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today?"
"He was probably--" Her hands turned ice cold.
Lordy! Today she was thicker than ever.
Deli darted her eyes around the farm. Shitfire! She'd been so busy chatting with Reed that she hadn't been
thinking straight.
One step ahead of her, Reed called out, "Travis!"
Fear rippled nausea throughout Deli's stomach. She didn't want to know. Chance wouldn't just stop in for a
friendly "how-do", and Travis's big mouth would only get him into trouble.
Something bad had happened...to Travis. She could feel it.
Throwing the door open, she rushed inside the shack, searching for her brother. "Travis!"
"Travis!" Reed echoed outside.
Deli pivoted and headed toward the barn. Images of her brother's lifeless body, covered in blood, perhaps
mangled beyond recognition flashed in her mind.
"I swear," Deli murmured, "I'll never set foot in the saloon again if You let him be all right."
"Travis!" Reed bellowed from somewhere near Gold Mountain.
"Travis!" Deli screamed in the barn.
"What the hell do you want?" a voice answered.
Deli thought she'd collapse on the spot. Turning on her heel, she braced herself in the barn's doorjamb.
With a scowl on his face, Travis, alive and well, sauntered away from the outhouse. Reed swiped the back of
his hand against his forehead and came toward them from the other direction.
"What're you bellowing about?" her brother asked.
Deli closed her eyes. Her knees still felt like they might buckle.
He was all right...
She snapped her eyes open and glared at him. "You trying to kill me?"
"What're you talkin' about?"
"Where were you?"
He jerked his thumb toward the outhouse. "Where do you think?"
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Deli narrowed her eyes. "Don't you ever do that to me again. Do you hear me Travis Gold?"
"What am I supposed to do? Hold it in?"
"Don't get smart. What the hell were you doing?"
Travis's gray eyes widened. "Well, first I was knitting you a scarf for Christmas and then--"
"Never mind."
No wonder she was half losing her mind. Travis didn't give a hoot who he hurt with his stupidity. Shitfire,
didn't he think of anyone else?
"Are you all right?" Reed asked, coming up behind him.
Travis switched his gaze between them. "What's wrong with you two?"
"Maybe you were wrong," Reed told Deli. "Maybe it wasn't Chance."
"Chance Evens?" Travis said. "What wasn't him?"
"Riding away from here." Deli glared at Reed. He still didn't believe her. "He passed us on the road."
"Maybe," Reed inserted.
"It was him," she said.
And this dimwit thought he could handle a farm?
Travis shrugged. "Coulda been him. Wouldn't be the first time."
"Try telling that to him." She pointed to Reed. "He seems to think I'm crazy."
Travis nodded at the outhouse. "Maybe he came while I was occupied."
Deli put her hands on her hips. "Well, just how long were you in there for?"
"As long as it takes."
"Wonderful!" She threw her arms in the air. "Just dandy."
Reed gave his back to Deli and turned to Travis. "Do you think this Chance Evens person is someone we need
to worry about?"
"Excuse me," Deli chirped.
"Absolutely," Travis said. "He ain't no pretty boy, Reed. And he certainly wouldn't come out here for a
neighborly visit."
Reed scratched his chin and nodded slowly. "What do you think he was here for?"
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"I already told you," Deli said.
Reed gave her an irritated glance, then returned his attention to Travis. "How long has this been going on
for?"
"About a year," Travis said. "Ever since--"
"Hello," Deli cut him off. "That's what I've been trying to--"
Reed stopped her with a scowl. "Please, I'm trying to find out what's going on."
Deli's mouth fell open. Who the hell did he think he was? Travis didn't know what the hell was happening. He
was a child.
Why wouldn't Reed listen to her?
"And six months ago," Travis continued, "he lit up the house."
I already said that!
"You sure it was him?" Reed asked.
Travis nodded. "Positive."
Reed sighed and started toward the shack. "All right. Let's get something to eat, then I'll head back to town."
"What?" Deli shrieked.
He didn't bother to stop.
"Do you mean to tell me" --she ran up behind him-- "that you'll take Travis's word for it, and not mine?"
His long strides quickened. "I'm not taking anyone's word."
"Like hell you're not."
Reed suddenly stopped. "Look, Deli, why don't you make yourself useful? We can't exactly get to the bottom
of this with a woman underfoot." He pointed to the house. "You can start by getting us something to eat
before we leave."
Travis grabbed his gut and laughed out loud.
Deli flattened her hand on Reed's chest and kept him in place. What did she look like? A hired hand? She
would've guessed by his age that Reed Becker would know a thing or two about women. Obviously, he'd
spent too much time with her father.
"What's wrong?" He switched his confusion to Travis. "What the matter?"
"You're about to get another broken nose, that's what," Travis chuckled.
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Deli felt her brother's eyes on her. If she wasn't so busy thinking of the best way to put Reed in his place, she'd
knock that grin right off Travis's face.
"I know there's a word for it," Deli said, struggling to remain calm enough to be heard, "though for the life of
me I can't remember what it is."
Reed pushed her hand off his chest. "What?"
"You're one of those men that think a woman's brain is the size of pebble. You think that just because I have
long hair and breasts that I outta be spending my time cooking over a hot fire."
Irritation furrowed his brow. "Oh, hell, Deli, I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to say it," she said, losing control of the pitch of her voice. "But you haven't listened to a
damn thing I've said since you got here. Shitfire! You'll take Travis's word over whatever I say, even when
we're saying the same damn thing." Shadowing him, she stomped across the porch. "And then you want me to
cook for you. Hell, I don't even like you, Reed Becker, why the hell would I cook for you?" She followed him
into the kitchen. "And you know what else? I think if I was a man, you'd let me keep Gold Farm. But since I'm
not, you're taking it."
Reed sat at the table, stretched out his long legs and folded his arms over his chest.
"You would, wouldn't you?" Deli demanded. She yanked Travis to her side by his sleeve. "If Travis was the
eldest, you woulda come here, looked the place over, and said farewell. And you know why?" Roughly, she
shoved her brother away. "Cuz' you'd think the farm was in good hands because a man was in charge. Well,
guess what Mr. Chauvinist--" she stopped mid-sentence. "Yes, that's the word I was looking for. Chauvinist.
Ain't that what Momma used to call Pa?"
Dumbstruck, Travis shrugged. "Yeah, but only in jest."
Resolutely, Deli nodded at Reed. "Well that's what I think we have here. A genuine chauvinist."
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. That outta show him she was no woman to be pushed
around. What'd he have to say to that?
Reed tipped his head back and fought the creeping smile from showing on his face. Boy, this woman had a
loud whistle for something so small. Slowly, he unfolded his legs.
"So, Deli, when do we eat?" he asked.
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