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Chapter Thirty-Five
She had the voice of an angel. She was an angel.
Watching Emily perform a duet with her brother was like seeing a butterfly flying free from its cocoon. Nash swallowed hard as she transformed before his eyes. She’d shed the skin of her fear and had finally become comfortable with who she was.
It seemed that both Emily and Nash were learning to be who they were always meant to be.
She was stunning. Untouchable. What would it have been like to spend his life with her? He wanted to hold her, kiss her, comfort her. That was forever denied him.
The danger was far from over. The soft night caught them in a soothing sigh of soft breezes blessing them with refreshing coolness. Unfortunately he knew what those shadows held. He’d thrown everything away to do the right thing… with flair. And he would be hunted down.
Nash had worn sunglasses and a ball cap pulled low over his forehead. At this point, he’d be just as notorious as Emily, and he couldn’t have someone discover him and take away from what he had to do. This was going to be a big night, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be ruined by the end of it.
He’d left a message on Lynch’s desk this morning with the true appraisal of the ranch. Of course, Millie had rejected Trout’s bid when she realized the true worth of her land, but Nash had dropped off Millie’s counteroffer on Lynch’s desk too, plus a little parting gift.
Old habits were hard to break.
“Nash!”
He cringed and swung around, gaping at his twin. Porter rushed at him, wearing a straw cowboy hat. He looked like he’d come straight from the ranch, a dirtier, filthier version than himself. The both of them were even wearing white tee shirts—Porter’s was stained with grass stains. Dressing to match was something that never would’ve happened if they’d left home together, but that wasn’t the point. Nash just realized that there was a flaw to his plans.
Lynch’s men would be looking for him, and Porter had his face. His stomach sank.
“What are you doing here?” Porter asked. He was out of breath, like he’d been running.
Nash hadn’t wanted to get him involved in all this, but what had he expected at the biggest event of the month? Of course his brother would show up. He grabbed Porter’s arm and tugged him back behind some vendor tents. “Hey, you got some sunglasses?” Nash asked.
“What?”
How to explain without having his twin ruin everything? Fortunately, Porter seemed to be pretty engrossed in his own concerns. Probably a girl. Wait, there wasone. What was her name? She’d kept their mom and Emily’s plants alive. He wracked his brain and finally recalled it. “How’s Angel?”
“Angel?” Porter must really be out of it because Nash had lost him for a second. “Oh, yeah.” He nodded. “I’m looking for her now.”
Nash steadied himself, trying to figure out how to go about this. As soon as Porter found her, Nash would have a problem with crowd control. He couldn’t keep Porter and his new girlfriend safe. “She’s here, huh?”
“Yeah.” Porter hadn’t stopped looking over the heads of the milling crowd. Thanks to their Slade genetics, the twins were taller than most of the people here, though it was a liability when Nash was trying to keep a low profile.
“What does she look like?” Nash asked.
“Beautiful.”
Nash rolled his eyes.
“As soon as I find her, I’ll introduce you,” Porter said, and then he grunted and rummaged through his jeans to retrieve his vibrating phone. He opened his texts. “That’s her. I’ve got to go.”
“Wait,” Nash tried to stop his twin.
Porter hesitated.
“Take my shades.” Any of Lynch’s men could jump Porter if he just wandered around freely like that.
“What? Why?”
“Because you look like me and I don’t know if you noticed, but I’ve been going viral lately with a certain little lady, and you’re at her concert.”
“I already figured that out, buddy.” Porter broke into a dark laugh. “And yeah, your fans are relentless.”
“So, this’ll help.”
