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"Boone, I've told you that you're not allowed to lasso people. It's a bad example for the kids." Midge steps forward and touches the rope Boone's holding.
Deacon and Lissy are as speechless as Alex and me. Only Midge has moved. But watching her talk to Boone wakes up the rest of us and we spring into action.
"Nicco," I say. "Sorry about that. This is my sister Boone and she gets a little agitated by unexpected visitors.
"Agitated?" he says, and I can see he's struggling to control his tone and temper. He could, if he wanted to, give a mighty tug on the rope and take Boone down to her knees, but he's chosen not to. I appreciate that he hasn't and I'm curious too.
"I'm not crazy and I'm not agitated. I'm providing the security this place needs."
"Boone," I say, stepping toward her carefully, like she's a wild colt. "This is Nicco, he's a friend of Alex. Alex," I gesture toward her and she comes to stand next to me, "is... someone special to me. I brought her home to meet you and Nicco was following us, but obviously got side tracked. You need to let him go."
“Nicco?” she says. “What kind of name is that? Aren’t those candies or something?”
Nicco gives her a caustic look. “Those are Necco wafers and mocking someone’s name is pretty rich coming from a woman named after a guy who wears coonskin caps.”
Boone glares at him with such ferocity, it’s a wonder there aren’t flames shooting from her eyes. She slaps the rope into Midge’s hands and stomps away.
Though she doesn’t go too far. And her eyes never leave Nicco.
CHAPTER14
ALEX
Wow. Caleb had said his sister was a bit of a loose cannon. He wasn't exaggerating.
I rush over to Nicco. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Everyone is staring at us. I can't blame him. We're strangers in their house and one of us got lassoed.
"I thought someone was following me so I took a couple of side roads and doubled back. Then I decided to park in a secluded spot and walk up to the house." He glances over at Boone. "That's when Annie Oakley here got all riled up."
"Annie Oakely was a trick shot. Be glad I didn't have a gun with me," Boone says with a glare, though I notice the corners of her mouth are straining against smiling.
Interesting. Very interesting.
It might take a girl who can use a lasso to keep Nicco under control.
"Anyway, I'm sorry for all the fuss. But, I do think that someone was following me."
Boone looks from Nicco to Alex to me. "What's going on here?"
"Are you a fugitive?" James asks, tilting his head back to look up at Nicco.
"I think you two need to go and wash up for dinner," the woman next to Deacon says. She must be Lissy, his wife. This is a massive amount of information to take in at once.
"Aw, why do we always have to leave when stuff happens?" Willow complains but she turns and leaves the room followed by James.
"Maybe we ought to go into the billiard room," Caleb says. "Deacon, could you get Adam and Kit too? Might as well only tell this story once."
"And," he says, taking me by the hand, "can you give the two of us a couple minutes alone first?"
We return to the billiard room which, as the name suggests, contains a large pool table as well as a bar and a couple wooden tables. Very manly but cozy too.
Caleb shuts the door and turns to me. "I know I don't have the right to tell you what to do or who to tell about your business, but I think that it might be best to share your story with my family. Otherwise, they'll just have a lot of suspicions and questions and Nicco will look like a lunatic."
"He sort of is a lunatic," she says with a soft laugh. "Do you think someone was following him?"
I shrug. "Who knows? But do we want to take that chance?"
