Dashing Druid (Texas Druids) (44 page)

“Judd,” Lil called, following him, “where’s Travis? Why isn’t he with you?”

Halting, he kept his back to her. “He’s at home. He didn’t see fit to track down his brother’s killer.” His acid tone revealed a deep sense of betrayal.

He’d lost one son and the other refused to follow him on his quest for vengeance. In spite of everything, Lil felt sorry for him. “Maybe Travis sees Frank didn’t leave Tye any choice,” she said. “Maybe he realizes killing Tye won’t bring Frank back.”

Judd rounded on her, face twisted with pain. “You think I don’t know that? Nothing will bring him back! But I haven’t spent weeks scouring the country for that yellow coward you married just to walk away now.”

Lil’s spurt of sympathy evaporated. “Don’t you dare call Tye yellow again! Would a coward risk his life sealing up that cave?”

“If he’s so all-fired brave, why’d he run instead of staying to face me in Wichita?” he snarled. “Answer me that!”

Fists balled at her sides, she fired back, “Because he didn’t want any more blood spilled on his account. Because he wanted to protect his family and mine, and not start a feud between you and Pa. He even tried to make me believe he didn’t want me, all because he was afraid I’d get hurt. But I tracked him down, and I’ll stand with him against you and your hired guns.” She shot a furious glare at the hard-eyed men who’d been silently watching, enjoying the show.

Then she stepped close, narrowing her eyes at Judd. “And if you kill my man, Judd Howard, you’d better make sure to kill me too. Or by the bones of my Cherokee grandmother, I’ll hunt you down and feed your heart to the coyotes, so help me.”

He stared at her in shock. Whirling around, she hurried to catch up with Tye.

Behind her, she heard Judd rumble, “Come on, men, we’d better find a hotel in that two-bit town we passed through. Reckon we’ll be here a while.”

There was no getting through to him, Lil realized. But she meant what she’d said. If he killed Tye and left her alive, he’d find out vengeance was a two-sided blade.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Lil found Tye lying on the bed in their borrowed room. Her father had gotten his boots off, and now her mother and Jessie were tending his wound.

“I’ll keep an eye on Judd and his bunch and let you know what they’re up to,” Pa was saying.

“I don’t want ye interfering with them, Del,” Tye said, frowning.

“I won’t. Unless they start trouble. If and when you’re ready, I’ll back your play. So will Jeb. And David, I reckon.”

“I appreciate that, but what I said still goes. It’s my fight.”

Sighing, Pa shook his head. “You and Lil are both too stubborn for your own good.”

“Hardheaded as an old mossy horn is what he is,” Lil snapped from the doorway.

Tye scowled and tried to turn his head toward her as she walked in.

“Hold still!” Jessie ordered. “Don’t make this bandage slip off.”

“Och! Finish it then,” he barked. “I need to have a few words with my darlin’ wife. In private if ye please.”

“Save your sass. I’ll have none of it.” Jessie sent Lil an amused glance. “I think you’re in for it with himself, sister dear.”

“Humph! We’ll see about that.”

“Aye, that we will,” Tye growled. “Shaming me the way ye did, woman, ye deserve a sound thrashing on your bare bottom! And I’m just the man to do it.”

“Don’t you threaten me, you, you . . . !” she sputtered. Mortified, she didn’t dare look at her parents.

Pa gave a howl of laughter. “Come on, Rebecca. It’s time for us to go.”

Leaving Jessie to tie off the bandage on Tye’s head, Ma said to him, “When you punish my daughter, do not be too cruel. She is only a woman.”

“Ma!” Lil cried in protest while Tye merely snorted his opinion.

“Be a good wife and perhaps he will not beat you too hard,” her mother said with a smug look, leaving Lil to stare after her in disbelief as she walked out with Pa, who was still chuckling.

“There now, that ought to hold ye,” Jessie said, finished with her job. “Providing ye don’t exert yourself too greatly while
beating
your wife, that is.” Gathering up extra bandages, washrag and water basin, she followed Lil’s parents out, laughing as she closed the door.

“Tye Devlin, If you weren’t flat on your back, I’d knock you cold!” Lil stormed the moment they were alone. “How could you say such a thing in front of my folks?”

“Oh, ye didn’t enjoy being made a spectacle of? Now ye know how I felt when ye sent me sprawling in front of everyone, including Judd Howard.”

“I did it to save your life, you durn fool! If you’d tried firing that rifle, Judd would have plugged you full of holes. I couldn’t j-just stand there and w-watch you die!” She gulped down the lump in her throat and struggled not to cry.

Tye sighed. “Aye, I know, and even though ye hurt my pride, if truth be told, I’m grateful.”

“You are?”

“Of course. Because I’m still alive to love ye.”

“Oh.” She gave a wobbly smile he couldn’t see and swatted at a lone tear that had escaped down her cheek.

“Now, since I
am
flat on my back, might ye care to join me? I’ve a subject to discuss that requires your close attention.”

A glance at his lower half told her what the subject was. “Your head’s hurting, Devlin. How are you going to
discuss
anything?”

“Well, I was rather thinking
you
might lead the discussion.” His sensuous smile made her heart thud and her breath quicken.

He held out his hand. “Come,
mavourneen,
and we’ll shut out the world together.”

By the time she helped him out of his clothes and shucked her own, they were both on fire with passion. Sliding into bed, Lil raised up on her elbow.

“You’re not to move,” she said. Then she kissed him, her long hair draping over them both. His hands traveled over her, touching all the secret places where she longed to be touched.

It was a heady experience, setting their pace. She tried to take it slow, but before long neither of them could wait any longer. Their coupling reached a crescendo with a throaty cry from Tye while she dissolved in bliss upon his chest.

Once she could move again, she collapsed beside him. Exhausted, he fell asleep almost instantly, with his arm around her. Lil couldn’t sleep. Nagging thoughts flitted through her head. How long could they shut out the world, as Tye had said? How long before his sight returned, as it simply must? How long before he would insist on meeting Judd Howard again?

* * *

Tye and Lil moved back into Luis and Maria’s cabin the next day. By week’s end, Tye’s constant headache had let up, his wound no longer required a bandage, and he’d recovered most of his strength. He could also distinguish light from dark. Within a few more days he was able to make out general shapes, including human forms, although details such as faces were only a blur.

Judd Howard had made no move against him while he recuperated, but from Del, who’d been as good as his word, Tye knew the vengeful rancher waited in Clifton. It was time to finish this once and for all. He refused to live like a mouse in a hole any longer.

Admitting he couldn’t take on Howard and his men by himself, Tye had finally agreed to let Del and Jeb Crawford, as well as David and some of his hands, back him up. They were to hold the six gunmen in check while he dealt with Howard. They waited outside for him now.

The August morning was already heating up as he strapped on his .44. He’d cleaned, oiled and reloaded it last night, working by touch, with Lil looking on in tense silence. She’d given up trying to talk him out of meeting Howard. Now she stood in shadow near the cold hearth, where he could hardly see her, but he knew she watched him.

“What if I take that gun away from you?” she asked suddenly.

He spun the cylinder of his Colt, fingering the loads to make sure all was ready. “Don’t try it, Lily. I don’t want to fight with ye.” He slipped the gun back in his holster, cautiously made his way to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. Feeling her fear and panic, he knew how difficult this was for her.

“Don’t try following us, either, colleen. Stay here, where I know you’re safe, aye?”

“Mmm,” she replied in a choked voice.

“Good girl. Now hold me and send me off with your kiss sweet on my lips. Can ye do that for me?”

A tiny sob escaped her, but she did as he asked. He molded her to him, wanting to carry the imprint of her on his body. She touched her mouth to his and he kissed her deeply, fearing it was for the last time. The heartache she was feeling lanced through him, causing a new kind of pain in his head. Unable to endure it, he stepped back, forcing her to let go. He traced her face with his hands, memorizing each beloved feature and feeling her lips tremble.

To say good-bye was impossible. Easier to just turn and walk out, Tye’s brain said, but his heart writhed in agony as he closed the door behind him.

Neither he nor any of the others had much to say during the ride to Clifton, all of them caught up in thoughts of what lay ahead. As they entered town and rode along Main Street, Tye discerned the shadowy shapes of people crowding out of shops and saloons and heard their excited voices. The whole town must know about his feud with Howard. Pulling up outside the saloon where Howard and his men usually spent their days according to Del, Tye didn’t doubt his foe already knew he was there.

“You sure you want to go through with this?” David asked as they dismounted.

“Aye, very sure. Remember, Howard is mine.”

Stepping onto the boardwalk, he pushed through the saloon’s swinging doors. He was met by the usual liquor fumes and tobacco smoke, but the place was unusually quiet. The only sound Tye heard was the clinking of glass from behind the bar, where he guessed the saloonkeeper was stacking glasses.

“Howard’s sitting at a table across the room to your left,” David said quietly. “He looks to be playing solitaire. Two of his boys are standing, one on either side of him.

“I can make them out. But where are the others?”

“They’re not here. I don’t like it. Howard could have them stashed upstairs, waiting for his signal to step out with guns blazing.”

“We’ll know soon enough,” Tye said with a shrug. Starting toward Howard, he ignored the sound of the barkeep scurrying out the back door. He kept his clouded gaze on Howard, trusting his companions to watch the two gunmen guarding their boss. He halted several yards from Howard’s table.

“Finally come to settle things, have yuh?” the older man asked gruffly.

“I have. I’ll not ask forgiveness or beg for my life, but I would ask one thing of ye.”

“What’s that?”

“Your promise not to harm Lil. She had no hand in your son’s death.”

“I know that. She’s safe from me. You’ve got my word on it.” Speaking to his men, he said, “Y’all heard me. No matter what happens here, nobody goes after his wife.”

The two muttered agreement, and Tye sighed quietly in relief. Detecting movement from Howard but unable to tell if he was reaching for a gun, Tye gripped his Colt, ready to pull it.

“Whoa there. I was just gonna get up.”

Tye relaxed slightly.

“Still can’t see proper, I take it,” Howard remarked as he pushed back his chair and rose.

“I see well enough to defend myself.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Boys, don’t mix in unless I say so,” he ordered the two gunmen. “Or unless I’m dead.”

“Yessir,” both replied.

Surprised that Howard would take him on alone, Tye held his ground as the man stepped out from behind the table and sauntered forward.

“Devlin, I came here to kill yuh, and if it wasn’t for –”

The bar doors slammed open, cutting Howard off. Tye instinctively drew his gun and pivoted, ready to let bullets fly.

“Lil! What in tarnation are you doing?” Del hollered.

“Put that gun away and get out of here!” David added.

Tye felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. “Lily! I told ye not to come after me, and ye agreed to stay at the ranch.” Belatedly, he holstered his gun.

“No, I didn’t. You just thought I did.”

Her slim form moved against the light from the window, slipping between tables, where he couldn’t easily reach her. “I’m not gonna let you do it, Judd,” she gritted, and her arm rose, obviously aiming her pistol at Howard.

“Lily, don’t!” Tye roared, taking a step toward her. “Get out of here before ye get killed!”

“No! I won’t leave you.” Suddenly her arm swung toward the shootist to Howard’s right. “Don’t do it!” she yelled.

Whirling, Tye saw only a blurred gray shadow where the man stood, but he realized he must have made some threatening move for Lil to react the way she had. He started to reach for his own .44 again, but Judd Howard’s angry snarl stopped him.

“Marsh, you draw that gun, and I’ll put a bullet in you myself. I said she wasn’t to be hurt and I meant it.”

“But you’d kill my husband,” Lil raged. “And why? Because he was faster on the draw than Frank? Because he defended himself when Frank called him out?” She cocked her gun. “I won’t let you do it,” she repeated.