TEXAS! SAGE

by Sandra Brown

  Even from where Sage was standing, she heard the bone in his forearm snap. He seemed to hang in suspension for an agonizing eternity before sliding to the ground. Cradling his right arm against his stomach, he collapsed into the dirt.

  * * *

  Chapter 12

  Sage had thought she understood the definition of misery.

  As thorough as Webster's was, however, the definition fell far short of comprehensive explanation. Until tonight Sage hadn't realized misery's total dimensions, its height and breadth. Misery went bone-deep. Like a severe chill, it could cause one to huddle beneath layers of blankets without any hope of ever getting warm. Misery caused one's teeth to chatter. It cramped muscles until they ached.

  She stared wide-eyed into the darkness beyond her bed, reviewing the bizarre events that had taken place in the last several hours.

  If she closed her eyes, she could still see Harlan and Lucky fighting in the unworldly glare of the pickup's headlights, raising clouds of dust that swirled dizzily in the twin beams. She heard again the sickening sounds of splitting skin and snapping bone. She vividly recalled seeing her brother's face, grimacing in agony, his lips white with pain.

  Chase had hustled her and Lucky into the cab of the truck and then driven like a bat out of hell to the ranch house. It had been a rough ride. Lucky had cursed elaborately with every jolting motion of the truck.

  Their arrival had created panic and pandemonium throughout the house. All their clothes were bloodstained, though exactly whose blood it was remained uncertain. In addition to his broken arm, Lucky's jaw was bruised, one of his eyes was swelling shut, and there was a nasty cut on his lip. Within minutes he was on his way to the hospital accompanied by Devon and Chase. Marcie and Sage stayed with the children, who were already down for the night.

  It was a while before Sage remembered the horses that had been deserted in the pasture. She ran to the stable. The horses had been returned to their stalls, unsaddled, and rubbed down. Obviously Harlan had done it, but he was no longer around and his truck was gone.

  Near midnight, Chase and Devon returned home without Lucky. The break in his arm had been clean and would heal without complications, but the doctor advised that he spend the night in the hospital for observation.

  "He didn't want to," Devon had told them. "But I insisted. Could I prevail on you to spend the night here? If I was needed at the hospital or something…" she finished lamely.

  Chase and Marcie agreed to spend the night. Sage showered and got ready for bed, executing each task routinely. Her body and mind were numb. No one had pointed a finger and specifically blamed her for what had happened, but the silent consensus must be that it was her fault.

  Chase knocked on her door just as she was turning out the light. "Is there any possibility of truth to what Harlan said about you being pregnant with his child?"

  "A possibility, Chase," she answered meekly, unable to look at him directly, "but very little likelihood."

  "Did he rape you, Sage? Because if he did, I'm not going to bother calling the police. I'm going after the sonofabitch myself."

  "No! Don't do anything, Chase." She couldn't bear the thought of causing her family more grief, worry, and difficulty. "He didn't force me. It wasn't like that at all."

  "Did he coerce you in any way?"

  "No. It was … mutual."

  He stood on her threshold for several moments more. She could almost feel his eyes boring into the crown of her bowed head in search of the truth. "All right," he said at last. "Good night."

  "Good night. Oh, Chase," she said, calling him back. "You're not going to try and notify Mother and Pat, are you?"

  "We discussed it on the way to the hospital and decided not to ruin their honeymoon."

  Vastly relieved, she said, "That was my thinking, too. Good night."

  That conversation had taken place hours ago, and she still couldn't sleep. Lucky was in the hospital on account of her. Chase was threatening to hunt down Harlan and inflict bodily harm or worse. Her sisters-in-law had been told the reason for the fight. They kept their eyes lowered when speaking to her, either out of pity or scorn. She couldn't be sure.

  Her whole family was in an uproar, and it was her fault. How had things become such a jumble? The week before Christmas she had thought she had her life under control. When it began to topple, it had come crashing down and now lay around her feet in shambles.

  She had made some bad decisions which had affected not only her, but everyone around her and the family business. Thinking of that, she groaned and buried her head in her pillow.

  Chase and Lucky were so optimistic about this irrigation system. They saw it as a means of getting them in the black again. What possible future did it have now? As things stood, their working with Harlan again wasn't even within the realm of possibility. The business would sink until it hit bottom. The blame would rest on her shoulders.

  The chill in her bones suddenly vanished. She grew uncomfortably warm and kicked off her electric blanket. Leaving the bed, she began to aimlessly prowl around the room.

  She couldn't allow the family business to fail. If it did as a result of her poor judgment, she would never recover her self-respect. Her Grandpa Tyler had started that business. Damned if it was going to be said that it had collapsed because his only granddaughter had had hormones that made her succumb to the allure of sexy blue eyes and a well-fitting pair of old Levi's.

  "I'll be damned first," she vowed into the darkness.

  She had to do something, anything, to prevent that from happening. But what? She was almost afraid to do anything except stand still. Recently, every step she'd taken had been a wrong one. If she wanted to prove herself worthy of the Tyler name, she couldn't afford any more errors.

  But, no pain, no gain.

  No guts, no glory.

  The T-shirt philosophies echoed through her head. Some of them began to carry weight and make sense. That was probably dangerous thinking, because the idea that was jiggling the lock on the back door of her mind was risky to say the very least. Should she invite it in to take a look around?

  All she knew for certain was that she couldn't return to bed and pull the covers over her head. She had to make a move now, before the light of day and the dawn of reason stopped her to reconsider.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, she hurried to the closet, took out her suitcase, and began to pack.

  * * *

  "Hellfire and damnation!"

  Harlan stuck his injured thumb into his mouth and sucked on it hard. While trying to attach the trailer to his pickup, he'd mashed his thumb between two immovable objects of metal. The trailer hitch was being uncooperative. He could hardly expect anything to go smoothly after the evening he had spent.

  "Just goes to show what being honest and open with folks can get you," he said to the trailer hitch, which finally connected.

  He heard the approaching car before he saw the headlights slicing through the trunks of the surrounding pine trees. He eased himself into an upright position, although standing perfectly straight caused some parts of his battered body to ache and throb. Of course, a few cuts and bruises wouldn't matter if the Tyler boys were toting shotguns this time.

  Resigned to having another fight, he braced himself for it, mentally and physically. He didn't relax one iota when he saw Sage, not her brothers, alight from the car. If anything, he tensed up tighter.

  "Before you say anything, hear me out," she stated for openers.

  "You'd better get out of here, Sage, before they catch you with me. Or did they send you in as bait to see if I'd bite?"

  "I told you to hear me out," she snapped. "I'm alone. Chase is at home asleep and Lucky is in the hospital."

  "Jesus." He dragged his hand over his face. He hadn't intended to hit him that hard. The sound of the breaking bone had turned his stomach. He had wanted to go with them and help out, but knew his help wouldn't be welcome.

  "Don't look so stricken," Sage said. "It
could have easily been you instead. The doctor's only keeping him there overnight for observation." She pulled her coat tighter around her. "It's cold out here. Can we talk inside?"

  "No way. Besides, in case you haven't noticed, I'm clearing out. Five minutes more and you would have missed me."

  "Then you'd have missed a golden opportunity."

  "To do what? Get beaten to a pulp by one of your irate brothers? No thanks. I'll pass. Right now the only option open to me is to leave."

  He pointed his finger at her. "But I swear to God, Sage, I'm coming back. When I do, if you're carrying my baby, I'm laying claim to it if I have to hogtie you and carry you off. I'll keep you and my baby, and I don't care if your brothers come after me with all the bloodhounds of hell."

  "There won't be a baby," she said with annoyance. "I'm going inside."

  She sashayed past him and stepped into the trailer. Knowing it was a bad idea that he would surely regret, Harlan followed her. The door slapped shut behind them. It wasn't much warmer inside the trailer. He'd already disconnected the generator and turned off the heat.

  Sage was rubbing her hands up and down her arms, but he sensed the action was more from restlessness than cold. She was keyed up, moving around like a high-strung filly at the starting gate of her first race.

  "Say what you've come to say and then scram," he said. "You're a peck of bad news."

  "I have a proposition to make you."

  "Isn't that usually left up to the man?"

  "Not that kind of proposition."

  His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Then what kind?"

  "Answer a question first."

  "Conditions already, and I haven't even heard the proposition."

  She frowned, but didn't address his sarcasm. "How far are you from finishing the prototype?"

  He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door. "Why?"

  "I want to sell it."

  "That's no surprise. That's been the goal all along, hasn't it?"

  "No, I mean sell it now. You and I. Together. We start making calls and sell clients on the idea. If they want to see the prototype, will we have something to show them? Before we get to that point, I need a guarantee from you that the damn thing will work."

  Several thoughts sprang immediately to his mind, but uppermost was that this was the damnedest woman he'd ever met. Knock her down, she bounced back for more. Fighting or making love, she was fascinating. Her ideas, however, were a little harebrained.

  "You want to just strike out and start selling irrigation systems door-to-door?"

  "Don't make fun of me, Harlan. I'm serious. I'm committed to this."

  "Yeah, well I think you ought to be committed, all right. To the state hospital."

  "Damn you, I'm fighting for my future and for the future of my family's business. Stop cracking stupid jokes and answer my simple question. Can you get it to work?"

  "It does work."

  "It does?" Her mouth hung open for several seconds. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. "It really does?"

  "Yep. While everybody else has been in a tailspin doing wedding stuff, I managed to acquire a used computer."

  "Acquire?"

  "Don't ask."

  "Okay, I won't. Go on."

  "It didn't fit inside the casing I'd built, but I hooked it up. I tried out the system day before yesterday. If it had been attached to a pipeline, this whole field would be well-watered by now."

  Her voice was high and shrill with excitement. "Why didn't you tell anybody? Why keep it to yourself?"

  "I was waiting for all the excitement over the wedding to die down. Besides, I wanted to make some adjustments and try it several more times before I broadcast it."

  "But there's no doubt in your mind?"

  He grinned, unable to contain his own excitement over his success. "No doubt. It'll work."

  Sage clasped her hands beneath her chin. "Oh, Harlan, that's great news! That's wonderful!" Galvanized, she shoved him away from the door and reached for the latch. "Let's not waste any more time. We'll take your truck as far as Austin and pick up my car there."

  "Whoa! Hold it. Stop right there." He barred her exit. She turned to face him, her expression quizzical. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Sage, but I don't think you discussed this idea of yours with anybody. You sneaked off in the middle of the night with this wild notion and figured to surprise them later, right?"

  "Of course I didn't discuss it with anybody. After tonight, they wouldn't let me go away with you."

  "Um-huh. So what makes you think I'm going to take you anywhere with me? I'd have to be crazy to take you out for coffee, much less leave the city limits for parts unknown. I don't want every law officer in this state out looking for me with an arrest warrant in one hand and a loaded pistol in the other."

  "Don't worry about it."

  "Well, I do worry about it. When it comes to my hide, I'm funny like that."

  She sighed with exasperation. "I left them a note. I told them that I was with you by choice and asked them not to come after me. I promised to call periodically and let them know that I was safe."

  "But you don't intend to tell them what you're up to."

  She adamantly shook her head. "Not until I can bring them a contract. I won't come back without one."

  "You're forgetting something, Sage." He bent in closer. "You've got nothing to sell."

  "That's where you come in. I want you to bring all your blueprints and drawings of the machinery. First we'll sell potential customers on Tyler Drilling's excellent reputation, which they should already know is the best in the oil business. Then we'll show them your designs for adapting drilling pumps to an irrigation system and give the impression that the machinery is already in production and that they'd better get in line if they want one any time soon."

  "Which constitutes fraud."

  "I wouldn't commit a crime!" She seemed incensed at the very thought. "As soon as we get a contract, we'll rush the machinery into production. In the meantime, you can be working on a solution to the computer problem."

  He stared at the floor between his boots, shaking his head and chuckling. "Damnedest, craziest plan I ever heard of."

  "It'll work."

  "That's what's really scary."

  "Harlan," she said, moving forward and laying her hand on his arm. "I know you don't want to disappoint my brothers any more than I do. You told me that you didn't want to betray their trust. What happened between us," she said, her voice thickening, "was as much my fault as yours. I'm not blaming you, but Chase and Lucky, with their outdated code of chivalry, might.

  "Doing this provides each of us a way to win back their respect and confidence." She pulled her lower lip through her teeth and looked at him imploringly. "Anyway, I think it's worth a try, don't you?"

  "What about this thing that happened between us, Sage?"

  "It was an isolated incident, nothing more."

  "You think so?" he asked softly. She didn't answer, but he could tell that her own affirmation hadn't convinced her. "We'll be traveling together, in each other's company day … and night."

  "We're adults," she said hoarsely. "From now on, we're strictly business partners. Agreed, Harlan? Please?"

  He studied the face that had already gotten him into trouble with two men he respected more than any men he'd met in a long time. Before it was all over, he'd probably dig himself in deeper, but damned if he seemed to be able to help himself.

  She had a way of worming her way beneath his skin, burrowing down into his gut, and curling around his heart. He doubted he could deny her anything when she looked up at him like that, entreating him with eyes the color of smooth whiskey. He'd gotten drunk and done foolish things on whiskey a whole lot less intoxicating than those eyes.

  What the hell? He didn't have any particular destination in mind when he left here. He hadn't figured on leaving this soon, so he hadn't made plans. Besides, he hated leaving a job unfinished. He always tidied up after himsel
f before moving on. That had always been important to him. He had never left anyone disappointed in his association with Harlan Boyd.

  "Okay, Miss Sage," he conceded on a sigh. "Haul your buns into the cab of my truck. But, one derogatory word about it, and you walk."

  * * *

  Lucky hobbled into the kitchen under his own muscle power, but Chase hovered nearby in case his brother needed additional support. Lucky had been discharged from the hospital early that morning and had called asking Chase to come drive him home. As soon as they cleared the back door, Devon raised a hand to her mouth to cover her gasp.

  "It's worse than last night," she murmured sympathetically. Hugging him gently, she kissed an undamaged spot on his forehead and led him toward a chair at the kitchen table.

  "Yeah, but you ought to see the other guy," he joked through swollen lips.

  He had earned a reputation as a hotheaded fighter during his youth and had maintained it up until he met Devon. It had been several years since he'd had a split lip and swollen eye. Wincing, he lowered himself into the chair.

  "Does your arm hurt?" Devon asked solicitously.

  "I'll live."

  "Can you eat?"

  "Just coffee, please, for now." He removed something from his jacket. "They gave me this at the hospital." He held up an elbow-shaped straw. "It sucks."

  His joke didn't spark much laughter. What little there was sounded forced. The mood around the kitchen table was somber. Marcie glanced warily at Chase as she rocked Jamie. Lauren was taking her morning nap upstairs. Devon kept herself busy pouring coffee for everyone.

  While they drank it, Chase told the women the doctor's report. "Lucky'll have to wear that splint for six to eight weeks. He'll look like hell for several days—"

  "Thanks," Lucky threw in.

  "But then he'll be his usual handsome self."

  "Hopefully before your mother and Pat get back," Marcie commented.