Page 1 of Brooke's Bliss
Prologue
Wyoming
Shane Kent pulled the gloves off hishands as he walked into the barn.Despite the heavy, warm material, his fingersstill felt stiff.There wasn’t much that could keep a Wyoming winter fromfreezing a man’s bones.
Why did it seem warmer in Colorado?He knew on anintellectual level that it wasn’t, but the time he’d spent at Stef Talbot’salways seemed so much warmer.Likely since in the first couple of years they’dknown the man he’d been more than happy to share his lovers with them.StefTalbot was Bay’s mentor when it came to art, but he’d been an excellent tutorat other things for Shane.
Since the man had married, he’d been happy to sponsor themat a couple of clubs, but he was far more private.Now a good deal of thewarmth Shane felt came from Stef’s wife, Jennifer, and his parents, Sebastianand Stella.Oh, most people would call Stella Benoit-Talbot Stef’s stepmom, butshe was his mother in every way but biology.
Biology meant nothing, and Shane knew it.Not that he’d beenas lucky as Stef.
Don’t expect me to give a damn about you, you piece ofshit.
Shane took a long breath and tried to let the memory go.He’d been five, maybe.Perhaps a bit older, but his stepmom never let himforget that while he and Bay shared a dad, Shane was the product of herhusband’s affair.
He shook off the snow.The barn was quiet at this time ofnight.He should have headed to the bunkhouse where Bay was undoubtedly sittingon his bed sketching while the young cowpokes played cards and drank until theypassed out.
They were getting far too old for this shit.
The last piece of work Stef sold for Bay had brought in fivethousand dollars.
Which they immediately had to put into buying a new trucksince thecraptasticone they’d been driving for tenplus years finally died.
They couldn’t get ahead no matter what they did.
They were never going to get that sweet wife and house andfamily that actually gave a damn.They were going to be the old men of whateverranch they happened to be working at.Always changing.Best he could hope forwas to find a place where they felt comfortable and work until they died.
He was almost certain it wouldn’t be Kingman Ranch.
There was something wrong here.Something felt off.Off?Hewas almost certain Kale Kingman ran this ranch in fairly criminal ways anddidn’t mind getting rid of what he considered baggage.
“We have a problem.”
Shane went still at the sound of the ranch foreman talkingquietly.The voice floated down from the upper level where they kept a lot ofthe feed and equipment they needed for the ranch.Kingman was a top-of-the-lineranch with three big barns.This was the biggest and was equipped with what wasessentially an elevator so they could move heavier stock up and down from thestorage spaces.
There was a horse barn with every comfort he could imagine.
And there was that barn no one was supposed to go into.
“We always have a problem,” another voice said.Andy Mills.He was the foreman’s right hand.Andy and Dennis were the epitome of oldercareer cowboys.Dennis lived in his own place next to the bunkhouse, while Andyhad the only private room in the building that housed the ten ranch hands wholived on property.There were more who commuted in, but the hands who livedhere were considered the inner circle.
Well, except for him and Bay.They’d been told they were ina probationary period and would be so for the first year.After that they wouldconsider making them real Kingman men.
At the time he thought they’d watched too muchYellowstone.
He was starting to wonder if the dudes who madeYellowstonehad gotten the idea from Kale Kingman.
“It’s the new guys,” Dennis said, and then his voice wenttoo low to hear.
Shane froze, and it had nothing to do with the sub-zerotemperatures outside.He stood stock-still, trying hard not to even breathe.He’d thought about sneaking out or calling up to let them know he was here.
But he and his brother were “the new guys.”
Bay didn’t see the problems, but then Bay saw the worldthrough his weird-ass artist eyes and often missed the reality of situations.While he was trying to capture the essence of a place, Shane was having to makesure that place didn’t eat them alive.
He wished he could flip his stepmom off and let her know herprecious baby boy was only alive because the bastard saved him.
But she was dead and no longer cared.And it wasn’t likeshe’d been great to Bay either.She was drunk most of the time, and when shewasn’t taking her rage out on Shane, she was weeping to Bay about how terribleher life was and how it was up to him to fix things, and why did he have tospend so much time with that bastard?
