Lassoed (Steele Ranch 5)

“Don’t take too long, Kady’s eager to get to the mall.”

“I am!” Kady shouted from somewhere inside the house. “The weather’s shifting and the men want us back before dark. If you’re not ready to go in thirty minutes, I’m dragging you to the car.”

“She will, too,” Cricket whispered. “And Penny will have to nurse Locke by lifting her shirt and leaning over the car seat.”

God, it felt good to have sisters. A family. Kady cared enough about me now to annoy and pester me, to have experiences with each other like somehow, and in some way, nursing a baby in such a weird way. If that wasn’t a sign of a close sibling bond, I didn’t know what was.

9

NATALIE

* * *

I’d driven from Bozeman to Barlow the day I came from the airport. It was a good thing since I was somehow driving all of us home after our day of shopping. They’d all had wine with our early dinner. I’d taken a muscle relaxer to alleviate the pain in my ass—literally—and so I’d skipped the alcohol. They weren’t drunk, especially since Kady and Penny were nursing, but I’d readily volunteered to be the designated driver.

Kady’s SUV was huge. A tank compared to my compact car, which was perfect for Boston’s narrow streets and parking. And driving the behemoth felt like steering a tank about; soft turning and heavy on the brakes. But, it was high off the ground and fit five women and two car seats with the three rows of seating.

We’d left the highway behind and were thirty minutes from Barlow on the two-lane back road. It led up and over a mountain pass with twists and turns. Kady had been right, the weather had turned, especially at the higher elevation. The road was wet from rain mixing with snow and I worried they would get slick.

“You look like you’re concentrating for your driver’s test,” Sarah said.

She was in the passenger seat beside me, Cricket and Kady in the back seat with Cecily in her car seat between them, Penny in the third row with Locke’s car seat beside her.

I loosened my grip on the wheel at her words and offered her a small smile. I hadn’t even realized I was leaning forward until I took a deep breath, relaxed. “I’m not used to these roads.” I angled my head toward the back. “And we’ve got precious cargo.”

Sarah put a hand to her chest. She wore a white blouse with a spring colored yellow cardigan. She looked like the prim librarian, but when I saw the outlines of nipple rings through her bra when we’d been trying on clothes, I had to assume she wasn’t as prim as she appeared. At least with Wilder and King.

“I’m not precious cargo?” she asked, grinning.

“We all are,” I replied. “I think Aiden Steele was a dumbass.”

That earned a snort from Cricket. I flicked my gaze to the rearview mirror, saw her roll her eyes.

“He obviously missed the safe sex lecture in school. I mean, didn’t the guy know how to use condoms?”

She had a point.

“I think he was a lonely man,” Kady added. “Never married. From what Jamison said, always lived alone in that big house. He had five daughters. Five! He at least knew of you, Sarah, but chose to not have a relationship with you. With any of us. I think it’s sad.”

I slowed the car around a turn. The sky was leaden with heavy clouds, light snow falling. It was just after six, not close to dark. Visibility was good, but this was a mountain road. Steep drops, sharp curves, lots of animal crossing signs.

I’d learned Sarah had been the only one of us to grow up in Barlow. She’d known Aiden Steele was her father and he’d never once approached her. This blew my mind because while Peter wasn’t the best stepdad in the world, he had been there for me. Dinner at six every night. He’d even interrogated Ethan French when he’d picked me up for my first date in eleventh grade. While Sarah seemed relatively fine with being ignored as she had been, I could only imagine she had some serious baggage to go with it. From what she said, everyone had been surprised, including Wilder and King, of her parentage when she’d finally told everyone back in the winter. While I doubted the others would divulge any secrets, Sarah was a vault.

“Yet he brought us all together. Kady’s right, it’s sad he had to die to accomplish it,” Penny added. “I’m not saying I would have liked him much, but knowing he was out there until last year makes me feel like I missed out on getting to know him.”

Locke fussed and then settled. I hadn’t heard a peep from Cecily and had to assume she was asleep. That girl seemed to like the vibrations of the SUV and had conked out the entire way to Bozeman. Of course, as soon as the car stopped, she screamed bloody murder because she was hungry. Kady had stayed in the car and nursed her before joining us in the mall.

“You just have to decide to stay,” Sarah said.

I relaxed into a short straightaway before a sign indicated a left curve up ahead.

The others fell silent and I knew they were all staring at me.

Stay in Barlow.

Sarah didn’t mention Ashe or Sam in her statement, but it was a given. If I were to stay, I’d do so with them. Although, if I ended up hating their guts, my sisters would still want me to remain and I knew they’d have my back.

I hadn’t made any decision about moving to Barlow and I hadn’t really talked about it with Sam a