by Diana Palmer
Mrs. Charters mentioned that there was some uneasiness among the cowboys because of a threat that had been made. Kasie tried to ask Gil about it. He simply ignored the question and walked away.
He was missing at breakfast early one Monday morning. The girls were sleeping late, so Kasie walked into the dining room and found only John at the table.
“Pull up a chair and have breakfast,” he invited with a grin. “I have to move bulls today, so I’m having seconds and thirds. I have to keep up my strength.”
“If you keep eating like that, you could carry the bulls and save gas,” she said wickedly. “I thought you had to go to Phoenix to show a bull this week?”
He averted his eyes. “I thought I’d put it off for another couple of weeks.” He sipped coffee and studied Kasie quietly. “There’s a new movie showing at the theater downtown. How would you like to pack up the girls and go with me to see it?”
Her eyes lit up. “I’d love to,” she said at once.
He grinned. “Okay. We’ll go tomorrow night. I, uh, noticed that you don’t like going to movies with my brother, even if the girls go along.”
“I just thought he’d like some time alone with them,” she hedged. “After all, I’m just the governess.”
He poured himself more coffee before he replied. “That’s a bunch of hogwash, Kasie.”
She drew in a long breath. “He makes me uncomfortable,” she said. “I always feel like he’s biding his time, waiting for me to make another mistake or do something stupid.”
He chuckled. “He doesn’t lie in wait to ambush you,” he said softly. “He meant it when he apologized, you know. He was sorry he misjudged you. Believe me, it’s a rare thing for him to make a mistake like that. But he’s had some hard blows from women in recent years.”
“I felt really bad about what happened,” she said with a wistful sadness in her eyes. “I should have remembered that he never trusted Pauline to look after the girls. I’d met this man on the plane, and he invited me to lunch. I liked him. He kept me from being afraid on the way to Nassau.”
John’s face sobered, and she realized that Gil must have told him about her past. “I’m sorry about your brother and his family,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “Gil and I haven’t really been part of a family since our uncle died.”
“Don’t you ever go to see your parents?” she asked curiously.
“There was a time when they offered an olive branch, but you know Gil,” he said soberly. “He’s slow to get over things, and he refused to talk to them. Maybe they did neglect us, but I never thought it was malicious. They had kids before they were ready to have them. Lots of people are irresponsible parents. But you can’t hold grudges forever.” He frowned. “On second thought, maybe Gil can.”
She smiled and reached across the table to lay her hand over his. “Maybe one day you can try again. It would be nice for the girls to have grandparents.”
“The only ones they have left are our parents. Darlene’s died years ago.” He caught her hand in his and held it tight. “You make the hardest things sound simple. I like myself when you’re around, Kasie.”
She laughed gently. “I like you, too,” she said.
“I never believed you had anything to do with Bess getting hurt,” he said somberly. “Anyone could see how much you care about the girls.”
“Thanks. It’s nice to know that at least one grown-up person in your family believed I was innocent,” she said, oblivious to the white-faced, angry man standing in the hall with an armload of pale pink roses. “It hurt terribly that Gil thought I’d ever put the girls at risk in any way, least of all by neglecting them. But it wasn’t the first time he’s accused me of ulterior motives. I should be used to it by now. I think he’s sorry he rehired me, you know,” she added sadly, clinging to his hand. “He looks through me when he isn’t glaring at me.”
“Gil’s had some hard knocks with women,” John repeated, letting go of her hand. “Just give him time to adjust to being wrong. He rarely is.” He picked up a forkful of eggs. “If it’s any consolation, he roared around here for two weeks like every man’s nightmare before he went after you. He wanted you to have enough time to get over the anger and let him explain his behavior. He would have gone sooner, he said, but he wasn’t sure he could get in the front door.”
She remembered her lacerated feelings when she’d arrived at her aunt’s house. “It would have been tricky, at that,” she agreed. “He was the last person on earth I wanted to see when I first came back from Nassau.”
Footsteps echoed out in the hall and a door slammed. Kasie frowned.
“Sounds like Gil’s going to bypass breakfast again this morning,” John remarked as he finished his eggs. “He doesn’t have much of an appetite these days.”
“I’ll just check and make sure it isn’t the girls,” Kasie said.
“Suit yourself, but I know those footsteps. He only walks that way when he’s upset. God help whatever cowboy he runs into on his way.”
Kasie didn’t reply. She walked into the hall and there, on the hall table, was an armload of pink roses with the dew still clinging to the silky, fragrant petals. It took a few seconds for her to realize that Gil must have heard every word she’d said. She groaned inwardly as she gathered up the roses. Well, that was probably the end of any truce, she thought. He’d think she couldn’t forgive him, and that would make him even angrier. Unless she missed her guess, he was going to be hell to live with from now on.
She took the roses to the kitchen and found a vase for them, which she filled with water before she arranged the flowers in it. With a sigh, she took them upstairs to her room and placed them on the dresser. They were beautiful. She couldn’t imagine what had possessed Gil Callister to go out and cut her a bouquet. But the gesture touched her poignantly.
Sure enough, when Gil came in early for supper, he was dusty and out of humor. He needed a shave. He glared at everybody, especially Kasie.
“Aren’t you going to clean up first?” John asked, aghast, when he sat down to the table in his chaps.
“What for?” he muttered. “I’ve got to go right back out again.” He reached for his coffee cup, which Mrs. Charters had just filled, and put cream in it.
“Is something wrong?” John asked then, con-cerned.
“We’ve got a fence down.” His eyes met his brother’s. “It wasn’t broken through. It was cut.”
John stared at the older man. “Another one? That makes two in less than ten days.”
“I know. I can’t prove it, but I know it was Fred Sims.”
John nodded slowly. “That makes sense. One of the cowboys who was friendly with him said Sims hasn’t been able to find another job since we fired him.”
Gil’s pale blue eyes glittered. “That damned dog could have bitten my babies,” he said. “No way was he going to keep it here after it chased them onto the porch.”
“Bad doggie,” Jenny agreed.
Bess nodded. “We was scared, Daddy.”
“Sims is going to be scared, if I catch him within a mile of my property,” Gil added.
“Don’t become a vigilante,” John cautioned his older brother. “Call the sheriff. Let him handle it. That’s what he gets paid to do.”
“He can’t be everywhere,” Gil replied, eyes narrowed. “I want all the cowboys armed, at least with rifles. I’m not taking any chances. If he’s brazen enough to cut fences and shoot livestock, he’s capable of worse.”
Kasie felt her heart stop. So that was why he’d been around the ranch so much lately. The man, Sims, had threatened vengeance. Apparently he was killing cattle as well as cutting fences to let them escape. She pictured Gil at the end of a gun and she felt sick all over.
“I’ll make sure everyone’s been alerted and prepared for danger,” John agreed. “But you stay out of it. You’re the one pers
on around here that Sims would enjoy shooting.”
“He’d be lucky to get off a shot,” Gil replied imperturbably. He finished his meal and wiped his mouth. “I’ve got to get back out there. We haven’t finished stringing wire, and it’s not long until dark.”
“Okay. I’ll phone the vet about those carcasses we found. I want him to look for bullet wounds.”
“Good idea.”
Gil finished the last sip of his coffee in a grim silence that seemed to spread to the rest of the family. The girls, sensing hidden anger in the adults around them, excused themselves and went upstairs to play in their room while Mrs. Charters cleaned away the dishes. John went to make a phone call.
Gil got to his feet without looking at Kasie and started toward the front door. Kasie caught up with him on the porch. It was almost dark. The sky was fiery red and pink and yellow where the sun was setting.
“Thank you,” she blurted out.
He stopped and turned. “For what?”
His hat was pulled low over his eyes, and she couldn’t see the expression in them, but she was pretty sure that he was scowling.
She went closer to him, stopping half an arm’s length away. “For the roses,” she said hesitantly. “They’re beautiful.”
He didn’t move. He just stood there, somber, quiet. “How do you know they were meant for you?” he drawled. “And how do you know I brought them?”
She flushed scarlet. She didn’t know for sure, but she’d assumed.
He averted his eyes, muttering under his breath. “You’re welcome,” he said tersely.
“That man, Sims,” she continued, worried. “The day you fired him, John said that he had a mean temper and that he carried a loaded rifle everywhere with him. You...you be careful, okay?”
She heard the soft expulsion of breath. He moved a step closer, his lean hands lifting her oval face to his. She could see the soft glitter of his blue eyes in the faint light from the windows.
“What do you care if I get myself shot?” he asked huskily. “I’m the one who sent you packing without even giving you the chance to explain what happened in Nassau.”
“Pauline didn’t like me,” she said. “And you trusted her. I was just a stranger.”
“Not anymore, Kasie,” he said gruffly.
“I mean, you didn’t know anything about me,” she persisted. She searched his eyes, feeling jolts of electricity flow into her at the exquisite contact. “I was upset and I behaved badly when you came to Mama Luke’s. But deep inside, I didn’t blame you for not trusting me.”
His lean hands tightened on her face. “I’ve done nothing but torment you since the first day you came here,” he bit off. “I didn’t want you in my life, Kasie,” he whispered as he bent toward her. “I still don’t. But a man can only stand so much...!”
His mouth caught hers hungrily. His arms swallowed her up against him, so that not an inch of space separated them. For long, achingly sweet seconds, they clung to each other in the soft darkness.
He drew away from her finally and stood just looking at her in a tense, hot silence. His hands were firm around her arms, and she swayed toward him helplessly.
She felt her knees go shaky, as if they had jelly in them instead of bone and cartilage. “Look, I’m very old-fashioned,” she began in a choked tone.
“I almost never make love to women on the floor of the front porch.”
She stared at him dimly, only slowly becoming aware that he was smiling and the words were both affectionate and teasing.
A tiny laugh burst from her swollen lips, although the kiss had rattled her.
“That’s better,” he said. His eyes narrowed. “How do you feel about my brother?”
Her mind refused to function. “How do I what?”
“Feel about John,” he persisted coolly. “When I asked you why you wanted this job, you said it was because John was a dish. I know you had a crush on him. How do you feel now?”
She was at a loss to know what to say. “I like...him,” she blurted out. “He’s been kind to me.”
“Kinder than I have, for damned sure,” he agreed at once. “And he believed you were innocent when I didn’t.”
She frowned. “You explained why.”
His hands tightened on her arms and his lips flattened. “He’s younger than I am, single and rich and easygoing,” he said harshly. “Maybe he’d be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Her eyes widened. “Thank you. I’ve always wanted a big, strong man to plan my future for me.”
He let her go abruptly, angry. “You said it yourself. I’m a generation older than you with a ready-made family.”
She couldn’t make head or tail of what he was saying. Her mind was spinning as she looked up at him.
“Maybe you’re what he needs, too,” he added coldly. “Someone young and optimistic and intelligent.”
“Are you going to buy the ring, too?”
He turned away. “That wasn’t funny.”
“I don’t want to marry your brother. Thanks, anyway.”
He kept walking.
She ran after him. “That man Sims has got a gun,” she called. “Don’t you dare go out there and get shot!”
He paused on the top step and looked back at her as if he had doubts about her sanity. “John’s going out with me as soon as he finishes his phone calls.”
“Great!” she exclaimed angrily. “I can worry about both of you all night!”
“Worry about my daughters,” he told her bluntly. “That’s your only responsibility here. You work for me, remember?”
“I remember,” she replied irritably. “Do you?”
“Stay in the house with the girls until I tell you otherwise. I don’t want any of you on the porch or in the yard until we settle this, one way or another.”
He did think there was danger. She heard it in every word. “I won’t let anything happen to Bess and Jenny. I promise.”
He glared at her. “Can you shoot?”
She shook her head. “But I know how to dial 911.”
“Okay. Keep one of the wireless phones handy, just in case.”
She moved toward him another step, wrapping her arms tight around her body. “Have you got a cell phone?”
He indicated the case on his belt. That was when she noticed an old Colt .45 strapped to his other hip, under the denim shirt he was wearing open over his black T-shirt.
Her breath caught. Until that minute, when she saw the gun, it was a possibility. But guns were violent, chaotic, frightening. She bit her lower lip worriedly.
“I’ll be late. Make sure you lock the doors before you go upstairs. John and I have keys.”
“I will,” she promised. “You be careful.”
He ignored the quiet command. He took one long, last look at her and went on down the steps to his pickup truck, which was parked nearby.
She stood at the top of the steps until he drove away, staring after him worriedly. She wanted to call him back, to beg him to stay inside where he’d be safe from any retribution by that man Sims. But she couldn’t. He wasn’t the sort of man to run from trouble. It wouldn’t do any good to nag him. He was going to do what he needed to do, whether or not it pleased her.
* * *
She got the girls ready for bed and tucked them in. She read them a Dr. Seuss book they hadn’t heard yet. When they grew drowsy, she pulled the covers over them and tiptoed to the door, pausing to flick off the light switch as she went out into the hall.
She left the door cracked and went on down the hall to her own room. She got ready for bed and curled up on her pillows with a worn copy of Tacitus’s The Histories. “I wonder if you ever imagined that people in the future would still be reading words you wrote almost two thousand years ago,” she murmured as she thumbed through the well-read work. “An
d nothing really changes, does it, except the clothes and the everyday things. People are the same.”
Her heart wasn’t in the book. She laid it aside and turned off the lights, thinking how it would have been two thousand years ago to watch her husband put on his armor and march off to a war in some foreign country behind one of the Roman generals. That made her think of Gil and she gnawed her lip as she lay in the darkness, waiting for some sound that would tell her he was still all right.
It was two o’clock in the morning before she heard a pickup truck pull up at the bottom of the steps out front. She threw off the covers and ran to the window, peering out through the lacy curtain just in time to see Gil and John climb wearily out of the truck. John had a rifle with the breech open under one arm. He led the way into the house, with Gil following behind.
At least, thank God, they were both still alive, she thought. She went back to bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Relieved, she slept.
* * *
She’d forgotten John’s invitation to the movies, but he hadn’t. And he looked odd, as if he was pondering something wicked, when he waited for her to come down the stairs with the girls.
Kasie was wearing a pretty dark green silk pantsuit with strappy sandals and her hair around her shoulders. She smiled at the little girls in their skirt sets. They looked like a family, and John was touched. He went forward to greet them, pausing to kiss Kasie’s cheek warmly.
Gil, who was working in the office, came into the hall just in time to see his brother kissing Kasie. His eyes splintered with unexpected helpless rage. His fists clenched at his sides. She wouldn’t leave the house with him, but here she was dressed to the nines and all eager to jump into a car with his brother.
John glanced at him warily and hid a smile. “We’re off to the movies! Want to come?”
“No,” Gil said abruptly. He avoided looking at Kasie. “I’ve got two more hours of work to finish in the den.”