Rocky Mountain Desire: Six Pack Ranch, Book 3 by Vivian Arend Page A

day. A pile of questionable supplies she needed to deal with, a car she needed to arrange repairs for.
    But…more happiness coming her way in the future? Maybe it was time to work harder for the things she could have.
    Time to put aside the things she couldn’t have.
    Things like Matt.
     
     
    Matt flew around the corner and pulled up sharp to avoid crashing into his sister-in-law.
    “Damn it, Jaxi. What the hell are you doing?”
    The tall blonde gave him a dirty look. “What? I’m not allowed in the barns anymore?”
    He snorted. “As if I’d try to boss you around like that. No, I meant right now. It’s damn cold outside.”
    “Oh, you noticed?”
    Her sarcasm was so blatant warning bells went off. Jaxi had been a part of the Coleman family officially for just over a year, but she’d been around forever. He grinned and mock bowed. “Did I screw up? Because life is much more manageable if you simply tell me what I’ve done wrong.”
    Jaxi grinned. “Sorry, although, you’re right, if everyone would do what I want all the time, the world would be far more fabulous.”
    She skipped past him and grabbed a rake. Figured. She couldn’t just talk. Had to work at the same time. Matt followed her example and headed into the next stall with his own rake.
    “Heard you had a little run-in with Hope the other day.”
    Gossip around small towns never slowed down. “Rescued her, more like it. The woman shouldn’t be allowed on the road with that death trap of a vehicle. Herbie should be crushed and buried.”
    Jaxi’s snort of amusement carried over the top of the stall. “Herbie?”
    “Her car.”
    “Is it even running anymore?”
    “Doubt it. I got the shop to haul it out of the ditch for her, but I haven’t heard anything after that.”
    A solid thump hit the wall between them. Matt paused then peeked cautiously around the corner. “Jaxi? You having problems controlling that rake?”
    She slammed the head to the ground hard enough for puffs of dust to rise up. Then she leaned forward and glared at him. “The rake ain’t hitting anything I don’t intend it to.”
    Not an auspicious announcement. Not with her glaring as if he’d just tracked mud through her entire house. “You’re pissed at me, that’s clear, but hell if I know what I’ve done.”
    “Okay. So, you rescue a woman from a storm, then get her car hauled home.”
    Matt waited. She wasn’t making this easy. “And…yeah. That’s about it.”
    “Shit, Matt. What is wrong with you?”
    “Not sure, obviously. I’ll wait for you to tell me.”
    Her face lit with laughter for a second before she must have remembered she was upset with him and planted her hands on her hips.
    “No, you tell me. If I’d gone off the road, is that all you’d have done? Hauled my ass home then got my car dragged to the shop the next day? Bull. You would have at least called later to find out if I was okay. Heck, you probably would have gotten the car out for me yourself, maybe helped gather some of the stuff that might have gotten ruined from being dumped in the snow.”
    Hope’s stuff. He’d forgotten about that. He’d been working so hard at forgetting all the other things about her, like how soft her skin felt against him, that he’d forced her out of his thoughts every time she’d popped up.
    Which was disturbingly often.
    Guilt hit for a moment before he jerked to a stop. “Wait—but that’s you. You’re family.”
    “Matt Coleman, you’re not actually going to tell me your mama would be happy to know that you left someone like Hope to fend for herself, power still off when you left her apartment—”
    “Whoa, right there. How the hell you know all this? Did Hope complain to you?”
    “Course not. That girl complain? She’s got bigger balls than any of you Coleman boys, and she’d never think of bitching about losing money or being ignored by someone who said they were going to be her friend.”
    “Okay, now I know you talked to