M att’s eyes opened and he looked up into a familiar face. He thought about talking, then thought better of it. Only one word escaped around the tube in his damned throat. It was completely garbled but his younger brother understood .

Nate leaned closer. “Wondered when you were going to rejoin the land of the living .”

He tried to say her name again. Nate just sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let me guess, you are going to be just as single-minded as Joel was, aren’t you? Pip is doing fine. Minor burns, broken ribs, sprained ankle, smoke inhalation—which was the biggie—and a black eye. Gunderson apparently hit her a time or two. Other than that, she’s right there. Sleeping. See?” His brother pointed to the next bed over. “We thought about putting her in with her twin, but Perci said Pip snores and you get custody of her from now on .”

Matt just looked at his brother significantly .

“Perci took a nasty hit across the back from a burning beam, Matt. She’s going to have a bit of a scar. She does have six cracked ribs. The beam bounced down, we think, and broke her leg. The opposite end caught on part of the back stall that hadn’t burned yet. They got extremely lucky that they were on a pile of hay. It had some give and at the angle the beam fell, they weren’t completely under it. It kept it from landing full on them while burning. Perci’ll be on crutches for a while—and both are on bronchodilators and a host of other things to repair the smoke damage to their lungs. Same as you. As for you, you took a crack to the head—Pip said a shovel?—a broken clavicle from that shovel, broken ribs, fractured radius in two places, and you and Gunderson beat the hell out of each other. You’ve had some burns to the throat and mouth. But nothing too serious there. You’ll be out of here in a week tops. Just in time for Mother to get back into town and take care of you. She’s already called. After what happened to Joel and her being stuck helping out in Mexico with that earthquake…well…she’s ready to help her baby boy .”

Matt looked at his brother in horror. His mother…hovered…whenever one of her boys was injured. Horribly .

“Yeah, thought that would get your attention.” Nate’s face darkened. “As for Gunderson…Bowles told us what he saw and what Gunderson did to Bowles’ little assistant. Joel also found the remains of a gasoline can inside the barn. Not to mention what the sonofabitch did to the deputy. Guy’s going to live, but he got lucky, too. There’s a lot of that going around, apparently. Jay Gunderson has been making threats from the moment he was brought in. We have him in a secure room two floors down. Joel and some other officials are waiting on statements from you and the twins. Hell, Matt, I’d only been gone two hours before they were bringing you all in .”

Matt wanted the sonofabitch gone. He didn’t want Gunderson in the same damned building as Pip. He started to sit up, to look at her for himself. His brother stopped him. “Relax. Joel is working on transferring him to the prison ward eighty miles away. Guy’s cuffed to a bed and sedated anyway. He’s not getting near her or her sisters again. Levi’s sitting in the hallway between your rooms, and Pan’s in with Perci .”

Matt pulled at the tube in his throat. He wanted it out .

His brother understood. “You turn uncooperative and I’m shoving it right back in .”

“Move me closer.” Matt’s words were harsh and raspy, but Nate understood .

Nate shook his head. “I can’t do that. Cords aren’t long enough .”

“Then get a damned extension cord in here. Get a dozen. Just get my bed right next to hers. I’m going to be the first person she sees when she opens her eyes, Nate. You’d better damned well believe it,” he rasped .

“How did I get cursed with the most difficult brothers? Seeing her isn’t enough. You have to be practically in the same bed with her? You’re as bad as Joel was .”

Matt glanced at his brother again, finally taking his eyes off Pip. “Just you wait. You and Perci …”

“Will never happen. Just get that out of your head. A guy will need a cage and a whip to tame that woman. She’s a damned tiger .”

“She saved our lives, too. I thought—“ Matt forced himself to speak over the emotion threatening to choke him up. “That beam fell on the two of them and I watched. I couldn’t do a damned thing to stop it. Pip was right beneath it, Nate. And then Perci jumped her. She knocked Pip out of the way; she had to know she’d be hurt doing it. And she just did it anyway. It landed on the both of them and they were screaming, hurting, and I couldn’t do a damned thing to help them. If it wasn’t for Bowles…he helped me get them out. Perci just laid there, not making a sound. And it was burning on top of her. She didn’t make a damned sound. I’ll never forget that.” He stopped to fight a cough and take a drink of water his brother held out to him. “And Pip—Pip was trying to help Perci and she couldn’t. She was crying and trying to pull her sister free. I thought they were both going to—Perci’s going to be ok ?”

“No lasting damage. Except a scar or two. Second degree burn, at worst. She got lucky. It wasn’t burning significantly at that point. It was just heavy. As for Pip…some burn scars, small ones. That’ll be all she’ll be able to see. It’ll be the emotional scars that take the biggest toll. On them both. But she has her family to help her get through it. And ours. Am I to take it that there will be another Tyler sister living at our place soon ?”

“As soon as I can get her to say yes. ” And in the meantime, Matt was just going to lie there and watch her sleep. But… “Nate? I’m serious about those extension cords. You want me to stay hooked up to those damned machines, I’ll need a much longer leash. I’m going to be next to her, no matter what .”