How to Rope a McCoy (Hell Yeah!) (21 page)

“Sounds
like the area was similar to New Orleans’
Storyville
.”

“There
are many similarities. Austin allowed the bordello district to flourish, just
like New Orleans did, until the anti-prostitution sentiments of the early
twentieth century took hold.”

“So,
no one ever solved the murders?”

“No,”
Heath rubbed the condensation off of his glass, “they didn’t. I just hope
someone solves the one I’m accused of.”

Cato’s
heart went out to Philip. “If there is any way I can help you, all you have to
do is ask.”

He
shook his head. “If I can think of anything, I’ll let you know. Until then,
just talking to me about all of this helps.”

“Sure,
I’ll tell you anything I can about San Saba, but I’m sure you know more than I
do.”

Philip
just started talking and Cato let him. She knew it helped sometimes to get
things in perspective.

“When
we moved to Highlands and I started teaching at UT, everything was in an
uproar. Dad’s health was precarious and we were all essentially starting over.
Heath bought the resort about that same time and we brought in crews to search
for more oil. Mainly, they found gas. Either way it was profitable. We tore
down the original ranch house and built this one to remind us of our mother.”

Cato
could tell Philip was still working through his grief over losing his home and
his mother. In some ways, she could relate.

“We
all reacted to the upheaval in our lives in different ways. I immersed myself
in work, walking the land, exploring Enchanted Rock and the caves underneath
it. I talked to some old timers and they told me there was one tunnel that goes
completely through it from one side to the other. And some of those caverns are
connected by underground rivers and springs. I’ve studied maps and geology
reports and I’m convinced those caves run all through the llano uplift. I think
they’re connected to caves on our property. In fact, I went down in one where I
found this…” He pulled something out of his pocket.

Cato
was shocked to see that it was a huge silver nugget. It reminded Cato of the
day she’d been harassed by Heath’s bull, when she’d seen something similar
embedded in the trail. “Wow, you’re lucky.”

“Not
really. Not too many days after I found this, I was arrested for murder.”

“Why
did they think you were responsible?”

“Well,
he was killed on our property, in the area I’d been exploring and I’d left some
equipment there. Dalton was trespassing. Until recently, we didn’t really know
why. Now, thanks to my cousin Noah, we’ve discovered that Dalton was a treasure
hunter too. Not an archaeologist like me or a historian like you, but an
amateur with a metal detector and a shovel. We knew one another casually, but
we never discussed lost mines or lost treasure not even once. I would run into
him down at the local watering hole frequently. It’s a place called Pastor
Don’s Dam Pub, run by an ex-Methodist preacher with the sharpest wit of anyone
I know. Heath will have to take you there.”

“Heath
and I aren’t dating.” Cato felt like she had to reiterate that point.

Philip
laughed. “Well, if you say so.” He thought a minute, then started speaking
again. “There was one funny thing,” Philip mused. “People would get us mixed
up. He wore a hat like mine.” Philip doffed his chocolate brown Stetson.
“Dalton was dating a woman who had…” he laughed wryly, “who had chased me for a
while, quite openly. I never was involved with her, it was just harmless
flirting.”

Cato
could imagine all of the McCoy brothers were pursued. The fact that she fell
into the same category gave her pause. “Maybe she dated him because he
resembled you.” Cato blurted.  

Philip
never got the chance to answer because the chair Cato was resting her elbow on
moved suddenly and she almost fell. “Whoops,” she squealed and Heath caught
her.

Heath
couldn’t stand it. He didn’t like the way he felt at all seeing Cato with
anyone else, not even his brother whom he trusted with his life. And his
response surprised him and made Heath feel agitated and uneasy. “Sorry.” He sat
down, tapping his boot on the floor. “Go ahead, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Philip
gave him a tired, knowing look. “Glad you could join us.”

“She
left me.” Heath made the announcement like it explained everything.

“Make
up your mind,” she told Heath. Secretly, his actions made her happy, but she
wasn’t about to let him know that.

“What
are y’all talking about?” Slapping his hat on his knee, Heath waited for
someone to answer.

“I
was about to ask Cato what she knew about the San Saba mine, before you barged
in.” Philip smirked.

“Good,
tell us, Cato. I’m all ears. I’ve asked you this before, but why do you think
the lost mine is on Highland property?”

Cato
glared at Heath. “Your ears are pretty big,” she muttered, her mind going
naturally to Heath’s other large body parts. When both men looked at her with
more than a little interest, she relented. “All right, I’ll tell you.” She’d
shared some with Redford, but regretted it. Hopefully she wouldn’t be making a
mistake this time. “I’ve been doing some heavy-duty research on the topic,” she
directed the next words at Heath, “for historical purposes.”

“If
you say so.” Heath had the audacity to harrumph.

Cato
didn’t miss his sarcastic attitude. It seemed like they were right back where
they started, as if the amazing time they had spent in each other’s arms never
happened. “Yes, historical purposes.” She emphasized her point.

“Go
ahead, Cato. I’m listening.” Philip encouraged.

She
looked at him apologetically. “You’re the expert and I’m probably telling you
things you already know, so if I am excuse me.” He nodded for her to continue.
“There are documents that you can only access in collections. One at The
University of Texas is written in Spanish, it’s called the Miranda Report and
indicates that the mine is near Honey Creek.” Heath started to interrupt her,
but Philip stopped him, so she went on. “Another book, The Rise and Fall of the
Mission San Saba, which is part of a private collection housed at Baylor
University in Waco, states that Jim Bowie and his brother
Rezin
fought a battle with a band of Indians on their way to the fabled mine. The
book mentions a site near Jackson Creek. But that battle is a big hint. If you
research the battle instead of the mine, you find other people who mention additional
landmarks and bodies of water that Bowie and company crossed or past before and
after the battle.” Cato got a piece of paper out of her purse and started
sketching. “I just mentioned Jackson Creek and if you add to that Sandy Creek,
Silver Creek, Turkey Creek and Calf Creek, you begin to see the layout of the
territory they were investigating.” When she rose to see their reaction, she
could see the understanding in their eyes. “Those creeks all cross your
property, the Highlands, right?”

Philip
took the paper from her. “Damned if they don’t.”

“Now,
some people say the Bowie brothers didn’t find a mine at all, instead they
stole three treasure laden donkeys from the Mexican government.” Cato took
another sip of her cold coffee. “You can find many theories but the lost mine
is the most prevalent. The last clues I unearthed was the diary of a little old
lady who lived over near
Hext
,
Tx
. Her grandson found it and it was brought to my
attention when I was searching for information about descendants of a Matt
Doyle who fought with the Bowies.” The longer she talked, the closer the two
men leaned in. They were hanging on her every word. “Mrs.
Harlo
wrote that there were three trees with arrows embedded in them and they pointed
the way to the mine.”

“You
know, I think I’m going to change the direction of the ride.” Heath gave Philip
a pointed look. “Announce to everyone that we’re heading down south on the
Cedar Peak trail toward Sandy Creek and tell the cook to meet us at Granite
Fork.”

“What
are you thinking?” Philip asked.

“I’m
not sure, but I think I know where one of those trees is located.” Heath stared
off into the distance, but his head was still turned enough so Cato could see.
“If all of this is true, then we need to find out who else knew about this mine
and that man will be Dalton Smith’s killer.”

*  *  *

What
she told Heath and Philip seemed to galvanize them. They took off in different
directions and she felt lost. Pepper and Ryder were nowhere to be seen and
everyone else seemed ready to follow Philip’s directions and head to the barn
to find a mount and hit the trail. Cato hadn’t ridden much, but she could
manage to stay on a horse. The only problem was, she didn’t know if she wanted
to go. Answering Ryder and Pepper’s inquisitive yet innocent questions would be
awkward and who knows whether Heath would even ride with her or not. Maybe it
was time to leave.  

As
she started up the hill, Heath returned with Jaxson and Tennessee. Cato paused,
thinking he might come to her. Instead, Tennessee asked, “Where’s Jimmy? He’s
not going to miss the trail ride, is he?”

“I
don’t know. I haven’t talked to him this morning. He went home last night…and I
was a little preoccupied.”

“Preoccupied
with what?” Tennessee smiled.

“Nothing
important.”

One
of the hazards of lip reading, like eavesdropping, was that you tended to be
privy to conversations one wasn’t supposed to hear. Apparently, this was one of
those cases.
A little preoccupied? Nothing important?
Cato sighed. Yep,
it was time to head home. Cato just felt in the way. As his friends gathered
around Heath, she just eased off.

She
wasn’t aware of it, but Heath watched her go. He stepped away from his brothers
and flung a little leftover coffee into the yard. Following Cato’s progress, he
watched her climb the steps to the porch and go inside. His mind might be
muddled by everything that was going on, but it didn’t take very long for the
notion to enter his mind that Cato might have it in her head to skip out on the
party early. “Hell.”

Cato
was glad to find herself alone. There was no one in the house at all that she
could see. Going to her room, she went to the closet and took out her suitcase,
taking the time to drape a towel over the monitor, just in case. For a few
seconds, she just stared at her clothes as if she was expecting them to express
an opinion. Picking up the little black dress she’d been planning to wear to
the dance tonight, she jerked it off the hangar. This little number had come
from J C Penny and had set her back seventy-two dollars. When she’d packed it,
Cato had envisioned Heath seeing her in it and thinking she was beautiful and
sexy. Now she realized that the hand towels in the bathrooms probably cost more
than her cheap knock-off.

Holding
up the dress, she folded it and placed it in the suitcase. Then she took out a
shirt and folded it and reaching behind her, placed it on top of the dress. A
pair of jeans was next, except when she looked down, the suitcase was empty.
What the heck? Whirling around, she found Heath unpacking her suitcase as fast
as she was packing it. “Give me that.” She snatched the stuff back up and
slammed it over in the case, not nearly as neat the second time.

Again,
he pulled her clothes out and laid them on the bed. Taking her by the arms, he
turned her so she could see him clearly. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Keeping
her cool, she thought, Cato graciously held out her hand. “I want to thank you
for a lovely weekend, but I think it’s time for me to leave.”

“I
don’t want you to leave.”

“Are
you sure?” She crossed her arms under her breasts as she challenged him. “You
are busy, and I don’t blame you for that.” She backed down a bit. “Look, I
don’t think I can be around you and pretend we’re—”

“Cato,
I don’t want you to pretend.” Heath put his hands on his hips.

“But
if I stay, and you pay attention to me, your family will see us together. And
if you ignore me completely…I don’t think I can handle that either.”

“I’m
not going to ignore you.” Heath pulled her to him.

“It
would be better if we just waited till our first rendezvous,” she mumbled into
his shirt. “Unless you’ve had second thoughts.”

Kissing
the top of her head, Heath eased her a step or two away so they could talk. “I
hadn’t had second thoughts. Why don’t we go on the trail ride and have a good
time with everyone and then go to the dance and hang out a while? We can be
friendly, just not demonstrative. We can save the good stuff until we get
behind closed doors.”

Feeling
a bit mischievous, Cato asked. “Can I dance with other people, since you don’t
like to dance?” 

“No,
I’ll dance enough to satisfy you.”

“I
don’t know, I’m pretty insatiable.” She tried to tease, wanting to turn back
the clock to the way they were last night.  

“I’ll
satisfy you when…” he started, but she interrupted.

“I
know, when we get behind closed doors.” The lyrics to the old Charlie Rich song
came to mind. Cato remembered Tessa’s dad playing it on his car stereo. “I
never intended to hang on you in a crowd. I can be a lady.”

“God,
I know, I didn’t mean to imply you weren’t. I apologize,” Heath said, meaning
it. “What we do in private is our business.”

The
lyrics kept playing in her mind. She put her arms around his neck. “When we’re
alone, do you want me to make you proud you’re a man?”

Heath
ran his fingers through her hair, caressing the back of her neck. “Parts of me
are standing pretty proud right now.”

Cato
smiled and stood on tiptoe, biting her lower lip. “Do we have time to do
something about that?”