LITMIR.BIZ

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reached the bed and sagged down upon it with a grunt.

      Catherine turned toward him, concerned at the paleness of his face.

      Agony carved his features. “Your sister’s right, Andrew.”

      “Then what were you doing to her?”

      “I fell. She was between me and the wall. That’s all.”

      “He heard a noise and got up to check,” Catherine said. “Please put that gun down.”

      Andrew kept the weapon leveled at the Ranger.

      Though Jericho sat and Andrew stood, neither broke eye contact. She stood between them, trying to decipher their silent communication. “The lieutenant hit his injured leg on the table in the kitchen and I was helping him back to bed.”

      Her brother’s gaze narrowed suspiciously on the big man behind her.

      “I wouldn’t hurt your sister.” Jericho’s voice was gritty with pain, his silver gaze locked on the boy. “Not after all she’s done for me.”

      Finally Andrew lowered the weapon, and Catherine let out a deep sigh. She felt Jericho’s relief as keenly as her own. Her heart thundered in her chest as she considered whether to hug Andrew or shake him until his teeth rattled.

      She had never seen her brother be protective of her. Since her arrival three weeks ago, he hadn’t appeared to care about her. Why now? Did Andrew feel Jericho was a threat because he had witnessed her own panic?

      “Let me have that thing.” She took the gun from him and gingerly carried it to its place behind the front door. “You scared me to death.”

      “Sorry,” he mumbled.

      She returned to find him still eyeing Jericho with distrust.

      “I think you should apologize to Lieutenant Blue.”

      Andrew’s chin came up.

      “No,” the Ranger said. “He was protecting you, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

      Her brother’s eyes widened and Catherine searched the Ranger’s face. Compassion was something she hadn’t expected from the rough-looking man. But perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised. The death of his friend, Hays, the Ranger who had arrived with him, had visibly affected Jericho.

      “Very well. You don’t need to apologize, Andrew.” The Ranger’s pallor was too marked for further argument. She would have words with Andrew alone, though she wouldn’t be harsh. He had been protecting her, and she wondered if perhaps they might develop a closeness, after all.

      She slid an arm around his shoulders, surprised when he allowed her touch. “I think we’ve had enough excitement for tonight,” she murmured. “Let’s get back to bed.”

      “All right.” Her brother gave Jericho one last warning look before letting Catherine nudge him toward his room.

      Even though her pulse slowed, she still felt the imprint of the Ranger’s body against hers. Chills rose on her arms. They had nothing to do with fear, a fact that unsettled her to no end.

      In Andrew’s room, she straightened his sheet and patted the husk-filled mattress. “I appreciate what you did, Andrew—”

      “But you’re mad at me.”

      She paused. “I’m concerned. You held a gun on a man.”

      He frowned as if he couldn’t understand why she worried.

      “What if that weapon had gone off?”

      “I know how to use it.”

      “Would you have?”

      He shrugged. “If I had to.”

      “Oh, my.” She paced around his bed. “Are you saying that you could kill if necessary?”

      “If that Ranger had hurt you, I would have,” he said fiercely.

      “But he didn’t.”

      “You acted like he did.”

      “I was taken aback when he fell against me.” She didn’t want to recall the pleasant warmth that had spread through her after the initial jolt of panic. His entire body had hardened against her. As he was clad only in his lightweight drawers, Catherine had been keenly aware of his body’s reaction. Every rigid inch of it.

      “While I appreciate that you would protect me, I think bringing in the gun was ill-advised.”

      “Don’t fret,” Andrew grumbled. “I didn’t shoot him. Yet.”

      She cut him a sharp look. “What does that mean?”

      “I don’t like him being here.”

      “I don’t believe he’s a threat to us. And his injuries are too severe for him to leave, so we’ll just have to make the best of it.” She didn’t know how to handle Andrew or his apparent willingness to take a human life. “You could’ve hurt someone. It seemed so easy for you to threaten the man.”

      “He was threatening you. Wasn’t he?”

      “No.” Her denial sounded weak. “I don’t think so.” With some distance between her and the Ranger now, she didn’t believe he would have assaulted her. But he did dissolve her peace of mind. She was not going to explain to a twelve-year-old boy about the violent episode she’d experienced all those months ago.

      “I know how to use the gun, Catherine. I can help you if I ever need to.”

      “I know. Thank you.” She turned down the sheet and motioned him into bed.

      She wanted to kiss him good-night, but the scowl on his moonlit face told her it wouldn’t be welcome. “Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

      “Good night,” he muttered.

      When she reached his door, she turned. “I do thank you, Andrew. I’m glad to know we can depend on each other.”

      “Yeah.”

      She closed his door, still jarred over the appalling sight of her brother holding a gun on someone. A Texas Ranger. Her patient. A guest in their home.

      What had roused Andrew’s protective instincts? Since the lieutenant’s arrival, her brother had kept closer to home, but she hadn’t realized it until now.

      “Is he all right?”

      Catherine started at the sound of Jericho’s voice coming from her bedroom. She didn’t want to go back in there. The giddy flutter in her stomach told her that would be asking for trouble.

      But she couldn’t ignore him, either. She walked the few steps to the doorway. The lamp on the bedside table had been lit, and filmy light washed over his bare chest. He sat on the edge of her bed. “Yes, I think so. I do apologize for him.”

      “There’s no need. He did the right thing.”

      The sight of Jericho’s muscles brought home to Catherine how he really could have hurt her. She wrapped her arms around her waist to ward off the resulting chill. “I’m not certain I agree.”

      “Out here he may have cause to protect himself or you. It’s good he knows how,” Jericho said quietly. “Where did Andrew learn to handle that gun, anyway?”

      “I’m not sure.”

      “Have you ever seen him use one before?”

      “No.”

      “Who do you think taught him to use it?”

      “My mother, maybe? I don’t know. Why are you asking so many questions?”

      “He did have a gun trained on me,” Jericho said lightly.

      Catherine studied him, not sure if her lingering unease was due to seeing Andrew with the gun or

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