Page 80 of The Outlaw and the Heir

"Physically, yes," she said, making to reach up to adjust her hair and then stopping when she saw the blood on her hands. "Lovely. I suppose I should get a bath as soon as possible before I start stinking more than I already do."

We entered the house, and I spotted Hipolita crossing the entryway and stopping short when she saw Elizabeth. “Why...Elizabeth, are you?—"

"I'm fine," Elizabeth said quickly but managed to flash her a smile. "I'm unhurt, thanks to Samuel. But if you could be so kind as to get me something to clean myself up with, that would be most appreciated, Hipolita."

"Of course," she said, looking at me and giving a questioning look before disappearing.

"What is all this noise?" I heard Joseph complain, and I turned to find him leaving the dining area, face set in his customary scowl as he stomped down the hallway. "I can hardly think over?—"

"My office," our father interrupted. "Now."

Joseph looked affronted at being interrupted until he looked at Elizabeth and frowned harder. “What happened to you?"

"Life," she said, smiling when Hipolita appeared with a wet towel and a new blouse. "Thank you, Hipolita. Give me a moment, Father."

The two disappeared, and I followed my father, not caring if Joseph followed or stayed there, standing in confusion and annoyance. We entered the office, and my father headed for the bottles stowed in the back, pulling out four glasses and pouring a hearty measure into each. He set two of them down on the edge of his desk, and I snatched one up without thinking and took a drink.

I welcomed the silence that followed as my brother gave a huff and moved to grab his glass, probably expecting me to hand him one. Instead, I stood near the wall, stared out the window behind my father's desk, and forced myself to be calm. The sight of Samuel wounded and so vulnerable had shaken me, and I needed to get control if I was going to be stuck in a room with my brother and father. Letting my emotions get the better of me wasn't going to help anyone, but I couldn't wipe away the memory of Samuel sprawled on the ground, covered in blood and barely able to move.

Two sharp knocks echoed in the room before Elizabeth walked in, still dressed in her dusty pants and boots but with a new, clean blouse on and her hair hastily tied up with a rawhide strip. For a woman who’d spent most of her adult life dressed up, she managed to pull off looking like she belonged with the rest of us quite well.

I reached out, and my father handed me a glass, which I delivered to her. She gave a grateful smile and downed two fingers' worth of liquor before handing it back. Our father promptly refilled it without a word, and this time, she just heldonto the glass, apparently wanting to sip it rather than drink it down. Just enough to calm her nerves, but she clearly didn't want to cloud her mind.

"Explain," my father said after a few minutes, his eyes on her as he walked behind his desk.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and nodded, eyes shifting to look at the ceiling before slowly moving to the events of the day. She remained perfectly calm as she briefly explained that she’d led them into the desert and described the clues she’d noticed while they’d been talking. From there, she was able to explain what had happened, including a decent description of the men who had attacked them. After that, she told us how she had used her skirt to wrap up Samuel’s wound after managing to get him on the horse and ride him back to the ranch. I knew the rest of the story.

Unsurprisingly, our father listened and threw in an "Interesting" when she finished. I, however, felt a rush of emotions tear through me, leaving me to make sense of them. On the one hand, I was furious that those bastards had dared to come close to our property again, clearly not having learned their lesson the first time. On the other hand, I felt an overabundance of pride and affection for Samuel, who had used his brains and skills to make sure my sister had not come to harm or was taken by those animals. Yet I was also furious with him for being so stupid and getting himself hurt so badly as if he was the only one who cared.

Everything in me ground to a halt as I stood there, staring blankly out the window as I realized what I had just thought. Of course, I’d known I’d been growing more tolerant of him, and he’d been irritating me less and less...well, in any significant way. Being irritated by Samuel was like saying the sky was blue, just a fact of life. And yes, there was bound to be affection that grew, but...to realize there was genuine care there?

God, if there was genuine care and affection for him that I hadn't realized until now, what else could there be still hiding away?

I felt an elbow push into my side, and I blinked, looking around the room to find all three of them staring at me. There was absolutely no way I would figure out what had been said or asked, so I could only stare back before clearing my throat. "Sorry...was...doesn't matter."

There was a hint of a smile on Elizabeth's face. “We were wondering what might be waiting if there were three of those brutes lurking so close to the ranch."

Joseph scoffed. “You didn't hear them confirm who they were. For all we know, it was simply three men looking to cause trouble."

"Three men who happened to know who I was?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief. "Who mentioned bringing me back to their boss? That doesn't sound like three men who don't know what's going on."

"Fine, there might be more," he conceded, but it sounded like the act caused him extreme pain. "But that doesn't mean it's Ambrose's boogeymen."

"Your sister almost gets kidnapped, and who the hell knows what else, and all you wanna worry about is bein' right?" I asked him, knowing Joseph had always been a bastard, but this was something else entirely as far as I was concerned.

"Well, she wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for your great idea," he said caustically. "Maybe instead of trying to give me hell because I'm trying to focus on the facts. Think about yourself instead since you seemed to think that she would be fine by herself."

"She wasn't by herself."

"Right, your pet outlaw was with her, wonderful."

Hearing Samuel referred to as a thing, a toy for me to enjoy myself with or use however I wanted, brought up the anger I’d been holding in. I stepped toward him. “Thatoutlawdid more to keep our sister safe than you've done in your entire life, Joseph. Don't think I forgot about the time you were held up on the road back to Rapture, and no one wanted to admit that ya pissed yourself. Meanwhile, our sister, who ain't never been in any real danger in her life, kept her head and even managed to get a good lick in. So maybe you should keep your nose in business where it belongs and outta the real world."

Never in my life had I seen fury on my brother's face. Rubbing salt in an old wound was cruel on my part, but I was not going to have him speak badly about Elizabeth or Samuel when both had just gone through something serious. Hopefully, Samuel was recovering from doing everything in his power to keep her safe, and she had done the same for him. My brother's life might have been filled with books, numbers, and money, but that didn't mean he had to speak about things he knew nothing about.

"She should never have been out there in the first place," he snapped, fists curling at his side, and I wondered if this would finally be when he decided to swing at me.

"That ain't your call, and ain't never gonna be so long as I have somethin' to say about it."

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