Give Me Tonight(86)

"He can take care of himself. Don't worry 'bout him. "

"He'll be the first one to arrive on the scene, riding straight into whatever hornet's nest has been stirred up. Oh, Daddy likes to think of himself as the one in charge, but we all know Ben'll be the one who has to pick up the pieces or make the next move. "

"That's the kind of man he is. Cade and Peter are the kind who have to be guided and prompted. But Ben is someone that others just naturally follow. You wouldn't want him to be any different, would you?"

No. But I don't want to lose him. And there was a fear in Addie's heart that she couldn't explain to any­one. A fear that she had a large price to pay for her past mistakes. Time had given her a chance to atone for the kind of person she had once been. But what if more was going to be demanded of her? What if she was denied the life with Ben she wanted so desper­ately?

They went to the kitchen and sat at the table with May, who looked calm but fatigued, while outside the house came the sounds of abrupt, sleepy-voiced con­versations. The bunkhouse had awakened. Minutes ticked away, then an hour had passed, and as Addie paced around the silent kitchen, tension clawed at her nerves.

"How long do you think they'll be?" she asked curtly, knowing neither of them could answer the question any better titan she could. Still, she had to talk about something or go crazy.

"There's no way of tellin' ," May replied, method­ically stirring her tea. "Why don't you sit and have somethin' to drink, sugar?"

"It's the Double Bar," Addie muttered, circling the table once again. "Daddy's been expecting them to make a move. Oh, why does he insist on fencing in all the water? It's pure contrariness on his part—"

"Your daddy has the right to do whatever he wants with his own land."

"But he's leaving them with no choice, and I think—"

"It's not up to us to think anything about it, just support your daddy's decisions."

Addie grumbled underneath her breath and darted a glance at Caroline, wondering if she agreed with May. Caro was concentrating intently on her coffee, clearly wanting no part of the debate. There was no way of knowing what her opinion was. Sighing, Addie de­cided to keep quiet and leave well enough alone. She only hoped that whatever had happened, Russell would control his temper long enough to listen to Ben. Ben didn't like the idea of the fencing any more than she did, and there was no doubt he'd try to soften Russell's reaction to the damage that had been done tonight.

Another half-hour crawled by, and then Addie heard the thud-thud of a horse's hooves. Without a word she darted to the back door of the kitchen and threw it open. Cade had been sent back to tell them what had happened.

"Shootin'," he said, bursting into the kitchen, his eyes brilliant with excitement. "It was the fence all right." He paused and gulped in a few deep breaths. "Hacked to pieces. And our line riders were shot at. "

"By whom?" Addie demanded.

"No one they could recognize."

"The Double Bar. It had to be."

"Yeah, we think they were behind it. But they didn't use their own men. Hired 'em, most likely. We pegged one of 'em, too. Only it was in the back, which don't make us look too good—"

"What do you mean? Someone was shot?"

"It was before Ben and Daddy and us got there. Our line riders had already chased the attackers off, and shot one of 'em in the back. Ben and Peter are takin' the body over to the sheriff."

Addie felt herself tum pale. "But that's dangerous. The men could be hiding near the road somewhere. They might try to shoot Ben for revenge . . . or . . ." She glanced at Caroline. "Or Peter . . ."

"Ben'll keep a sharp eye out," Cade said.

"But it's dark. He . . . " She bit her lip and kept in words of panic, aware of May's reproving eyes on her. May was far from pleased over her daughter's unto­ward concern for the foreman.

"Daddy's assigning more of our hands to watch over our property," Cade continued glibly. "Tomorrow they'll start puttin' the fence back up again. 'Course, it'll take away from the other chores that need t' be done around here, 'specially gettin' ready for roundup." He nearly did a dance of glee right in the center of the kitchen. "Daddy says I gotta take off school for a few weeks and help around here. He says there's too much t' be done on the ranch to fool around with books—"

"That's fine," May said evenly. "You'll help your daddy in the daytime and study your books in the eve­nin'. Adeline and I will help you do your lessons so you won't fall behind."

Cade's grin collapsed. "Aw, Ma—"

"It'll be a long day tomorrow. Go upstairs now and get some sleep."

"Sleep?" he repeated, as if the concept was foreign to him. "After what happened tonight?"

May nodded implacably, and the boy trudged out of the room, his exuberance deflating fast. "You can do the same, Adeline," she said, turning her eyes to her younger daughter. "You won't help anyone by stayin' up."

"I . . . I can't go to bed." Addie sat down slowly, gripping the sides of her chair as if expecting to be pried forcibly from it. "I'll wait for them to get back." Her anxiousness wore down into numbness as time dragged by. The cup of steaming coffee in front of her gradually turned stone-cold, and she took no notice as Caroline replaced it with a new cup. Then that was cold too, and they still hadn't returned.