by Leah Brooke
Taking in Wyatt’s worried frown, he tapped Savannah’s lips with the spoon, his stomaching clenching at the thought of seeing Savannah in pain.
“I think I can understand that. Come on. Eat a little something and then you can get some sleep.”
Aware of the other men watching, Hayes lifted his head, keeping his expression cold and daring them to make some remark about the way he was taking care of Savannah. He didn’t care what they thought. Savannah was his, and she damned well needed to be cared for.
Duke watched closely, his eyes filled with pain and memories. Meeting Hayes’s eyes, he inclined his head.
“Women need to be coddled now and then. Lets them know they’ve got someone to count on—someone who’s paying attention.”
Shocked that the other men nodded in approval, Hayes shared a look with Wyatt and gave his attention to Savannah.
“Come on. Duke’ll be upset if he finds out you didn’t eat his stew.”
Alarmed at her paleness, Hayes put the spoon to her mouth again.
“You’ve gone too long without eating, and you didn’t get any sleep last night.”
Savannah smiled, a weak smile that tugged at his heart and brought all of his protective instincts to the surface.
“I’ll bet you stayed up all night, too, didn’t you?” She opened her mouth around the spoon, looking up at him while she chewed.
Hayes stilled, taken aback by the surge of protectiveness and possessiveness that feeding her created inside him. At that moment, he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until she belonged to him in every way it was possible for a woman to belong to a man. He wanted her with a fierceness that went far beyond a desire for sex.
He wanted to protect her, to take care of her in ways he’d never even considered. He wanted to make her happy, wanted her to come to him whenever she had a problem or just when she felt sad. He wanted the right to be the one to deal with her anger, and wanted her to fight with him when she felt the need.
He wanted to know all of her secrets, those of her mind and her body.
Seeing her this way, tired, disheveled, and out of sorts, he realized he loved her far more than even he’d suspected. It went beyond just caring for her and wanting to share his life with her. It went beyond lust.
He’d spent the entire night picturing her heavy with the child he and Wyatt would plant inside her, if they hadn’t already. A sense of destiny, of finding exactly what he hadn’t even realized he’d been looking for, came over him, and he knew then that his life had changed forever.
He wanted to have it all from her. He needed to give her everything he was.
Pride in her filled him, just as strong as his love.
She was his, and he would die to keep her safe.
“Hayes?”
Snapping back to the present, Hayes dipped the spoon back into the stew, struggling to remember what they’d been talking about.
“Eat. You’re tired. I managed to get a little sleep last night. Marshals learn to sleep whenever and wherever they can.”
He held the spoon to her mouth again, aware of the attention from the other men.
“Open.”
Savannah smiled up at him, making his heart swell. He’d learned long ago that a smile from her could brighten his day, but this was different.
His heart swelled with love for her, along with a strong sense of responsibility.
Looking up, he saw the worry in Jeremiah’s eyes and understood why the other man kept looking up toward the bedroom where Maggie lay.
It didn’t surprise him when Jeremiah left with the baby after only a few minutes and headed back inside, yelling over his shoulder that he would be back for Maggie’s plate.
Everything Eb and Jeremiah wanted to do here and every one of the rules they’d set in place now made perfect sense. Just thinking about all the sorts of danger that Savannah could face every day sent a chill down his spine.
Hell, no wonder Eb and Jeremiah wanted to tie Maggie to the bed. No wonder they watched her like hawks and why it was so important for her to understand that she had to obey the others when it came to her protection.
Christ, he broke out in a cold sweat, just imagining the ways she and Savannah could get hurt.
“You’re lying.”
Hayes met Savannah’s drooping eyes again and refilled the spoon. “Lying about what, darlin’?”
He shot a glance at Wyatt, unsurprised to see that his best friend seemed even more fascinated by Savannah than usual.
“I’d bet that neither one of you slept at all last night.”
He leaned into the hand she laid on his cheek, not caring about the other men’s stares.
“Careful. Calling your husband a liar is a good way to get yourself turned over his knee.”
Savannah wrinkled her nose. “You’re not my husband, and I thought you only gave a spanking if I put myself in danger.” She took another bite and closed her eyes as though the effort of keeping them open proved to be more than she could manage.
“Besides, a woman shouldn’t get spanked for speaking the truth.” She curled into him, her loose fist against his chest.
Hayes frowned as her words slurred, and he dropped the spoon in the bowl, handing it to Wyatt.
“You’re right, honey. Nothing wrong with speaking the truth.”
Looking up at Wyatt, he settled back in the chair.
“She’s asleep. We’ll let her sleep for a while and make sure she eats something when she gets up.”
Duke, who’d settled in a chair a few feet away, nodded. “I’ll keep something hot, but it looks like she might just sleep until supper.” He paused, as though weighing his words. Sitting forward, he kept his voice low.
“You take care of her real good. I worried when I first came here and heard about the rules set up for the women. Figured they weren’t much better than laws anywhere else. Not the same at all, though. Women need to be taken care of, no matter how much they might object. Tiny little things, aren’t they?”
He came to his feet, all six and a half feet of him.
“Guess I might stay after all.”
Keeping his voice at a whisper, Wyatt lifted a brow. “Didn’t know you were planning to leave.”
Duke stretched, the muscles in his arms and chest rippling at the movement. Shrugging, he met the gazes of several of the other men as they went past, obviously on their way back to their chores.
“Depended on what happened with the women.” He waited until the last of the ranch hands left the porch before glancing at Savannah.
“Women are tough in some ways and so frail in others. Scary. They sure as hell need men to protect them.”
Something in Duke’s tone caught his attention.
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
Duke stared out over the yard in silence, the grief on his face unmistakable. He didn’t speak for so long that Hayes figured he didn’t plan to answer.
Hayes turned his attention back to Savannah, laying a hand over her waist and wondering if she already carried his child.
“Had a wife once.”
Hayes looked up, not sure if he’d heard Duke right.
“Did you say you were married?”
Duke kept staring out at the yard, his face a mask of grief and despair.
“Yeah. Shy little thing. Got into some trouble in town with a couple of outlaws who were robbing the bank. I came running from the livery when I heard her scream. He held a gun to her head and was dragging her away. I tried to convince him otherwise. That’s how I got this, from one of his friends.”
He gestured toward the scar that ran from his temple to his jaw and then pointed toward Hayes’s own scar.
“You know how that feels.”
Hayes clenched his jaw, imagining how he would feel if another man threatened Savannah.
“Mine was a bounty that pulled a fast one. Hasn’t happened since. What happened to you must have been hell. What happened?”
Duke shrug
ged. “I was young and too inexperienced and took a knife to a gunfight. Never did care for guns.” Sighing, he turned, looking from Hayes to Wyatt to Savannah.
His eyes lingered on her features, but Hayes had the feeling he didn’t see them at all, his mind filled with memories of his dead wife.
“Bastard took my knife from me and cut me. Then, he shot me and took her. Found her body three days later. Such a little thing. Didn’t have a chance at all.” His voice broke and he looked away, moving across the porch. “I’d better get started on supper.”
Watching Duke go down the steps and cross the yard, Hayes pulled Savannah tighter against him, easing up when she whimpered in her sleep.
Wyatt ran a hand over Savannah’s hair, lifting it abruptly when she stirred.
“Hell, no wonder he’s so cold. No man should have to go through that. I can’t imagine having something like that happen to Savannah. Look at her. She’s so tired. Jeremiah said she did great last night, keeping everyone calm and making things easier for Maggie. He said he and Eb weren’t ready to see Maggie in that kind of pain.”
Sitting back, Wyatt stared after Duke.
“Can’t believe he went through that.”
“And promised himself he’d never marry again.”
Hayes and Wyatt both lifted their heads as Hawke Royal appeared from around the side of the house, making his way toward them.
The eldest of the three Royal brothers glanced at Savannah as he paused at the bottom of the steps and leaned against the railing. The brief flash of wistfulness in his hooded eyes disappeared almost as soon as it appeared, surprising Hayes that it had shown at all.
Taking the knife from its holder at his waist, Hawke studied it thoughtfully, turning it back and forth and letting the sun glint off the blade.
“Never saw anyone as good with a knife as Duke. It took me close to a year, but I got out of him in bits and pieces that after his wife was killed, he practiced every day.” He put his own knife away, his lips twitching. “Carries at least a dozen with him at all times.”
Hayes lifted a brow. “Is that a fact?” He carried knives himself, but usually only four or five.
Wyatt settled back in his seat, toying with Savannah’s braid.
“Kind of understand why he doesn’t want to care for a woman again, but speaking from experience, it doesn’t seem we have much of a choice. Can’t imagine my life without her now.”
Hayes nodded, understanding just how empty his life would be without Savannah.
“I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her. I understand now why Eb and Jeremiah worry so much. Anything could happen. Hell. It gives me chills just thinking about it.”
He ran a hand over her arm, his chest tightening when she sighed and snuggled closer.
“We’ll keep this town safe. We’ll uphold the rules and run all troublemakers out of town. We’ll just have to hope it’s enough.”
He looked up, staring toward the building Duke had gone into.
“Who knows? Maybe with all the women Eb and Jeremiah are sending for, Duke will find a new wife. It’ll do him good to have a woman again.”
Hawke’s expression hardened.
“Not all of us want a woman in our lives, but we’ll help protect yours.”
Hayes shared a look with Wyatt, wondering if the big Indian realized just how much of his hunger for a woman of his own showed.
“You saying you’re not interested in having a wife to come home to?”
Hawke straightened, stiffening. “No sense in wanting something you can’t have. No woman is going to want to tie herself to a half-breed. I’ll just help Blade and Phoenix protect their women.”
Wyatt raised a brow. “Aren’t they half-breeds, too? If you don’t think a woman would want you, what makes you believe they’ll marry?”
Hawke glared at him over his shoulder.
“It doesn’t seem to make any difference to them. They’re too damned hardheaded to accept the truth.”
Turning, he walked back the way he came.
Wyatt waited until he left before turning to Hayes, his lips twitching. “Talk about hardheaded. I’d love to see him brought to his knees by a sweet little thing.”
Hayes cradled Savannah closer when she shivered in an effort to warm her. He turned to ask Wyatt to go get her a blanket, just as Eb came through the door with one. Between them, they covered her and Hayes settled back, smiling when she burrowed as close to him as she could possibly get.
“Thanks. I should really take her up to bed, but—”
Eb grinned tiredly.
“But you’re not quite ready to let go of her yet.” He stared after Hawke, his eyes dark with concern.
“You’re right about him being hardheaded. I hope one of the mail-order brides knocks his knees out from under him.”
Hayes laughed, careful not to wake Savannah.
“I’d pay money to see that.”
Eb turned back to him and grinned again.
“Lot of people said the same thing to me about two U.S. Marshals not too long ago. Didn’t think two such hard, cold men would be taken in by a woman.”
Before Hayes could reply, Eb’s expression became somber, worry and fury swirling in his eyes.
“Got a telegram from Pa. The Reverend Perry bought a train ticket and left Kansas City, but not before being joined by a posse of his friends who are just like him. He’s on his way here.”
Hayes smiled coldly, adrenaline racing through his veins at the chance to end this thing and begin his life with Savannah. “Looking forward to it.”
Chapter Ten
After making sure that Maggie and the babe slept soundly, Savannah walked outside and stretched. Lifting her face into the warm sun even as she pulled the shawl closer against the cool air, she made her way across the yard, looking forward to a cup of Duke’s strong coffee.
It had been several days since Maggie gave birth, and they’d fallen into somewhat of a routine.
Each day, her desire to be a part of such a place, to have the love of two men unlike any she’d ever met before, grew stronger until she could no longer imagine a life anywhere else.
Texas seemed farther away every day.
Even though she knew both men had been working hard every day to finish their house, she couldn’t help scanning the yard for Wyatt and Hayes. Not expecting to see either one of them, she paused as Hayes straightened from the fence he’d been leaning against and turned toward her.
Sucking in a breath at the sight of him, Savannah pulled the shawl closer and stood frozen in place, wondering if she’d ever get used to the heightened awareness and hunger each time she saw him.
With the aura of danger surrounding him, and a tall, muscular figure that she saw in her dreams, Hayes stood watching her, his eyes searching. With his hands on his hips and his hooded gaze raking over her, he made an imposing sight, one that she would remember her entire life.
Struck by his presence, she could only stare at him, hardly able to believe such a man would want her.
As always, need welled inside her, but she’d begun to notice a change in her desire for both of them.
It stemmed from much more than just physical need. Bolder now, and more intense, the need now merged with emotion and strengthened, becoming far more potent than ever.
Her skin tingled now with the need to feel his hands on her, to be held against him. She yearned for his kiss and for the soft tone of voice meant just for her.
Staring into his eyes, she felt the familiar flutters in her stomach and the familiar tingling of her nipples and clit. Her pussy tightened in anticipation, releasing her juices to coat her thighs.
Her heart raced with love and excitement, beating so hard she wondered sometimes how it didn’t jump right out of her chest.
A gust of wind blew her hair in her face, momentarily blocking her view of him, and she brushed it aside impatiently, not wanting to miss a thing.
Grabbing it in her fist, she held it b
ack, her pulse tripping at the emotion in his hooded gaze.
Her breath caught at the love and desire shining in his eyes, something she wondered if she’d ever get used to. Ever since the day Maggie had her baby, Wyatt and Hayes had looked at her with an intensity that hadn’t been there before.
While neither had touched her in any intimate way since then, their eyes seemed sharper than ever as though neither one of them wanted to miss a single thing.
Hayes held her gaze for what seemed like forever before lowering it, allowing it to rake over her, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. Holding out his hand, he met her eyes again.
“Come here, Savannah.”
Shivering at his silky tone, Savannah started forward before she’d even decided if she would or not.
Once she did and saw the flash of love and satisfaction, nothing on earth could have prevented her from closing the distance between them.
Hayes reached for her, wrapping a hand around her wrist and tugging, catching her as she fell against him.
Burying her face against his chest, she breathed in the scent of him, the scent of leather and sunshine, a scent she would have recognized in the dark.
Blinking back tears at all she would be missing, she wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling into him as his arms tightened around her.
Running a hand over her hair, Hayes bent, touching his lips to her temple.
“I woke up reaching for you, and you weren’t there. I don’t like waking up without you beside me. I’ve never even spent the night with you, but I reach for you in my sleep.”
Savannah blinked back tears, figuring there would be no point in telling him that she reached for both him and Wyatt through the night. Each time she encountered cold bedcovers instead of a warm body, she woke up feeling even colder and emptier.
Choking back a sob, she held on, struggling to compose herself. In an effort to ease the tension, she poked at his hard belly.
“I thought you didn’t like to talk about your feelings.”
Hayes stilled.
Gripping her shoulders, he held her slightly away from him, his eyes sharp as they searched hers.
“Tell me what’s bothering you.”
Savannah blinked, wondering how he saw through her so easily, and then smiled at the arrogance that was so much a part of him.
