“Why?” she asked, though the way Oscar was speaking right now, the things he was saying about both her and Jake, was reason enough but she wanted to hear what Heath had to say.
“I saw what he did.”
Heath’s uncharacteristic angry tone shocked her. She’d never heard that from him before. “What did he do?”
Oscar appeared in the doorway, saddlebags slung over his shoulder. His face was crimson with anger, making his thick black mustache and crooked nose stand out, and his eyes…she’d never seen such hatred. She cringed just seeing the depths of his hostility. It seemed to be directed at both her and Jake, though she didn’t know why.
“Tell her,” Heath demanded as he glared at the man.
Oscar said nothing as he glowered at her, his rage an almost tangible thing. Evie recoiled, moving a few steps away from him. She hadn’t noticed that about him when they met, but then again, she really hadn’t spent much time with him after that day. She’d told him the truth—she wasn’t interested in getting married—and though he seemed to have accepted that, perhaps he hadn’t.
Instead of addressing her as he’d been told to do, Oscar glared at Jake. “You got lucky, Hannigan.”
Jake tipped his hat further back on his head. A look came into his eyes she’d never seen before, a look that clearly said ‘don’t mess with me.’ “No, I didn’t and you know it, but anytime you want a rematch...” He left the statement hanging, an invitation if there ever was one.
Her chest tightened with confusion as her focus shifted back and forth between the three men. “A rematch? What are you talking about?”
None of them explained and her frustration rose. She didn’t like it when there was dissention on the ranch, which didn’t happen very often. For the most part, everyone got along well enough, though in the past she had one or two ranch hands who just didn’t seem to fit in with everyone else. They never stayed long. “Isn’t anyone going to answer me?”
Oscar ripped his attention from Jake and focused on her, and again, she retreated from the rage on his face. He didn’t say a word as he stepped off the porch and strode to his waiting horse, knocking his shoulder into Jake as he did so. Jake, to his credit, stood his ground. She noticed that his hands were balled into fists though and there was an expression on his face that frightened her just a bit.
She didn’t have time to dwell on it as Oscar mounted up, kicked his stallion, and took off in a hail of dust.
“What did he do?” She focused on both her nephew and Jake.
Heath watched as Oscar disappeared from sight and finally faced her. “He took his slingshot and hit Clementine in the rump with a rock. That’s why she reared up and took off like she did. Jake could have broken his neck!”
The answer shocked her. “Well, then, you were right to fire him, Heath.” She turned to Jake, her eyes roaming over his face. He was still angry, that much was clear. It was in his stance. Was it just the fact that Oscar had tried to hurt him, or was there more to this story than she knew? “That’s not all he did, is it?”
“No, but the rest doesn’t matter now. I’ll take care of the horses.” He said nothing more as he led both Clementine andSpitfire into the paddock. She watched him walk away, his steps a little stiff. There was no jaunty swagger right now.
She turned once again to Heath on the porch, his arms still folded across his chest, though his anger seemed to be fading. “Do you know what happened between them? Why there’s so much animosity?”
“No, but I’m sure it had something to do with you.”
That surprised her, too. “With me?”
“Yep.” He smiled at her. “Or maybe it had something to do with Jake breaking his nose.”
“Jake broke his nose?”
“That’s what I heard. Slick mentioned something about defending your honor. Apparently, Jake didn’t like what Oscar said about you.”
She turned toward the corral, where Jake was busy removing Clementine’s saddle and reins, and her heart melted.He defended my honor?
“You better hang on to that one,TiaEvie.” He climbed into Goldie’s saddle. “I’m heading back out.” He was once more back to his usual, happy self. “Glad your man wasn’t hurt.”
CHAPTER 16
“I’m going to do it.” Evie announced, as Marisol pulled a sock from the basket of mending and put it in her lap. She chose a spool of thread that matched the color of the sock then grabbed a needle from the pin cushion and threaded it.
“Do what?”
“I’m going to…ask…” Oh, saying the words aloud was hard. She’d practiced them in her head since she’d made her decision, but actually giving voice to those thoughts proved to be almost impossible, and if she couldn’t say them to her best friend, how would she ever say them to Jake? She licked her lips and stared toward the horizon, the shirt she intended to repair bunched on her lap.
“I’ve decided…” She tried again but couldn’t finish, ending her sentence on a sigh.
Marisol stared at her, her smile wide, yet her eyes were full of sympathy and understanding. “What is it you’re trying to tell me?”
