Page 53 of Wild, Wild Cowboy

“I’ve thought about it a lot since I left. You know, they never sent away girls. And I think…that’s it. All the men had multiple wives. At least three, but sometimes even more. But the birthrate doesn’t change across history unless you do something tomakeit change. It’s always a pretty close fifty-fifty split of male and female babies. There weren’t enough women to go around, not when men expected to have three of them apiece.”

I felt sick. Fucking hell. “How did he survive?”

“The town where they dropped him…It’s common enough that there are now community organizations there to set up Lost Boys—that’s what they call them, the kids who were banished—with foster families and group homes. He joined the army at seventeen.”

“And now he’s at Mercy River?”

She nodded. “He went in on the land with some of his squadron when the land was still cheap. It was their retirement plan. The cattle operation came with the land, but it wasn’t enough to make a living from. So, they kept that going, but it’s also a guest ranch. Not really one of those dude ranches set up for families. More like…recuperation.”

“Like a resort or a spa?”

She laughed. “I dare you to say that to his face.” Her nose scrunched. “On second thought, please don’t. I’m growing rather fond ofyourface and I don’t think it will fare well.”

“That so? In that case, darlin’, I’ll do my best to take care of it for you.”

Her mouth pursed like she was going to say something sharp and sarcastic, but we pulled up to the ranch house, where a man was leaning against a porch pillar, and instead she said, “There he is.”

There he was, all right. A grizzly bear of a man, with a shotgun in one hand.

21

HANNAH

“You made it.” Jeremiah stretched his arm out to keep the shotgun safely away from me, his finger nowhere near the trigger, and wrapped me in a one-armed hug.

“What’s the gun for, Jay?” I asked. “Put it down.”

“Wasn’t sure if I was going to need it.” His gaze shifted to Zack just long enough to make a point before he set it down. “Mateo saw a grizzly. I wanted to make sure it didn’t come for the herd or the horses. Fired a few shots to scare it off.”

“You get grizzlies this far from Yellowstone?” Zack asked.

“Not usually, but we’re starting to see an uptick. Mostly we have black bears in this part of Wyoming. Like what you have in Colorado, but bigger.”

I ignored their dick-measuring competition in favor of more important things. “Mateo is here?” I asked excitedly. He hadn’t left the army yet, and our visits to Mercy River rarely overlapped, but I always loved seeing him.

Like I had summoned him with his name, the door opened and there he was. He grinned, all dimples and white teeth that gleamed against his brown skin.

“She’s here!” he hollered over his shoulder before crossing the threshold and hauling off my feet in a big hug.

A second later there was a stampede of tier-one operators and Mateo’s hug became a group project.

I laughed as they jostled me around. “Put me down so I can introduce you to Zack.”

Immediately, they formed a line with their backs to me, facing Zack like a high-stakes game of Red Rover. I rolled my eyes and elbowed my way through them to stand next to Zack.

“This is Zack Hale.” The wall of scowls was not for the faint of heart, so I added, “Zack is helping me with the charity rodeo for the library. Zack, this is Liam Cole, Sebastian—Seb—Ashcroft, Mateo Alvarez, and Holly Delaney.” As I pointed to each one in turn, they shook Zack’s hand. He didn’t flinch, but I noticed he flexed his hand, stretching out the muscles, after Holly was done with him. “And, of course, my brother, Jeremiah. But we call him Jay.”

“My friends call me Jay.” He eyed Zack doubtfully. “You can call me Jeremiah.”

I narrowed my eyes, but Zack remained unfazed.

“Sure thing.” That easy, charming grin of his was firmly in place. “Where can I put my horse? He’s been around a thousand other horses from all over the place, so if you have something isolated, that would be best.”

Jeremiah jerked his head at Liam, who stepped forward.

“We’ve got the quarantine stall ready for him, but he’d probably prefer the pasture for the night to stretch his legs. I’ll take you there,” Liam offered.

Zack squeezed my bicep—Jeremiah’s gaze zeroed in on the contact—and followed Liam down the steps. The second they were out of ear shot, I whirled on my big brother. “Seriously, Jay?” I lowered my voice in imitation of Jeremiah’s deep growl. “You can call me Jeremiah. What was that?”

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