Straightening, he looked down at Jed with a mixture of revulsion and pity. “I didn’t do this, I didn’t cause this. You come at me again, it’ll go worse for you than me. You so much as look at my woman, at any of my family, it’ll go worse for you. You do anything to trouble Traci or her family, it’ll go worse for you. You hearing me?”

“My brother’s dead.”

“That’s a fact. You getting your ass kicked and having it end up behind bars—and I’ll make sure both happen—won’t change that. Now get up, get off my land. Don’t come back here.”

Saying nothing, Darby got back in her truck, pulled it to the side, and got out again to wait until Jed managed to get to his feet.

He didn’t so much as glance toward her as he drove past.

Zane swiped the back of his hand over the blood on his face, tried a smile. “So. How was your day?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Once inside, Darby ordered Zane to sit at the kitchen counter, got him an ice pack and a beer.

“Best girl ever,” Zane decided, winced a little at the first sip of beer.

“I’ll get what we need to clean you up. God, Walker, you’re a mess.”

“Hey, did you see the other guy?”

“I did. We’ll talk. Sit.” She got a beer for herself, and went to get the supplies.

Zane glanced down at the dog currently looking up at him with eyes all but dripping love and concern. “Not that bad, right?”

But when he shifted the ice pack to his left eye, he hissed.

“You forget how much it hurts. Shit, shit. I’ve got court in the morning. Oh, it’s nothing, Your Honor. Just got in a fistfight with the brother of the guy killed on my property. No big deal.”

He thought: Fuck, and took another sip of beer.

“I have court in the morning,” he told Darby when she came back in.

She set down the first aid supplies, walked to the sink to run cold water over a cloth. “Truth or lie?” she wondered.

“I’m a lawyer, I can do both at the same time. It’s not that bad, right?”

“You’re going to have a black eye—left side. He didn’t land any on the right. I can butterfly the cut over the bad eye. Your jaw’s bruised and scraped up, same side—you need to work on the left guard. Cheekbone, left, that’s cut up some. I can butterfly that, too, but you might need some X-rays.”

“Nothing’s broken. I know what it feels like.”

Because she did, too, she nodded. “Any blurred vision, nausea?”

“No.”

Face impassive, she turned back. “Strip off the shirt. Let’s see the rest of you.”

He started to, hissed again. “O … kay. He got some past me.”

“More than some. You didn’t mean it, at first.”

He let her help peel him out of the shirt. “His brother’s dead.”

“And you holding back doesn’t change that. He did a little number on your ribs.”

Zane took her hand before she could test for breaks. “You pissed at me?”

“No, why would I be?”

He skimmed a finger down her cheek. “You look pissed.”

“I am pissed, but not at you. I’m pissed you had to come home to that, that I did, that you had to fight off some idiot I’ve never even met. Hold the ice on the ribs while I feed the dog.”

She poured food for Zod to pounce on, opened the kitchen doors so he could go out as he pleased. “You didn’t want me to call Lee because you didn’t want him—what was his name? Jed? You didn’t want him to pay for it. You didn’t end it sooner, and you could have, because you wanted to let him get a few in. You didn’t stop holding back until he made that stupid crack about me.”

“You’re not wrong.”

She turned to him, her face a study of fury and sorrow. “It wasn’t our fault, Zane.”

“Darlin’, I know that. I don’t even think he much liked Clint, but blood’s blood. He didn’t come here with a gun. I figure he wanted to beat a confession out of me, and instead, I have to figure he left knowing I didn’t kill his brother.”

“If it comes to anything like that again, don’t you hold back.”

“Probably won’t.” Gently, he wiggled his jaw. “Especially if I have court in the morning.”

It annoyed the hell out of her that she admired how he handled it. She wrung out the wet cloth in a bowl.

“Let me deal with that face of yours.”

She had a good touch, he thought, gentle but not hesitant. And she didn’t get all pale and weird when she squeezed blood out of the cloth.

He watched her eyes as she cleaned him up, those deep, dark blue eyes. She smelled of the earth and growing things.

“I guess I forgot to use my filter,” he began, “when I said that stuff about the rest of my life, and building a family and all.”

“Mmm. Gonna sting,” she warned when she picked up the antiseptic.

He let out a stream of curses as she applied it to various cuts and scrapes. “Why is the cure nearly as painful as the cause?”

“Maybe to remind us to stay out of fights. Is that a legal term?” Carefully she fixed the butterfly bandage to close the cut over his left eye. “The filter?”

“I planned—as far as I planned—to give you more time before bringing up lifetime commitments, marriage, kids. Blame it on the heat of the moment.”

“Okay.” When she picked up another bandage, he took her hand again.

“Do you want kids down the road, Darby? Marriage, building a life with me?”

She just rested her brow against his. “Marriage still catches in my throat, but I want kids, and I feel like we’re starting to build a life.”

“Marriage is just a contract.”

She eased back, met his eyes. “No, it’s not.”

“No, it’s not. I can put the filter back on till you’re ready.”

“We’re good, right, even with all this?”

“We’re more than good from where I’m sitting.”

She bent forward, touched her lips to the cuts and bruises on his face.

“I wondered if you’d get around to that.”

“I had to work through being mad first. Not at you. I mean that. Did you box in college?”

“Some. The elbow thing’s a problem.”

She went to dump the bloody water. “I might be able to show you some moves to help you compensate for that.”

“Aren’t you handy?”

“In all things. Zane, you have to tell Lee. I’m not saying to press charges, or have him confront this guy, but he needs to know.”

“I know it.” And was already working out just how to approach it. “I don’t have to like it, but I know it.”

“Anybody who sees your face is going to know you were in a fight anyway.” She got him three ibuprofen, a glass of water. “So tell him, get it over with. Then we’ll have some pulled pork barbecue and another beer.”

“You know you don’t give me a choice but to be crazy in love with you.”

“I’m a hell of a catch. You call him, talk it through. I’ll get dinner warmed back up.”