“I’d rather not,” Maia said, trying not to laugh.
“I have absolutely no idea what’s going on,” Cole admitted. “But, whatever it is, it’s her fault.” He couldn’t stop looking at her, mesmerized by the warm laughter in her eyes, the curve of her mouth. She hadn’t lived a perfect life, he had felt the sadness, the wariness in her when she talked about the strange ability she had of reading images in the minds of animals, yet she still found joy in life. She made him want to laugh with her. He wasn’t certain he was capable of laughter, but he felt himself wanting to be.
“Hey now, don’t you go blaming anything on me,” Maia objected. “Honestly, Jase. He started it.” She rubbed her mouth. “At least I think he did, I can’t remember now. But he’s such a flirt.”
“He said he doesn’t have to smile at women,” Jase reported. He was trying desperately to make up for the accusations he’d leveled at his brother earlier. Unsure of himself, he followed Maia’s lead, teasing Cole.
Maia’s eyebrow shot up. Cole sank back on his knees, groaning aloud. “Jase. That was a brotherly confidence you weren’t supposed to share.” He looked at Maia. “We’re still trying to get the hang of being brothers. Neither of us knows a lot about it yet, but I’m certain that was confidential.”
“Brotherly advice?” Maia asked.
“Something like that,” Cole admitted.
Maia shook her head. “Don’t listen to him, Jase. Women like men to smile once in a while. They can only take brooding hunks for so long, then they get bored.”
“You didn’t look bored to me,” Jase pointed out, abruptly switching sides.
Maia laughed again, and the sound wound itself around Cole’s heart and warmed his insides.
“And,” Jase added, “it’s rather sickening to hear my brother referred to as a hunk.”
“She did call me that, didn’t she?” Cole said with evident satisfaction.
“No one said you weren’t a hunk,” Maia’s blue-green eyes darkened as her gaze drifted over him with deliberate inspection. “But just because I noticed that you were hot doesn’t mean I liked you kissing me.”
Jase snorted. “She liked it.
Cole nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“So did you.” Jase grinned at him mischievously.
“Way too much. The doc is one of those dangerous women your elders are always going to be warning you about.”
Maia shoved at Cole with her foot. “I love the way you manage to turn the tables on me. I’m injured here. You’re supposed to be soothing me, not stirring things up.”
Cole raised his eyebrow at her, his eyes going dark. “I don’t think I’ll touch that.” He went back up on his knees to examine the back of her head. “The ice seems to have done its job and stopped the bleeding and the swelling.”
“Well good thing, since you weren’t paying attention,” Maia scolded.
“I had better things to do.” Ignoring her wince, he pushed the matted hair from the cut. “I don’t think it needs stitches.”
Maia jerked her head away. “Since I’m the only one capable of stitching anything, I should say not.”
“I can stitch a wound if I have to. I sewed up my arm once,” Cole said.
Jase and Maia exchanged a long frown. Maia wrinkled her nose. “Don’t tell us anything else. I’m going to have nightmares.”
“I ran into a guard down in Colombia. He had a big knife. He wasn’t supposed to be there, and I got careless.”
Maia reached out and pushed up the sleeve of Cole’s shirt to reveal a jagged scar about three inches long. “You aren’t making it up.”
“I don’t make things up.” Cole got to his feet with a sigh of regret. It was time for all of them to return to the real world. “Jase, did you and Al go riding the other day? The day Wally was injured?”
Jase shook his head. “No, the hands took care of the cattle, and Al stayed with me working around the ranch house. We saw the fence over by the corrals leaning and we repaired that. I nearly fell actually, but Al caught me before I went down the hill. The post was rotten or something and gave way. I discovered Wally a couple of hours later when I came back to the ranch house to put away the tools. I called Al, and he came right away.”
Cole sighed. Someone had taken the horse out earlier. Either Jase was lying to him or something he didn’t understand was going on. “I didn’t like the look of the walkway this morning, Jase. It’s too much of a coincidence to have the horse injured and the walkway iced and the fence post give way when you leaned against it. I don’t like any of it.”
“What are saying?” Jase asked.
Maia could see the fear creeping back into the boy’s eyes and it saddened her. For a few minutes, he had been a normal teenager, teasing an older brother.