Stuck Together (Trouble in Texas Book #3) (18 page)

Vince jerked his head up, and his eyes blazed. “I’m having a little trouble forgetting.”

“You’ll have to apply yourself.”

“How about you? Have you forgotten?”

Silence stretched between them. At last Tina said quietly, “I’ll have to apply myself, too.”

“Which means no.”

Tina closed her eyes. There was silence again. This was the moment when a man with honorable intentions would propose. Vince seemed decent enough . . . except in his dealings with her.

“I’ll tell you simply, Vince. Seeing Jonas and Melissa meet and fall in love and instantly begin talking of marriage . . . well, that’s not how I think a couple should behave.”

“I agree with you there.”

“Jonas probably calls it love, and I’m hoping it grows into that, but the truth is, what they feel”—Tina dug deep and found the courage to look Vince straight in the eye—“is what we feel. That draw. That tug of attraction that’s almost too strong to deny. Yet my brother wants to put the word
love
on it. You, on the other hand, want to ignore what passed between us, or deny it, or possibly just tell the
truth about it—that we’re attracted to each other but it’s not the same as love. So we need to behave in a more circumspect way. There will be no more kissing. And despite the attraction, you’re not the man for me any more than I’m the woman for you. We’d spend our entire married life at each other’s throats.”

“Oh, I think there would be some good moments.” Which sounded like Vince had considered joining their lives together. Considered it, and then rejected it. “But I’m never going to marry, Tina. I should never have kissed you, no matter how much I want to.”

“You want to?”

“Oh yeah, I do.” Their eyes locked. “But there’s something that stops me every time I think of spending my future with you.”

Tina waited to hear that she was a nag. She was too willing to fight for her causes. She was too stiff, too fussy, too unlovable. It was all true. She accepted that, and yet here was Vince in a seemingly honest mood. No doubt he would share all her shortcomings and why he refused to contend with them. She could hardly blame him. Some days she wouldn’t stay around herself if she could get away.

“Which one of my parents do you think I’m like?”

Startled out of her lowering thoughts, Tina said, “Which are you like? I don’t really know either of them that well. I was around your father for a total of maybe two hours, and your mother isn’t herself.”

“I think it’s almost a law that a child is raised in the way he will go. I believe that’s in the Bible, in fact. I’m either like my tyrant of a father, and believe me, I feel that inside me.”

“Really? You don’t seem all that tyrannical. Bossy maybe.”

“Or I’m like my mother. And that could well mean I’ll lose my mind as I age. Which one of those two people would you wish on someone, Tina? And my mother’s madness is passed down from her father, so I carry the seeds of it. I will most likely pass it on to a child. Do you wish that for yourself? Do you wish for a life spent, in your own declining years, caring for an addled husband who doesn’t know his own wife?”

Vince’s voice rose with every word. “Do you wish to watch your children go mad? Or would you prefer to live with a tyrant who can be so frightening he’d raise up a son who doesn’t know how to ever let down his guard? Which of those people do you want to marry?”

“Don’t pretend this is about you.” Tina rose and stormed right for him. “I know I’m not a lovable woman.” She got right up under his nose, furious. This was the unpleasant part of herself, the snippy, nagging part no one could warm up to. Well, he might as well know the truth of who she was. “I know my aunt was rigid, but even rigid people love children most of the time, and she couldn’t find anything about me to love. She loved her new husband easily enough, but not me. And I know Jonas is only letting me stay here out of pity.”

Jabbing a finger at his chest, she went on, “I know if a man really cared about a woman, he would be willing to do anything to have her in his life. I’m going upstairs now, and I don’t want you to touch me again or make excuses for why you want to kiss me one minute and shove me away the next.”

“You’re not going anywhere until we settle this.” Vince
brushed her jabbing hand aside. “We’re stuck together caring for my mother, and we need to clear the air.”

“This is what happened before. We argued. We got too close. You grabbed me and I let you. Well, that’s not going to happen again. I’m going up to your mother’s room and I’m locking the door. I will remain in there until my brother comes to deliver your sister and return me to my home. You go to your room and stay there.” Tina whirled and started for the steps.

She felt Vince grab for her, his hands just barely missing as she moved. He wanted to force her to stay and listen to his excuses. Just as he probably wanted to kiss her again.

She rushed upstairs. When she reached the top, she realized there were no thundering footsteps chasing her. She looked over her shoulder to see Vince standing where he’d been, watching her, his eyes burning with temper and something more.

He hadn’t even cared enough to chase after her, not even in the heat of the moment.

In the heat of the moment Vince wanted to grab her and kiss her and probably make a bunch of promises he had no business making and no intention of keeping.

Their eyes held for a long while, and only fierce self-discipline kept him from running up those stairs. Then he realized that what he was seeing in her eyes was not anger, but hurt. It broke his control just as she spun and disappeared into Mother’s room. From way downstairs he heard the harsh
click
of the key turning in the lock.

Smart lady.

Jonas had no business leaving the two of them alone, even though Jonas almost certainly wasn’t thinking they were alone. With every Regulator right here in town, how in the world had Vince ended up alone with beautiful Tina? Well, alone except for his mother.

His gelding would’ve made a better chaperone than Mother. And Vince was sorely tempted to go sleep with his horse, except that would leave Mother and Tina alone in the house, completely unprotected with Lana Bullard on the loose.

With that in mind, Vince turned to check the lock on the front door. He’d gone all around the house twice while Tina had spent an interminable hour tucking Mother in. The house was secure. Lana couldn’t get to them, and she probably wouldn’t think to come here even if she did return to town.

Every time he thought of Tug racing toward him and the panic that had spurred Vince back to Broken Wheel, his heart lurched—even now after he’d assured himself they were all safe.

“Killing
rampage,”
Tug Andrews had said. Vince’s mother, his sister, his friend Jonas, his . . . He thought of Tina but she certainly wasn’t
his
. And yet she’d been far too much in the front of his thoughts as he’d spurred his horse toward town.

How had he gotten to be the man with so much family to protect? Sure, Luke and Dare had wives in danger. Dare had two kids. Luke had one on the way. But Vince figured he had more on the line than the both of them.

Vince hoped Lana and Porter pushed hard all the way to California. That might be wrongheaded for the town sheriff to hope his prisoner got clean away, but keeping
Lana locked up had been a pure nuisance. The choice of places she might end up was brutal. Everyone was tired of feeding her. And good riddance to that no-account Mitch Porter. Vince was glad to see the back of him. If Vince could depend on the couple staying away, he wouldn’t even consider chasing them down.

When Tina had entered Mother’s room, Vince had heard her turn the key. He’d double-checked the closed latches on the windows in Mother’s room earlier, so Mother couldn’t do any nighttime wandering.

That left Vince with a long night and no hope of sleeping.

He went to the north window in the front room that looked down the length of Main Street. A second window on the east gave him a nice angle on Dare’s house.

That was who needed watching.

Vince leaned against the window frame, settling in to stand guard through the night. Without even asking, Vince knew Luke would watch later, and that was why he’d gone to sleep early. No doubt Dare was up and alert, too. Vince knew his friends well, his faith in them absolute. The only one Vince wasn’t counting on was Jonas. And even at that he’d have been on guard, except he knew Vince, Luke, and Dare were all in town.

It was getting late enough that soon Jonas would come and take Tina away. Maybe then Vince would get himself a couple of hours’ sleep in a chair stationed at this window. If he didn’t, he’d somehow get through the day without it. Vince had learned at an early age never to relax. Keeping watch was the only way he’d ever found to truly feel safe.

A lesson learned from a father who would kill a harmless little pony and think he was doing it for his son’s own good.

It was a way of life that had served Vince well, and he wasn’t going to abandon it now . . . especially since he wasn’t going to sleep anyway. Not with Tina so close he could practically hear her breathing.

Standing watch, though, wasn’t keeping his unruly mind under control.

He thought of that first moment when he’d seen Tina. When she’d gone flying into Jonas’s arms. Jonas had lifted her off her feet, whirled her around, and Vince had looked right into her eyes. More had passed between them in that first glance than he’d ever shared with a woman in his life. He’d seen all the way to her heart.

Clenching his hands, he could still feel the weight of her when he’d lifted the bedraggled little pest out of that mudhole. He’d wanted her in his arms. Carrying her to the diner, no matter how annoying she was, had been a pleasure.

When he’d foisted the job of sheriff on her, she’d been horrified but too stubborn to admit the job was beyond her. Vince had known Dare and Jonas were around to help out, so he’d gone right ahead and handed over his badge.

Then he’d come riding into town from New Orleans, filthy, exhausted, starving. And she’d come charging out of the jail to greet him, smiling that smile that made a man feel like the sun had come out from behind a cloud. Oh, she’d said it was because she was tired of being sheriff. But it had been purely nice to have her welcome him.

And then he’d kissed her. He could still taste her lips. Even if he spent a lifetime avoiding her—which he fully intended to do—he’d never forget how sweet she was.

Nope, he wasn’t going to sleep so long as she was in this house, and that was that.

He had an addled mother.

A little sister who was supposed to help but who had instead, at least for now, abandoned Mother to anyone else’s care.

His friend Red Wolf had been shot by a drunk, who’d made a clean getaway.

He had someone selling whiskey to the Kiowa tribe.

And he had a runaway prisoner who he oughta round up first thing in the morning—even though it might mean he’d be gone for days when he shouldn’t abandon his mother for more than a few minutes.

All that should give a man plenty to occupy his mind. But all he could think about was pretty, feisty Tina Cahill. And the fact that the two of them were stuck together minding Mother.

He shifted his stance to get a better look at Dare’s house and did his level best to think of something else.

And failed miserably.

Tina finally got out of Vince’s house for the night, but she was right back in the morning because Melissa had asked for help when she’d arrived home. Melissa would need a few moments to run to the privy and such. Most likely before Mrs. Yates was up and dressed for the day. Vince watching her would never do.

She woke to an unusual rainy morning, for it was a dry land here in Texas. She wasn’t prepared for the sand to stick to her shoes as it had, and she’d only been in the house long enough to pull off her muddy shoes when she heard the crash. All she knew was that if Mrs. Yates was breaking things, it was bad. Barefoot, she rushed for Virginia Belle’s room. A cry of alarm from behind the locked door nearly made her drop the key they’d left in the lock.

Livvy yelped from inside, then broke into a whine.

Tina fumbled the key for a second but held on and got it turned. She wrenched the door open.

Mrs. Yates held a lit match in her hands.

She stood amidst shards of glass from a broken lantern, looking around as if she wasn’t sure what the match was for. The front of her long white nightgown was soaked in
kerosene. If she dropped that match, she’d light herself on fire as well as the whole room, and with the fuel soaking the floor the whole boardinghouse could go up in flames.

The poor little foxhound stood outside the circle of glass, focused on her mistress but unable to get to her. Livvy had probably stepped on the glass.

Tina took one step toward Virginia Belle and stopped. Her feet would be cut to shreds, but the match in Virginia Belle’s hand was burning down. Tina couldn’t let the match drop, even if it meant walking on broken glass with bare feet.

Before she took the next step, Vince thundered up the stairs.

She looked back, and their eyes met for a moment. She could have cried, she was so relieved to see him.

He pushed past her, crunched over the glass. He was wearing his shoes . . . and wearing the same clothes . . . and he’d come from downstairs.

He’d kept watch all night. But he must have slept or he’d have come out to torment her when she arrived.

Vince crossed the room to his ma, plucked the burning match from her fingers and blew it out, then swept his barefoot mother up in his arms.

“Missy made this mess, Julius.” His mother looked stern.

“We’ll clean it up, don’t worry.” Despite his soothing voice, Vince’s expression of worry put lines in his face. How could they keep her safe?

It had never occurred to Tina to take the lantern and matches from the room, but now it seemed so obvious. What other things were they forgetting? Mrs. Yates looked like a befuddled child.

“Stay back, Tina. I don’t want you to get cut.” The concern in his voice almost drove out the memory of how he’d rejected her last night. “Get your shoes on, then come back and gather some clothes for Mother. I’ll take her to my room. We’ll need to wash the kerosene off her. You can do that and get her dressed while I clean up this mess.” Vince looked toward the dog. “Livvy, come.”

Slowly the dog followed him out of the room. At first glance Tina didn’t see any wounds, but the dog’s yelping had sounded like pain. She’d check Livvy’s paws as soon as she could.

Tina dashed down the stairs and yanked on her sodden half boots. She heard Vince’s orders as if they still echoed in the house. He was a man who knew how to lead. Tina didn’t think that was a bad thing, but she suspected Vince only saw his natural take-charge reactions as a regrettable resemblance to his father.

Soon Tina was back in Virginia Belle’s room. Mindful of the shattered glass, she stepped carefully as she gathered up a fresh bundle of garments for Mrs. Yates.

Tina went into Vince’s room and saw his mother sitting on the bed. Vince knelt at her feet, head bowed as if he were before royalty. He spoke softly to her as he lifted one foot and examined it carefully for cuts.

“You didn’t cut yourself.” Vince sounded so loving as he cared for his mother.

“My mother is a madwoman, and my
father is a tyrant. Whichever one of them I am
, no woman should tie herself to me. I am never
going to inflict myself on a woman and most certainly
not on a child.”

That was what he’d said when he rejected her. And yet
here he knelt, a picture of decency and love. Not like either of his parents.

“I think Livvy cut her paw.” Vince said it so quietly, it took Tina a second to realize he’d aimed the statement at her rather than his mother.

Before he had to give more orders, Tina went to Livvy. The dog was standing there resting her chin on the bed. Tina stooped down by the dog, which put her shoulder to shoulder with Vince. When Tina lifted the injured paw, she noticed a few drops of blood on the floor. Nothing serious, but the dog would be hurting for a while.

After checking, Tina said, “There’s no glass stuck in her paw, and it has stopped bleeding already.”

“Good, because we need this dog.”

“Livvy is hurt?” Mrs. Yates reached down and patted the foxhound’s head. “This is Missy’s fault.” Mrs. Yates turned to Vince. “Julius, I insist you dismiss her at once.”

For all the things she was forgetting, what if Virginia Belle remembered Missy breaking the lantern and refused to be around her? That would take an important pair of hands away from the job of caring for Vince’s mother.

“I have to ride out and hunt for Lana and Porter, and we need to track down the man who shot Red Wolf. If we don’t settle things to the Kiowa’s satisfaction, well, we don’t want the tribe to start feeling hostile.”

Focusing on the dog’s paw, Tina knew what would come next. The job of caring for Mrs. Yates was going to fall even more heavily to her. And that still left her job at the diner.

She looked out and saw the sun was pushing back the night. Tina barely had time to get Mrs. Yates cleaned up
and dressed before she’d need to get to the diner and start her morning’s baking of bread.

Well, Mrs. Yates was just going to have to pour coffee today, because Tina couldn’t watch her over here and cook over there. And giving the lady a big pot of boiling hot coffee no doubt qualified as one of those potentially dangerous things they should make sure she be kept away from.

Of course Glynna could care for Mrs. Yates. She could be spared far more easily at the diner. A sad but true fact, though the menfolk in town thought getting a private moment to speak to Glynna was an important part of their meal.

None of them had much to say to Tina—what with her scolding them for their drinking habits. But that was just fine, as she was too busy scooping up food for the polecats. And maybe they’d start liking her more soon, because with cooking and sheriffing and now tending Mrs. Yates, Tina hadn’t found time to picket for quite a while.

“You know, I saw protesting Duffy’s Tavern as a mission field.” Tina gave Vince a disgruntled look.

Vince didn’t answer as he examined his mother’s other foot, but Tina thought she heard a quiet moan come from him.

“And my mission is even more badly needed in light of the drunken cowpoke at Luke’s and the shooting of Red Wolf.”

“Not sure you waving around a placard would’ve changed all that. Besides, Duffy denied selling any bottles of whiskey.”

“Well, he would, wouldn’t he?” Tina decided kneeling beside Vince was too friendly. It made her feel as if they
were kneeling at the altar. She’d heard of couples doing such during a wedding ceremony and she had no wish to emulate that, however slight the comparison.

She rose from the floor, scooped Livvy into her arms, and sat beside Mrs. Yates, who reeked of kerosene. “Livvy and I are going to get more water. I believe Mrs. Yates is going to need a bath.”

“I have a fair supply of water already heating,” Vince said.

“When did you do that?”

“I had plenty of time because I didn’t get any sleep last night.” Vince looked up at Tina, and she saw the dark circles under his eyes.

“I’m sorry if you’re tired, Julius.” Tina said the name with relish, and Vince’s expression promised retaliation. Good luck to him. “It’s just that I don’t have much time for sympathy, what with having two jobs and being on the verge of being evicted from my home when the day comes that Jonas casts me aside for a wife.”

“He won’t cast you aside.” Vince looked at her hard, and the heat in his gaze reminded Tina of every time he’d touched her.

Tina felt her resentment grow. She liked being angry better than feeling hurt. “I’ve got less than an hour before I need to start breakfast. I’ll be back with a tub and the water.”

Stalking toward the door, thinking of how heavy it was all going to be while a big strong man was right here and not offering to help, she was in the hall when Vince said, “Tina, wait.”

His commanding voice had her stopping without really
choosing to, which annoyed her. But she turned back. Maybe he was going to offer to do the heavy lifting at least.

“It’ll be a lot easier for you if you leave the dog here.” Vince smiled a cranky smile that let her know he was tormenting her deliberately.

“Fine.” She let Livvy down, and even the dog she’d been tending abandoned her to worship at Virginia Belle’s feet.

As she tromped down the stairs, Tina thought back to the day she’d come to town and moved into Jonas’s house. A single woman caring for her bachelor brother in a quiet little Texas town hadn’t seemed like it was that big of a job. But honestly there weren’t enough hours in the day.