Chapter Eleven
HE STOOD STILL. He usually stood still when confronted by someone holding a pistol.
A sleepyeyed Elizabeth held it.
She was still in a dress. Her hair was coming loose from the braid she usually wore and curled around her face. Long black lashes framed weary eyes.
She lowered the gun when she saw him.
“How did you get in?” she asked.
“Through a back window.”
“Soldiers were here all day. They’ve been looking for you. They said they had an arrest warrant.”
“Did they say for what?”
“No.”
He shrugged. “I suspected as much. Under military occupation, it doesn’t take much.” “How did you get by them?” “I didn’t. They’re sleeping right now.” “Did you help them?”
“I did,” he replied.
“All of them?”
“I sincerely hope so.”
“You’re giving them more reasons to come after you.”
“I don’t think they need any.”
She put her pistol on the table beside the bed. “Why did you come here? Surely you knew…”
“I wanted to know how your father was doing. And Marilee.”
“Do you really care about my father?”
“Surprisingly enough, I do,” he said, realizing it was true. “I think he’s a victim as much as anyone here.” He went over to the man’s bedside, inspected the bandages, then felt his forehead. “No fever. Has he awoken yet?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you any more?”
“The only description was similar to those who came after me.”
That puzzled him. If Delaney wanted to take Elizabeth as his wife to inherit, why would he try to kill her? Or perhaps he just wanted to frighten her enough to seek his protection. If so, he obviously didn’t care if she was seriously hurt, even killed, in the effort.
She looked at him. “Could it have been your brother?”
“No.”
“You’ve talked to him then?”
Seth didn’t say anything.
Despite his efforts to save her father, Elizabeth obviously wasn’t absolutely sure who was behind the attacks. The pistol that was in her hand proved that. She’d been ready to protect her father with her life.
“I told him you saved his life,” she said.
“Anyone would have.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I don’t remember if I thanked you.”
She looked so vulnerable, so tired, yet still so protective of those she loved that his heart jolted. He held out his arms and she stepped into them. He just held her for several moments, trying to lend his strength to her.
Her body pressed against his, but her eyes gazed directly into his. His breath caught at what he saw there. Trust. And another emotion. One more complicated than desire.
He felt it, too. Damn, he wanted to protect her. Her father as well because she loved him. Hell, he wanted more than to protect her. He wanted her in his life. Not just for a night. Or a week.
He lowered his head to kiss her. Gently, comfortingly at ?rst. Lips touching lips with featherlike gentleness.
It was meant to be comforting but the moment their lips met, the kiss turned into something else altogether. Awareness ?ashed and thundered between them like a sudden Texas storm. His knees nearly buckled under the impact of need he suddenly felt. His hands moved along her back, touching lightly, and he marveled at the wells of tenderness that gave his hands a gentleness he’d never known before. He felt a glow of light, then a warmth that ?lled him so completely he realized how lonely he had been, how dark his world had become in the past years.
Her arms curled around his neck and he reveled in her embrace, the way her ?ngers teased and played with his hair. A barely restrained passion was evident in each touch, as it was in the hazel eyes that changed with her every emotion. They were stormy, more green and gold than brown.
He deepened the kiss, feeling her react to it. Her body moved closer into his and he felt a longing and need so strong he could barely contain it.
A groan came from the bed. Reality stabbed through the cocoon of desire that had wrapped around them.
She stepped back quickly, turned, and went to the bed. He remained where he was, his body a?re.
“Liz?” McGuire’s voice was barely a whisper, broken with pain.
“Papa, I’m here. I’ll get you some more laudanum.”
She knelt beside her father and Seth heard the love and concern and tenderness in her voice. That struck him as deeply as her passion a moment earlier.
“No,” McGuire said, then his pain?lled gaze moved to Seth.
“Who…?” His voice broke off as if he could not manage another word.
“Seth Sinclair. He took out the bullet yesterday. The doctor said he saved your life. He also rescued me the day before.”
“Sinclair?”
“Yes.”
“He…”
“He’s a good man, Papa,” she said.
“Tell him… to come close,” McGuire said.
Seth stepped closer and looked down at the man who had bene?ted from the theft of his land.
McGuire strained to lift his good arm and held out his hand for Seth’s. “Thank you,” he said simply. “For Liz, thank you.”
Seth took it. Any number of emotions ran through him. And out of him. Bitterness faded. So did any desire for revenge.
McGuire loved his daughter. Elizabeth loved her father.
The thought ?ashed through his mind with the impact of a cannonball.
He tried to dismiss it. It was the circumstances. He’d been lonelier than he’d thought. He’d been without a woman’s touch too long.
He had to get out of here before he made any more of a fool of himself.
He nodded his acknowledgment of McGuire’s thanks and stepped back. “I have to go before someone wakes up. Do you have any protection here? Besides that?” he asked, glancing over at the gun.
“Howie is here. He’s in the barn.”
“I won’t be back for a while. There are some things I need to do. If you need anything send Howie to Abe at the saloon in town. He’ll know where to ?nd me.”
“You’re going to try to stop what’s happening?” she asked on a shuddering sigh. “To the other ranchers. To you.”
He said nothing as he stared at her, taking one last look…for a while. Just a while.
“I want to see Marilee for a moment,” he said.
She nodded and led the way to the small bedroom at the end of the hall. She opened the door, and he looked inside.
His sister was curled up in a ball, a light covering over half her body. Her arm was around a sleeping puppy.
