Eden made quick work of serving him breakfast, and brought a refill for JD’s almost empty plate at the same time. She was so curious she was about to burst, but she didn’t dare say a word. Not while Nadine and JD were present, anyway. He was definitely in for an inquisition later.
He ate part of the breakfast Eden had put before him, because he knew her feelings would be hurt if he didn’t. When he had consumed most of his breakfast and finished one cup of coffee and a refill, he leaned back in his chair and laid his eyes on JD again.
Good Lord, the kid was almost grown. He had Nadine’s green eyes, curious and bright in a youthful way, and finely sculpted features that could not possibly have come from his father. Cash studied every detail. The long lashes. The ruffled strands of brown hair that were darker than Nadine’s, not black like Cash’s but close. Too close. The straight, proud nose and wide mouth that might be, if he allowed himself to see it, somewhat familiar. If the kid ever decided to grow a beard and mustache, they might be in trouble.
“So you want to be a gunfighter,” Cash said. “Why?”
JD swallowed hard. The Adam’s apple in his long, boyish neck bobbed up and down.
“I’m good with a gun,” the kid said, his voice shaking slightly.
“A lot of people can say the same.”
“No, I’m really good.”
“All right,” Cash conceded. “You’re good. That’s not enough of a reason. Give me another one.”
“I... I...” His eyes lit up as he came to a decision. “You only take on jobs that have some purpose, right? You fight for the folks who need help. I want to do that, too. I want to fight the bad guys.”
“If that’s the case, you could be a lawman or a soldier. I need another reason.” He laid his eyes on JD in a way that he usually reserved for men on the other side of a fight. “The real one.”
JD swallowed again, and his green eyes went wide. “Marianna is a crummy little town, and I don’t want to be stuck there all my life. I don’t want to be a nobody like my father.”
“JD!” Nadine chastised softly. The men at the table ignored her.
“When I ride into town I want people to know who I am. I want them to respect me.” JD’s shoulders went back slightly, and in that instant Cash saw the man his son would one day become.
“You want to be famous,” he whispered.
“Yeah.”
“You want dime novels written about JD Ellington.”
“I do.”
“You want normal folks to shudder in their boots when they hear your name.”
JD’s eyes flashed. “Yeah.”
The conversation stalled when Eden came to the table again, refilling coffee cups and collecting empty plates, looking on with a curiosity that was about to burst from her chest. All was silent until she moved away again.
Cash turned his eyes to Nadine. “Have you given anyone a reason why you’re here?”
She shook her head.
“We’ll need one. This might take a while.”
“Yes!” JD muttered in triumph.
Nadine sighed. There was no light of triumph in her eyes. “Does this town have a doctor?”
“Not really. The preacher fills in when he can, but these days the Rev has his hands full with other duties. He can take out a bullet or stitch a wound.” Drunk or sober, Cash remembered. “But as for everyday doctoring, you’re pretty much on your own around here. Why do you ask?”
“I was Marianna’s only doctor for six years.”
Nadine? A doctor? The confusion must have shown on his face, because she added angrily, “Yes, a woman doctor. Doc Stokes taught me a lot of what he knew before he passed on, and Winema, the old Comanche woman who married Yale Willowby, taught me a few things as well. Actually, I consider myself more of a healer than a doctor.”
“Yeah, but when Allison Peters got married to that real doctor from back East and he set up practice in town, Mom didn’t have much business left,” JD said in a young, too-fast voice. “Most of her patients decided to try out the real doctor. She still has a few folks who’d rather come to her, but everyone wanted to see that real doctor who had been to school back East.”
Nadine’s eyes flashed angrily every time her son used the words “real doctor.”
Cash turned to his son. “If you’re going to work for me, the first thing you’re going to have to learn is that gunfighters do not run off at the mouth. They do not ramble on, they listen. They do not prattle like little old ladies, they are still, and quiet, and always ready for whatever happens next.”
Properly reprimanded, JD blushed. Hell, the kid was as close to being a gunfighter as Cash was to being a nursemaid.
“Go upstairs and pack your bags,” Cash ordered. “You’re moving in with me.”
JD couldn’t get out of the dining room and up the stairs fast enough.
“Is this really a good idea?” Nadine asked softly.
Cash leaned closer to her. Not because he needed to lower his voice, not because he couldn’t hear her well, but because he wanted to take a deep breath and smell her. No matter how close he got, it wasn’t close enough. He wanted to hold her, just once. He wanted to kiss her and shake her and... touch her.
“We do things my way, remember?”
Nadine closed her mouth tightly.
“You’re in Rock Creek because you’re scouting out towns that need a doctor. JD is going to do odd jobs for me, he’s going to live above the saloon, and I’m going to rid him of the notion that becoming a gunslinger is an option.” He sighed deeply, allowing his eyes to fall to her well-rounded bosom. Ah, his fingers itched to touch her, here and now. “As far as the people of Rock Creek are concerned, if I’m doing anything nice for JD, it’s so I can work my way into his mother’s bed.”
“Cash!”
“Never fear, it’s all for show.”
And still, she blushed prettily.
“No one here will accept the notion that I’ve taken a child under my wing out of the goodness of my heart, you can trust me on that.” He allowed himself to look at her hard. “But they will believe that I’d give the kid a place to sleep over the saloon so you’ll be alone in your hotel room at night. And they will definitely believe that I’d use a child to worm my way into a beautiful woman’s bed.”
“Does everyone here think you to be so calculating?”
“The people in this town know me better than anyone else.”
His memories of Nadine were a hazy, distorted muddle. Their one night as lovers had been something to hang on to when times got rough. He remembered the sensation of entering her tight body with what seemed like clarity. He could almost feel the cold air all around them and the heat of their bodies where they touched, the heavenly sensation of Nadine’s arms around him, her mouth on his. He remembered loving her so much it hurt.
But he didn’t trust his memories anymore. Had that one night been so different from all the rest? Was this one woman really any different from the prostitutes and lusty widows who had followed her?
When he remembered watching her and Joseph Ellington walk out of the church, man and wife, he always saw a smile on her face. Had that smile been real? He knew now why she’d married Ellington. She’d been not much more than a child herself, and she must have been terrified. Had she really smiled, or was that part of some old nightmare that stayed with him as if it were real?
If he had stepped out from between the buildings and made his presence known, where would they be now? How would his life be different?
They would never know, so it made no sense to ponder on it. What’s done was done, the past was past, and he was not a man to dwell on what he could not, would not, have. And yet as he sat there watching Nadine, he did ponder.
* * *
Daniel was a constant in an ever-changing world. He could always be relied upon to be distant, vulgar, and suspicious of all but a few close friends. He did not have breakfast with total strangers and... and chat over coffee.
&nbs
p; Eden counted the man as a good friend. He had saved her life and Sin’s, and in spite of his devil-may-care attitude she knew he would do anything to protect those few he cared about. But he was up to something and she wanted to know what. She had to know.
The young man, JD, left the table and hurried through the lobby and to the stairs. A few minutes later, his mother followed. Eden made a beeline for Daniel’s table.
“More coffee?” she asked as he came slowly to his feet. “Biscuits? Another slice of ham? You didn’t eat all your eggs, but I could—”
“You are always trying to feed me,” he interrupted. Ah, he knew she was curious. That twinkle in his eye gave him away.
Eden pulled out the chair JD had occupied earlier and sat down. “My feet hurt. Have a seat and talk to me while I rest a minute.”
Daniel complied, a half-smile flitting across his face.
Placing her forearms on the table and leaning just slightly forward, Eden asked bluntly, “What is going on here?”
With his usual casual air, Daniel leaned back in his chair and grinned. “I’ve hired the young man to work for me.”
“To work for you? Doing what?”
Daniel hesitated. His smile dimmed just a little. “Sweeping out the saloon. Doing some repairs around the place. Whatever else I can think of. He’ll be staying there.”
“You’ve always gotten along fine without help,” she said, her curiosity unsatisfied. “And if you needed someone besides Evan to sweep out the saloon, you could have asked Teddy or Rafe to do it.”
His eyebrows arched up. “You’d allow them in my place?”
Good point. “Early in the day when you’re closed, I suppose I would.”
He knew her too well. His smile bloomed wide. “Let’s just say I have my reasons for taking the boy in. One, actually. My reason stands a good four inches taller than you. Has green eyes and silky skin and the most tempting pair of—”
“Daniel!” Eden chastised before he could say more. Oh, it made perfect sense. Nadine Ellington was an attractive lady, but... “She’s not your type of woman.”
He did not seem at all disturbed by this observation. “Every time my type of woman comes to town you and your cronies have her reformed in an amazingly short period of time. Perhaps I’m getting desperate.” He shook his head once. “Maybe Mrs. Ellington is not as strait-laced as she looks. Only one way to find out. Getting the kid out of her room is just the first step.”
“Daniel!”
“Well, you can hardly expect me to... proceed with a child on a pallet at her bedside.”
“I don’t think you should proceed at all!”
“So I should become a monk?” he asked, his smile dying. He wanted to say more. She saw that in his clenched jaw and his darkening eyes. But he wouldn’t. And he didn’t need to.
“You should marry a woman who will love you and care for you and feed you and... and...”
“And?” he urged with bitter humor. “Never mind. I will allow my imagination to wander beyond that last and on its own.” He thrust his long legs forward.
“I only want to see you... happy.”
“Happy?” he asked with a crooked smile. “I’m already happy. I’m perfectly satisfied with my life as it is.”
“But...”
“Look, sweetheart, marriage and all that comes with it is fine for the others, but it’s not for me and it never will be.”
“It’s not too late...”
“It has nothing to do with how old I am, Eden.” His humor disappeared, and suddenly he looked deadly serious. There was no more light of teasing in his eyes. “You want to know the truth, meddling Eden? Fine. Listen up. I barely sleep at night as it is. What would my life be like if I had a wife? Kids? Do you know how many people out there would love to hurt anyone who made the mistake of getting that close to me? Do you realize what a burden the name Cash would be to a child of mine? How could I ever watch them closely enough? How could I protect anyone who was foolish enough to become a part of my life?”
“It wouldn’t be like that,” she whispered.
“God, Eden, you have no idea,” he said, disgust coming through clearly on the soft waves of his lowered voice. “You and Sullivan are safe here. Your kids are safe. Your home is secure. But there are people out there hunting me. Most of them are not stupid enough to come here, but they’re out there, biding their time until I leave this town so I’ll be more vulnerable. They’re just waiting for the chance to corner me, waiting for me to land in a strange place where I don’t have anyone to watch my back.” She had no idea how tough the last year had been. How little he’d slept. How close he’d come to getting killed. “These men are willing and able to shoot me in my bed or while I’m eating breakfast or as I’m spreading a winning hand across a poker table.”
A shudder shimmied down her spine. “You’re safer in Rock Creek than anywhere else in the world,” she said. “Stay here, where there will always be someone to watch your back.”
“I will,” he said. “For a while. As long as you don’t mention the ‘M’ word around me anymore.”
“It wouldn’t be so—”
He stopped her with nothing more than raised eyebrows.
Eden sighed. “All right. But be careful, Daniel.”
“I always am.”
It was her turn to raise her eyebrows in disbelief.
Chapter 4
The hotel garden was well kept, the perfect place to spend a restless morning. And Nadine was definitely restless.
Cash’s plan made perfect sense, but she didn’t like it. She wanted JD with her at night, sleeping nearby. How else could she be certain he was safe?
Cash wanted people to think he was being nice to JD in order to get into her bed. That made sense, she supposed, given that the gunslinger didn’t exactly have a history of performing selfless acts. She was willing to play along as long as things didn’t go too far. Cash had made it clear he expected her to do as he said. Did that include more than she was willing to give?
She knew there were women who enjoyed sex, but she was not one of them. Perhaps something within her was not built right, or maybe all those other women were lying. That one night with Cash had been warm and wonderful, right up until the moment he broke through her maidenhead. The pain had ruined the moment, though she did remember enjoying the way he held her after as much as she had enjoyed the kissing and touching before.
Her marriage bed had been cold, at best. Joseph had done his utmost to be a good husband and father. Most of the time, once she quit mourning Danny, she had been content. But the intimate moments of their married life had been lacking. There had never been any kissing and touching before or holding after, which left her with the only part of the marital embrace that she didn’t enjoy; the act itself. There had been no more pain, not after that first night with Cash, but lying with her husband had never been anything to look forward to, either.
When she didn’t get pregnant that first year after JD was born, they sadly accepted the fact that Joseph was most likely unable to father children. His first marriage had been childless, but he had hoped it was his late wife who’d been unable to conceive. After that first year, when they knew more children were not likely, they didn’t even bother with sex very often. She had tried not to let on that she dreaded the nights Joseph would come to her, but she was not good at playing games. She had never been good at pretending.
But she had a feeling Cash would definitely bother if he got the chance. He wasn’t an easygoing man like Joseph, and he would never be satisfied with less than everything she had to give. She wondered if he’d be satisfied with the explanation that she didn’t have anything left.
* * *
“What does washing windows have to do with gun-fighting?” JD asked testily.
Cash crossed his arms and glared at his son’s defiantly rigid spine as the kid swiped carelessly at a dirty window that overlooked Rock Creek’s main street.
“Perfection,” Cash said si
mply.
JD dropped his arm and turned to face him. “I don’t get it.”
“There is no room in this profession for sloppiness of any kind. Whatever job you take on, it must be done thoroughly. Completely. If you can’t clean a window properly, how can you ever expect to attain the precision required to be a respected gunfighter?”
JD accepted that explanation with a grumbled, “Yes, sir, Mr. Cash.”
“Just Cash,” he corrected the boy.
JD dipped his rag in the pail of vinegar water at his side and began again, paying more attention to details this time as he cleaned the window. The kid had good hands, long-fingered and youthfully slim. “When will we get to do some shooting?”
“Patience,” Cash advised. “I didn’t kill my first man until I was eighteen, and that was in battle. If you rush this process, you’ll be dead inside a week. Your mother would never forgive me.”
Never pausing in his chore, JD scoffed. “My mother still treats me like I’m a baby. I wish she’d gotten married after my pa died and had a couple more kids. Maybe then she wouldn’t watch over me like a hawk.”
He had seen the way the women of this town watched over their children. He assumed it didn’t matter if there was one child or a dozen. Mothers always stood vigil. “She’s an attractive woman. I’m surprised she never remarried.”
“Said she wasn’t interested,” JD said with a sigh. “We had the house there in town, and with her doctoring we never had any problem getting by. She said she didn’t need a man to take care of us, that we could take care of ourselves.”
Didn’t Nadine miss having a man in her bed at night? Didn’t she ever get lonely? A woman like her, so beautiful and full of life, shouldn’t be alone.
“I think she loved my pa too much to ever marry anyone else,” JD said in a confidential voice. “I caught her crying one night, and when I asked her what was wrong, she told me she was thinking about my father and all the years they would never have together.”
A shiver worked its way through Cash’s body. Had she been talking about Ellington? Or him?
“Funny thing is,” JD continued, “my pa had been dead for a really long time when I caught her crying. I don’t know what got her thinking about him right at that moment. I never saw her so sad as she was that night, and it scared me a little. It’s been a long time, and I still remember....”
Cash (The Rock Creek Six Book 6) Page 4
