Part 19 (2/2)
”I don't know,” Daisy answered. ”Gone, I guess.”
”Why did you let it out?” Tyler demanded, his temper flaring out of control.
”You must have left the door unlatched,” Daisy said. ”It was gone when I came out.”
”And you went after it?”
”I had to. It was hurt.”
”It wasn't hurt so much as tired. It's probably half way to Colorado by now.” He turned to Zac. ”You should have had better sense than to let her go after it.”
”Me!” Zac exclaimed.
”You know more about living wild than she does.”
”She's the one who grew up in this miserable place,” Zac pointed out. ”I've been in Boston, remember. We don't have stupid deer and rampaging cougars there.”
”You still knew better,” Tyler said, really angry now. ”I ought to wring your neck.” Tyler took Daisy by the elbow and started for the cabin. ”She could have gotten killed or seriously hurt. I hold you responsible.”
Zac gaped at his brother. ”You try stopping her from doing any addlebrained thing she takes into her head. I told her not to go. You ought to be thankful I took the rifle from her. She'd probably have shot herself.”
Zac protested all the way back, but Tyler refused to speak to him. When they reached the cabin, he ushered Daisy inside. Zac followed close on his footsteps, but Tyler blocked the doorway. ”You can stay outside until you get some sense.”
With that he closed the door on his brother and bolted it. Zac banged on the door with his fists and shouted curses at both of them, but Tyler ignored him.
”You can't leave him outside,” Daisy said. ”It was my fault. He told me not to go.”
”He could have stopped you.”
”I wouldn't have listened to him.”
”He could have made you stay.”
”How?”
”Like this,” Tyler said and grabbed her by the shoulders. ”Do you think I would have let you go?” he asked in a tight voice.
”No.”
Zac had started kicking the door with his boots, but the door showed no sign of breaking. Daisy found the banging very distracting, but Tyler seemed oblivious to it.
”You had no business out there, not even in the yard.”
”I had to find the deer.”
”That deer is a wild animal. It knows how to live outside. You don't.”
”But he was your deer.”
”What difference does that make?”
”I don't know. It just did.”
Tyler stared at her hard for a moment. ”You faced the cougar because of me?”
”I didn't know it was there. I'm not sure I'd have gone if I had,” she confessed.
Now Zac was banging on the window. Daisy was sure he'd break the panes any minute.
”You went after that deer because of me?”
”I thought it was important to you,” she answered, distracted. She expected to see the floor covered with broken gla.s.s any minute. ”You went to all that trouble to take care of it and find it something to eat. I thought you'd be upset if it got away.”
Zac left the window and started hitting the door with something like an ax handle or a log. Daisy couldn't keep her mind on Tyler with all that racket.
Without warning, Tyler pulled her close and kissed her with such fierce intensity Daisy thought her legs would buckle under her. There was nothing tender or loving or gentle about it. It was a hot, fierce kiss born of tightly held pa.s.sion. When Tyler released her, she simply stood there, unable to move, unable to account for what had just happened.
She would probably have remained in a state of shock for some time longer if she hadn't heard footsteps on the roof. Next thing she knew, the sound of sizzling and popping came from the stove.
”Zac's putting snow down the stovepipe,” Tyler explained.
”Don't you think you ought to let him in?”
”Not until he starts to tear off the roof. I figure he'll start in about five minutes. Either that or break the windows.”
Daisy had the distinct feeling she was in a dream. None of this made sense, not the deer, the cougar, Tyler's kiss, or Zac on the roof. It couldn't be happening. If she wasn't already as crazy as the Randolphs, she soon would be.
”You've got to let him in,” Daisy said, starting for the door. ”It was all my fault. I can't let you lock him out or tear up your cabin. You'll freeze without windows.”
”I've more gla.s.s and s.h.i.+ngles,” Tyler said.
Daisy wasn't capable of dealing with anything more just then. She opened the door. ”Zac,” she shouted. ”Come on in.”
About three seconds later Zac and an avalanche of snow landed at her feet. Delivering himself of a string of curses that caused Daisy's eyes to widen, he stalked inside. Much to her surprise, he didn't say a word though he was clearly enraged. He stomped over to the table, sat down, picked up his cards, and began to deal. Daisy glanced at Tyler, but he showed no visible reaction to his brother's silence. He merely put his coat up, sat down, and began cleaning the rifle.
Daisy felt incapable of dealing with the whole situation and retreated to the privacy of her corner.
Tyler had kissed her again. Once could have been a fluke. Twice was no accident.
He had been afraid for her. She saw it in his face. But there was more than anxiety for her safety. It was fear of irreparable loss. Daisy could not believe she could have been the reason for such a look.
It was hard to know what he meant by that kiss. It was so hard and fierce and short. It couldn't have been much else, not with Zac banging over their heads. But he wouldn't have kissed her like that if he didn't like her.
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