Sarah McCarty - Caden's Vow

His past has haunted him for a lifetime…but one woman could be his salvation

Gunslinger Caden Miller’s compadres are becoming a bit too domesticated for his liking. So he’s off to Kansas territory to carve out a living and a space of his own—alone, just the way he likes it.

Maddie O’Hare has been drawn to Caden ever since she escaped to the Hell’s Eight compound from the brothel where she was born and raised. And she’s not ready to let him go so easily…until she’s captured by his new neighbors.

When Caden discovers that Maddie is being held by a rival at a nearby ranch, his plan to rescue her backfires, and he finds himself the groom in what’s literally a shotgun wedding. As shocked as Caden is by the bizarre turn of events, Maddie’s grateful kiss holds a fiery promise that’s far more unexpected. But with old enemies catching up with him, Caden and Maddie will face a danger that tests their passion—and will either bind them together forever or break them apart for good.

Selected Praise for Sarah McCarty’s Hell’s Eight series

“McCarty is a sparse, minimalistic writer, with a great ear for dialogue. She’s a passionate observer of history, and manages to deftly and accurately weave her spicy stories through with important facts and issues of the epoch she invokes. She’s also good at capturing that intangible magnetism surrounding dangerous, rugged men…I’m hooked.”

—USATODAY.com

“If you like your historicals packed with emotion, excitement and heat, you can never go wrong with a book by Sarah McCarty.”

—Romance Junkies

“It’s so great to see that Ms. McCarty is able to truly take these eight men and give them such vastly different stories and vastly different heroines, all of whom allow us to see different aspects of what life was really like for Western Frontier women be it good, horrific, or simply unfortunate.”

—Romance Books Forum

“Sarah McCarty’s series is an exciting blend of raw masculinity, spunky, feisty heroines and the wild living in the Old West…with spicy, hot love scenes. Ms. McCarty gave us small peeks into each member of the Hell’s Eight and I’m looking forward to reading the other men’s stories.”

—Erotica Romance Writers

“What really sets McCarty’s stories apart from simple erotica is the complexity of her characters and conflicts…definitely spicy, but a great love story, too.”

—RT Book Reviews

“Readers who enjoy erotic romance but haven’t found an author who can combine it with a historical setting may discover a new auto-buy author…I have.”

—All About Romance

Caden's Vow

Sarah McCarty

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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To the real-life inspiration for Caden:

Q, may your happily-ever-after waltz up and give you an ever-so-ladylike bite on the butt soon. It couldn’t happen to a nicer man. Or a more deserving one. As I’m sure all the ladies who enjoy Caden’s Vow will agree.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

CHAPTER ONE

HELL’S EIGHT WAS doing Tia proud. Caden Miller looked around at the normally peaceful garden Tia had started and Tucker’s wife, Sally Mae, now helped maintain, at all the people crammed into its well-tended confines to celebrate Tia and Ed’s wedding, and couldn’t help a smile. Ten years ago he wouldn’t have given a snowball’s chance in hell that Caine could pull off his dream. But like the others, where Caine had led, Caden had followed. And Caine’s drive to succeed was evident in the sturdy outbuildings, the assortment of equally sound houses and the contentment reflected in the faces of those in attendance. The men of Hell’s Eight weren’t just content; they were flourishing. They were settling down, marrying, having children, sinking their roots deep into the east Texas soil. Of the original eight, only he, Ace and Luke remained footloose and fancy-free. Something that should have pleased him but instead had him feeling a pang of...envy? Shit. Since when did he feel envy for something he didn’t even want? He wasn’t a settling man. He’d always been as restless as his father before him. As all the Hell’s Eight used to be.

Glancing around the garden, at the tables laden with food, at the couples standing side by side, the contented smiles where he was used to seeing hardness and purpose, Caden again felt that strange tightness in his gut. Hell’s Eight was changing. The reckless rage that had driven them for so many years had smoothed into something just as durable but...calmer. Caden rolled his shoulders. He didn’t like calm, but it seemed to be settling all right with Hell’s Eight’s most notorious members. Shadow, Tracker and Tucker, three of the most feared men in the territory, known for reckless deeds that were as dark as their looks, were hovering over their wives, every bit the doting husbands. Caine and Sam, wild men known for getting the job done no matter what, were looking as confident as rich bankers—that is, if one discounted the subtle tension in their muscles and the alertness in their gaze that spoke of men accustomed to surviving by their wits. Not to mention the guns strapped to their thighs and the knives tucked into their belts. Shit, they were all going soft, and if he stayed here, so would he.

Caden sighed and took a drink of the fancy champagne Desi had ordered all the way from Chicago for Tia and Ed’s wedding. It tasted like cat piss to him, but what did he know of the finer things? He was the son of an Irish nomad, a dreamer. A man who’d sworn his pot of gold was just over the next horizon, around the next bend. Caden had a brief mental flash of his father’s face. Rigid with determination as he’d told Caden to hide when the Mexican army had raged into their town. He’d been seven going on eight, anticipating the gun his father had promised him for his birthday two days hence. He hadn’t wanted to hide. He’d wanted to fight, but his father hadn’t given him any choice. He’d shoved him into the hidey-hole under the kitchen floor, and on a gruff “Remember who you are, son,” he’d replaced the planks above him and left him in the dark. Those were the last words his father had ever spoken to him. His mother he hadn’t found until...after. She’d been at the mercantile when the army came.

Caden took another swallow of the champagne, wishing it were something stronger. There were times when a man just needed something to drown out the noise of the past, but champagne wasn’t whiskey, and the memories kept coming. He’d lain beneath the floorboards for what seemed hours, listening to the shouts and screams, wincing at the gunshots, straining to hear his father’s voice, feeling helpless and scared until he couldn’t stand it anymore.