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Adam’s mind faded to that quiet, blank place he’d hoped he’d never need to visit again.
And he reached for his gun.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nora gasped and staggered back against the table. Adam had gotten to his feet with his gun in his hand before she’d even had time to blink. She’d never seen anyone pull their gun so quickly before.
When she’d left her house to go searching for her husband and her father, she had feared something like this would happen. Adam was a gunslinger, after all, retired or no. And her father…well, her father was nothing if not adept at making people angry enough to want to kill him. Still, actually seeing it play out was a nightmare she wasn’t prepared to deal with.
She couldn’t even start to unravel the complications that Adam being in possession of her deed created. With their marriage in legal limbo unless Adam could sign the license, which he couldn’t, her deed was now in limbo with him.
He couldn’t transfer ownership of the property to anyone without going through legal channels, which would put his life in even more danger. He couldn’t even just give it to her because one, that put her right back where she started—her father would just take ownership of it until she reached thirty. And two, too many people had seen Adam win. The story would probably be a town legend by the time the sun rose. And not all of those people were friends. She’d always be waiting for someone to take advantage of the legal ambiguity of the ownership records. So, everything she’d been through in the last month had been for naught.
And now, it looked as though she might lose her father as well. Again, at the hands of her…husband? Lover? She didn’t even know anymore. No matter her father’s faults, he was still the only parent she had left. She didn’t want to lose him.
She looked to her father, who still hadn’t seemed to realize that he was woefully out-weaponed. Her heart thudded in her chest.
“What are you doing?” Nora said, taking a step toward Adam.
Adam’s eyes flashed to hers for half a second before returning to her father, who was starting to look a little green around the gills. “I’m trying to keep your father from making a bigger mistake than he already has tonight.”
She frowned, not understanding his intentions. If he was going to just shoot her father, he probably would have done so already. Then again, he was still standing there holding a gun on him.
“Don’t hurt him,” she said, her voice coming out in a choked whisper.
“Don’t hurthim?” he said with a slight squeak that had her raising her brows. “I’m more worried about him hurting me.”
“You’re the one with the gun,” she pointed out, her brow furrowing with a frustrated frown.
“Well, sure, but he started it.”
“Are you serious?”
“Hey, I was just trying to help, not start a fight.”
Nora clenched her fists, trying to rein in the fury burning through her gut. “And how, exactly, does stealing our property help?”
Adam sighed deeply. “I didn’t ste—”
“Put the gun away, Brady,” a low, even voice said.
Adam’s gaze flicked to Preacher, who had moved to stand halfway between Adam and her father, though he made sure to stay out of the line of fire. “So this is your idea of staying out of trouble?”
“This was not my idea. Besides, I did say I couldn’t promise anything.”
Preacher snorted. “So you did.” He glanced at Adam’s hand. “You’re still holding your gun.”
“Sorry, Preacher, but I have no desire to be holey,” Adam said.
The preacher closed his eyes and shook his head, his mouth pinched together in what Nora was pretty sure was an attempt not to smile. They couldn’t be serious.
“Holy? What is that supposed to mean?” she said, throwing her hands up.
Adam glanced at her briefly but kept his attention on her father, who was wobbly on his feet but still had a death grip on his weapon.
Adam gestured to the knife with his gun. “That means your dear father seems intent on poking me full of holes and I’d really rather he not. You tell him to put that pig sticker away and I’d be happy to stow my gun. My hide is pretty useless, but it’s all I’ve got and I’m kind of particular about keeping it intact.”
She opened her mouth to argue again when the sheriff’s voice thundered from the door.
