Naked Heat: Naked Cowboys, Book 7 Read Online Free Page B

friendly, an ideal type of person to be an innkeeper. It was obvious Cade adored her. Although Mac would have preferred isolation right now, Cade was easy enough to be with. And he knew he would only be staying at the B&B for a couple of nights.
    “I don’t know what you have in mind for the property you’re buying, but—and forgive me—you don’t look like much of a rancher.”
    Mac gave a rough laugh. “What does a rancher look like, exactly? Do I need different clothes?”
    Cade chuckled softly. “Not at all. You just have, oh, I don’t know, the look of someone who has spent his life in the city.”
    “God forbid you call me a metrosexual. I might have to punch your lights out, and then I’d need to find another place to stay.”
    Cade shook his head. “No, not that. I just don’t get the feeling that ranching has been in your blood.”
    Mac took a swallow of his cold drink and tried to figure out how to answer the man. When he’d checked in to the B&B, he had just given them the bare details, mostly because he knew Cade would find out about the sale and he wanted to be up front about it. He’d had no idea how the man would react, knowing even the little bit Nida had shared with him. He’d been enormously relieved when Cade had told him he thought this was exactly what the place needed to get rid of the last of the bad mojo.
    “If I tell you I just needed a change in my life, could you understand that?” he asked.
    “Man,” Cade told him, “I can certainly get on board with that. No one needed a bigger change than I did. I thank God every day for Georgie and her willingness to give me a chance. So, yeah, I hear you.”
    They sat in silence for a few more minutes.
    “My sister was killed in a car accident a few months ago.” Now why the hell did I blurt that out , Mac asked himself. He hadn’t even told Nida.
    “I’m sorry to hear that.” Cade took a swig of his own drink. “I hope they got whoever did it.”
    “Well, see,” Mac said, “that’s the problem. They never did.”
    “You mean he fled the scene?” Cade sounded incredulous.
    “Sure did.” He gave the other man the briefest of details of the accident. It was always hard to relive it.
    “And no one knows who it is? No one saw anything?”
    “Actually, someone did say they looked out as soon as they heard the crash and saw a truck pulling away.”
    Cade snorted. “That could be anyone in Rowan County, or anywhere else in Texas.”
    “Don’t I know it. It was nearly dark so they couldn’t really give us much of a description, and the truck was nearly to the end of the block by the time this person spotted it.”
    “That’s a damn shame.”
    Mac stared out into the night, weighing his words. “I have a friend who told me the cops do know who it is, but the whole thing is being buried. Seems there’s a lot of money and power involved.”
    Cade snorted. “Unfortunately, I know firsthand how that works, and believe me, I’m not proud of it.” He glanced over at Mac. “I gather you two were close.”
    “We were twins.” There was more silence. “I couldn’t handle it in San Antonio any more. My folks are having trouble coming to grips with it, and I have a lot of misplaced anger. I know this will sound stupid to you—”
    “Hey,” Cade broke in. “Remember who you’re talking to. Nothing sounds stupid to me.”
    “Well, anyway, I left the investment firm I was with, cashed out my partnership and came up here to sort of regroup.”
    “Uh huh.” Cade’s voice was tinged with skepticism. “You wouldn’t just be looking for a place to hide out while you do your own digging around, would you?”
    Mac was silent for a long moment before he answered. “And if I was?”
    “Then I’d tell you two things. One, that in your shoes I’d do the same thing. And two, that we have a pretty nice tightknit group here and we might be able to help you.”
    “You’ve made it easy for me to tell you my story, Cade. And I