Trial by Fire (6 page)

“Lachlan.” Holden stared him down, near-black eyes snapping. “Take the baby and go to the sunroom.”

When he opened his mouth, Holden held up a single finger. “Now.”

Lachlan took Chloe when Holden handed her off and walked to the sunroom, then shut the door most of the way behind him. The storm was gathering outside, lightning tearing across the sky, and Chloe chewed on her fist, eyes wide and serious.

“Oy, now. You’re safe. You are, Chloe. I got you, Littlie.”

The sound of screaming got louder, and then Holden snapped out, “It’s not yours to forbid. That land, that house, it’s mine now, and don’t you dare say I haven’t fucking earned it. I’ve been working this ranch for my whole life and running it for twelve fucking years!”

“Don’t you curse at your momma,” Mr. Brandon thundered. “Woman, go lie down. I won’t hear any more of this shit.”

Holden slammed out of the kitchen, then paused where Lachlan probably wasn’t supposed to be able to see him. He stopped like he was hit hard in the gut, then put his hands on his knees and fought to breathe, just wheezing hard.

Maria, who was Chloe’s part-time nanny so far as Lachlan could figure, although they treated her like family, pressed an inhaler into Holden’s hand. “Here,
mi’ijo
. Take it now.”

Holden nodded sharply and shook the inhaler for a few seconds before sticking it between his lips and breathing hard. She stayed with him, hand on his back until the fit passed and he could suck in a lungful.

“There.
Mira
, Maria knows, eh? You don’t worry about your mama. Her
corazón
, it’s broke.”

“So is mine,
Mamacita
, but we don’t have time for all this drama,” Holden said, gasping.

“No. No.
Dónde está la niña
?”

“With her Uncle Lachlan.” Holden glanced at the sunroom door, and Lachlan backed off a little so it wouldn’t be so obvious he was eavesdropping.

“Ah, the tall one. He look like Addie,
sí
? I like him. He’s nice.”

“He seems like a decent feller. Do you think you can remember how Addie snuck her tea in? How she made it? I bet he’d like that.”

“
Sí. Sí
. Now?”

“That would totally rock,
Mamacita
. Bring it to the sunroom, and we’ll watch the storm. Momma’s gone to the bedroom, and Daddy’s out checking horses.”

“
Sí
. I can do that.” Maria left, and Lachlan walked Chloe back and forth, humming and bouncing her.

Holden came in, and Chloe immediately started crying, reaching for him. “Oh, honey. I’m fine. Just dealing with your crazy maw-maw.”

Lachlan handed her back to Holden, because he was her dad, no doubt about it. “She’s under a ton of stress.”

“Between the storm and Momma? I don’t think she had a chance. There was a storm the day her folks died.”

“Yeah. Screaming tends to upset the little ones anyway.”
Oh, Ades, why did you go up in a storm? Why?

Holden looked at him, nodded. “I know what you’re thinking. I keep wanting someone to say it out loud so I’m not the only one. They should have been smarter, more careful.”

“Yeah.” His shoulders slumped. “I mean, sure they were young, but damn it, you’re the same age as Landon, and I’m only three years older than Adelaide. They had a baby, for fuck’s sake.” He kept his voice low so he didn’t upset Chloe again.

“They said they were just going to take it up for a little while. Just a spin, to keep in practice, get their flight hours.”

He wanted to hit something, but even without the baby he held, Lachlan didn’t want to hit Holden. Somehow he felt like they were in this together. They were kindred souls in many ways.

“There was nothing any of us could do. The EMTs said they were dead before the fire started, that it was fast.”

A lump lodged in his throat, and he tried to push it down again.

“Do you not want to know?” Holden asked.

“No. I want everything. I do.” He could take it. Hell, Lachlan needed to know so he could control what his parents heard.

“They hit some weird wind hiccup in the sky, like a microburst. There wasn’t any smoke in their lungs. They didn’t die in the fire. It was before. I identified the bodies.”

“Christ.” Lachlan squeezed his eyes shut. Fuck. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”

“Me too, but it was me or Daddy. I took one for the team.”

A crack of thunder got Chloe going again, and Maria came bustling in with a tray. “
Té
. Let me take her, hmm? The storm worries her.”

“You sure,
Mama
?” Holden asked, and she popped him.

“I take care of both of you your whole lives. I take care of her too. Come,
mi’ija
. Come and we’ll sing.”

Holden watched Maria wander out, and he sat hard. “She made you tea, man. Drink up.”

“You should try a cup.” There was a pot and everything, and it smelled so good. Bless Maria.

“Sure thing. What is it that Miss Addie said? You play mother?”

“Yeah.” He grinned and sat next to Holden on the couch thing so he could pour out.

The rain started going, slamming down so hard that Lachlan worried about the windows. Fuck, look at that. Reminded him of home, of the howlers that swept through the outback.

He handed Holden a cup of tea, their fingers touching, making his eyes widen. Maybe it was what Holden’s mum had said about wanting to sleep with him, but Lachlan was maybe three or four times more aware of the man now. He had been informed that there were no gay cowboys in Texas.

Apparently he was as wrong about that as he’d been about being the only one in Queensland.

Holden glanced at him from under his lashes, then nodded his thanks. “Smells good.”

“Liar. Try it, though.”

“Hey, I would drink tea with Addie. Sometimes.”

“Do you want milk? Maria didn’t bring any.”

“Nope. I like lemon. You need some?”

“That would be fine.” Lachlan tried for a smile.

“Uh. What does that mean? You need milk?”

“No, lemon. Addie liked milk.” He wasn’t making sense.

“She did.” Holden looked over at him, touched his arm. “If it wasn’t raining, I’d say we could go outside and beat the shit out of each other. We’d feel better.”

All of a sudden he just wanted to touch someone, and he pushed the tea aside to grab Holden for a backbreaking hug. “Thanks, mate.”

Holden nodded, the little body shaking in his arms. They didn’t say a word, just held on, two blokes comforting each other.

Lachlan didn’t know if he’d ever needed just that so much as he did right now.

He closed his eyes. No one knew how he felt but this man right here. Holden understood. Holden got it, had lost a twin, for fuck’s sake.

Holden’s heart thundered against his ribs, the storm raging on outside, and he had a wild urge to throw Holden down and—well, do naughty things. Work out some of his stress.

Lachlan knew it was totally inappropriate, but his cock filled, his belly going tight.

When Holden caught his breath, Lachlan knew he was being too damned obvious, and he tried to back off.

Holden wasn’t a shrinking violet in his jeans, though, the man’s cock hard as nails.
Damn. Yeah.
Lachlan wasn’t sure what the hell to do. When Holden glanced up at him, Lachlan pressed their mouths together, the move impulsive and instinctive.

Holden’s eyes went wide, and Lachlan curled down as the guy pushed up, slamming their lips together. He wrapped his arms around that tight body, holding them close. The lightning slammed into the ground, the scent of ozone sudden and strong as the lights went out.

They separated for a moment, Holden’s breath loud and hot on his cheek. Then the man pushed Lachlan down on the couch before swarming on top of him.

He moaned and got himself a double handful of arse, his fingers covering the whole tight little backside. He wanted more, wanted to touch and taste and lose himself completely so he didn’t have to think. He just wanted a little relief.

Holden reached down, palm covering his crotch, rubbing his zipper against his cock.

Lachlan gritted his teeth, his body curling up around that hand.

Fuck. Fuck, he hadn’t… not for more than a year, and he needed it. His balls were already pulling up tight, and the next kiss made him buck like a fractious horse.

One short leg pressed up between his legs, rolling his balls and giving him the best pressure. He moaned, the sound loud even with the storm out there, and he did a slow bump and grind, hoping for more.

Holden gave him more, another long, slow push that made him roll his hips, begging silently for another touch.

“Jesus, you’re a hot one,” Holden rasped against his mouth.

“Shut up. Don’t stop.”

“No.”

No stopping. He wanted to come.

“Good.”

“Son! Holden, help!” The sheer terror in Mr. Brandon’s voice was like ice water pouring on him, and they both sprang up, running for the door.

“Daddy?” Holden said.

“The horse barns are on fire!” Brandon shouted, and all Lachlan could do was follow as fast as he could.

Fire on a station was a horror he understood, and he knew what to do instinctively. Action was programmed into his bones.

There were dozens of cowboys slamming through the fading rain, all of them leaping fences and heading for a huge set of barns, and Lachlan ran too, bootheels driving him through the mud.

They had two objectives: get any animals out of the barns, and put out the fire before it spread any farther. Crazy was there, organizing the water brigade, so Lachlan went to help with the animals.

The horses were hysterical. Bloody hell, there were so many of them. He went into automatic mode. Cover the animal’s eyes and hustle it out to hand off to one of the drovers.

Someone handed him a wet kerchief for his mouth, and he tied it around his face and pushed on back to work. The heat became intense, and Lachlan had no idea how close the fire was to him. He just knew there were a dozen more horses to move, and they were trapped.

Holden ran past him. “Where the fuck is Pepper? Someone moved Pepper!”

“Which one is Pepper, mate?” He checked stall after stall, finding a tiny Shetland in one, and damned if that smart little filly didn’t head out at a dead run when Lachlan opened the gate.

“Pepper!” One of the stalls in the back had a horse that was losing its mind, kicking at the stall, her screaming neighs full of panic.

Flames burst out along the wall behind her, and Lachlan sprinted toward Holden. “Get her bloody lead! She’ll stomp you!”

“I’m trying!” The little fuck was fearless, ducking under the horse’s head, not even seeming to worry about the razor sharp hooves.

Lachlan muscled in, his extra height allowing him to catch Pepper’s halter.

“Get her out! I’ll grab these guys!”

“It’s too late!”

“No! They’re Addie’s! I’m not losing anything else, you hear me?” Holden ran back into the black, billowing smoke, disappearing from sight.

Fuck. Lachlan pulled out Pepper by sheer force of will and brute strength, giving her over to a drover. “Don’t you lose her!” he shouted, before grabbing a wet blanket from another man and plunging back into the barn, where timbers creaked eerily overhead.

“Holden?” Fuck, he couldn’t see a goddamn thing.

“Back here!” Holden’s voice floated out of the heat, and Lachlan barreled toward it.

“How many more?”

“These two. Just these.” Holden stumbled, and Lachlan saw him go down to his knees for a second, then force himself back up.

He beat back flames with the blanket before grabbing the lead on the paint’s halter, getting lifted near off his feet when the bastard reared. “Come on you ruddy monster. Let’s go!”

“Go, Thunder. Come on, you bitch!” Holden popped the other horse’s ass with his hat and she started moving.

The horses all but dragged them once they could feel air coming from the door. Lachlan lost his footing once, leaning on the big shoulder next to him and grabbing the mane to keep him upright.

Holden made it out of the smoke, eyes red and wild, then he grabbed his chest and tried to suck in a breath.

“Shit.” Lachlan grabbed Holden when he doubled over. “You. Get your ass to the house and get his medicine from Maria.”

Wait.

Wait.

He fumbled at Holden’s pockets, hooting as he found the inhaler and shoved it into Holden’s mouth and squeezed.

That lean body heaved, then Holden sucked in a breath. One. Then another.

“That’s it, mate. That’s the way.”

The rain started again, pounding harder. Jesus Christmas. This place was insane.

“Boss, the animals are all accounted for.” A kid who couldn’t be old enough to work ran up, coughing like mad. “Barn one is a total loss.”

“Okay. Get the tack out of two. Fire out?” Holden was holding it together, but by the skin of his teeth.

“Under control. Rain is helping stop the spread. We’re gonna need medical.”

“EMT or the medics here?”

“Both.” The kid hacked some more.

“I’ll get Mom to call it in.” Holden began limping toward the house.

“I’ll help.”

“You did. Thanks, man. I appreciate it—”

A scream came from the house, the sound wild and utterly panicked. Holden began to run again, driving himself forward like a possessed thing.

“Momma?” Holden shouted.

They hit the front porch at the same time as Holden’s daddy, Mrs. Sheffield holding Maria up, the woman’s head bleeding like a stuck pig’s.

“Someone’s taken the baby!”

HOLDEN
felt like he’d been beaten with a stick. The cops were here, the FBI were coming. Fire trucks, EMTs, cowboys, neighbors. Every fucking ranch hand in a thirty-mile radius. Assholes bringing food. An Australian.

Everyone was here except for Chloe Danielle.

He didn’t understand. He kept running through the story—Momma had found Maria with her arm busted, head split open in the nursery. Maria remembered exactly fucking nothing. One minute she was holding the baby and watching the fire on the horizon, the next she was out cold.