by Nora Roberts
“So your father can pay them off?”
Her head came up. Her eyes went from ice to fire. “Be careful what you say about my father.”
“I’ll say what I want to say.” He moved in, his eyes glazed and mean from drinking. “Cheats, all of you, looking down on those of us just trying to make a living. Stole this horse from me.” He jabbed a finger into her shoulder. “Said he wasn’t fit to run.”
“And he wasn’t.” She wasn’t afraid. There were people around, she thought quickly. She had only to call out. But a Grant didn’t cry for help at the first tussle. She could deal with a drunk and pitiful bully.
“Fit to run for you, though. To run and win. That purse is mine by rights.”
It was only the money, she thought. Just as Brian said, with some, it was all facts and figures, and no feeling. “You’ve got all the money out of me you’ll get.” She turned away to brush the gelding. “Now I suggest you leave before I file a complaint.”
“Don’t you turn your back on me, you little bitch.”
It was shock as much as pain that had Keeley gasping when he grabbed her arm and dragged her around. When she tried to jerk free, the sleeve of her shirt tore at the shoulder. Beside her, Finnegan whinnied nervously and shied.
“You look at me when I talk to you. You think you’re better than me.” He shoved her back against the gelding’s side, then yanked her forward again. “You think you’re special ’cause your daddy’s rolling in money.”
“I think,” Keeley said with deceptive calm, “that you’d better take your hands off me.” She reached in her pocket, closed her fingers, and they were rock steady, around a hoof pick.
It happened fast, a blur of motion and sound. Even as she tugged the makeshift defense free, Finnegan whipped his head and bit Tarmack’s shoulder. For the second time Tarmack rapped her hard against the solid wall of the gelding’s side, and as he drew back his fist she shouted, leaping to block it from connecting with Finnegan’s head.
It skidded over her temple instead, sending a shocking ribbon of pain across her skull, and a haze of pale red over her vision. As she staggered, stumbling around to defend herself and her horse, Brian came through the doors like a vengeful god.
Instinctively Keeley grabbed Finnegan’s bridle, to calm him, to balance herself. “It’s all right. It’s all right now.”
But hearing the unmistakable sound of fists against flesh and bone, she ran out.
“Brian, don’t!”
His face was blank, a mask without emotion. It seemed all sharp bones and cold eyes. He had Tarmack braced against the wall with a hand over the man’s throat, an arm cocked back to deliver another blow. Tarmack’s mouth and nose were already bleeding. Keeley grabbed Brian’s arm, and hung on like a burr. It felt like gripping hot iron.
“That’s enough. It’s all right.”
Without even a glance, so much as a flicker of acknowledgment, Brian shook her off, rammed a ready fist into Tarmack’s gut. “He put his hands on you.”
“Stop it.” Panting, she grabbed his arm again, and wrapped both hers around it. “He didn’t hurt me. Let him go, Brian.” She could hear Tarmack struggling for air through the hand Brian had banded around his windpipe. “I’m not hurt.”
Very slowly, Brian turned his head. When his eyes, flat and cold with violence met hers, she trembled. “He put his hands on you,” he said again, carefully enunciating each word. “Now step back.”
“No.” She could hear the shouts behind her, see out of the corner of her eye the crowd already forming. And she could smell the blood. “It’s enough. Just let him go.”
“It’s not enough.” He started to shake her off again, and Keeley had an image of herself flying free as he flicked her off like a gnat.
She hadn’t feared Tarmack, but she was afraid now.
“What’s the problem here?”
She could have wept with relief at the sound of her father’s voice. The crowd parted for him. She’d never known one not to. He took one long look at her face, skimmed his gaze over the torn sleeve, and though the hand he laid on her shoulder was gentle, she’d seen the edge come into his eyes.
“Move back, Keeley,” he said in a voice of quiet steel.
“Dad.” She shook her head, twined around Brian’s arm like a vine. “Tell Brian to let him go now. He won’t listen to me.”
Brian rapped the gasping Tarmack’s head against the wall, a kind of absent violence as he once again spoke with rigid patience. “He put his hands on her.”
The edge in Travis’s eyes went keen, sharp as silver. “Did he touch you?”
“Dad, for God’s sake.” She lowered her voice. “He’ll kill him in a minute.”
“Let him go, Brian.” Adelia hurried in, took in the situation with one glance. Gently she touched a hand to Brian’s shoulder. “You’ve dealt with him. There’s a lad. You’re frightening Keeley now.”
“Her shirt’s torn. Do you see her shirt’s torn?” He continued to speak slowly, as if in a foreign tongue. “Take her out of here.”
“I will, I will. But let that pathetic man go now. He’s not worth it.”
Perhaps it was the voice, the lilt of his own country that broke quietly through the rage. Brian loosened his grip and Tarmack wheezed in air.
“He had her trapped in the stall. Trapped, you see, and his hands were on her.”
Adelia nodded. Her gaze shifted briefly to her husband’s. A lifetime ago he’d dealt with a drunk who’d had her trapped. She understood the barely reined violence in Brian’s eyes. “She’s all right now. You saw to that.”
“I’m not finished.” He said it so calmly, Adelia could only blink when his fist flashed out again and had Tarmack sagging to his knees.
“Stop it.” Seeing no other way, Keeley stepped between the two men and shoved Brian with both hands. She didn’t move him an inch, but the gesture made a point. “That’s enough. It’s just a torn shirt. He’s drunk, and he was stupid. Now that’s enough, Brian.”
“You’re wrong. It won’t ever be enough. You’ve tender skin, Keeley, and he’ll have marked it, so it won’t ever be enough.”
Tarmack was on his hands and knees, retching. In an almost absent move, Travis dragged him to his feet. “I suggest you apologize to my daughter and then be on your way, or I might let this boy loose on you again.”
His stomach was jellied with pain, and he could taste his own blood in his mouth. Humiliation struck nearly as hard as he saw the blur of faces watching. “You can go to hell. You and all the rest. I’m bringing charges.”
“Go ahead.” Travis bared his teeth in a killing smile. “You’re drunk and you’re stupid, just as my daughter said. And you touched her.”
“He was shouting at her, Mr. Grant.” Larry elbowed his way through the crowd. “I heard him threatening her when I was coming in to see the horse.”
Travis blocked Brian’s move forward, felt Brian’s muscle quiver under his hand. “Hold on,” he said quietly, and turned his attention back to Tarmack. “You stay away from what’s mine, Tarmack. If you ever lay hands on my girl again, what Brian can do to you will be nothing against what I will do.”
Emboldened as he assumed Brian was now on a leash, Tarmack swiped blood from his face with the back of his fist. “So what if I touched her? Just getting her attention was all. She’s not so particular who has his hands on her. She wasn’t minding when this two-bit mick was pawing her.”
Brian surged forward, but Travis was closer, and nearly as quick. His fist cracked, one short-armed hammer blow, against Tarmack’s jaw. The man’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed.
“Dee, take Keeley home, will you?” Travis glanced at the crowd, one brow lifted as if he dared for comments. “Would someone call security?”
***
“We shouldn’
t have left.” Keeley paced the kitchen, stopping at the windows on each pass. Why weren’t they back?
“Darling, you’re shaking. Come on now, sit and drink your tea.”
“I can’t. What’s wrong with men? They’d have beaten that idiot to a pulp. I’m not that surprised at Brian, I suppose, but I expected more restraint from Dad.”
Genuinely surprised, Adelia glanced over. “Why?”
As worry ate through her she raked her hands through her hair. “He’s contained. Now you, I could see you taking a few swings . . .” She winced. “No offense,” she said, then saw that her mother was grinning.
“None taken. My temper might be a bit, we’ll say, more colorful than your father’s. His tends to be cold and deliberate when it’s called for. And it was. The man hurt and frightened his little girl.”
“His little girl was about to attempt to gut the man with a hoof pick.” Keeley blew out a breath. “I’ve never seen Dad hit anyone, or look like he wanted to keep right on with it.”
“He doesn’t use his fists overmuch because he doesn’t have to. He’ll be upset about this, Keeley.” Adelia hesitated, then gestured her daughter to a chair. “Sit a minute. Years ago,” she began, “shortly after I came to work here, I was down at the stables at night. One of the grooms had been drinking. He had me down in one of the stalls. I couldn’t fight him off.”
“Oh, Mama.”
“He was starting to tear at my clothes when your father came in. I thought he would beat the man to death. He didn’t even raise a sweat about it, just laid in with his fists, systematic like, in a cold kind of rage that was more terrifying than the fire. That’s what I saw in Brian’s face today.” Gently she touched the faint bruise on Keeley’s temple. “And I can’t blame him for it.”
“I don’t blame him.” She gripped her mother’s hands. “This, today, this wasn’t like that. Tarmack was mad over the horse, and wanted to bully me.”
“Threats are threats. If I’d gotten there first, likely I’d have waded in myself. Don’t fret so, darling.”
“I’m trying not to.” She picked up her tea, set it down again. “Ma, what Tarmack said about Brian. About him pawing me. It wasn’t like that. It’s not like that between us.”
“I know that. You’re in love with him.”
“Yes.” It was lovely to say it. “And he loves me. He just hasn’t gotten around to saying so yet. Now I’m worried that Dad . . . Tempers are up, and if he takes what that bastard said the wrong way.” She pushed away from the table again. “Why aren’t they back?”
She paced another ten minutes, then finally took some aspirin for the headache that snarled in both temples. She drank a cup of tea and told herself she was calm again.
And was up like a shot the minute she heard wheels on gravel. She got to the door in time to see Brian’s truck drive by, and her father’s pull in behind the house.
“I missed all the excitement.” Though his voice was light, Brendon’s eyes carried that same glint of temper she’d seen in their father’s. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Though she patted his arm, her gaze was fixed on her father. She could read nothing in his face as he climbed out of the truck. “I’m absolutely fine,” she said again, stepping toward him.
“I’d like you to come inside.”
Contained, she thought again. It was impressive, and not a little scary, to see all that rage and fury so tightly contained. “I will. I have to see Brian.” Her eyes pleaded with his for understanding. “I have to talk to him. I’ll be back.”
With one quick squeeze of her hand on his arm, she dashed off.
“Let her go, Travis,” Adelia said from the doorway. “She needs to deal with this.”
Eyes narrowed, he watched his daughter run to another man. “She’s got five minutes.”
Keeley caught up with Brian before he climbed the steps to his quarters. She called out, increased her pace. “Wait. I was so worried.” She would have leaped straight into his arms, but he stepped back. And his face was glacier cold. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Your father dealt with it. The man won’t be bothering you again.”
“I’m not worried about that,” she said shortly. “Are you all right? I started to think you might be in trouble. I should have stayed and given a statement. Everything got so confused.”
“There’s no trouble, and nothing to be worried about.”
“Good. Brian, I wanted to say that I . . . Oh, God! Your hands.” She snatched them, the tears swimming up as she saw his torn knuckles. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Your poor hands. Let’s go up. I’ll take care of them.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“They need to be cleaned and—”
“I don’t want you hovering.”
He yanked his hands free, then cursed when he saw her cheeks go pale with shock, and the first tear slid down. “Damn it, swallow those back. I’m not in the mood to deal with tears on top of everything else.”
“Why are you slapping at me this way?”
Guilt and misery rolled through him. “I’ve things to do.” He turned away, started up the stairs. And fury caught up with guilt and misery. “You didn’t want me standing up for you.” He spun back, his eyes brilliant with temper.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m good enough for a roll on the sheets or to help with the horses. But not to stand up for you.”
“That’s absurd.” The tears came fast now as reaction from the last few hours set in. “Was I just supposed to stand by and watch while you beat him half to death?”
“Yes.” He snapped, gripped her shoulders, shook. “It was for me to see to. You took that from me, and in the end, handed it to your father. It was for me, two-bit mick or not.”
“What’s going on here?” For the second time that day, Travis walked in on tempers and shouts, Adelia by his side. And this time, he saw his daughter’s tear-streaked face. His eyes shot hotly to Brian. “What the hell is going on here?”
“I’m not sure.” Keeley blinked at tears as Brian released her. “This idiot here seems to think I share Tarmack’s opinion of him because I didn’t stand back and let him beat the man to pieces. Apparently by objecting I’ve tread on his pride.” She looked wearily at her mother. “I’m tired.”
“Go up to the house,” Travis ordered. “I want to speak with Brian.”
“I refuse to be sent away like a child again. This is my business. Mine, and—”
“You don’t speak in that tone to your father.” Brian’s sharp order brought varying reactions. Keeley gaped, Travis frowned thoughtfully and Adelia fought back a grin.
“Excuse me, but I’m very tired of being interrupted and ordered around and spoken to like a recalcitrant eight-year-old.”
“Then don’t behave like one,” Brian suggested. “My family might not be fancy, but we were taught respect.”
“I don’t see what—”
“Be quiet.”
The command left her stunned and speechless.
“I apologize for causing yet another scene,” he said to Travis. “I’m not altogether settled yet. I didn’t thank you for smoothing out whatever trouble there might have been with security.”
“There were enough people who saw most of what happened. There’d have been no trouble. Not for you.”
“A minute ago you were angry because my father smoothed things out.”
Brian spared her a glance. “I’m just angry altogether.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Since violence seemed to be the mood of the day, she gave in to it and stabbed a finger into his shoulder. “You’re just angry period. He’s got some twisted idea that I don’t think he’s good enough to defend me against a drunk bully. Well, I have news for you, you hardheaded Irish horse’s ass.�
�
Now that her own temper was fired, she curled her hand into a fist and used it to thump his chest. “I was defending myself just fine.”
“You half-Irish, stiff-necked birdbrain, he’s twice your size and then some.”
“I was handling it, but I appreciate your help.”
“The hell you do. It’s just like with everything else. You’ve got to do it all yourself, No one’s as smart as you, or as clever, or as capable. Oh it’s fine to give me a whistle if you need a diversion.”
“Is that what you think?” She was so livid her voice was barely a croak. “That I make love with you for a diversion? You vile, insulting, disgusting son of a bitch.”
She raised her own fists, and might have used them, but Travis stepped in and gripped Brian by the shirt. His voice was quiet, almost matter-of-fact. “I ought to take you apart.”
“Oh, Travis.” Adelia merely pressed her fingers to her eyes.
“Dad, don’t you dare.” At wit’s end, Keeley threw up her hands. “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we all just beat each other senseless today and be done with it?”
“You’ve a right.” Brian kept his eyes on Travis’s and kept hands at his sides.
“The hell he does. I’m a grown woman. A grown woman,” she repeated rapping a fist lightly on her father’s arm. “And I threw myself at him.”
She gained some perverse satisfaction when her father turned that frigid stare on her. “That’s right. I threw myself at him. I wanted him, I went to him, and I seduced him. Now what? Am I grounded?”
“It doesn’t matter how it happened. I was experienced, and she wasn’t. I’d no right to touch her, and I knew it. In your place I’d be doing some pounding of my own.”
“No one’s doing any pounding.” Adelia moved forward, laid a hand on Travis’s arm. “Darling, are you blind? Can’t you see what’s between them? Now let the boy go. You know damn well he’ll stand there and let you pummel him, and you’d get no satisfaction from it.”