To Wed In Texas

EIGHTEEN

DANIEL HEARD A RACKET THAT SOUNDED LIKE A chair toppling in the kitchen and the shuffle of several pairs of feet. Moving as fast as he could, he shoved the covers aside and stood with far more ease than he had the day before. He managed to make it to the door of his study before Wes yelled that all was settled.

No explanation. Daniel felt like a child being left out of conversation. He could hear movement and voices. Something had happened.

Bracing himself against the frame of his prison, Daniel-tried to make out voices. Wolf's was easy. And Allie's crying drifted to him. And Adam's authority.

Several minutes past. Daniel could hear Wes swearing a few times. Then only shuffling, movements with no one talking above a whisper.

If Adam were back, Karlee could be also. Willow's baby must have been born by now. Daniel frowned.

Willow was like a little sister to him. Why hadn't someone bothered to let him know if she were all right?

Daniel gathered his strength and moved slowly along the shadowy hallway. He'd be kept in the dark no longer. He was tired of being pampered and ordered around. His leg had healed enough to take a little weight. Daniel could stand.

As he touched the kitchen door he heard Allie's soft crying and Wes promise to return in a few minutes as the back door closed.

Slowly, hesitantly, Daniel opened the door to the kitchen. A bright light from the window slashed through his skull. His eyes watered and closed. He almost wished for the blindfold back.

When he forced them open once more, three figures stood before him in fuzzy shades of shadow.

One, a tall woman, near the sink. Karlee. Another woman, smaller, stood at the table. The third, very near, was…

Daniel blinked and tried to focus. The third was a man with very little clothes.

He tried to pull the picture before him from the haze of fuzziness. The throbbing in his leg almost buckled him as he realized the form closest to him had to be the savage Wolf said was always tied in the kitchen.

The savage took a step forward, his movements almost as unsteady as Daniel's. The boy headed toward the tiny woman standing in the center of the room.

“No!” Daniel cried, realizing she was his sister-in-law, Allie, and fearing she would be harmed.

“Wait!” Karlee's order came from across the room. “Daniel, wait.”

But it was too late. Daniel had already turned loose of the door frame and was moving at full momentum toward the savage.

Allie screamed and ran between the two. “No! John don't hurt him! He's blind, John. Don't hurt him.”

John's movements were faster than Daniel's. As he swung to deliver a blow to the blind man, Allie grabbed his arm. She seemed to travel with the punch.

Daniel tried to steady himself. He knew he couldn't see well enough to offer a defense. Offense was his only chance. With a mighty lunge, he shoved into the intruder.

Like marbles in collision, they struck and spun away from one another with equal force. Daniel slammed into the table, almost blacking out from the sudden pain in his leg. He opened his mouth, but it was Karlee's scream that filled his ears.

The savage entangled Allie in his flight. Together, they hit the floor with a thud and rolled, their arms and legs twisting together.

Daniel fought the blackness, willing himself to stand.

Suddenly, Karlee's arms were about his waist, holding him up as she cried his name. Her strength kept him from falling.

Wolf's footsteps pounded across the porch like rapid gunfire.

“What's going on?” The huge man brought the sunlight as he shoved the door open without slowing his pace. “Daniel, are you all right? Karlee? Allie…”

The screams of a moment ago had settled and now the room seemed a tomb. Everyone looked toward the corner where the boy and Allie had landed.

The savage knelt beside the tiny unconscious woman, one arm around her, the other holding the knife she'd used to free him. His teeth were bared, like a cornered animal, and his knuckles were white around the handle of his weapon.

“Don't hurt the woman!” Wolf moved slowly forward. “It's me you want to kill, son. She's done nothing but be kind to you.”

John's arm pulled Allie closer against him as his gaze darted from Daniel to Wolf.

“Come away from her, and I'll fight you barehanded against your knife.” Wolf tried again. “But don't hurt her.”

Daniel heard the clank of Wolf's hunting knife on the table only inches from where he and Karlee stood. The hairy man held his hands high showing he had no weapon.

“Come on, kid. This is your chance. Fight me. It's my scalp you want for your belt, not hers.”

“Wait!” Karlee cried in near panic. “Don't you see, Wolf? The boy's not planning to kill Allie. He's protecting her.”

“No.” Wolf heaved his chest preparing to fight. “The kid's wanted to kill all of us, including her, since the moment he laid eyes on us. She may already be dead, and he's just an animal protecting his prey.”

Daniel slowly felt behind him for Wolf's knife. If he didn't think fast Wolf, or the boy, would be dead.

“Stand up and fight me, boy!” Wolf ordered.

John swept the blade across the air at belly level. Hate darkened his eyes.

Daniel's fingers bumped into the huge hunting knife. Slowly, he gripped the handle and pulled it forward.

“Look, Wolf!” Karlee cried. “He's holding Allie against his chest just like she told me he did in the field. Only now she's the one knocked out. He's protecting her.”

Wolf shook his head. “He just knows he can kill her any time. It's me he has to worry about now. She's done all she could to help him. His mind is Apache. And we're all his enemy.”

Daniel straightened. “Stand guard, Wolf.”

Wolf opened his mouth to argue as Daniel pushed away from the table and, with two steps, put himself in the center of the room between Wolf and the boy.

He held the long knife in his grip as he faced the shadowy figure kneeling a few feet away. Karlee reached to pull him back, but he shoved her hand away.

“I remember the night we first saw Allie.” He talked more to calm Wolf and Karlee than the boy. He knew the boy would wait for his chance, and the knife would give him pause. “She's a lady now, but there were some who thought she was a savage when Wes first brought her to Adam's place.”

Daniel held up the weapon, balancing it on his open palm. “I'll not hurt you, John,” he said in a low slow voice. “I need no knife.”

The boy shifted his smaller knife to his left hand and grabbed the offering from Daniel's open palm.

“Wonderful,” Wolf growled. “Why don't we give him all the knives?”

“Karlee.” Daniel didn't move from in front of the boy. “Get all we have just as Adam did with Allie. He has to know we mean him no harm.”

Karlee made a little sound of pure fear and turned toward the shelves. One by one, she handed Daniel the knives, big and small. One by one, he gave them to John.

The boy held as many as he could, then began to spread them around him within easy reach. Wolf moved close enough to offer Daniel a chair.

Daniel sat down without saying a word, extending his leg in front of him to ease the pain.

Allie moaned and finally moved in John's arms. She felt her head as she regained her senses. The moment she realized it was her brother's arm around her, she reached to hug him without the slightest hesitation or fear.

“John. You're all right.” Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks.

“Run, Allie, run,” he mumbled words he hadn't said in fifteen years.

She touched the scar on his chest where she'd seen blood all those years ago. “Come on, John. Let me take you home.”

All the knives surrounding them were forgotten.