Chapter 4

The next morning, Dallas held his nephew Hugh’s hand as they walked over to the granite quarry. Worth was in charge of the quarry and hardly ever blew things up for fun, but Dallas had been working on his old-lady-stick-up-his-ass twin. This morning they were going to have some fun.

Hell, if Dallas had been in charge of the quarry, he’d never get any work done because he’d be blowing stuff up all the time. That was probably why he was in charge of the twenty-thousand-acre exotic-animal ranch and the deer-hunting leases. People paid a pretty penny for the privilege to hunt deer on the Texas Rose Ranch.

“Now remember, if anyone asks, we’re off shooting firecrackers.” Dallas didn’t condone lying per se, but a little creative truth never hurt anyone. And there were some things that shouldn’t be shared with any parental-type people.

“Got it, Uncle Dallas. Firecrackers.” The kid would have saluted if he’d known how. He was eight going on thirty. Dallas had never met a more serious kid. “Did you know that when hippos are upset their sweat turns red?”

Hugh loved him some random facts.

“I did not know that. Maybe I’ll just get me a hippo and see for myself.” Dallas didn’t know much about hippo husbandry, but he was pretty sure he could get an import license for one and add him—or to be fair, her—to the exotic ranch.

“Also, billy goats pee on their own head so they can attract females.” Hugh expelled random facts like other people expelled carbon dioxide.

Dallas thought about it for a minute. “Not sure how the physics involved work out. I couldn’t pee on my head if I tried.”

“I know. I tried in the shower, but it didn’t work.” Hugh sounded really disappointed. “Don’t tell my mom.”

Dallas held out his pinkie. “Pinkie swear I won’t.”

Hugh hooked pinkies with Dallas and then let go.

“Even if you did tell her, she wouldn’t listen. She spends all of her time with AG.” Hugh’s mouth curled up in annoyance.

“That’s because AG is little and needs your mother. You’re practically all grown-up and don’t need her as much.” Dallas could see there was more than a little jealousy going on here. “You know, if you helped her out with AG, she might have more free time to spend with you.”

“Maybe.” Hugh rolled his eyes. “I’m not changing any diapers.”

Dallas stared down at him. “I’m not talking about diapers. I’m talking about the time-honored tradition of big brotherhood.” He pretended to size up the boy. “I don’t know if you’re ready for it… you’re kinda short and,” he held up the little boy’s arm, “puny, so I don’t think you can do it.”

Talk about lighting a fire under the kid. He pulled himself up to his full height of four feet. “I’m not small or puny. I can be a big brother better than anyone.”

“Okay, I believe you, but you’ve got to be willing to take on some pretty scary things. Big brotherhood is a secret club, and we only take men of good moral character.”

“What’s moral character?” Hugh stared solemnly up at his uncle. “Do I got it?”

“Well now, let me see.” Dallas stopped and held the kid out in front of him. He made a big show of inspecting Hugh. “Yes, I do see some good moral character in you. Good moral character means being kind and honest and treating people fairly. Think you can do that?”

“I guess.” Hugh didn’t sound so sure. “What does that have to do with AG?”

Hugh was a smart one. Nothing got past him.

“You have to help take care of her. Rock her when she cries, play with her when she wants to play, and here’s the most important part of big brotherhood, you have to protect her. Big brothers have to protect their little sisters and brothers. It’s in the big brothers’ code. Whether it’s monsters under the bed or thunderstorms, you’ve got to be right there beside her to battle those monsters and then to hold her hand. She’s a little tiny baby, so she’s going to be scared, and you’re going to have to protect her.” Dallas looked down at him gravely. “Think you can do that?”

“I sure can. I’ll protect her forever.” Hugh nodded like he’d just been asked to protect the president of the United States.

“That’s a good big brother.” Dallas took the boy’s hand and they walked toward the control room beside the quarry. “Now, tell me everything about your Aunt Rosie.”

Now was as good a time as any to press the kid for info.

“Well, she’s pretty and she makes really good birthday cake.” According to Hugh, those were the only two qualities that mattered in his book. The kid was wise beyond his years.

“She is pretty. I don’t know about the birthday cake, but I’m willing to keep an open mind.” Dallas made sure to slow his pace to match Hugh’s shorter legs. “Anything else?”

Hugh thought about it for a second. “My mom says that she’s not a morning person—whatever that means.”

“Not a morning person.” He filed that bit of info away for future use. “What else?”

“She has a bunch of sisters, and when they’re together they’re really loud… kinda like when you get together with your brothers.” Hugh shrugged his shoulders. “That’s all I know… well, also, she smells good… like flowers.”

Dallas had noticed that right off. She smelled like gardenias and lemons. He couldn’t think of anything bad to say about gardenias or lemons. “Thanks for the info.”

“No problem.” Hugh shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal. “Why are you asking about Aunt Rosie?”

Crap, that wise-beyond-his-years thing was turning on Dallas.

“No reason. Since she’s moving here, I thought it would be nice if I got to know her better.” That was reasonable and mostly true.

“Okay.” Hugh looked up at Dallas. “Did you know that over a lifetime, the human body produces enough spit to fill two swimming pools?”

“I did not. Thanks for the tip.” He hawked up a good-sized loogie. “I bet I can spit farther than you.”

“No, you can’t.” Hugh hawked up his own.

They let them rip and Hugh was the clear winner.

“That was amazing. You’ve got some real skills, H-man.” Dallas rustled the kid’s hair. “Impressive.”

Hugh smiled with his whole body. “Thanks. I’ve been practicing.”

“It shows.” Dallas nodded. “Practice makes perfect.”

Hugh pointed to the row of green about a hundred feet in front of him. “Are those watermelons?”

“Yep. If we’re going to blow stuff up, we need stuff to blow up. I thought watermelons would be nice and messy. Blowing stuff up isn’t any fun unless you make a giant mess.” If there was one thing Dallas knew, it was how to make a huge mess.

Three hours later, the quarry looked like a war had broken out between the watermelons, the cantaloupes, and the honeydews. It looked like the watermelons had taken the heaviest casualties. Chunks of melon were everywhere.

“I wish we’d had some pumpkins to blow up, but they’re not in season.” One side of Worth’s mouth curled up in a smile. “Now those are really fun because they’re pretty much hollow inside and you can really pack in the explosives.”

“See? There.” Dallas pointed to his brother. “I knew you weren’t always a tight-ass—um… stick-in-the-mud.”

They were working on not cussing around H-man, but sometimes things just slipped out.

Worth shot him a yeah-right smile. “I have been known on occasion to blow stuff up just for fun.”

Dallas put a hand over his heart and wiped fake tears with the other. “This is a very proud moment for me. Finally, my baby brother has removed the stick from his ass—um… posterior region. I’m almost speechless.”

“Good God, don’t half-ass—um, halfway do it. Go all in and be speechless. You’d be doing the world a favor.” Worth clapped his brother on the back.

“Do you see all of this hate?” Dallas glanced at Hugh. “I’ve devoted my life to making sure my rule-following brother occasionally has fun and doesn’t miss out on life, and all I get for my trouble is attitude.” He shook his head in resignation. “It’s a thankless job, but I’ll keep at it because that’s what family does—they keep going even in the face of rudeness and hatred.”

Worth stifled a yawn as he made a big show of checking his watch. “You almost finished?”

Dallas thought about it for a while. “Yep.”

The control booth’s door creaked open and Rosie stepped inside. “It looks like a bomb went off in the produce aisle.” She smiled at Hugh.

“We were just using fireworks to blow up melons.” Hugh was an excellent liar.

Dallas was pretty sure that was a bad thing.

“If you’re going to do something, do it well.” She pointed to the melon destruction. “Looks like you did a wonderful job.”

Dallas opened his mouth to take some of the credit for the “wonderful job,” but his tongue peanut-buttered to the roof of his mouth. The only thing that came out was drool.

Rosie’s gaze landed on him, and he couldn’t move a muscle. It was only a matter of time before drool flowed out and dripped on his chin.

Rosie’s brows bunched together like she hadn’t quite seen anything like him, and then she turned to Worth. “I wanted to talk about the fireworks for the B&B grand opening.” She pointed to the safety window that gave them the view outside. “That is, if there are any fireworks left.” She grinned, and Dallas’s heart nearly stopped. True, she wasn’t grinning at him, but he still got to see it. He’d never seen anything as lovely as Rosie Gomez.

“I’ve got a plan. I’ll email you the file with the drawings and you can tell me what works and what doesn’t.” Worth was so calm, cool, and collected.

Dallas’s armpits started to sweat profusely. He was afraid all that sweat was going to drip down his body and pool around him.

This wasn’t going so well.

“Okay then.” Her gaze fell on Dallas again, and she shook her head like she didn’t know what she was supposed to do with him. She shot him a puzzled smile. “Is he okay?” She nodded at Dallas.

“Yes, he’s fine. When he was little, Mom dropped him on his head a bunch of times. You’ll get used to it. The drooling’s new, though. I’m sure it will pass in a minute or two.” Worth was all smiles and helpfulness. As soon as Rosie was out of earshot, Dallas was going to kill him.

“So many things make sense now.” She smiled brightly at him. “I was a coach for the Special Olympics for almost eight years. I bet you’d like it.”

Oh my God. She thought he rode the short bus to school. He couldn’t make his mouth work to tell her the truth.

Worth nodded. “I’m not sure he’s that special, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Yep, Worth had to die. And it needed to hurt really bad.

She knelt in front of Hugh. “Hey, Big H, Bear told me to tell you that he’s ready to play some serious Monopoly and that I’m to drop you off at the house ASAP.”

Hugh looked up at Dallas. “Are we done here?”

Dallas managed to nod his head once, but he couldn’t stop staring at Rosie and the drool just kept coming.

Rosie took a step back, like Dallas had gone from special to disturbed, and opened the door for Hugh. “Let’s hit the road, buddy.”

When they’d finally driven away, Dallas regained control over his body.

“That was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. It was worse than that time you cried until Lexi Hearsley slept with you.” Worth shook his head. “I didn’t think you could beat the tears-for-sex routine, but here you are being way more pathetic than that.”

It wasn’t like Dallas could deny it. “I have no idea what to do.”

He knew that he and Rosie would end up together, but so far, the actual plan to get to that destination wasn’t coming together.

Worth put his arm around his brother. “I would offer you some brotherly advice, like you should be yourself around her, but we both know that would be a horrible mistake. A little bit of you goes a long way. It’s better for everyone involved that you just stare at her and drool.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Did Worth have feelings for her too? If he did, there was only one way out. Dallas was back to killing his favorite brother. Sure, it would hurt initially, but over time he’d get over it.

“Stop looking at me like you’re picking out just the right urn for my remains.” Worth smacked him on the back of the head. “The only feelings I have for Rosie are of the brotherly variety. You need to step up your game.”

Trouble was, Dallas didn’t have game around Rosie.