Read The Eagle and the Fox (A Snowy Range Mystery, #1) for Free Online Page B

salsa mingling with a shampoo fragrance and a hint of aftershave. He was muttering about the reverend.
    “Not bad for a young’un, I must say. At least his version of hellfire and brimstone was tolerable.” He stepped back and tossed the napkins into a waste bin. “There. You’ll pass inspection now.”
    “Thanks.” Josh nodded in the direction of the pavilion. “Him being hitched with his little lady expecting sure didn’t cool some jets.”
    Reverend Parker Allen held court with a shifting phalanx of gaga teen girls ignoring the obvious, while their mothers and grannies took over seeing to the very pregnant Sara.
    “What’s Becca think about all that?”
    Josh chuckled. “About what you’d expect, though after what that asshole, Randy, put her through? Damned if I know why she’d want to get hitched again. I mean, she’s doing good by the girls, making a place for herself. Why rock the boat?”
    Marcus raised his eyebrows. He looked like he was going to say something but was thinking better of it.
    Josh grumped, “What?”
    Shrugging, Marcus said, “Well, it ain’t always easy to be strong, you know? To do for yourself all the time? It gets lonely.”
    “She ain’t lonely, she’s got me...”
    Marcus sighed. “You’re her brother, cowboy. It ain’t the same thing. A woman’s got needs a brother’s not gonna satisfy.”
    That hit Josh right in the gut, knowing how much he relied on Becca to be there for him and him figuring his doing all he could to be the father her girls never had was fair trade. Deep down he knew it was selfish, especially after how she’d cared for him when he was barely functional.
    Marcus must have sensed what was running through his head at breakneck speed. But what the man wouldn’t see was how Josh recognized the rightness of what he’d said and the guilt that dogged him every day because of it.
    His voice wavering, the look on his face painfully contrite, Marcus said, “Listen, Josh, I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn. It’s not my business...”
    Marcus backed away, putting some distance between them, his face puckered with worry. Josh set his plate and cup down, grabbed the man’s arm and hauled him toward the parking lot. Marcus was his friend, and friends didn’t drive friends away just because they spoke truth you might not want to hear. Sometimes a man needed tough love to break through those blind spots.
    The lot was nearly empty of people, except for a couple of the boys sneaking smokes or a quick kiss from a willing gal passing by. His old Ford was angle parked on the bank near a dry gully. He headed for that, only vaguely aware he’d linked his fingers with Marcus’ own, his big paw completely engulfing the smaller man’s hand.
    Ignoring the tailgate that lay open in all its rusted glory, Josh yanked the passenger side door open and guided Marcus inside. When he’d settled himself behind the wheel, it occurred he’d maybe made things worse by hauling the poor man away from the festivities and sequestering him in the cab of his truck. As it was, he had no idea what he wanted to say, other than sorry, and it seemed stupid now... both of them saying the words, neither of them sure why the hell it needed saying in the first place, let alone knowing if the saying was going to help or hurt.
    Marcus had glued himself against the door, putting as much distance between them as the bench seat would allow. It was tempting for Josh to sidle closer, to use his size to intimidate in order to make a pointless point, but the gear shift on the floor made that awkward. So instead, he laid his palm on the seat, extended just enough, like some sort of offering.
    Marcus kept one hand on the door handle and one eye on the real estate protecting him from the tongue-tied madman behind the wheel. He croaked, “Is this an abduction?”
    “Ab— What the fuck are you talking about?”
    Visibly relaxing, Marcus said, “Well, you haul me away from the picnic, then stuff me into