Stuck Together (Trouble in Texas Book #3) (10 page)

“You mean the Yateses’ house?” Vince couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Ignoring him, Dare went on, “Asa doesn’t even have a lock on the front door. We need to get one on the front and back. Those are the only doors I know of. Vince, I want you to go over the place carefully. Is there a cellar? If so, is there a way out of it?”

Vince was nodding. He usually took charge, but it was nice having someone else do it for a change. He was too upset at the moment to do much hard thinking.

“That’s not good enough.” Melissa was the expert, after all. “She’ll still find a way to—”

“Let me finish,” Dare cut her off. “You’re thinking of that big mansion in Chicago. A house with so many doors and rooms and ways in and out, it was impossible to keep track of her without having your eyes right on her. Asa’s place isn’t like that. We need to do some work on the windows so your ma doesn’t slip out that way. Asa doesn’t have shutters. We can add them so your ma can’t break a locked window and get out. But once we do that, your ma oughta be reasonably safe.”

“It sounds like you’re building a prison.” Vince’s stomach twisted as he thought of the time he’d spent locked up.

“It’s for her own safety, Vince.” Jonas slapped Vince on the back. “Any resemblance to Andersonville will be in your own head.”

Dread twisted his stomach at the mention of Andersonville.

“The way I see it, your ma is going to have a lot more freedom and privacy than she had in Chicago. She can have free rein inside the house. Sleep alone at night. We’ll lock the door to her bedroom at night and have someone sleeping on either side of her, but during the day we’re not going to stand guard over her, not inside. We’ll make sure she can only get outside when one of us is with her.” Dare tipped his head, looking at Melissa.

Melissa gave a weak smile. “Maybe she can learn the house and not feel so disoriented.”

“This isn’t your job, though, Dare.” Vince looked at Dare Riker, possibly his best friend in the world. And right there beside him, Jonas Cahill, the man Vince respected
more than any other. Both men willing to give up any sort of normal life to help him out. “I can’t let you do this.”

Dare snorted. “I seem to recall you standing outside my house, keeping watch in the cold for weeks because someone was trying to kill me.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“And I remember,” Glynna interjected, “you running into an avalanche to save me and Dare.” Glynna reached out a hand and clasped Dare’s.

Vince saw a look so full of love pass between them that he was glad all the way to his soul that he’d helped them find a life together.

“And you’re providing me with a home,” Melissa said, giving him a sad sort of smile.

“I don’t mind doing that, little sister.” Vince was finding that discovering he had a sister wasn’t bothering him all that much, after all. Jonas seemed to be taking to it, too.

“I remember you taking a bullet to the head for Luke when Greer stole his ranch,” Dare added.

“Don’t anyone say anything about this to Luke,” Vince said quickly. “He doesn’t need to start riding all the way into town to take a shift.”

“And in Andersonville,” Jonas said, “I remember you stepping between me and a thrown fist too many times. You made a joke out of it. Said a man who wanted to be a preacher hadn’t oughta get into fights.”

Tina made a small sound, and Vince turned to her, wondering what she was going to say that made it right for her to spend so many hours looking after his mother. He’d never done much besides torment her, and she’d deserved every bit of it.

She rolled her eyes at him and gave him a smirk. “I’m sure if I’d been around longer, you’d’ve ended up doing something special for me eventually.”

Vince was sorely tempted to do something special for her right then, like drag her into his arms and see how her smile tasted.

“Spending time in a comfortable house with your sweet, if slightly addled, ma isn’t even close to paying you back.” Dare pulled Vince’s thoughts away from recklessness.

Jonas spoke in his strong, wise voice. “When I say ‘there is a friend who is closer than a brother,’ I mean that about all the Regulators. But none more than you, Vince.”

“Regulators? What’re they?” Melissa asked.

“We met in Andersonville, a Confederate prison camp.” Vince found that after the time they’d spent here in Broken Wheel, it was easier to talk about those days. “We fought for the Yankees and were all prisoners of war. It was the meanest, cruelest, darkest place on earth. And we, along with others, got the job of bringing law and order to thousands of starving men, who’d been reduced to near animals from all the deprivation. There were bad men there who didn’t want anyone bringing peace. And there were good men there who thought when we punished the bad, we were taking sides with the Reb guards. Those good men considered us traitors to the Union.”

“I had a man drive a knife into my back once and claim he was serving God by ridding the world of a pack of living, breathing Benedict Arnolds. Treasonous turncoats.” Dare squeezed Glynna’s hand harder. “Vince dragged that man off of me before he could strike again, knocked him
cold, then pulled the knife out of my back and staunched the bleeding.”

“That kind of anger focused on us from so many directions created a bond closer than brothers.” Jonas leaned forward to talk to Melissa across Vince’s body. “That’s what I’m talking about. We learned to depend completely on each other, and that trust has served us well even now, long after the last shot was fired in the war.”

Jonas looked at Melissa a bit too long, then turned to Vince. “So, I’d say I can sit with your ma for a few hours a day and not feel put upon.”

Vince wanted to protest. He didn’t mind helping others, but it wasn’t right when they helped him back. He had money. He’d been privileged all his life. They had families and serious responsibilities, like being a parson and doctoring the folks hereabouts. He did more or less nothing. Which reminded him he oughta check in on Lana Bullard here pretty soon.

Jonas patted him on the shoulder. “One or two of us will always be around. We’ll figure it out.”

Vince nodded silently. He was a little choked up from his friends offering so much help. It had been a while since he’d seen Mother, but right now if he went in there and she didn’t recognize him, or worse, called him Julius, he wasn’t sure he could bear it.

He took the coward’s way out. “I’ll see if Tug Andrews has a couple of locks for the doors, and if he doesn’t, I’ll see if Sledge Murphy can rig something. A blacksmith oughta be able to come up with a latch of some kind. If he can’t figure it out, I’ll order ’em.” Vince wanted to get a few steps away from his friends until he could get ahold of himself.

Jonas stepped away almost as if he knew Vince needed some time and space. Jonas was wise like that. Then it appeared Jonas reconsidered because a warm hand rested on Vince’s shoulder. He looked down, surprised to see it wasn’t Jonas. It was Tina. She wasn’t so wise. But he looked in her eyes and saw nothing but kindness.

“We’ll stay with your ma until you’re ready to move her,” she offered.

Vince broke the eye contact before he did something stupid. “I’ll be quick,” he said, then hurried away. Honestly, he as good as ran.

By the time he got to the general store, he had ahold of himself. Tug Andrews wasn’t a lot of help. His suggestions amounted to either chaining the door shut or clapping a ball and chain around Mother’s leg. What it amounted to was Tug had some chain to sell and thought he saw a buyer.

Sledge was more help. He agreed to rig a hook for the windows first thing tomorrow—a big job, as there were a lot of windows. He said he’d do that and afterward start building wooden shutters. At Sledge’s suggestion, Vince found two men in town who had locks on the doors of their houses, who agreed to swap their doorknobs with those without locks. That took care of the front and back doors of the Yates house.

Between working on his new house and keeping an eye on Lana Bullard, his prisoner, Vince managed to stay away from his mother the whole next day—and he knew without a doubt he wasn’t hurrying to see her. The plain truth was he was hiding, delaying the moment he had to take over the care of his mother.

Dare came in to help with the house, but Vince ran him off.

Porter pestered him about letting Lana out, and Vince took some pleasure in thwarting the man.

Glynna came over to the boardinghouse bearing his dinner. It was tasty, but Vince didn’t insult her by asking who had cooked it. They both knew it didn’t even need to be said that it wasn’t her.

Jonas stopped by a couple of times to try to get to the bottom of what was eating Vince. Or at least to try and cheer him up.

Melissa showed up at the house to unpack and get the room ready for Mother. She at least was nice enough, or uncomfortable enough, to ignore him.

Vince just worked harder.

As he carefully adjusted the last of the hooks, which
Sledge had made in a clever way so they weren’t easily undone, Vince knew he was dragging his heels about fetching Mother. He berated himself for his cowardice even as he tinkered with the window latch in the room that would be Mother’s. He was stirred up inside. Furious at Father. Hurt by Mother. Startled by his brand-spankin’-new sister. Honored by his friends’ generosity. Confused and enticed by Tina. A creaking floorboard told him someone was here. Probably Jonas trying one more time to get Vince to bare his soul, share his pain, open all his festering wounds.

Vince wasn’t gonna let that happen.

Bracing himself to politely send Jonas away, Vince turned around to face . . . trouble.

“Do you need anything, Vince?” Tina stepped into the room. That same kindness on her face that had been there earlier. He couldn’t keep away from her when she was picking at him. How was he supposed to resist when she was being so sweet? He closed the distance between them and faced her with only inches separating them.

“I can think of just one thing I need from you,” Vince snapped, wishing she’d run. Protect herself from what he had in mind. Wishing he wasn’t so stirred up that he couldn’t stop himself from doing something stupid.

Instead she rested one hand on his upper arm. “What is it? You know I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.”

“This? Make
this
work? There’s a word that could mean anything.”

From Tina’s furrowed brow, Vince knew sure as certain she didn’t mean it the way he wanted her to.

Her touch set off a shudder of longing that shook loose the last of his self-control. His thoughts ran wild to that
first moment he’d seen her. One good look and he’d walked faster, intending to drag her right out of Jonas’s grip. Then he’d tripped over the steps, which had slowed him down.

By the time he was standing again, moving forward again, she’d burst into tears. That had blown those wild thoughts out of Vince’s head with the force of a Texas cyclone.

Vince had gotten himself and his unruly thoughts under control. A couple of times since then, he’d almost lost his grip on sanity. But each time he’d gotten a handle on the turmoil inside him. Each time it’d been harder, but he’d won.

This time he lost.

He grabbed Tina around the waist, hoping she’d slap him and run. Hoping she’d be smart enough for the both of them.

Instead she blinked those pretty blue-bonnet eyes at him, and a little gasp shaped her lips into a perfect little pucker—almost like she did mean it the way he wanted her to.

He wanted someone to hold, someone who was truly his. No, not just someone—
her
. And he was through pretending he didn’t. He did what he’d wanted to do ever since he’d seen the prettiest woman on earth held in his good friend Jonas’s arms. He lowered his head while he lifted the little pest to her tiptoes and took a good long taste of that sassy mouth.

Holding her, kissing her was like finding a resting place. A resting place in the center of a cyclone. The swirling madness of his worries was pushed aside.

Tina’s knees buckled as she wrapped her arms around Vince’s neck to keep from melting into a puddle on the
floor. She might’ve been able to resist him if she hadn’t seen the hurt when his ma didn’t know his name.

And his vulnerable pleasure when she did.

It’d touched a raw place in Tina’s heart, for she who had no memories of a mother or father. Only starchy, critical, cold Aunt Iphigenia.

Vince, always so confident, so take-charge, seemed wounded . . . just like Tina. Even knowing it was a dreadful idea, she’d wanted him to kiss her for a long time. Before, when they’d come close, there were good reasons why they’d stopped. But right now, she couldn’t think of a single one of them.

Vince eased back, and Tina made a quiet sound of protest. His hands came up to her shoulders, and he held her away from him—not far away, just enough that he could look her in the eyes. That look held. It stretched between them like a lasso dropping expertly and tying her. To him. His look reached her heart and bound it tight.

Then, like ripping flesh, he tore his eyes away.

It hurt more than Tina could believe.

“I’m going to say this once, then never again.” Vince, who was bold, quick to smile in the teeth of danger, always in charge and always on guard, couldn’t meet her eyes. “You saw my mother.”

“What does your ma have to do with anything?”

Vince finally looked up. She saw longing in his eyes. Except there was a place in her so lonely to be held, so desperate to be loved, that she wondered if she was imagining it.

When Jonas had hugged her, when she’d first come to Broken Wheel, it had been almost painful. Jonas lifting her up and whirling her around, smiling, welcoming her
had been a rain shower in the parched, cracked, isolated desert of Tina’s life.

That love and touch from her brother had filled an empty well in Tina’s heart. But Vince was different. She’d never known anything of romantic love. She’d given it little thought.

Now she knew what it was like to be held and kissed. It was wonderful. She wanted more of it so badly that she couldn’t trust herself to speak, afraid she might start to beg.

“My mother’s a madwoman, and the daughter of a madman. And my father’s a tyrant. Whichever one of them I am, no woman should tie herself to me. I’m never going to inflict myself on a woman and most certainly not on a child.”

That made her want to strangle Vince Yates, but she was afraid if she got close enough, instead of wrapping her hands around his throat, she might wrap her arms around his neck instead and pull his head down to kiss her again.

“Fine.” Her voice was low and breathy. She cleared her throat. “We’ll pretend that didn’t happen then.”

Shaking her head, she tried to remember why in the world she’d come over here. “Dare said we need to . . . to . . . that is, she’s . . .” Tina steadied herself and went on. “He thinks it’s time to move your mother here.” Tina rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll go back to Dare’s and walk Virginia Belle over.”

“Tina, we need to . . .” Vince made some motion with his hand as if he meant to reach for her. Tina wasn’t sure which was worse: that he reached or that he checked the motion.

“I’ll be right back with your mother.” Tina spun around and ran down the stairs. She knew that whatever he was going to say would amount to an apology.

Sorry I kissed you. Sorry I held
you. Sorry I had a weak moment and wanted to
be near you.

To be kissed, to be held, to be wanted were things Tina had never known in her life, until recently with Jonas. For Vince to apologize for offered affection, then snatch it back made her feel worthless.

She knew she’d had a strange upbringing with her chilly, taciturn aunt and a home that didn’t welcome friends. But she discovered in herself as she hurried along that it was easy to believe the reason no one had loved her all those years growing up was because she was unlovable. She hadn’t given it much thought before. She’d thrown herself into the cause of shutting down the saloon, proud of the fact that she was disliked. She called it persecution and embraced it. But now this hollow place inside her seemed to cry out that no one would ever love her, that no one could.

As she rushed across the cold dirt that stretched between Vince’s and Dare’s, she heard the door behind her open and close. Vince was coming, but he wasn’t rushing to catch up. In fact, he was moving slow, making sure to keep plenty of space between them.

That was wise of him. She promised herself she’d be just as wise.

She’d enjoy caring for her brother, whom she’d as good as forced herself on—and he was too kind to throw her out. She’d pursue justice for Lana Bullard. She’d battle demon rum.

And she’d do it all with her heart tucked safely away.

Vince didn’t know if he was going to get his mother or chase after Tina. Both were probably a bad idea.

Tina got inside Dare’s house ahead of him and shut the door rather sharply. Sharp enough to stab a man, in fact.

Vince came in a few seconds later and came face-to-face with Mother, dressed, her hand on Melissa’s arm, her coat on, obviously ready to head for home.

Mother smiled. “Julius, darlin’, I declare I’ve never seen you get home before the sun sets.”

The little foxhound stood at Mother’s heel, its tail wagging, watching his mistress’s every move.

Vince forced a smile, even while he thought that his father wouldn’t have smiled, so Mother wouldn’t expect it. “I came to walk you to . . . to . . .” Vince was stumped. He couldn’t help taking a quick look at Tina, who met his eyes and then quickly looked away.

Not that he blamed her.

Dare broke up Vince’s irritation when he came up and said, “Your mother’s ready to go, Vince. She’s going to be fine.” He turned to his patient and spoke sternly, “You must not go outside alone. It’s dangerous.” In a kinder but still bossy tone, he added, “Now you mind me, Virginia Belle. I’m your doctor and you must do as I say.”

Mother gave Dare such serious attention that Vince hoped somehow Dare had gotten through to her and she’d remember what he told her and behave as he asked.

A man could dream. “Are you ready to go?” Vince asked.

His mother, the woman he’d loved so desperately, the woman who’d taught him to do almost anything to stave
off her tears, smiled her bright, beautiful, confused smile, and nodded.

“Let’s go, then.” He began moving toward the door.

Melissa gently helped Mother forward.

Vince decided to let Melissa lead Mother out ahead of him, the dog at their heels. He glanced back at Dare and said, “Thank you.”

Dare nodded. “Good luck. Come get me if you need help in the night.”

“Or me,” Glynna offered. “I’d be glad to sit with her.”

Vince took a quick peek at Tina.

“Jonas and I will be glad to help, too.” She said it, but somehow her words sounded like a warning. She might as well have said, Don’t you dare come near me, you big kiss-stealing oaf.

And that was exactly how Vince wanted it. He nodded and left to follow Mother home.

Vince let Melissa and Mother go upstairs together. He waited downstairs until Melissa opened the door and looked down over the railing.