Dashing Druid (Texas Druids) (28 page)

Grief swamped him. He hung his head and shuddered with the force of it, not caring how much his arm hurt. Tom was dead. Tom, who’d saved him from falling down that mine shaft in Utah, who’d befriended him despite the bitter rivalry between Irish and Cornish miners. Aye, Tom was dead, and the blame was his, Tye admitted. They wouldn’t even be here if not for him. He was the one who’d wanted to try his luck – that cursed thing – in Colorado, and he’d convinced Tom to come with him. Not only that, he’d pushed Tom into staying here, when the man had been ready to give up and go home.

 “’Tisn’t bad enough I’ve wasted my own life. Now I’ve killed ye, Tom,” he choked out, wiping his damp eyes on his filthy shirtsleeve. “But you’ll have company soon, my friend.”

Soon . . . .

Tye returned to the present with a jolt. Only half aware of what he had told Lil, he glanced at her. She sat quietly beside him, waiting for him to continue. The compassion she was feeling for him washed through him like a comforting elixir. He didn’t deserve it. Looking away, he quickly summed up the rest.

“I figured I was as good as dead. My lunch pail was buried, God knows where, so I had no food and only enough water for a few days. If I was frugal. That was assuming the air lasted and the ceiling didn’t collapse completely. I doubted anyone could reach me in time.”

He didn’t mention the sadness he’d experienced, thinking of Tom’s family and his own, waiting for word that would never come. Or the terrible guilt of knowing he could have prevented all of it from happening.

“There was nothing to do but wait for the inevitable. I slept when I could, when the damned arm would let me, to escape the blackness. Sometimes when I was awake, it seemed to close in, as if trying to smother me. I’d light a lucifer match to hold it at bay, but eventually they ran out. After that, well, I suppose I went a bit mad.”

He laughed dryly. “I was certain I’d lost my mind when I began to hear faint sounds coming from beyond the stone barrier sealing me in. With my water running out, the arm paining me and despair clouding my mind, those sounds were merely another form of torment. I was certain they weren’t real. ’Twas only the Tommyknockers, the evil elves Tom believed in, playing tricks on me.

“I was almost gone when they dug me out, along with Tom. If they’d been one more day, perhaps only a few hours, I’d have been laid to rest with him on that mountainside.” Tye examined his right forearm, turning it this way and that. “It still aches at times – a reminder of him. And that black hell.”

“How long were you trapped?” Lil asked.

“Six days, not so long as some who’ve lived to tell the tale.”

“Dear God! Six days sounds plenty long to me.”

“It was,” he said. “So, do I miss ferreting around in the bowels of the earth? No. But I do miss Tom. Very much.” He swallowed hard. “He’s dead because of me, Lily. If I hadn’t talked him into coming to Colorado, if I hadn’t given him cause to stay, he’d be alive and well. ’Tis a wonder
you’re
still alive, curse that I am.”

Lil wrapped her arms around him, sun-warmed flesh pressed to his. “Oh, Tye, you’re no curse,” she whispered. “You didn’t make Tom go to Colorado. And you aren’t the one who wouldn’t take time to shore up that tunnel.” She kissed his shoulder.

“After Neil died, you told me it was all right to feel glad it wasn’t me. Well, now I’m telling you the same thing. Mourn for Tom, but be glad you’re alive, because if he was truly a friend, he wouldn’t want your guilt. He’d want you to be happy. Don’t you see?”

Wondering what he’d done to deserve her, Tye groaned and caught her to him. He buried his face in her soft, grass-scented hair, letting it catch the tears that squeezed from his eyes. His voice was a ragged whisper.

“Damnú,
woman! Ye unman me, and I love ye for it.”

She uttered a strangled little cry and tangled her hands in his hair, forcing him to look up. Love and desire glistened in her beautiful brown eyes, and her cheeks were as wet as his. Needing her more than the air he breathed, he captured her mouth and shut out the past.

* * *

Adjusting her hat against the late-morning sun, Lil recognized the incoming rider with her father. “That’s David with Pa,” she said as Tye rode up to join her. “Looks like his leg healed all right, or he wouldn’t be sitting a horse.”

“Aye. I wondered if he’d end up with a bad leg like his da.”

“Yeah, me too,” Lil said distractedly. Wichita waited only a few miles ahead – Wichita and Frank Howard. The knowledge clawed at her insides as the two men approached.

“Howdy, Lil,” David said as they drew rein. He shook hands with Tye, adding, “Glad to see both of you made it here safe and sound. Lil, your pa tells me you’re the
segundo
now.” His smile held brotherly affection and sympathy. “Sorry to hear about MacClure.”

Lil nodded. “Thanks, David. You look a heap better than the last time I saw you.”

“That he does,” Tye said, leaning on his saddle horn. “Well, brother-in-law, have ye fought any more steers lately?”

David laughed. “Nope. Don’t dare. Jessie threatened to banish me to the bunkhouse and let Sul tend me next time.”

“Saints preserve us! Surely she didn’t mean it. No woman could be so cruel to her man.” Tye swung his blue gaze to Lil, bathing her with a teasing caress. “Could she, colleen?”

Had he shouted it, he couldn’t have made it any plainer that he was
her
man. Her face grew hot with embarrassment. Seeing David grin and her father raise his eyebrows, she glared at Tye, getting a wink in reply. She just might strangle him later.

“I see Tye’s not riding drag anymore, Del,” David remarked, diverting attention away from Lil.

Her cheeks cooled, and she almost laughed at her father’s sudden, grumpy scowl. He’d owned up to being wrong about Tye, but admitting it to David obviously stuck in his craw.

“Harumph. Made some changes along the trail,” he muttered, tugging on his hat. “So how’s the market look?”

“Not bad,” David replied with a twitch of his lips. “Prices are up from last year, like we hoped. Thought you might want to ride ahead with me and meet some of the buyers.”

“Might as well, I reckon. Lil and the boys can bed the herd down outside of town. How’s the grazing along Cowskin Creek?”

Before David could answer, Lil put in, “Pa, I’d like to ride into town with you now. The crew can handle these steers without me. It’s just a few miles.”

Her father and David eyed her in mild surprise.

Tye straightened in his saddle. “Lil, if you’ve got in mind begging Howard to back off, I won’t have it,” he decreed.

Clenching her reins in one fist, she planted the other on her hip and glowered at him. “Is that right? Appears to me like somebody’s gotta talk sense into one of you, and you sure won’t listen.”

Angry color darkened his features. “Saints above, woman! I don’t want ye near the no-good
bithiúnach
!” His horse shied at his harsh tone, but he curbed it and swung his gaze to her father. “Del, don’t let her go. You know what Howard tried to do.”

“He’s right, girl,” her father said, pointing a finger at her. “You stay away from Frank. Anyway, there’s no cause for a fuss. Judd promised to keep a tight rein on him.”

Lil started to argue, but a bark of laughter from David stopped her. Her father glared at him, clearly seeing no reason for amusement. Neither did she, not with Tye’s life on the line.

“Sorry, Del, I’m not laughing at you,” David said. “It’s just the idea of anybody keeping a rein on Frank Howard is pretty hard to swallow.” He looked at Tye. “I take it you had another run-in with him?”

“Aye. Last time I broke his nose.” Tye snapped. “I only wish it had been his head.”

David grinned. “Well, you won’t have trouble with him in Wichita. He left for home this morning.”

“What! Are you certain?” Lil blurted. “Why would he –?”

“Because he got drunk and shot up Rowdy Joe Lowe’s place last night. Marshal Earp threw him in the calaboose, and his pa had to pay a granddaddy of a fine to get him out. The minute he did, he hauled Frank down to the station and put him on the train.”

Stunned, Lil closed her eyes as a great wave of relief swept through her. Tye wouldn’t be forced into a gunfight with Frank after all.

Her father gave a disgusted snort. “That hotheaded fool’s gonna get booted off the Circle H if he’s not careful,” he said.

Lil opened her eyes to find Tye’s blue gaze upon her. His anger had faded. A playful smile fanned across his lips.

“I suppose I can quit practicing my draw now,” he said. “’Twill give me time to concentrate on more pleasant matters.”

His teasing didn’t embarrass Lil this time. He was safe, he would stay with her. Nothing else mattered.

* * *

Standing before a tall, mahogany-framed mirror in her room at the Douglas Avenue Hotel, Lil struggled to tie a bow in her hair. Doggonit, she hated dresses and petticoats and hair bows! But Tye had insisted she wear the blue outfit she’d worn that night in Fort Worth.

“Darn you, Tye Devlin! I’d like to see you do this.” As soon as the words were out, she giggled, imagining him with a ribbon in his wavy black hair. A most unmanly picture.

Finally, after several attempts, she got the blue grosgrain strip tied straight. At least she hoped it was straight.

She crossed to the window, held the lace curtains aside, and craned her neck to see the sky. Tye had promised to meet her in the lobby around noon and take her to lunch. By the sun’s position, she had another hour to wait. As fidgety as a caged bird, she paced the room, wondering if Tye had more in mind than lunch. Would he ask her to marry him? Her heart fluttered at the thought.

Yesterday, he’d left the herd out on Cowskin Creek, where they’d grazed the cattle for the past three days, and had ridden into town, turning down her offer of company. There was something he needed to do alone, he’d said. Like arrange for a wedding, maybe?

“Blasted man better want to get hitched.” She’d like to have a ring on her finger before she became a mother. Not that she knew if she was carrying his baby, but . . . .

The thought of holding a tiny boy with Tye’s black locks and bluebonnet eyes set her aglow with misty warmth. But what if it was a girl? The poor thing sure wouldn’t have a very ladylike mama, but she’d have plenty of love. Maybe she could learn about hair ribbons and such from her Aunt Jessie.

Lil grinned as she paused to glance out the window again at the busy street. Jessie wasn’t going to like having her for a sister-in-law, but she’d just have to get used to the idea. As for Ma, she’d probably never forgive her for marrying an Irish Yankee. Lil sighed. She didn’t want to hurt her mother, didn’t want to be disowned by her, but if that’s the way it turned out, so be it. Never again would she let
anyone
stand between her and Tye.

Unable to bear being cooped up a moment longer, she strode into the hall, locked her door, and dropped the key in her otherwise useless reticule. As she headed downstairs, she decided to stroll down to the stockyards and make sure the boys had finished moving the herd onto the holding grounds. David and her father had closed a deal yesterday; their cattle would soon be on a train heading east.

Tye had said he would clean up before meeting her. Maybe she’d catch him for a minute before he went to find a bathhouse. Away from him for less than three hours, and already she hungered for the sight of him. She laughed at herself as she stepped outside into the sun. There were other things she hungered for as well.

After nearly two months on the trail, she’d delighted in her own hot bath at the hotel. Wickedly, she’d recalled that starlit night back in the Nations, with Tye’s hands upon her in the water. And my, how she’d longed to have him in that warm tub with her. Her body still thrummed with desire when she imagined it.

Quelling her wanton urges, Lil looked around as she headed toward the cattle pens on the southeast side of town. The dusty street bustled with wagons, horses and people. Wichita had grown a lot since she’d last seen the place two years ago. Several brick and stone buildings now faced the main streets, and a passel of new false-fronted wooden stores had cropped up. There were also more saloons and gambling halls than ever.

From what Lil heard, one of the most popular places was Keno Hall at the corner of Douglas and Main. A slurred tenor voice shouted “Keno!” from that direction now. The gambling house also offered faro, monte, poker, roulette, and any other game a cowboy wished, according to Choctaw Jack and Dewey, who’d visited the place last night. They’d returned to the herd drunk and happy, but with empty pokes. The other men had also done their share of celebrating, thanks to David. He’d advanced part of their pay. Now that the cattle were sold, they’d get the rest, and like most drovers, they’d probably blow it all right here in Wichita.