“Damn it, Jack.Why …?”He stopped.“We’ll talk at the ranch.”
They rode hard for two hours.It was easy to see that Russ Dewayne did not want to be intercepted by the Casey Springs posse.When they arrived at the Dewayne ranch, Russ dismounted and motioned to Randall and Rafe to accompany him inside.Russ’s two sons went with him.
Kate, who had come out on the porch at the sound of so many hoofbeats, ran to Shea.“We’ve been so worried about you.Are you all right?What happened?”The questions came so quickly that Shea just stood there as she watched the men disappear inside.
“Whoisthat?”Kate asked, and Shea knew she had followed Rafe’s every move with her heart in her eyes.“Oh, Shea,” Kate said, obviously recognizing Shea’s distress.“What can I do?”
“Nothing,” Shea said.Then she saw Clint standing aside his mount.“Perhaps something to drink …”
“Of course,” Kate said.“Come inside with me.”
“In a moment.I would like to speak with Clint.”
Kate hesitated, looking from Shea to Clint and back again.“Of course,” she said finally, and disappeared inside.
Shea went down to where Clint stood.“I wish I knew what the hell was going on,” he said in a quiet voice that was barely audible.“I’ve been looking for you … and him.”
“You … heard that my father helped him escape.”
“Hell, yes.Everyone in the territory is looking for them.I was searching for you up in the valley night before last, and then we found your horse and figured you were dead … or lying hurt someplace.I was riding with the posse to try to steer them away from the valley.…”
“My horse ran away just as I got to the valley,” she said.“My … father went after Rafe, thinking he might know where I was.McClary followed them and tried to bushwhack us last night.Rafe killed him.”
“And now …?”
“My father says he’s going to tell what happened ten years ago.”
Clint smiled slowly.
“I hope that Rafe will be allowed to go, that we can start a place of our own.That you and Ben will come with us.”
“That’s a lot of hopes,” he said with a wry smile.“And your father?”
“I don’t know,” she said.“I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Clint shook his head.“I never used to think Rafe was lucky.I do now.”
“He had you and Ben.Someday I want to meet the others.”
He grinned at her.“Someday you will.”
She smiled back at him and turned around, anxious now to go inside, to discover what was happening.“Thank you for being such a good friend to him.”
Shrugging, he turned back to his horse.
When Shea turned around, she saw Kate watching them, a glass in her hand.Shea went up the stairs and took it, realizing for the first time how dry her mouth was.
“Where are they?”she asked.
“In my father’s office.”
Shea started to go inside, then turned to Kate.“Don’t let him get away, no matter what.”
Now it was Kate’s turn to flush.“I thought …”
Shea suddenly understood Kate’s coolness of late.“Oh, no.Clint’s … just been a good friend.I love … the man inside.Rafe.”
“Rafe?”Kate’s face screwed up as she concentrated on Shea’s words.“Rafe … Tyler?The man my father took to Casey Springs?The outlaw?Oh, Shea.”
