Caden's Vow (11 page)

“My, my, now, there’s a pretty sight.”

Where the hell is Ace?

“Throw some wood on the fire, give us some light.”

“What color are her nipples, Alan?” Gordon called out. “Are
they pretty pink or are they brown?”

Maddie stepped out of her gown, her white petticoat and
camisole gleaming as white as her shoulders in the faint light. She looked like
a goddess of the forest.

“Can’t tell right yet,” the leader said. “We’ve got another
layer. Undo the rest of those strings, baby. Let me see those breasts.”

Maddie giggled a purely seductive giggle. It floated in the
night and stabbed like a knife into something soft inside Caden.

“Maddie, don’t you dare.”

The leader lifted his gun and pointed over Maddie’s shoulder
straight at Caden. The barrel glinted in the firelight. “Shut the hell up.”

Maddie laughed again. “So impatient.” Her fingers trailed up to
the gun. She fondled the barrel of the revolver as if it was a cock, thumb and
forefinger pinching delicately, stroking along. Alan groaned. To say Gordon’s
tying of Caden’s hands was half-assed was an understatement. All his attention
was on those fingers on that gun and those white shoulders, that waist and that
plump ass. Caden was going to kill her. Flat-out kill her. That body she was
flaunting was
his.

Instead of stepping back, she took a step in and then another
and another until her shadow blended with Alan’s. Alan didn’t drop the gun, but
he dropped his gaze.

“Hello, pretty little thing. Let me and my friends see those
breasts.”

“Naturally. Do you have money?”

She paid him and his orders no mind. Reaching up, she knocked
the leader’s hat off his head, running her fingers through even what Caden could
see from here was greasy hair without a shudder. What the hell was she used to
that this man didn’t make her cringe with his smell and his dirt? He shook his
head again. It was one thing to know Maddie had been a whore. It was a horrible
thing to see her being one.

“If you don’t put that gun down, there’s not much we can
do.”

“You got him tied there, Gordon?”

Gordon quickly came from behind the tree and ran forward.
“Yep.”

Alan put the gun back in its holster. “Then I guess we got us a
way to entertain ourselves while we wait for sunrise.”

Sunrise would be another two hours. Caden didn’t want to know
what men like these could do to a woman in two hours.

Alan was happy to show him. He grabbed Maddie’s braid, yanking
at it until she arched back, her breasts lifted like offerings. Maddie didn’t
even flinch, though it had to hurt. She just kept rubbing her body against his,
talking to him and enticing him. She turned again, distracting him, Caden
realized, as Alan turned with her. She was using her body to buy them time.

Fuck.

Caden went to work on his bonds, methodically working the
poorly tied knot.

“Now, take off that camisole,” Alan ordered, his voice rough
with lust.

Maddie playfully tugged at the strings, not quite pulling them
free, her breasts jiggling as she laughed seductively. Alan cursed and grabbed
the edges of the material from her shoulder and wrenched downward. The material
parted with a harsh rip, Maddie’s breasts spilled free, large and white, so very
lush in the night. Caden couldn’t see the color of her nipples, but he found he
was as curious as everyone else. What the hell did that say about him?

“Get your goddamn hands off her.”

“I’m not touching her,” Alan mocked. “Yet.”

And he wasn’t. Maddie was the one doing the touching, running
her fingers over her breasts from nipple to base, drawing the man’s attention,
pinching the peaks, tugging them away from her breasts, jiggling those fleshy
mounds. Where the fuck was Ace?

“It’s two dollars a tumble,” she told them.

“Honey, I ain’t paying you shit.”

She didn’t even blink.

“But you’ll want to.”

“Why? Because you’re that good?”

She nodded and ran her tongue over her lips as she pinched her
nipples again, drawing her breasts up and out, suspending them from the small
red points. “Yes. But that’s not why.”

“Then why?”

She nodded toward Caden. “He’ll kill you if you don’t.”

Any other woman would be screaming, but Maddie, Christ, only
Maddie could think he was her pimp.

Alan spat. “He’s not going to do a goddamn thing.”

Caden felt the knot start to give. Like hell he wasn’t.

Maddie smiled and twirled around, her braid sweeping around.
“You don’t know him. I’ve seen him kill men with his bare hands, and you know
how Madam Tia is. He works for Madam Tia.”

Christ, now she had Tia in the game.

“She doesn’t tolerate anybody messing with what’s hers.”

And that was the truth. Tia was like a lioness when it came to
anyone she loved.

“Well, Tia isn’t here right now, pretty lady, and your guardian
is tied up over there. He can’t do shit, so why don’t you bring that pretty
mouth here and kiss me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t kiss men.”

He blinked. “Well, honey, you’re kissing me.”

“Not on the mouth,” she said. “I never kiss on the mouth.”

Gordon chuckled and unbuttoned his belt. “I can live with
that.”

Caden couldn’t, but he didn’t have any choice. He was forced to
watch as Maddie, his sweet, fragile Maddie, drooped as graceful as a dove to her
knees.

“Goddamn it, Maddie, get up.”

“In a minute, Caden.”

“Now!”

He might as well have been talking to the wind. Where the fuck
was Ace?

Alan pulled his cock from his pants, stroking his fingers along
its length. “It’s going to take more than a minute to satisfy me, pretty.”

“Oh.”

Again with the “oh.” Caden didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t
want to see Alan’s hand cup Maggie’s head, see his dirty fingers sink into her
fiery hair and draw her in. He didn’t want to remember Maddie kneeling in the
dirt, servicing a man to save him. He ripped at his bonds, tearing his flesh.
Blood soaked his skin, wetting the leather strings. Fuck.

“I don’t want this, Maddie,” he snapped at her. “You’re never a
trade. Not ever. For anything.”

He thought he saw her flinch, but she didn’t stop.

Alan sneered at him over her head. “You might as well watch,
mister. It’s the only pleasure you’re going to get tonight.”

“Fuck you.”

“It’s this little lady we’re all going to be fucking.”

And he was the first one Caden was going to kill. The knife
chafed against his spine as he strained at the restraints, rubbing them up and
down the tree, the muscles in his shoulders burning with the effort. Sweat stung
his eyes. Agony lanced up his arms as the leather cut to the bone, but it was
giving. It was giving.

“Dammit, Maddie, stop.”

She didn’t listen this time any better than the last. He wanted
to close his eyes as Maddie leaned forward, but he didn’t. He owed her more than
the bliss of ignorance, so he stayed with her, watching it all, wanting to kill
Alan, hug her. He watched as she parted her plump red lips in a seductive smile,
wrapped her delicate fingers around the base of his cock and leaned in. When her
mouth spread over the tip, Alan groaned. Caden had to look away. He couldn’t
watch another piece of her soul be stolen away. To save him.

“I’m not worth it, Maddie.”

“Son of a bitch,” Gordon whispered, his hand fumbling in his
pants, going for his own cock.

With a cry of rage, Caden tore his hands free. Blood sprayed as
the leather gave way. He let out a snarl of victory, lunging toward Alan just as
the other man let out an unearthly scream of agony. He writhed, holding Maddie’s
head.

“You crazy bitch!” He looked around wildly, a scream carrying
his words. Not holding, Caden realized, but pushing her away. “Get her off me!
Get her off!”

Maddie was on her feet, fast as lightning, grabbing for Alan’s
hand. They struggled. A gunshot rang out. Alan went down. Gordon yanked his hand
out of his pants and fumbled for his guns. From the woods came another man’s
scream. Ace. Caden grabbed the knife from his back and threw it. It buried in
Gordon’s throat.

Maddie spun around. He could see the dark red stain of blood on
her lips, then a gun shaking in her hand.

“Easy, Maddie.”

“Ace!” Caden called. “Any more?” There was a choked-off cry and
then Ace called back, “No more.”

Caden grabbed one of the blankets off the ground and headed to
Maddie. She stood over Alan, looking like a broken angel, her camisole falling
down over her petticoats, the gun still in her hand, a slight wildness about her
as she kept turning and looking as if there must be more. He didn’t know if she
was with him or not. It didn’t matter.

Alan writhed on the ground, moaning, his hands clutching at his
dick as blood pumped from his chest. It wasn’t a clean shot, but it was a mortal
one. He’d be dead soon enough.

Caden carefully took the gun from Maddie’s hands before draping
the blanket around her shoulders. With the edge he wiped the blood from her
mouth. Damn. If he hadn’t been there, she might have just saved herself.

“You’re quite a woman, Maddie Miller.” Hooking his hand behind
her neck, he drew her to him. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?”

She looked at him then, all the pain and knowledge of her life
in her eyes as she said quite simply, “Men always seem to forget that a whore
knows how to take care of herself.”

CHAPTER TEN

A
WHORE
KNOWS
how to take care of herself.

Caden had opportunity to debate those words over the next two
days and to study the possible meanings and for whom they were intended. He’d
always known how Maddie had lived her life before coming to Hell’s Eight, but
watching her do what she’d done, taking the chance that she’d taken to protect
him, he shook his head as he put a rope around another rock and started hauling
it away from the mine. In the process, he’d come to realize he didn’t know
shit.

Maddie Miller was a very complicated woman. Part lost child,
part avenging angel, part loving, passionate woman, she was a mix of
contradictions wrapped up in a package of total honesty. And he hadn’t been able
to get near her since that night. Immediately after the attack, she’d let him
hold her while she’d cried and shaken. He’d needed that. Needed to comfort her
and take away her pain. He still did, but then she’d pulled back behind an
invisible wall and he hadn’t been able to touch her since. He didn’t know if her
reaction was because of how she saw herself or how she thought he saw her, but
either way he was getting tired of her hiding. She was his wife. It was his
right to care for her.

He looked over to where she was working on clearing her own
small, self-assigned section of the mine. The skirt of her yellow dress was
torn, her hands dirty, and her hair was tumbling around her sweaty face. She was
working herself into the ground. Had been ever since that night. As if she had
something to prove to herself. Or to him. He glanced over to where Ace was
sifting through a mountain of rubble. Ace gave him that same look he’d been
giving him for two days. The one that said, “Fix it.”

Maddie suddenly cried out. She was holding her hand, shaking
it. Smashed her fingers again, no doubt. He knew if he went over there she’d
tell him to go to hell. Well, maybe not
go to hell
in so many words, but a look would say it. She hadn’t slipped away since that
night. She was firmly planted in the here and now. It was kind of a shame. That
steady beat of her anger was wearing.

He shortened up the harness. Ace put down his sifting tray and
came over.

“How long are you going to take to fix this?” Ace asked.

Caden ran his thumb under the harness. “My wife, my
business.”

Ace shook his head. “She’s Hell’s Eight. She proved that the
other night doing what she did to save your sorry ass.”

“I know.”

Ace continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “She had no way of
knowing I was out there. She’s never worked with us before. They were tying you
up and hurting you, so she sacrificed herself for you because that’s what she
fucking does. It’s all she knows how to do.”

“What do you want me to do about it, Ace?”

“Make her stop punishing herself. You’re her goddamn husband.
If anybody in this world should make her feel like something, it should be
you.”

Ace thought he had all the answers. “One of these days, Ace,
someone’s going to come along and knock you six ways to Sunday and you’re not
going to know if you’re coming or going.”

“Yeah?”

“And when she does,” Caden said, “I hope to hell I’m around to
watch you spin.”

Ace laughed. “Never gonna happen.”

“Never say never, my friend.” He looked over at Maddie. Because
there was no way in hell he ever thought he’d end up being married to Maddie, no
way in hell he thought he’d be able to hurt her, but he’d done both. She stopped
and wiped the sweat from her brow. The morning sun was giving way to the
intensity of the afternoon. Plain and simple, it was too hot to be doing what
she was doing. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think my wife needs rescuing.”

“From what?”

Caden shook his head. “Herself.”

* * *

S
HE
WAS
STILL
nursing her finger
when he approached. He saw her tense, but she didn’t turn around.

“Let me see,” he said when he got close enough.

She shook her head and tucked her hand behind her back. “It’s
fine.”

As if he’d let her get away with that. “I want to see,
Maddie.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s my job to take care of you.”

She opened her mouth, and he knew goddamn well what was going
to come out of it. She was going to tell him again that a whore knew how to take
care of herself.

He put his finger over her mouth. “Maddie.”

She glared at him.

“Don’t say it.”

Her mouth snapped shut. He slid his finger down to her
shoulder, over her elbow, to her hand. She stood rigidly with none of the
melting he was used to. He didn’t like it. Lifting her hand to his, he could see
that she’d smashed the nail.

“You’re probably going to lose that.”

She didn’t say a word, just stared past his shoulder. He
sighed.

“Come with me.”

She didn’t move. “I have work to do.”

“I’m calling a break.”

“If we take a break, we’ll never get done. More of those claim
jumpers might come.”

He knew she was afraid of that. He was more afraid of the
unknown person who’d sent them.

“We’re ready for them.”

She didn’t say anything. Just stiffened.

“We will protect you.”

“I can protect myself.”

Ignoring the provocation, Caden took her hand, running his
thumb along the back of her hand. “But now you don’t need to.”

With a tug he pulled her behind him, leading her down the
narrow path to the swimming hole. The dappled sunlight of the trees was so much
cooler than the unrelenting force of the sun.

“I am thinking I probably should have come up with this idea a
few months earlier or a few months later.”

“Why?” she asked as he helped her over a rough part in the
path.

“Because it’s damn hot to be hauling rock.”

That honesty earned him a chuckle. It was a small victory, but
he’d take it.

The trees ended at the small pond. The water looked cool and
inviting with the sun sparkling off the top. Maddie stopped short of the edge.
Caden let her, taking one more step than her, turning around so he could face
her.

“What are we doing?”

“I told you. We’re taking a break.”

She looked at the pond as if it were poison. She’d been looking
at him that same way the past two nights he’d come to bed, lying rigid in his
arms until she’d fallen asleep. It wasn’t the Maddie he was used to. He was used
to the Maddie who reached for him no matter what, who put up with his moods no
matter what. He was used to the Maddie who loved him. He wanted her back.

He wiped a smudge of dirt from her cheek with his thumb. It
didn’t really come off, just kind of smeared along the sweat. Her nails were
dirty and cracked. Dirt was caked into the creases in her hands. She smelled of
sweat and woman and despair, he thought. A despair she didn’t deserve.

“Maddie, I’m sorry.” The words just came naturally because he
was. A sorry son of a bitch.

“Why?”

“I’m sorry for everything I did. For calling you names, for
calling you a whore.” He shook his head. “For not knowing what that meant.”

“You know what it means.” She stepped back out of his reach. He
had to take another step to follow.

“I can be a pigheaded ass when I get mad.”

She raised both brows but didn’t say a word.

“Say what you want. I’m not going to tear you up for it.”

He started unbuttoning her dress, and she stood there as she
always did, as she had for the past two days, just letting him do what he
wanted, no response on her part. Where before she’d hidden away in make-believe,
now she just stood there and dared him. He didn’t understand what she was
thinking, but he understood the dare.

Caden continued unbuttoning Maddie’s dress, one at a time, not
stopping until he was all the way down the row. Sweat beaded her ample cleavage.
He couldn’t believe she was working as hard as she was with so many layers of
clothing. He’d really never thought of it before, but feeling the heat pound his
back through his thin shirt and looking at her wool dress, the petticoats
beneath, the corset, the camisole... Christ, it was a wonder she hadn’t passed
out.

He pushed the dress over her shoulders and then down off over
her hips. It caught halfway down on her petticoats.

“I don’t want you wearing all this shit anymore.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, just nodded.

He grabbed the string that held her petticoats up and gave it a
tug. It didn’t give. He saw it was double-knotted. He guessed a woman would have
to be careful that her drawers didn’t drop to her ankles in an embarrassing
moment. He worked those knots through, too, and slid that off her shoulder.

She stood before him, skirts a puddle at her feet, in her
pantaloons, corset and camisole.

“I bet that corset is hot.”

She looked at him and said, “I got used to it.”

Like hell anyone got used to it. It, too, was soaked through
with sweat. He started to untie it. As he did, he started to talk. She was so
far away from him.

“As I was saying, I’m a pigheaded ass. You’ve always treated me
like gold, always understood me.” The corset was hard to unhook. He got it done.
The heat that came off her skin was incredible. He looked at her face again. She
was pale, paler than normal. Oh, Christ, had she given herself sun sickness?

He tossed the corset to the side and lifted her out of the
skirts. At least she grabbed for his shoulders. It was a sign she knew he was
there. He hoped she was listening. He’d never needed anybody to listen to him as
much as he needed her to listen to him right now.

“Sit down.”

She looked at him.

“The grass is fine.”

She sat down. Crouching in front of her, he untied her shoes,
first the left and then the right, slipped them off her feet. When he saw the
blisters along the heel and the toes, he wanted to shoot himself. Cradling her
foot in his hand, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You told me you didn’t want to hear any complaints from
me.”

“That’s not a complaint. Blisters like that can turn sour. You
can lose a foot, for Christ’s sake.”

“They don’t hurt anymore.”

“F— Damn.” He looked at them again. They were deep, broad,
angry looking.

Picking her up, he carried her to a rock by the edge of the
pond. She struggled for a second when he stepped to the pond and tried to lower
her into it.

“I don’t want to go there,” she told him.

“Tough.”

He let her feet dangle in the water, holding her as her breath
hissed, feeling her pain escape across his chest, and then feeling her
relaxation as the coolness of the water on her hot feet started having an
effect.

“I’m fine, Caden.”

He pushed the hair out of her face and untied the braid.

“No, you’re not. You’re hurt and you’re sad and you’re mad as
hell but you’re far from being fine.” But he wanted to make her fine. He wanted
his Maddie back. The one who baked him cookies, who worried about him, who ran
her fingers down the inside of his wrist and held on to him as if he was the
only solid thing in her world.

“I guess you stopped worshipping me, huh?”

“I never worshipped you.”

Cupping the cool water in his hand, he poured it over her
calves. “It felt like it.”

“You should have told me you minded.”

“I didn’t. I should have, but I didn’t. You’re a very complex
woman, Maddie. You keep a man on his toes.”

“What you’re trying to say is I’m crazy.”

He shook his head. “Nah. Even at your flightiest you’re talking
common sense.”

“
Flighty
is a nice way of saying
crazy.
”

“Yeah, well, you seem to have forgotten how to take
flight.”

“I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Children run away. Women stand their ground.”

“That sounds like Bella.”

“She’s a smart woman.”

She was so tense. He took her right calf in his hand and
massaged it gently. She moaned under her breath but he heard it. “You two have
gotten close, haven’t you?”

She nodded. “I like her.”

“I like her, too. She’s a good match for Sam.”

“She’s very kind.”

“Yes, she is.”

“She knows how to fight for what she wants.”

“Yes, she does. Is that why you like her, Maddie? Because you
want to know how to fight for what you want?”

She shook her head. “I just want to know what I want, and I
want what I want to be good for me and not like poison in my veins.”

Caden kicked off his boots. He’d have shucked his pants except
for the fact he didn’t have anything on underneath. He stepped into the
water.

“Your clothes will get wet,” she observed.

“Yeah.” The water felt cool and blissful against his feet, the
muddy bottom cushioning the soreness. Maybe it was time they all took a break.
The sun beat down on his shoulders. It was so much more tolerable with his legs
in the water.

“You can take them off, you know. I’ve seen naked men
before.”

“What makes you think I’d be naked?”

“You don’t like underwear.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Just how much had she been
spying on him?

“When we do laundry, you don’t have a lot of that to add to the
pile.”

“Oh.” So simple an explanation. Once again, so mean-spirited
his suspicion.

“You may have seen naked men before, but between us there needs
to be better respect.”

Her gaze darted to his.

“Whores—”

“Don’t say it, Maddie.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not true. Because I don’t think it.”

“You said it.” And those words had sunk into her soul. He
understood that.

“I was mad.”

“That just means you speak the truth.”