“What you asked me to do!”
His grin was colder than the wind chill at the peak of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. “See? I can’t dispute that becauseI don’t remember.” His voice had been cold, but his eyes suddenly became glacial. “And that’s why you brought Indie, isn’t it? You intended to breed her to Gizmo while proximity wasn’t an issue. Nice, Kenzie. Real nice.”
She met that desolate gaze head-on. “No.” After months away with Gizmo, she’d simply wanted her horse’s company. She’d needed to be able to ride when she wanted to and without asking for the equine equivalent of a Hertz rental car. But her response didn’t matter. All Ty was willing to see was the worst possible interpretation of what she’d done and why.
Jaw knotted, skin pale and lips almost nonexistent in his face, Ty stared at her, unblinking. “I want you to pack whatever’s in that cabin, get your gear and your horse out of my barn and get off my land before I call the sheriff.”
Kenzie straightened at the threat. “And just what are you going to report, Ty? That the woman you’ve been sleeping with off and on for years spent over one hundred thousand dollars on you and your horse, and she screwed you senseless this morning?”
One corner of his mouth curled up, the expression uncharacteristically cruel. “No. I’m just going to report she screwed me.”
She’d expected heartbreak to sound like a gunshot. It didn’t. There was a very quiet internal fracture, a tiny gasp. Then came the onslaught of pain, an emotional riptide that pulled her under. It stole her breath. It darkened her vision. It wrapped tentacles around her chest and bore down. It hurt more than anything ever had.
“Get off my ranch, Mackenzie, and don’t come back.” No steadier than the town’s resident drunk on a weekend binge, Ty stumbled out of the tack room and out of the barn.
By the time Ty made it to the house, the fear of falling had surpassed “probability” and moved straight to “inevitability.” That was why he didn’t shout when he collapsed in the foyer. He couldn’tsitup, couldn’tgetup, so he simply lay there and fought to catch his breath.
The door opened, exposing his clammy skin to a blast of outside air. He shivered, silently fighting through the additional discomfort it caused. Screw that. It hurt.Hehurt. All over. He rested his forehead against the hardwood floor and groaned.
“What the...” Cade’s large hands ran over his back and arms, searching for injury. “Talk to me, Tyson,” he ordered, voice gruff. “Tell me what happened.”
“Life. And don’t go soft on me. Not now.” Using arms and legs weaker than a newborn foal’s, he fought to roll himself over. Cade tried to help, but Ty uttered a sound suspiciously growl-like, and the larger man backed off. “I’m not a freaking damsel,” Ty said through gritted teeth.
“Damsel?” Cade said, confused. “I’m at a loss here, man. What does a damsel, or being one, have to do with you being sprawled out on the floor?”
Irony, you’re a real bitch.“Everything. And nothing.” If it wasn’t so painfully true, he’d have laughed. If only...
Using the last of his reserve, Ty managed to roll over.
Cade tried to help him sit up, but Eli chose that moment to open the door. Caught unprepared, Cade was shoved forward. Ty had to give credit where credit was due, though. His older brother managed to throw himself clear of Ty’s semiprone form, presumably in an attempt to keep from crushing him.
“What are you two pony jockeys doing crouched in front of the door?” Eli demanded absently as he dumped his wet boots into the boot tray.
Ty cradled his face in his palms and batted his eyes at his eldest brother. “Oh, you know. Hanging out. Discussing fashion trends and the latestE! Newsgossip. We were going to use the living room, but furniture is so passé. It’s all about casual living now.”
“Smart-ass.” Eli looked Ty over. “You fall?” he asked quietly.
“Flat on my face.”
“Break anything?”
My heart.“No.”
Eli offered Cade a hand and then the pair turned to him. “Let’s get you up, then.”
As a unit, they worked to help him to his feet and continued to support him until they made it to his room and perched him on the side of the bed.
Cade pulled Ty’s boots off and Eli helped him get laid down on the bed. Ty ignored the soft scent of perfume on the sheets.
Kenzie.
Ty struggled to sit up. “I need to change my bed before I lie down.”
“You’re worn out, Ty. Leave it for now,” Eli answered. “We’ll handle the sheets later, when you’re up to it.”
He couldn’t stand it. “I want the sheets changed. Now.”
Eli faced him with slow deliberation and arched one brow. “Do I look like Cinderella?”