Brazen (7 page)

"What does the doctor say about Pa's condition?" Michael asked his mother. "Is there any hope he can make
a full recovery?"

"No. None," she answered solemnly. She explained
what the doctor had told her about the bullet wound and
how it had severely damaged his spine. "Dr. Murray said
he might be able to get in a wheelchair one day, but your
pa absolutely refuses to even talk about it."

"What do you want to do?" Michael asked gently. "Do
you want to stay on here at the Circle D?"

Elizabeth looked up at him, the turmoil of her emotions
revealed in her tortured gaze.

"Right now I hate this ranch!" Her words were almost
a snarl. "If I had my way, we'd sell out! Now!"

"Will Pa agree to that?"

"No. Never." The fire that had filled her a moment before was gone, extinguished as if it had never existed. "But I don't know how I'm going to be able to keep things
running by myself."

"I'm here," Michael reassured her.

"But for how long?"

"For as long as you need me. I'm not going anywhere."

"And I'm here to help, too," Nick added.

"Thank you." Relief swept through Elizabeth. She took
comfort in knowing Michael and Nick would be with
at least for the time being. Their presence gave her
the strength she needed to face the uncertainty of their
future.

"I'm going to find out who did this to Pa." Michael's
tone was deadly serious. "It won't be easy, but the coward
is out there somewhere. I'm not going to give up until he's
behind bars."

Michael awoke early the following morning. He got up
and dressed in some of the old work clothes and boots
he'd left behind when he'd gone back East. Going to
stand at his bedroom window, he watched the sun rise
over the Circle D.It was a beautiful sight, and a deep and
powerful sense of belonging filled him.

Home.

He was home.

Turning away from the window, he caught sight of his
reflection in the mirror over the dresser. He stared at himself, studying the serious, determined-looking cowboy
who stared back at him. He found himself wondering if
this was who he truly was. In the image, he saw no trace
of the man who'd ridden into Hard Luck on the stage
yesterday. He left the room, troubled by the thought.

After seeking out Tom at the bunkhouse, Michael re turned to the main house to find Nick and his mother
eating breakfast.

"I just spoke with Tom, and we're going to ride out to
the place where Pa was ambushed so I can take a look
around," Michael said as he joined them. "Do you want
to ride along, Nick?"

"Yes. I'll go." Nick didn't know if he would be any help,
but the ride would give him a chance to see more of the
Circle D.

"You be careful out there," Elizabeth cautioned.

"We will be," Michael assured her. He had gotten his
six-gun out of the gun case the night before and made
sure it was cleaned and ready for action. He would be
strapping it on again when they rode out. He planned to
be ready in case of trouble.

"Are you good with a gun, Nick?" Elizabeth asked,
knowing he'd led a sheltered life in Philadelphia

"No, but I'd like to learn, if Michael has time to teach
me."

"I can do that. You're going to need a change of clothes
if you're riding out with me," Michael said.

"You don't think I should wear my suit?" Nick asked
with a grin.

"Not hardly. Not where we're going."

"Let me see what I can find for you," Elizabeth offered,
excusing herself while they finished eating.

"I just hope I can find something there that will help us
track down the gunman. There's only one neighbor Pa
had any ongoing trouble with, but there's never been any bloodshed between us, and Turner had an alibi for the
day.,,

"Turner?" Nick recognized the name. "As in Casey
Turner, the girl in town?"

"She's his daughter," Michael answered flatly.

"That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"The way you reacted to her."

Michael was glad his mother returned just then with
the clothes. He didn't want to get into a discussion about
Casey.

Nick went upstairs to his room to change.

"Well, what do you think?" Nick asked when he came
back down.

Michael and Elizabeth were both startled by the complete change in him. Nick no longer looked the dandy.
In the denim pants, workshirt and boots, he could easily
have passed for a regular ranch hand.

"You look like you belong here now," Michael told him.

"You think so?"

"Yep. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were born and
raised in Texas."

Michael went to the gun case, got out another gun belt
and handed it to Nick. "Here. I hope we don't need you
to use it, but just in case."

Nick strapped the gun belt on as Michael buckled his,
too, then got his hat.

"All you need is a Stetson," Elizabeth said to her
nephew, and she handed him a hat.

"Thanks, Aunt Elizabeth." Nick put it on as they left the
house.

Tom was waiting out front with horses for them.

"Who's this stranger? I haven't seen this cowboy around
these parts before." Tom grinned at Nick, surprised and
impressed by the change in him. Michael had brought his
cousin out to the bunkhouse the night before to meet all
the ranch hands.

"He's just some hand I found wandering around in
town," Michael joked. "I hired him on."

"We can always use good help," Tom said, winking as
they mounted up.

"We'll be back," Michael promised his mother.

The three men headed for the scene of the ambush.

"What exactly should I be looking for?" Nick asked.

"Anything that will help us find out who shot Pa."

"Is there any way we can be sure that it wasn't just a
random act by someone passing through?"

"No. We can't be sure of anything right now, except
that I'm not going to give up no matter how long it takes."

Nick studied the Texas countryside with interest as they
rode on across the seemingly endless miles. Mesquite
trees, Johnson grass and prickly pear cactus dominated
the landscape, and in the distance a butte rose up against
the horizon.

Tom finally spoke up, breaking the silence. "So, Nick,
what do you think of the Circle D?"

"It's big." Nick was impressed by the size of the spread.
"I think the Circle D is probably as big as a few of the
states back in New England."

"I think you're right," Tom laughed.

"It is one of the largest ranches in this part of the state,"
Michael added proudly.

"Uncle Frank's done a wonderful job here. Why did you
leave?" Nick asked, glancing at his cousin. He had noticed how Michael had begun to change the minute
they'd arrived at the ranch. He had returned to his old
ranching ways almost effortlessly.

"Mother wanted me to attend the university."

"I'm glad you did, otherwise we wouldn't have known
each other as well as we do, but haven't you missed this
life?"

Michael was thoughtful as he answered, "I did the first
few months, you know that, but then I started to enjoy
the life we were leading." He looked around at the open
countryside. "I didn't realize how much I'd missed
thiuntil now."

"Michael, some of the men have been wondering: Are
you going to stay and take over running things for your
pa, or are you planning to head back East again?" Tom
asked in his usual forthright manner.

"I'm staying for now," was all he could answer.

"Good. They'll be glad to hear it. They've been uneasy
because they didn't know what was going to happen. We
didn't know if your mother was going to sell out or if she
was going to try to keep things running by herself." Tom
was relieved, too. With Michael's return, things were looking better for the Circle D.

They finally reached the site of the ambush. Tom
showed them where Frank had been found, and they in spected the area carefully, searching for any clue. Their
efforts proved futile, though. They turned up nothing.

Michael was frustrated when they finally gave up and
started back to the house. They took a different route this
time, riding along the river.

"Did Michael ever tell you how he used to go swimming
down here?" Tom asked Nick, wanting to lighten their
mood. He ignored the quick warning look Michael shot
his way.

"It looks like a good place," Nick agreed. It was private,
and the river was cool and clean and slow-running.

"It is a good place someone catches you
skinny-dipping," Tom joked.

"You got caught skinny-dipping?" Nick was grinning at
Michael. "Who caught you?"

"Go on," Tom urged Michael. "Tell him."

"Casey Turner." Michael was annoyed with Tom for
even bringing the subject up. It was one episode in his
life he would like to forget.

"Our Casey?" Nick said, his grin broadening as he now
understood more fully his cousin's reaction to the girl.

"Yes," he answered tersely.

"You've met Casey?" Tom asked.

"In town," Nick answered. "This story sounds interesting, Michael. I want to know more. What happened?"

"Tom, why don't you tell him, since you're enjoying
yourself so much?" Michael said testily.

"Don't mind if I do," Tom went on. "Casey rode up on
him while he was swimming. She stole his clothes before he could climb out of the river and stop her. She ran his
horse off, too."

"She left you out here naked? No wonder you're not
too fond of her." Nick laughed as he remembered Casey's
remark about Michael's clothes. "What did you do? How
did you get home?"

"It wasn't easy," Michael answered.

"Did you have to walk?"

"He was lucky," Tom explained. "His horse came back
to him, but he still had to wait until dark to make the ride
home. We were just getting ready to go out looking for
him when he rode in."

"I bet everybody was really glad to see you," Nick
added, laughing at the image that came to mind.

Michael groaned at his cousin's pitiful attempt at humor.

"They sure were," Tom agreed.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"About five years," Tom offered.

"I knew I liked Casey from the first moment I met her."

"You're a bad judge of character, Nick," Michael countered.

"No, I'm not. Casey Turner is some kind of woman."

"That's putting it mildly," Michael said.

"You have to admit, she's different from your ordinary
female," Nick observed.

"There's no doubt about that."

"How did she get to be so wild?"

"Her mother died when she was real young. Her father
raised her."

Nick nodded. "So, have you gone swimming here since
then?"

"No," Michael answered. "Somehow this place has lost
its appeal for me."

"That's a shame. It looks like a good swimming hole."

"Feel free to ride out here and go swimming anytime
you want." Michael started to laugh. "Maybe Casey will
ride by and find you skinny-dipping."

All three men were laughing as they rode on.

Michael realized it felt good to laugh a little after the
tension of the last days. He was frustrated by his lack of
success in searching the site of the shooting, but he wasn't
ready to give up. He already knew what he was going to
do the following day.

They returned to the barn and tended to their horses
before going up to the house.

"Did you find anything?" Elizabeth asked when Michael
and Nick came in. She'd been waiting anxiously for them.

"No. We checked the entire area, but we didn't find a
thing. How much money do we have?" Michael asked.

"We're all right money-wise. Why?"

"Because 1 know what we need to do next. Tomorrow
is Friday. A lot of the boys from the neighboring ranches
will be in town for a little rest and relaxation. I want to
ride in and spread the word that there is a reward for
information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the shooting."

"How big a reward?"

"A hundred and fifty dollars?" Michael suggested.

"That's fine. We can offer more if we have to."

"Let's start with the hundred and fifty and see what kind
of response we get."

Elizabeth went to Michael and hugged him. "I am so
glad you're here. I don't know what I'd do without you.
If anybody can figure out a way to catch the bushwhacker, you will."

Michael returned his mother's embrace as he shared a
determined look with Nick.

"I never thought I'd be back in Hard Luck so soon," Nick
remarked as they rode into town late the following day.

"Missed it, did you?"

"The excitement here is hard to resist," he said wryly.
"Where did you want to start?"

"I'm going to stop by the sheriff's office and tell him
what I plan to do."

"Do you need me with you?"

"No. Why?"

"I was thinking that while you're doing that, I'll stop by
the general store and see about buying some clothes."