Part 3 (1/2)
Chapter Three.
Daisy was sitting straight up in her bed, her hands clutching at her bandage, emitting scream after scream. Her head b.u.mped against the slats of the bed above her.
”h.e.l.lfire!” Zac exclaimed, rising out of his bed. ”It sounds like somebody's killing her.”
Tyler crossed the room in less than a second. He pulled Daisy's hands down, but the screams continued without interruption. Acting on instinct alone, he pulled her to him, pressed her mouth against his chest, and closed his arms tightly around her.
The screams stopped immediately.
”Thank G.o.d!” Zac said, relief throbbing in his voice. ”What do you think set her off?”
”He's dead!” Daisy moaned into Tyler's chest. ”My father's dead.”
Zac fell back on his bed. ”She remembers.”
Daisy began to cry in great, gusty sobs. She threw her arms around Tyler and held on tight. He had no idea what to do. He'd never held a woman in his arms except in moments of physical release.
This was nothing like that.
”What are you going to do with her?” Zac asked.
”I don't know. You got any suggestions?”
”Yeah, but it's too cold to run away.”
That was the first thought that had come into Tyler's mind. The blizzard made that impossible, of course, not that he would have run anyway. The only decent thing to do was help her get over the worst of the shock.
He remembered the afternoon his own body shook with sobs. He also remembered the beating his father gave him because of it.
Daisy's body trembled as the heart-rending sobs tore through her. Tyler felt warm tears soak through his s.h.i.+rt and felt guilty he couldn't do anything but sit here holding her, waiting for her to cry herself out, waiting for her to tell him what to do.
Gradually he felt less awkward. His arms relaxed around her, and he actually held her rather than merely encircling her body with his arms like an iron hoop encircling barrel staves. It was a strange sensation. It didn't appeal to him very much, but it wasn't as bad as he had expected.
After a minute he actually liked the warmth of her body in his arms, the feel of her bones through the coa.r.s.e material of her dress. He didn't mind the roughness of the bandage against his cheek. For such a tall woman, she was surprisingly slender. The smell of the salve stung his nostrils, but he didn't mind that so much either.
”How long is she going to go on?” Zac asked ”Ssshhh!” Tyler hissed. Just because he and Zac hadn't had any reason to mourn their parents was no reason other people shouldn't. From all he'd heard, that sort of thing affected females the most.
”Well she doesn't look like she's going to stop.”
”I'm going to stop right now,” Daisy muttered into Tyler's chest, her voice a tremulous thread. ”I promise I won't cry another minute.”
”I didn't mean you couldn't cry,” Zac said, apparently not quite so insensitive he didn't know when he had been callous. ”I just wondered how long you were going to be too upset to sleep. Rose always says sleep's the best medicine.”
”I don't know if I can sleep, but I won't keep you awake,” Daisy promised. She started to cry again, then stopped abruptly. She wiped her eyes with her fists. She tried to sit up, her gaze questioning, when Tyler didn't release his hold on her. Flus.h.i.+ng, Tyler immediately relaxed his arms. Much to his surprise he had felt more comfortable holding her. His arms felt empty now, and he was acutely aware of her nearness. Looking into her eyes made him nervous. He felt like he ought to say something, do something, but he had no notion what.
”What happened?” she asked Tyler. ”I only remember looking through the door and seeing my father lying on the floor.” She nearly broke down again, but after a brief struggle, she seemed to have finally regained her composure.
”We don't know,” he said, trying not to let her gaze unsettle him. No woman had ever been so close, had ever looked at him with large brown eyes swimming with unshed tears. He knew her weakness was only temporary, but that didn't lessen her need now. She had no one else to depend on, and he had failed. He had never felt so inadequate. ”We heard the shots, but I thought it was hunters. We only went to investigate when I realized it was a gun shot, not rifle fire.”
”Tell me what you saw,” Daisy said, her voice stronger now.
”There wasn't much to see. The house was on fire, and both of you were inside. We pulled you both out, but your father was already dead.”
”Is that all?”
”We saw hoofprints of three horses in the snow.”
”You didn't go after them?”
”We had to take care of you. Besides, our mules could never overtake their horses. Do you have any idea who might have wanted to kill you and your father?”
”No. He didn't have an enemy in the world. We were too poor to have anything to steal.”
”Did you father keep money in the house?”
”Daddy could never keep money anywhere. If he didn't spend it staying in hotels, he spent it looking for his lost gold mines.” After she'd said it, she seemed to wish she hadn't. She was angry.
Zac opened his mouth to speak, but Tyler gave him a look that caused him to shut it again.
”Did he ever find any gold?” Tyler asked.
”A little now and then, but never enough to make it worthwhile. He wouldn't tell anybody where he went, but n.o.body wanted to know.”
”I thought you said you had cattle.”
”We do, but Daddy never had many cows to sell. Anything he got he could drink up in fine brandy in less than a month.”
Rustlers, maybe, but Walter Singleton's operation was so small Tyler doubted any rustler would have a reason to kill him. Certainly not enough to corner him in his house and burn it over him.
”If rustlers keep stealing your cows, maybe you can get Tyler to look for your mine,” Zac suggested.
”Only a fool would spend his life looking for lost gold mines,” Daisy said with a vehemence that startled Tyler. ”It ruined my father's life. He was always so sure he was on the verge of making a fabulous strike. He couldn't think of anything else unless it was drinking brandy and telling people what he was going to do when he struck it rich.
”It killed my mother. She hated the desert. She hated the heat and the loneliness and the scorpions. She was raised pampered and spoiled, but she worked herself into an early grave for daddy. She wouldn't hear a word against his gold mine.” Daisy glared at Tyler. ”Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?”
Zac's gaze found Tyler during the awkward silence that followed, but neither of them responded to her question.
”Is your family from Bernalillo or Albuquerque?” Tyler asked.
”Neither. I don't have any relatives.”
”Everybody has relatives,” Zac said. ”We've got loads of them all over back East.”
”Well, I've probably got loads of them all over back East, too,” Daisy mimicked, ”but I wouldn't spend one minute under any of their roofs.”
”Why?”