Chapter 4

"Who's that?"

Taz was busy flipping burgers and didn't bother to look up. Who knew that throwing a birthday party for his four-year-old twins would be so much work; and that was with help. "Mom, I'm kinda busy."

"The woman with purple in her hair."

She wasn't going to let this go. He paused and followed his mother's gaze until it landed on the one person who had done her very best to avoid him the entire time she'd been at his place.

"I've never seen her before," Martha continued.

With a sigh he glanced to his mother. "Why do you care?" He kept his voice light, but in truth he didn't want to go down this road with her. He didn't want to hear about all the wrong things…even if all the wrong things were spot on.

"Why are you so darn prickly?"

He turned down the heat on his grill and reached for the cold beer his mother had brought him not more than a minute earlier. This was a losing battle, and he knew it, so Taz took a beat. He shrugged and brought the bottle to his mouth, taking a long swig to avoid the talking part as long as he could.

"Her name is Scarlett," he eventually said.

His mother's eyebrow shot up at that. "As in Bridgestone?"

Great. She'd done her homework.

"Yup."

"Huh." Martha Pullman leaned against the table set up beside his grill. "Is she the Bridgestone who paraded around town in nothing but a nightshirt?"

"She'd be that Bridgestone." He flashed a smile at the thought. "I was lucky enough to witness it."

"Did you now."

"It was something to see."

"Mary Margaret says she's crazy."

"You know better than to listen to anything that woman says."

"I do." Martha looked at him questioningly. "But why is she here?"

"I asked her to come." The look on his mother's face made him stop. "No," he replied, shaking his head, "it's not like that." God, now she was going to over analyze every little thing.

"Well, what's it like exactly?"

"She's having a hard time is all." He looked his mother straight in the eye so there was no room for interpretation. "That's according to Millie Sue. I thought it would be good for her to get out and socialize so I told Mills to bring her."

"Huh."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Exasperated he grabbed the bag of buns off of the table.

"I'm just wondering why you're being so nice to a woman you only just met."

"I didn't know it was a crime to be nice."

"Don't be an ass. You know what I mean."

"I do know her."

"Barely."

"I've seen her in her nightgown," he quipped, hoping she'd take the hint and back off.

"Taz," she laughed "So did half the town."

"She's got a kid." Not that it had anything to do with anything.

"You have two."

Fuck me, he thought. He was on the losing end of something and whatever that something was he knew he had to shut it down. He started placing the patties on the buns. "Look, I'm just being nice and neighborly. That's all. There's nothing between us."

"If you say so."

"I don't think she likes me all that much."

"How can anyone not like you."

He smiled at that. "I know plenty of folks who don't."

Martha reached for the platter of burgers. "Well, for someone who doesn't like you much she sure enjoys your profile. And for a man who says she's just a girl in need of some socializing, I call bullshit."

"What?" He frowned darkly.

"Bull, as in bullshit," Martha replied. "The two of you have been checking each other out when you think no one is noticing." She shot a triumphant look his way. "As you well know my boy, I notice everything."

With that his mother grabbed the tray of burgers and headed for the long table full of food. He stared after her in silence and finished his beer. The thing of it was his mother wasn't wrong. He was more interested in Scarlett Bridgestone than he should be. He glanced toward the pool and caught her looking his way. She held his gaze, chin up as if in challenge, then turned and smiled at Mike Paul in a way that made his stomach clench.

A tug on his shorts drew his attention. "Daddy, I want a piece of pie." Ryan stared up at him with those big eyes and a cheeky grin. He'd give her ten pieces of pie if he could. But that would be irresponsible.

"You can have a piece of cake when you've eaten a burger or hotdog."

"But I don't want a burger."

He shepherded his daughter toward the table, deciding Scarlett Bridgestone was something he could think about later. "A hotdog it is." He turned to the crowd and shouted. "Food's ready." Then waited for the stampede.

Nearly four hours later, after everyone had eaten, after the cake had been finished, after the girls had opened all of their presents, after most of his guests had left, and after the cleanup had been finished, Taz finally relaxed. He was by the pool with Millie and Cal, the Rockies a painted picture of perfection hung in the distance. The air had cooled a bit, bringing with it an early evening chill that felt amazing after a hot day in the sun.

Bent sat with his daughter, Nora, a few feet away, who in turn squatted with the twins near a baby carrier. He saw toes wiggling in the air and a small hand that clutched a purple and pink unicorn.

"Where's Scarlett?" he asked casually, nodding toward the group.

"I don't know," Cal replied. "But it's time to get a move on. I'd like to be home by eight." He slid his arm around his wife and kissed the top of her head. "It's movie night."

"It's not movie night," Millie Sue said, batting at her husband before turning to Taz. "Cal and I are rewatching Gilmore Girls and he's more addicted than I am."

"Gilmore Girls?" Taz repeated in disbelief.

"Don't knock it, there's some good dialogue in that show," Cal replied sheepishly as he changed the subject. "Now where is my sister?"

"Scarlett said something about Eddie." Millie made a face. "Isn't that a snake?"

"Sure is." Taz stepped back. "I'll let her know you guys are ready to head out."

He walked out back to where the barns were, bypassed at least one hundred pink balloons, and entered the first building on his left. It was darker inside, cooler as well, and he spied Scarlett almost immediately. She was by Ranger's stall, her head near the horse as she murmured softly to him.

"He was a champion cutter."

His voice must have startled her, because she jumped and Ranger raised his head and nickered as if to say, back off buddy.

"He's beautiful," she said, recovering quickly.

Taz nodded and paused a few feet from them. Scarlett's hair, tinged with purple, seemed to have pieces of fire burning from the ends as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the windows opposite to the stalls and hit her perfectly. Her eyes, big and luminous, watched him carefully.

"He was something else in his day."

"Was he yours?"

"No. I rode bulls not horses. But I saw him compete. Knew his owner, a good guy who died of cancer a few years back. No one could ride Ranger except Davis and his family couldn't find a buyer. They packed him up and sent him to auction. He would have gone to Mexico most likely, to a meat packer but a pal called me up and I drove all night to get him."

"He lets you ride him then?"

"I've never tried. I figure he gave a lot when he was on the circuit and then lost the only human he trusted, so now he gets to live. He's earned that right." Taz nodded toward the next stall. "Same as Billy. He was a work horse and spent most of his days pulling heavy machinery on an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. When he was too old to work they sent him off to auction."

"How did you find him?" Scarlett seemed genuinely interested.

"Angel Simms."

Surprise lit up her face. "I know Angel. We went to school together. I didn't know she was still in Big Bend."

"She works for me. I have a lot of animals that need looking after. Rescues she helped locate and get back here to the ranch. She organizes that part of it and some other things."

"You pay for all of this yourself?" She blushed. "Sorry, that's kind of rude to ask."

"I don't mind answering. I set up a foundation that pays for it. Most of the funding comes from the family business, so I guess I do."

"Family business?"

Now they were into territory he didn't much care for, so he kept his mouth shut and nodded, but didn't offer up any real information.

"How many animals do you have?"

Taz shrugged. "I have no idea. What started out as a way to get Ranger back here kind of ballooned. Now we've got horses, donkeys, cows, goats, pigs, an emu, and a herd of bison."

"All rescues?"

He nodded.

"You collect things." Scarlett's fingers trailed overtop of Ranger's head, her voice husky and low.

"No," Taz replied as he came up alongside her. "I don't collect things. I give shelter and I provide a safe place. Room to roam and be free for animals that deserve a hell of a lot more than what they were given." Ranger nickered softly and moved his head toward Taz.

"He likes you," Scarlett murmured.

"Most animals like the hand that feeds them."

"And Eddie?" she asked, pointing toward the far end of the barn where the snake's large habitat stood.

"Eddie came with the place. I have no idea what my brother-in-law was thinking, but apparently he'd been a part of some collector's menagerie, and the owner wasn't looking after him. He was damn near starved to death. Practically broken. My sister and her husband intervened. He's the one animal I don't get too close too," he chuckled. "I never did like snakes, but just like every other animal on this ranch he deserves a chance to live same as the rest."

"Do others know?"

"What's that?" She was inches from him. So close he could count the freckles that fell across her nose. The dark lashes that framed those intense eyes.

"About your affinity for broken things?"

He stared down at her for so long that the silence became more than empty air. It was heavy with things unsaid and emotions he didn't understand. It was in the way her eyes glittered. How her breath caught as he reached for a strand of hair that grazed her cheek. It was soft, like silk, and he tucked it behind her ear, feeling her tremble in place.

"Are you broken, Scarlett?" His words were so low he wasn't sure she heard them until she stepped away, eyes luminous in the fading light.

"I think we're all a little broken inside. Some of us get put back together, while others stay broken, missing pieces they'll never get back. Half happy."

What the hell had happened to this girl?

"Which one are you?"

"I guess I'm the second one."

If he was smart, he'd say good-night and escort the lovely Scarlett Bridgestone back to her family. Instead, he closed the distance between them once more and reached for her chin, pulling up so she had nowhere to hide.

"Guessing doesn't make it sound like you're too sure about that."

Her tongue darted out, she swiped at the corner of her mouth and damned if he didn't feel his cock twitch.

"I thought I was sure. Thought I'd be broken for the rest of my life." Her voice was like velvet pulled tight over barbwire. She held his gaze for a heartbeat and then tugged his hand from her face. She turned around and took two steps before his voice stopped her.

"And now?"

A heartbeat passed.

"Maybe I was wrong." She spoke so quietly he barely heard her, and without another word she left him alone.

Taz ran his hand over the hair on his chin and watched until she disappeared from sight. He wasn't exactly sure what the hell had just happened between them, but it was enough of a something to make him pause. To make him wonder about what if.

The question, was…

What would he do about it?