by Dahlia West
Ian nodded and thumbed the lever on the Remington. The hinge popped and it bent in half, rendering it incapable of being fired. “Just rock salt, sheriff.”
Langley merely grunted. He looked tired, too, and his clothes were rumpled as though he’d been in bed and thrown them on when he’d gotten the call. Hell at his age, he probably had been in bed, asleep. He hadn’t even bothered with the uniform. He was in jeans and a button down shirt. A pair of work boots crunched the stones while he walked.
Austin was sorry to trouble him.
The old man spotted him and arched an eyebrow. “One more’s a pattern,” he declared, coming up on to the boardwalk.
“Hopefully this’ll be the last time,” said Austin.
“Well, what was it this time?”
“Palmer again. But a different problem.”
Langley snorted. “Boy’s got plenty of ’em. What now?”
“He’s been coming onto our land, out on the old mine we just bought. I wasn’t sure who was leaving the tracks until I ran into Palmer and got a good look at his boots. I don’t know what he’s doing out there but I don’t like it. And I told him so.”
The sheriff eyed Austin’s knuckles in the electric light shining above their heads, then inspected Austin’s face again. “One sided conversation?”
“Yes, sir.”
The man grunted. “Don’t suppose you have anything more than a boot print?” he asked.
Austin was forced to shake his head. “No, sir. I don’t.”
The old man sighed. “Well, I’ll talk to his probation officer, have him brought in for questioning. Can’t promise much. Can I get him on assault again?”
Austin shook his head. “I threw the first punch.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Langley replied turning back to his car. “Forgot to put my hearing aid in. Head on home, now. And keep your paws to yourself till you get there.”
“Yes, sir,” Austin repeated.
Once the sheriff was gone, Austin gave Ian a nod and put an arm around Leah, walking her across the lot and to the truck. After helping her in, he slid behind the wheel and headed for home.
“I can’t believe you did that!” said Leah, turning in her seat and looking out the back, as though someone might be following them.
Austin was already periodically checking the rearview to make sure they weren’t.
“He had it coming.”
“But there were three of them!” she gasped, looking at him wide-eyed.
Austin shrugged. Leah was pretty sheltered and he could see how a fist fight in a parking lot might make him look like some kind of superhero in her eyes. “Yes,” he told her, because as much as he liked the idea of her being impressed by him, he couldn’t deny the truth of the situation. “But two of them are mouth breathers and one’s a fat ass, honey.”
Three Barlows would be far more formidable than those three stooges.
“Still!”
Austin flexed his knuckles on the steering wheel. They were already starting to swell. “I don’t fight often, Leah, but I’ve been in tougher scrapes than you saw tonight. I’m sorry that you were scared, though. I lost my temper.”
“What’s Cassidy going to say?”
Austin barked a laugh. “She’ll be mad. Pissed, probably. She didn’t get to hit him herself and I didn’t go ahead and finish the job.”
“They don’t get along?”
Austin frowned and glanced at her. It wasn’t really his place to tell Cassidy’s business. “No,” was all he said.
They rolled down the driveway where Austin parked in front of the house. Austin found Sofia and Cassidy in the kitchen but no Walker.
“I thought you were going out,” said Cassidy. She looked up from the book she was reading and caught sight of Austin’s dirty, disheveled clothing. “What the hell?” She glanced at Leah and seemed relieved that the girl looked much better. “What happened?”
Leah grabbed a metal bowl from the cabinet and Sofia filled it with ice as Austin flexed his hand, trying to keep his muscles from tightening. “We ran into your brother.”
Cassidy leapt up, eyes wide, looking furious. “What?”
“We had some things to say to each other,” Austin told her.
“Come here,” said Leah, indicating the bowl. She lowered his bruised knuckles into the cold water.
“Oh my God,” said Cassidy. “I am so, so sorry. That asshole. I can’t believe he’d start something with you.”
“Well, not all of it was about you, and I’m not done with him yet. He ran off but I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
Cassidy frowned. “And you got hurt, too.”
“Pffft. This? Barely.”
The younger woman came up next to him and put her arms around his waist. Austin threw his free arm over her shoulder.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she told him.
“Hey, now,” said Sawyer as he walked into the kitchen. “You’ve already got a woman. Take your hands off mi—Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?”
“Palmer,” Austin spat.
Sawyer’s face immediately twisted into rage. “Son of a bitch. Where was he?”
“Here,” said Austin. His brother recoiled. “Several times, over the last few weeks. Those tracks up on the Folly are his. I took Leah to the Spur and he was there, mouthing off. Then I looked at his boots, and sure enough…” He shoved his hand farther down into the ice bowl.
“That motherfucker.”
“Austin,” said Cassidy. “I am so, so sorry. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know why he’s up there, snooping around. I—”
Austin shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Cass.” He planted a kiss on top of her head. “No one’s blaming you. Not for a hot second. Don’t you worry about it. I sent him your regards. I should’ve hit him once for every year you had to live with him, but I had to get to Leah, get her home and get her safe.”
He looked at her now, standing just a few feet away and it wasn’t close enough to his liking.
Cassidy seemed to sense it and she stepped away gesturing for Leah to take her place against him. He closed his eyes for a moment as she leaned into him, smelling her hair and feeling her warmth.
“Was it awful?” Cassidy asked Leah. “Were you terrified?”
“I…I’ve never seen anything like that,” Leah told her. “But Austin was great. I had no idea it was your brother, though. Not until it was over.”
Cassidy’s nose wrinkled. “Believe me, I wish he wasn’t. I’m grateful any time anyone takes a swing at him, though. Palmer used to hit me and my dad let him.”
“Oh, my God!”
“Although, I’m not so sure now that my dad didn’t ask him to hurt me sometimes. So he could avoid getting his hands dirty.”
“Cassidy, that’s awful!” She looked up at Austin. “I’m glad you hit him then.”
Austin looked over her to his brother. “Langley’s going to question him, at least, about the trespassing.”
Sawyer grunted. “Makes me feel better about shooting first and asking questions later.”
The others finally left the room, calling it a night, leaving Austin and Leah by themselves in the kitchen. He sighed and pulled his hand from the bowl. Leah wrapped it in a dish towel. “Well, rabbit, we never got that dance, did we?”
“Maybe next time.”
“I don’t want to wait that long,” he told her. He leaned over and flipped on Sofia’s radio. Then he took her hand (as best he could with his swollen one) and placed the other behind her back.
“You’re hurt,” she pointed out but he guided her around the tiled floor anyway.
Austin scoffed. “No, I’m not. Not right this minute. Not with you.” He moved slowly with her, in time with the song. “You have your list and maybe I have mine.”
“You have dancing in your kitchen with a broken hand on your bucket list?”
He chuckled as he turned her. “It’s not broken. I wouldn’t brea
k a perfectly good bone on a Conroy. And almost everything on my list involves a beautiful girl who smiles whenever she sees me.”
Leah laid her head on his shoulder and gave up arguing. The soft strains from the radio filled the darkened room, competing with the sound of the frogs and crickets outside. Austin loved the way she held him, like he was anchoring her in place.
“Hank may be lonesome but we’re not, are we?” he whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
‡
Leah rose the next morning thanking God she wasn’t lonely, not at all, and kissed him before he even had a chance to open his eyes. “I will miss you, though,” she said.
Austin looked up at her, thoroughly confused, and she realized, with embarrassment, that she hadn’t said that first part out loud. “I’ll miss you, too,” he said, returning her kiss. “But Jackson Hole’s not a bad drive from here.”
Downstairs in the kitchen, both Dakota and Cassidy were ready to go. Leah grabbed her bag and followed the two women out the front door to the Cassidy’s old, rusty truck. It had a back seat bench though, and that was good enough for Leah.
“It’s not my Mercedes,” the girl told her, “but I paid for it. With my own money.” She seemed proud of that fact, and since Leah herself didn’t own a car, it seemed a thing worthy of being proud of.
“I like it,” she declared and lifted her foot to climb in.
Austin called out, “Get some nice panties! But nothing too expensive, though. I don’t want you coming after me with that hammer when I rip them off you.”
Leah gasped and glanced at her friends, neither of whom seemed scandalized by Austin’s threat. Dakota even rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe he said that!” Leah cried.
“They’re all like that,” said Cassidy sliding behind the wheel.
“Not all of them,” Dakota grumbled from the back seat.
Cassidy frowned as she pressed the Start button. “True.”
Dakota sighed. “Do they make cellophane dresses? Totally see-through? I’d like to see what happens if I wear something like that.”
Cassidy laughed. “You want to wave a red flag in front of a bull like that, Dakota? Okay. We’ll find something. It won’t be see-through, but I agree we obviously need to take it up a notch.”
Leah felt sorry for the girl, who was obviously so totally smitten with the head of the Barlow household. Leah herself had never pursued a guy in her life. Before Austin, no man would’ve cared, and Austin had set his sights on her from the beginning and hunted her down like prey. She had little to contribute to the conversation. “Candace would say find a date to take with you,” she declared, though, wanting to be helpful. “That’d shake him up.” Quickly, though, Leah realized she wasn’t really a member of this group and probably shouldn’t be offering advice to anyone. “But I mean you—”
“That is a fantastic idea!” Dakota said loudly.
“Oh, God,” said Cassidy. “Seriously? There’s going to be a brawl at my wedding.”
Leah gaped at her. “You don’t think he’d really do that? Do you? Walker? He seems so…so…” Walker seemed like the epitome of the strong, silent type. Leah had trouble picturing him on a rampage on his brother’s wedding day.
“I think it’s safe to say I don’t have any idea what Walker Barlow will or won’t do,” replied Cassidy. “I thought for sure the last time would be all the push he needed. We got her the perfect dress and she asked him to take her home…but it was a total bust. Whatever happens, at least the wedding’s outside so there won’t be any blood to mop up.” She adjusted the mirror and looked at Dakota in it. “You better pick a fighter,” she warned. “Someone big. He’ll still lose, but at least the medical bills won’t be too high.”
Dakota blew out a harsh breath and swiped her dark hair from her eyes. “If this doesn’t work, it’s over. I’m out of ideas.”
Cassidy said nothing but patted the girl on the arm.
Perhaps it wouldn’t work, Leah thought grimly and simultaneously felt bad for Dakota but happy that Austin wanted her, had invited her to Snake River. There was at least one person worse of than she, sad as it was.
“It’ll work, Dakota,” she said encouragingly from the back seat. And why not? Austin’s gambles always paid off. Maybe his luck was contagious. She absentmindedly rubbed her own belly, praying for that to be true.
In Jackson Hole, Cassidy took them to a wedding boutique not on the main street but on a side street and Leah could tell as they threaded their way through the town that it was not the most expensive shop. The dresses were still beautiful, though, at least they were to Leah who had few occasions to ever see any up close.
Cassidy picked one, disappeared into a changing room with the attendant, and emerged minutes later, causing everyone in the store to stop and look.
Leah gaped at the woman who looked like she should be on the cover of one of the magazines sitting on the nearby table. Cassidy Conroy was more than just the Lincoln County Fair Queen. Leah thought it was possible she might win the Miss America pageant, if she’d ever entered. “You look so beautiful,” she whispered, totally in awe.
Cassidy ran her fingers over the lacy edges of the bodice. “You know, I always thought I’d have a crazy expensive dress, invite the whole county, and have a cake taller than the Tetons,” said Cassidy, fingering the strap of her dress. “I don’t think a damn bit of it would’ve made me happy, though. Not like an off the rack dress and a ceremony in the back yard. You know, I don’t think I give a damn about this wedding. Not really. All that matters is Sawyer standing at the end of the aisle when I walk down it.”
“Well, there’s the honeymoon to think about,” said Dakota.
Cassidy’s grin widened. “True. Very true. We need lingerie,” she said, turning so Dakota could pull the zipper. “He’s seen everything I own and we need something that’ll knock his boots off.”
The search for show stopping underwear took longer than they expected and they didn’t return to Snake River until well after dark. Leah found Austin in bed already, but when she tried to creep into the bed without waking him, he gripped her hips, suddenly, surprising her. He rolled her to her back and pinned her there.
“I was about to come hunt you down,” he growled, dipping his head to her throat and kissing her collarbone. “You smell nice.”
“They had perfume samples,” Leah sighed, running her fingers through his hair.
“What else?”
“Awesome tacos. And an archway made of antlers, which was weird.”
“But what’d you get?” he demanded, crawling over her.
“Nothing,” she admitted.
He frowned. “Nothing? I told you to get something.”
Leah bit her lip and shrugged. “I…I didn’t think you were serious.”
“Hmmm,” he said, eyeing her closely. “I think you’re having me on.” He reached down to tug up the hem of her t-shirt.
“It’s true,” she said, pushing it back down and wrapping her arms around him, trying to make him forget about it.
He grinned. “I don’t believe you. I’m going to need to look for myself.” He tugged again and in a moment of panic, Leah seized the shirt and held it firmly.
“Austin, don’t!” she finally said.
He paused and scrutinizing her face a bit longer. That was fine, she decided. So long as he was looking at other parts of her. “Leah, we’re past the push up bra, I think. I’m not that shallow, trust me. We’re in bed. We’re alone. Let’s get naked and have some fun. We were apart all day and I missed you.”
“I can’t,” she told him. “I…just…I…” She let it fall flat not knowing what else to say. She had him now and she didn’t want to lose him.
His lips pressed together into a thin line until he finally said okay and tried to roll over, away from her.
Leah pulled him back. “I still want you. If you still want me.”
He laid his lips over hers and she sighed with relief.
/> *
The next day they split up to do their respective chores, coming together only for lunch. While Leah was at the sink, Austin came up behind her and put his arms around her. “Would you go on a date with me?”
She paused and turned to look at him over her shoulder. “A date?”
He nodded.
Leah laughed and glanced meaningfully down at her belly. “I think you’re going about this in the wrong order.”
He laughed, too, and turned her around, keeping his hands around her waist. “I don’t care. There’re fireworks tonight, on the other edge of town. I’ll throw a blanket in the truck bed and we can go.”
“Okay. Sounds fun.”
“You have fireworks shows in Cody?”
“We do. At the reservoir.” Which was her favorite place. It seemed wrong to tell him that, though. Because no matter how much she loved fireworks at the dam, she wanted to be with him more.
“All right. We’ll head out at dusk.”
And they did, ending up outside the city limits on the south end of town. Austin pulled into a row of trucks and cars and helped her into the bed, which was softer than she would’ve guessed with the blanket spread out.
When the sun set and the night had grown full dark, the show started which seemed to cue Austin to start some fireworks of his own. His hand on her hip went down to her thigh, trailing her skin there and coming back up, this time underneath her dress.
“Austin!” she hissed, grabbing his hand. “There are people here! Everywhere!”
He grinned at her. “But they can’t see us, not when we’re laying down. Lift your dress, Leah.”
Her heart thrummed and her entire body felt like a sparkler, lit and blazing. He waited, quietly. It felt dangerous and wild and—surprisingly—tempting. To her own surprise, she complied, finding the hem and slowly dragging the skirt up. Around them, revelers were cheering about the bursts of color in the sky. Leah’s face was hot, imagining any one of them somehow seeing her and sounding the alarm to the gathered crowd.
