by Lenore Wolfe
Hawk started. “What?”
“You had a raging fever.” She looked away. “But it was the nightmares you were locked into that scared us the most.” She swallowed hard at the anger she saw in his eyes. “Hawk, it looked as though you battled yourself to live.”
“I remember telling you to leave.”
“And I told you. When you were well enough, you could toss...” She went red. “Well, never mind.”
“So you want to find out what is between us.” It wasn’t a question.
“Wh-at?”
With some effort, Hawk sat up.
“Don’t, you’ll tear your stitches,” Mandy dumped her journal in her haste to stop him. He grabbed her hand—and yanked. Too late, she realized she had fallen into his trap.
Hawk pinned her with one hand and ran the other freely up her back. “Are you sure you want to stick around?” His hand stopped to cup her bottom before moving to settle on the small of her back. With only a grunt on his part, he pulled her fully on top of him and, blankets and all, wrapped his legs around her skirts. “Is this what you want, Mandy love?”
She gasped, and he cocked an eyebrow at her. His gaze dropped, meaningfully, to her mouth. Mandy stared at him. She wasn’t fooled. Despite his levity, something still covered him in darkness. What had happened to him to make the dark shadows that shrouded him?
Unbidden, the dreams returned.
Hawk stood at a creek, a small boy at his side. She went to him as if she belonged.
He is your destiny, child.
But how can this be, Grandmothers? He is so angry. He’s nearly lost.
Trust, my child; you will walk the journey together.
A sound, which was part growl and part groan, erupted from his throat. Mandy’s hands shot through his hair, and she laid her cheek next to his. When she leaned back to look into his eyes, the heat she saw there jolted her backwards—but he held her fast. Mandy’s thoughts spiraled into a thousand pieces. Heat ripped through her.
Suddenly, he shoved her off the bed, sending her stumbling. Her hand shot to her mouth in shock, a sob caught in her throat. She shook her head, only then realizing her hair lay in wild waves about her.
He stared at her mutely, trying to regain control of his violently beating heart—to bring his breathing under control. She was beautiful, standing there with her hair spilled around her like spun silk.
No woman had ever sent him out of control. He had always been the master. Now, looking at her, he sensed the same raging feelings he’d sensed before, while watching her with his hated enemy’s arm around her waist. Rage tore through his gut, leaving him weak. It’s too late, damn you, he raged inside, staring, unseeing, towards the north. It’s too late for him. Too late for her.
Too late for them.
Right then, he wanted to kill McKinney more for touching her than killing the woman and child. He wanted her. And that made him angry. It made him crazy. Destiny be hanged. Having touched her, he knew the wanting, the need, would never go away. He’d sensed the danger. And just like the first time he’d kissed her, he knew—he wanted her. He wanted everything a future with her represented.
“I’ve never behaved this way before.” She whispered this.
“I know.” His liquid, golden gaze penetrated hers. “But if you stay, you’ll do it again. Do you understand, Mandy?” His voice shook with emotion. “If you stay, this will only be the beginning of what I will do to you. I will make you beg me to touch you.”
Mandy stood completely still. Half of her screamed to run—the other half already begged for him to touch her again.
“Come here, Mandy.” It was a command.
Mandy turned and ran.
Mandy stood in front of Doc’s office with her face to the sun. She breathed the warm, fresh air deep into her lungs, cleansing them from the stale air surrounding the hospital bed. She frowned suddenly, her small slice of peace gone now; shattered at the unwelcome sight heading her way.
Ashley McCandle strode straight towards her with what looked to be murderous intent. He grabbed her arm. Opening Doc’s office door with his free hand, he yanked her through it, slamming it behind them. He stood, with a bruising grip on her arm, not moving.
Mandy stood quietly, hoping he would calm down and very, very happy they had managed to move Hawk to a room upstairs that morning.
Finally, he turned to her, but he had not gained control of his rage. He released her arm—but rounded on her. “Mandy what the hell do you think you’re doing, taking care of that man?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Mandy pressed her fingers to her temples. McCandle was the most arrogant man she’d ever known, but even she was amazed that he’d barged into Doc’s house like this, uninvited. “I’m sure you’ve heard all over town what happened,” she answered.
“I went out to the ranch again,” Ashley closed in on her as he spoke, his voice lowering with every word he enunciated until it became a menacing growl, “only to have those God-forsaken men of yours tell me you’d be gone for a few days. I hit Ned for having the nerve to try and throw me off your land, and that boy, Timmy...”
“Tommy,” Mandy corrected.
He sneered. “He’s gonna get himself killed, if he don’t learn his place.”
Mandy gasped, “Oh, Ashley!”
His rage altered somewhat at her reaction. “Your damn men refused to tell me where you were!”
Mandy lifted her chin with anger. “That’s because, it’s none of your business.”
“It is my business,” and he grabbed her by the back of her hair, forcing her to look at him, “where my future wife is concerned; now why-are-you-here?”
She fought back the tears, her eyes smarting from the searing pain he was causing. “You are not now, nor will you ever be, my husband!” She gritted her teeth as he twisted his grip on her hair all the more tighter. “I have told you for nearly three years now, I already have a fiancé.”
“Lies.” McCandle lowered his face even closer to hers. “That’s all those ever were, just lies to throw me off track. Do you think I didn’t know that?’
Meg slipped in the office door and came around Ashley. “I came to warn you about him,” she gestured at McCandle. She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sorry I got here too late.”
Ashley turned his ugly snarl on Mandy’s best friend. Still holding Mandy close to his chest, he turned and hissed into her face, “I want you to stop seeing this little tart.”
Mandy stared at Meg, hoping she would keep silent, but her hope was short-lived.
Meg’s brows shot up. “Who? Me?” She moved closer to where McCandle had hold of Mandy. “Why, McCandle. You wouldn’t be afraid of little ol’ me, now, would you?”
McCandle’s face turned red with hate. He yanked his hand from Mandy’s hair and stepped in front of Meg. “One of these days,” his lips curled in a feral snarl as he leaned in toward Meg, “you’re mouth is gonna get you killed.”
Meg leaned closer to Ashley’s face. “Why, I say McCandle, is that a threat?”
Mandy pulled her friend around, close to her. “Stop it,” she whispered. Meg squeezed her hand and turned back to McCandle. “By the way, did you have anything to do with McKinney being in town?”
Mandy gasped.
If the Christian demon had a face, McCandle’s face looked demonic. Meg and Mandy knew he wasn’t a man accustomed to answering questions. “I’ve heard enough.” He turned and grabbed Mandy’s wrist. “You’re coming with me. I will not tolerate you staying here and tending to that man.”
Meg grabbed at Mandy. “No, McCandle!”
“She has no choice.” McCandle’s once-handsome face twisted in hate. “Not if she wants to save that precious ranch of hers.”
Mandy took hold of the crystal hanging around her neck and centered. Her body hummed with the power of the Grandmothers.
McCandle let go of her wrist, then appeared surprised he had done so. He looked at her, an odd expression on his face.
“I don’t need you to save my ranch,” Mandy spoke quietly. “I need to save my ranch from you. Thank you, but I have everything worked out fine without your generous offer.”
McCandle stared, confused, at his hand, but her last words seemed to bolster him back up. “That’s right...” He didn’t seem to notice Meg pulling Mandy farther from his reach. “It was generous of me.” He straightened his suit. “You couldn’t do it without me, Mandy. You need me to save that ranch of yours.”
Mandy glared at him. “I won’t come crawling to you.”
McCandle’s green gaze narrowed on her.
Mandy steeled herself. As before, contact with him had left her weak. She sensed the dark cloud that shrouded him, but she could not find the source. She saw only the dark, cloaked man, who had been seen hanging around Ashley a lot of late.
“And just what are you gonna do, Miss Kane?” He raised both brows and drawled on, “Are you going to hire that gunslinger in there? I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Not if you wish him to live.” He strode forward, pushing Meg aside as easily as if he’d swatted at a fly. Reaching her, he ran a finger down her flushed face. “I’ll see him in hell first.”
Cold shock flooded Mandy’s body. McCandle’s unusual, green eyes held the vacancy of a mad man. She didn’t doubt him for a minute. The powers he held, he wielded without control; a madman with power, growing stronger each day. With his father out of town, there was no one else to stop him. His father was a mad man, too, to be sure. But he was nowhere near as insane as his son.
McCandle straightened the cuff on his sleeve. His gaze lifted, and he stared intently at Mandy for a moment, then turning his head ever so slightly, he looked directly out the window. Mandy followed his gaze to the man in the long, dark, well-tailored suit standing out on the boarded walk. For some unexplained reason, she shivered. When she regained her senses, she realized McCandle was staring at her. “Who’s that man, Ashley?”
He grinned, and Mandy felt a chill crawl over her skin.
He turned away. “It begins,” he flung back over his shoulder. Walking out, he slammed the door.
Mandy shivered and felt Meg put an arm around her. “He’s insane.” A worry frown marred her face. Mandy turned to look at Meg, but did not see her friend.
Be careful child. You are all in grave danger. He has the power of your enemies. His power will challenge all you are, and all that is the Hawk.
Mandy shivered again.
Chapter Seven
When she peeked into Hawk’s room later, he was asleep. She retrieved her journal and sat down, but she couldn’t find the words to write. Hawk lay sleeping peacefully. She saw herself laying there with him. He was warning her and, right now, she should be back at her ranch. She’d even gone out and had her rig hitched up.
But she couldn’t go.
Over, and over, she told herself he was her only hope. She warred with the Grandmothers’ words, which said he was her destiny. Yet when she looked up, now, to find his golden-green eyes watching her, when she found her breath lodged in her throat every time he touched her, she knew—she’d crossed a path, and there was no going back.
“Come here, Mandy.”
She stood on shaky legs and made her way before him.
He took her hand and turned it over. With slow, sensual movements, he rubbed the pad of his thumb over the sensitive flesh of her palm.
She swayed.
“I want you to tell me why you came back when you fight the destiny between us? And I want you to tell me of your dreams.”
Mandy sidestepped the mention of the dreams and focused on his first question. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I tried, but I could not go.”
Hawk let his head fall back and sighed. “You have no idea the man that I am. I need to be clear. When this is over, I have to go.” He leaned forward and kissed the palm of her hand, then sighed again, lying back against the pillows once more. “I cannot see how even the Grandmothers could know why.”
Mandy stared at him for a long moment. She took a long, shuddering breath. “I do not know why you do to me what you do.” She shrugged. “And I do not understand my visions. I do not know why you did what you did in the store, or why you must leave me once this is done. I do not know why, if that is so, I don’t just go ahead and marry McCandle,” her voice rose with growing intensity. “But I do know this; I need you to help me. I must not lose my land. I cannot let McCandle win. He murdered my father, and he has to pay.” She narrowed her eyes in agitation. “I will do everything I can to get you to stay,” she added, “but if I can’t, I will avenge my father my own way, even if I have to marry that vile man and kill him in his sleep.”
Hearing this, Hawk half sat up, wincing from the pain it cost him. “The hell you will.” He could not think why she would say this when she knew their path. He did not care that this new thought contradicted everything he’d just told her about having to leave. His grip on her hand tightened.
Everything about her caused him to challenge everything he thought he knew. He’d think one thing—and do another. She was making him crazy with want. She was all he thought about, night and day.
“If you don’t help me, that’s one of the only two plans I have left.”
No. She couldn’t know why he must leave. And she would hate him when she knew. But in spite of that, this was their path. Their destiny—and there was no other way. They would have to find a way to work through it. Why did she fight him? “He killed your pa!” He could not believe she’d even suggest it.
“Yes.”
Stubbornness made him ask, “And you’d let him touch you? The way I touched you?”
Mandy closed her eyes—and lied, “If I have to.”
“Open your eyes, Mandy,” he commanded. “Look me in the eyes when you say that.”
Mandy sighed in defeat.
“Why do you fight us?” Hawk’s voice was gentle now. “There is more to us than killing McCandle. There is more than either of us know at this moment. You will have to decide something one day.” He touched her cheek. “But we will win.”
Mandy pulled back, glaring at him. “If you are suggesting, by your use of the word us, we let him get away with killing my father and hand over the very ranch he murdered my father for,” she pulled farther out of his reach in anger, “I will never agree. Never!”
Hawk frowned. He’d never suggested such a thing. What was she really afraid of? But that wasn’t the thing that held his attention at the moment. It was the idea of Mandy—and Ashley. “Then, you would let him touch you?” He still needed to hear her answer, in spite of himself. He couldn’t get past the idea she would let McCandle touch her.
“If that was the only way I had left to me...” she whispered.
“Say it.’
“Then, yes!” she nearly yelled. “I would do whatever it takes.”
“You’re still not saying it, Mandy,” he whispered through clenched teeth.
Mandy sighed. Tears stung her eyes. “It’s not in me to give up, Hawk. I cannot walk away and accept what he did.”
“No,” Hawk went still as a mountain lion. “I can see you cannot.”
Hawk slept through the evening meal and right through the night. But Doc was happy to see it. “It’s a healing, restful, sleep,” he assured Mandy.
She stared out the window. The look in Hawk’s golden eyes should have warned her off, but she had ignored the warning. Why did she do that? Was she so afraid of her feelings for him, she would deliberately provoke him that way?
Doc came into the room and, seeing her, his wise, old face split into a grin. “You got more than you bargained for. Didn’t you, Mandy girl?”
Mandy turned and looked at him sadly. “From the first moment I saw him, even when I was held in the grip of that murdering McKinney, I...”
“Don’t give up on him, Mandy girl.” Doc took her hand. “He needs you. He just don’t know it yet. He needs your goodness. But more than that, he needs your love.”
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Mandy’s head shot up in shock, her free hand going to her throat.
Doc turned away, picking up his bag. “I have to go see to the Brown’s little girl. Poor little mite,” he shook his head, “been sick all her six years. I’ll probably be back late. They always have me for dinner.” He pulled open the door. “Fight for him, Mandy. He won’t know what he’s thrown away—till it’s too late.”
Mandy didn’t hear the door shut. She was still thinking on one thing. Love. She had loved the man in her visions. She had loved him in past lives—and she loved him still. She loved a man who masqueraded as a gunfighter. And from the way he used that weapon, she knew Meg was right—he was more than dressing the part.
No! She couldn’t have fallen in love with a man who held a secret that might keep them apart forever. A gunman; a man who, even if he stayed now, would be on the next stage out when his job was done. Yet all the sense in the world would not change what her heart wanted. She wanted Hawk. She had known him forever—been in love with him forever. She looked down at her trembling hands in realization. It was hopeless. She was in love with a man as changing and unpredictable as a storm—and he would be gone with the next wind—taking her heart with him.
Blinding, morning sunlight filled the room as Mandy tied the drapes back with their thick, rope ties. Hawk sat up, wincing from his sore shoulder. “What time is it?”
“Almost time for lunch.” She tried to avoid looking at him—and failed. She swallowed hard when her traitorous eyes followed the dark, curly hair covering a massive, chiseled chest, then dropped lower still to see only a thin sheet hiding what was beneath. Her cheeks flamed when she realized the direction of her thoughts and flew wide when they clashed with his golden ones.
His eyes were smoky, but his lips were turned upward in a sardonic grin. One eyebrow arched in wicked amusement. “Don’t stop now.”
Mandy’s own eyes went black with anger. “You, sir, are no gentleman, even if you dress the part in that suit and put on a show.”