Between Love and Lies (13 page)

The other woman recovered first and ran her gaze over Noah. “You’re a most persuasive man, Mr. Ballantyne,” she purred like a cat thinking her favorite food was in reach. Her gaze flicked to Sadie. A smile twitched her lips as she looped her arms around Noah’s neck. “Why pay for sullied goods when you can have me?”

Noah untangled himself from her grasp and went back to leaning against the door. “I’m only interested in spending time with Sadie.”

His refusal to be swayed by Cora’s charms, made Sadie’s heart leap with joy. Yet his words shouldn’t please her. He sounded like a man bent on interfering with her plans. She didn’t want that. She couldn’t want that.

Noah challenged Cora’s silence with a raised eyebrow. “Say the word and I’ll accompany you downstairs to continue this conversation with Madam Garrett.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, dallying with that bitch,” Cora said, jabbing her finger at Sadie.

“I’ll take my chances,” he replied without hesitation.

The glare Cora turned on Sadie made her scalp prickle like her hair had been singed.

“So…” Her tormentor snorted a laugh. “You’ve finally got a man paying to lift your skirt.”

A chill swept over Sadie. Cora’s barb struck too close to the truth. Was she implying she knew Edward had never shared Sadie’s bed? The only way she could know was if Edward or Orin had told her, and Sadie couldn’t think of any reason they would.

“If this one gets in your drawers,” Cora continued, “you’ll be in real trouble. You’re both gonna end up payin’ a hefty price.” She thrust her hand, palm up, toward Noah. “I’ll take my first payment now.”

* * *

Noah watched Cora
pocket the gold eagles he’d given her.

When the coins were safely stowed in the ample cleavage on display above her corseted waist, she trailed her fingers up her ivory skin to her hair. A scarlet silk rose set off her glossy dark mane, not a strand of which was out of place. She’d obviously invested considerable time in arranging her appearance.

He opened the door for her, wishing she’d left ages ago, wishing he’d never seen her tonight.

As soon as she’d cleared the threshold, he closed the door behind her and turned to Sadie.

Dust streaked her face and hair. It couldn’t hide the freckles scattered across her cheekbones or the complete disarray of her red hair. He approached her with measured steps, stifling the urge to fulfill his vow and tousle her hair even more as he kissed her for real.

Would she greet him with the same startled inquisitiveness? As if he was the first to kiss her?

He needed to derail that train of thought as well. Only a fool longed for the impossible when more pressing matters loomed—like learning where Sadie had been and why.

“I’m as curious as Cora to know what’s got you climbing through windows tonight.”

“If I wouldn’t tell her, do you think I’ll tell you?”

One rebellious red lock, longer and dustier than the rest, claimed his attention. He couldn’t stop himself from stroking the silky strands between his fingers as he held them up for her inspection. “Where could you’ve picked up so much dust?”

“From my window curtain,” she replied a little too quickly while shrugging one shoulder in a casual gesture that failed to conceal her nervousness.

What made her more uneasy? His questions or his nearness? What would it take to learn her secrets and keep her safe?

He leaned closer until they stood eye to eye. “I came in the same way. See any dust on me?”

Her chin lowered along with her gaze. “Thank you for helping me with Cora.”

He had her thanks, not her trust. He released her hair and gripped the back of his neck instead. His fingers dug into his flesh as he struggled to stop himself from reaching for her again. “You’re the most confounding soul I’ve ever met. Most stubborn too.”

“You mean more stubborn than you?” She stole a glance at him and, for an all-too-brief moment, he lost himself in a pair of emerald eyes sparkling with mirth before her gaze lowered again. “Haven’t we had this conversation before?” Then incredibly she laughed.

The sweet sound tempted him beyond endurance.

Once again, his fingers stole into her hair, so he could tilt her face up to his. “When you lived on your farm, did you ever long for a husband by your side?”

Her wide eyes suggested his question had astonished her as much as him. What the hell was he doing? The answer came to him in a heartbeat. He was trying to propose to the woman he’d traveled thousands of miles to see again. A woman he now couldn’t leave.

He may have held her face in his hands, but she held his heart in hers.

A fierce desire to know everything about her gripped him. He slid his thumb down the side of her nose and along her cheek, removing the dust so he could reveal the extent of her imperfect but utterly compelling beauty. He pressed a kiss to the last freckle hiding below the corner of her eye. Eyes once again concealed by the fall of her lashes.

“A husband can be gentle with his wife.” He concentrated on keeping his voice low and soothing. “Trust me on that account, Sadie.”

Every sinew and muscle under his hands and lips went rigid. He stiffened as well, waiting for her to tell him to go to hell.

“A husband, I suspect, isn’t so different from a madam.” Her breath warmed his cheek in soft breathless puffs while her words sent an icy shiver down his spine. “He owns his wife. He’d be loath to damage his property. But he would if she didn’t…tell him exactly what he wanted.”

The chill settled into his bones. Who knew hell could be so cold?

“You’re no one’s property.” Despite his words his grip on her tightened. He was no better than every other man in Dodge, certainly no better than Madam Garrett. He released Sadie and took a step back. “I can wait for what I want…and for you to want the same.” Or at least he hoped he could.

“You can’t want me,” she said in a strained voice. “You don’t want to contract syphilis.”

“You’re not contagious. The doctor told me.”

“He told you—” She gaped at him as if she confronted the devil. “Does Gertie know?”

“Of course not. Your secret’s safe with us.”

“Us?”

“Me and the doctor.”

“He’s lying. Whatever he said about Edward—” She sealed her lips and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“You don’t have to carry this burden alone. If Edward hurt you, forced you to—” He struggled to draw breath, dreading what he might hear but knowing one certainty. “It won’t change how I feel about you. Trust me.”

She shook her head so vigorously her hair escaped its last pin and covered her shoulders. “I can’t trust anyone. And I can no longer stay in Dodge.” She spun toward her bedroom door.

With his palms raised, he moved to block her. “I’m all for leaving, but where will you go? You haven’t thought this through.” Why hadn’t he thought this through?

“I planned for this eventuality, but not for you. How fitting that you, the one who forced me from my farm, would force me from Dodge and my debt.”

“You mean your father’s debt. It’s not yours.”

She raised a shaking hand to her pale brow.

Every muscle in his body tightened with concern. “You might not be contagious, but you’re still sick. You don’t want to run off and be alone if your condition progresses to the next stage.”

Her hand fell to her side. “My condition? I thought the doctor told you—”

This time he scooped her up into his arms before she even came close to hitting the floor. “Your secret’s safe with me,” he repeated as he cradled her against his racing heart. “So are you. I promise.”

“Promises….they can so easily turn into lies when we cannot kept them. Sooner or later, you’ll have to—” She hid her face against his chest. The tension in her slender frame felt like iron. “Go back to Texas.” Her voice may’ve been muffled but it held conviction.

She finally believed in something. His departure. Even worse, she sounded like she wanted him gone. But what if that was now the answer to getting her out of Dodge?

“I’ll leave town the minute you do.” He couldn’t agree that he’d head home. Not without her. He couldn’t lie about that…but was a lie of omission any better?

She went motionless in his arms as if she sensed the turmoil in him, as if she suspected he wasn’t being completely honest.

His footsteps dragged as he crossed to her bed. His arms were also sluggish to obey as he told himself to place her on the mattress and release her. He spun to face the door. He wouldn’t burden her with his weakness, the fierce longing that must burn in his eyes.

“Don’t go.” Her softly spoken words made hope leap in his chest. “You promised.”

“And I’ll keep my promise. I’ll keep you safe.”

“You promised to kiss me when we were alone.”

Sweet Jesus.
How was he supposed to be gentle when she fired his desire using only a handful of words? “Sadie, you just collapsed. You need to rest. I’d be taking advantage of you if I—”

“I know it’s a lie, but I want you to kiss me as if we were married, as if we were in love.”

Love was damned complicated.

She released a resigned sigh. “I knew your promises held no more weight than a feather in the wind.”

He’d be damned if he’d walk out of this room with those words reverberating in both their heads.

Kneeling beside her bed, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her. With his lust pounding through his veins, he wasn’t surprised when her body remained rigid, and her lips sealed. He’d broken his promise to show her tenderness.

Cursing himself for a ham-fisted lout, he drew back only to have her lips part with a gasp.

The disappointment in the sound made his heart ache. He apologized with a kiss so soft it might have been the feather in the wind she’d mentioned. Her arms wound around his neck as easily as her hair had curled around his finger earlier, and her lips opened like the petals of a spring flower.

He drank her in one sip at a time, deepening the kiss gradually, pausing often to receive her response. Every time she replied with a kiss to match the one he’d given. She was a damned quick study. He went from a beggar lost in the badlands to a man receiving a king’s feast. He couldn’t get enough of her.

He pulled back, shaking as much as the woman in his arms. His body demanded one thing, but his thoughts were chaotic. Sadie’s kisses were like fire, but they were also innocent.

No denying the truth. He’d never be her first bed partner, but he was her first kiss.

Did he have the patience to entice her kiss by kiss, instead of dollar by dollar, to stay in his arms, to forget all of the men in her past and wish for a future with only him?

CHAPTER 9

Noah stared
over his coffee mug at the lawman sitting on the other side of the jailhouse desk. For the last hour, Bat had been sneaking surreptitious glances at him. It wouldn’t be long before the marshal’s curious nature got the best of him. Then he’d start asking questions.

Questions for which Noah had no solid answers.

He’d endured a long and sleepless night since he’d paid Cora to leave him and Sadie alone, since he’d forced himself to leave Sadie alone to recuperate from her collapse. He wasn’t sure he could endure Bat’s questioning without confessing he might not have the strength to win both Sadie’s trust and her love.

He shouldn’t have kissed her, because he now craved a helluva lot more. But Sadie had asked. She wanted to be in love. Gertie hadn’t destroyed that longing.

He had a chance. But he was now a man whose patience had worn thin, his frustration ready to be unleashed on the first unlucky soul who rubbed him the wrong way. Not a good state for a deputy, charged with being fair and orderly…or for someone with a notoriously inquisitive boss.

He needed to regain control, to breathe. He couldn’t do that under Dodge’s oppressiveness.

Bat regarded him openly now, not bothering to hide his interest. The look brought Noah out of his chair.

“Thanks for the coffee and the day off work.” He set his mug on the desk and headed for the door. “Need to take care of a few things, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” Despite warning himself not to look back, he glanced over his shoulder to gauge the marshal’s reaction.

Bat’s face crinkled with laugh lines. “Goin’ anywhere special, Deputy?”

Noah retrieved his hat from a peg by the door. “Thought I’d get out of town for a while.” He had a task in mind that would keep him occupied and hopefully take his mind off Sadie.

“Is that so?” When Noah made no reply, Bat rose and joined him by the door. “Well, I’ll ride with you for a bit. Could do with some fresh air.”

Noah bit back a curse. “Don’t want to trouble you. Plus I have to make a stop before I head out.”

Bat raised an eyebrow. “At the Star?”

“At Zimmerman’s.”

Bat’s eyebrow rose even further. “Zimmerman’s Hardware Store?”

Noah nodded reluctantly.

“You picking up tools or lumber?”

“Both.”

“Well, I’d better come with you.”