Texas Tall by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page B

construct the log house, with its broad, covered front porch, was doing a fine job. The place wouldn’t be big and sprawling like the Tyler home, but with Lauren dipping into her inheritance to decorate the rustic interior, it would be beautifully finished and comfortably furnished.
    Will had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the meal. Sky had told Lauren about the shooting of Stella Rawlins’s brother and the possible consequences. No wonder Will looked so troubled. Lauren could sympathize with him. Stella, she suspected, had ruined her father’s reputation and contributed to his death. As always there was no proof against her, but if rumors were true, the woman was as dangerous as a coiled rattlesnake. And now she’d be out to avenge her brother by hurting Will any way she could—starting with the law.
    * * *
    Will walked into the room that served as the Rimrock office and closed the door behind him. He usually looked forward to Sunday dinners, but today’s meal had been an ordeal of silence and small talk, with everyone avoiding the one topic that was on their minds—the shooting and what was going to happen next.
    Will had excused himself at the end of the meal, muttering something about the need to use the office computer; but the truth was, he’d just wanted to be alone and think things out. Until yesterday he’d felt certain that he’d acted in self-defense, and any case against him would be dismissed. But yesterday’s senseless grilling from Abner had changed his mind.
    For whatever reason, the sneaky little toad was out to get him.
    Sitting, he switched on the computer and brought up a search engine. He spent the next half hour reading up on Texas law, the inquest process, and the precedents for charges that could stem from an incident like the one he’d been involved in. What he found wasn’t encouraging. By pulling the trigger a split second too soon, he might have left himself vulnerable.
    With a muttered curse he switched off the machine. Most of what he’d read, he could’ve learned from Tori. But now that she had a new man in her life, he couldn’t expect her to drop everything and come running whenever he needed her. And unless her help involved protecting Erin, he had too much pride to ask.
    A new man in her life.
    The thought deepened the dark hollow Will felt inside. He and Tori were past history, but even now, the thought of Drew Middleton, or any man, taking her away was like having the earth slide out from under his feet. Tori was a beautiful woman, and sooner or later, this was bound to happen. But why the hell did it have to happen now?
    Swiveling the chair, he gazed up at the leather-framed sepia-toned photograph on the wall. Bull Tyler had refused to sit for a painted portrait, like the one of his wife that hung above the sideboard in the dining room. But years ago, when he’d been featured in a magazine article about Texas ranching, he’d agreed to be photographed.
    The picture, taken when Bull was fifty, showed a handsome, vigorous man in his prime. Dressed in a corduroy jacket, plaid shirt, and leather bolo, and sporting a well-trimmed moustache, he emanated authority. His piercing gaze, from under thick, dark eyebrows, challenged any comer to take him on.
    In the last years of his life, after the riding accident that paralyzed his legs, Bull had ruled the ranch family from his wheelchair. But there was no trace of any weakness in this photograph. This was the way Will had chosen to remember his father—powerful, dynamic, and always in charge.
    That memory would haunt every decision Will had ever made.
    What would you do in my place, Dad? Will gazed up at the blunt, chiseled features as if waiting for an answer. But why ask when he knew what the answer would be? Bull Tyler would have told everybody to go to hell, turned his back, and then walked away.
    Maybe for Bull, that would’ve worked, but not these days.