off somewhere where no one could ever touch her again.
She had him tied in knots—because of a kiss that never should have happened, dammit!—and he didn’t like it. She was a boarder in his home, nothing more, and had no right to push her way into his thoughts whenever the mood struck her. He didn’t want to care what she did or who she did it with as long as she left him the hell alone. But he couldn’t shake the image of her face when she’d pulled out of Elliot’s arms. What had the bastard done to her?
The question nagged at him long after he left the set to repair a downed fence near the ranch entrance that some drunk had knocked down, and the more he thought about it, the more tempted he was to hunt down Elliot and demand some answers from the jerk. When he saw the crew leaving at the end of the day, he climbed into his pickup and automatically turned toward town…and Myrtle’s, to talk to the jackass.
Suddenly realizing what he was doing, he swore and slammed on his brakes. What the hell was he doing? Angel Wiley didn’t need him to fight her battles. In fact, he’d never seen a woman less in need of protection. If she could stand up to him when he’d threatened to throw her out of his house and try to bash his head in when she thought he was a thief in the night, she could handle Elliot with one hand tied behind her back. She didn’t need him, she didn’t need anyone.
Turning around, he drove home in a foul mood that didn’t lighten much when he saw Zeke’s Suburban in his driveway. He was in no mood for company, but then he saw Elizabeth and his niece, Cassie, in the vehicle, and waved. “What’s up?” he asked his brother as Zeke stepped from his Suburban.
Zeke took one look at the hard line of his jaw and said, “Uh-oh, rough day, huh? We dropped by for Cassie’s bed, but we can get it tomorrow.”
Cassie let out a wail from inside the truck at that, and Joe couldn’t help but grin. One of the few people who could tease him into a smile when he was in a bear of a mood, Cassendra Ann McBride was two years old and dimple cute, not to mention just a tad willful. And he was crazy about her. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a baby soft kiss, he just turned to putty and so did everyone else in the family.
Humor glinting in his eyes, he told Zeke, “You don’t really think you’re going to be able to leave here without it, do you?”
“Pweeze, Uncle Joe,” a pitiful voice called from the back seat. “Can I have my bed?”
Seated in the front passenger seat, Elizabeth laughed. “Don’t let her con you, Joe. She can sleep in her old crib one more night if you don’t want to mess with this now.”
“Mama!”
“And disappoint my favorite niece?” he said, chuckling at Cassie’s indignant tone. “I don’t think so.” Opening the back door, he unbuckled her car seat and held out his hands to her. “How about a piggyback ride to the barn, your highness?” With a squeal of delight, she launched herself into his arms.
Cassie was delighted with her first big girl bed, and Elizabeth was thrilled. “It’s beautiful, Joe. Just perfect. Where in the world did you find it?”
“It belonged to an old friend of Myrtle’s in Gunnison,” he said as he helped Zeke carry the refinished bed out to the Suburban and load it in the back. “Myrtle’s been trying to buy it off of her for years, but she couldn’t bring herself to let it go, then a couple of weeks ago, she suddenly decided it was time to get rid of it. The second Myrtle described it to me, with the angels on it and everything, I knew it was perfect for Cassie.”
“It’s going to take more than a couple of wooden angels to watch over her,” Zeke retorted, grinning broadly. “Last night after I put her to bed, I heard a noise in the hall and found her trying to slide down the banister. If she’d have been a couple of inches taller, she’d have managed it, too! I’m telling you, the kid’s fearless. I don’t know where she gets it from.”
Joe choked on a laugh. “Are you kidding?! If I remember correctly, you were climbing on calves, trying to be a bronc rider, when you were three, and you jumped out of the hayloft when you were five and broke your arm. And Lizzie works with wolves, for God’s sake! Where do you think she gets it from?”
“He’s got a point, sweetheart,” Elizabeth said dryly, her blue eyes sparkling with laughter. “You might as well face it, she’s going to make both of us gray before our time.”
Zeke groaned. “Maybe should lock her in her room until she’s thirty-five,” he began, only to break off as Angel came around the side of the house with an older woman and a little girl who wasn’t much bigger than Cassie. “Looks like your houseguest has company,” he told Joe quietly, glancing past him to the two women.
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