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drew together. “You know perfectly well where his mother is, mister.”
    “No, ma’am, I surely don’t.”
    “Yes,
cowboy,
” she said, mocking his drawl and saying “cowboy” as if it were a cuss word. “You surely
do.”
Her voice lowered until it became little more than a harsh, tortured whisper. “She’s lying in a morgue in El Paso. And you put her there, you bastard.”
    She was shaking—
shaking—
like a road sign in a killing wind. Vibrating with the force of whatever emotions roiled inside her right now.
    The kitchen light flashed on, and Wes appeared at Garrett’s side. His open hand might look harmless to a stranger, but Garrett saw the way his fingers twitched just a little. He’d snatch that bowie from his boot at the drop of a hat.
    “What’s going on, Garrett?”
    He didn’t answer. His gaze remained fixed on the wild-eyed creature whose soul was crying, even if her eyes were not. “Ethan’s mamma is dead?”
    She didn’t reply, only glared at him. He heard Jessi’s soft gasp behind him and realized she’d come into the kitchen, too. And probably Elliot, as well. The scent of baby powder told him one of them was carrying Ethan. That and the way the woman trapped between his chest and the door suddenly stared at a point beyond him.
    “Answer me. Is she dead?”
    A single nod.
    “Are you sure?”
    Her eyes finally came back to his. “I just came from identifying my sister’s body, you murdering slug. You’re damned right I’m sure.”
    Wes stiffened, closed his eyes, shook his head. Elliot snorted, coming forward to stand at Garrett’s other side. “Lady, you don’t know my brother at all if you think he could hurt a woman.”
    His words had no impact on her. She merely lifted her chin and continued staring at Garrett. “I came for my nephew. Give him to me and I’ll leave.”
    “Well, now, I’m real sorry, ma’am, but I can’t do that.”
    “I’ll kill you myself before I’ll let you keep him.” And Garrett believed she meant every word of it.
    “You’ll have to go through me,” Wes told her, his eyes going cold. Wes’s eyes, when they went cold like that, could make a rattler tremble. Two black marbles without a hint of feeling. “And going through me won’t be an easy job, lady.”
    “Damn straight it won’t,” Elliot agreed. “And when you finish with Wes, you’ll have to get by me.”
    “And then me,’’ Jessi said.
    Nothing fazed the woman. She didn’t even blink. “If that’s the way you want it.” She faced Garrett again. “Let go of me, Brand. I’ll leave, but when I come back it will be with the law.”
    “No need to leave for that, ma’am. I happen to
be
the law. ‘Round here, leastwise.”
    For the first time, he saw fear tinge her eyes. She glanced down at his arms, imprisoning her, and it seemed to Garrett she was suddenly afraid of him. He eased his hold on her that very second. Let her go completely, and even stepped back away from her. It stunned him, that fear. Made him feel kind of queasy. He didn’t like scaring people. Especially women or kids. Though he usually tried to be less intimidating because of his size, he knew only too well it wasn’t always enough. Hell, nothing made Garrett more miserable than people being afraid of him.
    Especially her.
    She was very small, he realized. Smaller than Jessi, even. She’d been through some kind of hell tonight, and he figured she was probably telling the truth about having just identified her sister’s body in EI Paso. She certainly
looked
like someone who’d just lost a sister. And if she truly thought him responsible…well, hell, he’d have been just as angry in her shoes.
    She didn’t lash out at him again. Only stood there, looking like she’d fall down in a few more minutes. Looking like the stress was tearing her nerves right to shreds.
    Garrett turned around and took little Ethan from Jessi’s arms, though she protested. Ethan chirped and grinned and blew spit bubbles.