Chapter 14

I must be crazy to even think of this.

Gus rolled his plan back and forth in his mind, trying to think of any other alternative. He hadn't spoken to his brother in ten years, and the last time had been far from friendly. Even now he couldn't believe they'd gotten into an actual fight right after their father's funeral. At the time he'd had so much rage built up inside him, anger at his father for divorcing his mother, anger at Rafe for stealing Gus' woman. Anger at the world. Now it all seemed too trivial, especially since Anya had come into his life. He couldn't even remember what he'd seen in Linda Grogan or why he'd distanced himself from what was left of his family.

But he was short on choices and he needed a safe place for Anya and people he could really trust. He could only hope Rafe didn't carry grudges. He ate breakfast only because he knew he needed the strength, the same reason he urged Anya to eat. When he'd put it off as long as he could and ducked into the men's room, dialing a number on his cell that in all these years he'd never forgotten.

Gus drummed his fingers against the wall while the phone rang on the other end and he waited for someone to answer it. Would it be Linda? Would she let him speak to her husband? Or would it be Rafe, probably hanging up the phone on him.

"Hello?"

The voice was deeper but otherwise still just as familiar.

"Hello, Rafe."

He wondered how long the silence would drag out before his brother said something.

"I'll be damned," he finally said. "This is one call I never expected to get."

"You have every right to hang up," Gus told him, "but I'm hoping you won't. The first thing I want to say is I'm sorry. For everything."

"It's a good thing I don't hold grudges the way you do," his brother said.

His voice was neither welcoming nor hostile. Wary, Gus thought. The same as he'd be if the situation was reversed.

"I have to say it again, Rafe. I'm sorry. I was an asshole."

Rafe actually chuckled. "I'm sorry you were an asshole, too. Now that we've got that out of the way, what prompted this call after ten years?"

"I need a favor," Gus began, choosing his words very carefully. Would Rafe hang up on him, saying if he couldn't come around when there wasn't trouble, why should he listen to him now?

But Rafe surprised him. "Tell me what a poor rancher can do for a hotshot FBI agent?"

Gus would have ended the call if Rafe's voice had been hostile, but instead, even after this call out of the blue, it held the same hint of humor he remembered as an integral part of his brother's personality.

"I need to come out to the ranch and stay for a few days. I need a place that's off the radar."

"Are you in trouble?"

Rafe always seemed to know what kind of spin to put on things.

"Yes and no." How much to tell him? "Not me, really. A…very good friend."

Gus realized how ballsy this was. He'd been estranged from his brother for ten years, now he wanted him to let Gus bring danger to the secure life he'd built.

"Listen, never mind." He couldn't do it. What the hell has he been thinking, anyway. Anya. He'd been thinking about her. "I'll find another solution."

"How far away are you?"

"About an hour and a half."

Rafe paused again, Gus could almost hear him thinking.

"Come on down. I'll tell Linda. Then I can take her and the kids to her parents."

Kids. Shit, he hadn't thought about that.

"Rafe—"

"See you then."

Gus found himself holding a dead phone. Well, this was what he'd hoped for, right? He just hoped he didn't get his brother killed now that they'd finally exchanged words again.

* * * * *

Gus drove straight to the ranch as if he'd never left it, his car homing in like a dog tracking a scent. He'd told Anya where they were going and she'd looked at him startled, but whatever she'd seen on his face had been enough to kill the questions he knew were forming in her brain.

He turned off onto the narrow two-lane road leading to the ranch and the first thing he saw was the heavy forest of trees that grew from the fence line back to the house. The oak and mountain cedar and mesquite had been there forever. His dad always said he liked the privacy it gave them, and Rafe and Gabe had used the privacy of the trees for games as children and other, less playful, things as they grew older.

He followed the gravel driveway through the trees until they reached the clearing where the actual ranchland began. And there it sat, the place he'd avoided for so long. Rafe had painted the ranch house and done a lot of hard work getting the place in shape. It was very evident. Gus took a moment to drink in the scene—ranch house surrounded by oak trees that provided a canopy of shade. Endless pastures stretching away to the north, two of them filled with cattle, men on horseback checking on them. Herding them.

Gus remembered all the growing up years when his father had taught both the boys the intricacies of successful ranching but Rafe was the only one who'd lapped it up. And speak of the devil, he must have heard them coming and was waiting on the front porch for them, his body as tall and lean as ever but now more muscular. His dark hair cut short and his skin bronzed from working outdoors. Next to him was a slender blonde, pressed against his side.

Linda!

He hadn't seen her since the god-awful night when he'd left the ranch. Now he waited for the sharp pain of betrayal to sting him, but she might as well have been a stranger. His mind and heart only had room for Anya.

Gus parked the car in the graveled area to the side of the house and came around to open the door for Anya. She hesitated but he took her hand firmly in his and tugged.

"It'll be all right," he told her. "I promise." He'd given her a sketchy explanation of his family situation on the drive from Austin, not sugar coating his own behavior. Not a conversation guaranteed to make either of them feel at ease. Especially the part about Linda, which he'd glossed over. But with no other good options available, he was determined to make the best of the situation to keep Anya safe. And hope after ten years he and Rafe could figure out how to be brothers again.