Page 25

Austin drew Dallas’s buggy to a halt, unable to do little more than stare at the huge unfamiliar house.

A balcony jutted out from a room on the second floor.

Some sort of fancy railing circled the porch that circled the house.

One side of the house eased out into a half circle.

Bright yellow curtains billowed out from large windows.

“What’s wrong?” Loree asked.

“Houston has always preferred solitude. I just never expected to see him with neighbors.”

“It certainly is a fancy house,” Loree said.

“Yep,” Austin responded, apprehension taking hold of his gut.

He slapped the reins, sending the two black mares into a trot.

Beyond the corral where Houston worked with a palomino mustang, Austin saw the house he had helped to build.

It appeared abandoned. Austin shifted his gaze back to the larger house.

A woman stepped onto the porch and waved, a tiny girl planted on her hip, another girl clinging to her skirt.

“Good Lord,” Austin muttered.

Loree leaned toward him. “What?”

He shook his head. “I never would have believed it.” He brought the horses and buggy to a halt near the corral just as Houston slipped through the slats. Austin set the brake and climbed out of the buggy. “Tell me that isn’t your house?” he ordered.

Houston grimaced. “Disgusting, ain’t it? I wasn’t looking for it, but success found me. Figured the least I could do was give the woman a fancy house.” He rubbed the scarred side of his face. “I hear tell Cupid’s cramp got a hold of you.”

Inwardly, Austin cringed at his brother’s phrasing. Cowboys used it whenever they got an urge to marry. “Yeah, you might say that.” Turning to Loree, Austin helped her out of the buggy and slipped his arm protectively around her. “My wife needs a horse.”

“Not gonna bother with introductions?” Houston asked.

“I figured it was obvious you’re my brother and this is my wife.”

Houston swept his hat from his head. Austin heard Loree’s tiny gasp. He’d grown up with Houston’s scars. He hadn’t thought to warn Loree about them.

“Welcome to the family,” Houston said quietly.

Loree’s lips spread into the most understanding smile Austin had ever seen. “I’m very happy to be here,” she said.

Houston gave her a distorted grin. “You have to be the most forgiving soul on earth to say that after meeting Dallas.”

“I think our announcement took him by surprise,” she said.

“Yeah, you might say it took us all unawares, but then Austin always did have a hard time figuring out when to open his mouth and when to keep it shut.”

“How long were you planning to stay out here with the horses instead of bringing your wife to the house so I can meet her?”

Austin spun around at Amelia’s welcoming voice. She waddled toward him, a girl in each arm. Houston strode toward her and took both girls from her.

“I told you not to carry them,” he said.

“You tell me a lot of things,” she said, her voice laced with teasing.

Austin grinned at her swollen stomach. “I’ll be. When I was home before, Dallas said you had to be carrying another one ‘cuz you weren’t eating.”

Amelia laughed. “I can’t eat anything for the first three months. You’d think I’d get skinny, but I just keep getting more plump with each girl we have.” She turned slightly and smiled. “You must be Loree. I’m so grateful Austin has someone to love.”

Austin watched his wife’s face blush becomingly. “Well, I’m not certain—” she began.

“I am,” Amelia said, interrupting her. She threw her arms around Loree and hugged her closely. “Welcome to the family.”

Then she stepped back, grinning. “And look at this. Someone I can actually reach. Dee’s as tall as a tree, and these men here are no different.

” She slipped her arm through Loree’s. “Why don’t you come into the house for a spell?

Our other two girls are baking cookies. They won’t be edible, but we can pretend to nibble on them. ”

Austin listened to his wife’s laughter as she walked toward the house with Amelia. Amelia had always had a way of putting people at ease. He’d never been more grateful for it than he was now. He glanced at Houston. “Want me to take one of those girls?”

“Sure.” Houston handed the smallest one over.

“Which one is this?” he asked.

“A. J.”

Austin shifted her in his arms. “Hello, A. J. I bet you don’t remember your Uncle Austin, do you?”

She covered her eyes and buried her tiny nose against his shoulder. Lord, she was incredibly small and warm. A knot rose in his throat with the thought that he’d soon have one of these of his own.

“Since you came in Dallas’s buggy, I reckon the two of you mended your fence,” Houston said.

“He told you about that, did he?” Austin asked.

Houston gave him a lopsided grin. “Yep.”

“What’s so funny?”

“The whole world is afraid of Dallas. He’s only been hit twice in his life—and both times the fist was attached to one of his brothers.”

Austin chuckled. “I’d forgotten that you’d hit him. I never knew why.”

Houston shrugged and started walking toward the house. Austin took off after him. “Why did you hit him?”

“He questioned Amelia’s virtue. I took exception to his doubts.”

Austin was relieved to know Loree wasn’t the only one whose virtue Dallas had doubted, but he also knew that Amelia had been long married before she began to swell with a child. Austin swallowed hard. “Loree’s pregnant.”

Houston glanced over at him. “I know.”

“She’s a decent woman—”

“Never doubted that for a minute. Hell, Austin, I took you to your first whorehouse, and you walked out as pure as you were before you went in. Decent women are the only kind that ever appealed to you.”

“Don’t suppose you happened to mention that to Dallas when he came by.”

“Figured he knew since he told me if anyone dared to look at your wife with anything but admiration, they’d answer to him.”

The knot in Austin’s throat tightened a little. “I wasn’t sure how he felt—”

“You’re his baby brother. He would have sheltered you from the world if he could have, and that’s probably where he went wrong. Some lessons have simply got to be learned the hard way.”

Loree folded the blanket, placed it in the box, and lifted her gaze to the woman standing on the other side of the bed who was doing the same thing. “I hope we haven’t hurt your feelings.”

Dee glanced up. “Of course not. Why ever would you think that?”

Loree shrugged. “You made me feel so welcome, and here we are, after only one night, moving out.”

Dee smiled with understanding. “I’m glad that Amelia and Houston offered to let you live in their vacant house.

I know it’s difficult to marry someone you’ve only known a short time.

I didn’t know Dallas at all when I married him.

If my family had been underfoot, I don’t think I ever would have gotten to know him. ”

“I feel badly taking the furniture from this room.”

“It’s always been Austin’s. I often thought of replacing it, but I wanted him to come home to something familiar. I was afraid all the other changes would overwhelm him.”

Loree picked at a loose thread on the blanket. “You must love him very much to accept what he did.”

“I understand why he did it. I hated to see him go to prison, but the decision was his to make, and I respect that.”

Understanding, respect, acceptance. She wondered if Austin would give those as easily to her if he knew the entire truth about her past. She supposed one had to build a foundation of love before one’s faults could be laid bare and accepted.

“Dallas and Austin should have the table moved out of the shed by now. Do you want to run outside and let them know that we’re almost finished here?” Dee asked.

Loree nodded, walked to the doorway, and halted. “Dee?”

Dee glanced over at her, and Loree nibbled on her lower lip. “I appreciate that you don’t seem to be sitting in judgment of me.”

Dee’s brown eyes widened. “Because of the baby?”

Loree jerked her head quickly.

A wealth of understanding and sympathy filled Dee’s brown eyes. “A child is a gift, Loree, regardless of the circumstances. And Austin’s child at that. We will spoil the baby rotten, I promise you.”

Loree didn’t doubt it. She’d already seen evidence that every child in this family was considered precious.

She walked into the hallway and down the wide sweeping staircase. The discordant notes of a piano traveled from the front parlor. She ambled toward the room, the off-key chords grating on her nerves before they fell into silence. She peered into the room.

“Did you practice one hour every day like I told you?” a rotund woman asked Rawley.

He shrugged.

“Stand up, young man,” she ordered.

Slower than ice melting in winter he slid off the bench and stood.

“Hold out your hand.”

She saw Rawley tense as he extended his hand, palm up. The woman picked up a thin wooden stick and raised it.

“Don’t you even think about striking him,” Loree snarled as she stormed into the room.

Rawley spun around so fast that he lost his balance and dropped onto the bench. The woman’s eyes protruded farther than her nose.

“How dare you interfere with this lesson—”

“I’m interfering with your cruelty, not the lesson.”

“Mr. Leigh is paying me good money—”

“To teach his son, not to beat him.”

“He is lazy and irresponsible—”

“Irresponsible? What time did you get out of bed this morning?”

“I don’t see that that’s any of your business.”

“This child was up before the sun tending to his chores, and he’ll sneak in a few more after everyone thinks he’s in bed, so don’t tell me he’s irresponsible. You are irresponsible.” Loree snatched the stick out of the woman’s hand and snapped it in two.

The woman’s jowls shook. “How dare you! Wait until Mr. Leigh hears about this.” She stormed from the room.

Loree slid onto the bench beside Rawley, gave him a warm smile, and began to play “Greensleeves.”

“Mr. Leigh! Mr. Leigh!”