deep. 'I love your hair.'
'We should talk of something else.'
He nodded, touching her curls with his face once more. 'All right. How about you tell me a little about you?'
Rainey didn't say a word.
'I don't even know where you're from.'
'Up north,' she said.
'And your parents didn't die on the trip over like you told Mrs. Vivian. If I were guessing, I'd say they are very much alive.'
'My mother died a few years ago. My father was alive when I left.'
'So, why'd you run, Rainey, and keep running until you got all the way to Texas?'
She was silent so long he decided she didn't plan to answer, then came a whisper, 'My father tried to make me marry.'
Travis laughed. 'Oh, and we both know how dead-set against that you are.'
She turned to him, an inch away from his nose, and whispered, 'No one, nowhere on this earth, will ever make me marry. I'll not be treated that worthless.'
He laid his hand gently over hers. 'Not all wives think of themselves as worthless.'
'But they are. The minute they marry, everything they have becomes their husband's. He can treat them any way he likes and there is nothing they can do about it.'
He watched her closely, loving the fire he saw in her eyes but hating the anger that put it there. He could read her parents' marriage in those green eyes without asking another question.
She propped her head up and said, 'Now, it's my turn.'
'All right, fair enough.'
'Why'd you come to Austin?'
He didn't even try to think of a lie. 'To find you.'
'Why?'
'Because I thought you might be in trouble.'
She waited, staring at him.
He almost got lost in those green depths, but he knew he had to say more, had to be honest with her. 'And because I had to see you again. That night at the dance we had so few words together, but you stayed in my mind. I had to see you again.'
'I know what you mean. I read a poem once about how the moments in your life change you, not the big crashing crisis or grand award, but the small times when you gently shift within your skin and become a slightly different person.'
He opened his arm and this time she rolled against his side. 'If you'd have told me that before we danced, I would have never believed it, but now, I think I understand.'
Neither of them said another word. He could feel her breathing against his side. When the breaths grew further apart, he knew she was asleep. She seemed so soft and helpless beside him, but she'd run away from home alone, and somehow survived for months. No doubt in his mind existed. He'd always thought of himself as strong, but in truth, the tiny lady at his side was a giant beside him.
She spread her hand out across his chest. He fought the urge to pull her closer. Then he realized just having her near was enough for now.
He listened to the clock ticking and her breathing as an hour passed. When he heard the first footsteps in the hall, he kissed her head and whispered, 'Rainey, move to the chair.'
She barely had time to slip from the bed to the rocking chair before someone opened the door.
The doctor came in and didn't try to hide his surprise when he noticed her. 'Miss Adams, you shouldn't be in here.'
'I had to check on him,' Rainey answered. 'The Ranger saved my life.'
Dr. Bailey nodded. 'I see, but you'd best get up to your room before my wife wakes. I can take care of this hero of yours until morning.'
Rainey looked like she debated leaving, but finally slipped from the room. Her last glance back told him all he needed to know. She didn't want to leave.
Travis let the doctor poke on him awhile, then took the medicine the old man gave him without complaint. By the time the doctor was finished wrapping his leg and hip in oily towels to keep the swelling down, it was dawn.
'Glad to see you've got your senses back, son,' the old doc said as he finished. 'We all figured you'd shoot us for sure if you got the chance a few hours ago. That's why the young Ranger took the bullets out of your gun before he gave it to you.'
Travis nodded. He hadn't grown any calmer; he'd simply realized he'd have to endure this quietly until he talked someone into letting him out of this bed. As soon as he was free, he planned to continue the discussion he'd had with Rainey under the tree. The discussion they'd shared without words.
Travis heard Mike and Duck stirring in the sitting room and a moment later, Duck hit the foot of his bed. The boy scrambled up, sat cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and his fists on his chin. He stared at Travis as if he planned to stay put for the day.
'Help the boy into his clothes,' Travis said casually.
'Glad to,' Mike answered from the door. The young Ranger picked up the clothes, and a moment later the race was on.
CHAPTER 29
With Duck finally dressed and sitting at the foot of the bed watching, the doctor showed Travis the tiny piece of lead he'd taken out of the bone in his leg just below his hip.
'It might have stayed there for the rest of your life pestering you occasionally, but that ride you took caused an infection and made it imperative that I remove it.' The old man scratched his head. 'I took a risk cutting into you like that, but I decided you weren't a man who'd settle for riding in a buggy the rest of his life.'
Travis had to admit that he felt better. The dull ache that he'd known for months was gone even though his skin was sore where Dr. Bailey had made small cuts. 'Thanks, Doc,' he managed to say. 'I'm glad I didn't shoot you last night.' He reached under the pillow and produced a handful of bullets.
'But how…' Mike looked up from several feet away where he was trying to get a coffee stain off his shirt, thanks to Duck.
'A Ranger always checks his weapons.' Travis shrugged. 'I'd never be too out of my head to forget that. When you handed me the gun, I knew it was light. I had no problem borrowing a few of your bullets.'
Mike fingered the empty loops on his gun belt.
Dr. Bailey laughed. 'I'm not surprised. I've been patching up Rangers since the battle at San Jacinto. They're like dealing with frozen rattlers. If you bring them inside and take care of them at some point you come to expect them to be ornery.'
Sage entered with a tray of breakfast rolls and fresh coffee. 'Top of the morning to you.' She bowed to all, but smiled at Mike. 'What could be so funny so early?' She patted her brother's shoulder as she handed him his second cup of coffee. 'Good to see you back with us, Travis.'
'I never left,' he mumbled, not wanting to admit how close he'd come to the edge of sanity when the pain gripped him. 'I was just a little tired yesterday.'
'Then you'll rest today,' the doc insisted as he covered Travis's left leg with the sheet.
Travis nodded, silently agreeing, then turned his attention back to Sage. As he explained about the bullets, he noticed that she moved close enough to Mike for him to tug on her braid. Travis thought of reloading. No one but her brothers had a right to touch his sister's hair. Then he remembered what Rainey had told him and forced a smile. It was almost as frustrating to admit that Sage didn't seem to mind Mike's teasing as it was to watch a man flirt with his baby sister.
