Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance by Lee Moore, Angela Kelly Page B

chilly morning. For a few minutes, all we could hear was the hooves of the horses.
    “What did you and Jackson talk about?” She broke the silence.
    “Not much. Guns.”
    “Oh? I thought I heard a little more.”
    “Sandy’s been talking to him, after they left the party.”
    “About what?”
    “You’re about a nosey little girl, aren’t you?” It came out a little harsher than I had intended.
    “Yes, especially when I think it was about me.”
    “It was, a little.”
    “Oh?”
    “Apparently, Sandy saw you making eyes at me and wanted to make sure that I was on guard, to preserve my virtue.” The last word coming out falsetto. Two could play this game of picking on the other.
    “She what? Your virtue?” Ali breathed an exasperated sigh; she actually sounded a little pissed.
    I laughed and made Lightning bolt ahead. I didn’t stay in front of Ali and Blue for long and dropped her speed to a fast walk. I was still smiling when they pulled in beside me, Ali’s face looking furious.
    “She didn’t.”
    “Nope.”
    “Good, because I’d have to-”
    “I was just kidding.”
    “Hey, we’re coming up on the fence now.”
    “Shit, I forgot fence pliers. I don’t even have a Leatherman on me if we find any breaks or cuts.”
    “Already have them. Some cowboy you are turning out to be.”
    “I’m not a cowboy.”
    “You’re looking like one. Denim, flannel, a nice hat and…” Her gaze went up and down, and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. “Boots. Nice, are those from yesterday?”
    “Yeah, it was either my combat boots or these.”
    “Black goes with everything.”
    Uh huh, my boots. The truth is, we left a lot unsaid there. The attraction seemed mutual, and last night I tried to head things off. I tried to voice the guilt I felt when we talked about that kiss. Looking at her hair coming out of the back of her hat, the wind blowing it around, I had a hard time finding that guilt. I knew if I let myself dwell on it, it’d be there. That’s why I couldn’t think about it.
    “Already?” I asked as I saw a crazy coiled roll of barbed wire. “I forgot to ask, do I need to hobble Lightning, or will he stay close?”
    “She’ll stay close to Blue, and he’ll stay close to me.”
    “Good enough.”
    I slid off the horse warily, not wanting a bruise on the other butt cheek, and then pulled some heavy gloves on that Ali had put in her pack. She dropped Blue’s reins by Lightning and followed me with the pliers in her hand. I found one end of the wire, still attached to the post and frowned. The shiny gleam of metal showed through a cut in the rusty wire. The outer surface had corroded, but the flat pinched metal with the shiny core showing could only be from a cut. I walked to the other end, praying the wire had some stretch in it.
    I worked the wire from the farthest post it was still tacked to, and unwound the kinks and random snarls when the wire snapped back. Finally, I had a section that I could pull within a few inches of the cut side without straining. It appeared that there was enough slack, so I used the pliers to pull it tight, my arms straining. My gloved fingers of my right hand started twisting the heavy wire back together. I wasn’t going to do this by hand and expect it to hold forever, just tight enough to hold until I could get a new grip with the pliers.
    “You big dummy, I have two pairs, you know.”
    “Oh, Thanks. I got it,” my cheeks burned. Two pairs would make life easier, but I was committed for now.
    I slowly eased the tension off of the pliers and let go when it was obvious it wasn’t going to come loose right away. I grabbed both ends of the wire I’d twisted together with the pliers and gave them some more twists, then tucked that parallel with the wire finishing the quick patch. I handed them back to Ali and we mounted up again. The sun was just peeking over the mountains now, and soon, it would be full daylight.
    “Good thing the posts are