Betting On The Maverick

Laura would have been horrified to realize Margot hadn’t yet finished speaking, but Brad could have kissed his mother.

Margot blinked, clearly caught off guard. “Six months,” she said. “Or less.”

“Brad said you’d had some sort of injury,” his father interjected.

“Yes.” She folded her hands in lap and relayed the story she’d told him, including more detail.

“Oh, my dear, a skull fracture is serious.” Laura breathed the words.

“Should you have been on a horse today?” Brad asked, more sharply than he’d intended.

“I’m to avoid any activity where I could fall and hit my head.” Her lips quirked up. “I haven’t fallen off a horse since I was a toddler. I tried to tell the neurologist that the risk in the ring is also minimal for injury but he insisted it would be unwise.”

“You must be relieved to have Brad around,” Laura said. “I can’t imagine doing all that heavy ranch work would be good for you, in your condition.”

“What condition is that?” Natalie asked, breezing into the room.

She was pretty and blonde, an angelic face with a mischievous streak a mile wide. Brad adored her.

“Hey, brat,” he said in lieu of greeting. “I thought I was going to be able to get in and out of this place without seeing you.”

Natalie stuck her tongue out at him then smiled at Margot.

“Ohmigod,” she shrieked the second she recognized their guest, moving in to give the redhead a hug. “It’s been ages.”

Margot blinked, appearing stunned by the effusive welcome. “It’s nice to see you.”

Brad was seized with the sudden urge to protect, to step between his sister and Margot. Recognizing that as a ridiculous impulse, he remained seated.

Natalie, dressed in a jean skirt that showed way too much skin—what was his father thinking, letting her go out that way—and a blue shirt at least one size too small, studied Margot through lowered lashes.

Brad was suddenly seized with a bad feeling, the same type of feeling he got years ago just before she beaned him over the head with one of her Barbie dolls.

“Rumor is you’re shacking up with my brother.” Natalie offered a sympathetic glance. “Sweetie, you could do so much better.”

“Natalie,” Todd ordered. “Apologize this instant.”

His sister’s head jerked back, her eyes widened. “Why?”

“You’ve insulted a guest in our home, and your brother.”

“I did no such thing.” Natalie gave her blond hair a little shake.

“Natalie.” His father’s voice held a warning.

Brandie Sue, who’d been napping, chose that moment to awaken. Almost immediately she began to bark, as if wanting to add her two cents to the fray.

His father started growling at his mother to shut the dog up while his mother cast censuring glances in her daughter’s direction.

“What?” Natalie threw up her hands. “I was teasing. Letting Brad and Margot know what’s being said around town.”

“I appreciate it.” Margot sounded surprisingly sincere. “I can’t believe the gossip has already started. I haven’t even been here twenty-four hours. Up to now, I’ve only seen Brad and Russ.”

Her gaze shifted to Brad. “Do you think Russ said something?”

Brad considered, nodded. “Probably mentioned to someone you’re back. They would have asked about me, or where you were staying. And the story took off from there.”

Natalie inclined her head. “Are you really going to stay out there with my brother?”

“It’s my home,” Margot insisted. “If anyone should leave, it should be him.”

“You could move back in with us,” Laura told her son and hope flared in Margot’s green eyes.

“That isn’t feasible.” Brad forced a reasonable tone. “Not with winter around the corner. I need to be there to see to things.”

“You could drive over every day.” Margot’s voice took on a hint of desperation. “It’s not all that far.”

Brad knew that he had to put a stop to this kind of thinking right away. Before his mother or—God forbid—his dad jumped on that bandwagon.

“You’re a Montana girl,” Brad said with feigned nonchalance. “You know what the winters can be like. Ten miles away might as well be across the continent when drifts close the road. If anyone should live somewhere else, it should be you.”

From the way her eyes flashed and that stubborn chin tilted, it was exactly the wrong thing to say.

“I’m not moving out.”

“Well, neither am I,” Brad shot back.

Natalie grinned, bent over to kiss her mother’s cheek. “I’m almost sorry I have to leave. This is getting interesting.”

Brad scowled.

Natalie laughed and wiggled her fingers. “Ciao.”

The four sat there in silence while the door slammed shut.

“I’m thinking it might be nice to have a second glass of wine,” Laura offered finally.

On this point, it seemed, everyone could agree.

Chapter Six

“It appears,” Margot said when she and Brad were finally back home and standing in the living room, “we’ve reached a stalemate.”

“Appears so.” Brad kept a wary eye on Viper. He didn’t trust her any more than he trusted BS.

“You’re not going anywhere. Neither am I.” She put her hands on her hips, looked him up and down. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to peacefully coexist until my father returns.”

Though her tone was confident, the look of worry was back, furrowing her brow and darkening her eyes.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much cash to contribute to running the household, but I’ll pay back what money you spend,” she said when he didn’t respond. “I want to use what money I do have for a private investigator. Someone needs to be actively searching for my father. I can call all his old friends, any family, but I want someone out in the field.”

“Not necessary,” Brad said.

“Of course it’s necessary,” Margot said, those almond-shaped eyes now flashing green fire.

“Paying a PI isn’t necessary,” he clarified, “because I already have one on the case. I told you that when we were riding.”

For a second she looked confused. “Did you?”

“How can you not remember?”

Margot flushed. “The doctor told me cognitive impairment isn’t uncommon after a traumatic brain injury.”

The fancy words and the look of guilt on her face told him all he needed to know. The injury she’d sustained was more serious than she’d led any of them to believe. “Well, the man I hired is on the job.”

“You didn’t mention hiring a PI to Russ.”

“I figure he’ll work harder if he thinks no one else is looking.” Brad shrugged. “Once the guy finds something, I’ll let the sheriff’s office know.”

“He hasn’t found anything?”

Brad shook his head. “It’s like your dad vanished into thin air.”

“He could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere.” She closed her eyes and a few tears slid down her cheeks.

Without thinking Brad closed the distance between them and pulled her to him. Instead of pushing him away, she buried her face in his shoulder and cried as if her heart would break.

His shirt was wet by the time she drew a shuddering breath and stepped back.

“I’m sorry.” With the back of her hand she swiped the last of the tears away, her face now red and splotchy. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“Don’t worry. Boyd is a tough old bird.” Brad forced a tone filled with more confidence than he felt. “It’d take a lot to bring him down.”

She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Is that what you really think?”

He’d have to be the worst kind of jerk to not respond to the bald hope shimmering in her eyes. “That’s what I think.”

She sniffled and visibly brought herself under control. “Your parents and sister are nice.”

“They’re okay.”

“I liked Brandie Sue.”

He had to smile. “You would.”

She wiped her eyes and smiled back. “Well, I guess I better go to bed.”

With any other woman, Brad would have gone for broke and kissed her. But as she’d just cried all over him, making a move now felt as if he’d be taking advantage.

“Thank you, Brad.”

Before he quite realized what was happening, she stepped close, plunked her hands on his shoulders and pressed her lips against his. Then she turned and headed up the steps, Viper at her heels.

“Hey,” he called out just as she reached the top step. “What was that?”

“That was for not being a jerk.”

Brad could only stare as she disappeared from sight.

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