Angel

Chapter 25

It was approaching the hour for turning in, but Cassie made no move to leave the parlor. She hadn’t seen Angel again that day, but he’d said she would tonight, and she wasn’t going to bed until she did.

Her father sat with her in companionable silence. It had taken most of the morning to explain everything to him. He’d been shocked and amazed by turns, then had gotten furious at R. J. for coming down on her so hard. He’d told her she didn’t have to leave, that he’d take the MacKauleys on, and the Catlins, too, if it came to that. Of course she couldn’t let him. She’d already caused enough trouble.

Thankfully, he hadn’t asked again what Angel had been doing in her bedroom that morning once he’d learned the marriage was only temporary. But she knew what he was doing, sitting up with her. He might not have said anything about it, but he had no intention of leaving her alone with Angel again, much as she wished he would. And he’d been tired that morning, after riding on ahead of his men, who weren’t expected to arrive until tomorrow with his new bull. But he’d slept all afternoon, so exhaustion wasn’t going to get her a few minutes alone with Angel, either.

Cassie tensed when she heard the front door open and close. She’d have to ask her papa for a few minutes of privacy. He probably wouldn’t allow it, but she’d ask anyway. Only it wasn’t Angel who was drawn to the lights and warmth in the parlor. Looking even more exhausted and bedraggled than Charles had that morning, Catherine Stuart appeared in the doorway.

“Am I in Texas, or did that storm I left up north blow me back to Wyoming?”

Catherine was referring to the house, which she hadn’t seen before, and how closely it resembled the house on the Lazy S. But she didn’t get an answer. Cassie was temporarily speechless. Charles wouldn’t have answered in any case, but all he could do at the moment was stare.

Catherine did some of that herself as soon as her eyes lit on him. They each had ten years of changes in their appearances to take note of, and they did so with blatant curiosity.

They were still staring at each other when Cassie finally found her voice. “Mama, what are you doing here?”

“You must be joking,” Catherine replied, and came over to give her daughter a hug. “After you practically dared me to come?”

“I did no such thing,” Cassie protested, trying to remember what she’d put in that last letter to her mother. “I invited you, didn’t I?”

“In such a way that would guarantee I wouldn’t accept. But you forget I know you better than anyone else, baby. And I wasn’t going to wait until you got home to find out why you didn’t want me down here.”

Cassie winced. So much for attempting deviousness that wasn’t in her nature. And she should have figured this would happen when her mama hadn’t written back or telegraphed again. She’d hoped that meant she wouldn’t come, but she should have known better. And now she also remembered what her mama had threatened to do.

“You — ah — didn’t bring an army with you, did you?” Cassie asked.

“Just a few hands.”

“How many’s a few?”

“Fifteen,” Catherine said as she moved closer to the fire. She took off her hat, then gave Charles a brief glance before she whacked it against her riding skirt, creating a small cloud of dust that settled on his Oriental rug. “I left them in town for the time being.”

Watching her mother, Cassie groaned inwardly. It was starting already, the little things her parents did to irritate each other. They didn’t even try to be subtle about it because they knew neither one would say anything— at least not to each other. After ten years’ separation, you’d think they would have forgotten about that particular aspect of their rift. But no, it was as if they’d never been parted.

“I’m sorry to say you’ve come all this way for nothing, Mama. I was leaving tomorrow.”

“Then your problem did right itself?”

“With a little help from my guardian angel.”

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t arrive in time, but at least Mr. Pickens did. And I’m delighted to have you come home — but why are you cutting your visit short?”

“You could say I’ve worn out my welcome in these parts,” Cassie replied, trying not to sound dismal about it. Explaining about Lewis Pickens’s substitute could wait.

“If you want to stay, baby, I’ll see to it,” was Catherine’s response.

Cassie quickly shook her head. “Papa already offered, but I don’t want to cause any more trouble. It’d be better all around if I go home.”

“Your papa actually offered to do something?”

There was too much derision in that question, not to mention feigned incredulity, for Charles to remain quiet. “You can tell your mama, Cassie, that I can take care of my daughter’s problems just as well as she can.”

“And you can tell your papa I said, ‘Ha!’ ” Catherine shot back.

Cassie looked at her parents with exasperation. When she was ten years old, their talking through her had seemed like a game. Now it seemed pretty ridiculous. Why hadn’t she ever tried to do something about it?

“Hell and you weren’t kidding, were you, honey?” another voice asked.

Cassie turned to see Angel in the open doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed, his hat pushed back from his forehead and hooked on at the neck. He had on his yellow slicker. She was dying to know where he’d been, but…

“This isn’t a good time,” she was forced to say instead.

“This is the only time,” he replied. “Fact is, your reunion will have to wait.”

“Don’t I know you, young man?” Catherine asked.

Angel nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We met a few years back. Name’s Angel.”

Catherine’s surprise was evident. “That’s right, you worked on the Rocky Valley spread for a while, didn’t you? But what brings you this far south?”

Angel’s eyes met Cassie’s briefly before he answered, “Looking after your daughter as a favor to Lewis Pickens.”

Catherine glanced at Cassie. “But I thought—”

“Mr. Pickens couldn’t make it, Mama, so he sent Angel — and what can’t wait?”

The question was for Angel, and he abandoned his casual pose to reply, “You need to come with me.”

“Where?”

“Out to the barn.”

That wasn’t exactly what Cassie was expecting — or hoping — to hear. “What’s in the barn?”

“Some friends of yours, prepared to listen to you meddle one more time.”

Her eyes flared wide in understanding. “You didn’t! Both of them?”

“And then some.”

“Could you two maybe talk in plain English?” Catherine interjected at that point.

“Angel has managed to bring some MacKauleys and Catlins together under one roof so I can talk to them,” Cassie explained, and to Angel she added, “That is why you did it, isn’t it?”

“Figured I owed you that,” was all he said.

Cassie blushed and smiled at the same time — until another question occurred to her. “Did they come willingly?”

“I wasn’t going to waste my time asking.”

“Now just a minute,” Catherine demanded.

“Are you saying you brought these people here — at what? — gunpoint?”

Angel shrugged. “With this bunch, there wasn’t any other way, ma’am. You folks can come along or not, but Cassie has to come with me. And I reckon this is going to take some time, so don’t expect her back for a while.”

Charles finally spoke up. “You’re out of your head if you think I’m going to let you go off alone with my daughter, for whatever reason. Besides, I’ve got a thing or two to say to R. J. myself. Cassie, tell your mama there’s no need to wait up for us. She can make herself at home.”

“Cassie, tell your papa he’s out of his head if he thinks I’m staying behind,” Catherine retorted.

Cassie didn’t follow either order, but Angel issued a warning. “You enter that barn, folks, you’ll be playing by my rules. There won’t be no leaving until I say so. And I’ll take your gun, Mrs. Stuart. Mine is the only one that will be needed tonight.”

Catherine conceded that much, handing her weapon over, but she whispered in an aside to Cassie, “Just what does he think he owes you that he’s breaking the law for?”

“It’s personal, Mama.”

At which point silver eyes the same color as Cassie’s narrowed. “Am I going to have to shoot him before we leave here, baby?”

Cassie wished her mama weren’t serious, but she knew she was. “Please don’t go jumping to conclusions,” she told her. “I’ll explain everything once this is over.”

“It better be good, because I don’t think I like that young man.”

Cassie wished she still felt that way, too.