Compromised Hearts (22 page)

“Who the hell knows?” James grumbled. “I do,” Wolfe said quietly, “or I think I do. Chilton.”

“What’s that weasel got to do with this?”

“I heard in town that he’s courting Harper’s sister, Cloud.” He grimaced when he saw Cloud’s eyes harden. “I thought her turning to him was what all this was about. I also heard a bit ago that Harper’s in debt. He needs money.”

“And Chilton can give it to him,” Cloud said slowly. “It’s a possibility. I don’t know.”

“You can’t be sure of anything unless you talk to Emily.”

“Hell, James.” Cloud winced. “I could just end up with the door slammed in my face again.”

“That’s not Emily’s way. I’m sure of it. I also can’t believe she’d want you to go away for good. Oh, no doubt she might lay into you—she’s got every right to—but after watching you two together, I can’t believe she’d push you away completely.” James frowned. “Well, that might depend on what you intend to offer. She’s not one to play the mistress for you.”

“No. I wanted her to play the wife.” He smiled slightly at Wolfe’s astonishment. “By the end of the first week with her, I’d figured I’d be a damn fool to let this one slip away. Once I’d made up my mind to settle in one spot, I then started thinking about a family. Need a wife for that. Even I could see that Emily’d make a damn fine wife.”

Cloud stared off into the horizon, his mind reviewing all that had been said. James was right. Emily was not the sort to have someone else speak for her. She would look him straight in the eye and tell him what she thought. She always had before. His own guilt had made him accept Dorothy’s words too readily. He had not thought the matter out at all.

“Chilton’s after her, you say?” He looked at Wolfe with eyes sharper than they had been for days.

“Like a fox after a chicken. Practically living at Harper’s place.” Wolfe cleared his throat. “There’s some speculation about why you haven’t been around after bringing her in and all. If not you, then James. People are thinking she was brought in especially for Chilton.”

“I wonder how much Chilton knows about me and Em.”

“Speculation’s heavy. You do have a reputation, brother. ‘Specially after that incident with—” Wolfe stopped short and stared at Cloud.

“With Chilton’s fiancé,” Cloud finished dryly. “If that snake thinks I’ve got an interest in Emily, he’ll do his damnedest to get her. He probably already has Harper by what counts.” He ran a hand through his hair. “This is all just speculation.”

“Except concerning Emily sending Dorothy to speak for her. She wouldn’t do that.”

“You feel that sure about it, James?”

“Stake my life on it.”

“So what are you suggesting? That I go back and demand to speak to Emily, let her tell me to my face to take off?”

James shrugged. “At least you’d know for sure how you stand.”

“It’s either that or let her go to Chilton,” Wolfe drawled.

“Emily wouldn’t marry that worm.”

“Emily might not have too damn much to say about it.”

“Why haven’t you told me about Chilton before this?”

“Didn’t figure you’d be interested.”

“What the hell did you think I was sitting around a bottle for?”

“Well, you’ve never been sent packing before, and since we haven’t seen or heard of Emily since she left, we thought you had been. You ain’t vain, but you sure as hell ain’t humble.”

“Thank you for that accolade, brother,” Cloud said.

“You’ve never been that concerned over a woman before. It was the last thing I thought of.”

“I’ll grant you that. I am concerned about this one, however. More so if she’s being pressured into a marriage she doesn’t want.”

The mere thought of Chilton touching Emily churned Cloud’s stomach. If that marriage went ahead, he doubted he would let Thomas Chilton survive his vows. He might not be all that clear on exactly what he felt for Emily, but he was certain of one thing. Emily was his.

“Have you come to any decision?” James prodded. “It’s damned cold out here.”

“I’ll go see Emily tomorrow.”

“What if that Dorothy won’t let you?”

Cloud’s eyebrows rose slowly. “Dorothy won’t have much to say about it.”

“No, she won’t,” Wolfe interrupted. “Look there.”

The other two men looked in the direction Wolfe was pointing. A full moon clearly outlined the small figure stumbling from the road toward the house. It took the three men watching Emily’s unsteady progress a few minutes to believe their eyes, however, so she had nearly reached them before they overcame their surprise enough to move to give her some help.

Cloud bolted from his chair, a smile starting to spread across his face. Emily had come to him!

Emily feared she would never feel warm
again. Except for her back, where Thornton rested, every part of her felt frozen to the bone. She had the sinking feeling that she would be unable to release her hands from the bags she held once she reached her destination.

She was past caring whether or not Cloud believed what she had to tell him. All that mattered to her was finding some place that was warm and sheltered from the frost-tinged wind that tore through her clothes. When Wolfe’s ranch came into view, she almost collapsed with relief. As she plodded forward she hoped the men were simply surprised into immobility and not unwelcoming.

“Don’t touch me or I’ll collapse,” she rasped as they descended on her. Why was Cloud grinning at her so?

“You have collapsed,” Cloud growled, concern for her briefly overshadowing his delight as he held her firmly while Wolfe and James relieved her of Thornton and pried the baggage from her hands.

“You must’ve touched me.” The way he was holding her made her think he was honestly pleased to see her.

“What the hell are you doing walking the roads in the middle of the damn night?” Cloud picked her up in his arms and started towards the house. “Damn it all, you’re like ice.”

“It was rather cold. Is Thornton all right?” “He’s fine,” replied James, who carried Thornton as he hurried along after Cloud.

“We tried the saloon, but you weren’t there.”

“Why the hell should I be?”

“Dorothy said—” she began and did not even flinch over Cloud’s resultant profanity.

Cloud set her down in a chair near the fire. James settled the still sleepy Thornton on the rug and poured some whiskey into a glass. Running the bags up to Cloud’s room, Wolfe returned with some blankets. Throughout all the activity, Emily sat huddled in the chair trying desperately to stop shivering, her teeth clenched but not wholly prevented from chattering. She also found Cloud’s obvious concern fascinating.

Urging the whiskey down her throat after bundling her up in blankets, Cloud pressed, “Why are you here, bags and all?”

“Had to get away,” she ground out, finding the whiskey less distasteful with each forced sip and feeling it start to warm her from the inside. “Chilton.”

“Have you had trouble with Chilton?” He made her take another large swallow.

“Must you keep pouring that vile stuff down my throat?”

“Yup. You’re frozen clean through. Answer the question.”

“What question?” Emily began to find her mind less than clear and getting foggier.

“Have you had trouble with Chilton?”

She made a childish face indicating revulsion. “Yes. I’m supposed to marry him.”

“If you didn’t want to, you shouldn’t have accepted his proposal.” He wondered briefly if he had been wrong to assume Chilton had been forced on her.

“What proposal?”

“Chilton’s.”

“He didn’t ask. Neither did they. I was told. I’m always being told. It’s getting tedious.”

“And you’re getting drunk,” Cloud pointed out gently, hiding the pleasure and touch of relief her statement brought him.

“I wouldn’t be if you weren’t sloshing that poison down my throat.”

“Emily, were Harper and Dorothy forcing you to marry Chilton?” Cloud refilled her glass with whiskey.

“They locked me in my room,” she said, her voice full of righteous indignation, and took the glass from Cloud, drinking the whiskey on her own as she mulled over all the wrongs done her.

In one neat move, without spilling any of the drink she held, Cloud picked her up in his arms, sat down in the chair and settled her on his lap. “How did you get out of your room?”

“Thornton came later to see me. He’d woken up, the way he sometimes does. He crept downstairs and got the keys out of Harper’s desk. There were a number that looked right but he eventually found the right one. We packed up and got out of there.

Once out of the house, I decided to come here.”

“Everything in its proper order as usual,” Cloud drawled, grinning fleetingly at James and Wolfe.

“Of course. I had to get out of there quick.” She struggled out of the blankets she was wrapped in after handing Cloud her glass of whiskey. “I’m feeling rather warm.”

“Emily,” he growled, “stop wiggling. You’re killing me.”

She was oblivious to his innuendo. “Oh. Sorry. I just do not understand why I had to marry that man.”

“Money, Emily,” Wolfe said gently.

“I don’t have any.”

“Have patience, brother. Emily always gets a little thick when she drinks.”

Looking crossly at Cloud as she retrieved her drink, she groused, “You make me sound like a lush.” She thought Cloud was looking remarkably cheerful for a man who had just had a load of trouble delivered to his door.

“Never mind, sweets. What Wolfe means is that Harper and his wife live far beyond their means. They are constantly in debt. They needed a sizable loan to recover and might need another. Chilton can extend the loan they have and give them another.”

Befogged as she was, Emily still drew the right conclusions. “Oh.” She sighed. “Do you know, it’d be nice if just once someone would take me to their bed, wed or no, without a lot of complicated negotiations.”

“Definitely drunk,” groaned Cloud.

“I’d be most willing to oblige, Miss Brockinger,” James offered, grinning.

“You were ever the gentleman, Mr. Carlin.”

“That gent’s going to get his pretty teeth broken if he doesn’t back off.”

“Such a violent man,” she mourned, shaking her head at Cloud but ruining her performance by giggling. “So,” she went on a moment later, growing serious again, “I was the bribe for a loan.” She frowned. “If I don’t marry Chilton and Harper can’t get his loan, does that mean that Harper will be ruined?”

“There’s a good chance of that,” Wolfe replied when Cloud just scowled.

“It’s probably my duty as his sister, then, to marry Chilton for Harper’s and Dorothy’s sake.”

“Sister’s duty, my ass,” Cloud snapped. “The man left you with that shrew Carolynn, not giving a damn until he thought he could get some benefit out of you.”

“Couldn’t you have put that a little more gently?” She sighed. “You’re right, though. I just couldn’t do it. He looks like a weasel and he’s so boring I found it hard to be polite. Dorothy got very cross.”

“Dorothy can kiss my—”

“Quite, dear.” She patted Cloud on the head. “I am very sure she would be delighted to, as it’s so attractive, but Harper might object.” She burst into giggles.

Cloud slanted an admonishing look at a snickering James and Wolfe. “Must you encourage her?”

“There was something I was going to tell you.” Emily frowned as she tried to gather her thoughts.

“Dorothy lied,” came a sleepy voice from the rug before the fireplace.

“Thornton, dear, you should be asleep. It is very, very late and you’ve had a very busy night.”

“Never mind, Emily,” growled Cloud. “What’s he mean by saying Dorothy lied?”

“She never told me you had come calling. I didn’t know it until Thornton told me tonight.” She stared at him beseechingly, hoping he would believe her. “What did she tell you?”

“Something about you wanting to forget our association and that I’d better make myself scarce.”

Emily winced, not only over Dorothy’s words but also over the fact that it would be impossible for her to do that even if she had wanted to. She pressed her hand against her abdomen as the child she carried flip-flopped within her, reminding her of its presence. Frowning at her almost-finished drink, she wondered if it was good for her to drink such strong spirits at such a time.

“Are you feeling ill?” Cloud asked in sudden concern.

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?” burst out

Thornton, rushing to her side and staring at her belly as if he could see through her clothes and skin to the baby that stirred within her.

Color rushed to her cheeks as she felt Cloud tense beneath her. “I’m fine. Truly, Thornton.”

“Hurt who, Thornton?” Cloud asked with overdone calm.

Thornton looked nervously at Emily. “I can’t say. Mama said she’s gotta tell you. I can t.

“Tell me what, Emily?” he purred, already certain but wanting confirmation from her.

“Perhaps this isn’t the best time,” she squeaked and tried to get off of his lap, but he held her firmly.

“Emily,” he growled as he stilled her struggles. “Answer the question.”

She stared at him helplessly. This was not the way she had wanted it to be. Thornton’s innocent remark had precipitated matters. She had hoped to lead into the subject gently. However, there might still be a chance to dispel any ideas he might have that she was trying to entrap him.

“I didn’t come here because of that. I mean, not fully. You’re the only one I had to turn to. I only want a little help to get away so that I can’t be made to marry Chilton. That’s all, I—”

Cloud cut her off by putting his hand over her mouth. “You’re babbling, honey. A
simple yes or no will do, and you can answer by nodding your head. Are you carrying my child?”

After a moment during which she tried and failed to read something into the intensity she sensed in him, she slowly nodded. She saw a flare of what she could only guess was delight and then his eyelids were lowered, shielding his eyes. Because of that, she did not dare put much hope in her assumption. He could just be feeling proud of his virility.

Exultation was the only word to describe how he felt, Cloud thought. Removing his hand from her mouth he placed it on her abdomen and noticed that it was no longer concave. It was very possible that he had gotten her with child that very first night, which would mean that he would be a father just about springtime.