Long, Tall Texans_ Boone (Long, Tall Texans #35) - Diana Palmer Page 0,66

story up, especially on a slow news day,” Winnie murmured. “There’s nothing but political news, and everybody’s sick of that.”

“You’d better hire some bodyguards to protect you at home,” Coltrain advised. “These guys are desperate enough to go after money any way they can get it.”

“Everybody knows they killed Keely’s mother—at least locally we know it,” Winnie said. “They’d be stupid to stick around.”

“These guys will never get work building spaceships,” Coltrain said, tongue-in-cheek. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t have risked coming here in the first place. Hayes Carson would love to get Brent Welsh in his sights on any pretext.”

“So would I,” Boone replied grimly. “He stood by and watched while Keely got mauled saving a kid from a mountain lion. Those scars are going to be permanent, aren’t they?” he asked Coltrain.

Coltrain grimaced. “We might be able to get a plastic surgeon to clean them up, but they’re very deep. She’d have half a dozen surgeries to anticipate, at least. And there’s something else—the sutures weren’t done well, either. She may face some real problems down the road. I’d recommend plastic surgery for that reason alone. But she has no insurance, you know.”

“What the hell does that matter?” Boone asked blithely. “I’ll take care of it. You talk her into it, and I’ll pay the surgeon.”

Coltrain grinned. “That’s a deal.”

Winnie didn’t say anything, but she felt terrible that she and Keely had been friends for so many years, and Keely had never told her about the encounter with the mountain lion. She wondered if she’d said or done something that would make her best friend uncomfortable telling her about it.

“Is Keely asleep?” Boone asked Coltrain.

He nodded. “She’ll be out for a while. It’s just as well. That snakebite is still giving her hell. If Winnie hadn’t found her when she did… Well, it doesn’t bear thinking about,” he added, cutting short the remark when he saw Boone’s tortured eyes. “I’d better get back to work. If you need me, just tell the nurse on duty. They can always find me.”

“Thanks,” Boone said.

Coltrain shrugged and smiled. “I like Keely.”

The siblings gathered around to discuss their plans. Boone decided that he’d better go and see Eb Scott in person. He was going to need specialized talent. Clark and Winnie would take turns staying with Keely. Nobody was going to get past them. They weren’t armed, but they could certainly call for help.

* * *

IT WAS MORNING before Keely woke up again. The combination of all the drugs and the emotional upheaval of her mother’s death had knocked her out for the night. She blinked sleepily, her mind clear and untroubled until she remembered quite suddenly what she’d seen on television the night before. It was like a rock on her heart. Tears stung her eyes, all over again.

“I’m so sorry, Keely,” Winnie said gently, from her vigil in the chair beside the bed. “About your mother.”

Keely glanced at her. She sighed. “I knew I’d lose her someday,” she said, “and we were almost enemies for so long. But we were just getting to know each other again, and we were becoming friends…” She bit her lip, hard. “It’s been a rotten week,” she said after a minute.

“Yes, it has.” She hesitated. “I wish you could have told me about your shoulder,” she said. “I feel that I’ve failed you, because you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me.”

Keely grimaced. “I was afraid you’d tell Boone,” she said softly. “Not that it would have mattered. He hated me…”

“No, he didn’t,” came the immediate reply. “You have no idea what’s been going on, while you were out of it.”

“He showed me a photograph of some woman with my head on another body, in a compromising situation with Clark,” Keely said heavily. “I knew it was a fake, but Boone didn’t. He was furious. I was going to sink my pride and show him…and he thought I was trying to seduce him!” Her eyes smoldered. “I should have hit him with something! Then he tells me to get out of the house, and stalks off before I can say I haven’t got a way home. When I get out of this bed,” she added, building up steam as she spoke, “I’m going to turn him every which way but loose! That man has some lumps coming!”

Winnie had to fight a smile. Keely was such a gentle person, but she was really angry. “I’ll help you thump him,” she promised. “But he didn’t know, Keely. And