Scandal at the Cahill Saloon - By Carol Arens Page 0,63
just like always, but now he was silent, brooding even.
Cleve never brooded.
All at once, his reflection stood and walked toward her. Bare feet whispered against the carpet while wind rattled the shutters that had been closed against the violent gusts. Twigs from the tree outside hit the slats, scratching and splintering.
From behind, Cleve kneaded her shoulders with strong fingers. He smelled like seduction, warm and male.
She leaned back into him; her purr of pleasure whispered through the room.
He gazed down at her in the glass. “You look like a goddess in that nightgown.”
He flicked the straps off her shoulders, then plunged his hands between the sheer lace and her flesh.
“Goddesses are cold creatures.” She covered his hands and pressed them closer to her heart. “I’m not a bit cold, Cleve.”
“You know that I love you.” He held her gaze in the mirror. He slid his hands out of her sleeping gown and pressed her shoulders. “That no matter what happens, I will always love you?”
“That sounds ominous.” She pivoted away from the mirror to look up at him. “But yes, I know you love me. No matter what happens I love you, too.”
He strode to the middle of the room and turned his back on her. He studied the ceiling, which, to her, looked the same tonight as it had every night. He scrubbed his hands through his hair, then spun about to face her again.
Leanna set her brush on the vanity; she folded her hands on her lap. Cold air seeped through the window frame.
“I think you need to tell me what’s bothering you,” she said.
“I know that Preston is Boodle’s daddy.”
“Oh!” She stood, her stomach and her head in a spin. She rushed across the wool roses on the rug. “I’m sorry, Cleve.”
She pressed her head to his chest and his arms came about her shoulders, hugging her tight. A tremor shivered through him.
“I should have told you, you had a right to know. But I made his mother a promise.”
“I understand that.” She felt his voice rumble under her cheek. “You were right to give his mama that respect. I’m grateful for it.”
“Grateful? Why would you be?”
She peered up at him. His eyes had misted over but he shook his head, clearing them.
“Because she… I need to…” He took a long breath and let it out slowly. “I’m about to tell you something—to do something—and you won’t like it. Hell, you’ll hate me for it. But even then, try and remember that no matter what happens, I won’t let Van Slyck take Cabe from you.”
“I know that. I married you for it, remember?” She touched his cheek. “I haven’t regretted that choice for an instant.”
“You might… You will, dammit!”
She took a step back but held on to his waist. “Cleve Holden, what’s gotten into you? I know you are upset that it’s Preston, but it doesn’t matter. Cabe has as much of his good mother in him as he does the man who fathered him. Besides, the man who did Arden wrong is not his father. You are his father.”
“I’m his uncle.” His eyes closed tight; he lifted his face to the ceiling. “Arden’s last name was Holden. She was my sister.”
All of a sudden, she needed to run to the outhouse and be sick. The floor seemed to shift beneath her. Why had he kept such a secret from her?
A sickening dread settled in her belly. She dashed away a searing tear streaking down her cheek. “Why did you marry me?”
It hurt to have her husband touch her tenderly and break her heart at the same time. She shoved him away, then inched toward the window, coming up against the vibration of the tempest against her back.
“Leanna, you are the best person I know. I reckon I owe you the truth.” He sucked in a breath and held it for a moment. When he exhaled, it sounded like a groan. “I came to Cahill Crossing to take my sister’s son.”
Aching silence inside pressed against the fury outside.
“Why didn’t you?” Anger, pure and hot, consumed her.
“I tried…I never could find the words.”
“Since you were too cowardly to speak up, you married me? To take control of my son?”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t as coldhearted as all that. The situation was so damned complicated, and Cabe was only part of the reason I married you.”
“What’s so complicated about telling the truth? I didn’t ask for more than that.” She heard the voice of a stranger coming from