She had the irrational urge to grab the reins and turn the horse and run. Cole was not going to be reasonable about this. He, Reese, and Dane might just hog-tie her and drag her back to the ranch. She couldn’t let them do that. They just didn’t understand how the totality of their love combined with their definition of protection was as much a prison as the one from which they’d rescued her. As much as they wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and tuck her away on a tidy shelf, she’d lived too much to be content being sheltered. Experienced too much to believe that anybody’s opinion of what was right for her was better than her own. She was a woman, not a child. And she’d make her own choices.
Isaiah’s fingers brushed her thigh as he reached for the rifle. Ahead of her, Cole reached for his. Addy braced her feet on top of Isaiah’s and stood, plastering a huge smile on her face and waving. From what she’d seen of Isaiah and what she knew of Cole, both were more likely to shoot than wait for her to get out an explanation. A tug on the back of her skirt plopped her back down.
Isaiah was as difficult as Cole in his own way and that just wasn’t going to work. She’d had enough of violence. Tending bullet wounds was bound to end in delay and she wanted to get home, back to her bakery, her house, her china, her things, her order.
She smiled and waved again to the oncoming riders. “Cole!”
Cole braced the rifle butt on his thigh. Slightly behind him and covering his back as always, her other cousins rode, sun glinting dully off the barrels of their guns. They were an impressive sight. Hard, deadly men on a mission. She shivered. Sometimes she forgot just how lethal her cousins could be. She wanted to throw her arms wide and shield Isaiah as soon as Cole focused on him.
“Put your gun away,” she whispered.
“Not a chance.”
“You’re supposed to be looking harmless.”
Another one of those grunts. His chest pressed against her back, pushing her forward. He tucked his arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.
“Nobody’s going to believe I’m your bodyguard if I go lookin’ harmless.”
Cole was close enough that she could see the frown between his brows as his gaze dropped to Isaiah’s hand on her stomach. She gave a tug, but Isaiah didn’t let go. She dug her nails in. All that got was another of those contrary chuckles.
“Take your hand off me.”
“Why?”
“You’re upsetting Cole.” She looked over her shoulder and was just in time to catch the edge of his smile. “You want to provoke him!”
“It’s been a dull ride.”
Elbowing him in the stomach was looking better and better. Too bad it might cause Cole to shoot him.
“I hired you, remember? You’re supposed to do what I say.”
“I’m supposed to do what you say up to the point of obtaining your goal. If you roll over and play dead now, or make me roll over and play dead now, you’re going to be back at that ranch faster than you can blink those pretty blue eyes.”
He had a point. But still, he didn’t need to keep his hand so intimately pressed against her body. “Find another place for your hand.”
It slid upward.
“A decent place,” she clarified. They were running out of time. Isaiah didn’t remove his hand, which could only mean one thing. She looked back over her shoulder again. She was going to have a darn crick in her neck from doing this so often. “What do you want?”
He didn’t pretend not to understand. “I want you to let me handle this.”
“They’re my cousins.”
“Exactly.”
“And what does that mean?”
“They’re not going to be reasonable.”
“And you will?”
“Didn’t say that, either.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m just saying, I’m better at handling unreasonable.”
Well, he probably did have a better grasp on it, seeing as how he was the most unreasonable person she’d ever met, but that didn’t mean she was just going to roll over. “You think that means that it qualifies you to handle my cousins?”
He pulled the horse up. “I think I’ve got a better shot of getting you what you want than you do.”
She glanced back at Cole. His eyes were narrowed against the sun, his jaw set. This wasn’t good. She knew that look. It meant he’d come to a decision. She bit her lip. In another minute he’d be close enough to overhear.
Cole cocked his gun and centered the muzzle on Isaiah. And her.
Addy dug her nails deeper into Isaiah’s hand. “Then start handling it.”
“THAT’LL be far enough,” Cole ordered.
Their horse took two more steps before Isaiah pulled it up.
“Hello, Cole.” She nodded to the other two men. “Dane, Reese.”
Reese smiled. “Hey, Addy girl. You all right?”
“It’s been a rough three days.”
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Dane prodded.
Isaiah didn’t take his hand from her waist. It didn’t really matter. She wasn’t getting down anyway. Not when Cole had that mule-stubborn look on his face. Dane’s horse tossed his head. The bridle jangled loudly in the sudden silence. Addy licked her lips not trusting the calm. With Cole calm was often a prelude to the storm
“Thanks to Isaiah, I am.”
Dane didn’t smile. Cole motioned with the rifle.
“Get on down, Addy.”
“No.”
She waited for the explosion. It didn’t come. Cole just sat silently taking in her refusal and Isaiah’s presence. Waiting.
And as always, she felt the need to fidget. To apologize. To surrender. Isaiah tightened his grip on her and she tightened her grip on her worry stone, rubbing it through her fingers faster and faster. She’d always had a problem standing up to Cole. She could never forget how much he’d done for her, how much he’d sacrificed for her. Whenever she wanted to go against him, the guilt drained her dry.
With a sharp motion of his hand that almost qualified as a snap, Cole pointed to the ground. “We’ll exchange pleasantries later. Get down.”
Either Cole couldn’t read her as well as she read him, or he could read her too well and saw her weakness. Closing her fist around her worry stone, she shook her head. “Isaiah’s taking me home.”
Cole angled the muzzle a bit higher, in direct line with Isaiah’s head. “Is that so?”
It was Isaiah who answered. His voice was just as calm, just as unemotional. “That’s so.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have told Isaiah to handle it. Cole didn’t take well to being challenged.
“And just who are you to be telling me anything?”
“No one.”
Cole’s gaze narrowed. “Well, Mr. No One, the lady is my cousin and my responsibility—”
“Not anymore.”
“The hell you say. Addy?”
She couldn’t get a word out.
“Addy hired me to see to her safety.” Isaiah goaded.
“We’re here. She’s safe,” Dane cut in.
“Not according to her.”
“Bullshit. Addy doesn’t need protecting from us,” Dane snapped.
“Addy?” Cole asked.
She didn’t know what to say, where to look.
“You feeling cornered, Addy girl?” Reese asked.
Of the three cousins, Reese was the one who understood the best. Maybe because, as the youngest of the brothers, he’d experienced the weight of Cole’s protection, too. Or maybe it was just because he was who he was—a Cameron with the self-confidence to see what he wanted to see.
“I’ve told you I can take care of myself.”
“You think hiring a stranger you met God knows where is taking care of yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Watch your language,” Isaiah ordered. All eyes turned to immediately to him.
“Stay out of it,” Cole ordered right back.
“Can’t do that.”
The muscles in Cole’s jaw bunched. “Whatever she’s paying you, I’ll double.”
“Thanks . . .”
Addy’s heart stopped in her chest.
“But I like to finish one job before starting the next.”
The wave of relief that went through Addy was almost debilitating.
Isaiah’s hand closed over hers and squeezed once before, with a strength that had her blinking, he lifted and dropped her over the other side of the horse. “Get back.”
She did immediately, her breath catching in her throat. “Don’t kill him.”
“Tying my hands with that, aren’t you?”
She hadn’t been talking to Isaiah. Before she could point that out, Cole said, “If he leaves now, I might let him live.”
Isaiah swung down off his horse and handed the reins to Addy. She took them, putting her hand on his arm. “Don’t.”
He looked at her hand and then at her face and nodded. “No killing.”
“Thank you.”
Cole swung down from his horse, too. “Nice of you to make things easy for me, Addy.”
“Make what? You leave him alone, Cole.”
Cole dropped the reins and took a step forward. “Some bodyguard you hired, that he hides behind a woman’s skirt.”
Isaiah took her hand off his arm, putting himself between her and Cole. “Get back.”
Cole kept coming. She wanted to run. She wanted to get between Cole and Isaiah. She wanted to put her hands over her head and cower as the tension slipped past her control and found the memories always so ready to come forward, take over. She swayed. Isaiah pulled her against his chest. Her cheek rested there.
“You son of a bitch!” The snarl came from Dane, who stood beyond Isaiah.
Too late, Addy realized how the embrace had to look to her cousins, who saw her as vulnerable. In the aftermath of her being stolen, a strange man being so familiar with her had to look bad.
One second she was in Isaiah’s arms, and the next she was standing alone. She stumbled and braced herself against the horse. It sidestepped and snorted. In the same instant, she saw Cole move in on Isaiah, saw Isaiah spin so fast she wasn’t sure he’d even moved. Saw him catch Cole’s arm and turned him about. Saw Dane and Reese bring up their rifles, take aim.
“No!”
But it was too late. In the split second before her cousins fired, Isaiah had Cole in front of him. She closed her eyes. Oh no. The guns went off. Curses flew. Dirt sprayed her skirts. The worry stone bit into her palm. She couldn’t open her eyes. Was Cole or Isaiah dead? Neither was conceivable.
“Goddamn it, Cole.”
That was Dane.
“Hell of a move, stranger.”
That was Reese. She opened her eyes. Isaiah was in a half crouch, a knife to Cole’s throat, staring at Dane and Reese.
“Sheathe the rifles.”
Neither moved to comply.
“Isaiah—”
It was as far as she got. Isaiah cut her off.
“I remember my promise.”
“Then I guess that means we don’t have much to worry about,” Dane drawled.
“In two seconds, I’m going to put this knife through his spine.”
Addy gasped.
“He won’t die,” Isaiah confirmed.
“He just won’t be able to move,” Reese finished dryly.
“You’re a cold-blooded son of a bitch,” Cole said as if he weren’t facing paralysis.
“I get the job done.”
“Even when hampered by a woman’s weakness.” Cole nodded carefully to Dane and Reese. They sheathed their rifles. “Interesting.”
Isaiah removed the knife from Cole’s throat and stepped back. Cole stood, his eyes on the knife in Isaiah’s hand. So were Addy’s. There was blood on the tip and a few drops on Cole’s neck. Her stomach heaved. Isaiah held out his hand. Without thinking, she took it. He pulled her into his side. It was natural to lean her head against his chest. Breathing his scent settled her stomach and her nerves. The spot on her thigh itched and warmed. So did the one on her shoulder. She put her hand over it.
Cole’s eyebrows lifted. He settled his hat back on his head. “Where did you find this one, Addy?”
“He found me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Cole looked at Isaiah. “You just stumbled upon her?”
“Something like that.”
“By our reckoning, at least thirteen men rode with the bandits.”
“That would be about right.”
“And they just handed her over.”
“We discussed the matter.”
“Like you just discussed things with me?”
Isaiah smiled a very cold, provoking smile.
“Son of a bitch,” Dane drawled.