Page 129 of Cowboy Heat

Then, in the next moment, I see the man he’s become.

Or, maybe, the only one he’s ever been.

“Everett?” I prod.

His jaw clenches. His nostrils flair.

He talks big, but I can hear it in him.

He’s been found out, and there’s nothing that he can do to change it,

“That man came atme,” he says. “I was mindingmyown business, and then he come at me? Sayin’ I’m bad for this town and need to go? He’s saying I was trash? He didn’tknowme.” Guidry’s whole demeaner changes. He looks almost cocky. “But he found out, didn’t he? Showed him he couldn’t throwmeaway.”

I’ve never been Guidry’s biggest fan, but something in me breaks.

“You killed him,” I say, and I hear it in my voice. I know he hears it too.

“Kissy, it was nothin’ but self-defense.” He’s back to trying to use his charm. “I would have called someone, done somethin’, but the rain was getting bad, and then-and then, I heard you. Out through the woods and on the water. And I knew it was a sign. From God. Saving you two, it was God’s way of showing me that I wasn’t the bad guy. I was the hero.”

I wish I could see Micah. He’s been awfully quiet just out of sight near me.

Beau, too, though he’s looking at Alice.

All I have is Guidry. All I’ve ever had is Guidry from the moment he came through those trees to save us.

The moment after he killed Alice’s father.

Which would make him the last Bayou Cowboy in Robin’s Tree, Connor Dylan, a man who, according to the reports, died in a car accident not too much longer after that.

A report written by Dan Cleary.

All of me goes cold and tight and sad, and I can’t help myself.

“You’re no hero, Guidry. Neither are you, Alice.”

At that, Beau’s eyes shift to mine. There’s a warning in them; I can feel it. He’s doing something, planning something, and me jumping ship to point fingers at the woman with a knife to my neck isn’t it.

But I have to know.

Hedeserves to know.

“Dan Cleary covered up your father’s murder.” I wish I could touch Beau. Hold his hand, stroke his back. Touch his cheek. I can’t. “Just like he covered up Ryan King’s murder.”

Beau’s emotional control is tough. That bombshell is tougher. His eyebrow goes high.

It doesn’t help that Alice laughs.

“I’ll give it to you,Kissimmee, you sure know how to keep a person on their toes. I don’t even think Everett here has made that connection.”

“You killed Ryan. Why?” Beau’s jaw goes hard. He’s clenching. I bet he’s wishing he had either of the guns at his feet.

Alice’s mirth goes quick. She sighs out.

“I needed this ranch, and after I came to town offering him a price he shouldn’t have refused, he decided he needed to figure me out.” She growls. “Never mind he’d been sharing a town with Guidry for years. I suppose it could have been because I was a woman, or maybe your Mr. King was just plain bored. He kept digging until he dug himself too far down.”

Alice keeps talking, but while she’s doing it, I’m not sure Beau is listening all of the way. He’s staring at her, but he looks like he’s calculating something too.

“I might not have had the book, but I could only guess what Dan did for Guidry, so I made him do it for me too.” Alice’s grip tightens on my arm again. The knife goes back to the skin of my throat. “And now,nowwe’re all caught up, right? Do I need to write some of this down, or can we go ahead and get to the end? Everett, you have all but one choice. Be a hero. Put your gun down, I’ll let Kissy go, and us and Bailey can go to where you’ve hidden the book. I’ll take overLa Lumiere,and you can be as useless as you were when my daddy dressed you down all those years ago.”