Page 4 of Love’s Silver Bullet

“The only exception I’ll allow,” Finn had continued, staring every single one of the cowhands down with his needle-thin gaze, “is maybe a dance or two at the annual rodeo.” His look of warning was tempered by the barest crook of a smile that in no way offered any leeway, “because I sure in the devil don’t want that girl to think she’s flat-out ugly.”

All the cowhands had laughed except Jake, who sure didn’t think it was funny. Not when Sheridan dogged his every step, fluttering those lashes so hard it gave him a stiff neck. And not when Finn had forced every man on his ranch to take an oath of honor to “defend, protect, and ignore” his eldest niece who seemed hellbent on finding romance. He swallowed hard.

With me.

Which didn’t matter when she wore pigtails and mud pies.

“Jake,” Finn had said later, taking him aside after last year’s rodeo dance when the newest cowhand, Murrell, had approached Sheridan several times, “I’m counting on you to be a big brother to Sheridan when Blaze, Dash, and I aren’t around. I like Murrell well enough, and I didn’t mind him asking Sher for a dance or two because that’s what the rodeo hoedown is for—an annual event for town folk to mingle.”

Finn’s gaze suddenly wandered into a distant stare over Jake’s shoulder, trailing off like his voice into what Jake sensed was a painful regret buried deep in his soul. “But I don’t want my niece ending up like her mother—so in love with the idea of love, she marries the wrong man, and so blasted young, she has two babies before she’s a full-grown woman.”

A sad smile shadowed the lips of this man Jake so admired while Finn’s memories seemed to take him faraway. “Sheridan reminds me so much of my sister Peg—good girls both, but heads in the clouds about romance, thinking it’s the key to happiness.”

The smile slowly faded, his eyes still in a glazed stare. “But for Peg, it was the key to destroying her life, her desire for love so overpowering that she”—his Adam’s apple hitched hard in his throat—“succumbed, bringing shame to herself and my family.” His mouth tamped tight, so imperceptibly that Jake might have imagined it. “And to her oldest son, who was born illegitimate until my brother-in-law finally married Peg when Blaze was almost a year.”

Jake gulped, not exactly sure what to say. “I’m sorry, sir—I had no idea.”

“I don’t wonder,” Finn said in a monotone, still lost in his thoughts. “Blaze was so ashamed when he found out—from kids calling him a bastard, no less—that he tried to bury it deep, not telling anyone. I’ll wager even Maggie doesn’t know.”

Finn’s gaze suddenly snapped back to Jake, the resolve in his eyes as hard as the steel in his tone. “I’m telling you this for a reason, son, because you’ve always been like a brother to Blaze and a son to me, and never one to judge.”

“No, sir.” Jake barely breathed, stock still as he stared wide-eyed at Finn.

“I’m telling you because I want you to understand just why Blaze and I, in particular, are so overprotective of Sheridan.” One edge of his lip kicked up. “Or maybe obsessive might be a better word, to the point of infringing upon her freedom, as she would say, and she’s right. At least when it comes to men.”

Finn gouged the bridge of his nose, lids closed. “But the truth is, she’s so much like my sister that I … I …”—he opened his eyes, and Jake was shocked to see a sorrowful sheen glazing their depths—“I’m afraid to see her in a relationship before she’s able to handle it. She’s … she’s”—his throat ducked once again as a seed of a smile broke through, his affection for his niece as potent as his need to protect—“so blasted passionate and trusting and beautiful that I … I just want to keep her safe, you know?”

“Yes, sir,” Jake whispered in a hoarse voice, understanding Finn’s and Blaze’s overly restrictive guardianship better than he ever had before.

A long, wavering sigh slipped from Finn’s lips before he pinned Jake with a pointed stare that burned as intensely as his voice. “But … the biggest reason I hover over that girl is a promise I made my sister before she died. On her deathbed, Peg made me swear that I’d watch Sheridan and Shaylee like a hawk, seeing to it they both got an education instead of marrying in their teens like her, and that’s a promise I intend to keep, even if it kills me.”

Jake swallowed hard. Or me.

Finn tunneled a hand through his hair at the back of his head. “Which will be no easy task, mind you, especially with Sheridan. Heaven knows she’s always been over the top when it comes to romance and marriage, obsessed with doll weddings from the age of four. My saving grace, of course, is that her second favorite game was playing teacher.”

His lips quirked in a fond smile as he wandered off again, clearly indicating his affection for his oldest niece. “I swear if that girl wasn’t marrying off her dolls”—his gaze flicked to Jake—“or you,” he said with a grin before veering off once more, “she was teaching them to read and write.” A chuckle slipped from his lips. “I suppose I should be grateful she wasn’t teaching them to cook or she might have burned the place down.”

Jake grinned along with him, remembering all the times Sher would pester Blaze and Dash to play wedding or school. His grin took a wry twist at the memory of the Donovan brothers ribbing him to no end when Jake was always chosen to be her groom or star student.

“Nope,” Finn resumed with a firm dip of his chin, “her mother wanted Sheridan to have the opportunity to get an education before settling down and so do I, which means I don’t want to smell even a whiff of romance around that girl for a long time to come. Because I have no doubt whatsoever that if Sheridan fell in love, I’d never be able to keep my promise to my sister because I wouldn’t put it past her to elope.”

A scowl suddenly tainted his lips. “I practically had to hogtie her at the age of sixteen to get her even thinking about college at all. Argued with me for months on end that she had no intention of doing anything but getting married, period.” He grunted. “Over my dead body.”

He’d hooked Jake’s shoulder then with a firm clasp of his arm. “She’s always liked and respected you, Jake, mooning over you from the get-go, so in a way, you have more influence than Blaze, Dash, or me. That’s why I’m relying on you, son, to help us keep her path clear till then.”

“Yes, sir,” Jake had said with a quick bob of his throat, forever grateful that the man who had saved his life could trust him with something as precious as family. “I give you my solemn word, sir, I’ll ward off any and all signs of romance till your niece comes home from college with a degree in her hand.”

“Thank you, Jake—that means the world to me and greatly puts my heart at ease.” He reached to shake Jake’s hand.

Yeah? Jake swallowed a gulp as he shook it. And mine in panic mode ...

“Outside of Blaze and Dash, there’s no one I trust more to be a big brother to Sher, so don’t let me down, you hear?”

“No, sir.”

“Oh, and just one more thing.” He’d glanced around the barn as if he expected Sheridan to jump out of the hay at any moment, the smile in his eyes dimming to dead serious. “You can never, ever let her know about our agreement till she graduates college because she’s already miffed that Blaze, Dash, and I guard her like a pack of coyotes over a nest of rabbits. She expects us to be vigilant, of course, but not so much you, son, which means she won’t be as careful around you. So, if she does try to go astray, more than likely, you’ll probably be the first to know.”

“Yes, sir.”