smile. “He’s a Preston, all right.”
It was a compliment Brooks appreciated. “Tell Ruby I’ll be back soon.” And then he stalked off, ready to face his rival head-on.
* * *
Brooks found Trace leaning against his pickup truck, taking a chug from a bottle of whiskey. Wearing jeans and a chambray shirt, his hat tipped back off his forehead, he wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion.
“What do you want, Evans?”
Trace shot back a hard glare. “Ruby. I want Ruby.”
Brooks ground his teeth at Trace’s possessive tone. “She’s not coming out here to see you.”
“She’ll see me. I have things to say to her.”
Brooks held his temper in check. “Now’s not the time. She’s enjoying the party.”
Trace’s lips pulled into a twist, and he pointed his index finger straight at Brooks. “You don’t speak for her, Newport.”
“Why don’t you get the hell out of here and sober up. Better yet, I’ll get someone to take you home. You’re in no shape to drive.”
Trace threw his head back in a hearty laugh and gestured with the bottle. The amber liquid inside sloshed back and forth. “What? You mean this? You’re obviously not a Texan. This is nothing. Trust me, greenhorn, I’m not blistered. And I need to see Ruby.”
“Why, so you can lie to her and hurt her again?”
“You don’t know squat about me and Ruby. We had something real special and I made a mistake, is all.”
“You made a lot of mistakes. Like screwing a married woman. Yeah, I know about your mistakes, Evans. You owe thousands from gambling, and you got kicked off the rodeo circuit for banging the rodeo boss’s wife. Now you need Ruby to bail you out.”
Evans came toward Brooks with venom in his eyes. “What are you doing snooping into my private life?”
Brooks stood firm. He could take Trace if it came to a fistfight. “Ruby deserves much better. So yeah, I hired an investigator and found out all your dirty little secrets.”
“You son of a bitch. I was going to tell her all about it. That’s why I needed to see her.”
“It’s too late to confess your sins, Evans. Just give up.”
“I have no plans of doing that. Ruby loves me.”
“Yeah, well, she’s been loving me lately.”
Evans’s free hand fisted, and his eyes hardened to stones. “I should knock you to hell and back.”
“I’m shaking in my boots.” Brooks shouldn’t have let the guy get to him. He would’ve never betrayed Ruby’s trust like that otherwise. He wasn’t a kiss-and-tell kind of guy. But hearing Evans say Ruby loved him was like a knife twisting in his gut.
“How much cash would it take for you to leave Ruby alone?” Brooks asked. “I want you out of her life, for good. Twenty-five thousand? It’s enough to cover your gambling debts. I’ll write you a check right now.”
“Asshole. You think everything can be settled with money.”
“Fifty grand?”
Evans’s brows rose in interest. “You bartering for Ruby?”
“I’m trying to protect her.” The man’s pride was keeping him from grabbing the brass ring. Brooks had to press him. “I’ll make it a hundred grand. You want the deal or not?”
A loud gasp came from behind them, and his stomach clenched in dread as he pivoted around. Ruby stood just five feet away, her arms tight around her middle and her eyes spitting red-hot fire. The burn seared through him like a scorching poker. “Ruby, how long have you been out here?”
“Long enough to hear you both acting like jerks.”
“Hey, he was the one trying to buy me off,” Evans shouted.
“And you were about to accept my offer.”
“Don’t listen to him, Ruby.” Evans took a step toward her.
She put up a halting hand that said, Don’t you dare come close. Unfortunately, the gesture was meant for Brooks, too. “I. Am. Not. Going. To. Listen. To. This. I’m done with both of you. You can go straight to hell.” With that, she spun on her heel and marched away, her shoulders ramrod stiff but the rest of her body trembling.
Brooks watched helplessly as she walked away. Her words cut deep, but nothing hurt as much as seeing the disappointment and accusation on her face.
“Looks like you blew it, Newport.”
“Screw you, Evans.”
Brooks took off after her, following her to the steps of the house. “Ruby, wait!”
She spun around instantly. The big, fat tears welling in her eyes stopped him in his tracks. “Leave me alone, Brooks.”
Serena and Eve stepped out of the house just then and, noting Ruby’s upset state, immediately ushered her into the house, flanking her like a human fortress. With a turn of their heads, the two women shot him glares that could have downed an F-16.
He ran his hands over his face, pulling the skin taut. Then he punched the air out of frustration. He should’ve known Ruby was enough of her own woman not to need his interference. Had he learned nothing from the past?
Now she was hurt and furious.
It was the last thing he wanted.
And yet somehow, he ended up being the bad guy in all of this.
* * *
In black spandex and her comfy Horses Are a Woman’s Best Friend sweatshirt, Ruby sat on her sofa, going over the events from last night in her head. Her emotions had been on a high after spending the better part of the evening with Brooks, but when she walked outside and found him in a bidding war over her with Trace, she couldn’t believe her ears. Brooks had been trying to pay her ex off to stop pursuing her, as if Ruby couldn’t make that decision on her own. As if he had the right to decide for her. The worst of it was facing the fact that she really didn’t know Brooks Newport at all. Was he the ruthless manipulator that she’d read and heard about? Was he trying to control her? Or had he really believed he was protecting her?
Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the text. It was Brooks again. He’d called and texted her last night until after midnight, apologizing in every way imaginable. She’d refused to answer any of his messages, but in each he’d called himself an imbecile, a jerk or a fool for hurting her, and that had put a smile on her face. The lofty, self-confident man was trying. She had to give him that.
But today’s text was different. Today he wrote,
I’m going to Chicago today to make all things right in my life. And then I’m coming back...for you.
A
