Page 54 of Texas Glory
“Don’t think he meant to. He was just shooting, and I got in the way.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t have any friends, Austin. I need a friend right now. Be my friend.”
“Sure. Whatever you want.”
“Friends never lie to each other,” she said.
With his thumb, Austin pushed his hat off his brow, wishing he’d been a little slower in agreeing to be her friend. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you know what happened the night that Dallas broke Boyd’s arm?”
“Yep. That’s the night I got shot.”
“Was Boyd guarding his cattle? Did you, Dallas, and Houston attack him?”
Austin jerked off his hat and looked at the sky, wondering where wisdom came from.
“I want the truth,” she said. “Am I married to a man who sneaked up on my brother in the dead of night and broke his arm?”
He lowered his gaze to hers. Within her brown eyes, he saw a sparkle of hope, and he wondered which would hurt her the least—the truth or a lie.
“The truth,” she whispered as though understanding his hesitancy.
“No, you’re not married to a man who’d sneak up on anyone. It’s not Dallas’s way. It never has been. He meets every problem head-on. Your brothers were gettin’ into the habit of cutting through Dallas’s fence and killing off his cattle. That night, we were waiting for them. When the pain ripped through my shoulder, everything went black, but Houston told me that Dallas had dragged Boyd through the river. I reckon his arm must have hit a rock or something and got busted, but I do know Dallas didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Dallas frightens me, Austin.”
Austin couldn’t stop himself from stepping closer and wrapping his arms around her. “I know. I see it in your eyes every time you look at him. He sees it, too, and it makes him mad, which scares you more and makes him furious. It’s a circle you can’t seem to get out of.”
“The things Boyd told me … I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Austin leaned back and cupped her chin. “Well, you might try by not looking at him through Boyd’s eyes, but look at him through your own. Pretend you just met him and had never heard anything about him.”
“I think he’d still frighten me.”
Austin laughed. “He scares the hell out of me. Out of Houston, too.” He grew somber. “But he’d never hurt you, Dee. I know that.”
“But he won’t set me free.”
“If he did, what would you do? Was living with your family better than what you have now?”
“I need something more, Austin. I don’t know what, but I know I need something more than what Dallas or my family has the power to give me.”
He drew her close, pressing his cheek against the top of her head. “Then I hope you find it, Dee. I truly do.”
CHAPTER
NINE
Dallas stepped out of the bank and wished to God that he hadn’t desperately searched for an excuse to come into town. He’d hoped to casually cross his wife’s path, perhaps walk through the town with her.
He hadn’t expected to see her on the boardwalk wrapped tightly within his brother’s arms.
Austin looked up and his blue eyes widened. “Dallas!” Like a snake wrapped around a low-lying tree branch, Austin slowly uncoiled himself from around Cordelia. “Didn’t know you had plans to come to town.”
“Obviously.” Dallas balled his hands into fists and clenched his jaws, his gaze darting between his brother and his wife. The terror had returned to her eyes, and he imagined right now she had good reason to fear him.
With a loose-jointed walk, Austin approached him. “Dee found out that Boyd shot me. She was a little angry at us for not telling her outright, for saying it was cattle rustlers. I was just trying to cool her temper.”
