“You were… only a girl,” Beulah said, as if reading Cait’s thoughts. “But you’re…a woman now. Don’t let… him get away again.”
“I don’t know if I can.” “You… ccan do anything you…put your mind to.”
Beulah gazed at her with affection, pride, and love. “I’ll try.” Beulah stared at her a long moment. “I ain’t… gonna ask you to promise.” The rasping grew louder. “Your decision. Your life.” Beulah’s eyes closed and Cait could sense her spirit leaving.
“No, Beulah. Please.” Cait perched on the edge of her chair, grasping Beulah’s thin hand between both of hers. Beulah took a deep, shuddering breath, then lay still. Cait fell to her knees beside the bed and buried her face in the colorful quilt. Now she was completely alone.
Chapter Seven
WIN ROCKED RHYTHMICALLY in the chair he and Cait used to squabble over, remembering the past with bittersweet nostalgia. The deepening twilight added to the melancholy that had plagued him all day. Earlier he’d managed to keep busy feeding the horses, as well as greenbreaking one of the mustangs. The horse needed more work to make a decent cattle horse, but he knew Cait could handle that part of the training. He’d seen her do it enough when they were younger. He’d also spent a couple of hours talking to Deil and managed to lure the stallion close enough to eat a thick carrot Win had tossed on the ground only three feet from where he stood. He knew he’d only won a single skirmish. He still had the main battle ahead of him.
Now more than ever, Win was anxious to tame the stallion and put as many miles between himself and Cait as possible. There was no doubt she was drawn to him, just as he was tempted by her. But now that Duffy knew Win was staying with Cait, Win couldn’t spend a minute longer here than he had to. When he arrived, he’d thought Tremayne would be there to act as a chaperone, but alone with Cait, he knew the gossip was only a whisper away.
A movement down the road caught his attention and he stood to see the figure more clearly in the disappearing light. He recognized the black and white pony first. As Cait approached, he noticed the slump in her shoulders. Apprehension slithered down his spine.
Cait drew her pinto up by the corral and Win strode out to meet her.
“How is she?” Win asked.
Cait’s spine stiffened but he couldn’t see her face as she concentrated on removing her mare’s tack.
“She’s-” Cait cleared her throat. “She’s gone.”
Win silently damned fate for taking Cait’s friend so soon after her father’s death.
Cait carried her saddle into the barn and Win followed. She stacked the saddle in its proper place but remained standing there, her back to him as she fingered the latigo laces. “She’d been wasting away for months and I didn’t even notice.”
Win wasn’t certain which was worse-her grief over Beulah or her selfloathing. “I’m sorry, Cait,” he said awkwardly.
“First Pa, now Beulah.” She turned slowly and raised her gaze to Win. The hollow sadness in her eyes was like a spear through his chest. “Are you going to leave me, too, Win?”
He ignored his own warnings to keep his distance and hugged her. “Awww, Caity.”
She stiffened, then slowly relaxed into his embrace, her weight resting more fully against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek in the center of his chest. The same protectiveness he’d felt for her when they were children swamped him. He’d never felt this fierce emotion with any other woman.
He rubbed her back with a soothing upanddown motion and rested his chin on her crown, whispering gentle, calming words. He didn’t realize she was crying until her tears soaked through his shirt, dampening his skin. Tightening his embrace, he kissed the top of her head.
“Let it all out, Cait. It’s okay,” Win murmured.
Dust motes swirled around them and the horses’ quiet whickers wafted in with the cool evening air. Insects buzzed and an owl hooted.
Win had lived the past ten years riding from one ranch to the next, spending his money in every saloon he could find, and never leaving more than a soonforgotten memory behind. He’d never been tempted to stay in one place longer than it took to do what he was hired to do. There was always another job, another saloon, and another woman down the road.
None of those things were what he wanted. Not anymore. Cait had stolen his heart all those years ago and he hadn’t even realized it was missing until this moment. But what could he do about it?
“Are you hungry?” he asked when she shifted in his hold.
“Not really.”
“Did you eat something in town?”
He felt her shake her head against his chest.
“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll see what I can throw together?”
Cait eased back and lifted her head. “Last time you did the cooking, we ended up gnawing on burnt beef and nearly raw potatoes.”
He chuckled, remembering his attempt long ago at making supper when he’d complained about Cait’s cooking one night while he and his pa’d been visiting. “I’ve never criticized a woman’s cooking since.”
He expected a chuckle or maybe a smile, but Cait merely looked at him somberly. “Were there a lot of women, Win?”
Surprised by the question, his amusement bled away. He shrugged and looked past her. “A few.”
“Why didn’t you get hitched to one of them?” There was only curiosity in her voice.
He forced a laugh. “One or two tried to harness me, but I’m not the marrying kind, Cait. I always wanted to follow the wind, see what lay down the next road.”
“Sounds more like a tumbleweed than a person.”
This time his amusement was genuine. “I suppose it does to someone who’s lived in one place most of her life. After my ma died, Pa just didn’t have the heart to settle down with another woman. The closest I had to a home was this place.”
She stepped back and he dropped his arms. She eyed him shrewdly. “So why’d you stay away for ten years?”
The fading light was his ally as he lied through his teeth. “After what I did to you, I figured your pa would be holding a shotgun next time I stopped by.”
“I never told him, and he never mentioned it so I figured he didn’t know. What about your pa? Didn’t he think it was strange that you wanted to leave so early that morning?”
“I got my drifting ways from Pa. He figured I just got a powerful itch to move on and followed.” The blatant lie burned like acid. It was his father who had insisted they leave immediately. He’d known what Win and Cait had been up to, and he hadn’t approved. Adam Taylor had been married to a half Indian woman for six years. He knew about folks’ narrowmindedness firsthand, and had informed his son that unless he wanted to make Cait’s life miserable, he’d leave her alone. There was no choice to be made. Win rode away.
“Did your pa know?”
When did she start reading my mind?
Cait’s pointblank questions gnawed at Win’s conscience. He’d never liked lying or people who did it, yet here he was spinning tales like some crazy old mountain man. “Why all the questions now, Cait? That was ten years ago.”
“We’ve danced around it ever since you got here. I’m getting tired of not knowing why you left the way you did.” She glared at him. “I have a right to know.”
“Why?” he asked, hoping to keep her offbalance enough that she would drop the questionandanswer.