Blood Blade Sisters Series (5 page)

There was silence. Cilla waited. She held her breath, straining to hear.

“Besides,” Leo continued, “this way we can say honestly, if asked, that we spent our honeymoon night in bed together.”

A soft sigh from Brynne. Footsteps. Bedsprings creaking. Silence.

Lucy looked at Cilla, shrugged, and stood. She motioned for Cilla to move away from the door, but Cilla only pressed closer.
What was going on in there?

The door opened and Cilla fell forward with a yelp, right into the arms of a half-dressed Leo. Cilla jerked away from him as if his skin were on fire and fell backward onto the floor. Laughing, Lucy helped her up. Cilla got to her feet, her face burning so hotly she could barely see.

She looked into the room. Brynne sat on the bed against the headboard, looking drained but in no distress.

“I’m fine, Cilla,” she said, her voice sounding as tired as Cilla suddenly felt. Brynne’s hand reached under her pillow and she pulled a small revolver out of its hiding place for a moment before stashing it again. Cilla looked down as her lips twitched. Brynne could handle herself.

“Good night, ladies,” Leo said.

Cilla’s eyes traveled from the line of his pants at his waist, up the smooth, hard expanse of his bare chest. She swallowed and backed out the door.

“Good night,” she muttered. The door closed and she fled down the hall.

Chapter Five

Cilla’s door crashed open and she screamed, jumping from the bed, her gun in her hand before she could even see who to aim it at.

“Where are they?” Frank yelled.

Adrenaline pumped through her body. Frank fumed, his nostrils flaring with each gust of his breath. Lucy appeared in the doorway behind him.

“Cilla?” she asked, her bloodshot eyes wide.

Frank turned and shoved her out of the way, heading for Brynne and Leo’s room.

“Not good, not good,” Cilla mumbled, running past Lucy.

The door across the hall slammed against the wall as Frank kicked it open. Cilla skidded to a halt beside Frank, her mouth gaping open. For the first time in her life, she was utterly, totally speechless.

Leo, his body bare to the world, leaned against the pillows. Brynne lay casually against his side. The ribboned neck of her chemise was undone, revealing a shocking abundance of cleavage, and her arm rested on his naked thigh. If it weren’t for the taut tension in all of Leo’s very visible muscles and the fact that Brynne’s lips were stretched so thin they were almost nonexistent, Cilla would have sworn they had just interrupted something of a very personal nature.

Leo kept his gaze glued to Frank as he brought his other arm behind his head in a casual stretch. Cilla’s eyes darted back to her furious brother, doubting the dunce saw the strap of Leo’s gun holster hanging from the headboard, half-hidden from view by the bedding.

“Frank.” Leo nodded once in his direction, but Frank was looking straight at Brynne.

“You dirty whore! You outta be ashamed. Get out of that bed!” Frank made a move to grab her but froze as Leo’s gun appeared, aimed right at Frank’s head.

“I told you last night, Frank. I don’t take kindly to threats or insults against my wife. Now get the hell out.” Leo’s voice was ice cold.

Cilla bit back her satisfied grin at the scared look on her brother’s face.

Frank tried to hold his bravado together.

“There ain’t no way you two is married. I checked the preacher’s house this morning. He’s gone. And I know she weren’t married yesterday.” Frank gave them a smug smile.

That smile faded as a rumpled and half-asleep Reverend Mitchum wandered into the bedroom, scratching his head and yawning.

“What’s all this racket? It’s an ungodly hour to be awakened, I must say. Oh! Oh my,” the reverend stuttered as he took in the scene: Brynne in her thin, undone chemise, curled against a magnificently naked Leo, who still held a gun on a now-fuming Frank.

“There now, Frank, you see? The good reverend was kind enough to come out last night and officiate at our little ceremony. And as you can plainly see, my wife and I spent the night together. Like it or not, Frank, we are well and truly married in the eyes of the law. Now,” and at that point Leo stood, giving Cilla an unobstructed view of his long, lean body. “I’ll give you a choice. Walk out of here on your own, or be carried out with a bullet in your heart.”

Frank’s chest heaved and he clenched his fists at his side.

“Uh-uh, Frank,” Leo said, cocking his gun. “Your finger even twitches toward that gun and the good reverend here will have to stay for a burying.”

“This ain’t over, Forrester!” Frank wheeled on his heels and stomped out the door. “This ain’t over!”

Leo lowered the gun and looked at the reverend, who couldn’t seem to find a safe place to look. His eyes kept darting from the half-clad Brynne on the bed to the fully naked Leo in front of him. A muffled giggle from the door drew Cilla’s attention and she frowned as she saw Lucy in the doorway.

Lucy blushed and turned her eyes from Leo.

“Oh, for hell’s sake.” Cilla grabbed Leo’s pants. “Here,” she said, tossing them to him. “I think you’ve made your point.”

It was only then that Reverend Mitchum finally noticed Lucy and Cilla and tried to usher them from the room. Cilla dodged him but he managed to grab hold of Lucy and pull her away from the view.

Leo tugged his pants on. He came around the bed and sat beside Brynne.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.” Brynne’s voice was quiet but steady.

“Well, the reverend certainly has enough gossip to keep the town going for a while,” Leo said, going to the chair to retrieve his shirt.

Cilla snorted. “More than enough, I’d say. But he will be able to vouch for your…married state. Frank will have a hard time making his case now.” Cilla looked down at the floor for a moment. “Thank you.”

Leo nodded. “I’d say my part of the bargain is fulfilled.”

“More than fulfilled,” Brynne said as she climbed off the bed and gathered her clothing. Leo obligingly turned his back, turning his attention to Cilla.

He stared at her, his eyes raking over every inch of her. “What are you wearing, woman?”

Cilla put her hands on her hips. “What does it look like I’m wearing?” She always slept in the long johns she wore beneath her clothes. The material hugged every line of her body, but she felt more covered than she did in a loose, flowing chemise. And she was definitely not in the mood for some lecture on how sinful it was for women to wear men’s clothing. Though by the way Leo was staring at her, perhaps she should borrow a nice, loose flannel nightgown from Brynne. Leo shook his head. “As you said, I’ve kept up my end. Now, what are you going to do about holding up yours?”

Cilla stared at him for a moment. She glanced at Brynne, who just shrugged. Big help.

“I’m going to get breakfast going,” Brynne said. “We can talk about it over food.” She looked at Cilla’s attire as she walked out and smiled. “Maybe you should get dressed first.”

Cilla rolled her eyes and went back across the hall to her room. She knew that Leo’s gaze was following her, but Cilla didn’t pay attention until she was over her room’s threshold. Then, she turned, tilted her head, and gave him her sweetest smile. And then closed the door right in his face.

…

Brynne placed another full plate of eggs, ham, and biscuits in front of Leo. He thanked her, waited for her to sit down, and then inhaled the food. When he was finished, he sat back with a satisfied smile. Now he wanted answers.

“Why does Frank want this place so badly?”

Cilla kept her gaze on her plate. Leo caught Lucy glancing back and forth between Cilla and Brynne, before she finally got up and left the room. He raised an eyebrow.

Still not saying anything, Cilla wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. Then she spoke.

“His place borders ours. The combined land would be worth a great deal. Besides, the creek runs through our property.”

Leo just waited. He’d often found silence to be a compelling way of getting people to spill their secrets.

“Without water, Frank has to herd his cattle to the upper fields,” Cilla continued, abandoning her coffee to push her eggs around her plate.

“Good reasons, I suppose,” Leo agreed, “but there are easier ways for Frank to get what he wants. And I don’t think water rights and a bigger ranch are what Frank is after.”

Cilla pushed her chair back from the table and stood. “Frank doesn’t exactly share his reasons with me.” She strode to the door. “I’m going to help Lucy with the horses.”

Leo watched her leave. “Prickly, isn’t she?”

“She’s just not used to having to explain herself,” Brynne said, gathering the dishes. “And she doesn’t trust you yet.”

Leo helped her clean up the meal. “Do you?”

“You’re Jake’s brother,” she said, as if that explained everything.

“And you were Jake’s intended wife.”

Brynne’s eyes narrowed. “I
am
his wife.”

It was strange to be sitting in front of the woman his brother had loved enough to wed, no matter how strange the ceremony. Who now carried his brother’s child.

An overwhelming sense of duty filled Leo. He couldn’t just walk away and leave them unprotected.

“So the fact that I’m Jake’s brother is enough for you to trust me, even though you’ve just met me?”

Brynne scraped the uneaten food into a bucket. “Jake loved you. And he wasn’t one to suffer fools. Besides, you jumped to our defense when Frank came barging in. It’s more than most folks would do. I guess that buys you a little leeway. From me, at least.”

Leo smiled. “I take it your sister might be harder to win over.”

“I guess you won’t know ‘til you try.”

He grabbed his hat, ducking his head while he tugged it on to hide his smile. He was beginning to see why his brother had fallen so hard for one of the Richardson sisters. “Well, if I’m going to be staying a while, I might as well make myself useful.” He pushed in his chair and headed for the door.

“Leo.”

He looked back at Brynne, who gave him a sad smile, her hand lingering on her slightly burgeoning belly. “Thank you for staying.”

His heart twisted at the sadness in her eyes. He didn’t know what had happened to his brother, but he knew from the bottom of his gut that Brynne, at least, hadn’t had anything to do with it.

He tipped his hat to her. “My pleasure.”

“Be careful out there,” she said, amusement dancing in her eyes.

Leo snorted. “Thanks.”

When he got to the barn, the girls were nowhere to be found. But two horses were gone. Leo started at the sound of Miguel’s voice coming from a stall. “Can I help you, señor?”

“I was just looking for Priscilla and Lucy.”

“So, you are married to Miss Brynne now. You’ll be good to her,
sí
?”

“Yes, of course,” Leo answered, though the thought of having a wife was still so foreign to him he had a hard time comprehending it. Especially since the girl in question was sort of his brother’s wife. Surely that was all kinds of sinful wrong, but damned if he knew a better way to keep her and his unborn niece or nephew safe. Or to get closer to her feisty, beautiful, and possibly murderous sister.

He held out his hand. “I’m Leo Forrester.”

“M
iguel Sanchez.”

Miguel sized him up for a moment. “This ranch, it’s good land. Rich pastures, good for stock. A lot of men might find it hard to give up.”

Leo nodded. “A lot of men might.”

“And you?”

Leo smiled. He appreciated the whole father-figure warning behind the man’s questioning eyes. “I’m just here to find my brother. If I can help my brother’s wife and child along the way, I’m happy to do so.”

“And if your brother is dead?”

Leo’s jaw tensed. The possibility of Jake being dead was getting more and more likely, but until that moment, no one had bluntly said it. And to be honest, Leo had no response.

“We’ll deal with that when we need to.”

Miguel stuck a piece of straw in his mouth and chewed on it for a moment.

“My wife, she’s just relieved that Miss Brynne is married. She wants her to be happy, of course, but the weight of Miss Brynne’s living in sin and bringing a fatherless baby into the world has weighed heavily on her. My Carmen…she is a bit…religious.”

Leo echoed Miguel’s faint smile.

“And you?”

Miguel fixed Leo with a piercing gaze. “I just want Miss Brynne to be happy. Married or no.”

Leo nodded. “That’s all I want as well. I will keep her and the child safe until my brother returns. And if he doesn’t…well, I will do as Brynne wishes.”

The older man regarded him for a moment and finally nodded his head. “The girls are repairing a fence in the northern pasture. I’m sure they’ll be glad for the help. You can use Luna there,” he said, gesturing to an old black horse in the last stall.

“
Gracias
,” Leo said.

Miguel nodded and went back to mucking out the stall. Leo saddled up the mare and was after Cilla before his breakfast had settled in his belly.

Just as he’d suspected, Cilla was less than happy to see him, though Lucy greeted him with a warm smile and kept up enough friendly banter that Cilla’s awkward silence wasn’t too much of a distraction. He caught Cilla’s gaze on him a few times and suspected her attitude toward him had more to do with the ample view of him she’d gotten that morning than anything else. Judging by the blush that stained her cheeks when he caught her watching him, she must have appreciated what she’d seen. He found he enjoyed getting a reaction out of her and went out of his way to be in her line of sight. It probably wasn’t the most gentlemanly way to behave, but it was amusing, to say the least. After everything she’d put him through, he didn’t feel guilty at her discomfort. His head still hurt where she’d hit him.

They worked on the fence until nightfall, only stopping once for a short lunch break. The girls shared their meals with Leo. Since Carmen always packed them enough to feed an army, there was plenty to go around. By the end of the day, Leo was drenched in sweat and aching from head to toe. The girls kept up a pace that put him to shame, but he didn’t hear a word of complaint from either of them. Watching them inspired admiration for their strength and sorrow at the hardships they were obviously used to. They should be working on their needlework and daydreaming about beaus, not breaking their backs in the field doing the work of ten men.

Even when they came in from fixing the fences, there was no pause for rest. Lucy went to help Miguel with the animals while Cilla tried to make a dent in the woodpile. Leo grabbed an axe to help. After twenty minutes or so of companionable chopping, Cilla stopped to wipe her brow. Her eyes roamed over the ranch house, the stables, and the pastures dotted with livestock that wandered among the grasses and trees.

“You love your home.” It was obvious, but for some reason he felt the need to voice the observation.

Cilla turned to him. “Yes.” It was a simple answer. But the weight of her heart was carried in that one syllable.

Leo noticed they all had a deep love for their home. But Cilla seemed especially attached, working with a near-fanatic diligence. Leo couldn’t help the thoughts that flooded his mind. Brynne had obviously loved his brother, and Lucy didn’t look like she could hurt a fly. But Cilla…she was another story. He watched her swing an axe, bringing it down on a log with a ferocious grunt. Her fierce protectiveness of her sisters and property were apparent.

Had she considered Jake a threat? Jake had initially gone after Blood Blade in order to capture him. He must have found out Blood Blade’s real identity. Even if he hadn’t, his marrying her eldest sister would have placed the ranch firmly in Jake’s hands. Had Cilla resented that? Enough to get rid of him?