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Cat tipped her head to the side, looking at him with wondering affection. “You would have done that, wouldn’t you?”
He turned the empty coffee cup in front of him, liking the way she looked at him but made self-conscious by it, too. “Crazy, huh?” he said. “Ole Crazy Culley.” He heard the protesting sound she made and lifted his head, shrugging one shoulder to show indifference. “I know that’s what they call me.” And he also knew they’d never take the word of an O’Rourke. And Crazy Culley—they wouldn’t believe a thing he told them if he swore on a stack of Bibles.
“It isn’t true.” He saw the flash of spirit, the indignation on his behalf.
“Don’t worry your head about it.” He smiled proudly.
Culley had lived too long in this place not to know every sound that belonged in and around it. And his senses were too keenly trained not to notice the intrusion of an unnatural sound. It was faint and still some distance from the house, but it brought him to his feet and carried him to the window. His sudden alertness brought a quick end to the conversation.
“What is it?”
“Someone’s coming.” He stared out the window at the break in the trees where the vehicle traveling up the lane would first come into sight. Cat crowded close to look, too.
“It’s my brother.” Even though she hadn’t been able to see the driver clearly, the pickup unmistakably belonged to the Triple C. “I know it is.”
Culley turned, eyeing her closely. “Do you want to see him?” He observed her indecision, the reluctance and dread taking dominance. “Get into the bedroom and shut the door. I’ll handle it. You don’t have to go home until you want.”
“I—” She couldn’t finish it, her teeth sinking into her nether lip. After another second’s hesitation, she turned and hurried to the bedroom.
There were still a couple of minutes before the truck rounded the turn and entered the yard. Culley waited until the bedroom door was securely shut, then headed for the small front porch. Just before he walked out of the house, he hesitated and reached for the rifle on the low rack mounted on the wall by the door. At his age, he was no match for a young buck like Calder. And if Cat’s brother got persistent, Culley might be in need of an equalizer.
He made sure the front door swung quietly shut behind him, silent movement a habit with him. Culley walked as far as the steps and stopped to lean the rifle against an upright post, out of sight and within reach; then he faced the mouth of the lane.
Before the engine had stopped, Ty was out of the truck and coming around the hood to confront O’Rourke. “What brings you over here on a warm spring morning like this?” O’Rourke inquired conversationally.
Ty halted short of the steps. “I’m here to get Cathleen.” He made it a positive statement.
“Cathleen!” O’Rourke feigned mild surprise, but he was no actor.
“I know she’s here, so don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Ty challenged.
There was a short silence while O’Rourke debated the best way to handle the situation now, even though he couldn’t figure out how Calder could be so absolutely certain.
“All right. She’s here,” he admitted finally. “She showed up late last night—-cold and tired—and asked if she could stay. She didn’t want to go home because she knew you’d be angry about what she’d done and she was afraid you’d send her back to school. I told her she was welcome to stay with me as long as she liked—and I meant it.”
The explanation only added to his impatience with Cathleen. “She has stayed as long as she’s going to.” Ty took a step forward, intending to go into the house and get her. With a sly quickness that belied his age, O’Rourke scooped up the hidden rifle and aimed it level from his waist. “I don’t think so,” was all he said.
Ty froze in his tracks, a wariness tingling through him as he glanced from the rifle barrel to the man holding it. “Let me by, Culley. I’m not leaving without her.”
The lever action sounded unnaturally loud as a bullet was pumped into the firing chamber. “You’re on private property, Ty,” O’Rourke said. “And I’m telling you to get off.” There was a sudden quirk of his mouth. “Things sure take a funny twist, don’t they? A long time ago, it was a Calder who had my sister and ordered me off his land. Now I got a Calder’s sister and I’m the one telling you to git.”
Don’t back down from anything, his father had once told him, because it only makes it easier to back down the next time. And Cathleen was in that house. Taking a calculated risk, Ty released an angry sigh of disgust and half turned away.
“Damn that girl!” he muttered and swept his hat off his head to rake a hand through his hair. Then he turned back to address his complaints to O’Rourke. “The whole damn ranch has been up all night and half the state is looking for her. She’s got me and everybody else worried crazy, thinking something might have happened to her. And all the while, she’s been warm and safe over here at your place”—his hands and his hat gestured wildly as he made his points—“and she didn’t so much as even send word that she was all right. You’re damned right I’m upset with her!”
The last was issued with an upward swing of his hat that hit the rifle barrel and pointed it skyward. A deafening explosion roared in his ears as his arm completed its arc and knocked the rifle out of O’Rourke’s grasp. Ty charged up the steps as the gray-haired man backed up, half crouching into a fighting stance.
Cathleen came hurling out of the house to throw herself between the two men, protectively shielding O’Rourke. “Ty, no! Don’t!” It was a frightened and angry command. “He was only trying to protect me!”
“He wouldn’t have had to protect you if you hadn’t hidden in the house like some damned child!” Ty raged. “Were you afraid to come home because you thought you were going to get a spanking? You spoiled little brat! You’ve never had a spanking in your life—and that’s what’s wrong with you now! You didn’t want to stay in school, so you ran away! Don’t I have enough to worry about with the ranch and Dad lying in some hospital without having to worry about where the hell you are?”
“I’m sorry.” Tears were stinging her eyes as she faced him.
She looked so damned vulnerable, but his exasperation with her wouldn’t allow him to be moved by it, although it took his anger, leaving him with impatient disgust. “Grow up, Cathleen,” he ordered roughly. “Nobody held my hand when I was your age, and I’m sure as hell not going to hold yours.” He swung off the porch to stride to the truck.
Not immediately following him, Cat glanced hesitantly back at her uncle. “You don’t have to go with him,” O’Rourke said quietly.
A sad little smile touched her mouth. “Yes, I do.” Impulsively, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, whispering a tremulous “Thanks.” Then she ran down the steps after her brother.
