“Overconfidence will not serve you well, Colton.”
He laughed again, but his self-assured grin would not be hindered no matter what she said.
Colton adjusted his cowboy hat on top of his head. “Well now, I’ve only seen you practice once or twice, Isabelle, and I’ll admit you’re pretty good. You could definitely hit the broad side of a barn from ten feet away. But I’m not sure you’re good enough to beat me or Duke this year.”
He pointed to Ari. “I haven’t seen you shoot. I also don’t know the first thing about your skills, but if you’ve truly been practicing several times a month for years, my money’s on you.”
She punched him in the arm as Ari grinned, giving him two thumbs up.
Isabelle huffed with false indignation. “What if I told you I was holding back when you saw me practice?”
Colton sobered, turning to her he asked, “Why would you do that?”
“Maybe I wanted to surprise you today. Maybe I wanted to blow your pants off.”
“Well, I can only hope that someone’s pants get blown off.”
Ari executed a half bow and said, “May the best shooter win.”
Colton also bowed. “Ditto.” Then he kissed Isabelle’s cheek, departing to help one of the owners with something before the match started.
“Where is your other man?”
“Warrick? He’s two hours away, in Miser, Montana, at a fellow lawyer’s office, trying his best to get out of a four-pound legal document he’s mad about.”
“What document?”
Isabelle shook her head. “It’s a pre-nup.”
“He wants you to sign a pre-nup?”
“No. In fact, he refuses to let me sign the one his family’s stupid lawyers have ready to go before we get married, although I told him I would do it.”
“Why won’t he let you sign it?”
“He’s afraid they’ll be rude to me. Which I don’t care about at all, but apparently there is also some personal principle involved. Either way, he’ll be back after the match in time to eat.”
Ari’s new boyfriend, Sven, approached them with a special grin and an ever-present sexy gaze reserved only for her sister.
Isabelle was delighted they were a couple. Sven doted on Ari. He spoiled her really.
But Isabelle also had a good life with her two men, and the five of them had spent a lot of time together since Vince had been arrested and sent off to the Feds. The past two weeks had been idyllic as far as she was concerned. Pre-nup or not.
Ari’s cell phone made a noise from her pocket. “Crap. I better turn the sound off. I’d hate to get distracted while I’m shooting.”
She looked at the screen and paled.
“What’s wrong?”
Ari frowned and looked around the area. Lots of people were milling around, enjoying the day, and getting ready to watch the show at the edge of town later.
“I just got a message,” her sister murmured.
Isabelle looked around, too, but she didn’t know what she was searching for.
“My informant says there’s been a hit put out on both of us. Supposed to happen today at a shooting match. Which is exactly where we are, unfortunately.”
Before she could voice another thought, something hit Ari. What was that? There was a sudden hole in her shirt, and then the blood came.
Isabelle screamed when she saw her sister had been shot. Sven grabbed Ari in his arms as she dropped, probably to soften her fall. He also gave Isabelle a hard shove to one side, knocking her off balance, as they all went down into the dirt.
A second shot rang out.
Isabelle felt that bullet enter and exit her body. It was like a burning hot poker stabbed all the way through the wound. It hurt like a son of a bitch.
Sven screamed for a medic. Was it for her or Ari or both of them? Didn’t matter. She tried to speak, but the wind had been knocked out of her when she fell. She looked at Ari and saw a spatter of red on her cream shirt. The sight of her sister’s blood made Isabelle woozy.
She didn’t particularly care for the sight of blood.
Two more shots rang out. Sven seemed to shudder before he groaned, flattening suddenly on top of Ari.
Now all three of them were hit.
* * * *
“Shooter!” Colton screamed the moment he saw the sniper rifle barrel poking out and hanging off the edge of the livery.
He heard frightened shouts, and a herd of people started running down the street toward the OWT entrance and away from where Ari, Isabelle, and Sven graced the ground in front of the trophy table.
After the first shot, he’d twirled around, wondering why the match had already started without him. By the time the second shot came, and he’d seen both Ari and Isabelle down. Unfortunately, the shooting match had not started yet. Sven was crouched over one of them, screaming for a medic, and trying his best to be human shield for them both.