Sam’s Creed (20 page)

She wanted them any way she could get them, the same way he wanted them from her. He tipped Bella’s head back, and parted her lips with his thumb. Her mother cleared her throat. Sam tempered his intent. Placing his mouth against hers, he gave her a chaste kiss rife with tenderness instead of passion. “I love you, Bella Montoya.”

Her hands crept up to his neck, nails stinging in erotic little enticements, holding his mouth to hers when he would have pulled back.

“This is not a dream?”

“No, duchess. No dream.”

Relaxing against him, she came up on her toes, fitting her body more intimately to his. Her “Good” sighed into his mouth.

He waited. She didn’t return the sentiment. As the seconds passed, he became more and more aware of her mother watching. More and more aware of her silence. He pulled back. She smiled contentedly up at him. And still she said nothing.

“Is there something you want to say to me?”

“When you come back, when you give me the rest of what I want to hear, then I will give you the words you want to hear.”

“Are you blackmailing me, Bella?”

“Sí.”

And she did it without a lick of shame, too.

“Y
ou have chosen a very hard man.”

Bella glanced away from the window to look at her mother. “I have chosen a good man.”

“He will not let you always have your way.”

“He always lets me have my way.”

“Because he humors you.”

Yes he did, and it pleased Bella even as it irritated her for a reason she didn’t understand.

“If you choose him, he will control you,” her mother continued.

It wasn’t the annoying thought it should have been. She turned her attention to the scenery beyond the window. Specifically to the rise Sam had ridden over. “He will try.”

“Men do not like women who see themselves as their equal.”

In a flash of insight, Isabella understood the problem in her mother’s marriage. Her mother was strong and intelligent, and could be seen as a threat by a man who already struggled as a third son. “He is not Papá.”

Her mother sighed and came up beside her. They were the same height. She’d never realized that before.

“In some ways all men are the same. They want to be the only one and they want to be in charge.”

Sam did like to be in charge. And he was possessive, but that did not mean that he would want her to be less than herself. He had not grown up in the old world, had not grown up expecting her obedience as his due. “Not Sam.”

She pushed the other panel of the curtain aside and stared out. Silence stretched uncomfortably, until finally her mother spoke in a sad whisper. “I wasn’t trying to sell you to him.”

Bella couldn’t look over. It hurt too much. “Then what were you doing?”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother lick her lips. A rare nervous gesture. “Getting for you what you wanted.”

She’d never even thought to look at it that way. “What?”

“You clearly wanted him. And he was resistant. This is a big ranch. A prize. A man would have to be a fool to not want it.”

“Or Hell’s Eight.”

“What does this mean?”

“It means he is a man that cannot be bought.”

Bettina glanced over. “He will walk away from your heritage?”

“He does not want it.”

“Every man wants it.”

Bella didn’t know how to explain to her mother the loyalty that burned so brightly in Sam. He did not come from a society where children were traded in marriage as pawns for power, where always it was a battle for position and what went on behind the scenes was often more important than what was displayed to the public.

“He is a very straightforward man.” Her fingers tightened on the curtains. Bella bit her lip. “If he chooses me, I will be a very lucky woman.”

“Why would he not choose you?” Her mother frowned, her lips tightening as she pulled herself up straight. “What is wrong with him? You are young, beautiful, smart.” With a jerk of her chin her mother punctuated the last claim with the arrogance she wore so effortlessly. “A Montoya. He should be grateful that you even smile at him.”

That was the mother she remembered.

“I will be sure to tell him that.” Imagining Sam’s smile if she did inspired one of her own.

There was another long pause, and when her mother broke it, it was with a voice as tight as her expression. “If you go with him, you will be alone.”

There was no if. “
When
I go with him, I will have Sam.”

“And when he tires of you or becomes embarrassed because you are not white like the women around you? What will you do then? You will have no family to protect you. No one to run to.”

They were genuine concerns. They just weren’t hers. “I think I should warn you, Mamá. Sam is not at all proper.”

Her mother’s brows snapped down again. “And this means what?”

“He has not much interest in society’s dictates.”

The expression in her mother’s eyes was old. “He will when the children come. The words spoken against his choice then will matter.”

Sam would be a fiercely protective father. “Then society had best watch out. He is not tolerant of those that hurt the ones he loves.”

Turning, her mother put her shoulder to the window and studied Bella with an assessing look in her eyes. When she was younger and had made foolish decisions, the look alone had been enough to make Bella squirm and confess. “There is no doubt in your voice and I must wonder as you have not known him long. Do you know him so well or does love blind you?”

She didn’t even have to think. “I know him so well.”

There was another long look from her mother.

“He is worthy of being a Montoya?”

An easy question. “Yes.”

“And you will have no other? You have not met Xavier Alvarez’s nephew. A fine-looking man just a year older—”

“I will have no other,” she snapped, only to see the teasing smile softening the edges of her mother’s mouth too late.

It had been a long time since she’d laughed with her mother. Impulsively, she leaned over and hugged her. “I love you, Mamá.”

Her mother stood frozen for a second and then she hugged her back. Hard and quick. “I thought you had forgotten.”

“The last years have been so confusing. Especially when you gave me to a monster.”

“I did not give you to Tejala. The plan was never to deliver you to him but only to buy time, but you did not believe and you ran and it all went bad.”

Bella stepped back. “Did Papá know?”

“He did not approve.” Her mother didn’t release her, maintaining contact through the tips of her fingers on her arms. “So why does your man not snatch you up?”

“He thinks I am too young and that if he gives in to his feelings, he will be taking advantage of me and steal the future I should have.”

Bettina shook her head and sighed, letting go of her hands. “This is what happens when men think. They get everything wrong. You have never been young.”

Her mother did know her. “Papá might have understood.”

“Not in time.” A wistful tone entered her voice. “Your father could be stubborn.”

“Very stubborn,” Bella agreed, sharing the memories caught in her mother’s smile. Her eyes stung with tears as she remembered the time he’d bought a burro to power the gristmill. “Do you remember when he bought Felix?”

“
Sí.
Felix. Your father wanted him to walk in circles.”

“Felix only wanted a straight line. So Papá decided to train him.”

“And spent hours walking in circles beside it only to find that was how it always must be.”

Felix still lived on the ranch but they did not have a gristmill.

“I told him another burro might be different—”

“But—” her mother laughed with her, wiping at her eyes “—he said he did not have the time to train another one.”

The tears in her mother’s eyes gave her pause. They were not all from humor. “You cared for him?”

Bettina looked surprised by the question. “He was a good man. We lived together for twenty years. Why would I not?”

Isabella felt like a fool. Indeed, why would she not? “Maybe Sam was right.” She sighed. “Maybe I am too young.”

Bettina shook her head. “Now is not the time to doubt yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because your Sam could go either way when he comes back if he has such guilt.”

“He had a lot of guilt.”

“Why?”

“It involves his mother.”

“She was an evil woman?”

“No, he loved her very much but she died in a way that has left scars.” Sam had not told her, but Tucker had. Someday Sam would, but until then at least she had the knowledge.

And the life he lived after left many more scars. So many she ached thinking about them. So many he felt unworthy of her. Which was the most ridiculous exasperating thing.

Her mother went back to staring out the window. Isabella searched for Sam, even though he’d only left a few hours ago. She didn’t know what her mother searched for.

“If he wants you, you really will go?”

“I will go whether he wants me or not.”

That sent her mother’s eyebrows up. “You will not abide by his decision?”

“If he decides I should live without him, no.”

The corner of her mother’s mouth twitched. “Does he know this?”

Isabella’s own lips twitched in wry amusement. “He should. I have not exactly been complacent to this day.”

“A man like this will be angry.”

“His anger will not be as big as mine should he throw our love away.”

Her mother let the curtain drop and turned. “What is your plan?”

Innocence was getting harder to feign. “What makes you think I have a plan?”

Bettina snorted. “You have always had a plan since you were old enough to think.”

Her mother did know her. “If he leaves me, I will follow.”

“And then?”

She blushed. That part of the plan she didn’t think she could share.

Her mother did not need a picture drawn. “You plan on seducing him.”

The words were shocking coming from her mother’s mouth. Even more shocking was the lack of blush as she did so. “Yes.”

Her mother raised her brows. “Haven’t you already done that?”

“Yes, but I have not conceived.”

“You would trap him with a child he does not want. Why?”

“Because he does want it.” She was sure of this. “Sam takes care of everything he meets. He…substitutes strangers for the family he is afraid to have.” She remembered how his hand cradled her stomach low down where his seed had spilled. The hungry expression on his face as he’d rubbed it into her skin. The intensity of the emotion pouring off him as he’d kissed her breasts, her stomach, her mound afterwards. “He can face death without fear, but he cannot face bringing harm to one he loves.”

“And he fears harming you? Why?”

The snap in Bettina’s voice yanked her head up.

“Not because of any lack in himself. He would die for me. It is the life he leads he fears.” She shaped her hands into a closed ball. “He wants me in a safe cocoon like a butterfly.”

“You would go crazy living like that.”

She smiled, rubbing her arms as a cloud chased across the sky, briefly casting the room in shadow. “I am waiting for him to realize this.”

“That could be a long wait, and you have little patience.”

“I have patience enough for this.”

Despite her words to the contrary, she could wait forever for Sam.

“You want him this badly?”

“He is the only man I will love.”

Her mother scoffed. “Spoken like a child.”

Isabella looked out the window, up the path Sam had taken when he’d ridden from her life, ready to sacrifice himself so she wouldn’t face danger. “No. Spoken like a woman who knows her heart.”

She frowned as a rider appeared on the hill. First one then another. Not comprehending what she was seeing until three gunshots went off in rapid succession. Warning shots.

Her mother grabbed her arm and dragged her back so fast she stumbled. “Get away from the window.”

Isabella spun around, looking over her shoulder. Riders spilled over the hill in a cloud as dark and as threatening as the one that had just passed. Someone rang the bell in front of the main bunkhouse. It chimed loud and urgent. There were shouts in the yard. Doors crashed against walls. Booted feet raced over wooden porches.

“¿Qué pasa?”

Her mother shot a glare out the window as she crossed to the gun cabinet.

“Tejala comes for you.”

“Something’s wrong.”

Tucker’s declaration merely confirmed the sick feeling in Sam’s gut for the last fifteen minutes they’d been climbing toward the stronghold. There should have been guards. Someone should have challenged their approach, taken a shot at them. It should not be this quiet.

He swung down off Breeze’s back and crouched down by the tracks. Pushing his hat off his forehead he glanced down the trail perpendicular to the one on which they’d come in. “Everyone’s heading out. No one’s going in.”

“Maybe Tejala’s moving again. Enough people knew about this hideout to make him nervous.”

One of the reasons Tejala avoided capture was that he rotated between hideouts, always keeping them secret, never staying long enough in one to be caught.

“Maybe.” He scooped up a handful of dirt and poured it into a hoofprint. But he didn’t think so.

“You think they went after Isabella?”

Sam stood. “I don’t think Tejala would leave the area without securing her.”

Tucker spit out the piece of grass he was chewing on. “Seems a damned high risk to take just for a woman.”

“Bella isn’t just a woman.”

“Uh-huh. I’d expect you to say that.”

Sam shook his head. “I’m not that lovesick.”

“But you are lovesick.”

“Don’t rub it in,” he growled.

“So what’s the big draw for Tejala with Bella?”

“The Montoya ranch is inherited through Bella.”

“Well shit, no wonder Tejala wants her so badly.”

“There’s more.”

Tucker pushed his hat back off his face and sighed. “There always is.”

He turned Breeze back down the path and stopped. There was something wrong with the tracks. “Along with her mother, Bella has to approve the match or the ranch doesn’t transfer.”

Tucker pulled up beside him and studied the ground. “Who the hell thought of that?”

“Her father.”

“He wasn’t thinking much, was he? A will like that opens a woman up for every schemer that steps off the stagecoach.”

“I know.” Sam motioned to the ground. “That strike you as odd?”

“Yeah.”

Dismounting, they followed a too-clean path to a tumble of rocks. Dirt and debris splattered the sides of the biggest and sprinkled the tops of the small ones. Debris just didn’t fall that way naturally, but it did fall that way when swept about in an effort to cover tracks. And the only reason someone covered tracks was that they’d left something valuable behind.

“Interesting.” He studied the rocks. The slide was taller than his head. Stepping back, he couldn’t see any clear opening. Tucker walked around the left side. “See any signs of a cave?”

“Not so you’d notice.”

Sam took another step back, squinting against the bright sun. The need to get to Bella gnawed at him. At the same time, his gut said he was missing something important. Tucker moved around the right side, when it struck him. The debris sprinkled upward in a straight line.