Sarah McCarty - Caden's Vow

Caden knew he’d eventually need help, a lot of it likely, but right now, he didn’t want it. “I need to do this on my own.”

“Because of that promise you made your da?” Ace asked, his dark hair flopping over his brow, giving him the look of a devil-may-care no-account. Until you looked a little lower and saw his eyes. No one that had any ability to take a man’s measure could mistake the coldness and purpose that shadowed his light brown eyes. Ace could cut a man’s throat with the same aplomb with which he could perform those card tricks he liked to show off. And with a smile on his face. Not that Ace enjoyed killing, but if it was necessary, he didn’t have any qualms about settling a score. Caden sighed, noting Tracker and Shadow making their way over, too. This had all the makings of a well-intentioned ambush. Shit.

“Did someone send out an invite I missed?”

Sam smiled. “Nah. This is more of an impromptu party.”

“What promise did you make to your da?” Caine asked, with that tenacity that marked everything he did.

“Nothing.” Caden glared at Ace. Of all the Hell’s Eight, he was closest to Ace, which had resulted in a drunken confession about his father many years ago that should never have been made. Ace merely shook his head.

“Don’t get your tail in a twist. You’re a grown man. You get to be as foolish as you want.”

“The hell he does.”

“Let it go, Caine,” Caden ordered.

“The hell I will.”

Sam leaned in and poured more whiskey into Caine’s already quarter-full glass. “Drink that.”

“Shit, if I drink that, I’ll be drunk.”

Sam shrugged and offered Ace the bottle, before saying, “At least you’ll have an excuse for spouting nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense. That gold mine is in the middle of Indian country, and Culbart isn’t going to be any help if anything goes wrong out there.”

That was true. The mine wasn’t the only thing Fei had blown to hell and gone. When Fei’s father had sold her cousin Lin to Culbart, Fei had taken matters into her own hands. A lot of dynamite had been blown to rescue Lin. Which meant the only white man close enough to come to Caden’s aid at the mine wasn’t going to be feeling that friendly toward a Hell’s Eight man. Caden mentally shrugged. He’d faced tougher odds.

“Culbart’s a hard-ass, but no one has ever accused him of being stupid,” Ace said. “If Hell’s Eight calls for help, he’ll be there. He can’t afford to be that friendless with that ranch of his smack-dab in the middle of Indian country and tensions rising the way they are.”

“Besides, I thought some of the problems with Culbart stemmed from the fact the man thought Lin was being kidnapped?” Caden asked.

“He’s got a point, Caine,” Ace offered. “Like the man or not, truth is Lin came to no harm in Culbart’s care, and any man worth his salt would go after a woman stolen from his care, even if it was one of us who did the stealing.”

Caine frowned and took a large swallow from his glass. His green eyes narrowed. “The man still has an ax to grind. He lost good men in that ‘misunderstanding.’”

“It would have been easier if Fei had bargained a bit before up and taking off with her cousin,” Sam interjected wryly. “Might have saved on the grinding.”

“Culbart didn’t leave her much choice,” Caine drawled, taking another sip. “He’d lost good money in the deal. Holding on to Fei was his best chance of getting it back.”

Ace shook his head. “Or so he thought. Fei did a good job covering her pa had gone bat-shit crazy. You can’t totally blame Culbart.”

Caine cocked a brow at Ace. “You sound as though you like the bastard.”

Ace shrugged. “I do. He’s tough as nails, but he’s got a strong sense of right and wrong.” He took a drink of whiskey. “Not to mention an interesting sense of humor.”

“When the hell did you ever see his sense of humor?” Caden snapped, impatience rubbing his temper raw. He wanted to go, not sit here and discuss Culbart’s good qualities.

“When Caine here sent me to set Culbart straight.”

“You were supposed to intimidate him,” Caine countered.

“I decided to socialize first.”

Caden shook his head. Leave it to Ace to turn an enemy into an ally.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a friend,” Ace continued, “but he’s not hostile.”

Caden straightened. He was doing this, and to hell with Culbart and to hell with argument. If that ruffled feathers along the way, then too bad. “Well, if Culbart still has an ax to grind, let him grind it.”

“Goddamn it, Caden,” Caine snarled. “Why do you have to do this now when we’re spread so thin?”

Because he did. Turning on his heel, Caden walked away, not answering, pushing past Shadow and Tracker, ignoring the surprised lift of Tucker’s brow. As he reached the garden gate, he heard Caine say, “Would someone tell me about this promise?”

“It’s personal, not important,” Ace responded with a blatant lie for which Caden would owe him.

“It’s important enough that the man who never breaks promises is breaking one to keep it.”

Ace swore, “Shit.”

Maddie. Caine was talking about Maddie. Caden had promised her he wouldn’t leave the party before she got back. Caden saw her out of the corner of his eye, standing slightly apart from the others, smiling and watching the dancers, looking as pretty and as inviting as sunshine after a storm. Saw Luke head her way, and swore. She’d get over it. He shoved the gate open and kept walking. As the gate slammed closed behind him, he heard her call his name, the surprise and disappointment nipping at his feet in a tone he’d heard his mother use too many times.

Fuck.

He was his father after all.

CHAPTER TWO

HE WAS LEAVING. Maddie stood, tucked half behind a flowering pear tree, looking at the buds amid the leaves, feeling her hopes fade even as the trees blossomed. New pears that she’d come to think would signal a new beginning for her. In a few months those small, nondescript bulges would be fruit. She’d planned on picking that fruit for Caden, but he was leaving. Leaving her. Leaving Hell’s Eight. Without even a goodbye. To her, at least.

Just like everybody else she’d ever cared about. The man she’d thought was her father. Her mother. Her friends. They’d all left. And she’d stayed, just as she was staying here because she always hoped things would get better. Ever since she’d made the decision to take Tracker up on his offer to come to Hell’s Eight, she’d been clinging to some sort of hope. Hope that life for her could be better. That she could be loved. That she’d have a husband. A home. Children.

And yet here she was, standing among strangers, treating them like friends, mooning over a man who couldn’t see her as woman or whore. Watching him say his goodbyes to others, bracing herself for his absence, for the awful not knowing if he was alive or dead for weeks on end. She shivered, the cold, sick feeling digging into her stomach. She loved Caden so. But beyond a smile whenever she came into his presence and an occasional offhand endearment that meant nothing, he didn’t know she was alive. But that didn’t change the fact he was her heart and he was leaving. Or that she hated it.

The protest started at the edges of her mind, subtle yet insistent, gathering strength like a storm chasing across the plains, gaining volume as it got closer. The howl dissolved to voices from her past, some kind, most of them cruel, telling her what to do, how to do it, as if her pain was nothing. As if she was nothing. The urge to slip away deeper into the foliage until she disappeared clawed at her nerves.

She dug her nails into her forearms, letting the pain drive back the cacophony. Caden was a strong man. He respected strong women. All the women of Hell’s Eight were strong. Sally Mae with her pacifist beliefs, healing ways and defiance of convention. Desi with her fiery spirit. Ari with her gentleness that belied an inner strength that didn’t ever let her quit. Bella who was just pure life. Fei with her purpose and drive. Those were the type of women that Caden admired. That was the kind of woman she needed to be.