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“You’re happy?”
“More than happy, Parker. You have no idea how happy I am. For the longest time, I pretended that I didn’t care about you all. Well, I cared, but I tried to pretend that I wasn’t affected by you. I was. All of the other women would fall at your feet, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be different.”
“You are different, princess. Never forget that.”
“I can’t help but smile when you call me princess.”
“It’s what you are to us. You’re our princess.” He pulled her closer, claiming her lips.
Yes, this was exactly where she needed to be, and no one was going to take that from her.
****
“You told her what?” Casey asked, pacing the barn. The horses didn’t like it when Casey paced, and Parker raised a brow at his brother. Shawn reached out, patting the horse closes to him, offering the mare comfort.
“What’s wrong with him telling her our plans? That room is getting dusty, and everything is going great.”
“Because I thought we’d agreed that we’d unveil the room when she agreed to marry us.” Casey glared at his brothers.
Parker burst out laughing. “If we leave it to you, we’ll still be in this position when everyone is fifty years old, and you know, you’ll be sixty. Poppy’s not made of glass. You won’t break her. Why don’t you have some trust in her? She wants all of us. She’s in love with all of us, and nothing is going to change.”
“Okay, let’s move past this. Casey won’t change his mind until he sees for himself,” Shawn said. “Sarah tortured a cat?”
Parker had told them all what Ben had told him. “He said she was cruel. Think about it, it makes sense. She could be the person who is attacking our ranch.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit much for one woman?” Casey asked.
“Not really. She kills the cow first, and it falls over. She can easily have an hour or two before anyone goes by that area,” Parker said. “I figured you could talk to Sheriff Dawes about it.”
“What about the chickens?” Casey asked.
“It wouldn’t exactly have been hard to do what she did. We assume that it’s a man, but what if it’s not? It could be a woman.”
“Sarah did try to come on to me at the fair,” Shawn said.
“And she did to me when I went to the feed store. This was before the fence was first broken,” Casey said.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Shawn asked.
“She’s not the first woman to want to sleep with me. I turned her down flat. So we think she’s the problem?” Casey asked looking toward Parker. “The sheriff said that no one had a prior conviction of animal cruelty.”
“Ben stopped her and never told anyone. What if she was never caught?” Parker asked. “Wow, no wonder Ben had such an attitude growing up if he’d seen some awful shit like that.”
“I wouldn’t pretend for a second it makes him a decent human being. It just doesn’t make him cruel. He’s still a bully,” Parker said.
“I’ll go and talk to Sheriff Dawes,” Casey said. “You go and see if Poppy’s okay.” He pointed at Shawn.
“I’ll go and assist on the ranch. You know, do my job.” Parker shook his head, knowing that until Casey saw Poppy with his own eyes, he wasn’t going to be happy.
“He’s very protective of her,” Shawn said. “I don’t mind. Gives me an excuse to spend an hour with our girl.”
“I wouldn’t rush her. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do, Parker. I’m guessing she brought it up?”
Parker nodded. “She did, and I wasn’t going to not tell her the truth.”
“Casey worries all the time. I swear at times he’s a stick in the mud.” Shawn shrugged. “I’ll be out to help as soon as I check on Poppy.”
Parker watched his brother go. Turning back to his horse, he stroked down her back. “Are you ready for a run?”
It was time to get to work.
****
Casey was pissed off. The sheriff thought he was crazy with his accusations of Sarah. Not only did he think they were total lies but using Ben as an excuse was even more so. It had been an uneventful morning, and by the time he got back to the ranch, he was in an awful mood.
Slamming the truck door closed, he turned and saw Poppy waiting. Her hands were on her hips, and she looked ready to fight.
“What have I done now?”
“How dare you get Shawn to make sure I’m okay!”
He sighed. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“So now you think I’m dumb, stupid, and don’t know what I want?” Her arms were on her hips, and she was glaring at him.
Shawn was weeding out the vegetable patch, and Parker was rubbing down Stitch. Not a soul was in sight. Casey didn’t like confrontation, and often avoided it. Poppy looked ready to kill him.
