Chapter 11

Riskin stepped into the tack room. His hands balled into fists, and his shoulders swelled to twice their normal size. He glared at Mattox with bared teeth. “Just what do you think you're doing?”

Mattox swept his eyes down to Riskin's boots and back up to his face. “I'm not doing anything.” He pushed past Riskin and headed out of the room.

Riskin grabbed him by the arm. He yanked Mattox around to face him. “You're horning in on my fiancée there, man. That's a one-way ticket to trouble.”

Mattox jerked his arm free. “If someone's got a one-way ticket to trouble, it's you, not me.”

Mattox tried to walk away again, but Riskin jumped into his path. “Stop right there. You've been doing a lot of strange things lately, but this one takes the cake. You bought all these cows and a bull. You're building your own herd. You're trying to take over the ranch, and now you're trying to steal Lyric. Admit it, and I might let you off with a severe pounding. I won't try to rip your head off right here and now.”

Mattox drew himself up to his full height. When he puffed out his chest, he dwarfed Riskin by a mile. “I would love to see you try.”

Riskin crunched up his face in a hideous mask of deadly hatred. He hauled back his fist and let it fly toward Mattox's face. Mattox never twitched a whisker. He stood still, and Riskin's fist slammed into Mattox's open palm. His fingers closed around Riskin's fist and crushed it to a pulp.

Riskin fought to free his hand, but Mattox held it firm. He kept it locked in his grasp in mid-air between his face and Riskin's shoulder. He measured Riskin with easy calm. “You're right, Riskin. I'm glad you came in when you did, because I've been wondering how to break the sad news to you. You'll never marry Lyric, and you'll never get a controlling share in this ranch.”

Riskin's eyes widened. No matter how hard he tugged, he couldn't wrench his fist out of Mattox's hand. “What are you talking about?”

“Lyric doesn't love you. Whatever you were to each other before is over and done with now. You were never true mates. She knows it now, and she'll never marry you. She told me herself. That means you'll never inherit a share in the ranch. You might be Azer's friend, but you'll never be anything more than a grunt ranch hand, just like the rest of us.”

Riskin gave his arm one mighty yank. At that moment, Mattox released his hand. Riskin overcompensated and staggered back in a flurry to regain his balance. He came bouncing back with both fists flying. He bellowed in Mattox’s face. “You traitor! I'll kill you for this. Do you think you can barge in here and snatch anything you want? I'll make you pay. I challenge you, bear to bear and man to man. I challenge you, and the winner take all.”

Mattox stuck his arm out straight. Riskin slammed his chest into Mattox's hand and bounced off. “Cool your jets, Riskin. We still have to work together. This ranch still needs three men to make it work, and we've got the round-up coming next month. The ranch can't afford to lose either of us right now. No one is challenging anyone.”

Riskin didn't listen. He caught his balance and rushed Mattox with a wild roar. He swung his fist to smash Mattox's face in when Mattox made a quick side step. Riskin charged straight past him.

Mattox caught him by the back of the neck and shoved him forward hard. Riskin's momentum carried him on past Mattox. Mattox gave his neck a jerk, and Riskin dove forward. His chest hit the floor, and Mattox planted his face in a pile of cow manure.

He kept Riskin face down for one agonizing moment. When he let him go, Riskin popped up with a gasp and a groan. Mattox stepped clear. He walked in a circle around his fallen foe. He wrinkled up his nose at the smell.

Riskin rolled over on his elbow. “Look what you did, man. Look what you did to me.”

Mattox pursed his lips. He put out his foot and shoved Riskin in the shoulder with his boot heel. He knocked the fallen man flat on his back. In a flash, Mattox leapt over the cow manure and landed in a crouch next to Riskin. He caught him by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

Mattox hissed in his face through gritted teeth. “Get around back to the pig trough and clean yourself up. Wash your hair and your face, and let me see you putting on your best manners when you come up to the house. Do you hear me?”

Riskin stared up into his burning eyes. He opened his mouth to say something when Mattox shook him by the collar. He thundered in Riskin's face loud enough to rattle the rafters. “Do you hear me?”

Riskin voice squeaked. “Yes, sir.”

Mattox yanked him close and growled low in his ear. “You put a sock in your temper from now on, boy. Do you hear me? Don't you ever challenge me again if you want to walk out of here on your legs. You get on with doing your job and don't let me catch you shirking. I'll be watching you and checking up to make sure you don't step out of line. Do you hear me?”

Riskin stared up at him with wide eyes. “Yes, sir.”

Mattox pushed him away. He let go of Riskin's collar and sent him staggering away. “You're a guest in this house, the same way I am. You have a duty to the Mackenzie tribe. As long as you're under their roof, you won't do anything to jeopardize the ranch. If you do anything to harm the ranch or interfere with its smooth operation, you'll answer to me. Do you hear me?”

Riskin dropped his eyes to the floor. “Yes, sir.”

“Now, get out of here, and don't let me see your face until you're ready to behave yourself.” Mattox gave a kick in the pants to hustle him away.

Riskin slunk away, and a moment later, Mattox heard water splashing in the pig trough behind the barn. He gazed through the empty open door. The house hovered not far away in the waving heat outside. Lyric was over there, in the house, right now.

Her delicious kiss still drifted its distinctive Bruin perfume into his nose. Nothing in his life compared with it. He kissed a fair number of Bruin girls in his time. Every red-blooded Bruin guy had. None of them came anywhere close to Lyric.

He still felt her body pressed against him. Her breasts squished against his chest. His hands clasped around her back. Her legs bumped against his thighs. Her tongue darted into his mouth to taste and tickle his senses.

Her kiss flooded his mind with all sorts of ideas and fantasies, not all of them about what he could do with her in private. She inspired him to rise and conquer the world. He could do anything with a bunch of scrappy, underfed cows and a bull too old to see. He could do it all. He would do it for her.

Whatever anybody said about romance and fairy tales, he knew one thing for certain sure. Lyric was his life's mate. He would never have another, and he would stop at nothing to win her. Riskin would never stand in his way again. Mattox would smash any man who looked sideways at her.

Rex must have been right. Mattox would build this new pedigree and dominate the ranch. He would marry Lyric and inherit her share of the Mackenzies’ cattle empire. He would take over as Alpha of the whole Mackenzie tribe.

When Rex first told Mattox he would replace him, the idea sounded too fantastic to believe. Alpha—of someone else's tribe? Impossible! Now, though, Mattox wore the mantle easily. It fit him. It belonged to him. He owned it, and he would never set it aside again for the rest of his life.

It would happen. In Mattox's heart and soul, it already had.