“I’m a man of questionable reputation with a habit for passionate misadventures, driven by an overwhelming need to help others. I will always go to my family’s defense and I will likely never care for living anywhere other than our ranch. Life on a ranch is hard. It’s back breaking work. I’ll likely as not come in from a day of working too exhausted to think, but it’s also the most rewarding with a strong sense of community and an extended family that will always have your back. I never saw much sense in deepening my education and I’m certainly nowhere near as well read as you. I’ll likely tease you for using big words, but always with the eagerness to hear you say them. I can’t offer you a big city or resources, but I can build you a reality that is strong and true and utterly devoted to you. I have a ring for you, but it’s in my room at the ranch and, when I get there, one of the first things I want to do is put it on your finger, but only if you’ll marry me and make an honest man out of me.”
He’d managed the whole speech despite the tears streaming down her cheeks and when she nodded, seemingly at a complete loss for words, he let his shields go down and whooped at the rapture writhing through her. Lifting her up in his arms, he indulged in a long and satisfying kiss.
“Yes,” she finally managed against his mouth. “Yes, William Kane. I’ll marry you.”
By the time they made it back to shore, they were spent and exhausted, but clean. Evelyn seemed happier and freer than she had since they’d left the mountain. She worked a comb through her hair while he tended to the frayed leather on her girth.
“Oh.” She paused in mid-stroke and looked over at him. “Do you want me to call you Kid at the ranch?”
“No, ma’am. For you, I’m always William.”
Evelyn, Ten Miles from Dorado
From the moment they woke that morning, a wild eagerness had been apparent in every move William made. Evelyn would have to have been blind, deaf, and dumb to miss the quiet joy seething in his eyes or the swift nature of every movement. He’d never collapsed their campsite so quickly, or readied the horses. Before the sun set that evening, they’d be on his family’s land, if not in his family home.
A jitteriness she’d never before experienced turned her inside out and her heart beat so hard she thought surely he could hear it. Twice he stopped everything he was doing to pull her close for a kiss, a hard sensuous reminder that she belonged no matter how unsettled she felt. He was ready to head out before she’d fully settled on whether she should change into a less wrinkled set of clothing or wait until they were closer.
“Evelyn, no one will care what you’re wearing. It’s a ranch, darling. They’ll probably be twice as dirty and sweaty as we are because they’ll have been working all day.” He held out his hand.
“I have no idea why I’m so nervous.” She accepted his hand and he gave her a comforting squeeze before helping her up into the saddle.
“Hell, I’m nervous. The last time I was there, I damn near started a brawl. I have apologies to make. All you have to do is be you.” He rubbed her leg. “They’ll adore you, too.”
“You sound confident.” She couldn’t determine how much of his attitude was an attempt at keeping her calm and getting her moving verses how much was truth.
“Hmm, where is the woman who rode hell for leather across a desert, alone, toward an uncertain destination because of a pendant?” He swung into the saddle, his movement pure grace. She’d definitely improved as a rider over the last several days, she couldn’t help, but improve with William offering her pointers and correcting her seat. At least her numb backside didn’t include a backache or sore joints anymore.
“She seduced the young prince of a land baron.” Still, he had a point. She’d had no issue with meeting Quanto or Wyatt or even William for that matter when she had nothing to prove. Meeting William’s family and friends—his people—well, it presented a unique challenge.
“So, you seduced me?” He nodded gravely. “Promise to do it again?”
“You are terrible.” She swatted him, but he looked damned pleased at her laughter. And so the first few miles of their day were spent, with William refusing to allow her to brood. His jesting remarks and easy manner kept making her smile.
There was one final issue they should settle before they crossed onto his land and one she’d wrestled with for days. He’d left it alone, and she knew he’d been aware of her turmoil. He’d allowed her to work through it without interference, a precious gift. “William…”
“Hmm. I know that tone.” He dropped his mare back until they rode side-by-side. “I told you…”
“No.” She stopped him with an upraised hand. “It’s not about your family, not this time. Well, not entirely. It’s about my father and Ethan Harlow…and the men at the Fort.”
Gentle laughter evaporated from his gaze and his expression sobered. “All right.”
“You were right.” It cost her nothing to admit that. “I wanted to disagree with your argument that I wanted vengeance and absolution and redemption versus justice, but you were correct when you said I blamed myself for not acting in that alley. I was a coward and I feel complicit in my father’s death.”
Though he said nothing, she could feel the weight of his regard.
“So I have asked myself over and over, what is the sane and rational choice? What choice serves justice better? What choice would serve me and make me feel better? I cannot find an answer that satisfies all three.” Licking her lips, she braced for his rejection. “I want them to die because they killed Daddy. I don’t care if it serves justice. They killed him and an eye for an eye works in this situation.”
“Yes, it does.” The quiet acceptance and gentle understanding in his eyes threatened to undo her. “Darling, I have never had any issue with the idea that they needed to die. They hurt you, they killed your father, and that is crime enough. They are also a threat to you and, by extension, all of us.”
“But how do I reconcile my desire to end their lives against what is right?”
William brushed her cheek with one finger. “You have to live up to your conscience…and you don’t have to be the one who metes out that justice.”
Reining the horse in, she stopped abruptly. Something in his voice…the distance and certainty in it. “They’re already dead.” William followed her lead and turned his horse around, sidling his mare over until their legs brushed and he could face her.
“Three days ago.” He sighed, his expression unrepentant. Three days. Before he’d proposed marriage to her. While she still wrestled with his argument…she was at a loss with how to react.
“Though Quanto and Buck didn’t tell me until last night after they’d confirmed that Ethan Harlow met with a most unfortunate accident. He was the fourth man, the one who wasn’t there.”
Relief wound through her gut. He’d not kept it from her deliberately. Yet she was neither happy to hear of their demise nor angry that she’d been left out. She only had questions. “How? Where was he?”
“He had apparently returned to Tennessee. The three men who’d gone to the fort planned to collect a hefty bounty when they killed you.” His jaw flexed and the warmth in his blue eyes vanished to absolute ice. “They were tasked to bring your head back.”
Revolted, she fought to keep her gorge down. “How…how did they determine it?”
“Jason.” William smiled faintly. “After Jimmy and Shane confirmed they were there, Jason paid a call. The men had been cultivating relationships with the cavalry there and biding their time. They’d made three or four reconnaissance visits to the ranch.” The last words carried a cool anger. Though miles away, he didn’t hide his resentment of the strangers intruding on his family’s land.
Rocked by the idea that they’d planned to cut off her head, she took a moment to think that one through. “But why would they wait? I was never at the ranch.”
“Do you remember the stable hand you dealt with in San Antonio? The night you met Micah?”
She nodded. It had bee
n such a miserable night and the man spoke no English. Had William’s brother not intervened, she’d likely have had to walk to the mountain.
“He lied to the men.” William shook his head and reached up to adjust his hat. “They were offering gold for any information at all about you, so he told them you’d left with Micah and how to find the Flying K.”
“Did they hurt anyone?” Dread clawed at her stomach.
“No, darling, and they didn’t tell anyone what you could do, because they feared no one would believe them. They just wanted to kill you.”
“So, it’s over?” At his nod, she blew out a long breath. “Dare I ask how Mr. Harlow was dealt with?”
“Wyatt.” The readiness of his answer should have surprised her, yet it didn’t. She considered asking him how that was even possible.
Wyatt had been on the mountain—it seemed impossible that he had already journeyed to Tennessee? Wasn’t it? “I—” Did she dare ask? Would he answer her? Yes. She would. “How?”
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I don’t know.”
She wanted to believe him. “Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.” Kid blew out a breath. “I don’t know how, there’s a lot about Wyatt I don’t think anyone knows. But I am sorry. I’m sorry that you had to find out after the fact.”
“But not remotely sorry that they took the decision out of my hands?”
“No.” One corner of his mouth curved upward. “It’s done. You’re safe. That’s all I really care about, but I am sorry if you’re upset.”
“Strangely, I’m not.” The disquiet in her soul spread through her. She chewed her lower lip, trying to understand it. “I’m not even sure what it is I do feel.”
“Want me to tell you?” The mildness of the question highlighted the respect he’d shown her feelings time and again.
“I think this time…yes.” Tears filmed her eyes and his image wavered.
“You’re finally ready to grieve, darling.” He swung off his saddle and held open his arms, she leaned toward him and let him pull her from the saddle. He lifted her as though she weighed nothing and then she buried her face against his shirt and wept. Murmuring soft, soothing sounds, he stroked her hair and held her for what seemed like an eternity.
The sobs shaking her dislodged the last hard rocks in her soul, eased the bruise on her heart and uncoiled the noose from her throat. She’d been living with them for so long, she no longer recognized them. With the release came clarity and she lifted her head abruptly to stare up at him. “Thank you. You’ve let me do this one my own. You must have wanted to…”
“Every day,” he smiled a little, but pride glittered in his eyes. “You are a strong and amazing woman. You only needed me to be there, ready to catch you. I knew you could do it.”
“You’ve been teaching me how.” Charmed by his restraint and grateful for his choice, she kissed him and tasted the salt of her tears. “Thank you.”
“Thank you for proving me right.” He tightened his arm around her and pressed his lips to her ear. “But I think you need to dry your tears.”
Sniffling once, she looked at him in question and then followed his gaze to the copse of trees ahead. A sandy colored—and the largest—wolf she’d ever seen stared at them, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.
“Evelyn,” William murmured. “May I have the pleasure of introducing you to Cody?”
Chapter 25
Kid, Home
Kid met Cody’s golden gaze with a wide grin. The wolf bounded toward him. Evelyn hung back, her nervousness submerged her tears and he could feel the anxiety warring with fascination as Cody padded up to him. Letting go of Evelyn’s hand, he dropped down into a crouch and the wolf’s head butted against his chest once and then imitated a hard hug as he leaned into Kid.
Three distinct feelings collided at once—a welcome greeting, relief, and a question. The wolf’s nose twitched and Kid laughed. “Yes, I’m better. Did you get impatient waiting for me to show up?”
A snort and then Cody backed up a step to swing his gaze toward Evelyn. Her eyes were wide and her smile tremulous.
“Hello,” she murmured. She’d curled her fingers into her palms. “You’re a beautiful wolf. Is that appropriate to say?”
A playful growl and toothy grin was all the response he gave her. Kid watched as Cody circled her and tested her scent before he padded back over and gave him a hard nudge.
“He wants us to get moving.” Kid dropped a hand onto Cody’s shoulder and gave the huge beast a firm pat. “Pushy as always.”
The sense of ‘of course’ couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. Helping Evelyn back onto her horse, Kid swung up onto his and Cody raced alongside. Kid wanted to run, but Evelyn’s gaze swung around to drink in everything on their way through. He tried to see the land as she might, but to him it was all home. The trees were dense on this edge of their land and he’d come at it from an angle, wanting to avoid the blackened earth where the old Dorado had stood.
The scent of the river demarcating the Flying K pulled at him and Kid slanted a look toward the woman who held his heart. “Evelyn, wait. Can you feel it?”
At the water’s edge, she reined in her gelding and frowned. “There’s a buzzing—like a low level hum.” Twisting in the saddle, she studied the area. “I can’t tell from what.”
Cody paused at the water’s edge and sniffed, waiting. The barrier still held, so that at least answered one question.
“Welcome to the Flying K,” he sidled over to her. “Want to ride across with me?”
“You have to literally bring me onto your land?” Curiosity fired in her gaze, erasing the last trace of her tears.
“Yes, ma’am.” His face hurt from the smile he wore, but he couldn’t contain his grin and didn’t want to. Home pulsed in his blood and every muscle in his body quivered with the need to ford the river and arise on the other side—on Kane land. He’d been born here and today he would introduce the woman who would be his wife to everyone else in the world that mattered to him.
Evelyn giggled and the sweet, girlish, feminine sound captivated him in a way nothing else might have in this moment.
“What?” He lifted his brows and glanced at Cody. The wolf stared at him with unabashed curiosity.
“Your smile.” Her answer pulled his attention away from the sandy-colored animal. “It’s so—free. I don’t think I’ve seen you quite like this before. I like it.”
Soaking up the excitement in her voice, he grinned wider. “I like it, too. Come on, woman, get over here.” He rode right up next to her and helped her transfer again, only this time when she settled in the saddle in front of him, her back rested against his chest and her hands braced lightly on his forearms.
Cody whuffed a wolfish laugh and Kid didn’t need any other encouragement. Leading her gelding by the reins, he tapped his horse and sent her down the gentle slope to the ford. Water splashed around them as she went deep, the river nearly to her belly, but she waded the rest of the way. Soon they were climbing up the other side and something deep inside of Kid settled, snapping into place.
The barrier, he realized, stretched across the land and resonated within him. Startled by the sudden knowledge filtering through him, Kid went rock still and his mare stopped. The input surged over him, like a raging rapid and he was the stone. It crashed into his shields, then over them, and back out again.
“William?” Evelyn twisted to look at him and Cody barked, but Kid couldn’t find the words to answer them. He could feel the barrier, stretched, elastic and pliable, wrap around him and surging back out again in time with his pulse.
A growl reverberated in the air and he still couldn’t find his voice. So much information came to him—emotional and other—and he worked his shields, allowing them to bend with the pressure as it began to filter through him. Happiness, joy, sadness, lust, longing, worry, hatred, curiosity…all of it stampeded through him.
He wavered in the sadd
le, but Evelyn’s hands on his arms anchored him and his shields held. A hard hand came down on his thigh and Kid turned his wondering gaze to clash with Cody’s gold encircled blue one. “Breathe, Kid. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” How the hell did he explain this? The emotional surge, it was everywhere. It was him and yet, it wasn’t. It was every person on the ranch and it wasn’t. Everything about the barrier made complete sense and didn’t in the same breath.
Evelyn’s sharp gasp pulled both their attention and Kid found it in him to take her hand and squeeze it. “Cody’s naked, don’t look.”
“I already noticed, thank you.” Starch stiffened her tone and she turned her head to look firmly in another direction. “A little warning next time might be advisable.”
“Your eyes are damn near black, Kid.” The growling rumble of Cody’s voice reminded him of home. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“He must be expending tremendous power,” Evelyn’s prim tone softened with concern. “But what are you doing?”
“It’s not me, exactly.” Although it was a great deal like being drunk, he realized. His words didn’t slur, nor did his thoughts, but the buoyancy reflecting back at him as the barrier surges eased and he found a way to regulate them in time with his shields. “I mean I think it is and it isn’t…I really need to talk to Pa about this shaman that put up our barrier.”
Cody’s nostrils flared. “The barrier reacted to you? But you’re a Kane.”
“It’s not keeping me out, it’s welcoming me home.” And so much more. It had information, impressions, and what felt like experience from every living being on the ranch. It took its strength from the living. “I’ll be damned.” He breathed and then let out a whooping laugh.
The guarded looks both Cody and Evelyn sent him made him laugh harder and he waved a hand. “Sorry, I get it. I get what he did. It’s brilliant and terrifying and awe inspiring.”
“And apparently filled with a great many words and not a lot of explanations.” Droll, Cody shifted his attention to Kid’s saddlebags and pulled one open. He dragged on a pair of denims before swinging, barefoot and chested, onto the free saddle. “You all right to ride, or want me to take lead?”
Raising Kane Page 35
