Raising Kane (Rough Riders #9)(70)

After that day, Shep had been a great cattle dog and a great companion.


“Damn, dog. Had to make a dramatic exit, didn’t ya?” He’d seen things like this happen too often on the ranch to chalk it up to coincidence. Animal instincts never ceased to amaze him.


Kane stayed crouched down, his gloved hand absently petting Shep’s head. He hadn’t realized he was crying until he couldn’t move his face, which had become covered in frozen tears.


“Kane!”


He didn’t turn around at his brother’s shout. He’d come out here anyway.


Kade stopped behind him, huffing and puffing after trudging through the knee-deep snow.


“Kane, what the hell are you doin’… Oh shit.”


Kane didn’t say a word. Couldn’t speak around the lump lodged in his throat.


“Aw, man, I’m sorry. Really f*ckin’ sorry.” Pause. “How long…?”


“He went out this mornin’ and didn’t come back so I went lookin’ for him.” More tears fell and he didn’t bother to swipe them away. “Damn dog.”


After a bit, Kade clamped his hand on Kane’s shoulder. “This just sucks.”


“Yeah.” Kane stood and shivered. “I’m gonna head back to the barn and get a shovel. The ground’ll be a bitch to dig since it’s so f*ckin’ frozen, but I ain’t gonna just leave him out here as buzzard and coyote bait…” Kane’s voice broke.


Kade squeezed his shoulder. “Lemme take care of this for you, bro.”


Kane looked at his twin, knowing the sunglasses masked his red eyes, but also knowing Kade didn’t need to see his eyes to know he’d been crying. “Thanks for the offer, but I should—”


“No man oughta hafta bury his own dog, Kane. I’ve been around Shep a lot too. This is the least I can do for you and for him.”


No sense arguing. Kane said, “Thanks. I’ll get the shovel.”


“I know where the shovels are. How about if you head to town and get that cake loaded? Then I’ll meetcha at Dewey’s for lunch.”


Kane nodded. They plodded through the snow in silence. Kade cut to the left toward the barn when the buildings came into view, while Kane went straight for his truck. He loaded the trailer. He hadn’t meant to look back, but just as he started down the driveway, he glanced in his rearview and saw his brother traipsing through the snow, dragging two shovels.


He cranked on the radio for the drive into town, but he flipped it off when Blake Shelton’s “Old Red”


came on.


At the feed store he wasn’t in the mood to make idle chitchat with Denny, but this was a small community, and Kane had been trying like the devil the last few years to overcome his previous brusque reputation. Once he and Denny finished jawing about the weather, the Broncos’ lousy season, the rash of new McKay babies and the upcoming calving season, Kane was ready to load up.



“This oughta be good,” Kane muttered.


“She said Colt might be an * on occasion, but he was her * and she didn’t appreciate you messing up his pretty face.” Her eyes searched his. “Does that mean something to you?”


Kane smiled. “Yeah, she’s not pissed off at me for getting into a fistfight with her husband.”


“Wait a second. You and Colt got into a…fistfight?”


“Yep. Wasn’t the first time, probably won’t be the last.”


Ginger stared at him, her mouth hanging open. “You’re both grown men! Whatever would possess you to take a swing at one another?”


He bristled. “I don’t expect you to understand. Me’n Colt… Let’s just say we’re both just hotheaded.


We get pissed, come out swingin’ and then we’re done. Fine. Back to normal.”


“You’re serious.”


“India didn’t tell you that Kade and Brandt had to break up the fight between me’n Colt at Sky Blue?”


“No. She just told me that you’d had a bad morning.”


“Indy thinks Colt is completely tamed. Sure, he hasn’t been drinkin’, druggin’ and whorin’ around for a few years. He’s happily married to a woman he worships and now they’ve got this perfect little boy. But there’s a dark side to him. A side that likes to inflict pain and receive it in return. Colt’s brothers have never understood it. Kade never understood it about me, either. But me’n Colt? We recognized it from the time we were kids and accepted that violent side. And it might sound barbaric, but every once in a while? We just need to beat the ever lovin’ shit out of each other. Today was that day.”


She honestly didn’t know what to say.


“When Colt hears why I was a major * today, well, he’ll probably show up at my place with a damn puppy. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”


Ginger placed her hand on Kane’s thigh. “I’m so sorry about Shep.”


“Yeah. Ah. Thanks.” He swigged from his bottle. “Seems a little silly, cryin’ in my beer over my dead dog. Jesus, I’m livin’ the clichéd country song—my dog died, I had a knock-down, drag-out fight with my kin and now I’m at the local watering hole drownin’ my sorrows about the suckage of my life.”