“Care to share them?”
“Not just yet.”
“Why not?”
“No proof.”
“So what else is new?” she asked, leaning back against the headboard of the bed and frowning. Here, lying with Trask in the small room decorated in cream-colored lace, patchwork and maple, she had felt warm and secure. The worries of the night had faded but were now thrown back in her face, quietly looming more deadly than ever.
Trask stood and tucked in the tails of his shirt. “What’s new?” he repeated. “Maybe a lot.”
“This is no time to be mysterious.”
“Maybe not,” he agreed while cocking his wrist and looking at his watch. “But I’ve got to get out of here. I want to check on Neva and Nicholas, change clothes at the cabin and be in Salem by ten.”
The thought of Trask leaving the ranch was difficult for Tory to accept. In a few short days, she had gotten used to his presence and looked forward to the hours she spent with him. The fact that he was leaving to face two of the men responsible for his brother’s death made Tory uneasy. Though she knew that her father had been innocent, the ex-judge Linn Benton and his accomplice, George Henderson, had been and, in her opinion, still were ruthless men more than capable of murder.
“Look,” he was saying as he walked to the door. “I want you to be careful, okay? I’ll check with John Davis and make sure he has a man assigned to the Lazy W.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Trask’s eyes glittered dangerously. “I hope not, but I’m a firm believer in the better-safe-than-sorry theory.”
“Oh, yeah?” She stared pointedly at the cut on his chin and the bruise peeking out of his shirt. “Look where it’s gotten you. And now you’re going to talk to your brother’s murderers!”
He frowned and crossed the room to hold her in his arms. Placing a soft kiss on the crown of her head he let out a long weary sigh. “Believe me, lady, someday this will all be behind us.”
“You hope.”
“I promise.”
“Just don’t tell me that in twenty years I’ll look back at what we’re going through now and laugh, ’cause I won’t!”
He chuckled and hugged her fiercely. “Okay, I won’t lie to you, but I will promise you that we’ll have plenty of stories that will entertain our grandchildren.”
“That’s a promise?” Grandchildren and children. Trask’s children. At this point the possibility of marrying Trask and having his children seemed only a distant dream; a fantasy that she couldn’t dare believe would come true.
“One I won’t let you get out of.” He lowered his head
and captured her lips with his. “The sooner we get all of this mess behind us, the better. Then we can concentrate on getting married and filling the house with kids.”
“Slow down, senator,” she said, her love shining in her eyes. “First things first, don’t you think? Oh, and if you want a cup of coffee, I’m sure it’s perked.”
He shook his head. “Haven’t got time. I’ll be back this afternoon.”
“I’m counting on it.”
“Maybe then I’ll get a chance to talk to your foreman, Rex Engels.”
Tory stiffened slightly. “Are you going to put him through the third degree, too?”
“Nothing so drastic,” Trask promised. “I just want to ask him a few questions.”
“About last night?”
“Among other things.”
“You don’t trust anyone, do you?”