Page 50 of Texas Splendor
She turned her attention back to his dresser. “Is this the violin your mother played for you?”
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he slowly approached her. “Yeah, it is.”
“My father played the violin. He thought music was important. He’d take me into Austin once a week so I could have a piano lesson. I had no natural talent, but I tried to learn. I could teach you what I know. You could play your mother’s violin.”
“No.”
“But it would be a tribute to your mother, a way—”
“No. I can’t play and you can’t teach me.”
“But how do you know if you don’t try?”
“Trust me. I know.”
Baffled, she watched him turn for the door. She didn’t want the moment to end with disappointment. “Austin?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “I’m just going to get the rest of our things.”
She gave him a hesitant smile. “Do you think you could draw me a map of the house so I don’t get lost when I wander through it?”
He grinned. “It’s god-awful big, isn’t it? Dallas doesn’t do anything in small measures.”
“I guess they’re planning to have a large family,” she offered.
His grin eased away. “They were planning on it, but Dee had an accident a few years ago. She won’t be giving Dallas any more children.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m so sorry. Will my being here and having a baby upset her?”
Austin shook his head. “One thing about the Leigh men, they tend to marry generous women.”
He disappeared through the door. Loree crossed the room, opened a double set of doors, and stepped onto the balcony. She was glad they’d left the town. It had stirred up memories that had kept her from sleeping the night before.
She hoped that tonight Austin’s presence would hold the nightmares at bay.
Chapter 10
Blood. It was everywhere. Rich, red, warm, glistening in the night. Coating her hands, soaking through her clothes.
She couldn’t stop it from flowing like a raging river. She was drowning, drowning in the blood.
The scream ripped through the tranquil night. Dallas jerked upright as Dee rolled away from his side and turned up the flame in the lamp.
“What in the hell was that?” Dallas asked.
The terrorized shriek came again.
“It came from Austin’s room,” Dee said as she headed for the door.
Dallas bolted from bed, rushed after her into the hallway, and grabbed her arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To help.”
“Let me go first,” he ordered, taking the lamp from her. No telling what was waiting on the other side. The woman was always rushing into places where she shouldn’t.
Quietly he opened the door to Austin’s room and peered inside. The light from the lamp cast a pale glow around the room. He heard a woman’s harsh sobs.
Dee edged past him and walked into the room, giving him no choice but to follow.
