Free Rocky Mountain Angel by Vivian Arend

list of what he needed to do to get the ranch started on the road to recovery.
    It was all working out just fine.

Chapter Six
    Rafe’s jaw hung open for about ten seconds before he burst out laughing. “You’re shitting me.”
    “I don’t shit.” Gabe deliberately drawled the words.
    His deadpan joke only made his brother laugh louder. “Yeah, right, that makes you full of shit. Who you engaged to?”
    “Allison Parker. You know her.”
    Rafe wrinkled his nose. “She left here years ago. Did you date her while you were living away from Rocky?”
    “No.”
    “Did you date her in high school?”
    “No.”
    Rafe dug the shovel in deep before standing back and crossing his arms in front of him. “Then why you getting married?”
    “We’re getting engaged.” Gabe snatched up the shovel and tossed another scoop of manure into the wheelbarrow.
    “Which means you’re going to get married, you idiot. Oh hell—” Rafe cussed a few more times then kicked the wheel in front of him. “I guess I can’t come stay at your place this summer now, can I?”
    “Well, you hadn’t asked me in the first place, but you’re right. You can’t.”
    “Bastard.”
    Rafe snatched up the long wooden handles of the wheelbarrow and forcibly shoved himself and his burden down the narrow path leading toward the garden.
    “What’s that look for?” Gabe called after him. “Because I won’t let you move into my house without asking?”
    “Because I figured you knew I wanted to move in with you. I didn’t think I had to ask.” Rafe shouted the words over his shoulder before he disappeared between the row of trees separating the compost and manure piles from the new stretch of garden Gabe had turned.
    Well, assumptions had a way of kicking a person’s ass. If this was the first occasion Rafe learned that lesson, it was about time.
    Gabe turned back and headed into the barn until Rafe returned. He took a quick check to see what was in the storeroom, and noted how little his father had actually listened to him in terms of needed supplies. There was a distinctive lack of a number of items, what looked to be overstock of others, and he closed his eyes and fought his frustration.
    It was no use trying to take control of this area of the ranch. Not yet, not until he got Ben at least moderately onside.
    He went back outside in time to catch his brother returning from another trip with the wheelbarrow. Rafe had already stripped off his shirt, the hard muscles from heavy labour beginning to show on his young body. The kid was growing up, and it was time to acknowledge that.
    Didn’t mean Gabe was going to let Rafe walk all over him.
    “You ask Ma if you can move into the room over the garage?”
    Rafe sighed. “No, because I thought I could move in with you and get away from—get to be out on my own.”
    “Moving in with me is not being on your own.” Gabe dropped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Damn, he hadn’t meant to block one of the refuges for the kid. “Check with her. I bet she’d have no issue with it. And Ben won’t care as long as you’re up and ready for chores without him having to haul your ass out of bed in the mornings.”
    The silence from Rafe stretched on until Gabe figured it was time to ignore it. If his kid brother wanted to pout, that was his business.
    He headed over to the tractor instead, getting ready to transfer bales. A few minutes later a smack on the window next to him jerked him upright, and he turned off the engine and cracked open the door.
    Rafe hopped down out of his way so the door could fully open.
    “Can I come over later this week?”
    Shit . “Allison’s—”
    “I’m not asking to stay over. Can I come over on Friday or something to meet her? Or are you bringing her over for a family dinner?”
    Rafe’s serious expression twisted something inside him. “No, we already talked to Ma. If you want to have dinner with us, Friday works. You usually go out with your friends then,