30. Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

I t was hard to saddle a horse with a man's hard body pressed against her. The ticklish sensations of lips against her ear made Isa duck her head, laughing.

"Junior, if I don't show up at the hotel this evening, Sol will start asking questions. He thinks I'm with Ma right now."

Two tanned hands gripped her hips and pulled her back against a pair of hard thighs. "Let him ask. How about I go with you? We can tell him what we've been up to together."

Isa shuddered at the thought. "We should break it to him slowly. Perhaps you should make your intentions known and start courting me. They don't need to know about…this." She rubbed the curve of her bottom against the line of his lengthening erection.

Face against her neck, Junior cupped one hand on her breast and the other between her legs. "Stay a little longer."

Isa wasn't a woman who believed in giggling, yet here she was, giggling uncontrollably while Junior herded her into the clean, empty stall, its dirt floor insulated with hay. They played a little, laughing and teasing, and didn't hear the horse riding up in the yard. He'd pinned her down but allowed her to roll them until she was on top, her honey-blonde hair a pincushion of hay. She bent to kiss him, and neither noticed the shadow that fell over the stall opening.

The kiss had deepened, sobering all playfulness—when Isa was unceremoniously ripped off Junior by two powerful hands.

"I came here to warn you, you goddamned bastard!" her brother's voice bellowed.

From her sudden position on her back, Isa caught sight of Sol's long arms pumping as he pummeled every inch of the prone man on the ground. Junior protected his face with his arms and hands but didn't fight back.

The utter grief in Sol's voice broke through Isa's shock. She crawled to her knees and tried to pull her brother off by his gun belt. "Sol!"

"Fight back," he was gasping, oblivious to his sister. His hat lay on the ground beside him from the scuffle. When it was obvious Junior would not reciprocate the blows, Sol shakily got to his feet and dragged the younger man up.

"Get away from him," Isa cried, attempting to shove her body between the two men.

"You shut up!"

Junior's stricken face twitched. "Don't talk to her like that. It's my fault, not hers."

"You're damned right, it's your fault—Isa, get off!" Sol shoved Isa from his person and gestured disgustedly at Junior. "He charms every pretty girl in the county into his bed, and you make yourself one of them?"

It felt like a doubled fist to the solar plexus, solidifying her.

To Junior, Sol said, "I always told myself the one girl you wouldn't mess with was my little sister. You're my friend, and friends don't do that to each other!" His voice rose with every word until he was shouting again.

"It isn't like that," Junior defended, his face dark red from either blows or heightened emotion. His eyes were glossy. Isa knew he considered crying a sign of weakness, and her heart went out to him. Her own tears choked her as she stood helplessly off to the side.

"The hell it isn't. You probably only wanted her because you knew you couldn't have her!" Sol sneered unfeelingly. His normally attractive face was a twisted, ugly mask. He looked like a stranger, and his words repeated in her head like an echo in a cavern.

You probably only wanted her because you knew you couldn't have her!

"I love her!" Junior shouted, spittle flying, his face finally animated.

Sol roared, lunged, and struck Junior on his cleft chin with a hard fist. "You're not good enough to lick her boots!"

Junior stumbled backward.

Isa cried out and ran toward him, but Sol's hand whipped around her biceps and pulled her roughly back. "Let me go!"

"Did you know he was discharged, Isa?" Sol shook her a little. "Did you know he murdered men in his own company?"

Junior looked up at them, the blood drained from his cheeks. He listened, blue eyes glittering in his white face.

"I don't know you anymore," Sol continued. "The Junior I knew wasn't a murderer and a liar. Didn't kill men, get court-martialed, and keep it a secret from everyone for years . And he didn't roll my sister in the hay with no intention of marriage."

"I was the one who didn't want marriage," Isa broke in angrily. "And roll me in the hay? That's rich, Sol, considering Poppy was already with child when you married her!"

"That's beside the point!"

"That's the whole point. Junior isn't stupid enough to get me in the family way, and he wasn't alone in the seducing. We are equally at fault, though it's no business of yours what we do."

Sol's laugh was unpleasant. "Is that so? You're such a hifalutin modern woman, with your college education and plans to travel to foreign countries. You think getting' your skirts flipped up by a womanizing murderer doesn't affect you? I never thought I'd say this, but you're just like Kat."

It was Isa's turn to pale.

"That's enough." Junior's attention was no longer on Sol's face but on Isa's. "You're hurting her when you should be hurting me."

Jaw ticking, Sol refused to look at Junior. "Isa, you're too good to get shackled to someone like this. Get your ass on your horse before I kill him."

"I'm not leaving." Her words sounded watery and weak, and it made her hate Sol even more.

"Izzy." Junior's voice was soft. He looked bloodless, like he'd been shot again, the life slowly draining into a puddle at their feet. "Go with him."

"No—"

"Please."

She wouldn't make him beg. And she didn't dare approach him for comfort with Sol watching. Junior had been hit enough. Hurt enough. She nodded, refusing to blink so as not to overflow the tears. She would leave because he had asked. It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. Before she exited the stall, she stopped and said quietly, "Just…stay, Junior. Don't leave."

She was afraid to return to his house and find him gone, this time forever.

He nodded once in understanding.

Only then did she walk away.