Page 61 of Texas Destiny
Houston shifted his body and pulled the brim on his hat low. “Reckon I do,” he said simply.
“We’ll discuss it up at the house,” Dallas said before he limped to his horse and pulled himself into the saddle. He urged his horse forward until it sidled up against Sorrel. “Miss Carson, will you do me the honor of riding at the front with me?”
She glanced over at Houston. He gave a brusque nod. She hadn’t expected to say good-bye to him like this—without saying good-bye at all. She thought of a hundred things she should say, wanted to say. She held her silence, forced a smile, met her future husband’s gaze, and nodded because at that very moment her throat was knotted with emotions. As Dallas guided her horse through the waiting men, she felt as though she was leaving something precious behind her.
Houston had expected his farewell to Amelia to consist of more than a quick nod, but at that moment he couldn’t have spoken to her if his life had depended on it. He watched Dallas lead her away from him, lead her toward her rightful place at his side. He told himself it was for the best, but he hadn’t hurt this badly since Yankee mortar fire had torn into him.
Austin urged his horse toward Houston. “You got some new ponies.”
Houston cleared his throat. “Yep.” His voice sounded as though he’d just swallowed a handful of dust. He cleared his throat again before prodding the mule forward to ride behind the awestruck procession.
Austin kicked his horse into a short canter and caught up before slowing down to keep pace. “She’s pretty, ain’t she?” Austin asked.
“Yep.”
“Think Dallas is pleased?”
Houston glanced over at Austin, his young face incredibly earnest. “If he ain’t pleased, then he’s a fool.”
Austin’s face split into a wide grin. “I ain’t never known him to be a fool.”
Houston heard Amelia’s light laughter, followed quickly by Dallas’s deeper chuckle. She needed a man who’d laugh with her. She’d find that in Dallas.
“She’s got a pretty laugh,” Austin said.
“Yep.”
“Dallas was fit to be tied waiting on you to get here.”
“Figured he would be.”
“He ain’t gonna like it at all that you took time to capture some horses.”
Houston sighed deeply. “Didn’t think he would.”
“He said that he was gonna shoot you for lettin’ that black stallion go.”
Houston gave his brother a sideways glance. “Now, how’d he know it was me that let the stallion go?”
Austin shrugged. “Just guessed, I reckon. Is she gonna be my ma?”
“Hell, no, she’s not gonna be your ma.”
Austin looked like a puppy that had just been kicked. “It ain’t fair to grow up without a ma. I was hoping Amelia might just sort of pretend she was my ma.”
“She’s Miss Carson to you, and she’s gonna be too busy being a wife to Dallas to be pretending much of anything.”
“Not until that circuit preacher gets back here, and Dallas is probably gonna shoot you on account of that, too.”
Houston snapped his gaze over to his brother. “The preacher’s not here?”
“Nope. He got here about three weeks ago, waited a whole week, then said he needed to get about searching for lost souls.”
Houston tightened his hold on the mule’s short cropped mane. Without a preacher, no marriage would take place. Until Amelia was safely tucked away as Dallas’s wife, Houston wouldn’t feel safe from his heart’s longings.
He wondered why he thought a little piece of paper could snuff out the flames of desire building within him. He wondered how much longer he had to wait before he had to endure the hell of watching Amelia become another man’s wife.
“Two months!” Dallas barked as he dropped into the leather chair behind his desk. He looked at Houston, grimaced slightly, turned the chair, and stared out the distant window. “It’ll be at least two months before the circuit preacher gets back here.”
