Redneck Romeo (Rough Riders #15)(3)

Neither of his brothers asked where he’d be bunking down, although he sensed they wanted to.


“Okay, then. I guess we’ll see you when we see you.”


“Yep. Later.” Dalton hung up.


He stared out the window for the longest time, even though he couldn’t see shit through the swirling snow.


But this storm wasn’t anything compared to the one he faced in Sundance.


The blizzard lasted two days. On the morning of the third day Dalton packed up his stuff, closed up his cabin and headed down the mountain.


Once he had a clear cell signal, he gave Brandt a heads up he was on his way. Brandt said they’d moved Casper to the rehab wing and to meet them there.


Then he placed a call to Sierra.


She answered with, “I swear every time I call you and I don’t hear back I live in mortal fear that you’ve disconnected from the world completely and you’re out in the forest running naked with woodchucks and shit.”


“Not hardly. I returned the calls in order of importance.”


“So you’ve talked to your brothers?”


“Yeah. I’m on my way to Wyoming right now.”


“They giving you grief about…well, everything?”


“They both knew it wouldn’t take much for me to refuse to come back.” He flipped on the defroster. “How’d you find out about Casper’s stroke?”


“Keely. I knew your brothers would get a hold of you first, so my call isn’t about your father.”


“Then why did you call?” Dalton heard her take a deep breath and he went on full alert.


In a rush, Sierra said, “You’ve got to promise me that you won’t get mad at me for what I’m about to tell you.”


“No conversation ever ends well that starts that way.”


“True, but I want you to remember I was only following your parameters. And I kinda hoped someone else would tell you about this, so I didn’t have to. But then, you’d have to actually talk to someone who lives there, and we both know that’s a rarity, so I guess it falls to me.”


“You been drinkin’? ’Cause you ain’t making a lick of sense. Quit dancing around the subject, college girl, and spill it.”


“Rory is back in Sundance and working for Wyoming Natural Resource Council.”


Everything switched into slow motion. Dalton couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. He had to pull onto the shoulder so he didn’t wreck his truck.


“Dalton?”


“You said Rory is livin’ in Sundance.”


“Yes.”


“With her fiancé?”


“No. She, ah, broke off the engagement.”


“When?”


“Six months ago.”


This was not happening. Sierra had not kept this information from him about Rory for half a goddamned year.


“Dalton. I know your head is about to explode—”


“Jesus, Sierra, do you f*cking think? Why are you just telling me this now?” he roared. “Do you have any f*cking idea—”


“That you’ve been holed up in the middle of freakin’ nowhere moping because Rory got engaged to someone else? Why yes, I was completely aware of that little factoid, cuz.”


Silence.


“Besides, you were doing your lumberjack gig and completely off the grid when Rory ended the engagement. I’ll remind you of your zero tolerance policy—me not talking about Rory or sharing information about Rory’s life was your edict, Dalton. I was just following your parameters. And now the parameters have changed.”


“Seriously not f*cking amused. Will you just get to the point?”


“I really have to point out that you and Rory will actually be in the same place for the first time in over three years?”


“Three years? Try ten years since she’s lived there. I’da been in Sundance six months ago if I’d known she was there without some other *’s ring on her finger,” he snarled.


“Whoa. Take a step back, wolverine. I’m telling you now because maybe you’re smart enough to handle it the right way this time.”


“This time?” Dalton repeated sharply. “Don’t make this out to be my fault. I offered her—”


“Don’t snap at me or interrupt me again or I will hang up, understand?”


“Yeah, yeah, keep talkin’.”


“Rory is my sister. You’re my business partner and one of the few people I trust. I hate that I’m pulled between you two. It’s time you manned up, Dalton. And don’t remind me that you did that once three years ago after you walked out on your own wedding. Even you can admit it was piss poor timing on your part.”


“But that bad timing didn’t stop her from giving me an edict, did it?”


“Like I’ve told you ten thousand times, that wasn’t an edict. Two years was a time line for Rory to finish grad school and a frame of reference for you to understand how important that was to her. You shouldn’t have taken it as gospel.”