Heart Of Texas (Historical Romance) (4 page)

"Yeah, I guess so," he answered wearily. "But so
far it isn't going all that well, is it? We're just lucky
the river isn't swift, or it would have carried everything we own downstream with the current."

Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning
flashed across the sky. "Pray it doesn't rain tonight."

It was late when Casey spread quilts on the grass
while Sam tended to the stock. "I hope today isn't
a sign of troubles to come," she mumbled to herself.

Jenny woke up the minute Casey lifted her onto
the quilt. Childlike, she smiled as if the day's tragedy had not touched her world.

"I'm not going to have a cookfire tonight,
Jenny," Casey told her. "You'll have to eat one of
the biscuits and bacon from this morning."

The child nodded and settled next to her.
"Casey, will you tell me about Mama and Papa and
when you all lived together in the big house?"

Sam joined them and sat with his back braced
against a tree, staring broodingly in the direction
of their wagon as if he could will it up the embankment. "Jenny, Casey's tired, and besides, you have heard that story a hundred times. Let her
rest tonight."

"It's all right." She smiled down at her sister,
who never tired of hearing about a brighter time
in their lives. The child snuggled closer to her,
melting Casey's heart with her sweetness. "Well,
let me see," Casey began. "Papa's family had
owned a bank in Albemarle County, Virginia, for
generations."

"Charlottesville," Jenny supplied. "That's where
we lived, wasn't it?"

"That's right Our house was on a wide boulevard with many trees. It was a big house with an
upstairs and a downstairs. There was a fireplace
in every room, and a wide veranda surrounded
the house on all sides."

"Tell what happened to our house," Jenny
urged. "Tell how it got all burned up."

Sam smiled faintly and shook his head. He
knew jenny could have recited the story word for
word if she chose to. But Casey patiently continued, hugging the child to her. "You were born in
that house, and so was Sam, and so was I.Papa
bought the house when he married Mama."

"And Mama was born in Texas and traveled all
the way to Virginia to meet Papa. Then she stayed
with him in Virginia." Jenny's eyes clouded.
"Then she left us."

"Yes. But she didn't want to," Casey said softly.
"Mama had to go away."

"Tell about the soldiers that came to town and
what they did to our house."

Casey drew in a deep breath. The memory of
that awful day still haunted her, and it probably
always would. For Jenny's sake, she had managed
to sugarcoat the tragedy. "There was a war raging
and soldiers in blue uniforms came to Charlottesville and burned Papa's bank."

Jenny nodded. "They were Yankees. And they
burned the house, too. Tell about that, Casey."

"There had been a long siege. Papa had heard
that the Union soldiers had broken through our
lines and would soon be in Charlottesville. He was
packing us up to take us to the country, where we
would be safe."

"But the soldiers got there before we could
leave, didn't they, Casey?"

"That's right. They burned most of the businesses in town. I don't think they really intended
for the fire to spread to family homes, but the
flames were out of control and went from rooftop
to rooftop. The soldiers quickly started a bucket
brigade and tried to help us save our house-but
it was too late."

"I want to hear how Papa saved our mama's
Spode dishes. Tell about that next."

"Well, Papa was very brave and went into the
house many times to rescue our belongings, and
the soldiers even helped him. They saved three
quilts that Grandmother Ruth had given Mama as
a wedding present. And Papa saved Mama's Spode china, the very dishes her great-grandmother brought over from England when she
came to this country as a young bride. And one
day those dishes will belong to you, jenny."

"When I'm a bride, like Mama was when her
mother gave them to her?"

"Uh-huh." Casey winced when she tried to
move her shoulder. It had been hurt worse than
she'd thought, and the pain was getting more severe. But there was no reason to worry Sam about
it. He had enough on his mind. "That's right.
Mama's dishes will be yours when you become a
bride."

"When can I be a bride?"

Sam looked serious for a moment; then he
managed to smile. "When you grow up and find
a man who can love you as much as we do."

"Casey's grown-up, and she isn't a bride," Jenny
said, yawning and laying her head in her sister's
lap.

Sam chuckled. "That's because she hasn't
found a man who will love her as much as you
and I do."

Casey pulled a quilt over her sister, glad that
Jenny was too young to realize the gravity of-their
situation. "You are far too inquisitive. Now close
your mouth and go to sleep."

The child was silent for a moment, then finally
asked, "You mean close my eyes, don't you?"

Casey kissed her forehead. "Yes. Close your eyes
and dream beautiful dreams."

"About the big house?"

"No, jenny-that's gone. Dream about growing
up strong and happy in our new home. That's
what Papa and Mama would have wanted for you."

"That's what you are going to do," Sam said in
a determined tone.

"Let's all go to sleep and see what great adventure awaits us tomorrow," Casey said.

"We'll just be trying to get the wagon out of the
river," Sam reminded her.

The four team horses pulled and strained so hard
that Sam had to stop to rest them. The wagon
groaned under the stress, then rolled back into
the deep rock bed. It didn't seem possible that
they would ever be free of the river.

Wet, muddy, and discouraged, Casey and Sam
sank down on the grass to rest before they tried
again.

Jenny was picking wildflowers, and she had several
varieties clamped in her chubby little fist. She giggled when a butterfly landed on her hand, and
then went chasing after it when it fluttered away.
She did not hear the rider approaching, and he
didn't see her, since she was mostly hidden by the
tall grass.

The man reined in his horse just in time, guiding the animal sideways to avoid the small child.

With a heavy hand, he managed to bring his skittish mount under control.

"Look," Jenny said to the stranger, holding up
her flowers for his inspection. "These flowers are
growing just everywhere. Do you want to smell
them?"

The man uttered a curse under his breath and
dismounted. "Where are your folks?" he asked,
kneeling beside her, anger coiling inside him because someone had allowed this child to wander
off by herself.

Jenny pointed toward the river. "Right back
there. Do you want to see them?"

His lips tightened. He supposed she belonged
to one of the steady stream of sod busters who
had migrated to Texas since the end of the war.

"Come on. I'll take you to them," he said, lifting
her in his arms. He had never held a child before,
and it felt awkward to him. He was certainly going
to let the parents know how close their daughter
had come to being trampled to death.

He remounted his horse, and she laughed up
at him when he settled her across his leg. "Papa
used to let me ride on his horse with him."

The stranger was taken by surprise when she
turned to him and shoved a bright yellow flower
behind his ear. "Now you're pretty," she told him.

He ground his teeth and jerked the bloom
from behind his ear, crushing it in his fist. He felt
a prickle of regret when he saw the disappointment on her beautiful little face and the trem bling of her chin as if she were about to cry.

"Let's find your folks," he said gruffly, nudging
his horse forward.

Casey gripped the wooden spokes and pushed forward as hard as she could while Sam maneuvered
the horses. She could feel the wheel give a bit,
but it rocked back again, and the impact of it
threw her face-first into the river. She went underwater and came up sputtering, while rivulets
of mud trailed down her forehead and stung her
eyes.

"Someone's coming," Sam said, reaching behind the seat for his rifle.

Casey was coughing up river water, and at the
moment she couldn't see anything. By the time
she could catch her breath, she saw the rider dismounting with jenny in his arms.

Like a mother hen protecting her chick, Casey
quickly waded out of the water, flew up the embankment, and grabbed her sister out of the
man's arms.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked,
clutching her sister tightly to her.

When she saw the man's murderous expression, Casey quickly stepped away from him.

"I'll tell you what I've been doing, ma'am-I've
been rescuing your child. Something I wouldn't
have had to do if you'd been watching her.
There's no telling what could happen to her out
here."

Fear climbed up her spine, and she took another tentative step away from him, not sure what
his intentions were.

The stranger was tall, powerful, and lean. His
dark hair was coal black, and, like Sam, he also
needed a haircut. His black hat was pulled low
over his forehead, so she could see only the bottom part of his face, which was covered by several
days' growth of stubble. He looked exactly like
she imagined a gunfighter would look-right
down to the holster' that was laced about his leg
as it cradled a dangerous-looking black-handled
gun. Suddenly he shoved his hat back on his
head, and she stared into cold, silver-gray eyes
that were riveted on her in an intimidating manner.

A quick glance at Sam relieved her mind. His
rifle was aimed directly at the stranger.

"Where did you find her?" Casey demanded.
She frowned at her sister, who was certainly going
to be reprimanded as soon as the man left.

"She was about a half a mile from here. I'd say
with her short legs it took her quite a while to get
that far. You should have missed her by now-
why didn't you?"

Casey stood there dripping wet, attempting to
wipe the mud from her face, but merely smearing
it more. "We were trying to get the wagon out of
the river, and I thought she was asleep."

Gabe scowled at the woman. Her gown was wet
and clung to her soft curves. She certainly was not a beauty. But she did have the most unusual blue
eyes he'd ever seen-they were turquoise. He
couldn't tell what color her hair was, and there
wasn't a clean spot on her face.

Gabe's attention suddenly focused on the boy,
who rested a rifle in the curve of his arm and was
watching him closely. With a quick assessment of
the situation, he realized that they had real trouble.

"Where's your husband, ma'am?"

Casey was suspicious of the stranger, or, more
accurately, downright frightened of him. "My husband is nearby," she said quickly, not wanting the
man to think they were without protection. "He
should be back any moment."

She saw the expanse of his chest when he took
a deep breath of irritation.

"You'll need to put something underneath the
wheel to get leverage, or you'll never get that
wagon out of the river. We need branches. I suppose you have a saw or an ax in there, boy?"

Sam nodded, looking from Casey to the man.
"Yes, sir, I have an ax."

"Ma'am, you need to stay out of our way and
keep the child safe," he ordered.

She was so irritated with him that she considered telling him they didn't need his help.

He took the ax Sam handed him. "You people
come out here with no notion what you're in for.
Why didn't you just stay where you were?"

Casey was soaking wet, in pain, and accustomed to being treated with more respect. Her temper
flared. "We aren't asking for your help or your
advice. Why don't you just go away and leave us
alone?"

The man brushed past Casey, ignoring her outburst. She held her breath when his hand went
to his gun belt, until she realized he was only unbuckling it. She was relieved when he tossed it
across his saddle.

"Keep the kid away from my horse," he ordered, turning away. Without hesitation, he
waded into the river to discover what was holding
the wagon wheel.

At the point of admitting defeat, and feeling so
bone-weary she could cry, Casey carried jenny up
the riverbank and sat down to watch the stranger
examine the wheel.

Casey kept a watchful eye on Sam as he accompanied the man a short distance from the river to
help him chop branches off a mesquite tree.
Without realizing she was doing it, she had become fascinated by the way the stranger's muscles
rippled across his broad shoulders while he
worked. There was power behind the ax he
wielded, and some anger as well. Her gaze followed him as he waded back into the river and
drove several stakes between the rocks and 'the
wheel.

"Pull forward slowly," he instructed Sam. "Keep
one hand on the reins, and the other on the
brake. When I tell you to, push the horses hard."