Dorothy Garlock (16 page)

Annabel walked to the front porch and watched the car until it was out of sight. The heavy hand of loneliness gripped her, wrapping its icy fingers around her heart. She loved her father with all her heart, but at times she didn’t understand him.

She felt at home here and didn’t want to move to another strange place. The house could be modernized and made comfortable for a lot less money than it would cost to buy a house in St. Louis. She wished that she had suggested to her father that he try to buy the hotel in Henderson or possibly buy out another business.

She heaved a sigh. It was too late now to do anything but pack and be ready to move again when he returned.

Twilight was fading when Jack came around the corner of the house and found Annabel sitting on the porch, pushing the porch swing back and forth with one foot, the other curled beneath her.

“Miss Annabel, I’m sorry that you and Mr. Donovan are moving. I know you like it here.”

“We won’t be needing a garden now, and I’ll have to say good-bye to Mildred. I’ve even become fond of that strutting rooster.” She sounded so dejected that Jack squinted through the near darkness to get a better look at her face to see if she was crying.

“Boone said he hoped to stay on here and that I could go ahead and plant the potato eyes tomorrow. It’s the dark of the moon and the best time to plant root crops.”

“What’s the moon got to do with it?” Annabel dried her eyes on the end of her apron.

“Eyes make more potatoes and less vine if planted during the dark of the moon. It’s what we did at home. Aboveground crops are planted during the light of the moon.”

“I’ve never heard that. When did Boone say he was staying here?” Annabel stopped the swing. “He always goes with us when we move.”

“Just now when I said it was a shame that you’d go off and leave the garden we just put in.”

“I thought we’d be here awhile. Where’s Boone?” “He walked out back. He told me to stay here and not let you out of my sight and, if we needed him, to shoot off the gun you keep in the kitchen. So I guess you’ve got to put up with me for a while.”

“That won’t be hard to do. He and Papa are afraid one of the Carters will come over.”

“Mr. Donovan was awful mad when he told Boone about Carter pestering you in town. He said that he’d fixed him by pushing his car off the road.”

“Marvin Carter was angry when Mr. Appleby hit him with his cane. But after Papa pushed his car into a tree he was crazy mad and threw a tire iron at us. I’m afraid Tess Carter will never come back over now.”

“Boone asked me to stay until Mr. Donovan gets back. I think he expects trouble from the Carters.”

“Do you mind?”

“Heavens, no. I’m staying anyway until I get my glove back.”

“Is Mr. Appleby staying until then?”

“He said he was in no hurry and that we could go to as many ball games as we know about in hopes we might sight it. It’s a special glove. I’d know it in a million.”

Annabel got up out of the swing and stood looking off toward the woods that separated them from the Carters.

“I wonder why Boone didn’t come in for supper.”

Boone wasn’t sure why he had told Murphy that he wasn’t moving with him and Annabel to St. Louis. He had been thinking about breaking with him for some time. He would have done it a while back if not for Annabel. The little bootlegging business Murphy had run had gradually turned into something bigger than Boone wanted to be involved with.

He was too old to play games with himself. Tess Carter had a lot to do with his decision to hang around here. He liked her. He had felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time when he was with her. She stirred up his protective instincts. She was a woman, yet she was a girl too. He didn’t know a hell of a lot about women; but he knew men, and the Carter men were at the bottom of the barrel in his estimation.

It was dark when Boone stepped over the line onto Carter property. Knowing the volatile nature of the clan, he moved cautiously and silently through the woods toward the house. What was driving him to take this chance was that he wanted to make sure Tess was all right. The thought that she might have been the one to suffer Marvin’s wrath after his encounter with Murphy worried him.

Boone found a spot where he could see the back of the house and hunkered down. He didn’t dare go closer until he found out if they had dogs. He wished now that he had asked Tess about that. A light shone from a window and he could see someone moving around inside.

He scanned the slovenly homestead. The woodpile was scattered, fences sagged, and discarded rusty machinery sat amid the weeds that grew south of the barn. The place was as he had expected it to be after he’d met the one Carter brother in the woods. Looking around, he located the outhouse leaning precariously beside the chicken house. There was a chance Tess would go there before she went to bed.

One of the brothers came out onto the back porch. He stood on the end of the porch and Boone heard the unmistakable sound of his relieving himself.
Crude bastard was too lazy to move away from the house.

“Goddammit! No wonder it smells like piss around here!” The shout came from the doorway. A man came out onto the porch and shoved the man fumbling with his overalls, causing him to step down off the porch.

“Now look what ya done. Ya made me step in it.”

“If I catch ya pissin’ off the porch again, I’ll rub your nose in it. Now get the hell out and bridle those horses. We’re goin’ over to Calvin’s.”

“Ah, Marvin. Can’t we take the car?”

“No, ya dumb clabberhead! We can’t take the car. The radiator is busted all to hell. Why do ya think I dragged it to the house?”

“Make Bud go. I wanna stay here.”

“Do as yo’re told. We’re goin’ by the still to get some lightnin’ for Calvin. He’ll call in the Carters. By God, that Donovan will soon know what he’s up against.”

“Ain’t ya sweet on the woman? Ya kill her old man—”

“Shit! Ya got ’bout as much brains as a suck-egg mule. Get out there and get the horses.” Marvin stuck his head in the door. “Bud, keep yore eye on Tessie. If she gets sassy, ya can slap her around some. Don’t hurt her bad. Hear? Tomorrow’s wash day. She’s taken to runnin’ off at the mouth more’n she ort to. I might not be back tonight, but Leroy will.” He let the door slam shut, then opened it again. “Ya behave, Tessie. Mind Bud, or next time ya’ll get the strop on yore skinny bare butt.”

An almost unreasonable fury flared up in Boone.
The no-good piece of horse dung had taken his rage out on that little woman.
With an effort he remained perfectly still, his thoughts busy with what he planned to do to Marvin Carter when he caught him alone.

It seemed forever before Marvin and his brother mounted the horses and rode west into the hills. Boone waited awhile longer before he stood and moved closer to the house. He had not gone ten feet before he stopped abruptly. Tess had come out, hesitated, looked back into the kitchen, then jumped off the porch. She ran from the house as if the devil himself were after her. Boone ran to catch her. He didn’t dare call out until they were a good distance from the house.

“Tess,” he called softly. He saw her hesitate, then run on. “Tess, stop. It’s me, Boone.”

She slowed, then stopped and stood as if poised to run again. Boone was winded when he caught up with her.

“Lordy, girl. Ya can run like a deer.”

“Mr. Boone! What’re you doing here?”

“I’ve been waitin’ down by the house hopin’ to see ya. Hopin’ you’d come out. Were you comin’ to the edge of the woods?”

“You shouldn’t be here. Marvin—”

“I saw him leave. How about the brother inside the house? Will he come looking for you?”

“I gave him a loaf of fresh bread and a jar of berry jam. It’ll take him a while to eat it. You shouldn’t come here,” she repeated fearfully. “Marvin is madder and meaner than I’ve ever seen him. He won’t rest till he gets even with Mr. Donovan for pushing his car into the tree and the man in town who hit him on the knee.”

“If I’da been there I’d of done more than hit him on the kneecap. I’d of rearranged his face!”

“He’ll try to get Annabel alone and…ruin her. It’s what he’s planning. Watch her every minute,” Tess pleaded.

“If he does, Tess, I’ll kill him. I want you to know that right now.”

“It’s what he’d deserve, even if he is my brother. He’s going to kill someone, Mr. Boone, and I don’t want it to be you.”

“Did he hurt you, Tess?”

“Ah…no. I’m all right.”

“I heard him tell someone he could slap ya around,” he ground out angrily.

“Bud’s so heavy and slow on his feet, he couldn’t catch me.”

“Holy hell! If he’d followed you out, I’d have laid him out with a club.”

“You’da done that?”

“Damn right. Tess, Tess…” He said her name just because he liked saying it.

Boone put his hands on her shoulders so he could turn her to him. She tried to keep her head averted so that he’d not see her injured face and the tears that filled her eyes. She had never hoped to hear such a tender, caring tone in a man’s voice when speaking to her, and she wanted it to go on for as long as possible.

“Look at me, Tess.”

“Don’t make me. I don’t want you to see me,” she whispered brokenly.

“Let me see what he did to ya.” With a gentle hand beneath her chin, Boone held her face so that he could peer into it. Her lip was split and swollen. Big, quiet tears were creeping down her cheeks.

A crude oath slipped from his lips. Anger at what had been done to her caused his heart to hammer in his chest. Unable to stop himself, he slipped his arms around her. She leaned against him, her face against his shoulder, her arms at her sides.

“Tess, Tess, sweet girl,” he crooned.

His strong warm body was like a safe haven in a storm. He didn’t grab at her breasts; he didn’t pinch her bottom; he didn’t try to kiss her. He held her so gently and so protectively that she couldn’t stop the tears that continued to fall. It didn’t even occur to her to pull away.

“Tess, girl. What can I do?” His voice was a whisper in her ear.

She rolled her forehead against his shoulder. “You can’t do anything.”

“I’ll pound his face to mush for doin’ this to ya.” Boone pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and, holding her away from him, dried her eyes.

“Please don’t fight with him. I’m used to it…in a way.”

“Don’t ya ever want somethin’ better, girl?”

“For a while I did. Now I don’t dare dream of something better.” For the life of her, Tess didn’t know why she was talking to him like this, why she wasn’t afraid of being with him in the dark woods. Her eyes traveled over his face. “Mr. Boone! You shaved off your whiskers.”

He grinned and rubbed his fingers over his face. “Yeah, I feel kinda naked. I’d got used to ‘em coverin’ my ugly face.”

“You’re not ugly,” she said quickly, and, unbidden, her fingertips stroked his cheek.

He caught her hand and held it there. “I wish ya didn’t have to go back. I’ll be worryin’ ’bout ya.”

“I’ll be all right. As long as I feed Bud, he won’t hurt me. He lives to eat.” She would remember as long as she lived the feel of Boone’s face against her hand. “But I thank you for worryin’ about me. Nobody’s ever worried ’bout me but my mother and my aunt.”

“Will you meet me again?”

“Yes. But I don’t know when.”

“The Donovans are movin’.”

“Oh—”

“But I’m stayin’ here.”

“Why’re you doing that?” she asked after she had caught a sharp breath. He had released her fingers, and without realizing it, she was stroking his upper arms.

“I’ve been wantin’ to settle someplace and…this seems to be a good place.”

“I’m…glad you’re staying. Don’t get the Carters mad at you. There’s a lot of them and they stick together.”

“I’m not afraid of them.”

“They don’t do anything out in the open. They’ll sneak and do it. You don’t know how mean they can be.” Her voice rose and her hands gripped his arms.

“Don’t worry about it. It could be that Donovan won’t sell me the place.”

“Then…what will you do?”

“Find another place.”

“Be careful. I’d rather you go than be hurt.”

“Tess, I can’t remember when anyone but Annabel worried about me.”

“I liked her. She was nice.”

“She’s a fine lass. I think the world of her.”

“Will she…stay here with you?”

“No. She’ll go with her papa.”

“I guess I won’t see her again.” Tess tilted her face up to his and he felt the warmth of her breath on his chin. “I’d better go,” she whispered.

“Tess…can I kiss ya? If ya don’t want me to, say so. I’ll not force ya—”

“I know that. I’ve not done much kissin’.”

“I’ve not done much kissin’ either, so we’re even. I’ve thought about kissin’ ya since the other night.” His voice was a hoarse whisper. Boone instantly read her fear in the large amber eyes he found so transparent. “I won’t do it if you don’t want me to,” he said again.

“I…I want ya to.”

The arm around her waist drew her close; his hand tilted her face up to his. He lowered his own, slowly, inevitably. His lips brushed hers in feather-soft exploration, his breath mingling intimately with hers. He repeated the caress again and again, being careful not to press hard on her swollen lip.

Boone discovered that he had been trembling and that now his heart had settled down into slow, heavy thuds. In all his life he had never been so moved. He was acutely aware of the slim, vulnerable figure pressed close against him—of the warm sweetness of her mouth. A few days ago he hadn’t known that this sweet woman existed. Now her soft breasts were pressed to his agitated heart.

After placing several gentle kisses on her lips, he finally felt hers move beneath his. He lifted his head to look down into her serious face. He didn’t have a name for the feelings that swamped him. All he was sure of was that she had become tremendously important to him.

“Tess, you don’t have to take being cuffed around in order to have a roof over your head. If things get rough, come to me.” His hands gripped her upper arms and held her away from him so he could look into her face. “Promise?”