Lassoed (Steele Ranch 5)

“Fuck,” Ashe murmured, running a hand over his face. He walked over to the railing, leaned forward and set his hands on it. Stared out into the distance. His cheeks were flushed and his stance was tense. Yeah, he wanted to go deliver some Montana justice but was holding back.

“We’ll invite the hands up for dinner, see what happens,” Archer said.

“If he wanted to hurt the women, do we want him in the house?” I asked. “He should be in jail.”

“We have no proof,” he countered. “Yet. Besides Natalie seeing him, or thinking she saw him, there’s nothing tying him to the blown tire.”

Ashe pushed off the railing and turned. “But—” he began.

“I believe you, Natalie,” Archer said, cutting Ashe off. “Don’t think otherwise. But we can’t just confront him. It’s not how this is done. I’ll get Cricket to invite the men up for dinner. It’s not unusual for her to do so. I’ll make a few calls to the station. Let’s keep this between the four of us for

now. If Patrick really did do this, then the most important thing is for all of us not to stare at him funny over a meal. Or have one of the other men beat the shit out of him. He has to think we have no clue.”

“I’m a terrible actress,” Natalie admitted.

She was rubbing her arms, so I pulled her back against me, wrapped my arms around her.

“Don’t worry, your sisters are crazy enough to be a distraction.” Archer smiled.

I angled my head so I could see Natalie’s face and saw that his words made her smile, too.

“I’ll take care of this, all right?” Archer added. “Don’t worry. If Patrick did this, he’s going down. One way or another.”

Absolutely. And I doubted Archer would even get him in handcuffs. He’d have to deal with all the men inside—plus us here on the porch—first. There was a lot of land on Steele Ranch to hide a body.

13

NATALIE

* * *

Patrick and Shamus came to eat dinner, just as Archer had assumed. He’d told Cricket that she she shouldn’t take no for an answer to her invite. Luring men with food wasn’t all that hard to do. And by the look of Patrick—and Shamus—they were young college kids who could put a side of beef away.

Since there was so many of us, eighteen, we’d put platters of grilled hamburgers, pasta salad, chips and brownies out on the counter and everyone had helped themselves. Some had sat at the large dining room table, others on the couch to watch a baseball game as they ate. I’d sat at a stool at the kitchen counter, Sam at my side. If he got up, Ashe took his spot. It should have been smothering, not being allowed out of their sight, but today, I was just fine with that.

It had been easy to steer clear of Patrick because Cricket had pulled me into the kitchen to help with the dishes. It had been the first time I was glad to do them. Patrick was on one of the couches in the other room watching the ball game so it didn’t seem like I was hiding. I did notice Archer remained nearby and kept an eye on him.

But Patrick was completely normal. He’d made small talk with everyone, but he was a little wary around chatting us ladies up too much. Having big, alpha males for boyfriends/husbands probably made him wary about getting too friendly. Since Riley and Jamison knew nothing about our conversation on the porch, they were talking batter stats with him.

But conversation turned to the flat tire incident. I could hear the men debating whether we’d hit a patch of ice or if there had been a nail. I glanced at Cricket, who was drying the platter I’d just handed her. My hands were deep in suds and hot water, but I grabbed an extra dish towel and wiped them off. “I want to hear this.”

She quickly finished drying and put the platter on the counter. “Me, too. The dishes can wait.”

There was no faking my curiosity, and I knew Cricket would want any updates, too. I followed her into the other room, but as she went over to sit on the arm of the couch by Archer, I went the other way and toward Ashe. He patted his lap and I sat down. I had no intention of getting it on like Penny and Boone had earlier, but sitting with Ashe was far from the same thing.

Cecily had been fussy and so Kady had taken her upstairs about a half hour ago to nurse. Since they hadn’t returned, I had to assume they were both taking a nap. Although, Cord was missing, so perhaps they were getting busy in some quiet corner of this big house.

“That guardrail and steep edge were too damned close,” Boone said, slowly shaking his head.

“Natalie, you’re teaching all of us winter driving skills come first snowfall,” Archer added, giving me a small nod.

Ashe leaned forward and kissed my temple as the others agreed.

“The mechanic can easily replace the tire and fix the back panel, but he’ll also check for any other damage,” Riley said. “Fortunately, Kady’s still on maternity leave from school, so we can drive her wherever she needs to go.”

“You’re going to have to let her go off by herself again sometime soon,” Cricket advised.

Riley shook his head. “Fuck, no. Look what happened when we did that.”