She looked up with a smile, and his heart gave a little kick. “How did your meeting go?”
“Good.” But it didn’t compare with coming home to her in his kitchen, asking about his day. He wanted every day to be like this, only with a welcome-home kiss along with her pretty smile. “We’re looking into improving the road from here to Fort Concho.”
“Heaven knows it needs it. We almost lost our way a couple of times.”
He laid his hat on the table, walking around it to her side. “Every time I think about you out there on your own, I get a bellyache. I had planned to bring up the road today, but some of the folks south of here beat me to it. They were waiting with a petition asking us to do something about it.”
She finished spreading the icing with a little swirl of the narrow spatula and dropped it into the empty bowl, absently admiring her handiwork. “You could use a few bridges, too.”
“I already suggested it.”
She rewarded his brilliance with another smile. “A good road will bring more settlers. I don’t know how many people we talked to along the way who had the itch to move but hadn’t worked up the courage to do it.”
He swiped some icing off the side of the bowl. Licking the sweet chocolate off his fingertip, he looked up and caught his breath. Her eyes were focused on his mouth, her face filled with longing.
And not for chocolate.
“Unlike you,” he murmured sliding his hand around her waist.
She met his gaze, shifting minutely closer. “I was desperate.”
“So am I.” He slowly lowered his head. “For this.”
He brushed his lips across hers, his heart soaring when she breathed a soft, contented sigh and slid her hands around his neck. Be gentle. He drew her closer, kissing her tenderly. Raising his head, he smiled at the delicate color in her cheeks and her soft, lush mouth. Her eyelids fluttered, and when she looked up, her eyes were dark gray with passion. Need and pride swept through him. If he didn’t back off, the next kiss wouldn’t be so gentle. “Where are the kids?”
“Playing with the kittens.” She licked her lips, and he stifled a groan. “You taste like chocolate,” she whispered.
“Too bad Ty didn’t have any more strawberries.”
“I’m not complaining.” She closed her eyes and lifted her face toward his, inviting his touch.
When he captured her mouth again, she whimpered softly, her fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. Cade tightened his embrace, molding her against him, and deepened the kiss, giving and taking, seeking solace for two lonely hearts. Touching one corner of her lips, he whispered, “I wanted to kiss you the first time I saw you.”
“I know.”
“That obvious, huh?” He added a tiny kiss on the other side of her mouth.
“Yes.” She caught her breath and tipped her head to the side as he feathered kisses down her neck. “Even then, you made me feel things I’d never felt before.”
He straightened, searching her eyes with a frown. “Never?”
“Not like this.”
Cade drew in a ragged breath, smoothing a wisp of hair back from her forehead. Beautiful and strong, yet fragile, with a heart he could so easily shatter. “This is only the beginning of the pleasure we’ll share, darlin’.”
“It’s a very nice beginning.” She trembled as he skimmed his fingers along her jaw.
He nodded, lowering his hand to her waist and sliding it around to the small of her back. “But I want moonlight whispers and morning sighs.”
“Cade, I can’t.” She lowered her hands, resting them against his chest. “The children...it would be wrong.”
He smiled tenderly. “I know. But someday, we’ll make it right.”
She shook her head, dropping her gaze. “I won’t risk that kind of pain again.” When she finally looked up, her eyes were filled with sorrow. “I couldn’t bear to disappoint you.”
“You won’t. What happened with Neil wasn’t your fault. It was his. He could never be satisfied with one woman.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Honey, I’d wager the ranch on it. If he’d found someone who made him happy, he would have stayed with her.” At the flicker of surprise in her eyes, he wondered if she had ever considered that. “But he kept moving on to someone new, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He liked the challenge and the chase, but especially the conquest.”
“Exactly. Some men can’t ever go beyond that.”
She searched his eyes with an intensity that unsettled him. “You like the challenge and the chase, too.”
And the conquest. The unspoken words hovered between them.
He hesitated, considering how to answer. “Yes, I do. And I’ve done my share of playing the game in the past. But that ends with you.” He cupped her face with his hand and grinned. “You’re enough of a challenge to last a lifetime, and you’ll still be leading me on a merry chase when I’m eighty. As for the conquest, I figure it’ll be a draw.” He sobered, lightly caressing her cheek with his thumb. “I want a lifetime with you, Jessie. I’ve wanted it since I held you that first night.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. And I understand why. All I’m asking for is a chance to prove myself.” He thought about Quint, and uneasiness trickled down his spine. Kiss her senseless and then tell her. Maybe she won’t be so mad. He teased her lower lip. “Will you give me that?” he murmured against her mouth.
“Maybe.”
He felt her smile. “Need a little more persuasion?”
“You do it so well.”
He claimed her mouth, his kiss deep, full of passion and promises. Her hands wound around his neck again and she leaned closer.
The slamming of the screen door startled them, causing them to jump apart. Brad stood just inside the doorway. He stared at Cade, his face red and contorted with rage. Shifting his gaze to his mother, tears welled in his eyes, anguish battling anger.
Jessie started toward him, holding out her hand. “Brad, it’s all right.”
“No, it’s not!” He spun around, shoving the screen door open, and barreled through the doorway, knocking Ellie aside as she came across the porch. She landed on her bottom and let out a wail. He jumped off the porch and raced toward the creek.
Jessie ran out the door. “Brad, wait!”
He ran faster.
Chapter 10
Cade clamped his hand on Jessie’s shoulder, stopping her at the bottom of the steps. “Let me talk to him.”
She tried to twist from his hold. “I need to.” She glanced guiltily at Ellie, who sat sobbing on the porch. “Take care of Ellie for me.”
Cade shook his head, instinct telling him that if he didn’t talk to Brad there would be a chasm between them that he might never be able to cross. “Jessie, I have to set this straight with him. Or I might not ever be able to.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “He’s been hurt so much. By his father, the townspeople, the other children.” Her voice caught. “Now, by me. Lord, what have I done?”
“Nothing wrong.” He pulled her against him in a quick hug, caressing her shoulder. “Now go tend to Ellie. I’ll be careful with him.”
She stepped back, looking up with tears shimmering in her eyes. “He likes to sit under the big willow tree.”
“I’ll find him.”
He hurried toward the creek, barely hearing Jessie’s soothing words as she picked up her daughter. Brad’s reaction surprised him. The boy was smart and wiser in the ways of the world than most his age. He had to have noticed the attraction between them. Cade had expected him to be wary but not angry. And especially not hurt by it. Maybe he thought Jessie wouldn’t love her children anymore if Cade became part of her life.
Slowing as he approached the creek, he moved down the bank near the big willow tree, sliding the last few feet on the crumbling dirt. Ducking beneath the long, widespread feathery branches, he spotted Brad huddled against the trunk. The old tree was tall, allo
wing Cade to stand straight beneath the shady canopy.
“Go away!” Brad glared at him, swiping his tear-stained face with his hand.
“Not until we have a little talk.” Cade hunkered down, not quite in front him but close enough to grab him if he tried to bolt.
Resting his arms on his bent knees, Brad leaned forward, burying his face against them. “Go back to your whore,” he mumbled miserably.
Shocked, Cade stared at him for a second. “Don’t ever talk that way about your mother.”
“Pa said she was.” Brad raised his head, shooting daggers from tear swollen eyes.
“Your Pa was an idiot and a fool.” Cade settled down beside him, leaning back against the wide trunk, thinking of half a dozen other names he’d like to call the man. He wished he’d met up with him before the mayor ended his sorry life. “When did you start believing him about anything?”
“He said Ellie wasn’t his. Other people talked about Mama, too.” Brad took a deep, shuddering breath. “They said she deserved the way Pa ran around on her, that she wasn’t no better than him.”
Cade frowned, unable to reconcile the woman he knew with that image. “Sounds like a rumor your father or his cronies started just for spite. Did you believe them?”
Brad was quiet for a few minutes, fighting to control his emotions. “No.”
“Did you ever see her with another man?”
He shook his head. “But she was kissing you.” Misery dripped from every word.
“That doesn’t mean she’s a bad woman, son.”
“But she swore she wouldn’t ever get married again.”
Cade smiled slightly, understanding what the boy left unsaid. “I’m trying to change her mind. Kissing her is part of the strategy. She’s a fine, upright woman, Brad, and I’m hoping she’ll become my wife. You think I’d want to marry somebody who wasn’t decent?”
Brad stared at the creek. “I don’t reckon.”
“Tell me something. Does Ellie look like your Pa?”
“Yeah. His hair was dark brown and curly like hers.” He paused thoughtfully, finally looking at Cade with a deep frown. “And her eyes are the same color brown as his. But why would he say he wasn’t her pa?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was another way to hurt your mother. Maybe he just didn’t want to take responsibility for her, didn’t want to feel like he needed to provide for her.”
Brad snorted. “He didn’t bring no money home anyway. He was always tearin’ the house apart in case Mama hid some.”
“And if he didn’t find it?”
“He threw things around, then stomped out the door, yellin’ a lot. Most of the time after she paid the rent and bought groceries there wasn’t any left.” He shuddered, not meeting Cade’s gaze. “He beat her up once.”
“She told me.”
Brad swallowed hard. “I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t.”
“At least you tried. That’s the best a man can do. Did he hurt you, too?”
“Yeah. That time, he threw me against the wall, knocked me out,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.
Cade cringed. He had to clear his throat before he could ask, “And other times?”
“He’d take the razor strop to me. But he didn’t do it much. Didn’t want to work that hard.” Brad looked up at him, his tears gone, his face solemn. “Would you use a razor strop on a kid?”
Cade pictured the leather one hanging by his washstand that he used to sharpen the straight razor. It had a handle on one end and a metal hook on the other. Those without hooks had a metal eyelet on the end opposite the handle. He couldn’t imagine hitting a child with one. “No, I wouldn’t. I might use a willow switch on occasion, but I don’t hold with whippin’ kids except for grave offenses.” Even then, it would just about kill him. “I figure most of the time, if punishment is needed, we can come up with something better.”
Brad swallowed and looked away. “Like washin’ my mouth out with soap for what I said about Mama?”
“You were mighty upset. You didn’t meant it, did you?”
“No, sir.” He turned to Cade, his expression intense. “You won’t tell her what I called her, will you?”
“Never. Son, I care very much for your mother. And that’s why I like to kiss her.” Cade hesitated, considering how much to say. He wanted to do a lot more than kiss her, but that probably wasn’t something he should discuss with her son. “I think she cares for me a little, because she likes to kiss me, too.”
“She sure does,” Brad muttered, with more than a hint of disgust.
Cade managed not to smile. “It isn’t wrong because we have feelings for each other. But I promise you that I won’t do anything that we shouldn’t. I’ll never do anything to harm your mother’s good reputation. I respect her too much.”
“You promise not to hurt her?”
“I’d never hit your mother. Nothing on this earth would make me strike her.”
“Pa only did it once. But he made her cry a lot.”
“I can’t promise that I won’t ever make her cry.” Unfortunately, that was liable to happen much too soon. “But I’ll try my best not to. I don’t want to see her hurt any more than you do.”
Brad stood. “I guess I have to go apologize.”
“That would be good.” Cade stood also, brushing the twigs and dust off the seat of his pants. “And I need to go change out of my city clothes. You’d better apologize to Ellie, too. She wasn’t too happy about landing on her rump.”
Brad grimaced as he shoved a thin tree branch aside and walked out from beneath the big willow. “I’ll probably have to play with her and her doll house to make up for it.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“To you, maybe.”
Cade chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Might as well learn early to appease the womenfolk. Makes life easier all the way around.”
***
Jessie glanced at the clock for the tenth time in as many minutes. Surely, Cade and Brad had been gone an hour, not less than a quarter of that time. She paced back and forth across the kitchen looking out the back window whenever she crossed in front of it.
Ellie licked the last crumbs of chocolate cake from her fork, then took a big drink of milk, leaving a white moustache above her lip. “Maybe Brad fell in the creek,” she said hopefully.
Jessie stopped by the table and handed her daughter a napkin. “That’s not a nice thing to wish for.”
“He wouldn’t drown. The water don’t even come up to my knees.”
“Doesn’t, honey.”
“Yes, ma’am. Might cool him off.” She climbed down from the chair and carried her plate and fork over to the basin in the dry sink. Jessie followed with her glass. “What was he so mad about anyway? He don’t...doesn’t hardly ever cry.”
Jessie didn’t bother to correct Ellie’s grammar again. She’d been waiting for the question since her daughter calmed down, and she still didn’t know how to answer her. “He saw Mr. McKinnon kiss me.”
Ellie’s mouth dropped open. “Mr. McKinnon kissed you? Why?”
Jessie felt her cheeks grow warm. “He likes me.” A lot.
“Mr. Toad liked you, but you didn’t have nothin’ to do with him.”
Jessie laughed in spite of herself. “Mr. Johnson, honey.”
“Looked like a toad to me.”
“Well, yes, he did.”
“Was that why you didn’t kiss him?”
“I was married then. And married women don’t go around kissing men who aren’t their husbands.” The mayor’s wife came to mind. “At least the decent ones don’t.” She could practically see the wheels turning in her daughter’s head. “What?”
“But it’s all right to kiss somebody if you aren’t married?”
“Sometimes.”
“What if Mr. Toad came callin’ again?”
“I still wouldn’t want anything to do with him.”
“Good.” Ellie wiggled in what Jessie thought was su
pposed to be a shiver. “I didn’t like him.”
“I didn’t, either.” Jessie glanced at the clock again. Almost fifteen minutes since she’d come into the house. That meant Brad had been gone at least twenty minutes. Maybe he had fallen into the creek. Or tried to push Cade in. The silliness of that idea brought a tiny smile.
“But you like Mr. McKinnon.”
“Yes, I do.” A lot.
“He’d make a good daddy.”
“Yes, he probably would.” When Jessie saw her daughter grin and look past her, she swallowed hard and turned around.
Cade stood in the doorway with Brad, his big hand resting affectionately on the boy’s shoulder. Her son appeared uncomfortable, as if he were waiting for a scolding. Cade’s tender smile was almost her undoing. Then he glanced at Ellie and winked. “Thanks for the compliment.”
She tried to wink back, blinking both eyes. “You’re welcome.” Then she settled her hands on her hips and glared at her brother. “You knocked me down.”
“I’m sorry. You all right?”
Ellie rubbed her backside. “Hurts.”
“Ellie, that’s not what you told me,” Jessie chided softly.
“Well, it did.” She stuck her tongue out at Brad.
Jessie frowned at her daughter. “That’s enough. Why don’t you take your dolly out onto the porch for some fresh air.”
“She don’t want any.”
“Take her out anyway.”
Ellie grimaced, but did as she was told. When she was out of the room, Jessie walked over to Brad. Cade backed out the door onto the porch, leaving them alone.
“Honey, I’m sorry.” She brushed her son’s hair back from his forehead.
“It’s all right, Mama. I shouldn’t have gotten all riled up. Mr. McKinnon explained that you weren’t do nothin’ wrong.”
She lowered her hand, wondering how much her son knew about the ways between a man and a woman. “But you thought I was?” When he nodded reluctantly, she asked, “Why?”
He shrugged, looking down at the floor.
“Brad, please tell me.”
McKinnon's Bride (Willow Grove, Texas Series Book 1) Page 9