Even though she knew virtually nothing about him, she was strongly attracted to Broc Kincaid. For some reason, his wound didn’t bother her. Most of the time she was hardly aware of it. There was just something about Broc that rendered his disfigurement unimportant.
He didn’t draw attention to himself, though she was certain he was the kind of person who could do just about anything he wanted. His good humor and his willingness to be so helpful would have made him a wonderful addition to any gathering. She wondered about the ranch where he worked. Did the people there treat him well despite the wound, or did he have to endure discrimination from them, too? She wondered if there was anywhere he could go where he would be treated like an ordinary person. It had to be hard to have people stare at you, especially when it was often in horror or disgust. Even when they didn’t stare, Broc must know what they were thinking. It was enough to turn a normal person into a hermit.
She threw a light quilt to one side. Now that she’d taken the chill off the bed, she was too warm.
Settling back, she told herself there was little point in worrying about Broc. He would leave tomorrow, and she’d never see him again. She wouldn’t know how he was treated or what was happening to him. Thinking about her own situation would be a better use of her time. She sighed. She’d been doing that for weeks and had yet to change anything. She’d probably have to do Gary’s work tomorrow. She didn’t know where he disappeared to, but half of the time nobody could find him. She wished her mother would stop pretending Gary could do no wrong. The family needed a man to depend on, but Gary was never going to measure up to his father as long as his ambition in life didn’t rise above serving drinks in a saloon.
She knew it wasn’t the drinks that drew him. It was feeling he was part of the rugged male community that made up the ranchers and cowhands around Cactus Bend. Gary wanted to feel grown up, like a man, but he didn’t understand that standing around telling coarse jokes, drinking too much, and making lewd comments to the waitresses was neither mature nor manly.
Amanda didn’t want to think about Gary tonight. Instead she tried to imagine what the future would be like once she didn’t have to work in the saloon any longer. Surrendering to these thoughts, she gradually fell asleep.
By the time Broc got back to the saloon, the crowd had thinned, but the noise was as loud as ever. “I’ve returned the buggy,” Broc said when he finally attracted Gary’s attention.
“Stay away from my sister.”
Broc had started to leave, but he turned back at Gary’s words.
“What have I done to make you think I’m interested in her?”
“You offered to see her home.”
“Would you have preferred one of these men to do it?” The crowd was down to a hard-drinking, hard-living group Broc wouldn’t have turned his back on.
“Yeah, I would,” Gary responded.
“Until you get a better handle on reading character, I hope your sister stays home.”
Broc turned to leave but was stopped by Corby.
“I don’t want you hanging around Amanda.”
Broc wasn’t used to being treated so rudely, and it was beginning to annoy him. “As long as Amanda doesn’t mind, I don’t see that it’s any of your business.” Broc had obviously hit a sensitive nerve, because Corby drew himself up to his full height, which was still several inches below Broc’s.
“Amanda is going to be my wife. Everything that happens to her is my business.”
“Then you ought to pay more attention to that ranch. She works there all day, cooking for the family as well as the hands, then has to work in your saloon until late at night.”
“Amanda enjoys working here because the men love her.”
“That’s possible, but if she were my prospective wife, she wouldn’t have to be in the saddle in the morning chasing down a dangerous bull, defending her cowhands from ruthless neighbors in the afternoon, and being lusted after by a bunch of drunks at night.”
Corby’s expression turned to anger. “If you’re thinking about trying to get Amanda to fall in love with you—”
Broc lost patience and grabbed Corby by the front of his shirt. “Look at my face. Do you think any woman as beautiful as Amanda is going to give me a second thought?” Broc released him. “That bullet ruined my face, not my brain.” Hearing his words so clearly made him realize the noise of the saloon had fallen away. Broc turned to see everybody’s attention focused on him and Corby. “If I’d been in your place,” he added, “I’d have closed the saloon for the night rather than let Amanda go home alone. She deserves better, and you and every man in this place know it.”
Disgusted, Broc walked out of the saloon, leaving a shocked silence behind him.
A few hundred yards from the Liscomb ranch house Broc slowed his horse to a walk, but he was only putting off the inevitable. If he didn’t do this, someone else would. “You’re acting like a coward,” he told himself. “You’ve got a job to do, so get it done.”
Unlike most Texas ranch houses, this one was two stories with a wide front porch shaded by a quartet of elms that must have been planted long before the war. The exterior of weathered wood was complemented by the brown trim around the windows and doors. All the windows were curtained and closed, probably to keep out the heat and the dust. Broc saw no movement when he rode into the yard, and no one came out of the house to see who had arrived. He hoped the whole family was inside eating dinner. He hated to spoil their meal, but it would be better to talk to everyone at the same time. He dismounted, climbed the steps, crossed the porch, and knocked on the door. A moment later, the door was thrown open, and Eddie’s little face grinned up at him.
“Amanda said you were gone.”
“I have something I need to tell your family. May I come in?”
“The pork chops are gone. Gary ate the last one.”
“I didn’t come to eat dinner.”
Amanda appeared in the doorway behind Eddie. “I thought you were leaving today. Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just need to talk to your family.”
“What about?”
“It would be better if I told everybody at once.”
“Has something happened to Corby?”
Maybe Corby was right. If he was the first person Amanda thought about when she believed there might be trouble, then she probably was going to marry him. It made sense on several levels, but Amanda deserved better than Corby Wilson.
“I haven’t seen Corby today, but I have no reason to think anything has happened to him. I didn’t realize you’d be so concerned about him.”
“Corby wants to marry her,” Eddie explained helpfully.
“Sorry. I had no right to say that.” Now he’d done it. After the way he’d acted, Amanda couldn’t help thinking he was jealous. If he’d had any doubt, her telltale blush would have confirmed her thoughts.
“Whatcha got to tell us?” Eddie asked, oblivious to the tension between Broc and his sister.
“I need to speak to your mother,” Broc said.
Amanda pulled Eddie back from the doorway. “Come inside. We’re just finishing up dinner.”
Broc followed Amanda into the dining room. From the reactions of those around the table, it was obvious only Leo was pleased to see him. Gary looked angry. Andy acted more embarrassed than angry. Mrs. Liscomb’s slight grimace indicated that she hadn’t gotten past her aversion to looking at his scars. She’d be even more unhappy when she found out why he was here.
“Mr. Kincaid,” she said in a cool voice. “I didn’t expect to see you again. Our bull hasn’t escaped again, has he?”
“I checked on the bull before I came in,” Gary growled. “The lazy bastard is lying down in the shed. He doesn’t give a damn about the cows he’s supposed to be breeding.”
Mrs. Liscomb’s pained expression indicated that she regretted her son’s mode of expression, but the sickly smile that followed it indicated Gary could do just about anything, and h
e’d still be her favorite child.
“I know nothing about the bull,” Broc said. “I came here on another errand.”
“Won’t you sit down?” Mrs. Liscomb asked. “The pork chops are gone, but we have—”
“I don’t want anything to eat.”
“Then what do you want?” Her expression said that she had extended all the courtesies expected of a lady in her position. From this point on he would be treated like any other visitor who was thoughtless enough to arrive during dinnertime.
“I need to speak to you about a debt.”
“We don’t have any debts,” Amanda said.
“Please, Amanda, Mr. Kincaid was speaking to me,” Mrs. Liscomb chided. “I’m perfectly capable of answering his questions.” She turned to Broc. “As my daughter said, we don’t have any debts.”
“According to Judge Pike in Crystal Springs, your husband still owes Mrs. Ella Sibley the sum of seven hundred dollars. I have been instructed to collect that sum. I’m further instructed to tell you that if the debt is not paid in full within twelve days, the judge will come to Cactus Bend and auction off family property until the sum of seven hundred dollars has been realized.”
For a moment, no one moved. Then Mrs. Liscomb uttered a moan, her head fell forward, and she fainted.
Chapter Four
“Bastard!” Gary shouted at Broc. “What are you trying to pull?”
“I’m not trying to pull anything.” Rather than look at Gary, Broc fixed his gaze on Amanda, who had gone to her mother’s side. “I’m just doing what the judge told me to do.”
Instead of calming down, Gary grew more agitated. “We’d be fools to give you as much as five cents.”
“It doesn’t matter how it gets to the judge as long as it gets there.”
“What do you take me for? Any idiot would know this judge of yours is your partner in this attempted swindle.”
Broc hadn’t taken his eyes off Amanda. Her mother was beginning to show signs of reviving. “This is not a swindle. My advice is to go to Crystal Springs and verify what I’ve said with Judge Pike before you attempt to do anything.”
“I won’t waste my time. Now get out of this house.”
“Gary,” Amanda said to her brother, “help me get Mother to her room.”
“Wait until I make sure this slimy bastard is off our property.”
“No,” Amanda said. “I want to talk to him.”
“I’m not letting you say one word to this snake,” Gary fumed.
“Gary,” his mother said in a faint voice, “please help your sister. I can’t stand this commotion.”
Furious at being undermined by his sister and mother, Gary turned on Broc and snarled, “I’m not finished with you.”
“I’m little, but I know what a debt is,” Eddie said when the others had left the room. “It means you owe somebody money.”
“That’s right.”
“Why do we owe you money?” Eddie asked.
“You don’t owe it to me. You owe it to a lady named Ella Sibley.”
“Who is she? Why do we have to pay her money?”
“I don’t know,” Broc admitted. “I’m just telling you what the judge told me to say.”
“Is the judge really a crook?”
“No.”
“Why did he send you?” Leo asked. “Why didn’t he send some lawyer?”
“I don’t know why he didn’t send a lawyer,” Broc said, “but he sent me as part of an exchange.”
“What’s an exchange?” Eddie asked.
“It’s when someone does something for you, and you do something in return.”
Broc looked up to see that Amanda had returned to the room alone. He wondered what had happened to Gary.
“Mother needed someone to stay with her,” Amanda said, apparently understanding his question. “She’s always placed her trust in Gary.”
Broc thought that was a terrible mistake, but he kept his opinion to himself.
“Leo, if you and Andy are through eating, you should get back to work.”
The two men wasted little time leaving the house.
“Eddie, I want you—”
“Papa’s will said I had an equal part in the ranch. That means this Ella woman is going to want money from me, too. I gotta find out if what Gary said is true.”
Amanda looked undecided but reluctantly nodded agreement. “Come into the front room,” she said to Broc.
“There really is nothing else to say,” Broc told her. “As I advised Gary, you ought to send someone to Crystal Springs to verify what I’ve said.”
“I intend to do that,” Amanda said. “Nevertheless, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Me, too,” Eddie said, following them from the dining room.
Broc had expected to confront a businessman who was in the habit of not paying debts. He certainly hadn’t expected to have to deal with a fainthearted widow who was determined to live in a dreamworld, an angry teen boy, a curious and noncritical nine-year-old, and a young woman who was too young to have to bear the burden of this dysfunctional family. He almost wished he’d told the judge to put him in jail, but it was too late to avoid being the bearer of bad news. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too late for him to end up in jail. Whether he liked it or not, he had to stick this one out.
“Why should I believe you?” Amanda asked Broc as soon as they were seated.
“Do you believe me?”
“The scheme is too flimsy to be an attempt to steal money from us. Anyway, I don’t think you’re the kind of man who would do that.”
Broc swallowed his surprise at Amanda’s words as well as the funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. It felt a lot like indigestion, but he was certain it was the precursor of a feeling that would be much harder to swallow. Since his injury, he’d never allowed his feelings for any woman to go beyond liking, fondness at the most. Unless he was mistaken, he’d already gone past that with Amanda. Unfortunately, she’d given him no reason to do so. “Why don’t you think I’m a crook? Gary does.”
“I don’t,” Eddie said. “I like you.”
Broc swallowed his smile when Amanda’s expression remained unchanged.
“Intuition,” Amanda said, “and what I saw of you yesterday.”
“All successful thieves have a disarming charm about them. If people like you, they’re more apt to let their guard down.”
“I never said I liked you,” Amanda corrected, “just that I don’t think you’re a thief.”
That was a harsh way to learn that half a loaf wasn’t better than no loaf at all.
“If none of the money you say we owe belongs to you, how did you become involved in collecting this debt?”
As much as he disliked it, he owed her an explanation. “I was in a bad mood, and I let some guy’s comments about my scars cause me to lose my temper. I ended up breaking his arm and his jaw.”
“Golly!” Eddie exclaimed.
“The judge told me I could stay out of jail if I would collect this debt. If I had known then what I know now, I would have taken jail.”
He saw the first change in Amanda’s expression. “Why?”
Broc wasn’t sure how to explain the complex lines of his reasoning. He wasn’t sure he fully understood it himself. “I expected to be dealing with a man who was used to taking advantage of others, not a widow trying to take care of three children under twenty.”
“Mama doesn’t take care of us,” Eddie informed him. “We take care of her.”
Amanda’s expression hardened again. “My mother suffers from poor health. The brutal way you announced this debt has been a terrible shock to her.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of any other way to do it.”
“I don’t understand what’s behind this—I can’t imagine why a real judge would make you do something like this—but we don’t owe anyone any money. You’ve been duped, to what purpose I don’t know.”
“I have no personal knowledge of Mrs.
Sibley, nor any substantiation I can offer to prove that your family owes her money. I am, however, certain Judge Pike is a real judge. His authority was accepted by the sheriff who arrested me. Even if you don’t want to go to Crystal Springs, you’ll have a chance to decide for yourself because Cactus Bend is on his circuit. He plans to be here in about two weeks.”
“It seems unlikely that a sheriff and a judge would be involved in such a ridiculous scheme, but I’ve learned people are capable of anything. However, that’s not what I wanted to say. This whole attempt to collect a debt is fraudulent. I don’t know, nor do I want to know, why you’re part of it, but I do know I don’t want you to come to the house again. Your presence in the house would upset my mother.” After a slight pause, she added, “Please don’t offer to see me home from the saloon again. If you do, I’ll turn you down.”
Amanda had never given him reason to think she felt anything for him beyond appreciation for a stranger who’d been able to help her, but he’d looked forward to seeing her many more times while he was in Cactus Bend. He’d found himself responding to her quiet strength of character, her steadiness when things were going wrong, and the fact that everyone seemed to depend on her. Feeling that he’d been effectively dismissed, he stood.
“I don’t know that I can honor your request. I really don’t want to go to jail. I would urge you to investigate the question of this debt very thoroughly. I can’t help feeling there’s something you don’t know.” There was definitely something strange about the whole situation. How could anyone be unaware of owing seven hundred dollars?
“My father told us he got the money to buy the ranch and the bull from the sale of his share of the saloon and diner. It’s as simple as that.” She stood. “You’d better go before Gary comes back.”
How to make the only woman he’d ever been genuinely attracted to hate him in one easy lesson. Oh well, it would save him from a good deal of unnecessary heartbreak later. Heartbreak seemed overly dramatic, but he had a feeling more than his freedom from jail had slipped beyond his control.
Eddie followed him outside. “Are you really a crook?”
When Love Comes Page 5
