Texas Tender (20 page)

“We're a very close family, and I'm the youngest male.”

“I feel sorry for you,” Carl said. “I've only got a sister.”

“Don't get me wrong,” Will said, remembering the sweetness of Isabelle's smile and the comfort of Jake's presence when he was a kid. “I love my family. I even love the little brats they keep having, but I had to get away. They wouldn't let me breathe.”

That sounded silly even to himself, but it was true. He could still remember the feeling of relief when he rode out of the Hill County. And the guilt for feeling relieved. The desperate need to leave, and the feeling of loss once he had. What did you do when the thing you wanted to get away from most was the thing you loved the best? You established the sort of independence Buck, Drew, Sean, Chet, Matt, and Bret had. And you didn't do it by running away like Pete, Luke, Zeke, and Hawk. He had run away, but it was just temporary.

“Sometimes I don't want to come home because Lou makes me feel like such a baby,” Carl said. “Even
Jordan treats me more like a man, though he told Mara she couldn't marry me because I'm too green.” He looked up at Will and grinned. “Maybe we ought to make a pact to help each other out.”

“If you want to help me, find that bull.”

Carl's grin faded. “I guess I have to face the fact that somebody stole that bull. We've looked everywhere. Even Sonnenberg's hands couldn't find it.”

The mention of Sonnenberg caught Will's attention. “Sonnenberg had his hands search his land for the bull?”

“No. Van let Idalou search his land. His hands searched
our
land in case we'd missed something, but I've gone over every inch of our place. Let's face it. The bull's gone.”

Will didn't trust Van and had no reason to trust his father. He could see why Van might invite Idalou to search his ranch, but he didn't see why Van's men should search Idalou's property. According to what he'd learned since he'd been in Dunmore, Frank Sonnenberg wanted Idalou and Carl's ranch as much as Jordan McGloughlin did. If Van was anything to go by, Frank would be more willing than Jordan to use any method he thought would work.

But would he go so far as to blow up the dam? Will didn't know anybody in Dunmore terribly well, but he didn't believe Jordan would do that. In all fairness, he had to say he didn't have any reason to believe Sonnenberg would, either.

Carl looked up. “What will you do if we don't find the bull? You must have considered that possibility when you paid the loan. You don't strike me as a man to do anything without thinking it through first.”

Will wished his family could hear that. “I've got a feeling that bull is still here, but if he's gone, I'll pay you to run the ranch for me.”

“You wouldn't stay in Dunmore?”

Will had never considered leaving his family. His parents and siblings were all too much a part of him. He was relieved to be away, but he missed them, too. “I've got some land already set aside for my ranch. As soon as I get the bull, I'll buy some cows and set up my own operation.”

“There's plenty of land around here.”

“It's not the land, it's my family. I don't want them looking over my shoulder all the time, but I do want them close by.”

“I guess I feel the same way about Lou.”

“Of course you do. Now tell me where you'll set up your camp. I don't have time to go looking all over for you.”

Idalou hated to admit it, but Junie Mae's clothes looked better on her than her own. “I'll only take one dress,” she told Junie Mae. She couldn't deny being pleased that the dress made her look so attractive, but she felt uncomfortable in clothes that weren't her own.

“I have more clothes than I need,” Junie Mae said, pulling two more dresses out of the closet and laying them on the bed. “Besides, that dress looks better on you than it does on me. You can keep it.”

“I can't do that.”

“I'm blond and pale. You're a brunette and your skin has real color. I'm going to go through my clothes and give you everything that makes me look washed out. Look,” Junie Mae said when Idalou started to protest, “my aunt says the clothes she and I wear are her best advertisement. Nobody asked about that dress when I wore it, but you'll get plenty of notice. Aunt Ella will probably give you more dresses to wear.”

Idalou didn't know what to do. She couldn't go
around wearing one dress every day, but she didn't see how she could accept so many. And try as she might, she couldn't forget that Junie Mae had stolen Webb from her. His jilting her without warning and without a reason had been a terrible shock. It had hurt her deeply to know how little she meant to him.

Yet there was something about Junie Mae that puzzled her, that made her feel Junie Mae was clinging to her, that as incredible as it seemed, she needed her. It wasn't just the lost color or the gauntness in Junie Mae's face. There was fear in her eyes. Idalou doubted her impressions at first, but changed her mind when she noticed how nervous Junie Mae was around her aunt, how she did little things to keep out of Ella's range of vision. The whole time her aunt was with her in the store, Junie Mae had fiddled with a couple of dresses, holding first one and then the other in front of her to show Idalou why it would look good on her.

“I'll move back to the ranch as soon as everything dries out,” Idalou said to Junie Mae.

“You said the water washed everything away. Where will you stay?”

“I plan to buy a tent.”

“Why would you want to go back?”

“It's my home,” Idalou said. “Besides, I have animals to care for.”

“Won't they have drowned?”

“I let them out before the floodwaters reached us. I'm hoping they survived.”

The two of them were in Junie Mae's room with dresses spread over the bed they would be sharing, over two chairs, and hanging on the door. Idalou had never had a mirror larger than six inches high, but Junie Mae had a mirror on the back of the door that was so big Idalou could see almost her whole reflection.
As much as she castigated herself for her vanity, she couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror. It was wonderful to feel attractive.

“I'm sure the animals can take care of themselves,” Junie Mae said.

Junie Mae's bedroom was bigger than the little parlor in Idalou's ranch house. The walls were covered with a cream-colored wallpaper decorated with bunches of blue and red flowers tied with pink ribbon. The two windows had shades to keep out the sun and gauzy white curtains embroidered with dozens of blue forget-me-nots. The big four-poster bed had been fashioned out of a dark wood and was piled high with comfortable mattresses. A white bedspread covered with white tufts reached down to the floor on each side of the bed. A chest of drawers filled with underclothes was flanked by a dressing table covered with combs, brushes, ointments, rouge . . . more things to make a woman beautiful than Idalou had ever seen.

“The chickens provide eggs as well as meat,” Idalou told Junie Mae. “The pigs will be slaughtered in the fall, and we need the cow for milk and butter. I had a garden, too, but I'm sure there's nothing left of it.”

Junie Mae laid aside the dress she'd been holding and sank into the chair at the dressing table. “Do you like living on a ranch? It sounds awfully hard to me.”

Idalou used to believe that living on a ranch was what she wanted because it would be the only thing she could have. Unbidden, Will's image popped into her mind. He was a rancher, but he didn't look or act like McGloughlin or Sonnenberg. He obviously had money, but he didn't use it as an excuse to grow soft. He was as comfortable in a hotel or at a supper table as he was in the saddle or fighting floodwaters. Somehow he had made being a rancher fit him, not the other way around.

“I don't like having to struggle to keep from losing the ranch or having people cheat me.”

“Van used to say he was afraid McGloughlin would get tired of waiting for you to fail and run off your herd.”

“Nobody would try that now, not with Will . . . I mean the sheriff around.”

Some of the strain disappeared from Junie Mae's eyes. “He's the most wonderful man. I don't know what I would have done without him.” She seemed stricken by what she'd said. She jumped up, went to her closet, and began looking through her clothes.

“What did he do?” Idalou asked, fighting down a demon of jealousy.

“Nothing, really. I was just feeling really down and he made me feel better.”

Idalou didn't believe that for a minute. Whatever the problem, it had been serious enough to make Junie Mae unwilling to face her. Now that she thought of it, Junie Mae didn't look good. Idalou didn't want to become enmeshed in Junie Mae's problems, but she couldn't ignore them after Junie Mae had offered to let her share her room.

“I don't want to pry,” Idalou said, “but if I can help, just let me know.”

“Thanks,” Junie Mae said, her eyes swimming with tears, “but it's nothing serious.”

Will surveyed what had once been the Ellsworth ranch with a sinking feeling. There was nothing to rebuild. He even questioned whether it was worthwhile trying. It wasn't simply that the ranch buildings were gone. The landscape itself had been scoured by the floodwaters and the debris it carried. Mud was everywhere, sticky, viscous, and deep, making it impossible to walk over much of the area, but in a few days it
would dry to rock hardness or become powdery and blow away in the wind.

“I don't know where to begin,” Idalou said.

Will could hear the defeat in her voice. They were sitting their horses, not an easy position from whence to dispense comfort, but Will reached out to take Idalou's hand.

“You don't have to worry about that for a few days yet.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but he held on. Giving up, she gripped his hand hard.

“I can't
not
worry about it. Carl's out there with no one to help him or even know if he gets in trouble. Suppose the person who blew up the dam comes back. What about whoever took our bull?”

Will gave her hand a squeeze. “Carl is capable of taking care of himself. Besides, his horse is a better watchdog than any man would be.”

“I can't stay with Junie Mae forever.”

Idalou turned big brown eyes up at Will, and he felt something turn over inside. It was a little bit like nausea, but today that didn't seem like such a bad thing. He had an ominous feeling he was making a mistake, but he didn't care about that either. He had the sinking feeling he was about to become more than slightly interested in a young woman. A week ago that would have sent him running for his horse. Now he just squeezed Idalou's hand a little harder and stared back at her with what he feared was a really stupid look on his face.

“You can move to the hotel anytime you want, but I think Junie Mae likes your company.”

Idalou's eyes narrowed. “Something's wrong with her, and you know what it is, don't you?”

“Why do you think that?”

Idalou pulled her hand from Will's grasp but held
his gaze. “She's as nervous as a cat around her aunt, which I don't understand because Ella dotes on her. Only last night she was saying she thought Junie Mae had been working too hard. She's always encouraging her to eat more. Ella said she was glad I was staying there, that Junie Mae had been acting depressed for a while and that she hoped having someone her own age to talk to would cheer her up.”

“It might,” Will said, hoping Idalou wouldn't dig any deeper.

“It might if she'd talk to me,” Idalou said, not letting up. “I've told her several times I'd be happy to help her, but she assures me it's just delayed grief over her mother's death.”

“She's probably right.”

“Then why does she look at you like you're her savior?”

Will should have known that Idalou wouldn't give up so easily. He didn't see what he could do except tell her as much of the truth as he felt he could. “Junie Mae does have a problem, but it's confidential. I found out about it by accident. She only looks at me like that because I agreed to help her if I could.”

“If it's so serious, why hasn't she told her aunt?”

“That was her decision, not mine.”

Idalou studied him for a moment. “What is it about you that makes women depend on you?”

“I don't know. Maybe I look harmless.”

“That's not why they're falling over themselves to feed you.”

Will's shoulders slumped. “Don't start with my looks again.”

“I can't help it. Everybody's mesmerized by them. And you're mesmerized by people in trouble. One look at Junie Mae with tears in her eyes, and you rush to help her like a knight in shining armor.”

Will frowned angrily. He'd spent his whole life hearing about his looks. Okay, so he'd taken advantage of them on occasion, but he had no intention of leaning on them for the rest of his life. It seemed impossible for people to understand that he wanted to be seen as something more than a face that earned him privileges for no other reason than that people liked to look at him. His brother Pete had once told him that he ought to be an actor, that women would pay a fortune just to look at him.

What Pete didn't understand, because he was a pinch-faced little brat who was constantly in trouble, was that people didn't see Will at all. They couldn't get past his face. It had taken him many years to figure that out. The adulation was nice at first, but after a while it started to go sour. Everybody assumed he was going to use his looks and charm to ease his way through life, so they started expecting less of him. He'd been having an argument with Matt over how Matt was dealing with the orphans he'd adopted when Matt had flung that at him. Will had denied it at first. Later, when he was calm enough to think rationally, he'd realized it was true.