The woman left and returned carrying a bowl of water. With gestures, she indicated that Lily should take the bowl to one of the vacant cubicles and use the water for washing.
Tired and dirty from the long ride, Lily was grateful for that offer, but she couldn't fathom how far she could get without cloth or soap. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers. If the woman continued to stand there expectantly, she wasn't going to do more than wash her face and hands anyway.
Cade appeared in the doorway then. Dove Woman began berating him, but he brushed her aside to throw a package in Lily's direction. "Soap. I'll be back later." With a few unintelligible words, he ordered the other woman and the giggling girls to follow him, leaving Lily alone.
Left to her own devices, Lily quickly shed her clothing and scrubbed as much as she dared. She was grateful for the chemise and the cotton drawers she'd made to wear under Jim's rough work clothes. They at least provided a modicum of modesty as she attempted to wash around them, fearful that anyone might walk in at any time.
She wished she had clean clothes to put on when she was done, but she donned the dusty shirt and trousers and expectantly sniffed at the soup cooking over the fire. She would like to look nice for Cade's father, but she would rather have a full meal inside her before then.
Dove Woman returned bearing bowls and a ladle made out of a gourd, but without her daughters. She indicated that Lily was to serve, and Lily, all too ready to eat, did as instructed. Then the woman indicated that she set one of the bowls outside the door. That seemed somewhat puzzling until Lily decided the other bowl was for Cade, and he wasn't supposed to enter the lodge of an unmarried woman, thus the earlier tongue-lashing. That idea appealed to her, and Lily set the bowl outside and contemplated her own plate.
She had no utensils with which to eat. Carefully, she observed as the other woman dipped her fingers into the soup and began pulling out choice bits to plop into her mouth. It was crude, but Lily was too hungry to argue.
To her surprise, Cade appeared, carrying the bowl she had set out. He sat down cross-legged beside the fire and began to devour the food to the titters of the Indian woman who watched them.
So much for that theory. Giving up on understanding these people, Lily dipped her fingers in the bowl, selected the choicest piece, and maneuvered it to her mouth without dripping down her front. The occasional flicker of Cade's gaze in her direction made her aware that she had not fastened her overlarge shirt all the way to the neck, but she was damned if she would fasten it while he watched.
They ate in silence, and when they were done, they washed their hands in the bowl of water.
"He will be ready." Cade rose and held out his hand.
Lily accepted his assistance and followed him out, aware that a flute and a drum had begun playing somewhere not too far distant.
A group of people had gathered in the lodge to which he led her. More lingered outside after Lily and Cade went in. The room was stifling from the fire and the proximity of so many bodies. Lily's curiosity warred with her need for fresh air. Curiosity won.
As she sat down where Cade indicated, someone touched her hair. Cade spoke sharply and the hand went away, but now Lily was aware that everyone stared at her. She wasn't used to being the focus of attention. How had her sisters survived such moments? By laughing and snapping their fans, she supposed. Lily had a feeling that trick wouldn't work here.
The elderly Indian at the place Lily might have called the head of the table—had there been a table—began to speak. Cade answered him without inflection. There were murmurs of approval around the crowd. Lily found the flute player and focused on him, but his music wasn't nearly as interesting as Cade's.
Growing restless, she glanced around. She saw the faces of two solemn youngsters studying her intently, and she returned their glances. The younger ducked his head, but the older grinned before turning his attention to Cade. Lily wondered if it was her imagination or if the two didn't bear some slight resemblance to Cade.
She studied the similarities between the older man she assumed to be Cade's father, Cade, and the two boys. The boys weren't full grown yet, but she thought Cade and his father at least seemed taller than anyone else in the room.
Although Cade's father had a distinctive nose, it was more bulbous than Cade's aquiline feature, and so were those of the two boys. It was hard to see whether their eyes were similar; they were all dark. Cade's eyes were more long-lashed, but they seemed to have the same almond shape as his father's.
As Lily began an inspection of their mouths, she realized that a sudden silence had fallen, and she looked up to Cade to see a glimmer of amusement before he spoke.
"My father welcomes you. He wishes you a long life and many sons."
The sons weren't likely, but Lily didn't resent the sentiment. "Could you please offer my sincere gratitude for his help in saving Roy? And if there is anything I can do, any way I can help..." Lily gestured helplessly at her surroundings. Surely she could show her appreciation in some material way.
Cade translated her words, and the older man nodded approvingly, gesturing for the two youngsters to step forward.
"These are my half brothers," Cade told her. "They helped me find Roy and carry him out. I have told them they may have the horses we brought with us today."
That seemed the very least she could do. Lily nodded happily at them. Cade must be feeling better now that he had his stomach full. He was behaving with much more politeness than he had earlier.
"What should I say to them?" she whispered aside to Cade.
"I will convey your gratitude and appreciation." He turned and spoke curtly, in short clipped syllables, to the two boys. They nodded respectfully, gave Lily one more look, then turned and went out.
Since this seemed to be an adult gathering, Lily understood that they had been dismissed. There was another quick exchange of words between Cade and his father, and then, to her surprise, the women rose and began to leave.
"Follow Dove Woman," Cade ordered in a low voice.
Well, that wasn't much different from back home when the men stayed and smoked their cigars after dinner and the women went to the parlor and gossiped. Following her guide outside, Lily breathed deeply of the clean air and resisted the temptation to stay outside to hear if there would be more music. It would probably be impolite.
She followed Dove Woman back to a small tepee she hadn't noticed when they rode in. It seemed odd to see this one nomadic residence among the more sedentary houses of the village, but she wasn't in a position to question. At the woman's gesture, Lily ducked through the low opening and entered a darkened chamber where only the glowing embers of the fire gave her light.
Buffalo robes and blankets had been spread invitingly on the ground. Lily supposed she should have seen this coming, but she really didn't like spending the night out here, away from Roy. He could be suffering with fever by now.
Lily glanced anxiously at the entrance, but the all-male conference could go on for hours if Indians bore any similarities to the men she knew. She couldn't possibly find her way back through the forest alone in the middle of the night.
Resigned to her fate, Lily arranged the covers for the best layer of padding and rolled up in the blanket. Sleeping in the clothes she had worn all day wasn't pleasant, but she wouldn’t be caught sleeping without them. There were no locks on buffalo hides.
Lily was nearly asleep when a large shadow filled the space between the fire's light and her bedroll. She gasped and sat up before she recognized Cade's silhouette in the darkness.
"What are you doing here? Are we going home?"
"After I sleep with my wife."
And with that extraordinary statement, Cade sat down, put his arms around Lily, and pulled her to the ground as his mouth found and ravished hers.
Chapter 13
His heavy body on top of hers was suffocating. The broad chest she had secretly admired presented the immovability of a mountain when Lily shoved her hands agains
t it. When Cade eased to one side to maneuver his hand between them, Lily tore her mouth away and gasped, "Are you drunk?"
"Not now," was the only reply before his lips tickled her ear.
"Then you must be insane." Lily tried to wriggle away, but Cade's lower body was too heavy, and the gentle stroking of his fingers at the side of her breast was too tantalizing. It had been a long time since she had been aware of a man in this way.
Cade didn't answer her inanity. Gently, his large hand closed over her breast and his thumb stroked the peak through the layers of her clothing. Lily gasped and tried to struggle, but his mouth closed on hers again, drugging her more thoroughly than any amount of opium.
His tongue twisted around hers while his hand slid beneath the open collar of her shirt. The twin sensations sent liquid fire through Lily's veins, a fire she hadn't felt in years, perhaps never. It had all been so long ago, she couldn't remember. She just knew the frightening loss of control as Cade demanded a response, and she gave it.
It was too quick, too sudden. He gave her no time to think. Before Lily knew what was happening, he had pulled her shirt over her head and cursed the thin chemise beneath. Then his hands were at the buttons of her trousers, and she was trying to push him away, but all she succeeded in doing was making it easier for him to pull off the heavy denim.
Even as Cade cursed the drawers that remained, his hand caressed her there, finding her through the open seam, and Lily felt the small explosions of her body as his long fingers explored long neglected territory. When she tried to fight his invasion, he caught her hands and held them over her head.
In that moment Lily knew her helplessness. She cried out as Cade's narrow-hipped body bucked against her, and his mouth clamped against her breast, moistening the cotton of her chemise. Her hips rose in a frantic search for an answer to the rioting sensations surging through her.
Cade lifted his lips to her ear, and Lily thought she heard the murmured words, "I'm sorry, querida," before she felt the thickness of him pushing into her.
Lily cried out as much in relief as fury as his body entered hers. Cade hesitated at her cry, but there was no turning back. He released her hands to caress her cheek. Then carefully, he pushed deeper. Weeping with frustration at her own inability to control herself, Lily dug her fingers into the taut flesh of his hips and arched with eagerness to take him.
It was Cade's turn to cry out as he thrust deeper, plunging with such rapidity that in a few short strokes they were both convulsed with the contractions of their desire. As Cade's body reached into hers, touching some hidden spring of need, Lily cried out in surrender. Muscles tightening in waves of pleasure, she pulled Cade into the whirlpool he had created and felt his explosion with weary satisfaction.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, Lily clung to Cade's broad shoulders when he collapsed against her. She knew it had never been like this before. Even now, even after what they had just done, she could still feel him deep inside her. He filled her until there was nothing left to fill.
Her starved body throbbed already for a repetition. She had never dreamed it could be like this again.
Why in the name of all that was good and holy could this only happen with the wrong men?
Tasting the tears on her cheeks. Cade rolled over, carrying her with him. "I'm sorry, querida, I tried not to hurt you."
Not one to place blame where it didn't belong, Lily shook her head against his shoulder. Cade was still wearing most of his clothing, and she was in her underwear. They hadn't even taken the time to undress. They were both insane. "I am not hurt," she whispered.
Cade wasn't certain whether to believe her. Her cheeks were soaked with tears, and he had felt how tight she was around him. Despite her height, Lily was a slender woman. What other meaning could there be? He had feared it would be painful for her, but he had taken his chances. It was too late to go back.
"Perhaps it will be better next time," he offered as consolation.
Better? How could it be any better? She was still shivering with the passion he had aroused so swiftly. Next time? Lily didn't want to think about that. She knew where this kind of thing led, and though she hadn't got pregnant again since she married Jim, she didn't doubt that if anyone could do it, it would be Cade.
When she lay silent, Cade thought she slept. Relaxing, he adjusted her more comfortably in his arms and drifted off to sleep.
He had done it. He had taken her. Now all he had to do was keep her.
* * *
Somewhere in the dark hours of morning Lily gradually woke to the realization that while her backside was thoroughly warm, her front was freezing. Reaching for a blanket, she encountered a barrier in the shape of a massive arm.
As the realization hit of where she was and what she had done, Lily uttered a dire imprecation, but before she could find some means of escape, the arm tightened.
And then his hand stroked her breast, and she jerked at the sensitivity of her aroused nipple. It couldn't be like this again, Lily reasoned, not so soon. But when Cade laid her back against the buffalo robe and pressed his kisses to her throat, she grabbed his hair and dragged him up to her mouth.
It was sensuous slaughter. Cade's tongue was a soft-edged sword that penetrated and accepted no surrender. His hands caught and captured her curves, torturing her with slow strokes until she writhed for freedom. Instead, he found new places to apply his lethal tongue, and Lily was crying for mercy long before his knees came between hers and pushed them apart.
This time, he thrust deep, nearly terrifying Lily from the state of passion he had aroused in her. But Cade's kisses and hands returned to their electrifying caresses, and soon she was finding his rhythm and matching it. She could feel him filling her, touching the mouth of her womb, and her muscles contracted instinctively to hold him until he was groaning and bucking against her imprisonment, and they were both thrust again into wild seas.
As she cried out her release, Lily felt Cade's seed pouring hot and heavy deep inside of her, and the sensation convulsed her even more. It didn't seem possible that after all these years she could find what she had lost in one spring evening, but it was there, the heat and the heaviness and the excitement. And the peace.
Cade stayed inside her, merely rolling over and wrapping her in a blanket so they lay bound in a cocoon, touching everywhere possible. Their clothes were an irritation they could afford to ignore while the most intimate parts of their bodies lay joined. Aching with the battering that unused muscles had received, Lily gradually slipped into sleep.
They woke again with the dawn. Lily was too sore to respond when Cade's wandering fingers pushed aside her drawers, but he was already swollen with need, and there was no denying him. How could she deny him after all she had already granted? And when he finally entered her, Lily discovered she was ready to take him after all.
They lay briefly in the quiet aftermath of exhaustion, until the sounds of the camp arising intruded on their privacy.
Cade glanced down at Lily's rumpled chemise with regret now that light was creeping through the cracks. He would have liked to have seen her nude, but there was time yet for that. He would wait and savor the thought until tonight.
As it was, she was beautiful in his eyes with her hair loosened in a golden tangle against the buffalo robe, her wide blue eyes half-lowered and sultry with their love-making, her generous lips swollen with his kisses. His gaze drifted appreciatively over the full rise of Lily's breasts to the dip of her flat waist and swell of her hips. She was a beautiful woman. He had done well in his choice of wife.
Lily's eyes widened as she realized Cade was staring at her, and he caught the flash of blue before she spoke.
"I must get back to Roy. If he's fevered, no one will know how to treat him."
So much for contemplating a lingering courtship of kisses and lovemaking in the grass under the noonday sun. At least she wasn't screaming rape. She had wanted what they had done as much as he had. Cade had worried about that, but
he no longer had any doubts about her passion. Although she felt nearly as tight as a young girl, she had a woman's responses, and he was satisfied.
"You are a married woman now; you will have to fetch your own water. There is a creek in the trees behind the village."
Rising unhurriedly, Cade pulled up and adjusted his denims, and Lily felt her heart pound just at the sight of his nimble hands fastening the buttons over his flat abdomen and narrow hips. It wasn't until he walked out that his words sank in, and she wanted to heave something at him.
Damn! Since when had she begun thinking with what was between her legs instead of her head? Cade robbed her of all logical thought when he was in her presence. She was behaving just like a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl again. Would she never learn?
But as she pulled on her clothes and found her way to the creek, reality closed in. She didn't know by what law they had been married, and she was inclined to ignore his assertions, but she couldn't ignore the evidence of her own body. Even as she daringly stripped and immersed herself in the cold water, she could see the bruises of his passion and knew the depth in which he had planted his seed. If she wasn't pregnant now, Cade would see that she soon would be.
That shed a whole new light on matters. At least this time the man had taken the time to offer his name, if a man without a name could do that. Lily didn't doubt for a moment that Cade considered them married. He hadn't taken her when he could have because he didn't want her to bear a bastard. In his eyes, what they had just done was legal.
That posed a whole array of interesting possibilities which Lily wasn't ready to confront. Not on an empty stomach. The thought of a man like Cade in her bed every night was exciting, but if she ever went beyond that thought...
Lily shuddered and got dressed. She could feel her protective walls tumbling down already.
Cade returned to his usual noncommunicative self as they ate their meal and saddled their horses. There was no formal farewell when they took their leave from the camp. Several women watched them and Lily waved at the one she recognized, but the smile she received in return could have meant anything.
Tin-Stars and Troublemakers Box Set (Four Complete Historical Western Romance Novels in One) Page 11