Love on the Range (Brothers in Arms #3)(17)

Good thing because his words made Wyatt sick and nervous. He didn’t want to hear this.

“Molly is in love with you. No thinkin’, no fallin’. She’s all the way in.”

Maybe he did want to hear it.

“How can either of you know such a thing?”

“I’m not sure what’s going on with Molly leaving the way she did the other night.” Cheyenne’s arm tightened halfway to a hug. “We all decided different things. She wasn’t appreciated. She was working hard at a thankless job.”

“You were a growlin’ old grizzly to her all the time.” Falcon had to remind Wyatt of that.

He glared at Falcon. “I came over here thinking a brother might have some good advice. Now I wish you’d go back to chopping, and I could just talk to Cheyenne.”

“Sparkin’ a girl’s the easiest thing in the world.” Falcon grinned at Cheyenne.

Who grinned back.

Falcon had gotten lost in the woods, well, not lost exactly. He’d been shot, he’d fallen into a vicious, fast-moving stream, half-drowned and believed dead, and left to wander in the forest for a week with a head wound that wiped out his memory. Cheyenne hadn’t met him yet, since it happened the first day he’d come to the ranch, and she’d left the ranch in a rage over having lost her inheritance to Wyatt and his surprise half brothers.

While wandering the woods, she’d seen tracks and wondered who was skulking around her property. She traipsed around after him in the mountains and forests for nearly a week and never so much as caught sight of him.

“Falcon impressed me so much when I was trying to trail him. I was halfway in love with him before we met. He’s right. It was easy.”

“You two are no help.” Wyatt grabbed his Stetson and dragged it off his head, then with his gloved hand, he shoved his hair back so it didn’t hang in his eyes. He needed a haircut. He clapped his hat back on and decided to ride to Bear Claw Pass to the barber. Anything to get shut of these two.

And no, he wasn’t gonna ask the barber what to do about Molly.

He took one long step.

Cheyenne grabbed hold of him. “Wait. Don’t leave. You’re right. We’re a bad example of how to spark a woman.”

“I sparked Patsy back home. My first wife.”

Nodding, Cheyenne asked, “How’d you do that?”

“I met her in the woods skinnin’ a possum. You should’ve seen that woman skin a possum.” Falcon shook his head and seemed to be seeing into the past. “It was a wonder. I asked her if she was married, and she said no. So I asked her if she’d marry me, and she said yes.”

Cheyenne leaned forward to look across Wyatt at Falcon. “Just like that?”

“She was a fine woman.”

Cheyenne looked sideways at Wyatt.

He scowled at her. “I’ve never seen Molly skin anything. She expects the food to come to the house already skinned.”

“Still, she’s a fine cook.” Falcon patted his stomach.

Wyatt expected Falcon and Cheyenne to show up for most meals back home . . . unless Molly moved away. Then they’d all starve.

“Just go back and ask her to marry you. That oughta fix things up, but I can go trap a possum for you if y’all want to test her first.” Falcon’s Southern drawl was a perfect echo of Clovis Hunt, their worthless father. Of the three brothers, Falcon resembled Clovis most. It was the thing Wyatt liked least about him.

Wyatt shoved Falcon, and he only moved because Wyatt took him by surprise, and maybe because he was getting out of fist range and laughing at the same time.

Having brothers was turning out to be a chore.

“Molly isn’t interested in marrying anyone,” Wyatt said, feeling low. “Remember when we were talking about honoring our fathers, and all of us were wondering how to honor Clovis? Molly said, ‘Mine was no great pillar of decency, either. I think honoring him is going to have to be one of those sins I just have to ask forgiveness for.’”

“You remember her exact words?” Falcon asked. “You were interested in her even back then?”

Cheyenne crossed her arms and frowned. “After Molly did so much doctoring on Win the night she got shot, I said something about Molly getting married someday. She said she’d never marry. And, cranky as I was then, I wasn’t paying her much mind, but even at that, I was struck by her sounding solemn as the grave. She said her ma did a poor job of picking husbands, and she’d likely do just as poorly.”

“Picking me wouldn’t be doing poorly.”

“That’s sure enough true, but she might not see it that way, especially since you’ve been so growly.”

He hadn’t been growling when he’d kissed her. His head was a little fuzzy from it, but he was pretty sure she’d kissed him back. Before he’d heard the door, shoved her away, and ran. He winced at the memory. He doubted that had impressed her much.

“Kevin said his stepfather and his ma died a long time ago.” Falcon tried to remember. “I think his pa was a . . . a night rider? Was that what he said? Threw in with men riding wild at night, thieving and burning, fighting for slavery before there was even a war. Molly’s pa sounds like he was no prize. And we know Clovis was a dumb choice. So I can see why Molly’s a little on edge when it comes to husbands.”