Denim and Lace

by Rice, Patricia

"Sam, you make an offer that would tempt the devil. It's only because I know you're still hurting that I'm going to resist this time. Don't tempt me a second time unless you really mean it." Sloan wrapped his hands around her waist and set her away from him. Desire mixed with concern as he studied her expression. "You haven't got any idea how much I regret telling you no. Maybe when your memory returns, you'll chalk this up as a point in my favor."

  Sam wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms across her chest. "You'd better hope it returns then, 'cause it's a point against you at the moment." Looking away to distract herself from the temptation of his proximity, she gazed over the land that he said was hers. "I want to explore. I don't want to sleep."

  "Well, so much for the theory that amnesia victims are a clean slate," Sloan muttered grumpily. "You're Sam through and through. Just once, couldn't you listen to orders?"

  She gave him a happy smile. "Nope. You've already turned me down once today. It's my turn now."

  Running his hand through his hair to keep from touching her, Sloan managed a matching smile. "Damn, but I should have taken my chances and told you I was a complete stranger. I must be some kind of fool. I've got to go see what they're doing over at the wall. Will you grant that going all the way across the valley is a little too strenuous for you at the moment and agree to stay right around here?"

  She would grant that. She wasn't even certain she could manage a horse at the moment. She'd just wanted to exert her wishes for a change. She liked knowing he would listen. She nodded. "I may be stubborn, but I'm not dumb. I won't wander far."

  He didn't look particularly relieved, but he accepted her promise. He rode off after issuing only half a dozen more warnings.

  ***

  The blockade of rocks wasn't easily removed, even with carefully placed blasting powder. The loose wall still left at the end of the day was too dangerous to try to get Sam over it. Sloan gritted his teeth in frustration, but privately, he thought it might be better that they had this extra time. He would prefer to have Sam in complete charge of all her mental faculties by the time they returned to town.

  He wasn't granted that wish either. She had supper ready for him when he returned to camp, but she still remembered nothing of their time together. Resignedly, he admitted that it might take a return to town to jog her memory.

  "I think I can raise grain and horses," she said complacently as they ate their meal. "It looks like there's the remnants of an old paddock on the other side of the stream, and the foundation for a barn or stable. My father said it was once part of an old Mexican land grant. Apparently, the previous owner hasn't used it in a generation or two."

  Sloan wanted to tell her that it appeared to him that he actually owned the land according to the deeds he possessed, but it was a moot point at best. He meant to make her his wife. What was his would be hers. He couldn't believe he was thinking this, not after Melinda, but material possessions no longer held the same attraction for him. Without Sam, the land was worthless to him. The blow to Sam's head had either restored his senses or made him crazy.

  "You're about a two-hour ride from town out here. Are you going to like living so far from people?" Not that Sloan intended her to live that far from him, but he played along with the Sam of six months ago.

  She shrugged. "I get along with animals and plants better than I do people. Once my father comes back to look after my mother and the twins, I'll be able to move out on my own." She looked startled at her own words and glanced up at him with shock in her eyes. "What about you? I mean, I must be living with you in town. Were you going to move out here? Isn't this a little far for a physician?"

  Sloan allowed himself a small smile at this sudden concern for him. "I'm not a practicing physician. I'm the town bully. They'll be glad to see the back of me if I settle out here with you. I just don't promise to be much of a farmer. This isn't too far from my mining operation and the lumber mill. I've got some cattle I could move in here if they don't interfere. Will you let me live out here with you?"

  Her eyes widened. "A wife's place is with her husband. Of course we'll live together. I was just a little worried . . ." Her voice trailed off as she tried to explain all the things she didn't know and didn't understand.

  "Don't Sam. Don't worry. I mean to make everything work out for us. If your memory doesn't return, I'll take you down the mountain to a real priest and a real church, and we'll stand up in front of the whole congregation and say our vows together and start all over. And if your memory does return, remember what I've just said, because I mean it. That damned explosion may have closed your mind, but it sure as hell opened mine. I'm going to do things right when we get out of here."

  She looked pleased, a little startled, and a little frightened. "Are you saying things weren't right for us before we came here?"

  "I blamed you for things that weren't your fault, and blamed myself for things beyond my control. I'm not a very good person, Samantha. I haven't been for a long time. I mean to change all that now that I have you."

  "A cat can't change its stripes," she said doubtfully.

  "He can if they were painted on. I'm going to change, Sam, but the world out there isn't. They're going to still think of me as I was, still believe what they knew before. I'll have to unravel some things that have been knotted for a long time. It may take me a while, but I hope you'll trust me."

  "You're not an outlaw or anything, are you?" she asked, puzzled.

  "No, just a fool and the town bully, as I told you. But you've taught me a few good lessons these last months. They didn't all sink in until yesterday, but I'm not likely to forget again."

  She offered a sleepy smile. "Well, I'm glad I'm good for something. There's been times I had my doubts. Have you taught me any lessons I should remember?"

  "That's a loaded question if I've ever heard one," he said with amusement, unable to hold back a grin at the flicker of mischief in her eyes. "I'll teach you plenty after we stand in front of that priest. You'd better get on to bed now."

  Sloan sat beside the fire until he was certain she slept. It took a while to wash painted stripes out of a cat, he figured. There was no point in pushing temptation too far.

  He was scared—damned scared. He hadn't ever meant to take another human being into his protection again. He didn't want the responsibility. He didn't want the pain. He'd fought it with every ounce of his strength for six months. Hell, he'd been fighting it in one manner or another for ten years. By all rights, he should keep on fighting. If Sam's memory returned, she might throw all his tentative plans in his face, and he'd be free again.

  He didn't want to be free again. He didn't want to return to that lonely existence. He'd rather be scared half out of his wits than return to what he had been these last years.

  ***

  They had a safe opening into the valley by noon of the next day. Sam's memory hadn't returned, and Sloan could tell she still suffered some pain, but she insisted on mounting her horse and riding out with him. The men waiting outside cheered as she appeared, and she looked disconcerted, but Sloan caught her reins, leaned over, and kissed her cheek. Then she relaxed. He didn't want to think how it must feel surrounded by a sea of strangers who knew more about her than she did. It was easier for the moment if they didn't explain. He led her horse down the trail and let the men pack up and follow behind them as they would.

  "They all know me," she whispered when the path widened enough for Sloan to ride beside her.

  "It won't take you long to remember them. I'll tell you who they are now, and remind you when they come around, and pretty soon you'll have their names down just fine."

  She nodded uncertainly and squeezed his hand when he took hers. Holding hands seemed to be one of those fundamental elements cementing a relationship, Sloan decided as they rode that way until the trail separated them. He was going to remember to hold her hand more often.

  The town poured out to greet them as they rode in. Sloan watched worriedly as Sam slid from her horse an
d ran to her mother, but she seemed to have no problem recognizing her family. As he dismounted, he watched them hug and kiss and exclaim excitedly on three different topics at once. Amusement curled his lips. If Sam could manage a conversation like that, she didn't need her memory. Her mind was quite capable of filling in the blanks without it.

  He felt a tug of warmth when she turned around to search for him, going so far as to reach out and hug his waist while she chattered about an adventure she didn't really remember. Sloan sensed her need for reassurance and hugged her back, filling in the details of her story as if accustomed to this kind of family gathering. Alice Neely looked at him oddly, but Sloan didn't care. He wasn't a stranger to uphill battles.

  He claimed his ground and took up his battle stance at the first opening in the conversation. With his arm still sheltering Sam, Sloan announced, "I better get Sam into bed. She took an ugly blow to the head and ought to rest. We . .."

  Whatever he meant to say trailed off as a horse galloped up the mountain full speed, its rider shouting incoherent warnings.

  Behind them Joe shouted to a few of the men still sitting their horses, "Get down there now! Don't let any strangers in here without a full guard. We'll let them know we're not going to take any more of this."

  Sloan felt the questioning looks of the townspeople surrounding them. Joe obviously hadn't spread the news that the rockfall hadn't been accidental, but had taken it upon himself to post guards. After what happened to Sam, Sloan couldn't blame him. He wanted to know every damned man who came into this town from now on.

  It didn't take long to discover who the intruders were. Sloan groaned mentally as he recognized the tall man sitting stiffly on the spirited stallion, obviously harboring a load of resentment at the guns bristling around him. But it was the second figure who gave him the worst palpitations. He wasn't riding the beautiful horse he had last ridden through here. His lanky frame was even lankier, and his formerly erect posture seemed to sag with illness or weariness, but Sloan didn't have any doubt as to whom he was seeing.

  The twins' shrill cry of "Daddy!" notified everybody else.

  Emmanuel Neely rode into town under Sloan's armed escort, and the fury in his eyes belied the weakness of his posture.

  Sloan clasped Samantha closer to his chest and waited for the axe to fall.

  Chapter Forty-one

  “Get your filthy hands off my daughter, you dirty, lying, conniving ..." The tirade halted briefly as Neely dismounted and shoved his way through the armed guards to push Sam aside and grab Sloan by his shirt front.

  Samantha screamed and grabbed her father's arm, pulling him away from Sloan. It was all coming back to her now in horrifyingly incomprehensible chunks, but she knew one thing of a certainty: Sloan was her husband. She placed herself firmly between the two men.

  "Daddy, stop that! If it weren't for Sloan, you wouldn't be here right this minute."

  Alice Neely came to stand beside her husband, and Emmanuel caught his wife's shoulders, as much for support as in greeting. He continued to glare at Sloan over Sam's shoulder. "Hawkins is the one brought me, not that damned monster of depravity. Get away from him, Samantha. He's shamed you. He's shamed this family. And I'm going to tear him limb from limb."

  Sam glanced nervously over her shoulder at Sloan. She wasn't precisely certain to what her father referred, but the expression on Sloan's face told her he knew. She knew uneasiness, as if the memory was right there. He had told her he'd made mistakes and that he'd meant to correct them. And she was remembering things now. She was remembering the fire and how he'd saved Jack at the risk of his own life. She remembered the epidemic and his distraught reaction to the loss of the infant. And she remembered other things, too. Her cheeks blazed with those memories, and he gave her a slightly rueful look as he noted the color.

  "It's all right, Sam," he murmured near her ear. "I don't know what you're remembering, but I like the way you're looking at me. I'll fix this. You just go on over to the hotel and get some rest. I'll be there in a little while."

  She shook her head firmly as her father tried to reach around her to grab Sloan again. "I'm not going anywhere until Daddy does. He looks like he needs a good deal more rest than I do."

  Emmanuel Neely gave a roar of rage when, at a nod from Sloan, one of Sloan's men caught Neely's arm to escort him to the house and away from Sam. Impatient, Sam stomped her foot and glared at both men. "Stop it, both of you! This isn't a game of tug-of-war." She turned to her mother for help. "Mama, can we go in the house?"

  She didn't want to say out loud that she didn't care to be made a public spectacle. Her mother would understand that. It was the people crowding around them that she didn't want to offend. She was having difficulty remembering who all of them were, but the memories were returning fast and furious. She clung to Sloan's arm as the one sure ground in the swamp of her current existence.

  She felt his worried look and gave him a faint smile she hoped would reassure. She didn't think it worked, but he followed her toward the hacienda, gesturing for his men to stay back, and that was all she wanted right now. Although once inside, she thought a glass of water and a seat would be very nice. Her head was spinning dizzily.

  Sloan understood without being told. He grabbed one of the velvet chairs and pulled it out from the wall, pushing her down into it before she could fall on her face. Her mother worriedly sent the twins after the required refreshment while she helped Emmanuel onto the couch. He seemed reluctant to sit, but she whispered some words in his ear that made him relinquish the floor, if not his furious glare.

  With a gesture from Sloan, Joe kept everyone but the immediate family outside. Grateful for the privacy, Sam leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes. Memories spun inside her head, but she didn't have time to sort through them.

  She clung to Sloan's hand and tried to concentrate on the relief of having her father home again.

  "Get your hands off my daughter, you dagblasted double-dealer!" Emmanuel roared from his position across the room.

  Sam jerked her eyes open again. "You can't talk to my husband that way, Daddy. I'll get up and leave the room if you do."

  "He's not your husband!" Emmanuel shouted. "He's a lying son-of-a-gun! I'm going to kill him with my bare hands." He lurched from his seat and started forward.

  Sending Sam a worried look, Alice Neely stood in front of her husband and caught his shoulders, holding him back. Sloan grabbed a glass of lemonade from one of the twins and gave it to Sam, then pressed her into the seat while he spoke. She was grateful for his interference. She didn't have any idea what to say.

  "We'll send someone for a preacher right now if that's what you want," Sloan said calmly. "We'll be married in front of the whole damned town so there are a dozen witnesses. You can pick the preacher. But you aren't going to change anything. Sam is my wife, and that's the way it's going to be."

  Neely shoved aside the offered drink. His eyes blazed fire as he watched Sloan rest his hands on Sam's shoulders. "You'd better ask my daughter about that, mister. Let me tell her what a crime you've perpetrated, and see if she doesn't take a whip to your hide."

  Sam knew this was where she stepped in. She could feel the Sloan's hesitancy. He didn't know how much she remembered. He was afraid of what she would do when she heard what her father had to say. She had memory enough to know they hadn't been living together, but she could also guess why. Sloan's emphasis on saying he would marry her all over again, and her father's charges held enough clues. They'd lived together as man and wife, but they hadn't been married. She ought to make him suffer for that, but she had no difficulty remembering her feelings for this man. The anger she may once have felt was no longer there to cloak the depth of her love.

  Sam wrapped her hands around Sloan's where they rested on her shoulders. "I already know, Daddy," she said confidently, even if she fudged the truth. "It doesn't matter. I love Sloan. If he wants me to be his wife, I accept."

  The room erupted
in an uproar of questions and excitement. Sam watched dizzily as her father leapt from his seat and lunged for Sloan again. Sloan came out from behind the chair to defend himself. Jack threw himself between them and the twins began screaming. Sam wondered idly where Hawk was. He could probably put an end to this battle. She was going to have to do it herself, she guessed. Her mother seemed on the brink of tears.

  With a sigh Sam pulled herself upright, took two tottering steps into the room, and making a small noise of exasperation, started falling to the floor.

  Sloan got there first. Dodging Neely's weak blow, he dived to catch Sam before she could hit the tiles. With a curse of concern he gathered her up in his arms and headed for the door.

  Over his shoulder he flung the challenge, "I told you she's suffered a blow to the head. She needs rest and I'm going to see that she gets it!"

  "You're not taking her anywhere until you stand before a preacher!" Neely yelled after him.

  "Then you'd damned well better get one because she's going with me," Sloan yelled back, slamming the door after him.

  All in all, Sam decided as Sloan stalked through the crowd milling outside, it was an exceedingly embarrassing way to learn that the notorious bully, Sloan Talbott, really wanted her for his wife. He could have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble if he'd just done it right the first time.

  She meant to tell him that as soon as her head stopped spinning.

  ***

  Sloan paced back and forth between the bedroom and his parlor, keeping an eye on Sam as she slept and watching the activity in the road below. He ached in every bone and muscle of his body, but it wasn't the physical aches bothering him. Guilt crawled at his insides. Sam had just loyally declared her love for a despicable cad in front of her entire family, and he wasn't at all sure that she remembered half of what he had done to her.

  Hawk came up to make his report, but Sloan told him to get some food and take a rest in one of the hotel rooms until Sam awoke. He saw no point in telling the story twice, and he wasn't in any state to hear it now.