Willow looked at Caleb and then at Reno. She said nothing because she didn’t trust herself to say anything more without revealing that she had no intention of marrying him. Nor did she intend to cause the funeral her brother was so eager to enforce.
«Come on, honey,» Caleb said gently, holding out his hand once more. «If we’re going to ride out tomorrow, you need to rest.»
Willow took another step backward, away from the man holding out his hand to her.
«Willy, you’re being foolish,» Reno said in an impatient voice. «Caleb seduced you, he’s marrying you, and that’s the way it ought to be.»
«No, it isn’t.» Willow focused beyond the two men. «A marriage ought to come from love, not duty.»
Reno made a sound of amusement and disgust. «A woman taught me back in West Virginia that love is for boys and girls who aren’t grown up enough to know any better. Caleb is a man. He knows his duty. It’s time you learned yours, Willy. You danced the tune and now it’s time to pay the piper.»
«Yes,» she whispered, accepting the outcome of her own choices, shivering as a chill roughened her skin. «I understand.»
«Good,» Reno said, relieved. He stepped forward and hugged her. The embrace was awkward because she was stiff, unmoving. «Come on, Willy,» he coaxed. «Don’t sulk. If you didn’t have a lot of feeling for Caleb, you wouldn’t have become his woman. If he didn’t want you, he wouldn’t have taken you. Now you’re getting married. What’s so awful about that?»
Willow turned and looked at her brother.
When Reno saw her face, his eyes narrowed. «Willy?»
«Tell me,» she said softly, «how would you feel if our positions were reversed? How would you feel knowing that your bride came to you because the only I other choice was certain death?»
Reno’s mouth opened, but he was too shocked to say anything.
Caleb’s low, savage cursing was the only answer Willow got. It was enough.
«Yes. That’s a fair summary of how I feel.» Willow stepped away from both men. She wrapped her arms around herself, noticing for the first time how cold she was without her jacket. «Excuse me. I have things to do. I wouldn’t want to be caught unprepared if a storm blows up unexpectedly.»
«I’ll help you,» Caleb said.
«No.»
«Damn it —» began Caleb.
«Yes,» Willow interrupted bleakly. «Damn it. Damn it straight to Hell.»
Silently, both men watched as Willow walked into the night. When they could neither see nor hear her anymore, Reno let out a long breath.
«Good thing she wasn’t packing a gun,» he said. «She’d have gone for it.» Reno shook his head. «And it’s a good thing she thinks she loves you, Yuma man. Otherwise she’d cut your throat while you slept.»
Caleb shook his head. «If that’s what she wanted, Willow would take me head on and wide awake, even knowing she would lose. There’s no quit in her. I admire that, even though it would be a lot easier sometimes if she was meek.»
Reno shook his head in amazement. «She was such a sweet little girl, all smiles and mischief and golden hair.»
«Sweet little girls have to be packed in cotton and put on a high shelf if they’re going to stay sweet.» Caleb looked out into the darkness that had swallowed Willow. «I’d rather have a woman who won’t fold up the first time life gets hard. I’d rather have a woman who makes choices and doesn’t whine if things don’t turn out the way she expected. I’d rather have a woman’s passion than a little girl’s sweet smiles. I’d rather have…Willow.»
«You’ve got her.» Reno smiled slightly. «She’s mad as a cat in a bathtub right now, but she’ll come around and make the best of it. She doesn’t have any choice and she knows it.»
«I’d rather she came to me willingly.»
«From what I’ve gathered, lack of willingness on her part hasn’t been a problem for you,» Reno said sardonically.
Caleb turned so swiftly on Reno that he instinctively tensed.
«Preacher or no preacher, Willow ismywife,» Caleb said savagely. «She came to me as innocent as any woman ever came to a man. If you do anything to make her feel ashamed, you’ll get the fight you’ve been begging for. You’ve got my word on that.»
Reno’s left eyebrow climbed in a black arc as the flat promise in Caleb’s voice sank in. After a moment, Reno laughed softly and held out his hand. «Welcome to the family, brother. I’m glad Willow found herself a man she won’t have to apologize for when fighting time comes around.»
Grimly, Caleb smiled and he shook hands. «Don’t worry, Reno. If you ever need another gun, you just send word. I’ll be there come Hell or high water.»
«Well, there’s one fight coming I won’t have to send word on. Hope to Hell Wolfe is around somewhere. Two guns against Slater’s bunch isn’t enough.»
«It might be if you have a repeating rifle.»
«Wolfe told me about that fancy long gun of yours. Said you can load and fire damn near at the same time.»
Caleb nodded.
«Have to get me one of those,» Reno said. «Wish I had one now.»
«So do I. Is there another way out of here?»
«Maybe. Depends on the horses you’re riding. Look here…»
Reno hunkered down on his heels and began drawing in the ashes with a twig. The passage of the stick left a dim white line through the darker ashes on the surface of the fire as Reno talked in a low voice about the valley and the mountainside.
Across the small valley, Willow froze, listening as hard as she could. She hadn’t been able to hear the individual words while Caleb and Reno spoke, but she had been able to distinguish voices from the random whisper of wind and the rush of the creek. The abrupt lack of conversation made her fear it wouldn’t be long until Caleb came back to bed. She wanted to be somewhere else before that happened.
Hurriedly, Willow tore a blank page from Caleb’s journal and stuffed it into her jacket pocket with the pencil she had already taken. She kept the journal as well, for it had Caleb’s carefully drawn map of all the rugged country they had covered, as well as the easier passes they hadn’t taken. Between that and her ability to read the stars, she should be able to find her way back over the mountains, even though she would be traveling at night to avoid attracting attention.
Willow walked toward the horses, dragging her saddle and a hastily made bedroll behind her. One big jacket pocket was filled with venison jerky, which was all she would have to eat until she reached Canyon City. The prospect of short rations didn’t bother Willow nearly as much as the fact that she would have to leave her mares behind. She simply hadn’t the skill to hide them and herself as well. They would be better off with Caleb, who had cared enough for the Arabians to ignore his own exhaustion and go back over the divide to rescue the four mares.
The breeze shifted, bringing with it the murmur of male voices from the campsite. Willow relaxed slightly, knowing that she had a few more minutes before Caleb came after her. She wished she could be gone before Caleb sought her out, but that would be too dangerous. If only a few minutes separated them, he would come after her and catch her. She needed time to put enough distance between them that chasing her would be futile.
Ishmael scented Willow and nickered softly. She put down the saddle and quickly opened the bedroll as though she planned to sleep in the meadow with her horses. The blankets were lumpy with the various things she had between the layers, but she doubted Caleb would notice in the dark. Her carpetbag would have been too obvious, so she had left it behind.
Willow sat down and wrote quickly, saying what had to be said despite the pain it cost.
Matt, I’m sorry I’m not the innocent girl you remembered. Forcing Caleb to marry me won’t change what happened.