked, smoothing out the canvas that covered one of four tables inside her small, newly erected tent.

Hope picked up the next canvas and began covering the table to Nell’s left. The tables were set up in some weird feng shui that Nell said would bring happiness to her customers and reasonable, economically kind profits to the business. Nell believed in fair trade. “He did. I got into the truck and before Noah could follow, James just took off. I barely managed to get the door closed.”

At least James had waited until Butch was safely in the backseat. The poor boy had whined as he’d watched his master being left behind, but when James had dropped her off, Butch had followed him back to the truck and jumped inside.

Nell crossed her arms over her chest, and her Birkenstocks tapped against the grass. “Well, that just seems rude. It’s bad enough that Jamie drives that gas-guzzling truck, but as long as he’s doing it, he should take as many passengers as he can.”

Henry chuckled as he walked in behind them. “I think Jamie isn’t deeply concerned with his fuel emissions right now.”

“Well, he should be. I left him a pamphlet and everything.”

Henry dropped a quick kiss on his wife’s cheek. “I would bet that Jamie is realizing that Noah is going to be competition for him.”

“Competition?” Nell asked.

Damn Henry. He was too smart for Hope’s own good. “They’re just brothers, and they have a lot to work out.”

“And they want the same woman.” Henry regarded her with a sunny smile. For all his intellectualism, Henry was kind of a hunk. He was leaner than most of the men in Bliss, but there was a strength to his frame. “I have long suspected that Jamie thought you would just hang out and be waiting for him when he was ready to get married.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Except that was what she’d kind of been doing. She hadn’t gone out with Logan when he’d asked. That had worked out for the best because they had been really good friends. There had been a couple of men over the months who had asked, and she’d turned them all down. She’d told herself she simply wasn’t ready to date, but she wasn’t ready to give up on James even while he screwed his way through half the females in Colorado.

“And it’s not very romantic,” Nell protested. She took the end of the canvas and started to help Hope lay it out. “I think I prefer Noah’s version of courtship. He couldn’t take his eyes off you yesterday.”

“And Jamie couldn’t help but stare holes through Noah,” Henry pointed out.

“He’s mad because Noah left,” Hope explained.

Henry sighed and leaned against the table that was meant for environmentally friendly blankets. “I wasn’t here when Noah was in town. I came to Bliss a couple of months later, but I remember how the town was reeling. It was hard. They were counting on him. No one more than his brother.”

Hope was deeply interested in any insights about the way James and Noah worked. “I guess I don’t understand. I mean, I get that Zane and Nate were friends and fell for the same woman and decided to share her rather than fight. I get that. But they didn’t go out looking to share a woman.”

“Oh, I don’t think you understand Nate and Zane at all,” Henry said. “Hope, I actually envy them in some ways.”

Nell smiled brightly. “He says that but he wouldn’t share me.”

“Not at all, my love. But that’s because the relationships in this town aren’t about fantasies or sex. If I’d had a brother I was close to or if I’d had a friend who felt like the other half of me, I would have been happy to share you because you can be trouble.”

Nell didn’t seem at all offended by Henry’s statement. Her eyes sparkled with mirth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Henry.”

Henry leaned over and touched his nose to hers. “So much trouble.” He turned back to Hope. “If I could have a partner I could trust, I would share her. Look, I’m hetero. I was born that way. So were Nate and Zane, but they love each other, too. The relationships Zane and Nate and Rafe and Cam and even the Doc and Alexei have are deeply intimate. They don’t simply share a woman. They share a life. They share a family and their problems and their worries. They take comfort in the presence of the other. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Nell took a long breath. “It is. You explain it so well, Henry. I’m going to go write that down.” She turned back, her eyes wide. “Not for any reason other than the fact that it’s lovely. I’m not writing a book or anything. I’ll bring back the dream catchers.”

Nell scurried away.

Henry laughed and started to move boxes onto the tables. “You take a seat, Hope. You’re supposed to be resting. I told Nell we could handle this, but she seemed to think you would need a break.”

Nell understood her. “Yeah, I’m not finding the Circle G to be the most relaxing place in the world.”

Except she’d had the sweetest sleep in years the night before because she’d slept between them.

“You could come back with us,” Henry offered.

“No.” The word came out of her mouth before she could call it back. Despite all the crap, she didn’t really want to leave the ranch. The idea of not seeing them again cut through her like a knife.

Henry smiled. “Then there’s your answer.”

Yep. There was her dumb-ass answer. She should be on a bus to god knew where, but she would get back in the truck when James came in a few hours. She would just have to pray that someone picked Noah up and gave him a ride back.

Noah. She could still feel his hands on her, his deep voice commanding her. He had made her forget everything except him. In that moment, there had been nothing except the two of them. What would it have been like if James had been there?

“You talked about friends. Zane and Nate were partners and friends. So were Rafe and Cam. But is it any different for Max and Rye?” She couldn’t help but think about what James had said.

“You should talk to them. Well, maybe you should talk to Rye. I think Noah and James have a slightly different story, but they do have a lot in common with the twins. By the time I got here and met and married my Nell, Ellen and Noah’s dad were gone, but I heard the stories. They were a lovely family. Very tight knit. They had to be. Ranching is a hard business. The Circle G is big and requires a lot from a man. The way I understood it, Fred and Brian always made sure Ellen had what she needed. It would have been harder on their own. When she got sick, one of them was always with her. James grew up believing in that lifestyle and then his brother was gone. The last couple of years, he’s tried to replace Noah. He’s shared women with Logan and Wolf, but I don’t think it was the same. And then Logan and Wolf left. James is in a bad place, but I think he has what he needs to come back.”

“I don’t know. Noah seems to think he can get his brother back. I don’t know what he wants me to do.”

“I want you to do whatever comes naturally.” Noah walked into the tent.

“Spy much?” How long had he been standing there?

“Had to catch my breath. Not used to walking a mile at nine thousand plus feet anymore.” Noah took a seat in one of the chairs Henry had set up. “My asshole brother stole my dog, didn’t he?”

Henry laughed. “Well, the word is you stole his girl.”

Noah shrugged. “That didn’t take long. I take it they can still hear things from the kitchen?”

“What?” Hope asked, praying they didn’t mean what she thought they meant.

“Everyone knows that the pipes at Stella’s carry sound. If you’re standing in the kitchen, you can hear what’s going on in the upstairs apartment. When Stella lived there, she used to yell down at the kitchen staff.”

“And it never occurred to you to mention that to me?” Now she really wished she didn’t sing when she cleaned.

Noah shrugged, his hair falling over his forehead. “I was busy at the time. I also wished I’d closed and locked the damn door, but you were way too tempting, darlin’. I wasn’t thinking about anything but you.”

“Does everyone know?” The Bliss grapevine worked quickly.

“Hey, everyone.” Rachel Harper walked in carrying three white bags. “I stopped in at the diner to pick up a coffee, and Stella asked me to drop these off here. She said something about Hope ordering takeout, and then she laughed about you calling someone Sir. I take it that’s you, Noah.”

Noah didn’t have the decency to blush. He simply grabbed one of the bags. “Thank god, I’m starving.”

He had the burger halfway down his throat before Rachel could pass Hope her lunch.

The strawberry blonde’s lips quirked up. “Stella said you didn’t specify a dressing, so she gave you ranch since it’s obvious you really like being out on the ranch, and she said you should watch out because cowboys like to lasso pretty little fillies. I have no idea what she meant.”

Noah grinned as he grabbed some fries. “I do.”

Rachel laughed because she obviously did, too.

Hope huffed. “Damn you, Noah. Now everyone knows.”

“Well, I was going to tell everyone anyway. I wasn’t going to hide it. Jamie told those two new boys that you were taken. Why does he get to stake a claim but I don’t?”

“Stake a claim?” Nell asked as she walked in. “Noah Bennett? Are you talking about Hope? She’s a person, not a piece of land. And it would be offensive even if you were talking about land. And are you eating meat in my tent?”

“No, ma’am,” he lied as he swallowed the last of his burger.

Nell eyed him. “Well, I have to believe you because I give all of the universe’s children the benefit of the doubt. Now, you can finish up those fries that better have been fried in vegan oil and then you can give us a hand. We already have people walking around and looking. I just met some very nice squatchers who would love some zucchini bread.”

Noah groaned. “I hate squatchers. They make all kinds of noise, and they set up those cameras all over the forest, and then Mel sees the infrared and thinks the aliens are watching him. I’ve had to tromp through the woods more than once to make sure Mel didn’t take one out.”

“I forgot about that,” Nell admitted. “Maybe we should go warn them.”

Noah winked as he walked out with Nell.

“I’ll go get the bread and the price tags,” Henry said. “You sit down and eat. Rest. Or Jamie will have my hide, and I like my hide.”

“What on earth is a squatcher?” Rachel asked. “I missed Woo Woo Fest last year. I couldn’t get out of bed. My morning sickness was awful.”

Rachel had been in Bliss for roughly three months longer than Hope, but Hope had worked this particular festival last year. Nate had growled for four days straight. Hope wondered how Cam was coping. “It’s like a ghost hunter except they hunt Sasquatch.”

Rachel sank down into the chair Noah had vacated. “Bigfoot? They really think Bigfoot is here? I thought that was just Mel.”

“I think they think Bigfoot is everywhere. We get a lot of Sasquatch sightings. Mel showed me on his computer once. He also showed me that ninety percent of the sightings align with the nudist nature walks. He’s pretty sure that Carl from the community is responsible. He really needs to wax, apparently. They’re really harmless. They’ll hike out into the woods and make all sorts of Sasquatch mating calls. I have no idea why they think they know what a Sasquatch sounds like when he’s in the mood for love. Really, the only thing annoying about them is the fact that they try to work the word squatching into every sentence.”

Hope pulled out her salad and the cup of soup. She was hungry. Really good sex made her hungry. She had to smile. Despite the fact that she’d slept with his brother, James had taken her hand and made sure she got out of the truck okay. He’d insisted on walking her to the Flanders’s tent and having a man-to-man with Henry about what she could and couldn’t do. He was acting like a Neanderthal, and she thought it was sexy.

Was she really thinking about it? Was she really thinking about trying to have a relationship with two brothers?

“I take it this one is James’s lunch?” Rachel asked.

Hope waved a hand. “Go for it. He fled the scene, you can eat his lunch.”

“Good. I’m trying to diet, but it just doesn’t work. Today is the first day in months I don’t have my baby girl on my hip. It would be nice to just have lunch and talk to someone. Jen and Stef might have come back, but I swear they’ve barely left the playroom.” She dug into James’s turkey sandwich. “And Callie is up to her ears in diapers and men. She’s going to breathe a sigh of relief when those men finally go back to work.”

Hope took a spoonful of Stella’s truly excellent tortilla soup, deeply grateful that Rachel had brought it to her. “Stef might not have come out of his playroom in a while, but he apparently managed to arrange for Noah to return.”

Rachel took a drag off James’s Coke. “That’s the King of Bliss for you. He’s always got his hands in whatever pie is cooking.”

“Why would he bring Noah back here if everyone’s so mad at him?” Everyone they had met had been rough on Noah, including Rachel’s hubbies. They had both given Noah hell.

“I think Stef knows that after a while, everyone will calm down. Since Noah showed up yesterday, he’s been just about all Max and Rye can talk about. I’ve heard a bunch of stories about their childhood. I didn’t grow up in a small town. I grew up in Dallas. Kids played with kids their own age, but it wasn’t that way here. There were so few kids around that they all hung out even though Noah and James were a little younger. I had no idea how close they used to be. Apparently after Noah left town, James retreated. I know he had the ranch to deal with, but I never knew that Max and Rye missed him. And I had no idea Noah existed at all. But yesterday I heard some of the craziest stories. Stef always knows what he’s doing. Max might growl at Noah for a month or two, but he’ll come around. Noah is family.”

Family. It was a sweet word, but one Hope didn’t really understand the way Rachel obviously did. “Well, I’m glad Max sees him that way. In my family, it was always fighting. My mom had two sisters, and she didn’t talk to either one. She didn’t talk to her parents either.”

Rachel’s eyes went soft. “My mom and dad were great. I miss them every day. I wish…I wish things had been different. I can only imagine my dad taking on Max. Let me tell you, my father would have both of those boys in line.”

“Come on, Rachel. You really think your parents wouldn’t have a problem with the whole ménage thing?” It worked in Bliss, but the outside world was different.

“They loved me. They would have accepted it. And after a while, they wouldn’t be able to help but love my guys. They’re thoroughly lovable. And they would have adored Paige. Come to think of it, my parents would have probably loved Bliss. You never mention your folks. Are they alive?”

This was where a helpful lie usually worked, and yet Hope found herself wanting to talk for the first time in a long time. “I ran away when I was sixteen.”

“I ran away when I was twenty-eight,” Rachel said softly. “It’s nice we both found our way here.”

Hope shook her head. “Not the same. Well, maybe a little.” She knew the story. Rachel had run from a stalker. She’d had a date go bad, and the man had obsessed about her. She certainly hadn’t been as stupid as Hope. She hadn’t decided she was in love with a man who turned out to be a killer. Rachel hadn’t facilitated her stalker’s crimes. She certainly hadn’t brought in girls for her stalker to torment. It didn’t matter to Hope that she hadn’t known it at the time. It only mattered that it had happened. “But you didn’t have anyone to help you. I left my mom’s apartment with nothing but the clothes on my back.”

Rachel leaned forward, the sandwich forgotten. “Why did you leave?”

“My mom had a new boyfriend. He was very interested in me.” And very brutal and rough looking. Christian had been the utter opposite. Christian had been gentle with her and polite. Christian had been gorgeous. And his masculine beauty had been a perfectly laid trap. She shook it off. “So I left and I stayed with friends, and I wound up here. It’s a boring story.”

“Ten years explained away in a sentence. Nice. You’re good.”

Hope felt like Rachel’s green eyes were staring right through her. “Sometimes these things are boring.”

“I sincerely doubt that. We all have secrets. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to find a family who can handle our secrets.”

A little bitterness welled up in Hope. She hadn’t drawn the high card when it came to families. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t lucky. Like I said, I had my mom, and she was happy to see the back of me.”

Rachel sighed as though Hope had missed the whole point of this conversation. “I wasn’t talking about your mom, Hope. I was talking about Bliss. Look, you’re not that much younger than me, but I’m wiser than you in this. Family isn’t just blood. Blood is a crapshoot of biology. I love my daughter, but I expect to have to earn her affection. A child isn’t something that a mom can shoot out and ignore and then expect that child to adore her. But family, real family, is something we make ourselves. It’s this weird, amazing fusion of people we share our lives with. I loved my parents, but I’ve told Callie and Jen things I would never have shared with them. Never. But I can tell those two women anything and they accept it. I can tell my husbands anything. Oh, I’m not stupid enough to do that, but I could.”

Good for Rachel. “I think it’s nice that you have such good friends.”

“Family,” Rachel insisted. “It goes beyond friends. I’m not terrifically close to Marie or Teeny or Mel, but I love them. I’ve learned more in the time I’ve been in Bliss than in all the years before. I would never have given someone like Mel a second glance back in Dallas. But living here forces a person to be tolerant, and once you’re tolerant, you can see past a person’s oddities and get to know how truly amazing they are. But you can only do that if they’re honest with you.”

Hope didn’t like where this was going. She felt restless again. “Don’t play around, Rachel. Say what you mean to say.”

Rachel sighed. “See, I told Jen that was the way to go, but no, she said I should be gentle. Fine. You’re in trouble. I can see it plainly. Whatever you’re running from is starting to catch up to you, and it’s eating you alive. You can tell us because there’s nothing you can say that will make us turn away from you.”

But Hope knew the truth. Rachel was being naïve. “You would be surprised what I can say.”

“No, I wouldn’t. But I’m willing to wait. I just want you to know that you have a family here, and we’re all sitting and waiting for the time that you trust us enough to come out of whatever closet you’re hiding in.”

A lovely thought. Maybe. But she had to think about it. And she would have to talk to Noah and James first. God, she didn’t know if she could do that. “I’ll consider it.”

Rachel picked up her sandwich again. “See that you do. Now, what are we going to do about Noah and Max because we have a horse with a lame leg, and Max can’t figure out what’s wrong.”

That was a much easier task than dealing with her past.

“Tell Max we’ll give him twenty percent off house calls,” Hope said. “But he has to pay full price on all meds.”

Noah was going to kick her ass. And he’d give Max the discount, too.

Rachel’s brows went up in surprise. “Rumors are true then. Well, Noah worked fast. Excellent. It’s so much easier to work with the woman. You have no idea how much the people of this town celebrated after Caleb finally fell into Holly’s bed. Alexei is a damn town hero for making that happen. Now we don’t have to call Doc. We just call Holly. So much easier that way. So I’ll let everyone know to go through you. And let’s make it fifty percent.”

Rachel drove a hard bargain. But her husband was a hard case. “Nope. Dealing with Max comes with a price tag. Can you guarantee me that Noah will only have to deal with Rye?”

“Damn it, forty percent.”

“Thirty-five and Noah will personally apologize.”

Rachel sighed. “And I promise Max won’t throw him into the horse trough. Deal?”

They shook on it.

Hope sat back, a happy feeling overtaking her. She was going to get Noah on track, and if he didn’t like it, well, he could always spank her again.

“So what are you going to do about James?” Rachel asked.

Happy feeling gone. She had no idea. But she was going to come up with something because all of the sudden she knew this was one problem she couldn’t walk away from.

James slammed out of the truck and then remembered he hadn’t been alone. Damn dog. He took a deep breath. The dog wasn’t at fault here. His brother was. He turned and opened the door, and Butch bounded out.

The big ugly mutt scampered around like a puppy. He ran in a huge circle as fast as his legs could take him.

It was obvious the big guy had been cooped up in an apartment for way too long without a place to run.

Had it been that way for Noah, too?

Well, at least the dog handled it properly. The dog ran around chasing its own tail, not Hope’s.

Chase? Fuck. Noah had caught it. And he’d fucked it. James had stood there listening as his brother had screwed Hope against the wall of that tiny, piece-of-shit apartment. Hope’s skirt had been tossed up, and those shapely legs of hers had been wrapped around Noah’s waist as his brother pumped into her.

His first thought had been to tell Noah to hurry the fuck up so he could have a turn.

His second had been to kill his brother.

Well, it was done now. She’d made her choice.

How had things gone to shit in a day? And what the hell was he going to do about it?

He thought about going into the house and doing the paperwork sitting on his desk, but he couldn’t stand the thought of being cooped up. His eyes trailed to the corral. Trev stood there talking to two unfamiliar men.

Damn it. He’d forgotten about the interviews. Late last night, he’d gotten a call about a couple of hands looking for work. He still needed three or four more men, but the thought of conducting an interview right now made his stomach churn. He could only think of the questions he would ask.

Do you intend to waltz in and throw my girl up against a wall and fuck her?

Do you intend to stay on for a couple of years, let me rely on you, and then head off the first time something shiny catches your eye?

He had problems, and they all came back to his brother.

What he needed was some seriously rough work. He had a few hours before he needed to pick up Hope, and by then he had to decide if he was going to force his brother to walk back to the G. He had no doubt Noah would have made his way to Hope’s side by then.

“Hey! James, this is Brad and Jay.” Trev tipped his hat toward the two newcomers. “They’re answering the ad we put out last week.”

Brad was a solidly built guy, but something about the other one was off. Jay was awfully skinny for someone who worked with cattle. Even a lean cowboy had a lot of muscle. And his jeans looked brand new and pressed. James didn’t know a single cowboy who pressed his damn jeans before he went to work, but maybe the kid was nervous.

And it wasn’t like there was a lot of choice. The ad had run for a week, and this was the first time anyone had answered.

“Good. Nice to meet you.” He jerked his head a bit to indicate he’d like to talk to Trev alone.

Trev asked the men to wait on the porch, and they ambled off toward the house. “If I weren’t so desperate, I would send both of them packing. I don’t know why, but something’s off with those boys. They said they’re best friends, but they don’t fit to me. I don’t know.”

James waved him off. He was mired in his own misery. “Give ’em a shot. We can always fire them later. We have to move the herd in before first snowfall. You have no idea what a winter here is like. We’re going to need them since you’re going to want to spend time with Beth.”

Trev’s face fell. “I’m not going to let you down. Bo and I can take turns watching out for her. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” He wasn’t going to force his new partner into a heart-to-heart, huggy damn discussion about the fucked-up state of his life.

Was Noah planning on running off with Hope?

“I was asking because I heard about what happened with Hope.”

James turned. “God, what now?” His hands were in his pockets reaching for his keys when Trev responded.

“Uhm, you know, the stuff with Noah in her apartment. Lucy called the house and talked to Beth because she wanted to talk to Hope, but Beth grew up in a small town, too. She knows the sound of a woman with gossip to tell. She got the story out of Lucy who heard it from the fry cook at Stella’s.”

Goddamn grapevine. A man couldn’t take a crap without someone in this town commenting on it. “I’m fine. Hope wants to screw Noah, more power to her.”

“Really? I thought you were interested in her.” Trev put a booted foot on the railing.

“I was just doing a favor for a friend.” No point in talking about it now. He hadn’t really wanted Hope. He hadn’t dreamed about her last night. He hadn’t liked taking care of her this morning. He hadn’t enjoyed looking at her across the breakfast table and talking about stuff. No. He liked being the odd man out because it meant he was free.

Freedom sucked ass.

“Well, that’s good then,” Trev said with a sigh. “I would think you would be happy for your brother. Maybe this will settle him down. If things work out with Hope, he could really find his place back here. A family settles a man. I should know. I know I’m odd, but I like the responsibility. Damn, I can’t wait to see that kid. You know what else? I can’t wait to see how Bo and Beth handle it. And if your brother works as fast as I think he will, we might have a whole bunch of kids running around the ranch.”

A red mist swam in front of James’s face, and then his hand throbbed.

Trev shook his head. “Damn. We’re going to have fix that.”

He’d put his fist through the railing. Right through. He was damn lucky he hadn’t broken his hand. The very thought of Hope pregnant with his brother’s baby had made him insane.

He’d had a vision of her pregnant, his and Noah’s hands on her belly as she lay between them.

But she’d made her damn choice. And Noah had made his.

“So, not so happy about that,” Trev commented.

Trev McNamara was a manipulative bastard who had known exactly what putting that image into his head would do to him. “It’s none of your business.”

“Oh, partner, you’ll find one of my great flaws is sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. I can’t drink anymore, and I swore off strippers, so giving advice is really my pastime now.”

James shook his fist out. Trev was also a great guy in addition to being a nosy asshole. “Fine. What’s your amazing advice?”

“Well, the way I see it, you have two choices, the first one being infinitely preferable to the second. You can make up with your brother. You can convince him to share Hope with you.”

“Hope might have something to say about that.”

“I doubt it. I saw the way she looked at both of you. Let me tell you, there aren’t many women who will turn down a chance to be in the middle of two men they want. They might say it’s only for a night or two but soon enough if the men are smart and talented, she’s got two rings on her finger and a baby in her belly and she’s all—‘what happened, where did all this laundry come from?’”

James chuckled at the idea of Hope surrounded by dirty laundry. Most likely, he would end up doing hers. But he wasn’t ready to try option number one. “I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t know if I can even be in the same room with him.”

“Then you move to option two. Tell her to choose again.”

“What?”

Trev shrugged. “You think your brother stole her? Steal her back, man. The way I understand it, I don’t know that Hope really understood there was a choice to be made.”

He was never going to hear the end of this. “I asked her out.”

“That might have been your mistake,” Trev said. “Noah didn’t ask her out. Not really. He went at her on a desk or something.”

Ah, the flaws in the gossip mill. “It was a wall.”

Trev frowned, shaking his head in a disapproving fashion. “Sounds uncomfortable. And quick. You could do better. And that girl’s a sub if I ever saw one. If I were in your shoes and I couldn’t stomach sharing with my brother, I would tie that pretty girl up, smack her ass ’til it was a nice shade of pink, and show her who’s really boss. A couple of hours of that and she might change her mind.”

Not the worst idea in the world.

“But seriously, the first option is best,” Trev insisted. “I think in the end you’re going to want to have a relationship with your brother.”

He couldn’t stand the thought of a heart-to-heart with Noah right now. “My fist would like to have a relationship with his gut.”

Trev seemed to give in to the inevitable. “Or you could be a stubborn ass. That’s a way to go. You know, you could always just suck it up and step back. I didn’t offer that as an option because I see the way you look at that girl. You’ve waited a long time for her.”

“I didn’t have anything to offer her before. I don’t know how much I have to offer her now. I fucking don’t know. Goddamn Noah has to come back and fuck everything up. Now I have some timetable, and I don’t like that.”

Trev laughed out loud. “You and Bo should get together some time.” He sobered up. “Thank your brother. Bo thanks me every day. If I hadn’t come along, he and Beth would both be alone. Sometimes we need that third part to get the machine moving. But you try it your way. I think it will all work out in the end. Are you going to kick his ass to the curb or are you going to make him watch?”

James had the definite feeling that Trev was, once again, butting in. He’d thought about not allowing Noah back on the ranch. But Trev just put that idea in his head. Probably because he thought proximity would bring him and Noah closer.

But James just wanted a little revenge.

“Can I use your playroom?” James had known that they would get along when the first thing Trev had set up in the guesthouse had been a playroom complete with everything a Dom needed to torture a little sub.

“Of course.” Trev pushed off the fence. “I’ll go get our two new hands set up.”

“I’m going to have a little session with Red.” Getting his ass kicked by a mean old horse just might take the edge off. He wanted to let Hope know he could handle her, not scare the crap out of her.

“Your funeral, man.” But Trev was smiling as he walked away. He looked like a man who had done everything he had planned.

Trev was going to be damn disappointed because he wasn’t making up with his brother.

He wasn’t.