He had to pay attention to work. Before he’d met Rachel, work had been all that mattered. Now he had to tell himself to get his ass up. He had to make some money since he had a woman to support now. Rachel might not know it, but she was his top priority. He would get her comfortable living with him and then move her gently toward marriage.
Max made sure the saddle on Maverick was cinched tight, then mounted with the ease of a true horseman. The big horse beneath him nickered and waited for a command. Now that the morning’s maintenance was done, it was time for some exercise. The stall for Sunflower was ready. She would be arriving tomorrow, and Max was eager to get to work with her. For now, he would settle for riding the pasture and making sure the fences were solid.
Quigley followed the quarter horse as Max let Maverick trot out of the yard toward the big pasture where he’d be able to gallop. Max’s mind wandered as they made their way down the road.
He wanted to marry Rachel, but there was one thing marring the vision. It was hard for him to think of marrying a woman without his brother at his side. He knew Rye was attracted to Rachel, probably at least half in love with her. They had always wanted the same women. Perhaps, if they had grown up in a more conventional town, they would have been shamed into giving up their instincts. Everything in Max told him to share with his brother. They were happier that way. If they had been told how wrong and perverse they were, maybe they would have been able to deny that part of themselves.
But they had grown up in Bliss. Their mother had accepted them, and their father had been far too busy drinking to care what they did. The town itself was so full of hippies and free spirits that when Max and Rye asked one girl to be their date to the winter festival when they were sixteen, everyone had smiled indulgently and talked about how comfortable the boys were in their own skins.
Rachel hadn’t grown up in Bliss. Rachel had grown up in suburban Texas, according to her stories from childhood. She’d been raised conventionally, and she would probably walk out if he even suggested that they experiment. She would be shocked if she knew what he really wanted.
She wasn’t some girl Rye had picked up in a bar who wanted to have some fun and play out a few fantasies. Max had enjoyed the long-term relationships they’d had with women like that, but, unlike his brother, he’d known those relationships wouldn’t end in happily ever after. Max was more cynical than Rye. He knew there wasn’t a woman out there who wanted to put up with two men. They were too demanding.
It wasn’t like they hadn’t had sex separately before. They had both had many relationships that didn’t involve the other brother. It was just anything even vaguely serious had been a ménage. When Rye had really fallen for someone, Max had inevitably fallen a little, too.
Max thought about how tired Rye had looked this morning. He’d been up and drinking coffee when Max had come through the kitchen. Their conversation had been polite, but there was a distance between them that put Max on edge.
“You look like hell, brother,” Max said, pouring coffee into his thermos. “Late night?”
Rye shook his head. He was wearing a pair of sweats and his running shoes. Max knew that Rye ran off his problems. He would run for miles when he was upset. From the sweat covering his brother’s body, Max knew he’d been running all morning. “It was fine, but I think I’ll take off for a few days. Stef wants to go fishing before the Founder’s Day picnic.”
Max turned and studied his brother. “I don’t want to run you off. I want you to be okay with Rachel staying here.”
Rye’s laugh was short and sharp. “I’m okay with it. I just think the two of you need some time to yourselves, and then we need to figure some stuff out.”
Max found himself getting upset. He could sense Rye’s anxiety. “Figure out what?”
Rye looked frustrated as he dumped his coffee in the sink. “Well, I’m not going to be your and Rachel’s roommate. Do you really think I want to watch that? Do you think that’s how I want to spend the rest of my life?”
“Ryan,” Max said, trying to stop his brother.
“Don’t.” Rye put a hand out to stop him. “I’m happy for you, man. I really am. I just isn’t what I thought our lives would be like, and I need time to adjust. We’ll figure it all out in the end. Besides, you can’t really want me around. I make Rachel nervous.”
“She’ll get used to you.” Max needed to believe that.
“No, she won’t,” Rye replied sadly. “She’s not that girl, and maybe we were fooling ourselves. I can see now that Nina was never going to make both of us happy. Hell, she wouldn’t have made me happy. I proposed to her because I wanted to get married. She said yes because she didn’t have anything better to do. It was stupid. Rachel is the type of girl you marry and raise a family with, and she’s also the type who would never accept a ménage.”
“Come on, Rye.” He couldn’t think of anything else. Rye wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t thought of already.
“I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you later,” Rye said in a voice that told Max he was done for now. Then Rye had disappeared down the hall, and Max had gotten to work.
Max tried to put his brother out of his mind as he turned Maverick down the short slope marking the change between yard and pasture. He could already see a place in the fence that he needed to fix. He would have to figure out how to fix the mess with his brother at a later date.
Max heard a sound like a car backfiring. For the briefest of moments, he felt his anger flare. Someone was up at the house at this time of the morning? It was Saturday. Couldn’t they be left in peace on a Saturday morning?
Then he felt the pain bloom along his left arm. He looked down. There was blood starting to spread on his shirt.
I’ve been shot, Max realized with shock.
It had finally happened. Some damn hunter had let a bullet go wild.
Max turned Maverick, who was antsy now, and started to move toward the woods. He would show that hunter a thing or two. Damn asshole probably didn’t even realize he’d hit someone.
The sound came again, and Maverick bucked wildly. Max had to pull hard on the reins and hunker down to stay on the horse. There was a third shot. Maverick took off as he completely panicked. Max was thrown to the side. His own panic set in as he realized his boot was stuck in the stirrup. He tried to pull free as he was dragged along the ground, but he couldn’t make it.
Max heard Quigley barking frantically. The dog raced to keep up with his master. Max gave his boot one last tug and then felt his head hit something hard. The whole world went black.
Rachel didn’t stop to think when Rye made the announcement that Max was hurt. She ran. She ran out the door and down the porch steps. She didn’t think about the fact that she was barefoot with only Rye’s T-shirt to cover her. All she could think about was Max. She suddenly knew that Rye was right, and he needed them.
“The stables.” Rye ran up behind her. He pointed behind the house and started sprinting.
He was barefoot, too, Rachel noted, but had slipped into sweatpants. He raced toward the back of the house. As Rachel followed, she saw something that terrified her.
Maverick was standing perfectly still in the yard. He looked down at Max, who was on the ground. His booted foot was still in the stirrup, and his big body was completely still. Quigley danced around him anxiously. The enormous dog whined.