Cash (The Rock Creek Six Book 6)

by Linda Winstead Jones

  He didn’t want to stand there and wonder if Nadine had cried over what they’d never have. “Hey, kid,” he said sharply. “Remember that prattling thing I warned you about?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re doing it again.”

  And then he caught sight of a feminine figure walking down the street, hips swaying the way a woman’s will, head high, uncovered dark hair catching the rays of the sun. Nadine glanced over to the saloon and up and tried, very hard, not to allow her gaze to linger on Rogue’s Palace.

  * * *

  Rock Creek was a nice enough place, with all the amenities one might expect in a small city blending nicely with the rustic air of an isolated town. The view to the south was lovely, the way the vast expanses of Texas often were, and yet her heart clenched when she looked beyond Rock Creek. She was so far away from everything she knew.

  Nadine had studied the quaint church and the school, Three Queens, the general store, and all the shops along the way before allowing herself to walk past and take a really good look at Cash’s saloon. She saw the figure beyond a dirty window, recognizing it as JD’s even though her view was indistinct. Just seeing him there, scrubbing windows, was a relief. He was safe for now.

  “Well, well.” Cash’s low voice interrupted her tour, and before she knew what he was doing he sidled up beside her, taking her arm. No one looking on would know that his grip was just a little too tight. “Checking up on me?”

  “Of course not,” she said, her heart in her throat. “I was just... restless.”

  “I suppose you know Rock Creek from end to end by now.”

  “It’s a lovely place.”

  “It’s no different from any other small town.”

  Somehow she didn’t think that was true. “I met several of the Sullivans’ children, and Mary Reese, and the preacher’s wife, Jo.”

  “Did you tell them you were a doctor looking for a place to practice?”

  “Yes.” And after an initial silent span that revealed their surprise, they had all been quite thrilled at the prospect. They had seemed to be thrilled, at least. As she’d left the ladies to their social gathering, politely declining their offer to join in, she passed a very pregnant woman waddling down the hotel stairway on the arm of a huge hulk of a man, and she’d almost run over an exotic beauty who was mumbling about her husband making her late. The five of them had probably had a good laugh about the woman doctor. Most people did, even her old friends in Marianna.

  “Good,” Cash said, pulling her too close. Her hip brushed his. “It’s kind of ironic, don’t you think?”

  “What’s that?” Heavens, he stole her breath when he held her this close.

  “I shoot people, you heal them. I kill, you bring new life into the world. How different could our lives be?” He delivered this observation with a matter-of-fact tone. He might have been commenting on the weather.

  “We weren’t always so different.”

  He didn’t respond but silently led her across the street and toward the hotel entrance. They walked through the door and, as they approached the dining room filled with chattering voices, he draped his arm over her shoulder.

  Instead of leading her past the large open entrance to the dining room, he stopped and looked in, a wide smile breaking across his face. The preacher’s wife held her baby boy in her arms. Eden and Mary each had an older baby on their laps. Two little girls played on the floor nearby, lost in their doll play. And five pairs of wide eyes watched a grinning Daniel Cash standing there with his arm tossed possessively over her shoulder.

  “Ladies,” he said.

  Their responses were mumbled. Cash. Daniel. Good Lord. Canaille.

  “Eden, is Teddy around?”

  She licked her lips before answering, bouncing her dark-haired baby gently on her knee. “He and Jed are down by the river. Target practice.”

  “When he gets back, would you have him come see me? I think he’s about the same age as my new employee, JD. Thirteen?”

  Eden nodded. “Teddy’s fourteen.”

  “Close enough. JD’s scrubbing my place from top to bottom, and he might need some help.”

  One of the women, the beauty who had been late arriving and had muttered something in French when Cash and Nadine had arrived, said, “I do not suppose it ever occurred to you to help the new kid yourself.”

  “Of course not,” Cash said, not at all offended by the suggestion or the condescending tone with which it had been delivered.

  “If Teddy would like to earn a little spending money, have him come see me.” Cash nodded to Eden. “Early in the afternoon, of course, before business gets under way.”

  With that he nodded to them all and turned around, Nadine still in his grasp, and headed for the back door. “The garden is very nice, even in the heat of the day,” he said, plenty loud enough for all the ladies to hear.

  When they were outside, the door closed behind them, Nadine tried to slip out of Cash’s grasp. He held on and refused to allow her to escape.

  “Now, now,” he said softly. “You never know who might be watching.” He led her to a bench situated among the flowering bushes, held her hand as she sat, and then lowered himself slowly to sit beside her. Once again, that familiar arm draped over her shoulder.

  “Who on earth would be watching?”

  Cash turned to look at her and he smiled brilliantly. “Eden, certainly,” he said. He drifted toward her slowly and unerringly. “Jo, by now,” he added as he placed his mouth on her neck. How could he be so hard, so unforgiving, and then turn around and touch her in such a tender way?

  Nadine’s heart kicked furiously. It didn’t help matters any when Cash took her earlobe between his teeth, then sucked it into his mouth for a split second. “Mary’s probably right behind Eden and Jo, telling them that they really shouldn’t be spying.” His breath touched her ear, and a shiver worked its way through her body. “Lily is disgusted with them all, and Hannah would really like to watch but getting out of her chair is no easy task these days. Those two should be along in another minute or so.”

  “How could you possibly...” About that time a curtain in the lobby window fluttered. Just slightly.

  Cash trailed his lips down the side of her neck and raised a tender hand to her hair. His fingers threaded through the strands, brushed against her ear.

  “Stop,” she whispered.

  “No. We have to make this look good.”

  “I just arrived yesterday. Surely they expect something a little...” Her heart hammered. “Slower. More seemly. You could court me. Walk me around town. Have dinner with me at the hotel. Bring... flowers or candy or... something.” God, she couldn’t breathe right!

  “No,” he whispered, and then he sucked on the side of her neck until she felt as though she would dissolve and melt through the slats in the weathered bench. “They’d never buy it.”

  “Why...” She swallowed hard as Cash’s fingertips brushed the skin behind her ear. “Why not?”

  “I might be teaching JD patience, but that doesn’t mean I have much of my own. And I have none where women are concerned.”

  Cash was surely trying to devour her neck. He sucked, he nibbled. He kissed. Something about the way he worked his mouth on her flesh made her tremble all over. She felt the force of those gentle kisses everywhere, as if they seeped through her skin and wafted through her body on golden waves.

  “Besides,” he whispered between kisses. “I am not now, nor have I ever been, seemly.”

  “Surely they’d expect me to resist,” she said weakly.

  “They all know I’m irresistible,” he muttered, his lips brushing lightly against her neck.

  Ha! Of that she had no doubt. “But... how can I expect to doctor these people if they think I’m so weak, I can’t even resist the advances of a man they believe I’ve barely known for one full day?”

  He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. His lips were slightly swollen, his eyes heavily lidded. “You’
re not actually going to stay, Nadine. It’s just a part of the ruse. Who cares what they think?”

  Her heart sank a little. He was right, of course. “What am I supposed to do?”

  “You could kiss me,” he suggested. “On the lips, on the neck. Anywhere that strikes your fancy. You could throw your arms around me and hold on tight while you tell me what you want. Where do you ache, Nadine?” His eyes darkened, and he didn’t wait for an answer. Surely he didn’t expect one. “And you will open your door to me whenever I knock. Day or night.”

  Oh, pretending or not, she did not want this man in her hotel room! “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  He grabbed the back of her head and forced her to look at him. “If the people who live here don’t think I’m sleeping with you, they’ll question my motives for taking JD in. Maybe they’ll look at him too closely and wonder. Maybe if they look hard enough, they’ll see the resemblance. Do we want that?”

  Would it really be so bad? “I guess not.”

  “They know I’m not going to waste my time on any woman who won’t spread her legs for me.”

  She couldn’t stop the warm flush in her cheeks.

  “So, while it doesn’t matter what we do in that room once I’m there, you will let me in. I might show up in the middle of the night, at dawn, or in the afternoon. Don’t you ever turn me away.”

  He brought his mouth toward hers, his lips parted, and his hand rose to cup her breast. His fingers swept up and brushed over a nipple that hardened at his touch. Unexpected sparks flashed through her.

  She placed her hands on his chest before he could kiss her. He was like rock beneath her palms, hard and unyielding. But he was warm, human and male and real. The hand at her breast continued to move, boldly caressing.

  The past few days had been too much for her, too emotionally charged. Her head was spinning, her knees shaking, her skin much too warm. It wasn’t like her to feel so completely out of control. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t be the kind of woman Cash wanted and expected her to be.

  Cash’s lips were just an inch or so from hers when she pushed at him with all her might, raised her hand, and slapped him. Hard.

  He went still. Not only in his body but in his eyes. There was no more spark of humor, no passion, no hint at all of the boy she had once known.

  The back door of the hotel burst open. “There you two are,” Eden said too brightly and too fast. “I thought you might want some lemonade and cookies. Do come in and have some refreshments. It’s so hot out here.”

  Cash rose to his feet. “No, thank you,” he said, his eyes never leaving Nadine’s face. “Perhaps Mrs. Ellington would care for some lemonade. I need to get back to the saloon.”

  The other ladies gathered in the open doorway. Cash had been right. They’d been watching all that time.

  Nadine’s heart beat so hard, she could feel it pounding against her chest. Cash said these people knew him better than anyone, and Eden obviously thought he might be tempted to harm a woman for slapping him. She’d been worried enough to come running out of the hotel with a blatantly obvious lemonade-and-cookie rescue.

  Cash raised a hand to his red cheek and let his fingers trail over the skin she had slapped. Already she felt sorry. He’d touched her and she’d panicked. This is not why she’d traveled to Rock Creek! Would he send her and JD packing now? Worse, would he take his revenge by turning her son into a cold-blooded killer? She wanted to be so sure he was not a vindictive person.

  What was she thinking? Daniel Cash not vindictive? Everything she had read, everything she had learned about his life since he’d left her, made it clear that he did not take insult lightly.

  “Would you have dinner with me tonight, Mrs. Ellington?” he finally asked softly.

  Eden’s eyes almost popped out of her head.

  “I’d be delighted,” Nadine said, only a little surprised.

  Cash leaned down toward her, and she did not flinch. No matter what he said, no matter what she’d learned, she knew him better than anyone. And she knew, more surely with every beat of her heart, that he would never hurt her.

  “Perhaps,” he whispered, “I’ll even bring you some friggin’ flowers.”

  * * *

  Cash stepped into the lobby a few minutes early, wondering what the hell he was doing here. How had his perfectly ordered life gotten so out of hand in the span of a single day? Wedding planning, a child, and a woman who was determined to drive him crazy had already turned his life upside down.

  He moved into the lobby and sat on the ratty green couch that had been there when the six of them had come to Rock Creek. Eden had cleaned the sofa, and was forever talking about having it replaced, but here it remained.

  “Uncle Cash!” a frighteningly sweet voice called as Fiona Sullivan ran around the couch and leapt toward him. “Are those flowers for me?”

  Having no choice, he caught the four-year-old beauty as she landed in his lap and against his chest. “No,” he said succinctly.

  She pouted, sticking out her lower lip and dipping her chin.

  “Not all of them,” he amended, plucking out a pink rose and handing it to her. Immediately, her expression changed to one of pure joy. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that the rose had been plucked from her own garden without Eden’s knowledge.

  “Thank you, Uncle Cash,” Fiona said. Instead of climbing down from his lap, she settled against his chest and admired the rose.

  Cash didn’t like children and didn’t mind letting them and everyone else know. Fiona didn’t seem to care. The poor girl had her mother’s soft spot for lost souls and her father’s stubborn streak. Those qualities had all but driven the child to Cash and to Nate in years past, and from the age of two she had been their girl. Sheer determination and wide hazel eyes had won them over.

  She rested against Cash’s chest, admiring the rose.

  “No drool on the jacket,” Cash said in a lowered voice.

  “I’m not a baby,” Fiona argued. “I don’t slobber like Alex does.”

  “Of course you don’t.” Cash studied the curve of Fiona’s chubby cheek, the perfection of her mouth. What had JD looked like at four years old? Had he still had those baby cheeks like Fiona did? Had he trusted this way? Had he loved everyone around him and known no fear?

  He touched Fiona’s dark hair very briefly, brushing a curl away from her face. It was so soft.

  “I like flowers,” Fiona observed. “They’re pretty.”

  “Yes, they are.”

  Fiona tipped her head back and looked into Cash’s face. “You’ve been here a long time. Are you going to stay forever?”

  Forever. The word itself made Cash shudder. “No.”

  “How come?”

  “Nothing lasts forever, kid.”

  Fiona wrinkled her button nose, not liking that answer at all. “I think you should stay forever,” she said, effectively dismissing his argument. “Millie and Carrie won’t ever let me play with them, and Uncle Nate got married and had his own baby.” She wrinkled her nose again. “Sometimes I play with Georgie, but her mommy and daddy make her study, since she’s in school now, so sometimes I don’t have anyone to play with. Daddy said I can go to school next year, but that’s a very long time.” She sighed and set big hazel eyes on his face. “When I’m all grown up, will you marry me, Uncle Cash?”

  He was properly horrified. “Of course not.”

  Her little lower lip trembled.

  “By the time you’re old enough to get married, I’ll be an old man and you won’t want anything to do with me,” he explained.

  She answered with a tiny, childlike snort of disgust and pinned her gaze squarely on her pink rose.

  Cash placed a finger beneath her chin and made her look up. “You will have your pick of any man in the world,” he said, meaning it. Fiona was going to be a rare prize. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do better than an aging, wrinkled, stoop-backed, toothless, smelly old gambler.”


  Fiona giggled. “I don’t want to marry you if you smell bad and don’t have any teeth.”

  He wouldn’t live long enough to see Fiona married, he knew it. Gunfighters didn’t live to be wrinkled and toothless.

  “What’s this?” a new voice interrupted.

  “Daddy!” Fiona flew off Cash’s lap and into her father’s waiting arms. She was, in spite of her dogged determination to win over every heart she met, Daddy’s little girl. She rested her head on Sullivan’s shoulder and stuck the rose in his face. “See what Uncle Cash gave me?”

  “I see,” Sullivan said with a smug smile as the rose petals brushed his nose.

  Cash knew what kind of nauseating picture he must have made, sitting here with flowers in one hand and Fiona cuddled on his lap. “You see nothing,” he said tersely.

  Sullivan continued to smile.

  “Wipe that grin off your face,” Cash warned, shaking Nadine’s bouquet at the half-breed, “before I take these flowers and stick them—” His eyes flitted quickly to Fiona. “In that vase Eden keeps in the kitchen,” he finished.

  Sullivan set Fiona on her feet and leaned down to place his face close to hers. “Why don’t you go show Mommy that pretty flower.”

  “Okay.” She skipped away and left the two men alone.

  Sullivan crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.” Where the hell was Nadine? If he’d ever needed to be saved...

  Sullivan shook his head. “No, something’s different.”

  “I’m in shock, because your daughter just asked me to marry her.”

  The sheriff nodded, not at all surprised. “Yeah, she’s been a little fascinated with weddings lately.” He laid narrowed eyes on Cash. “You did turn her down, right?”

  “I tried. She doesn’t take no for an answer very well, does she?”

  Sullivan sighed. “No, she doesn’t,” he muttered.