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The truth shines so bright.
A Calder gives her promise
To the only man who’s right.
Chapter Seventeen
The warmth of the summer night closed around her the minute Laura stepped outside. But it failed to relax the tension that screamed through her nerves. She stiffened slightly at the guiding touch of Boone’s hand on her back.
Neither said a word as they walked to the Suburban. Boone helped her into the passenger seat, closed the door, and circled around to the driver’s side to slide behind the wheel. Seconds after he started the engine, air blasted from the dashboard vents, the temperature of it gradually cooling.
All tight with anger, Laura faced the window and stared into the nothingness, an elbow propped on the door and curled fingers pressed to her mouth. Utility poles whipped by outside the window as the silence between them grew more oppressive.
Laura finally broke it, her voice taut with the effort to keep her temper in check. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“What did you expect me to do?” Boone demanded. “Sit and say nothing like Dunshill, while some drunk calls you names? Sorry, I’m not made that way.” There was a flexing jump of a muscle along his jaw, but Laura was too angry to notice.
“That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s the way you hit Mitchell when he was completely defenseless. That was vicious and uncalled for.”
A breath of disgust exploded from Boone. “Leave it to a woman to think like that. If you’d ever been in a fight, you’d know that when you’ve got a man down, you keep ’em down any way you can.” He slanted her a sharp look. “Who is this guy? What was that business of you being in his home?”
Tersely Laura provided him with a recap of the circumstances surrounding the one and only time she had been inside the Mitchell house. When she finished, this time it was Boone who demanded, “What the hell were you thinking? Nothing but trouble comes from involving yourself in somebody else’s domestic problems. That’s why we have police and social workers.”
It was a view she once would have echoed, but somewhere along the line doubt had crept in. “What kind of world would it be if everybody felt that way?” Laura said, voicing the question that was in her mind.
“That sounds like the kind of crap Dunshill would spout,” Boone said with contempt. “People like that are nothing but trash. I don’t want you associating with them anymore. I don’t care how well-intentioned the reason.”
For a tight-lipped moment, Laura said nothing. “You are going to be lucky if Mitchell doesn’t sue.”
“If he does, he’ll find out you don’t sue a Rutledge and get away with it.”
Sebastian and Trey returned to a darkened house. The silence of it pushed at them the minute they walked inside. Pausing in the entryway, Trey swept off his hat and listened a moment, then glanced at Sebastian.
“I had a feeling everybody might be in bed. My sister doesn’t get mad often, but when she does, she tends to stay mad for a while. And she wasn’t too happy when she left Harry’s.”
“It was an unpleasant scene.” Sebastian glanced in the direction of the second floor, his expression thoughtful. “No doubt Rutledge is of the opinion Mitchell provoked the attack and therefore justified it. As so often happens in the heat of battle, a man’s actions are more often dictated by instinct than good judgment.” It was an absent comment, his thoughts centering on Mitchell’s drinking and the potential repercussions on his wife.
“That’s the first time you actually sounded like a lawyer,” Trey said with amusement. “I think I’ll go raid the refrigerator and see if I can’t rustle up something to eat. Care to join me?”
“Thank you, but no. I think I’ll follow the example of the rest
of the family and retire for the evening.”
“See you in the morning, then.” Trey’s long strides carried him in the direction of the kitchen.
Sebastian made his way to the staircase at a slower pace. When he reached the top of the steps, his gaze automatically strayed to Laura’s bedroom door. A slit of light showed beneath it. He hesitated, then crossed to it.
Indecision held him motionless in front of it for several long seconds. There was only silence from within. He raised his hand and started to knock, then changed his mind and lowered it as footsteps crossed the living room below him.
Obeying the hush of the rest of the house, he moved silently away from her door. By the time he reached the bedroom, Trey was halfway up the steps, the white of a sandwich showing in his hand.
As Sebastian turned the doorknob to his room, Laura’s door sprang open. She stood within the doorframe, fully backlit, the silken texture of her night-robe glistening, creating a sensuous outline of her feminine shape.
For an instant she froze at the sight of Trey. “I thought—” Laura began. Then her gaze flew past him, straight to Sebastian. He turned from it and entered his bedroom. “Never mind,” she said to Trey and spun away from the door.
Trey cast a considering glance after Sebastian and crossed the few feet to her room. He paused at its threshold. “You okay, Sis?”
“Of course.” The curtness of her voice said something else.
