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.Anne had heard that before he married and settled down, Frank had been quite a ladies' man.She had also heard about his quick temper and was glad he was so angry on Cord's behalf, but she didn't like being ignored.Cord had been asleep when the doctor arrived and waked only to pass out during theexamination.The sound of his brothers' angry approach brought him awake again.Asthey charged into the bedroom, Anne tried once more to get their attention, "He really isn't well enough to talk to you much yet."Frank turned on her and snarled, "I don't need any excuses from a woman stupidenough to sit out here and nurse the son of a bitch who did that to her face.You just shut up and wait outside.This is a family matter."By the time he had finished talking, his voice had risen to just short of a yell in the small room, and he didn't lower it as he turned on Cord."You bastard, you son of a bitch, I keep thinking you can't get any worse, and you keep proving me wrong." Frank's voice lowered to a harsh growl."Eph thinks we ought to finish you off ourselves and at least take care of the family's own mess right here and now, and maybe he's right, and Isuppose you're just going to lay there and pull that goddamn silence crap on us again."It was obvious to Anne by now that the Bennetts had not come to help and that Frank was just warming up.Things were not going to get better.She left the bedroom asordered, then went and got the rifle she had talked Noah Reynolds into reloading.Keeping the rifle hidden behind her, she slipped back into the bedroom.Ephraim andFrank were either too busy abusing their half-brother to notice or didn't think she was worthy of notice.Remembering Cord's instructions of the day before, she put her back to the wall in a corner away from the door.Once in position, she raised the rifle.Frank halted in mid-word, and both he and Ephraim turned full attention on her."Get out." She wasn't shouting.She said it in quite a conversational tone."Now look, Miss Wells, nobody meant to.""Get out." She said it more forcefully this time."I probably couldn't hit you at any distance, but in this room, I'm quite sure I can blow a large, nasty hole right in your belly, and if you don't turn around and get out of this house in the next few seconds that's exactly what I'm going to do.I've had enough of you and your kind to last me a lifetime.Get out!"Anne was almost disappointed when Frank turned without another word and walkedout of the room.Ephraim followed close behind, and Anne made sure they kept goingright through the house, out the front door, and got on their horses.She slammed the front door and returned to the bedroom, collapsed into the rockerstill holding the rifle and looked at Cord."Your family is almost as delightful as mine."She saw a look in and around his eyes she could only call a smile."Frank's got a bit of a temper.""A bit! That was one of the rudest, most offensive performances I've ever seen.They didn't come to help.They think you.They never even asked." She broke off, unable to find words to complete a sentence."They've already decided.They don't need to ask." He looked almost gray, drawn and tired beyond bearing."Want some water, or some soup stuff?" She saw the slight smile in his eyes again."No, just sleep."The doctor was wrong.He was not going to die.Dying men do not smile with theireyes.So determined, Anne left for the kitchen to make herself some lunch, thinking it was certainly wonderful how nice and quiet life was out here in the country.It never even occurred to her that less than a week earlier the thought of running two grown men out of the house with a gun would have been inconceivable.* * *CHAPTER 7AFTER THAT, LIFE DID BECOME rather peaceful.Dr.Craig was their only visitor, and from him Anne learned that while Frank and Ephraim knew she was still at the ranch,they weren't discussing their brother with anyone.Chattering town folk fell silent the moment any one of the grim-faced Bennetts appeared.Sheriff Reynolds had told theWells family that Anne refused to come home but that the Bennetts would help her get toChicago, which Anne knew she had led him to believe because she had thought that was what would happen herself at the time.She thought of the last letter she'd had from her aunt, describing a planned trip to New York City this fall.The fact that her Aunt Clara wouldn't be home was one of the things she had counted on in her headlong flight to Chicago.Her aunt's servants would let her stay at the house until her aunt returned, and by that time.Had she mentioned the news in that letter to her father or brother? Neither one paid much attention to such things.Would her mother say anything? Anne prayed not.She also prayed that her father would be a long time realizing that any letter he had sent Aunt Clara with instructions as to his ruined daughter's punishment and rehabilitation was sitting unread in Chicago.Anne begged Craig not to straighten anyone out.He agreed with a sympathetic smile."If you think it will help, I won't say a word."Craig also reported that Charlie Meeks and Lem Samuels had come to him and hadbullet wounds treated, but they claimed the wounds were the result of roughhousing out at the Double M.The doctor had also heard that a few days later the Double M men had drawn their pay and moved on, giving no hint as to where they were headed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]