Every Girl's Dream

by Cheryl Pierson

  “You know him well,” Sheena stated. It wasn’t a question. She’d seen the closeness between them from the minute Livvie had opened her door to them.

  Livvie smiled in remembrance. “I’ve patched that boy up more times than I can shake a stick at.” She seemed lost in her memories for a moment before she looked up, meeting Sheena’s eyes. “He’s a good man, Miss McTavish. You can’t do any better than Callen Chandler.”

  “I barely know him—”

  “He saved your life. That tends to bond people pretty quickly.”

  Sheena’s mind roved back to all the countless small thoughtful things Cal had done in the brief time she’d known him—and the way he’d come to save her. He hadn’t had to do that, a voice kept telling her. Maybe he cared for her. Or maybe he had felt pity for her.

  But the kiss they’d shared…that had been magical. Her fingers moved to touch her lips. At Liv’s knowing smile, she quickly jerked her hand away, as if the memory of the intimacy between them burned her.

  “Why don’t you go lie down and rest, Sheena?”

  “I—think I better go check on Cal, first.” Sheena’s voice was unsteady with the thoughts that swirled and tumbled in her mind. And now, the possibilities that had not existed before.

  “Silly girl." Liv said kindly. "I have no other rooms available presently.” Liv winked at her. “If you’re going to rest, you’ll have to lie down beside Cal.” She shrugged. “Of course, that will be most efficient. If he wakes up and needs anything, you’ll be right there.”

  "Oh, but you said we were the only ones--"

  "Yes, so I did." Liv gave her a secret smile. "And you are. But you belong with him, Sheena."

  “But—what would people think?”

  Liv shook her head as she stood up and pushed her chair under the table. “No one will know but you, Cal and me. When Doc Potter shows up—and that won’t be for some time—I’ll have him wait here until I come make sure you’re awake and presentable.”

  Sheena stood, putting her empty cup on the saucer. “I am tired.”

  “And no wonder, after what you’ve been through.” Liv took Sheena’s arm, steering her down the hallway to Cal’s door. “I promise, dear, everything is going to be just fine. You call for me if you need anything. I’ll come wake you when dinner is ready.”

  ****

  Cal slitted his eyes as the door opened. He’d been awake, listening to the soft drone of voices emanating from the kitchen. It was comforting in an odd way, hearing the give and take of the two women in conversation, although he couldn’t make out the swords. The tones they used were enough to tell a story of their own.

  Sheena shut the door softly, looking at him with a question in her eyes. “Cal?” she whispered. The thick window covering blocked out most of the late afternoon sunshine, darkening the room considerably.

  “I’m not asleep, Sheena. Come on in.” He patted the side of the bed in invitation.

  “Did we wake you? Livvie and I?”

  “No,” he answered truthfully. “I’ve been lying here, thinking about—everything.” And he had. Most of all, though, he’d been remembering the way Sheena had looked at him yesterday morning, her eyes blazing in determination. “I have no man,” she’d said. Yet, she had a baby on the way.

  She sat beside him carefully, her hand going to his forehead to check for fever. Her concern was genuine. His chest tightened at the care in her features. For him. What would it be like, to have a woman like Sheena to settle down with? Truth be told, he’d never given much thought to putting roots down anywhere. But scouting, drifting, it was not easy. Seemed like it got harder with each year that passed, and his thoughts lately had turned more often to buying a small spread, or heading for Indian Territory, or Texas to settle down for good.

  Sheena’s fingers were cool and gentle as she smoothed back a strand of his hair.

  “What happened?” Cal asked. He needed to know.

  She didn’t mistake his meaning, by the sudden shamed look in her eyes. Her hand stilled, and her face froze.

  “Your husband—”

  She shook her head. “I never had one.”

  His heart beat rapidly. It was as he’d feared. She must have been very much in love, to have taken a chance on becoming pregnant. Now, she had been abandoned. He could fight Indians. He could protect her from every evil of this world. But how could he protect her from herself and her own feelings? How could he fight the love she must hold in her heart for the father of her child?

  “He abandoned you when you—”

  “No.” She looked away. “I was—raped.”

  Anger surged through Cal’s body, overtaking the pain in his shoulder, obliterating everything but the compassion he felt for Sheena. She sat beside him, head bowed, tears falling on the material of her worn dress.

  That explained a lot. Actually, that explained most everything.

  “My parents wanted me to…give the baby to the father. He’s…very wealthy.” She sniffed. “I couldn’t bear the thought, Callen. The baby is innocent. I couldn’t let him have my child.”

  “Come here, sweetheart.” Cal opened his good arm to her and she lay down beside him. He pulled her close and kissed her head. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t give up my child, either.”

  “My other choice was to board the stage and go to New Mexico Territory to live with Aunt Bridget and Uncle Corbin until the baby comes.”

  “And then?” He fought hard to steady his voice. Her parents obviously had no regard for their daughter; their beautiful, brave daughter who they were doing their very best to throw to the wolves.

  He felt her swallow hard against him before she went on.

  “They said there’s an orphanage nearby. I would have to give up the baby.” Her voice broke as she tried to hold back her emotion. “It seems I have no choice but to abandon the dearest thing in the world to me now. I don’t think anyone could love it more than I do already.”

  Cal’s fingers threaded through her hair, smoothing it, drawing her closer to him still. “We’ll figure something out, Sheena.” But what? He was in no position to offer her anything—and she deserved so much.

  She didn’t love him. He’d never really thought about settling down, not with someone like Sheena McTavish. She needed someone better suited to her. Someone younger than his twenty-seven years. Someone who could give her a home, and more children—children made of love. Someone who wasn’t half Indian…

  She wiped her eyes, and finally looked up at him, despair in every line of her face. “There is nothing that can be done, Cal. I have no place else to go. I’ll have to continue on to Santa Fe and when the baby comes—”

  He pulled her to him, stopping her words with his mouth.

  Fool. She’s not for you. Not now, not ever.

  Still, he could not keep himself from plundering her mouth as her lips parted on a sweet sigh of pleasure. His tongue touched hers, and her shy response made his gut clench. His body tensed, his nerves fraught with a different kind of pain than what had been caused by the earlier removal of the Kiowa’s lead.

  Sheena’s hand moved gently over his chest, her kiss becoming bolder. He could feel the rapid beat of her heart against his, like a small bird’s wings beating against a cage.

  Protectiveness surged through him. How could anyone hurt her? How could her parents turn her out into the world, not knowing if they’d ever see her again? Or the child?

  If they knew some of the things that went on in orphanages, they’d never sentence an innocent child to that fate.

  He lifted his mouth from hers, wishing with everything in him that he had something to offer her. The money he’d saved was doing him no good in this circumstance. What he needed was a place for her to go, to be safe, to have the baby. A home.

  But in order to do that, she’d be labeled his woman. His wife. His squaw.

  No getting around the way she’d be thought of and treated. And he wasn’t sure he would be enough for her—enough to
fill her world and take up the void caused by not having any friends. At least, not the respectable kind.

  “I’m sorry, Sheena,” he said, but his thumb still moved over her cheekbones, slipping down to trace her delicate jawline. I’m sorry things aren’t different.

  “I understand,” she said stiffly, moving out of his embrace. “I was a fool. I thought—well, never mind what I thought.” She met his eyes, quickly veiling her thoughts from him, but not before he saw the hurt and disappointment.

  Sheena rose, walking to the washbasin. Picking up a cloth, she dipped it into the water, then wrung it out. She squared her shoulders and lifted her head, the movement representing a depth of determination that went straight to Cal’s heart.

  “I am going to survive this, Callen. No matter what happens. No matter what I—I have to do. It only seemed like you—I misread you. I’m very sorry.” She squeezed the cloth out and held it to her face. “I…think I hoped for something I couldn’t have. As is my way, sometimes.”

  Cal’s hands clenched. She was pretty much telling him to go to hell in her sweet, genteel way. For the first time, he felt hope take wing and give flight to all kinds of ideas. She wouldn’t be so hurt, would she, if she cared nothing for him? He had to be careful. He didn’t want to presume too much, either, and get his own heart broken in the process.

  “Would that ‘something’ be…me? Any chance of that?”

  She looked at him coolly. “We barely know one another.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  She seemed surprised at the question. “Of course! That’s why I am counting on you to help me reach New Mexico Territory.”

  He grinned at her, and she stiffened even more. He hadn’t thought that was possible. She was so transparent, trying to hold on to a bit of pride she’d salvaged. Let her think what she would. He’d play her game. But now that he knew how she really felt, what her heart’s desire was, he could afford to let her win this small battle. He was planning to win the war. “I don’t work for free,” he said thoughtfully, as if doubting that she could make it worth his while.

  “I’m sure the Overland line will reimburse my ticket price, since I nearly lost my hair in their care, Callen. I will pay you from that. If it isn’t enough, I’ll go the rest of the way alone.”

  So formal. So cool. She was hurt. But playing games could be dangerous. Had she already forgotten the greeting they’d received when they’d ridden into Lowell’s Ridge? Could she stand up to a lifetime of that kind of prejudice?

  He scowled. “Sheena, I’ll help you get to your aunt and uncle’s, but I want you to understand something. I am half Comanche. As you noticed when we rode into town, that’s not always a welcome thing.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m Irish,” she responded saucily. “So, that doesn’t bother me in the least. I’m quite accustomed to it.”

  She sounded like she meant it, Cal thought. Still, the memory of how his mother had been treated in the white world was something he would never be able to forget.

  His father had been taken to task more times than Cal could recall for having married a Comanche woman. His own upbringing had been rough and tumble. He’d been orphaned at the age of ten, when his father had been shot in the back. His mother had disappeared two years earlier.

  “It would if you had to live with it every day,” he ground out, pushing the bitter memories aside.

  Sheena’s eyes softened in sudden compassion and empathy, and she took a step forward. “You must have been terribly hurt, Cal, somewhere, somehow, to think of yourself so.”

  “Not me. I was thinking of you, sweetheart.” His words escaped before he could measure them. The kindness and understanding in her expression took him by surprise, stealing his breath.

  Had anyone ever looked into his soul the way she managed to do?

  “No. You were remembering.”

  “I’m trying to protect you, Sheena.”

  Her smile was sad as she shook her head. “You’re guarding your own heart, Cal. You made me a promise; that you wouldn’t hurt me. I make the same one to you, darling. You asked if I trusted you.” She crossed the room and opened the door. There would be no rest for her now, here with Cal. “I think, the question is, do you trust me?”

  ****

  As Sheena stepped into the hallway she heard the slow sound of a man’s voice, mingled with Liv’s determined tones. The front door was closed, Liv having taken the precaution of stepping out onto the porch.

  Terror wrapped itself around Sheena’s heart. That voice sounded vaguely familiar. Liv would normally have invited a guest inside unless—unless she was protecting someone. That she had closed her door and stepped outside could only mean the person she was speaking with was an unwelcome visitor, someone she didn’t want inside her home.

  Sheena stepped close to the door, and her heart froze.

  “Witnesses say a woman fitting her description was seen here, Mrs. Colter. Sheena is…very important to me. She may not have told you, but she’s—ah—in the family way right now.”

  Richard Purl!

  “They say she was rescued by a drifting man. Half Injun…so they say.”

  The conversation was muted, but the words were distinct. Livvie answered with calm confidence.

  “A very nice tale, Mr. Purl. But I know nothing about it. Furthermore, it’s nearly dark and I don’t receive strangers in my home this late. There are many other fine establishments that might suit your purposes better than my boarding house. I try to take in those who will be here long-term. I don’t believe that’s what you have in mind, is it?”

  Sheena backed away slowly. She was not going back with Richard Purl. She wasn’t going to leave Cal to face Richard, either. She would just borrow Cal’s gun. She felt sure Livvie didn’t have any protection. She’d just answered the door—she wouldn’t have had a gun in her hand. Sheena turned quickly to run back to the bedroom. She came up against a solid wall of male granite.

  “Oomph!” Her head rammed solidly into Cal’s hard chest, his arms surrounding her immediately to keep her from falling. His hand came swiftly over her mouth. She closed her eyes in relief as she realized it was his strong grip that held her, then melted against him.

  “Who is it?” he whispered close to her ear. “The bastard that raped you?”

  She was torn about answering. What would Cal do? Shoot Richard on sight? He was in no shape to hold his own in any kind of physical altercation.

  “Sheena?”

  Reluctantly, she nodded against him.

  A low, fierce growl emanated from his chest. “I will kill him.”

  “No!” She had to stop him. “Cal, no. He’s not worth it. You’ll hang. Believe me, he has the power. The law’s on his side. I never dreamed he’d come after me. You can’t get caught in this.”

  “Sheena.”

  Stilled by the calmness in his voice, she looked up into his eyes.

  “I can keep you safe—if you’re willing.”

  “No, I won’t let you get hurt because of me.”

  He smiled. “There’s another way.”

  “But—how?”

  Unbelievably, the light of tender warmth entered his dark gaze, and Sheena’s gasp of surprise at his obvious meaning hung between them.

  “Marry me.”

  ****

  Before Sheena could respond, the door swung open with a forceful bang, and Richard Purl stepped inside along with his two burly henchmen.

  Immediately, Cal crushed his lips to hers in a hot, wet kiss that spoke of the aftermath of a long night and day abed, full of lust and well-sated passion. A time they had shared, but not as Cal was leading Purl and his men to believe.

  Sheena stiffened, but Cal’s insistent demands, his tongue languorously mating with her own in such a wanton way dissolved her protests as her fingers splayed in his long dark hair. She couldn’t help but lean her body into his, and in the back of her mind it registered that he was bare, his skin warm under her palms. No shir
t. But of course not. They’d cut his off.

  The bullet wound! She looked up into his eyes slowly breaking the kiss. There was no sign of any pain, just a confidence that tingled in the air, filling her with the strength she needed to turn and face Richard Purl for the first time since that awful day three months earlier.

  “You little whore!” Purl took a step forward, but Cal’s gun was in his hand and cocked in one smooth motion as he stepped in front of Sheena.

  Purl bared his teeth. “You are going to die, half breed!”

  Outraged, Sheena stiffened, her gaze finding Livvie’s stare from where she stood behind the men. Liv’s lips curved upward in reassurance, as if she’d spoken across the room. “Don’t worry child. Don’t worry. All is well handled.”

  “Better men than you have said the same, Purl.” He shrugged. “No arguing with the truth. Now, you’re making a pest of yourself.” With a negligent motion of his gun, Cal indicated the door. “Get out. I don’t want to have to pay for damages when I blow your sorry ass to hell.”

  Purl pulled himself upright, disdain in his eyes as they settled on Sheena. “I will have that child, Sheena. It’s mine.”

  Anger clouded Sheena’s vision until she was peering through a misty red haze. To think, after what he’d done to her—that he’d try to lay claim to the child was unthinkable.

  “You will never have him. Never! This is my baby!”

  “You didn’t make the child alone, Sheena, dear.” A smirk settled on Purl’s fair features. “You’ll give him to me one way or the other. Your dear ‘da’ told me the choice he’d given you, my love. All I have to do is follow you to New Mexico Territory and arrange to take the child once it’s born. Shouldn’t be all that hard.” He tipped his stylish, wide-brimmed hat in a meticulous show of manners. “I have all the time in the world. Six more months will be…a cakewalk.”

  Sheena couldn’t hold back her gasp of shocked horror.

  “Well, now, darlin’,” Cal said congenially, giving her a quick wink. “Guess Mr. Purl hasn’t heard the good news.”

  “And what would that be?” Purl’s smile faded slowly.