Cheyenne Bride

by Laurie Paige

  Perhaps if she’d sat down and spoken about her concerns quietly they could have resolved the problems then. Maybe Bill would have understood and agreed to wait. Instead, she’d felt pushed to the wall.

  But that was no excuse for what she’d done—leaving at the last minute, going back on her word, causing trouble for everyone. She glanced at the tall, silent male who had come to her rescue.

  Now he was involved, too, and they had to live a lie. All because of her. She wanted to apologize and tell her family how very much she cared for them—all of them, including their oldest and dearest friend. She wanted to erase the hurt and embarrassment she’d caused.

  But there was no going back. As her brother had so grimly stated, she’d made her bed.

  Joey patted her cheek and gave her a drooly grin. Her heart overflowed with simple, uncomplicated love for him. If only all relationships could be this easy. She pressed her face into his sweet-smelling neck and kissed him until he giggled in delight.

  “We’re going to check the horses for sell,” Cade said to Rand. “You want to review them for any you think we ought to keep to stock the new remuda?”

  Leanne couldn’t help but admire Cade. That was a nice thing for him to do. Her brother had been foreman at the Kincaid ranch for a few years, and she was certain he had to be wondering about his position what with all the newfound Kincaid heirs coming onto the scene. Cade had acknowledged Rand’s position in a gracious but businesslike manner.

  The security of her brother’s job was another worry to add to all the others.

  “That’s it,” Cade announced at six. “You can go on to the house. The main house,” he added.

  Leanne sighed in relief. They had examined every horse in the sale bunch and treated each and every one of them for worms, one for a small cut and others for various minor ailments. Cade wanted them in top shape for the auction, which was two weeks away. It had been a hard day…in more ways than one.

  Thanks to a fractious mare who had stepped on her foot, she limped toward the house, fatigue trailing at her heels. She was too tired to worry about sharing a room with her pretend husband. All she wanted was a hot shower, food, then sleep.

  In that order.

  She entered Cade’s room by the verandah’s side door. The long Spanish-style verandah, which ran the length of the house, was the perfect place for a husband and wife to sit and relax while watching the twilight overtake the day.

  Husband? She doubted she would ever share a life with anyone.

  Feeling decidedly sorry for herself and trying not to, she headed straight for the bath. She dropped her clothes to the floor before turning the shower on full and hot.

  “Ah-hh,” she breathed, letting it cascade over her hair and down her back.

  She washed leisurely, then rinsed and dried off. Wrapping a towel around her head, she opened the door to the bedroom and went to her canvas bag. There she hesitated, wondering if she had to dress for dinner or if she could sneak down to the kitchen and bring something back to the room. The latter sounded more appealing.

  After pulling out a new sweat suit in a luscious mossy green, she slipped it on. No need for underclothes. She’d sleep in the sweats tonight instead of the long T-shirt she usually wore. That way Cade wouldn’t get any ideas—

  “You finished in the shower?” a male voice asked.

  She nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning around, she spotted him in the easy chair, his boots off and lined up next to the wall, and demanded, “What are you doing here?”

  “I happen to sleep here.”

  He made a leisurely perusal down, then up, her body. When he met her gaze, she gasped at the heat in his eyes. She felt consumed. Worse, she wanted to be.

  “I—I didn’t expect you in this soon,” she stammered.

  “Obviously.” His smile was thin, mocking. “I hadn’t fully appreciated the delights available to a husband until this moment.”

  “You could have alerted me to your presence.” She thought of him watching her, his gaze like living coals on her flesh as she stood there, naked, deciding what to wear. She melted inside, her body going soft and damp and ready.

  “Why?”

  She refused to be daunted by the hunger in his eyes. “So I could have held my tummy in. All women do that when they know men are watching them.”

  He laughed out loud, then stood and closed the distance between them. He touched her cheek, his fingertips cool on her skin. She was startled at how hot she was, at how much she wanted him. Her gaze flicked to the bed.

  When she looked back at him, the laughter had disappeared. Now there was only dark, liquid fire shadowing his eyes, burning her with its intensity.

  “We can go there,” he said quietly.

  “W-where?”

  Cade glanced at the bed, then back to her. “There.”

  She shook her head, nearly dislodging the towel that covered her wet hair. “No.”

  “Coward.” He was shocked to realize how much he wanted her to agree, how much he wanted her, period. Sex had never been the driving force in his life. There had been other dreams more important than physical demands.

  Right now, he couldn’t recall a one of them.

  The vision of her slender body and its perfect form, the willowy grace as she moved, filled his mind. She bit down on her bottom lip the way she did when she was troubled. It set off new explosions of need inside him.

  “I want your mouth,” he whispered, leaning closer. “I want it under mine, moving with mine.”

  “No.”

  “That isn’t the word I want to hear,” he said, his voice softer, sexier. Needier. He cupped a hand around her neck. “I want to hear you saying yes…yes…yes.”

  Leanne tried to look away. He mesmerized her with his eyes, bringing her completely under his sensual spell.

  “It would be good, I promise you that.”

  She could almost believe him, in spite of her contrary previous experience. She licked her dry, burning lips. “You shouldn’t tempt me,” she said, and wished he would.

  He released her abruptly. “Aren’t women ever capable of making up their minds and keeping them that way?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he went into the bathroom and closed the door none too gently.

  Letting out a shaky breath, she collapsed onto the end of the bed. The way he made her feel, all achy and burning, worried her. Oh, how she’d wanted to say yes and to heck with the consequences.

  After brushing out her wet hair, she put a band around it and went to the kitchen. There she asked if she could prepare a plate and take it to her room. The housekeeper shooed her out with the promise to send a meal to her room.

  Ten minutes later the woman and her son arrived with two trays. They arranged plates of food, along with salads and a basket of rolls, on a lamp table next to the wall, then left a tray propped behind the table.

  “Set the dishes on the tray and put it in the hall when you’re finished,” she told Leanne with a sweet smile.

  Blushing furiously, Leanne thanked them and gulped as she viewed the candle, already lit, and the single rose in a crystal vase. The housekeeper must have thought she was serving a honeymoon dinner. As soon as they left, she tossed the rose in the trash can and bent to blow out the candle.

  “Leave it,” Cade suggested, coming out of the bathroom.

  He wore new-looking pajama bottoms. She knew at once it wasn’t his usual night attire. She groaned silently as her imagination fed sensuous images into her mind.

  Barefoot, he crossed the room and looked over the two plates. “Steak tartare, roasted potatoes, asparagus. Looks good.” He pulled a chair closer to the table, then bent toward the wastebasket. “What’s this?”

  “A rose,” she said grimly.

  He glanced from her to the flower to the vase. He replaced the rose. “There. Romantic, huh?”

  “I’m not in any mood for your sarcastic humor.”

  His eyes darkened. “Maybe I’m not in
the mood for your sour disposition. Ol’ Bill was lucky you ran out on him.”

  “I didn’t run! I told him I was leaving and that I wouldn’t be at the church. Oh, never mind.” It didn’t matter what she said, Cade, as well as Rand and Bill, would put his own twist to it.

  When Cade held the chair and indicated she should be seated, she did.

  They ate the excellent meal in total silence. Cade set the dishes on the tray and put it outside the door. When he closed it, he turned back to the room and surveyed her.

  “I’m going to catch the news,” he said.

  He proceeded to turn on a TV in a wall unit, then flopped one pillow on another against the headboard and settled on the bed to watch.

  She stayed glued to the chair throughout the news and a movie. They watched young Hornblower fight pirates and fall in love with a woman he could never have while aboard ship. When the movie was over, Cade brushed his teeth and lay down on the bed.

  “Where am I going to sleep?” she finally asked.

  He glanced at the other side of the queen-size bed. “There’s plenty of room.”

  “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we’re not married and if we share a bed, it might lead to…complications.” She plumped up her shaky resolve. “I am not going to become involved with you.”

  He eyed her for a long minute that sent her blood to boiling. “Married seems pretty involved to me.”

  She jumped to her feet and paced the floor. “We’re not married! I wish you’d stop saying that!”

  “Then you’d better tell your brother and boyfriend, or else they’re going to think the worst come morning.”

  “They already think the worst. Thanks to you,” she reminded him, angered anew. She threw her hands into the air in frustration. “How do I keep getting into these situations?” she demanded.

  “You’ve done this before?” He sounded only mildly interested.

  “Of course not!” She sank back into the chair in defeat. “It’s men. You’re so damn difficult to deal with. Females can clone females. We don’t really need men at all. The world would be a better place. Peaceful.”

  “Dull,” he corrected.

  His eyes moved over her, stabbing her with the hot desire she could see in them. She felt the softening inside. The conflict and the anger came down to this, she realized. To the hunger between them.

  As she watched, his body hardened, his erection visible beneath the thin cotton pajamas. Fires burned out of control within her. Breathing became difficult.

  She hated him for doing this to her. She hated the need she couldn’t seem to control anymore. She hated—

  Closing her eyes, she admitted the truth. She didn’t hate him at all. She wanted to crawl into that bed with him. She wanted the bliss he promised, the door into passion that he’d opened for her, showing her a glimpse of paradise. It wasn’t him she didn’t trust. It was herself.

  “If you won’t leave, then I will,” she said, deciding retreat was the better part of valor.

  “The hell you will,” he snarled in a low, deep voice with no anger in it, only conviction.

  She clenched her hands into fists. “I have to. This isn’t right. I can’t have sex with you and pretend a lie. I can’t, Cade. I—”

  “All right,” he said. “I get the picture.”

  He flung himself off the bed and, grabbing some clothing, went into the bathroom. She put on socks and sneakers, but needed her things from the bathroom before she could return to the bunkhouse.

  When Cade emerged, he was dressed. He took one look at her shoes. “I’m leaving. You can stay.”

  Shocked, she asked, “Where are you going?”

  “What the hell does it matter?” He yanked on his boots, grabbed a jacket, and was gone.

  She went out onto the verandah and watched him stride across to the stable. In a few minutes he left, riding the stallion that was his pride and joy. She didn’t know whether she felt relief or anger.

  Retreating to the room—carefully leaving the door unlocked in case he returned—she turned out the lamp and climbed into the bed. It seemed big and empty. Lonely.

  Tears stung her eyes and nose. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why she was so upset. Cade was acting the perfect gentleman—which was exactly what she’d asked of him.

  Chills and heat danced over her skin in alternate waves as visions of him raced through her mind. Her body tensed as she recalled the pleasure of his kisses and caresses. Since the first moment she’d met him, something had changed within her.

  As if a door were opening for the first time, she began to understand the restless, irresistible pull of nature between a man and woman. Understand? She longed for it. And that wouldn’t do, not at all. Cade must think she was a very unreliable person. She thought so herself.

  She sighed shakily and wished for wisdom to handle the coming days. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, either Bill or her family and, most of all, Cade, her rough but gallant knight.

  Sleep was a long time coming.

  Eight

  Cade entered the bedroom shortly before the sun rose. He paused at the door and removed his boots. Crossing the room in his socks, he stopped by the bed, unable to keep from observing his sleeping “wife.”

  Every nerve in his body clenched at the thought.

  She lay curled on her side in the place he usually slept. Her face was snuggled into his pillow.

  There was something about a sleeping woman. This one looked particularly young and vulnerable, as well as soft and desirable. She brought out oddly protective emotions in him that made no sense. And stirred his libido into a hot lava pool of seething hunger.

  He didn’t like that, but neither did he like the subtle coercion her brother and ex-fiancé exerted. They used her love for them to sway her to their way of thinking. He could imagine the pressure on her to agree to the marriage.

  Kneeling beside the bed, he touched the tangle of thick dark hair because he suddenly needed to.

  Braveheart. She was that, in her own way, even if she didn’t know it. She was careful with those she loved. It was a facet he’d never considered in a relationship.

  It caught his attention.

  She sighed in her sleep and turned her head. He let go of her hair until she settled, then he ran his fingers into the waves, combing them into order.

  Her eyes opened.

  He was caught in the bewitching freshness of a mossy green stare. He smiled.

  She did, too. For an instant. Before she remembered the distress that had brought her to this point…and his bed. He saw worry leap into the verdant depths of her gaze, dimming the springtime brightness.

  She sat up and scooted away from him until her back was against the headboard. “You’re home.”

  He nodded.

  She glanced at the bed, empty except for her. “Where did you sleep?”

  “At the line shack.”

  “I’m sorry—”

  He stopped her with a kiss, a brush of his lips over hers. She turned her head, clearly embarrassed. She wasn’t used to waking with a man. He liked that.

  “It’s past dawn. Time to get busy. I’ll bring some coffee in.”

  “Bring breakfast,” she requested. “That way I won’t have to face your grandfather with our lies.”

  He left to fetch plates of scrambled eggs and bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee. The housekeeper smiled broadly when he insisted on carrying the tray to the room himself.

  As he’d expected, Leanne was up and dressed, as nervous as a displaced mountain lion. “Relax. I’m not going to bite. Yet.” But he was feeling more and more in the mood.

  “I’ll bite back.”

  Mouthy female. She wasn’t going to give an inch.

  “I’ll look forward to it,” he drawled, deliberately teasing her, liking the way her eyes flared with interest she couldn’t hide. “When we make love,” he added under his breath.

/>   “We won’t.”

  She had moved silently across the carpet and, he now realized, was standing behind him as he unloaded the tray. “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” he told her on a note of wry laughter.

  “Cade—”

  He rounded on her. He didn’t want to hear her reasons on why they weren’t going to make love. Tossing the tray to the bed, he pulled her against him. He just had time to see the startled look in her eyes before he closed his and kissed the daylights out of her.

  To his surprise, she didn’t fight. Instead she kissed him back, sending his conscience into a state of stunned shock and his libido into a state of raging hunger. He tugged her hips to his and went weak-kneed with pleasure.

  He groaned and released her mouth. “Lady, what you do to me. Drives me right to the wall.”

  She nodded, then pressed her forehead to his chest. He could feel the uncertainty that trembled in her slender body along with the passion they’d created.

  “We’re going to drink fully of this cup,” he promised.

  “But should we?” she questioned. “We’re not married or committed to each other in any way.”

  “It’s something I don’t think we should miss. We’d regret it the rest of our lives, and then we would always wonder if something good had slipped by us.”

  She sighed, stepped back and took a chair at the table. “We’d better eat, then get busy. I understand the remuda boss is a real demon for work.”

  “He might make an exception in your case.”

  “I don’t want him to,” she said, the simplicity of the statement stopping any arguments he might have made.

  The worry was back in her eyes. It bothered him, although he couldn’t say why. He sensed a sadness in her that was at odds with her spunky way of facing life.

  Intrigued, he wondered what made her tick…and why he wanted to find out.

  Leanne listened intently while Cade explained what he wanted done.

  “We’re going to work each horse until it’s tired, at least an hour. I want them divided into seasoned and green, sweet and ornery. Next week we’ll work with the green ones. By auction day, I don’t want any surprises about any horse’s temper or ability to perform. Got it?”