"What sort of trouble?"
"Slit girths, cut fences, fire, stampede." Cade shrugged.
"Sounds like I'm in for a nice cushy job. Let me get Lafferty saddled and I'll be right back."
When he shut the door, Jayne spoke. "I don't trust him."
"He'll be crushed. Most women trust him as soon as they meet him."
"I'm not most women."
"Truer words were never spoken."
"I'm serious." Her hand went to her injured shoulder and pressed against the bandage there, but she didn't complain even though he knew she had to be hurting.
"He's too glib. He's one of those men who uses his charm and looks to get what he wants. Obviously you two have a history. Why'd you agree to take him on?"
She wasn't taken in by his looks and charm? Cade was secretly pleased.
"Zed and I used to work the rodeo circuit together."
"I got that much."
"We were friends."
"And now you aren't. So?"
"So thanks to someone deliberately spooking the herd the other day, I'm down two hands. Zed needs work and I have a job opening. Don't worry, I'll watch him."
"I wasn't worried. It's not my problem. I'd just be careful, that's all."
But she obviously was worried and she looked awful.
"How do you feel?"
"Like something cats bury."
Cade found his mood lightening. "You do have a way with words."
"Yeah, and I can shoot, too."
"I'll settle for you sitting here playing with your daughter while I go outside and have a few words with our would-be rescuer," he explained.
"It's your neck. Just remember that our lives are currently linked to yours. Be careful. He could have another gun out back."
"Zed isn't going to shoot me."
"Uh-huh. I'll be sure and tell that to your next of kin."
"I don't have any. Now, wait here."
"Darn, and I'd planned to go shopping today."
Cade found his lips lifting right along with his spirits as he stepped outside. She was a mouthy little thing like her daughter. But he was starting to like both of them.
That thought sobered him completely. Zed stepped around the side of the cabin leading Lafferty. The big roan snuffled a greeting and Cade rubbed his nose affectionately. "How you doing, Laff?"
The horse whuffed and butted Cade's hand.
"Sorry, buddy. No treats today."
"You want to tell me what the story is here, Cade?"
"No. Are you sure he's sound?"
Zed scowled, but nodded. "He's sound. I've been pushing hard for a couple of days and wanted to rest him. I'll do it tomorrow instead."
"After you talk with Hap, get directions to the ranch house. Take a day and relax before you start work. For now, head due west." He indicated the direction with a flick of his wrist. "We're moving the herd east, but tell Hap I want them over this way instead."
"Should I tell him your truck was stolen?" . "May as well."
"Did you see who did it?"
"No. So tell Hap to be careful. He should spread the word that no one should leave keys in their vehicles. And have him try to catch Rio and Sven. They were heading into Darwin Crossing today. Rio has a doctor's appointment. Have Hap tell him I need disposable diapers and baby formula for a newborn. And I don't want anyone to see Rio buying the stuff. No one at all."
Zed tipped back his hat, watching Cade in some surprise. "Sure. Mind tellin' me what the deal is with you and that kid in there?"
"Yes." He didn't want to waste time with explanations.
Zed's lips tightened. Without another word he swung into the saddle and headed west. Cade watched the horse and rider out of sight. He hoped he wasn't making a costly mistake.
Zed said he'd camped nearby. Cade itched to check out the truth of that story. He turned around and found Jayne watching him from the open doorway, the baby tucked in the crook of her arm.
A shaft of pure desire caught him off guard, completely unprepared. Disheveled, wounded, married, she had an innocent sensuality that was disturbing. He wanted her. And she was just a kid!
"I told you to wait inside," he snarled.
She tipped her head to one side and her white-blond hair rippled across her shoulder like a waterfall of silk.
"No, you didn't."
"Well you should know to stay inside."
"What did he say to turn you into such a basket of cheer?"
Cade could hardly tell her it wasn't Zed, but her own effect on him that made him feel surly and annoyed. He hated being attracted to a girl young enough to be his daughter. Well, almost young enough, he amended.
"How old are you?"
"How old do you think I am?"
"Obviously too young to know better than to stand in the open doorway where you make a perfect target."
He stalked toward her. Jayne didn't back an inch.
"Hap's going to fire him," she said calmly.
Cade faltered. "What are you talking about?"
"Two minutes of conversation with Zed and you turn into a raging beast. Your friend will either have to fire Zed or shoot you." She melted back into the shack.
Cade sputtered on a laugh. It felt strange. When was the last time he'd laughed over anything? Jayne was unlike anyone he'd ever met in his life. The woman had more guts than most men he knew. And he'd known some pretty tough men in his days on the circuit.
Jayne was putting the baby down on the lower bunk when he walked inside. She looked as good from the back as she did from the front. The woman had a natural feminine grace that held none of the usual artifices. He pulled his gaze from her curvy rear end, but not before she caught him staring. He could feel the stain of heat moving up his neck.
"How old do you think I am?"
"You look about fourteen, going on twenty-four."
"Good guess."
Cade swore. "You are fourteen?" He was lusting after a fourteen-year-old?
"Of course not. I'm twenty-four."
"The hell you are."
"Fine. Have it your way. But they have a term for men who lust after fourteen-year-olds."
Cade swore again.
"Nope. That isn't it, but you're on the right track."
"I ought to turn you over my knee and paddle you."
"Yes, I saw you noting my butt. I should have figured you were the kinky sort. The quiet ones always are."
Speechless, he stared at her.
And she swayed.
"Hey!"
"I'm okay." She held up a hand to stop him. "It's just so hot in here. That's why I went to the door. I wish we could turn the fire down."
Cade looked at the banked fire and back at her. "The medicine hasn't kicked in yet. You've got a fever."
"I know."
"You should be lying down."
"You may be right."
"I was going to go down the road a piece and have a look around now that you have the rifle to defend yourself."
"I wish you wouldn't," she said before he could tell her that he'd changed his mind.
She sank gracefully onto the cot beside the baby. She shivered.
"Right now I'm not sure I could defend myself from a marauding cockroach. I hate to go all wimpy like a woman, but…"
In three strides he was beside her. "You're burning up again."
"Uh-huh."
He lifted the sleeping baby and set her in the car seat. "Lie down."
"Already ahead of you."
She lay on her back, her long, silky lashes dark against her pale cheeks. They sported two bright spots of color. He'd planned to leave. To put distance between the two of them, but also to investigate their surroundings like he'd told her. Whoever stole his truck had gotten here somehow. The thief must have left some evidence behind. If Cade could just go and have a look around… But he wouldn't be going anywhere right away. Jayne couldn't take care of herself, much less the baby.
"Here, swallow this."
Her eyes fluttered open. "What is it?"
"The last of the aspirin unless Zed left us some."
"I'll throw up."
"No, you won't. Drink this."
She didn't throw up, but it was close.
"You haven't eaten anything, that's the problem."
"Don't mention food," she warned. She drank the tepid water, ignoring some that dribbled down her chin. Cade wiped it away with his fingers. She tensed and her eyes flickered open. Curious. Unafraid.
Her skin was nearly as soft as her daughter's. Jayne's eyes were a brighter blue, but they held that same trusting innocence. She lay back, closing them.
"Cade?"
"I'm right here."
"I really am twenty-four."
Chapter Five
Temperatures inside the cabin climbed wickedly. By midday Jayne was much too hot and she knew it wasn't due to her fever. Cade opened the front door to circulate what little air there was. The temperature was more like late June than late April.
Thanks in part to the pain pills Zed had given her, Jayne slept fitfully most of the day, waking only to eat or to watch Cade with the baby. He tended to the baby's cord and her diapers. He fed her. He played with her. And once, when he must have thought Jayne was asleep, he even sang to her in a deep pleasing baritone that made Jayne smile.
And that was the only thing to make her smile. As the day wore on her shoulder felt like someone was jamming a hot poker through it. Complaining wouldn't help a thing. She would be stoic and whimper in silence, because she'd be darned if she'd whimper in front of Cade McGovern.
Her brothers were always telling her she was too bold. Heaven knew she could never keep a boyfriend for long. Of course, she'd never found one she wanted to keep. Men were so immature.
Except maybe Cade.
He was certainly different from anyone else she knew. He was quiet like her oldest brother the judge, sure of himself like her second oldest brother the cop, and gentle like her youngest brother the trainer.
Cade fascinated her. There was a solid presence about him that was infinitely reassuring, while at the same time, totally disturbing. She decided it came more from his attitude than his hard, rugged body. Despite his gruff mannerism, he tended to the baby and her with gentle care. Why wasn't he married to some lucky woman raising a brood of his own?
Maybe he was. The thought was discouraging. Lots of men didn't wear wedding rings, especially men who did physical work outside. Neither she nor Cade had exchanged anything in the way of personal information. He wore an invisible Do Not Disturb sign plainly.
But while he tried to keep his touch impersonal, he created a whole raft of sensations inside her. And he wasn't immune. She saw the dilation of his eyes and the way he quickly drew away from any contact or sign of intimacy. She had enough experience to know he was interested, but he obviously didn't want to be.
Cade appeared to be an intensely private person. She didn't have the nerve to ask him any personal questions. That only made him more fascinating. Jayne watched silently as he paced the small cabin, only leaving the building to empty the pail in the corner.
Cade made her curious about a lot of things.
What sort of lover would he be?
Jayne chided herself for the strangely tantalizing thought, but it wouldn't go away. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about her impulsive desire to find out. Her shoulder and the baby made a wonderful deterrent to her curiosity.
Like most newborns, Heather slept a lot. Jayne couldn't get over how tiny and precious she was. How could her mother have given her up? Likely the mother was a teenager who thought she was doing the best for her child. Jayne doubted the girl had even seen the baby before it was taken from her. She couldn't imagine holding this precious infant and then letting her go.
But as the day wore on, the baby became agitated, breaking Jayne's restless sleep. Her shoulder hurt enough that she would have liked to join in the baby's tears more than once. Only Cade's presence kept her from moaning out loud. She wouldn't let herself take a second pain pill because the first one had made her so groggy and lethargic.
By late afternoon Heather's constant crying couldn't be ignored. Cade walked the floor holding her, talking softly to no avail.
"There must be something we can do," Jayne said fretfully.
"I'm open to suggestion."
"Why don't you let me take her for a while?"
Cade eyed her. "And risk opening that shoulder again? She's just warm."
"We all are. Let me have her, Cade. My fever's down."
"For now," he agreed.
His mood was black. She suspected the pacing had more to do with his restlessness than the baby's unhappiness. He was feeling trapped here inside with them.
"You need a break. Go outside and have a look around. Take a walk. You can leave me the rifle. I assure you, I know how to use it."
"Trying to get rid of me?"
"Given your present mood, that's not a bad idea, but I was trying to give you a break," she said honestly. "It's hot and miserable in this cabin. Go."
Cade hesitated. "All right, but keep the rifle at your side."
Their fingers came in contact, tangling for an instant as Cade handed her the baby. Their gazes collided. Desire burned in the depths of his eyes, reflected, she was certain, in her own heated look.
Cade jumped back as though spooked. He grabbed his hat from the table, jammed it low on his head, and strode through the door.
"Hey! Don't close that!"
"It's too dangerous otherwise. Once I'm out of sight anyone could sneak around the side of the cabin. You'd never see them until it was too late."
"We'll suffocate!"
"I won't be gone that long."
She would have argued further, but her energy for the battle faded much more quickly than her desire. It was obvious he wouldn't leave unless he could close the front door and he needed a break, if only from the baby's incessant cries. The man could give stubborn lessons to her brothers.
"Can we at least open the window?"
"I tried. It's nailed shut. Sorry. I won't be long. I just want a quick look around. If anyone opens that door without calling out, shoot 'em."
"Yeah, right."
"I'm serious, Jayne. We don't know what's going on here. I'm not leaving if you can't follow orders."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything that will jeopardize the baby." That much, at least, was true.
She stared at the closed door long after he disappeared. She'd been right. Cade definitely felt the same attraction she felt. But that big moody man and her? Not likely. He still wasn't even convinced she was an adult.
And if he became convinced?
The appealing thought was disturbing. She wasn't vain, but most men were interested in her looks. Few ever looked any deeper. Somehow, she thought Cade would.
The idea of kissing those hard firm lips was tremendously exciting and scary at the same time. She'd never dated anyone remotely like Cade. Her father and brothers had always seen to it that she left the cowboys strictly alone. That had never bothered her since she'd never seen one as interesting as Cade.
The banker, Realtor, and CPA she'd been dating recently didn't compare with Cade. She doubted very many men did. Jayne was pretty sure her family never would have let her within a mile of someone like this cowboy.
She disciplined her thoughts and rocked the crying baby in her good arm. Her shoulder hurt. The thought had become nearly a litany and the sound of the baby's crying was grating on her nerves.
What if there was something seriously wrong with the baby? What if she was getting sick? Jayne couldn't stand the thought of her in this sort of distress.
"Look, little one, don't you dare be getting sick, okay? We aren't any happier with this situation than you are, but screaming won't do a thing except make you ill. Believe me, if I thought it would help, I'd join you. What do you say we get this diaper off and let you lie there naked for a while, huh? I wouldn't mind being nak
ed in this heat, either."
But she suspected Cade would object. If she'd embarrassed him by mentioning that she'd caught him staring at her butt, she could imagine how he'd look if he walked in and found her naked.
Being naked with Cade McGovern.
Now there was a thought to send thrills up a woman.
Chills! She'd meant chills!
Or had she?
It was the fever. She was having crazy thoughts because she was so weak and sick.
"What do you think of him, little girl? I saw you flirting with him earlier, flashing that innocent little baby smile at him. You've got good taste, but he's too old for you. He thinks he's too old for me, too."
But he wasn't. He couldn't be more than mid to late thirties. And Cade was the stuff of adolescent fantasies come to life. Tall, broad shouldered, rugged, he was simply gorgeous. That thick, rich, dark hair tempted innocent fingers to have their way. And that aura of self-confidence was a powerful draw in itself. Which meant he must have tons of women coming on to him. One more reason why she needed to fight this attraction.
She set the baby on the bed and got the diaper off without jarring her shoulder too much, but the crying didn't stop.
"Oh, sweetie, please don't cry like this. You're really scaring me. How about this? What if I sponge you off to cool you down and give you some sugar water? I know you aren't hungry, but I sort of remember Mom saying something about giving babies sugar water. I don't think it can hurt anything."
Jayne pushed aside her growing concern and reached for the bottled water. Her blouse was already ruined, so she moistened the hem and began sponging off the baby. Instantly, the infant seemed to calm.
Undoing several of the buttons on her borrowed shirt she patted down her own chest with the water. Her bra . got wet, but she ignored it because the water did help.
"I should have thought of this sooner, baby." Taking a deep breath, she struggled out of her slacks. "Ah, even better."
Barefoot, with Cade's shirt hanging mostly open, she began the sugar hunt. Fortunately, she found the tightly sealed tin without too much trouble. The effort required to get it open was a little frightening. She felt so dizzy afterward it scared her. She was never ill.
The baby's whimpers faded completely as she alternated dampening the infant and then herself. The cooling cloth made them both feel better and the sugar water seemed to go over well, too.
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