He just stood there, his fists on his hips like he was a warlord bothered to have to drop to earth.
Among the drunks, Joey found his nerve first. “You better back down, Brand, unless you got a gun. There’s five of us. We’re just here to party with the lady. If she cooperates there ain’t going to be no trouble.”
Brand set his hat on the truck. “I don’t need a gun. Which one of you men wants to go first?”
The bald guy laughed. “How about we all go at once? We’ll beat you so far into the ground, folks will use you as a hitching post.”
“Yeah,” another yelled. “This ain’t none of your damn business.”
Brand didn’t move as they all started toward him.
Marcie watched from the tiny window. With the truck’s lights she saw the first two men rushing Brand. A heartbeat later their bodies were flying in two directions.
One drunk hit the trailer so hard he probably did damage. Another hollered something about his mother as he sailed through the night air. When he wrapped around a pine, he melted silently to the ground, breaking branches all the way down. Brand was out of the light’s beam, but every man that went after him came out crying in pain.
When Joey lowered his head and rushed into the fight like a bull, he boomeranged out faster than he went in. On his second try, he rolled out like a soccer ball and hit the concrete steps of her home.
The last man standing, the bald guy too old to still be running with the others, had enough sense to raise his hands and back away. He bumped into Joey and they both tumbled over her trash cans. The tall man picked up a lid and started beating Joey on the head for tripping him. Then both men fell over the concrete steps again.
Marcie couldn’t tell if they were helping each other up or fighting.
Brand finally stepped in front of his truck’s headlights and asked almost politely, “Anyone else want to continue this conversation?”
Joey’s voice was high when he yelled for everyone to stop. “I think my arm’s broke, damn it. It hurts like hell. One of you drunks has got to drive me over to Honey Creek to the clinic.”
“It’s closed until six in the morning.” The man in the dirt cussed between every word. He seemed in no hurry to get up. “To hell with your arm, I’m spitting teeth.”
Joey cussed the world for a while, then seemed to give up. “Just take me there. I’ll sit on the porch and cry until it opens. I got to see a doc before my arm falls off.”
Marcie watched as Brand moved to her door and the men slowly crawled away. No one tried to help Joey. The gang had become every man for himself. They all complained. One limped. One held his gut, another his head. The one who hit the side of the trailer had to be kicked awake.
As soon as they were gone, she ran out to Brand, then stopped a foot away from him. This cowboy had just proved he could be violent. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get closer.
“Thank you,” was all she could manage. “I . . . I . . .”
“You’re welcome,” he said as calmly as if he’d just pulled out her chair.
“Why did you come back?” She stared hard at his sad brown eyes, but she saw no anger in the man.
“I forgot to get your guitar out of the back of my truck.” He patted her awkwardly on her bare shoulder. “You all right?”
She was shaking at the thought of what could have happened but she couldn’t speak. Slowly Marcie looked up at him and shook her head. She wasn’t all right. She hadn’t been for a very long time.
Brand pulled her gently against him. “It’s all right now, honey. No one is going to hurt you.”
She couldn’t stop crying. She didn’t want to think. Five drunk men and a throwaway woman no one cared for. If Brand hadn’t come back, she knew what would have happened.
She also knew Brand was lying. There was no “all right” in her world. Everyone hurt her.
He didn’t say another word. He just held her. She heard his heart pounding and felt his rough hands on her bare shoulders. The warmth of him finally calmed her as she melted against him.
Brand gently pushed far enough away from her that she could see his face. “Come home with me tonight, Marcie. You’ll be safe, I promise. I’m just offering you a place to sleep. I’m not trying to pick you up.”
“You keep saying that.” She wiped a tear from her cheek with the palm of her hand. “I’m starting to believe you.”
Without another word, Brand walked her to his truck, opened her door, and helped her up as if he’d been doing this simple act all his life.
Chapter 2
Honey Creek
Piper
Mayor Piper Jane Mackenzie paced her tiny office on the fourth floor of city hall as if it were a jail cell. The trees were in full fall colors outside, and for once she hardly noticed. All she saw were stripes from raindrops on her windows. To her, the rain had been tapping on her windows for a month, like a hundred tiny clocks ticking away.
It had been five months since part of the building had burned, and the repairs were almost finished. The arsonist, Boone Buchanan, had been tried as soon as he was released from the hospital. He’d be an old man before his family would be able to get him out of prison. Only Piper, the town’s mayor, still awoke at night feeling the heat of the fire, the sounds of chaos crackling around her, and smoke filling her lungs.
Her fear of dying in a fire haunted every night, making her wake most mornings with the smell of smoke in her lungs.
Life was calm now, but the recall of that night remained a scar on her memory. In a strange way the fire in Honey Creek had brought the town together. The people seemed to realize what they had, nestled in a valley in the heart of Texas. Before, they’d loved Honey Creek. Now they also protected it with additions to the fire department and the sheriff’s office.
She pressed against the window, letting the glass cool her warm cheek. The repairs were almost done. People had stopped talking about that horrible night. So, why wasn’t she happy? Why couldn’t she relax?
Simple! She hadn’t seen Colby McBride in three months and her pride wouldn’t let her tell him how much she needed him. She knew Colby had been a state trooper right in the middle of one of the biggest cases in the state. He’d been sent to protect her, and he had. In doing so, he’d almost lost his own life.
The passion they’d shared might still be mixed up with all the drama of the fire and the trial. Maybe all the excitement had fueled their love affair and now he could walk away. But she couldn’t. Colby was too deep in her heart.
Boone not only tried to burn the city hall down, he did it because he wanted to kill her. Boone thought her death would bring him notoriety. He’d made up a story that he was engaged to the mayor, and he planned to play the part of a heartbroken almost widower. He’d thought no one would catch him, but Colby and Sam Cassidy had.
Piper was used to the press, but Colby wasn’t. The months during Boone’s trial must have been hard on Colby. She was used to it. She’d grown up in the light of cameras.
Thanks to Colby watching over her, Boone’s plan failed. Boone was in jail and Colby was now a Texas Ranger.
But what was between her and Colby had nothing to do with the fire or a crime. She’d simply fallen for him hard. Too hard. She was a sensible, career-minded mayor. She wasn’t supposed to fall in love with the officer assigned to watch over her. But she had, and now that he was transferred to Austin, she missed him terribly.