Page 91 of Love’s Silver Bullet

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

“So, Carmody, how are you at cornhole?” Blaze said casually as dessert was finishing up on the back porch, his curt use of Gray’s last name a key indicator that Grace’s brother hadn’t made any inroads with the male element at Silver Lining Ranch.

Jake stifled a smile, well aware Blaze was desperate to take the dandy down, and there was nobody better at cornhole than his best friend. Finn and Sheridan were the champs when it came to horseshoes, no question, but cornhole was Blaze’s game through and through along with pool, which is why he suggested a cornhole tournament after dinner.

Gray glanced up from teasing with Sheridan—as usual—and flashed a cocky smile. “Pretty good, actually, Donovan,” he boasted, and it was all Jake could do to keep the spit in his mouth instead of spewing it on the floor like he wanted. The idiot had the nerve to wink. “Alpha Delta Phi champ, as a matter of fact.”

Oh, of course you are. Jake kept the spit in his mouth with great effort, eyes narrowing as he stared the dandy down. Since Carmody had disrupted everyone’s peace of mind with his arrival four days ago, the prissy college boy had managed to rile the male folk, if possible, even more than the night he’d announced he wanted to marry Sher.

Because not only had he managed to charm the socks off all of the women, but he was pert near perfect in just about anything he set his hand to, which flat-out got on Jake’s nerves. From cards and horseshoes, to riding and charades, the polecat appeared to have as much brains as brawn, making Jake itch to see how the varmint would measure up with a gun in his hand.

“Good,” Blaze said with an abrupt push away from the table, “because I’m the Silver Lining Ranch champ, so I’m anxious to see what you got.”

“My pleasure,” Gray said with a gleam of challenge in his eyes, hooking an arm over Sheridan’s shoulder, “as long as I can have Sheridan as a partner.”

Blaze’s gaze flicked from Gray to Jake and back. “Actually, Jake already planned to ask Sher to be on his team, didn’t you old buddy?”

“Sure did.” Jake rose too, not missing Finn’s pointed look as he pushed in his chair. The same look Finn had given him the night the dandy had arrived, when he’d called Blaze, Dash, and him into his office after everyone else had gone upstairs.

“Carmody’s trouble, boys,” Finn had said as soon as Jake had shut the door, the hard angle of his jaw a sure sign he was as unhappy with this new development as Jake was. “And we need to fix it—fast.”

“And how exactly do you propose we do that, Uncle Finn?” Dash said as he perched on the corner of his uncle’s massive burlwood desk. His thin smile slid to the left. “Besides a gunfight with Jake?”

A harsh laugh tripped from Finn’s mouth as he cuffed the back of his neck. “Don’t think I didn’t consider it, boys, but I’m a mite worried how the womenfolk might take it.” Expelling a weighty sigh, he sank back with a swoosh of leather and a clasp of hands, elbows taut on the arms of his chair. “I’ve done everything I can to protect that girl—from asking a professor friend of Libby’s to keep an eye on her at school, to asking Aunt Marie to keep me informed of any young men who came to call.” He grunted. “Although God knows that woman is in league with Libby when it comes to allowing Sheridan her freedom, so it’s no wonder she didn’t mention Grace’s brother.”

Looking like he’d aged years in only a day, Finn kneaded his temple with his eyes closed. “And Sheridan swore to me last night right here in this office that Gray and she are nothing more than friends, so that should be some reassurance I suppose.”

Friends. Jake gulped as memories of pushing Sheridan to the wall of the barn to kiss the daylights out of her came back to haunt. His mouth compressed. Unfortunately, not as reassuring as one might hope.

“But Carmody is just so blasted smug and defiant,” Finn continued, “that I just can’t help but worry because Sheridan has absolutely no experience with men whatsoever …”

Jake averted his gaze as his facial muscles tightened. Except with me and that Morgan character …

“So, I can see him worming his way into her heart,” Finn said, “which we simply can’t risk with another year of her school to go, agreed?”

“Agreed,” they all echoed in response.

“So, what do you propose, Uncle Finn?” Blaze sat forward, hands loosely clasped between his knees.

Finn blasted out a noisy sigh. “Well, as much as I hate to resort to this, I think the severity of this situation warrants it, so if Jake will agree—”

Jake’s head shot up, mouth gaping as wide as his eyes. “Sir?”

Sympathy carved extra lines in Finn’s weathered face along with fatigue. “It’s no secret that Sheridan’s always had a fondness for you, Jake, and I know you two have become real good friends over this summer especially, so I was thinking …”

He met Jake’s gaze head-on, a rare petition deepening the light brown of Finn’s eyes, the father figure who had restored much of Jake’s hope and peace from a painful past. “That maybe you could, you know”— face scrunched in an awkward manner, he bobbed his head lightly back and forth as if trying to come up with the right words—“pay a little more attention to her.”

Jake blinked, fighting the drop of his jaw. “You want me to … flirt with Sheridan?”

Blaze’s chuckle merged with Dash’s as the two of them grinned at Jake. “Well, I know you’re no ladies’ man, Sullivan,” Blaze said with a smirk, “but Sher has always hankered after you, so a little flirting on your part might be just what she needs to tether her to home.” He winked. “You know, like you always did when she was small? Flirting your fool head off and all those kisses during her dad-gum weddings Dash and I were forced to attend?”

Jake seared Blaze with a glare that only made him and Dash laugh.

Finn held up a palm. “Now, let’s not get carried away here, boys,” he said with a chuckle that carried a sliver of threat, “paying a little more attention will do just fine, Jake.”

Jake’s lips compressed, pinching back a grunt. Wanna bet?

“So, what do you say, son—are you willing to help us out here?”