“The whole thing is ridiculous!” Logan fixed his attention on the linen wrap he was replacing on his mother’s favorite mare. “Can’t imagine where you came up with such a tall tale, Conner.” Crouched in the thick straw bedding, Logan shot his older brother a look.
“Haven’t you got better things to do than sit in that office of yours and spin yarns? If you need work, there’s plenty to do here.”
“I’m not spinning yarns for your amusement, Logan. I saw the letter, I met the lady. But let it go for the moment. Sounds like you’ve got your plate heaped with work.”
The wealth of understanding in his brother’s gaze took the edge off Logan’s anger. “Yeah. My plate’s so full I haven’t slept in my own bed for more than two nights running. Jeez, Conner, how the hell did you manage it all?”
“Just did.” Conner shrugged. “Work needed doing, wasn’t much choice.”
Left unsaid between them was the fact that Conner had no one helping him. Their daddy’s boots had fit Conner like they had been made for him, in all ways. Or so Logan and their younger brother Ty had believed. It wasn’t until Conner relinquished most of the day-to-day overseeing to them that they’d understood that Conner never wanted to be the boss. Santo’s words came back in a rush to Logan: Conner had been a man before he’d ever had a chance to be a boy.
“It’s not the work, Conner.” Satisfied that the swelling had gone down on the mare’s leg Logan nudged aside her curious nose and replaced the extra linen strips, tin of Three Horn Cure All, and bottle of Neatsfoot oil in his box.
“Then what’s causing the problem?”
“Guess me and Ty are having a hard time divvying up who makes the decisions for what. Half the time he’s gone up to hurry the carpenters to finish his house so he and Dixie can move in. Truth to tell, I guess I envy him. Jessie hasn’t said a word about living in the big house, but she’s a woman used to her own ways. Sofia rules the kitchen. You know that,” he added with a grin that his brother shared.
“I just don’t know when there’ll be time to build our own place. And I can’t take those boys away from Ma now.”
“Nope, you can’t. So most of the decisions fall on your shoulders because you’re here and Ty isn’t.”
“Pack that truth in a bottle of snake oil and give the man a prize.”
Conner rested his arms across the top slat of the box stall. “Here’s another truth. Belinda Jarvis—”
“You can’t believe her.”
“Already told you that I do. There are too many facts that add up.”
“No. It doesn’t add up for me.”
Conner heaved a weary sigh, “Logan, you can deny it all you want. But the lady has corset steel running up her backbone, and she’s not going away. You can’t ignore—”
“I’m not ignoring it.” Coming to his feet, Logan shot his brother a narrow-eyed glare. “I’m listening to you and getting this real strange feeling that you approve of this woman. I thought you said she was as mouthy as a chicken house when the fox is around?”
“Did I say that?”
“Denying it?”
“Nope.”
“What’s with you, Conner? You admire this woman?”
“Heaven forbid. She’s starched harder than—”
“Conner. Stop telling me how much you don’t like her. Tell me instead that she can’t take the boy away from us.” Running one hand through his dark hair, Logan glanced around. “Jeez, what the hell am I going to tell Jessie?”
“Try nothing for now. I told you, I rode out here to warn you and only you. Don’t say anything to Ma or Jessie. Tell Ty, if you want to. I’ll do all I can to check out her story.”
Conner opened the stall door for his brother, then latched it. Logan appeared dazed, as if it were finally sinking in that Conner was serious.
Logan didn’t move when his brother placed his big hand on his shoulder.
“Listen to me, Logan, you can help me disprove her claim. If you’re so sure she’s barking up the wrong tree, get me proof. The boys have their family Bibles, don’t they?”
Logan stared at the closed door of the storage room. “All their stuff is back there. Everything their wagons carried. I never asked them to go through it after the first time they refused. I took Kenny’s word from the start that they were cousins with no kin to take them in. I can’t believe that boy lied to me.”
“We don’t know for sure that he did. ’Sides, Kenny’s got a way ’bout him that’ll have the preacher thinking he’s the sinner to be saved.”
Conner shared his brother’s laughter. It quickly faded. “We need to talk to Kenny first.”
“Well, we can’t. Santo took the boys and Jessie up to the canyons to hunt for berries. You’ll have to stay till they come back.”
“All right. But think hard about this, Logan. If Miss Jarvis is right, she’s got the law on her side.”
“The law?” Logan dropped the wooden carry box, kicked it aside and lunged for his brother.
“Say that again,” Logan demanded, grabbing hold of Conner’s arm.
“You heard me plain enough. If she’s right, Logan, I’ll have no choice but to turn over the boy to her.”
“The hell you will.” Logan drew back his arm and let a punch fly at Conner’s jaw.
Conner ducked his head to one side. The blow struck his shoulder. Logan lunged at him. Conner barely managed to shove him back, for they were of similar height and build. When Conner saw that Logan was coming at him again, he laid into his brother until he had him slammed up against the support beam. Dust filtered down from the rafters, choking them both as they struggled.
Breathing heavily, Conner was the first to back away. “Damn it, Logan, stop. I don’t want to fight you.”
Chest heaving, Logan glared at him. He had supported Conner’s decision to go after the sheriff’s job. But this…this was betrayal of the worst sort. He shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re standing there, standing against me, against us.”
“I’m not against—”
“You sure the hell are! You’re standing on Kincaid land, Conner. Standing there and telling me you’ll break my Jessie’s heart, not to mention what taking one of those boys will do to Ma. And my boys, Conner? What about them? Did you once think about what separating them will do? After all Kenny and Marty have been through, losing their folks, living hand to mouth, scared and alone. You think I’ll let a stranger tear them apart after they almost died trying to save my life from outlaws.”
Logan’s voice became hushed. “If you dare try taking—”
“Don’t threaten me, Logan.”
“Don’t get up on your high horse with me, Conner. You’re not the ramrod of this outfit anymore. You’re nothing but a brass badge who can’t remember his family always came first with him.”
“And you’re angry with the wrong person. Stop saying—”
“I’ll have my say—”
“Logan! Don’t say another word. You’ll regret it, like I’m already doing. And lower your voice before the whole ranch knows why I came out here.”
“Afraid you’ll tarnish the Conner-can-do-no-wrong image? Go to hell.” Logan swiped his hand across his mouth. His tongue probed his tooth. His jaw was already starting to swell from where it had connected against the wood.
Conner rubbed his hands up and down his thighs in an effort to control his temper. His effort wasn’t helped by having Logan glare at him as if he were something that had crawled out from beneath a rock. Damn Belinda Jarvis!
“Logan, listen. I—”
“No. You listen.” He fixed his gaze on his brother’s face. “I’ll talk to my boys and find out if there’s any truth to this claim. I’ll get out the Bibles, too. But I don’t want you anywhere near them.”
“You’ve got no right—”
“I have every right, Conner. I’m the closest thing to a pa those boys have. I can’t believe you’d forget who that woman is staying with. Before you rode out here, did you once think that Riverton put her up to this?”
“Why? What would he gain—”
“Plenty, Conner. This could be his ploy to split us apart.”
Raking his hand through his hair, Conner let his hand fall to his side. As long as Logan was willing to reason this out, he had to make another effort. But it was tearing him inside to take the opposite side at every turn.
In a calmer tone, he answered his brother. “On the ride out here, I thought about the possibility of Riverton setting this up. I may not like what Belinda Jarvis had to say, but I’d stake a heap on her believing every word. You weren’t there, in my office, when I told her that you were my brother. Like I told you before, she had this report from the Pinkertons that an outlaw and a widow left Apache Junction with two boys that didn’t belong to them.”
Conner saw the mutinous expression forming on Logan’s face and held up one hand. “Just let me finish. Much as I’d like to tie this neatly up and lay it at Riverton’s door, I can’t. For two reasons,” he hurried to add before Logan could say a word.
“He couldn’t be sure that it would split us up. And even if he somehow figured a way to use this to his advantage, there’s still Belinda.
“There’s no way that woman faked her reaction when I said you were my brother. She didn’t know that I’m a Kincaid. Riverton would have told her that.”
Logan stepped back from Conner. “And that’s it?” he demanded. “That’s all you’ve got to say? You’re willing to tear this family apart on the word of some woman who didn’t act like she knew you were a Kincaid?”
“Take the damn wood out of your ears, little brother! I said I’d send telegrams. I’ll verify her story before I let her near this family. My family, Logan. Just try and understand that I’ve got a job—”
“Shove your job, big brother. Shove it to hell and gone!” He turned his back on Conner and headed for the door.
“Logan.” Conner started after him, then shook his head, knowing it was useless to try and talk anymore.
He didn’t understand what had happened. Logan was usually the calm one, always willing to listen to all sides. This time, instead of offering to help him figure it out so no one was hurt, his brother allowed anger to override good sense.
Churning anger had him swinging without thought. His fist connected with the solid wooden beam. Another shower of dust rained down on him. The anger was still there, and so was the beam, but now he sported skinned knuckles.
He would love to prove that Belinda Jarvis was in cahoots with Riverton to drive a wedge between the Kincaids.
He’d love it, but deep inside himself, he knew it was not true.
A last nagging doubt forced its way into his thoughts. If she hadn’t been so easy to kiss, would he still believe her?
Conner eyed the spilled contents of the carryall. Old habits were hard to break. He hated things out of place, just like he hated loose ends. As he bent and picked up the items to replace them in the wooden box, Conner replayed his meeting with Belinda.
He had denied knowing much about the Pinkertons, but any lawman worth his forty-eight dollars a month knew the agency’s reputation. But just as that part of her tale rang true, Conner sensed that Belinda had left a great deal unsaid.
And if he believed her, then Kenny had lied to all of them with his claim that he and Marty were cousins.
He had come to Logan as a brother, now he had no choice but to approach him as the law.