Licking her lips that had gone dry, she said, “I lost something very important to me.”
“What was it?”
Tam shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter to you.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if it didn’t matter.”
He lifted his head to stare down at her. She drowned in those unfathomable blue pools that led to the inner well of the soul. Without conscious thought, she raised her finger and carefully touched the creases along his forehead. His skin singed her fingertips and she pulled away from him.
“It was a picture of you,” she admitted, not sure why she’d thrown aside caution and self-preservation. “A picture of you as a young man.”
“How did you get it?”
“Many years ago, it fell out my father’s pocket.”
Something flickered in his gaze. “Go on.”
She hunched her shoulders. “That’s all there is to tell. It fell out my father’s pocket. I picked it up and would have given it back when…I didn’t.”
“Why did you keep it?”
She swallowed without difficulty, a fact she barely registered as she found herself mesmerized by the blue eyes who gazed so intently down at her. “You were my father’s enemy. A man he was determined to bring to his knees. And yet, you were my only friend.”
“Tam,” he breathed out.
“I’d take it out at night and would tell you everything. You wouldn’t be cold to me or distant. You’d look at me with those eyes full of mischief as if to tell me that no matter what, everything would be fine.”
Brutus’s eyes deepened in color while a powerful emotion worked over the features of his face. “I can’t believe it.”
“It’s the truth.” Her mouth twisted downward. “You must believe me to be a fool for having such thoughts about a miniature.”
“No, colibri rouge, I don’t think you a fool at all.” A sardonic look came into his eyes. “I was a young man in that picture. Now look at me.”
“I am.” Her eyes drank in every facial feature. “You’re a man in his prime.”
“Am I?”
“As the years went by, my father’s hatred of you continued. My need for companionship as a child changed as my body did. I was no longer a child in need of comfort. I was a woman searching for a man to call me his own. But I am a plain woman.”
“Hardly that!” he countered with a snort.
“There is no need to try to spare my feelings, Brutus. I have lived with myself all these years. I know what I am. I would take your picture and wish with all my heart that I could be your wife. I’d even prayed about it, asking God to send you to me. I prayed it so often because I knew it was a fruitless prayer. My father, on rare occasions, spoke of how he knew you would never betray Roseline. So, I knew my prayer would never be heard.”
“And now? Am I the answer to your prayer?”
“I’m your wife, no matter how convenient the arrangement is. Aren’t I here in your arms?”
“You are.”
Her eyes dropped to his lips. “Brutus, would you kiss me?”
His head jerked back. “What did you say?”
She gulped but it didn’t hurt. “Would you kiss me?”
“I thought that’s what you said. Do you know what you’re asking?”
“Yes, I do. I’m asking you to give me my first kiss. You are the only man I’ve ever wanted to have kiss me.”
“I can’t, Tam. Things are complicated between us. I am humbled by your feelings for me, but I would never want to take advantage of them.”
“Don’t deny me this, Brutus.” Her pride had gone, that thing that kept her aloof. “I hated her.”
“Who?”
“Roseline.” Even thinking of the woman hardened her mouth.
“Why did you hate her? You never knew her.”
“Because she had you,” she snapped back. “And whatever happened in the past, I was left with Caesar while she had you.” She reached out and cupped his shoulders, trying to draw him to her, but her strength was nothing compared to his.
“Brutus, I know I will never have your love. That my body will never know your passion. I know I will never bear your children. I accept that. Let me have one kiss. Just one.”
He seemed locked in an internal struggle. Emotions played over his face. Tam watched every single change. His eyes roved over her features in a languid perusal.
In an almost wondering voice, he said, “You say you are not beautiful, colibri rouge. There was a time when I would have agreed with you to my utter disgrace. You are like a hummingbird, delicate and graceful.”
He used his forefinger and traced the curve of her mouth. “I cannot grant you the kiss you desire—oomph!”
Tam yanked his head down to her and pressed her mouth against his.
She tried to mimic what she’d seen others do, moving her mouth across the firm flesh of his. His beard tickled in a pleasant way. Eagerly, she attempted to deepen the contact, sensing she was doing something wrong but not caring.
Brutus held himself rigid. He didn’t participate but neither did he drag himself away. Tam left his mouth to press kisses along his ear, his jawline, his eyes. Anywhere she could find a patch of flesh. When she pulled away, and opened her eyes, she saw his eyes had darkened to near black. His arms had taken on the stiffness of iron.
“Brutus? Was it terrible?”
Something flashed in his gaze. “We have to go, Tam.”
He pulled himself away, and Tam shivered at the resultant chill.
CHAPTER SIX
WC Ranch
Outskirts of Wickwell Springs
Two days had passed, and he still couldn’t get Tam’s revelations out of his mind.
With the escort of the hands that Caesar sent, they drew up to the boundary line of the ranch. Fingers numb, feet near frozen, and chilled from the winter weather, he was grateful to finally be at the destination but leery as well. Heralded by a large wooden sign with the initials of ‘WC Ranch’ painted on it, he reined in his horse.
He couldn’t help but see the irony of arriving at Caesar’s ranch in the winter in order to exact his revenge. Rows of fences hemmed in acres of land sheathed in a plush carpet of snow. Cattle moved about, their thick bodies layered with snow. Behind the fenced area, towering trees jutted up as if to kiss the wintery gray sky.
Brutus’s eyes strayed to Tam again. Huddled under the heavy wool garments, she stared at the façade of the ranch house, a pensive, brooding expression taking hold. Her horse moved nervously under her, probably sensing her tension.
The memory of her inexperienced, heated kisses had kept him awake long after everyone had bedded down for the night. They had wreaked havoc on his control and it was only through the force of his will and his ardent desire not to take advantage of her feelings that he’d been able to hold himself in check.
The moment forced him to come to terms with what he felt for this hummingbird.
Last night, he dreamed of Roseline and the red hummingbird. It had poked his wife’s eye out. Had the dream been an unconscious sign that he must have known of Tam’s dislike? Possibly. She was Caesar’s daughter.
He had married Tam in order to get the treatment her father stated he would do. At least that’s what he told himself.
Now, he had to admit there was more to being with her than just helping her get the surgery. After those kisses and without saying a word, he quietly came and gave the miniature back to her.
Her fingers curled around it like a child holding a favorite toy.
Over the days of their journey, he had grown to understand her more. He found her quiet demeanor often restful. She discussed some of her more interesting cases and he saw her attention to detail and the ability to blend into the background was a unique skill.
“I must admit I do not ever see you as some hidden gem. But a brilliant diamond ready to sparkle for the world. And with that lightning streak in your hair, it’s rather eye-catching.”
Tam had laug
hed. “Lightning streak indeed,” she quipped. “I tie my hair down so no one can see and identify me. There are other things I do as well, as I have been trained.”
Brutus had found himself captivated by this convenient wife. To think that he never thought he could ever make room for another than his Roseline, and to find that maybe his heart was big enough to love again.
And this red hummingbird would be so easy to love.
The door to the ranch house opened and a Negro woman came down to meet them, neatly dressed and wrapped in a heavy shawl. One look at her face and he knew exactly who it was.
Brutus gasped. “Celine?”
His eyes took in the attractive woman. She was five years older than as Roseline would have been if she lived. Her face still bore that silky smoothness for her youth, although fine lines had gathered at her eyes.
Celine didn’t seem surprised to see him, which didn’t bode well. “Bonjour, Brutus. It has been a long time.”
Her voice still carried a faint accent from her time as a girl in West Indies, but he recognized her. His eyes drifted toward Tam as she alighted from the horse.
If he hadn’t been sitting on the horse, he would have fallen to the ground. For all the protestations of love Caesar had made about loving Roseline, he had taken her best friend as his mistress. Why?
Before he could ask questions, the ranch hands came to take the horses and they were led inside. Immediately the warmth of the home enveloped them like a heavy blanket. Celine put away their outer garments.
Brutus watched the interaction between Tam and her mother. Celine did not ask about her well-being or see if they had a pleasant journey. Nothing but a terse, awkward silence.
Celine’s brown eyes drifted to his. “He wants to see you both. Now.”
“May I speak with you before we go, Celine?”
“No.” The word shot like a bullet in the air. “When White Caesar wants something, I have become accustomed to do what he wants.”
Before he could question her further, she whirled around in a swivel of skirts and started down the main hall without looking back. Why had she given him animosity? What need had she to be angry?
Making a note to get to the bottom of it, he turned to Tam. “Are you all right, Tam?”
“Yes. I am fine.”
“Shall we go?”
Tam bit her bottom lip. Briefly, the skin along his face burned in remembrance of their soft heat. “I suppose we must.”
“It will be okay.”
“But I have no idea how my father wants to gain his vengeance on you.”
“It doesn’t matter what he does to me.” Brutus drew her into the confines of his arms and gathered her close. Those cinnamon eyes lifted, filled with child-like uncertainty.
A stirring within his heart happened as he met that vulnerable gaze. It moved like molten metal along his nerve endings, sending a kind of electric current through his body.
“I promise this to you, colibri rouge. I will not let anything happen to you.”
As he spoke the words, he knew that he would protect her with every fiber of his being. She nodded and the uncertainty melted away, replaced by the glow of her inner strength. Taking her arms, Brutus thrust his shoulders back. At long last, after twenty years, he would see Caesar again.
***
Tam took one look at her father and knew the truth.
White Caesar was sick. Miserably sick.
“Father!”
Blearily, he sent his black gaze in her direction and then back to Brutus. “So, you’ve brought him to me.”
How could he be thinking of Brutus and his revenge? He looked like death. Did it matter anymore? Yet, she knew what to say. “I have, Father.”
A triumphant gleam entered his soulless eyes. It reminded her of sunlight on a black glass. “It’s been a long time, Black Brute.”
Brutus nodded guardedly. “It has.”
Tam started. “Black Brute?”
A rare, almost boyish smile appeared on Caesar’s face. “I gave him a black eye when he challenged me.”
The two men stared at each other. Like a dishtowel wiping away a stain, the smile left Caesar’s face as quickly as it had come upon him. Tam studied these two men that shared a complicated history she wasn’t entirely privy to but was affected by.
One tall and strong and the other nearly bent over in a chair. White Caesar’s flesh looked puffy about his cheeks, while his eyes had a reddish tinge. Tam couldn’t understand what had happened. Her father, when she saw him several months ago, had appeared to be in the prime of his age. Strong, broad, healthy. Dark skin glowing with perfect health while only a slight peppering of gray mixed with the black hair.
Now, most of his hair had grayed and he could barely stand.
Tam could scarce believe that her mother never told her about her father’s declining health. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
When she heard no immediate answer, she faced her mother who stood to the side of her, a stoic look upon her face.
Celine’s arms tightened around her middle. “White Caesar would not allow it. He wanted to make sure you stay focused on your mission.”
“But he’s—”
“I am not dying, Tam.” White Caesar rasped out loud, coughing violently as he did. Spittle touched the corners of his mouth and he used a handkerchief to wipe it away. “I am sick, but I will get better.”
“As you say, Father.”
She wanted to cry but already she sensed the familiar tightening in her throat. If she let out her emotions, she may have another episode and that was the last thing she wanted. Though she longed to be free of White Caesar’s hold and his control of her life, she never meant for it to be in this light.
“When did this begin? Have you seen the doctors? What have they said?”
“My health is not important, Tam.”
“But Father—”
“Be quiet, Tam. In fact, leave us. I will speak to you later.”
The old subservience came to the forefront as if she’d never left the presence of her father. She went to do his bidding when Brutus grabbed her arms and stayed her steps.
“Caesar, do be careful of how you speak to Tam. I won’t have you disrespect my wife.”
His words ushered in an explosive cloud of silence. Caesar froze as he turned into a statue while Celine’s mouth opened like an unhinged door. To Tam’s fanciful imagination, even the fire quieted down.
“What did you say?” Celine whispered.
“Tam and I were married a little over a week ago.”
Caesar’s head turned and his black gaze fixed on Tam with a shocked intensity. Though she gave no outward sign, she squirmed at the look on her father’s face. She’d never seen this much emotion from him before.
The silence lengthened, laden with tension that was palpable. Still her father refused to look away. Tam finally did, unsure what to make of her father’s reaction. He had never cared about her before. Why should it matter what man she married?
It matters because you know this is the enemy. And you’ve fallen in love with him.
A swear word snapped the tension of the air like the crack of a whip. Celine jumped as Caesar snarled.
“Again, Brutus? You do this again? To my own daughter.”
“Caesar, perhaps we should talk.”
When her father straightened, his body fully erect, he stood well over six feet tall. His head whipped in her direction and the icy glare sent alarm through her.
“Did you marry him of you own will?”
What was she to answer? Why did she have the feeling that the way she answered would be of extreme importance. But in what way?
“Yes, Father. I did.”
“You knew, Tam. You knew what he was to me and you did this.”
“Father, if you’ll let me explain.”
“Do you really think I want to hear your excuses now? You betrayed me. All I have ever asked or wanted from you, Tam, was your obedience and loyalty to m
e. When you left this house, I told you that the only way you could come back was to do my bidding. Isn’t that so?”
“Yes, Father but—”
“That’s not a daughter, Caesar. That’s a pet.”
“What would you know about it, Brute? Tell me.”
“I have four daughters.”
Her father’s face took on an almost animalistic rage. With whatever ailment that attacked his body, his anger further contorted his features until he looked monstrous.
“They were to be my daughters, Brutus. Roseline was to be my wife. And yet, I was left with that.”
His finger jerked in Celine’s direction with blatant disdain. Celine’s stiffened and her eyes moistened.
“We need to talk, Caesar. Without Celine and Tam here. You know it and so do I.”
“I don’t want to hear anything from you! You are nothing more than the lowest of all the creatures of the earth. A thief and a liar. You should be burned in the deepest pits of hell for what you’ve done.”
He glared at Tam again. “You can choke until you die. You’re no longer my daughter and I refuse to help you.”
The blood drained out of Tam’s face. The bulge in her throat swelled. “You promised!”
“Caesar, this is ridiculous. She is your daughter.”
“And Roseline was my wife!”
Tam gasped and glanced over at Brutus. What was her father talking about? Roseline was his wife? How could that be when, when—
“Get out, all of you. Get out before—”
A violent coughing spell overtook White Caesar, wracking through his body and sending her father to his knees. He coughed into the handkerchief and when he pulled back, Tam gaped in horror at the red spots that dotted it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Why does he hate you so much, Brutus? Why?”
They were given one of the bedrooms at the back of the house. It had only one bed. If these were different circumstances, Tam would have been concerned about the implication of intimacy. Yet, she barely gave it a thought as White Caesar’s outburst filled her mind.
He pressed his fist against the wall of the room. “I cannot tell you, Tam.”
An Agent for Brutus Page 6