feelings when she’d arrived at her aunt’s house. “It would have been tricky, at that,” she agreed. “He was the last person on earth I wanted to see when I first came back from Nassau.”
Footsteps echoed out in the hall and a door slammed. Kasie frowned.
“Sounds like Gil’s going to bypass breakfast again this morning,” John remarked as he finished his eggs. “He doesn’t have much of an appetite these days.”
“I’ll just check and make sure it isn’t the girls,” Kasie said.
“Suit yourself, but I know those footsteps. He only walks that way when he’s upset. God help whatever cowboy he runs into on his way.”
Kasie didn’t reply. She walked into the hall and there, on the hall table, was an armload of pink roses with the dew still clinging to the silky, fragrant petals. It took a few seconds for her to realize that Gil must have heard every word she’d said. She groaned inwardly as she gathered up the roses. Well, that was probably the end of any truce, she thought. He’d think she couldn’t forgive him, and that would make him even angrier. Unless she missed her guess, he was going to be hell to live with from now on.
She took the roses to the kitchen and found a vase for them, which she filled with water before she arranged the flowers in it. With a sigh, she took them upstairs to her room and placed them on the dresser. They were beautiful. She couldn’t imagine what had possessed Gil Callister to go out and cut her a bouquet. But the gesture touched her poignantly.
Sure enough, when Gil came in early for supper, he was dusty and out of humor. He needed a shave. He glared at everybody, especially Kasie.
“Aren’t you going to clean up first?” John asked, aghast, when he sat down to the table in his chaps.
“What for?” he muttered. “I’ve got to go right back out again.” He reached for his coffee cup, which Mrs. Charters had just filled, and put cream in it.
“Is something wrong?” John asked then, concerned.
“We’ve got a fence down.” His eyes met his brothers. “It wasn’t broken through. It was cut.”
John stared at the older man. “Another one? That makes two in less than ten days.”
“I know. I can’t prove it, but I know it was Fred Sims.”
John nodded slowly. “That makes sense. One of the cowboys who was friendly with him said Sims hasn’t been able to find another job since we fired him.”
Gil’s pale blue eyes glittered. “That damned dog could have bitten my babies,” he said. “No way was he going to keep it here after it chased them onto the porch.”
“Bad doggie,” Jenny agreed.
Bess nodded. “We was scared, Daddy.”
“Sims is going to be scared, if I catch him within a mile of my property,” Gil added.
“Don’t become a vigilante,” John cautioned his older brother. “Call the sheriff. Let him handle it. That’s what he gets paid to do.”
“He can’t be everywhere,” Gil replied, eyes narrowed. “I want all the cowboys armed, at least with rifles. I’m not taking any chances. If he’s brazen enough to cut fences and shoot livestock, he’s capable of worse.”
Kasie felt her heart stop. So that was why he’d been around the ranch so much lately. The man, Sims, had threatened vengeance. Apparently he was killing cattle as well as cutting fences to let them escape. She pictured Gil at the end of a gun and she felt sick all over.
“I’ll make sure everyone’s been alerted and prepared for danger,” John agreed. “But you stay out of it. You’re the one person around here that Sims would enjoy shooting.”
“He’d be lucky to get off a shot,” Gil replied imperturbably. He finished his meal and wiped his mouth. “I’ve got to get back out there. We haven’t finished stringing wire, and it’s not long until dark.”
“Okay. I’ll phone the vet about those carcasses we found. I want him to look for bullet wounds.”
“Good idea.”
Gil finished the last sip of his coffee in a grim silence that seemed to spread to the rest of the family. The girls, sensing hidden anger in the adults around them, excused themselves and went upstairs to play in their room while Mrs. Charters cleaned away the dishes. John went to make a phone call.
Gil got to his feet without looking at Kasie and started toward the front door. Kasie caught up with him on the porch. It was almost dark. The sky was fiery red and pink and yellow where the sun was setting.
“Thank you,” she blurted out.
He stopped and turned. “For what?”
His hat was pulled low over his eyes, and she couldn’t see the expression in them, but she was pretty sure that he was scowling.
She went closer to him, stopping half an arm’s length away. “For the roses,” she said hesitantly. “They’re beautiful.”
He didn’t move. He just stood there, somber, quiet. “How do you know they were meant for you?” he drawled. “And how do you know I brought them?”
She flushed scarlet. She didn’t know for sure, but she’d assumed.
He averted his eyes, muttering under his breath. “You’re welcome,” he said tersely.
“That man, Sims,” she continued, worried. “The day you fired him, John said that he had a mean temper and that he carried a loaded rifle everywhere with him. You…you be careful, okay?”
She heard the soft expulsion of breath. He moved a step closer, his lean hands lifting her oval face to his. She could see the soft glitter of his blue eyes in the faint light from the windows.
“What do you care if I get myself shot?” he asked huskily. “I’m the one who sent you packing without even giving you the chance to explain what happened in Nassau.”
“Pauline didn’t like me,” she said. “And you trusted her. I was just a stranger.”
“Not anymore, Kasie,” he said gruffly.
“I mean, you didn’t know anything about me,” she persisted. She searched his eyes, feeling jolts of electricity flow into her at the exquisite contact. “I was upset and I behaved badly when you came to Mama Luke’s. But deep inside, I didn’t blame you for not trusting me.”
His lean hands tightened on her face. “I’ve done nothing but torment you since the first day you came here,” he bit off. “I didn’t want you in my life, Kasie,” he whispered as he bent toward her. “I still don’t. But a man can only stand so much…!”
His mouth caught hers hungrily. His arms swallowed her up against him, so that not an inch of space separated them. For long, achingly sweet seconds, they clung to each other in the soft darkness.
He drew away from her finally and stood just looking at her in a tense, hot silence. His hands were firm around
