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How was she to move on, with her heart so full of regrets and forbidden wishes?
She hurried from the library. The kitchen was empty. Linette must have taken Grady to visit Cassie’s children. And who knew where Mercy disappeared to? The empty house echoed with Sybil’s inner turmoil.
“I must forget him. Put him out of my mind,” she murmured to the silent walls.
But how could she? Perhaps if she confronted him...
Her decision made, she grabbed a knit shawl and left the house, keeping her steps slow and measured, when she longed to rush down the hill.
She rehearsed what she would say: Why did you not tell me who you are? However, the answer was obvious. If he had, there would have been no chance of even a hint of friendship between them. Nor would he have been invited to come to the ranch in the first place.
Strange that his reputation hadn’t preceded him. Everyone knew him only as a horse breaker. Why had there been no word of him being part of the Duggan gang? How did he manage to hide that and deceive so many people? Of course, his role in the gang necessitated he do exactly that. Win people’s confidence, learn their secrets so the gang could rob them.
But if that was the case, why hadn’t he accepted any of the invitations into the big house? Why had he shied away from any contact with others?
She pressed her palms to her temples. None of it made any sense. If she answered the questions truthfully, she couldn’t see him as guilty. But was she only trying to make herself feel better about the way she had practically fallen over him?
The cookhouse lay on her left. She slowed her steps. Would Cookie soothe her with tea and cinnamon rolls? Jayne’s cabin stood on her right. Would Jayne offer wise words? Tell her she should guard her heart?
Sybil stared straight ahead. She didn’t want comfort nor wise words. She wanted answers to the ache in her heart, and only Brand could offer those. Though he likely had nothing to give but more lies, more deceit.
The barn door had been pushed open, letting in the cool afternoon air and bright sunshine. Sybil paused to glance about. Noted the thinning leaves on the trees, the dusty brown piles of them gathering along the edges of the yard as if huddling together against winter. They would soon find how futile it was to try and fight the season.
Was she being equally foolish? Refusing to accept the facts?
She opened the gate of the pen in front of the barn and slipped past the bars, holding her breath lest anyone see her and wonder if she had lost her mind.
A man’s voice came from the interior of the barn. Not Brand’s. She paused in the doorway to listen.
“You’re not so high and mighty now, are you?” Cal. She recognized his voice.
She heard no reply from Brand, and wondered whether he spoke so softly she couldn’t hear, or if he didn’t even bother to answer the man.
“I’ve half a mind to drag you outside and let all your admiring fans see who you really are.” Cal laughed, a short, bitter sound. “In fact, that’s what I’m going to do. The others will be showing up for supper about now.”
She caught the sound of grunting and scuffling. And Dawg growling.
“Dawg, quiet.” These were the only words she heard Brand speak.
“Get to your feet,” Cal said harshly.
Sybil clutched at the rough wood on the door frame. Why was Cal so vindictive? What did he hope to gain by parading Brand before the others? Everyone knew he was in the barn and why. But Cal wanted to further humiliate him.
Brand had dealt with enough already. His capture. His pa’s death. Enough was enough.
Ignoring the warning voice in her head that said she should stay out of this, Sybil hurried down the aisle. She reached the open gate.
Dawg whined, alerting Brand. He stood before Cal, his hands bound, a rope around his neck. He shook his head as if warning her away.
But she was beyond paying attention to a warning of any sort. “I wonder what Eddie would think of this. Or have you sent him after an imaginary sick cow again?”
Cal spun about, his eyes wide with surprise, and then they narrowed. “It was a bull and this is none of your concern.”
A few minutes ago she might have agreed with him. In fact, she might have been compelled to add her own words of condemnation. But suddenly everything was so clear she wondered how she could have been confused for even a minute.
