“It has not been long enough.”
He shrugged. “Guess you would know. Just don’t get any ideas about ruining our dinner for spite. That’d be real inhospitable, and frankly, it would piss me off.”
Jane ignored him. She sat back and critically eyed Max’s injuries. She wrung out the washcloth and applied one corner of it to a runnel of dried blood on his jaw just below his ear. When he winced, so did she. “I’m sorry.” He waved off her apology as she withdrew the cloth. Jane sighed inaudibly and turned to Gideon. “Except for seeing to his pain, I am done here. I have some headache powders in my dresser that could help him if you will allow me to get them.”
Gideon jerked his chin at Max. “You have a headache?”
Max glared at him and said nothing.
“That’s a no, then.” He offered Jane an apologetic smile. “It’s the nature of some people to shoot themselves in the foot.”
Jane had no comment. She put the salves, alcohol, bandages, and cotton balls together, and then folded her hands in her lap under the table. She stared steadily at Gideon. His lips twitched, but not his eye. His amusement rankled but Jane gave no hint of it. She was very aware of Max’s presence and knew he would insert himself if there were the slightest indication he should do so. It was for that reason that Jane looked away first.
“You got any whiskey?” asked Gideon.
“I could make you coffee.”
“That’d be fine, but I’m still waitin’ for an answer about the whiskey.”
“In a cabinet in the front room.”
Gideon did not move. “Hey, Dix! You find the whiskey?”
The answer came back immediately. “Sure did.”
“Then bring it in here.”
Dix appeared in moments with a bottle and a glass. He set both down in front of Gideon. He rolled the matchstick to the corner of his mouth as he spoke. “Your brother ain’t much for spirits. This is all there is.”
“You looked in the cabinet?”
Dix nodded.
“You and Avery had some, though.”
“Yeah, we did. Warm us up, you know.”
Gideon looked as if he were going to come out of his chair, but a disturbance coming from the back porch actually kept him in it. “See what that’s about.”
Dixon’s hand hovered near his gun as he went to the door. At the last moment, he stepped sideways and peeked out the kitchen window. “What the?—”
Jane was disappointed that surprise did not cause him to swallow and choke on the matchstick. A gust of wind swept into the kitchen when he pushed the door open. From her vantage point, Jane could not see who was on the porch. Max could, though, and she looked to him for understanding. When she saw his lip begin to bleed again as a frown stretched his skin, her heart began to hammer.
“Hey, Mrs. Longstreet,” Finn said as he crossed the threshold. His eyes widened when he saw Max. “Well, hey there, Max. What happened to you?”
Jane spoke quickly so Max did not have to. “He was in a bit of a scrape. Fooling around that got out of hand.”
Rabbit came up behind Finn and nudged his brother farther in to the room. He got a good look at Max, shook his head, and then said to Jane, “Didn’t know about you having company, Mrs. Longstreet, but the extra hands turned out to be a good thing. Got a delivery for you. Well, for Mr. Longstreet, but I reckon it’s all the same, the address being Morning Star ranch. Anyways, that’s why we’re here.”
Gideon was on his feet now, watching Avery back through the doorway carrying one end of a crate that was putting some strain on his shoulders. Marcie had the other end of the thing and puffing a little as they maneuvered it into the kitchen.
Gideon swore softly. “Couldn’t you leave it on the porch?”
“They were not having any of that,” Marcie said as he and Avery lowered the crate to the floor.
“They?” He forked two fingers at Rabbit and Finn. “You mean these two? You’re taking orders from these two?”
Avery’s broad features reddened in a way that could not be explained by his encounter with the outdoors. “It’s kind of hard to explain, but yeah, I guess we did.”
