coffee Dana handed him.
“That’s Texas-speak for he met a woman,” his brother joked.
Hayes told them what had happened and how it was after daylight before he left the police station. He didn’t mention the strange feeling he’d had when the woman had opened her eyes.
“Is she all right?” Dana asked, clearly shocked.
For months, Tag had been talking up Montana and its low crime rate among all of its other amazing wonders.
“She regained consciousness in the ambulance. Last I heard she was going to be fine—at least physically. I’m not sure what a close call like that does to a person.”
“Have the police found the man?” Dana asked, and hugged herself as if feeling a chill. Hayes thought about what his cousin had been through. She had personal experience with a psychopath who wanted to harm her.
“Unfortunately, the police don’t have any leads. I wasn’t able to get a license plate or even the model or make of the car the man was driving.” He felt exhausted and stifled a yawn. He’d been going on nothing but adrenaline and caffeine since last night. “Hopefully, the woman will be able to give the cops a description so they can get the bastard.”
“You look exhausted,” Dana said. “I’ll make you breakfast, then Tag will show you to your cabin. You two don’t have anything planned until late afternoon, right?”
“Right,” Tag said. “I’m taking my brother to see the restaurant space I found.”
“Then get some rest, Hayes. We’re having a steak fry tonight. Our fathers have said they are going to try to make it.”
“That sounds great.” He wasn’t sure he was up to seeing his father. Harlan Cardwell had only been a passing figure in his life. Tag, who was the oldest, remembered him more than the other four of them. Harlan had come to Texas a few times, but his visits had been quick. Being the second to the youngest, Hayes didn’t even remember his uncle Angus.
Hayes felt emotionally spent, sickened by what he’d witnessed last night and worried about the woman. He kept seeing her staring up at him with those eyes. He mentally shook himself as Dana put a plate of silver-dollar-sized pancakes with chokecherry syrup in front of him, along with a side of venison sausage and two sunny-side-up eggs.
He ate as if he hadn’t eaten in days. As it was, he’d never gotten around to eating that sandwich he’d purchased at the grocery store last night. After he’d been plied with even more of Dana’s amazing buttermilk pancakes, his brother walked him out to his rental SUV.
“So how are the wedding plans coming along?” he asked Tag as they got his gear and walked up a path behind the barn into the pines to his cabin.
He’d flown in a month early to talk his brother out of opening a Texas Boys Barbecue joint at Big Sky. The five brothers had started their first restaurant in a small old house in Houston. The business had grown by leaps and bounds and was now a multimillion-dollar corporation.
All five of them had agreed that they would keep the restaurants in Texas. But in December, Tag had come to Montana to spend Christmas with their father and had fallen in love with both Montana and Lily McCabe. Nothing like a woman and a little wilderness to mess with the best-laid plans.
It was now up to Hayes, as a spokesman for the other three brothers, to put Tag’s feet firmly back on the ground and nip this problem in the bud.
“It’s going to be an old-fashioned Western wedding,” Tag was saying, his voice filled with excitement. “I can’t wait for you to meet Lily. She’s like no woman I have ever known.”
Hayes didn’t doubt it. He’d never seen his brother so happy. All of the brothers had the Cardwell dark good looks. Add to that their success, and women were often throwing themselves at one of them or another. Except for Jackson, none of them had found a woman they wanted to date more than a few times. They’d all become gun-shy after Jackson had bitten the bullet and gotten married—and quickly divorced after he found out his wife wanted nothing to do with their newborn son.
Hayes couldn’t wait to meet this Lily McCabe to find out what kind of spell she’d cast over his brother—and possibly try to break it before the wedding.
* * *
GUS THOMPSON HAD never been so angry. The bitch had called the cops on him. He glanced toward the empty receptionist’s desk at the front of the real-estate office. It didn’t surprise him that Cynthia hadn’t come in today. Stupid woman. Did she really think he would blame her?
No, he knew Cynthia didn’t do anything without checking with her boss.
So where the hell was McKenzie Sheldon? No matter what was going on, she was usually at work before him every morning. She must have had a rough night, he thought with a smirk.
Where was everyone else? he wondered as he checked his watch. Had they heard about the police coming by his house last night?
When the front door opened, he turned in his office chair, the smirk still on his face since he’d been expecting McKenzie. He felt it fall away as he saw the cops. Hadn’t it been enough that an officer had shown up at his door last night, questioning him about stalking the receptionist at the office? Now what?
“Mr. Thompson?” the policewoman asked. Her name tag read P. Donovan.
“Yes?” he asked, getting to his feet. He saw them look around the empty office.
“Are you here alone?”
“Everyone seems to be running late this morning,” he said, and wondered why that was. Because they’d all been given a heads-up? Gus noticed the way both cops were looking at him, scrutinizing him as if he had horns growing out of his head.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions,” the woman cop said. “Ms. Sheldon has asked us to first see that you remove your belongings from the premises.”
“What?” he demanded. “The bitch is firing me? Has she lost her mind?”
P. Donovan’s eyes went hard and cold at the word bitch. The word had just slipped out. He’d known McKenzie had it in for him, but he’d never dreamed she’d fire him.
“I’m her biggest-earning salesman,” he said as if there had been a mistake made and he hadn’t made it. Neither responded. Instead, he saw the male cop looking around. “What?”
“Are there some boxes in the office you can put your belongings into?” the cop asked.
Hadn’t either of them been listening? “She can’t do this.” Gus heard the hopelessness in his voice. He hated nothing worse than the feeling that came with it. He wanted to break something. Tear the place up. Then find McKenzie Sheldon and punch her in the face.
The male cop had gone into a storage room. He came back with two boxes. “Please take only those items belonging to you personally. We’ll watch so we can tell Ms. Sheldon.”
Gus gritted his teeth. McKenzie didn’t even have the guts to face him. Well, this wasn’t the last she’d see of him. He’d catch her in a dark alley. He started to shovel the top of the desk off into one of the boxes, but the male cop stopped him. T. Bradley,
