Steal You Away

Chapter Five

Chase closed the gate to the corral he had finally managed to push Angus into and leaned against it tiredly for a few minutes. Taking his hat off and tossing it up on a fence post, he walked over to a water spigot and turned it on, ducking his head underneath. The ice cold water felt good as it cascaded over his heated skin. Cupping some of it in his hands, he scrubbed the sweat and dirt off his face.

Turning it off, he shook his head vigorously, sending water droplets flying in every direction. Combing his hands through his hair, he straightened up and watched as in the distance a Sheriff's blazer made its way up the dirt road, sending a plume of dust up behind it. Grabbing his hat off the post, he beat it off on his jeans before placing it back on his head.

Taking one last look to make sure the stupid bull's pen was securely latched, he turned and grabbed up Rio's reins and headed into the barn to unsaddle and brush him down. It had been a long ass day. Especially the last couple of miles when the stubborn bull figured out they were heading home. Chase had truly gotten his wish and Angus had put up one hell of a fight for him to work his frustrations out over the mysterious Mackenzie.

Twenty minutes later, he made his way back to the front porch of the house where his brother sat tipping back a beer, enjoying the sunset. Tiredly, Chase sank down into a chair beside Trent.

"Long day?" his brother asked, handing him a longneck out of a little cooler he had sitting beside him on the porch.

"You could say that." Chase twisted the cap off and took a long pull, sighing in satisfaction. Sending him a sideways glance, he tipped his bottle at the star shining on his brother's chest. "Shouldn't you get out of your sheriff's uniform before you start drinking?"

Trent shrugged. His felt Stetson sat low on his forehead and his long legs were stretched out in front of him. "I'm off duty, unless you want to file a complaint." Blue eyes identical to his narrowed at Chase. "But you might have a tough time doing it after I give you a fat lip."

"Does your ass ever get jealous about the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth?" Chase asked, slumping down in his own chair and matching his brother's laid out relax pose.

Trent yawned. "Keep trying baby brother. Eventually you'll say something intelligent."

Chase chuckled. Trent was born exactly one minute and 32 seconds before him and he never let him forget it. "Why? You'd never understand it anyway."

Goose ran up on the porch and dropped a slobber drenched tennis ball in Trent's lap, looking up at him expectantly. Pulling the ball out of his lap, he threw it as hard as he could, sending it sailing out into the yard with Goose in hot pursuit.

Watching the dog lope off, he turned to Chase. "Did you bring Angus in?"

"Yup," Chase answered, popping the P.

"Any troubles?"

Chase pulled his hat lower to hide his smile. "We had a trespasser today," he said nonchalantly.

"Fucking tourists," Trent muttered. "Since I didn't get a call at the station, I'm assuming it wasn't a poacher."

"Nope."

"Fisherman?"

"Nope."

"Another tree hugger then." Trent snorted, taking swig of his beer.

"Something like that," Chase replied. A big shit-eating grin grew across his face as he remembered the petite beauty clinging for dear life up in the small aspen.

Trent rolled his head towards him. "What the hell are you smiling about?" he asked with a frown.

"Do you know a Mackenzie Holloway?"