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always known that it was all just foolish fantasy.
    Even when she was twenty-four years old, Courtney’s parents had, for the most part, been running her life, making all the important decisions for her. Their princess daughter marrying a Benson boy and becoming a rancher’s wife had not been part of their master plan. Courtney had been so afraid of disappointing her parents, the relationship she and Nick had shared had been conducted undercover.
    He shoved all thoughts of Courtney and her baby out of his mind as he drank two cups of coffee and then headed outside to see if he could make some headway on the lawn.
    He reminded himself he wasn’t here to reconnect with Courtney in any way. He was here to pull Adam up from his depression and get the ranch back in good shape. That was all, and that was more than enough. Once he’d done what he’d come to do, he’d hightail it back to his own life in Texas.
    The sun was already hot overhead as he walked out the front door and headed for the tractor mower. He didn’t know how long the machine had been sitting out in the elements but was pleasantly surprised when it turned over on the second attempt.
    As he mowed, his thoughts whirled in a million directions. The fact that two women who worked as waitresses at the café had been murdered bothered him, especially when he got a visual image of Courtney in the familiar black Cowboy Café T-shirt and jeans that all of the waitresses wore.
    It wasn’t his job to protect Courtney or any of the other women in the café. That job belonged to Sheriff Cameron Evans and his team of capable deputies. Nick just needed to mind his own business and let the sheriff do his job.
    He was halfway through with the yard when Adam stepped out on the front porch, two cups of coffee in his hands. Nick shut down the tractor and joined his brother on the porch.
    “Thanks,” he said as he took the spare coffee from Adam. Even though he’d had his fill of coffee earlier, this felt like an olive branch of sorts from the brother he desperately wanted to connect with.
    Together the two of them eased down in the wicker chairs on the porch, and for a moment neither of them spoke but merely sipped their coffee and stared out in the distance.
    “I’ll help chop up some of that brush after we finish our coffee,” Adam said after a long, slightly uncomfortable silence. “Sorry I’ve let things go.”
    “I’d appreciate the help,” Nick replied.
    He finished his coffee, set the empty cup on the porch and then headed back to the tractor, wondering if his brother was really going to help or would disappear back into the house to find another bottle of booze to anesthetize his pain and escape reality with.
    His heart filled with hope as Adam walked off the porch and headed toward the barn. He returned a moment later with a long-handled sickle to cut down the thick brush.
    The brothers worked together until just after noon, then went inside to a lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches and ice-cold lemonade. This time the silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable. It was merely the silence of two men who had worked hard and needed a few minutes to relax.
    They worked throughout the afternoon and then at dinnertime showered up and headed for the café.
    “You know Courtney Chambers?” Nick asked when they were in his truck.
    “Sure, she’s one of the waitresses at the café,” Adam replied.
    “Did you know she had a baby?” Nick’s fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel.
    “Yeah, I remember somebody mentioning something about it at some point or another.”
    “You know how old the kid is?”
    Nick felt Adam’s gaze on him, but Nick kept his eyes carefully focused on the road. “I have no idea. Ten months or maybe a year or so. Why?”
    “Just curious. She served me lunch yesterday when I showed up in town and I thought she was kind of cute.”
    “Off-limits, brother. She’s from some hoity-toity family in Evanston and she’s dating