AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Though, truly, that position was unofficial and self-appointed. Dev had never balked at them stepping in. Not even on day one. As soon as they’d vowed to protect her, relief had softened her shoulders and tension had sagged from her.
And they’d never left her side since then. They stayed near when she worked, helped her move from town to the country. He and Hawk had slept nearby when she’d been in Briar’s house, then they’d helped her to set up a new home on the property she’d bought from Briar.
Now, they slept across the hallway from her. Every night. But he wasn’t sure of the last time he’d actually slept. Any movement, each creak of the house or the trees outside, brought him fully alert. It left him in a constant state of agitation and fatigue, which was so very unlike him.
Another reason they needed a plan.
But what?
He had to think. And this was his favorite place for that. The icy air bit at his cheeks, and the feel of Shadow galloping beneath him, the sorrel running over the frozen ground, pulled him into a near trance-like state.
His thoughts always cleared out here in the rolling fields, and his worries momentarily evaporated. Riding across the ranch usually did that. Back when he’d lived in Boston, before he’d come to Daly, Wyoming for a work/study during his master’s program, he never would have imagined the peace he’d get from nature. Nothing matched it.
So, like many of the cowboys around here, he’d come to Daly and never left. He didn’t regret it either, despite the way his family badgered him the few times they spoke. They didn’t understand what he needed from life, and they never would. They couldn’t fathom the draw of the wide open spaces, of the hard work close to the land, or the camaraderie of the down-to-earth people here.
His parents never changed their tune, always accusing him of wasting his life on childish fantasies and ruining his future with his sinful love for Hawk. Neither his parents nor his siblings had ever tried to accept his relationship with his lover. Instead, they’d exiled him, basically disowning him until he repented.
They definitely wouldn’t be on board when Devon joined the mix, making them a threesome.
If it ever happened.
Devon…
God. After too many long months and interminable nights, Cannon was beginning to lose hope she’d ever let him and Hawk into her life as more than friends, protectors and the ranch hands who helped to work her training, breeding and rehabilitation facility for horses.
He knew she wanted them—both of them—but he couldn’t figure out what still kept her for leaping in and letting them catch her. Aside from fears about her past and the people coming after her. But she had to know she was safe with them.
His cell ringing through his earbuds pulled him from the path his thoughts had spiraled down—again. Hawk.
“Hey, babe. What is it?” he answered, pulling up Shadow then letting the horse meander while he took the call.
“How far out are you?”
“Half hour maybe. What is it?”
“The barn alarm triggered.” Their parcel of land had a barn, stable, and of course, the house. All with security. Now, the barn alarm had gone off twice this week.
“Again?”
“Yeah, and I don’t see any reason why. No sign of anyone. Of course, whoever it was, was be long gone before I got Dev settled then investigated. I was kinda hoping it was you.”
That was always their priority. Dev secure in her panic room. Then checking the disturbance.
“Not me. Maybe, you should call over to Jeb.” Jeb Clancy and his brother, Eugene, had moved to town recently and ran a security company that was quickly becoming the go-to for anyone in the area who needed a setup. “He mentioned cameras last time we talked.”
“I’ll give him a call.”
“How’s Dev?”
“Shaken but she’s pretending to be fine. Since it’s the second time this week, she said it’s getting to be old hat.”
“Bullshit.”
“Don’t gotta tell me that. I don’t want her to go into Leena’s today.”
Cannon scoffed. “Good luck with that. It’s chicken-fried Wednesday. Dev wouldn’t leave Leena hanging on the busiest day of the week.”
Not that he and Hawk hadn’t tried to get Dev to quit working at the diner. Originally, she’d worked at Bowen’s Bar, but when Leena’s husbands, who ran the place, had found out Dev was a woman, they’d ‘loaned’ her permanently to Leena’s Diner.
