Texas Lily (23 page)

Cade removed the paper from Dixon's hands and returned it to his pocket. "The ranch is hers, Dixon. If you know anything of Mexican law at all, you'd know it can't become mine even if she dies, unless she legally leaves it to me. We're married. We just want it in the public register."

Lily looked up in surprise at Cade's announcement. She had thought a wife's property became a husband's upon marriage. That's the way it had been in Mississippi. It was a positively feudal law; it was hard to believe the Mexicans had gone beyond it.

Apparently Dixon thought the same. He gave Cade a contemptuous look. "Use that line on a fool woman if you like, but don't use it on me. Go find the priest."

Until now Travis and Ephraim had stayed out of the dispute, but when Cade walked away at this command, they both stepped up.

"What do you mean, you won't register my little girl? She's got as much right to choose her man as the next person. Who appointed you anyway? I know Austin personally. I'll see to it that he hears about this."

Travis overrode Ephraim's verbal protests with a more overt action. Grabbing the smaller man's coat collar, he lifted Dixon off the floor. "Now Dixon, I might have a personal prejudice against Cade myself, but I won’t let you insult a lady."

By this time they had gathered a crowd. Lily glanced around at the onlookers and wished herself a hundred miles away. She wanted to follow Cade out to the wagon, but she feared the crowd. Some of the women wore furious expressions, presumably because Lily's word had been questioned or because any man dared interfere in the lawful process of marriage.

Some of the men snickered over Dixon's predicament. His position wasn't an elected one, and he wasn't the choice of everyone present. There were other men, however, who made rude comments behind Cade’s back. Lily knew they looked at her as if she were a piece of trash. They’d had bigots back home in Mississippi too. She shivered, hating this, wishing Cade would return, because she knew he would.

Sure enough, before a general riot could ensue, Cade shouldered his way back, carrying a heavy tome and flipping through it. Lily stared at the book with surprise. She had never seen it before, had not known Cade possessed such a thing, and couldn't believe he read it as quickly as he seemed to be doing.

He pinpointed a place on a page as he reached Dixon and began to read from the book in fluent Spanish. When he was done, he looked up at Dixon with a carefully neutral expression.

"I assume since you are
alcalde
here, you will understand the Spanish. Or shall I translate?"

The fact that the Indian was not only reading Spanish but also speaking the language stunned the crowd. Then a man in the back called out, "That certainly sounded like a damned Mexican lawbook to me."

Quiet Juanita gazed at the speaker with contempt. "He is reading the law in the language in which it was written. Shall I translate if you do not understand?"

"But we're not Mexican citizens anymore!" someone else yelled. "We declared our independence!"

"No, you didn't. You only declared yourselves to be against the 1830 constitution. That lawbook is the only one you have or you'd not have any law at all," Travis pointed out as he released Dixon's collar. "What did you read, Cade?"

A stranger at the rear of the room made himself heard without raising his voice. "He read the passage that says a wife keeps any property she owns upon marriage to dispose of as she wishes. Dixon, I'd recommend you register the marriage as requested."

A silence fell over the room. Dixon sputtered but reached for his register.

Cade offered his hand to the man who had lent his credibility to his claim, and the stranger took it. Calling him a stranger was incorrect. Although he didn't live in this portion of the territory, almost everyone in the room knew of him or had come in contact with him at some point since arriving in Texas. Stephen Austin was the reason they were all here.

"Would that all my Indian problems could be solved so easily," Austin murmured as he transferred his congratulations to Lily. "Do you have any sisters, ma'am? If we had more women out here and fewer men, we'd settle a passel of problems."

"Her sisters aren't quite the same as Lily, sir," Ephraim explained. "She sets her sights on the man and not his money. Don't know that you want too many of her kind, judging by these rascals I see around me." He sent a scathing look to Dixon and his cronies.

"Let's just get this over with and go home," Lily murmured to Cade as he reached for the pen that Dixon handed him.

Cade sent her a look from under his brows that was easily interpreted, and Lily had the grace to blush. She hadn't meant that to sound as it did, but she could see that Cade had every intention of taking full advantage of her careless words. And with a few strokes of that pen, he would have every right to.

She tried to pull her bonnet forward to hide the telltale stain of red on her cheeks. She didn't know what she was going to do when they got home and Cade made it clear that her bedroom was now his, too. She would worry about that later.

As Roy and Juanita stood beside her, Lily penned her name into the book beside Cade's. He had signed it Cade de Suela, choosing his own name as he had said he would. She was now officially Mrs. Cade de Suela.

Chapter 19

Setting the pen down, Lily looked up to find Cade's dark gaze fastened on her from beneath a heavy shock of black hair. He kissed her lightly on the cheek, a token to signify their marriage. Any more in this public place would almost certainly cause a riot. As it was, a cheer rang out in the back of the room and was taken up as they walked through the crowd and out of the store. Weddings were not an everyday occurrence, and anything out of the ordinary was cause for celebration.

Travis elbowed his way through the crowd to place a hasty peck on Lily's cheek, giving Cade a glare of defiance after he did so. "It's customary to kiss the bride. And I'd suggest you get Lily the hell out of here before they decide a chivaree is in order. Ephraim and I will see that the kids get back home."

Cade might be slow to speak, but he wasn't slow to act. He held out his palm to Travis as a gesture of peace. The other man looked at the offering, glanced at Lily and Roy, and resignedly accepted Cade's hand with a firm shake. For the first time in his life, he was putting someone else before himself.

Without further ado, Cade whisked Lily around the corner and out of sight of the gathering well-wishers.

She wasn't prepared for the swiftness with which all this was happening. She had thought there would be time to adjust to her new status, time with her friends and family around her, time to walk beside Cade through town and pretend he really was her husband like Jim had been.

She had imagined a family dinner at home, a long evening ahead to adjust to the idea that Cade would be joining her later, much later.

She wanted to protest as Cade threw her up on his gelding and joined her, but she was too stunned to say a word. She had worn her blue gingham for the occasion, and she had to sit sideways, clinging to Cade's firm waist as he wheeled the horse out of the paddock and onto the open road.

They flew out of town as if all the devils in hell were after them, but once out of sight, Cade slowed the horse and inquired anxiously, "Are you all right? I wasn't thinking. The child...?"

Lily leaned her head against his back and gasped for breath now that the horse had found a steady pace. She shook her head in answer to his question. "I rode an oxen wagon from Mississippi when I was four months gone with Roy. I am fine."

This was the kind of woman he needed. Cade swelled with a sudden desire to head for the trees and take possession of her in the long grass, but despite her strengths, his wife was a lady. She deserved something better than a grass bed. He didn't have much better to offer, but he would do what he could.

With that in mind, Cade turned the horse from the open road onto the prairie, heading for the distant woods. He sensed Lily's puzzlement, but it was easier to show than explain.

They rode for an hour over increasingly rough terrain as they approached the river. When Cade turned his horse northward, Lily knew they were on her property, but along the extreme boundary. The butterflies in her stomach rapidly became something else as she leaned against the hard musculature of her husband's back.
Her husband.
For better or worse.

She hadn't forgotten a moment of their night together, and fear mixed with anticipation as they drew closer to his destination. Cade wasn't Jim. He would demand a great deal more from her than a hot meal and a clean house.

They stopped in a small clearing near a babbling brook. The sky was overcast and the pines added to the gloom, but their branches cut off the winter wind, providing the glade with an air of tranquility.

In the center sat a tepee similar to the one Cade had taken Lily to back in the Indian village. As he helped her down from the horse, she stared at it with nervous interest. The heavy buffalo hides were overlaid enough to keep out any wind. With a small fire, it would be wonderfully warm. And solitary.

Cade had ensured that they would have complete privacy for their wedding night. Or day. Lily threw a look to the sun directly overhead. It was only noon. Did he mean to take her to bed at noon?

"Go inside, out of the wind. I will have a fire started soon." Cade gently pushed her in the direction of the tepee.

Lily hesitated, throwing him an uncertain look. "Is it yours?"

Amusement crinkled his eyes as he met the questions in hers. "A tepee is transportable. It is mine. I brought it down from the village some weeks ago."

She wouldn’t question why he had done that. She knew damned well why he had done that. Giving him a sniff of disapproval, Lily turned, threw back the skin covering the doorway, and entered the darkened world that was Cade's only home.

She had reason to remember the soft furs of the buffalo robes covering the dirt floor. Brightly woven blankets sat neatly stacked at the bottom of what she assumed was to be their bed. An assortment of baskets and pottery was gathered to one side as if ready to be used upon the owner's return. Cade could move in here at any time and have all the comforts of home.

He entered, carrying wood for the fire, and the tent was suddenly narrow and confining. He filled the space with his presence, even when he knelt to lay the fire. Standing as far from him as she could, Lily shivered and rubbed her arms. He was the only man she knew who could make her feel small. She wasn't at all certain that she liked the sensation. How did other women accept this feeling of vulnerability?

When the flames flickered into life, Cade stood, measuring his height to hers. He met her gaze gravely before removing Lily's shawl. He folded it in half and laid it beside the baskets. Completely unsure of herself in this setting, Lily remained passive, waiting for his guidance. She felt no fear, only a dreadful uncertainty. She was his wife, but she didn't know him.

Dark eyes held hers as Cade released her hair, and Lily shivered at the intimacy of the gesture. The ribbons slid out easily, and he spread his fingers through her braid, separating it into a cascade of gold in the firelight.

Heated sensations flooded through her. Confronted with Cade's broad chest and towering height and hands that moved like magic, Lily felt lost, as if she had no control over what was happening. As his fingers unfastened the tiny shell buttons of her bodice, his knuckles brushed against her breasts, and her heart pounded so fast she feared it might leap from her chest.

"I have dreamed of how you would look in the daylight, without this burden of cloth." Cade skimmed the gown from Lily's shoulders, tugging the long sleeves loose until they hung from her waist.

Only the thin muslin and ribbons of her best chemise hid her from his gaze. Lily covered herself, but Cade caught her hand and held it to her side. He didn't speak but he didn't have to. His gaze devoured her near-nakedness, and she shivered beneath the intensity.

He released the ties at her waist. Her one petticoat fell unfastened to the floor, followed by the blue gingham. Chill bumps rose up and down Lily's arms, but it wasn't from the cold. The fire heated the confined space, and the opening at the crown of the tent drew the smoke upward.

Cade's hands closed over her shoulders, then slid downward over her arms, drawing her closer. Stiffly, Lily obliged. He was her husband. She would obey.