Читать книгу Texas Blaze - Debbi Rawlins, Debbi Rawlins - Страница 11

MITCH WAS STRETCHED OUT on the hardwood floor beside the bed when she woke. His pillow was beneath his head but he had no sheet or anything else to keep him comfortable. Kate winced, but there would be time later for kicking herself for being so self-centered. The muted dawn light coming through the window told her she had to get home fast. Never mind the embarrassment of facing Mitch in the light of day, her girlfriends would be leaving for the Houston airport soon.

Carefully, she crawled to the foot of the bed where she could avoid stepping on him. Suddenly, she remembered the pink tote—it held her clothes and it was sitting on the floor near the door. She tiptoed toward the bag, snatched it up and kept walking until she reached the bathroom. For all she knew, she’d awoken him, but she hadn’t dared turn around. It wasn’t even so much the skimpy black teddy barely covering her bottom that had her anxious to disappear, although that would probably haunt her later. It was the idea that she’d for even a mere second thought she could find comfort, or worse, validation in Mitch Colter’s arms.

She slipped quietly into the bathroom and changed in record time, her skin clammy with the residual effects of a bad dream. The kind you wake up to and feel intense relief that the events hadn’t been real. She should have reconsidered before coming here. The tequila couldn’t be blamed for her poor judgment because she hadn’t touched a drop. Yet her reckless actions had been atrociously akin to the time when one of the cowhands had come off a bender and deemed it smart to climb on a newly acquired wild mustang. He’d ended up breaking an arm and a leg. Maybe she should consider herself lucky. Then again, she might prefer broken bones to her shattered pride.

Fortunately, she made it out of Mitch’s house, and back to the Sugarloaf without incident. Several men were out near the barn doing their morning chores, but the house was quiet, even the kitchen. Kate had given their housekeeper the week off after all the extra work she’d done for the party, so Kate started the coffee and then hurried upstairs to get out of last night’s clothes and grab a shower.

The place was eerily quiet. Normally Joe and Clint would have been up already, eating a quick breakfast and slurping down coffee before they went outside to work. But Kate hadn’t expected them to lapse into routine this morning. Not after hooking up with two of her friends over the weekend. Even Jessica, her third college roommate, had found an unlikely connection with Ben, a friend of the Manning family. How ironic that the three of them had come all the way to Texas to help her celebrate her engagement and each ended up finding someone.

Kate hated that she was jealous. But Dennis had never once looked at her the way Joe had gazed yearningly at Lisa last night. And the glorious way Clint made Dory smile…

It was more than Kate could think about without wanting to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over her head. She hurried with a minimum of makeup, mostly to hide the dark circles under her eyes, leaving her hair to dry by itself. It would end up wavy and too wild but she didn’t care. After her friends left, she planned on hibernating for a week.

By the time she started downstairs, she still hadn’t decided what to tell her friends. She didn’t want their weekend to end on a bad note, yet they had to be wondering about what happened last night.

“Kate?”

She heard Dory’s voice just as she entered the hall to the kitchen. Kate pasted on a cheerful face and turned to her friend. Jessica was directly behind Dory, both of them wearing concerned frowns.

“Good morning,” Kate said brightly, and then burst into tears.

THE SUGARLOAF WAS BACK to normal. The tents were gone, the stage and booths already dismantled, only a few picnic tables and benches remained near the bunkhouse. Mitch had intended to help with the teardown and clean up, but he’d gotten up too late. He pulled his pickup off to the shoulder of the driveway and noticed Clint’s truck parked near the barn. Good. Mitch was hoping to catch either him or Joe, preferably both of them.

As he climbed out of his pickup, his gaze went toward the house. Kate’s small SUV was nowhere in sight but that didn’t mean she wasn’t home. She could have parked in the garage or on the other side of the house. He hoped it wouldn’t be awkward when they saw each other later. That she’d skipped out while he was still asleep wasn’t a total surprise, but he wished they could have talked first. He was totally okay with how last night had played out, but he had a feeling she wasn’t.

Pete, one of the cowhands who’d been working for the Mannings for as long as Mitch could remember, waved him toward the barn. The tempting smell of coffee coming from inside was enough incentive.

“Good to see you again, Mitch,” the old-timer said. “I thought I spotted you last night.”

“Yep, I got here late. Wish I could’ve made it for the rodeo.”

“Don’t know if you heard, but Ben didn’t ride yesterday. Got himself a spinal fracture and had to quit rodeoing. The doc said if he gets thrown one more time it could do him in.”

“I found out last night.” He’d felt badly about the news and looked for Ben. They’d known each other since kindergarten. “Too bad his career got cut short, but at least he had enough sense to call it quits.”

Nodding, Pete raised his mug. “I reckon you’re looking for Joe and Clint, but there’s a fresh pot of coffee brewing inside if you’ve got a mind to take a cup.”

“Come on, Pete. Have I ever turned down your coffee?”

The gray-haired man chuckled, and Mitch followed him inside, noticing the slight stoop to his shoulders and how he favored his right leg. The eight years since he’d last seen Pete hadn’t been kind to the older man. Mitch thought about his own father, trying to keep the ranch afloat with only two hired hands for help. Granted, he was a good ten years younger than Pete, but that knowledge didn’t dull the stab of guilt.

The inside of the barn had hardly changed. A large assortment of tack was neatly arranged on the left wall, dozens of bales of hay were stacked between the horse stalls and two rows of saddles. In the corner was a shed. That was new. Not so the smells. The musky scent of sweat mingled with leather and hay was as familiar as the packed dirt beneath his boots.

By the time Mitch filled a mug with the strong black brew that Pete was famous for, he heard Clint’s and Joe’s voices as they entered the barn. They both wore new jeans and Western-cut shirts, instead of the usual faded work Levi’s jeans and T-shirts. Joe looked as if he might even have polished his boots.

The old-timer obviously noticed Mitch’s surprise because he leaned over and whispered, “Them boys are in love.” Cackling to himself, he strode past Joe and Clint on his way out of the barn.

Joe saw Mitch first and extended his hand as he approached. “Clint told me you were here last night. Sorry I missed you, buddy.”

“I hit a lot of traffic outside of Dallas and got here late. But I’ll be staying awhile.” He shook Clint’s hand, too, even though he’d seen him briefly last night. “What are you two all gussied up for?”

“We just got back from the airport,” Joe said, glancing at Clint. “Kate’s friends had flights to catch.”

“They must be mighty-fine-looking friends.”

Clint grinned.

Joe rubbed his jaw, looking uncharacteristically sheepish.

Mitch guessed the old-timer was on to something. “Where’s Kate? Didn’t she go with you?”

Clint frowned. “Kate? No, why?”

Mitch tensed. “They are her friends.”

“We kind of wanted to see them off, and anyway she had a headache. Look, I’m going to go change.” Joe clapped him on the shoulder. “Have you eaten?”

“Thanks, but I have to run into town,” Mitch said absently, his mind on Kate. Clearly she hadn’t told her brothers about Dennis yet. Mitch hadn’t expected her to mention his role last night, but he was still relieved to know that her brothers had been kept in the dark. “Before I go I wanted to ask you about the new sheriff.”

“He’s not that new. Been in office over a year now. For the most part folks have been fairly happy with the job he’s done.” Clint poured himself a cup of coffee. “I expect you want to talk to him about the rustling.”

Mitch nodded, and Clint and Joe exchanged concerned looks.

“I can change later,” Joe said grimly. “Why don’t we go sit in the kitchen and talk?”

Something about the way Joe had lowered his voice made Mitch uneasy. There were a couple of cowhands working near the stalls. Did Joe suspect their own men of being involved? Or had the situation deteriorated to the point that no one knew who to trust? Then, too, Mitch wasn’t anxious to go to the house and run into Kate. Not in front of her brothers.

“I didn’t mean to ambush you. I’m going to be around awhile. This can wait.”

“Now is as good a time as any.” Joe passed a weary hand over his face. “I’m still tired from the weekend. It’s not like I’m gonna get much done today.”

“Amen.” Clint drained his coffee. “Let’s go.”

Mitch had little choice but to follow their lead, and hoped like hell Kate was locked away in her room. Though he had a feeling she’d do her best to stay clear of him, too.

After walking the modest distance under the broiling sun to the house, they all decided they’d had enough coffee. Clint got a pitcher of iced tea out of the refrigerator, while Joe brought out glasses and set them on the kitchen table. As he’d done hundreds of times before, Mitch sat at the familiar oak table with his two friends, and damn if it didn’t feel like only weeks had passed instead of years.

“Where’s Ben?” he asked. “He hasn’t left yet, has he?”

“He had some business in Dallas, and then he was going to head up to look at some land in the panhandle.” Clint removed his hat and hung it off the back of a spare chair. “He’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”

Mitch figured he hadn’t worn his Stetson in ten years. He hoped it was still in his closet. “How’s he doing? Having to quit rodeoing had to be quite a blow.”

“I think he’s still in shock.” Clint shook his head. “The dummy wanted to ride one last time yesterday. Good thing one of Kate’s friends talked him out of it.”

Mitch felt for Ben. Hard enough to be forced to give up something you love, worse when it happens when you’re at the top of your game. “I’m glad I’ll get to see him.”

“So you are sticking around for a while then?” Joe unsnapped his cuffs and rolled them back.

“For as long it takes to find out what’s going on with these rustlers.”

Clint snorted. “They’re sneaky cowards. After they strike they lie low long enough for everyone to think they’ve moved on, then bam, they move in again.”

“You guys haven’t had any trouble, have you?” Mitch asked.

“None.” Joe shook his head. “They only seem to be hitting the smaller, lower-tech ranches. Except for the Double R. Frank Reynolds got slammed twice by them. He lost so many cattle the second time that he had to let half his men go. Friday night he told me he might have to sell off his north pasture just to make payroll and supplement whatever herd he has left.”

A sickening thought occurred to Mitch. “Anything happen over the weekend?”

“No, Joe and I brought in extra security from Houston and made sure guards were posted at all the ranches,” Clint said. “We figured the long weekend would be open season with most folks attending the festivities here.”

The Mannings’ generosity didn’t surprise Mitch. They were busy running the second-largest ranch in the county, yet they’d always looked out for their neighbors. “Shouldn’t the sheriff have taken care of that?”

“It’s only him and two deputies,” Joe said, shrugging. “They can only do so much. As it was, neither Chuck Jackson or Lou Davis came with their families to the party this year. They were too afraid to leave their property even with the extra guards.”

Mitch grudgingly acknowledged that the sheriff could cover only so much territory. He still didn’t like the man.

Clint studied Mitch thoughtfully. “Have you met the sheriff yet?”

“No, I talked to him on the phone. But he sure was one uncooperative son of a gun.”

Clint frowned. “Can’t account for that. He seems to be a fairly straight shooter. Nobody’s complained about him, anyway.”

“Look how long this has been going on, and he has no leads?” Mitch grunted. “You’d think he would’ve asked for outside help by now.”

“You have a point,” Joe agreed. “Though there hasn’t been an incident since beef prices dropped. Which makes sense since typically that’s when rustling cools down.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t help the victims who’ve already been chased off their ranches.” Mitch’s bitterness rang through loud and clear. “Matter of fact, I just didn’t like the sheriff’s attitude when I called. I hope he’s not an ass in person.”

“Want me to go to town with you?” Clint offered.

Mitch half smiled and pushed back from the table. “I promise not to raise any hell.”

KATE WOULD HAVE MUCH preferred to shut herself in her room for the day, but from her bedroom window she saw Mitch’s truck coming down the driveway and knew she had to leave. Joe and Clint would probably invite him to dinner later, and she was far from ready to face him even then. Especially not in front of her brothers. For a minute she considered stretching out her headache excuse if they tried to get her to go downstairs, but eventually she concluded she’d be better off leaving.

After scribbling a note that she’d gone to town and leaving it in the den, she sneaked out the patio door near where she’d parked her car last night. If her brothers and Mitch heard her leave, she didn’t care, though she doubted they would be able to all the way from the barn.

As soon as she got to the highway she switched on her cell phone, annoyed to see that she had four messages from Dennis. She didn’t want to worry her brothers by being unreachable. Dennis, on the other hand, could get lost. She still hadn’t talked with him since last night, nor had she told Clint and Joe that the wedding was off. Naturally, they’d want to know what happened, and she doubted they’d settle for her claiming irreconcilable differences.

If she told them the truth, they’d likely go kick Dennis’s ass. As much as he’d deserve it, the humiliation factor for her to admit that he cheated squashed that option.

She arrived in town in record time, which meant she had to have been speeding like crazy. The scary thing was that she had no recollection of how fast she’d driven. After parking in front of Wilbur’s Food Town, she sat numbly in the car. Her head felt heavy from lack of sleep and from the frank and emotional conversation she’d had with her friends before they’d left this morning. They had all wanted to run Dennis up a flagpole. She really should have let them.