Read Belonging to Bandera for Free Online

shop’s got an extra bike,” Holly said, coming to stand next to him. “Mike wants to know if you want to rent a motorcycle and caravan to wherever you’re going. The owner’s in the mood to see the countryside with some buddies, and you’re the only easy riders who’ve been by today who know their Hogs.”
    “A Hog for rent?” Mason perked up. “Really?”
    “Mason,” Bandera said. “Stay on task.”
    “Let me see this Hog he’s renting.” Mason got out of the truck, striding over to where Cousin Mike stood.
    Bandera glared at Holly. “Mason has no business biking.”
    “Are you afraid of motorcycles?” she asked. “Mike seemed to think you and Mason might enjoy traveling that way as a novelty.”
    “I have plenty of novelty in my life, thank you,” he said. “You’ve now got my brother off his path, and the problem with that is that I only came along to keep him on track.” Holly just didn’t understand the dilemma. “See, Mason has a tendency to wander. He wanders off, and when he does, he may wander off for months.”
    “Does he have an attention deficit disorder?”
    “No, it’s just…” Bandera sighed. “Look. I’d feel better if I could keep Mason in my sights at all times. With any luck, I’ll have him home in two days, which will be a Mason record.”
    The sound of motorcycles gunning made Bandera swivel around. Mason was on the back of the biggest, flashiest Hog Bandera had ever seen. Mike was slipping on a helmet, and the shop owner—who Bandera realized with some horror was a tall, thin, rangy-looking brunette with foxy eyes—loaded herself onto the back of Mason’s seat.
    “Oh, no,” Bandera said. “This is not going to happen. This is bad. No. Wait!” he yelled over the engine noises. “Mason! Hell, no!” He went running toward them, but Mike, Mason and the brunette waved and roared off. “Damn it!” Bandera tossed his hat to the ground. “Damn it to hell!” The glare he sent Holly should have shriveled her, but she drew herself up to her full height and turned her back on him, arms crossed.
    Uh-oh. Now she was mad, and being alone in the countryside with a hot, angry female was not a recipe for happiness. He took a few deep breaths. “This is your fault,” he said. “I’m sorry I lost my temper, but you shouldn’t have dangled bait like that in front of Mason’s face.”
    “If you’d been paying more attention to the discussions and less to your map fear, you would havemet the shop owner and seen how nice she was,” Holly said, annoyed. “Mike knows her. Apparently, she bought the business recently from the guy you knew.”
    “I meant the bike,” he said crossly. “Mason and anything that gets him on an open road these days is dangerous. And that Hog was about the most alluring bait he’s seen in months.”
    “Well, then he probably deserves it,” she said huffily. “Maybe he doesn’t like you being his ball and chain. I know I wouldn’t.”
    Bandera stared at her. “Ball and chain?”
    She turned around. “Frankly, your possessive attitude grates on my nerves.”
    He blinked. “Possessive?”
    “Yes. You should be happy for your brother.”
    The brunette had been quite a looker. Very Cherlike, in her younger days. And she’d let Mason drive her Hog. He sighed. “Mimi isn’t going to like you,” he told Holly. “I’d watch that rhetoric around her.”
    “Who’s Mimi?”
    “The next-door neighbor. Well, used to be.”
    “Well, she’s not here. And you gotta live life to the fullest, as I’ve learned only too well today.”
    “I know that quote,” he said. “But I think there are varying definitions of what living life to the fullest means.”
    “Mike has a cell phone,” she reminded him, “andwe can follow them to wherever you were planning to go in the first place.”
    “True.” Bandera began to feel better. “Yes. Nothing to worry about.”
    Somewhere a door slammed loudly, making them both wheel around. He grabbed Holly