Branded as Trouble. Delores Fossen

But he’d kept the picture and looked at it from time to time. Still did. Because it was a reminder that things you loved could be snatched away. It was also a reminder, though, that there’d been something important enough in his life to love.

      After that, Roman said fuck-you to fairness and to his mom and dad. He’d said fuck-you to a lot of things. And he had done that right here, standing at this very corral fence.

      His father had continued the unfair shit for the next ten years before cancer claimed him. He’d made Roman the owner of the ranch when Garrett was the one who wanted it. Maybe that had been his father’s way of trying to pull Roman back into the family, but it hadn’t worked.

      Ironic, though, that Tate had been the one to get Roman back here.

      His father was probably laughing his butt off in the grave.

      He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late to duck for cover. But at least it wasn’t his mother. It was his cousin Lawson.

      “Pretty, aren’t they?” he asked, tipping his head toward the horses. He walked to the fence, stood next to Roman.

      They were the same age and looked more like brothers than cousins. On occasion, they’d raised hell together by drinking and making time with some of the more willing girls in Wrangler’s Creek.

      “Garrett loves this place,” Lawson went on.

      That caused Roman to look at his cousin. Because it sounded as if there was a “but” coming.

      Roman cursed. “Please tell me Garrett’s not thinking about leaving here once Nicky and he get married.”

      “No way. Nicky and her kid love it here, too, and you couldn’t get Garrett to move away if you stuck dynamite up his ass. There might be trouble coming, though.”

      Hell. “What kind of trouble?”

      He motioned to the back part of the ranch. “You know that land by the creek?”

      With just that question, Roman got an inkling of what this was about. Because that land had been in dispute for more than six decades. It was an old family history lesson, but Roman’s great-grandfather, Zachariah Taylor Granger, or Z.T. as people called him, had a brother, Jerimiah, who was Lawson’s great-grandfather. Both Z.T. and his brother had built not only the town of Wrangler’s Creek but the ranch, as well. However, after a falling out, they’d split the land.

      Except for about a hundred acres that, at the time, had been leased out to another rancher.

      The lease had long since expired, and that meant the ownership of the land was in question, and it was a prized chunk of acreage to own because the creek coiled through it. Garrett needed the creek water to keep the ranch growing.

      “Your brothers don’t even ranch their land,” Roman said, though he was certain Lawson needed no such reminder.

      “That might change. Lucian is thinking about bringing in large herds.”

      “Lucifer,” Roman grumbled.

      Lawson didn’t object to the nickname for his oldest brother, especially since he was the one who’d given it to him. Roman’s family wasn’t the only ones on the outs with Jeremiah’s kin. Lawson had parted ways with his three brothers, as well. That was mostly due to Lucian. Roman was a badass novice compared to Lucian and the man’s cut-throat business tactics. Lucian and his brothers already had a huge ranching operation in another part of the county, but if they were looking to expand, they’d definitely be looking here.

      “Did Lucian tell you this?” Roman asked.

      Lawson shook his head. “Dylan.”

      Another of Lawson’s brothers. Roman was a novice womanizer compared to Dylan, but at least he wouldn’t stab you in the back. Dylan fell into the lover rather than the fighter category.

      “I’ve already told Garrett all of this,” Lawson went on, “but he’s not spreading the news just yet. Especially since it might not happen. Dylan’s trying to talk Lucian out of doing this.”

      Okay, maybe Dylan had some fighter in him, after all.

      “Tell Dylan thanks,” Roman said. It wasn’t thanks because of him but because of Garrett. This place did mean everything to his brother.

      “I will. I’m seeing Dylan later this week. He’s coming into town to meet Mila for a drink.” And with that, Lawson walked away.

      “Mila?” Roman cursed in pain when he moved too fast to catch up with Lawson.

      When Roman did step in front of him, Lawson looked at him as if he didn’t understand what had to be a look of concern on Roman’s face. “A friend set them up on a blind date,” Lawson explained. “Of course, it’s not really blind because they know each other. Not well, though... Say, what the hell’s wrong with you? Are you about to keel over again from the pain?”

      Roman took a moment to decide how to answer that. He took another moment to try to figure out why it bothered him that Mila was going on a date with his cousin. And it did bother him. There was no mistake about that. It bothered him because Dylan was a love-’em-and-leave-’em type.

      Just like Roman.

      And considering what Sophie had told him about Vita giving her a condom and Mila using a dating site, maybe she had decided to lose her virginity to Dylan.

      Dylan would take it, too, because he wouldn’t care if he broke her heart in the process.

      “Are you okay?” Lawson asked.

      No. He wasn’t. Roman had to stop Mila from making a huge mistake.

       CHAPTER SEVEN

      “I DON’T WANT to risk getting seaweed and sand in my hoo-hoo,” Belle said.

      Mila just nodded. Something she’d been doing a lot since Belle had shown up at the bookstore at nine a.m. and had brought her list of fantasy dates with her. The list now included discarded ones, the possibilities and her favorites. Despite the fact that Mila had told her she needed to order some books and do paperwork before she opened the store at ten, Belle had sat down as if this were a social call.

      “That’s why I’ve decided against From Here to Eternity,” Belle added. “Plus, I’d have to drive a long way to get to a beach.”

      Good point, but she had convinced Mila at the no seaweed or sand in the hoo-hoo. At least she was convinced if hoo-hoo was Belle’s word for her lady part. If not, then Mila had no idea what the woman meant.

      “That brings us to the pottery scene in Ghost and the scene from Twilight. The one where they’re in the woods, and he tells her to ‘say it.’ I like that scene a lot.” Belle sighed like a schoolgirl. “I like the one from Ghost, too, but I don’t want to fall in bed with my undies showing.”

      Mila wasn’t sighing. The first one would mean very close contact, and if Belle got someone like Wesley, then it could turn ugly. There was also a problem with the Twilight scene because it was indeed in the woods where Belle would be alone with this guy.

      “Uh, you just got out of the hospital a couple of days ago—” Mila started.

      “Four days,” Belle corrected. “That’s plenty of time, considering I wanted to jump-start my life. This is the slowest jump-start in history, since it’ll take me at least a week to set this up. And that’s after I decide which one.”

      Since it was obvious she wasn’t going to be able to use Belle’s health to get her to rethink this, Mila took the list and looked it over again. And mentally ticked them off one by one. Great day, but the woman had lofty fantasies that ranged all the way from Tolkien scenes to Pretty Woman.

      “How about Scarlett O’Hara?” Mila suggested. “You could do the scene