Part 34 (2/2)
”What are you doing here?”
”You look lovely,” Tyler said. ”Hard work agrees with you. I really do like your hair. Don't ever pin it up.”
Accepting his compliments as just one more thing Tyler did to keep her off balance, Daisy struggled once again to talk to him like he was n.o.body special. But it was hard with him looking up at her, his big brown eyes warm and s.h.i.+ning.
”You've been driving the cows toward me!” she accused. ”That's why I've been finding so many.” No matter what she did, he couldn't stop trying to take care of her. But it wasn't enough anymore. Not nearly enough.
”I thought you might need some help getting started. I didn't realize you would have half the country helping you.”
”You mean you followed me from Albuquerque so you could hide in the bushes and chase cows toward me when I wasn't looking.”
He brushed off some dry needles clinging to his clothes. ”I'm the reason you're out here by yourself. I came to make sure you're okay.”
He was as bad as Zac. He acted like the universe revolved around him. ”Don't flatter yourself. I'm here because I couldn't marry Guy without loving him. You can head back to your mines right now.”
Tyler didn't seem the least bit disconcerted. ”I'd better get my horse.”
”I thought you only rode mules.”
”I grew up in Texas,” Tyler called over his shoulder. ”Mules and burros are for prospecting, horses for working cows. You can't fool me there.”
He wasn't acting like himself. Daisy walked her horse after him. ”You sound like Zac. What's wrong with you?”
”You didn't like me as I was. I thought maybe you'd like Zac better.”
”I never liked Zac better than you.” She hadn't meant to let that to slip out.
”Poor Zac.”
Tyler had concealed his horse, a huge seventeen-hand gelding, behind a ridge. Mounted he looked magnificent. Daisy swallowed, the caustic remark hovering on her tongue, forgotten. It was hard to be scathing when she'd just had the wind knocked out of her sails. It wasn't fair his mere physical presence could render her witless. Her father had always said the mind was more powerful than the body. But he hadn't told her it would be such a close call.
”While I'm here, I might as well help you drive that cow to camp.”
So he intended to talk nothing but business. That was okay. She could be just as casual as he. ”Where did you learn so much about cows?”
”I told you, I grew up in Texas. My family has a ranch there.”
”One of the ranches that generates the income you won't accept?”
”Laurel.”
”Somebody had to explain. You wouldn't.”
Tyler started the cow and calf trotting toward the camp. ”I didn't figure it was anybody's business but mine.”
Daisy felt like she'd been slapped in the face. ”It isn't. It's just that people who care for you like to understand you. That's a pretty big chunk left out of the picture.”
”I guess that's why I've always kept to myself.”
Whatever his reason for coming back, it obviously wasn't to beg her forgiveness or anything like that. His heart was as crusted over as ever. ”It saves explanations and caring. I understand now.”
The cow made a break for freedom. Tyler had her back on the trail in minutes.
”What do you understand?” he asked.
”That you don't want anybody in your life. You don't want to be vulnerable, to let anybody become important to you. You've used your brothers' refusal to give you the money for your hotels as an excuse to drive people away. Secretly you don't think you're worthy of your good fortune. You haven't done anything to earn the money. You're keeping your hotels to yourself because when you finally get them, they'll be your justification for taking your place in the family. If you had to share them, they wouldn't be yours. You'd be afraid you weren't worthy. How did I do?”
”You talked to Laurel a lot.”
”I also lived with my father for a long time. You're very much alike. I discovered he could have made a decent income from the ranch, but he was obsessed with gold.”
”You think I'm like that?”
”I'm not sure it matters. It may be too late for you to become a normal human being. You may be so firmly caught in your isolation you have forgotten how to break out.”
”You've done a lot of thinking.”
”I've had a lot of time.”
The action in camp came to a halt when they rode in. ”This is Tyler Randolph,” Daisy said to Rio. ”He's been chasing the cows out of the hills for me.” The other men in the camp studied Tyler with appraising glances as Daisy introduced him around.
”Ready to get some more?” Tyler said, when the introductions were over.
”I'm ready for you to go back to Albuquerque.”
”I'm sticking. You can ride out with me or you can sit in camp. Either way it's your decision.” He put spurs to his huge gelding and started back toward the hills.
”You trust him?” Rio asked.
”Like a rattler,” Daisy said as she started after him. ”Come to think of it, I'd trust a rattler more.” She wished it were true, but she seemed to trust him no matter how many times he left her.
”What the h.e.l.l was that all about?” one of Bob Greene's men asked. ”How in h.e.l.l did she manage to get a Randolph to help her?”
”You know him?” Rio asked.
”Not him, but I know of his family. Everybody does. They're rich as sin and mean as snakes. His brother is in Albuquerque right now. He was a gunfighter. This one's supposed to be looking for gold.”
”I think he's found it,” Rio said. His gaze turned to follow the pair disappearing in the distance.
Daisy and Tyler rode into camp at dusk. Tyler dismounted, helped Daisy down, then took both their horses and headed toward the remuda.
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