In Too Deep (18 page)

“No you won't.”

“I might. I hate it. It sounds like
odd
. Like you're saying I'm odd. My little sister used to call me that.” She sounded fierce, but she cast him a worried look that took the danger out of her voice.

“I need to get to work.”

“I'm calling Steele in here and sending him for Rafe if you get out of that chair.”

Ethan scowled, but he didn't want her to tell Steele. It sounded like a threat to tattletale to his mama. And he didn't want Rafe here. And he didn't want Seth to see the burns.

He stayed in the chair.

Audie. He decided he'd call her that all the time. Except maybe he'd wait until he had his shirt on, to avoid being salted.

She rushed over and gently, so carefully, pressed the cool cloth on his shoulder.

It felt like heaven.

“I didn't realize how hot it was. Cold really takes the pain out.”

Audra gave him a smacking kiss on the top of his head, then whirled away to grab the basin and carry it to the table beside Ethan.

“I'll get more cloths. We'll cover all the burns and keep them cool until I get the poultice done.” She deftly laid a bigger cloth on his back.

All the burns?

“How bad is my back?” Ethan didn't really want to know.

“Big blisters down to the middle of your back, mainly on the left side. It's red all over. The blisters haven't popped. I think that's a good sign the damage isn't too bad.”

Ethan tried to not let his sigh of relief move his shoulders. He remembered the blackened skin on Seth's back.

Feeling encouraged, he waited until she'd covered his back and shoulders with cold, dripping rags. Chilly water slid down and soaked his pants, but the cold on his burns was worth the discomfort. Then, when she straightened away from her doctoring, he caught her free arm, the one not holding a baby, and pulled her back to kiss her thoroughly.

The kiss went on a lot longer than Ethan had planned, and he only let go when he got kicked in the face.

By Lily.

He backed up a bit to look his little wife in the eye. She didn't notice because she was focused on his lips. “Thank you for taking care of me, darlin'. It is a wonderful thing to have the soft hands of a woman around when a man is in need.”

She moved first. Back toward him. This time Lily had to kick him and Maggie had to yank on his pant leg and scream quite a while before they were pulled out of the moment.

When Audra straightened, she looked so sweet and kind and worried. “Who was that man, Ethan? Who did that? Who would set a fire and break into our house and bang on that door the way that man did?”

That took Ethan's mind off the sweet affection of his wife.

“We need to find out if we've got any cattle missing. Find out if any wanted men have been spotted in the area.” Ethan raised his hand and drew one finger down her cheek. Amazed that he'd managed to get himself married to the prettiest woman in Colorado.

Now it was his job to protect her. And instead he sat here, burned, with his wife doing the caretaking when he ought to be hunting tracks. He was good at tracking. Better than most men. And he knew all the tricks to tracking a man in the woods and over rocky ground.

“I know you're worried about my burns, Audie.”

“Stop that, Ethan. I'm warning you.” She slapped him, but she hit his right shoulder, the one that wasn't burned, so there was no real venom in the attack. “Of course I'm worried about your burns.”

“But I need you to really look at them. How bad are they? If they're so awful you're afraid I'll die or end up real sick, then fine, I'll be careful. But honey”—Ethan scooped Maggie up in one arm and hooked the other arm around Audra as he stood—“I need to track that man. If you're just worried because you know it hurts and you've got a heart as soft as a feather pillow, then I need you to tell me. I'm the best tracker in these parts. And it's my job to protect my wife and my ranch. I don't trust any of the men to be as thorough as I will be. I need to take charge of this hunt.”

Audra's pretty, smooth brow furrowed as she looked at his arm. “It looks bad, but I'm sure you'll be okay. It'll hurt to wear a shirt, Ethan. And if you break those blisters open, they might get infected. I lost one husband already to a minor injury that turned septic.”

“Not much of a loss.” Ethan only kept from grinning because Maggie picked that moment to wrap her arm around his neck and touch his burns. He flinched and let go of Audra and pulled Maggie away and hated doing it. He liked having the little one hanging from him.

“No, he wasn't.” Audra leaned forward and kissed him. “But I don't want anything to happen to you. I
like
being Mrs. Kincaid a lot more than Mrs. Gill.”

Audra straightened with a little squeak as if she'd gotten jabbed by a pin. “That man, he called me Mrs. Gill.”

Ethan's eyes narrowed. “That's what your husband called himself in town.”

“Yes, and he called himself Mr. Wendell in Houston. When I married him the parson said, ‘I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Wendell.' As far as I know—and heaven knows I could be ignorant of many of Wendell's lies—he only went by the name of Gill in Rawhide.”

“So whoever came out here, it had something to do with Wendell?” Ethan just wasn't quite sure what that meant. “If they found out you were here, it's because they found out I married you. That's the only trail that leads here. So why did he call you that?”

“That awful man could have destroyed your entire ranch.” Her whole face crumpled. “And it has something to do with me. I'm the cause of this night's madness.”

“Not the cause, darlin'. The cause is laid right at the feet of whoever lit the match.”

“Ethan,” she said, resting a hand on his wrist, “I'm afraid.” His wife, who'd spent pretty much every minute since Ethan had known her trying to prove she could take care of herself, said, “I don't want you to leave me alone.”

And that's when Ethan knew he was going to have to do something that burned him worse than fire. Something that made it almost impossible for him to smile. That ate at his gut until he wanted to kick something.

At the sound of pounding hoofbeats, Rafe whirled around, his revolver drawn.

“Ethan sent me, Rafe,” Steele shouted as he rode up to Rafe's cabin. “We need you to come home. Ethan's hurt. We had a fire. His shirt caught. He's all burned up.”

Rafe was dragging Julia toward the horse before Steele had finished asking him to come home. Julia didn't need to be dragged, though. She was in fact passing him.

“Seth, you come, too. With Ethan hurt, we'll need extra hands over there,” Rafe said.

Seth was already rushing for the horses, as well. Something eased in Rafe. Seth had been eager to explore the cavern today. His brother wasn't too loco to know they had to get to Ethan fast.

Steele came prepared. He'd brought mounts for all of them. Left them on the east side of the stream, crossed it on foot, caught one of the horses Rafe kept pastured near Julia's old cabin, and rode on to the ranch Rafe had claimed.

Fording the stream, which was impassable on horseback, cut hours off the distance between Ethan and Rafe.

Rafe had plans for a bridge, but he hadn't quite found the time for that yet.

Steele gave Rafe the details on the fire, Ethan's burns, and the attack on Audra. Steele talked about Ethan with more than just tolerance—there was respect. Ethan had proved up for the old cowpoke.

They rode into the ranch yard in the late afternoon to find Ethan standing at the cabin door with Audra wedged between him and the outdoors, Maggie in her arms.

Ethan looked up, saw Rafe, scowled, then immediately replaced his frown with his more usual careless grin.

Audra turned to see what Ethan was smiling at, and Ethan slipped past her.

Audra was squawking. Rafe wasn't sure just what the woman was squawking about, but she came along right behind Ethan as the two followed Rafe, Julia, and Seth into the barn.

As Rafe dismounted, Audra came rushing into the barn after Ethan. “You need to stay inside until your burns have healed.”

“Hey, Rafe, Seth. Glad to see you.”

Stripping the leather off his horse, Rafe listened while Ethan and Audra fussed at each other. He also heard something more. Audra's concern. Ethan's placating wish to make his wife happy. They cared about each other. When he came out of his horse's stall, he saw Ethan giving all the horses a bit of grain.

“Let's see the burns, Eth,” Rafe said.

“I'm not taking my shirt off in front of your wife, Rafe. It's just blistered, nothing serious.”

“It is
too
serious.” Audra jammed one of her little fists on her hips. Rafe wondered why on earth Ethan couldn't control this quiet little woman Rafe had given him. She was by far the easier woman to handle. Sure he couldn't control Julia, but Julia was . . . was . . . well, she was
Julia
, no more needed to be said.

But Audra was
Audra,
for heaven's sake.

Shaking his head, Rafe said, “Let's go inside.”

“No, not yet.” Ethan didn't ask and he didn't try and sway anyone to his way of thinking. He didn't even have a smile on his face. “I want to show you and Seth what we found.”

“Ethan, no. I don't want you to go.”

“
Audra Kincaid!
” Ethan turned and glared. “You stop your fussin' right now, woman.”

Audra's mouth gaped open but no words came out.

Frankly, Rafe was speechless himself. He'd never heard Ethan sound quite so . . . in charge.

“You go on in with Julia and the girls.” Ethan jabbed an impatient finger at the house. “I want to talk with Rafe and Seth about what went on here. It won't hurt my puny burns to walk around in the woods and show them the tracks we found.”

Audra finally managed to get her mouth shut. Then her eyes went wide and sad and it looked like she was going to start in crying.

Rafe grabbed Seth by one arm and Ethan by the other. “We won't be gone long. I'll make sure he doesn't hurt himself.” He dragged his brothers out of the barn at a near run, and he didn't have to drag much at all, because they were all too willing to hightail it. When they got outside, he looked back to see Julia pick Maggie up with a sweet look of love in her eyes. It made him restless to have young'uns of their own.

“Thanks for getting me out of there, Rafe,” Ethan muttered.

Rafe laughed. Seth gave Ethan a wild grin.

The three of them walked along, Ethan in the middle but leading the way because he was the only one who knew it.

Ethan in charge of the situation and Rafe's ranch. And Rafe in charge of running away from the wives.

It wasn't Rafe's ranch anymore and that pinched. But there was also a flash of respect for his brother that he'd never felt before.

“The man who was in the barn ran into the woods right here.” Ethan should probably be ashamed of himself for snapping at Audra that way, but she'd obeyed him. The feeling of power made his heart pound and his poor burned shoulders square. Pride. Male power. It was such a great feeling, Ethan knew for sure it was a sin.

Of course she'd been about to cry.

At which point he might have agreed to do anything to get her to stop.

So that was cowardice . . . which might be a sin, too. Honestly it seemed like a man sinned nearly every time he drew a breath.

But Rafe had saved him.

Big brother came through.

Ethan shook his head at the strangeness of being married. Then he remembered the nights. Holding Audra in his arms. The wonder of what passed between a man and wife. That was strange too, in a mighty fine way.

He led the way into the thick woods surrounding the ranch and it was like being swallowed up. The forest and scrub brush closed around them and cut them off from any sight of the house or barn. The land was wild and untamed. They had open meadows where their herds grazed. It had taken a lot of scouting to find grassland in this rugged, mountainous place. It was one thing Pa had done well with all his trapping and the extended trips away from home. He'd come back and said he'd found a trail to a grassy valley. Pa would go to town, sell his furs, and buy the land, then come back and they'd spread their herd over an even wider stretch. He'd built a good-sized holding by the time he died.

Ethan crouched by the first track. “I put some rocks around this footprint and warned the men to stay away. It's one of the clearest.” The ground was studded with rocks. Between the rocks the land was covered thick with undergrowth and centuries of fallen leaves and limbs. There were game trails in here, but it took a knowing eye to spot them. Once in a while there was a bit of clear dirt, and a running man had landed a foot here, square in the middle of such a spot.

Ethan glanced over his right shoulder. “You're a good tracker, Seth. Not as good as me, but decent.”

“I can out-track you with my eyes closed. Always could.” Seth knelt beside the track, studying it. “I got better during the war, too. Scouting was my job.”

“You might as well look too, big brother.” Ethan gave Rafe a big old grin. “Who knows? You might see something useful.”

“I was tracking when you two were still in diapers.” Rafe clenched his fists.

Since they were about as close in age as three brothers could be, it was a joke. Ethan didn't worry that Rafe's fists would fly. They'd had their share of fistfights as boys, but it had mostly been high spirits. There'd been a punch in the nose and an occasional black eye that had set a temper off now and again, but mostly the trouble passed before they drew blood.

“Now, don't go pounding on me,” Ethan said. “You promised Audra you'd treat me real gentle.”

Rafe hunkered down straight across from Ethan. Seth was on Ethan's right. Suddenly the three of them looked up from the footprint and started laughing.

Ethan reached out and rested a hand on Seth's shoulder, ignoring the scars he could feel, and the possibility that Ethan might soon have a few of his own. “I've missed both of you. It's great to be home.”

“Haven't you always been here, Eth?” Seth asked.

That question surprised Ethan, but then why should it? Seth was gone. He hadn't known what Ethan and Rafe had been up to. “Nope. I guess we haven't much talked about it, but I spent the last few years wandering out West, spent time in California and a fair stretch at sea.”

“You worked on a ship?” Seth asked.

“Yep. I sailed around Cape Horn on a clipper ship. We went from San Francisco to Florida. It was during the Civil War, so we didn't go farther north than that.”

“I remember you took off before me, but I didn't know you stayed away. I figured you were here at the ranch.”

“Nope.” Rafe looked between the two of them. “I've been alone here for years. I've been hoping and praying that whole time you'd come back.”

“And now we're here and you two are both old married men.” Seth grinned and his wild blue eyes flashed. Then the grin faded and his brow furrowed.

“What's the matter?” Ethan braced himself for more of Seth's craziness. He'd been acting purely sensible for nearly a minute now.

“Shh . . .” Seth put a hand up. “Let me think.” Seth shook his head slowly, as if trying to stir his brain around a little. “Something about what we just said almost . . . almost seems like . . . like . . .”

Seth stared off into the distance. Ethan exchanged a quick glance with Rafe and went back to watching Seth. Worried about him. He had so many more clearheaded days than at first. Ethan had gotten to thinking that if the nightmares would just stop, Seth would be okay. But there were still moments when Seth seemed purely loco, right while he was wide awake.

“I don't know what it was, just a flash of something.” Seth rubbed his head. “I think maybe I'm a little jealous of my two big brothers. You both seem to like being married. I wonder how I'm ever gonna find a woman out here. You two have married up the only ones there are.”

“Colorado is getting to be a settled land.” Ethan clapped Seth on the shoulder and felt those old, twisted scars. “When the law comes in, so do women. You'll find yourself a wife, Seth.”

Seth shrugged in a way that dislodged Ethan's touch. “I'm a mighty ugly man under this shirt. I don't reckon any woman is going to want any part of me.” He rubbed his head again. “These tracks are bigger than my foot and deeper than the track I leave. But it doesn't take much to weigh more than me. Big shoes usually mean a tall man.”

“They're not as deep as mine, so he's between me and Seth in weight, I'd say, not heavy.” Rafe ran one finger along the edges of the track. “No sign of being worn down at the heel. We're looking for someone with new boots.”

“He's got a long stride.” Ethan pointed to another track barely visible, close against a rocky spot under a gnarled pine tree. “I'd say that makes him a long-legged man. More proof he's tall. He's running. Audra told me she saw him running flat-out away from the barn, and he looked tall and skinny to her.”

“You got any cowhands fitting that description?” Seth asked.

“A few.” Ethan rose from where he studied the tracks, and his brothers stood upright, too. “And it includes two new ones who came in yesterday. Steele is keeping an eye on them, and he'll pay attention to where they walk so we can have a look at their tracks to compare. They've both got new boots on, but then several of the hands do.”

“He might not be one of your men, either. How carefully have you tried to backtrack him?”

“Steele's sure he slipped around in the woods and came back onto the property. Probably helped fight the fire he started.” Ethan's fist clenched as he thought of it. “Which makes him a low-down, belly-draggin' sidewinder.”

“Let's see what else we can find from his trail.” Rafe jerked his head and they all moved carefully along.

“I'll show you the trail Steele found. If any of you think Steele's got it wrong, speak up. I sure wish the trail'd read a different way. I'd like it better if I didn't think someone on my ranch started that fire.”