A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [129]
Nor were Brad and Meg. Or Olivia and Tanner. Or Ashley and Jack.
All of whom, as it happened, were sitting in the same part of the bleachers as Davis and Kim and Matt when Steven and Melissa arrived, holding hands. Matt, in fact, was playing chase with Mac, in the aisle between rows of seats, waiting out the lull between events.
Olivia, Ashley and Meg were immediately on their booted feet, rushing Melissa, each of them hugging her in turn, all of them crying and saying over and over again how glad they were that she was safe.
The men, Melissa noticed, despite the onslaught of sisterly love, just shook their heads.
When the emcee announced the bareback bronc-riding event, they all returned to their seats. Brody was competing in this round.
Or was he? Melissa blinked at the man coming up the aisle, his hat in one hand, a grin spreading across his handsome face. He looked exactly like Brody.
But he wasn’t.
Melissa felt Steven stiffen beside her.
The stands were packed, and a roar went up as the emcee announced the first rider. “We have an out-of-towner with us today, folks,” the familiar voice boomed out, over the loudspeakers. “Let’s hear a real Stone Creek welcome for #32, Brody Creed, out of Lonesome Bend, Colorado!”
The roar intensified.
Melissa missed the whole eight seconds of Brody’s ride, because she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man in the aisle.
Not a vestige of his grin remained, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.
“Uh-oh,” Davis said, low. Then, by some tacit agreement, he and Steven both got to their feet.
“Who is that?” Melissa asked Matt, who had stationed himself in her lap.
“That’s Conner,” Matt said. “Him and Brody are twins, just like you and your sister. Only they’re the kind that look alike.”
Conner, his face hard with anger, looked at Davis and Steven and turned to head back down the aisle.
Melissa looked to Kim, and saw that the other woman was worried.
Davis and Steven followed Conner, and soon, all three of them were out of sight.
“What’s going on?” Melissa asked Steven’s stepmother.
“World War III, probably,” Kim answered, but there was a flicker of something in her eyes, despite her serious expression. On some level, she was pleased by this development.
“Are we just going to sit here?” Melissa asked, fretful.
“Yes,” Kim replied firmly. “For Matt’s sake, if no one else’s.”
“Where did Dad and Grandpa go?” Matt asked.
“They’re getting hot dogs,” Kim said, without missing a beat.
Melissa looked at her in surprise.
But Kim just smiled and turned her attention back to the rodeo, where Brody’s score was just being posted on the big board above the announcer’s booth.
The numbers were impressive; he’d be hard to beat.
But a whole bunch of other cowboys were ready, willing and able to give it a try.
CONNER WAS ABOUT to climb back into his dusty black truck and speed away when Steven and Davis caught up to him.
Davis reached out and spun his nephew around, thrust him hard against the side of the rig. “Didn’t you get the memo, Conner?” he asked, through his teeth. “A Creed doesn’t run. From anything.”
“Tell that to my twin brother!” Conner spat furiously, his eyes shooting azure-blue flames.
“Why don’t you tell him?” Steven asked, folding his arms. His boot heels were planted hard in the gravel of the fairgrounds, and he’d widened his stance slightly, too, just in case Conner threw a punch.
Stranger things had happened.
“I’m not telling him anything,” Conner said, the words raspy and raw, like they’d scraped their way past his throat. He glared at Steven. “But I’ve got something to say to you, that’s for damn sure. You set this up. You knew, cousin. And I don’t know if I can forgive you for that.”
“Grow up,” Davis told Conner. A few stragglers, late for the rodeo, glanced in their direction, but nobody looked like they were fool enough to interfere in what was obviously a matter between close kin. “Whatever happened between you and