The Trouble with Texas Cowboys (Burnt Boot, Texas #2)(20)

“Dear God,” Quaid groaned. “I’d best go make sure Uncle Russell can handle them both. I hate to do this, Jill, but…”

“I’m going with you,” she said.

“This is not the way I expected our first date to go. I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” he said.

She laid her napkin on the table and stood up. “No problem.”

Quaid made a phone call on his way to collect their jackets, and the truck was waiting in front of the door when they arrived.

Mavis shook her head and her finger at the same time. “What in the hell are you doin’ here? You’ve got a date.”

“Where are you going?” Quaid asked.

“I’m going to shoot Naomi Gallagher,” Mavis said.

“Then I’m going to keep you out of jail.”

“How can you do that? You aren’t a lawyer. I’d do better with Kinsey.” Mavis buckled the seat belt and crossed her arms over her ample bosom.

“Well, you’ve got me,” Quaid said.

Russell turned to his nephew. “One of the others can go. You’ve got plans.”

“I’m the one who’s here. We need any more help, someone will be there in ten minutes,” Quaid said.

Russell nodded. “Sorry about this, Jill. You’ll have to come back another time. Let’s go see if we can straighten this out. She’s liable to have a stroke and really shoot Naomi if she finds out for sure that she’s behind this.”

“Why would your grandma think the Gallaghers stole her hogs?” Jill asked as she settled into the passenger’s seat and Quaid started the engine.

“It’s a long story. Our families have feuded for more than a hundred years.”

She pretended to not know anything. “Like the Hatfields and McCoys?”

He nodded. “Modern day. So far none of us have murdered each other, but it might be comin’ if Naomi stole Grandma’s pigs.”

“Why would she do that, anyway, if she does turn out to be the thief? And, besides, wasn’t she in church this morning? How could a little old lady do that?”

Quaid’s jaw worked like he was chewing bubble gum. “She wouldn’t, but her family would. This is horrible. We shouldn’t be following Grandma out to Wild Horse Ranch to confront Naomi on our first date.”

First date, hell. It was their last date. She didn’t want to be mixed up in any of this shit. To top it all off, she’d be there with Quaid, with all appearances saying she was supporting the Brennans, and she had a supper date with Tyrell Gallagher. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Sawyer all about it. Come to think of it, he was at the Gallaghers right now, having dinner with them. Did that mean they were on opposing teams?

They reached the stone entrance into Wild Horse, and a man held up a hand to stop them from crossing the cattle guard. Russell and Quaid both rolled down their driver’s side windows and leaned out.

“Mama has come to talk to Naomi,” Russell shouted.

“Brennans don’t come no closer, and they do not cross onto Wild Horse. Read the sign.” He pointed.

“Trespassers will be prosecuted. Brennans will be shot,” Jill read aloud. “Do they mean it?”

“We’ve got one on our fences, only it says that Gallaghers will be shot,” Quaid said. “We mean it. We assume they do.”

“We just want Naomi to tell Mama that she had nothing to do with her hogs going missing this mornin’,” Russell said.

“Granny is entertaining dinner guests. Y’all go on back home.”

“Did the Gallaghers steal our hogs?” Russell asked.

“You call the sheriff. He can come onto Wild Horse and check every square inch of our property. You won’t find a single hog here. We don’t raise those filthy things, and we damn sure don’t want them on our place. They stink worse than Brennans.”

The passenger side door opened, and Mavis crawled out. She marched right up to the stone entryway, but she didn’t put a foot on the cattle guard. “I know Naomi is behind this, and those hogs were worth enough that this will draw someone some jail time when I find them. You tell her that she’s going to wish she’d never been born.”

“Get on out of here, you crazy old woman,” the man said.

Russell pushed out of the truck and marched right up to the man. “You don’t talk to my mama like that.”

“Well, you don’t accuse my granny of thievery,” the man yelled back in his face.

“You better hope she didn’t instigate this, or she’ll spend the rest of her years behind bars. I don’t give a shit if she’s an old dingbat who steals pigs,” Russell yelled.

The man threw the first punch.

Jill sat there in stunned silence.

Quaid groaned and slung open his door, left it hanging in the cold wind, and ran onto Wild Horse property to separate the two men rolling around on the ground in their Sunday best. The first person he had to get control of was Mavis. She was kicking, hitting, and slapping the Gallagher grandson like a madwoman.

Since she was his date, Jill thought that she really should go help Quaid, but she didn’t want to be accused of fighting for either side. She heard him yell her name, and she bailed out of the truck.

“Sit with Granny in the truck while I get a handle on Daddy. I swear he will be in the hospital with chest pains over this,” Quaid said.