Tried and True (Wild at Heart Book #1)

by Mary Connealy

  The parson thanked Aaron for the money and hightailed it to the diner to spread the news.

  Aaron finally had everything arranged, and he could concentrate on his pretty new wife.

  “What’s goin’ on here?”

  Wrong again.

  The squawk of rage told Aaron nothing was arranged after all. Cudgel Wilde stepped out of the general store carrying a heavy saddlebag. He saw them, saw the parson walking away, saw Kylie holding Aaron’s hand, and must’ve figured it all out in a moment.

  That didn’t make him a genius.

  He dropped the bag in the street and strode for them, teeth clenched, hands fisted. A wiry old man with years of bad temper cutting deep lines into his face.

  “Hi, Pa.” Kylie sounded more resigned than scared.

  Aaron knew from their first meeting that Wilde made a lot of noise, and Kylie wasn’t especially afraid of him. But no one liked their pa flapping at them like a bad-tempered banty rooster. Honestly, no one liked anyone flapping at them like a bad-tempered banty rooster—but least of all a father who was supposed to love and protect them. Despite those fists, Kylie didn’t edge closer to Aaron or flinch away, which meant the old coot was more bark than bite.

  While the barking wasn’t upsetting Kylie, Aaron found himself mighty upset. He liked the idea of Kylie being out of her pa’s reach now, at least legally. Emotionally, he could still hurt her.

  “Your daughter and I just got married, Cudgel. That’s what’s going on.” Aaron braced himself. Just because the old coot didn’t hit his girls didn’t mean he wouldn’t swing a fist at a man.

  Wilde didn’t punch. He reeled back and choked. It looked like he was falling over backward, and Aaron shot out a hand and caught the man before he fell over his clomping boots. Up close, it appeared Wilde hadn’t shaved for a few weeks. And judging by the smell, he hadn’t bathed for far longer.

  Kylie darted forward and slid an arm around her pa’s back. “There wasn’t time to invite you, Pa.” She said it as if she had the intention of inviting him. Aaron knew better. “We decided to get on with it, and it’s done.” She smiled as if all the choking and stumbling and sputtering didn’t have much effect on her. She was obviously used to her pa’s fussing.

  Cudgel steadied. Kylie let him go and moved back to Aaron’s side. In fact, she moved just the littlest bit behind him before saying, “And after I relinquished my claim on the land, Coulter bought the homestead.”

  “You what?” Wilde seemed to be working up to blasting the top of his head off. His bristly face turned a shade of red that couldn’t be healthy.

  His eyes moved from Kylie to Aaron to Coulter, as if he needed to hit someone and was just trying to work out who.

  Since he didn’t seem inclined to swing at his daughter, and he wasn’t quite crazy enough to take a punch at Aaron or Gage, despite his near apoplectic rage, he kept his hands to himself.

  Kylie stepped forward, right into the teeth of her pa’s fury.

  Aaron’s instinct was to put himself between Kylie and danger, but he fought off the need. Kylie had been handling her father for a long time.

  “Pa, you’ve always known I’d have a hard time staying on that homestead. I was always the weakest part of your plan.”

  “You needed to hold that land! Bailey’s got the grazing. Shannon’s got water enough for her land but not enough for all Bailey and I claimed. The only reason I put up with you staking that claim was that pond. Our land was going to connect into something big, something worthy of Jimmy’s memory. You wanted that pond when you should’ve picked something more practical, something with less water and more pastureland. I went along, gave you what you wanted, and now you’ve betrayed me and your departed brother.”

  “You only went along because I refused to sign for any other piece. Shannon and Bailey have enough water. You’ve got one good spring, and Pa”—Kylie’s voice dropped to a near whisper—“none of us are ever going to forget Jimmy. We don’t need a big old ranch to remind us.”

  “What all land has your family claimed anyway?” Coulter asked.

  Aaron knew the truth and wasn’t looking forward to Coulter finding out. The man had been busy with spring work and hadn’t ridden out to the farthest parts of his land. He wasn’t going to be happy with what he found.

  Kylie was calming Cudgel down, but one look at Coulter told Aaron the man wasn’t really interested in whether or not there was peace in the Wilde family.

  “None of your business, Coulter. You ain’t gettin’ any of it.” Cudgel bared his teeth, and with his unshaven face and deep lines, he looked like a cur dog.

  Though Aaron wanted to scoop his wife up and take her home, he was afraid Cudgel would follow, and the man wasn’t a good fit for a honeymoon. He hoped that if they talked long enough, Cudgel would either settle down or be so enraged he stormed off. Either way, Aaron would be done with this ugly scene.

  “I’ll find out on my own.” Coulter yanked his gloves out from behind his belt buckle. “I’ve lost half a day’s work over this, and it looks like there’s more land I need to inspect.”

  Which probably meant he planned to get all his land back from the Wilde family and every other settler in the area, but he intended to pace himself.

  Coulter looked at Kylie as he pulled on his gloves. “Thanks for the land, Mrs. Masterson.”

  As if Kylie had sold it to him, when in fact no money had changed hands. She didn’t own it; she just abandoned her claim. Coulter had paid for it through the land office. But Coulter seemed to relish making Cudgel foam at the mouth and not care one whit if he caused trouble between a pa and his daughter.

  Aaron didn’t care much, either.

  “Congratulations on your marriage.” His eyes went to Cudgel. “Nothing’s settled yet, Wilde. I’ve been busy sorting out your daughter’s claim, because I needed that water hole and her land was closest to my dry pasture. I haven’t had time to see who all else is nesting on my land. I’ll turn my attention to that right soon.”

  “You want trouble, Coulter, I can give it to you,” Cudgel snarled, deepening the resemblance to a cur.

  Gage’s harsh laugh said Wilde’s threat didn’t worry him one bit. “Don’t get comfortable on your claim, old man.” He tugged at his hat brim, strode toward his huge brown stallion, mounted, and galloped away, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

  “Pa, don’t you start on me.” Kylie saw those eyes turn to her and wasn’t putting up with it. “I’m a married woman now, and I don’t answer to you anymore.”

  The very thought sent chills through her that were part terror, part excitement. What had she been thinking to marry in such haste? Had a couple of snakes really caused such recklessness?

  Which reminded her. “And Aaron,” she said, digging in her heels without taking a step, “I’ll sleep on horseback before I spend another night in that cabin.”

  “Sunrise is clearing the snakes out. We’ll be fine.”

  “We’ll be snake food.”

  “We’ll find another place, then.” Aaron looked around the town as if trying to think of a place for them to go.

  The boardinghouse was the only place that rented rooms. Kylie wondered if they would end up sleeping under the stars. She’d bet there were plenty of snakes under the stars. “We can go to Bailey’s.”

  “No we can’t.”

  “You two stop talking nonsense about where to sleep and march right back to that land office. You’re in the family now, Masterson, and you don’t own no land. You can stake a claim. I’ll show you where I wanted Kylie to homestead. Better stretch than what she picked anyway.”

  Aaron shook his head. “No—”

  “I’m trying to build something out here, a legacy to my son,” Cudgel went on, cutting Aaron off. “Kylie’s got responsibilities to this family, and her gettin’ married doesn’t change that.”

  “It sure enough does.” Aaron didn’t seem to be one speck bothered by her cranky father. She felt a little jolt of love for
her new husband, who was so casually batting her father’s words away. This was going to be a good thing. He could fight with Pa all the time, so she wouldn’t have to.

  “Can we just ride out there, Kylie?” Aaron asked. “Maybe if you had some time to look around in the cabin, you’d feel safe.”

  Cudgel stomped right up to Kylie. Aaron made a smooth, solid move and blocked Pa from threatening her.

  “You should never have left your daughters alone on their property like you did, especially when you’ve staked a claim too far away to protect them. You’re a poor excuse for a father, Cudgel, and I’m not real interested in honoring the son of such a man.”

  Kylie’s whole body was covered in goose bumps. It was pure joy. Her new husband was shaping up to be the best choice she’d ever made. Of course her life was just one lame-brain choice after another, so that wasn’t saying much. Suddenly the snakes didn’t seem quite so frightening, not compared to sleeping on the ground somewhere, for heaven’s sake. Worse yet, sleeping in the boardinghouse with a bunch of other men in the room. The most frightening choice of all would be their staying with Bailey. She’d be so disgusted at Kylie for abandoning her claim it’d make snakes look warm and friendly by comparison.

  It put her in a really cooperative mood. “Let’s ride out to the cabin. If it looks safe, we can stay there tonight.”

  Aaron quit glaring at her pa, turned, and smiled down on her. “Good, let’s go.”

  “We’re not done here, Masterson.” Pa slipped around Aaron and reached for her. She’d been dragged around by Pa a lot in her life and was used to it.

  What she wasn’t used to was having a husband.

  Aaron’s arm shot out as fast as any striking snake. He clamped his big hand on Pa’s arm and stopped him. “Oh, yes we are.”

  Kylie wasn’t going to be shaken or dragged by Pa ever again. Her heart lifted even higher.

  Aaron, who seemed like a kindhearted, even softhearted man most of the time, spoke in a voice so cold it froze Pa right where he stood. With his great height and broad shoulders, Aaron leaned down until he was nose to nose with Pa.

  “I’m not staking a claim here in Aspen Ridge, Wilde, and sure as certain not in a place of your choosing. Kylie has turned hers back, and Coulter bought it. Now we are going to get on with our married life together. There’s no place for you and your mean mouth around us, especially not tonight. A decent father would take this moment to hug his daughter and wish her well. He’d shake my hand and tell me I’m a lucky man to get such a sweet, pretty woman to join her life with mine. But all you can do is talk about yourself. Well, I’ve had enough of it. We’re leaving.”

  Pa stood sputtering in the street while Aaron boosted her up onto her gray mustang. He swung up onto his thoroughbred. He turned his horse, and Kylie gave Pa one last glance. It was a shock to realize as she looked at him—so diminished, a little man with a big mouth—that she felt sorry for him.

  Pa had always been in charge of his girls. The neighbors back home had put up with him and mostly stayed clear of the whole Wilde family.

  Bailey had cooperated, but she’d made it clear that she did it because she liked the outdoor life, liked wearing britches, liked pushing herself to see how tough she could be.

  Shannon had worked hard out of her love for the animals, both tame and wild. She loved plants and enjoyed nothing more than hiking in the woods for hours. She was more at home in the outdoors than anyone Kylie had ever seen. And she had a knack for sneaking off into the woods and not coming back until she pleased.

  Kylie had never stood up to Pa. She’d charmed her way around him, teased and flattered. She did whatever it took to get her way and she usually got it. But never by facing Pa down and saying, You’re wrong, and I refuse to do things your way.

  But Aaron had done just that, and watching him she became a proud wife. What’s more, Pa had backed down. And that reminded Kylie that Pa had two more daughters who might end up married someday—if anyone got on to their being women.

  His troubles were just starting.

  Even feeling a bit sorry for Pa didn’t make her want to spend another minute in his company. Instead, she pushed her pity down deep and rode alongside her husband on the long trail to the snake house.

  And wasn’t that just going to be the most romantic place a woman ever spent her wedding night?

  18

  Aaron wasn’t a man to think much about making a wedding night romantic. Truth be told, he wasn’t a man to think much about a wedding night, period. He’d spent most of his time with men in recent years, and when he was young, with his sisters, whom he mostly lived to torment. Having Northern sympathies in the South had kept most of the girls his age away when he reached courting age, and it’d kept him away from them, as well.

  And now here he was, married, and without spending much time with Kylie at all.

  Oh, he wanted to be married to her. He had no regrets about that. But how did a man go on with a woman? Kill her snakes? Force her to hand over her land? Yell at her pa?

  That didn’t sound real romantic to Aaron, but then he had no idea what he was doing, so who could say? And killing the snakes had been heroic and that might count as romantic, except there’d been snake blood and screaming and Kylie had cried a lot. Not Aaron’s idea of romance.

  When they reached the cabin, dusk was settling in. Sunrise came out to greet them, and she quietly watched Aaron lift Kylie down from her horse.

  He took his wife’s hand and turned to the Shoshone woman. “We got married today.”

  Sunrise nodded.

  “We let Coulter have the land,” Kylie added.

  That made Sunrise frown just a bit for no reason Aaron could understand. He saw his wife’s eyes go between Sunrise and the cabin door. “Did you find more snakes?”

  “No more. You are safe from snakes. And without the land, the attacks should end. Where will you live?”

  “I’ll have to figure that out, but for now we’re staying here with Coulter’s approval.” Aaron was mighty tired of talking. He wanted to be alone with his wife.

  “I left a meal.” Sunrise walked away with no further talk.

  Much as he liked the woman, Aaron wasn’t sorry to see her go. He headed into the house, wife in tow. He shut the door firmly.

  “I wonder why Sunrise didn’t stay to eat sup—”

  Aaron’s kiss cut off Kylie’s question. He pulled her hard against him, not a bit interested in supper. He slanted his head to deepen the kiss and engage Kylie’s attention fully. The woman, with her worries about snakes and supper and her pa and flaming arrows, needed to pay attention to her brand-new husband.

  He felt her hands sliding up his chest, slowly but steadily. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at romance, after all.

  “I’ve figured out where we’re going to live.” Aaron lifted his coffee cup and smiled at his beautiful wife, who’d just refilled it.

  It was a pure fact that he’d been smiling pretty much nonstop all night and morning, and he didn’t see himself stopping anytime soon. Being married was the best idea he’d ever had.

  Kylie blushed as she peeked over her shoulder at him. She set the pot down on the stove with a clumsy little scrape of metal on metal that told him she was thinking about something else.

  Him, to be specific.

  Then she hurried back to the table as if she’d hated to leave his side, to walk all of five steps away to return the pot. She was smiling a lot, too.

  Aaron’s heart did something strange, something nice and heated that he’d never felt before. She sat down right around the corner from him without once taking her stunning eyes off of him. He knew that because he never once took his eyes off her.

  His wife. He might never go to work again.

  “Where?”

  For a second he was so distracted by how happy he was to have her for his wife that when she said “where,” a completely different notion popped into his head. He knew exactly where—and when. Right here. Right
now.

  Then he remembered about the cabin.

  His heart felt a little less nice, because he knew she was wishing he’d say, I’ve decided we’re going to live in Virginia. And he wasn’t going to. He wasn’t even going to stay here in this little cabin, not even for the day.

  And leaving this place seemed like about the worst idea he’d ever had. He wanted to spend the day making love to her, talking with her, pampering her. Letting her know he was absolutely thrilled they were married, and it had nothing to do with her being in danger or whether or not Coulter wanted her land. It was because he cared about her, and because she was a sweet, beautiful, smart, interesting, and passionate woman. He was realizing more every minute that he was blessed to be given a chance to spend the rest of his life with her.

  He’d spend every minute ridding her of all the nonsense her father had filled her head with all these years, as if being a son would have been better than the glorious woman that she was.

  And they should stay here in the cabin, alone, getting to know each other better. There was nothing wrong with a pair of newlyweds having a honeymoon.

  There was a good chance, now that Coulter owned the pond, that no one would try to kill Kylie or burn her out or scare her to death.

  That’d make a nice switch.

  Instead, they needed to get moving. Which brought him back to where.

  “There have been so many folks coming west since the war ended that there isn’t a single empty house in Aspen Ridge, and the only rooms to rent are at the boardinghouse, which is out of the question. But I’ve got to stay in the area until this land rush is over. I gave my word, and I’m meaning to keep it.”

  Her smile dimmed a bit. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’ll build us a little cabin close to town. I even know the place. There’s a clearing with a good spring only a mile or so out. It’s not part of Coulter’s grazing land, and it’s not open to homesteading, but it is for sale—just a little acreage. No one will mind what we do there. I can get a simple one-room building up in a few days or so, and we can move in. I can’t spend a lot of time making it nice right now, Kylie. I’m sorry. I’ll give you a pretty house when we finally get settled. But for now, I need to finish up my land agent work here, which I hope to do before the snow flies. Then we’ll get on with starting our life together.”