Heart Of Texas (Historical Romance) (24 page)

"It's just a sprain. The doctor said I was to wear
the sling for a week; then my arm should feel much better." He touched her hair. "We were
afraid, Casey, when the dust settled, and we saw
you lying there...." He wiped a tear away. "I
thought you were dead. Kate went for the doctor,
and I stayed right here with you, trying to console
Jenny. This is the first I've left you, to tuck Jenny
in. I couldn't have been gone for more than a
minute."

She smiled. "As you see, I'm hard to kill, Sam."

"The doctor's in the kitchen with Kate. He
wanted to know when you woke up."

"Oh, Sam. I thought you and jenny were..."
She tried to move and felt a heavy weight pressing
her down.

"You have to be still, Casey," he warned. "You
have a head wound."

Kate appeared in the doorway with a middleaged man Casey assumed was the doctor. He had
a shock of white hair, and he smiled softly down
at her. When he touched her face, he had the
gentle hands of a healer, warm and comforting.

"I'm Dr. Cahill." He lifted the lamp and handed
it to Kate. "Hold it close so I can examine her."

He slid Casey's eyelids upward and studied her
for a moment. When he confirmed that her pupils were a little less dilated, he nodded in satisfaction. "You've got a concussion, young lady.
From what I've been told, you're lucky that's all
you got. But you seem to be coming around just
fine now."

"Tell me about my brother and sister," Casey insisted, in spite of Sam's assurance that they were
fine. "What is the extent of their injuries?"

"The little one has no more than a scratch on
her elbow and face. Your brother's arm was
sprained. You were hurt the worst." He touched
her arm. "I want you to do exactly as I tell you."

She nodded in relief.

"Lift each leg one at a time, and then do the
same with your arms.

"Good," he said as she followed his directions.
"Good, that's excellent!"

When Sam still looked worried, the doctor said,
"Your sister is going to be all right. A few scrapes
and bruises, but they'll heal soon enough."

The day could have turned out so differently.
Casey shivered and reached for Sam's hand, then
closed her eyes, trembling. They had come close
to being killed. And jenny... how she must be
grieving because of Lucy-she loved that puppy
so.

Kate came up beside her. "I'll stay with her tonight, Doc. I won't leave her side."

Casey didn't bother to open her eyes-she was
just too confused. Cyrus Slaughter had struck fast
and hard, and he'd hit them where it hurt the
most. She didn't know how much damage had
been done to the ranch buildings, and at the moment she didn't care. She had been ready to give
up and let Slaughter have the place, but after
what had happened, she would give the ranch away to someone else before she'd let him have
any part of it.

She heard Kate scoot a chair beside her bed,
but she didn't say anything. She was thinking of
Gabe. She wondered if he had been with the men
who stampeded the cattle. No. She refused to believe that. He would never do anything that would
hurt jenny and Sam-would he?

Still, he was a deceiver and a liar. He could have
ordered the stampede.

It was late when Gabe arrived at the ranch. He
had been in the saddle for most of the day and
night, and he was weary. He glanced at the house
as he always did and found it dark. There was a
light on at Kate's cabin, so he dismounted and
walked in that direction.

He didn't even have time to knock before the
little woman opened the door and glared at him.

"Where've you been at? All hell's broke out
while you went running off who knows where, doing who knows what!"

He shook his head tiredly. "I've been to Fort
Worth. Fletcher must have told you that. Then
rode on to San Angelo."

"Fletcher ain't here to tell me nothing."

He frowned. "You said everything was falling
apart?" He went to the door and opened it, glancing toward the ranch house. "There is nothing
wrong with Casey, is there?"

"You might say the bottom's fallen out of everything. Casey paid a visit to your pa."

"Ah, hell! What did she say?"

"Well, after running Fletcher, Omous, and Flint
off, she didn't say much to me. She figures I'm in
cahoots with you and Cyrus to steal the Spanish
Spur from them."

"What?"

"Yeah. And that ain't the worst of it; if'n you'd
ridden in daylight, you'd've seen the damage
caused by the stampede-fences down, horses
running free, the bunkhouse porch splintered."

"Dammit, Kate, quit beating around the bush
and tell me-are Casey and the children all right?
What stampede?"

"The one that Cyrus set up. His men were
shootin' and hollering and driving the cattle right
through the place. Casey was very nearly killed.
She got knocked down, and it's a miracle she
wasn't trampled to death. She has to stay in bed
for a while."

"Is she going to be all right? Did you send for
the doctor?"

"She's mending. But we could be attending a
funeral. That's how close she was to being trampled to death."

He stepped out on the porch, and she followed
him. "I should have been here," he said.

"Why weren't you? There wasn't any way I could
get in touch with you."

Gabe paced back and forth, trying to think.

"This is all my fault When I first came here, I only
wanted to help the Hamiltons and then move on.
It didn't matter about my name, except I thought
they wouldn't trust me if I told them I was a
Slaughter. But you already know that."

"They sure don't trust you now, and I can't say
as I blame them."

He drew in his breath, trying to overcome his
panic. "I need to see Casey right now!"

"You can't go busting in there in the middle of
the night waking everyone up! Think of Jenny."
She shook her head. "Speaking of jenny, it's like
the light went out behind her eyes. That pup you
gave her got trampled right in front of her."

He leaned his head against the supporting post,
feeling gut wrenching pain in his heart. "In trying
to help, I've only brought more trouble down on
them. I should have figured that Cyrus would try
to get to me through them. I don't know why I
didn't think of that. He's played that game with
people's lives before."

Gabe stepped off the porch. "I'm going to see
Casey tonight if I have to wake up everyone in
that house."

Kate didn't know what would happen when
Gabe and Casey faced each other, but she didn't
think anything good would come of it.

Gabe hurried toward the ranch house. He
bounded up the porch steps and rapped softly on
the door. It was a while before the door opened.

Sam's hair was mussed, and he blinked his eyes sleepily. When he realized who was standing
there, his hands formed into fists. "What do you
want?"

"I've got to see Casey, Sam. Kate just told me
what happened."

Sam stood taller, blocking the way. "You already
know what happened. And you can't see Casey.
She's been hurt, and she needs her sleep."

Gabe wrenched the door open; he knew it
would be a waste of time to try to explain things
to the boy. "I'm not leaving until I see her. If she's
asleep, I won't wake her. I just need to know she's
unhurt."

Sam stood his ground. "I'm not letting you by."

"Look, you can come with me. I just want to
look at her. Then I'll leave and trouble you no
more."

Sam stepped aside. Somehow he still trusted
Gabe. And he had never known that Gabe cared
this much about his sister. Now that he thought
about it, he should have suspected something.
Gabe was always watching Casey.

"You can see her, but you aren't to wake her
up. And then I'll expect you to keep your word
and leave us alone."

Gabe nodded. He followed Sam to the bedroom door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust
to the darkened room. He could make out Jenny
curled up in her bed, and Casey in hers by the
window. His footsteps were silent as he crossed
the room. The lace curtain ruffled in the early- morning breeze, and soft moonlight fell on
Casey's face. He bent down beside her so he could
get a better look at the bandage on her forehead.
Her breathing was even and steady. Her lips were
slightly parted, and he ached to touch his mouth
to them.

He stood up and left as silently as he had come,
and Sam followed him to the door.

"You love my sister, don't you?"

Gabe didn't say anything, but the gentleness in
his eyes revealed a truth that even Sam, at his
young age, could understand.

"Then you wouldn't hurt her."

"I would die myself before I caused her pain."

Sam didn't know what to believe, but he knew
what Casey believed. "You need to be gone when
she wakes up in the morning. I'll give you what
pay you think you have coming."

He studied the boy for a moment. If he had a
son, he would like him to be like Sam. He would
miss him, jenny with her sunny personality, and
Casey... What would he do without seeing the
light playing across her hair, or her laughing blue
eyes, enticing him to kiss her?

"Good night, Sam."

Casey awoke before sunup. She touched her head
and found the bandage still in place. Jenny was
still sleeping, and she assumed Sam was as well.
She threw the covers back and slid her feet to the
floor. She had no time to languish in bed.

She quietly dressed and went directly to the
kitchen. She tied an apron about her waist and
poured water into the coffeepot. Hearing a noise,
she swung around to look out the door and found
Gabe sitting on the steps, his hat pulled, down
over his face.

"What are you doing here?"

He rolled to his feet, opened the door, and
came inside. "I had to learn everything from Kate;
you fired everyone else."

"We gave them good wages first," she said,
reaching for the skillet and banging it against the
burner.

"How are you?"

She lit the fire and placed the coffeepot on the
stove before she turned back to him. She couldn't
let him know that just the sight of him left her
weak and shaken. "I've been better."

"Sweetheart-"

"Don't call me that. I want you to leave right
now."

"We have to talk, Casey."

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
She turned her back to him. "Sam will give you
the wages you've earned. Then we want you to go
away."

He stepped closer to her. "Don't do this." Her
coldness had wounded him deeply. "Just listen to
what I have to say. There was a good reason I
didn't tell you my name."

She angrily turned to face him. "Yes, there was, and that reason is named Cyrus Slaughter." Tears
were swimming in her eyes. "I'm such a gullible
fool; you even warned me against your own father
and convinced me I needed you to protect us
from him."

She looked so fragile with the bandage on her
forehead. He wanted to wrap her in his arms. He
had done a lot of thinking while he'd been away.
He didn't know what love was, but he knew what
it felt like to have the memory of Casey's sweetness surrounding him. Just thinking about her
made his heart overflow with joy-and he
thought of her a lot. His body had ached and
throbbed for her. He wanted to take care of her,
to make love to her, long and slowly. He wanted
her even now.

She turned away from him, unable to look at
him any longer. But she felt the heat of Gabe's
gaze, and she knew that he was willing her to look
at him. She wouldn't let herself. "If I hadn't taken
Mr. Slaughter an apple pie because I wanted to
settle the misunderstanding between us, I would
never have known you are his son." She spoke so
softly he was barely able to catch her words. "He
rejected the pie just as he rejected my offer of
friendship. He said he didn't like apple pie."

"He's not a man you can reason with."

"You should know, since you are his son."

"Casey, don't do this. If you never believed anything I've said before, believe me now. You need
me to protect you."

Her eyes blazed, and that stubborn chin came
up in defiance. "Don't you dare say that to mel
And from now on, you can refer to me as Miss
Hamilton."

. He knew her so well-she would not relent. To
her he was the enemy, and nothing he could say
would convince her otherwise. "The only lie I ever
told you was a lie of omission when I didn't tell
you my last name."

"You let me think you didn't have a last name."

"Yes. I did that."

He could only imagine what she was feeling.
She had given herself to him and even admitted
she loved him, only to discover what she thought
was the ultimate betrayal. "Casey, I have seen my
father only once since I came back to Texas, and
that was to warn him to stay away from your family. The day I came upon you at the river, I had
just come home."