Darling Annie

by Raine Cantrell

  Emmaline backed to the door, her hand shaking, but still in control to keep the weapon aimed at Annie.

  “Stay here. No one’s stopping me.” Emmaline fumbled behind her with her free hand to release the bolt.

  Annie pleaded with her, her voice reduced to a hoarse whisper. She heard Kell’s shout outside. “Emmaline, drop the gun. If Kell is here that means he knows it’s you. Don’t do anything more. Please.”

  “Stand back,” Kell shouted, and he and Li readied themselves to kick in the door.

  Emmaline slid the bolt free. The force of the door suddenly shoved open behind her sent the smaller woman in a headlong flight toward Annie, and the gun went off.

  “Christ! Bronc, you never said she had a gun!” Kell muttered, almost falling into the room.

  “Kell,” Annie called softly, swaying where she stood. Pain vied for her attention. The stinging burn on her arm was claiming first place as she turned to see the gun fall from Emmaline’s hand.

  “Annie. Annie, I didn’t mean it. You’ve got to know I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Emmaline cried out.

  Bronc caught hold of her, wrapping his arms around her waist and hushed her.

  With eyes only for Kell, Annie tried to smile. Her lips refused to cooperate. “You’re hurt, Kell.” Her vision blurred, and she wished she could tell him to stay still.

  Kell gently wrapped his good arm around her shoulders. He motioned Li away. He didn’t want anyone touching Annie. Nausea churned in his belly as he glanced down at the blood on her arm and was hit with the realization that Annie did not know she had been shot.

  “I hurt, Kell.”

  “I know you do, love. Rest against me.”

  “You were over there, and now,” she said in a faint voice, leaning against his warmth, “you’re here.”

  ‘That’s me, here today, there tomorrow. Put your arm around my neck, love. You need to go home.”

  Kell staggered as he lifted her into his arms. He had to grit his teeth with the pain spearing through his body.

  “Let me carry her,” Li insisted. “You’ll wrench that shoulder and need—”

  “I’ve got her.”

  “He’s a mule, Li,” Annie said, resting her head on Kell’s broad shoulder. “But he’s my mule.” Seconds later, as she was carried outside with Li in front dispersing the crowd, she whispered to Kell, “Don’t be angry. But I’m going to—” Confused, Annie stopped. Her eyes drifted closed. She wanted to be sick.

  Every step Kell took sent jarring pain shooting through her. But there was a blessed pull that beckoned her to fall into a void where there was no pain.

  “She has fainted, Kell. Let me carry her now. Annie will never know and I will have less to do.”

  Annie awoke, unsure of the time, her mind hazy from the tincture of opium Li had insisted she drink. Her arm throbbed beneath the bandage. A flesh wound, he had called it. She knew she was in her room, she remembered being carried here, recalled Kell beside her, whispering and promising her things she could not remember. Aunt Hortense had hovered about, offering all manner of instructions. The more Annie struggled to recall them, the more her head ached. Her throat was bone dry and she wanted water, but the clear thought and desire were harder to act upon.

  Her legs felt like the weights from Lucinda’s flour scale were attached, leaving her helpless even to kick off the quilt. That sense of helplessness intensified, sending panic streaming through her.

  “Annie? What is it, darlin’? You’re thrashing about like you’re wrestling demons.”

  Somehow it seemed right that Kell was here beside her. “Water,” she managed to say. With a bounce and jar, Dewberry was on the bed, burrowing beneath her hand, his rumbling purr at once comforting.

  She sat up with Kell’s help, greedily drinking every bit of the water he gave her, asking instantly for more.

  “Do you want me to light the lamp, Annie?”

  “No. The dark feels … better somehow. Kell, is it tomorrow yet?”

  “Should be light in about an hour or so. Why?”

  Annie kept her eyes closed, her hand stilled on the cat’s furred neck. She thought he had stepped closer to the bed again. “You’re still here.”

  Kell caught the hesitancy and the question underlying those three words. He leaned over and slid one hand through her hair, his long fingers grazing her scalp, producing small, uncontrollable shivers. While her response to his light touch satisfied him, he was thankful there was no sign of fever.

  “Where would you expect me to be, Annie?” Her helpless reaction to his caress sent a hot surge of blood pumping through his body, and he fought his own reaction. It wasn’t the time or the place to show Annie that a brush with death desperately needed a reaffirmation of life. Loving her … loving?

  “You said,” Annie struggled with the cobwebs in her mind. “Here and gone tomorrow. Or something. I—”

  “You expected me to leave? To run out on you?” Kell jerked back. “You were shot, Annie. Shot trying to help me and you figured I’d—”

  “I’m glad you stayed.”

  There was a smile in her voice. Kell thought the idea was foolish, but that is what he felt. Her restless stirring brought him back to her side.

  “Too warm?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fretting, are we?” Kell lifted the quilt and pushed it down to the foot of the bed. “Better?”

  “Not a bit.”

  “I’ll light the lamp and mix what Li left for you. It’ll help you to sleep.”

  “I don’t want the lamp lit. I don’t want to sleep.”

  Dewberry had had enough. He leaped from the middle of the bed over to where Kell was, rubbing against a man who knew how to treat a cat.

  Accommodating the animal with long strokes that set up his rumbling purr, Kell asked, “What do you want, Annie?”

  “Does your shoulder hurt?”

  “Never mind my shoulder. Tell me what you want.”

  Tell him. Two little words were all she had to murmur. But every moment that had passed since she had awakened helped lift the drugging fog and left her mind clearer. She wanted him to hold her. She could feel the tension from his near, still body, so close she could reach but inches and touch him. But asking Kell to hold her was a sign that she was not entirely independent, that she needed him. Kellian York would run faster than Dewberry had deserted her if she hinted about need.

  But she had told him she loved him. Kell didn’t run then.

  He wasn’t in any condition to run, remember?

  That is entirely beside the point, Annie countered to the little nagging voice in her mind. But he never told me that he loved me. Not once.

  “Annie, I’m waiting to hear what it is that you want.”

  “Go away, Kell.”

  “I can’t do that, petunia. Someone has to stay with you.” Kell gently nudged Dewberry aside and leaned down.

  Annie lifted her hand to push him away. A small moan escaped her lips when she touched his bare chest. “Lord! Don’t you ever wear a shirt when you should?”

  “I can’t fit one over the bandage, Annie. Can’t keep cutting them up, either. Had those made by a fancy tailor.”

  “That’s you,” she muttered in a cross little voice. “Mr. Fancy—”

  “Annie. Annie, stop. I won’t fight with you.” Kell brushed her hair back, unable to stop the need to touch her. “Tell me what you wanted.”

  If he had a wife, Annie told herself, he wouldn’t need a fancy tailor to make his shirts. He wouldn’t ever worry about tears again. But Kell wasn’t interested in a wife. She heard him repeat his question and set her mouth in a firm line. She would not ask him to hold her!

  Kell straightened, puzzled by her silence. He knew Annie. She wanted something from him. What would—light dawned. “Do you need the chamber pot?”

  “Kellian York!”

  “Don’t try to get up. And what the hell’s wrong with me
asking? I don’t see anyone else in here. You would think a perfectly natural—”

  “Ladies do not—”

  “Spare me, Annie. And spare yourself. We both know what I think about ladies.” The silence stretched out, until Kell, with a shrug of his good shoulder, sat back down in the chair near the bed.

  “I can be just as stubborn as you, Annie,” he muttered after a few minutes.

  “I’m not being stubborn. I do not need to use the chamber pot. There! Are you satisfied, Kell? I said it.” Annie glanced at his shadowed shape, swearing to herself that she knew he was smiling. The need to have him hold her had not disappeared. If anything, it had intensified.

  Plucking at the sheet with her fingers, Annie asked, “Did you say it was almost morning?”

  “Sun should be up soon. Why?”

  “After what happened, Kell, would you think me foolish if I said I need to see the sun rise?”

  He came out of the chair and scooped her up before she could take her next breath. “No. It’s not foolish. I wouldn’t mind seeing it myself.”

  “But your shoulder—”

  “It’s just a little sore, Annie. Stop fussing over me. I told you I’ve had worse happen and survived.”

  Annie nestled her head against the bare skin of his chest. “I can’t help fussing. I was so frightened when you fell. I don’t want to hurt you, Kell.” I just want to love you.

  His resistance was at an all-time low. Kell hooked his bare foot around the chair rung and dragged it closer to the window. Annie tugged aside the curtain, sighing contentedly when Kell cradled her in his lap. Kell glanced down at her, unable to stop the incredible feeling of absolute peace that stole over him. And with that peace came a sense of rightness, that here is where he belonged, holding his Annie and watching a new day dawn.

  His Annie? The possessive thought sent a shudder through him.

  “Are you cold?” she asked, all sweet concern as she cupped his cheek.

  “No.” Kell settled her weight on his lap, thankful that she could not possibly know that his answer was to more than her question. “No” was for the temptation that loomed before him. Remember, you’re a freedom-loving man.

  “Kell, what’s going to happen to Emmaline?”

  “I don’t know. All I could think about was that you were shot and needed help. I haven’t seen her, or Bronc, since I carried you out of there.”

  “What will you do to her?”

  “God’s earth, Annie! Why all the questions? Can’t you just sit—”

  “No. I’m worried about her.” She slid her hand down from his cheek and sighed. “Emmaline’s my friend.”

  “Damn it! She tried to shoot you!”

  “You don’t have to yell at me. I can hear you, Kell. And you’re wrong. Emmaline wouldn’t have shot me. She was scared. Things had gone too far. I so wish,” she whispered, once more snuggling close to him, “that she had been honest with me from the beginning.”

  Kell rubbed his head against her hair. “Annie, wishes don’t always come true.”

  “They do if you believe enough.”

  It was the unshakable conviction in her voice that set his anger to simmering. He had a strong feeling that Annie was talking not only about Emmaline but also about him. A trap yawned. The very one he had managed to avoid. Damn her! He didn’t want to say things that would hurt her.

  “Annie, you’ve got to stop worrying about everyone. You can’t make the whole world turn to some wonderful idea you have that everyone needs to be happy. And while I’m at it, you should take some time to understand that for your own protection you need to say no to people. If you don’t, they’ll keep on getting you involved in their troubles.”

  “But isn’t that what friends do? Be there when they are needed? If it was Li, would you turn your back?” She winced as she turned away and stared out the window. His voice was so sharp, with a cold, final flatness that truly disturbed her. His body was tense and Annie gently shook her head, wondering what had caused it.

  “Am I too heavy for you, Kell? I could sit here by myself.”

  “You’re fine where you are. I like holding you. Just stop worrying so much.”

  Annie leaned forward to see that the gray sky was giving way to a pale blue wash. With another small sigh, she wished she could do as Kell asked and stop worrying about everyone. It was simply easier to say than to do.

  Kell missed the warmth of her head nestled against his shoulder. “Annie, don’t sulk. I purely dislike a woman who sulks.”

  “I’m not sulking,” she answered softly, but didn’t turn to face him. “I’m thinking about what you said. You never answered me about Li. Would you turn your back on him?”

  “Never.”

  “Yet you ask that I do that to Emmaline. There is something you need to understand about me, Kell. I do worry about the people that I care for. I will never change. And I’m afraid of what you’ll do to Emmaline. Once you threatened to call the sheriff on me. Will you have her arrested for what she did?”

  Kell cupped her chin and urged her to face him. “Are you asking me to just let her go?”

  “I’d like to, Kell, but I won’t. You have to do what you think is right.” She paused, her teeth worrying her lower lip, while she kept her gaze directly on his. “Bronc is in love with her. Emmaline needs someone like him. I’m sure he would be willing to wait for her.”

  Sliding his hand into the thickness of her hair, he brought her head back to his shoulder. “I’ll think about it, Annie. I promise you that.”

  She smiled against his chest. A few scattered kisses seemed in order, and she most promptly gave them to him. Kell didn’t seem to realize what he had just said. He’d promised her. And Kell swore that he never, ever made promises to anyone. Her fingers entwined with the soft hair on his chest, a warming glow filling her.

  “You’ll be able to finish your building now.”

  “Yeah. About a week more should see the Aces opened for business. I should be able to find a buyer fast.”

  “A buyer?” Annie couldn’t believe what she heard. She struggled to sit up, but Kell kept her in place. Hope flared, bright, beautiful hope. “You are going to give up—”

  “I’m not giving up anything, Annie. Just like you to think that.” Tell her. You owe her that much. “Look, I never meant to keep the place. I just wanted to prove to you and everyone else that I wasn’t going to be run out. And I couldn’t just leave the doves on their own. Now that they can work again, it’s up to them what they want to do.”

  “Oh.”

  “That’s it? ‘Oh.’ ”

  Suddenly afraid of what else he would say, Annie used her fingertips to silence him. “Let’s just watch the sun rise, Kell.”

  Despite her weight, Kell squirmed in his seat. Her voice held a wealth of despairing acceptance. She’d just told him that she worried about people she cared for. But he almost admitted that he was ready to move on and Annie hadn’t said a word. ‘Oh,’ he decided, didn’t count.

  He expected an argument. Some protest. A little bit of her annoying questioning. There wasn’t even a hint of a sob. Not a sign that it mattered if he stayed or left.

  All he had was the sweetly scented, warm weight of Annie in his arms. And a slow-burning, most confusing fury that she would let him walk away!

  Well, it was just what he wanted. No ties. He didn’t even need to hear her tell him that she loved him again.

  “Kell?”

  “What!”

  “There’s no need to snap at me. I want to go back to bed. If you’ll let me go, I can walk there myself.”

  “I took you out and I’ll put you back. I keep forgetting that you’re a regular Miss Independence. You don’t need anyone to do anything for you. Well, I’ve got news for you, Annie.” Lowering his head until he was nose to nose with her, Kell forgot what he was going to say. The soft morning light bathed the luscious shape of her mouth.

  He
gathered her closer to him. His mouth hovered just above hers. A last sane remnant warned him that he shouldn’t give in to the temptation to kiss her or he would never let her go.

  “Kell?”

  He jerked his head back and stood up so quickly he almost dropped her. Kell couldn’t get her back to the bed fast enough.

  “You need to sleep. You need to be left alone, Annie. You need quiet.”

  “I do?”

  “Yeah.”

  Annie watched him back toward the door. She wanted to tell him that the only thing she needed right now was him. She had a funny feeling that Kell had been talking about what he needed.

  The shadows were banished from the room as the sun fully rose. She knew it had to be a trick of the light that made Kell appear … panic-stricken? Kellian York? Ridiculous!

  The man did not know how to run scared. And of what? Surely, he couldn’t think that she was going to chase after him?

  Annie heard him close the door, but she kept staring at the spot where he had stood. The more she thought about it, the firmer her conviction that Kell had been running from her.

  She loved him—sinful, sweet-talking, seducing ways and all.

  What was she going to do about it?

  It was even more worrisome than the thought of what Kell intended to do to Emmaline.

  Chapter 22

  Kell groaned when he found Aunt Hortense waiting for him in the kitchen. He almost turned around and walked out, but she offered him a steaming cup of coffee and some sage advice.

  “Sit down before you fall down and drink the coffee. While you do, I’ll tell you that you can’t avoid me anymore. Young man, I want to hear a declaration of your intentions toward my niece.”

  “Right now?” Kell hunched over the table, cradling the cup. Just the scent of coffee scattered the cobwebs of sleep.

  Hortense, taking the chair opposite him, leveled her raisin-dark eyes at his. “It’s as good a time as any.”