Yeah, Quinn served as the county sheriff and seemed to be getting more calls every month. Besides having outside jobs, the family ranched thousands of acres. “Well, shit.” Adam exhaled and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Hawk, I can help you out there while Jake and Colt recoup. I didn’t know you needed an extra hand.”
Hawk studied him thoughtfully and drank his coffee, the steam curling briefly near his face. “If you wouldn’t mind. I’ve got several ranch hands, but I’m pretty much working all four ranches myself right now with my crew. Quinn comes out when he can, but the sheriff position is eating up his time. I really could use the help.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow morning. Four a.m.?”
“Absolutely,” Hawk said. “You’re the best.” He shifted his weight, easing his shoulder carefully. “I didn’t even see the agenda. Did you?”
“Oh yeah,” Dawn said. “They want to make a movie in town. Isn’t that awesome?”
Adam frowned along with Hawk, the reaction instinctive.
Hawk’s expression hardened. “I don’t want a bunch of Hollywood people running all over town. It’s spring season, and we have enough going on.”
Adam tipped his head. “Totally agree.”
Dawn looked between them, one hand smoothing the sleeve of her jacket. “You don’t think it’ll interfere with our wedding, do you?”
“Hell no,” Hawk said, final and unyielding. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
Adam grinned. “Let’s hope everybody’s over the flu by then.”
“It’s a month away,” Dawn said. “I’m not worried.”
Adam let his attention drift around the room again, taking in the quiet strength of the place. The low murmur of voices, the shared looks, the unspoken understanding that everyone would show up if needed. He sighed at his buddy’s already dented cast. Hawk had been a Navy SEAL, then worked in private security, and had been nearly killed more than once before coming home. It sucked seeing him injured again, even if just by a pissed off steer.
“We never can find the easy path, can we?” Adam murmured, absently rubbing a healed bullet wound in his arm from his time in the Army.
Hawk snorted under his breath. “Who wants an easy path?”
The city council members took their seats at the front of the room, chairs scraping softly against the floor, and Jem McNast, the president of the council, banged the gavel once. “Let’s sit.”
Hawk waited until Dawn sat and took the seat beside her. Adam slid into the chair on Dawn’s other side. The folding chair creaked under his weight, familiar and uncomfortable, like every civic meeting he’d attended since he was a kid. He stretched outhis legs and turned toward Dawn. “Hey, are you singing with me this weekend?”
She lifted her coffee cup. “So long as I don’t get sick.”
Every once in a while, Dawn sang with Adam’s band at the bar, and the nights she did, they sold out of everything behind the counter. The woman had a hell of a voice, raw and rich, but she seemed perfectly content working the ranch and serving as the chief financial officer of her family’s company.
A quiet pang settled in his chest. What would it be like to have family like that, to work with them, argue with them, build a life together? He hadn’t even known Hawk had been hurt until today. Maybe that was on him. Maybe he needed to get out more.
Adam focused on the council. Like many small towns, Mineral Lake’s city council members wore a lot of hats. Two of the members were also county commissioners for Maverick County, while another two served on the board of the local Kooskia tribe. Most were retired, all of them invested, and none of them took the jobs lightly.
The hair on the back of Adam’s neck rose, and he turned without thinking. Bianca Estrada walked to the front and took the seat alone at the table facing the council. The sight tightened a knot low and instinctive in his chest. She shouldn’t have been by herself, not in a room full of opinions and sharp tongues. He tracked her, cataloging who sat where, who leaned forward, who seemed ready to challenge.
She wore a pretty floral dress with beige cowboy boots, the kind that suggested she was trying to belong. Where were the expensive designer clothes? The top of her hair was pulled back, leaving the rest to spill down her back in thick, wild curls that caught the overhead lights when she moved. The urge to touch it came out of nowhere and hit hard, surprising him with its intensity.
She glanced over and saw him. Adam gave her an encouraging smile, small but deliberate. Color bloomed across her cheeks, a soft peachy-pink that kicked his pulse up a notch and made his hand curl against his thigh. Damn. He didn’t like how much he wanted to stand up and move closer, to put himself between her and whatever came next.
Hawk leaned across Dawn. “You know her?”
“I met her earlier,” Adam said quietly, never taking his attention off Bianca. “Bianca Estrada. She’s a scout for the movie company.”
“She’s pretty,” Dawn said softly.
Adam stared straight ahead. “Hadn’t noticed.”
Hawk chuckled, and Adam resisted the urge to smack the back of his head, considering the guy was injured.
A low twitter of voices sounded behind them as Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Poppins walked up the aisle, passed through the gate, and took seats on either side of Bianca. Bianca jumped and then looked from one woman to the other. She was completely flanked.