Page 38 of A Dangerous Heart
Everything she wanted to say—her apology, her plea for him to understand—was lodged in her throat, choking her.
He stared at her, waiting for an answer.
“You’re a Barlow?” he demanded.
Blood will tell.
Blood will out.
“You’re a Barlow?”
The question hung in the air.
Isaac saw the answer in her face before she spoke. Clare was related to a notorious outlaw. One who’d robbed and murdered in cold blood. She wrapped her arms around her middle, fingers grasping her elbows like she was holding herself together. At the same time, her chin hitched up stubbornly. All contradictions. That was Clare.
“I’m not my brother,” she said.
“You’re a Barlow,” he repeated.
He saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes before she blinked them away. Part of him wanted to comfort her, and that just increased his fury. She’d lied to him, keeping this from him.
“You took those boys from their pa? Barlow?” She had to know Victor would search far and wide for his sons. And exact retribution on her. “You know what he’ll do if he finds you.”
He saw the answer to that, too, on her expressive face—a flash of fear, then a fierce frown.
“He won’t find us!”
A bitter-sounding laugh escaped him. He looked down at his boots and took a calming breath. It didn’t work. He shoved his hands on his hips and confronted her again. “A dozen people saw you get off the train in Calvin with the boys in tow.”
Including Quade. His gaze instinctively went to the river. Quade would love nothing more than to stir up trouble, even murderous trouble, for the McGraws.
“All it will take is a few questions to find out who you left the train station with.”
Fear blasted through him. This was worse than imagining David going up against one of Quade’s men. If Victor Barlow tracked Clare here, he’d shoot anyone who tried to get in his way.
“I couldn’t stay.” She took a few steps toward him, shaking her head. “You can’t imagine what it was like…”
He could. He’d tracked plenty of men like Victor. Met the wives, children, and saloon girls who were the victims of their violence. Imagining Clare with the kind of bruises he’d seen made him feel sick. His eyes went to the scar on her wrist.
“I couldn’t stay any longer. I told you the truth about Anne and my promise to her. I wanted to get the boys out before?—”
“And now you’ve laid a trail right to our door. Right to Kaitlyn and Jo and Tillie.”
“Stop!” she demanded. This time the tears spilled down her cheeks. She swiped at them. “Victor has no idea where we are. We took two different trains to cover our tracks.”
“You can’t run away from who you are.” He saw the words hit, saw her shoulders fold in. He turned away, berating himself.He’d known, hadn’t he? That she was keeping secrets. He’d gone soft. Let down his guard. He should never have spoken a word to her.
He swung back around to confront her one last time. “This changes everything—keeping this secret from me.”
She closed her eyes against this last assault. The wind loosened some of her golden-brown hair and swept it across her face.
He jammed his hands in his pockets. His fingers met metal. His mind flashed to the star half buried in the dirt. And then to another scene—Cody, his lifeless body set in a pine coffin and lowered into the ground. He couldn’t let that happen to David. Couldn’t bear for Drew to know that grief. His first duty was to protect his family.
The points of the star stabbed his palm where he gripped it in his pocket. “We’re done playacting, Clare.”
Her face went pale.
“I’ll take you back to town in the morning and turn you over to Marshal O’Grady. She’ll help you find a safe place, but it can’t be here.”
