Page 104 of Rocky Mountain Home

Tamara stood at the foot of the bed. Today she wore pale blue scrubs decorated with floating clouds, and the frames of her glasses were rainbow-hued. She gloated as she eyed Jesse who had folded his arms over his chest and was pretending to glare at them.

“Lies,” he insisted. “Damn lies.”

“Damn entertaining lies,” Dare insisted.

“Truth is always stranger than fiction,” Tamara taunted.

About an hour later, Tamara had just helped Dare back into the bed after a pit stop when the door opened, and Ginny and Caleb stepped in.

Dare’s throat tightened at the sight of them. “I didn’t expect you to come this soon.”

Ginny raced across the room to offer a hug. “Are you kidding? After Jesse called they had to sit on me to stop me from driving up last night.”

Caleb moved slower, his gaze taking in Dare before a curse escaped his lips. He fixed his gaze on Jesse, murder in his eyes. “You bastard.”

Jesse rose to his feet as Caleb stormed forward, but Tamara moved the fastest, sliding in front of Caleb and slapping her hand against his chest. “Stop right there, cowboy. You want to tell me what’s got you itching for a fight?”

“How the hell did she get a black eye, Coleman?” Caleb demanded at high volume, ignoring Tamara.

“Stop, Caleb,” Dare ordered.

“Did you hit her?” Caleb pushed Tamara aside to get at Jesse.

Or he tried to push her aside. Even though Dare was watching, it was hard to see exactly how it happened. One minute Caleb was moving forward, and the next he was flying through the air then slamming into the floor with a body-aching crash.

Tamara stood over him, foot planted perilously close to his groin. Her rainbow and floaty-cloud outfit a stark contrast to her apparent danger-level. “I said back down, cowboy. No fights in this room, you got it?”

Caleb groaned, hand going to his head before he collapsed and lay there, winded.

“Fuck.” The strangled word barely made it past his lips.

Ginny stood at Dare’s bedside, staring down at the strange vignette in front of them. “Um, you got a bodyguard, Dare?”

“Looks that way. Caleb, nobody punched me. Well, not on purpose. My face got in the way when they were stopping me from hitting the ground. I don’t think you should go beat up the pastor’s daughter, so stop being a macho-jerk.”

Caleb made a noise. It might have been an apology, but Dare couldn’t be sure.

She sighed heavily. “Tamara, you want to let my brother up?”

“Your brother?” Tamara swore softly. “Jeez, I’m sorry.”

She held out a hand to help him up.

Caleb gave her a dirty look and ignored her fingers, rocking up to his feet. He glanced at Jesse. “Sorry for assuming.”

“I get it. Protective big brother. You did tell me you’d kill me if I hurt her.” Jesse was smirking, though.

Tamara elbowed him in the side. “Don’t be a jerk.”

Jesse turned on her, his amusement fading. “Don’t you step into the middle of a situation like that again. You could’ve gotten hurt.”

His cousin rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Did you see him bounce?”

Caleb made another noise, this one decisively rude, but he moved cautiously as he passed Tamara en route to the bed. He slid his gaze over Dare and examined her closely. “Accidentally punched in the face? Really?”

“Yup,” she said. “Just like the time you and Luke went out after the strays and ended up—”

“—okay. That’s enough of that.” He held up a hand to cut her off before hugging her tight. “You scared us. You good?”