Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) by Becky McGraw

were starting over now.
    He was just going to have to keep thinking
about it, and come up with another solution.
    Dean dropped the reins, and reached to
unbuckle the cinch under Blaze’s belly. He heard someone come into
the barn behind him and glanced up. His brother stopped in front of
him with fire in his eyes and his fists balled at his sides. The
look on his face said he was ready for a fight. Well Dean was ready
too. A good fight with Cord would probably go a long way to making
some of the anger and frustration inside him go away.
    “ What the fuck did you say to
Hope?” Cord demanded, giving him a push when Dean stood to face
him. “And why the hell weren’t you here to go to the auction with
us?”
    “ I needed a break,” Dean said
defensively. He shoved Cord with his shoulder as he bent to jerk up
the reins.
    “ Break ?!?” Cord yelled
crowding him.
    “ Yeah, you know all about taking
breaks, don’t you? Your three-year break almost broke this ranch
and your family. I think I deserve a small one for keeping this
shit together for so long by myself, don’t you?” Dean knew that
would get Cord going. He pushed past him to lead Blaze to the
cross-ties where he removed his bridle to slip on a
halter.
    “ I’m sick and damned tired of you
throwing that in my face.” Cord said crowding even closer to
him.
    Too close. If Cord knew what was good for him,
he would back off. Dean pushed him away and spat, “And I’m sick and
tired of carrying the load around here. You haven’t pulled your
weight around here in a long time. Going to the fucking auction is
the least you could do.”
    “ Your pity party is getting old,
Dean. I’m back now, and I’m working as hard, harder, than
you are. It’s time you quit taking out your frustrations on the
people who love you, or pretty soon there won’t be anyone left. I’m
beginning to wonder why I do.”
    “ Well you might want to work a
little harder. Your wife told me earlier she wants her money
back right now, and I have no idea where it’s gonna come from,”
Dean said nastily.
    “ Hope wouldn’t say that. She
doesn’t even want the money back. I had to force her to take my
check from the calendar payment.”
    “ Well she wants it from me, and I
don’t have it,” Dean informed. His brother needed to feel some of
the stress he was feeling, so he added, “I guess we’ll just have to
get another mortgage on the ranch to pay her off.” Dean leaned back
under Blaze’s belly to loosen the cinch on the saddle. Dean thought
he might up the pucker factor for his brother a little. He was
enjoying himself. “I’ll probably need you to co-sign. I don’t want
to be the only one putting my balls on the chopping block this
time.”
    Cord huffed out a breath, then said, “Hope is
at the bunkhouse locked in the bedroom, and I think she’s crying.
What the hell did you say to her?”
    “ I just told her I wasn’t doing
that damned photo shoot for that woman Tina. I’m not a model, I’m a
rancher. You got the looks in the family. I have a ranch to run.
You do the damned photo shoot.”
    “ Tina wants you to represent Texas
Tomcat?” Cord asked with a laugh.
    “ You think that’s funny?” Dean
replied, a little insulted as he pinned Cord with a
glare.
    “ Hell yeah I do. Why would Tina
want a grumpy old bastard like you to be her guy? What
happened to the two guys she shot with on Saturday?”
    Old. His brother was thirty, and Dean was
thirty-four. Considering the ages of those men Tina had at that
photo shoot with her on Saturday, Dean guessed he was old. Those
guys didn’t have to worry about shaving their bodies. They probably
weren’t old enough to grow hair. With all that Cindy had put him
through, it was a wonder Dean didn’t have a headful of gray hair
and look ninety-five. That’s how he felt sometimes. But Tina
Montgomery had asked him to model for her, so he must not look that
bad. As bad as his brother seemed to think he did.
    “ Hope