Texas Homecoming Read Online Free PDF Page A

all day like you do.”
    “I will not watch that vile old man enjoy his triumph. I will not come out until Laveau comes to carry me back to our hacienda.”
    Pilar had found it difficult to care for her grandmother and do all the other work as well, but so far she’d managed. She didn’t know what she was going to do now that she had four extra men to feed.
    “Don’t let her know what her brother really did,” Cade said when he rejoined his friends at the corral. His grandfather had been entertaining them with some of his stories but had stalked off in a huff when he saw Cade coming.
    “Why not?” Owen asked. “She thinks that traitor is a hero.”
    “Everybody ought to know what he did,” Holt said.
    “I agree,” Cade said, “but he’s still writing her.”
    “But she can’t write him,” Holt reminded Cade.
    “I expect that will change. He’ll probably want to know if the coast is clear.”
    “Why should he care, if he’s bringing the Union Army with him?”
    “I doubt he can do that. In any case, I don’t want you to tell her what he did. If she thinks we’re after him, she’ll warn him to stay away.”
    “You planning on flirting with her?” Owen said, his grin mocking.
    “She dislikes everyone in my family.”
    “She doesn’t dislike you.”
    “Yes, she does. Her grandmother has beaten that into her very soul. It’s probably why Laveau betrayed us.”
    “She likes you. Give me credit for knowing women.”
    “I’ll give you credit for being the most brazen flirt I know, so stay away from her.” Cade grinned at his cousin. He hadn’t much liked his distant relative at first, but he’d come to see that behind all Owen’s bluster and outrageous talk was a solid, responsible man who could be depended on regardless of danger. “Maybe Holt or Rafe should talk to her and see what they can learn.”
    “She won’t like Rafe. Besides, it would take her a year to get a full sentence out of him. She won’t like Holt because he’s a Yankee. That leaves me and you. Want to toss a coin to see who gets her?”
    Cade was certain Pilar felt nothing but dislike for him, but there was an outside chance that loneliness might cause her to misinterpret the first male attention she’d received in years. He had no intention of letting Owen trifle with her affections. He liked even less gambling over the right to do so.
    “We’re not tossing a coin,” Cade said.
    “Does that mean you’re giving her to me?”
    “No, it means we’re not tossing a coin.”
    “What are you so concerned about? She’s the enemy.”
    “Laveau is the enemy.”
    “Do you think she’d help him even if she knew what he did?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then she’s not innocent,” Owen said, his grin becoming more pronounced as he fished a coin out of his pocket. “You get heads. I get tails.”
    “I’m not gambling,” Cade said, but Owen had already tossed the coin.
    He let it fall on the ground. “Damn, you win.”
    Cade felt the muscles across his shoulders relax, was relieved he wouldn’t have a confrontation with Owen. He understood the importance of undercover work—espionage, spying, anything you wanted to call it. Had this been war, he wouldn’t have hesitated.
    But it wasn’t war, and Pilar was innocent even if she didn’t like him and was loyal to her brother. It wouldn’t be fair to take advantage of her. Then he remembered Laveau’s treachery, and his heart hardened.
    He would have revenge regardless of who suffered. Even the innocent.
    But the fact that he’d always liked her made it harder. Her being young and extremely attractive made it harder still. It would be all too easy to like his task, and the more he liked it and the more successful he became, the more he would dislike himself.
    “You boys had better check your equipment,” he said, ready to think about something else. “We start looking for the riding stock tomorrow. They ought to be pretty wild by now.”
    “My mare’s in heat,” Holt