Texas Lily (43 page)

Every misfortune of his life had been prefaced by Ricardo's arrival. It was like being haunted by an evil genie. Cade didn't believe in genies or coincidences. Ricardo wanted him dead, but he didn't mean to sully his own hands to do it.

And now it wouldn't be sufficient for Ricardo to rid himself of Cade; there was the child to consider. If Antonio was determined to leave his lands to someone besides Ricardo, Cade's child would be next in line. Cade had been prepared to turn the other cheek for himself, but for the child, he would fight.

He couldn't tell Lily that, though. Tired, his stomach satisfied, he leaned back against the pallet and closed his eyes. Lily's gentle fingers caressed his brow, and he reached up to hold them. For Lily, he would wait, but it wouldn't be a passive waiting. He would plan, and when the time came, he would win.

Lily's lips brushed against his own, awaking a desire so bright it illuminated the future. He had never thought to have a future, but it was all he thought about now. He craved it with the hunger of a lifetime of denial. He would make it happen, one way or another.

* * *

Travis appeared again later, checked Cade's wound, and drew Lily aside after he changed the bandages.

"If you can keep him resting, he is on the road to recovery. You won't need me. I want to go back to the cabin and start setting things to rights."

Lily looked dubious. "We have no hired hands. What can you do by yourself?"

"The men who joined Houston think they'll be paid with land, but there isn't any way all that land can be surveyed and titled anytime soon. They'll need to eat. They'll be back. There just needs to be someone there when they come. Let me go, Lily."

He was almost pleading with her. Astonished, Lily gazed at the man who had given her a son and wandered off to follow his own dreams. She knew Travis as a smooth-talking salesman, and in many ways, he still was. She couldn't see him as a farmer, not for long, but for some reason, he needed to be one for just a little while. She had nothing to lose by agreeing, except his company.

"It's Roy's home. I would see it repaired and the land made to prosper again. I have no money, and I'm not certain that Cade is willing to invest in it any longer. What can you do?"

"I don't know, but I want to try." Travis slipped his hat back on his head and regarded Lily uneasily. "Lily, about Juanita... Do you think she'd rather... Hell, I know she has reason to hate men, but I'd be happy with just her company. Do you think she'd come? Do you think I should ask her?"

Lily didn't think she would ever see the day when Travis Bolton, the womanizer, would look nervous over a female. Amusement curled her lips at the thought of shy Juanita causing his despair. He had a whole heck of a lot to learn if he thought Juanita would fall docilely into his arms. She very much suspected that when Juanita was ready to commit herself, but she would lead him a merry chase.

"I think you'd better be looking for a preacher if you want her for anything but a cook, but go ahead and ask. She'll not take your head off. Or any other part of your anatomy."

Travis stared at this boldness on Lily's part, then grinned. "I reckon it's a damn good thing I didn't show up when you were carrying Roy. I don't think you would be so reticent."

"You could very well be right. I've butchered many a chicken with you in mind."

Travis laughed outright. "I'm glad Cade's the one who got you. You'll have a hard time putting a harness on him, and I can't imagine you respecting anyone you could harness. Can we stay friends, Lily, even if I turn back into a snake-oil salesman?"

"You'll always be a snake-oil salesman, Travis, and I'll love you for it. You're what I can never be. I've got to give you credit for that."

With this recognition of what Travis was and was not, Lily put the past behind her. No longer would she curse Travis or condemn herself for what was done. They had created something beautiful between them and gone their separate ways. She held out her hand in friendship and he took it.

Travis grinned appreciatively. "Maybe you could explain to Juanita about the benefits of salesmen and play down what a fool I am. I'll need all the help I can get."

Lily watched him walk away without a qualm. He would always be Roy's father, but he would never be anything else to her. She glanced back to the lodge where Cade lay sleeping. That was where her future waited, and hope danced in her heart again.

Chapter 34

"Lily, I do not like to leave you. I should not go with him. But he says he needs me..." Juanita looked helplessly from the woman who had taken her in five long years ago to the man who waited patiently now by the horses, ready to take her away.

The sun of late May beat down upon them, making Lily regret the heavy Indian clothing. She thought longingly of the cottons in her cool cabin, but she could not return there yet, not until Cade was ready to travel.

Lily looked at Travis, his curly dark hair grown long with neglect, his laughing eyes solemn now as he waited in the distance for the two women to confer and make this decision. Then she looked at Juanita. "I do not want to make you do anything you do not wish to do. You are more sister to me than my own. We have grown up together. Travis will do nothing you do not wish, if it is him that you fear."

Juanita glanced nervously at her moccasin-clad feet. "I do not think I could ever be to him what he wishes me to be," she said softly. "I would go with him to make the ranch ready for your return, but that is not all he wants, I think."

"He will not force you, Juanita, this I can promise."

Juanita didn't look up. "It was Ricardo, you know. He was the one who did this to me."

Shocked, feeling the shock in her very center, Lily could only stare at her friend's bent head. Ricardo? She’d known Juanita despised him, but how could the dapper Mexican lower himself to rape the child Juanita had been?

Misunderstanding Lily's silence, Juanita hurried to explain. "He is evil. You must understand that. He did not lay a hand to me, but he told the others what to do. They... they used... things." She could not describe the instruments of horror that had been used on her in addition to the normal male equipment that had torn away her innocence. "When they could not perform anymore he told them what to use and how to use it. And all because I would not give him freely what they stripped away."

Lily choked and closed her eyes, swaying with horror, grabbing her stomach as if to protect the child within from such words. "Why did you never tell me this?"

"Because I was afraid. Because he said he would do worse should I ever mention what happened. I did not know his name then. I know it now, and I spit on it." Juanita did as she said, her eyes blazing fiercely. Seeing Lily's expression, she grabbed Lily's arm. "I did not mean to make you ill! Come, we will sit down. He does not need me. I will stay here with you."

Lily grasped her spinning senses and shook her head. It was quite obvious what she needed to do now, for Juanita's own good. Juanita needed a man like Travis, a man who could say the sweet words and lies that made a woman feel like a woman without even touching her. Even if Travis should eventually leave her, Juanita would discover that lovemaking was not what one perverted monster had made of it. To do otherwise would leave her a victim forever.

"Dove Woman will look after me. You must go with Travis. He needs you more than I do. I would not tell you to go with him unless I trusted him. Help him," Lily whispered, but her prayers said "Help her" as she looked up to Travis's forlorn figure in the distance.

Reluctantly, Juanita left, and Lily watched them go until she could see them no longer. Then she turned back to the lodge and the man waiting restlessly. Cade regained his strength too rapidly to be a good patient.

"They have gone?" he demanded as soon as she entered. He sat propped against the wall with a bundled buffalo hide as a cushion.

"You knew it was Ricardo who ordered her raped, didn't you?" Lily accused the minute her eyes adjusted from the brilliant sun to the dim interior.

Cade watched her warily as she sat beside him. "She is lucky there was no brothel she could be sold to. He has done that also."

Lily could not comprehend a wickedness so immense. "Why? What does he gain from such acts?"

"Power. Ricardo craves power. It is the way of some men. Women are easy victims. He chews them up and spits them out as a man would practice shooting at targets to keep his sight skilled."

"What is it he wants with my ranch?"

Cade took his time answering, formulating the words slowly. "I think mostly he wants land because land is power in Texas. There is little money here, but land can be traded for anything, including positions of power. I think he is among the speculators grabbing every acre they can find. Your ranch may not be so important to him now that so many have left Texas and he can buy cheap, except now he knows you are my wife. Now, it is not your land he wants, but me."

"He does not want the land to grow things, but to trade things? And he wants you because your grandfather means you to have his land?"

"The name de Suela carries much distinction in Mexico. Ricardo covets that distinction for himself, but my grandfather has always denied it. He wished his stepson to prove himself; instead, Ricardo denied him the knowledge of my mother and myself. He left Ricardo to look after the ranch, but Ricardo sold parcels and left to ingratiate himself with Austin and the others who would someday take Texas from Mexico. I do not think my grandfather even yet knows the whole truth of Ricardo's despicable character, but he knows enough not to believe his lies."

Cade refrained from saying that he must see that his grandfather was safe. Lily was too close to term for him to leave. The last few months had taught him a few things about their relationship.

Lily leaned back and Cade wrapped his good arm around her so she could rest her head against his shoulder. "I wish we could have brought your grandfather with us, but I did not think he would come."

She was quite right there. Antonio de Suela would not be caught dead in an Indian camp. Cade grinned and allowed his hand to roam. Pregnancy had slowed his wife down and made her a good deal more complacent about allowing such liberties in the broad light of day. He had no aversion to taking advantage of the opportunity offered by his forced idleness.

"Why did you come here and not to the ranch?" he demanded.

Lily knew what he was doing but offered no objection. The heavy layer of deerskin offered protection enough, and she was too unwieldy to do more than enjoy his caresses. She contemplated Cade's question before replying. "You said the ranch would not be safe and that your father's camp would be. I did not think I had the right to endanger your child by going against your wishes."

"You did not like it at the hacienda," he stated, sliding his hand beneath the fringed edges of her smock. "But you will stay in an Indian camp?"

Lily gasped as Cade's warm hand inserted itself between her breasts to stroke and squeeze. Liquid warmth flowed between her thighs, and she had to adjust herself as the sensation grew more demanding. She did not reply readily.

"Neither place is my home, but I will stay where it is safe."

"Travis will tell us when the cabin is ready for our return. I will take you home then."

Lily listened to this pronouncement in astonishment, but all she could wonder was how long it would be until dark and whether there was any way they could satisfy these urges with her belly in between them.

Cade didn't satisfy her curiosity that night or in the other nights they spent in his father's house. El Caballo had a new wife, one scarcely older than his adolescent sons, and their coupling could be heard in the darkness when all else was quiet. Cade and Lily lay stiff and silent in each other's arms, their desire driven below the surface by the communal living.

At the end of the week, Cade signaled his brothers and conferred with them on the progress being made at the ranch. Their response evidently did not please him, for he scowled and increased the exercise of his injured arm despite Lily's protests.

By the time Travis returned, Cade was still limping on his bad knee, but he was also pulling himself off and onto his gelding without effort. Travis glared at his patient in the corral and then went to a worried Lily, leaving Cade to discover his presence whenever he tired of his heroics.