Kiss Me (Fool's Gold #17)(66)

Maya rushed over with Thad right behind her. Cookie followed. Seconds later, Zane had Chase pinned. Both brothers were breathing hard, glaring at each other.

“What the hell?” Maya demanded.

Cookie threatened both of them with a frying pan to the head if they didn’t stop. Phoebe still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Nor did she understand what was happening or why.

“Do it,” Chase taunted from his place flat on the ground. “Hit me. You know you want to.”

Zane’s tight expression was unreadable. Tension crackled in the air.

“Dammit all to hell, hit me!”

Zane released his brother and stood up. Then without saying anything, he stalked away. Maya dropped to her knees next to her stepbrother.

“What’s going on? Why are you two fighting?”

Chase pointed at Phoebe. “Ask her.”

Everyone turned to stare. Phoebe scrambled to her feet and brushed off her fanny. “Me? I didn’t do anything.” She pointed at the log. “Okay, I tripped and fell and got the wind knocked out of me. What does that have to do with anything?”

Chase’s mouth dropped open. “You tripped?”

Phoebe sighed. “So I’m not the most graceful person here. Why is that such a big deal?”

Maya stood and put her hands on her hips. “Kid, you just screwed up big-time.”

Chase groaned and flopped back on the ground. “No. I thought... She was on her back and upset and he was bending over her.”

Thad and Cookie backed away from the scene. Phoebe looked from them to Chase as all the pieces fell into place.

“You thought he’d hurt me? Zane? Your brother? Has he ever once in his entire life touched a woman?”

Maya shook her head. “Not in a bad way. According to Sally, he was pretty decent in—”

Phoebe held up her hand. She did not want to hear about Zane’s lovemaking skills through the grapevine.

She turned back to Chase. “You’re always complaining that Zane doesn’t see the good in you, but you’re just as guilty. Why would you assume something like that about him? He’s your brother. You should know he’d never hurt a woman.”

Chase sat up and dropped his head to his chest. “I do. It’s just—I can’t explain it. You were on the ground, and Zane looked, I don’t know. Different. Furious.”

“He’s not the only one,” Phoebe told him, before heading off. “You owe your brother an apology.”

She crashed through the bushes, hoping Zane hadn’t suddenly changed direction. If he had, she would get lost before finding him. On the bright side, maybe she would stumble upon the raccoon thieves and be able to bargain for the release of her pen.

* * *

ZANE HEARD THE thrashing long before anyone appeared in the clearing. After a couple of minutes he figured out who it was by the soft bits of conversation during which Phoebe apologized to the trees and bushes she trampled.

“Over here,” he called, taking pity on her. And maybe himself. For once he didn’t want to be alone.

He still couldn’t believe Chase had come after him like that. He’d known what his brother was thinking the second he saw his face. That shocked him. Did Chase really think he was such a monster?

Phoebe broke through the underbrush and stepped into the clearing. Twigs and leaves stuck in her hair and on her shirt. She came to a stop when she saw him and began brushing off her clothes.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said.

Zane offered a humorous smile. “He didn’t get a shot.”

Phoebe crossed to the log and sat next to him. “I’m more concerned about your emotional spirit than whether you were hit.”

He looked at her face—at the big eyes and full lips, at the concern. In his world of ranching and outdoor life, Phoebe was useless if decorative. From what he could tell, she hadn’t been very monetarily successful in her career, and according to Maya, she was a disaster at relationships.

But to him, she was probably the strongest person he’d ever known. She led with her heart, coming back again and again, regardless of how the organ got bruised. She had a well of courage that left him in awe.

“Nobody worries about me,” he told her.

“I do.” She took one of his hands in hers. “You’d never hurt me, or any woman. I don’t know why Chase jumped to that conclusion.”

Zane did his best to ignore the heat pouring into him. Just the light touch of her small fingers was enough to get him hard. He had to get this under control.

“You were on the ground and hurt. I was just standing there. It looked bad.”

She dismissed his statement. “I don’t care how it looked. I care about how it was.”

“Thanks.” He squeezed her fingers, then pulled free before he did something stupid like ripping off her jeans and making love to her right there on the ground.

“Oh, Zane.”

Phoebe sighed his name in a way that made him want to spill all the dark secrets of his soul. While he couldn’t risk that, he was willing to bring one to the light of day.

“If he’d been anyone else, I would have taken him on.”

She looked at him. “You would have fought him?”

He nodded. “Right now I could use a good fight.”