Yes, her Tucker would. “I’ll love thee, forever, Tucker.”
“Good.”
She pinched him for the complacency in that “good.”
He feigned pain. “Thought you didn’t believe in violence?”
“One of the things I was doing while I napped those three days was reconciling my beliefs with who I am.”
“How’s that going?”
“I’m not sure. I think it’s going to take me a while to figure out what that means.”
He pushed her hair off her face. “You know I’ll be right here loving you no matter how it works out, right?”
“Yes. I thank thee for that.”
“You’re welcome, but I’ll always love you, no matter what.”
“Good.”
He smiled back, acknowledging her point as he withdrew from her body. His smile spread with her mew of disappointment. “As a matter of fact, there’s only about one thing I’d love more than you right now.”
She wasn’t worried. She tried to copy the arch of his brow and failed. “And what would that be?”
“A dip in the pond.” He got to his feet and took her hand. “C’mon, woman. We stink.”
“Speak for thyself.”
His answer was a laugh and a dash to the pond. She watched as he dove in, his perfect body silhouetted for one moment in the setting rays. She smiled and whistled. He came up chuckling, slicking his hair back from his face. “Hurry up, slowpoke.”
She was in no hurry. She was warm and languid from their loving and the water was no doubt cold. Something rustled under her foot. She picked it up. The paper unfolded in her hands. The salutation caught her eye.
April 5, 1858
Dear Ari:
Ari was the woman Tucker had been searching for, the one the outlaws had mistaken her for. She read on.
I don’t know how to start this letter, except to say, “Thank God you’re alive.”
So much has happened in the last year. Not all of it good, but some of it so special there aren’t words to describe it. I’m married. Happily so to a man of whom Papa would never have approved. He doesn’t have money, doesn’t have social position and doesn’t care a fig about mine, but he is everything I never dreamed big enough to desire when we used to sit under the apple tree, imagining the perfect husband. A heart that knows no limits, a sense of honor that can’t be compromised, and a love for me so rich, I’ll never be poor. He’s Hell’s Eight, and if you’re still living in the Texas territory when this letter finds you, you know what that means. If not, you’re in for a treat. The men of Hell’s Eight are a breed apart. A standard on which to build legends, for all they’ll scoff at you if you tell them so.
My husband’s name is Caine Allen, and he’s the one insisting I write this letter. He believes in family and in my intuition. Though everyone says you’re dead, he says my gut feeling is good enough for him, and he’s promised finding you will be Hell’s Eight’s number-one priority. He can be high-handed at times, but in the best ways.
I’m sorry I can’t introduce you to the man handing you this letter, but you see, I’ve made seven copies and entrusted them to seven different men with the hope they’ll find you: Tucker, Sam, Tracker, Shadow, Luke, Caden and Ace. Like your soon-to-be niece or nephew, my husband and yourself, (though you don’t know it yet), they’re Hell’s Eight, and I’m asking you, Ari, to put yourself in their care because each one of them has made a promise to me, one they’ve sworn to uphold.
You see, they’ve promised to bring you home, Ari. Home to Hell’s Eight, where there’s no past, no recriminations, no judgment; just peace and a place where you can breathe easily. After what we’ve been through, I know it sounds like a preacher’s description of heaven, illusive and unreal, but I promise you, there is a way out of hell and if you haven’t already found it, I’ll help you.
Trust no one but them, Ari, because father’s solicitor, Harold Amboy is the one who arranged for us to be attacked initially, and he has men hunting for you, too. He intends to control Father’s money through one of us. But you can trust any of these men. Absolutely and completely with everything you hold dear.
I’m crying as I write this. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. I can’t forget how we parted, my nightmares, which must have been your reality, the sense of helplessness as I stare at the night sky, wondering if you can see the same stars, wondering if you’re healthy, happy and, most of all, safe.
Do you remember the game we used to play at the summer house as children when things didn’t go our way? How we’d go find a patch of daisies dappled in sunlight, link our hands in our special way and then just spin until we didn’t care about anything else? I just want to see you again, Ari, find a patch of daisies, grab hands and spin until laughter takes over and all the bad falls away. Though it’s irrational because I have no idea how long it will take the men to find you—days, months years—I have to say this.
Hurry home, Ari. I’ve planted a patch of daisies and it’s waiting.
“I’d have been annoyed to have lost that.”
Sally Mae looked up, tears in her eyes. Desi’s heart was on this page.
Tucker took the paper from her hand.
“Thee have to find her.”
He hooked his arm behind her neck, pulling her against his chest where she always felt so cherished. Despite the dampness, she still did. “We will.”
The bullet caught between them, pressing into her breast. She reached to take it off. Tucker stopped her before she got it over her head.
“You keep it.”
“It’s thy lucky charm.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need it anymore.”
“But…”
He placed his finger over her lips, cutting off her protest. “It’s time for it to have a different meaning.”
And standing in the fall of evening, seeing the love in his eyes as he looked at her, feeling the contentment in his touch as he cradled the prospect of their child against his palm, she understood. The time for looking backward was over.
She stood on tiptoe, pulling his mouth down to hers, shivering when his water-cooled body met hers.
His lips brushed the corner of her mouth. “You were right, moonbeam, when you said I needed a new path.” “I was?”
He kissed her nose “Yup. Right when you said this was magic.”
His mouth came back to hers, nibbled at the outer edge. “Right when you said I had a choice.”
She snuggled tighter against him, tilting her head back, facilitating the caress as she studied his eyes. Those beautiful, wonderful, expressive eyes that were so full of love. For her. His teeth nipped, caught and tugged. Her knees buckled. He caught her the way he always did, holding her when her strength gave out. Joy welled in a breathless rush. She needed to hear it again. Cupping his face in her hands, she asked, as he took her breath as his, her love as his, “And what do thee choose?”
He didn’t flinch, didn’t hesitate, just held her close and gave her back everything in a kiss so intimate its promise resonated in her soul. “With every breath, I’ll always choose you.”
TUCKER’S CLAIM
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4066-1
Copyright © 2009 by Sarah McCarty.
All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Spice Books, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
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Table of Contents
1Music drifted out of the gaily decorated church i…
2Kissing Sally was as natural as breathing. Tucker…
3It was the first time a woman had ever made him w…
4Tucker watched Sally Mae from the edge of the woo…
5She needed a distraction.Sally Mae rolled over in…
6Two hours later, Sally Mae opened the back door a…
7She hadn’t anticipated Tucker’s possessiveness.Sa…
8A draw of the cards determined that Tucker would …
9Sally Mae woke to Tucker’s lips on the back of he…
10“You need to be careful.”Sally looked up from he…
11Avoiding Lyle was not as easy as it should be. O…
12“What the hell did you say to give Lyle Hartsmit…
13He’d known it would come to this. A clash betwee…
14Tucker crested the hill above the prosperous Mon…
15Sally Mae was waiting for him just inside the do…
16Despite her decision, Tucker insisted they be ma…
17The screams pulled her out of her numbness. Full…
18Four our hours later, he took her to the pond.Th…
Tucker’s Claim Page 28