Tame a Wild Wind (19 page)

“But Tom, how did you know about him?”

“Bridget again.
 
She saw that Borden was wearing Tom’s clothes.
 
When we found Tom he was waiting in the stable with two horses ready to go.
 
I guess he planned on riding out with Borden after he killed us.
 
Now he’ll be going with Borden all right but it will be to prison.”

Sam came over to her.
 
“You don’t look so good.
 
Are you all right?”

Cassie shook her head.
 
“No.
 
I think I’m going to throw up.”
 
She ran to the sink and hurled her guts up.
 
Sam held her head.
 
He handed her a glass of water from the bucket next to the sink.

“Feel better?
 
Here rinse your mouth.
 
Everything is all right now.”

Cassie knew better.
 
She’d missed her cycle and this nausea was not because she was scared by the events of the morning.
 
She was pregnant.
 
Now what was she going to do?

*****

She didn’t dare tell him.
 
At least not until she was sure.
 
Who was she kidding?
 
She was sure and she didn’t want to tell him.
 
He’d make damned sure they married.
 
And then what?
 
She’d fallen in love with Sam Colter.
 
What was she going to do now?
 
How could she protect her heart, when he already had it.

It was time to let Michael go.
 
She’d used that excuse long enough.
 
And she recognized it for what it was.
 
An excuse.

She didn’t want to fall in love, she didn’t want to hurt if he didn’t love her back.
 
She’d gotten so used to saying it was Michaels fault for dying and leaving her alone that she almost believed it herself.
 
It wasn’t that Sam wouldn’t stay but that he wouldn’t love her.
 
Not like she did him.
 
It was much easier to give him her body than her heart.

Cassie didn’t want another marriage like she had with Michael.
 
It was more of a partnership than a marriage toward the end.
 
There was no passion, hadn’t been for a long time.
 
She’d been amazed to have gotten pregnant with Sarah because they only made love sporadically for years.

It wouldn’t be that way with Sam.
 
He was the most passionate man she’d ever known.
 
Admittedly she only had Michael to go by but it was one hundred eighty degrees different with Sam than with Michael.

The only thing Michael was passionate about was his horses.
 
The thoroughbreds.
 
They were his joy, his passion, his life.
 
Everything else took a backseat to the horses.
 
He’d worked with them all day, every day until that last day when he decided to break a mustang for fun.

Cassie hated that he’d died.
 
Hated that he’d left her alone but she didn’t fear it.
 
She’d been alone for a long time.
 
Michael only shared her bed for sleeping.

She went to her room.
 
After the events of the morning she wanted some time alone.
 
She needed to think things through, to decide what she wanted and what she was willing to give to get that.

Someone knocked at her door.

“Can I come in?” Sam asked from the other side of the door.

“It’s open,” she answered.

He crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed.
 
“Are you really all right?
 
You still look a little green around the gills.”

She didn’t look at him.
 
“I’m fine.
 
It’s over now, really over.
 
I feel free for the first time in weeks.”

“I understand.
 
I just wanted to let you know that I’m taking Harry and Tom to the sheriff’s office in Creede.
 
They’ll be held there until trial.”

“Good riddance to both of them.
 
I’m so disappointed in Tom.
 
I thought I could trust him.
 
I did trust him.”

“I know.
 
I’m sorry and can’t help but feel it’s somewhat my fault.
 
If you hadn’t hired me, you might have promoted Tom and he wouldn’t have turned on you.”

She shook her head.
 
“No, I wouldn’t have.
 
If I’d been going to do that I would have in the three weeks I was without a foreman.
 
Tom wasn’t ready or capable of doing the job I needed doing.
 
I wasn’t going to promote him regardless of whether I hired you or not.
 
According to Borden, Tom thought he was in love with me.”

“That I understand.
 
Love makes people do funny things.”

“Yes, I suppose it does.”

Sam got up gave her a kiss and left to take the riff raff to jail in Creede.
 
It was after noon now.
 
She figured he’d probably have to stay in Creede for the night after getting them processed with the sheriff.

She was alone again.
 
And she hated it.

*****

Sam wasn’t sure what was going on.
 
Cassie hadn’t looked at him when he’d told her he was taking Borden and Tom to the sheriffs office in Creede.
 
He supposed it was aftermath from being kidnapped twice in the space of that many weeks.
 
He didn’t know what, but something wasn’t right.

It took him four hours to get them to town and then get back to the ranch.
 

Bridget was waiting on the porch for him when he got back.
 
“So Sam Colter, are you going to make an honest woman of my girl?”
 
She put her hands on her hips and glowered at him.
 
“You two think I don’t know what goes on under my nose?
 
You’ve been sleeping with her for weeks and now she’s pregnant.
 
What are you going to do about it?”

“Pregnant?!
 
What do you mean pregnant?”

Bridget rolled her eyes.
 
“You know for a smart man you’re pretty dumb.
 
I mean going to have a baby and based on my calculations, in seven and a half or eight months from now.”

“How do you know?
 
Did she tell you?”

“I know for two reasons.
 
I do the laundry and she hasn’t had her menses for five weeks now.
 
Second, she got sick this morning and threw up.
 
I expect that’s when she realized it too.
 
She’ll be going to talk to Catherine now.
 
Maybe you better sit down.
 
You don’t look so good.”

Sam did sit.
 
Right on the stairs, in front of Bridget.
 
He shook his head.
 
“She didn’t tell me, didn’t say a word to me.
 
No wonder she wouldn’t look at me before I left.
 
She knew.
 
Knew there was no way I would let her keep saying no to me.”
 
He stood up.
 
“We’re getting married if I have to kidnap the preacher and take him to Duncan’s to do it.
 
She can’t hide from me.”

He left the house, fuming.
 
It was a good thing the ride to Duncan’s was long.
 
He’d need the time to cool off.
 
Pregnant!
 
He was going to be a father again.
 
He saw the baby in his mind.
 
Dark hair like him and blue eyes like his mother.
 
A boy would be nice, but girls are wonderful too.
 
He didn’t really care which it was as long as it was healthy.

*****

When he reached Duncan and Catherine’s place, Sam dismounted and tied his horse to the hitching rail.
 
He’d calmed down during the ride and wouldn’t
 
yell at Cassie now.
 
There was a reasonable explanation as to why she didn’t tell him.
 
Her strange mood earlier now made sense.
 
She’d just realized it herself.
 
She was in shock that’s all.
 
Shock from the ordeal of the morning and then discovering she was pregnant.
 
That’s a lot to take in at once.

Sam knocked on the door.

“I wondered when we’d be seeing you.
 
Come in,” said Duncan opening the door wide.
 
“We’re in the parlor and only found out the news ourselves.
 
Had to wait for the kids to all go to bed.”

“Thanks,” said Sam stepping into the house.
 
“How’s her mood?”

“Testy.
 
I’m glad I’m not in you’re boots.”

Sam nodded his head.
 
Secretly he wished he was in somebody else’s boots too.

They got to the parlor and went in closing the door behind them.

Cassie looked up as Sam and Duncan entered the room.
 
“Sam, what are
 
you doing here?
 
I though you would stay in Creede for the night.”

“Well, I didn’t.
 
I’m here.
 
Bridget told me.”

“Bridget?
 
What did she tell you?
 
How could she know?
 
I didn’t even realize it until I threw up this morning.”

“Apparently, that’s when she knew it, too.

“Figures.
 
If anyone would know before me it would be her.
 
After all, she does the laundry.”

Duncan went to Catherine.
 
“I think that’s our cue to leave them to it.
 
Let’s go.”

She looked over at Cassie.
 
“Call me if you need anything.”

After the parlor door closed behind them, Sam said, “Why?”

“Because you and I had sex.”

“Very funny.
 
Why didn’t you tell me this morning when you found out.
 
I wouldn’t have taken the prisoners to Creede.”

“That’s why.
 
I knew you needed to finish with Borden.
 
You needed to see that he was incarcerated.
 
Just as you’ll need to go to the trial and see him hanged.
 
It’s important to you.
 
For your peace of mind.
 
To know that you finally got justice for Jane and the girls.”

Sam ran his hands through his hair.
 
“
You
are important to me.
 
This baby is important to me.
 
Those are the things that count.
 
The other stuff can be handled by other men.”

“I still don’t want to get married.”

“So you’ll let me look like a heel, rather than marry me?”

“You aren’t a heel.
 
I know that and so does everyone else who matters.
 
I don’t want to marry just for the sake of a baby.
 
I’m raising two children alone right now, three won’t be much different.”

“Cassie, why don’t you want to marry me? What’s the real reason?”

She looked away, afraid he’d see the truth in her eyes, afraid he see the love and the misery she would have without him. “I don’t want a marriage like I had.
 
I need more.
 
Michael and I had a good marriage and I know he loved me in his own way and I missed him terribly when he was gone, but I realize now that something was missing and I need that something.
 
I need more than just a partnership.”