Page 47 of Adam's Rising

A sharp pain ripped at Adam’s gut.What the hell had Thomas gotten him into?

Before he could ponder the implications of what Clara Mae had laid out, the woman clapped her hands, breaking him out of the haze that had fallen over him.

“Rusty! You’re up. What did you have to talk about that you needed our new hand here for?”

Rusty carried three cups of coffee to the table.

Adam didn’t drink coffee — couldn’t stand the stuff — but he figured it might raise another red flag if he refused. After all, Thomas drank coffee.

He wondered what else he didn’t know about his brother — God rest his soul, he added, as his mother would have in this situation. Yeah, he loved Thomas almost as much as breathing, but his brother had created an awful mess that Adam, somehow, had to figure out how to clean up.

“Boyd Landrum.” Rusty pulled out a chair about as far away from Clara Mae as the table allowed. Along with her snake gun — whatever that was — did the woman also throw coffee mugs?

“What did the boy do now?” Clara Mae lifted her mug, gently blew on it. The action was about the most ladylike thing Adam had ever seen her do, but he averted his eyes when she caught him watching.

So it wasn’t the first time Rusty had a run-in with Boyd.

Adam had never liked Boyd, but he didn’t know him well. Boyd hadn’t gone to their school in Talkeetna, but Thomas hung out with him at The Pitts — a kind of middle ground for teens from the Denali region and Mat-Su Valley to hang out. Knowing Boyd had been dating Claire — and whatever he’d done to make her quiver in Adam’s arms — was all Adam needed to ban the guy from the ranch.

“Boy?” Rusty growled. “Clara Mae, I know you useboyas an endearment, but thatboy’seighteen, and he’s not been a boy for a long while.”

“Duly noted,” Clara Mae said dryly, still testing the coffee’s temperature.

Rusty tapped on the table to get her attention off the coffee.

Clearly frustrated, she lifted her hands. “I’m listenin’, Rust. Can we move this along, though? I got a lot of paperwork to do, and I’m plum worn out.”

“There’s nothing to discuss. Not really. Boyd attacked Claire… right at the drive-in. I heard her scream, saw her crawling backward out of Lala’s Blazer. If I hadn’t come ’round, he might’ve dragged her off into the woods. He was madder than a hornet.”

Clara Mae looked up. “Madder than a hornet?”

Rusty dipped his head. “Figured one of your Texas-isms might get your attention.”

She released a long breath, then looked at Adam. “Did you witness this, too?” Before he could answer, she turned back to Rusty. “If I throw out Boyd, his father’ll pull all their horses. And yep, that man’s got a nasty sting. He’ll fight just to fight. Might take several of the other boarders with him.”

Rusty shrugged. “So? You’ve been wanting to move forward with selling horses more than boarding anyway.”

Adam was shocked to see that while he’d been led to believe that Brett was in charge, Rusty sure seemed to have Clara Mae’s ear.

She looked back at Adam. “Well?”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. Did you ask me something?”

She sighed and lifted her hands, tossing Rusty a knowing glance. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I trust Rusty. But let’s be honest, most folks ’round here — no matter how long they’ve been here — haven’t exactly treated Alaska Natives fairly. My great-granddaddy homestead this land, but even he didn’t get it right. If I’m gonna confront Mr. Landrum, I’d feel better with more than one set of eyes on what happened. So, tell me straight — did you see Boyd lay a hand on Claire?”

“No, Ma’am. But she told me the entire story. And tonight, when a similar scene came on the movie, she was shaking like a quaking aspen. Took me a while to calm her down.”

“Damn. I might have to get Claire involved. But we’ll see. It’s my ranch. If Rusty says he needs to go, maybe I won’t give a reason. Don’t have to.” Clara Mae sighed, then glared at Adam. “As for you, maybe you shouldn’t be taking sixteen-year-old girls to R-rated movies.”

Adam wanted to argue that Claire would be seventeen soon, but he told the real truth. “I definitely won’t make that mistake again, Ma’am.”

She inhaled deeply then whooshed out the breath. “You don’t have to call me ma’am every time you address me; Clara Mae’s fine.” She clapped her hands again. “Anything else?”

Rusty stood, but Adam figured now was as good as time as any.

“Yes, Ma’am — Sorry, Clara Mae. I’ll honestly try to stop doing that, but you knew my father.”

She dipped her head. “I did. Great man.”

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