McKettrick's Choice - Linda Lael Miller [147]
“No,” she replied, and made herself meet his eyes. She’d changed since the time—was it really such a short while ago?—when she’d marched out of Judge Fellows’s house for good. She’d seen so much, learned so much. Changed so much. “I know you believe Mr. Templeton and his men burned my place, and you might be right. But if they did, it was at the judge’s urging. I have to face my father, once and for all, and tell him that no matter what he does, he can’t break me.”
“Lorelei,” Holt murmured. Then, in a stronger voice, he added, “You don’t have to tell him or anybody else a damn thing. Let them see for themselves that you’re somebody to be reckoned with.”
She was startled. “You really think that?”
He chuckled, turning his hat in his hands. “You’re damn right I do,” he said. “You are Texas-tough, through and through, and I’m proud to know you.”
Lorelei stared at him, speechless.
He lifted his right hand, ran the backs of his knuckles lightly along the length of her cheek.
“Do—do you still want to buy my land? The house is gone, I know, but the grass will grow back—”
He frowned. “What?”
“If Heddy’s willing to sell,” Lorelei said bravely, “I mean to buy her rooming house in Laredo. Set myself up in business.”
Holt did not look pleased by this idea. No doubt, he was still thinking she and her father would reconcile, despite all that had happened, and she’d settle happily back into a spinster’s life. That way, when he went back to Arizona, he could leave in good conscience, or at least telling himself he hadn’t done too much harm. “Has it escaped your recollection,” he said, “what the country between here and Laredo is like? How do you expect to get back there?”
“I’ll ride the Wells Fargo stage,” Lorelei said. “They have outriders, so it should be safe.”
“Safe?” He slapped his hat against his thigh, then plopped it on his head.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t be too far out of their way to stop by the Davis ranch, so I could give Mary her blue-and-white gingham.”
“Oh, hell yes!” Holt snapped. “Wells Fargo delivers gingham to the middle of nowhere all the time!”
Lorelei felt better now that they were arguing, like usual. It would be easier, remembering moments like this one, when he went away. “It can’t hurt to ask,” she maintained.
Holt began to pace, the way Gabe might have done if he’d been there to wait out Melina’s labor. “Lorelei, will you talk sense, for once in your life? You can’t go back to Laredo and run some rooming house, and you sure as hell have no business risking your life for a bolt of cloth!”
“What would you suggest I do instead?”
He stopped his pacing. Stared at her. “Go back to San Antonio?” he asked hopelessly, because he already knew the answer.
“No,” she said. “After I speak with my father, and say goodbye to Angelina and Raul, I’m going to put my offer to Heddy and make arrangements to leave for Laredo.” She drew a deep breath, hoping he didn’t hear the tremulousness in it. “Now, will you buy my land or not?”
“What if I say no?”
“Then I’ll sell it to Mr. Templeton.”
His eyes narrowed to slits, and he jerked the hat off his head again and poked at her with it. “You wouldn’t—after all he’s done—”
“I would if I had no other choice,” Lorelei answered, with a lot more certainty than she felt. The truth of it was, she hadn’t even asked Heddy about buying the place in Laredo yet. There hadn’t been time, between Rafe and the cowboy needing care, and then Melina having the baby.
“Fine!” Holt shouted. “I’ll buy it, then! Name your price!”
She folded her arms. “Make me an offer.”
He did.
She put out her hand. “Sold,” she said.
Holt didn’t take her up on the handshake. He pushed past her and stormed into the house, leaving her standing in the tall grass, wondering how she’d bear it when she didn’t have him to fight with anymore.
TWO HOURS LATER, when Lorelei, Holt and Dr. Brown headed for town, Lorelei wore trousers and a shirt, borrowed from Tillie, and rode straight-backed on Seesaw. Her father would be scandalized when he saw