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“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

Chapter 1

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The first sound Ethan Cole heard was not thunder.It was a fist striking wood three times in rapid succession—hard, frantic, and unnaturally fast.He opened his eyes in the pitch blackness of his small bedroom and lay completely motionless for half a second, listening. Outside, the storm had turned into a steady, violent squall. Rain rattled against the corrugated tin roof of the ranch house like a volley of small iron lead shot. Wind pushed at the wooden window frames, making the old glass groan against its putty. Somewhere beyond the south wall of the bedroom, a horse kicked once inside the barn—a sharp, muffled wallop of iron shoe against oak plank.Then the pounding came again.It wasn't at the house. It was coming from the barn.Ethan swung his bare feet off the edge of the mattress onto the cold floorboards, pulled on his heavy leather riding boots, and reached for the tin lantern sitting on the bedside table. At twenty-nine years old, he had lived long enough on the Arizona frontier to know that sounds arriving before sunrise rarely brought good news. On an isolated homestead forty miles from the nearest town of any real consequence, trouble didn't knock politely at your front door with an engraved visiting card. It showed up uninvited, wet, and dangerous.He walked into the small main room, took his heavy Colt revolver from its leather holster hanging near the door, and tucked it into the waistband of his trousers beneath his canvas coat. Pulling his hat low over his eyes, he pushed the front door open into the howling storm.The muddy yard had turned into a black, soup-like slurry. Thunder crashed overhead, sending a deep vibration through the wet earth, and a brilliant flash of lightning bleached the low Arizona hills stark white for a split second. In that fleeting flash, Ethan caught the sharp outline of his barn door.It stood wide open.Ethan stopped in the mud, his eyes narrowing. He was dead certain he had dropped the heavy oak crossbar into place before turning in for the night.He drew the revolver, keeping his thumb resting lightly on the spur of the hammer, and walked across the deluge toward the gaping entrance. Inside, his three horses shifted nervously in their stalls, their nostrils flaring as they caught the scent of rain, wet leather, stale hay, and something else—the sharp, unmistakable scent of human fear.Ethan raised the tin lantern, adjusting the flame until yellow light cut through the gloom.Three women stood pressed against the back wall of the tack room, half-hidden by a stack of alfalfa bales.The oldest looked about thirty. Her dark brown hair had come loose from its pins, plastered in wet strands across her face, and dirty rainwater ran from the hem of a green wool traveling dress that had once been refined and expensive. Beside her stood a second woman, perhaps twenty-six, wearing heavy canvas riding trousers tucked beneath a torn linen skirt. In her right hand, she held a short, rusted iron pry bar like a war club. The third and youngest could not have been more than twenty-two. She possessed striking red-brown hair, a deep purple bruise marring her right cheekbone, and both arms wrapped tightly around a scuffed black leather satchel as if it held her very soul.All three looked exhausted, filthy, and entirely spent.All three also looked ready to tear him apart if he took one wrong step toward them.Ethan lowered the revolver slightly, though he did not put it back into his belt. "You picked a strange place to get out of the rain."The middle sister—the one with the iron pry bar—lifted her chin, her knuckles white around the rust-pitted metal. "You picked a strange place to point a gun at guests."The oldest woman closed her eyes briefly, letting out a weary breath. "Ruth.""What?" Ruth snapped, her eyes never leaving Ethan’s face. "He started it."Ethan almost smiled. Almost. "You broke into my barn.""The door was weak," Ruth retorted coolly.
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“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

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