Lawless (12 page)

The man slid off his horse in a lithe, smooth movement. He was tall, leanly built and his movements were graceful and precise. “Not for a long time.”

“She looks unharmed.”

Smith didn’t dodge the unspoken question. “Norton nor any of the others touched her.”

“Thank God.” He cocked a brow, his gratitude a palpable thing even if he did still have questions. “Or thank
you
, I suppose. Whichever applies. Probably both.”

The man laughed, a mirthless sound. “We don’t get lumped together very often.

Divine intervention isn’t my specialty and he doesn’t use me too often as a means of delivering it either. Let’s just say your sister has a lot of courage and I admired that from the moment I saw them haul her off the train.”

“How’d you come to see that?” Will eyed him, trying to gauge his reaction to the question.

“I happened to be there.”

Now that was one devil of an evasive answer. Will said with stark emphasis,

“They’re mostly dead. We hunted them down and there was a stand-off at their camp.

None of them had any interest in surrendering. The local sheriff, John Evans, wasn’t too interested in bargaining either. It ended up bloody.”

“Did it?” Smith looked unmoved, tugging at his horse’s rein. At closer range he had clean-cut features and unusual gray eyes. “Can I put Goliath up there?” He nodded at the barn. “He’s got to be tired. We rode pretty far today.”

That was all the man had to say about the River Bend Outfit’s demise? Will nodded.

“I’ll have one of the hands take care of him. You come up to the house. I know my 84

www.samhainpublishing.com

Lawless

parents will want to meet you and express their appreciation, if mere words can even cover it.”

“I don’t want thanks.”

Somehow he knew that was the truth. What did he want? Money? No, Will thought, watching the man lead his horse toward the big barn. He could judge men pretty accurately and this cowboy wasn’t one of those. There was something about him, something controlled and yet edgy, and he wore his guns low and easy, like they were part of him.

A good man to have at your side, Will guessed, and a bad one to have against you if that confident, slightly dangerous air was any indication.

He was damned curious about the past two weeks. Damned curious.

***

She was the one who thought it was a good idea to put a tiger in a cage, after all, Laurel thought with rueful amusement. It wasn’t that Cal wasn’t polite and good at fielding questions if they got too personal, it was just that there was nothing ordinary about him and it showed. The evening meal had been lively, her homecoming obviously releasing a huge strain on the household, and even Cal had actually shown some embarrassment finally over her mother’s effusive gratitude.

It was good to be home. She just hoped she could keep him at the ranch. Never once had he actually agreed to stay for any length of time, but he had assumed the unoriginal last name without argument. Their concocted story—Cal had been riding cross-country and stumbled across the robbery in progress and managed to get away with her—was accepted, though Laurel thought Will looked skeptical. Her older brother wasn’t a fool, but as long as everyone else didn’t ask too many questions, she wasn’t going to worry about it. As predicted, her parents immediately invited Cal to stay on as long as he liked as a guest.

Laurel rinsed a dish and glanced at the doorway for about the tenth time.

www.samhainpublishing.com 85

Emma Wildes

“Don’t worry, they won’t eat him alive.” Her mother took the dish from her hands, smiling as she dried it. “Besides, he has the look of a man who can handle himself just fine, Laurel. Have I mentioned yet how good it is to have you here?”

“About a hundred times,” Laurel said, returning the smile, seeing the gleam of tears rise again in her mother’s eyes. “And I feel the same way.”

“That boy outside on the porch with your father and Will is an angel, bringing you back to us.”

It was impossible not to laugh and she did, drying her hands on the apron around her waist. Wings and a halo on Cal Riker? She didn’t think so. And he was hardly a boy.

“Hmm. I think that might be an exaggeration, Ma. He’s a lot of things, but not that. On the other hand, he’s a sight better man than he would ever admit. Thank you for asking him to stay.”

Her mother sniffed, dabbing at her eyes for a moment. In her late forties, there was a hint of silver in her blond hair, but she was still slim and shapely and her eyes shimmered with emotion. “Like we had a choice, the way you look at him. I always wondered when you’d finally fall for one of these wild cowboys. Somehow I knew it wasn’t going to be one of those Eastern beaux your grandmother likes to push at you.”

Was she that transparent? Apparently so. Laurel blushed and glanced again at the doorway. “It just happened,” she admitted in a quiet voice.

“That’s how it works. He’s a handsome one, I’ll say that. Well-mannered and soft-spoken too.”

If her mother knew exactly who she was talking about, she’d probably faint on the spot. Not to mention he’d done some fairly outrageous things to her in bed, but Laurel had enjoyed every single one of them. Their time at the cabin was something precious and she wanted to lock it away forever, in case one day it was all that was left to her.

“If he asked me to marry him, I’d say yes.”

“I guessed that already.” Her mother moved to the stove and lifted the pot there, pouring out a cup of coffee. She sent Laurel a speculative look as she sat down at the 86

www.samhainpublishing.com

Lawless

table, the well-worn surface scrubbed and polished. “I’m not going to criticize either one of you, but you were alone with him for quite a while.”

The delay in bringing her back was the tricky part of Cal’s supposed grub-line-riding drifter persona, and since she wasn’t exactly sure why they had to stay and wait for Gabe to return from his trip—much less why he made it in the first place—she really couldn’t comment. It had something to do with the robbery, she wasn’t stupid and had figured that out easily, but Cal hadn’t explained and getting the man to talk was downright difficult.

He could be infuriating.

He could also be tender, and deliciously gentle and oh-so-wicked when he touched her in certain ways…

She sank into an opposite chair, relishing the warm, familiar surroundings, the scent of cinnamon and rich coffee lingering in the air. “He was on his way to visit a friend when we…crossed paths, I guess is a good way of putting it. We stayed there most of the time.”

It was the truth, or a reasonable version of it anyway.

“Your father is going to ask him about it, count on it. Not tonight, I’d guess, since he’s just so relieved and grateful, but he’ll get to thinking about it and ask.”

“If we get married, will it matter?”

“In the long term, no, I don’t think so.
Should
you get married?”

If her mother had figured that out so quickly, she wasn’t doing a very good job of acting at all. Laurel gave her what she hoped was an innocent look. “What do you mean?”

“Laurel, honey, that face didn’t work on me when you were five. Why do you think you can pull it off now?” Her mother took a sip of coffee, looking calm but still questioning.

Well, it might be nice to have an ally to help in the quest to make Cal stay on. On the other hand, if her mother told her father Cal had touched her—well, a good deal more than touched—it might cause trouble. After a moment, she sighed in an exasperated exhale. “Do you know everything?”

www.samhainpublishing.com 87

Emma Wildes

“I saw how he looked at you. That possessive air usually means one thing when a man acts a certain way. He feels he has a right to for the obvious reason.”

“It was my idea.”

Her mother chuckled, her slender fingers wrapped around her cup, amusement lively in her eyes. “You’ve always had a pretty clear notion of what you want in life. Does your young man understand what he’s up against? I hope he’s ready for a fight if he tries to leave.”

Cal Riker up for a fight?

What an ironic question.

***

She’d sat across from him at the dinner table, looking so damned beautiful in a light blue gown, her gleaming, pale hair caught up in some soft style that framed the delicate features of her face, her lovely eyes poignant and full of emotion. Cal had watched her—

he couldn’t help himself—and even the dainty way she ate her food made him want to sweep her into his arms and carry her off somewhere and make love to her.

It was a pitiful state for a man to be in, so absorbed in a woman the way she ate roast beef made him get an erection, he thought wryly.

This obsession was exactly why he sat on the wide porch of the sprawling ranch house with her father and brother, no less, and had to pretend to be just some ordinary down-on-his-luck cowpoke.

More than that, he had to act as if he hadn’t bedded Matthew Daniels’ beautiful daughter in almost every inventive position he could come up with in the past two weeks, accept the man’s hospitality and attempt to live one whopping lie.

Laurel was just plain dreaming if she thought the two of them could pull this off, but neither could he just ride away, so he didn’t have much choice.

“Whiskey?” Will Daniels offered him a glass.

88

www.samhainpublishing.com

Lawless

“Thanks.” Cal took it and tasted the amber liquid, finding it to be a lot smoother than Gabe’s rotgut concoction. He sipped, settling a shoulder against one of the posts on the wide veranda, too restless to just sit but trying to hide it.

How long would it take to get used to this, he wondered as he gazed out over the neat corrals and barns, beyond that the green valley spreading in impressive picturesque glory.

Hot meals every night, a decent bed, nice people who treated you like a long-lost friend.

Not to mention Laurel with her captivating beauty and sensational passion, looking at him like he was a hero, not a notorious gunman who had blood on his hands.

He didn’t deserve it, but had a feeling he could get used to it real quick. “Nice spread,” he remarked.

“I’m running close to sixty thousand head right now,” Matthew said, his tone almost carefully conversational. “I owe you, so if you’d like a job, say the word.”

“That’s real decent of you,” Cal murmured.

“My daughter is safe. It means the world to me, so don’t mention it. I get the feeling too, she’d like you to stay on, so consider yourself invited.”

Will Daniels was a long, lean, sandy-haired replica of his father, right down to his keen blue eyes. He resembled his beautiful sister in an entirely male way, and he didn’t sit either, but lounged against the railing, his gaze watchful. “We can always use a good hand and I have the feeling you know how to handle yourself. You grow up ranching?”

They were understandably curious. He sure as hell would be if some strange man had kept his sister or daughter for weeks and then just rode up, bold as brass. “In southern Texas,” he answered after a moment of inner debate about revealing too much. “I wanted to be a lawyer but it didn’t work out. Sometimes life’s that way.” It was nice to be able to tell the truth, even if it stung. Normally he didn’t talk about himself at all, but then the company he’d kept in the past years wasn’t the best.

“Your folks still alive?”

“I think so.” Cal took another sip from his glass, the liquid burning his throat a little but going down like silk. “I have to admit I’ve been bad about going home. Drifting gets to be a habit.”

www.samhainpublishing.com 89

Emma Wildes

“Think you can break it?” Matthew Daniels looked at him directly, with challenge.

He looked back, keeping his gaze steady. “All I know is for the first time in as long as I can remember, I want to try.”

Something flickered in Laurel’s father’s eyes. “I see.”

He had a feeling the man did see. Once again, if Laurel thought they were going to fool anyone, she was dead wrong. If he didn’t know Cal was her lover, he sure as hell suspected it. It was there in the slightly narrowed eyes and the set of his mouth. “You can ride out with Will tomorrow. Get a feel for things.”

“I appreciate the chance.”

“You wear a gun like you’ve used it a time or two.” Will spoke quietly.

Cal inclined his head. He had no idea how to turn off habits a decade old and apparently it showed. With a lift of his hand he indicated the darkness off the porch in a leisurely sweep. “It can be kind of unfriendly out there.”

They accepted his bland statement at face value and it showed a great deal about how grateful both of them were to him for interfering in Laurel’s abduction. He could read men and he had a feeling neither one of them would ask any more questions.

Such easy acceptance was a bit staggering, but then again, Laurel had turned his life upside down from the moment he saw her. He didn’t deserve her; it was a given, but he was getting used to the idea she didn’t see things the same way.

For the first time since the fateful day his brother died, he actually believed he was a damned lucky man.

90

www.samhainpublishing.com

Lawless

John leaned over and slowly licked the tip of one tight breast, lingering on the succulent nipple, closing his eyes as in response his wife reached down to run exploring fingers down the stiff length of his cock. With her dark, silky hair spilled over the bed, Alice lay next to him and caressed him until his breath went out in a betraying hiss against her skin. She cradled his balls, gently squeezing, a teasing expression on her pretty face. “Hmm…these feel very full.”

“You have no idea, honey.” He felt like his body could explode just from her exploring touch. When she stroked his scrotum with a light fingertip, he gritted his teeth and fought back the urge to ejaculate then and there. “God almighty, do that again and this is going to be over, pronto.”

“Now that would be a shame.”

He agreed wholeheartedly. “Tell me how you think it should be.”