Page 6 of Waiting in Wyoming

He’d stumbled into something. That was for sure.

And had he not been such a big guy himself he probably wouldn’t be alive. That black belt came in handy tonight.

But he was here now. Help was just right there—at that damned light. He needed to get to the light.

Follow the damned light. Or was it don’t go into the light? How the hell should he know? His head was killing him. The rest of him didn’t feel so great either.

He’d had to hike through the damned snow on a damned game trail to get there, but he had damned well done it.

He’d make it as far as he damned well could.

The Talley Inn beckoning in the distance had drawn him. Of course, it had.

Shewas there.

One step at a time.

If he was going to die from being pummeled over and over again, he wanted to be right there. He wanted to seeherone more time.

Well, he’d made it this far. He was almost to her now. Or at least where he thought she would be.

Crashing to the ground and callinghername was probably not something he should do. A man should have some dignity, after all. Even when some assholes had made hamburger out of him.

His mouth quirked as he just stayed where he’d fallen—next to the damned duck pond. Now he was going to croak next to her damned duck pond. They’d probably find his frozen body clogging up that damned duck pond, snow and ice all around him, ducks using his damned body as a life raft or something.

Brandt had no illusions about his fate tonight.

But damn it, he had come back to Masterson County because he hadplans.

He had been planning fortwo yearshow to seduce that woman and show her what she meant to him.

Everything he wanted was ready now.

Every loose end in Texas had been tied up. He’d found the property he wanted to spend the rest of his life on with her. He had goals. It had taken him far longer than he wanted, but he had been giving her time, too.

She wasn’t ready for the kind of life a Texas Barratt led. It was so far outside her comfort zone that he had made a vow to go slow. And he’d half thought time away from her would break him of needing her. He’d just been waiting for that to happen—because he’d known it would happen.

He’d told himself that. Time and time again. But then he would see her again, and he’d justknowthis was the woman for him.

His mate.

Barratts mated for life, after all. He was never going to stop needing her. He had finally accepted his fate. Was ready to justfall at her feet and beg her to put him out of his misery of living without her.

Only to end up likethis.Dying in her damned backyard.

Talk about tragic.

“Hello?” a sweet voice called.

For a moment, Brandt was convinced he’d imagined it.

The Fates wouldn’t be that kind.

Still, it was help.

If he was going to live to seduce the woman he wanted another day, he needed help now. It sure felt like they’d beaten him close to death.

He’d been close to death before. When the mayor of this little town had decided to put two bullets in him, almost for the hell of it. Of course, the man had been being driven mad by a blackmailing stalker of his own, but still…