Page 103 of Texas Glory
Sniffing, she furrowed her brow. “What happened?”
“You left the room. I heard you scream—”
She squeezed his hand, pieces of images racing through her mind. “Oh, Dallas. Rawley.”
“Rawley?”
“The little boy. I heard a child cry. I went behind the hotel, and I saw him pressed into a corner. Then someone shoved me and the boxes fell … Oh, Dallas, he could have gotten hurt, too. Did you see him?”
“I only saw you.”
“Dallas, we have to find him.” She tried to sit, and he placed his hands on her shoulders.
“You’ve got no business getting out of bed. I’ll send Austin to find him.”
“Have him bring Rawley back here so I can see that he’s all right.”
Rawley Cooper knew he was in a heap of trouble. Had known it for days and knew sooner or later his mistake would catch up with him.
He would have preferred later.
He sat staring at the red and orange flames as they danced and warmed the room. The man who had brought him to this big house sat with his feet propped on the desk, his spurs dangling over the edge.
The man had told him his name was Austin. Once Rawley had gone through a town named Austin. He figured this man was pretty important since he had a town named after him.
Important men scared Rawley. They could do anything they wanted and nobody would stop them.
Rawley nearly jumped out of his skin when Austin pulled open a drawer.
“Dallas has some lemon drops in here. You want one?”
He peered over at Austin, saw the bag he held in his hand, the yellow ball he was rolling between his fingers. He remembered the man had given him a sarsaparilla stick once and hadn’t hurt him when he’d taken it. But that was a long time back. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the fire.
He knew all he wanted to know about taking gifts. Sooner or later, they always came with a heavy price.
“You don’t talk much, do you?” Austin said.
Rawley wondered if he ran into the fire if it would swallow him up. He thought about that sometimes. Finding a way to disappear so no one could touch him, no one could hurt him.
“Where’s your ma?” Austin asked.
“Dead I reckon.”
“Don’t you know?”
Rawley lifted a shoulder.
The door opened. Austin dropped his feet to the floor and stood. Rawley stood, too, his legs trembling. Better to face the man who wanted him.
“You found him,” the man said.
The man was big. Rawley had seen him with the pretty lady.
“Yep. His pa was passed out in the saloon. I told the barkeep to tell him the boy was here when he woke up.”
“Good.”
The man sat in his chair at the desk. Austin hitched up a hip and planted his butt on the corner of the desk. Rawley tried not to look scared but he had a feeling he wasn’t having much success at it.
