Fatal Threat. Valerie Hansen

he’d heard her.

      She redoubled her efforts with a hair-curling, spine-tingling, earsplitting version of “Adam!” that practically rattled the window pane.

      He rushed through the bedroom door accompanied by his brother, half tripping over the pile of clothing from Missy.

      “What is it?” His hands cupped her shoulders. “You’re shaking.”

      “Outside. On the road...” she began.

      While Adam continued to hold on to her, Kurt shaded his eyes and leaned closer to the window.

      Sara jerked loose from Adam and launched herself at his brother, knocking him aside and ending up on the floor beside him. Hardly able to speak, she resorted to single words to try to make her point. “Car. Road. Target.”

      “You saw something from the window, you mean?” Adam asked, taking Kurt’s place at the glass as if totally disregarding her warning.

      “Get down!” It was a wail.

      “Okay, okay.” He gave his brother a hand up, then reached for Sara.

      “Stay. Away. From. That. Window.”

      “We get it,” Kurt said, dusting off his jeans as if he’d fallen in a muddy pasture instead of onto a rug. He crossed the room to flip off the ceiling light. “Now, we can see out but nobody can see in.”

      “The moon’s full. They can still see the window even if they can’t see inside,” Adam reminded him.

      “What makes you guys think anybody would be shooting at this house?” Kurt asked.

      “Because they took out the side window in my truck a couple of hours ago, for starters,” Adam explained.

      “So you said. But that was back in town. I don’t see a thing wrong here.”

      “Neither did Adam and I, earlier,” Sara said, speaking past a telltale vocal tremor, “until the bullets started flying.”

      * * *

      As far as Adam was concerned, anything that bothered Sara bothered him. Kurt was not quite so empathetic after they left her and went back to their shared bedroom.

      “I’ll take the shotgun and go have a look around,” Adam said. “You can come along and back me up.”

      Kurt was shaking his head. “Not me, bro. I have better sense than to go prowling around in the dark—and so do you. Besides, neither of us saw any boogeymen.”

      “Sara thinks she did,” Adam countered, keeping his voice down so she would overhear in the next room. “Something strange has been going on with her. I’m just not sure what it is yet.”

      “Well, she’s pretty.” Kurt grinned and winked. “Maybe you’d like to romance her and becoming her guard is your way to convince her to rely on you.”

      “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re just old friends and she needs help right now.”

      “Honestly?” The slightly younger brother’s dark eyebrows arched. “Then I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I asked her out.”

      “What?”

      Kurt laughed. “You know what I mean. Boy. Girl. Dinner and a movie, maybe. A date?”

      Adam knew exactly what his brother meant and he didn’t like the idea one bit. Still, Sara could do worse. Kurt was a good man, a little immature sometimes but basically kind. And he had built-in financial stability via his inherited third of Kane Ranch. Given Adam’s sense of responsibility for all the people in his life, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to stand back and let his brother approach Sara. She needed somebody stable. Someone she could count on in ways Adam wasn’t convinced he could provide.

      “Sure,” he said with a forced smile. “Just bring me takeout when and if you go out to eat, and you have my blessing.”

      “Really? You’re not just saying that?”

      “No. I mean it.” He sobered. “But if you break her heart you’ll have me to reckon with, baby brother. Remember that and behave yourself.”

      Kurt backed away, hands raised, palms out, as Adam tucked the .12 gauge from their closet under one arm, grabbed his tan Stetson and headed for the door.

      “Don’t you have any camo?” his brother asked. “That big hat makes you stand out like a duck in a shooting gallery.”

      “Good point.” He exchanged the familiar Stetson for a black baseball cap. “Better?”

      “Yeah. Lots.” Kurt laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder to stop him. “Wait up. I will come with you.”

      “You don’t have to.”

      The younger man chuckled. “Yes, I do.”

      “I appreciate it,” Adam said. “That’s what brothers are for, right?”

      Kurt’s laugh got louder and he clapped Adam on the back. “Sure. And if I go along to protect you, maybe some of that overblown hero worship Sara has for you will rub off on me.”

      “She doesn’t think I’m a hero,” Adam countered.

      Kurt was still chuckling when they left the house together. Adam was not amused. He had never viewed himself as a hero. On the contrary, he was just a normal man doing his best. If the situations he encountered were tough, so be it. Life had never been easy for him the way it seemed to be for so many others. Perhaps that was because he took it too seriously. He couldn’t help himself.

      That’s the way he judged his feelings in regard to Sara, too. The fondness he had for her was deep and solid, not frivolous the way his brother was treating it. There was nothing funny about caring for Sara while believing she would be far better off with someone other than himself.

      Clenching his jaw and starting off the porch toward the barn to use it as temporary cover, Adam realized he’d have a much easier time accepting her choice of another man if that choice was anyone other than his handsome, easygoing brother.