Adam, Devils on Horseback: Generations, Book 1 (12 page)

Dread began to push aside her guilt. “What did you do?”

“I found the gypsies and asked them to tell me about you.” Adam’s words fell like rocks in a still pond. A roaring began in her ears and drowned out the sounds of the night.

“Oh my God.” She leaned forward to keep herself from weeping like a fool. No doubt Simza was full of information. Now Eve might even have to leave the state of Texas. “How did you know about them?”

“I saw the wagon right after the accident. I found out where they were camped.” He paused. “Why didn’t you tell me about your time with them? About you?” His voice was full of confusion and, to her horror, pain.

“I’m sorry, Adam. So sorry. I never meant to hurt you.” She gulped in a breath of air through her tight throat. “The last person on earth I’d want to hurt.”

“Not being honest hurts me more than telling me the truth.”

“The truth is ugly.” She felt her heart tearing in half.

“I don’t care if the truth is ugly. I care about you, Eve. I don’t even know if that’s your real name. I don’t know if anything about you is true or if it’s all a lie.” His voice had thickened with emotion.

She could hardly put her thoughts together so they would make sense. “It’s all a lie. Except one thing.”

“Which thing is that?”

She closed her eyes. “You. You’re the one good thing in my life. The only good thing.”

“Not good enough.” The chair thumped, and then he was in front of her on his knees. “Tell me.”

“I can’t.” Tears burned her eyes.

“Yes, you can. Tell me.”

“You’ll hate me.”

He sighed. “I don’t think that’s possible. Right now I feel like I’ve been dragged down the street by a half-dozen horses. But I’m here, with you, listening.” He took her hands in his big paws. “Tell me.”

The words, long trapped inside her, erupted from her mouth. Eve was about to tell her story.

C
hapter Eleven

“I was born in a whorehouse. One of the women was my mother. I don’t remember what she looked like because she never claimed me. The cook in the building took pity on me and made sure I was fed. She’d sing me to sleep and tuck me into the bed in the corner of the kitchen, near the stove, so I’d be warm.”

Eve’s voice had flattened as she spoke. “The cook convinced me I had to leave, so I ran away and hid in the wagon. The part about the rancher finding me and the orphanage was true. I was only there for a few years. From there, I learned how to take care of myself any way I could. I ate from slop buckets, from trash bins, even stole food when I could get away with it.”

“You were a child.” He couldn’t imagine being on his own at five and finding what he needed to feed himself.

She shook her head. “I was never a child. I had an old soul from the moment I was born into that place. I would’ve done all right on my own, maybe even found a way to make a living when I got old enough. But then I met Wade.”

The name on her tongue sounded like a death knell. Adam knew the man wasn’t to be trusted.

“I was eleven, or something like that. He caught me eating in an alley behind a restaurant and boasted about having a full pantry and bacon and biscuits.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t naïve enough to believe him, but hungry enough to take a chance. He had a few children in a little shack at the edge of town. They smiled at me as they ate the biscuits and bacon. I gave in to my hunger and ate more than my belly could hold.”

Adam was afraid to ask her what happened. He didn’t have to.

“I woke up in a haze with a man over me. He was whispering nasty things to me and his cock was between my legs. It was the pain that pulled me out of the opium. The food had been laced with it. Wade had drugged me and sold me to this man for five dollars.” She clenched her hands together, her entire body as taut as a bowstring. “I wanted to escape, but I couldn’t move. After that man left, there was another and another. Wade would feed me more drugs and some food to keep me alive.”

Adam was horrified. And the white-hot rage returned to choke him. He would kill Wade with his bare hands.

“It went on for a couple years or so. Wade had a boss that told him what to do and he controlled me. I never met him, though. They must have decided, because I had such an innocent face, I would be a good partner in his schemes. Wade promised me he wouldn’t sell my body if I helped him.

“From then on, I made my own food. Nothing went in my mouth that I didn’t know where it came from. Wade took me as his apprentice, taught me how to steal, how to cheat, how to trick people.” Eve met his gaze, her blue eyes shining in the moonlight. “Your wife is not a good person, Adam. Eve Tate doesn’t exist except in the seven levels of hell.

“During the last swindle, I turned the tables and drugged Wade to escape. The rancher we’d targeted was a good man who didn’t deserve to be cheated. Wade ended up stealing from that poor man.

“I spent the last five years hiding from Wade and the law. That’s how I ended up at the hospital in Galveston. It was the last place he would look for me.” She shook her head. “I saw him one day and ran. When I was in Austin singing on the street, the gypsies found me and asked me to perform with them. Simza hated me from the moment she saw me. Accused me of being a whore and selling myself to the men, to Milosh, her son.”

“You didn’t sell yourself.” It wasn’t a question. He could hear the truth in her voice.

“No. I wouldn’t sell my body again, but then I met you. I sold myself to you for a few days of happiness, of the taste of a real family and a home.” She cupped his cheek. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Adam. I wish I could be the sweet girl you deserve.”

When she got to her feet, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hung on. She held his head against her belly and trembled from the force of her sobs. Adam didn’t blame Eve for the choices in her life. She survived no matter how hard it was. For that he would be grateful.

“Please don’t go.”

She tried to extricate herself from his grasp, but he wouldn’t release her.

“You have to let me leave, Adam. I can’t stay.”

He got to his feet and swept her into his arms. “You’re not going anywhere, Mrs. Sheridan. You’re my wife and I want you by my side. Isn’t that what married people do?”

She laid her head on his shoulder, her body curled in defeat. He promised himself he would help her heal. Eve had had a life of horror and manipulation, lovelessness and pain. Adam silently vowed she would not have to endure any of the darkness again.

If he had any part in it, she would be loved and would love in return. There were a few obstacles in his way, like Wade and her opinion of herself, but he would overcome all of it.

There was no other choice.

*
* * * *

The bright glare of the sunlight woke Eve. She blinked and tried to open her eyes. Her limbs were heavy and she lay beneath a heavy quilt.

Then the quilt moved.

Adam.

The previous night came back to her in a rush. She’d told him everything.
Everything.
Shame and dismay flooded her and her cheeks heated. She needed to leave as soon as possible. No matter what he said, she was not for him. Her life had been a series of tragedies and disasters. She couldn’t allow herself to take what Adam offered, no matter how tempting it was.

She tried to maneuver out from beneath his hold, but the man was as big as an ox. He was too heavy for her to move.

“Going somewhere?” His sleep-tinged voice didn’t surprise her. She’d wiggled around beneath him like a puppy.

“I need to pee.” She wasn’t lying. It was morning and she did need to relieve herself.

“There’s a pot under the bed. You’re not leaving this room until we talk.”

She tried to scowl at him, but she couldn’t turn her head with the weight of his shoulder beside her. “I’m not peeing in front of you, no matter how much I confessed to you.”

“Suit yourself, but you’re not leaving.” He turned on his back and pulled her against him. She snuggled into him, despite her knowledge that staying was impossible.

“I have to leave.” She breathed in his scent and told herself to enjoy herself for just a few more minutes.

He rubbed his hand up and down her back. Somehow she’d forgotten to be frightened and sad. She simply enjoyed his touch. It was a fleeting joy she wouldn’t experience again.

“What’s your real name?”

She contemplated not telling him the truth but decided it was time to be honest with him. No more lies or half-truths.

“I don’t have one.” She told herself not to be embarrassed. “The women at the whorehouse called me Girl for the first five years of my life. The name Eve was given to me by that rancher. Wade gave me one too.”

He continued to move his hand, soothing the pain of the confession. “What did he call you?”

“He called me Desdemona. Thought it made him sound smart because it was a famous name from a play.” Eve sighed. “I was a child prostitute known within Houston. You can probably find some people who remember me.”

Adam was very still beneath her. His heart beat steadily in her ear, not fast or slow. She wasn’t sure if that was bad or good. If he truly cared about her, the idea she had a reputation in Texas should upset him. However, if he didn’t truly care about her, she wouldn’t be in his bed. The room he’d settled them in was definitely his room. It was meant to be their room after the wedding.

“We’ve known each other a week, married less than that. When I came back here last night I was sure you would be gone or I’d have to escort you out of town.” His voice reverberated through her bones.

“What changed your mind?” She didn’t want to know the answer, but she had to know the answer.

“You. I heard the truth in your voice, no matter how much you were scared or embarrassed. You told me what I asked.” He kissed the top of her head. “You can be whoever you want to be. If you want to be Eve Sheridan, I’m happy to be your husband.”

She closed her eyes and tried to stem the emotions that wreaked havoc through her heart and head. This man was better than she could ever hope to be. He’d forgiven her for lying, for half-truths and deceiving him.

That was when she realized he was tracing the scars on her back.

A lump formed in her throat and she couldn’t speak. To her shame, the scars were so old she’d forgotten about them.

“Did he do this?”

She didn’t have to clarify who “he” was. “No, I was whipped when I was five. It almost killed me. That’s why I left the whorehouse. The cook—Beulah was her name—helped me escape when I was healed. She knew the next time the madam took a whip to me, I would be dead.”

He continued to touch her, healing her with his calloused fingers. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m sorry any of that happened to you. As a child you should have been loved, cherished and taken care of. You should have climbed trees, played ball and learned to make cookies with your mama. Life has been kicking you since you were born, sweetheart.”

She had never considered herself in that light. Eve had always focused on surviving and living from one day to the next. It was probably a good thing she hadn’t thought she was a victim or she might not have lived past the age of five.

“Please stay.”

She closed her eyes and thought about all the times she’d wished she had someone to hold her. Now she had that someone. A man she was falling head over heels for.

Could she set aside everything she’d always done, believed in and strived for? Was Adam going to tire of her? No one had cherished her, loved her or taken care of her—just as he surmised.

“I hear your thoughts fighting over what to do.” He pulled her by the waist on top of him so they were eye to eye. His red hair stood up all cockeyed against the white sheet. A crisscross pattern of sleep lines marked his cheek.

She’d never seen anything so appealing.

“Kiss me, wife.”

Eve hesitated for only a moment. She couldn’t give him up, or his family. Perhaps everything she’d been through had been leading up to this place, this man, this town.

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. His tongue rasped against hers and she let herself get lost in his mouth.

The air between them heated with each kiss. Her nipples hardened to aching points, pressed against the solid wall of his chest. She opened her legs and nestled her pussy against the hard cock throbbing beneath her. He moaned into her mouth when she rocked on him.

She hadn’t expected to make love this morning. Hell, she’d never expected to. Everything she’d done had been fucking; there’d been no emotion involved. This moment, this precious time with this amazing man, was full of emotion.

He flipped her onto her back and removed her clothes before shucking his own in record time. She gazed at the beauty of his male form, marveling that this beautiful man was hers for the taking.

“You’re exquisite.” He climbed onto the bed, over her until he found her breasts. He cupped one and his mouth latched on to the other. His cock lay heavy and hard against her thigh. Arousal ricocheted through her body as he nibbled, licked and suckled her breasts, one then the other.

She hadn’t realized her breasts were so sensitive until Adam found them. It left her panting, eager to feel him inside her, to show him how much he meant to her.

“Please, Adam.”

He shifted his body as she opened her legs. He poised at her entrance and met her gaze. In the depths of his blue eyes, she saw her future. A smile spread across his face.

“I think I might love you, Mrs. Sheridan.”

She pulled on his behind and he entered her in one thrust. They paused, the only sound in the room harsh breathing. She pressed her forehead to his, thankful to have found her red giant.

When he moved within her, she clung to his back, pulling her knees up. Deeper, then deeper still. He thrust and withdrew in a slow slide. She wanted more, she wanted it all.

“Faster.”

He found her mouth again and his tongue mimicked the motion of his cock. He picked up speed, pulling all the way out before he buried himself inside her again and again.

She kissed him with her heart, showing him with her body what she couldn’t say. How much she felt for him, and how much it scared her, but she could find a home with him.

Her pleasure surprised her, sweeping through her like a twister. She clung to him, crying out his name as the orgasm pulsed through her. She clenched her muscles around him. He groaned and buried himself until he touched her womb.

They rode the wave of ecstasy together, their hearts beating in unison. Eve had never had a home to call her own. Until now. Until Adam.

*
* * * *

After Eve had used the chamber pot under the bed, they stayed in bed another hour after making love. He dozed with her warm body against his. Adam had struggled with what to do about Eve. In the end, it was clear to him. No matter what mistakes or decisions she’d made in the past, it was today, not yesterday. They moved forward together or not at all.

He was sure his love for her would only grow stronger as time passed. Adam had been struck the first time he’d seen her through the cloud of flour. She might not be a typical angel, but she was his angel. She might be a bit tarnished, but weren’t they all? They would have a good marriage although it would be hard work.

After they washed up and dressed, he took her hand and kissed it. She watched him with wariness in her expression.

“I need to tell my parents about Wade. If they find out and I haven’t said anything, it will be worse.”

She frowned. “He will try to hurt you and your family. He’s dangerous.”

“I believe you, which is why we need to tell them. My parents and my aunts and uncles are a formidable team.” He wouldn’t reveal her story unless she wanted him to. That was hers to tell.

She looked away, her face pensive. “They may kick me out the door.”

“No, they won’t judge you. There is a lot my parents have taught me, including everyone deserves a second chance.” He pulled her into an embrace, her curves fitting against him as though she were made for it.