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“You,” she said flatly, “are a lunatic.”
“Holy hell,” Caleb growled, “Jake. Man, you’ve got this all wrong.”
Jake ignored him.
“Has it ever failed you before, or is this a first?”
Addison stared at him. The ridged scars below the black eye patch were red and angry-looking.
She felt a twinge of compassion.
His visible wounds were brutal. Maybe they went even deeper. Was his behavior yet another indication of what he’d gone through?
He’d sacrificed for his country. For people like her. If he’d come away from the war with some idiosyncrasy, some behavioral tic—
“Don’t,” he said sharply.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t look at me as if I were a dog lying by the side of the road.” His hand tightened on her wrist; he gave a little twist that brought her to her toes and she gave a soft, inadvertent gasp. “I don’t need your pity any more than I needed your come-on.”
So much for compassion.
“Come-on? You think I—” Addison glared at his brothers over Jake Wilde’s shoulder. “Get your lunatic brother away from me,” she said through her teeth, “and do it fast!”
“
Jacob,” Travis said, “let’s go outside, okay? Get some fresh air—”
“Jake,” Caleb said, “man, let go of the lady.”
The certifiably insane Wilde brother didn’t respond. Then, after what seemed an eternity, he dropped his hand from hers.
She wanted to look and see if his fingers had left marks, but she’d sooner have let her hand fall off than give him the satisfaction.
“I want to be sure you get the message, Ms. McDowell,” he said. “You can pull out all the stops. I still won’t assess the Chambers ranch.”
“It’s not the Chambers ranch. It’s mine. And I’d sooner see the place dry up and blow away before I’d let you step on it.”
He flashed a cold smile.
“It’s yours because you managed to con a sick old man into buying it for you.”
“You,” Addison said, “are a horrible man.”
“Why? Because I’m not an easy mark the way he was?”
Travis and Caleb groaned. Addison’s gaze flew to them again and seared them with fire.
“My, oh, my,” she said with a deadly calm, “you boys had quite an interesting chat.”
“Addison,” Travis said, “if you’re suggesting—”
“What I’m ‘suggesting,’” she snapped, “is that I’d sooner take advice from Elsie the cow than from this—this all-ego, no-brains brother of yours.”
“Listen, lady—”
“No,” Addison said, “you listen!” She took a quick step forward, lifted her chin, slapped her hands on her hips and glared. “Your brothers spent hours trying to sell you to me. You were a genius. You were brilliant. You—you were in communion with the soil and the grass and the horses—”
