Lorraine Heath (18 page)

Dusk had settled over the land before they returned.

Sitting at the head of the table in the dining room, Dallas heard their hushed laughter in the hallway. His gut clenched at the delightful sound she never made in his presence.

He forced himself to his feet when they entered the dining room, looking as guilty as two children who had sneaked away to go fishing before they’d finished their chores.

“Sorry we’re late,” Austin said as he pulled Cordelia’s chair out for her.

Smiling shyly at Austin, she sat. Austin took his place beside her and began to ladle stew into both their bowls. “We lost track of the time.”

“I figured that,” Dallas said as he took his seat. “I fed your damn prairie dog.”

Cordelia glanced up, then quickly lowered her gaze to her bowl of stew. “Thank you.”

“It was yapping so loud I couldn’t concentrate on my work,” Dallas said.

“I’m sorry. I’ll take her with us next time.”

With us next time.
The words hung heavy in the air. Dallas’s stomach tightened. “How was your trip into town?”

Cordelia snapped her head up. She looked at Austin. Austin opened and closed his mouth.

“Fine,” Cordelia said. “Just fine.”

Dallas scraped his chair across the floor. As though consumed with guilt, Cordelia and Austin jerked back from the table.

“I’ll leave you to enjoy your meal,” Dallas said.

He wasn’t surprised that neither of them protested.

He walked to the corral, knowing himself to be a fool. He’d asked Amelia to marry him, then he’d sent Houston to fetch her, and she’d fallen in love with his brother.

He’d married Cordelia, and he’d told Austin to keep her company. What in the hell had he expected to happen?

Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the watch Amelia had given him as a sign of her affection when she had first arrived at his ranch. He didn’t expect Cordelia to give him anything as a symbol of her affection, but he was certain she was going to leave him.

He considered arguing that too many years separated Cordelia from Austin, but he figured love didn’t put a lot of stock in the passage of years. Besides, he was several years older than Cordelia and his heart didn’t seem to notice.

He’d build them a house on a distant corner of his land because he didn’t think his pride could tolerate seeing the two of them together knowing at one time she was supposed to be his. Then he’d see about finding himself another wife. He could run an advertisement in the newspapers back East or maybe he could—

“Dallas?” Austin’s voice came from behind him. “Dallas, I need to talk to you.”

He jammed the watch back into his pocket and wrapped a wall of indifference around himself. Shoving the part of himself that could be hurt back into a dark hole, he turned to face his youngest brother.

“Figured you did,” he said as he crooked an elbow onto the railing of the corral.

Austin looked down and scuffed the toe of his boot into the dirt. “I don’t rightly know how to say it.”

“Just come straight out with it. That’s usually the best way.”

Austin nodded and met his brother’s gaze. “Dee asked me not to say anything to you, but I figured you ought to know.”

Dallas swallowed past the knot that had formed in his throat. “I appreciate that.”

Austin shoved his hands into his pockets. “Remember when you took me to that circus when I was seven?”

If Austin had hoped to lessen Dallas’s anger, he had succeeded. Christmas, 1867. The Haight and Chambers New Orleans Colossal Circus and Menagerie had pitched tents in San Antonio. Dallas and Houston were still recovering from the war, with little spare change clinking in their pockets, but they had wanted to give Austin a Christmas he wouldn’t soon forget. Dallas couldn’t stop himself from smiling at the fond memories. “Yeah, and you pestered me all day with questions. I threatened to pay that sword swallower to stick one of his swords down your throat just to shut you up.”

Austin chuckled and rubbed the side of his nose. “I thought you were serious.”

“The threat didn’t work, though, did it?”

Austin shook his head. “Nope, and that’s the way Dee is when I take her to town. She’s got so many questions and everything amazes her. They never took her into town, Dallas. Never.”

“But you did, and I reckon she’s grateful for that.”

Austin took a step closer. “I wasn’t paying any attention to the questions she was asking. I was just answering them. The whole while I’m answering the questions, she’s working this idea up in her head. Today, she finally gets the courage to do something about it … and Mr. Henderson laughed at her. What made it worse is that Boyd was there and the bastard—”

“Whoa. Hold your horses.” Dallas held up his hand. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to tell you what happened in town today. See, Dee figured when the railroad comes through here, people are gonna need a place to sleep. So she was thinking of building a hotel. She knew you had talked to Mr. Henderson about a loan for the cabinetmaker so she figured that was where she needed to start—by getting a loan. Yesterday she stood outside the bank all day. Couldn’t get up the courage to go inside.

“Today she reaches deep down, gathers up that courage, and heads into the bank. Only Boyd is inside, and he tells her the saloon has all the spare rooms this town is ever gonna need. Then he and Mr. Henderson start to laugh. Boyd tells her that your bed is the only bed she needs to be concerned with.”

“What did she do?” Dallas asked through clenched teeth.

Austin smiled. “You woulda been proud. She just thanked Mr. Henderson for his time and walked out with her head held high.”

“Who else was in the bank?”

“A couple of ranchers and the teller. Anyway, she’s feeling lower than a snail’s belly. I’ve been trying to tell her funny stories to make her laugh, but that ain’t what she needs. I thought maybe tonight you could sweet-talk her, make her feel special.” “Sweet-talk her?”

“Yeah, you know, say those words women like to hear. The words that make them shine brighter than a full moon.”

Dallas nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Austin’s face split into a wide grin. “I’m glad I told you. She was afraid you’d be mad at her for wanting to do something on her own.”

“I’m not mad at her.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be.” Austin backed up a step. “Reckon we ought to get to the house. She’ll be wanting to read soon. I sure do like listening to her read.” He turned toward the house.

“Austin?”

Austin stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

Dallas weighed his words. “Don’t ever tell her that you told me what happened today.”

“Oh, I won’t. You just be sure you give her some good sweet-talkin’.”

Dallas nodded. “I will.”

Sweet-talking. What did he know about sweet-talking? Not one damn thing.

Dallas pounded on the door until the hinges rattled. He heard the hesitant footsteps on the other side.

“It’s Dallas! Open up!”

The door opened a crack. Dallas reined in his temper.

Lester Henderson opened the door wider. “Dallas, good Lord, you scared me to death. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know, Lester. I heard a rumor, and it’s keeping me from sleeping. I’m just hoping it’s not true.”

Always eager for gossip, Lester Henderson stepped onto the back porch of the second floor. Like most of the newcomers to Leighton, he lived above his business and his business was the bank. “What rumor?” he asked.

“I heard my wife came into the bank and asked for a loan today.”

Lester laughed with a high-pitched squeal that grated on Dallas’s nerves. “Oh, that. Don’t worry, Dallas, I turned her down. Boyd was there, and he explained to her the foolishness of her request. She’s supposed to be giving you a son, and Boyd spelled that out loud and clear.”

Dallas balled his hands into fists to keep them from circling the little weasel’s throat. “Could you come out a little farther, Lester?” Dallas asked.

“Sure.”

Lester walked to the edge of the porch. Dallas pointed to the far horizon. “What do you see out there, Lester?”

Lester shrugged. “Moon. Stars. Land.”

“My land,” Dallas said. “As far as you can see, I own it. I don’t have a son, Lester. If I get gored by a bull tomorrow and die, all that land goes to my wife.” Dallas tilted his head. “Come to think of it, the land already belongs to her because she honored me by becoming my wife.”

He tore his hat from his head and lowered his face until he and Henderson were staring eye to eye. Lester backed up, and Dallas stalked him until the man had nowhere else to go and no choice but to bend over the railing like a sapling in the wind.

“If my wife comes into your bank, I don’t want her to have to ask for a damn thing. I want you to jump out of your chair and ask her what you can do for her. If she wants a loan, then by God, you give her a loan.”

“But … but collateral,” Henderson stammered.

“I just showed you her goddamn collateral!”

“But Boyd said—”

“I don’t give a damn what Boyd said or what any other member of her family says. If she wants the moon, by God I’ll find a way to give it to her. Right now all she wants is a loan from you, and I’d appreciate it greatly if you’d think on her request tonight and decide in the morning that it would be in this town’s best interest to give it to her.”

Dallas stepped back. Henderson straightened and puffed out his chest. “Are you threatening me?”

“No, Henderson, I’m not,” Dallas said in a voice that rang out as deceptively mild. “I never threaten, but I’ll give you my word that if you ever embarrass my wife like you did today, I’ll build a bank next to yours and put you out of business. Wherever you go, I’ll follow until the day I die, and you’ll never again work in a bank, much less own one.”

Dallas spun on his heel and started down the steps. He stopped and turned. “Henderson, I never want my wife to know of this conversation.”

Henderson nodded mutely, and Dallas stomped down the steps. He didn’t figure Lester Henderson would ever accuse him of sweet-talking.

The following morning at breakfast, Dallas watched as his wife slowly trailed her finger over her list of topics.

“Dee?”

She looked up, disappointment etched over her features.

“You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. I won’t discuss husbandry at the table.”

She nodded grimly, glanced quickly at Austin, then looked back at her notes.

Dallas could feel Austin’s blue glare boring into him. Apparently, Austin had figured out that Dallas had not sweet-talked his wife last night, and it didn’t sit well with him.

Cordelia shifted her gaze back to Dallas and gnawed on her bottom lip. “What would you have done if Mr. Henderson hadn’t given you the loan for the cabinetmaker?”

Dallas leaned back in his chair, incredibly pleased with her question, more pleased that she wasn’t planning to let Henderson or her brother stop her from reaching for her dream. He wondered what other questions she’d written on her list. “I’d go to a bank in another town, convince them to give me the loan.”

“What town?”

“Fort Worth would probably be best.” “How far away is—”

A pounding on the door interrupted her question, but he had a good idea where she was headed with the questions, and he hoped she wouldn’t have to travel there. “Austin, why don’t you go see who’s at the door?” Dallas asked.

Austin shoved his chair back and stalked from the room. A few minutes later, disbelief mirrored on his young face, he escorted Lester Henderson into the dining room.

Cordelia gracefully swept out of her chair. “Mr. Henderson, what a pleasure it is to have you in our home. Would you like me to get you some coffee while you speak with my husband?”

Dallas didn’t know if he’d ever met anyone as gracious as his wife, and at that moment he was damn proud she was married to him.

Henderson turned his hat in his hand. “Actually, Mrs. Leigh, I’m here to speak with you.”

Dallas scraped his chair across the floor. Henderson looked as though he’d almost come out of his skin. Dallas stood. “You can use my office. I need to check on the herd.”

He walked out of the house, headed to the barn, and saddled Satan. By the time he rode the horse out of the barn, Henderson was climbing into his buggy.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Henderson snapped, his lips pursed.

Dallas smiled with satisfaction. “I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today if I didn’t know the value of a good investment.”

“Women know nothing about business,” Henderson said.

Dallas tipped his hat off his brow. “They know how to manage a home. They know how to manage a family. Why in the hell don’t you think they can manage a business?”

Sputtering, Henderson slapped the reins and sent the horse into a trot, the buggy rolling back to town.

Dallas heard his wife’s excited squeal as she called Austin’s name.

He ignored the ache in his chest because she hadn’t chosen to share her joy with him, and he pretended that it didn’t matter because sooner or later, she’d have no choice.

She would have to come to him.

When she did, she’d learn that nothing in life came without a price. In order to have what she wanted, Dallas would have to get what he wanted.

At the gentle tap on his office door, Dallas turned from the window and the night sky. “Come in.”

Cordelia opened the door and peered inside. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

He heard the tremble in her voice. “Sure.”

Like someone about to confront an executioner, she walked into the room and stood before his desk. She waved her hand toward his chair. “You can sit.”

“Is that what you prefer?”

She gave him a jerky nod.

In long strides, he crossed the room and dropped into his chair. He planted his elbow on the desk and slowly rubbed his thumb and forefinger over his mustache. He lifted a brow.

She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I … uh.” She cleared her throat. “I thought it would be nice if your town had a hotel. I managed to get a loan and Mr. Curtiss is drawing up the plans for the building—”

“Dee?”