The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [32]
He found Honey could be very closemouthed when it suited her. It amazed him that she could look almost pathetically frail and weak one moment, then mean as a junk-yard dog the next.
Gabe waved his fork. “Morgan does everything deliberately. It’s annoying, but it does make him a good sheriff. He doesn’t react off the cuff, if you know what I mean.”
Jordan looked at Sawyer. “Not to change the subject—”
Morgan snorted. “As if you could.”
“—but do we have anything for dessert?”
“Yeah.” Sawyer watched Honey as he answered, aware of her new tension. She wasn’t crazy about discussing her personal life, but he had no idea how much of it had to do with her claimed threats or the possibility of a lingering affection for her ex. His jaw tightened, and he practically growled, “Frosted brownies.”
Jordan sat back. “They’re no good?”
“They’re fine. And in case none of you noticed, there’s a new pig in the barnyard.”
Honey started, the tension leaving her as confusion took its place. “A pig?”
“Yeah.” Casey finished off a glass of milk, then poured another. He was a bottomless pit, and growing more so each day. “Some of the families can’t afford to pay cash, so they pay Dad in other ways. It keeps us Adam’s apple high in desserts, which is good, but sometimes we end up with more farm animals than we can take care of. We have horses, and they’re no problem, but the goats and pigs and stuff, they can be a nuisance.”
Jordan looked at Sawyer. “The Mensons could use a pig. They had to sell off a lot of stock lately to build a new barn after theirs almost collapsed from age.”
Sawyer continued to watch Honey, concerned that she was pushing herself too hard. At the moment, she didn’t look ill so much as astonished. He grinned. Buckhorn was a step back in time, a close community that worked together, which he liked, but it would take some getting used to for anyone out of the area. “Feel free, Jordan. Hell, the last thing I want is another animal to take care of.”
“They’ll insist on paying something, but I’ll make it real cheap.”
“Trade for some of Mrs. Menson’s homemade rock candy. Tell her I give it away to the kids when they come, and I’m nearly out.”
“Good idea.”
Honey looked around the table at all of them as Casey went to the counter to get the brownies. Her face was so expressive, even before she spoke, he knew she was worried. “You know everyone around here?”
With a short nod, Sawyer confirmed her suspicions. “We know them, and most people in the surrounding areas. Buckhorn only boasts seven hundred people, give or take a couple dozen or so.”
Suddenly she blurted out, “Have you told anyone about me?” and Sawyer knew she was talking to everyone, not just him. What the hell was she so afraid of?
Casey dropped a brownie on the side of her plate, but she barely seemed to notice. Her hands were clenched together on the edge of the table while she waited for an answer.
“Dad told me not to say anything to anyone,” Casey offered, when no one else spoke up. “So far, I’d say no one knows about you.”
“Why do you care?” Sawyer waited, but he knew she wouldn’t tell him a damn thing. “Is it because you think these people you claim want to hurt you might follow you here?”
Morgan, still lounging back in his chair, rubbed his chin. “I could run a check on you, you know.”
She snorted over that. “If you can, then you already have. But you didn’t find anything, did you?”
He shrugged, disgruntled by her response to what had amounted to a threat. She didn’t threaten easily.
Jordan leaned forward. “You say someone is after you. Could it be this fiancé of yours?”
“Ex-fiancé,” Sawyer clarified, then suffered through the resultant snorts and snickers from his demented brothers.
“I thought so at first. He…well, he wasn’t happy that I broke things