He simply stared at me while I stated the horrifying facts I had stumbled into.

“And you’re upset with your brother for going to get her out of that situation? What kind of cold-hearted monster would leave a child in those kind of conditions?”

His amazing eyes blazed down at me and a muscle ticked hard and fast in his cheek as his teeth clenched together. I didn’t know the entire history of what was going on, but this single moment, this split second, did not paint this man I was intrigued by in a very flattering light. He wasn’t a cowboy, and I wasn’t sure what kind of businessman he was, but one thing was abundantly clear . . . he was an asshole. An unfeeling, cold, callous, and cruel asshole. How could any man disapprove of any action that was done in the best interest of a child . . . especially a child he shared blood with?

I wanted to get away from him and from the strange magnetic pull I seemed to have around him. I didn’t like him, and I really didn’t like the way he made me feel. Like everything inside of me was boiling hot and freezing cold at the same time. My foundation was already rocked and unsteady. I didn’t need this big, brooding man and his unreadable persona doing any more damage to it.

I went to step around him and into the house when one of his hands landed on my arm, much lighter than his brother’s touch had been. The contact made me feel like I had touched a live wire. Tingles popped and buzzed up my arm and had me whipping my head around to stare at him. He was looking at my arm where his hand rested and I prayed he couldn’t feel the way that simple touch had my blood raging like lava through every single vein.

“I love my brother and I love my niece. What I don’t love is the manipulative woman who uses both of them to play games. I’m not mad that Sutton is going after his kid, I’m mad that it’s something he has to do in the first place. Custody for Daye has been an ongoing issue since Sutton’s ex got knocked up. I would say the real cold-blooded monster in this situation is the woman who willingly brought a child into the world that she had zero intention of caring for. Daye was a pawn, nothing more and nothing less. It pisses me off that Sutton has no choice but to play the games because he loves his kid and he’s a good dad. I want my brothers to make better choices than the men in our family who chose before them. Lucky in love the Warners have never been.”

I blinked, and then blinked again, because I was all too familiar with the kind of monster he had just described. I had one of my own hidden not so deeply in my closet. I blew out a breath and plastered a smile on my face to divert any of those old feelings of inadequacy back into the dark where they belonged.

“Well, this wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but I have to admit that this vacation has been anything but boring so far. I’m actually starving, so if there’s food, let me at it.” It was a blatant attempt to change the subject and I was praying that he would take the soft lob and run with it. He didn’t strike me as the type who wanted some stranger in his family business. His youngest brother had mentioned that Cy considered those of us taking advantage of his property and his wilderness to be just that, outsiders. I didn’t belong in his world and I sure as hell didn’t belong in his personal business any more than I wanted him in mine.

I hadn’t seen Chris coming when he worked his way into my life, but there was no missing Cyrus.

Suddenly he took a step back. The gleam that shown out of his glittering gray gaze dulled slightly and he dipped his chin down in a slight acknowledgement that I had given him an out and he was going to take it. This was business . . . nothing more. “Go on in. I’ll introduce you to the rest of your group and to Brynn when I get back with your girl. There’s eight of you riding out with us in the morning and you’ll be spending the week pretty much in each other’s pockets, so it’s best if you make an attempt to get along with everyone.”

I bristled a little at his reminder of our first encounter and haughtily went to flip my hair over my shoulder, only to be reminded that it was in pigtails and that it was impossible to look haughty when you were trying to look like a proper cowgirl—or really, when you were me because cute and haughty didn’t really mesh.

I wouldn’t ever go as far as to say that I typically got along great with other people because that would be a lie. I had a hard time trusting people, and an even more difficult time opening up, so my social circle was relatively small. It was no secret that strangers often found my blunt manner and general disinterest in niceties off-putting. I was not one of the popular kids and had never striven to be one. However, when you spent your days studying people, their spending habits, their preferences, and their triggers, it was inevitable that you figured out what made most humans tick. So I could fake being outgoing and adventurous for a week and maybe, just maybe, some of that faking it would end up being real.

Now that I knew Cy was going to be going with us on our trip for a few days, at least, I was suddenly much more excited about spending a week in a tent in the mountains of Wyoming. He was a man I couldn’t figure out, a puzzle that everything inside of me was dying to solve. I wanted to see what the complete picture of Cyrus Warner looked like. Maybe I was so desperate to see the whole image because the last riddle I tried to solve had come with a whole lot of missing pieces. It was terrifying when you couldn’t trust your own judgment about what was real and what was fabricated to feel like it was real.

Chris had ruined my trust and my confidence.

And somewhere deep down, I had a feeling that if I let him get close enough, Cyrus Warner would have the power to obliterate all that was left of me.