A Texan's Honor (31 page)

“Why not? They're Bret's brothers.”

“I don't care who they are,” Joseph declared. “Your father shouldn't trust men like them.”

“They've proved perfectly trustworthy. I don't—” Bret emerged from her father's room and she turned to him. “How is Dad?”

“He is a little tired, but you can see him now.”

Making a mental note to ask Bret later why he looked so worried, Emily practically raced to his room. Her father was lying back against the pillows, his face drained of color. His breathing was slow and labored. She tried to keep from showing how shocked she was at his appearance.

“How are you feeling?” she asked as she took a seat next to his bed.

“Tired,” he said without turning his head to look at her, “but relieved.”

“Relieved about what?”

“Just a couple of things I've figured out.” He turned to look at her. “You're worried about me, aren't you?”

“Of course I am. You've been very sick, yet you spent your morning talking to Joseph and the afternoon behind closed doors with Zeke and Hawk.”

“They're good men. I'm glad Bret asked them to come.”

“I'm glad, too, but I'm not happy to see you looking so tired. As soon as you have your dinner, you're going to sleep.”

Her father's smile was slow in coming. He reached for her hand. “You're a mighty fierce little girl when it comes to taking care of your dad.”

“You're the only one I've got. I'm going to hang on to you as long as I can.”

“It's time to look for someone to take my place. A good man, one you can depend on to take care of you, one who'll love you as I loved your mother.”

“I'm not sure there's another man like that.”

“Of course there is. You just have to open your eyes. Now I am a little tired. I'd like to take a nap before supper.”

Emily squeezed her father's hand. “I'll stay here until you fall asleep.”

“I'd like that.”

Her father's eyes closed before he finished speaking. Emily sat there, staring at him, trying to understand how the father who'd been bigger than life could be reduced to the frail man who lay in the bed, laboring to breathe, without the strength to sit up. She was going to lose him soon. Even though she'd faced that truth weeks ago, she hadn't fully accepted it. She couldn't imagine life without him. Why had Zeke and Hawk stayed so long? They knew he was sick and very weak. She was angry at them, even though she knew they'd stayed with her father because he wanted it.

He was breathing a little more easily now. If she made sure no one bothered him for the next couple of days, maybe he'd get back some color. One thing was certain. She wasn't going to let Joseph near him. Maybe she'd take Joseph on a ride around the ranch tomorrow. That would give him a chance to see what Texas was like.

Satisfied that her father would sleep soundly until suppertime, Emily got up and quietly left the room.

“I don't see why you want to stay in Texas,” Joseph said to Emily. “There's nothing here.”

They had been riding for two hours. Even though Emily was worried about her father—he seemed better today—it felt good to get out of the house and back in the saddle.

“There's plenty here,” Emily said. “It's just not what you're used to. You'd be more comfortable in a town like Fort Worth.”

“I don't call that place a town,” Joseph said. “It's more like a collection of saloons and houses of ill repute.”

Emily tried hard not to laugh. Only someone like Joseph would call a whorehouse a house of ill repute.

“Why did Bret have to bring that kid along?” Joseph complained. “I can't understand how he puts up with him.”

Bret had managed to sweet-talk Bertie into letting Jinx out of his chores so he could ride with them. He'd tossed a loop at every clump of mesquite or juniper within reach. Emily and Joseph had had to give him a wide berth to keep from being struck by the rope he was constantly swinging over his head.

“Jinx was being mistreated when Bret found him,” Emily said. “He plans to take him to live with Jake and Isabelle.”

“Then why doesn't he leave? Now that I'm here, there's no need for him to stay.”

Emily was thoroughly tired of Joseph's company. He'd done little but criticize or belittle everything he saw. He thought the sea of waving grass made for poor graze because it wasn't thick and green like grass in Massachusetts. He said the trees were nothing more than big bushes because they weren't the towering elms he'd known since childhood. His most severe criticism was leveled at the cows. He told her why the breeds favored in Massachusetts were better in every way than longhorns. He told her that if he
were in charge of the ranch, he'd fence the range with the recently invented barbed wire.

“I'm sure ranchers will do that in the future,” Emily said, hoping to shut him up, “but all this land belonged to the Indians until about ten years ago. Most of West Texas hasn't even been settled yet.”

“That's all the more reason you ought to move to Boston and let someone manage this place for you.”

Joseph was off again telling her how to arrange her life. He didn't seem to understand it was painful for her to hear, because all his suggestions were meant to be implemented after her father's death.

“We'd better get Bret and Jinx and head back to the house,” she said, “or Bertie will have to keep supper warm for us.”

“She's your cook,” Joseph said. “It's her duty to have dinner ready when you wish.”

“She also cooks for the hands and takes care of the house. We're lucky to have her.”

Joseph looked ready to argue, but Jinx rode up, followed closely by Bret.

“Did you see me?” Jinx asked Emily. “Mr. Nolan says I can rope another calf tomorrow.”

“Better not let Bertie hear that,” Emily teased. “She thinks all cowboys are a little bit crazy.”

“Mr. Nolan's a cowboy, and he's not crazy,” Jinx said.

“Not everybody agrees with you,” Bret said with a laugh.

Jinx looked up at Bret with pure adoration in his eyes. Emily didn't understand why Joseph and his father couldn't see that Bret was a wonderful man.

“Can you rope a cow?” Jinx asked Joseph.

“No, and I don't want to.”

“I can show you.”

“You ought to coil that rope before your horse steps on it and stumbles.”

“Mr. Nolan says I handle a rope real good.”

“I'm sure
Mr. Nolan
knows all about ropes, but I have better things to do with my time.”

“What?” As far as Jinx was concerned, there was nothing more important than learning to be a cowboy.

“I work for a very important company,” Joseph informed him. “We make a great deal of money.”

“Mr. Nolan has a lot of money, too,” Jinx said. “He paid for two baths. Then he left some money for me with Frank at the hotel. Lugo said it was too much money for a bastard like me. He tried to steal it from me. That's why I came here.”

“You've got to stop telling people your life history,” Bret said to Jinx.

“Why?”

“If they listen to yours, then you have to listen to theirs.”

“You can tell me your life history,” Jinx said to Joseph. “I'd like to learn how to make a lot of money. Then I could have a house of my own and nobody would have to take care of me.”

“You don't need a house of your own,” Emily said before Joseph could make a remark she was certain would be rude. “You can stay in my house as long as you want.”

“That's okay. Mr. Nolan is going to give me to some very nice people. I wanted to stay with him, but he says he has to go back to Boston. He says I wouldn't like it there.”

“No, you would not,” Joseph said. “And the people in Boston wouldn't like you if you went around lassoing their bushes.”

“Mr. Nolan says there's no cowboys in Boston. He says I'd have to take baths every day, learn not to speak until I'm spoken to, and go to school. I wouldn't like that.”

The description didn't appeal to Emily, either.

“When do you plan to head back to Boston?” Joseph asked Bret.

“I haven't decided,” Bret said, meeting his cousin's gaze. “There's still the question of Lonnie's disappearance.”

“He's gone. How is that a problem?”

“Well, I don't
know
he's gone. There are several things about this whole rustling deal I don't understand. I need to talk to Lonnie and get some answers.”

“I'm here now. You don't need to stay for that,” Joseph said. “I'd have thought you'd be headed back to Boston before me.”

Emily had known there was no love lost between the cousins, but she was starting to feel like the prize in a game of tug-of-war.

“I don't want him to leave,” Jinx said to Joseph. “Neither does Bertie. She wants him to marry Miss Emily.”

Jinx could hardly have created more of a sensation if he'd said there was a herd of stampeding cows headed their way. Emily felt her face turn warm with embarrassment. Bret looked like he'd seen a ghost, and Joseph was apparently stunned.

“I don't think Bertie wanted you to tell that,” Emily said to Jinx.

“Why? I heard her say it to Mr. Sam. She said—”

“And you most certainly shouldn't repeat what she said to my father.”

Jinx looked thoughtful. “I guess I shouldn't tell you what Mr. Sam said, either.”

“No, you shouldn't.”

“You should get rid of that woman,” Joseph said to Emily.

“Bertie has a right to her opinion.”

“No servant has a right to an opinion about her employer's private affairs,” Joseph declared.

“When will you understand that Texas isn't Boston?” Bret asked. “What's more, it doesn't want to be. We have our own ways of doing things down here.”

Emily's breath caught in her throat. Bret had said
we
. He might not realize it, but he identified with Texas rather than Boston. Now she just had to figure out a way to get him to accept it.

“That's fine for people who want to live in Texas,” Joseph said, “but Emily is in a class above that.”

“I want to live here,” Emily said.

“Even if you do, you don't have to be ruled by the conventions and habits of people who aren't your equal.”

“Having lived your whole life in Boston, I'm surprised you don't know your history better,” Bret said to Joseph.

“What do you mean?”

“The Declaration of Independence. It states that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights. I think that means nobody's opinion is better than anyone else's.”

“No wonder you're still circling on the fringes of Boston society,” Joseph snarled.

“Does that mean my opinion is as good as anybody else's?” Jinx asked Bret.

“You need to learn a bit more, but that's exactly what it means.”

“He's an orphan!” Joseph exclaimed.

“So was I,” Bret said. “You can't expect me to hold that against him.”

“You had family. You knew who your parents were.”

Bret's expression hardened. “I didn't have a family. In case you've forgotten, they left me in Texas.”

“You know what I mean,” Joseph said angrily.

“Unfortunately, I know
exactly
what you mean. I've spent the last six years being taught that lesson very well.”

“Did you have to go to school for six years?” Jinx asked.

It took Emily a moment to figure out what the boy meant. Bret seemed to know immediately.

“I went to school for more than six years,” Bret told Jinx. “There's a lot of stuff a man needs to know when he grows up.”

“I don't think I can learn that much,” Jinx said.

“You don't have to learn it all at once. Just a little bit at a time, like you've been learning to be a cowboy.”

Jinx brightened immediately. “I can learn a lot faster. Let me rope a calf and I'll show you.”

Emily decided she was going to miss Jinx. He had a way of brightening her day.

“You'll have to ask Miss Emily. They're her calves. But don't ask her now,” Bret said, stalling the question on Jinx's lips.

Jinx spent the rest of the ride back to the ranch pummeling Bret with questions about what he was going to teach him tomorrow. Emily had thought Bret might become impatient, but he seemed amused.

Just watching them made something go soft inside Emily. Joseph looked smart in his formal riding clothes, his white pants spotless, his black boots perfectly polished, but just looking at Bret in his worn jeans and shirt caused heat to pool in her belly. The memory of being in his arms, of his kisses, caused her to feel warm all over.

“Are you feeling all right?” Joseph asked.

She'd forgotten him. “I'm fine. Why do you ask?”

“You look a little flushed. I was worried the heat might have been too much for you.”

She'd better keep her gaze away from Bret until they reached the house. She turned to Joseph, determined to listen to him, no matter how boring he was. It was harder than she'd thought it would be. Joseph talked about her plans after her father died.

“Since you want nothing to do with your Abercrombie relations, you'll have to stay with my family.”

Thinking about that started her worrying about her father. He'd encouraged her to show Joseph the ranch. And though she hadn't wanted to leave him for so long, she knew he'd rest better if there was no one in the house.

They met Zeke when they were about fifteen minutes from the house and rode in together.

Jinx was still talking when they rode up to the corrals, and everyone dismounted. Bret coached Jinx through unsaddling his horse. The boy was too small to lift the saddle by himself, but he did his best to do everything Bret did. They were taking their saddles to the barn when Emily realized Joseph had walked off, leaving his horse still saddled.