Caden's Vow

by Sarah McCarty

  “No.” He’d be leaving tonight, though. It was time for him to go.

  “Best hurry,” Caine prodded.

  Maddie frowned at Caine. She looked like a kitten challenging a cougar as she ordered, “You won’t tell him bad stories? He doesn’t sleep well when you do, and he needs his rest.”

  Shit, she made him sound downright feeble. Something that wasn’t lost on Caine if the smile tugging at his lips was anything to go by.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Caden turned Maddie toward the crowd gathered at the cake table. “Go, Maddie, before there’s none left.”

  She did, lifting her skirts and showing an indecent amount of ankle in her haste to beat Tucker to the cake. She had pretty ankles.

  “I’m not even going to ask how she knows how you sleep,” Caine stated with an arch of his brow.

  And he wasn’t going to tell. Caden folded his arms across his chest. “I haven’t been messing with her.”

  Caine dismissed the challenge with a wave of his hand. Whiskey sloshed in the cut-crystal glass he held. Caden remembered when they used to drink it straight out of the bottle. “Hell, I know that, but that woman has a powerful affection for you.”

  “She’s like a child.”

  “Maybe when she first got here. But have you noticed lately she’s more here than there?”

  “She’s healing.”

  “Desi says she’s forgetting.”

  Caden took one of the glasses from Caine. “How the hell does a woman forget being forced to serve men from childhood?”

  “A woman who knows how to escape into make-believe?” Caine made a slashing motion with his free hand. “How the hell do I know?”

  “Then, why are you bringing it up?”

  “Because Sally Mae told Desi that I should.”

  Of course she had. Caden sighed and swirled the whiskey in the glass. “Life was a hell of a lot easier before we had women cluttering up the place.”

  Caine’s whole expression softened as he looked over at his wife. Blonde and petite, her curly hair temporarily confined in a knot, Desi was the love of Caine’s hard life and he was hers. If ever two people fit together like pieces of a puzzle, it was Desi and Caine.

  “I happen to like the clutter,” Caine drawled.

  Caden bet he did, but the Miller men didn’t have that kind of heart luck. They were treasure hunters, adventurers, trailblazers. Caden took a sip of whiskey. The only thing the Millers brought women was loneliness and disappointment. “I know.”

  “You really going to try to salvage that gold mine of Fei’s?” Caine asked.

  Caden swallowed the whiskey, savoring the burn. That was more like it. Enough whiskey could cauterize any wound. “Yup.”

  “Sam said Fei blew it to hell and gone.”

  Caden shrugged. There were ways around that. “Just presents more of a challenge.”

  “A hell of a challenge for one man.”

  Caden smiled and took another sip. “Since when did Hell’s Eight shy away from a challenge?”

  “Never.” Caine swirled the whiskey in his glass. “Is that what has your feet itching? No more challenges for you here?”

  There were plenty of challenges at Hell’s Eight. Just because they’d staked their claim didn’t mean there wasn’t someone who was going to try to take it.

  His father’s face flashed into his mind. Frozen in time. Remember who you are...

  He’d done his duty by the Hell’s Eight and Tia. But now it was time to do right by his family.

  “More like a promise I’ve got to keep.”

  “What promise?” Caine asked.

  “Nothing that involves you.”

  “If it involves you,” Caine countered, “it involves Hell’s Eight.”

  Caine’s loyalty to those he considered family was all encompassing. Caden drained the glass and set it beside the delicate champagne flute. Such elegance where before there had been none. He turned away. “Not this time.”

  “The hell you say.”

  He met Caine’s gaze squarely. “I do.”

  “At least let Ace or Luke go with you.”

  Caden could see Maddie scooping up her piece of cake. Saw her smile at Tucker shyly as he pretended to grab for it. Inside, something twisted, revealing a touch of...anger? He pushed the feeling aside.

  “You can’t spare the hands.”

  “We can spare what you need,” Caine said.

  Caden knew the state of the ranch as well as anyone. Knew the threats against it. They’d just expanded. Every man was necessary. And now with the cavalry being pulled back East to deal with the discord there between North and South, they had to add the renewed threat of Indian attacks to the mix. “Too many people would draw attention.”

  “Two is hardly too many,” Sam cut in, coming up beside them, a whiskey glass in one hand and a bottle in the other. Behind him was Ace. “Hell, it won’t even get the job done. Remember, I saw the place after Fei blew it up. The woman is thorough.”

  Caden knew he’d eventually need help, a lot of it likely, but right now, he didn’t want it. “I need to do this on my own.”

  “Because of that promise you made your da?” Ace asked, his dark hair flopping over his brow, giving him the look of a devil-may-care no-account. Until you looked a little lower and saw his eyes. No one that had any ability to take a man’s measure could mistake the coldness and purpose that shadowed his light brown eyes. Ace could cut a man’s throat with the same aplomb with which he could perform those card tricks he liked to show off. And with a smile on his face. Not that Ace enjoyed killing, but if it was necessary, he didn’t have any qualms about settling a score. Caden sighed, noting Tracker and Shadow making their way over, too. This had all the makings of a well-intentioned ambush. Shit.

  “Did someone send out an invite I missed?”

  Sam smiled. “Nah. This is more of an impromptu party.”

  “What promise did you make to your da?” Caine asked, with that tenacity that marked everything he did.

  “Nothing.” Caden glared at Ace. Of all the Hell’s Eight, he was closest to Ace, which had resulted in a drunken confession about his father many years ago that should never have been made. Ace merely shook his head.

  “Don’t get your tail in a twist. You’re a grown man. You get to be as foolish as you want.”

  “The hell he does.”

  “Let it go, Caine,” Caden ordered.

  “The hell I will.”

  Sam leaned in and poured more whiskey into Caine’s already quarter-full glass. “Drink that.”

  “Shit, if I drink that, I’ll be drunk.”

  Sam shrugged and offered Ace the bottle, before saying, “At least you’ll have an excuse for spouting nonsense.”

  “It’s not nonsense. That gold mine is in the middle of Indian country, and Culbart isn’t going to be any help if anything goes wrong out there.”

  That was true. The mine wasn’t the only thing Fei had blown to hell and gone. When Fei’s father had sold her cousin Lin to Culbart, Fei had taken matters into her own hands. A lot of dynamite had been blown to rescue Lin. Which meant the only white man close enough to come to Caden’s aid at the mine wasn’t going to be feeling that friendly toward a Hell’s Eight man. Caden mentally shrugged. He’d faced tougher odds.

  “Culbart’s a hard-ass, but no one has ever accused him of being stupid,” Ace said. “If Hell’s Eight calls for help, he’ll be there. He can’t afford to be that friendless with that ranch of his smack-dab in the middle of Indian country and tensions rising the way they are.”

  “Besides, I thought some of the problems with Culbart stemmed from the fact the man thought Lin was being kidnapped?” Caden asked.

  “He’s got a point, Caine,” Ace offered. “Like the man or not, truth is Lin came to no harm in Culbart’s care, and any man worth his salt would go after a woman stolen from his care, even if it was one of us who did the stealing.”

  Caine frowned and took
a large swallow from his glass. His green eyes narrowed. “The man still has an ax to grind. He lost good men in that ‘misunderstanding.’”

  “It would have been easier if Fei had bargained a bit before up and taking off with her cousin,” Sam interjected wryly. “Might have saved on the grinding.”

  “Culbart didn’t leave her much choice,” Caine drawled, taking another sip. “He’d lost good money in the deal. Holding on to Fei was his best chance of getting it back.”

  Ace shook his head. “Or so he thought. Fei did a good job covering her pa had gone bat-shit crazy. You can’t totally blame Culbart.”

  Caine cocked a brow at Ace. “You sound as though you like the bastard.”

  Ace shrugged. “I do. He’s tough as nails, but he’s got a strong sense of right and wrong.” He took a drink of whiskey. “Not to mention an interesting sense of humor.”

  “When the hell did you ever see his sense of humor?” Caden snapped, impatience rubbing his temper raw. He wanted to go, not sit here and discuss Culbart’s good qualities.

  “When Caine here sent me to set Culbart straight.”

  “You were supposed to intimidate him,” Caine countered.

  “I decided to socialize first.”

  Caden shook his head. Leave it to Ace to turn an enemy into an ally.

  “I wouldn’t say he’s a friend,” Ace continued, “but he’s not hostile.”

  Caden straightened. He was doing this, and to hell with Culbart and to hell with argument. If that ruffled feathers along the way, then too bad. “Well, if Culbart still has an ax to grind, let him grind it.”

  “Goddamn it, Caden,” Caine snarled. “Why do you have to do this now when we’re spread so thin?”

  Because he did. Turning on his heel, Caden walked away, not answering, pushing past Shadow and Tracker, ignoring the surprised lift of Tucker’s brow. As he reached the garden gate, he heard Caine say, “Would someone tell me about this promise?”

  “It’s personal, not important,” Ace responded with a blatant lie for which Caden would owe him.

  “It’s important enough that the man who never breaks promises is breaking one to keep it.”

  Ace swore, “Shit.”

  Maddie. Caine was talking about Maddie. Caden had promised her he wouldn’t leave the party before she got back. Caden saw her out of the corner of his eye, standing slightly apart from the others, smiling and watching the dancers, looking as pretty and as inviting as sunshine after a storm. Saw Luke head her way, and swore. She’d get over it. He shoved the gate open and kept walking. As the gate slammed closed behind him, he heard her call his name, the surprise and disappointment nipping at his feet in a tone he’d heard his mother use too many times.

  Fuck.

  He was his father after all.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HE WAS LEAVING. Maddie stood, tucked half behind a flowering pear tree, looking at the buds amid the leaves, feeling her hopes fade even as the trees blossomed. New pears that she’d come to think would signal a new beginning for her. In a few months those small, nondescript bulges would be fruit. She’d planned on picking that fruit for Caden, but he was leaving. Leaving her. Leaving Hell’s Eight. Without even a goodbye. To her, at least.

  Just like everybody else she’d ever cared about. The man she’d thought was her father. Her mother. Her friends. They’d all left. And she’d stayed, just as she was staying here because she always hoped things would get better. Ever since she’d made the decision to take Tracker up on his offer to come to Hell’s Eight, she’d been clinging to some sort of hope. Hope that life for her could be better. That she could be loved. That she’d have a husband. A home. Children.

  And yet here she was, standing among strangers, treating them like friends, mooning over a man who couldn’t see her as woman or whore. Watching him say his goodbyes to others, bracing herself for his absence, for the awful not knowing if he was alive or dead for weeks on end. She shivered, the cold, sick feeling digging into her stomach. She loved Caden so. But beyond a smile whenever she came into his presence and an occasional offhand endearment that meant nothing, he didn’t know she was alive. But that didn’t change the fact he was her heart and he was leaving. Or that she hated it.

  The protest started at the edges of her mind, subtle yet insistent, gathering strength like a storm chasing across the plains, gaining volume as it got closer. The howl dissolved to voices from her past, some kind, most of them cruel, telling her what to do, how to do it, as if her pain was nothing. As if she was nothing. The urge to slip away deeper into the foliage until she disappeared clawed at her nerves.

  She dug her nails into her forearms, letting the pain drive back the cacophony. Caden was a strong man. He respected strong women. All the women of Hell’s Eight were strong. Sally Mae with her pacifist beliefs, healing ways and defiance of convention. Desi with her fiery spirit. Ari with her gentleness that belied an inner strength that didn’t ever let her quit. Bella who was just pure life. Fei with her purpose and drive. Those were the type of women that Caden admired. That was the kind of woman she needed to be.

  She looked over to where Tia stood beside her Ed, the mantilla on her head fluttering in the breeze, catching the smile in her eyes. Tia, who’d lost her husband and her children, and yet had taken on eight young boys, wild boys, hate-filled boys, and turned them into men to be admired. Why hadn’t God sent her a Tia?

  She licked her lips and looked to where Caden had disappeared. Maybe the good Lord hadn’t sent her a Tia when she was a child sobbing into her pillow at night, but He’d given her an escape. But now He was taking that away, and she couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t coincidence that as her escape into fantasy stopped being effective, her love for Caden grew. She was meant to come to Hell’s Eight. She truly believed that God sent her here. But she didn’t believe he sent her here to be alone. He sent her here for Caden. For though he was restless and distant, part of the whole yet somehow apart from it, he was a man who needed love, who needed gentleness, and she’d waited her whole life to give her love to someone. It didn’t matter if he recognized it or gave it back. She’d waited her whole life for someone to love. And now he was leaving.

  She shook her head. She couldn’t let it just happen. She heard a noise beside her. She looked up. Bella stood there, for once without her handsome blond, blue-eyed Sam, her belly rounded with child, her smile full of that life that gave Sam purpose. Maddie had spent a lot of time studying what attracted these men to these women and what kept them moving. And for Sam it was Bella’s spirit that he cherished.

  “You hide again, Maddie.” It was both an accusation and a question, spoken in Bella’s melodic accent that made music of her words. Even the exasperated ones.

  Maddie shrugged. “I’m watching to see what needs to be done.”

  Bella shook her head. “There is only one thing you watch, my friend.”

  As always, Bella’s use of the term “friend” made her jump inside. Maddie had never had a real friend. She’d been kept alive after her birth for a purpose. For a long time she’d dreamed it had been to be loved, but as the years passed, the truth had become clear, and she’d learned to stop smiling at others and to stop believing. Though the women of Hell’s Eight were kind to her, she never felt comfortable with their caring. She was a whore. She might have run from her life, but all the offers of friendship in the world couldn’t remove the stain. It was easy to pretend that wasn’t true, protected here at Hell’s Eight. Here the world couldn’t touch her, but someday she’d have to leave. And when she did she wanted to be just like Bella. Confident. Sassy. Always ready with a quick response. Never hiding.

  But she wasn’t like Bella. Not yet. She didn’t have fire. She didn’t have family. She didn’t have beliefs. She’d been a child lost and now she was a woman lost, but she was going to find her way. The padre said God didn’t put people on this earth with no purpose, which meant she had a purpose, too. When he’d first said it, it’d been a unique idea
she couldn’t understand. But over time she couldn’t forget it, and slowly it had grown on her and taken root. Until now, finding a purpose was her purpose.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Bella smiled and glanced over to the gate Caden had just passed through. “It is easy to see where your heart lies.”

  Maddie licked her lip, feeling that stab of fear deep inside. To love something was to lose it, to cause its death. Instinct had her reaching for make-believe, but she couldn’t find that hazy place where real and imagination blended as easily as they used to. Ari said it was a good thing. Maddie wasn’t sure.

  “Hearts and flowers are so pretty at weddings.” The slip into nonsense was only half-faked. It was always so much easier to act as nothing when you felt like nothing.

  Bella sighed and folded her arms under her ample chest, resting them on her belly. “You will try this nonsense with others. I know you are not loca.”

  Maddie wished she knew that. “Are you so sure?”

  Bella shook her head. “There is more to you than nonsense, Maddie.”

  Maddie blinked. No one had ever said that to her before.

  “I am sweet thighs and soft breasts and pleasure for a man.” She’d heard that so much it was rote.

  Bella snorted. “You’re passion and temper, and when you find your feet, the only man that will find pleasure with you is the one that you choose.”

  “You think I’ll get to choose?”

  Bella, always so insightful, always so blunt, touched her hand, causing Maddie to jump again because no one ever touched her. Touching was bad, painful, death. “Sí.”

  She pulled her hand away, immediately feeling bad. She liked Bella. Bella just smiled.

  “You are Hell’s Eight now, Maddie. You are not nothing.”

  “Tracker just brought me here.”

  Bella smiled and looked at the big man talking to Ed. The wind caught his hair, exposing the deep scar on his cheek. “Something brought us all here.”

  To Maddie, Tracker was a scary man with that scar down his face and those big muscles and that dark skin, but to Ari he was her sun and moon, which just proved gentleness lived everywhere. Maddie clung to that. Caden wasn’t as big as Tracker, but his hands were strong enough to bruise, break bones.