"You can't. You can't be out in the openlike that. That cat might come back."
"But he was all the way across town the lastanyone heard." Kate objected.
"No, you've got to stay here until they comeback. Besides, raking hay is hard work and it would take youforever. Just wait on Wes." Annie told her.
"Life can't stand still because of thatcat." Kate fussed as she stared out the window.
Annie took her by the shoulders. "You can'tgo!"
Kate frowned but relented, "I guess you'reright. I'll wait a while longer. I don't mean to be difficult. Ijust keep thinking I have to get to work and finish taking care ofthe hay."
ChapterThirteen
Two days later the men trudged home. WhenMr. Tate came through the door, Annie, Kate, and Dickens were allsitting at the breakfast table.
Annie got up and ran to her husband hugginghim tightly. Kate stood up but didn't move. She couldn't. Her eyeslocked onto Wes hungrily.
He stared back, and then he broke out in abig grin. That grin did things to Kate, things she hadn't expected.Her heart was pounding in her chest and putting her hand on thetable she steadied herself to keep from running into his arms.
Both men had scrubby looking beards now, andtheir eyes spoke of the lack of sleep too, Kate noted.
"Sure smells good in here." Mr. Tatesmiled.
"I got bacon, eggs and biscuits." Mrs. Tateinformed them.
"Sounds great!"
"Did you get the cat?" Dickens asked whenKate and Wes didn’t say anything.
Wes glanced at Dickens a moment and nodded,"Yes we did!" he declared with a heavy sigh.
Kate was still staring, her lips tremblingwith a slow spreading smile. The smile on Wes' face broughtsunshine into the room.
"That's wonderful," she saidbreathlessly.
Annie turned to see Kate and Wes staringwith such intense expressions and she grinned. "Well, come on, sitdown, have some breakfast and tell us all about it." Sheencouraged.
The men put their guns down, and washed up,then joined them at the table. Mr. Tate sat at the head of thetable and the only other seat left was right across the table fromKate, so Wes sat down, his gaze fixed on her.
Even though he drank his coffee and helpedhimself to the food, his glance rarely strayed from Kate.
She blushed.
"Well, okay boys, let's hear the story."Dickens insisted.
"The story?" Wes glanced at him.
"How'd you catch him?"
Mr. Tate cleared his throat. "Well, sinceWes killed him, I'll tell the story."
Everyone chuckled.
"We'd chased that cat all over theterritory. Although Wes and I stayed pretty much to ourselves, wedid stumble upon several others in the process, some were drinkingheavily and we did our best to stay clear of them, as it's just toodangerous."
His wife reached for his hand and smiled.Kate noted that Mr. Tate didn't seem to mind her displaying someaffection.
"The cat moved around so much it wasdifficult to get a location on him. But he left reminders all overthe place, five men were severely wounded by that damn cat. Threewere killed. That just made us all more anxious to take that catdown. We finally managed to pin him down as we deliberately triedto divert him into a trap. There's a canyon where there is no out,and we got him backed into a corner. He screeched and he climbed,and he jumped all over the place trying to find a way out of there.But there was no way out unless he could jump us. Knowing we hadhim and could lose him if he got past us, I became the bait andjust as the cat lunged for me, Wes leveled him with both barrels.He fell dead about ten feet of me."
"My God, you could have been killed." Mrs.Tate made a face and took his hand in hers.
"Well, we knew we had to do it, honey. Andone of us had to be the bait. Wes is a much better shot than me, soI agreed."
"What if he'd missed?"
"The way he was standing, he couldn't miss.It was a dead shot. Wes got him in the head and the heart. He wasdead when he hit the ground."
Wes glanced around, "I hated him being thetarget, but he insisted on me doing the shooting."
"Why?" Mrs. Tate asked.
"Because honey, I knew Wes could get him, itwas as simple as that. After all, when you are facing a killer, youhave to have nerves of steel. Wes is more the hunter than I am. Atthe angle he was standing and where the cat was perched, I knew hecould get the best shot."
"I'm glad I wasn't there, I'd have beenscared to death," Mrs. Tate shook her head. "And thank you Wes, forgetting rid of that murdering cat."
"There was a lot of pressure on me, Mrs.Tate. But I wasn't going to let your husband die." Wes told her. "Iwas determined enough by then that if my gun had jammed oranything, I'd just lunge for him and hope your husband could get ashot at him."
Mrs. Tate smiled at Wes.
Kate was staring at him too.
"I ran into Frank Campbell out there too."Wes told Kate.
"Really?" Kate blushed again.
"Yeah, he had three of his best men withhim."
Mr. Tate shook his head, "Yeah, but hehadn't a clue which way that cat had gone. Let me tell you, thisboy is a tracker, and I'm glad I was with him and not some of theothers."
"Have you hunted much, Wes?" Mrs. Tateasked.
"Yes ma'am, sometimes it's the only supper Iget." He smiled.
"Then I'm glad my husband was with you."
"They got the rest of my hogs, Wes." Dickenstold him.
Wes frowned, "I heard. We took the carcassin to the Sherriff, they hung him in front of the livery for all tosee. I'm sorry Dickens."
"Just glad you finally got that murderingcat." Dickens shook his head.
Wes studied Dickens a minute. "How are youfeeling?"
"Much better, the ladies took real good careof me. I can get around, although it might take some time for me tobe up to snuff." Dickens told him.
"I asked him to come stay with us, so hecould mend better, and I could see to him if he
