Free Heart of a Texan by Leigh Greenwood Page A

tomorrow.”
    “Why are you so anxious to get rid of me?”
    Roberta took her time preparing the next mouthful of chicken. “It’s not you I want to leave. It would be anybody. I’ve got a lot to do.”
    “Have you ever thought of asking for help?”
    “I asked Otis Parker for a loan, but he turned me down. I thought the sheriff would have some information about who murdered my father by now, but I haven’t seen him since the funeral.”
    “I expect it’s too soon to know anything.”
    “It has to be the ranchers. All he needs to do is find one person who will tell the truth.”
    “If everybody is as afraid of them as you believe, that won’t be easy.”
    “That’s why I’ve decided to do it myself.”
    Nate pushed away the food she offered him. “You don’t know anything about chasing murderers. It’s extremely dangerous. Anyone willing to kill your father the way he did wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you.”
    Roberta put the spoon back in the bowl and set it on the table. “Then what do you suggest I do?”
    “Let the sheriff handle it.”
    “And if he can’t?”
    “We’ll think of something.”
    “ We? ”
    “Don’t you think I’m as anxious as you to know who’s behind this?”
    “Why should you be? Your father didn’t get killed.”
    “No, but I got shot because of it. Besides, I don’t like knowing there’s a cold-blooded murderer in my community.”
    “It’s hardly your community when you’re gone most of the year.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with Laveau in the area now.”
    “Why should he want to kill you?”
    “Because I want to see him hang.”
    “You said something about him when you were delirious, but I didn’t understand it.”
    “Laveau and I served in the same troop during the war. When it became clear the South wasn’t going to win, Laveau betrayed us to the Union Army.”
    “What happened?”
    “The Union troops ambushed us in our sleep. If our captain hadn’t sensed something wrong, none of us would have survived. Twenty-four men died that day. One was my brother. Laveau might as well have been the one to put that bullet in his head. I’ll never be able to rest until he’s dead. Don’t you feel the same way about the man who shot your father?”
    Roberta didn’t know what to say. She wanted justice for her father, but she didn’t know that she could shoot someone to kill. Did that make her a spineless female who talked big but would back down when push came to shove? “I don’t know what I would do. I guess I was out of my mind when I snatched up Papa’s gun and shot you. I don’t believe I even thought about killing you.”
    “In other words, if you’d had time to think, you wouldn’t have shot me.”
    “No.”
    “Would you have shot the man who killed your father? Would you have wanted to kill him?”
    “Yes.” She didn’t know whether she was ashamed or relieved to make that admission, but it was the truth.
    “Good. I was beginning to think you didn’t have any spunk at all, that this insistence on keeping your father’s farm going was just a lot of talk.”
    Roberta had been feeling less annoyed by Nate’s presence, but that changed in a flash. “I may not be as ready to use a gun as a man, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stand my ground.”
    “Good. You’re much too beautiful to be spineless.”
    A flush of pleasure ran through her at the compliment. Not even Boone had ever called her beautiful.
    “That’s just the fever talking now,” she murmured. Roberta rose from where she’d been sitting next to Nate’s bed.
    He held her gaze for a moment. “Don’t forget to leave the door unlocked, so my night guard can get in.”
    “I’ll wait up for him. And I’ll leave the chicken on the stove. He can bring you more food if you’re hungry later.”
    Nate’s grin was slightly crooked. “A good cowhand can stay in the saddle for a day and a half, wrestle a full-grown steer to the ground, and sleep standing up in a rainstorm.