Heart of a Texan Read Online Free PDF

or blow up his dam.”
    “Then why were you with those men?”
    “I wasn’t. Didn’t you say they were wearing masks? Well, I wasn’t.”
    That had been bothering Roberta all day, but she wasn’t ready to back down yet. “Maybe you took it off so you could see better. Maybe you didn’t think I would recognize you. Maybe you think you’re so rich and powerful it wouldn’t matter if I did. Who’d take the word of a mere woman against that of the most important rancher in the county?”
    “I’m taking you home,” Russ said to Nate.
    “I’m not the most important rancher,” Nate objected.
    “You’re the richest with the largest ranch. Who else would you recommend?”
    “Can you sit up?” Russ asked Nate.
    “Do you think I’d be flat on my back if I could?”
    “I can carry you to the buckboard.”
    “You can’t move him,” Roberta insisted. “He’d never survive the trip back to his ranch.”
    “He has a better chance than surviving your care.”
    “I’m not a murderer.”
    “You shot him. It’s a miracle he didn’t die.”
    “I wasn’t trying to shoot him ,” Roberta clarified. “I just shot at somebody.”
    “A distinction I find hard to appreciate,” Nate muttered.
    “Well, it’s a distinction nonetheless. If I’d known it was you trying to kill my father, I’d have shot you because I wanted to shoot you . Not that I would have hit you,” she added. “I’ve never touched a gun in my life. I didn’t think I’d actually hit anybody.”
    “I wasn’t trying to kill your father,” Nate insisted. “I didn’t even know where he was.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “We don’t believe you ,” Russ said. “Now move so I can get the boss out of your house.”
    “No one is moving my patient anywhere until I say so.”
    Roberta hadn’t heard the doctor enter the house. He elbowed Russ aside.
    “Why are you arguing like children when the man ought to be sleeping? You want to set his recovery back a week?”
    “Not by so much as a minute,” Roberta declared. “I can’t wait to get him out of my house.”
    “I’m in total agreement,” Russ growled.
    “Then you’ll go home and take care of his ranch,” the doctor said to Russ. “And you,” he said, turning to Roberta, “will fetch the broth Mrs. Pender sent. This man must be starving by now.”
    Roberta fled the room, embarrassed at having been caught in a pointless argument. She knew it was fueled by guilt. She hadn’t really wanted anyone dead. Her guilt was made worse by the suspicion that Nate might be telling the truth. There was one other thing she couldn’t understand. One of the men cleaning up after the attack had found two hats for Nate. Whoever heard of a man wearing two hats? She was too emotionally exhausted to sort through everything. Just thinking of her father’s brutal murder made her want to punish every man within ten miles of Slender Creek. In one way or another, they’d all contributed to his death.
    Realizing she was about to be overcome with grief, she pushed those thoughts aside and reached for the broth she’d kept warm on the stove. She ladled some into a bowl and hurried back to the bedroom.
    Nate was sitting up when she returned. The doctor had removed the bandages and was inspecting the wound. “Feed him,” he ordered without looking up.
    Russ reached for the bowl. “I’ll do it.”
    “Let Roberta do it,” the doctor said. “Men like you are good in the saddle, but you can’t feed yourselves without making a mess.”
    Roberta grinned at Russ’s startled protests. Even Nate managed a faint smile.
    “Open your mouth,” Roberta told Nate. “I don’t want to be accused of being as messy as a man.”
    “What is that?” Nate demanded as soon as he’d managed to swallow. “It tastes like water.”
    “It’s a nourishing beef broth,” the doctor said.
    “I’m wounded, not dying,” Nate protested. “Put some actual beef in it.”
    “You’ll eat nothing solid until