Authors: Sarah McCarty
He tugged at his bonds again. Culbart’s smile widened. Maddie’s
finger brushed over his.
“I told you, you shouldn’t have picked those flowers for me,”
she said. “There’s poison ivy there.”
He hadn’t picked any flowers, he hadn’t done shit, but Maddie
was off in her dreamworld, and nothing he said seemed to make any impression. He
tried again. “I’m not itching. I’m struggling.”
“It will be over soon.”
That sounded suspiciously sane. He looked down at her, but all
he could see was the top of her head. Dammit!
“Maddie, you don’t want to do this.”
She looked up then. Her expression was the perfect mix of hurt
innocence. Right down to the hint of moisture in her eyes. Maybe too perfect.
Even when Maddie was at her most distant, there was always that hint of
confusion as if she wasn’t quite sure where she was supposed to be. A confusion
that was completely missing now. And had been since he’d arrived.
“You’ve changed your mind?” she asked.
“I never made it up in the first place.”
Her fingers wrapped in the sleeve of his shirt but didn’t slide
down to his wrist. Maddie always slid her fingers down to his wrist.
“You can’t change your mind.” She looked over at Culbart.
“He’s not going anywhere, honey.”
As if on cue, three sets of guns tightened their aim.
That woman has a powerful affection for
you.
Caine’s words came back to haunt him. Was it possible Maddie had
set him up? He looked down at her. There was no guile in her face, but a lot of
women could make pretend seem real, and Maddie was real good at pretend.
A knock came at the door. Dickens yanked it open. Ace stumbled
into the room, his hands bound behind him, his hair dripping. Blood still
stained his shirt, but his neck and chest were clean.
“Here’s the best man,” Dickens said, shoving him into the room.
Ace tossed his head, flipping his hair out of his eyes. He didn’t look any
happier than Caden felt.
Shit. Ace pulled up short, taking in the preacher, the
arrangement of the furniture, Maddie standing by Caden.
“Shoot, boys, if you’d have told me it was a wedding, I’d have
dressed better.”
“If we’d have told you it was a wedding, you’d have hightailed
it.”
Ace flashed that smile of his. “I like weddings as long as they
aren’t mine.”
“Your friend doesn’t feel the same.”
“Caden’s always been ornery.”
“Shut up, Ace,” Caden snapped.
“Well, he can be ornery and hitched,” Culbart interrupted.
Caden yanked at his bonds. “And you can be dead.”
“Marriage is good for a man.”
“Then you marry her.”
“Caden!” Maddie gasped.
She could gasp all she wanted. It didn’t change the facts. He
was being forced into a marriage with a woman he didn’t want.
“I asked, but she’s got her heart set on you.”
Fucking hell. “Then she’s going to be disappointed.”
Culbart smiled. “No, she’s not.”
“You have to marry me,” Maddie said, her fingers gripping his
sleeve. He waited. They still didn’t drift down to his wrist.
Certainty lodged like lead in his stomach. Maddie was faking
pretend. “Why?”
“Because.”
He laughed. “Because? Is that what you told Culbart?”
She nodded.
“Hell,” Ace said. “Even if advances were made, it’s not like
she was a vestal virgin.”
For the first time ever, Caden didn’t come to Maddie’s
defense.
Dickens elbowed Ace in the stomach. “Watch how you talk to the
lady.”
“The lady forcing my best friend to marry on a lie?”
“If it’s a lie, how does she know so much about him?”
Ace’s brows went up. “I wasn’t aware that she did.”
“She does.”
“And if it’s a lie,” Dickens continued, “why was she out
traveling on her own, following him?”
“Because she’s crazy?” Ace countered.
Maddie gasped. No matter what stunt she was pulling, it still
bothered Caden to see that hurt in her eyes. And that pissed him off.
“When this wedding’s over, Culbart, what then?” he asked.
“You’re going to write me an IOU for a horse, and we’re going
to have the party Maddie arranged.”
“We’re having a party?”
Maddie nodded up at him, her eyes shining. “With chocolate
cake. Just like Tia had.”
Just like Tia had.
That wedding had
been the fantasy of Maddie’s life. She’d thrown herself into Tia’s plans,
sharing the excitement as if it was her own, which might explain why he was now
standing beside her facing a preacher with the world believing they were
promised. That’s how make-believe went with Maddie. A little bit of reality
turned into a whole lot of pretend.
If
she was
pretending
Caden looked over at Culbart. “You’re letting us go?”
“Any reason I shouldn’t?”
He exchanged a look with Ace. Ace shrugged, clearly having no
better idea than Caden as to what was going on, but the goal was to get Maddie
out of here, and if a fake marriage succeeded in achieving an actual escape,
then who was he to argue? For sure no one would hear of this, and even if they
did, it would be a simple matter to bribe the preacher to make the papers
disappear, assuming there even were papers.
Setting his jaw, he bit back his pride. It’d been a long time
since anyone had been able to force him to do anything. “If this wedding’s going
to happen, then someone get talking. Daylight’s burning.”
And so was his temper, because as the reverend started the
ceremony, as Maddie repeated the vows in her sweet, low voice, happiness written
all over her face, he couldn’t shake the certainty that he’d been set up. It
wouldn’t be the first time and it likely wouldn’t be the last. But to think that
he’d fallen into a trap of Maddie’s making, betrayed by one of Hell’s Eight,
soured his stomach. From the expression on Ace’s face, it wasn’t sitting too
well with him, either, and as much as he wanted answers, now wasn’t the time to
search for them.
The ceremony was short, to the point. No rings were exchanged,
which didn’t stop Maddie from holding out her hand and expecting one. The
expression on her face was crestfallen when he didn’t produce one, but then just
as quickly, she tucked her fingers up into her palm and smiled at the
preacher.
“He’s saving up to get me a special one. I’ll be the envy of
all the women.”
She was going to be something. She’d be lucky if he didn’t put
her over his knee.
“I bet he will, pretty thing,” Culbart said, “but if he
doesn’t, you come give your uncle Frank a visit.”
The threat was thinly veiled.
“Do you really want to be on the wrong side of Hell’s Eight,
Culbart?”
Culbart gave Maddie a hug, tilted his head to the side. “Seems
to me I just forged an alliance with Hell’s Eight.”
“One that lasts only as long as this wedding.”
“Never known a Hell’s Eight man to break a promise, and you
just promised to love and cherish this lady forever until death do you
part.”
Son of a bitch. So he had.
“A promise made under duress.”
“A promise is a promise,” Culbart cut in.
Caden had to agree. He really had promised to love and cherish
and protect Maddie forever.
“Dickens, put down that shotgun,” Culbart said. “No need for it
anymore, and fetch the whiskey. Bob, go fetch your fiddle. I fancy a dance with
the bride.”
Maddie giggled and blushed. “I’m sure my husband will want the
first dance.”
Caden flexed his shoulders as Dickens cut his bonds. “Dance
with whomever you want.”
Maddie’s smile faltered but then steadied. “He’s such a
considerate man.”
Culbart’s frown didn’t match the lightness of his tone. “A
regular prince.”
“Yes. My prince.”
The men pushed the chairs back and Culbart put his arm out.
Maddie cast him one uncertain look before taking it, her smile more forced than
before. The strains of the fiddle picked up speed. Culbart twirled her forward.
He danced the way one would expect for such a big man, more enthusiasm than
grace, but after a couple spins, Maddie didn’t seem to mind. She tipped her head
back and laughed. Her hair came out of its elaborate bun and flowed over
Culbart’s arm. The sight was just one more aggravation in a day of them. The man
was entirely too familiar with his wife. When Culbart and she stopped dancing,
the next Fallen C hand was in line. This one was more graceful. He’d obviously
danced a lot. Maddie’s tongue peeked between her lips as she concentrated on
following his intricate steps, but follow them she did, her laughter rising
above the music, landing on his pride, galling him.
When the next man would have stepped up, Caden had had enough.
Shotgun marriage or not, Maddie was his wife, not some floozy for all to handle.
He strode across the room, tapping the man on the shoulder.
“My turn.”
Maddie stood there, looking impossibly sweet, fragile,
treacherous. For a moment he thought he saw fear in her eyes, but then her smile
was back, soft and gentle, the way she only smiled for him. She held up her
arms. He put one hand around her waist and grabbed her hand with the other. She
blinked when she didn’t get the kiss she expected, but as he led her into a slow
waltz, she fell in step with him. Now that he had her in his arms, Caden wasn’t
sure what he wanted to do with her.
She sighed. “Our first dance as husband and wife.”
“Likely our last, too.”
She blinked, but that smile didn’t shake.
“You think the fiddler is getting tired?”
She was deliberately misunderstanding him.
“I think I’m tired.” Tired of this charade. Tired of believing
she could betray him. Tired of accepting it was more than likely she had. Maddie
hungered for respectability, and today she’d found a way to get it.
Shit. He’d been a fool. They’d all been fools. But there was no
undoing this, no getting out of it right now.
He danced Maddie over to one of the hands and passed her off.
He’d had enough of this crap.
“Giving away the bride so soon?” Dickens sneered.
Caden dropped her hand and turned away. “Yes.”
Maddie gasped, and a reflective growl rose in one of the men.
Caden flexed his shoulders and smiled. He could use a good fight. Before Caden
could take anyone up on the challenge, Ace threw his arm around his shoulder and
shoved a whiskey into his hand.
“What the fuck are you doing, Caden? Trying to get us all
killed?” he muttered, shoving him toward the door and out.
“She played me for a fool, all of us for fools.”
Ace shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe this is all some scheme thought
up by Culbart.”
“She didn’t need to go along with it.”
“Hell, Caden, it’s Maddie. Half the time she doesn’t know if
she’s here or there. You can’t be blaming her for this.”
Caden remembered the moment of satisfaction on her face at the
end of the ceremony. “Yeah, I can.”
“Well, whatever’s going on, we can’t do anything about it now,
so let’s just get the celebrating done, get Maddie loaded up and get the hell
back to Hell’s Eight.”
“I’m not taking her back to Hell’s Eight.”
“Why not?”
“One, because I can’t afford to lose the mine to claim jumpers,
and two, she wanted to be my wife, then she can be my fucking wife and deal with
all that means.”
“And what the hell is that?” Ace asked.
Caden shoved his hat back down on his head, glaring into the
house through the window at Maddie, who was dancing with yet another cowboy, her
smile not as light as before, her step not as merry.
“I have a feeling we’re both about to find out.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
C
ULBART
INSISTED
ON
providing them with an escort. Maddie was grateful. Caden was not.
Every clop of their horses’ hooves just scraped along his anger, until an hour
from the mine, Caden reached the end of his patience. Culbart might have forced
a wife on him, but he wasn’t going to force the revelation of the mine. Caden
pulled Jester up so short, Maddie’s little mare ran into its ass. Habit had him
looking over his shoulder to make sure she was okay. She wasn’t the best rider,
and if he gave a thought to how she’d left in the middle of the night from
Hell’s Eight, he’d probably have a fit of apoplexy.
“What’s the problem?” Dickens asked from farther back.
Leather creaked as Caden turned in the saddle. “This is as far
as you go.”
Dickens’s horse gave a toss of its head the way an animal did
when the grip on the reins got too tight, too fast.
“Boss said we were to see you home.”
“Consider us home.”
“It wouldn’t be right to send them back without supper,” Maddie
whispered.
Ace just shook his head. Caden didn’t answer. The silence grew
heavy with Culbart’s men determined to fulfill their role, Maddie fretting about
a nonexistent meal and Caden’s sense of betrayal growing. If any other woman had
pulled that stunt, he would have been pissed but understood. But Maddie? He
shook his head. That was betrayal of Hell’s Eight. Of their friendship. Of him.
It was Ace who finally broke the silence.
“Maddie, honey, your uncle Frank needs his men home tomorrow. I
saw Indian sign back there.”
She frowned. “Indians wouldn’t bother Uncle Frank. He gives
them cattle.”
No amount of cattle was going to settle the unrest swelling in
this land, and from the looks Dickens gave his companion, Michael, that Indian
sign had him worried, too.
“Maddie,” Caden said, drawing her attention.
“Yes?” Her voice was soft and clear, as if a world of tension
wasn’t lodged between them.
“Culbart’s men are leaving. Now. This is as far as they
go.”
“But—”
Dickens cut in, way too agreeably for a man carrying the grudge
Dickens was. “Ma’am, truth be told, we are needed back at the Fallen C.”
She sighed and turned her little mare around in the tight
confines of the trail; he could only assume she was smiling at them as she said
ever so properly in manners that Tia would admire, “Thank you very kindly for
your time.”
Dickens cut Caden a smile as he took her hand and brought it to
his lips. Caden bared his teeth in response.
“It was truly our pleasure, ma’am.”
With a tip of their hats, Dickens and Michael left. There was a
brief moment of jostling when Dickens’s horse had to get past Ace’s on the
narrow trail—Caden had a feeling it was intentional—but finally the men left and
it was just the three of them. Maddie didn’t turn even after they’d vanished
from sight.
“Maddie.”
No response beyond the slight stiffening of her shoulders. The
sun glinted off the red of her hair, giving the impression of fire. Caden
sighed. It was too bad Maddie’s inner fire was extinguished before it even got
to flicker
“You’re going to have to turn that horse around and face me
sometime, Maddie.”
With a slow breath that expanded her ribs beneath the yellow
wool of her dress, she did, and when she faced him, her expression was blank,
totally and completely blank. No mischief. No dread. No nothing. Unlike her
moments of pretense, that expression bothered him. He didn’t know what to do
with it. Son of a bitch.
“What’s wrong?” Ace asked.
Caden shook his head and sighed. “Maddie needs a moment.”
Ace looked down the trail. “We don’t have one.”
“Then we’ll make one.”
“I don’t trust that Dickens as far as I can throw him.”
Neither did he, but they didn’t have a choice. Turning Jester,
Caden rode up beside Maddie. The trail was so narrow their knees touched. The
sensation that snaked through him was pleasure, pure and simple. It pissed him
off. He slid his fingers under Maddie’s chin and turned her face to his. Her
gaze looked right through him. Stroking his thumb over her lips, he shook his
head.
“Why, Maddie?”
She didn’t answer, just kept staring. He had the oddest
sensation she was bracing herself. Way down deep where no one could see. The
guilt was no more welcome than the pleasure. Grabbing the reins from her hands,
he looped them over his saddle horn before switching his grip to her waist and
dragging her off the mare and across his lap.
“I wasn’t kidding about that Indian sign,” Ace stated
quietly.
“I know.” Ace was the type that took precautions in the middle
of his recklessness. With a sigh, Caden settled Maddie in. She fit against him
perfectly; the side of her breast pressed into his chest, her hips rested on his
thighs. Soft. Everything about her was soft. Grabbing Flower’s reins and
wrapping his arm around Maddie’s waist, Caden directed Jester with a press of
his knee. The big horse responded as he always did. Immediately and without
hesitation. He was loyal to a fault. Unlike Maddie. Fuck, that was hard to
swallow.
“She all right?” Ace asked once they were moving.
He glanced over his shoulder again, but there was nothing to
see except the set of Ace’s shoulders, the top of his hat pulled down low over
his brow and the firm set of his mouth.
“She’s fine.”
Ace grunted. Caden could tell Ace wasn’t pleased with him. He
didn’t really give a shit. Ace could afford to be chivalrous. Ace wasn’t saddled
with a wife he hadn’t expected or wanted, one who wasn’t even in her right mind.
And while Caden hadn’t spent much time speculating what kind of life he might
have, the few times he’d gone down that road, the woman he’d pictured had at
least been sane.
A scent that reminded him of wildflowers drifted up from
Maddie’s hair. It was as natural as breathing to press a kiss to the top of her
head. So natural he wasn’t even aware he’d done it until her fingers found his
wrist and she was looking up at him with hope in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Caden.”
He pulled his hand free. The hope drained from her face,
leaving it once again starkly blank. They rode on for several minutes like that,
neither speaking, her body tense against his. His tense under hers. Anger where
there had once been trust.
He nudged Jester into a trot, forcing Maddie back against him.
Her elbow dug into his stomach, her head collided with his bruised chin. For a
second, he saw stars.
She stiffened more, which just caused her to bounce more.
“Relax before you get us both killed.”
She did immediately, on a harsh gasp that sounded distinctly
like a sob.
Gritting his teeth, Caden urged Jester into a canter, letting
the sound of the horses’ hooves drown out the sound of her crying. It didn’t
drown out his anger. He’d trusted her, and she’d turned on him quick as a
rattlesnake. Goddamn her. She was lucky he didn’t wring her neck. Her tears
soaked through his shirt, cutting into his conscience. Before he knew it, he was
stroking her shoulder, soothing her. The woman who’d betrayed him. Caden stilled
his hand.
Fuck.
* * *
B
Y
THE
TIME
THEY
GOT
BACK
to the campsite,
Maddie was quiet and Caden was seething. Ace pulled his horse up beside them,
dismounted and smiled at Maddie.
“Good to have you back, Sprout.”
As far as Caden could tell, Maddie didn’t respond. Ace looked
between him and her and shook his head. “Go easy on her.”
Caden unwrapped Flower’s reins from the saddle. “I wasn’t even
planning on talking to her.”
Ace snorted. “You’re so ready to talk you’re about to
explode.”
“She’s my wife and none of your concern.”
He gave the reins a little tug so Flower recognized who held
her. Maybe that was what Maddie needed. A leash so she wouldn’t forget to whom
she belonged.
Caden pulled his hat down over his brow and held his hand out
for Ace’s horse’s reins. “I’ll water the horses.”
“I’ll scout around and make sure everything’s the way we left
it.”
Caden nodded. Ace hesitated, glancing between Maddie and him.
Shaking his head, he pushed his hat back.
“Hell, Caden, just remember half the time she doesn’t know what
she’s doing.”
Not this time. “This is none of your business, Ace.”
“Maddie’s Hell’s Eight. That makes her my business.”
The anger knotted in Caden’s gut as truth he’d been chewing on
for miles settled. “She betrayed Hell’s Eight. That changes everything.”
* * *
M
ADDIE
’
S
QUIET
LASTED
until they reached the pond. Then as if he’d
flipped a lever, she slid off the horse and grabbed the reins down by the bit.
Holding Jester for him, he realized. As if that was necessary. Hell, maybe she
wasn’t in her right mind. She looked around.
“We’re home?”
He should be used to her mental comings and goings but he
wasn’t.
“If you’re willing to call a tent in the middle of a pile of
rocks home, yes.”
She blinked at his tone. “You must be hungry.”
What he was was pissed. “What in the hell makes you think
that?”
“You’re hard to live with when you’re hungry.”
“Noticed that, did you?” He swung down off Jester. “I’m even
harder to live with when I’m played for a fool.”
He grabbed the gelding’s reins out of her hands, keeping ahold
of the other horses’, as well. The last thing he wanted right now was her
help.
“I don’t understand.”
The hell she didn’t. “Go back to the camp, Maddie.”
“I can help you with the horse.”
“Right now the only thing that will help is you
disappearing.”
She stopped walking beside him. “A wife’s place is with her
husband.”
The cliché snapped the last of his control. “And a whore’s
place is on her back. What’s your point?”
Caden regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.
Maddie gasped and stepped back, her pale skin bleaching a ghastly white. Guilt
lashed at him. He’d never thrown her past in her face before. He ran his fingers
through his hair. The woman flat-out drove him crazy. “I’m sorry, Maddie. You
didn’t deserve that.”
She deserved a hell of a lot, but not that.
She didn’t respond, just kept looking at him as if her world
was crumbling. Inside, the wild anger twisted in a lash of guilt. Needing
release. Before he could say anything more, Caden turned and walked away,
leaving Maddie there, forcing himself not to look back. He heard the slide of
soft rock under her feet as she started back up the hill, heard the ping of
stones as they tumbled down behind her. Heard her sob.
Fuck.
Why the hell did he care?
Letting the reins slip through his fingers, Caden stood while
the horses drank their fill, his thoughts so dark he couldn’t feel the sun. One
by one he relived the events of the afternoon, but no matter how he shook it
out, there was no way in hell Maddie hadn’t played along with Culbart when it
came to the marriage, maybe even put the idea in his head. Hell, she had to have
put the idea in his head. Why else would Culbart consider marrying him to her?
There was more for him to gain by marrying her himself in the form of an
alliance with Hell’s Eight. No, any push toward marrying had come from Maddie
herself. Damn her.
Who the hell was Maddie? The sweet, abused woman who’d come to
Hell’s Eight for shelter or the gold digger who’d conned her way into a marriage
with a man she expected was going to be wealthy.
Caden took the nugget out of his pocket, rolled it over his
fingers, looking for that faint trace of gold within the hidden depths. He
thought Maddie had depth, but maybe he was just fooling himself the way men
wanted to fool themselves when it came to women. He closed his fingers around
the nugget and squeezed. He shoved the nugget back into his pocket. Or more than
likely Maddie was both sweet and conniving, and who could blame her? Brought up
as she was, the one thing in this world she’d want more than anything was
security, and nothing brought security like a husband. A wealthy one just that
much more.
Caden looked up the hill toward the campsite.
Well, Maddie had the husband she wanted now, just maybe not the
one she was expecting.
* * *
C
ADEN
LINGERED
WITH
the horses longer than he needed to, letting the
peace of the day work on his anger. He hadn’t gotten too far with that when he
sensed another presence. There was only one person who snapped his senses to
attention without sending off warning tingles. Flower lifted her head and
whickered, looking over her shoulder. He turned, knowing who he would find.
Maddie stood awkwardly, farther away than he was used to. “I
don’t have any flint to start a fire.”
“I’ve got sulfurs.”
She rubbed her hands on her skirt. There was a dirt smudge on
her sleeve and some small leaf particles clung to her bodice. Obviously, she’d
collected wood.
“I couldn’t find any supplies to eat.”
“I have some hidden.”
She nodded. “I thought so.”
There was no vapidness about her expression, so she was here
with him now.
“Why’d you do it, Maddie?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Culbart said I had
to.”
“He threatened you?” He’d kill the son of a bitch.
She shook her head. “No. He didn’t have to.” Her smile
brightened, and that fast she was back in pretend. “Now I really am your
Maddie.”
“Maddie mine.” He sighed. He still hadn’t figured out how that
endearment had slipped into his speech, and now she’d turned it into a
reality.