Hell for Leather Read online

  “I swear, the only thing worse than a thief is a thief who claims he’s only doing business.” Ellen frowned at the invoices in her hands. “It’s legal thievery, that’s what it is.”

  The bell over the door tinkled, and Ellen disappeared in a flash behind the curtain. Sabrina muttered, “Thank God,” hoping her next customer wouldn’t make her bad day even worse.

  It was Cade.

  A whoosh of pure arousal slammed into her, turning her knees to jelly, setting her heart to racing like a horse. Holy Mary, she hadn’t expected that or him. After all, they’d barely spoken two dozen words to each other. And yet she’d had the most erotic dream of her life about him, and the same day, there he was, in the flesh.

  Oh, what flesh it was. Sabrina couldn’t stop herself from drinking in every inch of the man, from his ill-fitting brown pants to his lean hips and wide chest. He was a fine specimen of a man. Very, very fine.

  “Good morning, Mr. Brody.” Curses, her voice sounded high and breathy. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

  “I didn’t expect to be back in Eustace so soon. I, uh, need a pair of boots, good boots that’ll hold up against snow and the like.” He glanced down at the worn shoes with the big heel at the back. They looked like they belonged on a city street rather than a rough town. “These ain’t fit for a mountain winter.”

  His long legs drew her gaze as did what lay between them. Before she embarrassed herself, Sabrina headed over to the shoes, hoping like hell they had a pair in his size. After a moment or two of fumbling like a blushing schoolgirl, she found several pairs of sturdy boots that might fit his large feet.

  He’d come up close behind her, nearly blocking the light from the window. His presence filled the air around them, taking the breath right out of her. She looked into his dark eyes and saw more than she expected, ancient pain and a loneliness so deep it appeared bottomless.

  Cade Brody certainly wasn’t a simple miner or mountain man. If she had to hazard a guess, he was a man who’d made some bad choices in his life that were currently riding his back. Sabrina blinked and forgot she was holding boots or even why she’d walked over to that side of the store.

  They gazed into each other’s souls for a timeless moment, sharing themselves. For her, it was a relief for someone to see everything she hid. Most days she simply accepted that no one would ever want to know what lurked beneath the efficient shopkeeper. Today she opened herself up and allowed a perfect stranger to see her unhappiness, her discontent, her yearning.

  The air between them crackled as the moment stretched on, threatening to snap. He reached up, fingers inches away from her skin. Sabrina leaned toward him, knowing how his hand would feel before flesh touched flesh.

  “Sabrina?” Ellen’s voice startled her so badly, she dropped the boots.

  All three pair fell towards Cade’s feet. Sabrina had counted herself as well versed in human behavior, especially being around so many people, but Mr. Brody surprised the heck out of her when he caught the boots. No, not caught, he snatched them out of the air so fast she barely saw him move until the shoes were clutched in his hands.

  She stared at him in astonishment, gazing from his face to the boots. “Sweet heavens, I’ve never seen the like.” Her father’s brogue popped out of her mouth before she thought about it.

  Cade looked almost as shocked as she felt. He set the boots down on the table beside them and stepped away from her. Ellen came around the corner and stopped short when she caught sight of him.

  Sabrina frowned at her. “Ellen, this is Mr. Brody. Mr. Brody, this is my sister, Ellen.”

  “Sister? Ah, yes I remember you mentioning her.” He cocked his head in Ellen’s direction as if he were studying her. She squirmed in place, sliding backwards even as Sabrina shook her head no. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Edmonds.”

  “O’Neill.” Ellen surprised Sabrina by speaking. “It’s Miss O’Neill.”

  Cade’s head whipped back and he stared hard at Sabrina. “And your name is Edmonds?”

  He was asking her if she was married without actually forming the question. She ought to make him feel guilty or at least tell him it wasn’t his business, however two minutes ago she’d been about to kiss him. Sabrina was nothing if not honest with herself and that was the truth.

  “Yes, Mrs. Edmonds.” She swallowed the memory of Eric that threatened to make her day dark again. “My husband died five years ago.”

  Sabrina had no idea if it was relief on Cade’s face or annoyance that he didn’t know she was a widow.

  “My condolences.”

  “Thank you.” Clearing her throat, Sabrina looked at Ellen. “Did you need me for something?”

  “Oh, I almost forgot. Mr. Oleson delivered the load from Phoenix.” Ellen kept her face averted from Cade. Sabrina wished she could convince her sister that a scar on her face didn’t matter a whit to anyone but herself. “We can close the store and inventory it as soon as you’re done with Mr. Brody.” With a quick nod, she disappeared back behind the curtain.

  “Your sister doesn’t favor you.” Cade stared after Ellen.

  Sabrina expected the familiar observation. “Yes, I’ve realized that,” she said dryly. “My father was a tall Irishman while my mother was small and blonde like Ellen.”

  Cade’s gaze swung to hers. “Your father was blessed.”

  She didn’t know how to respond to his obscure comment. Was he saying she was beautiful or that her mother was her father’s blessing? Sabrina wanted to ask but didn’t because he started examining the boots, breaking the awkward moment in two.

  “You probably want to get some trousers too.” She put the table between them, able to take a deep breath for the first time since he walked in the store. As she examined the neatly stacked clothing in front of her, she heard him pull off his odd shoes and slip on the boots. He repeated it several times while she tried her damnedest to focus on picking trousers for him.

  Cade was slender with long legs, obviously too long for the trousers he was wearing. After a few minutes of mad scrambling, she found one black pair and one dark blue pair. When she held them up for him to see, he’d picked the boots that fit and was simply staring at her.

  “You’re nervous.” Cade sounded surprised.

  Nothing like being blunt but Sabrina could be blunt too. “You’re overwhelming.”

  He smiled, flashing white teeth that hit her like a blow to the stomach. The man was handsome, but smiling, he was blindingly beautiful.

  “I guess we’re at odds then, aren’t we?” He pointed at the trousers. “I’ll take those and the boots.”

  Sabrina felt off-kilter by Cade, and it annoyed her. She didn’t like being out of control for any reason, and his presence alone, not to mention his off-color comments, made that control slip.

  “Fine. Let me tally these up so you can be on your way.”

  Cade nodded and meandered toward the meager supply of books she had. Antonio bought them almost as soon as they came in, as did Melissa Fuller, the daughter of Sam the lumbermill owner. The only ones left were on horse husbandry, a seed catalog and a book of poems by Shakespeare. Even Melissa didn’t want them. Sabrina remembered a miner ordering the book for his pregnant wife, but she died before the book came in.

  Perhaps it was cursed. Interestingly enough, Cade picked up the book of poems and started reading.

  Damn the man, he seemed to be deliberately annoying her now. She slammed the trousers on the counter and wrapped them in brown paper so fast, she gave herself three paper cuts. Cursing under her breath, she wrapped the twine with a snap. When she looked up, he had his nose buried in the book and wasn’t even paying attention to her snit.

  Sabrina needed to forget about him, so she did what she did best, focused on being a shopkeeper. She added up his purchases, a nice bit of money to add to the till.

  “That’ll be six dollars and seventy-five cents, Mr. Brody.”

  Silence met her request. When she glanced up, h
e read on, oblivious to her and everything around him.

  “Should I add in the book too?”

  Cade glanced up, a guarded expression on his face. “The book?” He looked down as if the book had suddenly appeared in his hands. “It’s better than talking to the trees I guess. Sure, I’ll take the book too.”

  “Tell you what, that book’s been sitting there for two years. Consider it a welcome gift. Just pay me for the boots and trousers.” Sabrina just wanted him out of there, regardless of how attracted she was to him. Cade seemed to sense it because he paid her quickly and took his package.

  “Much obliged, Mrs. Edmonds.”

  “Good day, Mr. Brody.” Stilted conversation for an awkward moment, but Sabrina couldn’t seem to bring herself to do anything else.

  With a nod, he finally left the store. She stared at the closed door and wondered what had just happened, then mentally slapped herself for hoping he’d come back soon.

  Cade left the general store as if his ass were on fire. It sure as hell felt like the rest of him was. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what just happened in there? He went from buying boots to almost fucking Sabrina right there on the notions table and then walking out with a book of Shakespeare’s poems in his hand.

  He shook his head to clear it, but it didn’t do any good. The voluptuous shopkeeper had knocked him sideways and he couldn’t seem to find his balance.

  “Did Mrs. Edmonds convince you to buy that book?”

  Cade looked up to see a young girl peering at the book in his hand. She was probably no more than sixteen with frizzy brown hair and dark green eyes. Kind of plain, but her face reflected deep intelligence and sass he recognized well. Reminded him a bit of a certain redhead he knew in Wyoming named Adelaide Malloy.

  “No, I wanted the book. She didn’t convince me of anything.” Except how long it had been since he’d bedded a woman.

  “You read Shakespeare then?” The girl sauntered toward him, hands clasped behind her back. She wore a conservative dark blue dress, much too staid for a young girl so obviously full of life. He smiled when he saw she sported mud on her fancy boots all the way up to her ankles.

  “When I’ve a mind to.” He tucked the book into his saddlebags along with the paper-wrapped trousers, another unplanned purchase.

  “I prefer his plays to his poetry, there’s a lot more sex in them.”

  Cade choked on his own spit as she walked past him toward the store. “You’ve got quite a mouth on you, girl.”

  “You have no idea, mister.” For a moment, she looked much older than she was. Cade had a feeling this little spitfire gave her parents more than they bargained for.

  “You’d best be careful who you throw those words at. Some fella who ain’t as nice as me is gonna take that the wrong way.” Cade knew the type of man of whom he spoke. He’d run into too many of them growing up with his pack of mothers.

  The girl waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, I don’t think I have anything to worry about. My daddy owns Eustace and there’s no one in town who’d dare harm a hair on my head.”

  Cade laughed without humor. “I wasn’t talking about somebody you knew. I mean, you don’t know me, do you?” When he stepped toward her, a flash of real fear zipped through her eyes, then it was gone.

  “You read poetry. I’m not particularly afraid of men who read poetry no matter how mean or frightening they look.” She stuck her freckled nose in the air. “You’re just trying to scare me.”

  He didn’t know whether to be amused or annoyed at the little female. It wasn’t his business if she went around sassing every man alive. She was her father’s problem, not his.

  “Be on your way, little girl. I don’t have time to jaw with you anymore.” Cade turned his back and started tying his useless boots to the saddle. Never thought slipping on his ass in the mud that morning would’ve brought him back to Eustace and confounded by one female.

  And annoyed by a smaller one.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Home.” He pulled the rope tight then put his foot in the stirrup to mount up.

  “You can’t leave yet. I don’t even know your name.” The little booger grabbed hold of the horse’s reins and hung on like a green-eyed cocklebur.

  “You haven’t used your manners either. Most folks are polite enough to introduce themselves before they start asking a million questions.” Cade frowned at her, willing the girl to find someone else to bother.

  Pink stained her cheeks, but to her credit she didn’t lower her gaze. “You’re right, of course. I’m Miss Melissa Fuller.”

  He sighed heavily. “Cade Brody. Now be on your way, Miss Fuller. There must be other people in this town you can annoy.”

  She grinned and released the reins. “Not at the moment. You are new and therefore interesting.”

  For some insane reason, he felt the urge to grin back at her. What the hell had Sabrina done to him?

  “Well, I’ve got things to do so I’m leaving.” The lame excuse sounded so stupid, he almost winced when it fell out of his mouth.

  She cocked one brown eyebrow. “You’ve got things to do in your brand-new boots?” Pointing at his old shoes hanging from the saddle, she tsked. “Look at those. What are you, Mr. Brody, a gambler?”

  “No, I’m not a gambler, and I’m done playing with you.” This time when he threw himself up in the saddle she didn’t try to stop him.

  “A gunslinger then.”

  Cade’s body tensed as tight as a guitar string, but he kept his face neutral. “I think you’ve been reading too many books. Good day, Miss Fuller.”

  She curtseyed. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  He might have grinned at her precociousness, but the little imp was like a woodpecker. Relentlessly pecking at him until he’d do something stupid like tell her about the dead man he’d buried in the woods.

  Chapter Three

  “Who’s Cade Brody?”

  Sabrina looked up from her dinner at Wylie’s Restaurant to find Sam Fuller standing over her table, frowning. Ten years her senior, he was a widower who’d done his best to convince Sabrina to marry him. She’d refused so many times, it had almost become a routine for them. For the last two years, each Sunday he arrived with a bouquet of some kind of flowers, chatted with her mother when she was alive, then spent the next hour on the porch with Sabrina. He was handsome, tall with curly brown hair and kind eyes. However, there was absolutely no spark between the two of them. Sabrina couldn’t even imagine kissing him much less bedding him.

  Even so, he ended Sundays by asking, “Well, you think you and me might get hitched this week?”

  Sabrina always turned him down, but considered Sam a friend. He was religiously devoted to his daughter and treated her as if she would remain a little girl forever. Melissa took every opportunity to show her father he was wrong. His view on the world was quite different than Sabrina’s in that respect.

  “He’s nobody.”

  Oh, now that was a big, fat lie. She hoped her cheeks weren’t advertising her disingenuous behavior.

  “Well nobody’s got Melissa chatting like a magpie. I can’t seem to shut her up about him. He the type of man who’d take advantage of young girls?” Sam sat down with a thump in the chair across from her, without permission, which told Sabrina he was truly worried.

  After setting down her fork, she took a deep breath before answering. “I’ve had two conversations with him. I’d say in my opinion he is a decent sort of fellow, but a little out of place in the wilds of New Mexico. Didn’t even have a good pair of boots or trousers when he arrived.”

  That brought up images of Mr. Brody’s behind, and she bit her tongue to will the image away.

  “Where’d he come from?” Sam leaned toward her, seemingly intent on finding out everything he could while Sabrina ate her dinner.

  “Do you mind if I finish my meatloaf before the interrogation?” She smiled tightly. “I treat myself once a week to dinner out on Fridays and I don’t want to o
ffend you, but it’s getting cold.” Wylie’s always had good eats, and meatloaf was one of her favorites. She and Eric used to have supper together there, and after he was gone, Sabrina continued the tradition, if only to feel as though she had something in her life other than the store.

  Sam glanced at her plate and sighed. “I can’t believe I just did that. You must think I’m a horse’s ass. Please let me pay for your meal.”

  Sabrina held up her hand. “No, I can’t let you do that. You know how folks talk, Sam. There would be tongues wagging all over the county by tomorrow morning that you and I are courting.”

  A small flash of pain crossed his features. “I’d be right proud if that did happen.”

  Patience wearing thin, Sabrina took a bite of her dinner and chose not to answer him. She’d turned him down hundreds of times. There was no reason for him to hold out any hope she’d change her mind now.

  It was true that many marriages started out with husband and wife barely knowing each other, only to find love along the way. Sabrina wasn’t about to take that chance again, once was enough, and her widowhood gave her certain status and privileges unmarried women didn’t get.

  Sabrina valued her independence and no matter how much she cared for Sam, she wasn’t about to give that up to marry a friend.

  “I’ll leave you to your meal then. Much obliged if you could stop by the mill to talk when you’re done, as long as Ellen doesn’t need you.” He stood and held his hat in his hands, looking as penitent as he could without being on his knees.

  She couldn’t possibly stay mad at him. “Of course I’ll come by. I’ll tell you what I know about Mr. Brody.”

  Sam nodded and left her alone.

  Cade.

  Her traitorous body remembered the feel of him standing inches away, the intricate details of his dark eyes, even the spot on his chin he’d missed shaving that morning. If she wasn’t careful, Sabrina could become more than attracted to the stranger.