Carol Finch (17 page)

His mouth slanted over hers and his pulse kicked up. When he raised his head the taste of her was on his lips and desire sizzled in his loins. He was still staring into those hypnotic eyes when the Rangers closed in around him to pat him on the shoulder and whisper that they were envious of the fact that he had taken such a lovely bride. Disgruntled, he watched the five men place
smacking pecks on Piper’s cheek to offer their congratulations and good wishes.

Quinn slipped his arm possessively around her waist and shepherded her toward the door before his so-called friends helped themselves to a second round of kisses.

“Not so fast,” the official called after him. “Sign your John Henry or this won’t be legal.”

Piper pivoted around to sign on the dotted line, then handed the pen to Quinn. With a quick slash of ink he made their marriage legal. Amused, he watched Piper roll up the document, then cram it into the sleeve of her gown.

She
had what she wanted.

Why didn’t
he
feel completely satisfied with this arrangement?

When they exited the Rangers announced they were going to the saloon to drink a toast to the newlyweds.

Piper glanced up at him. “I have reconsidered and decided you are right.”

He frowned, bemused. “I’m right about what?”

“There is no need to make more of this marriage than what it is intended to be. If you want to join your friends, then feel free to go. I will have no difficulty occupying myself.”

He should have been relieved that she had come to her senses and decided that consummating the marriage was a bad idea. Instead he felt hugely disappointed, even if it had been
his
suggestion. Nodding curtly, he turned to leave.

“Unless you can think of some reason why—”

“There’s no reason to complicate matters,” he inter
rupted abruptly, then mentally kicked himself when her shoulders stiffened and she glanced the other way.

“Right,” she murmured. “Well then, I presume we will be leaving for the fort at dawn. I will see you then.”

“Piper?”

When she turned back to him he noticed that her smile was strained and her chin had tilted to a defiant angle. “Good day, Callahan. Thank you for your cooperation. I appreciate the gesture.”

And then she swept regally across the street, and Quinn wanted to shake her for being as detached as he tried to be. He expelled a frustrated sigh, recalling that when Piper was forthright and honest with her feelings he squirmed in his skin. When she closed up tighter than a clam he felt…well, he wasn’t sure how he felt. Deprived, perhaps. A mite shut out, ignored and dissatisfied.

Hell! He had been married all of ten minutes and already he didn’t know how to deal with his wife.

Scowling, Quinn traipsed down the street, then halted when he saw Red Hawk and Spotted Deer.

“So you made this marriage legal in your culture as well?” Red Hawk asked.

Quinn nodded.

Spotted Deer watched Piper disappear into the hotel, then turned his attention back to Quinn. “What strange custom doesn’t allow a man to accompany his wife to his bed?” He shook his head in confusion. “I will never understand the ways of the palefaces, even if I now dress like one while riding with the Rangers.”

“I will never understand
women.
One in particular,” Quinn muttered in English.

The Comanches stared curiously at him.

“Never mind. I’ll fetch you a drink to celebrate. Might even have a drink—or three—myself.”

Then he walked into the saloon, wondering why Piper had become distant and standoffish today. Had he done something to upset her? Had he made her feel excluded during the trek to Catoosa Gulch? Or had she simply come to her senses and realized the worst thing she could do was to become physically involved with a man so far below her social status?

Quinn had felt rejected, discarded and unwanted plenty of times in his life. But every insecurity and inadequacy he had ever encountered converged on him abruptly.

Well, so what if Piper had changed her mind about bedding him. She wasn’t the only female in town who could accommodate him. He could find companionship if he wanted it. And from someone who knew how the game was supposed to be played, he reminded himself.

On that sour thought he walked into the saloon to join his compatriots.

Piper paced from wall to wall, telling herself that she had made the right decision by retracting her request to experiment with passion. Too bad restless need had her fidgeting and wishing for something to occupy her mind.

Blast it, Quinn could have said something if he wanted to consummate their marriage. She had given him the opening and he had rejected it immediately. And why would he turn down such an offer? It didn’t make sense.

Men! she thought in frustration. She would never figure out what made their minds work. Piper threw up her hands, muttered under her breath, and then shed her gown. She hurled the expensive garment against the wall in a fit of temper then scolded herself for behaving childishly.

When the license rolled from her dress sleeve she scooped it up. She had what she needed—the document that placed her beyond Roarke’s control. It was better this way, she tried to convince herself for the umpteenth time. She had come to realize that she wanted all or nothing from Quinn. If she couldn’t have his love then she wouldn’t accept his lust, because she would ultimately wind up getting hurt.

“You are going to drive yourself crazy with thoughts like that,” she admonished herself. “I doubt Quinn has been shown enough affection in his life to know what love is. Determined as you are, you can’t
force
him to feel something for you that he doesn’t feel. And you can’t fault
him
because friendship is all he can offer you, either.”

And curse those bandits for their untimely interruption last night, she fumed as she went back to circumnavigating the perimeter of her room. She could have satisfied her feminine curiosity and she wouldn’t be wondering what she had missed and second-guessing herself right now.

She had no right whatsoever to be annoyed with Quinn, she reminded herself again. He had done nothing but save her life about half a dozen times, teach her to survive in the wilds and then marry her for
her
convenience.

He had done everything that a woman could ask of a man—except love her back.

“Stop wanting what you can’t have,” she scowled at herself.

Piper flounced on the bed and watched the lantern light flicker over the cracked plaster on the ceiling. Instead of wallowing in misery she should be anticipating her reunion with her sister and mentally preparing herself for her encounter with her father. A shame that Quinn’s image kept bounding across the center stage of her mind to distract her.

The long and short of it was that, despite her sensible decision to marry him so she could gain control of her own destiny, she wanted
Quinn,
desired
him.
But the depressing truth was that he didn’t need her. Her only lure and appeal was that she was
female.

And if he sought out another women on their wedding night she was going to strangle him!

Quinn did not make a habit of overindulging in whiskey because he preferred to keep his senses sharp and his wits about him. But he was sorry to say that he showed no restraint whatsoever while drinking with his friends.

He was shamelessly drunk when he finally wobbled from the saloon. His bleary gaze went immediately to the hotel where a dim light burned in room seven.

“The hell with her,” he mumbled as he staggered down the street.

It was
her
fault that he couldn’t see straight right now.
Her
fault that the prospect of seeking out another female felt like betrayal and held no appeal for him.

This is what happened when a man stopped being realistic and started entertaining impossible whims, he decided.

And why
had
she changed her mind this evening? Quinn frowned. Or at least he thought he did. His facial muscles were so numb that he couldn’t be sure. Well, he was gonna march right up there and ask her why she had decided not to consummate their marriage. She could tell him the truth flat-out like she used to do before he did whatever the hell he had done that caused her to retreat emotionally from him.

“Yeah, that’s wha’ I’ll do. Jus’ ask her,” he mumbled. “Ooofff—” Quinn staggered back when he collided with a solid form in the darkness.

“Where are you going, Gray Owl?” Red Hawk asked.

“To see my wife.”

Spotted Owl turned him around then gestured east. “This direction. But I think you have had too much firewater.”

Quinn shrugged off their concern and lurched from their grasp. Straightening his twisted jacket, he weaved unsteadily down the street. “I’m takin’ Pipe’ to the fort, t’morrow. Report to Butler.”

That said, he started off. When he entered the hotel he grabbed a quick breath then tackled the mountain of steps that stood between him and his maddening bride.

Piper shot straight up in bed when she heard the clatter and thud in the distance. Like a shot, she bounded from bed to grab the chair as her impromptu weapon.
Cautiously, she stepped into the hall. Another grunt and thud caught her attention so she went to investigate.

To her stunned amazement she saw Quinn sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. “What the blazes happened?”

“Missed a step,” he mumbled as he rolled onto his back then peered up at her.

The slur in his voice indicated his condition. She frowned disapprovingly. “You are drunk.”

“I know.” He stirred like an overturned beetle, then came to his knees to clutch at the banister. When he tried to stand up he swayed and nearly fell off his feet.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Ignoring the fact that she was clad in nothing but the chemise that barely covered her thighs, she bounded down the steps to offer support.

With his arm draped over her shoulder and one hand secured to the railing she assisted him up the steps. Huffing for breath, Piper steered him into the room, then went back to retrieve the chair she had left in the hall.

“Your garb’s a mite skimpy. Walk out like that in public and you’ll land flat on your back. Guaran-damn-teed.”

“I hadn’t planned on leaving the privacy of my bed until someone tumbled down the steps.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. “Why are you here, Quinn?”

He drew himself up, then sucked in a deep breath that made his chest swell like an inflated toad’s. Piper bit back a grin. The man looked adorably rumpled and not at all his usual well-disciplined, restrained self.

“Wanted to ask you a question.”

“Fine. Fire away.”

“What’d I do to make you change your mind?” He
shrugged off his coat and tossed it at the chair—and missed it by a mile. “Las’ night you wanted me. Today you don’t. Honest t’ God, Pipe’. I dunno know how to deal with you and it’s drivin’ me nuts.”

He plopped down on the edge of the bed to battle his way out of his shirt. When he launched it across the room it landed in the basin on the commode. “And you know what else?”

“I give up. What else?” she asked, muffling an amused snicker.

“I was gonna trot down the street to find a willin’ female, just to show you.”

She arched her brow and jealousy shot through her like venom. “To show me what? That this marriage isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and that I mean nothing to you?”

“To show you that I didn’t care if you brushed me off. O’course, we both know it’s better this way. I didn’t deserve you in the first place. Sure as hell don’t deserve to be married to a blue-blooded heiress.”

There he went again, selling himself short. Piper refused to listen to that nonsense. She stamped up in front of him to wag her finger in his bronzed face. “You listen to me, Callahan. You don’t get to criticize yourself. That’s what
I’m
here for. What you
do
deserve is the
hangover
you’ll likely wake up with tomorrow. And that is
all.
The fact is that
you
happen to be the nicest man I know. I will not tolerate these self-deprecating comments from you, so please hush up.”

She yanked off his boots then tossed them aside. He braced himself on his arms and peered at her with those
hypnotic golden eyes that were fanned with long, tangled lashes. The woebegone expression on his face made her chest cave in. If he didn’t stop burrowing into her heart she
was
going to fall head over heels for him. Completely overwhelmed by a myriad of tender feelings for him.

And then where would she be? So deep in longing and misery that she would never find her way out.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of touching another woman when you’re the only one I want,” he murmured.

His admission hit Piper right where she lived. She would have thrown herself into his arms if he hadn’t looked so unstable and disoriented. Plus, she couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t whiskey-induced lust talking.

Maybe she had unintentionally set herself up as a challenge to him after she had denied him his husbandly rights. That, after practically begging him to make love to her the previous night. And still nothing had happened between them.

Just as nothing was going to happen tonight. Quinn was so soused that he probably wouldn’t even
remember
if she seduced him now.

Just as she hadn’t remembered what happened between them while she had been under the influence of peyote.

Exasperated, Piper grabbed his legs and swung him onto the bed. She wheeled around to douse the lantern she had forgotten to attend before she had fallen asleep. Padding barefoot to the bed, she noticed Quinn had already conked out. She shoved his shoulder, encouraging him to roll over so she could lie down beside him.

“Honest to goodness, you and I simply have one devil of a time getting our timing right, don’t we?” she asked her oblivious husband. “Between unexpected interruptions and on-again-off-again fits and spurts of desire, we might never share one night together.” She sighed heavily as she stared down at him. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe this
thing
between us—whatever the devil it is—simply isn’t meant to be.”