Caine's Reckoning (16 page)

Sam snorted. “Pretty much the natural contrariness of your nature.”

“That and the fact you have a tendency to hand out orders rather than requests,” Tracker added.

Caine shrugged. He was what he was. “It’s a woman’s place to take her husband’s instructions.”

Both men glanced at Desi and back at him, not saying a word, but their expressions were eloquent.

“She’ll learn to adapt,” he countered.

Sam chuckled and rode ahead. “You just keep thinking that.”

Tracker eyed Desi again, then tugged his hat down, putting his smile in shadow. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable based on how she’s acting now. I’ve got a feeling when she rests up, she’s going to start finding her feet.”

Caine brushed the hair back from Desi’s cheek, taking in the very feminine line of her profile, the delicacy of her bones, the stubbornness of that small, pointed chin and the spirit etched into every tired angle. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Wake up, Desi. We’re home.”

The words slid on that deep drawl through the warmth surrounding her. Desi shook her head, caught between being asleep and awake, resisting the call. She was safe where she was. She turned her cheek into the warmth beneath it. “Not yet.”

Something gentle, yet oddly rough, touched her cheek. “Wake up for just a minute and you can go back to sleep in a warm bed.”

She shook her head. She didn’t want a bed. She had what she wanted. She curled her fingers deeper into the rough sheet. It’d been so long since she’d slept without fear. “Safe here.”

“You’ll be safe inside, too.”

The rumble echoed under her ear. She frowned wondering how that was so. “No.”

Fingers threaded through her hair, snapping her into alertness as they tilted her head back. Desi lifted her lids to find Caine staring down at her, his eyes shining darkly from under the brim of his hat. Around them the gloom of twilight deepened the shadows.

“Evening.”

She lifted her hand to push her hair out of her face, ran into the barrier of the poncho and blinked. Last she remembered she’d been riding her own horse. A glance around revealed the paint standing to the left of Sam’s horse. “I fell asleep?”

“Yes.”

She worked her hand free. The cold evening air was a shock after the warmth of the poncho. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

She was smart enough not to ask why. “We’re here?”

“Yup.”

“Here” was a clearing in the woods at the foot of a high wall. At first glance, no house was in sight, but when she squinted against the gloom toward the golden spill of light she thought was just a lantern, she realized there was a house built into the canyon wall. Made of stone and adobe, it blended with the environment. It wasn’t a large structure but it also wasn’t the only structure she noticed now that she knew what to look for. There were several spread out across the canyon face, all looking solid and indomitable. Like the men coming at her from the shadows.

She tried to sit up straighter, but the poncho strangled her back into submission. Caine made no move to lift it up. And when she tried, his hands stilled hers.

“Might as well wait until we get the greetings done. No sense catching a chill before you meet everyone.”

Anything she might have said to the contrary was snuffed by “everyone” arriving. Everyone was four men, hard-eyed men to the last, their expressions giving no indication of their thoughts as they surveyed her perched in front of Caine on the horse.

“Have a good time in town?” a man with a square jaw, dark skin and the muscular build of a blacksmith asked.

“Good enough.” Caine angled the horse around. “Tucker McCade, this is my wife, Desi.” The pride in his voice as he made the announcement gave her a start. “Over there’s Ed Hayden and Caden Steele, and lurking under that tree is Shadow.”

Tucker touched his hand to his hat. The movement pushed the brim back, adding high cheekbones, a hawklike nose and almond-shaped eyes that cut through pretense like the blade of a knife to the list of features that comprised his brutally handsome face. “Ma’am.” His gaze swung back to Caine. “Tia know you came back riding double with a wife?”

“Not yet.”

“Thought not. Otherwise she’d be out here spouting orders.”

“She’s sure going to have something to say about it.”

“Yeah,” a voice said out of the shadows. “I think her bet was on Sam marrying first, seeing as he’s the ladies’ man.”

No matter how she squinted, Desi couldn’t make out the features of the owner of that voice. Shadow was well-named.

“Welcome to Hell’s Eight, ma’am.”

Like a ripple, the greeting spread through the men. Flat and unemotional, giving her no clue as to how they felt about her or the marriage. She knew they were all wondering where she’d come from, speculating on how Caine had hitched up with her. As she forced the proper “Thank you” from her throat, the front door opened. More light poured into the yard, illuminating the porch and a woman’s voice called, “You are home,
hijos?
”

A feminine silhouette stood backlit in the doorway. Desi had the impression of full skirts and slender shoulders wrapped in a blanket, before the woman walked into the darkness of the porch. “You have come back to me in one piece, yes?”

“Hale and hearty, Tia.”

This was the indomitable Tia. The woman Caine and the others so respected. Desi squinted to get a look at her.

She stepped into the twilight. Desi could see she was an older woman, maybe in her fifties, her black hair drawn back in a smooth chignon. The temples were salt-and-pepper above her surprisingly youthful face. She carried herself with a grace and dignity that suggested aristocracy. Her dark gaze snapped with unerring accuracy to Desi. “And this young woman is…?”

Dirty. Soiled. A whore.
The words leapt to Desi’s mind, pounded there by experience and her own sense of right and wrong. She’d been hoping Tia would be a simple woman, but she wasn’t. She had the cultured ways of the world Desi had left. Every society had its levels, with those on top looking down on those below. And nothing was lower than where she’d fallen. Caine’s hand spread over her stomach, pressing against the butterflies there. “My wife.”

Again there was that note of pride.

The woman took a step closer and put her hands on her hips. “What kind of wife do you bring me looking like the devil dragged her through the bush backward?”

“The one I chose.”

Desi could have kissed him for the lie.

“And this was a happy choice?”

“Absolutely.” Pride and satisfaction laced the statement. Desi glanced at Caine over her shoulder. He was a good liar.

With a flick of her wrist Tia made her desire known. “Then put her down and let us meet.”

Desi took a breath. This was it. Caine tugged the poncho over her head. Tia’s gaze flicked over her too big clothing. More shame burned as the part of her that always wanted to be liked, cringed. It wouldn’t take much conversation for the woman to put two and two together and all of Caine’s pride would wither under the screech of humiliation.

Tia took a step closer. Desi was surprised to see she was only of medium height. It was the way she carried herself that gave her the illusion of being bigger. That and the expectation of being obeyed that surrounded her. She had pretty eyes. Large and brown and sharp.

“You have fallen on hard times?”

Desi glanced over her shoulder at Caine. What did he want her to say. He didn’t give her a clue, just stared back with none of the distress she felt inside. Desi finally settled on a “Yes.”

“And my boys saved you?”

Boys? The woman called these battle-scarred warriors boys? “Yes.”

“Saved? My ass. You should have seen her, Tia,” Sam called over from where he was unpacking his saddlebag. “She held off three
bandoleros
with nothing more than temper and grit.”

Tia’s eyebrows went up. “This is true?”

“Barely left a thing for me to beat on,” Caine added, with…more pride?

Tia gave a sharp nod of her head. “Good. Men should not think a woman is so easily defeated.”

“Now there’s a story I wouldn’t mind hearing,” a good-looking older man with red hair said to Caine as he came up to the group.

“And I won’t mind telling it, Ed,” Caine answered. “Just as soon as I get Desi warmed and settled. It’s been a rough ride for her.”

“How long have you been on the trail?”

“Pretty much all day.”

“Are you loco? She is not a Ranger in a skirt!” Tia gasped. “You do not treat a wife this way!”

Tia turned to the men around her and clapped her hands. “Shadow, you get the big tub out and set it up in the kitchen.” She made shooing motions with her hands toward the others. “Ed, you get a fire going and heat up water. We will need plenty. Tucker and Caden, you come take care of the horses.”

Desi blinked as the men didn’t hesitate, just scattered to do as ordered.

“Shadow,” Caine said, cutting into the lull in orders. “We might have been followed.”

Shadow didn’t step into the light. “I’ll check on it.”

“I’ll ride with him,” Sam offered, shaking his head when Tucker walked over. “There’s something I want to check in town.”

Desi wrapped her arms around her waist, dreading what came next.

Tia waited until the men dispersed before putting her hands on her hips and turning back to Caine. “I am not happy with you. New wives require better care than this.”

“Heck, Tia, she rode in my lap for most of the way.”

“Like this made things much better.”

Caine shifted. Desi looked between Tia and Caine and then back at Tia. “Actually, it did.”

“Not as much as taking an easier pace would have.”

It was wrong, but a devil got her tail and pulled it with the temptation to get a bit of her own back. Even if it was only playing Tia to give Caine an uncomfortable moment. Desi ducked her head and said softly, demurely, “I tried to get him to stop.”

Which wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the truth.

“I am not surprised he did not listen. He thinks every woman is as strong as a man.”

“I never said that!”

Tia slapped Caine’s thigh. “You behave as if it is so. What if she is with child?”

Desi felt the vibration in his chest that was his chuckle. “We’ve only been married one day, Tia.”

“And you are telling me she is still a virgin?”

The fun went out of Desi’s game. Caine’s hand patted her stomach. A warning or comfort?

“No, I’m not saying that.”

“Then there is hope.”

“I wouldn’t give it up just yet.” Desi looked into her husband’s face. There was no stiffness to his expression. He seemed genuinely amused. Optimistic even.

“It has been a long time since I’ve held a baby in my arms.”

The words were underlaid with a profound sadness that dragged Desi’s head around. She didn’t want to like the woman or feel empathy for her, but she did. She’d lost her sister. Losing a child would be so much worse and it was clear from the haunted expression on Tia’s face that she’d lost one.

“You let me get my wife settled, and I promise to do my best to get Desi in the family way as soon as possible.”

Heat flamed up Desi’s neck and into her cheeks.

Tia shook her head, clearly exasperated. “Not with talk like that you won’t. Embarrassing your new wife like that will have you sleeping in the barn and there will never be babies. Now—” she motioned with her hands “—you tell me why you dragged this poor girl across the territory with no rest.”

“It was too dangerous to dally.”

Tia snapped straight. “There is trouble?”

“Just a couple suitors that aren’t happy to have been cut out of the running.”

Even Desi could see Tia didn’t buy that. Her gaze searched Caine’s. “But you have it under control?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now hand your wife over before she becomes part of that devil horse.”

“Chaser’s not a devil. He’s just high-spirited.”

“Only you would think this is a good thing.” She motioned with her hands again. “Give.”

Caine laughed. “It’s a good thing I like high-spirited, or I would have put you out on your ear years ago.”

“You maybe would have tried.”

“Not likely.” He grabbed the woman’s hand and practically hauled her up to kiss the fingers. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to us.”

“This is very true.” Tia stepped back and waited, hands on hips.

“Swing your leg over, Desi,” Caine ordered. “So I can set you down.”

Desi was stiff, and getting her leg over wasn’t as easy as it should be, but she finally did it. The resulting position left her feeling as if she were on the verge of tumbling off. Chaser shifted. Tia stepped back. Desi clutched Caine’s forearm as she lost her balance. The rock-hard muscle under her hands flexed as he used the momentum to ease her down the side of the horse.