Part 22 (2/2)
Melody had begun to turn her head to answer Chet when she saw Lantz go for his gun. Before the cry of alarm could leave her throat, Chet had dropped to a crouch, his drawn gun pointed at Lantz. In that same moment Melody saw Luke's hand lash out and strike Lantz's arm at the wrist, causing him to drop his gun.
Fury and disgust filled Melody.
”Lantz Royal, how dare you draw on a man when he isn't looking!”
”Why did you stop me, you fool?” Lantz shouted at his gunfighter. ”I could have killed the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
”Too many witnesses,” the man muttered in a harsh whisper. He pointed to the porch. Belle and Bernice had come outside.
”That was the act of a coward,” Melody said. ”Leave and don't come back. You can have nothing to say to us.”
”You can be sure I'll be back,” Lantz shouted at her, ”to throw you out of this house when I take over. And you,” he shouted even louder as he turned to Chet, ”you're as good as dead!”
”Next time you start to draw a gun on me, I won't hold my fire,” Chet said.
”Next time you'll be dead.”
”Maybe I'll come looking for you first,” Chet said. ”That would be easier than waiting.” It was obvious Lantz hadn't considered that. He looked shocked.
”Let's go,” Luke growled. He turned his horse and dug his heels into the animal's sides. His lineback dun sprang forward.
”I'm going to kill you!” Lantz shouted at Chet as he turned to follow.
Melody stood riveted to the spot as she watched the two men ride away. Lantz had sworn he'd kill Chet. It didn't make any difference to him that his own son had started the trouble or that Blade had actually tried to kill Chet and Sydney. It didn't make any difference to him what other people might think, what the law might say. He had decided Chet ought to die, and he had the money to hire more gunfighters if Luke couldn't do it.
It was beyond her comprehension, but she did understand one thing. Chet had to leave. She could never forgive herself if anything happened to him because of her.
”You must go,” Melody said to Chet. ”I'm grateful for what you've done, but I don't want to be responsible for you being hurt again.”
”I agree with her,” Belle said. She stood at the porch rail, her eyes following Lantz as he rode into the distance. ”I never thought Lantz Royal could be so cruel.”
”What are you going to do about Lantz's threat to take your ranch?” Chet asked.
”Let him have it,” Melody said. ”It's not worth dying for. Belle and the boys can go back to Virginia with me. We can sell the stock. That will give us enough money to get started.”
”So you're quitting,” Chet said.
Melody felt as though she'd been slapped. How could he call her a quitter when all she wanted to do was keep him and her family safe? ”Do you think a few cows are worth getting killed for?”
”I don't care what you do with this ranch once you're sure of its owners.h.i.+p. You can give it back to the Indians for all I care, but you can't let a petty tyrant like Lantz take it away.”
”It's my ranch. I can do what I want with it.”
”Fine. Sell out, run away with your tail between your legs, but I'm staying. I'm going to teach Lantz Royal there's at least one more man in this world he can't bully. It's a shame the daughter of the first man lacks her father's courage.”
”I don't lack courage,” Melody said, her cheeks hot with anger. ”I'm just not a fool.”
Chet's expression turned scornful. ”If you were a man, you'd stay.”
That hurt incredibly. All her life she'd wondered if her father would have taken her to Texas with him if she had been a boy. Emotion, raw and volatile, spilled over and she lost her temper. She walked up to Chet and slapped him as hard as she could. ”Don't you ever say that again,” she said, her chest heaving from the force of her anger.
His gaze didn't falter. ”I call it as I see it. And from what I can see, you've been running ever since you got here.”
Her palm stung from the first blow, but she itched to ball up her fist and punch him. She regretted she hadn't given him a horse the minute he asked and let him ride out of there several days ago. ”Why do you say that?” she asked.
”You were itching to sell your part of the ranch so you could get back to your safe and cozy Richmond. Then you were considering marrying Lantz even though you didn't love him. You kept tying Tom Neland's hands so he couldn't defend you or your ranch properly.”
”Are you saying I'm responsible for Tom's death?” That would be too much. She'd tie him to a horse and run him all the way to Santa Fe.
”Tom made his own decisions. I'm saying you've been running from Texas ever since you got here. You don't like us, and you don't like the way we do things. It's time to find out what you're made of. Either you're soft and scared, or you've got the courage your father had when he came here by himself and carved this ranch out of land he took and held against men determined to take it from him. I say you should go back to Richmond and let your brothers fight for the ranch. Sydney's still got a few things to learn, but he's got guts.”
”His guts nearly got him killed.”
”But he didn't die.”
”Because you saved him.”
”That's how we do it out here. We help each other.”
”Like I helped you when you were shot?”
”I had hope for you then.”
”Why should you care whether I'm a man or a woman? I mean nothing to you.”
Melody's surprise at her own words was mirrored in Chet's expression. She hadn't meant it the way it sounded. Yet the moment the words were out of her mouth, she knew that was exactly what she wanted to know. She was in love with this man who'd insulted her and dared to call her a coward. She wanted to know he'd done it because he cared.
But just as quickly as she recognized and accepted the change in her feelings, she realized Chet wasn't ready to accept the truth. Even if he were, he would never consider confessing it in front of Belle and Bernice. It was unfair to ask that of him now, but she meant to do it later. If she was about to do something stupid, she wanted to know he was equally ready to be insane.
”I don't like to see anybody cheated out of what belongs to them,” Chet said, ”especially not women.”
”How very gallant of you. How many people do you propose to kill to keep this terrible event from coming to pa.s.s?”
”None.”
”How will you do that? You were the one who just accused me of tying Tom's hands because I wouldn't let him hire a gunfighter.”
”You've been sitting around, waiting for Lantz to strike. I propose to carry the battle to him.”
”What will that prove?”
”That he can be in just as much danger as you.”
”But he's got twice as many men as we do,” Belle said.
”He doesn't have to know we're acting alone.”
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