Texas Proud and Circle of Gold (Long, Tall Texans #52) - Diana Palmer Page 0,142

his mouth from hers and looked down at her with accusation and raging anger.

“I’m mad,” he growled off. “You aren’t supposed to enjoy it.”

“Okay,” she murmured, trying to coax his mouth back down onto hers. She had no will, no pride, no reason left. She only wanted the pleasure to continue. “Come back here. I’ll pretend to hate it.”

“Kasie...”

She found his mouth and groaned hoarsely as he gave in to his own hunger and crushed her against the length of his tall, fit body. It was the most glorious kiss of her entire life. If only it would never end...

But it did, all too soon, and he shot away from her as if he’d tasted poison. His eyes glittered. “If you ever let him kiss you again, I’ll throw both of you out a window!”

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could manage words, the front doorbell rang.

It was one of the cowboys. Two more head of cattle had been shot, and the gunman was still out near the line cabin. One of the cowboys had him pinned down with rifle fire and needed reinforcements. It took Gil precisely five minutes to call John, load his Winchester and get out the door. He barely took time to caution Kasie about venturing outside until the situation was under control. She didn’t even get a chance to beg him to be careful. She went upstairs, so that she’d be near the girls, but she knew that this was one night she wouldn’t sleep a wink.

Chapter Eleven

Kasie lay awake for the rest of the night. When dawn broke, she still hadn’t heard Gil come into the house. And once she’d thought she heard a shot being fired. Remembering how dangerous the man Sims was supposed to be made her even more uneasy. What if Gil had been shot? How would she live? She couldn’t bear the thought of a world without Gil in it.

She got up and dressed just as Mrs. Charters went into the kitchen to start breakfast. John and Gil were nowhere in sight.

“Have they come in at all?” she asked Mrs. Charters.

“Not yet,” the older woman said, and looked worried. “There were police cars and sheriff’s cars all over the place about two hours ago,” she added. “I saw them from my house.”

“I thought I heard a shot, but I didn’t see anything,” Kasie said, and then she really worried.

“You couldn’t have seen them, it was three miles and more down the road. But I’m sure we’d have heard if anything had happened to Gil or John.”

“Oh, I hope so,” Kasie said fervently.

“I’ll make coffee,” she said. “You can have some in a minute.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Charters. I’m going to go sit on the front porch.”

“You do that, dear.”

* * *

The ranch was most beautiful early in the morning, Kasie thought, when dawn broke on the horizon and the cattle and horses started moving around in the pastures. She loved this part of the day, but now it was torment to sit and wonder and not be able to do anything. Had they found Sims? Was he in custody or still at large? And, most frightening of all, was the memory of that single gunshot. Had Gil been hurt?

She nibbled at her fingernails in her nervousness, a habit left over from childhood. There didn’t seem to be a vehicle in the world. The highway was close enough that the sound of moving vehicles could be heard very faintly, but at this hour there was very little traffic. In fact, there was none.

She got up from the porch swing and paced restlessly. What if Gil had been shot? Surely someone would have phoned. John would, she was certain. But what if the wound was serious, so serious that he couldn’t leave his brother’s side even long enough to make a phone call? What if...!

The sound of a truck coming down the long ranch road caught her attention. She ran to the top of the steps and stood there with her heart pounding like mad. It was one of the ranch’s pickup trucks. She recognized it. Two men were in the cab. They were in a flaming rush. Was it John and one of the hands, come to tell her that Gil was hurt, wounded, dying?

Dust flew as the driver pulled up sharply at the front steps. Both doors flew open. Kasie thought she might faint. John got out of the passenger side, whole and undamaged and grinning. Gil got out