Branded Page 16

  Trace stood next to his brother inside the small, fenced-off area of ranch that was the family burial plot. He held his hat against his thigh while Eric pressed his to his chest, both of them staring at the headstones of their parents, Agnes and Dustin. The brothers had tethered their horses at the iron gate to the small cemetery.

  It was hard to believe that six years had passed since Trace had railed against the unfair God who had taken his mother and father from the land that they loved. Broken their family in two.

  He didn’t know how to describe his feelings after the discovery that God hadn’t taken them, but a murderous coyote who had wanted what they had for himself.

  “Funny,” Eric said quietly. “I feel like knowing the truth is making me grieve for them all over again.”

  Trace nodded and bounced his hat against the side of his leg. “I know where you’re coming from. It almost seems like they died all over again, doesn’t it?”

  Eric nodded and they fell silent once more.

  Trace glanced over his shoulder to the southwest, where the main ranch house lay.

  “They’d have liked Sara,” he told his brother. “Mom and Dad. I imagine they would have been tickled to have a granddaughter on the way.”

  “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

  Trace looked back at the headstones and the wildflowers they’d both placed on top of them. “What do you think they’d have made of Jo?”

  He and Jo had stayed at her parents’ place overnight, Trace bunking on the uncomfortable couch. They’d headed back to Wildewood in the morning, Jo following him in her truck instead of the other way around. Her mother was scheduled for surgery next week, and Jo would be going back to help her father out. She didn’t know it, but Trace would be coming for a day or two himself, just to make sure she was okay, and to lend a hand.

  He’d moved in with Jo in her bunkhouse room. He was thinking of building a new place for them on another part of the property, next to a small pond and near the tree where they’d spent the night making love under the stars. She didn’t know that, though. He hadn’t told her yet. For now, she seemed completely content to take things day to day. But it was the nights he looked forward to.

  Eric didn’t say anything for a long time. Trace glanced at him, wondering if he’d heard him.

  “How do you feel about her?” his brother finally asked.

  “You know, it’s impolite to answer a question with a question.”

  Eric grinned. “Answer mine and I’ll answer yours.”

  “I love her, man.”

  His brother reached out and clapped his shoulder. “Well, then, that means Ma and Dad would have loved her, too.”

  He hadn’t needed Eric’s okay, but now that he had it, the day seemed a bit brighter.

  “You going to marry her?”

  Trace stared at him. “Hell, yes, I’m going to marry her. If she’ll have me, I mean.”

  He already had the ring bought and in his pocket. He was just looking for the right opportunity to ask her, that one moment that would catch her by surprise.

  In the meantime, he intended to have the most condomless sex with her that he could.

  The sun broke over the horizon like a glowing orange.

  A sign of what the future held? Trace decided it was.

  “Let’s go home,” he said, squeezing his brother’s shoulder.

  ISBN: 9781472056283

  BRANDED

  © Lori and Tony Karayianni 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

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