Chapter 1

Jake jerked awake, his heart hammering in his chest. God he hated that damn dream. It was almost always the same, except sometimes he saw the woman thrashing, her eyes bulging, mouth opening and closing as she struggled.

It was a blessing when he was saved from that. Blowing out his breath, he sat and leaned back against the cement wall. Even waking to the sight of a jail cell was preferable to being prisoner to the dream. However, the taunt of the over-inked bald guy on the cot across from him wasn’t exactly welcome.

“Piss your pants, boy?”

Jake's reply was a cross between a grunt and a snarl. Where the hell was Jesse? He’d called his cell phone almost two hours ago, plenty of time for Jesse to wire the bail money regardless of where he happened to be. If Jesse let him sit in jail all night there’d be hell to pay.

“Nash!” an officer called out as he approached the cell. “You made bail.”

“Halle-damn-lujah,” Jake grumbled and rose to follow the officer out.

He was counting himself lucky that his brother Jesse had followed through until he walked out into the waiting area. And there stood Jed. Shit on a stick. Just his luck. Jedidiah Nash, eldest brother and from the look on his face, one pissed-off man.

Jed was intimidating enough when he was happy. A face that looked carved from stone, strong angles and deep-set piercing eyes combined into a visage that could literally make a man’s palms sweat.

“What’re you doing here?”

“Jesse called me. Let’s go,” Jed growled. He marched out of the jail, leaving Jake to trail behind.

“Come on, Jed. It was just a misunderstanding. Could’ve happened to anyone.”

Jed stopped dead in his tracks and pivoted on the heel of his worn boot to face Jake. “Fact is, Jake, it couldn’t. Most of us know when to keep our dick in our pants.”

Jake was smart enough to know when to hold his tongue and now was definitely one of those times.

*****

Jed was in one sorry mood. He’d had the dream again. The hanging woman. Whatever demon had cursed the men of his family with that damn thing was definitely one who held a mighty long grudge. For generations the Nash men had been plagued with the dream. Along with other things.

Over the course of his life, Jed had learned to accept that he was stuck with the dream. Still, it was no fun when it came. And he was no closer now to figuring out the cause of it than he’d been when it started at age twelve.

He cut a look at Jake. To his credit, Jake kept his mouth closed. Good thing. Jed wasn’t in the mood to get into a row with his younger brother. Not after having been awakened at two in the morning by a call to come bail his sorry ass out of jail. Not knowing that he had too many animals to tend and not enough hands. The cream on that bucket of rancid milk was that his Farrier had suddenly come into some kind of family inheritance, so he upped and moved, leaving Jed with half a dozen horses needing shoes, and no one to shoe them until the new man arrived.

Jed wouldn’t admit it to Jake, but he considered the charge against his brother to be trumped-up. Jake might have earned many of his nicknames—Jake the Rake, Jake the Snake—and a host of others, but Jed knew better than to think that Jake had taken a swing at a woman. One thing Nash men didn’t do was hit women.

He spun and resumed his march to the parking lot. Once he and Jake were on the road, headed for the ranch, he cut his eyes over at his brother.

Slumped against the door, with legs crossed, Jake’s support leg jiggled rapidly. A sure sign of an eminent outburst. Jake never had been one to hold his tongue. One of his shortcomings as far as Jed was concerned. But then, Jake was young, and youth has a way of making fools out of damn near everyone.

“I didn’t lay a hand on that gal.”

“She seems to think you did.”

“I swear on Mama’s grave—”

“Don’t you ever,” Jed cut him off. “You swear on anything else you want, boy, but not on our mother’s grave.”

“I swear on my life, Jed. I didn’t. I talked to her a few times, had some fun but I never, never said one hard word to her. And I didn’t lay a hand on her. You know better than that. I wouldn’t raise a hand to a woman.”

Jed believed him. He’d had a hand in raising Jake and he’d have taken a chunk out of Jake’s hide if he’d ever raised a hand against a woman. That went against the code and no one in the Nash family could go against the code and hope to remain a part of the family. It was what made them strong and kept them united.

“So what’s the story on this gal?”

Jake blew out his breath and ran his hand back through his hair. “She’s just someone I met at Coyote Joe’s. We hit it off, got it on in the backseat of her car, and hooked up again a couple of times at Joe’s over the last couple of weeks.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“No phone calls, text messages or emails?” Jed knew that Jake spent quite a bit of time on his new-fangled cell phone.

“She called—yeah.”

“She called you.”

“Yeah.”

“You never called her?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Jake looked at him with a puzzled expression then frowned. “Well, I guess I wasn’t all that interested in talking to her.”

Jed nodded. That was the story of Jake’s life. Hell, it was the story of his. Women came and went. None stuck. “So what happened tonight?”

“Well, I was at Joe’s. Dan Weathers was there. Remember him? I haven’t seen him in—what, three years? Anyway, he just got out of the army. Spent eighteen months in the Middle East. We were having a beer, and she showed up. Started yammering at me about lying to her. Taking advantage. Saying I loved her, then treated her like shit.

“I told her she was way off base. I never said I loved her. We just fucked in her car. She screamed at me that I was a bastard, snatched Dan’s beer out of his hand, and tried to come upside my head with it. I ducked, bumped into Dan who zigged when I zagged. He sort of shoved me off him, and I bumped into her. But I caught her before she fell, and she started screaming bloody murder that I was hurting her. Two bouncers jumped me, and she was hollering for them to call the police, and the next thing I know, I’m being hauled in and accused of assault.”

Jed didn’t have to question the tale. He knew his little brother. The story fit. Jake might be too quick to take a woman up on an offer of sex, but he wasn’t the kind of man who would hurt a woman. And in general, he wasn’t a liar.

“Okay. We’ll call Marvin Thomas tomorrow and see what he has to say.”

“You think I need a lawyer?”

“Would I call Marvin if I didn’t?”

“Don’t suppose so. Damn.”

“Damn is right. This’ll cost us. Time and money. The money comes out of your share.”

“Guess that’s only fair.”

“You’re damn straight.”

“Anything else you got to say about it?”

“Just one thing. Learn when to keep your dick in your pants.”

Jake snorted. “You’re a fine one to talk.”

Jed cut him a hard look and despite the heat that rushed to his face, this time Jake didn’t back down. “Give me the evil eye all you want, but we both know it’s the truth. You could take all the women Jesse and I have had combined and not measure up to the notches on your worn old belt.”

“I don’t get arrested.”

Jake grinned. “Good point. But that’s got nothing to do with how much fuckin’ you’ve done.”

Jed shook his head and turned his attention back to the road. In some ways, he hadn’t been the best example for his youngest brother. Jake had been only a year old when their mother had died. His other brothers, Josh and Jesse were ten and seven, respectively.

The years after her death had been hard ones. Jed’s father, Jacob, had turned to the bottle and womanizing, leaving the running of the ranch and the raising of the younger boys on Jed’s shoulders.

The day Jed graduated high school he enlisted in the Army, determined never to set foot on the ranch again. He didn’t until seven years later. The memory of that time still haunted him.

They stood at the graveside after all the others had left. Jake stood beside his father, fighting to hold back tears and trying hard to be older than his eight years. Jesse stood beside Jake, his arm draped over his brother’s shoulder in a protective gesture.

Jed stood apart from his family, facing them across the grave of his brother. He couldn’t find it in him to cry. There was too much rage. It smothered his grief and separated him from his family.

“Time to go boys,” Jacob said after several long minutes.

Without a word, Jesse and Jake turned and headed for the truck. Jed stepped in Jacob’s way. “Not yet.”

Jacob’s breath stunk of drink, but he immediately squared his shoulders and thrust out his jaw. “Now ain’t the time to start up with me, boy. If you got half the sense I credit you with, you’ll step aside.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Son, don’t make me lay you out.”

“Like you did Josh?”

He could see how deeply his words cut. The old man’s face seemed to crumple for a moment before he composed himself. “You’re treading on thin ice, boy.”

“You don’t scare me, old man. Not anymore. You killed my mother with your whoring and drinking and now you killed my brother.”

“That’s a bald face lie, and you know it. Some drunk crossed the line and ran into—”

“Josh wouldn’t have been on the road if you hadn’t been too drunk to drive. If you hadn’t been out drinking and whoring, he wouldn’t have been behind that wheel. He wouldn’t be lying in that grave. You’re the reason he’s dead and I’m here to tell you that you either dry up or I’ll have you put away.”

“You got no cause to talk to me like that. I’m your father and—“

“Not anymore you’re not. I’m done with you.”

With that, Jed turned and walked away. He marched over to his brothers and addressed Jesse. “You’re fifteen and old enough to take care of yourself and Jake and I’m telling you now that no matter who calls—not even the old man—you are never to go get him. If he’s drunk, let him sleep in the street. But no one else is dying because of him. It ends here. You hear me?”

Jesse nodded and Jed gathered him into a tight but brief hug then scooped Jake up and gave him a quick embrace. “Take care of each other.”

With that, he walked away, headed back to town, and caught the first bus out.

A year later, their father was killed when he wrapped his pickup around a bridge abutment. Everything their parents owned was split up between the brothers equally, but Jed, being the oldest, had been named trustee and made the legal guardian of his younger brothers.

He knew how to run the ranch. It’s about all he’d ever done except for the years he spent in the Army as a Ranger. The ranch was easy compared to handling two headstrong boys. But they’d all survived.

Jesse graduated high school with honors and got a scholarship to college. He earned a degree in Criminal Justice but got the rodeo fever while in college, and as soon as he graduated, he hit the circuit.

World champion three times over in bronco riding and twice in roping, Jesse lived the life of a gypsy and blew in to visit whenever he was busted up or in-between events.

Jake surprised everyone by deciding he wasn’t going to college. He wanted to start a riding school, give lessons, and expand their breeding program. Jed had agreed to everything Jake wanted. But only if he went to school. If they were going to expand their breeding program, they needed someone with education. Three years ago Jake graduated with a degree in Animal Husbandry, specializing in horse breeding.

Since that time, Jed had helped him get the riding school started. It was starting to show a profit, and the profits were funding the new breeding program. Problem was, Jake was as interested in practicing human mating as he was in his work and Jed was starting to feel that it was time for Jake to cut back on the partying and step up on the work.

But now wasn’t the time for that conversation. He had things other than his brother to consider. Like the new trainer Jake had hired sight unseen. Jed still wasn’t altogether comfortable with handing over the control and decision making in that to Jake.

Apparently, this Morgan fellow had established something of a name for himself the last few years. As a trainer, he boasted a string of successes in the rodeo, having trained three champion barrel racers and four roping horses. The fact that he had some experience as a Farrier was a perk.

There was, however, a drawback to this fellow. Morgan needed housing which meant Jake had to move out of the lake house, one of the smaller houses on the ranch and back into the main house. Jed wasn’t keen on sharing a living space with Jake, even if the main house did have plenty of room. Jake was a slob and Jed hated clutter.

But accommodations had to be made. That was the way of it and Jed had learned a long time ago that bitching and moaning didn’t change anything. So he’d make the best of it and hope that Morgan worked out. If not…well, he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.