Page 15 of The Cowgirl's Secret Love
Tamara adjusted her glasses. When she spoke, her voice came out clear and soft, but cautious. As if she knew this was stepping into dangerous territory. “From everything I’ve heard, Finn is a good man.”
That wasn’t the problem. The real issue was how hard would Karen fall if she gave in to the longings inside her? Was this something that might lead to forever or another interlude on the way to further heartbreak?
The door tore open, and another familiar face appeared. Kelli Stone, sister-in-law on Tamara’s side, stood in the opening, breathing hard. The petite woman glanced around the room before her gaze fixed on Lisa and Karen. “I need your help. That damn wild stallion broke one of the fences, and he’s taken off with a bunch of our mares. It’s all hands on deck.”
Karen shot to her feet, love affairs and questions shoved aside. She and Lisa hurried out the door, Julia hard on their heels.
4
The bank took less time than Finn expected.
He eyed his friend, honest admiration sneaking out. “I don’t know why you took me along. You had that thing sewn up within five minutes of entering the office.”
Zach grinned as he downshifted and took the corner hard enough to send gravel spraying. “You noticed.”
“You just wanted an audience. Damn extrovert.”
“Not at all,” Zach protested. “I wanted you to see how much I’ve learned from the master.”
Finn gagged as he was obviously expected to.
When Zach offered a scathing curse in response, Finn hesitated. “What?”
Zach slowed his truck to something close to the legal speed limit then pointed to the vehicles waiting outside their current home base, a derelict ranch house.
One vehicle was familiar. Every time he came around, something interesting happened, so the arrival of the representative from Burly, Evans, and Ives merely raised Finn’s curiosity.
The other one, though. It wasn’t the car that caught his attention and started his blood boiling but the man leaning against it, arms folded over his chest, glaring as they approached.
“Goddamn fucking bastard.”
“That about sums it up,” Zach said in agreement. He shifted into a slower gear as if trying to prolong the moment so it would be safer for Finn to open the door. “Remember, if you lay a hand on him, he’s more than willing to sue your ass. Keep your temper.”
“I don’t remember inviting him here. Maybe I can sue his ass for trespassing,” Finn growled as he eyed Brandon Travers with disgust.
He reached for the door, ready to get out there and shred arms from a certain asshole if required.
The door lock clicked shut, trapping him in place.
“Keep. Your. Temper.” The words were said softly, but it wasn’t much of a deterrent considering how little Finn liked Brandon and how much he would enjoy putting a hurt on the man.
Still, points to Zach for trying.
Then the bastard uttered the only words that could convince Finn to get his head on straight.
“What’s your endgame?” Zach asked quietly.
Not getting thrown in jail was a good place to start. Finn took a deep breath and let it out slowly before offering Zach a chin dip. “Appreciate it. Let’s go encourage our visitor to leave.”
“One visitor is leaving. The other one is bound to stick around for a while.” Zach glanced with curiosity at the older man sitting patiently inside his vehicle, seemingly ignoring everything going on outside.
The truck doors shut behind them with solid slams. Brandon straightened from where he’d been leaning, shaking his hands as if preparing for battle.
“We’re not open for business yet,” Zach offered cheerily as if greeting some lost cowboy-wannabe. “Happy to add you to our mailing list.”
His sarcasm hit. Brandon glared harder. “Still spending my money, I see. Or should I say tossing it in the shitter?”
“What do you want?” Finn snapped. He was trying to be nice. Honestly, he was. He stopped a good foot away from Brandon then casually folded his arms across his chest.
