Heart of a Texan (16 page)

“Nobody’s that cruel,” Ezra said.

“Laveau diViere is a thief, a murderer, and a traitor. Just last year he shot one of his partners then set the man’s house ablaze with him in it.” Nate had seen doubt in their eyes, but now some of that faded.

“If nobody can find him, how can we stop him?” Ezra asked.

“The best way is to find out who’s helping him.”

Each rancher reiterated that none of his men could be involved. “What about yours?” Frank Porter asked.

“Most of my crew are rounding up steers for a drive to market. I have only two young hands and a cook at the house. I know they weren’t involved because one of them was killed.”

They talked about finding diViere without coming up with anything definite. Frank Porter still grumbled about Nate providing money for Roberta, but Ezra told him to shut up. Nate was convinced it was out of guilt, but the ranchers volunteered enough men to rebuild Roberta’s house without her having to pay for anything beyond materials. Nate knew their objections to his giving Roberta money were still there, but at least they were beginning to see that being good businessmen didn’t preclude being decent human beings.

But they had raised a valid point about his own men. Russ had hired most of the crew while he’d been gone. It was time he took a more active interest in his ranch. Roberta was right about him avoiding being part of the community. He hadn’t even had enough interest in his ranch to ride out with his men to see the condition of his range, his cows, even the size of his herd. He had full confidence in Russ as a foreman, but Nate was falling down on his responsibilities as a boss and a landowner.

First, though, he had to convince Roberta to move to his ranch.

***

Blossom fixed Roberta with an inquisitive look, her head cocked at a slight angle. “Are you going to marry Nate? Everybody knows he’s in love with you.”

Roberta had been pleased when Blossom came to visit. She was bored being confined to the house, and tired of Carl apologizing for kissing her against her will. She had been sorely tempted to go back to the farm, but had promised Nate she wouldn’t leave town unless he was with her.

“It wouldn’t matter if he was madly in love with me,” Roberta told her friend. “I’m going back to Virginia.”

Prudence’s home was as austere and dismaying as her personality. The walls were covered with a paper that set a crosslike figure against a dark background. There were no pictures, no decorative touches, and every chair in the room was straight-backed and uncomfortable. The floor was composed of bare boards, and the curtains at the windows blocked nearly all sunlight. Roberta thought it was like living in a cave and found it thoroughly depressing.

Blossom sat forward, her look turned serious. “If you’re determined to go back to Virginia, I think you ought to marry Carl. He loves you, and that’s where you both want to live.”

“I know he’s been spending half his day in the saloon trying to convince you to talk me into marrying him, but it’s not going to work.”

“Why not? He wants to take you back to Virginia where you’ll never have to see a rancher again. He will build any kind of house you want and fill it with enough servants for a princess. Besides, Virginia’s not hot as hell and dry as a desert. You always said you hated the Texas heat, and you can’t tell me you like working in the dirt from morning till night.”

Roberta
didn’t
like working in the dirt regardless of the time of day, but she had discovered that she derived satisfaction from knowing that she could do strenuous work. It gave her a sense of accomplishment she’d never had before, a sense of self-worth that she was starting to enjoy. Her father’s death, as much of a tragedy as that was, had changed the way people saw her. She was no longer the rarely seen, and even less often thought of, daughter of Robert Tryon. She was being regarded as a person in her own right for the first time in her life. She doubted she could explain to Blossom why that was so important to her.

“Things have been changing so quickly, I don’t know what I think. I need time to figure out what to do.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” Blossom insisted. “Your farm is ruined, and your house is gone. You’ve got a perfectly wonderful man who wants to marry you and take you away from the attacks, the fires, and the dirt. No woman in her right mind would hesitate.”

But was she in her right mind? So much had happened—the circumstances surrounding her had changed so drastically—she could be sure of only two things. She was strongly attracted to Nate, and she had to know who killed her father. She was sure the same person had tried to kill her. She couldn’t go into a marriage, knowing that kind of danger might follow her.

“Why are you so anxious for me to marry Carl?” she asked Blossom. “Do you think Boone will marry you if I leave?”

“Boone wouldn’t marry me if I were the only woman in Slender Creek.” Blossom looked away. “Boone loves money, but he’s ashamed of being a saloon owner. He wants a wife who’ll give him class. You’re the only one who can do that.”

Roberta couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m a farmer’s daughter. That’s almost worse.”

“Not in his eyes.”

“Why?”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Blossom got up and looked out the window. “You can ask Boone himself. That’s him at the door.”

“Tell him to go away.”

“Tell him yourself. I’m not in love with him anymore, but I need my job.”

Roberta decided she might as well see Boone. It was only fair that she try to make him understand she wasn’t going to marry him.

“You don’t need me hanging around for this conversation.” Blossom grinned. “You can tell me all the juicy parts later.”

“Just for that, you can let Boone in on your way out.”

Boone appeared surprised to see Blossom when she opened the door. “I’m just going,” she told him.

“Come in,” Roberta said, when Blossom had left. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

Boone gave her a huge smile. “It’s about time you decided to marry me. Now, I can get rid of the Peterson fella. I’m tired of him hanging about in the saloon. I can’t understand what you see in him.”

“Carl and I were very close before I moved from Virginia. He’s a good friend.”

“I shouldn’t complain. He’s very free with his money.”

“Carl was always generous, even before he came into his inheritance.”

Boone’s gaze narrowed. “You didn’t invite me in here to tell me you’re going to marry him, did you? I know you’re always talking about going back to Virginia, but—”

“I’m not going to marry Carl. Sit down. I feel awkward standing like this.”

Boone chose a chair and frowned when he sat down.

“Don’t bother to change. The rest are all the same.”

“Just like Prudence. Hard and inflexible. But I don’t want to talk about Prudence. I want to talk about us getting married.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about.”

“We can have the wedding as soon as you want. Buy any dress you want. We can go to San Antonio if you can’t find anything here.”

“You can’t think I’d let you pay for my wedding dress?” That wasn’t what she wanted to say.

“I know Otis gave you a loan, but you can give the money back. I’ll build you a bigger and better house than any in Slender Creek.”

“Stop!” If she didn’t slow him down, he’d have the preacher at the door before she could tell him she wasn’t going to marry him. “Boone, listen to me. I’m not going to marry you.”

Boone looked at her like she had lost her mind.

“I like you,” Roberta persisted, “but I don’t love you. I’m sorry if you truly believed I would marry you, but I’ve been telling you for months that I wouldn’t.”

“It’s that Peterson guy,” Boone boomed. “He’s turned your head with his talk about this fortune he’s inherited. I bet it’s not nearly as much as he’d like you to think.”

“It has nothing to do with Carl or his inheritance. I think it’s important that two people love each other before they decide to marry.”

“I do love you.”

“I’m sorry, Boone, but I don’t love you. I never have.”

“Of course you love me.”

“I have
never
told you or anybody else that I loved you. You’ve got to stop telling yourself what you want to hear and listen to me.
I’m not going to marry you
. It’s not something I just decided. I’ve been saying the same thing for months.”

“Who is it?” Boone demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“Who are you going to marry?” he demanded.

“I haven’t decided to marry anyone.”

“No woman turns down a man like me without thinking she’s got a better bird in hand. That could be only two people. Nate Dolan or Carl Peterson. Which one is it?”

“I’m not turning you down because I’m going to marry someone else. I’m turning you down because I don’t love you.”

“It’s got to be Nate Dolan. You didn’t say anything about not marrying me until he started paying attention to you. Are you going to rebuild your house?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“You should know Nate Dolan gave Otis the money he lent to you.”

If Roberta hadn’t been so upset over the attempt on her life and sidetracked with Carl’s unexpected arrival, she would have kept after Otis until she found out who was behind the loan. Instead, she’d let herself be swayed by Otis’s talk about community responsibility and not allowing anyone to be without a home. “It doesn’t matter where Otis got the money,” Roberta insisted. “The loan is from the bank, not Nate.” Inwardly, though, she cringed at being caught in a trap not of her making.

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

“Who I may or may not be in love with doesn’t concern you. I
can
tell you that I have no plans at present to marry anyone.”

“You should marry Peterson and go back to Virginia. Nate won’t stop chasing diViere. If the man is as dangerous as Nate is telling everyone, Nate will be dead and you a widow.” Boone heaved a sigh and stood. “I’d better get back to the saloon. With Crazy Joe gone, I’ve got no one to make sure there’s no trouble.”

Roberta no sooner closed the door behind Boone than she had to face the problem of Nate having provided the money for her loan. She’d accepted the lumber for her barn directly from Boone with a promise to repay him, so how could she accuse Nate of doing anything wrong?

She needed to talk to him right away.

***

“There’s no need for you to go with us, boss,” Russ said to Nate. “All we’re doing is counting steers. We haven’t started to round them up and trail brand them.”

“I’m not going because I think you need the help,” Nate told his foreman. “I just want to look over the herd. Do you realize I haven’t gone beyond the corrals in more than a year?”

“I’ve tried to see you didn’t even need to leave the house. You said you wanted to devote all your time to your search for diViere.”

“You’ve done an outstanding job, but now it’s time I started to act like a rancher.”

“Don’t you trust me to do the job? Have I done anything to make you think I’ve made any mistakes?”

“Nothing at all.” Nate hoped Russ wasn’t going to make this an issue of his ability to do his job. Since he’d been back, Nate had noticed that Russ had a tendency to act like it was his ranch, that he could make decisions without consulting his boss. Nate had no one to blame but himself. From the beginning he’d left Russ free to run the ranch pretty much as he saw fit. He’d even let Russ hire most of the crew. “You don’t have to ride with me. I don’t want to get in the way of your work.”

“It’ll be easier if I show you around. I know the most important things for you to see.”

“Have it your way,” Nate said to Russ. “Just know I intend to be in the saddle most of the day.”

“Do you think you’re strong enough for that?”

“I used to ride all night.”

“That was more than ten years ago.”

Nate wasn’t sure why Russ was trying so hard to keep him at the ranch house. Except for an occasional tenderness when he overextended himself, he felt fully recovered. “If I get too tired, I can come home. Now let’s saddle up. I’ve wasted too much of the day already.” He had meant to ride out earlier, but several small delays had taken up most of the morning. He wouldn’t cover as much ground as he had hoped, but there would be plenty of time in the days ahead. Laveau was in the area. Nate only had to wait for him to show his hand.

During their walk to the corrals, roping the horses, and saddling up, Russ kept up a running monologue of what he would show Nate and the changes or improvements he hoped to make. Despite appearing otherwise, Nate couldn’t shake the feeling Russ was worried about something else. He supposed he would learn what it was during their ride. They had just mounted up when the sound of a galloping horse caught Nate’s attention. A buggy was being driven at a breakneck pace toward the ranch house.

Roberta held the reins.

Putting his horse into a quick gallop, Nate rode to meet her, but she didn’t stop until she’d brought her buggy to a stop at the house. She turned to him, her face a mask of shock.

“Someone tried to kill me.”

Nate didn’t let Roberta say anything more until he’d gotten her inside, settled her in a comfortable chair, and Benny had provided her with a cup of hot coffee. “Now, tell me why you ignored everything Prudence and I have said and drove out here by yourself?” That’s not what he really wanted to say. He wanted to crush her in his embrace, tell her she was never to go anywhere without him, and promise to be at her side for the rest of her life. But there would be time for that later.

“I came because Boone told me you gave Otis the money he lent me to rebuild my house. If I’m going to consider marrying you, I need to make sure I’m not beholden to you in any way.”

For a moment, Nate forgot about everything else. Roberta was thinking about marrying him. She’d never said that before. “We’ll talk about that later. Tell me why you think someone tried to kill you.”

“Someone shot at me.”

“Did you see anyone? Did they follow you? Was it a rifle or a gun?” A rifle could mean someone was hunting and made a poor shot. A gun was more ominous.

“I didn’t see anyone, and I can’t tell a rifle from a gun.”

“Did they fire more than once?”

“No.”

“It was probably someone hunting or target practicing,” Russ said. He had followed them inside but hadn’t spoken until now. Instead of his usual antagonism toward Roberta, he looked unusually solemn.

“I was on Nate’s range when it happened,” Roberta told him.

“My men are all busy counting steers,” Russ said. “It couldn’t have been one of them. Besides, I don’t allow hunting for anything except deer and wild hogs, and they aren’t out during the day.”

“I’m not accusing anybody, just telling you what happened.”

Nate could tell Roberta was getting overly agitated. “You’re not leaving this house until we figure this out. I’ll send one of the boys into town for everything you need.”

“She can’t stay here,” Russ objected.

“She can, and she will,” Nate declared.

“What about the men? Her reputation?”

“The men will be on guard duty twenty-four hours a day. They won’t have time to do anything that might jeopardize her reputation.”

“What about you?”

“If you think I’d do anything to besmirch the honor of the woman I love and intend to marry, you’d better start looking for a new job.”

Russ stumbled over himself apologizing. “I was just thinking about what other people might say.”

“Protecting Roberta is more important than worrying about idle gossip.”

“Russ is right,” Roberta said. “I shouldn’t stay.”

“There’s no place else to stay unless you intend to take up Boone’s offer to use his house.”

Roberta colored. “I told him I wasn’t going to marry him. That’s why he got angry enough to tell me about the loan.”

“Forget about the loan. You’re not going back to the farm. You’re going to marry me.”

Roberta glanced at Russ then back at Nate. “I said I was
thinking
about marrying you. I haven’t decided yet.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to do all the thinking you need. Russ will stay with you while I see about getting your room ready. Meanwhile, make a list of what the boys need to bring from Prudence’s house. Be specific. They’re not used to being around women.”

Nate didn’t wait for Roberta or Russ to raise any objections. His main objective was to keep Roberta safe, but he didn’t intend to waste an opportunity to have her to himself without Boone and Carl Peterson showing up whenever they wanted. In the coming days, he intended to do everything in his power to make her forget Virginia.

But he wouldn’t forget Laveau.

***

Roberta hadn’t been at the ranch three hours before Carl arrived, demanding that she return to town immediately. When she tried to explain why she’d decided to stay at Nate’s ranch, he made an ugly remark, which ended with Nate knocking him down and throwing him out of the house. He left, vowing not to return until she regained her senses. Since he wouldn’t believe she was being sensible unless she agreed to marry him, she hoped he wouldn’t come back.

Now, it was two days later, and she was facing a meeting with Prudence. Grady had galloped up the lane two minutes ago to say he’d seen her on her way from town. “I’ll get the boss.” With that, Grady disappeared with the alacrity of a guilty little boy. He said he was going to stay in the bunkhouse until she left.

Roberta suffered from mixed feelings. She was appreciative of everyone’s efforts to make her feel safe and comfortable. Benny spent entire afternoons in the kitchen fixing meals she was certain the cowhands had never seen before. Nate, Grady, Webb, and Russ circled around her like orbiting moons. Nate had ordered the entire contents of a dress shop brought out to the ranch for her selection. She had refused to let him pay for anything. Instead, she dipped into the money Otis lent her.

She enjoyed being spoiled. It had never happened before, but it wasn’t long before she started to feel restless. She became so desperate she cleaned the house despite Nate’s objections that Russ had a standing arrangement for someone from Slender Creek to clean once a month. She threatened to take on the washing if she couldn’t find something else to do. Now, she had to face Prudence. She really would have preferred doing the washing.

Nate came to her side on the porch. “You don’t have to see her if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I do. Prudence can be a trial sometimes, but she’s been a stalwart friend.”

“She won’t be very nice about your being here.”

The two days spent with Nate had been some of the best of her life. She’d made up her mind to marry him.

Prudence’s lips remained pursed all the way from the buggy to the parlor. Not even a bountiful display of Benny’s sweets could keep her from getting straight to the purpose of her journey.

“I was shocked when I returned to find you’d moved in with Nate Dolan.”

“I didn’t
move
in
with Nate. I was coming to tell him I couldn’t accept his loan when someone shot at me. Nate thought I wouldn’t be safe alone in your house. He has two men watching outside during the day. At night, I lock my bedroom door, and either he or one of the boys stands guard.”

Prudence appeared distressed on hearing of a second attack, but it didn’t alter her belief that Roberta was endangering her immortal soul. “Now that I have returned, you can come back to my house.”

“Roberta will stay here until we can find out who’s trying to kill her,” Nate said. “If you think your presence will preserve her reputation, you’re welcome to stay here as well.”

Roberta hoped her surprise didn’t show. Nate must love her more than she thought to offer to let Prudence stay in his house.

Prudence appeared to struggle with herself before reaching a decision. “I’m strongly tempted to accept your offer, but since Roberta has already been here several days, I think my energy might be better spent encouraging the sheriff to make a greater effort to apprehend this monstrous criminal who seems determined to harm Roberta for no reason beyond wanton cruelty. I don’t doubt that you will keep her safe.” She turned to Roberta. “Someone must harvest your crops, or you will become completely dependent on Mr. Dolan.”

“Roberta asked me to hire a man to manage the farm until she can take over again.”

The gaze Prudence directed at Nate was not entirely friendly. “You seem to have thought of everything.”

“I have good reason to try.”

Roberta felt warmth flood her cheeks. She still marveled that she had always remained unmoved by Boone’s most extravagant declarations of love while even the mildest allusion to Nate’s love caused her to blush and stare at her hands in her lap. She didn’t need anyone to tell her love was the difference. It’s just that she hadn’t expected such a reaction at all.

Prudence’s gaze remained locked on Nate. “If that’s how you feel, you should be talking to the preacher.”

“I will as soon as I can get Roberta to agree.”

Prudence swung her gaze to Roberta. “Are you in love with this man?”

Prudence wasn’t one to mince words or waste time. Roberta was tempted to equivocate, but she decided it was past time for that. “Yes, but I’m not ready to get married.”

“You’ve got three men wanting to marry you. It’s time you stopped dithering and made up your mind.”

That stung. “I’ve convinced Boone I won’t marry him, and I’m waiting for Carl to realize the girl he fell in love with five years ago doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Tell him.”

“I have, but he’s not ready to believe it.”

“Then I shall tell him. I have several things I must do in town, so I need to be going.” She stood. “If this man is willing to marry you, you are more fortunate than you know.”

Having decided it was time to go, Prudence didn’t linger. She was out the door, in her buggy, and driving away in a matter of minutes.

Nate turned to Roberta. “That went better than expected.”

“You cut the ground out from under her when you offered to let her move in.”

“I was hoping she wouldn’t take me up on my offer.”

“So was I. I’d have had to move back to her house.”

Both laughed as they went inside, but they turned serious soon enough. “When are you going to agree to marry me?” Nate asked. “I don’t want to sound like Prudence, but the longer you stay here unmarried, the more likely people will whisper.”

“They’ve been talking out loud about me ever since my father and I moved here.”

Nate stopped and turned her to face him. “What are you going to do if we don’t find Laveau?”

Roberta shrugged in frustration. “I don’t know. I feel too up in the air to make important decisions. Not knowing makes me feel like tomorrow might arrive and change everything. What am I going to do about the attacks on me? Even if I married you, I couldn’t stay cooped up in this house. Most likely they would stop if I moved back to Virginia. It’s got to have something to do with the farm.”

“I don’t have to stay in Texas and ranch. I grew up the son of a merchant. I could do that again.”

“And live in the same town with Carl?”

“We don’t have to go back to your hometown. We don’t even have to go to Virginia.”