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“Fuck you,” Boone said, limping toward the stable doors.

“Yeah, right back at you,” Shane muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face. That had all been so out of control, so out of hand, and what had he been thinking, letting all that old, buried shit slip toBooneof all people?

Shane gave himself a few minutes to get it back together. To calm himself. To focus on what needed to be done. A nice dinner. Getting to know Cora’s family. Hopefully smoothing things over with Micah.

And Boone could go straight to hell.

Chapter Twenty

Cora knew something was seriously up. If she hadn’t noticed Micah running out of the stables, then insisting nothing was wrong, or Boone’s follow-up storm out of the stables after which he went into the house with a loud slam of the door . . . and never came back throughout the whole meal, she’d still have known something was wrong.

Shane was tense. Oh, he tried to hide it with smiles and idle conversation with Brandon and Lilly, but everything in his posture, in the way he held himself was iron-rod straight. Painfully controlled.

Throughout the whole meal Micah was silent and sullen, sending Shane nasty looks when he thought Cora wasn’t watching him.

Cora didn’t want to make a big deal about it in front of Lilly, so she had to squash her curiosity best she could and fake her smiles and ease just like Shane was doing.

She helped the Tyler girls clear up the dishes while Shane cleaned the grill and Micah and Brandon took care of the babies. Lilly and Brandon and crew said their good-byes, and Cora knew she should too, but she needed to hear about what had happened from Shane as much as she needed to hear about it from Micah.

Micah was playing with Ben’s dog, and most of the cleanup was accomplished. She caught Shane’s gaze across the yard, and one corner of his mouth ticked up.

He crossed to her, and, before she even had to say anything, he held out a hand. “Walk?”

She nodded, noting that Shane nodded over at Molly, a clear sign to keep her eye on Micah.

“So, what happened?” she asked as they slowly walked what was becoming their normal path. Away from the house, toward the mountains, in the pretty glow of a fading summer day.

Shane sighed, adjusting his hat. Funny, he always seemed to do that when he wanted a little more control of the situation. She squeezed his hand, because she wanted to be here for him, and she liked that she could read him.

“Maybe I should let Micah tell you, but I’m afraid he might color my role in it a bit.”

“I want the Shane version and the Micah version. I’m also curious about the Boone version.” She smiled at him, hoping for a softening.

She didn’t get it. If anything, Shane only got tenser. His jaw hard, that determined, almost cold look in his eye she remembered from their first meeting, when he’d been dead certain his mother wouldn’t be marrying Ben.

But then he brought their joined hands to his mouth and brushed his lips across the top of her hand. He smiled ruefully. “Unfortunately, Micah was the middle man in a pissing match I shouldn’t have gotten into with my brother.”

They walked toward the mountains, hand-in-hand, and there was something so picture-perfect about it. Yeah, there was a problem, but she was talking it out with a good, honest man who held her hand. Someone who wanted to fix it, not cast blame or land punches.

“Boone suggested taking Micah on a cattle drive the ranch is doing next week. I refused. We don’t let kids on this kind of thing. Unfortunately, even if we did, Micah isn’t experienced enough with the horses yet. So, I had to put my foot down. It’s too dangerous. We can’t risk his safety like that.”

Emotion clogged Cora’s throat. Micah’s own father had once pushed Micah into a wall, Cora’s last straw in the Stephen department. But this man, who was nothing to Micah all in all, wanted her baby to be safe even if it made MicahandBoone mad. Not because he was trying to impress her, but because it was good and right.

She stopped walking, and he stopped too, looking at her with something like pain in his dark brown eyes. “I’m sorry. I am. But I feel strongly about this. It’s too dangerous.”

She moved her arms around his neck, giving him a tight squeeze, afraid words likelovewould tumble out of her mouth if she dared open it.

Shane hugged her back. “What’s that for?”

She kept her arms around him, but pulled back enough that she could look at him. Oh, she wanted to tell him she was head over heels in love with him. She wanted to tell him everything that had ever happened to her and have him soothe it away with his sympathy, his care.

That would never do. “You’re the best man I know, Shane,” she said, irritated with herself when her voice broke a little.

“Cora.” He reached up, cupping her face with his big, rough hands, those brown eyes serious and intent on hers. As if he was going to say something important. Meaningful.

Oh, God, say it, maybe I’ll feel a little less out of my mind.

“Cora, I—”