Only 03 - Only You

hurt.
    “She left you a message,” Rafe said.
    With a deceptively easy motion, Rafe upended the saddlebags he had brought with him. Gold bars tumbled out and clashed to the ground.
    “Here’s your gold, brother. You can count on it.”
    The agonized expression on Reno’s face made Rafe regret his harshness. He reached toward his brother, but Reno was already on his feet, walking away from the gleaming gold bars.
    “Where are you going?” Rafe asked.
    Reno didn’t answer.
    “What about the gold?” Rafe called.
    “To hell with it,” Reno said savagely. “There’s more where it came from.”
    But there was only one woman who had ever loved him more than she loved her own comfort, and he had lost her.
    “P LEASE stay in the big house tonight,” Willow said. “That little cabin is so drafty.”
    “Thank you, but no,” Eve said. “I’ve put you to enough trouble. I’ll be on my way in the morning.”
    “You’ve been no trouble at all,” countered Willow quickly. “I enjoy having another woman around.”
    Eve turned to Caleb. “I wish you would let me pay you for—”
    “Evelyn Starr Johnson,” Caleb interrupted, “if you weren’t already hurting so much, I’d turn you over my knee for bringing that up again.”
    A wan smile flickered over Eve’s face. She stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss over his cheek.
    “You’re a kind man, Caleb Black,” she whispered.
    “That will come as news to a lot of folks,” he said dryly. “Since you’re so all-fired set on leaving, we’ll go at first light. Otherwise you’ll go off alone, and this is no country for a woman alone.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome,” Caleb said. “But when Reno gets all shooting mad about having to ride to Canyon City after you, be sure to tell him it wasn’t my idea.”
    “Reno wouldn’t ride across a pasture for me, much less across the Great Divide.”
    Eve turned and walked quickly toward the cabinwhere Caleb and Willow had lived while they built the big house.
    Unhappily, Willow watched Eve until she went into the cabin and shut the door behind her.
    “Why won’t she stay in the house with us?” Willow asked.
    “I suspect it’s the same reason she won’t stay, period. She knows how Reno feels about having a saloon girl mixing with his sister.”
    “Eve may have worked in a saloon, but she isn’t a saloon girl!” Willow said in exasperation. “Good God. How can he be so blind?”
    “Same way I was with you for a time. Same way Wolfe was with Jessi.”
    “Just because you’re men?” Willow suggested tartly.
    Caleb laughed. His arm snaked out, drawing her close.
    “All the same, I could shake Reno by his ears,” she muttered as she put her arms around Caleb’s lean waist.
    “Don’t worry, honey. I left that job for Rafe. He was looking forward to it so much I almost feel sorry for Reno.”
    Before Willow could speak, Caleb kissed her. It was a long time before he lifted his head.
    “Is Ethan asleep?” Caleb asked.
    “Yes,” she whispered.
    “You interested in learning more about the fine art of catching trout with your bare hands?”
    “Who gets to be the trout this time?” Willow asked with a hidden smile.
    Caleb laughed softly. “We’ll take turns.”
    E VE sat at the only table in the one-room cabin, watching moonlight and lantern light send conflicting shadows across the table’s woodensurface. As she watched, she mechanically shuffled a deck of cards. Each time she shuffled, several cards escaped and slithered across the table.
    Frowning absently, Eve flexed her fingers. They were much better than they had been when she arrived at Caleb’s ranch a few days ago. Even so, they were still clumsy, stiff from the terrifying time she had spent in the mine, digging frantically through rubble for something far more valuable than gold.
    Did that cheating saloon girl leave any gold?
    Slowly Eve’s hands became fists. Just as slowly they uncurled. She put her palms down on the table and pressed so that the trembling that came when she remembered Reno’s words wouldn’t show.
    After several moments Eve took a deep breath and gathered up the cards. She squared them off carefully and began shuffling again. When cards slipped free, she ignored them. After several shuffles she flexed her hands, rounded up all the cards, and shuffled some more.
    Eve knew she should be sleeping, for the ride to Canyon City would be long and tiring. Yet sleep eluded her. Whenever her eyes closed, she