Caught in the Act (Independence Falls 2)

. After all this time, she couldn’t believe she’d walked headfirst into the past. It wasn’t that she avoided him. That would have proved impossible. Since Liam’s little sister had returned home from serving in Afghanistan, Georgia and Katie had become close friends. In a few months, Katie would be Georgia’s maid of honor when she married Eric Moore, Liam’s best friend and boss. And Liam would be the best man.

No, there was no avoiding him. But that didn’t mean they had to awaken old memories.

Trying to push Liam out of her thoughts, she crossed the field to the farmhouse. Her father had added a wraparound porch, wide enough to accommodate a porch swing and a pair of rocking chairs, but otherwise the three-story structure stood much the same as it had when her grandfather first built the place. The red paint had faded and chipped in some places. A few of the wooden boards needing replacing, but they would get to that once they had a little extra money.

Katie picked up her pace. If they just held on awhile longer, they would have the money to repair the house, pay their debts, and more. She and her brothers had struggled to maintain the family business for years, but Katie had finally found a way out of their just-getting-by existence. Both Granddaddy and her father had devoted most of their lives to Summers Family Trucking, determined to leave behind a tangible legacy, and now she’d found a way to make it thrive. She just needed her brothers to trust her, to be patient, and let her finalize the details.

Glancing over at the vehicles lining the dirt and gravel parking area in front of the house Katie spotted her wagon. She’d taken her goats straight to the bar when she’d returned home, leaving Liam to beg a ride from her brothers, or wait until she finished. Seeing to the animals came first. But while she’d been busy settling the goats into their new home, her brothers had gone out, changed her tire, and driven her car home. Beside her wagon stood Liam’s motorcycle.

Hands on her hips, she stared at the bike. What was he still doing here? Out of all the ten thousand or so people in Independence Falls, Liam was the last one she expected to stick around and visit with her brothers. If anyone else had come to her rescue on the side of the road, her family would offer him a drink and a game of pool. But Liam?

Every time Brody caught sight of Liam—in the grocery store, on a job site, or at the bar—fury flashed in her brother’s eyes as if he was hearing Liam’s words from that awful morning, seven years earlier, for the first time.

I’m so damn sorry. I’ll leave her alone, I swear. You have my word that I won’t touch her again. I won’t go anywhere near your sister.

Katie had walked into the room that fateful morning just in time to hear Liam’s apology. She’d frozen on the spot, shocked to find the man she loved, whom she had stupidly assumed loved her in return, breaking up with her—and tearing her trust to pieces in the process.

She reached the three steps leading up to the porch as the front door swung open. And there he was in his leather jacket and jeans.

“You’re still here?” She glanced past him to where Chad, her middle brother, held the door. Brody and Josh stood beside him.

Her mind flashed back to the last time she’d seen Liam surrounded by her three big brothers. Brody, the oldest and most even-tempered of the three, had his arm drawn back ready to slam his fist into Liam’s face. If she hadn’t stepped between them, she had a feeling Brody would have thrown that punch, then another and another.

Her brothers had found out she’d been seeing Liam from one of the local gossips. When she didn’t come home that night seven years ago, they had sought him out, demanding that Liam walk away from her if he wasn’t serious. And Liam had. Just like that.

“He’s leaving.” Brody crossed his powerful arms in front of his chest. “Now.”

“Katie, what the hell were you doing driving around with a flat spare?” Josh demanded. He was the youngest of her brothers, only eleven months older than she, and the only brother who’d inherited their mother’s red hair and green eyes. Brody and Chad looked like twins with their dark brown hair and matching eyes.

“I didn’t know.”

“I’ll see you around, Katie,” Liam said, stopping beside her at the base of the porch steps. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brody step forward as if he’d personally escort Liam to his bike if he didn’t keep walking. “Take care of your goats.”

Liam walked away, easy and carefree, as if he hadn’t spent the afternoon leading her through the past.

Brody turned his intense gaze to her. “What goats?”

Still holding the door open, Chad shook his head. “Don’t tell me you brought home another stray animal, sis.”

Chin held high, she marched up the steps. “I didn’t have a choice. Their owner wasn’t taking care of them. They deserve better.”

Brody met her defiant gaze, his powerful arms crossed in front of his chest. “How many?”

“Three.” She walked through the door, past Chad.

“Then you’ll be glad to hear Liam offered us a way to keep your herd fed through the winter,” Chad said, closing the door. He headed past the main stairs toward the large, open farm kitchen in the rear of the house, Brody and Josh behind him.

“He what?” Katie followed at her brother’s heels.

“Sit down.” Brody pulled out a chair and held it for her. He had crafted each piece of furniture by hand, using downed trees from their twenty acres. But that was back when her oldest brother had time to spend in his woodworking shop. Before they started saving every downed tree for firewood to heat their house or to sell to help make ends meet.

Josh claimed a seat beside the one Brody held for her while Chad headed for the fridge, pulling out a six-pack of longnecks. He set the beer on the table and went to the cupboard for a bag of chips. Chad twisted the top off one of the bottles and handed it to her before sinking into another chair.

Brody waited until everyone was settled before taking his place at the head of the table. A legal pad lined with his handwriting sat in front of him.

“Turns out Liam was on his way over when he spotted your wagon,” Brody said.

Her grip tightened on her untouched beer. He’d planned to visit her brothers? The same day he’d led her past their spot under the fir trees? The day’s events were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle she couldn’t fit together.