But from the things Cole told them, she had a clearer picture of the boyhood he had lived in this wild primitive land called Texas.
He had grown up in a loving, affectionate family.
But the death of his mother and sister had left him and his father without the softening influence of a woman.
It was obvious that Cole Matthews was a man accustomed to taking care of himself.
He was a man who lived life by his own rules.
When she complained about his sweating, which to her sensitive ears had not improved one bit, he would go off in search of game.
Or in search of solitude, she thought, gritting her teeth.
As Cole scanned the countryside, he found his thoughts drifting to Jessie.
Damn her.
Even when he should be concentrating on staying alive, she was there distracting him.
He had kept his promise to Danny.
He forced himself not to touch her or even get close to her.
It took every ounce of his willpower to keep his distance.
Sometimes in the small hours of the morning when her brothers were sound asleep, he lay in his bedroll thinking about what it would be like to lie with her, to love her.
The thought of her long slender fingers touching him, brushing his naked flesh, made him quiver with desire.
And the thought of her tempting lips on his brought a rush of heat that even a dip in an icy creek could not dispel.
He wanted her.
Sometimes he wanted her so badly his only defense was to leave without an explanation, without a backward glance.
And when he had worked off his frustration by stalking the barren Texas wilderness in search of game, he would return to face another day of unending hunger for an obstinate little woman who could drive him mad without even trying.
Cole nudged his horse, and Jessie trailed along at a leisurely pace.
She saw the frown that often furrowed his brow and wondered where he went in his mind when he looked so fierce.
She sighed and wished they could share their thoughts.
But Cole was a loner.
And she and her brothers were an unwelcome burden to a man like him.
They plodded on throughout the long day.
Though the sun was hot, there was enough growth to keep the dust down.
The land was covered with dense thickets of prickly pear, chaparral and low brash, making progress slow, But though the horses were hampered by the underbrush and the boys complained about the slower pace, Cole had reminded them that they would find an abundance of game.
By late afternoon Cole topped a ridge and saw the glimmer of sunlight on water.
He turned in the saddle and called to Jessie, "Looks like a creek.
That water's clear and the horses are tired. Let's make camp here."
Cole urged his horse into a gallop until he caught up with Danny and Thad, who were far ahead.
By the time the three arrived at the sheltered campsite, Jessie had already begun a fire.
She looked up with a little frown as they approached.
"We're down to the last of the venison. After supper we'd better do a little tracking."
Cole swung from the saddle and handed the reins to Thad.
"If you don't need me, I'll see what game I can scare up right now."
As Cole turned away, Danny reached for his sister's rifle, eager to follow along.
"Here, Thad," he said, turning over the reins to his little brother, "We'll be back in time for supper."
Jessie watched as the two strode away.
Ever since Danny had managed to bring down a buffalo, it was taken for granted that he would bag his share of game.
And with each success, his self-esteem grew.
Perhaps she shouldn't be so eager to scold Cole, she warned herself.
Some of the things he had taught Danny were worth more than a lifetime of schooling.
Jessie watched as Thad led the horses to the water and patiently waited while they drank their fill.
Then heJled them back to camp and began the tedious task of unsaddling the animals and rubbing each one down.
The horses, lathered from a day of hard riding, were eager to be turned loose in the lush grass growing near the creek.
Jessie made a batch of biscuit dough and set it on a warm rock to rise.
When it was ready, she kneaded it, then began cutting it.
While she worked, she found herself humming a tune her mother used to hum when Jessie was a little girl.
"I got all my chores done," Thad said proudly.
Jessie barely looked up from her work.
"Think I'll head into that thicket and look for Danny and Cole."
Jessie nodded and said absently, "Don't go too far, Tadpole. Supper will be ready in an hour or so."
As the boy walked away, Jessie found herself straggling to remember the words to the song that played in her mind.
How long ago had it been since she'd heard her ma sing that song?
Eight years ago?
Eight years, and the words were lost to her.
With a little frown she started again, trying to hold on to the fleeting image of her beautiful young mother and the songs she had sung to her children.
Cole and Danny spotted the buck at the same moment.
Both of them froze, then lifted their dries to their shoulders.
Glancing at Danny, Cole motioned for him to take the first shot.
If the boy missed, Cole was ready to back him up.
As Danny took careful aim, a second deer appeared in the clearing.
Cole turned slightly, adjusting his sight to the newcomer.
Cole and Danny shared a grin of satisfaction.
With two deer there would be enough meat for the next hundred miles.
As if on cue the two fired simultaneously.
The sound of gunfire echoed like thunder through the hills.
As they watched, both deer leaped in a death dance, toppled and fell to the ground.
Working side by side, Cole and Danny tossed aside their dries and drew out their knives.
With great skill they bled the animals and began the long process of skinning and gutting them.
"Cole. Danny."
Both looked up at the sound of Thad's distant high-pitched shout.
"Over here, Half-pint."
Cole mopped at the sweat that beaded his forehead and bent once more to his task.
"Where are you?"
The small voice sounded farther away than it had a minute ago.
"Damn."
Leaving the knife in the flesh of the deer, Cole stood and started toward the sound of Thad's voice.
I'll fetch your brother before he gets himself lost in these woods.
" Danny nodded and continued skinning his buck.
Cole picked his way through the thicket of prickly pear, absently wiping blood on his pants.
Up ahead through a maze of trees, he could make out the form of the little boy.
"Come on, Half-pint. We have a lot of work to do before..."
The words died in Cole's throat.
At the sound of snarling and thrashing in the thicket behind him, Thad turned in the direction that Cole was staring.
Charging through the brush toward him was the meanest looking animal he had ever seen.
It was about sixty pounds, with a mane of long black hair.
The grizzled snout faintly resembled that of a wild boar.
Thad let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Fear left him paralyzed.
He wanted to run, but his feet would not respond to his wishes.
Instead he stood rooted to the spot, staring as if mesmerized as the animal charged nearer.
"Thad."
Cole felt a surge of helpless frustration.
In his haste to find the boy, he had left both his rifle and knife behind.
And now, unarmed and helpless, he found himself facing the most dangerous animal in
all of Texas.
A breed of wild boar with teeth as deadly as razors.
A dreaded and feared javelina.
Cole noted that when the boy froze in his tracks, the animal had slowed its charge.
It now stood watching and sniffing.
Within minutes, though, the javelina would attack in all its fury.
And when it did, there would be no stopping it.
"Don't move."
Cole inched his way toward the boy, praying for enough time to reach him.
The animal snorted and Cole knew it was about to charge again.
The javelina was the most ferocious game animal in Texas.
Its razorlike teeth could take off a man's leg with one bite.
He had no doubt what the animal's teeth would do to a boy the size of Thad.
"Dear God."
Cole was not a praying man, but as he watched the animal make menacing advances toward little Thad, he realized just how much he loved the boy.
He would let nothing in this world harm Thad.
He had to save the boy.
Had to.
Even if it meant he would die trying.
As he reached Thad's side, Cole hugged the boy to him and felt the wild beating in his heart.
He wrapped his arms around Thad and held him closer, striving desperately to share his own strength with the boy.
As the javelina stomped the ground and snorted, it began to charge forward with furious speed.
With no thought to his own life, Cole grasped Thad by the shoulders and thrust the lad behind him, out of the way of attack.
He did not fear death.
His only thought now was saving Jessie's little brother.
Unarmed, he planted his feet firmly and waited for the animal's final deadly lunge.
At the sound of Thad's scream, Jessie looked up from the fire and whirled toward the rifle, which she kept in the boot of her saddle.
The horses were tethered near the stream, but the saddles had been set in a semicircle around the camp fire.
The boot of her saddle was empty.
Danny had taken her rifle.
She turned toward his saddle.
In quick strides she removed Pa's buffalo rifle and began running toward the thicket where she had last seen her brother.
Gunshots.
Hadn't she heard gunshots a few minutes before his screams?
God in heaven.
Had he been shot?
Why hadn't she paid more attention to Thad?
Why hadn't she kept him with her until Cole and Danny returned?
How many dangers could await an unsuspecting child in the wilderness?
As she ran through the thicket, unmindful of the low-hanging branches that snagged at her britches and tore at her hair, she berated herself for her carelessness.
Thad.
Sweet little Thad.
He had needed some attention from her, and she had failed him.
Again.
Why was she always so careless?
The silence, that terrible deadly silence, frightened her more than Thad's single scream.
Why were there no more sounds?
Even the insects had stopped their buzzing, as if awaiting some fatal climax.
Tearing through the brush and undergrowth, she topped a rise and came to a skidding halt.
Just below her stood Cole and Thad.
And facing them was the most vicious animal Jessie had ever seen.
It took her a moment to figure out what was wrong with the scene before her.
Cole ought to be holding his rifle at the ready.
But his hands, she noted, were empty.
Where was his rifle?
His hunting knife?
As she stood watching, Cole, with deadly calm, shoved Thad behind him and turned to face the animal.
In that instant she realized that Cole was about to sacrifice his own life for Thad's.
With no weapon and no way to defend himself against the deadly attack, he would surely lose his life in order to save her little brother.
"Greater love hath no man..."
The familiar words of the Bible flashed through her mind.
Love.
The thought left her stunned and reeling.
Love.
Tears misted her eyes, and she brushed them away furiously with the back of her hand.
Cole loved Thad so much he was willing to do anything in order to save him.
And she knew in that same instant that she loved Cole Matthews.
Loved him as she had never loved anyone before.
It no longer mattered who he was or what he was.
She loved him.
Loved him with a fierceness that gave her renewed strength.
She would never love any other man in quite the same way again.
As those thoughts imprinted themselves on her mind, she watched in horrified fascination as the animal, snorting and slathering, charged toward Cole.
From the corner of her eye she saw Danny running from the opposite direction.
Her fingers felt stiff and awkward on the trigger of her pa's gun.
If this was her own rifle, she would at least have a chance.
But this buffalo rifle of Pa's was too unfamiliar to her.
She had never even fired it before.
And now, when she had just come to realize how much she loved Cole, she was not going to be denied the chance to tell him.
He couldn't die.
Not now when there was so much to live for.
She knew that if she tried to shoot the animal, she risked killing Cole, as well.
Already their images ran together into one wild, twisted shape.
Through a blur of tears, she watched as Cole leaped ahead to meet the charge in order to keep the animal from reaching her brother.
Just as the animal streaked through the air toward Cole's outstretched arms, she reacted instinctively.
No matter what the cost, she had to try to save him.
She Squeezed the trigger and heard a tremendous explosion ramble across the land.
The report sent her pitching backward.
She heard a heart-wrenching scream and couldn't tell if it was Thad's voice or her own.
It sounded strange and high-pitched and far, far away.
And then she-was drifting, sliding along a dark tunnel.
As wave after wave of pain crashed through her brain, she slipped into blessed unconsciousness.
Chapter Fifteen
"Hey, Jess. Wake up. What's wrong with you?
" Through layers of sound and shadow Jessie struggled to respond to Danny's voice. But her mind couldn't seem to focus.
"Jessie."
Strong arms wrapped around her, and she buffed her face against a scratchy shirt and hung on, feeling oddly safe and happy.
"Jessie. Are you all right?"
At the sound of Cole's deep voice, she nodded and sighed, wishing they could remain like this until she could pull her scrambled thoughts together.
As if reading her mind, Cole lifted her in his arms and began carrying her back to their campsite, all the while cradling her against his chest.
he found herself weeping and didn't know why.
But when he whispered words of comfort, she only cried harder until, concerned, he knelt down and set her on her bedroll.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head and looked away, embarrassed to be caught blubbering like a baby.
"Then what is it?"
"I thought I'd killed you."
He smiled then, and she thought her heart would burst from the sweet pain that smile caused.
"I'm still alive."
He placed her small hand in his as if to prove that he wasn't just her imagination playing tricks.
"Without a scratch, thanks to you."
His voice sounded oddly gruff.
"You saved my life, Jessie."
"But I was almost too late. I t
hought..."
She was mortified to realize she was crying again.
"Hey, Jessie. Are you crying?"
Little Thad looked concerned.
"Of course not."
She wiped furiously at her tears with the back of her hand.
"I never cry."
"Did you see what you shot?"
Thad was standing over her, a smile splicing his face from ear to ear.
"Cole says it's a javelina."
In imitation of Cole he gave it the Mexican pronunciation, havaleena.
"Cole said that's like a wild pig, only meaner."
Jessie watched numbly as Thad pointed toward the carcass of the dead animal, which he and Danny had straggled to carry back to their camp.
"That was some shooting, Jess."
Danny knelt beside her, his eyes wide with respect.
"I never thought you could handle Pa's rifle like that."
She gave a weak laugh.
"Neither did I."
Cole continued to study her closely, noting the pallor that left her skin the color of pale alabaster.
"What your sister needs right now is some rest."
When she made a move to protest, he placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her still.
"You lie here. We'll bring you some supper."
She fell back against the blanket and watched as Cole filled her plate, Danny poured coffee and trailed behind Cole.
Not wanting to be left out, Thad broke off a hot biscuit and carded it to her.
She ate in silence while the others relished their supper.
Thad recounted every moment of his brush with the dangerous javelina, his voice high with excitement.
Now that the danger had passed, he went over each little detail of the adventure.
Every now and then she noticed that Cole was watching her.
But though Thad and Danny tried to get him to talk about the terrible experience, he merely nodded occasionally while they did all the talking.
At last they seemed to have talked themselves out.
Their thoughts turned inward.
"Would he have killed you, Cole?"
Thad asked after long moments of contemplation.
"Maybe."
Cole finished his supper and sipped hot strong coffee.
"You were going to take him on rather than let him hurt Thad, weren't you?"
Danny's voice lowered.
"I was going to try."
"But he'd have killed you."
Cole rolled a cigarette and held a flaming stick to the tip.
"Didn't you think about that?"