Cheyenne Bride

by Laurie Paige

  The clear glass door of the shower didn’t hide his body from her sight, and the water droplets only added an interesting mistiness to his male outline. The painful longing coursed through her. She couldn’t look away.

  Before she could recover her poise, a tanned hand reached out, snagged her wrist and pulled her into the enclosure. “Cade!”

  “Shut up,” he said in a low growl and claimed her lips.

  The water soaked her towel. When it dropped to the floor, his arms and body were there to cover her. Wet flesh pressed wet flesh. His hands roamed from one part of her to another.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from sinking to the wet tiles.

  The kiss was harsh, as if it released the tensions that had been growing for days between them. Her breathing became ragged. So did his. She felt the wild pounding of his heart against her breast. Hers was as fast.

  When he stroked down her hip and between her thighs, she thought she might faint with the hunger his touch aroused.

  “Cade, we can’t,” she protested, trying to gather her wits in the whirlwind of passion that surrounded them.

  “Why?” he demanded. “You want me as much as I want you. This part is simple between us. It’s the only thing that is.”

  “Because all the rest of our life is a lie,” she reminded him desperately. “This…this only makes it worse. We can’t keep up a pretense forever. Someone will find out. People will be hurt, such as your grandfather.”

  The hard muscles of his back bunched and jerked beneath her hands. Slowly he released her. She could have wept at the loss of his warmth.

  “You’re right. Now that your friend has left, there’s no need to lie. Shall we go down and confess at dinner?”

  She wasn’t ready for that scene. She shook her head. “I’m going to Rand and Suzanne’s.”

  They stood there with the water pelting down on them, their eyes locked in some silent battle she didn’t understand. She wished…she wished life was real…this life, the one she shared with Cade right now. She fought the need to answer the invitation to wildness and delight in his dark, searching gaze.

  “Okay,” he finally said, turning away from her and grabbing the shampoo bottle. “Give me five minutes and I’ll join you.”

  She fled the bathroom, her heart in a turmoil. It took a while to calm down.

  After drying with a fresh towel, she dressed in a clingy summer knit outfit she’d bought on impulse when she’d shopped for her jeans and sneakers. In deep teal, it softened the green and added bluish tints to her eyes.

  She braided her hair and left it trailing down her back. She added lipstick but needed no other color. Her cheeks, normally pale pink, were still rosy after the episode in the shower.

  Cade came out, gathered some clothing and disappeared again. He returned in a few minutes, dressed in a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up, and dark slacks. He wore black tasseled loafers and looked very uptown. She had an inkling of how sophisticated he could be when he chose.

  “Let’s go,” he said. He held the door for her.

  At Rand’s house, they found things calmer than the last time they’d been there. The baby was asleep. Mack was watching a movie on TV. Steaks were on the grill. The salad and baked potatoes were ready. The table was set with a lace cloth and nice china.

  Cade murmured hello to his hostess and went to join Rand at the grill on the back patio.

  “Wine or beer?” Suzanne called after him.

  “Beer.”

  Suzanne poured two glasses of white wine and opened two beers. “Want to take these to our hubbies?” she requested. “Ask Mack if he wants another glass of lemonade.”

  “Okay.” Returning to the kitchen after performing the chores, Leanne asked to help.

  “Nope, this is the welcome dinner you should have had the other night,” Suzanne said. “I want you to relax and enjoy it. Here’s your wine. Drink up. Be merry,” she ordered. Laughing, she clinked her glass against Leanne’s.

  During the evening, Leanne felt the deception more and more as an ache within her. Suzanne clearly liked Cade. Mack was enthusiastic about the Appaloosa line and wanted Cade to teach him how to train horses. Everything would have been perfect—if the marriage was real.

  “My brother is one of the best hands with horses I’ve ever seen,” Cade told the teenager. “I’m thinking of trying to get him to come up. He can teach you all the tricks. I’m going to the res to look at some mares next week. You want to go along?”

  “That would be great,” Mack said, then looked to his sister and Rand. “If it’s okay with you guys.”

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Rand agreed.

  Suzanne added her okay, so it was settled.

  “What kinds of mares are you looking for?” Rand asked.

  “Quarter horse brood mares.”

  “You might find some good Appaloosa stock there, too.”

  “Thanks, I’ll check it out.”

  Longing welled in her as she marveled at how great the evening was going. Rand and Cade seemed almost at ease with each other as they discussed the horses.

  “Say, Cade, do you think I could do some work and earn enough to buy an Appaloosa colt from you?” Mack wanted to know. “I might start my own line.”

  Leanne saw herself in Mack’s unquestioning belief in the future he thought he would have. She’d been like that—confident that life was going to go exactly as she planned it. She would have her ranch, her husband and children and live happily ever after. She sighed as the ache increased.

  Cade settled back and gave it serious thought. “I believe we can strike a deal. You work at regular wages until we get the herd started and, after, say, the second year, if all goes well with the breeding program and you do good work for me, I’ll throw in a colt as a Christmas bonus. Fair enough?”

  “Yeah!”

  Mack’s enthusiasm drew a laugh from the adults. Leanne joined in with an effort. Watching Cade interact with Mack, she realized how wonderful he would be as a father. She knew him to be patient, firm, and fair-minded from observing his work with the horses. He would bring the same traits to parenting, plus many more.

  Looking around the table, she realized this was how she’d dreamed marriage would be, she and her husband sharing meals and birthdays and the other important occasions that came up in family life with others in the family, both his and hers, plus sharing the raising of children in their own core family. And then there were all the private moments to be cherished with only each other.

  Being here with Cade opened up all the possibilities. She wanted this with him. She wanted her children to be his children.

  She longed for their marriage to be real. Briefly, she closed her eyes and fought the upheaval that threatened to overcome her control in front of everyone. That wouldn’t do at all.

  When she glanced around to see if anyone had witnessed her moment of weakness, she found her brother’s eyes on her. She smiled cheerfully and picked up the glass of wine. She lifted it in a pretend toast and finished it off.

  A knock on the door brought the meal to a close. Gil Watts had come for Cade. “We got a mare down,” the remuda hand told them. “Might need to send for the vet.”

  Cade started for the door. Leanne followed.

  “Stay,” he told her. “You’re not dressed for the stable. There’s no need for both of us to get dirty.”

  She nodded and stepped back. He hesitated, then bent to her. Reluctantly she lifted her face for the brief kiss. Afterward her lips burned with unappeased hunger.

  “Okay if I finish the movie?” Mack wanted to know.

  “Sure,” Suzanne said. “I’m going to bathe the baby, then I’ll serve coffee,” she told Leanne and Rand.

  “I want to talk to you,” Rand said when they were alone in the dining room. He took a seat next to her and refilled their wineglasses. “This is hard to say.”

  She nodded and prepared for a lecture.

  “I’ve been sort of watchi
ng you and Cade around the ranch. No doubt about it—you two work as a team with the horses. I’ve been impressed by that. I had about decided I was wrong, that you two were right for each other.”

  She clamped down on her lip, not sure where this conversation was going or what to prepare for.

  “But the last couple of days, then tonight…hell, even I can tell something is wrong.”

  “Rand—”

  “Let me finish. Please.”

  She waited, every nerve in her body tightening with unbearable tension.

  “I wanted to tell you that if things aren’t working out, I’ll stand behind you.”

  Puzzled, she stared at him.

  “It’s your call, but whatever your decision, I’ll back you up. What I’m saying is, if you want to leave Cade, if you’ve made a mistake, don’t be too proud to come to me, to us. Suzanne and I are family. We’ll stand behind you if the decision to marry Cade needs to be…rectified.”

  “Divorce,” she murmured.

  “Yes. Like I said, it’s your decision. I know you’ve felt I pushed things on you in the past. I’m trying not to do that, but I could see the tension between the two of you. And, I think, the unhappiness in your eyes. It tears me up—”

  She leaped to her feet, unable to bear another word. The kindness and the insight from her usually full-speed-ahead sibling only added to the pain and confusion that whirled inside her.

  “Rand, don’t,” she pleaded. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Really.”

  This was such a blatant lie even Rand caught it. He shook his head and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  “You’re my little sis, the baby, the sweetest thing that ever happened in our family. Maybe we all spoiled you, but you were so loving and cheerful, it was hard not to. And maybe I have been overprotective, but I love you.”

  She laid her cheek against his hand. “I know, big brother,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”

  “I want you to have the kind of marriage Suzanne and I have. I never thought to find anything like this, didn’t even know it existed. Now she and Joey are my life. I’d make any sacrifice for them. I want you to have that kind of love from your husband. We all make mistakes. You don’t have to stay with him if that’s the case. Daisy and Suzanne and I will help you start a new life.”

  Nodding, she pressed a hand against her heart as the ache inside grew like a whirlwind. “Tell Suzanne the dinner was great. I loved being with all of you. I’m going home now. I…need to be alone.”

  The worry showing in his eyes, Rand walked her to the door and saw her off. She was thankful when the darkness enclosed her and she didn’t have to keep up the pretense anymore. The great irony in the situation wasn’t that she wanted to leave Cade or the marriage. She wanted him. She wanted the marriage to be real.

  In Cade’s room, she looked at the big bed, at the evidence of their both living there—clothing and books and personal items mingled in the closet and furniture. She bit her lip and shook her head, but that didn’t help. She couldn’t stay there, not tonight, not feeling as she did.

  If she stayed, she would turn to Cade, needing his warmth, his soothing caresses that made her believe everything might work out. They would make love.

  That would only increase the longing…and the pain when she had to leave. She had to think, to sort through the mess and figure out how to make it right, to find the courage to tell the truth and apologize for lying to everyone, especially Rand and Garrett.

  Changing her clothes and grabbing a warm jacket, she jammed on her hat and went outside, not sure where to go. The answer came to her. She knew where she had to go to make a decision. Back to the beginning.

  Cade was dead tired when he got in at one in the morning. The mare had died, but they had saved the colt. He’d managed to get the mare with the new filly to accept the baby and feed it. That was one less worry.

  Pausing outside the door, he removed his boots and set them next to the entrance. He entered the room as quietly as he could. He’d taken to arriving at very late hours so he didn’t have to face the temptation of his wife preparing for bed. Such as earlier that evening when he’d dragged her into the shower with him, unable to resist.

  He automatically gazed at the bed as he did every night. It was empty.

  “What the hell?” he muttered.

  He could see through the partially open door that the bathroom was dark. He strode through to the office. She wasn’t there, either.

  Seething, he checked the kitchen and den and all the other vacant rooms in the house. She wasn’t in any of them.

  Heading outside, he tugged on his boots and walked across to the bunkhouse. She wasn’t in any of the downstairs rooms. He paused at the steps. She wouldn’t have gone up there where the single men were.

  Going outside, he ignored the caress of the zephyr wind and the endless twinkling of the stars, the soft shine of the moon on the landscape. The foreman’s house was totally dark, except for the outside light that came on at dusk and went off at dawn.

  Was she there? Probably.

  He gritted his teeth. There was no way he was going to wait until morning to find out. He stalked up the road and knocked on the door.

  Rand appeared in a minute, dressed in hastily donned jeans and nothing else. “What is it?” he asked irritably.

  “Leanne. Is she here with you?”

  Rand stared at him blankly. “Leanne? She’s not with you?”

  Cade glared at him for asking a stupid question. “She’s not at the main house or the bunkhouse. Did you say something to her?”

  “Me?”

  “She ran away from her wedding because of the pressure you put on her. Did you say something to her tonight?”

  The brother grimaced, then nodded. “I thought she looked unhappy. She didn’t say much. I told her if she wanted to…well, in so many words, I said if she wanted to divorce you and start over, I’d help in any way I could. But I also said it was her decision,” he added defensively.

  Cade muttered an expletive. “Where would she have gone?” he asked, speaking more to himself than the nitwit of a brother who didn’t get the half of it when it came to his sister and her feelings. “I know.” He turned back toward the bunkhouse.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To see if her car is gone. I should have checked that right off. Then I’m going after her.”

  “Give me a minute to get dressed—”

  “Alone,” Cade called over his shoulder.

  The compact car wasn’t in its space. Cursing, Cade dashed to his truck and took off at a decent clip considering the way he felt. He drove carefully to the mining road and toward the dangerous ridge.

  If the recent rains had undercut the road, she could have fallen into the ravine. The road was intact. From the headlights, he could see tire tracks in the soft ground.

  Relief spread through him. Yeah, she was here.

  He arrived without mishap thirty minutes later, a slow, agonizing, temper-building thirty minutes.

  Her car was under the oak at the end of the road. He parked beside it and got out. Stretching his tired shoulder muscles, he crossed the clearing and entered without knocking.

  He spotted her form huddled on the lower bunk where she’d slept on the aborted wedding night. He found a match and lit the lantern. Holding it over her, he bent and peered at her face.

  She’d been crying. The dark lashes had dried into spiky crescents shadowing her cheeks. He pushed back the tangled curls at her temple and let her warmth seep into him.

  He realized how worried he’d been.

  Placing the lamp on the table, he sat on the edge of the bunk and removed his boots. He stretched out beside her.

  “Move over, Leanne, I need some room.”

  He wasn’t going to give her a chance to wake up and sneak out without his knowing about it. And if he didn’t get some sleep soon, he was going to drop in his tracks. He hadn’t had a night’s rest in two weeks. He sig
hed, slipped under the blanket with her and wrapped an arm over her waist.

  Just before he went to sleep, he felt her nose against his neck. She snuggled close, sighed and became still. His body stirred hungrily.

  “Later,” he promised, determined that it would be so, and fell over the edge toward sleep.

  Twelve

  Leanne woke to incredible warmth. She opened her eyes in shock. Cade sat beside her on the bunk. His hands were touching her, rubbing over her.

  “Good morning,” he said. He leaned over her and kissed along her jaw.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Where else would I be? I came to check on you. Since you were sleeping peacefully, I decided to join you.”

  “You slept here? With me?” She looked at the window. Dawn was breaking.

  “Yes. I’ve made coffee. You want a cup?”

  “Please.” So last night, when she’d felt his arms around her, hadn’t been a dream.

  He brought a steaming cup to her, then resumed his place on the bed, his hip against hers as she sat up. He rested a hand on her thigh as he drank from a chipped mug.

  Tingles radiated from the point of contact. She moved over, away from that enticing warmth. When she met his eyes, she was consumed by the fire in his. She drank the hot coffee quickly, feeling its heat all the way to her stomach. Every part of her tensed.

  She couldn’t look away. The need was too strong, too urgent. Her body made demands good sense couldn’t overrule.

  “Tell me no,” he said in a deep, gravely baritone, “and try to sound as if you mean it, then I’ll leave.”

  The hunger was in her, too, and she couldn’t deny it. Like the sweet breath of summer on the morning breeze, it filled her with a yearning to taste life at its fullest, to sample this passionate delight once more, to share all that was her with him the man she loved.

  She licked her lips and, reaching down, set the mug on the floor. He placed his there, too.

  When he bent to her, she lifted to him, settling her arms around his strong shoulders, absorbing his passion into herself and giving hers to him.