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A tremor ran through her, confusing her so much that she almost forgot what she was doing. Her fingers pressed against the trigger. No, no! She stopped herself just in time. If she hit the tree point blank, Cole would take all the credit.
She let the gun drift to the side and shot, safely missing the target by… a lot.
“It’s like you’re doing it on purpose,” Cole muttered. And then after a moment, he tilted his head at her.
Oh, the jig was definitely up. He suspected what she was doing, no doubt about it. But who cared? West still had no idea.
Yet…
She snickered. “One more round.” This time, they’d set up the targets that they’d brought along. The signs were completely obliterated, due to this strange sibling rivalry happening right now.
She had no idea what the brothers were fighting about, but one thing was certain. There was no way that Cole was going to take her up on her offer of helping anymore.
Chapter Fourteen
Eva was pretending to be a bad shot, but the question was by how much?
She should knock it off. West never cared about a damsel in distress—in fact, he was the type to put them all in that distress in the first place.
Cole usually had front row seats to all of West’s devilish schemes.
“Okay, I guess we’re out of things to vandalize,” Eva said with a laughing look at West. “How about we use the targets that we brought.” She rushed on ahead, placing brightly colored bottles in the branches of the trees.
West stepped back, fixing Cole with a grim expression as soon as she was out of earshot. “Look, I already told you. I can’t leave her alone.”
Cole had known he’d get the third degree when West finally caught up to him. “And I already told you…”
“Trout has some dangerous enemies,” West cut through his arguments. Cole stiffened when he realized what West was saying. “I’m not even talking about the enemies that he’s made running for office,” West said. “Lacy Lynch is out on bail, and there’s word that he’s got it out for us after what we did to him.”
Cole groaned. Was this the root of all of West’s dark hints earlier about not being able to leave her alone? “You never should’ve messed with Lynch.”
“And what would’ve happened if we hadn’t? Huh?” West was running low on patience. “They would’ve destroyed our family; they would’ve taken our land, all that we had. We owe Eva everything.”
By destroying her life with a loveless marriage?Cole didn’t buy that West was being altruistic in the least. He was only out to help himself. “You expect me to keep Lacy Lynch away from her? Doesn’t he have hired guns and enough money to put a bounty on anyone who bothers him?”
His brother rolled his eyes. “Nothing’s going to happen. He’s laying low. It just that… her daddy’s worried, okay? I don’t want to say anything to ruin her vacation, but… I need you.” West’s frown tightened into a smile as Eva closed in on them. “Yeah, why don’t you take her to the abandoned mine,” he said in a louder voice.
The town had made the mine the local make-out spot. The idiot.
But of course, West was banking on the fact that his fiancée didn’t know that. “She’d love the old miner cart stuck in the marsh.”
“If I do this,” Cole hissed, “then it’s just for today. Find yourself another way to keep an eye on her tomorrow.”
“Done,” West said.
“I’ve got the targets set up.” Eva came back with an excited skip. She was more than ready to pretend to fail again.
West wrapped his arms around her and brought her close. “Honey, I’m leaving you in Cole’s capable hands. He’d love your help on the range.”
So, all West had been waiting for was Cole to agree to the deal and then he was back to running again? Cole’s stomach twisted as Eva’s face fell. West must’ve noticed too, because he tried to kiss it all better. “Baby, I don’t know about you, but I’m so excited to dig into that pumpkin tonight.”
“West,” she stepped back, looking flustered. “You’re not staying for the next round of shooting?” Eva had that funny southern accent that came out when she was in the throes of deep emotion. “How am I supposed to show you up?”
Cole was quite certain that she could already.
“You’re lethal as it is,” West assured her. “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to teach you how to shoot.”
“Hmm.” She squeezed him closer. “I’ll force you to make this up to me tonight. You know that, right?”
