Heart Of Texas (Historical Romance) (18 page)

Teague motioned for the others to come forward. "Take him! Drag him to me, and don't be
too gentle about it."

Flint stood up, cocked his rifle, and aimed it at
Teague's heart. "If any one of your men steps in
to help, I will shoot you." His voice was cold, his
words decisive. "Do not try to help," he said to the
others, "or the foreman dies."

"Take him at his word," Gabe said, remembering the hell the foreman had made of his life as
a child. "This fight is between you and me,
Teague. It always has been."

Teague smiled slowly as he took a step toward
Gabe. "That's just the way I like it. The boss will
thank me for what I'm about to do to you. How
does it feel to know your pa don't care what happens to you?"

They circled each other while everyone else
watched. Their gazes locked as they each looked
for the first opening.

"I feel only contempt for him. You're the one
who always licks his boots."

"You bastard."

"Are you going to talk me to death, Teague?"

The older man's face reddened. "I gave you a
beating once. I can do it again."

"That's right, you did-but I was a boy at the
time. I'm a man now. The odds are in my favor
this time. I'm younger than you by at least ten
years," Gabe taunted.

"That's to my advantage. Because I'm thirty
pounds heavier than you are," Teague retaliated.

Gabe's contemptuous glance showed what he
thought of the extra weight Teague carried. "How
are you when you face a man instead of a young
boy, or a woman, foreman?"

Teague was the first to strike, and he was lightning quick. Gabe didn't see it coming, and his knees buckled when Teague's fist connected with
his midsection.

Teague thought he'd take advantage of Gabe
while he was hunched over, heaving for breath.
He dived at Gabe, but Gabe was ready for him
this time, and he rolled to the side, grabbing
Teague's leg and taking him to the floor.

Latter moved to help the foreman, but Flint
aimed the rifle at him. "Do not do it, white man.
You have my promise you will be dead before you
hit the floor."

That stopped Latter in his tracks and made him
reconsider. There was a hard look in the Indian's
dark eyes, and that was a mean-looking Winchester pointed at him.

Meanwhile, Gabe and Teague were wrestling
on the floor. Gabe's fist crashed into the foreman's jaw.

"That one was for Miss Hamilton." Gabe rolled
to his feet and brought the man up with him. He
drove his fists so hard into Teague's stomach that
the man cried out.

Another punch to the stomach brought Teague
to his knees. He looked stunned when Gabe hit
him in the jaw again. He seemed to crumple and
then fell backward-out cold.

Gabe turned to the other two. "Do either of you
want to take me on?"

Bates was studying the toes of his boots, and
Latter was sullenly silent.

"In that case, give Teague a message for me. I hadn't figured he'd pass out this fast, or I would
have told him myself. Tell him if he ever sets foot
on the Spanish Spur, or approaches Miss Hamilton in any manner, he will curse the day he was
born."

Latter gave Gabe a disgruntled look. "I'm not
your messenger. Do it yourself."

Flint bent over Teague and looked up at Gabe.
"He will live, but he's going to be sore for a long
time."

Gabe glanced back at the other two men.
"Then give this message to Cyrus-tell him not to
stir up trouble he can't finish. Remind him that
I meant what I told him the other day, and that
he shouldn't send Teague or any of you to the
Spanish Spur because we'll be waiting for you."

"I'll be glad to tell him that," Bates spoke up.
"You're already a walking dead man."

"If there's any more trouble, and I find either
of you is part of it, you'll curse the day your
mother gave birth to you." Gabe spoke quietly,
but the threat was there all the same.

He picked his hat up off the floor, and he and
Flint backed to the door, watching the two men.
"Think twice before you ride against the Spanish
Spur."

Someone tapped Gabe on the shoulder, and he
spun around, ready to fight.

The tall, lanky cowboy smiled at him. "Settle
down, Gabe. I ain't here to fight you. Fact is, I
made money on you tonight. Some of the men bet their month's pay that Teague would be the
one left standing, but I knew better."

Gabe had always liked Will Fletcher, who had
taught him most of what he knew about ranching.
He hadn't seen the cowpoke in seven years, and
the man hadn't been young then. Now his hair
was mostly gray, but there was still a bounce in
his step.

"I have a warning for you, Fletcher, and any of
the others who might think they can ride onto
the Spanish Spur and stir up trouble. I won't allow anything to happen to the Hamiltons. Anyone
meaning them harm will have to go through me
to get to them."

Fletcher chuckled. "I have been thinking 'bout
moving on myself. You got any use for a broken-
down of cowhand?"

Gabe thought for a moment. He had wanted
someone always at the house to watch over Casey.
Could he trust Fletcher? "I do need someone I
can depend on when I turn my back."

"Then I'm your man. I always was partial to you
when you was a boy-and I had a soft spot in my
heart for the boss's daughter, too. Some of us
took it real hard the way she died. I know several
others who would come work for you and stand
by you in a fight against Slaughter."

"Just tell them not to get in my way. I trust you,
but not the others. I can't be sure they won't go
running back to Cyrus."

Fletcher nodded. "I'll just pack my gear and head on over your way tonight. I don't want to be
here when Teague comes 'round. He's going to
be awfully mean."

"We are tightening the perimeters around the
house; make yourself known when you ride in or
someone might shoot first and ask questions
later."

Gabe and Flint melted into the darkness without a sound; it was as if they had never been there.

Fletcher shook his head in amazement. He'd
never known how some men, mostly Indians,
could move so quietly and swiftly, taking a body
by complete surprise.

He'd, felt sorry for Gabe when he'd been a
young boy. Being Cyrus's son had been hard at
Casa Mesa.

The thing was, the boss had seen his son getting
batted around, and he'd even laughed when Gabe
had tried unsuccessfully to fight back against the
larger men. Teague had encouraged the men's
hatred toward the boy, and he had always hit the
boy the hardest and the most often. It seemed like
Gabe had grown into a fine man, regardless of
the way he'd been treated as a boy.

There was real trouble coming. Slaughter
would not like what had happened tonight. It was
a fight that was long in coming-the older
Slaughter against the younger.

Fletcher's money was on Gabe.

A blaze of color had just touched the horizon
when Kate moved determinedly toward the bunkhouse and shoved the door open. Her eyes blazing, her chin at an obstinate tilt, she walked right
past Omous and Flint without blinking an eye.

It didn't matter to her that Gabe had just
stepped out of the tub and had only a towel
draped about him.

"Well, Gabriel, just what in the hell do you
think you're doing now?"

"Well, until a moment ago, I was taking a bath."
He grinned. "I'm now standing here half-naked,
dripping wet, with a woman who doesn't even notice."

"Don't play the fool with me, Gabriel. You know
very well what I'm talking about."

He reached around her to grab his trousers off
the cot. "I haven't got a notion why you came storming in here. You're pretty scary when you're
mad, Kate."

She watched him juggle the towel and his trousers, trying to get dressed.

"I don't suppose you'd turn your head?" he
asked with a touch of humor.

She stared at him for a moment as if she'd just
realized what an awkward time she had chosen to
approach him. But it didn't bother her. She was
too mad to care. "What are you doing taking a
bath before sunup?"

"I didn't realize there was a set time that a person could take a bath. But if you must know, I
have something important to do this morning."
He slid into his trousers and draped the towel
around his neck. "Do you want to tell me what
this is all about?"

"I don't mind if I do. I went into the barn this
morning, thinking I'd milk the cow for Casey,
since she's got so much work on her hands, and
who do you think I ran into?"

"You tell me."

"Will Fletcher, bigger than life. I asked him
what he was doing here, and he said you let him
come on over. Now I know you know he works
for Slaughter. A man can't ride two horses at the
same time."

"I trust Fletcher, Kate. He may have worked for
Cyrus, but he will be loyal to the Spanish Spur."

"What if he runs straight to Slaughter and tells
him we don't have enough men to protect this ranch? Had you even thought of that?"

"He won't. I trust Fletcher enough to put him
to guard the family. And, Kate, there's going to
be trouble here. I don't know just when, but when
it comes, we'll need every man we can get to come
over to our side."

She digested that bit of information and said
reluctantly, "If you trust Fletcher, I guess that's
good enough for me. But mind you, I'll be watching him all the same."

She stared at him and then reached out and
touched his bruised jaw. She noticed several cuts
and scrapes as well. "You look like you been in a
fight."

"You might call it that. I had a run-in with Ira
Teague last night."

She nodded. "That figures. And it explains what
Fletcher's doing here." She nodded toward the
Indians. "I ain't never been good at figures, but
even I can add a bit-with you and the Comanches and Will Fletcher, that still makes only four.
Slaughter has an army of men on his side."

"I've never been interested in numbers. I know
the loyalty of the men at my back. Cyrus can't say
the same."

"You're up against trouble, but you know that.
I've said my piece."

He reached for his shirt and held it in front of
him. "In that case, will you leave so I can get
dressed, Kate?"

She grinned at him and winked. "Don't think I was so taken up with what I was saying that I
didn't notice some things. With a body like yours,
I don't know why some woman hasn't already
snapped you up."

His gorgeous mouth slid into a grin. "Are you
proposing to me, Kate?"

"Nope. You may end up dead, and I'm too
young to be a widow. But you might want to cast
your eyes on the lady in the main house."

His irises dilated just a bit. "Then you're matchmaking?"

"You're a handsome devil and don't need the
likes of me to do your courting for you. But if you
wait much longer, there'll be other bees sniffing
around the honeypot I seen the looks Casey got
from the menfolk when we was in town the other
day. She's a real looker, in case you ain't noticed."

He pulled his shirt on and buttoned it, then
tucked it into his pants. "I noticed."

Cyrus Slaughter shoved Teague aside and seated
himself on the edge of his desk. "You let him
come here, catch you unaware, and you did nothing to stop him."

"He had the Indian with him."

"And you had forty-three men to call on."

"He took me by surprise."

"You knew he'd come if you baited the woman.
Why weren't you ready for him? No, don't answer
that-I'll answer it for you. Gabe took you because he's smarter than you are."

Anger flushed Teague's ruddy face. "He caught
me off guard, boss, and he was stronger than I
thought he'd be. I could have took him if-"

"That's not the way I heard it told. I heard you
were ready for him. I heard he just plain outfought you."

Teague looked away from the piercing silver
gaze. "If you want Gabe dead, I can do it for you."

"If I'd wanted him dead, I wouldn't have asked
you to do it. I just wanted him roughed up a bit,
and it looks like you're the one who got roughed
up.,,

"I'll get him next time."

"Looks like you got what you dished out for a
change."

"I don't know what you mean."

"It's like this, Teague. When my son was young
you made life hard for him, you taunted him, hit
him. Tonight he had the satisfaction of settling
an old score."

Cyrus nodded toward the door. "I only allow a
man one mistake, and you've had yours. Pack up
your belongings and get out."

There was a look of disbelief on Teague's face.
He'd ridden for the Slaughter brand for over
twenty-five years, and he'd been the foreman for
fifteen of those years. He had done unspeakable
things on Slaughter's orders. He had never hesitated, never thought about it or felt guilty later
on. "You can't mean that, boss. I can still get him
for you."