Yellowstone Romance Series - Bundle (# 2-5) (54 page)

“Goddammit!” he growled. He’d asked her to marry him, for Christ’s sakes. She’d said she loved him. Why the hell hadn’t she told him she was married? She’d certainly misled him good. He had to admit she knew how to manipulate a man. Was that how she’d snagged a rich husband like Devereaux?

Kyle yanked Blackjack’s reins free of the picket line, and pulled him away from the other horses. He grabbed hold of the saddle horn and vaulted onto the gelding’s back. Without securing his feet in the stirrups, he kicked the horse into a run. Heading westward, he urged the animal to greater speed, leaning forward and low over his mount’s neck.

The wind whipped his hair around his face. Kyle wished fervently that the ground his horse swallowed up with its long strides would also erase the torment within him. It wasn’t to be. His anger grew with every mile that took him closer to Virginia City. He’d been completely smitten with
Mrs.
Devereaux from the moment he met her, which left him blind to her schemes. Was this a rich woman’s way to relieve boredom and find a little excitement?

Kyle was forced to slow his hellish pace and rest his horse several times throughout the day. By the time the cabins in the Madison Valley came into view in the late afternoon, Blackjack was frothy white at the neck, between his chest, and between his hind legs. The gelding’s nostrils flared with each heaving breath he took, and Kyle walked him the last mile. A woman wasn’t worth killing his horse over.

Josh emerged from his cabin before Kyle entered the yard. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked, staring wide-eyed from Kyle to Blackjack. Kyle wordlessly dropped the horse’s reins, and headed for the corral. Yanking a fresh bridle off the fence, he entered the enclosure and selected a chestnut horse from the group.

“I need my saddle,” Kyle called gruffly, leading the horse out. Josh brought Blackjack up to the fence.

“Since when do we run our horses to death?” Josh glared at him. “Was Laughing Badger after you again?”

“I wish,” Kyle growled, but didn’t elaborate. “I need to get to Virginia City. Pick out another fast horse while I get this one saddled. That way I can trade off.”  Ignoring his cousin, Kyle unsaddled Blackjack and refitted the chestnut with the gear. By the time he was done, Josh brought a second horse, and released Blackjack into the corral.

“Are you in trouble? Do I need to go with you?” Josh asked.

Kyle swung into the saddle and stared down at his cousin. “I’m not in trouble. But someone else is, and there’s gonna be hell to pay.” He grabbed the leadline of the spare horse from Josh’s hand and looped the end around his saddle horn, then kicked his new mount into a gallop.

*****

Virginia City sat sprawled out below him. Kyle rested his horses for a few minutes, then headed down into the valley. The sun sank like a glowing orange fireball into the western horizon. He’d ridden through the night, as fast as the darkness allowed. His shirt clung to his sweat-soaked back and chest, and his hair stuck to his forehead. He was as exhausted as his animals. Kyle scoffed. Maybe this had all been for nothing. She’d probably taken his money and run.

Kyle trotted down the main street of town, and didn’t stop until he reached his parents’ mercantile. He tied his horses in front of the store, giving them enough line so they could drink from the water trough in front of them. Without knocking, he let himself in through the side door that led into the kitchen, knowing the doors to the storefront had been locked at this hour.

Warm air assaulted him, and the delicious smell of supper cooking wafted to his nose. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t bothered to eat since the morning he left Devereaux’s camp two days ago. Food wasn’t important at the moment.

“Kyle!” His mother greeted in surprise. She stood by the stove, stirring a wooded spoon in a pot. Her brows rose before narrowing in a disapproving frown.

“Where is she?” Kyle demanded, his voice hoarse.

“Kate?” His mother guessed, turning fully toward him.  She set the spoon on the counter and wiped her hands on a towel.

He knew he was being rude, but didn’t care at the moment. “Yeah, where is she?”

His mother hesitated, and studied him. “I think she’s getting ready for supper.”

Kyle headed for the living room.

“Why don’t you go wash up. You’re just in time to eat.” He ignored his mother, and dashed through the room. “Kyle!” She called after him, her voice uncharacteristically high.

He took the risers to the upstairs bedrooms three at a time. Without knocking, he ripped open the door to Kate’s room, his eyes scanning the small space. Kate stood by the dresser, holding a hairbrush in her hands. She gasped, and her head shot up in his direction. Relief swept over her face, and she smiled brightly.

“Kyle!”

His stomach clenched for a split second, then he remembered why he was here. Within two strides, he stood before her, grabbed her arm roughly, and pinned her against the dresser. The water pitcher wobbled noisily against the wash basin.

“Surprised to see me so soon,
Mrs.
Devereaux?” he snarled.

“Kyle, you’re . . . you’re hurting me,” she stammered, her eyes wide with panic.

“Not as much as I’d like to,” he ground out. “What the hell kind of game are you playing, Kate? You failed to mention your marriage to Hiram Devereaux when I met you. Or when I said I loved you, and asked you to marry me.” His hand tightened around her arm, and she cried out in pain.

“Kyle! What on earth is going on here?” Kyle’s mother called loudly from behind him. She placed her hand on his arm, and tried to pull him away from Kate.

“This is between me and her, Mother.” Kyle refused to take his eyes off Kate. The anger and betrayal in his heart spurred him on.

“I know you’re upset, Kyle, but barging in here like this won’t accomplish anything.” His mother pleaded with him.

  Strong hands on his shoulders replaced his mother’s smaller ones, and tried to pry him away from Kate.

“Why the hell did you lie to me, Kate?” Kyle roared, ignoring the increasingly stronger hold on him. He tried to shake it off, and inadvertently slammed Kate against the dresser. She winced, and struggled in his grasp.

“Let go of her, Kyle. We can talk about this downstairs,” his father said calmly behind him. “We understand you’re angry, but you need to listen to Kate before you jump to conclusions.”

His parents knew! Fresh rage consumed him. She’d gotten to them, too. Kyle unclamped his hand from Kate’s arm. Sobbing, she backed away from him into the corner of the room, and sank to the floor. Kyle’s mother rushed to her side.

Kyle whirled around and faced his father. “She played me for a fool,” he said between clenched teeth. “And apparently, she’s playing you now, too.”

He tried to jerk his arm from his father’s grasp, but the older man held steady. Consumed with pent-up anger and fury, Kyle clenched his free hand into a fist, and swung at his father. With lighting fast reflexes that belied his age, his father ducked out of the way.

“Kyle!” his mother gasped in shock from the corner of the room, still sitting with a protective arm around Kate.

Before Kyle realized what happened, his father stepped around him and twisted his arm behind his back, then quickly put a chokehold around his neck with his other arm.

“I may be a lot older than you, son, but I’ve been in my share of bar fights, and I can still lay you over my knee,” his father whispered in Kyle’s ear. “I suggest we leave this room right now, and you go and dunk your head in the horse trough to cool off.” His father’s steady voice behind him did little to curb Kyle’s rage. It only angered him more. His perfect legendary father, in whose shadow he’d grown up in, a man he couldn’t possibly ever live up to, bested him again. Kyle strained against his father’s hold while the older man dragged him from the room.

Kyle shot one final look in Kate’s direction. She sat cowering in the corner, her terror-filled eyes glistening with tears. His father closed the door to the room and shoved him down the stairs. An image of Kate sitting by a creek, her nude discolored back exposed to his view flashed before Kyle’s eyes. His knees went weak. Dear God! What had he just done?

Chapter 22

“What the hell were you thinking, boy, barging into her room like that, and roughing her up?”

Uncle Samuel grabbed Kyle by the shirt, and slammed him against a wooden wall inside the depot. Kyle didn’t put up a fight. He deserved what he got. The look of sheer terror in Kate’s eyes, when she sat cowering in the corner, would haunt him forever. And he’d been the cause of it. He’d told her repeatedly he’d never hurt her.

He was no better than the sick bastard who had given her all those bruises. In his rage and anger at finding out she was married, he’d been blinded to everything else. He’d forgotten about Kate’s injuries, and her submissiveness when he first met her. She couldn’t have faked all that. He was the one who had encouraged her to come out of her shell, and now he accused her of being a manipulative woman, playing games with his heart and mind.

“No woman deserves to be treated like that, do you hear me?” Samuel pushed his fists into Kyle’s collarbones, gripping his shirt tightly. The older man’s teeth were bared, his face inches from Kyle’s. A nail protruding from one of the wooden panels jabbed into him, and broke the skin on his back.

“It doesn’t matter what she did, or what you think she may have done, but there is never an excuse to be violent with a woman.”

Samuel gave him one final shove into the wall, then released him and spun around. Kyle slumped against the boards, the nail scraping his back and tearing his shirt.  He understood his uncle’s anger. His wife had been brutally beaten and left to die.  Samuel wouldn’t condone anyone laying a hand on a woman.

“I’m . . . sorry.” It was all he had. He didn’t know what else to say. No words would ever be good enough to make up for his behavior.

Samuel turned to face him. “Don’t tell that to me. Say it to that young lady in there.” He pointed in the direction of the house.  “From what your mother says, Kate won’t even come out of her room.”

Kyle hissed. Somehow, he’d make this right again. He still didn’t have any answers. Why hadn’t she told him she had a husband? And Hiram Devereaux, of all people? Kyle loathed the man. Why had she referred to her kidnapper as her guardian? None of it made sense.

“What . . . what did she tell you? My folks and you obviously know more about Kate than she ever told me.” Kyle stared at the sawdust on the ground.

Samuel glared at him. “What did you think of Hiram Devereaux?” he asked, ignoring Kyle’s question.

Kyle scoffed. “He’s a self-righteous, pompous ass. I don’t ever want to do business with him again.”

“Well, you may have no choice.” Uncle Samuel stared at him. Yeah. Somehow Kyle knew his dealings with the man hadn’t ended yet.

 ”I suppose I’ll have to take Kate back to Helena.”  All his hopes and dreams for a future with Kate flashed before Kyle’s eyes. All the plans he’d made over the last few weeks. There would be no future with her. That she’d rejected his marriage proposal made perfect sense to him now. But why did she say she loved him? Kyle turned and slammed his fist into the wall. A lantern hanging on a peg nearby fell to the ground, shattering glass in a wide arc over the floor.

“I wonder what that girl wants you to do,” Sam grumbled.

Kyle frowned and faced his uncle. “She was kidnapped. He wants his wife back. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Did she ever say she was kidnapped?” Sam’s eyebrows rose.

“No, but she didn’t say she was married, either. Dammit, Sam! I asked her to be my wife.” Kyle paced the floor, fisting his hands in his hair. “I’m in love with a woman I can’t have.” He laughed scornfully.

“She wasn’t kidnapped, Kyle.” Sam said quietly. He stopped Kyle’s movement with a firm hand on his shoulder. Kyle stared at his uncle. What was he saying? He shook his head. The thoughts forming in his mind made bile rise to his throat.
“Please . . . please don’t let him hurt me. He’s going to come after me. He’ll find me, Kyle.”

Kate’s terror-filled pleas the night she had that bad dream echoed in his mind. Comprehension finally dawned on him. She hadn’t been talking about Ezra.

“That . . . son of a bitch hurt her, didn’t he?” Kyle could barely form the words. His jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck and arms taut. It was right there in front of him. Kyle cursed himself that he hadn’t seen it before. He wished Hiram Devereaux stood in this room at this very moment.

“Something that girl told your folks and me about that marriage of hers doesn’t add up,” Sam said, as if to himself. 

“What do you mean?” Kyle frowned.

“I think you need to listen to Kate’s story.”

“If she’ll ever talk to me again,” Kyle mumbled.

“Well, best go find out.” A hint of a smile formed on his uncle’s lips. “Eating crow never hurt any man. Go on with you.”

Kyle headed out of the building. Facing a war party of Absarokas would be easier than what he had to do right now.

*****

Kate coiled and uncoiled her hands in her lap. She sat at the edge of her bed, her head hung low.

“Come and have some supper, Kate,” Sarah said again. “It won’t do you any good not to eat.”

“Come on, Kate. I won’t let that buzzard of a brother anywhere near you,” Hannah chimed in. She sat down, and reached for one of Kate’s hands, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I still can’t believe he did that, Mama. I’ve never known Kyle to lose his temper like that.”

Kate laughed quietly. “I seem have that effect on men. Kyle has every right to be angry,” she whispered.

“Don’t you dare take the blame for his behavior,” Hannah raised her voice. “Or for what your husband did to you. Anger is one thing, but violence . . .” She stood abruptly. “I swear, Mama. It’s not fair that we women are at the mercy of men. We ought to have the same rights they do. A woman abused by her husband should have the right to leave him, no questions asked.” She stomped her foot on the floor.

“Someday things might be different,” Sarah said. “Your father seems to think so.”

Someone knocked, and Hannah rushed to the door. “What do you want?” she asked heatedly.

“I need to talk to Kate.” Kyle’s voice came from the hallway.

Kate’s heart skipped a beat. Her head turned in the direction of the door. Kyle was just outside her room. His sister stood before him, her hands on her hips, refusing to let him pass.

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Hannah huffed, and pushed the door in his face. Kyle quickly slipped past the threshold, preventing Hannah from fully closing the door.

“Why don’t you let Kate answer for herself, sis?” he said, his voice strained. 

“Do you want to talk to Kyle?” Sarah asked softly. “I can stay with you.”

Kate shook her head. “It’s okay, Sarah. I’ll talk to him.” She looked up, and her eyes met his across the room. All the fury from a couple of hours ago had vanished. Soft brown eyes stared back at her, and Kate knew she had nothing to fear from him.

“Hannah, let’s leave,” Sarah said. She patted Kyle’s arm, and ushered her protesting daughter through the door. Turning to look back at her son, Sarah’s eyebrows contracted. “What happened to your shirt?” she asked, touching Kyle’s back. “And you’re bleeding. Kyle?”

He shrugged her off. “Nothing, Mama. I’m fine. Uncle Samuel and I had a talk, that’s all.”

“A talk?” Her eyebrows rose.

“Nothing I didn’t deserve.” His eyes sought Kate’s.

Sarah shook her head. “When you’re done apologizing to Kate, you can bring me your shirt to mend.” She turned and disappeared around the corner.

Kyle closed the door behind him. He moved further into the room, his gaze fixed on Kate. There was no hatred there. Only remorse, and a deep longing. She inhaled deeply. He still had feelings for her. It was written clearly in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Kyle. I should have been honest with you from the beginning,” she said slowly, and stood. She flinched involuntarily. Her back was tender where he’s slammed her into the dresser.

Kyle covered the distance between them in two quick strides. His hands reached up, and he cupped her face.

“Kate, I . . . I don’t know what I can do or say to tell you how sorry I am for my behavior,” he said, his voice raspy. “I’m no different than the bastard you ran away from.”

Kate’s eyes widened. He knew?

“My uncle talked some sense into me. Made me see things I should have realized right away.” He smiled, and his face moved closer to hers. Kate closed her eyes. The urge to fall into his arms, and lean into his strength overwhelmed her. She straightened her back instead.

“You tried to tell me something the day I left, but I didn’t want to listen. I’m ready to listen now, Kate.”

“What do you want to know?” she whispered.

“Everything. From the beginning.” He released her face, and reached for one of her hands, gently urging her to sit back down at the edge of the bed. He held her hand on his thigh, and covered it with his other one.  This was the Kyle she knew. Gently, kind, considerate.

“Tell me how you ended up marrying a man like Hiram Devereaux,” he said quietly. He tried to project a calm image, but his clenched jaw muscles belied his demeanor. 

Kate stared at Kyle’s large hand covering hers. His warmth seeped into her, and radiated up her arm, and all through her. “My mother arranged the marriage. After my father passed away several years ago, the money began to run out. Hiram had shown an interest in me for a long time.” She paused and took a deep breath.

Kyle swore under his breath. “Your mother isn’t dead, is she?” he asked.

Kate looked up at him. There was no accusation in his eyes, only concern. “No,” she shook her head. “But to me, she may as well be. The day of my wedding, that’s the day my mother died in my heart. She sold me off to him, so she could continue her life of extravagance.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and anger consumed her. “How could she do that to me, Kyle? My own mother?”

Kyle reached for her, and Kate leaned into his embrace. This was the only place she wanted to be. He wrapped his arms around her, stroking the hair down her back. She winced involuntarily when he touched her tender spot.

Kyle’s hand moved away as if he’d been burned. “Kate?”

“It’s . . . nothing,” she said quietly.

His hands cupped her face again. “If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never be able to make up for what I did to you, Kate. Saying I’m sorry isn’t good enough.”

“You’re a good man, Kyle. You have every right to be angry with me. I’ll never forgive myself for lying to you.”

“I’m gonna fix this, Kate. Somehow, I’m going to make this right.”

Kate sniffled. “There’s nothing you can do, Kyle. Hiram won’t let me go.”

“That’s the only thing he and I have in common,” Kyle said between clenched teeth.

Kate pulled out of his embrace. “Kyle, I can’t stay with you. I . . . I can’t live in sin. I didn’t expect to . . . fall in love with you.”

“I’m not turning away from you, Kate. I’m not going to give up on you . . . on us. I love you.” He leaned in closer, and pressed his lips to hers.  Kate’s insides churned. She melted into his embrace. His kiss was soft and tender, slow and undemanding. When he pulled his head back, her lips tingled and pulsed.

“If it’s the last thing I do, Katelyn, I swear I’m going to find a way to make you mine,” he said between strained breaths. His hand moved behind her neck, his palm cradling her head.

“Marriage is forever, Kyle,” she said somberly. “Until death do us part.”