Hell for Leather Read online

  “She never talked? That’s a dream to look forward to. You think if I don’t see her anymore, she’ll start to act like Antonio instead and be so nice it’ll make us all sick?” Cade could only imagine.

  “You did it, didn’t you?” Melissa Fuller ran toward them, her frizzy hair loose and flying in the wind like a crazy flag.

  “What’s wrong?” Sabrina tried to stop the girl, but she side-stepped her and pushed at Cade’s shoulder.

  “You fell in love with her. I can see it in your eyes. You did, didn’t you?” Her eyes brimmed with tears and hurt.

  Cade had no idea why this girl had set her cap for him. He didn’t ask for it or want it. However, he didn’t want to hurt her either. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You were mine.” Melissa poked her slender finger into Cade’s chest.

  Pain radiated from the contact, his ribs nearly hissing from it. “Melissa, I’m twenty years older than you with a whole lot of blackness in my past. No good for a sweet girl like you.” He had no idea how to stop the girl from pretending they were anything but two folks who met on the street.

  “But I love you.” Her tiny hands gripped his jacket. “I was going to marry you.”

  Cade thought she’d been grasping at straws when she mentioned it before. Jesus, he could be her father. Speaking of which, Sam Fuller stomped toward them again, retribution and a father’s anger stamped on his face.

  “I never gave you that idea, Melissa. We only met on the street once.”

  “But you like poetry too. And—and you were nice to me.”

  “Well he ain’t nice to me and I sure as hell don’t want to marry him.” Bernice was not being helpful.

  “What are you doing with your filthy hands on my daughter?” Sam bellowed as he pulled Melissa away.

  “If you notice, she had her hands on me. I never touched the girl.” Cade was glad when Sabrina stepped closer to him. Her presence, the warmth from her body, gave him strength.

  “It’s true, Sam. You know she’s been dreaming about Cade since the second she laid eyes on him. It’s a crush, nothing more.” She turned a sympathetic gaze on Melissa. “She’s a beautiful girl who will find a man when she’s ready to be a woman.”

  “I don’t want any man. I want Cade.” Melissa started crying in earnest now, huge tears that left a path of crystals on her freckled cheeks.

  Sam glared daggers at Cade. “You’re destroying this town.”

  “Oh, he is not, Sam. Stop being such an ass. Melissa had an infatuation, which you knew about. I always made it clear I wasn’t going to marry you.” She shook her head. “You’re destroying nothing but your reputation and your relationship with your daughter. Now go.”

  Sam paled at Sabrina’s words. “How could you choose him over me?”

  “It wasn’t a choice, Sam. I do what my heart tells me to.”

  Bernice put her hand on Melissa’s shoulder. “Believe me, he ain’t worth the tears, girl.”

  Cade thought for a moment Sam would start in on them again, but he backed away.

  “Let’s go, Melissa.” Sam pulled her away from Bernice’s touch. “I don’t want you even talking to these folks anymore.”

  Sabrina looked at Melissa with sadness but didn’t say a word, probably knowing the emotions were too raw. Sam wasn’t listening to anyone but himself. Cade just wanted the man gone, out of his sight for good. No need to examine the reasons why when it was obvious.

  “But, Daddy, I love him.” Melissa tried to break free of her father’s grasp, but the big man was too strong for her.

  “No, you can’t love someone like that. He’s not worth the shit on your shoes, baby girl. Now let’s go.” Sam hoisted his daughter over his shoulder, while she squealed in protest, crying for Cade.

  The day couldn’t possibly get any stranger or he might have to go be by himself like he’d told Sabrina earlier. There had been too much emotion all at once and he felt as though he’d been in a fistfight.

  “Sabrina, qué pasa?” Antonio stepped through the saloon door, a rag in his hand. His dark gaze settled on the marshal and his jaw tightened.

  “I’ve got a favor to ask you, amigo.” She glanced at Cade. “We’ve got to ask you.”

  “Why is the marshal here? I’ve done nothing wrong.” That remark alone let Cade know his Mexican friend had had a run-in with the tall marshal once or twice.

  “I’m just a bystander, Mr. Rodriguez.” He tipped his hat to Sabrina. “I’ll just go on and visit with Clara for a spell. I’ll see you folks later.”

  After the man in black walked away, Antonio turned his attention back to Cade and Sabrina. “Is this the girl?” He gestured to Bernice with his thumb.

  “I ain’t deaf or stupid, pendejo.” Bernice apparently knew how to curse in Spanish too.

  Antonio laughed. “I like her. Go on inside before you freeze.” He took the reins of the horse and the mule from the ladies. “Cade and I will take care of the, er, animals and be inside momentito.”

  “He’s not very funny. I don’t think I like him.” Bernice shot a glare at the two men before she let Sabrina lead her into the saloon.

  “Have you been drinking?” Cade led the bay to the corral and barn behind the building.

  “What do you mean?” Antonio shut the cold out, not that it was much warmer in the barn, but at least the wind wasn’t tearing their skin anymore.

  “Bernice is a pain in the ass with a foul mouth and a fouler disposition.” Cade had been witness to both.

  “Ah, she is just blustering. A scared niña with no family and no home. I know this girl’s father, a good customer always paid for his whiskey and his women. I think Bernice was four when he took her in.” Antonio shook his head. “Her mamá had died at the bordello down in Maya Plata.”

  Cade took a minute to digest that bit of information before he spoke. His throat had tightened up at the news that Bernice was more like him than he cared to admit.

  “So the miner wasn’t her father?” His voice was as rough as the leather beneath his hands.

  “No, but he was a good man. I don’t think she knows so don’t tell her.”

  Antonio was wrong. That girl knew exactly who her mother had been and who her father wasn’t. No wonder Sabrina saw Cade’s mannerisms in the girl, she earned them just as he had.

  “You want her to stay with me and Mamá, sí?” Antonio finished rubbing down the mare and put her in a stall with oats and water. Then he started pulling off the sacks and belongings from the mule.

  “She needs a home where people won’t judge her for who she is, or was, or even who her parents were.” Cade closed the stall down on his bay, just missing getting bitten on the ass by the ornery horse. “Dammit. He’s gonna take a chunk out of me one day.”

  Antonio chuckled. “You need to name your horse, you know. He can’t be just ‘horse’ or he’ll be angry at you all the time.”

  Cade humphed. “I don’t think so. He was born a nasty horse and he’ll die a nasty horse.” He slapped the bay’s rump, earning a disgruntled whinny. “So you’ll take her in?”

  Antonio scratched the little ugly mule behind the ears. “Of course we take her in. Mamá would love a niña to spoil and fuss over. Are these her things?”

  Cade glanced at the sorry collection of mismatched household items including a pot, a pan, two broken wooden spoons fashioned from branches, a blanket with more holes than that fancy cheese, and some men’s clothes.

  “Yep, those are hers. I expect she’ll want to check every item to be sure I haven’t taken anything.” He walked out of the barn, followed by Antonio.

  “She likes you.”

  “Who?” Cade pretended not to know.

  “Ah, you are funny, you know who I mean. The girl looks at you as if you are her papa.” Antonio clipped him on the shoulder.

  “Jesus, I hope not. I don’t think I could be anyone’s papa.” Cade shuddered at the thought of any child being raised by him, learning the dark
secrets of life from a shattered father.

  “What do you think is going to happen when you marry Sabrina? Yes, I hear the news already.” Antonio opened the back door of the saloon. “Married people make babies.”

  The bottom of Cade’s stomach hit the snow under his boots. Babies?

  Sabrina settled Bernice in at a table in the back of the saloon, then went in search of fixings for tea in the kitchen. The journey into town, the cold air, not to mention the confrontations with Sam, left her with a sour taste in her mouth and a bone-weary exhaustion. She stripped off her jacket but kept the scarf wrapped around her neck. It helped remind her of the man who’d given it to her. The man who’d announced their engagement in front of the entire town. She hadn’t minded though. Cade wasn’t the type to ask for anything, and his behavior told her more than his words ever could. He loved her whether or not he’d admit it.

  Her heart thumped hard at the memory and the possibilities of what could happen. With shaking hands, she stoked the fire in the stove, then filled the kettle with water from the pump in the sink. While she waited for the water to boil, her mind moved through the memories of the day.

  It had been a topsy-turvy Sunday to say the least, and it was only two in the afternoon. In fact the whole weekend had sapped her strength.

  “Sabrina, cómo estás?” Mrs. Rodriguez shuffled into the kitchen, a welcome smile on her wrinkled face.

  Sabrina burst into tears, overwhelmed with everything. Although she was embarrassed, she couldn’t seem to stop crying. The older woman took her into her arms, crooning in Spanish as she held Sabrina through a maelstrom.

  The back door opened and a fresh batch of cold air brushed against her, but Sabrina didn’t look up to see who it was. All she heard was Mrs. Rodriguez yelling at them to leave. Two pairs of shoes thumped past them, and Sabrina knew one of them belonged to Cade. His scent was unmistakable, and her body recognized it immediately.

  “Ah, hija, está bien, está bien.” Mrs. Rodriguez rubbed Sabrina’s back, bringing comfort where it was desperately needed.

  When Sabrina felt a bit of her control returning, she accepted the lace handkerchief from the older woman and dried her face.

  “¿Pobrecita, qué pasa?”

  “I don’t know what happened or at least it would be hard to explain.” She shook her head. “I fell in love, thought I’d lost him, then rescued a girl and now I’m getting married.”

  Mrs. Rodriguez’s eyebrows went up as Sabrina spoke. “Dios mío, Sabrina. What didn’t happen to you?”

  Sabrina almost laughed. “Not much.”

  “Who is this man, quién es este hombre?” The older woman looked ready to do battle with whoever had been responsible for Sabrina’s tears.

  “It’s Cade Brody and no, he’s not a bad man. I just… He’s hurt deep down here.” She pressed her fist against her chest. “It’s an old, painful wound he’s not willing to let heal. I think some awful things happened to him when he was a boy. None of that matters though because I love him.”

  There, she’d said it out loud and it felt good. It felt more than good, it felt right. Mrs. Rodriguez nodded.

  “Bueno. He be a good husband or he answer to me.” She thumped her own chest, earning a smile from Sabrina.

  “Gracias. I don’t know what I’d do without friends like you and Antonio.” Sabrina meant every word of it too. Her friends were precious to her, even Sam who’d gotten it in his head to be a complete ass. It would take time to forgive him for what he’d done, however their friendship might never recover. She didn’t think there’d ever be one between Cade and Sam.

  Mrs. Rodriguez stood and headed for the kettle. “Better?”

  “Yes, I’m much better. I came in here to make tea. Oh! I forgot, I have a surprise for you.” Sabrina knew there would be a connection between the motherless Bernice and the loving Mexican woman. “Come out to the saloon with me. There’s someone you need to meet.”

  Wearing her standard scowl, Mrs. Rodriguez followed Sabrina out to the saloon. Bernice ate peanuts at the bar, throwing them up in the air to catch them with her mouth. By the looks of the floor beneath the stool, her aim was awful. The remains of the shells were scattered on the usually pristine bar.

  The scowl on the older woman’s face deepened. “¿Quién es esta niña?”

  “This is Bernice Wilkerson. She lost her pa to consumption last year and her ma when she was just a tot. Mr. Brody and I thought perhaps you and Antonio could open your home to her.” She glanced at the girl, who had a shuttered, almost frightened look in her eyes. “Bernice, this is Consuela Rodriguez, the best cook in the entire county.”

  Bernice mumbled, “How do.”

  Mrs. Rodriguez walked around Bernice, her sharp gaze assessing the girl in the ill-fitting clothes and unkempt hair.

  “Con mucho gusto, Bernice.” She held out one wrinkled hand. “For you, I climb upstairs and pick a room, hija.”

  Without hesitation, and surprising the heck out of Sabrina, the girl took Mrs. Rodriguez’s proffered hand and they disappeared into the kitchen. Just like that Bernice had a new home and a family to love her.

  Cade stood in the shadows of the hallway, keeping his breath shallow while his heart slammed against his ribs. Sabrina had told the old woman that she loved him. She loved him. Cade Brody had a woman who loved him. He never expected, ever, to have anyone love him. She’d confided it to someone else, but nevertheless, she loved him.

  After Mrs. Rodriguez and the girl passed by, he let out a breath and felt light-headed. His ears rang, his eyes stung and his throat was tight. Is this what love was? It made him want to vomit and dance at the same time. He didn’t know if he could take it much longer.

  Cade needed to hear Sabrina say it to him, just once. A hunger built inside him that would only be appeased by the words I love you from the woman who owned his heart. It was more than need, more than desire or want, it was an absolute necessity to continue breathing.

  He walked into the saloon and noticed Sabrina’s red eyes and the handkerchief clutched in her hand. She’d been crying because of him. No one had ever cried for him either. Without another thought, he walked up and cupped her face.

  “You deserve so much better than me.” When his lips descended on hers, the ache in his throat eased, his eyes dried and his heart felt a thousand pounds lighter. Sabrina was the cure for what ailed him.

  It started as a fierce kiss, but as her lips softened beneath his, he gentled his touch. Slow, sweet movements were followed by his tongue tickling her mouth open, like a soft invader sent to dance with hers. Their tongues rasped and slid against each other, as the heat built up between them.

  “Ahem.” Antonio cleared his throat behind them. “Your bedroom is not in my saloon, amigos.”

  Reluctantly, Cade broke the kiss and pulled back.

  Her blue eyes sparkled with what could only be called joy. “I don’t care what you think I deserve, I want you.”

  Cade couldn’t speak so he only nodded. After tucking her under his arm, they turned to face a grinning Antonio.

  “You sure you want to marry this man?” He winked at Sabrina.

  “Yes.” She spoke without hesitation, making Cade’s heart beat faster, if it were possible.

  “And you, you sure you want to marry Sabrina? She can be, ah, tough.” Antonio’s smile widened.

  Cade thought of a million reasons why he should say no, but he couldn’t. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Good, then felicitaciones! You are married.” Antonio rocked back on his heels, looking more than pleased with himself.

  Cade didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. “Are you a preacher?”

  “Nope, but we only get one in here a couple times a year. When folks want to get married, they say so in front of a witness, that would be me, and then live together as husband and wife until the preacher comes to town to make it official.” He glanced at Sabrina. “Ain’t that right, amiga?”

  She blushed and Cade
knew what Antonio said was true. “Yes, that’s right. I’d forgotten.”

  Cade’s palms began to sweat as the realization swept through him. “You mean we’re married. You’re my wife and I’m your husband?”

  Sabrina looked up at him, her heart shining brightly in her eyes. “For better or for worse.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, he scooped her up in his arms and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Antonio called after them.

  “To make love to my wife.” Cade’s comment drew a hearty laugh from his friend that followed him and Sabrina out into the cold.

  “I need my coat,” she murmured with a grin. “Although I like your enthusiasm.”

  “We won’t need a coat to keep warm.” His gaze locked with hers. “We’ll make enough heat to last a lifetime.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Cade Brody.”

  That’s when Cade fell completely in love with his new wife and knew his life had just made a radical course change. He’d never be the same again.

  Chapter Ten

  Sabrina’s stomach jumped around with each step Cade took toward the store as the realization seeped through her that she loved him and now he was her husband. She’d never expected to marry again yet she easily jumped into his arms and wholeheartedly became his wife. The logistics of where they would live, what would happen to the store and all of that weren’t important. What was important was that he accepted their inexorable mating.

  “You surprised me,” she whispered in his ear.

  “I surprised myself.” His dark gaze found hers. “Sometimes it’s best not to think too hard and just do what your heart tells you to.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t have a heart.”

  He pinched her fanny, making her squeal with indignation. “What did you do that for?”

  “Because your ass is the only thing I can reach right now.” He kissed her hard. “Except for those red lips of yours, of course.”

  “I’m disappointed.” Ellen stood in the doorway to the store, her arms folded across her chest and tears in her eyes.