Chapter Fourteen
The air was heavy with rain, and the smell of damp grass. Shadows crept up, and the night slinked away down the mountains. Elijah was going hunting. The men that thought they could take Sheridan with such brutal force would not know when he would come for them. They were men of violence and most of the time that was all they understood. Violence. It was something he could deliver.
He slipped out into the dark of the night, the starless night blanketing him in cool shadows. He followed the sound of the hooting owl to behind the horse’s corral.
“Took you long enough.” A low voice drawled in amusement. “I have been hooting for over an hour.”
Elijah grunted and moved to stand beside his brother, Joshua.
“What is your take on Sullivan?” Elijah wasted no time in getting to the heart of the matter. If he had been a few minutes later, they would have raped Sheridan in a God-damn alley with the town’s citizens a stone throw away.
“What happened?” Joshua asked. “I only got a message you have need of me. I rode out right away. Mother sends her regards.”
Low voiced, Elijah told him what had happened. There was a tense silence after he recounted how they had accosted Sheridan.
Joshua sighed. “Sullivan calls himself king in these parts and he goes nowhere without his gunmen around him. The stories of the number of men he’s had killed vary. Some said he has killed eight men, some said two, some said none. What matters is that he has done enough to be dangerous.”
Elijah glanced sideward at his brother. Joshua had an instinct for judging the abilities of men. Powerful, fierce, and ruthless himself, he knew fighting men. Knew when a man had honor, when he was a coward, and when he was willing to kill.
He met his brother’s gaze with an iciness that he knew Joshua would understand. “I do not want Sullivan to see us coming.”
Joshua nod, slowly rolling his cigarette papers into a smoke. “Do you want to kill him?”
Elijah considered. “It is not our way to murder in cold blood,” he finally responded.
“It is not our way to leave men that trouble and terrorize our women folks, either,” Joshua returned coolly.
Elijah observed his brother silently. Joshua had that wicked rough-edged look to him. Nobody would mistake him for a kind, gentle man. Elijah could not see how his brother had crossed paths with Beth for her to have a son by him. Even though he supposed her son could instead belong to Noah. But Elijah doubted it. The eyes were all Joshua, a deep-sea green with flecks of gold. Elijah and Noah had similar eyes, but with no golden flecks. “How do you know Beth Hardin?”
Elijah’s gut clinched at the stillness that came over his brother.
“Bethany Hardin?”
“Yes. She is here.”
Joshua’s gaze shifted to the cabin, his face suddenly intent.
“Not here in the mountains,” Elijah corrected.
“She is at the Whispering Creek?”
“Yes.” Elijah watched him wondering if he knew about the baby.
“I had wondered where she went,” Joshua mused softly.
“You searched for her?”
“Yeah. I figured she didn’t want to be found, so I left it alone after a few months.”
His brother didn’t know he was a father. Hell. Elijah thought of Beth’s fragility and hesitated. “How did you come to know her?”
Joshua shrugged. “I don’t really.”
Elijah narrowed his eyes and took in the flash of something in Joshua’s gaze. Guilt? “How did you meet her, Joshua?”
Elijah waited patiently while Joshua took several drags of his cigarette. His gaze was flat and blank as he stared at the cabin.
“I met her through her husband. I only had the one encounter with her.”
Foreboding filled Elijah and he stared at his brother, hoping he did not say what Elijah was thinking. “How did you know her through her husband?”
Joshua turned and Elijah flinched from the pain in his brother’s eyes. It flared hot and potent before Joshua quickly shuttered it.
“She worked off his debt.”
“Fuck, Joshua!”
They stood in silence watching each other. Elijah remembered everything he knew of Beth’s husband. He was a brutish, nasty son of a gun. Elijah did not question how she came to be at the ranch. But in the wary gazes she gave him, he saw the hints of frailty Sheridan spoke of. But he also saw the strength and the pride.
He didn’t want to ask this of his brother but he had to, if he was going to reveal Joshua had a son. “Was she willing?”
The silence became painful. Elijah closed his eyes. It felt like hours before he opened them to see shadows creeping over the mountain. They were storm clouds, and they gathered as surely as the one brewing in his gut. “If Beth’s husband gave her to you, to work his debt off on her back and you took his offer, Joshua. I am going to beat you to a fucking pulp.” He met his brother’s gaze with rage burning in his blood. “Test the truth of my words.”
“There is nothing you can do to me, Elijah, which I haven’t done to myself.”
He didn’t want to think Joshua would rape anyone. “Was she willing?” Elijah snarled, unable to let it go.
“It was a willingness brought on by fear of her husband. Blinded by my own lust for her, I saw the fear too late.”
Elijah heard the torment in his voice. He heard something else. Dark and dangerous. Elijah thought about the fact that Beth had hidden from her husband at the ranch for almost two years now, but her husband had not found her. “He is not coming for her, is he?”
“No.”
He left it at that. Some secrets should be kept in the dark.
“If you were to approach her now, would she react in fear?” While he wanted Joshua to know his son and for the Triple K to claim him, Elijah doubted he could do it, if it would unravel Beth further. She had been hysterical when they had taken Sheridan. The fear in her wide brown eyes had sickened him. No woman should feel such fear. If Joshua had been the one to put it there, Elijah would beat him bloody.
Joshua dragged on his cigarette, a picture of cool. Elijah saw in his eyes though the rioting emotions. They had always been able to read each other. Joshua was the one person Elijah did not even think to lie to, and he hoped to God his brother didn’t think it necessary to deceive him.
“I have no reason to approach her,” he finally responded with a grimace.
“You have not answered my question.”
Joshua glanced at him sharply. “Why is it important?”
“Does she have reason to fear you?” Elijah snarled.
“I did not rape her,” Joshua said tightly. “She gave herself willingly and I was not man enough to say no. If I hurt her, it was because she had never had a man before, and I realized it too late.”
“Hell.”
“Those were my sentiments. She had been Mrs. Hardin for two years and was a damn virgin. I never expected that.”
Joshua stepped towards him and clasped his shoulder. “Why all these questions? Is she hurt?”
Elijah did not hesitate. “No. She has a son. Nine months old. He’s a Kincaid.”
He watched the knowledge dawn in his brother’s eyes and Joshua froze, his face paling. He stumbled almost weakly toward a stump and sat down. Elijah followed him silently.
“Thank you for telling me.” His brother’s voice was hoarse and Elijah knew how much he had shaken him. Joshua was not the kind of man to show a lot of emotions.
“Do you know his name?”
“Grayson.”
Joshua nodded grimly and then changed the subject. “The threat to your woman?”
“She is not my woman.”
Joshua grunted and looked at him with mocking eyes.
Elijah stooped beside him. “I am going into town.”
“For Sullivan?”
Elijah nodded. “I won’t kill him. He will be in his saloon or the hotel and I am going for him. They took Sheridan at his orders.”
“Are you going to call him out?”
“No,” Elijah mused. “He fancies himself a big man in these parts. He likes the power and the idea of being invincible. He likes being followed by a lot of tough riders, with people stepping out of the way. We have seen men like him before. We know how to bring them down. He is nothing more than a vicious bully.”
“He will not forgive you for the humiliation,” Joshua said. “It would make sense to kill him.”
“I promised Sheridan no more deaths.”
He smiled. “And Sheridan is important?”
Elijah gripped a fistful of the earth and threw it at him.
Joshua chuckled. “Sullivan was a little gutsy ordering her to be taken in the middle of the day.”
Elijah agreed. “He’s a little insane, I think. Drunk with power.”
Joshua scrutinized him shrewdly. “Whatever you do, don’t underrate him. Do you ride tonight?”
“No. He will be on edge waiting for my return, surrounded by his men. I will keep Sheridan here for a few days, then I will make my move.”
“You don’t have to,” Joshua offered. “I could pay him a visit at his outfit. He would never know what hit him.”
Elijah considered it briefly. Joshua was a man of violence, even more so than himself. He was more lawless and brutal, but completely protective of the frailer sex. He believed women should be pleasured and cosseted, which was why Elijah could not believe Joshua would have hurt Beth.
“No. For what Sullivan has sanctioned for Sheridan, anything that befalls him will be by my hand.”
His brother was silent for a moment. “So you have forgiven her?”
“There is nothing to forgive.”
Joshua laughed low in the darkness. “It seems as if you cannot resist her lure, brother. Because of her you broke your friendship with a man who you had called friend for twenty years.”
The memories washed over Elijah and he leaned back against the tree, gazing in the star-studded sky. He had broken Thomas. More than his body he had severed the friendship they had. Thomas had been demented with rage and possessiveness at the thought of his wife with his best friend, but it had been unconscionable, the way the whip had darted and lashed, biting into her delicate skin.
Elijah had lost rational thought and he had broken every finger on Thomas’s whip hand. Elijah had been calm and methodical when he took each finger, staring into his eyes while breaking them one by one. Each snap had severed the final ties to their friendship. “I broke our friendship because he took a whip to her.”
Joshua flinched. “You had not told me that part. I thought you took her maidenhead?”
“I did,” Elijah said flatly. “She had been his wife for months, but Thomas never touched her. Yet he was still insane with jealously when he saw us together.”
Elijah felt Joshua’s start of surprise instead of seeing it. “Are you certain? I had always thought the fairer sex repulsed Thomas. I was shocked when I heard he got married. We had never seen him with a woman…but to be jealous to the point he whipped her?”
“I didn’t understand his possessiveness. I knew we shocked him. Hell, I was shocked when he asked me why I was in bed with his wife. But I realized he only married Sheridan for her wealth. We knew him to be a man of honor. It is not easy for me to think of Thomas in a light where he would deceive someone for monetary gain.”
Elijah and Sheridan had spoken for long lengths. The day had been filled with them making love or talking. He tried not to think about the fact, that the day had been one of the most peaceful of his life since he had lost his family. “It seems the entire town of Blue Lagoon knew we were together. Sullivan used it as his excuse to treat her with such contempt. No one offered aid at their rough handling, because she is now considered a loose woman.”
“This is a fucking mess,” Joshua growled.
“I know. Sullivan will not give up.”
“Is she that wealthy or is it her beauty?”
Elijah thought of Sullivan’s offer to share her. “He wants both…but her wealth is the greater draw. Fifty thousand pounds.”
A soft whistle hissed from between Joshua’s teeth. “That is a hell of a lot of money, Elijah. Why don’t you just marry her and be done with it? That would make you the target, and you are more than capable of protecting your own. To fight you they would have to fight Noah and me as well. Sullivan would have to be stupid to take on such a challenge.”
Elijah sighed. “You know I will never take another wife.”
“Does she know that?”
Elijah gave him a stony look.
“You are gentle with her,” Joshua said softly. “She doesn’t even fear you, Elijah. If she knew your reputation I wonder if she would be so wildly defiant.”
He grunted. “She listens well enough.”
“Not when you told her to get out of the rain.”
Elijah jerked his head up and narrowed his eyes at the taunting smile around his brother’s lips.
“Relax. From the moment she talked about putting her mouth—”
The knife flew from Elijah’s grip and buried in the earth between Joshua’s legs.
Joshua held up his palms, low laughter pulsing from him. “I turned away. Even moved up the trail, but I could still hear her. She said she loved you.”
The memories of Sheridan’s passionate cries of love and sultry heat had Elijah gritting his teeth, fighting back the brutal need to go for her in the cabin. He had taken her over and over trying to exorcise the need for her.
“Only words,” he said flatly, not wanting to traverse along those lines of conversation. Had Emma not said the same thing, had she not promised to love and protect their son at all cost?
“For such a smart man, you’re mighty blind.”
“Leave it alone Joshua,” Elijah growled.
They were silent for a few minutes.
“You marryin’ her?”
He should have known Joshua wouldn’t be able to keep quiet. “No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“She is not made for this life. I am not a man that makes the same mistake twice. A woman like Sheridan would be a mistake.”
“Seems to me she is adjusting mighty fine.”
Elijah remained mute but wished he had spoken if it would have prevented his brother’s next words.
“Not every woman is like Emma, Elijah.”
“She is.”
“I doubt it. If that had been Emma today, when you brought her up to the cabin she would have still been in hysterics,” Joshua drawled. “While I loved Emma as much as you did, she did not have a spine in her backbone. She was like spun glass.”
All his life Elijah had trusted his instinct when dealing with other people, but it was damn silent now when he thought of Sheridan. “If and when I do take a wife again she will be strong, resilient, and able to defend our home and children, able to live and flourish in these wild lands. That is not Sheridan. I let those vermin live today but she still emptied her stomach. I restrained myself only because she was there. A woman like Sheridan is too weak for this land.”
“And you are certain of this?”
Elijah closed his eyes and forced himself to look past his nightmare. Emma’s bloodied body, his son’s gaping throat; Emma’s lifeless eyes condemning him for not reaching her sooner. But Sheridan had been fighting when he came upon them. She had been wild and defiant, not cowering in fear despite knowing the faith that awaited her. Damn. He had to admit she was soft as hell, but mayhap not like Emma.
I am not weak Elijah. I can be that woman. No, nothing like Emma. “She wants me to teach her to defend herself. To fight. Rifle, a six shooter and a knife.”
He felt Joshua start of surprise. “She barely clears five feet. She will not be able to take any man.”
“No,” Elijah mused, “but she is swift and strong. She can learn to throw a knife. She can shoot from a distance. If I teach her, there could be hope for her when she is accosted.”
It was not an if. A woman like Sheridan would always be accosted if she chose to stay in the West. He’d seen the naked hunger in her eyes when she spoke of home, and he would be a son of a bitch if he tried to keep that from her. If he kept pressing for her to leave. He couldn’t leave this land, and he finally understood her love and respect for it was the same. Even though she had not been born in the West like him. He’d not thought much on it, always having a place to call home. She should have that.
“So you’re thinking to teach her then?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I will pitch in when needed.”
The cry of an eagle rode the night air and they identified their younger brother’s call. They shifted in unison and waited for Noah to appear. He came upon them silent and sure. Elijah arched his brow when he took in Noah’s appearance. His hair was plaited in two and had feathers interwoven in them. He wore pants tucked into moccasins with a large hunting knife sheathed at his hips. As usual he wore no guns, they were more Joshua’s style. Dancing green eyes met Elijah’s gaze, and he drew his younger brother into a fierce hug. It had been too long since he last saw him. Almost a year. As a Marshal Noah took on some of the most dangerous jobs, where he left the Triple K for months at a time. As Elijah understood it from Joshua, a few months ago he had gone undercover, riding with a bunch of criminal gang comancheros.
“What did I miss?” Noah drawled.
Elijah released him and Joshua drew Noah into another bear hug.
“Let’s go inside the cabin. If Sheridan is awake I will introduce you.”
Noah mocked stumbled “The Sheridan? Ma will be thrilled to hear this.”
Elijah ignored both his brothers’ low chuckles and walked toward the cabin. The tenseness from his shoulders eased and the rage in his gut settled somewhat. And he knew it had a lot to do with the fact that he was heading back inside to Sheridan’s arms more than his brothers’ presence.
And it was the most difficult thing he had ever admitted.