Texas Tender (3 page)

“Howdy, ma'am,” the man said with a smile that practically obliterated the sunset. “I'm Will Haskins.”

She knew he was real, but no man could look like that. It simply wasn't possible.

“I'm here to see about buying your bull,” he said when she didn't respond.

How could she think about anything as mundane as selling a bull when she couldn't breathe?

“You did get my letter, didn't you? Did I get the day wrong? Isabelle says I never can keep things straight.”

She had to think, to speak, to do something besides stand there staring at him like she was a stuffed dummy.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “I saw you out next to the hog pen when I rode up. Maybe you were in the heat too long.”

“I am feeling a little dizzy.” She was feeling so weak she was about to faint.

“Maybe you'd better sit down,” he said, eyeing their small parlor. “Would you like some water?”

She had to get control of herself. She wasn't a silly girl who would fall speechless at the sight of a handsome man. Instead, she was twenty, a woman of experience.
There was no reason for her to act like a brainless ninny just because this man was twice as good looking as she'd ever thought possible.

She allowed Mr. Haskins to lead her into the parlor and persuade her to take a seat on a small sofa. “I would appreciate some water if you don't mind,” she said.

“I'll be back in two shakes of a coyote's tail.”

She didn't take her first full breath until he'd left the room. It wasn't his clothes, even though the tan shirt, off-white vest, and faded pants were clean and neat. It wasn't his hat, which was almost new, or his boots, which had obviously been cleaned that morning. Nor was it the way those clothes fit his tall, muscular body. It was his face that had brought her nervous system to the edge of breakdown. If any man could be considered absolutely perfect, maybe even beautiful, it was Will Haskins.

How was a woman supposed to think straight around him? She was only human. Men like him shouldn't be allowed. She wouldn't be surprised to wake up tomorrow and find she'd offered to give him the bull.

“Here we are,” he announced as he returned to the parlor, a glass of water in hand.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the glass with an unsteady hand. “I'm sorry to make such a pitiful appearance. I assure you I don't usually act like . . . feel this way.”
Drink. If you're swallowing, you can't talk.

“Don't worry your head about it.” He settled into a chair directly across from her. “Isabelle says if God had been thinking about a woman's comfort, he'd never have created Texas.”

He grinned, and she choked on her water.

“She also says no man who loves his wife would force her to stay in Texas, but you couldn't drag her
out of the Hill Country with a double team of oxen. She just likes teasing Jake.”

Idalou couldn't follow his conversation, but she didn't care how much he rambled as long as it kept her from having to speak.

“I'm glad we don't have this kind of heat in the Hill Country. It's hard to think when it's this hot.”

It was impossible to think when he smiled at her, his eyes more blue than the summer sky, his smile dazzling in its brilliance. What right did a man have to look like this? How many women were homely because God had used so much beauty to make this one face?

“You get used to the heat after a while,” she managed to say.

Mr. Haskins made himself comfortable. Considering how easily she'd been overpowered by his looks, it was a good thing he wasn't a demanding guest.

“I expect so.”

Idalou took another swallow of water. The very ordinariness of the process of swallowing seemed to help her regain her balance, her sense of being in control of her mind and body. “I should have been the one to ask if
you
wanted anything to drink.”

“Thanks, but I stopped off at the Swinging Door to cool off and ask directions. I had a beer while I was there. I can't say I care for all the company, but it seems like a nice place.”

She wondered who had failed to meet his approval and why.

“Would you like some coffee instead?”

His laugh was easy, invited her to laugh with him. “I know it'll make you doubt I'm a true Texan, but I can't drink coffee in this weather.”

“I can drink it in any weather.”

“So can Isabelle. I don't think Jake could function with it.”

“Are they your parents?”

“Yep.”

“Forgive me if I'm being rude, but why do you call them by their first names?” If he didn't stop smiling at her, she was going to have a relapse.

“My real parents died when I was very small. I'd been calling Jake and Isabelle by their first names before they adopted me and my brother. It was easiest to keep doing it.”

Idalou couldn't believe she was sitting here making small talk with a stranger. She
never
did that, not even with other women. She'd been accused of being too direct, too businesslike, even unfeminine.

“I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't gotten down to business,” she said.

“No hurry,” he said. “It's a short ride back to town, so we've got plenty of time.”

Well, she didn't have plenty of time. She didn't have a father who practically owned a whole county. She couldn't afford to hire dozens of men to help with her work. She could barely pay their two cowhands. “You'll probably learn before long that I have a reputation for being impatient.”

“I'm sure it's undeserved.”

“No. It's well deserved.”

“Then I'm sure you're impatient in a very nice way.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Relaxed. Accommodating. Uncritical.”

“It's much easier than getting my stomach in a knot.”

“Don't people get irritated with you?”

“All the time, but I don't let it bother me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don't want it to.”

He said that like it was the most logical thing in the world.

“Besides, my brother gets agitated enough for both of us.”

“I'd like to talk about the bull.”

“I'd better see it first.”

“That's impossible.”

His startled look took more energy than anything he'd done so far. “Surely you don't expect me to talk about price without even looking at the animal.”

She didn't like having to tell him she didn't have the bull. It embarrassed her, made her feel less in control, less competent. She unclenched her hands in her lap. “Of course not, but he's not here.”

“That's okay. We can ride out to see him.”

“I don't know where he is right now.”

Mr. Haskins's gaze narrowed. “Do you mean he's wandered off and you'll find him in a little bit, or you've lost him and have no idea where he is?”

“I know where he is, but not where to find him.”

His brow knitted. “I know I'm not very smart, but that doesn't make sense. You'd better explain it.”

“Our neighbor Jordan McGloughlin took the bull. He's trying to force me to sell him my ranch. He knows I need the money from the sale of the bull to keep going until the first calves can go to market. My brother is out looking right now, but he's mooning over McGloughlin's daughter and refuses to believe our neighbor would do anything like that.”

Mr. Haskins got to his feet. “That's no problem, ma'am. I'll just ride back to town and wait until your brother finds the bull. Or until you and Mr. McGloughlin come to an understanding. I think I can give you at least a week to work things out.”

“I don't want you to go back to town,” Idalou said,
getting to her feet as well. “I want you to ride over to McGloughlin's place with me and force him to tell me what he's done with the bull.”

He looked at her as if she'd just asked him to steal the gold candlesticks from the church altar. “Sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that.”

His answer was so unequivocal, so unexpected, Idalou could only stare. After he'd been so concerned about her momentary weakness, even thoughtful enough to bring her water, it had never occurred to her that he would refuse to help her. “Why? Are you afraid of him?”

“Why should I be afraid of a man I've never met?” His lazy smile had reappeared. “He could be old and crippled, even blind.”

“He's in excellent health, not yet fifty, and likes nothing better than spending his day in the saddle riding herd on his crew.”

“Sounds a lot like Jake, and I have great admiration for Jake.”

“I should hope Jake wouldn't steal his neighbor's bull.”

“No, ma'am. If he had, I wouldn't be here looking to buy yours. I probably shouldn't tell you this, but Jake had his eye on that bull when your father slipped
in and bought it right out from under him. He had a lot of things to say about your father's character.”

Idalou took immediate offense. “My father was an honest and respected man.”

“That's what Isabelle said, but Jake needed to work out his frustration on somebody. Since he didn't know your father, it seemed harmless enough to say a few mean things about him. He wasn't happy to have to buy a bull he didn't like as much.”

Idalou was beginning to question whether Mr. Haskins had traded sanity for good looks. She was also starting to wonder about Jake and Isabelle. She was gradually recovering from her stupefaction over Will Haskins's looks. It was a lot easier to cope with overwhelming handsomeness when the person's character was flawed, and Idalou suspected this man's character was in need of serious rehabilitation.

“We really can't conduct any business until we recover the bull,” Idalou said.

His lazy smile didn't change. “You're right, ma'am.” He turned toward the door. “Since you've got things to do, I'll get out of your way.” He stood, settled his hat on his head, and started for the door.

“You really aren't going to help me, are you?”

He turned back. “I'd be in a heap of trouble if I made a habit of sticking my nose in things that were none of my business.”

“I would think seeing that the people with power don't take advantage of those without it would be the responsibility of every respectable man.”

“It is, ma'am.”

“Would you stop calling me ‘ma'am'? You make me sound like somebody's grandmother. My name is Idalou.”

“And my name is Will. Calling me Mr. Haskins
makes me feel like I ought to be responsible for something.”

She had followed him outside, but she couldn't see his face in the glare of the sun. “Apparently, you don't feel you're responsible for anything.”

“Begging your pardon, ma'am—I mean Idalou— but I've only heard your side of the story. For all I know, you could have sold the bull to Mr. Mc-Gloughlin and now you're trying to hornswaggle me into helping you steal it back so you can sell it to me.”

“I'd never do anything as despicable as that!” Idalou exclaimed. “I can't believe you'd even think it.”

“I don't,” he said, with a smile Idalou now thought was evil rather than dazzling. “I'm just trying to make the point that I can't go busting into situations when I don't know any of the facts or the people involved. Hell, I'd have to be a better shot than Luke if I was to do that and come out with a whole skin.”

“Who's Luke?”

“One of my adopted brothers. He's a hired gunslinger. His brother Chet used to be one, too, but he quit when he got married.”

Idalou was losing her grip on the makeup of the Maxwell family. “You're welcome to look into the facts as much as you wish while you hang out in the Swinging Door—that is, if you're sober enough or can summon the energy—but you'll find the facts are exactly as I've stated them.”

“I'm sure they are, and I'll be happy to speak to the sheriff on your behalf.”

“I can speak to the sheriff on my own behalf,” Idalou said between gritted teeth.

“I have no doubt you'd do so very eloquently,” Will said, “but I was assuming you'd already done so without the desired results.”

She wasn't about to tell him that the sheriff—when last they'd had one—had basically ignored her complaints about McGloughlin. “Jordan McGloughlin is a very clever man as well as a very powerful one. Even if I had absolute proof of everything he's done, I'm not sure the men who've been our sheriff would have done anything about it. It's very difficult for a woman to be taken seriously when she goes up against a man with money and influence.”

“I understand, and I'm really sorry there's nothing I can do.”

She got the feeling he was holding back, that he wanted to help but wouldn't let himself. The change was subtle, but she had the sense he had dropped his facade and was actually speaking to her instead of acting a role.

“You have to understand I have no standing in this situation,” he continued. “But that's not the most important reason. In a few days, I won't be here to protect you. If I intervene, it'll leave you vulnerable between two very powerful neighbors.”

Idalou knew he was right, but that didn't keep her from being angry at him. “You might as well head back to town. My brother will let you know when he gets the bull back.”

“I hope it's soon,” he said, falling back into his glib role. “I know you want to get the sale completed as soon as possible.”

She
had
to get the sale completed soon. The bank loan was coming due and she didn't have the money for the next installment. If she couldn't pay it, the bank would auction off their property. McGloughlin would get her ranch at a low price, and she and her brother would be practically destitute.

“Since neither finding the bull nor completing the sale quickly is important to you, I won't keep you any
longer.” Idalou tried to inject every bit of disdain possible into her tone of voice. “I'm sure you'll find more convivial company at the Swinging Door.”