sat to squeeze her shoulder. “If Garcia and Ortiz are the men who delivered this to the house last night, then they already had it on them when we met them.”
Wyatt agreed. “Frankly, I like the idea of you getting a few licks in on Calderón’s men and throwing them off their scheduled plan. Makes me feel like he’s not controlling every move we try to make.”
Tracy sat a little taller in her chair. “So making contact with Calderón’s men was a good thing?”
“Yeah,” Wyatt assured her.
“No.” Bull couldn’t agree. Sol Garcia’s backhand had left a bruise on Tracy’s cheekbone. “We’ve already got a sister in trouble with the Los Jaguares, we don’t need anyone else to get hurt.”
“Bull—”
“I just meant—”
“All of you, shut up!”
For once in his life, Bull didn’t snap back at his father’s shouted order. Of course, the quick squeeze of Tracy’s fingers around his where they fisted on her chair might have something to do with that. Everyone’s nerves were on edge this morning.
He opened his hand and squeezed back, thanking her for her calming influence before pulling away and crossing to the window to gaze out over the east paddock and the mares and colts there. The flies must be bad today. The horses seemed to be a little skittish, dancing around like that instead of quietly grazing. Bull wasn’t feeling quite like he belonged inside his own skin today, either. A reassuring touch from an old friend shouldn’t make his pulse leap like that.
He’d like to attribute this whole weird vibe with Tracy to fatigue and stress. It had been a long night with little sleep, thanks to the bittersweet memories he had of bunking in his old bedroom on the second floor and to the fitful dreams he’d had about Tracy herself.
The trouble was, he didn’t know which was more unsettling—images of Tracy being beaten or cut by a pair of Los Jaguares gang members, or the erotic visions he’d had of sharing that bed with her. Somehow, the long, friendly hug he remembered from Tracy’s apartment had become her soft skin and lean curves pressed against his naked body. And there were no teasing remarks or words of solace. There’d been moans and sighs and that wild chestnut hair falling all around him until he’d sat bolt upright in bed—wide-awake, hot with sweat and wanting.
A cold shower and a silent breakfast with Justice this morning had convinced Bull that it was just wishful thinking to believe something had changed between him and Tracy over the years. She’d been a rock of caring and common sense to him growing up, and he needed her to be that for him now. He wouldn’t chase away her support by acting on that latent attraction he felt for her. Nor would he mislead her into thinking he had any intentions of staying in Serpentine once Brittany Means was safely back at the J-Bar-J.
“The longer Brittany’s away from us, the harder it will be to get her home unharmed.” Justice’s sharp voice intruded on Bull’s thoughts and pulled his attention away from the horses outside. “That’s what this latest threat means, isn’t it?”
“May I?” Tracy reached for the sealed note Justice handed across the desk. “I don’t think you believe we mean business, Mr. McCabe. Here is your daughter’s hair. Next time it will be a slice out of that pretty face of hers. 12 a.m. Christmas Eve—your land, or your daughter’s life.”
“There has to be something more we can do than sit here and listen to the clock ticking. She’s only seventeen. Brittany thinks she’s all alone in this world. She may not even believe this new family of hers is looking for her. Missing her.” Tracy’s soft gasp of anger and despair punched Bull right in the gut. His instinct was to reach for her, to soothe her raw emotions. He curled his fingers around the window sill, instead, and watched her scoot to the edge of the leather chair, pleading with Justice. “I can’t imagine how frightened she must be. We need to do whatever it takes to get her home safely before Calderón makes good on these threats. Can’t you talk to him? Make some kind of deal with him so we can at least speak to her and reassure her?”
“If I give him access to that part of the ranch to smuggle his drugs, who knows what he’ll want next? And who knows what he’ll do or who he’ll hurt to get