Deborah Camp (37 page)

He lifted his mouth from hers and stared into her shining eyes. “Dellie, make love to me. Let’s make love as if there’s no tomorrow.”

With a sudden frown she gave him a shove that jostled his wounded shoulder enough to make him curse softly and release her.

“Careful,” he cautioned, “I took a bullet for you!” He was angling for a drop of sympathy, but she was bent on retaliation and offered not even a wince of remorse.

“The bullets took pieces of skin, that’s all. Doc Martin
said you’d be fully healed in a a couple of weeks,” she informed him archly. “And how can you stand there and ask me to make love to you without regard for tomorrow?”

“I didn’t say that. I asked you to—”

“I know what you said,” she interrupted, whirling away from him. “And I’m telling you that I will
not
make love to you and then kiss you good-bye.” She leaned over and retrieved the rifle, then took it inside.

Reno followed her, perplexed by her refusal. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her, damn it all! And he was making a hell of a sacrifice by leaving her. “I thought you’d be glad to see the last of me.”

“Oh, did you?” She was holding the rifle again, both hands curled around it protectively. “And it never occurred to you to ask me what I wanted, what would make me happy, did it?”

“I was thinking of hanging around, maybe buying the old hotel and fixing it up,” he admitted. “This town could use a good hotel with a great restaurant. I even imagined you managing it. You’d make a success of it, that’s for sure.” He shrugged. “But it would never work.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I lied to you, and you’ll never trust me again. You can’t build a partnership of any kind without trust.” He sat on one of the tall stools at the counter.

“All this thinking you’ve been doing, is that what’s made you so distant and in such a dark mood?”

“You’re the one in a strange mood, if you ask me.” He eyed the rifle. “Asking folks to a party and then sending them home by firing off a round or two.”

“I didn’t think they’d spend the night! Besides, I needed to talk with you before the first train came in and you jumped on it.”

“So you point that thing at me to make me listen to you? Asking nice would have accomplished the same thing.”

“I got your attention.” She hefted the rifle, curling a finger around the trigger. “Still have it.”

“You don’t need that, Dellie. A smile would do the trick.”

“I’ve been smiling all night, but you’re still determined to leave me. What’s wrong, Reno? Why haven’t you come around until now? You didn’t say ten words to me at the funeral.”

He ran a hand down his face. “Killing a man brings on sobering thoughts and summons inner demons,” he allowed, staring at the floor and seeing the final minutes of Terrapin’s life play out in his mind.

“You did what you had to do, Reno,” Adele said, sitting next to him and leaning the rifle against the counter. “Terrapin was bound and determined to ruin you or kill you.”

He nodded. “I know, Dellie, I know.” His glance flickered to her. “He’s not the first man I’ve shot. So far as I know, he’s the first one I’ve killed, but there could have been others. I ran with a wild bunch a few years back. Gunfights were common, and I certainly couldn’t turn my back and not get a knife stuck in it.”

“What were you doing with people like that around you?”

“Prospecting and gambling.” His smile turned rueful. “I’ve led a rambunctious life between Lawrence
and Whistle Stop. When I came here, I admit it was a lark. I wanted to see you again and see how you’d changed, what had happened to drive you to placing an advertisement for a husband. A beautiful woman like you had to have a damn good reason, and I was dying of curiosity.”

“I have changed, especially since you’ve been here,” she admitted, her voice low. “Can you leave and not look back, Reno? Not ever think of me again?”

“Hell, no. I never said I could. But I figure I’ve put you through enough.” He shook his head. “Aw, Dellie, I guess I’ve loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

“Wh-what?” Adele stared at him in open-mouthed amazement. “Be serious.”

“You mean I’ve finally told you something you didn’t already know?” he teased, turning to face her, to take her hands in his. “Love at first sight is what fools and poets blabber on about, but I swear I’ve never felt like this for any other female. I was hoping you’d fall in love with me, too.”

Emotion clogged her throat, and she had to swallow hard before she could speak. “Reno, I must tell you—”

“Yes, I know, you can’t love a man you can’t trust. I understand that. I should have been honest instead of bucking you at every turn, challenging you to like me in spite of my orneriness. I tested your patience, didn’t I, sugar?”

“Many times,” she agreed. “But Reno—”

“I can’t stay here, Dellie. Not in the same town with you. It just wouldn’t work. That’s why I have to board
the next train and get out of your life.” He stood and looked out the window. After a few moments he slipped his arm out of the sling.

“Reno, you shouldn’t,” she advised.

He tossed the black square of cloth aside. “I don’t need that damned thing.” He rested a hand on his shoulder where the bullet had grazed him. The wound burned, but the discomfort was minimal compared to the ache around his heart. He never thought he’d end up a lovesick fool, but Dellie had reduced him to that sorry state.

“Back in Deadwood people thought I was the luckiest man alive. They thought I’d made up my last name and that I had a lucky charm given to me by one of my Gypsy ancestors. One fella even started a rumor that I wore a Cheyenne medicine bag that helped me find gold. I don’t feel so lucky now.”

Adele slipped off the stool and went to stand beside him at the window. Starlight painted his face and she admired his handsome profile.

“My legendary luck seems to have run out, Dellie.”

“No, Reno,” she protested, resting a hand on his arm.

“My big plans have fallen to dust. I wanted to open a print shop here.” He flashed her a smile and her heart skipped a beat. “I’ve got ink in my blood.”

And I have lust in mine
, she thought, but tempered her needs for the moment. “The town could use a good hotel, and we’ve never had a newspaper. Why can’t you stay?”

Hope lifted his heart, then set it down when he saw only curiosity in her eyes. “Whistle Stop no longer
holds any appeal for me. But I have no hard feelings. I want us to part friends.”

She snatched her hand from his arm and her anger bit hard again. “It’s too late for that. I don’t want to be your
friend
. Quitter! No wonder your luck soured,” she told him. “You’ve lost faith in everything. Maybe the murder of Terrapin has taken more out of you than you’re willing to admit. Maybe Terrapin won, after all. He beat you into submission.”

His eyes were suddenly like a sky full of rain. “Why are you talking like that? You don’t mean what you’re saying. Why are you trying to hurt me?”

“Why do you think, you fool?” She wiped tears from her eyes. “I’m mad, I’m desolate! You come in here and tell me that you loved me at first sight and then you ask me for a divorce. What did you think I would do? Jump for joy?”

“I thought you might be relieved. I lied to you, Dellie. I strung you along and made you think—”

“I lied to you, too, Reno.”

“What? When? Oh, are you talking about not intending to marry me at first?”

“I lied by not telling you something. Something you deserved to know.”

He rubbed his wounded shoulder and frowned at her. “What’s that?”

Adele stepped closer, careful to look him straight in the eyes as she rested her hands on his chest. His heart thumped against her palm. “I love you.”

He spread one hand over hers, and she felt his heart leap and race. Then he narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “No, you don’t. You said that out of pity.”

“Pity? Is this pity?” Curling a hand behind his neck,
she pulled his mouth down to hers. His initial surprise dissolved into desire.

The slide of his hand down her spine held the stamp of possessiveness that renewed her faith that she could not only win him, but hold him. He opened his lips over hers and his tongue delved inside, courting hers into a dance of desire. Slanting his mouth over hers, he spiked her passion, took her breath away, and made her moan with pleasure.

No matter what he said, she knew he belonged to her, that no other woman would ever touch him as deeply, know him so completely. She smoothed the back of his hair and arched her body into his. Their nights together swam through her mind and heated her blood. If he’d asked her to make love to him right then, smack dab in the middle of the restaurant floor, she would have done it.

That realization sent her out of his arms. He groaned a complaint and reached for her, but she sidestepped, evading him. She needed his words of devotion more than his kisses of desire just now.

“Reno, do you really want a divorce?”

“No, but you—”

“Don’t presume to think for me.” She shook a cautionary finger at him. “You should know better than that by now.”

“I should,” he allowed with a crooked grin. “Kiss me again, Dellie, before I die from wanting you.”

“Tell me you love me.”

His eyes shone with it before his lips spoke of it. “I love you, Dellie.”

“Oh, Reno …” She melted into his embrace again. His mouth touched hers, fanning a flame that raced
from his body to hers and engulfed them both.

To Adele it was like walking into the sunlight after a long, cold winter. Sliding her hands under his jacket and up his back, she wanted to feel his flesh against hers, wanted him buried deeply within her.

“Dellie, Dellie, is this a dream?” he murmured, raining kisses upon her upturned face.

“No, Reno. How could you even
think
about leaving me?”

“You don’t trust me.”

“Oh, no. Only with my life.” She mocked his look of surprise. “How many times must I place my life in your hands before you believe me? I was never so scared as when I faced Terrapin, but then you showed up and I was no longer afraid for myself, but only for you. If that isn’t trust, if that isn’t love, then what is?”

“But I’ve made you cry. I can’t stand that. I only wanted to bring you smiles and laughter and love. It seems that all I’ve done is bring trouble to your doorstep.”

“You
are
a lot of trouble, Reno Gold,” she said, leaning back to beam at him. “But at times like this you’re worth it—and you’re certainly worth a few tears. Especially when they’re tears of happiness.” She caressed his face with trembling fingers. “And I am happy, Reno. I treated you badly. I shouldn’t have lorded it over you, assumed you were a drifter with nothing to show for yourself. I’m ashamed of myself for thinking so badly of you.”

He cupped her chin in his hand and studied her face. “I see the girl I used to know in your eyes. The girl with the big heart and patient soul and gentle
spirit. Dellie, didn’t you love me a little back in Kansas?”

She swept her lashes down. “Reno, I was so young back then I didn’t know what love was. But I was smart enough to know that I shouldn’t marry Win if I couldn’t stop thinking about you and hoping you’d kiss me again.”

“Are you saying this so I’ll love you even more?”

“No.” She looked up into his face, and her heart swelled with incredible, incurable devotion for him. “It’s true. I might have married Win, if not for you.”

“Speaking of marriage, will you stay married to me, Dellie?”

She nodded, happiness brimming over in her heart. “I’m glad I won’t have to use that rifle on you to keep you here.”

He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll build us a house nearby. A big house for the family we’ll have. I’ll open that hotel and print shop.”

“Those are big plans.”

“Together we’ll make Whistle Stop a good town, not just a place for trains to stop in, but a place to nurture families and dreams and love. A place worthy of you, Dellie.”

His high opinion of her brought on a fresh crop of tears, which she blinked away, because she wanted to see his face clearly, to bask in his smile and the loving light in his eyes. He wasn’t going anywhere, she assured herself. He was staying, staying with her. Putting down roots.

“I’ve got a lot of money, Dellie. You won’t have to work here unless you want to.”

His revelation dazzled her. Rich. He was rich! And
she was married to him. She had never pictured herself a lady of leisure, a woman of independent means.

“You’re a good catch then?”

“A damn good catch.”

“I suppose my mother would approve of this match.”

“Your mother would be doing a jig of pure elation,” he assured her. “Any woman who has had to work hard knows the value of a rich husband.”

“You!” She pressed a gentle fist into his hard stomach. “Were you afraid I might love you for your money instead of for yourself? Is that why you kept the truth from me?”

“Damn straight. I spotted you for a gold digger right off,” he teased.

“Watch out, Gold. I can still get to my rifle and remove a few of your toes.”

“A woman with your beauty is a weapon unto herself.” He smiled when she blushed.

“You’re such a charmer.” She slipped the coat off his shoulders and began unbuttoning his shirt as she walked him backward toward her quarters. “Being rich might be fun.”

“Oh, it’s tons of fun,” he assured her. “Beats the hell out of being poor. But you’re not staying married to me just for the money, are you?” he asked, teasing lights glinting in his blue eyes. He closed the door to her quarters behind him. Moonlight provided enough light for them to weave around her parlor furniture and into her bedroom. “You
do
want
me
, don’t you, Dellie? For richer or for poorer?”

She stood on tiptoe and sandwiched his earlobe
gently between her teeth. “I want you and I want you
now
.”

“Lordy, you’re a bossy woman.”

“I just know what I want, what I need.” She peeled the shirt off him,
tsking
softly over his bandaged wound, kissing the other bandage on the back of his hand. He shivered with anticipation. She turned her gaze up to his, coquettishness swirling through her, curving her lips into a smile, placing a husky note in her voice. “You see, I have a bad case of gold fever, and you’re not leaving until I’m cured.”