The Tender Vine (Diamond of the Rockies #3)(133)

“Papa knows what they’re doing?”

Tia Marta wrapped her in one plump arm. “Shall we make it red to embroider roses or blue for grapes?” Tia always dyed her own threads from quercitron bark, madder root, indigo, or a dozen other plant parts she had collected from different parts of the world.

But Carina did not care at the moment. She stomped her foot and stalled. “What are they trying to prove? That they can overpower an injured man?”

Marta caught her shoulders and stared into her face. “They’re not proving anything. They’re letting your Quillan prove himself.”

Carina shook her head. “He doesn’t need to prove himself. He—”

Tia Marta put fingers to Carina’s mouth. “You show your youth, Carina. Every man needs to prove himself. And you were not helping.”

“Beh.” Carina flicked her fingers beneath her chin. “Quillan’s not like them.”

Tia Marta laughed. “You’ll see. He’ll sleep peacefully tonight, and tomorrow things will be different.”

“How?”

“He will have the fight inside.” Tia Marta tapped her temple.

“The fight?”

“To get strong again and show your brothers.”

Carina let her breath out in a huff, then realized it wasn’t far from what she’d heard Quillan say himself, warning Angelo not to push him too far. Was it possible they did him a service? He’d been discouraged since the cast came off his leg. He had yet to walk on it, and the weakened condition of his arms worried him, she knew.

She glanced back in the direction of the porch. She could hardly hear them now, and she had to admit that their behavior hadn’t been malicious. Taunting and jeering wouldn’t hurt Quillan; he was stronger than that. And they were slapping and poking only. But how would Quillan take their affronts to his person? The storm had been there in his eyes, but it was frequently there. Maybe, as Tia Marta said, he would sleep tonight, knowing he had to get strong.

She shook her head. She did not understand her brothers, nor even Quillan sometimes. Men were different, and maybe she should listen to a wiser woman than herself. But as soon as they were finished dying the woolen thread a deep indigo blue, she left Tia Marta and hurried back to Quillan. Hearing voices still, she stopped outside the door. She could only see Tony, seated on an overturned pail.

“Did the horse get up again?”

Quillan’s voice held emotion. “Died on the spot. Had to be cut loose and rolled over the side. I told that driver if he ever strained a beast on that pass again he’d be the one rolled over the side.”

“Did you ever lose a horse yourself?”

A pause. “A few. Two in a flood, and one to avalanche.”

“Avalanche.” Tony spread his hands. “Snow?”

Would Quillan talk about Jack? Carina leaned into the wall beside the door.

“Avalanche.”

Tony shook his head. “That would be something to see.”

“I don’t think Jack felt that way. He died beneath his twin. I was trapped and couldn’t get to them.”

Carina turned her back to the wall, fingers resting on her lips. Tony was not just being civil. He and Quillan were really talking. She didn’t know where the others were, but for now they had finished their sport.

“You were trapped by the avalanche?”

“Buried in a mine. I would have burrowed out if it were only me, searched for my horses at once. But I had Carina and another to think of.”

Carina sagged. Would he have burrowed into twenty feet of chunks and powder to save his team? He could not have made it but would have died trying. Thankfully he had her and Father Antoine to think of.

“How did you get out?”

“Built a tower. Father Charboneau down on all fours, I stood on his back, and Carina stood on my shoulders.”

Tony laughed. “She has always been a tiger. Piccola tigre. She is small but tenacious.” Then he paused. “Wasn’t she afraid of the height?”

Carina peeked around to see Tony leaning forward earnestly. “She has been afraid of heights ever since she fell from the roof.”

“Doesn’t stop her,” Quillan said. “She crawled down a deadly slope to retrieve her things, even though the sight over the edge would send a grown man shaking.”

“What things?” Tony spread his hands.

“Things I’d toppled over the side with her wagon.”

Tony sat silent, not comprehending. “You sent her wagon over the side of the pass? Like the horse?”

“Biggest mistake of my life.” Carina could hear Quillan’s rogue smile. And that was enough eavesdropping.

She stalked into the room. “He wanted the road cleared for his own mighty wagon, and my little broken one was in the way.”

“Talk about hell to pay.” Quillan reached out and circled Carina’s waist, pulling her close.

Tony laughed. “You don’t have to tell me. I grew up with her.” He rubbed his shin.

Quillan laughed. “More than one man’s experienced that, but not I. Yet.”

Carina sent him a blazing glare. “I wouldn’t dream of kicking my husband. Only my brothers.” She swung a playful kick Tony’s way.

“And irksome reporters.” Quillan’s grin broadened.