Wade walked out, not saying a word. He was so livid he could chew nails. He dialed the phone, and escaped into the privacy of his cabin. Pacing like a pissed off panther; he literally growled when his brother answered the phone.
“We got problems, little brother.” Wade filled him in on the complete cluster fuck he was now in, knee-deep.
“I swear to you, I don’t know anything about the picture.”
“When you called about this job, what was the pay?”
“I didn’t call, He called me. Said I was recommended.”
“And you agreed to work for free?”
“I didn’t make a deal to work for free! You know me better than that.”
“So he bluffed, but he still has a picture of you and the sheriff’s sixteen year old daughter.”
“I told you. I was through that town a couple of months ago checkin’ on a lead for one of our bounties. I tried to talk with the sheriff, but he was out that day. I talked to some young lady on the phone, who said she was his secretary, and stayed in the local motel. That was it.”
Wade needed air. He walked out on the porch and stared at Mr. West as he packed his truck. “Were you drinkin’?”
“Yeah. I had a couple after I settled in.”
“You don’t remember anything different?”
“Well, I was tired so my beer hit me harder than normal. It stuck with me the next day too. I couldn’t pull myself together all day. Long drives do that I guess.”
“No, long drives don’t do that, idiot. Sounds like you were drugged or somethin’. When’s the last time you got tired from a couple of beers?”
“I.” There was a short pause. “Fuck. You think so?”
“Who was the bounty?”
“I don’t remember, and I’m stuck in here… let me see if I can get the information.”
“Call me back as soon as you find somethin’.”
“You got it, brother. Please, be careful.”
He snapped his phone shut and watched Mr. West drive down the long path. Wade looked up at Carly’s window. He still hadn’t seen her. He needed food, coffee, and time to think about his next move, or he could leave and work it out later with attorneys.
Chapter 10
Hold Me
After he ate, only one action was clear in his head, he needed to check on Carly. When he walked out on his porch, a flash of light from the sky lit the darkness, and his eyes went to her window. Fresh, clean edges of shattered glass shone as the moonlight peeked from underneath a dark cloud.
Jesus. “Carly!” He ran toward the house and stopped at the chimney. Blood streaked down the brick, and he felt his lungs constrict. He turned and ran to the stable. Grabbing Lightning, he mounted the horse while he was in motion. Wade pulled the horse’s reins toward the back field and Lightning stopped, jerking the reins in the opposite direction and reared his head. “Okay, boy.” Wade patted his neck. “Easy. Take me to her. Come on.” He pressed his heels into the horse’s sides and it bolted forward.
When the horse slowed, Wade’s eyes franticly searched for her, before landing upon a figure on the ground underneath a tree. Each drop of rain pelted him with memories. A body lying on the ground was the last thing he wanted to see. He jumped off the horse and ran toward her. As light streaked across the sky, he could see blood mixed with rain, rolling off her arm in streams.
“Jesus. What have you done?” He dropped to his knees and slid his arms under her. She remained limp. He rolled her over, cradling her. “Carly.” He held her in a tight embrace and shook her. He waited for the inward howl of her last breath—just as he had heard before, when he held his fiancée’s body.
“Leave me alone,” she sobbed.
Wade checked her arms and surveyed her body. “You’re hurt.”
“Leave me alone. I don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to be with my mama.”
He shook her again, trying to jar her out of her state of despondency. “Carly, you’re hurt! Let me get you to the house—”
“No one sees me.”
“I see you, Carly. Come on…” He placed his boot to the ground and started to rise, but she rolled out of his arms onto the ground and grasped the grass.
“No… just leave me alone.” She clawed the grass and dug her feet into the earth trying to move forward. “She’s all I have.”
“Carly… come on, darlin’. Please, you’re bleedin’.”
“What do you care?”
He scooped her up in his arms. “I care, Carly.”
This situation was too close to home for him, but he pushed the past out, and his fingers brushed the wet hair from her face. “I care. I’m not going to let you do this… you’re stronger than this, baby.”
He lifted her, holding her tight against him. That’s when he noticed he was standing at a gravesite. He couldn’t read the names on the tombstones, but he’d bet one of them was Carly’s mama. She started to shake in his arms, and he held her tight as he pulled them both up on Lightning. Her head rested in the curve of his neck, and she cried the entire ride back.
Once inside his cabin, he sat her in a chair. With swift steps, he moved through the cabin and grabbed a towel and a bottle of whiskey. He patted her hair with the white cotton cloth. “Your dad is gone.”
“He left me to rot.”
“You’ll stay here until mornin’.” He didn’t like her vacant expression. “Carly, look at me.” The blue eyes that peered up at him ripped a hole in his heart. “I want you to go take a nice shower, and you’re stayin’ here tonight. Understand?”
She nodded and rose to her feet.
Once she disappeared into the bathroom, he started making his bed on the couch. How did he let himself get mixed up in this? He should have walked away from this place the minute she told him to stable her horse. He allowed himself the warmth of that memory and smiled. He sighed, little hellion. He could do this. He’d take care of her for the night, and tomorrow he’d fix everything. This shit with Levi would stay a secret, and he’d soon leave.
He turned, and she was staring at him.
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear that had loosened from her clip. He pointed to the kitchen chair, and she sat. Opening a first aid kit, he dressed her wounds with silent care. They weren’t as bad as he’d thought, surface cuts, nothing too deep, and to his relief, they were not self-inflicted. When he made that discovery, the tightness, the albatross around his neck, loosened.
“C’mon.” He patted his bed and pulled the covers back. “You sleep here.”
She climbed in, pulling his robe tight around her as he tucked the covers over her. “I’ll be on the couch if you need me.”
From his bed on the couch, he stared at the fire for a while after he left her side. She wasn’t talking much, and he didn’t press her for information. Maybe she’d feel better after she slept because she looked as if she hadn’t slept in days. Seeing her wet and bleeding on the ground like that, was a scene he never wanted to revisit. She’d seemed so desperate and alone. Did she really have no one on her side? A terry cotton robe blocked his view of the fire, and his eyes trailed up to Carly’s. He lifted himself on his elbow. “You okay?”
“Can I… can you…” She looked down at her toes. “Hold me?”
His eyes boldly moved over her. “Darlin’, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” His cock had already stirred and sided with her.
“Why?”
“Well… you know.”
She stared blankly at him.
“Shit, you don’t know… do you?”
“I’m not Scarlett.”
“That’s not what I was thinkin’.” He sighed heavily and lifted the covers. “C’mon.”
She slid under the blanket, molding herself against him. Thank god, he was still wearing jeans, and one inch of a terry cotton robe separating them on top of his denim.
“Did you see my mama’s grave?” She wiggled back against him. �
�It was a mess. My daddy doesn’t care.” She tilted her head back to look at him. “Wade.”
“Hmm?”
“Am I really that difficult, where no man wants me? Am I not attractive?”
Where the hell was she getting this from?
“Carly…” He splayed a palm on her stomach and pressed her back against his groin, grinding his hips forward. “Do you feel that?”
Her breath hitched. “Yes.”
“I’m so hard right now, it hurts. You are attractive, even in those awful dresses. And, sometimes you’re difficult, but I like that fight in you. It’s hot.”
“You want to have sex with me, but you won’t?”
“No, darlin’.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “After what you’ve been through tonight, a man who would take advantage of that would be an ass. I’m not an ass.”
“You’re not like the people around here.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
That earned him a smile. He leaned forward with every intention to kiss the tip of her nose, then remembered himself and returned her smile instead.
“This town is so old fashioned they make the Amish look advanced. The church is really freaky, almost cult-like. And they’re all fake―acting high and mighty when they all have enough skeletons in their closets to build a football team.” She looked up at him when he tightened his arm around her waist. “I have a stupid weddin’ thing to go to tomorrow. I don’t want to get married.”
“Then don’t.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It is that easy.” He rested his chin in her hair. “Go to sleep,” he said and pulled her back against him. She felt so damn right, but he knew it was wrong.
“I don’t sleep much.” She yawned, and he felt her body relax. “The last person I snuggled with was my mama. I forgot how safe it feels.” She yawned again, wiggled her bottom, and then her head sagged against his arm.
Fuck. His cock was hard. He felt like an ass. She felt safe in his arms. No one had ever told him that before. And she was thinking about her mama, but all he could do was think about his throbbing cock wedged tight against her ass. His hand moved up her stomach as if it had a mind of its own. No, his other head was taking over and controlling it. He needed to get away from her. His eyes flicked down to the tender flesh behind her ear, and his tongue darted out, moistening his lips. Now all his senses were on board. His hands wanted to roam, his lips wanted to taste, and his cock wanted to… fuck. Exactly! He slid his arm from underneath her neck with care.
She must’ve been worn out because she didn’t budge when his weight pressed the couch in, and her body sloped toward the indention. He stood. Staring at her, he pulled the covers up and tucked them around her neck. He rubbed his jean pocket with his fingers. Air. He needed fresh air and something to occupy his mind. He knew just the thing. He remembered seeing paint cans and spare doors in the shed behind the main house. Maybe he’d find spare windows too. He wanted to get everything fixed before her daddy got back, and, he wanted to do something else for her too.
Wade placed the house phone on the coffee table right in front of her. Beside it, he wrote down his cell number and Levi’s, just in case she couldn’t reach him. He wasn’t going far, but he wanted to make sure she could call him the instant she woke if needed. He stopped at the door, his hand frozen on the doorframe with one foot outside. She’d called his name in her sleep, and it was the first time his name had ever sounded sweet, like syrup. He watched her roll back into the spot he’d left, and shallow moan sounded in her throat. He looked down at the bulge in his pants and shook his head. No. He couldn’t have her. She was too tender, young, innocent, and very breakable. He had to go sweat this feeling out of him before he went back to the couch and talked himself into giving her what she wanted.
Chapter 11
Obligations
Carly woke to daylight seeping through the window curtains, and she was alone. She sat up and stretched. Her body felt as if she’d been thrown from a horse and ran over by a bull. She looked behind her to the bed. No Wade, but a clean dress had been placed on the comforter. He must have brought it sometime this morning.
When she took a deep breath, the smell of bacon slithered into her senses. Looking over the opposite shoulder, she saw a plate on the stove, covered by another plate. She rose and went to it. A simple note was stuck to the top of the plate.
EAT!
Why was he yelling at her to eat? She looked at the bandage around her wrist and noticed how frail her arm looked. Being locked in her room didn’t give her much of an appetite, and she hadn’t eaten much since her imprisonment. Did he notice that? No one had ever paid that much attention to her, or made her breakfast. With no one there to watch her, no one to tell her to sit up straight, what fork is proper… She dug in like a cowboy at an all-you-can-eat barbeque.
* * * *
It was early evening by the time Carly arrived back at the ranch from a long, agonizing outing with Chet’s mom. She headed straight to her mama’s grave. There were still no signs of Wade, and she wondered if he was avoiding her. The additional weight she probably added to his day plagued her mind. He almost looked to be in pain as she’d stared at him like a lost puppy last night. The way he held her made her feel safe, and she felt at home in his arms. So at home, she thought she smelled her mama’s cookies baking. She couldn’t help the way she reacted—he made her feel. Yeah, he was probably avoiding her.
She pulled Lightning to a halt and stared at the well-manicured grave in front of her. “Wade…” She whispered his name. Who else would have cleaned her mama’s grave? No one in this town, that’s for sure. First, her window was fixed, now this. Her eyes filled with tears, and spilled in quick streams down her cheeks. The grass and weeds were trimmed, the knee-high fence around the perimeter of the site repaired, and fresh flowers lay in front of her mama’s stone. She smiled, brushing her tears away. “I know, mama… He’s a keeper. But I can’t have him. I don’t know what to do. I have no one to talk to—I’m scared, mama. So scared of what’s going to happen once I marry Chet. I don’t know who to trust—everyone has done me wrong.”
Lightning whinnied and jerked his head toward home.
“What is it, boy?”
He jerked again, this time yanking her sideways in the saddle.
“Alright. I’ll follow you.” Something had him spooked. Carly looked up at the sky to see if a storm approached before Lightning bolted toward the house. He was acting strange even when she opened the gate to let him roam in the pasture for a while.
She started walking toward Wade’s cabin. A weird sound came from the porch. She walked up the steps, searching for the tone. Her ears traced the sound to his boots by the front door. Reaching inside them, she pulled out the square phone and stared at a younger version of Wade. She flipped it open to take a better look and heard a voice on the other end.
“Shit. Hello.” She held it oddly against her ear.
“That’s usually the language I get from a woman answerin’ my brother’s phone.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to answer it.”
“It’s alright. Is my brother okay?”
“Why wouldn’t he be?”
“Are you in my brother’s bed?”
“No!” She felt the heat saturate her cheeks at the thought.
“Who is this?”
“Carly. And you are…” She arched a brow toward the phone.
“Levi, his brother. Are you with him right now?”
“No, I haven’t seen him all day. I was worried, so I was checkin’ on him when I found his phone ringin’.”
“Shit. That aint’ good.”
“Why?” She crossed her arm over her breast and rested her elbow on her wrist. “I don’t like your tone. Please tell me why you’re concerned.”
“Carly, I don’t know you darlin’, but I’m in a situation where I need you. Can you do somethin’ for me?”
“Yes.�
�
“Promise?”
“Oh for Christ’s sake… are all the Dawson’s stubborn and annoyin’?”
“I see you and Wade have gotten to know each other.” His laugh sounded like Wade’s too. “Listen, you have to find him. Don’t leave him alone tonight.”
“Why?”
“Today’s the anniversary of his fiancée’s death.”
She inhaled sharply. “Okay. I’ll take care of him. I owe him one anyway.”
“And now I owe you one. Thank you, darlin’. If anything happens, please call me back at this number.”
“Alright. I have to go find him. Bye.” She stared at the phone, pushed the button that read end and knocked on the door. Nothing. She felt her heart hammer as she turned the handle. The sound of low music filtered to her ears as she entered the cabin with caution. She didn’t know why she felt nervous, but the feeling made her search the room with a slow, anxious gaze. He wasn’t in bed, or the kitchen. Carly looked toward the fire. Her eyes landed on the back of Wade’s head resting against the top of the chair. She walked toward him, cautiously moving in front of him. She scanned his body with a troubled heart. His normally rigid posture slouched in the chair, soft denim jeans wrapped around his relaxed thighs and Lord have mercy—no shirt. He looked fine to her, very fine. She slanted her gaze to the side table. A bottle of rum displayed perfectly in the middle of the round mahogany wood, accompanied by coke and a tumbler half filled.
His dark gaze met hers with an odd, distant look.
She swallowed a knot in her throat. He looked off. “I knocked, but you didn’t answer.”
“That usually means someone doesn’t want to be bothered.” He lifted his drink to his lips and stared down the glass at her. A flare of light flashed from his finger when he tipped the glass back, and disappeared. She leaned forward for a closer look, and caught sight of a diamond ring that rimmed the tip of his index finger.
“What’s that… on your finger?”
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