Denim And Lace

She nodded. “Like sleeping around.”

“Like sleeping around.” He stared down at her quietly. “I’m not a fanatic about it, but I’d like to think the woman I marry had enough respect for herself to bring her chastity to the marriage bed. It seems to me,” he mused deeply, “that this new morality is more for the man’s sake than the woman’s. The women are running all the risks, and the men are getting everything they want without the responsibilities of marriage.”

She laughed gently. “Maybe so.” She stared at the ground. “I never got to go to church, but I always thought it was so romantic to wait until I got married to be intimate with a man. Mama laughed at such an outdated notion, but my father never did. I think he approved.”

“Your father was a good man,” he replied. “I’ll miss him, too.”

She looked up at him. “You can still have the pearls, Cade,” she said softly.

He shook his head. “I’ll get by.” His eyes slid down to her mouth and stared at it until he thought his head was going to spin him to the ground. He wanted it so badly.

Bess saw that look and trembled with the need to go close to him, to offer her mouth, to experience, even if only one time in her life, the exquisite pleasure those hard, firm lips could give. She knew already that it would be everything she could want. Her lips parted as he looked at them, and the wave of hunger that swept over her almost brought her to her knees. Just one kiss, she pleaded silently. One!

He took one slow step toward her, his warmth enveloping her, the scent of him in her nostrils. She looked up, feeling his breath on her face, watching his eyes so intent on her mouth. She could see the very texture of his lips this close and she wanted them against her own.

“Please.” She heard the soft plea and hardly realized that it had come from her own lips.

His jaw tautened. “I want it just that much,” he said, biting off his words. His eyes caught hers. Tension strung between them like thunder building black on the horizon, the earth trembling as it waited for lightning to strike down against it. Bess searched Cade’s dark eyes with that same anticipation, her heart slamming against her chest. It was going to happen...!

For one long, tense second it looked as if Cade wasn’t going to be able to hold back. Then he forced himself to tear his eyes from hers, to take a step back and then another. His body protested, but for Bess’s sake and his own, he didn’t dare take the risk.

Watching him, Bess, felt her heart shaking her with its mad beat. The disappointment was almost physically painful. The way he’d been staring at her mouth had made her weak. But he’d had the strength to draw back before anything happened, because he didn’t want complications. She wished that she could knock down all those obstacles he’d talked about. Life was so short. She’d go away, and he’d forget her...

“You might write to us once in a while. Let us know how you’re doing,” he said unexpectedly.

“Would you write back?” she asked hesitantly.

He nodded. “Sure.”

Her face lit up. It wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

He slanted his hat over his brow and searched her face. “I’ve got something for you.”

Her eyes sparkled. “For me?” she asked, surprised.

“It’s not a diamond brooch, so don’t get all excited,” he muttered. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and unfastened the knotted end. Inside was a small silver ring inlaid with turquoise in the shape of a bird on its wide face.

“It’s beautiful,” she said softly.

“It has a history,” he said. He took her right hand and slid the ring slowly onto her third finger, cradling her slender hand in his. “Someday I’ll tell it to you. For now it’s something to remind you that life goes on in spite of our problems.”

“Are you sure you want me to have it?”

“I’m sure.” His thumb rubbed over it while his fingers tightened slowly around hers. “It isn’t worth much, but it’s as much a legacy as your Great-aunt Dorie’s pearls,” he smiled faintly. “So take care of it.”

“I’ll never take it off,” she promised. Her eyes went over it lovingly, and the expression on her face touched Cade. She was used to diamonds and pearls, but that little bit of silver seemed to touch her every bit as much as a mink coat would have touched her mother.

“You never were mercenary,” he said quietly. “Or a snob. Once you’ve gotten over your father’s death and learned how to manage your mother, you’re going to be a heartbreaker.”

She stared up at him quietly. “Be careful I don’t break yours,” she said with bravado.

Surprisingly he took her hand and put it over his heart. “I’m not sure I have one,” he said simply. “It’s been knocked around a good bit in recent years. But if you can find it, do your worst.”

She reached up her free hand slowly and touched his hard mouth and then, when he stood very still and didn’t protest, the rest of his lean, dark face.

“You won’t forget me, will you?” she asked.

Her soft hands on his face had been heaven. He’d been busy imagining them on his bare chest, his shoulders, and his mind had to be dragged back from the exquisite images it had been contemplating. He caught her hand and pressed its soft palm to his mouth roughly. “No.”

“I won’t forget you either.”

He sighed heavily, because this was harder than he’d expected. “Come on. Time to get going. I’ve got two more horses to break. I only rode over to say goodbye.”

She lingered at her horse, hoping that he might kiss her, but he didn’t. He put her up into the saddle and rested one hand on her jean-clad thigh, his eyes dark and unsmiling as he looked up at her. When he didn’t smile, that Comanche blood showed in his face, in the high cheekbones and stern expression.

“Remember what I told you about men,” he said shortly. “You can’t live like a hermit, but don’t let Gussie railroad you into anything. Just be careful about the people you trust.”

“You don’t trust anybody, do you, Cade?” she asked gently.

“I trust my family and you. That’s it.” He turned to get back onto his own mount, looking as much a part of the buckskin as the saddle on its back. He was an excellent horseman. His mastery of horses and his skill with a rope had made him a natural in the rodeo arena, but Bess still worried about him.

She stared at him hungrily, hoping for a last-minute reprieve. That he’d propose marriage. That he’d ask her to wait for him. That he’d say, “Don’t go.”

He did none of those things. He stared at her for one long moment and then he turned his horse without a word, not even a goodbye, and went back the way he’d come. She watched him until he was a pinpoint in the distance, tears streaming down her cheeks. At least, she thought, she had one sweet memory to put under her pillow at night. She touched the silver ring on her finger and kissed it softly. She didn’t really understand why Cade would give her a family heirloom when he hadn’t said anything about a commitment, but it was the most wonderful present she’d ever received. She’d never part with it. It would remind her of Cade and help her cope with the hardships ahead.

And she knew Gussie was going to be the worst hardship of all.

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