Sheriff’s Pregnant Ex by Leslie North

18

Brian drove onto the Thorne ranch, taking the cut in the driveway that ended at the horse barn to avoid going to the house. He’d come for one purpose. He needed some sense knocked into him, and his twin was the perfect man for the job. Jake wasn’t sentimental, wasn’t the type to get hooked on a woman, so he’d set Brian straight in no time.

Brian parked and walked into the barn. Jake was in a stall grooming the black gelding he often rode around the ranch.

“Hey, grab a brush, would you, and groom Minx,” Jake said when he saw Brian come in.

“Sure.” Brian got a bucket of supplies from the tack room and went to work on the paint horse his mother usually rode. “You and Mom go for a ride?”

“Yeah,” Jake replied. “She wanted to see a particular field of wildflowers in bloom. I go with her every year at this time. It’s something she used to do with Dad,” Jake said with no inflection in his voice.

“I didn’t know that.” Brian picked up the mare’s left front leg and cleaned the hoof.

His brother rarely talked about their father. Maybe Jake didn’t need to because he lived and worked where Marshall had. His father’s essence was in the very walls of the barn. Brian didn’t think he could stand to be around it as much as Jake was. It brought out the guilt, even more poignantly. But, then, Jake didn’t carry the same burden that Brian did.

“What brought you out from town?” Jake asked after a few minutes in which they worked in companionable silence.

“I need you to do something for me,” Brian said. He’d been briefly lost in thoughts of wildflower fields and the connection he’d felt with Caitlin among the Golden Waves. He had to put all that behind him, and Jake was going to help him do that.

“All right, what?” Jake came out of the stall and leaned against the closed door.

“Tell me that I’m a selfish bastard.” Whenever he considered the idea that he could leave his job and responsibilities, that was how he felt.

“I’m not gonna do that without a reason.” Jake studied him.

Dammit, he didn’t want to get into the details on this. “I’m considering resigning as sheriff because I want to go to Austin to be with Caitlin, and that’s selfish behavior. So call me names and talk me out of it.”

“You’re in love with her.” Jake’s words were more statement than question.

“Yeah, but I was once before, and I got over it,” he said. It had been hard as hell, and this time would be worse since he knew she loved him back, but he was strong. He could do it. “Tell me to keep my ass here and do my job, okay? I need to hear it from somebody.”

“That won’t be me, brother,” Jake drawled. “My advice to you is to go after Caitlin.”

“What the hell? I’m not asking for much. Just say the words, dammit.” The mare shied away from him, picking up on his anger, so he left the stall.

“It’s always been Caitlin for you, since way back.” Jake came closer and put his hand over the stall door to stroke and soothe the mare. “And that’s not going to change.”

“Of course it will. It has to.” Didn’t anyone else see that?

“Why? Think about it, Brian. Could you live with yourself if Caitlin or your baby needed you and you weren’t there for them? Because that’s the choice you’re making right now.”

Brian didn’t want to hear that line of reasoning. Did Jake think Brian hadn’t played those scenarios a thousand times in his head?

“Christ, you’re useless. I’m leaving.” Brian went to stalk past Jake, but his brother stepped into his path, blocking his way.

“You’re one of the good guys.” Jake placed his hands on Brian’s shoulders. “And that’s great, but not when it makes you a nearsighted dumbass. Someone else can take care of this town. Or, I guess, you can hope that someone else takes care of Caitlin and your kid.”

He hated the thought of being separated from Caitlin and the baby, but it was the only way. “She’s tough. She’ll manage on her own, and I’ll be able to help them when my schedule allows.”

“I doubt that’s good enough.” Jake spoke in a low voice. “What happens if she finds someone else to care for her and your kid, all because you couldn’t trust anyone else to manage the sheriff’s office?”

The thought of Caitlin with a boyfriend, a lover, set Brian’s blood boiling. Someone else being his kid’s daddy? Being there in the night to comfort his child? Imagining Caitlin sharing her life with someone else was like a knife through the heart. He needed to get out of here before he blew.

“Caitlin’s a great woman, pretty and smart. She won’t be alone for long. You willing to let that happen?” Jake asked, tipping Brian’s temper over the edge.

“Shut the fuck up!” Brian tried to shove his way past Jake, but his brother gripped his shoulders tightly, holding him in place. “You don’t understand what it’s like,” Brian yelled. “You’ve never been in love. It’s pure hell.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Jake’s voice was calm despite having Brian scream in his face. “Anything that makes you, of all people, lose control must be something powerful.”

After a minute, Jake loosened his hold. Brian slumped back against a stall door and tried to rein in his emotions. He hadn’t acted out like that since he was a kid.

“You better?” Jake was nearby but staying out of Brian’s personal space.

“No.” Brian scrubbed a hand over his face and struggled with the rage that was still simmering in him—though thankfully at a low boil now. “Sorry, bro. How the hell did I get myself in this spot?”

“Don’t know, but stay there. I’ll be back.” Jake disappeared into the tack room and returned with a bottle of whiskey. “You might want some of this.”

“Thanks.” Brian tipped it back and took a swig. He passed the bottle to his brother who drank as well. “For emergencies?”

“Yeah, and sometimes a man just wants a drink by himself. You ready to really talk now?”

“Guess so,” Brian said. The anger and whiskey still burned through his veins, but he was calmer.

“All right, then. Listen to some reason. Caitlin can’t stay here with the way her family is, so she’s as stuck as you are.” Jake glanced around the barn. “I know a little about being stuck, about a place taking its toll on you, so I get where she’s coming from.”

Brian took a hard look at his brother. What was Jake saying? That he didn’t want to be running the ranch? That he felt trapped? “Jake—”

Jake waved him off. “We’re talking about you and Caitlin.”

Brian accepted that for the moment, but decided that on another day he needed to have an honest conversation with his brother about the role he’d ended up with.

“Give me the bottle, would you?” Brian took another swig after Jake handed it to him. “Why Caitlin? Why’d I have to fall for her? There are lots of nice women in town. If I wanted a relationship, it wouldn’t be hard to find a willing woman who planned to live here forever. Hell, they’re always leaving me cookies and stopping me on the street. Why not one of them?”

Jake shook his head. “They want you because they want to bag a Thorne brother. And since you’re the good twin, they’d choose you over me any day of the week.” Jake gave a rueful laugh.

“But that’s not Caitlin,” Brian said. “She doesn’t give a shit about status or my last name or if I’m sheriff.”

“Yep. You don’t find that kind of love every day. Trust me on that one.” Jake’s expression darkened, making Brian wonder what was going on with his brother. Brian had been so caught up with Caitlin over the past weeks that he hadn’t seen as much of Jake as usual. He’d fix that soon enough. As soon as he resolved the situation with Caitlin.

Brian thought about everything Jake said that day, and what Amy had said at the office. But the loudest voice in his head was Caitlin’s, asking him to move to Austin with her so they could be together. Why hadn’t he heard her like he should have? She’d offered everything he’d wanted, and he hadn’t seen it because of his worry about his job. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d let her leave. Hell, he’d packed her car for her and watched her drive out of his life when she was everything he’d wanted for so long—and was carrying the child he already loved so much, it made him dizzy.

“I’m a dumbass,” he said.

“Took you this long to figure that out?” Jake picked up the whiskey bottle and took a drink.

“I’ve got to go after Caitlin.” Nothing had ever been so obvious to him. Why couldn’t he have seen that a few days ago? “I love her, and I can’t let anything get in the way of that.”

Jake slapped him on the back. “Then get the hell out of here and go figure out how to win your woman back.”