by Linda Broday
Marley leaned into him and slid her arms around his lean waist, clinging to him. She wished she could stay forever in his arms and block out the rest of the world. She parted her mouth, and he slipped his tongue inside to dance with hers.
Desperate to feel him, she slid her hands under his shirt. Lean muscles rippled beneath her palm. He was everything she needed and could ever want.
His touch was so gentle on her that it made her tremble. She embraced the safety and security he offered.
Footsteps crunched behind them, and Hardy Gage cleared his throat. They jerked apart.
The old man’s eyes twinkled. “I think you’re needing something a bit more private than a barn for what you’re doing, gal.”
“You won’t tell, will you?” Marley asked, watching Roan trying to stuff his shirt back into his trousers without being too noticeable.
“Your secret’s safe enough, I reckon,” Hardy drawled. “People have claimed for years that I need glasses, and by God they might just be right. Maybe I need to borrow Granny Jack’s.”
“Thank you.” Marley strode to him and kissed his cheek. “I love you, you know.”
“Yep and same right back.” Hardy led his horse over to unsaddle. “How did the race go, Roan?”
“I won.” Roan grinned. “You boys doubled your money.”
“Yeehaw!” Hardy’s grin couldn’t split any wider. “How about you give up ranch work and just go from town to town racing. There’s good money in it.”
Roan laughed and met Marley’s gaze. “That’s not for me.”
“I’d better get this talk with Mama and Papa over.” Marley moved to the door, then looked back. “Will you come, Roan?”
“No. What they have to tell you is private,” he answered. “Besides, I have to fill Hardy and the others in on what happened in San Saba.”
“We want details. Every last juicy one.” Hardy chuckled and wagged his head. “That gray mare came through.”
“Find me when you’re done, Marley. Good luck.” Roan squeezed her hand and moved off with Hardy.
Nodding, Marley crossed the wide compound to her small house. She found her parents standing in front of the hearth in the parlor, their arms around each other. She searched their grim faces in the light of the newly laid fire.
“Would you like to eat first?” Jessie said, hugging her. “I made your favorite.”
“I’m really not that hungry, Mama, but thank you.” Marley didn’t think she could force one bite down her throat. The impending talk had shut down everything inside her body—except for her terrified heartbeat.
“You might want to sit down,” Duel said. “This will be hard to hear.”
Her legs trembling, she perched on the velvet settee and folded her hands in her lap.
Jessie’s eyes held tears. “Marley Rose, you have to know that we never intended to keep this from you. From the first, we meant to tell you everything, but the over the years, the facts dimmed and you were our child in every single way.”
Wait. Was her mother saying that she didn’t belong to them? That’s why she looked so different. If she wasn’t Duel and Jessie’s daughter, who was she? A million questions swirled.
Duel cleared his throat. Jessie curled her hand around his as he started talking. “Let me start at the very beginning so you can understand why things happened like they did. Before I met Jessie, I was married to a wonderful woman, Annie, and she meant the world to me. We were very happy when she told me she was in the family way. I made a rocking chair and a crib, anxious for the child to be born.” He paused, and the crackle of the fire made the only sound in the room.
“Annie had trouble from the first, but we thought it would get easier. She finally gave birth and there was so much blood. It kept coming and coming.” His voice trembled and he cleared his throat, wiping a hand across his eyes, probably to erase the hard memories. Jessie’s cheeks were wet with tears. “Both she and my son died. I laid them in the ground, saddled my horse, and rode away without a backward glance. I moved from town to town, not caring where I was or where I laid my head.” His eyes met Marley’s, and his anguish sliced through her. She wanted to scream for him to stop, but she couldn’t.
“I prayed to die. Every night I prayed I wouldn’t wake up, but I kept opening my eyes anyway. One day, a little before sunset, I rode into a one-horse town called Cactus Springs, tied up at the hitching rail in front of the only saloon, and went inside. Some rough-looking men asked me if I wanted to play poker, so I sat down at their table.”
Worry lined Jessie’s face as she rubbed his back. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do. It’s past time to tell her the truth.” He clung to Jessie as though she were a piece of driftwood on an ocean.
Marley’s eyes stung. Their love was too beautiful for words. But what was he trying to get at? What did a poker game have to do with her?
“We played, and the stakes kept getting higher and higher,” Duel continued. “The man across from me, Wilbert Gentry, ran out of money. By this time, it was just him and me left. He reached down and jerked you up off the floor. You were wailing. You weren’t a year old yet but already sitting up good. The prettiest little baby I ever did see. Tears left trails through the dirt on your face. Gentry sat you in the middle of the table and said he’d wager you. I wanted to shoot him on the spot.”
Marley gave a strangled cry and jumped to her feet. Unable to hear any more, she put her hands over her ears. “I can’t do this.”
Jessie left Duel and put her arms around Marley. She murmured the soothing words she had when Marley had been young and afraid. “This is painful, honey, but please listen to the rest,” Jessie whispered through her tears. “We want you to understand what happened.”
“I’m sorry.” Marley impatiently wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sat back down. “Go on.”
“I won the hand and I won…you.” Sobbing, he turned and rested his arms on the mantel.
Tears rolled down Marley’s cheeks. She’d been won in a poker game as though she’d meant nothing—just the cost of a raised bet.
Dear God! She’d had no value. No worth. She might as well have been a cow or a mule. Shock sped through her with the devastation of a bullet, ripping past everything she thought she’d known about herself.
“I tried to give you back,” Duel mumbled brokenly. “What did a broken-down cowboy need with a child? I couldn’t even take care of myself. When Gentry told me that if I didn’t take you he’d sell you before dark, I couldn’t let that happen. I just couldn’t.” He swung around, his eyes blazing. “You may hate me for the rest of my life, Marley Rose, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. You saved me. You gave me a reason to live.”
The sting of betrayal hollowed out every bit of feeling. She’d loved him for so long and loved him even now, despite the hurt of having the truth come out this way. He’d lied to her, but he’d saved her as well, and it was all too confusing.
“You’re our daughter, honey. Always was, always will be,” Jessie said, her voice shaking. “We loved you from the very first moment. You saved me too. When you’re ready, I’ll tell you how. Of this I am certain—if your father had given you back to Gentry that day, you’d be dead right now.”
Dead? Marley felt that way inside. Did it matter that much whether it was her body or her soul?
“There’s no mistake? Will Gentry is my father? Are you sure he hadn’t kidnapped me? He’s so mean.” Marley met the anguish in Duel’s amber eyes. His pain left bruises on her heart.
“I’m sure. Your mother found us, came to visit a while later. Her name was Maria Escobar. She confirmed everything.”
“She didn’t want me either?” Marley couldn’t bear the thought of being unwanted by her own mother. “She left me?”
Jessie took her hands. “Only because it was too dangerous
. Maria knew if she took you back, Gentry would kill you both. She cried and held you, saying over and over how much she loved you. Her heart shattered in a million pieces when she left. That, honey, is the deepest kind of love. She knew your father… Duel and I could protect you and give you a good life.”
“Gentry did kill her in the end,” Duel said. “Your mother sacrificed herself for you.”
Marley wept, her shoulders shaking, rivers of tears leaving permanent ruts through the pain throbbing deep inside. “Gentry told Roan that I was his. I didn’t know what he meant. Oh God, I didn’t know who he was. I hate him.”
“Duel, that he’s back now means he has some sort of evil plan,” Jessie cried.
“Hell will have to freeze over before he gets his hands on Marley Rose. So help me God, I’ll kill him first.” Duel’s face hardened to a piece of granite. Marley had never seen her father like this.
But he wasn’t her father, was he?
Her real father was a monster.
With a loud cry, she stumbled from the house.
Twenty-two
Roan stood in the shadows, his eyes fixed on Marley’s little house. He didn’t know what was going on inside, but he knew trouble when it came calling. Marley’s pain seemed to reach out like long tentacles, searching for relief. Hers was a sensitive, caring soul, and he couldn’t bear to think of her in pain, in a dark hole that he knew all about.
The door of the house flew open, and Marley ran as though chased by demons with fangs. He jerked up straight. Her sobs echoed in the darkness. He readied to catch her, only she ran the opposite direction—toward whatever danger waited to grab her.
The mountain lion. She’d forgotten.
He hurried after her, but as he got even with the door to the house, Duel and Jessie McClain stepped out. Duel’s eyes met his. The man looked as though he’d wrestled a monster—and lost.
“Go after her, Roan. She doesn’t want anything to do with me. Keep her safe. Please.” Duel’s voice was raw with despair. “She’s my little girl and I love her.”
“Can you tell me what this is about so I don’t go into it blind?”
“Marley Rose will tell you,” Duel answered. “She doesn’t know the danger she’s in.”
“I’ll protect her,” Roan vowed and raced into the thickness of the night. A fog had rolled in, blocking his vision. He had to rely mostly on his ears to get a direction. The brush snapped ahead of him. Her sobs echoed back, tearing into his soul. A shattering heart made a sound like no other on earth.
He had to get to her. She needed him.
Sudden reality hit him—he couldn’t live without her. He needed her more than he ever had anyone.
He loved her.
The thought startled him. But Roan couldn’t deny it.
He loved this crazy, gun-toting, frustrating woman who twisted him inside out.
The noise ahead stopped. His mind raced. Maybe she’d tripped and fallen in her distraught state. Ravines and gullies hid in the blackness, and a person might not see them until it was too late.
The blood froze in his veins. Roan slowed, proceeding carefully, listening to the silence of the night. When he heard the low, pitiful cries, he knew he was close. “Marley? It’s Roan. Where are you?”
“Go away,” she said, her words muffled. “Leave me here. I have a mess to sort out.”
“I can’t do that. I smell danger.” He inched forward, one step, then two.
The dry brush crackled, followed by a grunt—sounds of a struggle. He had to get to her—but was he even going in the right direction? Sounds in thick fog often twisted around a man to where he couldn’t follow.
“Marley,” he called. “Marley, answer me.” Damn this fog! He couldn’t see. Something was wrong. He slid his Colt from the holster hanging on his hip.
“Marley!”
“She can’t answer you, Penny.”
The gravelly voice filled Roan’s veins with ice. With every nerve taut, he moved forward with caution and a prayer. Listening. But the wild beating of his heart drowned out everything.
Then, through a clear pocket in the fog, he saw Marley. Her beautiful brown eyes wide with terror. Gentry’s hand covered her mouth as he held her in front of him as a shield. Catching sight of Roan, she began to twist and squirm.
Roan’s finger tightened on the trigger of the Colt. “Let her go if you want to live.”
“Shoot and you’ll kill her. You’re a smart man, Penny. Lay down your gun. I have business with daughter dearest,” Gentry snarled.
His daughter? Marley was Duel’s daughter. Wasn’t she?
“No, you old bastard. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I’m not buying it. She’s Duel McClain’s oldest daughter, and he’s going to kill you for even putting your hands on her.” Then after Duel got through with him, Roan would kill Gentry again. Over and over until the bastard was dead for sure.
Gentry backed up, bringing Marley flush against him. “McClain stole her from me.”
The man was demented. McClain wouldn’t steal a nickel, much less a person.
“Just saying you’re right—what do you have in mind for her?” Roan asked.
“She’s worth a lot of money to me now that she’s a woman.” Gentry’s lips curled back. “I’ll be a rich man after the auction.”
Everything inside Roan stilled. “What auction?”
“The one I set up for two weeks from now. I’m going to auction her off to the highest bidder.”
Disgust dripped from Roan’s voice. “If Marley is your daughter, as you claim, she should mean something to you. You’ll sell your own flesh and blood, Gentry?”
The chilling bastard’s evil laugh sliced through the fog that drifted between them again. “I did it once and got nothing. Now that she can service a man, I’ll get rich. I’ll work her until she dies. She’s mine to dispose of however I want.”
The words chilled Roan. If the man was able to get away with her, he’d carry out his evil plan. “I can’t let that happen. Release her and you can go back to your killing and robbing.” Roan cursed the fog that made seeing difficult. He didn’t dare take a shot.
Seconds crept by.
Just let him have one clear shot and a steady hand. That’s all he needed. Just one.
Cold sweat inched down his back.
His foot slid forward silently on the damp ground.
“Damn you, woman! You bit me!” The voice was Gentry’s.
“Watch out, Roan!” Marley yelled.
An explosion sounded, and a bullet ripped through the fog toward him. He fell to the ground unscathed. The fool was firing blind. It seemed odd that he wasn’t taking advantage of the fog to escape, but maybe his thirst for vengeance against Roan was as strong as Roan’s desire to see him underground.
At last, the fog thinned and he could see Gentry’s head above Marley’s. He willed her to stay still. If he hit her…his knees tried to buckle.
Just as his finger twitched on the trigger, the distinct rumbling growl of a big cat filled the air. Roan spun around, expecting to see it, but there was nothing there.
A flash of a body leaped through the fog toward Marley. Roan had no time to think. He pulled the trigger and shot the beast a second before it pounced on her. Yelling, Gentry scrambled backward and disappeared into the white void.
The animal fell solidly to the ground. Roan rushed to Marley and put his arms around her. They had to get out of there before Gentry returned. Without wasting a moment, he put his Colt in the holster, scooped her up, and carried her to safety. He didn’t put her down until they reached her front door.
Duel rushed toward them, his gun drawn. “I heard a shot.”
“Killed a mountain lion, at least that’s what I think it was. Too foggy to see clearly,” Roan explained, then added, “Gentry had Marley, but when the c
at attacked, Gentry vanished into the fog.”
Duel clutched the porch railing for support. “Thank God you went after her.”
“We’ve got to find him and get rid of him once and for all or he’ll be right back.” Roan urged Marley into the house and walked to Duel. “Gentry said he planned to auction her off, said she’d fetch more money now that she’s grown.”
“Dammit to hell!” Duel scrubbed the back of his neck. “I was afraid of this, and now she won’t even speak to me or her mother. Jess is over at the main house sobbing. This is breaking our hearts. Stay with her, Roan. Give her the comfort we can’t.”
“Count on it, Boss.” Roan left him and went inside. He found Marley in the parlor, holding her hands to the dying embers.
“I’m freezing. I can’t get warm.”
Roan threw a log onto the fire, got a quilt from the bedroom, and wrapped it around her. “This’ll help.”
“Leave, Roan. I’m not fit company tonight.” Her voice was dull and lifeless. “I might say some hurtful things, and I don’t want to cause you pain too.”
“I’ll take you anyway I can get you.” He pulled her to him and smoothed her silky hair. “Can you tell me what happened? What is this about?”
“I’m so cold, Roan. I don’t think I’ll ever be warm again.”
“You will. Give it time.”
“Everything I ever thought I knew about myself was a lie. I’m so confused. I don’t know who I am anymore.” She whimpered like a hurt animal and laid her palm on his chest. “I’m so tired. So afraid. My whole life changed in an instant. Gone.”
“Just rest. Let’s sit down.” He drew her to the settee and held her in his lap.
“Roan?”
“Yeah.”
“You probably won’t want anything to do with me once you learn everything,” she mumbled.
“Nothing can ever change how I feel about you, Marley. Nothing.” He’d never meant anything more.
“Thank you for coming after me, Roan. I didn’t even know where I was going. I just knew I had to get away. Forgot the danger.” She stared at him with those big eyes, sadness oozing from her. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. I need to talk about this to someone, and I have no one else in which to confide.”