Hadn’t he always known that he’d burn in hell? Why then was he surprised by this? He supposed he ought to accept his punishment as his due. Still, it wasn’t in his nature to acquiesce. He was a fighter. And had been all his life.
Despite the stab of pain he opened one eye, then the other, determined to have a look around this den of torture where he’d be spending eternity.
What he saw had his heartbeat speeding up considerably. Lying beside him was Cara. Her long, dark hair was a riot of tangles that spilled over one cheek. Her gown, torn and dirty, had ridden up to reveal a good deal of shapely ankle and calf. The front of her dress was slightly open, revealing the darkened cleft between her breasts. The sight had his eyes narrowing. And though it cost him considerably more pain, he had to reach over and touch her, just to assure himself that he wasn’t dreaming.
She lifted her head and was startled to see him awake.
“Yale. Oh, thank heaven. You’re alive.” She shoved the hair from her eyes and sat up. “I…must have fallen asleep.”
“You’ve been here beside me all night?”
She nodded. “I was afraid to leave you for even a moment. You were burning up with fever.” She brought her hand to his forehead. But as she did, he suddenly frowned and caught her hand in his and turned it palm up for his inspection.
His voice was a low growl that might have been pain or anger. “How did you do this?”
She stared at her torn, bloody flesh before shrugging. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing?” His tone deepened.
“I had to remove the boulders from the mine entrance before we could go searching for you. Then last night, when we returned, I needed to put them back in place, in case Fenner’s gang should come back.”
“Oh, my poor Cara.” He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the palm.
She felt the most amazing rush of heat and snatched her hand away in embarrassment. But it was impossible to hide her feelings. They were there in her eyes. In the high color on her cheeks. In the way her breath hitched once, twice, before she was able to control it.
“You’re freezing.” He lifted the edge of the fur to share his warmth, but her blush only deepened. It was then that he realized he was naked. His tone warmed with humor. “It appears somebody stole my clothes. Who do you think it could be?”
“I had no choice, Yale.” She turned her head, avoiding his eyes. “You were bleeding so badly.”
He caught her chin, forcing her to look at him. “I bet you’re going to tell me you never looked, aren’t you?”
She couldn’t help laughing as she pushed his hand aside. “You’re the most irreverent man I’ve ever known. Do you need anything?”
“Cara. Such a question. Especially when you’re addressing a man with no clothes.”
“Oh.” She stood up, shaking down her skirts. “You’re incorrigible, Yale.”
“Also indecent. But exceedingly grateful to you for all you did.” He ran a tongue over his dry lips. “Could I have some water?”
“Of course.” Relieved to have something to distract him from his teasing she hurried away and returned with the canteen. Kneeling beside him she lifted his head, pillowing it in her lap, before holding the canteen to his lips. When he signaled that he’d had enough she set it aside.
He looked up, searching her face. Despite his pain, the devil was in his eyes. “Careful, Cara. If you keep on treating me like this, I might learn to like it.”
It occurred to her that she might discover the same thing. The nearness of this man had her heart working overtime, and her imagination, as well.
“Are you in pain, Yale?”
He gave one slight nod of his head, but it was enough to tell her that he was fighting for control.
Her voice trembled with feeling. “I have nothing to give you. No laudanum, no tea. Not even a drop of whiskey.”
“Don’t worry, Cara. I’ll get through it. As long as you’re here.”
“Oh, Yale.” She touched a hand to his forehead, brushing away the damp hair that curled there. “I was so afraid. Afraid that I’d be too late. Afraid that I wouldn’t find you, or if I did, afraid of what I’d find.”
“You saved my life, Cara. I kept thinking I’d make it back to you, but I know now that would have been impossible. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be lying out there.”
She touched a finger to his lips to silence him. “Shh. I can’t bear to think of it. Close your eyes now, Yale, and rest.”
“I don’t think I have a choice.”
He did as she asked. But the image of her, honey eyes narrowed with concern, and the touch of her, as gentle as a snowflake, stayed with him as he drifted into sleep.
Yale opened his eyes in the thin light of evening, filtering through the mine’s timbers. The moment he did he heard Cody’s voice calling, “Ma. Yale’s awake.”
Cara and her younger son hurried over to kneel beside him.
While Seth and Cody lifted his head, Cara held the canteen to his lips for a long, soothing drink of water.
When he’d had enough he gave them all a smile. “Thank you. I don’t know what to make of this. I’ve never been taken care of before.”
“Never?” Cara couldn’t hide her shock at such a statement.
He shook his head. “I’ve always been the one taking care of others. After my ma died, I knew it would be up to me to steal enough food to keep us all alive.”
“You stole?” Cody’s eyes went wide.
“I’m not proud of it, Cody.” Yale felt like squirming, but he knew he had to be honest with these boys. They deserved that much. “We were three kids, hardly older than you and Seth. My brother, Gabe, was too straight-arrow to ever steal, even to save his own life. So I knew it was up to me to do whatever was necessary to keep the three of us alive.”
“You didn’t have any ma or pa?” the boy asked.
“Our ma died along the trail. Our pa…” He glanced at Cara, then away. “Our pa was somewhere in the Badlands. That’s all we knew. But I wasn’t about to let my brother and sister die in that wasteland. Not without doing everything I could to save them. So I stole what we needed. Milk, meat. I’d have taken more if there had been more to take.”
“Didn’t you have a home?” It was plain that Cody was caught up in Yale’s story.
Yale shook his head. “We’d lived with my grandfather for awhile. But when he died, and things got tense between my mother and uncle, we left to find my father. The trail was our home until we came upon an old man named Aaron Smiler. He took us in. My sister, Kitty, still lives there.”
“Why’d you leave?” Cody asked.
Yale glanced once at Cara’s face, then away. “It was time. I had to find out what I wanted to do with my life. And I decided that I didn’t want to live it in Misery.”
“Did you miss it after you left?”
Yale nodded. “Yeah. More than I’d expected to. And most of all I missed the people. At least some of them.”
Cara’s face was flaming as she said to her children, “All right. That’s enough questions for now. Yale needs his sleep if he’s to heal.”
“Do you need anything?” Cody asked.
Yale smiled. “Nothing. But it’s nice to know I have so many good people looking out for me.”
The children were beaming with pride as they left him to his rest.
“How long have I been asleep this time?” Yale had lost track of the number of times he’d awakened.
Each time, Cara and the boys had gathered around him, helping him eat and drink, changing the strips of cloth that bound his wounds.
And each time, he realized, his pain seemed a little more tolerable. Or maybe he was just growing accustomed to it.
“You slept most of the last day and night.”
He ran a hand through the rough stubble of dark beard that covered his chin. “What did you and the boys do while I slept?”
“They’ve done some digging, and pocketed a few m
ore nuggets. I managed to wash your clothes, though I’m afraid the bloodstains were impossible to remove. And we’ve told plenty of stories.”
“Any sign of Fenner’s gang?”
“So far there’s been none.”
He held out a hand. “Help me to sit up.”
She shook her head. “It’s too soon, Yale. You’ll cause your wound to bleed again.”
“I can’t stay here.” He took her hand, forcing her to help him to a sitting position.
For a few moments his vision blurred as the figures before him spun and danced in dizzying circles. Then slowly the images came into focus.
He saw the color riding high on Cara’s cheeks and realized that the fur covering had slipped to his hips. He managed to keep himself decently covered, though his chest was bare.
Cara studied the sweat that beaded his forehead, to avoid staring at the hair-roughened chest that had her pulse racing. “You’re in pain, Yale.”
He nodded. “Some. But I need to start moving, or I’ll soon be too weak to get up off this pallet.”
“Give yourself a little more time.”
“Time.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I managed to send Fenner and his men off on a wild-goose chase, buying us time to escape, and now I’ve squandered our precious time.”
“You can’t think of it that way. Thanks to you we’re safe for now. That’s all that matters.”
He saw the fatigue in her eyes and caught one of her hands in his, holding it up for his inspection. “At least the time hasn’t all been a waste. I see they’re healing nicely.”
She nodded and snatched her hand away, feeling the familiar rush of heat at his touch. “They’re good as new. Now would you like some meat and water?”
“What I’d like is beef and biscuits and eggs.” He frowned. “And some coffee.”
For the first time Cara smiled as she got to her feet. “Do you hear yourself, Yale? Now I know you’re starting to feel better.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because you’re beginning to grumble. Men are always helpless babies when they’re sick or hurting. But when they start to feel better, they just have to grumble. About the food. About the lumpy bed. Next you’ll be telling me that you can’t be cooped up in this place much longer.”
Yale’s smile was back. “I was just thinking that very thing. In fact, I was thinking that tomorrow we might have to leave this miserable tomb and get out into the sunshine.” He winked at Seth. “Want to go with me?”
The little boy grinned and turned to his brother.
Cody wasn’t as easily won over as his younger brother. “You’re not even strong enough to stand up yet. What makes you think you could walk outside?”
Yale shrugged. “I’ve got a gold coin that says I’ll walk out of here tomorrow. What have you got to wager?”
“Yale Conover.” There was fire in Cara’s eyes, and a sharp edge to her voice that had both man and boy looking at her in surprise.
“I’ll not have my son gambling. Do you hear?”
Chastised, he merely nodded. “You’re right, of course. Besides, you had no chance to win, son. I’ve been known to do just about anything to keep from losing a bet. Even if it opened up my wound and set me back for another day, I’d have walked out of here tomorrow if we had money riding on it.”
He could see the figures in front of him beginning to blur and shimmer. And though it was frustrating to accept any weakness in himself, he knew he had no choice. Exhausted from his efforts, he settled back down in the fur and closed his eyes. Within minutes he was fast asleep.
Cara wriggled between the boulders and shielded her eyes against the sudden stab of sunlight. Climbing to the very top of the mine, she peered in all directions, looking for any sign of horsemen. When she saw nothing, she returned to the mine.
As she stepped into the gloom and waited for her eyes to adjust, she heard Yale’s voice.
“Pick a card. Any card.”
Annoyed, she stepped closer, just in time to see Seth take a card from the deck Yale was holding out to him.
“Now you and Cody look at it before sticking it back in the deck.”
The two children studied the card, before the little boy tucked it into the deck.
Yale shuffled and began turning over cards. Suddenly he stopped, looked at the card, and said, “This is the one. Right?”
Seth gave a gasp of surprise before nodding.
“How’d you do that?” Cody asked suspiciously.
“Maybe it’s magic. Or maybe I just have a special way with cards.” Yale shuffled again, then fanned out the cards and said, “Pick one, Cody.”
The older boy did as he asked.
“Now you and Seth study that card really carefully.”
The two children stared at the card.
“All right. Tell me what it is, then place it here, on top of the deck.”
“It’s the ten of diamonds,” Cody said as he returned the card.
Yale set the deck down and tapped on it lightly, before turning over the top card. Instead of the ten of diamonds, it was the five of diamonds.
Both children looked astonished.
“What did you do?” Cody asked.
Yale grinned. “I think I tapped too hard. I probably knocked off a couple of spots. Let’s take a look at the card beneath this one.” He turned it up, revealing another five of diamonds. “Yep. That’s what I did. Oh, well. Maybe I can clear this up.” He turned the card over and tapped again, then flipped it to reveal the ten of diamonds.
By this time even Cara was kneeling beside her children, staring in openmouthed surprise.
“Bet you can’t do that again,” Cody challenged.
Yale’s grin was quick and teasing. “How much would you like to bet?”
“Yale Conover.”
At Cara’s stern words, Yale’s grin turned to a rumble of laughter. “All right. I suppose I can do this for free.” He shuffled, before holding out the deck to Cara. “Pick a card and show it to all of us.”
She chose the queen of hearts.
“A very good choice.” Yale waited while she placed the card on the top of the deck. “But everyone knows that a queen always needs a king.” He tapped the cards, then flipped the top one to reveal, not the queen, but the king of hearts.
Cara and the children were wide-eyed with wonder.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure the queen is nearby.” Yale tapped the deck again, before flipping the card over. It was the queen of diamonds.
He merely smiled. “I’m glad to see I haven’t lost my touch with the ladies.”
“Do some more,” Cody said excitedly, while his little brother nodded in agreement.
“You want more, do you?” Yale glanced over their heads to Cara, who was doing her best to look disapproving. But it was impossible for her to hide her fascination.
“All right. Just a few more.” Yale forced his attention back to the cards.
It wasn’t easy. Having Cara so close was definitely a distraction.
Now that his wounds were healing, he was finding the close confines of this little mine almost impossible to tolerate. At night, while she and the children slept just an arm’s length away, he found himself unable to sleep for the wanting. She had become a hunger in his soul. A hunger he wanted desperately to feed.
He held out the deck to Seth. “Go ahead and pick a card.”
After showing it to his mother and brother the little boy placed it in the middle of the deck. Yale shuffled the cards, then began slowly turning them over, one after the other. By the time he’d turned over the last card, they were all watching him with matching looks of puzzlement.
“Hmm. Something strange is happening here,” he muttered. “Looks like your card is hiding on us, Seth.” Just then he looked up with a little frown. “Don’t move.”
The little boy’s eyes went wide.
Yale leaned closed, and plucked the card from behind Seth’s ear. “Well, h
ere’s where it was hiding.”
Delighted, the little boy clapped his hands and Cody said, “He wants you to do it again.”
“I’ll try. But these pesky little cards are just full of tricks.” With a wink in Cara’s direction he began shuffling, before holding out the deck to her youngest son. “Let’s see what happens this time.”
Cara sat back, letting the sound of her children’s laughter wash over her. How long had it been since they’d laughed like this?
Oh, the sound was doing the most wonderful things to her heart.
“Wait a minute.” Yale leaned over and removed the jack of clubs from behind Cody’s head, sending the two boys into gales of laughter.
Cara sighed. Despite the sense of danger about him, with that full growth of dark beard and his hair long enough to brush his shoulders, not to mention that roguish smile, Yale was so natural with her children. So relaxed and funny. How she loved him for it.
Love.
She felt her heart hitch at the thought.
She’d loved him all her life. But if she hadn’t loved him before this, she would surely fall in love all over again, if for no other reason than because of the tender way he treated her two lonely children. Was it because he’d known that same kind of loneliness in his childhood? He seemed to have a special gift for reaching deep inside himself and knowing just what these two needed.
Or was it because, beneath that tough, irreverent face he showed the world, he simply had a kind and generous heart?
Whatever his secrets, whatever sort of life he’d lived until now, she knew without a doubt that she still loved him. She’d been a good wife to Wyatt. But her heart had always belonged to the wild reckless boy of her childhood.
Now more than ever.
Chapter Thirteen
“Yale.” Cara nearly dropped the torch she’d been carrying when she caught sight of him, dressed in his black boots and pants and coat, making his way slowly toward the entrance of the mine. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He stopped long enough to give her one of those long, appraising looks that always made her heartbeat quicken. “It’s time I got up and moving again, Cara.”