McKettrick's Pride by Miller Linda Lael

Author:Miller, Linda Lael [Miller, Linda Lael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: McKettricks
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2007-02-02T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

RANCE WATCHED, WITH HIS damnable McKettrick pride jammed up tight in his throat, as Jesse got out of his mud-spattered truck at the top of the driveway and ambled toward him. It hadn’t rained for weeks. Did the man drive that rig through the creek, just to make it look like that?

As he approached, Jesse resettled his hat and grinned that got-it-dicked grin of his. As far as Rance could tell, his cousin saw life as one big casino, and he was always on a winning streak. “You wanted to talk,” Jesse said, spreading his hands in an affably unspoken “I’m here. So talk.”

Rance had called Jesse after the disastrous interlude with Echo at the bookstore, out of pure desperation. Dragged him out of a poker game in the back room at Lucky’s, where he was, as usual, winning.

Now he wished he hadn’t done it. Better if he’d just suffered in silence—after all, he’d had a lot of practice at that.

He scowled, lifted his own hat and shoved a hand through his hair. “What if I said I changed my mind?”

Jesse laughed. “Then I’d have to knock you on your ass. I had pocket aces, with a third in the flop and a good chance of one more on the river.”

Most Americans spoke English.

Jesse spoke Texas Hold ’Em. Fluently.

“You think you’re man enough to do that?” Rance asked, stalling.

“Knock you on your ass? You better believe it.” Jesse paused, and his grin was super-charged. “’Course, there might be a problem when you got back up again.”

Rance was grudgingly mollified. The truth was, he and Keegan and Jesse used to get into it, and plenty, when they were kids. Usually behind one of the barns on the Triple M. They’d fought like young bulls back then, and then laughed about it afterward.

He kind of missed those times.

Jesse took in the house and yard in a quick, sweeping glance. He was probably looking for Rianna and Maeve, who always greeted him with shouts of joy and shinnied up him as if he were a pole at the county fair. They were in town with Cora. “What’s going on, Rance?” he asked quietly, but the glint in his eyes indicated that he’d already guessed the answer.

“Something happened,” Rance said. He turned and led the way to the patio, the place where he’d served Echo and the kids a fish supper just the other night. Why did it seem like somebody else’s experience, and not his own?

“No shit,” Jesse replied, hauling back a chair, sinking into it and setting his battered hat on the tabletop. “You wouldn’t have called me if it hadn’t.”

“Maybe I would,” Rance said, still on his feet, and still uncertain, “if you’d carry a damned cell phone like everybody else.”

“I hate them,” Jesse answered. “They always ring at the wrong time.” He settled back, touched the tips of his fingers together and regarded Rance thoughtfully. “You good for a cold beer?”

Rance chuckled and relaxed a little. “Sure,” he said,

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