Denver (44 page)

“Oh, no, he’s not! He prospecting for himself!”

“Well, he still thinks you’re the most special woman in the world, and I do too.” Dan sat up in bed. Worry filled his voice, but Mary was wrapped in the love he had shown her in the past hour, and she wasn’t worried about Silas. She ran her fingers along Dan’s thigh, amazed that she had the freedom to do so. She delighted in touching him, feeling her cheeks grow warm as she looked at his naked body.

“Mary, you’re not helping the problem.”

“There isn’t a problem. I’m in love with only one man, and that’s that. I don’t know much about what you want, except you said once you wanted a family like you grew up in. Do you want children?”

“Yes. Do you?” he asked, knowing her answer.

“I want them. Lots of them,” she said, drawing her fingers along the inside of his thigh and watching the effect she was having.

“I can see I’m going to have to marry you soon,” he said, catching her hands to hold them. He had intended to make her stop, because he was still worried about Silas, but when she raised her green eyes to meet his, he forgot Silas and the world.

Later Dan lay stretched beside Mary, stroking her, her hair spread over his chest. “Damnation!” he exclaimed, sitting up and nearly tumbling her from the bed. “I have to get you home. If Michael and Brian find you here, I’ll be six feet under, with lilies growing over me!”

She giggled and flounced back on the bed. “No, darling. You’ll be marching to Father Wertly’s with two shotguns aimed at you.”

Dan laughed, suddenly realizing he would have more fun with Mary as his wife than he had ever dreamed
possible with Louisa or Melissa. “Mary, I’ve got to tell you something,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“Well, I like women. And I have had one in my life here in Denver, but I won’t be seeing her again after this.”

“Dulcie knows that,” Mary said, stepping out of bed to gather her clothes.

Dan stared at her openmouthed. “How do you know Dulcie knows that?”

“I’ve been to see Dulcie, and she’s been to see me.”

Dan watched her move. She was slender, her skin pale, and her breasts high and small. Her fiery tresses spilled over her shoulders, and she took his breath away and rekindled his desire.

“Mary, come here,” he said in a husky voice.

Mary paused to look at him, her gaze flicking down over him. Her cheeks turned pink as she slowly opened her hands and let her clothing fall back to the floor. As she crossed the room to him, he stepped out of bed to wrap his arms around her.

“You’re beautiful.”

“I’m not, but I will forever love to hear you say so.”

“Yes, you are,” he whispered. “You are absolutely the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You don’t know what my heart does when I look at you,” he said as she stood on tiptoe to place her lips on his.

Later she lay in his arms in bed. “If I don’t go home, Michael and Brian will find out how late I’ve been here.”

“Yes,” he said in a distracted manner. “Mary, when did you go see Dulcie? And why?”

Mary smiled up at him. “Darling, let us have an understanding right now. We’re finished discussing Dulcie. And I’m not generous where you and other women are concerned. You have to make a decision for all time, Dan.”

“I already have.” He bent down to kiss her. “Mary, we’ll have to talk about a wedding date and whether we should wait to tell Silas first.”

“I could be ancient before Silas returns. We aren’t waiting for him.”

“I think I just lost control of my life,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes. “Oh, Mary, I can’t believe my luck! Suppose he comes home a millionaire. Are you—”

“Don’t ask me again if I’m sure,” she said in a tone he had heard her use with Brian. “After tonight you should know.”

“If we don’t have to wait for Silas, I’d rather not wait long at all. I need you,” he said solemnly, meaning it with all his heart. “I need you so badly, Mary.”

“I want to take long enough to make a dress to be married in.”

“And my family will come. I’ll have to give them enough notice.”

“Next month? In July?”

He nodded in agreement. “And then we’ll go away for a little while. Oh, I’ve forgotten about my houses!”

“You finish the houses, and we’ll be married.”

“No,” Dan said, knowing there was no turning back now. Houses could wait. “I’ll talk to the men about their houses.”

She stepped out of bed and he caught her, pulling her back down, his eyes twinkling. “Where’s the scar from the time Michael shot you with the arrow?”

“Never mind!”

“Let me see,” he said, trying to turn her over while she struggled with him.

She laughed and grabbed him around the neck. “You already know where the scar is!”

He grinned and kissed her, running his hand over her bottom and across the scar.

“You’ll have a worse one from Michael if I don’t go home. Come help with my buttons,” she said, standing up.

He stood and kissed the nape of her neck, lingering, making tingles course through her until she turned to face him. “You’re supposed to do the buttons. You know there’ll be trouble if I don’t get home.”

“If I didn’t want to keep your reputation intact and
the friendship of your brothers, I’d keep you here all night.” He gazed down at her solemnly. “That’s what I want, Mary. I want you alone with me, just the two of us, with no interruptions. I want to love you until you’re on fire, make you laugh, make you happy.”

“You will,” she said softly, twisting around to kiss his hand as he fastened her buttons.

“I’d like to take you away somewhere for a wedding trip, where I can have you all to myself. Mary, when we come back, you’ll have to give up the boardinghouse. I can hire someone to run it if you want to keep it going so your Pa will have a place, or we can bring him to live with us.”

“I’d rather keep the place going for now. What will I do all day, Dan? I can keep it going.”

“No. It’s time you had some fun. You’re not running the boardinghouse any longer. Do what you want.”

“Dan, I don’t know the ladies in society.”

“You’ll make nice friends. There are new families coming to town all the time, and you have friends here you’ve known a long time. Now, as much as I hate to, I have to take you home.” He scooped her up in his arms and held her, both of them laughing. “I’d rather take you right back to bed.” He tightened his arms and kissed her, holding her close against him while she clung to him with joy.

She put her head against his shoulder. “I’d rather go right back to bed.”

He groaned. “Mary, don’t put temptation in my way again!”

“When have I put temptation in your way?”

“You know damned well what you had in mind when you came to see me.” Her face flamed, and he grinned, his brows arching. “That was exactly what you planned, wasn’t it? Admit it!”

She buried her head against his neck. “I just wanted you to face what we felt, and I wanted to make sure you really love me.”

“And you wanted me to take you to bed,” he
teased, feeling as if he could shout with joy and jump in the air.

“Yes,” he heard her say softly, her breath fanning against his neck. She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Yes, I guess I did.”

“You guess?”

“You’re teasing.”

He laughed and kissed her again. “How I hate to take you home.” He swung her up in the wagon, saddled his horse and secured it to the back of the wagon so it would follow them, then climbed up to take the reins from Mary.

At the boardinghouse, Dan sat in the back parlor talking to her until after two in the morning. “I should go, Mary. I suppose Brian is all right, since he’s out with Michael.”

She shrugged. “I don’t worry about him so much with Michael here. They’re together.”

Dan locked his fingers in hers as they walked to the back door. He turned her to face him. “Thank you for coming to talk to me,” he said softly.

She nodded. “I decided I should follow what I feel in my heart.”

He tightened his arms around her waist, his head coming down as he kissed her hard and long. Mary’s blood pounded, and she clung to him, letting him know as much as possible how badly she needed him, how much she wanted his kisses.

Finally desire made him hard and aroused. Mary pushed away. “We should stop, Dan. The boys could come along…”

“Yeah.”

“Come for breakfast.”

“I will, Mary.” He bent down to kiss her ear, whispering, “You’re beautiful.”

“How foolish and wonderful you are,” she whispered in return.

Dan winked and mounted swiftly, knowing he had to go in a hurry. But he felt wound up like a spring, and knew sleep wouldn’t come tonight. He headed toward
the saloons, deciding to while away another hour at poker.

He dismounted and strode into the Red Rooster unaware of the man outside who stood up and waved his arm. Down the block, another figure moved away from the front of a saloon and waved in return.

In a few minutes both men were standing at the bar of the Red Rooster.

A man entered the saloon and glanced around, then finally threaded his way to Dan, who studied his cards. The man waited until the hands were played, and while Dan was raking in his winnings, tapped him on the shoulder.

Dan took the cheroot from his mouth and looked up at Grizzly.

“Miss Dulcie said to give you this.” He thrust a folded paper into Dan’s hand and strode to the door.

Dan unfolded it to read Dulcie’s cramped writing: “Dan. Word has it from a customer passing through Denver that Silas found gold—more than a million.”

Dan crumpled the note and jammed it into his pocket. He continued with the game for another hour, then finally gathered his winnings and left. His mind shifted to Dulcie’s note. Silas would come home now. Dan hoped he would come before the wedding. He thought about Mary and ached to be with her. Over a month. A hell of a long time. It seemed he had been waiting half his life for a woman, but this one would finally be well worth the wait. And she wouldn’t keep him at such a distance while she waited. He adored her. Dan was so lost in thoughts about Mary that he didn’t hear the two men following him until each one clasped him by the arm tightly, one thrusting a pistol in his side.

“Just keep walking. We have a wagon up ahead.”

“What the hell?” Dan said, going cold all over,
knowing before they answered him what had happened.

“Tigre Castillo, we’re taking you back to New Mexico Territory, where you’re going to hang and we’re going to collect our reward.”

Dan’s mind raced. He had been so wrapped up in euphoria over Mary, he had let down his guard completely. He didn’t wear a weapon; he could feel the pistol jammed in his side, and both men had tight grips on his arms. They approached another row of saloons whose sloping roofs came out over the boardwalk. They’d have to angle out to the street to walk three abreast, and as they did so, they passed the first post that ran from the roof to the boardwalk.

Suddenly Dan yanked forward, slamming one of the men into the post and twisting away from the other. The gun fired, and he felt a burning sensation across his middle, but he knew it was merely a graze. He locked his fists together and slammed them into the man with the pistol, knocking him to his knees.

The other one hit Dan, and both went down, rolling in the street. Dan slugged him and knocked him back, then sprang to his feet. He spun around as the other hit him over the head with the butt of the pistol.

Dan sagged to the ground, and the man hit him again. He fell face-forward, dimly conscious of the pain. Hands picked him up roughly, both men getting a tight grip on him again. “You try anything else like that and we’ll shoot you right here and you’ll never stand trial,” one of them hissed.

They began to walk, half-dragging Dan between them. “I told you we should have brought the wagon closer.”

“Shut up!”

A momentary longing for Mary tore at Dan. He finally had found a woman he adored, and she loved him in return. Now he would lose her, though, and at the moment that loomed more terrifying than the prospect of hanging. His head spun as he was half-supported by the men who moved him along quickly.

Across the street, four men burst from a saloon.
They were singing an Irish song, the tenor carrying the melody, and Dan turned his head to look their way.

“Hey, Dan!” came a drunken call.

“Get rid of them or they get hurt!” one of the men holding Dan snapped under his breath.

“Do you want them shot? You say the wrong thing, and I’ll oblige.”

Dan watched as the O’Malley boys left their friends and staggered toward him.

“Dan, how’s poker?” Michael asked, swaying in front of him.

“Fine, boys.”

“Want to have a drink?” Brian asked. “Who’re your friends?”

“My friends. Remember, Brian, how we met? Well, I met these two tonight, and we’re friends just like you and I were when we met. Instant friends.”

“Hey, you have blood on your cheek,” Michael said dully in words thickened by liquor.

“I fell down and these gentlemen are helping me home. Like you did, Brian. Just exactly like you and I did the night we met. These gentlemen want to see my house. I may build one for them. Good night,” he said as they walked on past the O’Malleys.

Michael and Brian went on down the street. “Where shall we go next?”

“We can go to the California House or a beer garden or the Lazy Dog.”

“I didn’t know you were friends right off, the first night you met Dan.”

“Weren’t. Nearly killed each other. Mary—” He stopped and looked up at Michael, who looked at him.

“You nearly killed each other?”

“Well, it was a fight.” They both looked back at Dan, who went around a corner with the two men. They stood staring after him in silence. “He said it was just like when we met,” Brian repeated.

Both of them were silent a moment. “Bounty hunters,” Michael said, his voice sobering. “Try to be quiet. Let’s go.”

They ran back in long strides, slowing where they
had seen Dan turn the corner, and Michael leaned around. Two men were tying up Dan, and then they tossed him into the back of a wagon. Michael yanked on Brian. “Let’s go.”