Only Hers (29 page)

“Earlier you said something about being ready to ride out. What exactly do you do on the ranch?” Daniel asked.

Shannon sipped her coffee. “Anything Matt asks me. Mucking stalls, riding fence, clearing brush.”

“What a waste,” Daniel said meaningfully and shook his mane of salt-and-pepper.

Shannon flushed and lowered her head.

“Daniel, remember your nose. Shannon, I thought you were hungry.”

The other man smiled.

Shannon picked up her fork, then dug into her scrambled eggs. “Just like old times.”

Matt was in a bad mood.

And it had worsened as the day progressed. Shannon looked at him through the fringes of her lashes as he stood off to the side of Wade’s cabin with Daniel. Matt’s jaw was so tight you could bounce a racquetball off it.

Sighing, she glanced around the flower-strewn meadow and tried to recapture the peace it once gave her. All she saw was Matt. Hard and unyielding. Her eyes briefly shut in misery.

Maybe she shouldn’t have come back. Maybe she had misinterpreted what she saw with the binoculars. If having her here was making him unhappy, she had to leave.

But how could she walk away from her heart again?

After all the mental acrobatics she had gone through to come back, he seemed more remote than ever. Although her parents and Melanie thought Shannon was crazy when she told them about Matt, she hadn’t wanted to give up on him. Not even after she officially broke off with James were they willing to listen. Surprisingly he took the news better than her family or Melanie. He wanted a devoted, obedient wife. Shannon clearly was going to be neither.

Her mother and Melanie’s conspiracy was the reason she was late this morning. First her tickets were misplaced, then Melanie called to say she had a flat on her car. Shannon had missed her flight.

She had made another reservation and taken a taxi to the airport. She had come back to try one last time to win Matt’s love, only to discover despair greater than she had ever known.

She glanced down and saw an area where some of the flowers were bent and broken, and remembered sitting in the grass, Matt kneeling beside her, pushing her to face her fears and meet life head on. Out of nowhere she recalled her grandfather’s telling her, if it wasn’t worth fighting for, it wasn’t worth having.

Her head came up and around until she saw Matt, one hand propped against an oak tree, his handsome brown face intent, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled back over his forearms, faded blue jeans taut over muscular thighs. The sight of him would always cause her heart to race faster, the air in her lungs to stall, but it was the man beneath who called to her, who she wanted to touch and love.

She had seen handsome men before. She had never met a man who called to her soul as Matt did. He needed love and laughter in his life and she had to be strong enough to risk giving it to him.

Taking a deep breath, she moved toward the men. Daniel’s brow lifted questioningly, Matt’s face remained implacable. “If you wanted history, Daniel, you couldn’t ask for better than the original Taggart home.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I’ve decided to come out later this afternoon and film it against the setting sun,” Daniel told her. “Then in the next frame get the ranch house. I can’t think of anything stronger to show how one family kept and increased their heritage over four generations.”

Matt sent Shannon an icy glare. “What belongs to a Taggart should stay that way.”

“It will,” she said with more calm than she felt.

“Black roots on the Texas plains go back even further. A Spanish census in 1792 stated that it had two hundred and sixty-three black males and one hundred and eighty-six black females in its populations of sixteen hundred, yet to read some of the history accounts you’d never know it,”
Daniel said, the intensity clear in his voice. “They won’t be able to ignore the films.”

“How long do you plan to be here?” Matt asked.

“Think you can put up with me for a couple more days?” Daniel answered with a smile in his voice.

“No problem.” Matt tugged his Stetson. “Come on, we better get back to where they’re filming the men ride herd.”

“I still think Shannon should have been in that shot. Women were and are just as important to our history as men,” Daniel told him. “Don’t you think so, Shannon?”

“I agree with you about the history, but the Circle T belongs to Matt. It’s his call.” Shannon stuck her hands in her pockets. “I just work here.”

“You’ve done very little of that today,” Matt said tersely.

Her hands whipped out of her pockets. “You’re the one who wouldn’t let me help repair the barbed-wire fence. And you’re the one who said I couldn’t help with the herd.”

“With good reason,” he roared. “You’re also the one who banged her thumb. A two-year-old is more coordinated than you are.”

“You should know about two-year-olds. You’ve been acting like one all day,” she snapped.

Daniel roared. “She’s got you there, man.”

“Nobody asked your opinion,” Matt snarled.

Palms up, Daniel tried to smother his laughter. “Leave my nose the way it is. I’m the narrator for this project. But if you insist, I’m sure Shannon will nurse me back to health.”

“I’m going back to the herd.” Matt mounted his horse and rode off.

Shannon shivered. She had only made things worse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get caught in the middle of our disagreement.”

“Don’t be. You’re making progress with him.”

She went still. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He studied her a long moment. “Are you going to deny you’re in love with that stubborn cowboy who just left here?”

“Oh, no,” she groaned in embarrassment. “If . . . if you guessed, then Matt surely knows.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” His led her to the trunk of a fallen tree and sat down beside her. “Besides, Matt’s so busy trying to deny his own feelings he can’t see anything else.”

Her gaze clung to his. “You think so?”

“Trust me on this. I haven’t seen Matt for about six months, but I’ve been with him enough to know how he is around women.” Daniel shook his head. “I’ve never seen him possessive before.”

Shannon sighed and dropped her head in defeat. “For a while I thought you might know what you were talking about.”

Strong fingers lifted her chin. “Matt watches you like a hawk. You’re not riding with the herd because he’s afraid you might accidentally get hurt, the same for the barbed-wire. It’s wicked stuff.”

Her smile grew until it reached her eyes. “You think so?”

“Positive. I’ve made a study of my friends who fell in love so I won’t fall into the same trap.”

“Love isn’t a trap,” Shannon said with feeling. “Love doesn’t bind, it heals.”

“For some people, but not for me.” Daniel pulled her to her feet. “We better get going. I like the way my face is arranged.”

Brushing off her jeans, she started to where their horses were tied to a scrub oak. “Matt’s not the jealous type.”

“You’d be surprised at what some people will do when they’re pushed far enough.” Daniel’s face harshened. His eyes were as sharp and as piercing as talons. “Never underestimate your opponent.”

“B-but Matt’s not my opponent. He’s the man I love.”

“Anytime someone withholds something from you that you want, they become your opponent.”

Shannon was not sure if she liked the hard-sounding man in front of her.

A shift of his mouth, a flash of strong white teeth, and the jovial Daniel reemerged. “Ready to go?”

“Matt was right. You can be ruthless.”

“If I wanted you as much as Matt does, I wouldn’t deprive myself. I’d kidnap you like my father did my mother and damn the consequences.”

She gasped.

“Just teasing.”

Shannon got on her horse, then looked at Daniel. Something about the lingering glint in his eyes made her wonder if he had been telling the truth after all.

Matt’s booted feet pounded out a steady but uneven beat as he stalked the length of his study from the heirloom rug in front of the massive stone fireplace to the hardwood floor that stretched to the door. With every step his fury grew. A fury so hot the air seemed to crackle around him and block out everything but the cause, his deplorable lack of control whenever he was around Shannon.

He couldn’t deny he had been ridiculously pleased to see her drive up this morning. But his pleasure had quickly turned to unbridled jealousy when Daniel began paying attention to her.

Matt clenched his fists remembering his behavior when the three of them were at Wade’s cabin. His crazy feelings for Shannon were hindering his ability to think clearly. He had been ready to punch Daniel out. He still might do it.

Ever since they joined him at the herd, she had been casting those comforting glances of hers at Daniel. Somehow he had managed to get to her. If Falcon touched her, he’d have more than a broken nose to worry about!

Shoulders sagging, he stopped in front of the fireplace and clamped his hand over the mahogany mantel. Shannon was making him crazy. She had to leave and soon, but the thought of never seeing her again made him just as crazy.

Emotions as confused as he’d ever known, he did the one thing he thought might help. He dialed his brother’s number.

Kane never lost control. Well, except for the time Victoria, his wife, almost got hurt at the rodeo arena. Kane had lost it then, but good.

The phone clicked as someone picked up the receiver. Instead of a greeting, Matt heard the beckoning sound of a woman’s laughter, the husky command of Kane’s voice telling her to hang up.

The polite thing would have been for
him
to hang up. Matt leaned back against the corner of his desk. Come to think of it, there was another time Kane hadn’t shown very much restraint. That time also concerned Victoria.

Two months after Kane and Victoria were married, Matt had entered the back door of their house without knocking and caught the two locked in a heavy-duty embrace. Kane’s bare broad shoulders blocked his wife’s body except for her slender arms clinging to her husband’s neck.

When Kane turned to face him, Matt had been sure if he had been any other man seeing Victoria in only Kane’s shirt, he would have been seeing the emergency room next.

Victoria’s laughter abruptly ended and pulled Matt back into the present.

He grimaced. After three years of marriage and two kids you’d think they’d be used to each other. A picture of Shannon popped into his mind. His body hardened. Maybe a lifetime wasn’t enough.

“Kane. Victoria. Cut it out. This could be Mama or Victoria’s grandmother,” he said into the receiver.

“Matt?” Victoria said breathlessly, “Is that you?”

“Good-bye, Matt,” Kane growled.

“Kane, stop that,” Victoria ordered. “Matt, is everything all right? It’s after ten.”

Too late Matt remembered that because of the twins, Kane and Victoria asked family members and friends not
to call after nine unless it was important. “Yeah, I just need to talk to Kane.”

“This better be important, Matt,” Kane grumbled as he came on the line.

Matt smiled. “Hello to you, too, big brother. Catch you at a bad time?”

“It’s a good thing I can’t get my hands on you now.”

“I had that same thought.”

“I talked with Mama, Daddy and Addie this morning. Everything all right at the ranch?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re sick?”

“Nope.”

A loud sigh came through the phone. “Did you have a reason for calling?”

“At the time I called I did,” Matt said, unable to keep his uncertainty out of his voice.

“You all right?” Kane asked sharply, his irritation gone.

How do you tell a man you’ve looked up to all your life that a woman has scared the hell out of you? “I guess. I don’t know.”

“I can have Howard ready the plane and be there in three hours.”

“Aren’t you in the middle of a major marketing campaign with your company?”

“You’re my brother.”

Matt’s chest felt tight. Those three words had carried him through some hard times. He felt the same.

“Matt?”

“I’m here. How are the twins?”

“Ruling the house as usual. They’d love to see their favorite uncle.”

“Their only uncle.”

“They couldn’t have better.”

“Glad you think so.” Lights passed his window. Shannon was home. “I gotta go.”

“Matt?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m here. Whenever you need me.”

“I know. Good night. Sorry for the interruption.” He dropped the receiver back into the cradle. Talking with his brother only confirmed what Matt already knew: women sure changed a man’s life.

He glanced over his shoulder at the account book and grimaced. If he didn’t get to it soon, he’d never get caught up.

There was a brief knock on his door before it opened. Daniel, his eyes glowing with excitement, entered with Shannon next to him. “You won’t believe what just happened.”

Shannon had yet to look at Matt. “Perhaps you’d like to tell me.”

“I just got a call from Bracketville. If I can get there by Wednesday afternoon I can meet with two of the descendants of black Seminoles whose ancestors were scouts.” Daniel was almost dancing.

“I guess they finally forgave you for being part Creek,” Matt said absently, his gaze on Shannon.

Her head came up. “What has that to do with anything?”

Daniel grinned. “Seminoles and Creeks were bitter enemies. One of the reasons the Seminoles resented being on the reservation so strongly was probably their placement next to the Creeks. That and the government’s refusal to recognize the black Seminoles as part of their tribe,” Daniel explained. “Their resistance in the Florida swamps lasted eight years. The black Seminoles fought bravely and led beside their Indian brothers in the Seminole War.”

“I read about the black or Negro Seminoles in a couple of Wade’s books on blacks in the West,” Shannon said. “Black men and women fled to Florida for freedom, then eventually came to Texas after the government tried to force them on reservations. They came by way of Mexico in the 1850s?”

Matt nodded. “They were intelligent and fearless. Because of their knowledge of the Indians, firearms, and horses, it was natural for some of them to become scouts for the Army. The Commanches were a fierce group in Texas, but the black Seminoles met them head on. Three of the scouts received the Medal of Honor, the highest for combat bravery.”