Page 300 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs

A heady relief settled over Brooke as she attempted to get her breathing to return to normal. The sweet smell of pungent haywas the first thing she noticed, as she looked around the room. The room was stacked, floor to ceiling, with bales of hay. Nash led the horses to a corner and tied them up. He broke up a bale of hay, and they began eating.

Brooke hugged her arms, teeth chattering. Water puddled at her feet, and shivers ran like electric currents through her.

Nash removed the saddles from the horses and grabbed the blankets used for pads. He held one out to her. “You need to take off your outer clothes and wrap up in this.”

Horror clawed over her. “What?”

“We’ll have to wait it out until the storm passes. You’ll catch your death in those wet clothes. We need to lay them out in order for them to dry.”

“But that blanket has been on a horse! I’m not wrapping that around me!” she said indignantly. Considering all that she’d been through today, this was the last straw!

Anger flashed in his eyes as he squared his jaw and got up in her face. “You WILL take off those wet clothes and put this blanket on, or I’ll undress you and put it around you myself!”

She rocked back, stunned by his harshness as tears gathered in her eyes. “After all I’ve been through today! How can you be so cruel?”

“Cruel? Because I don’t want you catching pneumonia?” He gave her an incredulous look. “You certainly have a warped way of looking at the world, princess! Now, move!” he barked.

Her lower lip began to quiver as she summoned all the fury she could muster. “What kind of monster are you? You just love torturing me, don’t you?” Tears began gushing down her cheeks.

A hard amusement settled into his eyes. “You can cut the crap, Brooke! That little crying act won’t work on me.”

Her tears dried instantly as rage took hold, crowding out all reason. “How dare you speak to me that way—you miserable coward!”

“Really? I’m the coward?” His voice rose.

“Yes!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “The minute things got hard between us, you tucked your tail and ran! You pretend to be this tough cowboy, but underneath you’re a wuss! A miserable, cowardly wuss!” She eyed him with disdain. “If you had been a real man, you would’ve fought for us!”

Shock registered on his features. “I see how it is,” he sneered, “you’ve twisted this thing around in your deviant little mind to make you come out smelling like a rose. Typical!”

She cringed at the hostility in his voice. It was not often that she found someone willing to go toe-to-toe with her—a fight to the finish. “Well, if I’ve got it wrong, then here’s your opportunity to set the record straight. I’m listening!”

“I’ve got two words for you—Jeremy Givens!”

“Jeremy Givens?” She made a face. “What’re you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!”

She threw her hands in the air. “I don’t have the slightest clue what you’re getting at.” Her eyes narrowed. “And neither do you. You’re grasping at straws. Pathetic.” She turned her back, but he grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him.

“I know you were seeing him behind my back. Don’t try to deny it!”

“Have you lost your mind? Jeremy is a friend. Nothing more!”

“I came to you.” His voice caught. “The night my mom died, I came to you.” He paused for one awful moment, and the hurt in his eyes cut a hole in her heart. “I came to you, and you were out with him.”

Confusion swirled around her. She could tell from the condemnation on his face that he believed every word he was saying. “No, that’s not true. I was never seeing Jeremy.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, that’s not what your mom told me.”

She chuckled derisively. “If you took my mom’s word as the gospel truth, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought. She was probably up to her usual tricks—trying to steer you away from me because she thought you weren’t worthy. You know how shallow my mother is.”

Uncertainly crept into his eyes. “But you were out with Jeremy.”

“Yes, I was out with Jeremy,” she spat. “He’s an old friend from high school. He stopped by to say hello, and my mother insisted that we go and pick up takeout for my family.” Tears stung her eyes. “There was never anything between me and Jeremy. I swear it.” The old hurt washed over her, ripping open the wounds she’d tried so desperately to patch. “I loved you. And you would’ve realized that if you hadn’t been such a lug head.”

His eyes went as stormy as the sky outside. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gave him a sad smile. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t know anything. Maybe I am just the simple-headed debutante you accuse me of being, but at least I had sense enough to know that what we had was real. And that’s more than I can say for you.”

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