Safe Havens Bundle

by Sandy James

The blanket was suddenly tossed aside, letting cold air wash over her skin. “Stop,” he said with a grunt.

  “But I want to—”

  He shook his head as he put his hands under her arms and dragged her up his body until she straddled his hips. “Now, Cassie girl. Take me inside you now.”

  Unsure how the new position would work, she lifted her hips and took hold of his staff. Then she tried to guide him inside her. After a couple of clumsy thrusts, Ty buried himself to the hilt.

  Cassie hissed her approval, leaning down to press her palms against the mattress. The angle let his cock glide over her sensitive nub, and she tried to find a cadence that would please them both. She couldn’t seem to get it right.

  His hands settled on her hips and he lifted her and then thrust up hard at the same time he pulled her down. The pleasure cleared her mind of everything except the building pressure inside her.

  “Sit up, Cassie.”

  She pushed herself back up. “Now what?”

  “Now…this.” He thrust deep.

  She whimpered. “Do it again.”

  Ty wondered if he could die from the bliss Cassie was giving him. Her body was paradise—hot, wet, so very tight. He took greedy advantage by sitting up, bending her back over his arm, and drawing a hardened nipple deep into his mouth.

  Her fingers tunneled into his hair as a gasp fell from her lips.

  He suckled before shifting to her other breast. Her body was perfection to him—her firm breasts, her slim hips, her long legs. Her skin was as sweet as honey, and he could never get enough of her taste, of her scent.

  Of her.

  When her head dropped back in surrender, he laid back and raised his hips to push into her again and again. Her breath caught and her eyes squeezed shut just as her body began to contract around him. With a rumbling growl, he let his orgasm wash through him at the same time Cassie called his name.

  A contentment he’d never known settled on Ty, a sated and happy feeling. The world could have ended then and there, and he would be still be content—simply because he had Cassie in his arms. Her happiness was his, and when she hurt, he did too.

  His whole body stiffened as he suddenly recognized the new emotion—a feeling that he’d only heard about but had now fallen victim to.

  I love her.

  Damn it all, that wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

  He gave his head a shake just as she flopped forward to sprawl over him. She was humming happily as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.

  “That was…stupendous,” she whispered. “I had no idea I would enjoy making love so very much.”

  The smile in her voice would have made him smile in return if he hadn’t been in such a panic over his revelation.

  Love was for women, not cowboys. It ruined lives—of that he was sure. Everyone he knew who fell in love ended up miserable.

  Adam had suffered something terrible when Grace had been kidnapped by Stephen Shay. Victoria had fussed over Matthew when he’d been wounded in his job as marshal—twice, he’d taken a bullet. Both times, she’d helped him in her typically efficient manner. It wasn’t until Matthew was patched up that she fell apart. Ty comforted her as she wept, lamenting how horrible it would have been to lose Matthew. Only Jake and Emily seemed immune to disaster, but how long would their luck hold out?

  His parents had been in love a long time ago, or so they said. Their “love” had produced a brood of children far too large for them to care for, which meant Ty ended up in an abusive orphanage, discarded and unwanted.

  Love?

  No. No blasted way.

  “Pardon?” Cassie raised her head to look into his eyes. “No blasted way what?”

  He sure as hell hadn’t meant to speak. Just another way love was going to ruin his life—making him spit out whatever was on his mind. “No blasted way…I’m letting that fire die.”

  Her body trembled. “It is growing cold.” With a resigned sigh, she rolled off him and jerked the blanket over her body as Ty scrambled out of the bed.

  The chill helped sober him. Tugging on his pants, he went to the woodpile and tossed a couple of fat logs in the stove. After using the poker to stoke the flames back to vivid life, he turned back to the bed.

  Cassie was staring at him over the edge of the blanket, her brow furrowed. “Ty? What’s wrong?”

  Since he had no intention of explaining what was truly bothering him, he turned his anger at himself on her. “You were damned stupid. Ain’t you got a brain in your head? Riding off before a snow storm.”

  She bowed her head. “I am sorry to have put you through so much.”

  “You’d be dead if I hadn’t tracked you.” Snatching up his shirt, he donned it, all the while trying to keep her sad expression from getting to him.

  Anger was good. He could feel it and still be in control. He had a right to his anger anyway—unfortunately, he couldn’t direct it toward himself. He’d been an idiot, thinking he could do nothing but bed and wed her and never feel anything but desire.

  But love?

  Never that.

  So he kept his anger directed at the person who’d dared to touch his heart.

  After jerking on his socks and boots, he put on his coat. “I’m checking the horses. If the snow’s ended, we can head back to town.”

  She shook her stubborn head. “I shall not go back there, Ty. You best understand that now. I refuse to put the people you love in jeopardy.”

  “Get this straight right now,” he snapped. “I don’t love no one. Got it?”

  “B–but what about Jake and Adam and—”

  “They’re family. That’s it. Just family. I don’t love them. Don’t love no one, and that’s that.”

  “Not Victoria or your mother or Grace or—”

  “No one!” His bellow bounced off the cabin walls.

  Her lip quivered. “I see…”

  Ty had to stop looking at her if he was going to bluster through this. He might have been foolish enough to develop tender feelings for the woman, but he’d be damned if he let her know that. Hell, she’d turn him in to milk toast, snapping her fingers to get him to dance to her tune.

  Fuck that.

  “Get dressed,” he ordered. “I’m getting the horses ready, then we’re heading back.”

  She had the balls to shake her head again. “I already told you, Ty…I will not—”

  Stomping over, he put his hands on his hips and glared down at her. “You will do as I tell you, woman. Understand?”

  At least the hurt in her face changed to anger. Anger, he could handle. “Don’t you dare order me around, Ty Bishop. I don’t belong to you.”

  “You will.”

  Damn him, he was still going to marry her. She needed a protector, and even though his feelings for her complicated things, he made a vow to bury that love so deep inside himself, it would never resurface. He’d take care of her, protect her, even honor her.

  But he wasn’t going to love her.

  On that pronouncement, he opened the door, hoping the snow didn’t have them buried inside for a few days. Thankfully, it wasn’t too deep and must have stopped not long after they’d come to the cabin. With some work, they’d be able to leave within the hour.

  “We’re leaving soon, Cassie. Get dressed.” He slammed the door behind him.

  Cassie kept staring at the door, blinking and trying to figure out exactly what had happened. While men as a gender were normally moody and unpredictable, Ty had been neither. Two of the things she loved most about him were his steady temperament and reliability.

  There was nothing reliable about him now, and his temperament was far from steady.

  The stove did a good job of warming the interior, but when she got out of bed, her bare feet felt as though she’d just stepped on a block of ice. She dressed quickly, still pondering what was wrong with Ty.

  She’d pleased him when they’d made love. Naïve though she was about bed sports, she understood that he’d
enjoyed himself. The way he’d shouted in pleasure and the sticky feeling between her thighs confirmed it.

  Then why was he suddenly so angry?

  After dressing, she folded the blankets, waiting for Ty to return and tell her how the horses had fared through the storm. Her gaze wandered the stark cabin. There was nothing that she could use to help them break their fast, not a scrap of food. Perhaps his sour mood came from hunger.

  More likely from chasing me…

  Pulling one of the two chairs closer to the stove, Cassie sat and warmed her hands. Everything was different this morning, not just because Ty had followed her and stopped her from returning to her family. While that meant more to her than he could ever know, it was the way he made love to her that convinced her once and for all that she would never be happy without him in her life.

  A marriage to Robert Putnam—or any man except Ty Bishop—would be a travesty. If she couldn’t make Ty love her, she’d live the rest of her life alone.

  If he was serious about marriage, she decided then and there that she’d exchange vows with him. While there would always be the worry that Robert and Uncle Derrick would come after him the same way they’d sent someone to hurt Drew, Ty could defend himself much better.

  Maybe her original plan—to disappear in an unsettled area—would work now. He could help her carve a new home in the wilderness.

  She frowned. To start over with her someplace new, he would have to leave his family behind. Even though they didn’t truly accept her, Cassie might one day have been able to make a place for herself in White Pines. If they left, he would lose Adam, Grace, Jake, and Victoria. Matthew seemed close to him too, as did Emily and many of the other people in town.

  “What am I to do?”

  The door opened, thankfully bringing an end to her troubled train of thought. Ty stepped in, holding a burlap bag. “Here’s some food.”

  She hurried to him and took the bag. All she recognized of the contents was dried meat. She held up a stick of the shriveled brown jerky. “Is this venison?”

  He shook his head. “It’s deer.”

  There was no need to correct him, especially in his bitter mood. Sitting back in her chair, she pulled more items out and set them on her lap.

  Ty dragged the other chair over, and they ate the hard bread and tough jerky in silence. He’d brought a bucket of snow inside the cabin that was melting next to the stove. Although she needed a drink to get the dry mixture down, she wasn’t about to beg for anything like a cup. After all she’d put him through—and judging from his continued scowls—he would be put out by her asking.

  He tugged a tin cup from his pocket, dipped it in the bucket, and offered her water.

  With a grateful murmur, she drank all the water before handing him back the cup.

  Unable to take the silence any longer, Cassie swallowed hard and then spoke. “I am sorry that I inconvenienced you.”

  All he did was grunt in response.

  “I appreciate that you came after me.”

  This time he shrugged.

  She’d had enough. “Will you kindly stop scowling at me? I simply don’t understand how you can go from holding me in your arms to treating me like…like…this!”

  He stood, gathered the uneaten food and shoved it in the bag, and headed toward the door. “We’re ridin’ out in a few minutes.”

  Indulging herself in anger, she stomped her foot hard against the floorboards after he left. Not only did it do nothing to ease her anger, but pain shot through her foot, feeling like bee stings. She sat down, popped off her boot, and rubbed her abused toes, muttering to herself the whole while about the frustrating male gender.

  A small squeal slipped from her lips when the door opened again. Ty was back, holding something in his hands.

  “What happened?” he asked, nodding at her discarded boot.

  “My foot was cold,” she fibbed, not wanting to worry him. She snatched the boot up and put it on.

  He came to stand in front of her. “Get up.”

  Since he was snapping at her like a military leader, she jumped to her feet and gave him a sassy salute. “Yes, sir!”

  At least her antics made him grin. He picked up her coat and helped her slide her arms in the sleeves. After buttoning her up, he unwrapped a long woolen scarf from around his neck and started putting it on her.

  “Won’t you be cold without your scarf?”

  “Got another.” He tucked the ends in the front of her coat. “Victoria made this one for you.”

  “Then why were you wearing it?”

  Instead of answering her, he pulled a pair of wool gloves from his pocket. “These, too.”

  “That was very kind of her.”

  He shrugged. “Told her you were suffering from the cold.”

  Cassie rose on tiptoes to give him a quick kiss.

  His brows gathered as a frown spread over his face.

  To have him give her show of affection such a horrible reception ended her self-control. Tears blurred her vision as she lashed out at him the only way she could. With words. “I wish you had never come to find me.”

  “What?”

  God, she sounded pathetic. She simply couldn’t make sense of why he’d cooled toward her so abruptly. “You should have let me go back to my family.”

  “You’d have died of exposure before you got to the next town.”

  “I was fine,” she insisted, knowing it was a lie—just as he had to know. “I might have already made my way to a rail station by now.”

  His snort made the threatening tears finally fall.

  “Why did you make love to me?” she asked, her voice shrill. “If you hate me so much you treat me this cruelly, why did you make love to me? Why did you even come after me?”

  Ty’s expression softened. “I don’t hate you, Cassie.”

  When he tried to brush his hand over her cheek, she stepped back. “Yes, you do. You take me to bed as though you…as if you… And then you…”

  The words wouldn’t come. How could she possibly ask if he loved her?

  Humiliated, she couldn’t go on.

  Why couldn’t he love her the way she loved him?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Cassie had a hard time holding her tongue.

  From the moment she and Ty had arrived at the ranch, a debate over his future—and hers—had raged.

  Adam and Grace were both home when Ty led Cassie into the kitchen. While their greeting was cordial, it was also brusque enough to reveal their unease. Matthew and Victoria had come for a visit and were sharing supper with the Morgans. Their reaction to Cassie’s arrival was far less reticent.

  Both of them frowned.

  Although she was voraciously hungry, Cassie didn’t dare ask for some of the sumptuous smelling food. It wasn’t until her stomach loudly proclaimed its empty state that Grace asked if she and Ty wanted something to eat.

  Ty replied with a nod and a grunt, tossed off his coat, and sat down to start helping himself to the bounty.

  Cassie considered declining the less-than-hospitable invitation until Adam smiled at her and asked her to sit by him.

  No matter how hungry she’d been, the meal held little appeal. She’d eaten merely to satisfy her hunger, and there had been little conversation, which ended when the meal did. While Grace and Victoria seemed grateful that she helped with the clean-up, Cassie knew when Ty told them his plans, the women would wish her a thousand miles away.

  Now, she sat in a stiff chair as Ty, Adam, and Matthew argued over whether Ty should marry Cassie and take her north to an isolated cabin that—if he was correct in his foretelling—would be buried under snow for a good three months.

  Adam drew her back from her thoughts when he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’d definitely be safe there, and if you pack enough staples, you’ll get through the worst of the winter with no problem. But it will be just the two of you.” He smiled down at Cassie. “What do you want to do?”

 
I want to marry Ty, have you all accept me, and live happily ever after.

  She considered what she would reply aloud much more carefully. “I do not wish any of you to be threatened by my family any longer.”

  Matthew snorted. “Then you shouldn’t marry Ty.”

  His wife shot him a glare. “You don’t have to be so blunt.”

  “It’s the truth,” he replied with a shrug. “The only way to keep all of us out of the Shay’s reach is for Cassie to go home.” A heavy sigh slipped out as he faced her. “I’m sorry, Cassie. I truly am. I like you, and I think you’re good for Ty, but—”

  “It’s my life,” Ty countered. “I ain’t letting her family haul her back to California. Do you know anything about the bastard they want her to marry?”

  “I can imagine,” Grace replied, her voice whisper-soft. “If he’s anything like Stephen…” A shudder ripped through her. “We should try to protect her.”

  “I agree.” Adam squeezed Cassie’s shoulder before his hand fell away. He must have heard the same tremor in Grace’s words because he sat on the arm of her chair and grabbed her hand. “Stephen’s dead, Gracie. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  “I know.” She gave him a hesitant smile. “The fear is an old one and hard to shake even now.”

  Cassie hung her head. Ty might win the day if he kept pressing his argument, but there was one thing—one secret she’d held close—that would forever end any chance she had of being happy here with these people.

  She owed them all the truth, even if it cost her a joyful future. Drew wasn’t here to stop her this time, and although her heart was breaking, she had to set the misassumption of her parentage straight. A marriage couldn’t be based on a lie, especially one of such magnitude.

  “I have something to say.” She stood and smoothed her trembling hands down the front of her skirt, gathering her courage and fighting the overwhelming desire to wail at the unfairness of the situation. Her father’s legacy was pain, and this would be his final torture.

  All their curious faces were on her, overwhelming her and sending her courage fleeing. Once she told them the truth, her future with Ty would disappear. While he might still feel obligated to protect her, she would never allow it. She loved him too much to tear him away from his family.