Lorraine Heath by Texas Splendor

Author:Texas Splendor [Splendor, Texas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-04-25T11:55:16+00:00

“Mr. Leigh! Mr. Leigh!”

Standing in the wagon, holding one end of the heavy table, Austin glanced over his shoulder to see something that looked like the beginnings of a dust storm hurling toward them.

“Drop it!” Dallas ordered, and Austin gladly obliged, hearing the wagon groan beneath the weight.

The banker’s wife staggered to a stop. “She broke my stick!”

“Who did?” Dallas asked.

She pointed her finger at Austin. “I believe she’s his wife.”

Austin settled his butt on the side of the wagon. “If Loree broke your stick”—he swallowed his laughter—“I’m sure she had good reason.”

“I will not tolerate interference from that hoyden when I’m teaching,” the woman said.

“I’ll talk to her,” Dallas said.

“The hell you will,” Austin said. He glared at the woman. “And she’s not a hoyden.”

“She’s married to a murderer—”

“My brother’s not a murderer.”

“I was at the trial—”

“That’ll be enough, Mrs. Henderson. Why don’t you head on home, and we’ll take this up tomorrow?” Dallas suggested.

She stuck her nose in the air. “I don’t think I can teach Rawley. That boy is as lazy as his father—”

“I’m his father.”

“Not by blood—”

“By all that matters.” Dallas shoved on the table and sent it crashing against the back of the wagon. “Jackson!”

A tall lanky man hurried out of the barn. “Yes, sir?”

“Escort Mrs. Henderson home.”

Leaving the woman to huff and puff, Dallas strode toward the house. Austin leapt off the wagon and caught up to him. “You gotta pity poor Lester being married to that.”

Dallas just snorted.

“What are you aiming to do?” Austin asked as Dallas stalked through the front door.

“Find out what really happened.”

Austin heard the music filtering out of the parlor. Dallas ground to a stop in the parlor doorway. Wanting to ensure that he could get between Dallas and Loree if the need arose, Austin slipped past his brother and froze.

Loree was playing the piano with Rawley sitting beside her, watching as her hands moved over the keys. She struck the final chord and folded her hands in her lap.

“I could never play like that,” Rawley said, his voice filled with awe.

“You could if you wanted,” Loree said. “But the secret is—do you want to?”

Rawley shook his head. “I’d rather be out tending cattle.”

“Then that’s what you should do.”

“But I don’t want to disappoint Mr. D. He ain’t gonna like what happened with Miz Henderson at all,” Rawley said quietly.

“Of course, he won’t like it,” Loree said. “She’s lucky I walked into this room and not your father. He would have snatched her baldheaded if he’d seen that she was going to strike you.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so.” She shifted on the bench. “Rawley, he loves you very much.”

“I know he does, but I ain’t really his son. His son is buried out by the windmill. He died on account of me.” Ducking his head, Rawley rubbed his finger along the edge of the piano. “I ain’t never said that out loud, but I know it to be true.”

“Rawley!”

Rawley came off the bench at his father’s booming voice, and Loree looked as though she’d jumped out of her skin.

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