Reckless Destiny (2 page)

“Give me one good reason,” she cried.

“I can give you more than that. For starters, you’ll need a man to watch out for you, and I’m away prospecting most of the time.”

“I already told you, I can take care of myself.”

“Maybe where it’s civilized, but not here. A teaching certificate won’t protect you from a band of renegade Indians. Or flood. Or insects. Or disease.”

“I know you’re just being protective, and I love you for it. But the fact is, even if you were here all the time, you can’t keep me safe from those things. And Fort McDowell is only two miles away.”

“That won’t do you any good if I’m not here and the Apaches decide to pay you a visit.”

Cady had to think fast. She knew when Jack made up his mind about something it stayed made up. He would take her bodily to the train in Phoenix if he decided that was best.

“What if I live at the fort while you’re away? Would you object to my staying then?”

He was quiet for a long moment. “I would feel better if you were under the army’s protection while I’m away. Major Wexler is a good man. He’ll see that you’re safe.” He glared at her. “If you listen to him and do what he says, maybe—”

“Thank you!” She jumped into his arms. “You won’t regret this, Jack.”

“See that I don’t.” He set her down and his eyes narrowed. “You know if there’s no room for you there, you’re going home.”

“There must be somewhere for me to stay.”

“You really have grown up.” His expression told her
he was anything but happy about it. “There’s such a shortage of women out here, something tells me those soldiers would find a place for you if they had to build it special. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“Too late. Everything’s settled.” She patted his arm as she headed back inside. “It’s all going to work out fine. You’ll see.”

Kane Carrington reined in his horse at the top of a rise. He pushed his campaign hat back and ran his forearm across his sweaty brow. Only eight in the morning and already hot. He scanned the desert from left to right and shook his head. He’d been stationed all over the Arizona Territory, and almost everywhere he went the landscape was the same. He hadn’t figured out yet why the barren desert and jagged, spectacular red mountains appealed to him. He only knew there was something about their rugged beauty that drew him.

He’d just come back from a two-week patrol the day before. Most of Company C thought he was crazy to get back in the saddle and ride for pleasure, but he needed to. At least while his mind was occupied with controlling his mount, he didn’t have time to think.

As Kane scanned the horizon again, a dust cloud to the right caught his attention. At first he thought the wind had raised it; then he realized it was moving along the road to the fort, traveling steadily and fast. As the cloud moved closer, he could see the dust was kicked up by a horse and buckboard. Something was wrong. The vehicle was moving too fast for that rutted road. If there was a driver, he wasn’t in control.

Kane settled his hat low on his forehead, tied his kerchief over his nose and mouth, and nudged his horse forward to intercept the runaway. Caution battled his
need for haste as he guided the animal through the scrub, watching for snake holes, rocks, or hidden gullies that could cause fatal injury. As soon as they reached the road, ten lengths behind the wagon, he urged the animal forward at full speed. Dust swirled around him, and he bent his head to protect his eyes from the worst of it.

In a matter of minutes, he edged alongside the runaway vehicle and kept pace for several seconds. There
was
a driver; the woman was holding onto the seat for dear life. He saw that the reins had fallen and were being kicked around by the horse’s hooves. He could try to turn the animal off the road, but the scrub was high and might do more harm than good. He only had one choice.

“Whoa, there,” he called to the lathered horse as he grabbed the harness.

The animal was tiring, and with very little effort Kane slowed it down. When the wagon was completely stopped, he turned his attention to the driver.

He couldn’t tell her age, but she was a slender little thing. Her hat, an impractical concoction, had slipped down over her eyes. She didn’t even know enough to wear a wide brim hat to keep the sun off her head and face. With both hands gripping the wagon seat during the wild ride, she hadn’t been able to push the thing out of her eyes.

“Are you all right, ma’am?”

She sat very still for several seconds, seeming to catch her breath. Tentatively, she released one hand, then the other. She removed a long pin from the crown of her hat and pulled it free. Golden-brown hair spilled around her shoulders. The strands rested over her breasts and skimmed her waist—a very trim waist.

She pushed the mass away from her face and shook her hair back before looking at him. Her green eyes,
familiar eyes, widened. Something caught and squeezed in his chest. Cady? Cady Tanner? It couldn’t be! But there she was, even more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her.

He’d been deliberately cruel to her that night. He hoped she had gotten over his harshness quickly. It had taken him a long time to get used to the idea that he would never see her again. Even now, he could hardly believe she was here.

She raised one hand, palm facing him. “Don’t come near me,” she said fiercely. She pointed the hatpin at him and jabbed the air with it. After glancing over her shoulder, she looked at him without batting an eye. “Jack’s coming any minute now. He’s got a gun. He’ll blow a hole in you big enough to drive a wagon through.”

Apparently she hadn’t forgotten or forgiven him for what he’d said to her the last time they’d been together.

“Jack?” He blinked. “What’s wrong with you? Put that stupid thing down.”

“So you can rob me? Without even a fight? I don’t think so. If you come near me, I’ll do as much damage as I can. It won’t be easy to have your way with
me
.”

“Have my way—what the hell are you talking about?” He studied her cheeks, red from the heat. His saddle creaked as he leaned toward her. “I think the sun’s cooked more than your face.”

“You stay away from me.” She slid back from him and held the pin like a saber. “Can’t even show your face, can you, you coward!”

Show his face? He lifted a hand to his chin. The kerchief! And he was out of uniform. She probably thought he was a bandit. He pulled the square of material down and watched her eyes grow big with recognition.

“Kane?” She stared at him and lowered the hatpin so slowly he wondered if she was still planning to use it now that she recognized him. “Good Lord, I can’t believe it’s you.”

She remembered. He was more pleased than he should be. His heart was pounding like a drum beating cadence for parade march. What was she doing here? Why was she alone? She could have been killed if he hadn’t gotten to her.

A knot of fear pulled tight in his gut before he got angry. “Are you all right?”

“Fine, thanks to you.” An appreciative look softened her eyes for a second. Then she blinked, and the sudden uncertainty told him she didn’t want to be grateful to him.

“What happened? Did something spook the horse?” He dismounted, picked up the fallen reins, and handed them to her.

“I’m not sure. All I did was lift these against the horse’s rump.” She raised her hands to show him.

“Don’t!” He grabbed her arm, then took the leather strips and wrapped them around the brake. “I think they’re safer there.”

“All that bouncing made me ache in places I didn’t even know I had.” She stood, stretched, and rubbed the small of her back.

Kane swallowed hard as her white cotton blouse pulled across her breasts. Even dusty and disheveled, she was more beautiful than the image of her he’d carried with him for the last two years.

“Let me help you down, Cady.”

She nodded. “I think I’d like solid ground beneath my feet.”

He put his hands around her small waist, and she rested her gloved fingers on his shoulders. He lifted her and set her on her feet in front of him. She started to
crumple as if her legs wouldn’t hold her, and he caught her against him to steady her.

She looked up and their eyes met. A sizzle of awareness sliced through him. He was no longer standing in the middle of an Arizona desert with the sun beating down. Instead, it was the night of the reception at Fort Mohave and they were bathed in moonlight. She was dressed in some shimmering green gown that matched her eyes and rustled when she moved.

He stared at her mouth, the same full lips he had kissed until he thought he’d go crazy from wanting her. He ached to know if she still tasted as sweet now as she had then. That night, when she had tried to convince him that he needed her, she was closer to the truth than she knew, so he had told her she wasn’t cut out for his kind of life. He had deliberately hurt her because he could never have her.

After all this time, she still got to him.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

“My legs are a bit wobbly is all,” she said, with a shaky little laugh.

She was trying to act as if her close call was nothing out of the ordinary, but he could see she was pale and trembling. He couldn’t help admiring her nerve; most women would have collapsed in tears. God, he was glad to see her! He didn’t want to be, but he couldn’t help it.

“You can let me go now,” she said, pushing away from him.

“What?” He looked down and saw her hands on his chest.

“I’m fine. You can let go of me.”

He shook his head to clear it and took a quick step back. “Sorry.” As he moved away, the familiar emptiness swallowed the warmth he’d felt from having her in his arms again.

The road vibrated with pounding hooves, and Kane looked up to see a rider coming. Dust drifted around them as the man yanked on the reins, forcing his horse to a skidding stop. As agile and quick as a cat, he swung out of the saddle. From the anxious look on his face, Kane concluded that Cady hadn’t been bluffing when she said someone named Jack was coming.

The man strode over to her and took her arm possessively. Intensity radiated from him like waves of heat from the desert floor. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” She pointed in Kane’s direction. “He stopped the horse.”

“Much obliged for your help,” the man said, turning to him without releasing his protective grip on Cady.

His air of possessiveness told Kane that Jack must be her husband.

Something caught in his chest. He gritted his teeth, torn between relief that she was unavailable and unreasonable anger at the thought of her in the arms of another man.

Funny. Every time images of Cady had stolen into his mind, unbidden and unwanted, he’d always thought of her as a single woman. It made sense that she would have married. She was beautiful, intelligent, and spirited. Men would swarm around her like bees to honey.

“Glad I was around to help,” he said. “Next time don’t let her drive by herself.”

If she were
his
wife, Kane thought, she wouldn’t go gallivanting in dangerous territory alone and unprotected.

The other man’s eyes turned dark and dangerous. “If you knew Cady, you’d know she doesn’t do what she’s told, no matter who does the telling.” He turned to her. “I told you to wait for me. You don’t know how to drive a horse and wagon, do you?”

“No, and I didn’t try to,” she said with a shrug. “You know how restless I get. I was curious.” She leaned over to unwind the reins. “All I did was lift them like this—”

“Don’t!” Both men hollered at once and she dropped her hand.

Jack glared at her. “Of all the reckless, hare-brained stunts. In the time it took me to saddle my horse, you could have been killed. I ought to take you over my knee.”

Kane took a step forward. “Now hold on.”

Jack slid his hostile gaze in Kane’s direction. “Look, mister, I’m thankful for your help. But she’s my responsibility and I’d be obliged if you’d butt out.”

“That’s awfully rude.” Cady tossed Kane an apologetic look. “Don’t mind Jack. He always gets like a wounded bear when he’s afraid for someone he cares about.”

“I don’t need you to defend me.” Jack sounded a lot like the wounded bear she’d accused him of being.

Kane could understand his anger. A woman like Cady would inspire fierce emotion in any man. He didn’t really blame Jack, but he wouldn’t stand by and let him mistreat Cady, even if she was his wife.

“No matter what she’s done, you have no call to bully her that way.” Kane met Jack’s gaze and saw a dangerous glint kindle in his black eyes. He was feeling dangerous himself.

Cady jammed her hands on her hips and lifted her determined little chin. “Don’t you pick on Jack. He’s not a bully. He takes awfully good care of me.”

So that’s how it was. What would it be like to have a woman like Cady defend him? He would never know.

“I was just trying to help.” Kane held his hands up in surrender. “Far be it from me to interfere between husband and wife.”

“Wife?” Jack stepped away as if he’d just found out Cady had the plague.

“Husband?” An amused glitter stole into Cady’s green eyes.

“Isn’t that why you’re here? To join him”—he lifted his chin at Jack—”your husband?”

She laughed. “We aren’t married. Jack’s my brother.”

“Your brother?” Kane glanced
from Cady to Jack, who was standing beside her.

Cady could tell by the way Kane’s dark brows pulled together that he was trying to see some resemblance between them. It would be a miracle if he could find it. They looked nothing alike. She had their mother’s green eyes and thick brown hair streaked with blond. Jack looked like Papa, tall, with dark hair and eyes black as coal. Cady compared Kane to her brother, something she found herself doing with every man she met. Kane was one of the few she didn’t find lacking.

Both had dashing good looks and were tall, several inches over six feet. Kane’s eyes sometimes seemed more hazel than light brown. Red and gold mixed together in his thick wavy hair, keeping it from being as dark as Jack’s. The officer’s mouth turned up slightly at the corners whether he was smiling or not, giving him a deceptively cheerful expression.

The two men looked very different, but she sensed one thing they shared. Beneath the surface, both of
them carried a dangerous intensity. Cady wondered if it was life in the Territory that had made them this way. If so, did it change the women who dared challenge it?

“Yes, Jack’s my brother. I can’t believe you thought I was married to him.”

An oddly pleased look crossed Kane’s face, and she wondered why he should care. He’d been in uniform when they had last seen each other, the night he’d broken her heart. Now he wore a white cotton shirt with the long sleeves rolled to his elbows, revealing tanned forearms. Dark trousers covered his well-muscled legs. The only hint of his profession was the gold-trimmed campaign hat he’d pushed to the back of his head. Without the brim’s shadow she could see his straight nose, lean cheeks, and square jaw. A holstered pistol strapped low on his hip told her he was ready for danger. Kane had been handsome as sin in his uniform; to Cady’s dismay he was just as good-looking in civilian clothes.

Jack lifted his hat and blotted the sweat on his brow with his forearm. “I don’t think the assumption that I’m your husband is so far-fetched. Why, a woman would be lucky—”

She snorted in a most unladylike manner. “I’ll need to have a nice long chat with any woman who looks twice at you.”

Kane shuffled his boots in the dust and cleared his throat. “What are you doing back in the Territory, Cady?”

“You know him?” Jack asked.

“Captain Kane Carrington. We met two years ago when I ran away from school.” Cady glanced from her brother to Kane. “Kane, my brother, Jackson Tanner.”

“Is this the captain I heard about?” Jack’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you met him at Fort Mohave.”

“I did.” She hoped Jack wouldn’t pick this moment to get protective and wind up embarrassing her instead. She turned to Kane. “What brings you to Fort McDowell?”

“I was transferred here a year ago.” He extended his hand to Jack. “Glad to meet you, Tanner. I got to know your brother, Jeff, when Cady and I met. If you’re anything like him, we’ll get along fine.”

“Jeff and I are nothing alike,” Jack said in a hard voice. “Except that we both care about Cady and don’t take it kindly when she’s hurt.”

Cady’s gaze slid back and forth as the two men eyed each other like wary mountain cats. When Jack finally accepted the other man’s hand, she released a huge breath.

“So Jack’s not your husband.” Kane looked at her. “Who
is
the lucky man who’s brought you out west, Cady? Maybe I know him.”

“I don’t have a husband. And I don’t know why you persist in trying to give me one. I don’t ever want to get married.”

Kane blinked and a strange expression flickered across his face. Cady wondered if he was remembering the last time they were together. In trying to convince him that he needed her, she’d stopped just short of asking him to marry her. He had told her she couldn’t even start a cook fire and had no business in the Territory.

A heated blush, one part anger and two parts mortification, slipped up her neck and into her cheeks. No wonder he had such a funny expression on his face. She had completely changed her tune since that night under the Arizona stars. It had been two long years. She’d almost forgotten what a fool she’d made of herself.

Then another thought struck her, and her eyes opened wider. Surely he didn’t think …?

“I’m not here because of you, that’s for sure, captain. Why, I didn’t even know where you were.”

“The idea never crossed my mind.”

“Well, you’ve got some idea you can’t shake loose of. What is it?”

“It never occurred to me that you’d leave the comforts of home again for Arizona Territory. I’m curious about why you’re here. A short visit with your brother?” Jack started to chuckle. “Tell him what you told me, Cady.”

“I told you the children at Fort McDowell need a teacher.”

“No, the other part,” Jack said.

“What part?” Kane asked.

“She’s here to settle the frontier.”

Kane started to laugh. Cady felt her cheeks grow hotter. This was only one of the many reasons why she never wanted to tie herself to a man. They were all insensitive, inconsiderate, ill-mannered oafs. She frowned at the two of them.

When Kane stopped chuckling he looked down at her, and a serious expression replaced any trace of amusement. “Go back home where you belong and marry the banker’s son who’s pining away for you.”

“About the boy back home.” Jack cleared his throat. “She has a small problem. My little sister was sent here to protect her from the tongues that started to wag when she left her intended at the altar.” Jack stuck his hands in his trouser pockets. “And he wasn’t a banker. He was an army lieutenant.”

Cady glared at him. “I don’t ever remember you being this talkative before, Jackson Tanner. Maybe you should spend more time with people instead of with your rocks up in the mountains.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Jack grinned. Then he looked at
Kane. “Actually, I’m glad I ran into you, Carrington. Cady has a teaching job at the fort. I was taking her there now.”

“Oh?”

Jack crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his fingertips beneath his arms. “I just came down from the mountains for supplies. I can’t keep an eye on my sister, and she won’t go home.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“The army got her out here to teach, so she’s the army’s problem—your problem.”

“I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do,” Cady said. “I’m not anyone’s problem. You and Jack can stand here and discuss it all day if you’ve a mind to; I’m going to the fort. My agreement is with Major Wexler. I trust he’s more reasonable than either of you.”

Kane pulled his dark blue campaign hat low on his forehead and shaded his expression. But not before his tight-lipped look told her the last thing in the world he wanted was her at Fort McDowell.

“Oh, what’s the use?” She turned away from both of them in disgust and walked back to the buckboard.

“Where are you going?” Kane called after her.

She hated that, after all this time, the deep tones of his voice still had the power to stir butterflies in her stomach. Ignoring him seemed the best thing to do.

“Cady, not one more step,” Jack said.

She brushed her long hair from her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at the two angry men staring at her. Disregarding both of them seemed even better than disregarding one. Without a word, she kept walking. She stopped in front of the horse and buckboard, lifted the hem of her calico dress, and prepared to climb up.

Behind her she heard the crunch of boots in the sand and rocks. She sighed and turned to face them.

Kane rested his hands on his narrow hips. “You can’t go traipsing through Indian country by yourself.”

“You have no right to tell me what to do. First Papa, then Jack, and now you. You have no right.”

“I have every right. I’m responsible for keeping the peace. Before you can settle the frontier, I have to make sure it’s safe. If you go running around without an escort, you’re apt to stir up a whole pile of trouble. Trouble puts my men in danger. That makes you my responsibility.”

Cady shaded her eyes with her hand as she studied him, and when her hostile expression softened he knew he’d gotten through to her.

“When you put it like that, captain, I’d be obliged for your company to Fort McDowell.”

“That’s a relief,” Jack said behind them. “I leave her in good hands, then.”

“Leave?” she asked. “Aren’t you coming to the fort with us?”

He shook his head. “No need now.”

“Where are you going?”

“Into town for supplies.”

“Will I see you again before you head back up into the mountains?”

He looked down at his boots. “No.”

“Then this is good-bye?”

Kane saw the regret on the other man’s face and heard the soft edge of censure and sadness in Cady’s voice.

A soldier understood all too well how hard it was to say good-bye. He’d done it all his life. Sooner or later he would also have to say good-bye to Cady. He knew what it had cost him the first time. He didn’t want to think about a second.

As Cady walked over to him, Jack fingered the thin leather reins in his hand. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

She stood on tiptoe and hugged him. “Take care of yourself, Jack.”

“You too.” He pulled her close for a quick embrace. Then he gripped her upper arms and set her away. “I’ll see you.”

He looked at Kane. “Take care of her for me, Carrington.”

“Nothing will happen to her while she’s under the army’s protection. You have my word.”

Jack nodded, then mounted up, waved once, and rode away. With her hand shading her eyes from the sun, Cady watched him until all that remained was a cloud of dust.

Kane stood close enough behind her to smell the scent of flowers she wore, mixed with sand and heat. The fragrance instantly brought back the memory of her in his arms. She had moved him more than he’d thought any woman could, but he refused to subject her to the rigors, hardship, and isolation of army life. He’d tried marriage once and had failed. Getting mixed up with a woman again, especially a pampered eastern woman like Cady, would only be asking for trouble.

He looked down at her as she watched her brother ride away. Strands of her hair fluttered in the wind. Lifting a hand he started to touch it, then curled his fingers into his palm.

“We need to go, Cady.”

She turned at the sound of his voice, and he saw the sheen of unshed tears in her green eyes. “Do you think he’ll be all right? Do you think I’ll see him again?”

Kane glanced into the distance. “Your brother strikes me as a man who can take care of himself. My
guess is he’ll be fine. He’ll turn up when you least expect him.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” She sighed. “I have this bad habit of worrying about my family. Especially Jack.”

“Something tells me they worry about you too.” Kane still couldn’t get over the coincidence of her showing up at Fort McDowell. “Why are you here?”

“Like I said before, it’s not because of you. It’s because Jack’s here. I was determined to come west and teach. My parents were afraid something would happen to me.”

“With good reason,” Kane said. “You’d have been better off staying in the East. This is dangerous country. Why didn’t you find a teaching job close to home?”

“What’s best for me is not your judgment to make.” She looked him square in the eye. She was a little thing and had to tilt her head back to do it, but that didn’t faze her. “I made up my mind to go west—somewhere.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to make a difference. I want both my brothers to be as proud of me as I am of them. Jeff is building railroads that link the country from coast to coast. Jack could have had a job with him, something safe in an office. He’s looking to find his own fortune instead of choosing the easy way. Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I don’t have dreams too.”

“But why here?”

“Because Jack is here, and that will ease my family’s concern. There’s no need to tell them he’s prospecting and cause them to worry.”

“There’s nothing for them to be concerned about. I promised I’d look out for you, and I always keep my word.”

She snorted in the same way she had earlier, in a way he knew would make the headmistress of any exclusive
eastern ladies’ academy cringe. But she didn’t say a word as she turned away and headed for the buckboard again.

“Now don’t try to drive that thing, not after what just happened. I’ll take you to the fort.”

“All right,” she said.

As he tied his horse to the back of the rig, Kane watched her lift her skirt to scramble up, giving him a tantalizing view of her slender ankles and calves. Tempting as that was, he realized she’d rather flaunt convention than wait for his help. Just as well. He didn’t trust himself to touch her without revealing how much she affected him.

It took some doing, and she was breathing faster by the time she finally climbed in, but she did it herself and sat down. He moved up beside her and unwrapped the reins from around the brake.

Cady looked at him. “Will you show me how to drive?”

Kane studied Cady’s determined expression. “Yes.” Her eyes opened wide. “Don’t look so surprised. You seem bent on staying out here, and I promised your brother I’d watch out for you. Aside from the fact that I don’t particularly want to tangle with Jack, I take my responsibilities seriously. The more you know, the better you can take care of yourself.”

And if she could take care of herself, he wouldn’t have to keep an eye on her.

“Major Wexler seems very nice,” Cady said.

They had left the commanding officer a few minutes before to drive to her quarters. She lifted her long hair from her neck, trying to catch a possible breeze and cool herself, but there was no relief from the heat. She climbed out of the buckboard, anxious to go inside.

“He’s a good man.” Kane jumped down and went to the rear of the wagon. “This is where you’ll be staying,” he said and started to lift her trunk. “What have you got in here, rocks?”

“That’s Jack’s specialty. I brought books.”

“All the better to settle the frontier with.” He smiled. “If there’s an Indian attack, you can throw books at them.”