Hawk's Way: Garth

by Joan Johnston

  Garth threw his whiskey glass against the stone hearth with all the pent-up anger and frustration he was feeling. The shattering glass sounded like an explosion in the silent house. He waited for his family to rouse, to come down and demand an explanation for his violent act.

  But they slept on. Unaware of the turbulence in his mind and soul as the one women he had ever loved, would ever love, walked out of his life.

  Tomorrow. Tomorrow before she left he would confront her one last time. He would tell her what he was feeling. He would lay his future happiness in her hands. He would give her his heart and wait to see if she broke it.

  CHAPTER NINE

  He was too late. When Garth knocked on Candy’s door the next morning, she was already gone. Soon after that a long-distance call came for Faron and Belinda. A corporate buyer wanted to see King’s Castle. They had to cut their visit short to return to Wyoming. Because the other two couples had driven to Hawk’s Way from their southwest Texas ranches, they left right after lunch to try and miss the worst of the Labor Day traffic.

  By late afternoon, Garth’s family was gone from Hawk’s Way, and he was alone. He avoided Charlie One Horse because he didn’t want to hear the old man’s “I told you so.”

  Since his brothers and sister had left the ranch and gone their own ways Garth had managed to keep the loneliness at bay. He had stayed busy, and having Charlie One Horse around gave things a sense of continuity. But after Labor Day that changed. Garth was aware there was something—someone—missing in his life. The days felt hollow, empty of all joy.

  Within a week, Evan Baylor’s prize stud arrived in a horse trailer, along with a note from Evan saying that once he received Garth’s check for the agreed upon amount, their agreement would be fulfilled. Garth now had what he’d bargained for. But not what he wanted.

  He wandered around Hawk’s Way, trying to find a focus for his days, feeling the awful loneliness of the nights. For the next week, he couldn’t seem to find the time to write that check to Evan Baylor. He had thought there was nothing that could make him change his mind about trusting a woman. He was discovering that in this, too, he had been mistaken.

  Two weeks to the day after Candy had left him, Garth awoke with a purpose that drove him like a whip. “Hurry up with that breakfast, Charlie. I’ve got a lot of traveling to do today.”

  “You goin’ someplace?”

  “I’m taking Comanche Moon back to Evan Baylor.”

  Charlie gave Garth a speculative look. “You thinkin’ ’bout makin’ a trade?”

  “I might be.”

  “Good idea,” Charlie said. “You need that filly a lot more than you need that stud.”

  Garth grinned. “For once I have to agree with you.”

  The grin didn’t stay on Garth’s face for long. In fact, his look was downright grim by the time he arrived at Evan Baylor’s doorstep. The drive to the B Bar Ranch outside of Dallas was long and grueling. The terrain was flat, the weather hot, and he had never seen a more welcome sight than Evan Baylor’s Spanish hacienda.

  The ranch house had thick, white-washed adobe walls that kept the heat out. He stepped through an arched doorway into a house that was dark and cool. The furniture consisted of heavy Mediterranean pieces accented by Navajo and Hopi Indian decorations. The living room was spacious and there were several arches inset along the walls adding to the Spanish flavor of the room.

  Garth stood with his hat in his hand waiting to see Candy’s father. He wasn’t sure what his reception would be, but he was willing to insist that Evan Baylor talk to him.

  Evan was cordial, if not friendly. “I’m surprised to see you, Garth. What’s brought you over this way?”

  “I’ve come to return Comanche Moon. I left him at the barn.”

  Evan arched a brow. “I always keep my bargains, Garth. You earned the horse. He’s yours.”

  This time Garth heard the irritation in the older man’s voice. “I didn’t hold to my part of the bargain,” Garth said.

  “Oh?”

  “I told your daughter about our agreement.”

  “Oh.” Evan pinched the bridge of his nose. That explained Candy’s cold behavior toward him for the past two weeks. She hadn’t told him much about what had happened at Hawk’s Way, except to say that she had learned a great deal. And that she never wanted to see Garth Whitelaw again for as long as she lived.

  “I want to talk to her,” Garth said.

  “What makes you think she’s here?”

  There was a pause. Then, “Is she?”

  Evan realized the futility of that sort of deceit. Garth would keep looking until he found her. “Candy doesn’t want to see you.”

  “Too damn bad. I want to see her, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “Now, look here, young man—”

  “Either you ask her to come here, or I’m going to go hunting for her.”

  “Like hell!” Evan said. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

  “If I have to, I will,” Garth threatened.

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  Both men turned to face Candy, who was standing in one of the arched doorways. Garth had been hungry for the sight of her, and he ate her now with his eyes. He noticed changes in her appearance. There were smudges under her eyes that told him she hadn’t been sleeping well, and her jeans hung on her, which told him she hadn’t been eating right, either.

  But her gray eyes flashed fire, and her chin jutted pugnaciously. She might have been bucked off, but she was raring to get right back on and apparently willing to use spurs, if that was what it took to stay there.

  “I’ll talk to him, Daddy.”

  “Do you want me to stay?” Evan asked.

  Garth didn’t bat an eyelash.

  “No, Daddy. I’ll be all right.”

  Evan looked from his daughter to the man who had come seeking her. “Call if you need me.” Evan made it plain with a look he shot at Garth that although he was leaving them alone, he wasn’t going far.

  Candy followed her father’s progress from the room, then turned to Garth. “Say what you came to say and get out.”

  Garth wasn’t a man used to making explanations. Nor apologies. For Candy he was willing to do both. If only he could get the words out. But wanting to explain how he felt about her and being able to do so were two different things.

  “I didn’t figure you for a quitter.” What he had intended as a compliment came out sounding more like a taunt.

  “I’m not!” Candy retorted, stung into speaking.

  Garth stared at her, trying to say with his eyes what he wasn’t able to express in words.

  I want you back at Hawk’s Way. I need you in my life.

  What he said was, “If you want to be the second-best wrangler in Texas, you’ve got a lot more to learn.”

  Candy bit down on an oath that sought voice. She had control of her temper. Barely. She wasn’t going to allow Garth to provoke her into losing it. She was incensed by the mockery in Garth’s voice and frustrated by the fact that he seemed determined to ignore the intimate relationship that had developed between them at Hawk’s Way.

  Candy had hoped and prayed every night since she left Hawk’s Way that Garth would see the error of his ways. She had dreamed that he came after her and asked her to marry him. Well, he was here. But he wasn’t following the script she had written for him. And she was just furious enough to take him up on his challenge.

  “We’ll just see who’s a quitter!” She marched to the door through which her father had left and called, “Daddy! Come here, please!”

  Evan came on the run. He looked worriedly from his daughter to the stony face of the man who had come to get her.

  “I’m going back to Hawk’s Way,” she announced.

  “Are you sure that’s what you want to do? You aren’t being forced or—”

  “No one’s forcing me into anything.” She met Garth’s glacial stare with fiery eyes. “I know exactly what I�
��m doing.”

  Candy hoped she was right. The risk of giving Garth a second chance was great, of course. But the rewards, if she could get past that cynical shell he used to protect himself, would be even greater. Just coming here, she realized, had been a huge step for Garth.

  “I’ll go pack a few things,” she told Garth. “We can leave as soon as I’m done.”

  Once Candy was gone, Evan eyed Garth speculatively. “Would you like a drink?”

  “I could use one,” Garth admitted. “But I’ve got a lot of driving to do yet today.”

  “A cup of coffee?”

  “That sounds good.”

  Evan led Garth into the decorated tile kitchen and poured him a cup of coffee from the pot on the stove. “Make yourself comfortable.” He urged Garth to sit at the small wooden table set close to the wall and took the chair across from him.

  “You broke my daughter’s heart,” he said.

  “It wasn’t my intention to hurt her.”

  “Yet you did,” Evan said. “You’d better be damn sure of what you’re doing, young man. Because you won’t get another chance with my daughter.”

  Garth took that to mean Evan wouldn’t allow it. He didn’t argue with Candy’s father. He took a sip of the coffee, which was hot enough to burn his tongue, and kept his thoughts to himself.

  Evan was worried. Candy had been miserable in the two weeks since she had returned from Hawk’s Way. His gentle probing had revealed little about what had happened to bring her home. She had mentioned Garth but had refused to discuss the man. Garth’s arrival explained a lot of things Evan had been wondering about.

  Obviously his daughter and Garth Whitelaw had been having a love affair. It was difficult as a father to allow Candy to leave again with the wrangler. But she was a grown woman, and she knew what she wanted. Evan had always known he was going to lose his daughter someday. He would never know what Candy saw in a man as hard as Garth Whitelaw. But then, Evan hadn’t known why his wife, Roberta, had chosen him, either. Nonetheless, they had enjoyed a loving and happy relationship for as long as Roberta had lived.

  Evan interpreted Garth’s sudden appearance at the B Bar as a good sign. The fact that Garth had returned the stallion was an even better sign. The young man’s insistence on seeing Candy and his refusal to be deterred from his purpose was the best sign of all. Evan needed those signs to justify letting his daughter go with this man who had hurt her so terribly. He hoped Candy knew what she was doing. Because Evan was sure Garth Whitelaw had the power to break his daughter’s heart.

  “I’m ready,” Candy said, joining them in the kitchen.

  Garth rose and took the suitcase from her. “I left the truck at the barn.” At Candy’s questioning look he added, “I brought Comanche Moon back.”

  “He didn’t keep his part of the bargain,” Evan explained. “He told you I arranged for him to teach you in exchange for the horse.”

  “Was that all you arranged?” Candy asked.

  Evan looked hurt that she would even ask. “Absolutely.”

  “We’d better leave if we’re going to get back to Hawk’s Way tonight,” Garth said.

  There wasn’t much to see once it got dark, and neither of them wanted to listen to the radio. Candy sat with her arm resting on the open window, staring out at the shadowy landscape.

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since you left Hawk’s Way,” Garth said at last.

  “Oh?” Candy’s heart began to beat a little faster.

  “I…I’ve blamed every woman I ever met for what my mother did to my father.”

  Candy remained silent.

  Garth swallowed over the knot in his throat and kept talking. “I always figured that if I never let myself love a woman, she could never hurt me.”

  “So you never loved anyone,” Candy said in a soft voice. Not even me? she wanted to ask. That was entirely too dangerous a question. The fact that Garth had come after her was significant. It didn’t mean he had let go of the past. Only that he wanted to try.

  Neither of them said anything more until they could see the lights of Hawk’s Way in the distance. Candy turned to Garth and said, “What is it you want from me, Garth?”

  I want you to love me. But he couldn’t yet say that to her aloud. “I don’t know,” he said gruffly. “I want you. I always have.” I always will.

  Candy sighed. Trust a man to focus on the physical. “That isn’t enough, Garth.”

  “I know,” he admitted with a sigh easily as large as her own.

  Candy took a deep breath and asked, “Do you really think you can change?”

  Garth met her eyes with a bleak look. “I don’t know.”

  It might not have been a very satisfying answer, but it was an honest one. Candy realized that only the test of time would tell whether Garth could put the past behind him.

  When they arrived at Hawk’s Way, Charlie One Horse was nowhere to be seen. Garth carried Candy’s suitcase up to her room—the one next to his. She looked at him askance, but he did no more than set down the suitcase and back away to the door.

  “You know where everything is,” he said. Then he closed the door between them.

  Candy frowned. She knew Garth had been aroused. She had seen the glitter in his dark eyes, the tautness of his body when he passed by her, not to mention the ridge in his jeans. Yet he hadn’t tried to seduce her. She was confused by his restraint. But not discouraged.

  In fact, Garth’s unusual behavior continued over the next several days and weeks. His eyes never left her, and when she caught his glance the heat was enough to warm her deep inside. But they continued tiptoeing around each other, afraid to wreck the fragile balance in their relationship.

  Candy went back to work with the black stallion. She got up before dawn each day to make time for an extra session with the animal. She was close to earning his trust. She just knew it!

  At last the day came when she held out her hand, and the stallion walked up to take the cube of sugar from her. Of course he instantly danced away again. But if he had done it once, Candy knew that sooner or later he would do it again. It was only the first step, but it was a big one.

  “I didn’t think that would ever happen.”

  Candy whirled to find Garth directly behind her. She smiled up at him. “He’s a lot like you.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Afraid to trust.”

  Garth stiffened. Candy had just stepped over the invisible line they had drawn regarding discussion of their relationship. “I suppose next you’ll be holding out a cube of sugar to me,” he said in an acid voice.

  “I would if I thought it would sweeten you up any,” she retorted. When she tried to leave, Garth caught her wrist and snapped her back around to face him.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded, terrified that she might be leaving him again.

  “I have work to do.”

  “Nothing that can’t wait.” Garth had stayed away from Candy as long as he could. Simply touching her had brought back memories of how she felt in his arms. “Come with me.” He paused and added, “Please.”

  “When you put it that way,” she said, “I find myself inclined to join you.”

  Garth picked her up in his arms and headed for the house.

  “Garth!” she said with a breathless laugh. “Everyone will see us.”

  “Let them look. I don’t care.”

  He took the stairs two at a time, and by the time he reached his room, Candy was as aroused as he was. When Garth let her feet go, she laced her hands around his neck and urged his head down for her kiss.

  The first touch of Garth’s lips sent a shiver through Candy.

  “Garth.”

  It was all she said, but it was enough to send the blood pumping through Garth’s body. He wasn’t feeling patient, but he forced himself to slow down. His mouth trailed over her temple, down her cheek to her ear. Her head fell back and he kissed her throat. He sucked hard enough to put a love bruise on her,
branding her as his. It was a savage, primitive thing to do, but he wasn’t feeling very civilized at the moment.

  Candy wasn’t aware of the pain, only the pleasure of Garth’s mouth on her flesh. Sensation streaked through her, until she was quivering with desire.

  They shed their clothes like winter coats in springtime, and then they were standing naked before each other.

  “You are so beautiful,” Garth said as he reached out reverently to cup her breasts. He lowered his head to suckle her, and Candy’s whole body arched toward him.

  Her hands landed low on his hips and slid around to his buttocks. Her fingernails left crescents as she held on for dear life.

  Garth picked her up and laid her on the bed, mantling her body with his. Moments later he was inside her. She was wet and tight and welcoming.

  “You have no idea how wonderful this feels,” he said with a satisfied groan.

  “Oh, I think I do,” Candy said. She moaned deep in her throat.

  Garth put his hands on either side of Candy’s face and forced her to look at him. His voice was fierce, his dark eyes savage. “Don’t ever leave me again, Candy. I need you.”

  It wasn’t a declaration of love, but Candy suspected it was as close to one as Garth Whitelaw had ever come. She put her hands on either side of his face. “I love you, Garth.”

  She was afraid he would turn away from the words, as he had in the past. This time his face bore a look of exultation.

  Garth didn’t say anything more. Neither did she. But there was something different about this loving. Something deeper. More powerful. More moving than anything that had passed between them before.

  Afterward, they lay close in each other’s arms, until their panting eased and they could speak again.

  “Will you spend the night here with me?” Garth asked.

  Candy remembered what Garth had said when she had first asked him why he had never married. Why buy the cow when the milk’s free? But she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. If he didn’t love her enough to marry her, she would know soon enough. And if that turned out to be the case…

  She might not have a lifetime with Garth; she might have only the next few days or weeks. She planned to make a lifetime of memories for the day when she might be forced to leave him.