It looked like baby brother was at it again.

“Put him on his ass,” Aidan said. It was what he would do. He’d been forced to, as though it was the only way to prove to Bo he was still a man. Even when he’d been on crutches, learning to walk again, his brother wouldn’t let up. He was a constant little pest buzzing in his ear.

“As long as I have permission, it will be my pleasure. But seriously, Aidan, it would be better if you came home. Bo isn’t the only one causing trouble around town. Karen is telling everyone that the two of you are back together and getting married.”

He nearly threw the phone.  Karen Wilcox was rapidly becoming a pain in his ass. She’d been his high school girlfriend. It had been natural. She’d been the head cheerleader, and he’d been the quarterback. Aidan had done what he’d always done—he had played the role designated to him. When he’d left for college, she’d almost immediately married another man. Karen’s husband was older and established, with money to burn on a young trophy wife.

By the time he’d come home, broken and battered, Karen’s husband had died, and she’d been left very little money in his will. She hadn’t decided to visit his convalescent bed until the day it was announced he’d inherited the ranch. That day she’d been full of heartfelt concern for his injuries and talked about how much she would miss his father now that he was gone. Karen had hated his father. He hadn’t bought her crap back then and didn’t buy it now.

“Goddamn it, I haven’t touched that woman. I have no interest in touching that woman.”

Dwight sighed. “I know that, but the people around here are starting to talk, Aidan. You know how it is here. People expect things. She’s talking about a fall wedding.”

He’d escorted her to exactly two events, both charity events where he’d networked all night long. He’d made it plain to her that they weren’t dating. When she had tried to come on to him and invite herself in, he’d been gentle and gracious about turning her down. It looked like he was going to have to be a bit more forceful. “I’ll talk to her when I get home, but that could be a week or two.”

There was a long pause. “Damn it, Aidan, what the hell is so all-fired important in Dallas?”

“Lexi.” He let the name drop like a jewel, his voice getting soft. He steeled himself because he wasn’t hiding anymore. Aidan O’Malley was done playing roles other people tried to force him to play. “And Lucas. I’m getting them back.”

A low whistle came across the line as the elevator doors opened, and Aidan started walking down the hall to his room. “Damn, Aidan, that’s going to cause a stir in this town. I don’t know that Deer Run, Texas, is ready for you and your, uhm, partners. Maybe if it was two hot chicks you were trying to bring home, it would be, you know, eccentric. They would say your time in Austin corrupted you. You know the church ladies here like to blame everything on marijuana and Austin.”

“Let them,” Aidan said sharply. “I don’t care. I love Lexi and I love Lucas, and I’m not hiding it or pretending it’s less than it is. If Deer Run, Texas, can’t handle it, then they can go to hell.”

He was damn sick of living up to other people’s expectations. He’d lost the best thing in his whole damn life because he couldn’t handle the potential fallout. He knew what real pain was now, and he knew that the only thing that healed it was genuine, pure love for another human being. He’d been lucky enough to find two soul mates. He wasn’t letting them go because society deemed he was only allowed one. The world could go to hell as long as he had Lexi and Lucas in his life.

“Well, I admire you for your conviction, Aidan. I hope it doesn’t bite your ass in the end.” Dwight was silent for a moment and then seemed almost hesitant. “Are you sleeping okay, buddy?”

Aidan stood beside the door to his room and felt his soul sag. “Sure.”

“That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

He sighed and decided that honesty was the word of the whole damn day. He didn’t like talking about how he’d been injured, mostly because he couldn’t remember anything about the day. “Lately, I can’t seem to stop dreaming about it.”

“The doctors said you wouldn’t be able to remember that day, Aidan.”

“Well, they also said I wouldn’t walk.” They had been firm on that point. He’d been stubborn, and exactly six months after he’d been sentenced to life in a wheelchair, he’d stood up and walked. He’d walked because he loved them. They would never know it, but Lucas and Lexi had been his crutches, the very thought of them spurring him to walk. And they were going to be his reward. “It’s nothing, really. Just flashes of the team and the firefight. I don’t even know if what I’m seeing really happened. Probably not.”

But he wished it would go away. Every night, it was the same dream. Darkness and then that terrible sound. In the dream, he rushed out to see what was happening, and he felt the bullets hit him. Then just Dwight looking down at him. Aidan wanted it to stop.

“The dreams are coming even when you take your sleeping pills?”

Aidan groaned. “I didn’t bring them with me. I’m trying to get off of them.”

He hated the fact that he didn’t sleep well without them. He was going to break free of those pills. It was all a matter of discipline, but he knew Dwight disagreed. There was a long pause, and Aidan was happy when Dwight didn’t argue.

“How long will you be gone?” Dwight asked.

“Like I said, a week or two. Hire some more hands if you need it. The money is there. And tell Bo to keep his hands off the emergency funds. I’m not paying for his drinking binges.”

“Will do, boss. Tell me something, have you given any thought to bringing Lucas and Lexi here?”

He sighed. He would love that. “Only if I can figure out a way to drag them.”

He hung up his phone, opened the door, and started to get ready for the most important night of his life.

* * *

Dwight Creely shoved his cell in his back pocket, cursing under his breath as he did it. He’d really thought he could get Aidan to come home. Aidan had explained to him how important these two people were to him. He understood that. When they were in the Army together, he’d talked about his ex-fiancée and their best friend. It was only after the incident that Aidan admitted he was involved with Lucas, too. Something had changed after Aidan had gotten out of the hospital. He had purpose. First, he’d fought hard to get back the use of his legs, and then he’d thrown himself into the ranch.

Dwight had stayed close, managing to get himself hired as the ranch’s foreman. He’d known a little about ranching having grown up in Wyoming. His uncle had a ramshackle ranch where Dwight had spent a couple of years after his father had kicked him out. It was a stroke of luck since he needed to stay close to Aidan. He had to keep a watchful eye on the big bastard.

“Hey!” Bo O’Malley swung down from the horse he’d been riding. It still surprised Dwight just how much the boy looked like his brother. Well, he looked like his brother before he’d gotten shot up in Iraq. Bo was a younger, slightly thinner version of Aidan, with sandy hair and a square jaw. “Have you talked to Aidan? Did you tell him Karen came around again? She tried to get me to tell her where Aidan went, but I didn’t think that was such a great idea. I don’t know what Aidan’s doing in Dallas, but he probably doesn’t want Karen around.”

Dwight hated Bo. Every word that came out of the younger man’s mouth was like nails on a chalkboard to Dwight. He’d been given everything, but he whined about how his brother didn’t pay enough attention to him. Spoiled little fucker. It was fun to come between him and his precious brother. A few words here and there and both brothers thought the other hated them. Dwight was glad he’d never been saddled with a sibling.

“I just talked to him. He’s pissed at you. He says the paperwork you did sucked, and he won’t let you near the business side again.” Aidan had said nothing of the sort, but those two didn’t talk, so there wasn’t a lot of worry that they would find out about his lie. They would simply yell at each other about other things, never getting to the heart of the matter. “You need to watch yourself. I think he’s close to getting rid of you. The only reason he’s kept you around is he doesn’t have money for new hands. You have to understand, your brother is trying to make this place work again. If you get in the way, he’ll cut you loose.”

“He can’t do that,” Bo insisted. “This is my home. He can’t kick me out.”

Actually, Aidan had said just that when Dwight had suggested kicking the annoying pest out. But Dwight wouldn’t admit that. “Look, you have to see where your brother would be pissed off at you. He got the ranch, but you took a decent portion of the money. He had to sell out a piece of his ownership to Barnes-Fleetwood to have the cash to operate.”

“Hell, I offered to buy shares a couple of months back.”

And Dwight had convinced Aidan that Bo would cause trouble. It had been easy. Bo had been pissed about the terms of the will. He had been making trouble. Now he was more reasonable, but Dwight still wanted to keep them apart.

“And Aidan doesn’t want you to have anything to do with the business end.”

Bo’s face fell. He was an easy mark. One minute he was all sad puppy dog, and the next he was pissed off boy. It was a turbulent combo that Dwight had used to his advantage. “Well, if he wanted me to do the fucking paperwork, he should have taught me how. Screw this. I’m going into town.”

Bo stalked off, leading the horse toward the stables.

That was a good thing. If Bo was out getting drunk, he wouldn’t notice that Dwight was gone. Aidan needed to come home where Dwight could watch him.