A Kiss for Cade (38 page)

“I have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “I’m looking at my wife. There’s no law against that.”

“I’m not your wife, and you know it.”

“That must mean the good reverend doesn’t have the power to marry folk.” He chuckled. “What will people say when they learn every married couple in the county is living in sin?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.” He was a breath away from her now. “Admit it, Red. You’re still in love with me.”

She pushed him back, full of frustration. Nothing she did intimidated him. He stood with a grin on his face as if he considered this situation little more than juvenile amusement.

“I don’t love you.”

“You don’t.”

“I don’t.

“All right,” he said, picking up the boxing gloves, “let’s fight.” He grabbed her right wrist and shoved a glove on her hand.

“Stop this,” she said, trying to shield her left hand. He reached behind her, tugged her hand to the front, and pushed the other glove on. After tying both laces, he took a step back to assess her with a grin. She watched in trepidation as he reached out with his left fist and tapped her on the chin.

“Come on, Red. Fight.” He grinned, grazing her chin again. “That’s what we do best. Fight.”

With a flourish, she rested the gloves on her hips. “Cade, you’re acting like a child. Do you know how ridiculous you look in that gown and nightcap?”

“Yes. Let’s fight.”

“I don’t want to fight. Our agreement was to marry for the kids’ sake, and you know it.”

“I don’t make deals. I agreed to marry the woman I care about so she could have what she wanted. Addy’s children.”

She drew a deep breath. “Care about? I’m not a fool, Cade. You married me because Seth and Bonnie changed their minds and Laticia pushed you into a corner.”

“That’s it, get mad. Let it all out, Red. Let me have it.” He stepped closer, pointing to his chin. “What are you waiting for? Come on, hit me!”

“Don’t be absurd.”

He tapped her on the jaw. “Cat got your tongue? Since when have you been reluctant to tell me what you think?”

She shook her head, refusing to appease him.

He reached out and boxed her shoulder. “Let’s duke this out, manto-man.”

“No!”

“You’d like nothing better than to get rid of all that anger that’s been eating at you for years. Here’s your chance. I’m offering you a way out. We’re not going to settle anything between us until you make me pay for walking out on you.”

Zoe crossed her arms, refusing to rise to his bait.

“We’re locked in here until morning. We can make it either pleasant or nasty. It’s your choice.”

The challenge in his voice said he was dead serious, and the look in his eyes meant business. She squealed when he lightly boxed her jaw with his bare knuckle. “Stop it!”

He tapped her again. “Come on, fight me.”

“Leave me alone!”

Cade jabbed at her shoulder, forcing her to take a step back. The man had lost his mind! He was nothing more than an overgrown child, taunting her into this madness.

“Come on, fight me!” With the flat of his hand, he pushed her shoulder. “Get rid of the resentment, Red. I was a thoughtless cad—say it.”

“Why? So you can feel better?” If he wanted absolution, he’d come to the wrong place.

“No, so you can. Brrrkkk, brrrkkk.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she watched him tuck his thumbs into his armpits and flap his elbows. He strutted around the room like a chicken, making obnoxious clucking sounds. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn he’d been drinking. “Stop it!”

“You can’t tell a cad from a chicken?”

“Ooooh!” She hauled back and landed a center punch to his stomach. He stepped back and put both hands where she’d made contact. Then she socked him in the jaw, smiling when she heard a groan. “Is that what you want?”

“Maybe not that hard, but you got the idea.” He cocked a brow. “Give me another shot.”

“Leave me alone, Cade. I don’t get mad like I used to.” She swallowed hard, trying to control her temper. “You can continue this childish taunting, but I’m going to sleep.”

She threw herself onto the bed, landing stomach down on the overstuffed boxing gloves, silently berating them, the lock on the door, Pop, and Gracie, but most of all Cade—the one who’d hurt her, the one who wanted to fight, the one who would leave her again. Tears burned her lids as years of frustration screamed for release.

Getting up, she walked to him and unleashed everything she had in one blow after another until he finally fell backward on the bed.

“That’s more like it.” His eyes fixed with hers.

“You snake!” She rushed at him with a flurry of punches.

“Hey, I thought you didn’t get mad anymore.” He pinned her arms to her sides.

She crumbled, sobbing. “At first, I wondered what happened to you, wondered if you were dead or alive. I thought I’d lost you and the baby.” She broke free and punched him soundly in the midsection.

He grunted. “I didn’t know about the baby. I was wrong, I admit it. But you were wrong for not telling me.”

She flailed at his chest. “Why didn’t you come back? Why didn’t you love me enough?”

“I was young and foolish.” He blocked a direct hit to his nose. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Really? I suppose you thought leaving me here, alone, would make me happy?” She punched his arm. “I loved you, and all I got in return was a few short letters, a box of smashed chocolates, and a broken doll!” Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she shivered as he pulled her to him and kissed them away.

He gently lifted the locket around her neck and rested it across his fingers. “It makes me proud that you’ve continued to wear this.” He thumbed another tear from her cheek.

She bowed her head, unable to meet his gaze. There was so much he’d never know or understand. She surrendered the gloves. “I’m finished now.”

Cade untied the strings and pulled the gloves from her hands. “Are you sure you’re finished?”

“I’m finished. You win.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair. “No one wins unless you’re ready to forgive me.”

“Perhaps I could, if I knew why you didn’t come back.” She felt tears well and blinked them back.

“For a million reasons, none of them good enough.” He pulled her to his chest. “One day turned into a week, then a few months, then years. Then Addy wrote that you had married Jim. For some crazy reason that cut me to the bone. I felt betrayed. After a while, I realized you were better off without me.”

She pushed back, but he stopped her.

“Let go,” she said.

“I did that once. I have no intention of letting go now.”

She eased toward him again, tired of fighting. “You’ll be leaving, and I have no intention of putting myself through the same agony.”

“I love you, Red. No matter what’s happened in the past, I love you.”

“Loving you was never the problem.” She studied his intense, questioning look. “Forgetting is what’s difficult.”

“You never forgot me.”

Tears rolled. She’d never forgotten him for a moment. “You’ve been with me every night of my life since you rode out.”

His gaze met hers. “Tonight is ours. Let’s not waste it this time.”

She hesitated for a moment. Maybe she would never forget, but she knew it was time to forgive and let go of the pain she had been carrying for fifteen years.

She put her arms around his neck and whispered, “You are my husband, Cade, and I…I am ready to spend this night with you as your wife.”

A look of tender hope and love crossed his face. Feeling lighter than she had in years, she smiled as she drew his head to hers and kissed him.

Chapter Forty-Nine

L
ate Monday night Zoe left Cade in the kitchen and went to answer the door. Their honeymoon had been short, but it really had been very thoughtful of the town. The memory would see Zoe through many a long, lonely night. Gracie handed her a note. “Perry just brought this by. I thought you might like to have it.”

“Perry?” Zoe opened the white envelope and her smile gradually receded as she read the legal document. Refolding it, she put it in her pocket.

“Well?” Gracie said. “What is it?”

“The note to the store.”

“The note…to your store?”

“Paid in full.”

“Oh, my. I knew Perry thought that you and he—but now that you and Cade are actually man and wife…” Gracie swelled with indignation. “Why do you suppose he’d do a thing like that?”

“I don’t know. Of course I can’t accept it.”

“Appears to me that it’s already done. That man had a lot of gall.”

“I can’t let Perry pay off my debts.”

“Well, the man certainly knows how to give a wedding present. You gotta hand it to him. One other thing you should know. Roy had business in Suffox County yesterday. While he was there, he told Lawrence that he heard several men talking about Hart McGill.”

At the mention of McGill, Zoe went cold. “McGill’s in Suffox County?”

Gracie nodded.

“Is Roy sure?”

“He says McGill is bragging how he’s coming after—well, just bragging. You know how men are.”

“Thank you, Gracie.” Zoe shut the door and returned to the kitchen, where she found Cade ironing. Glancing up from the board, he grinned and gestured toward an overflowing basket. “There was such a pile, I thought I’d help.”

She wanted to cry when he held up Brody’s best Sunday shirt with a scorched iron imprint on the side. Guilt flashed across his face. “I’m not very good at this—”

She was so overcome with gratitude, with love, that it took a moment before she found her voice. “This is the worst day of my life!” She burst into tears.

“Hey—I’m ironing, not printing money—”

“Gracie just told me that Lawrence said that Roy heard McGill is in Suffox County.”

The silence was deafening. Stepping to the window, Cade pulled the curtain aside and looked out. “Is he sure?”

She nodded, choking on a sob. “McGill’s…here.” A moment later she felt his arms slide around her waist and pull her against him.

He buried his face in her hair, his warm breath brushing her temples. “We knew this was possible.”

“No,” she whispered. “It’s too soon.”

He held her tightly and let her cry it out. When her sobs subsided, he helped her wipe her eyes.

“Better?” he asked.

She shook her head. She would never be better, not as long as McGill threatened him. “And as if that weren’t enough, Perry’s lost his mind.”

“Really?” Cade wiped his hands on a cloth. “How so?”

“He paid off my bank debt.’“

Cade crossed his arms and leaned back against the table. “He paid off the loan?”

“Apparently.”

“Why would he do that?”

Was that jealousy in his voice? Her heart thumped at the thought. “Naturally, I can’t accept it.”

“Why not?”

Zoe took the cloth from him and wiped jelly off the kitchen table. “Would you want me to accept a gift of that magnitude from Perry Drake?”

“Why not? What difference does it make who paid the bill? You’re out of debt, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but that isn’t the point. I don’t think Perry can comfortably afford this, and I frankly don’t want to feel obligated to him when—” She paused.

“When what?”

She took a deep breath. “When you’re gone. I don’t want him to think I would—”

“Marry him?”

She turned, eyeing him sourly. “This is not funny.”

He leaned over and whispered, “You’re too much woman for Perry Drake. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Take the windfall and run.”

“I wouldn’t think of it. I don’t have feelings for Perry Drake. I never have, and I never will.” She rinsed a cup. “What are we going to do about McGill?”

“Forget McGill. I’m leaving at first light. He won’t find me, and Pop will tell him that his information is stale.”

“But he—“

He caught her by the waist and kissed her. Hard. “I said, forget McGill. Now pack some clothes for you and the kids. You’re leaving when I do.”

Hope sprang alive. “You’re taking us with you?”

“I said when I do. Not with me.”