Canary Street Press
July 25, 2023

The Rough Rider

(Gus's Book)

Return to Maisey Yates’s fan-favorite Four Corners for a marriage of convenience between two unlikely souls—a hopeless romantic and a man who has long given up hope

When Alaina finds herself pregnant and alone, she knows she’s in a tight spot. Small towns like hers tend to raise eyebrows at unwed mothers, and she knows the vicious gossip mill will soon be churning. Thankfully, her ruggedly stoic childhood protector, Gus McCloud, knows a thing or two about guarding secrets. Offering Alaina a marriage on paper is the least he can do.

As a hardworking rancher, Gus is well equipped to provide for Alaina and her baby. And despite plans for a solitary life, he wants to. He knows what it’s like to be an outsider, especially after a traumatic childhood left him with scars inside and out. Alaina has long dreamed of a fairy-tale romance, but as the growing fire between her and Gus starts feeling real enough to burn, she questions what that means. Maybe her fake marriage to Gus is the real love she’s been missing all along.

Also In this Series:

Her First Christmas Cowboy

October 1, 2021
#.5
The Cowboy She Loves to Hate

December 1, 2021
#1.5
Unbridled Cowboy

May 24, 2022
#1
(Sawyer Garrett's Book)
Merry Christmas Cowboy

October 25, 2022
#2
(Violet Donnelly's Book)
Cowboy Wild

February 21, 2023
#3
(Elsie and Hunter's Book)
Her Cowboy Prince Charming

September 1, 2022
(Novella released in print in Merry Christmas Cowboy)
Her Wayward Cowboy

January 1, 2023
(Novella to be released in print with Cowboy Wild)
The Holiday Heartbreaker

September 26, 2023
#5
The Troublemaker

November 28, 2023
#6
The Rival

April 23, 2024
#7
A Summer to Claim Her Cowboy

October 15, 2023
(This is a novella in the Four Corners Series)
Wild Night Cowboy

August 1, 2023
(This novella is available in print in The Holiday Heartbreaker)
The Hometown Legend

July 23, 2024
Hero for the Holidays

October 22, 2024
(Landry and Fia's Book)

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

Alaina Sullivan always landed on her feet.

It was the thing she was most proud of. Her ability to pivot when things went wrong. Dad cheats and abandons the family and ranch? Pivot. Learn new skills and work the land as best she could, until Fia had decided renting the ranch land out was more profitable for them. Mom leaves, no problem. Lean in harder to whatever her sisters were doing.

But the reality was, she didn’t want to garden. That had been Fia’s solution to keeping Sullivan’s Point open. Gardening and farming. Alaina was a rancher. And that was what she wanted. Fia had plans, and when Fia had plans…well, no one could deviate from them. She had a prescribed place she wanted everyone in and it came from a very good place.

When Alaina was twelve, her dad left. And Fia had held the broken pieces of their family together. When Alaina, the baby of the family, had turned eighteen their mom had moved away too, and Fia had clung tighter to the remnant of all they were, and with the force of her love she’d kept them going.

It made it hard for Alaina to say what she wanted, because she didn’t want to step on her sister’s heart. And the farm and garden stuff was totally her sister’s heart. But Alaina hadn’t gotten mad about it; she’d just started planning.

It had gone hand in hand with her plan to grow up, get some experience and stop being treated like a kid.

But that ill-conceived plan had landed her where she was now. In this situation where she couldn’t figure out how to pivot at all.

This was life-changing bad. Two-pink-lines bad.

The-jackass-ran-off bad.

The jackass she had convinced herself she had feelings for because…

And this was the problem with her feelings. With the way she was always trying to rush in and fix everything right this second. Because she hated being uncomfortable. Because she hated being sad.

Because she hated living in a world where she couldn’t control the things happening around her and the minute something happened that…the minute something hurt she did everything she possibly could to make that go away.

She was gritty eyed, because she couldn’t cry. Wouldn’t cry. In Alaina’s world it was all the same.

This was all because of Elsie. Her best friend.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t fair to blame it all on Elsie. It was a series of complicated missteps. They hadn’t seemed like missteps at the time though. That was the problem.

It had all started with Alaina’s ridiculous crush on Hunter McCloud. Or maybe it had started with Elsie’s crush on Travis, which had turned into Hunter trying to help Elsie figure out how to get Travis, which had resulted in Hunter giving Elsie flirting lessons, which had…

Well, when Alaina had discovered Hunter and Elsie were sleeping together she hadn’t been all that thrilled.

But Elsie wasn’t just sleeping with Hunter. She was in love with him.

It had hurt, but really, what could Alaina do in the face of love? She’d liked Hunter a lot. She’d had a whole lot of fantasies about him being her introduction to sex. But she hadn’t wanted to marry him or anything.

It wasn’t Elsie and Hunter getting together that had hurt, not so much. It was that Elsie had lied to her.

It was the feeling that—yet again—Alaina had had absolutely no idea what was happening in her own life. It had reminded her of the world blowing apart when her dad had walked out. She hadn’t seen it coming. And it had devastated everything.

She’d imagined Hunter and Elsie laughing about her. About her futile crush on Hunter, and she knew Elsie wouldn’t do that to her except…

It had put her right back into that dark space she’d been in at twelve when she’d found out life wasn’t perfect after all. And she couldn’t stand being unhappy like that. Couldn’t stand being uncomfortable.

And then she’d started scrambling, to figure out how to land on her feet. To figure out how to make it okay.

And Travis had been the solution.

She didn’t want to be hurt by Elsie. She didn’t want to be hurt by Hunter. She didn’t want to be hurt by anything. So she’d just decided…

Travis was cute and he was just as good as Hunter. She’d invited him out to Sullivan’s Lake and she’d watched him and another one of the hands show off and she’d decided he really was very cute, so why not?

They’d all gone to the bar later, and partway through the night she’d followed Travis out to his truck, then he’d driven around the back of the bar and they’d done it in the cab of the truck. It was fast and it wasn’t so good for her. It had hurt.

You a virgin?

Oh, sorry. Yeah. I was.

And he’d looked so smug about it that it had made her feel like she mattered at least a little.

When they were done he’d gotten a text from the friend that had come with them.

Better head back to the bar.

But she hadn’t wanted to. She didn’t want to go face people.

I’ll…be in soon.

But instead she’d sat in the parking lot feeling upset and miserable. A big knot in her throat, tears that she couldn’t cry.

Then he’d shown up.

You look in need of a ride home, mite.

It had been the lifeline she’d needed.

Yeah, sure.

So she’d texted Travis she was leaving, then taken the ride back home.

She’d had a hard time connecting with Travis after that. He’d been busy working, and then he’d taken another job at a sheep farm in Salem. And Alaina had felt…

She didn’t love Travis.

Heartbreak wasn’t the problem. But she hadn’t expected to have sex for the first time and have it be just one fifteen-minute escapade that hadn’t even resulted in an orgasm.

She’d been under the impression losing her virginity would be transformative in some way and instead she’d felt weird and depressed and not at all more enlightened.

And still very lonely.

Four weeks after her impulsive act, it had become clear to her that if she was bummed about the lack of transformation she’d experienced, her body had a big old consolation prize for her.

And she’d panicked.

She’d texted Travis about it.

Fuck, honey, can’t someone give you a ride to a clinic?

She hadn’t texted him back after that.

The thing was, it was her mess. Her consequence.

She had jumped into…the truck with Travis because she was so desperate to make her hard feelings go away but this…

This had felt different.

She’d decided to shelve it all until she had to deal with it. She’d hidden her sickness, her listlessness, from her sisters. She’d hidden it from Elsie. She’d plastered a smile on her face and hand waved Travis’s defection.

I didn’t love him anyway, she told Elsie, her tone light, he was just a roll in the hay.

And so now here she was, eight weeks in and her morning sickness was actually worse and she needed a doctor and she…

She had no clue what landing on her feet looked like here.

Alaina Sullivan had reached the end of her certainty and it was a terror she had no idea how to confront.

Of course, she had no idea what she was going to do. What she hated most of all was how ashamed she felt. Because it wasn’t like she could stand by the events that had led up to this. She’d been an idiot. Oh well, if there was one thing she was good at, it was standing stubborn in who she was. Digging in. Justifying the choices she’d made in those rushed, heady moments when she was trying to fix her world.

It was about all she was good at.

And with those thoughts still swirling in her head, she put her truck in Park in front of the barn. Tonight was a town hall. Unfortunately not at Sullivan’s Point. Rather, over at McCloud’s Landing, the exact place she would like to avoid, full of all the people she would like to avoid. Garretts, McClouds…

Truth be told, she wouldn’t mind avoiding the Sullivans right now.

She was on the edge of a precipice and she felt wretched about it.

But you couldn’t avoid people at Four Corners. It wasn’t really possible.

The four families that made up the massive joint ranching spread were constantly in each other’s pockets. And while each family had quite a bit of autonomy running their individual operations, they were also relatively dependent on each other. There were also certain agreements that needed to be made as one. Certain things that had to be decided as a group.

And that was why they had town hall meetings once a month, joining the families and all the workers from the different ranches together, and normally she enjoyed it. But then…

How much life had changed in the last few months. Before this, she had loved it. She had gotten a thrill out of seeing Hunter McCloud. She couldn’t say exactly when she had started to have feelings for him. It was just something that had…happened. But the problem with living on Four Corners was you kind of knew everybody. And she had known everybody all of her life.

The boys her age hadn’t really interested her.

But there was Hunter. He was older. He was beautiful. Unquestionably. She had developed a serious fascination with him. She’d kept a lot of it to herself, because she’d found it embarrassing. The only person she’d confided in had been her best friend, Elsie.

The whole betrayal had hooked into so many of her issues, past and present, that it had thrown her into a tailspin.

She was reckless. She had always known that about herself. All the fire inside of her had been so close to the surface since her father had left. Then her mother had moved away. And Alaina was the youngest. Of all the Sullivan sisters, she had barely been grown when her mother had gone.

She’d never slowed down to let herself feel bad about it. If she couldn’t fix it she ignored it.

Sort of like you’ve been trying to do with the pregnancy?

She gripped the steering wheel tight for a moment and took a deep breath then blew it out, loudly. Her sisters were already there, fluttering around in floral dress is with pies and fruits and cakes.

The Sullivan sisters.

And Alaina.

Alaina had always been the horse girl. Alaina had always been her dad’s girl.

For all the good it had done. And now what? Whose girl was she now?

Maybe still her dad’s. He’d screwed everything up too. Ruined his good life here at Four Corners and destroyed their family and abandoned her.

So great, she had all his bad traits and none of his presence or support anymore. Fantastic.

Daddy’s girl for all the fucking good it did.

How was she going to tell her sisters?

Fia would try to aggressively make everything fine. Another burden she would take on and try to apply her relentless, unyielding, terrifying optimism to. Fia wasn’t a cheerful optimist. She was a warrior for the glass half-full, and she’d damn well make it all the way full with her elbow grease if she had to. Rory—who was soft and hopeful, a romantic who read too many books and believed in good even when the universe had proven it was only doling out bullshit. And Quinn—who Alaina understood much better—would respond with violence. She’d go on a rampage trying to hunt Travis down.

Travis was in Salem. She should probably text him and tell him she taken care of it. So that he wouldn’t come back ever. She would do that at some point.

Just to keep it clean. Just to make sure he never wondered about the girl he’d left pregnant and abandoned in Pyrite Falls, Oregon.

He won’t wonder about you. He doesn’t care.

Just like your parents.

“There you are,” Fia said, handing her a basket full of goodies.

“Here I am,” she said.

Fia looked at her, far too closely. “Alaina, are you okay?”

Fia had become the parental figure when their family had fallen apart, and she took it upon herself to make all of her sisters’ business her business.

Of course, when it came to her own business, Fia was like a steel trap, but Alaina knew better than to call her out.

It wouldn’t lead anywhere.

“I’m good,” she said, forcing a smile.

“You’re a liar,” Fia said, looking both suspicious and worried.

She swallowed hard and wondered if she looked as miserable as she felt. Why was she falling apart now?

Eventually everyone will literally see the evidence of it and you won’t be able to hide it anymore.

“Then why did you ask, Fia?” she shot back.

When the meeting started she made sure to take a seat in the back and as far to the right as possible. Far away from the Garrett clan. Far away from the McClouds.

She could go to the Kings’ section.

Arizona King wasn’t as unpleasant as she used to be, now that Micah Stone had come back to Four Corners and married her, giving her an instant family with a teenage stepson, but that didn’t make Arizona warm and cuddly. The truth was, the Kings were kind of a breed apart. They closed ranks with each other when need be, and they also seemed to have plenty of conflict within the group.

One did not just go sit with the Kings. Sullivans most especially didn’t.

Though, half the problem with the Sullivans and the Kings was whatever had transpired between Fia and Landry. Fia never talked about it, so none of them knew the details. But Alaina wasn’t idiot. She assumed her sister had slept with him. And that he’d done what men did.

Except, rather than run off to another ranch he’d stayed next door. Which must suck.

Alaina had new sympathy for how that must feel.

Though, Alaina couldn’t see being mad about sex for all those years. Particularly when it didn’t get you pregnant. If she could set aside her anger for a minute, the abandonment and pregnancy aside, she could sit in the disappointment that sex was just…not all that fun.

What a let down. What a truly tragic thing to learn that there wasn’t much fuss about it at all.

Sure, there had been contributing factors. Like it being a spur-of-the-moment thing. She hadn’t had a whole lot of fantasies stored up about Travis to boost the moment. But Travis was a good-looking guy. And by all accounts he was a total playboy. He had… He’d done stuff. Made some moves. Touched her certain ways. But it just hadn’t…hadn’t thrilled her. And the main event had been uncomfortable. And that was it.

She wouldn’t be rushing out to do it again anytime soon.

A hilarious thought, since she was so obviously not having sex again any time soon.

She realized that she’d been spacing out for the whole first part of the meeting. But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t high enough on the totem pole to be called upon to give much of an opinion. She and her sisters did work on their own ranch, and Fia was the acting head of Sullivan’s Point.

Fia had grand plans for their parcel of land, but that didn’t involve Alaina.

The McClouds had been making changes around Four Corners, and the Garretts had been working with them. But they’d always been the coziest of the two families.

Right now, though, listening to any of them talk felt like torture. And she just ignored them.

Finally, it was bonfire time, and she figured she would cut out as quickly as possible. She didn’t have any patience for this nonsense. She didn’t feel like being social. Not tonight.

But then Fia shoved a piece of pie into her hand and dragged her toward the fire.

“Dammit, Alaina, at least don’t let them see you looking this sulky. You have to have more pride than that.”

“What?” she asked, confused.

“You’re upset. About Elsie and Hunter.”

Oh, dear lord if only. If only! She longed for the simplicity of being pissy that her friend had hooked up with Hunter. It would be vastly less impossible than a pregnancy.

But hey, if it would offer her a reprieve with her sister, she’d play that game.

“Why?” Alaina asked. “Like you and Landry?”

“This isn’t about me and Landry.”

“You’re the only one that’s allowed to be bitter and heartbroken for years, Fia?”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

“You never do. It’s been years, you slept with him, or whatever, and you’re mad about it.”

Fia scowled. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Maybe I don’t. But it’s because you won’t tell anybody. And that’s your own fault, Fia. If you feel isolated it’s because you won’t talk to anyone.”

And the irony was galling, because she currently had quite the secret. But she didn’t care.

She wasn’t in the mood to be fair. She wanted to be left alone.

She had eaten half the piece of pie when Sawyer Garrett held up his red solo cup and hit the side of it with his fork.

His wife was standing beside him, laughing. Evelyn was from the city, and the fact that she got along so well with any of the rednecks around here always amazed Alaina.

“We have a bit of good news to share,” he said.

“The first bit is that Evelyn is expecting a baby.”

A cheer went up from the crowd. Alaina felt the pie turned to sawdust in her mouth.

“The second bit of news is that Hunter and Elsie are getting married.”

Married.

Elsie was getting married.

Evelyn was expecting a baby.

So was Alaina.

And Alaina was…having a baby.

A baby.

She’d thought of words like pregnant and pregnancy this whole time and she had never once thought the word…

Baby.

Then her stomach turned and what she already had swallowed started to come right back up.

She threw the plate down on the nearest chair and she ran. Ran away from the group and hoped that nobody noticed. Ran into the darkness, to the edge of the trees, and cast up her accounts in the bushes.

She fell to her knees, sweat and tears on her face.

And then she heard heavy footsteps behind her.

“Alaina?”

She turned around. It was dark, but she knew who it was.

Gus McCloud.

The savior she’d never asked for, but who was always there when she needed him. Even if it drove her nuts.

Gus McCloud, who was as ugly as his brothers were beautiful.

Maybe that wasn’t fair. Gus had probably been as beautiful as Hunter and the others at one time, but she didn’t remember it. Because she didn’t remember his face before it had been burned. Scarred up by an accident he never talked about.

People whispered it was something his father had done to him.

The father it was also rumored he’d killed.

But she didn’t believe that.

Gus was a lot of things. She didn’t think he was a killer.

Gus was big, broad and imposing. An inch or so taller than Hunter, and a lot thicker.

He was solid. He reminded her of the big bulls that grazed in the pastures on Four Corners. Thick. Solid. Mean tempered.

Protective.

One of her indelible childhood memories was the time when she and Elsie had been up to no good and had ended up in the pond. Elsie had gotten out and Alaina had been bogged down by water lilies and pond scum, hollering like a cat.

Until Gus had plucked her out. Just like the kitten she was, practically by the scruff, and carried her to dry land. Then he’d wrapped her in a flannel and given her a scolding.

She’d been afraid of him. Of that rough face and his mean eyes. She’d never seen anyone with scars like his.

She’d also never felt quite so protected.

She shook the memory off.

Why the hell had he followed her out here?

Why was he always showing up to the hour of her disgrace?

“What do you want?” she asked, miserable.

“To know what the hell is up.”

She scowled down at the ground. “I’m sorry, why do you care, Gus?”

“I’m not an idiot. Contrary to popular belief. What did my brother do to you?” She could feel his gaze burning hot in the darkness.

“Nothing,” she said, rejecting that immediately.

She didn’t know if she should be irritated, relieved or horrified that people still thought her mood was about Hunter and Elsie. She’d hung out with Elsie since. Maybe not a ton because her friend was busy being loved up and Alaina was busy hiding morning sickness, but they were clearly speaking to each other.

“Good. Because if he was messing with you…”

“He didn’t.” Then she tilted her chin up. “I wanted to but he never…he never liked me that way.”

There, let him sit with that truth.

“I see.” He shook his head. “And he’s marrying your friend. And you’re heartbroken enough that it made you throw up.”

That made her sound weak and she couldn’t deal with that. Not with Gus looking at her like that. Because there was something about Gus that always made her want to prove herself. Maybe it was staring in the face of his hardness, of his resilience. She didn’t know.

She just knew she couldn’t bear for him to think of her as weak.

Everyone would know anyway. Soon enough.

He might as well be the first.

“I thew up because I’m pregnant, you dumbass,” she said, from her miserable position on the ground.

Oh, there. She’d said it.

It made her want to throw up again.

He crouched down next to her, and she could see his dark eyes glittering, even in the dimness.

Well. Shit. She hadn’t planned to confess it now. But she didn’t want to think she was a wimp. She wasn’t a wimp. She wasn’t throwing up because she was hurt. She was throwing up because her stomach was weird.

And because there was going to be a baby.

Gus grabbed her arm, his hold bruising. She’d hadn’t been this close to him since she was a tiny child he’d fished out of the pond. The intensity in his eyes was like a black, blank hole. It made her shiver. “You said he didn’t touch you.”

“He didn’t,” she said, jerking away from him.

His expression closed off. “Who did?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It just doesn’t matter, Gus. It is what it is. It’s my problem. I’ve got a deal with it.”

“So, he’s not around?”

“No.”

He paused for a moment, and she could see right when it all clicked into place for him. “It was Travis, wasn’t?”

“Maybe.” She hated this. She hated being this transparent. To Gus McCloud of all people. He wasn’t sensitive. He wasn’t nice.

He was kind of terrifying, actually.

“This is what I walked into at the tavern, isn’t it? That’s why you were so poorly.”

She craned her neck, trying to look haughty, from her position on the ground where she’d just been sick. “I was not poorly. I am neverpoorly.”

The bastard chuckled. “You are pretty damn poorly, sweetheart.” She wanted to take a swipe at him, but instead she just sat there, fulminating. “So, he’s not coming back?”

“No,” she said. “I don’t need him to.” The words sat between them, and he didn’t say anything, which pissed her off. It was just silent and she hated the silence. “It’s just humiliating,” she added. “Because everyone’s going to know. Everyone.”

“So, you had sex. Big deal.”

The way he said it made her want to believe that’s how people would think.

“You know it isn’t like that,” she said, feeling miserable. “People even judged Sawyer. Didn’t he and Wolf have to get married?”

“The Kings won’t judge you.”

She laughed. Hollow. “That doesn’t comfort me, Gus.”

“Comforting isn’t really in my wheelhouse, it may shock you to learn.”

And in spite of herself, she laughed. “Yeah, I am…just wholly shocked to hear that.” The air seemed to shrink around them. “My baby’s not going to have a father. Just like me.”

“You have a father. He’s just a dick who left.”

“Well, same as my baby’s dad. Except, this one won’t even know their dad at all. Because I was a dumb… I guess I was kind of a slut.”

“Stop that. That’s bullshit.” The ferocity in his voice shocked her. That he was taking time over this at all shocked her. “You don’t need to do that to yourself on top of everything else.”

“That’s what everyone’s going to think.”

And the scrutiny would be unbearable. Them all wondering who she’d been with, what had happened.

It had been like that when her dad had left. Everyone had been curious—caring, sure—but it was hard enough managing a crisis without everyone being involved in it, worrying about, trying to give advice and…

She couldn’t bear it.

She could feel her throat getting tight with tears.

He grabbed her chin and his eyes blazed into hers. And she felt her stomach bottom out. “Who the hell cares what everybody thinks?”

Then he released her, straightening and letting out a harsh breath.

He didn’t. She knew he didn’t. He never had. He was Angus McCloud, and people already thought the worst of him. Not that anyone blamed him; that was the thing. His father had been the meanest man in all of creation and everyone knew it.

And one day, he’d gone.

She stared at him. At his ruined face, barely visible in the dark. And she wondered if he’d done it.

“I don’t know how not to care,” she whispered.

She was going to look like exactly what she was. An immature idiot. Who had been running away from her pain and had run right into trouble.

“You want the baby?” he asked.

“I’m having the…baby.” It wasn’t the same as wanting it.

He grunted. “Right. So, what’s the problem?”

For the first time in her memory, she didn’t have answers somewhere deep inside herself. For the first time in her memory, all her worries poured out of her.

“Everything. I don’t want to be a single mother. I don’t want the baby to not have a dad. I don’t want everyone knowing I slept with Travis or…”

“Or that you were in love with Hunter?”

Her eyes were scratchy. “Whatever. Gus, let’s just go back to the bonfire.”

He lifted her up from the ground as he stood, his hands rough, his hold strong. Her heart thundered hard, her eyes still burning.

But he propelled her back toward the bonfire and her misery felt managed, if only for a moment.

When they emerged from the shadows and into the firelight, Fia was there, her arms crossed. “Where have you been?”

“I was…”

“You threw up, didn’t you?”

Shame burned her cheeks. “Oh…Fia, I…”

“Tell me honestly,” she said, her eyes flicking from Gus, then back to Alaina. “I found…I found a pregnancy test in the bathroom, Alaina. And no one ever said anything so I didn’t either. I was waiting. Was it yours?”

Alaina felt like the ground had tilted onto its side. “Fia, I…I can explain. I can…”

“Yes,” Gus said. “It was. But don’t worry. I’m going to marry her.”

Angus Evander McCloud was an immovable object once his mind was made up. And his mind was made up.

Alaina was miserable. And he knew that she wasn’t up to the scrutiny that would come from doing this alone. And she was alone.

The dude had fucked right off, and he had no patience for that shit.

None at all.

Gus was nobody’s savior. He’d also never planned to marry and have kids, so in a weird way that made it work even better. He wasn’t losing any fantasies about the future.

He had a big house. Plenty of money.

Most of all, she could be married. She and the child wouldn’t face stigma. No one on the ranch needed to know her business.

You think saving her will make up for everything else you’ve done?

No. It wouldn’t.

But what the hell was the point of going on if he didn’t try?

“Gus…” Fia’s voice was a study in horror and Gus might have been offended…if he had the capacity to be.

He and Fia had known each other for years, and he respected the hell out of her tenacity and spirit, the way she’d taken the ranch and turned things around after her dad had left. The way she held her family together. He related to her as much as he did anyone, really.

He respected her. Her obvious desire to step in and protect her sister.

But really, she should know he might be an asshole but he had honor.

Fia looked ready to skin him alive.

“Got a problem?” he asked.

Fury emanated from her gaze. “Yes, several.”

“Just stop, Fia,” Alaina said. “Can I talk to you?” She directed that at him.

“Have at.”

“Not here.”

He shrugged and she took his arm this time, dragging him away from the fire. Not that little Alaina could drag him if he didn’t want to go.

Once they were a good distance away, she rounded on him. “Are you out of your damn mind?”

She was furious, but then Alaina always was. The girl was a powder keg and it was only a matter of time before she exploded. This, he imagined, was it.

The explosion.

She’d always been like that. A wild, fierce little creature full of so many feelings. She was determined to bend the world to her will, and she hadn’t seemed to notice the world didn’t much care what anyone wanted.

What he kept in the deepest parts of his soul, she wore for all the world to see.

It fascinated him.

It terrified him. For her. He’d always been worried she’d be hurt, pretty much exactly like she was now.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“We…we don’t…I’m…you’re old.”

He laughed. Because the little termagant was so fierce she wouldn’t back down even when she was being helped. “I’m thirty-five.”

“I’m not.”

That sweet little, angry little, sharp little thing. “I’m aware.”

“Why…”

“It doesn’t have to have anything to do with us, Alaina. You want to save face, you want your baby to have a father, I can give you those things. I can do it with a marriage license. That solves all your problems.”

“Except the ones where I’m having a baby and we’re married.”

“You said you were having the baby.”

She looked enraged he’d pointed that out.

“Remember when you were five and you fell in the pond?” he asked.

Dark fury mottled her cheeks. “I don’t see what…”

“I fished you out. And you hissed and spit like a mean little ferret the whole time. You said you didn’t need help.” He looked at her profile. Proud, angry. Familiar. “You needed help, mite. You need help now.”

“I don’t want to need help.”

“I know. You never do.” He sighed. “You gonna accept it or not? The people who know you best won’t talk. They’ll protect you. And hell, maybe they won’t know. Or won’t be able to be sure. If it’s mine or his.”

“People are going to…have a lot of questions. And I don’t think my sisters are going to be very happy with you,” she said.

“Because of me being thirty-five? And you not being?”

She shot fingers guns at him. “That’s it.”

“Or maybe because they think I’m a murderer?”

He watched her face when he said that. Those rumors about him…they were convenient sometimes. They let him keep people at a distance.

They weren’t real, so why not use them?

“They don’t think that.”

“Do you?” he asked.

“No.”

He could tell she wasn’t sure.

“Your call, Alaina.”

“I have to decide right this minute?”

“Well, Fia knows.”

She bit her lip and looked back toward her sister. “Fine. Fine, Gus. I’ll marry you.”

Here he was, cleaning up the mess. That was typical. And he didn’t know what he felt over her agreement. But then, he didn’t make a business of closely examining his feelings. What the hell did feelings matter? Feelings were what drove men like his father.

Rage, the need to drink…all of it.

His father had been a horrible man. A worse dad. An awful husband.

Given to fits of anger and violence. Dark, destructive violence.

Gus had never wanted to be a husband or father, but he had also purposed early that he would be everything his dad wasn’t.

His dad would have found a way to crush Alaina in this moment. He excelled at that. Hurting people when they were at their weakest.

It made Gus more determined to shield her.

“Then let’s go,” he said. “Hunter and Elsie won’t be the only one’s making an announcement tonight.”

Something in her eyes sparked then, and he knew she liked that. Knew that whatever feelings she had for his brother were still strong enough that she wasn’t above taking another chance to get at him.

Luckily, Gus didn’t care. Because he might be willing to marry Alaina, but he didn’t have any feelings for her.

Angus McCloud didn’t have feelings at all.