Page 93 of Love’s Silver Bullet

A loud whoop broke her reverie, and quietly slipping her hand from beneath his, she looked up to where Gray was twirling Grace high in the air, their laughter all but echoing off the mountain walls.

“Looks like they won,” Jake said with a flat smile, the same regret she heard in his voice producing a dull ache deep in her heart.

“Yes, it definitely does.” She took his extended hand as he helped her up, forcing a bright smile that masked the sadness she suddenly felt.

And we lost …

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

“Thunderation, Sully, you have to!” Blaze stood there, hands perched low on his thighs and a dad-gum ridge in his brow that matched the plea in his tone.

“No, Blaze, I don’t,” Jake snapped, taking careful aim on the tin cans lined up at the ranch’s shooting range at Silver Lake, where Blaze and Dash had tricked him into an hour of target practice to ‘vent their frustration’ over Carmody’s threat to Sher. He picked off his six on the log farthest away with his usual precision, but Dash and Blaze’s strong-arming stole some of the satisfaction he always derived from blasting the cans to smithereens.

Just like he wished he could do to their blasted request.

“But you’re our only hope, Jake,” Blaze continued, following him around while he retrieved more ammunition from the wagon. “After Sher leaves tomorrow, she’s as good as gone from this family if she ups and marries that dandy, who’s nothing but a womanizer. Believe me, I can spot ‘em a mile away.”

“And Blaze knows what he’s talking about, too, because as we all know, he used to be one.” Grinning, Dash finished his turn at a row of cans closer in than Jake’s, nailing six out of six since he had fine-tuned his shooting skills in case they were needed as bartender at the Ponderosa Saloon. He moseyed back to reload, his grin veering toward dry with a near scowl. “Not to mention Grace told me how ‘thrilled’ she’d be if Sher married her brother because he, and I quote, ‘needs to settle down instead of flitting around with every woman he meets.’”

Jake glanced up from the wagon, hand frozen on his Colt 45 as he squinted at Dash. “She said that?”

“Yep.” Dash casually reloaded his Smith & Wesson, gaze never budging from Jake’s. “And that hopefully Sher would help tone down his gambling problem too.”

A rare curse defiled the bright sunny day as Jake slammed a fist to the wagon, his memory of their conversation at the cornhole tournament rearing its head.

“Do you … think you could ever fall in love with him?”

“I don’t know, Jake,” she’d whispered with a pained look in her eyes, “Since nobody knows the future.”

A low groan scraped past his lips as he gouged taut fingers through his hair. Sher would never fall for a clown like that. His heart skipped a beat.

Would she?

Swallowing the fear in his throat, he opted for the calm and steady approach. “I don’t like him either,” he said quietly, unwilling to toy with Sheridan’s feelings any more than he already had, “but Sher’s smarter than that, and I think she’ll do the right thing.” He nodded toward the targets. “You’re up, Donovan.”

Blaze gripped Jake’s arm, obviously not interested in target practice.

Jake stifled a grunt. Unless the target is me.

“The right thing?” The whites of Blaze’s eyes expanded, as if he were about to blow. “Then, tell me, Sully—did she do the right thing by sneaking off and kissing on Morgan?”

Jake’s eyelids slammed closed, battling the jealousy that Blaze had just stoked all over again. His voice was as tight as his fists, the fight in him rearing its ugly head once again over thoughts of Morgan’s lips on Sher’s. But he’d vowed to never go there again, to where the hate and bitterness took control, so he forced his fists to relax, flexing his fingers. “She swore to Finn that they were just friends.”

“And you believe that?” Blaze ripped his hat off and hurled it onto the wagon. “That snake belly told Finn he plans to marry her, for crying out loud!”

Jake stared at the gun in his hand, suddenly seeing Carmody’s face in the sight as the dandy’s words circled in his brain like a threat.

“I’m the man who plans to marry your niece.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he’d never fallen in love with a sweet, four-year-old little girl. He tried to swallow, but his throat was too thick with emotion. “Even so, she has a right to marry whomever she wants.”

Blaze jerked Jake’s arm, whirling him around. “And that’s you, Sully, whether you like it or not, which means you are—once again—the one who can keep our sister safe.”

His Adam’s apple ducked hard in his throat as the memory of their last few kisses scalded the back of his neck. His voice was barely a croak. “I wouldn’t bet on it.

Dash hooked an arm over Jake’s shoulder, his voice a whole lot calmer than his brother’s. “Come on, Sul—you love her—you told us so. Would it be so hard to sacrifice what you want to keep her safe?”

“Yes!” He slung Dash’s arm off his shoulder, eyes on fire as he glared him down. “Because I do love her, confound it, which is why I don’t want to lead her on, Dash, breaking her heart in the end. You both know I don’t want to get married, so doing what you’re asking me to do would just hurt her.”