'Your brothers will be home by now.'
'Probably. We'll reach the ranch in another half hour or so.'
'What do you think he wanted?'
'Who?'
'The coward who tried to kill us.'
'Our horses or our money. He might be hoping for both.'
'Hell.'
'Quit fretting about him. He's gone now. Let's talk about something else. I still can't get over Corrie's thoughtfulness. She had to walk a fair distance to bring us the quilt. It took courage, don't you think?'
'She wanted you to have the quilt. Not me,' he corrected.
'You can't know that for certain,' she argued.
Harrison smiled. He did know Corrie had covered Mary Rose up, but he hadn't admitted he'd seen the woman. His reason was probably foolish. Corrie belonged to Mary Rose. He wanted her to be the first to see her friend… if and when Corrie was ever ready to present herself.
'You still look angry, Harrison.'
He couldn't help that. 'Damn it, Mary Rose, you could have been killed. I've got a right to be angry. If anything ever happened to you…'
She turned to look at him. 'Yes?'
He let out a sigh. 'Your brothers would kill me.'
'Would it kill you to admit you'd miss me?'
'No, it wouldn't kill me. Of course I'd miss you.'
She was extremely pleased. She changed the subject once again. 'I've considered what you said about Travis, and I've decided I will have a talk with him. I don't want him to become overly upset about Eleanor. I'll have a firm talk with her too. She can't boss my brothers around. Travis will listen to me. Eleanor probably won't. Still, I'll try. Travis's birthday is coming up soon. He'll be on his best behavior so I'll give him a nice present.'
'When is his birthday?'
'July eleventh,' she answered. 'I've almost finished knitting a sweater for him. I think he'll love it. The color complements his eyes. He won't care about that, of course. He'll love it because it will keep him warm. When is your birthday?'
'February seventeenth,' he answered.
He didn't ask her to tell him her birthday. He assumed she didn't know the actual date and that her brothers had made one up so she would have her own celebration.
Besides, he already knew the date of Lady Victoria 's birth, January second.
'January second.'
She said the words a scant second after he'd thought them. He couldn't believe he'd heard right. Then he thought he had inadvertently said the date out loud.
'Did you just… What did you say?'
'January second,' she repeated. 'My birthday. Is there something wrong with January second? You look a little stunned. Honestly you do.'
He couldn't answer her. His throat had already closed up on him. Stunned? That had to be an understatement. His mind was reeling with all his impossible possibilities. How in God's name could she know her actual birthday?
'Adam's birthday is November twentieth, Cole's is April fifteenth, although to be perfectly honest with you, he really isn't sure of the date because he doesn't have any proof, but a neighbor remembered him and thought he was born then, so he decided to use it for his celebration date, and Douglas's birthday is the very last day of March. I didn't leave anyone out, did I?'
He shook his head again. 'Did you make up your date for your birthday or do you have proof you were born on January second?'
'I have proof,' she answered. 'I came with papers.'
Harrison leaned back in his saddle. The words were echoing in his mind over and over again.
She came with papers.
Everyone was waiting for them. Eleanor was pacing back and forth on the porch, Adam was standing in the doorway, and Douglas and Travis were both sitting on the porch railing, leaning against the posts.
Cole had just walked out of the main barn when Douglas shouted to him and pointed in their direction.
The hotheaded brother's hand, Harrison was quick to note, immediately went to his gun. The expression on his face indicated he was thinking hard about using it.
Harrison let out a weary sigh. Honest to God, he didn't have time for this nonsense. He felt like hell. His side was on fire now. His day wasn't going to get any better though, because he had finally made up his mind not to wait any longer. One way or another, Mary Rose's future was going to be decided before he went to bed. He was going to tell the brothers about their sister. He would get the information he needed first, of course, and if he had to resort to shooting a couple of them in order to find out what he wanted to know, then by God, that's exactly what he was going to do.
He wouldn't procrastinate any longer. He'd be married with six children if he didn't do something soon.
' Harrison, don't frown.'
'Sorry. I was thinking about shooting your brothers.'
'Please don't,' she whispered. 'Smile, for heaven's sake.'
'They look like a lynch mob.'
She turned to look at her brothers again. Harrison was right. Three of the four did look like they wanted to string Harrison up from the nearest tree. Eleanor appeared to be ready to fetch the rope. Her hands were on her hips, and she was glaring at them.
'Adam looks happy to see us. I'm sure he'll be reasonable. Just give your explanation quickly before Cole…'
'Sweetheart, we didn't do anything wrong.'
'Then why do I feel like we did?'
He smiled when he realized he felt the same way. 'I'll take on Cole. You start on the others.'
'You take on Cole, and I take on four? Sounds fair to me,' she teased.
She turned to watch him head for the barn. Millie wanted to follow, but Mary Rose forced the mare to move toward the house.
'Take off your gun,' she suggested to Harrison in a loud whisper. 'Cole doesn't usually like to shoot an unarmed man.'
Harrison shook his head at her and continued on. He slipped off MacHugh when he was about a yard or so away from Cole. The stallion continued on into the barn. Harrison would see to his needs after he'd dealt with the brother.
Cole came storming over to face him. 'You low-down son-of-a-bitch. If you…'
He'd reached Harrison before he finished his threat and decided to punch him instead.
Harrison was ready for him this time. He caught Cole's fist in the palm of his left hand and held on tight. Then he started applying pressure.
'If I what?' he challenged in a voice as cold as January.
Cole's expression went from rage to astonishment in the blink of an eye.
'If you… Damn, you're quick. Let go of me. You're squeezing my trigger finger.'
'Are you going to try to hit me again?'
'No. I'm thinking about shooting you now. Then I'm gonna shoot Mary Rose.'
'I'll kill you first.'
'Hell.'
'Nothing happened, Cole. We got caught in the rain, that's all. Walk with me into the barn. I got shot. I want to find out how much damage there is without letting Mary Rose know.'
Harrison let go of Cole's fist and walked inside. His legs felt weak to him, but he was certain food would take care of that.
'What happened to you? Did you try something with Mary Rose? Did she shoot you?'
