Mastered by Malone (Haven, Texas 6)

“God, give me strength,” Jardin muttered.

“Stop moaning, it was relatively harmless.”

“Relatively harmless? He shot out my tire. I could have had an accident. He could have hit me.”

“Nah, those fancy cars practically drive themselves. It would have compensated for your crappy driving. And Raid’s too good a shot to miss. If he wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” Alec found himself having to hide a smile. Who knew Jardin would be so fun to mess with? Only good thing about having him come to live with them. There had to be an upside to having to listen to all his advice.

“Alec, he cannot go around shooting people.”

“Ah, Jardin, you’re not people, you’re family, remember?”

Jardin’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s supposed to mean he gets away with shooting at me?”

“Again, he wasn’t shooting at you. He shot the tire. You should be happy you’re family, means he won’t kill you.”

“Does it?” Jardin asked. He sighed. “So, Osborne is still trying to buy the ranch?”

“Yep. He’s got a real hard-on for this place.”

“Gotta wonder why.” Jardin looked around with a slight sneer.

“Not all of us need to live in McMansions with marble staircases and chandeliers.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Jardin said without heat.

“He thinks there’s oil on our land.”

“And is there?” Jardin asked.

Alec shrugged. “Who knows?”

“How do you know he thinks there’s oil?” Jardin asked suspiciously.

Alec grinned. “You don’t want to know.”

Jardin ran his hand tiredly over his face. “Right. Look, will you help or not?”

“Help who? You in trouble?” Much as he liked to dig at his cousin, he was still family. No one messed with a Malone. Not even the stuck-up, prissy ones.

“Not me. I’ve got a friend who’s a detective with the NYPD. His cousin is in trouble. She was a witness to a murder. Mob hit. Now she’s got a hit man chasing her. Somehow this guy figured out where Mike had her stashed and killed her next-door neighbor, likely mistaking the neighbor for her since she was wearing his cousin’s jacket.”

“So? What has this got to do with me? Why should I care?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Jardin stood. He’d looked pissed off before, but now he had completely closed down. Which meant he didn’t want to show Alec how he really felt about this situation. But Alec couldn’t see how this had anything to do with him . . . unless . . .

“Fuck, you want me to hide her?” Why the hell would he do that? Didn’t he have enough going on? Did he really need to add in some woman with a target on her back? What the fuck was Jardin thinking?

A woman living here? With his brothers? He’d never be able to keep them off her.

That shit sounded too much like his old life. And he’d left that behind to become a rancher. He wasn’t ever going back.

“This place is isolated, it’s secure, there’s a world-class security system, and you’ve got to admit you, more than most people, are equipped to handle something like this.”

“Protecting a woman who has witnessed a mob hit? No way.”

“Yeah,” Jardin grumbled. “I’ll help Mike figure out something else.”

There was something he was missing here. “You know this girl? You want something from her?”