Page 43

“I don’t hate you, Loree. You take care of Grant if he wakes up. Remember months back, before he was born, when we said he has to come first? That still holds true. Nothing’s changed that.”

She gave him a weak nod. Lord, he didn’t want to leave her, but he knew it was imperative that he talk to Dallas as soon as he could. “I won’t be long,” he promised.

He hurried from the house, saddled Black Thunder, mounted up, and rode through the night like a man hounded by demons.

Dallas loved those first few moments when he crawled into bed and his wife cuddled up against him. She purred like a contented kitten, and he hadn’t even gotten around to ensuring her contentment yet.

He covered her mouth with his, drinking deeply of the glory she offered.

The bedroom door banged against the wall, and he shot out of bed, naked as the day he was born. He jerked a blanket off the bed to cover himself and glared at his baby brother. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I need to talk to you,” Austin said, his breathing labored. His worried gaze shifted to Dee. “You, too.”

“Do you mind if we get dressed?” Dallas barked.

Austin looked him over as though just noticing his lack of apparel. He gave a brusque nod. “That’d be fine.” He disappeared down the hallway.

Dallas looked at Dee. “The last time one of my brothers burst into my bedroom like that, I lost a wife.”

Smiling, she slipped out of bed and reached for her wrapper. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that happening this time.”

He pulled on his trousers before following her to his study. Like a caged animal, Austin paced back and forth in front of the window that ran the length of the wall. He pointed to the desk without breaking his stride. “Why don’t you sit down?”

Dallas dropped into the leather chair behind his desk, propped his elbow on the armrest, and rubbed his thumb and forefinger over his mustache while Dee sat in her chair beside the desk and drew her legs up beneath her. Austin continued his pacing.

“You had something you had to tell us at this ungodly hour?”

“I don’t rightly know how to say it.”

“Straight out is usually best.”

Austin nodded and came to an abrupt halt. “I killed Boyd.”

Dallas grew as still as death and stared at his brother. “I beg your pardon?”

“I killed Boyd.”

Dallas planted his hands on his desk and slowly brought himself to his feet.

“Let me make sure I understand everything you just said. For six years, you claimed to be innocent, you allowed your family to stand by you and proclaim your innocence, and I have been paying a man to find proof of your innocence. And now you’re telling me that you’re guilty of murder? ”

He watched the blood drain from Austin’s face before he gave a brusque nod. “That’s right.”

“But you were with Becky that night,” Dee reminded him.

“Afterward. I killed him and then I fetched Becky, planning to use her as my alibi, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I know I’ve destroyed your trust in me, and I can never regain that. Tomorrow, I’ll pack up my family and we’ll leave—”

“Let’s not do anything rash,” Dallas ordered. “We’ll just sleep on it. Things will look clearer in the morning.”

“In the morning, I want you to telegraph Wylan and tell him to stop his search for the murderer.”

Dallas narrowed his eyes and gave his brother a long slow measuring nod. Austin took a step toward the desk. “Give me your word that you’ll send that telegram first thing in the morning.”

“Give you my word.”

He watched relief course down his brother’s face like water rushing over rocky falls. Austin turned to Dee. “I know I owe you the most, Dee, Boyd being your brother and all. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way to pay back all I owe.”

“You don’t owe me anything, Austin,” she assured him.

“I need to tell Houston and Amelia. I’ll do that tomorrow. And Cameron.” He jerked his gaze to Dallas. “I could take out an announcement in the newspaper, couldn’t I?”

“Like I said, let’s not do anything without thinking it through.”

Austin slipped a hand into his hind pocket and took a step backward. “I need to get home to Loree.”

“I’ll come by in the morning and we’ll work this out.”

Austin nodded. “I’m really sorry.”

“So am I,” Dallas said quietly. He watched his brother high-tail it from the room. He walked to the window and caught sight of Austin galloping into the night. “So who the hell do you think he’s protecting now?”

“If he’s following in the footsteps of his older brothers, it would have to be the woman he loves,” Dee said softly as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest.

“Christ, I hope you’re wrong.”

Loree heard the footsteps on the porch and slowly brought herself out of the rocking chair. The door opened quietly, and Austin slipped inside. He hung his hat on the peg by the door and stood staring at his boots. He looked like a man who had just taken the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Austin?”

He snapped his head around and gave her a weak smile. “Thought you’d be asleep. Must be near midnight.”

“Almost. What did Dallas say?”

“That we’ll take care of it.”

She furrowed her brow. “What does that mean?”

He crossed the short expanse separating them. “It means we’ll take care of it. I don’t want you to ever tell anyone what you told me tonight.”

“How will that clear your name?”

“Don’t you be worrying about my name. You worry about that little boy that’s sleeping in the cradle in our room.”

“You didn’t tell Dallas, did you?”

He dropped his head back and plowed his hands through his hair. “He’d hired the detective I told you about. Recently he notified Dallas that he thought he’d discovered a link to the land. I don’t know why it took him so long—”

“Because my father bought the land under a false name. So many men used different names after the war, especially if they had something to hide. He’d deserted.

He was afraid they wouldn’t sell him the land if they knew the truth …

” She looked at him imploringly. “Honestly my father wasn’t a bad man—”

“He just lied and cheated.”

Tears burned her eyes. “I never wanted anyone to know—”

“No one will know. I told Dallas to send a telegram to the detective and tell him his services were no longer needed.”

“And he agreed to do that … on your say-so?”

“He’s my brother. He trusts me.” He hunkered down before the hearth. “I’ll bank the fire. You go on to bed. I’ll be there directly.”

She padded into their bedroom and clambered onto the bed, drawing the blankets over her.

Relief swamped her when she heard his footsteps and saw his silhouette in the doorway.

As though she’d never see it again, she watched the way he held onto the doorjamb while slipping the heel of his boot into the bootjack and jerking his boot off.

She listened to the thud of one, then the other, and the soft tread of his stockinged feet as he walked to the bed, yanking his shirt over his head as he went.

She watched his shadow as he dropped his britches onto the floor.

In the morning, she’d gladly pick up all his clothes and check them for tears and missing buttons before she laundered them.

The bed sank beneath his weight as he stretched out beside her, folded his arms beneath his head, and stared at the ceiling.

“Why did they think you killed McQueen?” she finally dredged up the courage to ask.

She heard him swallow in the silence that followed her question.

“Lots of reasons.”

“You said you’d made some mistakes—”

“Yep.”

“What did you do?”

He sighed deeply. “The land your father claimed was his belonged to Dallas. Boyd and Dallas fought over it. Dallas made a pact with the devil. He’d marry his sister and when she gave him a son, he’d deed the land over to Boyd. I told you what happened behind the hotel.

“We didn’t know it was Boyd at the time.

Dee had heard a child cry out—Rawley. Boyd had hurt him in ways a boy should never be hurt.

When Rawley confided in me, I went into the saloon—like a big man—fired my gun right over Boyd’s head and told him that I’d like nothing better than to rid the ground of his shadow.

“There were plenty of witnesses. So when he showed up dead, they figured I’d carried out my threat.”

“But Becky knew differently,” she said softly, understanding the full extent of his love for Becky. He had to have known what their silence might cost him.

“I didn’t think they’d find me guilty so I told her not to say anything.”

“But after they found you guilty—”

“Didn’t see that it would have made any difference. Boyd wrote ‘Austin’ in the dirt before he died.”

“I wonder why he didn’t write my name.”

“My guess is that he planned to but he died before he got around to it. Writing your name wouldn’t have helped if no one knew where to find you so he wrote that first.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs with the realization of what had brought him to Austin. “The man you were looking for in Austin—”

He rolled over and cradled her cheek. “Seems he wasn’t a man at all.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “How you must hate me.”

His thumb circled her cheek in a gentle caress.

“Loree, make no mistake. I would have killed him that night but Becky sidetracked me. Boyd had paid some men to kill Dallas, and they’d lashed him to within an inch of his life.

We couldn’t prove anything because he’d murdered them in their sleep.

He was spawned by the devil, and I’m damned tired of him reaching out from hell and touching our lives.

We’re gonna put this behind us. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but by God, I’m not going to let him steal something else away from me.

” He dropped his hand down to her shoulder and squeezed gently. “Come here.”

She scooted over until she was nestled in his embrace.