Page 74 of Texas Destiny
He dismounted, pushed the memories aside, and pulled on the tether that harnessed his anger. He took no pains to be quiet as he stepped on the porch and pounded the door so loudly he was certain he’d wake the dead.
If his brother didn’t get his butt out here, that was exactly what he’d be—dead.
Sleeping on a pallet against the corral fence, Houston had awoken to the sound of hooves beating the earth unmercifully. His first thought as he saw his brother riding in like hell’s vengeance was that something had happened to Amelia. His heart had matched the rhythm of the horse’s gallop, and although the evening air was cool around him, he’d broken out in a clammy sweat.
He’d thrown off the blanket, scrambled to his feet, and would have gone tearing across the yard like a madman if Dallas hadn’t brought his horse to a grinding halt, and then sat there as though he’d come in from a leisurely Sunday ride.
Now his brother was banging on his door loud enough to start a stampede.
“Goddamn it, Houston! Open the door!”
A memory flickered through Houston’s mind of a time when they were boys: They’d been swimming in the cold creek. Dallas had left the water, claiming it was time to go home, ordering Houston out of the creek, always ordering Houston around. This day, Houston hadn’t been in the mood for orders. Taking a deep breath, he’d gone under the water and swam to a place where the shadows were deep. He’d come up for air just as Dallas was stomping his boots into place. Then Dallas had looked out over the creek and started yelling for him. Houston had held his silence, hard as it had been, until Dallas had finally plowed back into the creek, slicing his hands through the water like he was Moses and could part the waters of the creek to reveal his brother. Houston had crept out of the water and moseyed over to where his clothes were. He’d sat there quietly waiting until Dallas stopped his thrashing and called out his name again.
“You might try lookin’ a little to your left!” Houston had yelled. “I might be over there!”
Dallas had spun around so quickly that he had lost his balance and slid beneath the water. He’d come back up sputtering and angry.
They’d wrestled, as boys were prone to do, until the laughter took over, and they both agreed it had been a fine day. They’d come home covered in mud, smiling as they told the story. Unfortunately, their father hadn’t shared their enthusiasm for the prank. Houston had received a lecture on the evils of crying wolf and had been sent to bed without his supper. But it had all been worth it to see the surprise on Dallas’s face when he’d turned around, and the horror in his eyes when he’d realized he was going down.
Oh, yeah, it had been worth it.
Dallas’s pounding hadn’t abated as he yelled once again, “Houston, open the goddamn door!”
Houston stepped silently onto the porch, eased his arm beneath his brother’s pounding fist, grabbed the latch, and shoved the door open. “That what you wanted?” he asked.
Dallas jerked back as though someone had just roped him and given him a sharp tug. His breathing was labored, and Houston was certain if it had been daylight, he would have seen fury within his brother’s dark eyes.
“Where in the hell were you?” Dallas demanded.
“Sleeping by the corral.”
Dallas turned toward the corral, and Houston almost imagined he could see the horror on Dallas’s face. He couldn’t stop himself from adding, “I saw you the minute you rode in.”
“Then you should have spoken up, let me know you were about.”
“But watching was so much more fun.”
“I didn’t give you anything to watch.”
Houston could have argued against that statement, but decided to let sleeping dogs lie. “Has something happened to Amelia?”
“No, she’s fine. I just …” Dallas cleared his throat. “I’ve just never been out to your place before.”
“It looks better at night,” Houston said, a bad feeling in his gut. It wasn’t like Dallas to have difficulty finding the right words, and the man never explained his actions. Never. “What’d you do to Amelia?”
Dallas jerked his head around. “I didn’t do anything to her, but I’d like to know what you did.”
Houston narrowed his gaze. “What do you mean by that?”
Dallas took a step forward. “I mean every sentence she utters has your name in it. Houston said this … Houston thinks that … You’d think the two of you were one person. She’s telling me things you think like she’s an authority on what goes on in your head.”
Houston shrugged. “You travel with a person, you get to know him.”
“How well did you get to know Amelia?”
Houston’s gut reaction was to plow his balled fist right into the center of his brother’s perfect face. Instead, he did what he always did. He took the easy path. “Why don’t you head on home, and I’ll forget you ever came out here tonight?”
“Answer me, goddamn it!”
