Angel Creek Read online

  She made a noise, but nothing that resembled words.

  He gripped her arms, holding her back a little from his chest. She was utterly boneless. “Dee? Damn it, answer me.”

  “Leave me alone,” she mumbled.

  He eased her back down onto his chest, stroking her hair away from her face. “Do you want to go to bed now?”

  “Mmm.”

  He smiled and closed his eyes. God, it felt good to hold her, to feel her safe and warm in his arms. It felt good to thrust into her and let go of his control, to feel the deep linking.

  He shifted her in his arms so she was lying sideways again and awkwardly pulled up his pants with one hand while he supported her with the other. She looked blissfully asleep and didn’t stir even when he got to his feet. He placed her on the bed, removed the nightgown, shed his own clothing, put out the lamp, and got into bed beside her. He settled her against him, feeling the contentment now that she was where she belonged. If he had his way, she’d never spend another night away from him.

  He normally woke before dawn, and the next day was no exception. He was achingly hard. Dee stirred against him, and he mounted her, sliding into her with a total lack of haste.

  This time it was slow, almost leisurely. She responded drowsily, and he tried not to make any great demands on her. The demands of her own body, however, eventually dispelled her lassitude, and she began moving under him with increasing urgency. The morning sun, already hot, was rising over the mountains by the time they relaxed, mutually replete.

  Realization of what he had done hit him like a poleax. He propped himself up on his elbow, his hand going to her belly. “Damn it, we didn’t use the sponges.”

  Her eyes opened, and they looked at each other in silence. He didn’t say, “If you get pregnant, we’ll get married,” because she didn’t respond well to ultimatums, and that’s essentially what the statement would be. What he said was, “If we had a kid it would have to be a pure hell-raiser,” and a slow grin spread across his face as he contemplated the idea.

  “Don’t look like that,” she grumped.

  “Like what?”

  “Like the idea tickles you.”

  “It does. Just think what a fighter a son of ours would be.”

  “It would serve you right if you only had girls,” she announced, “and every one of them was just like you. Just think of all the young men prowling around.”

  The idea was mind-boggling. He fervently hoped he never had any daughters, because he didn’t think his heart could bear up under the strain, especially if they were anything like their mother. Dee didn’t know it yet, Lucas thought to himself, but she was going to be the one having his kids.

  Two days later they had visitors at the Double C. Dee was sitting on the porch, and Lucas, who had made a point to stay close by since she had truly begun recovering, was in the barn. He walked up to the house when he saw a pair of riders approach.

  Dee got to her feet and walked to the steps. One of the riders was Olivia. Betsy had been full of the gossip about Olivia marrying a Mexican gunman who just happened to be the very same man who had risked his life to help Dee during the fight with the Bar B men, of which he had been one. All of that had confused Dee, because she hadn’t known anyone was helping. It certainly explained why she had been able to hold them off for so long, however. And she had never even met the man whom Olivia loved.

  But she was about to meet him, for the man riding with Olivia was tall and lean and darkly handsome, and the way he wore his gun said that he was very proficient with it. She looked at him curiously and felt a little shy.

  “Oh, Dee, you’re looking so well,” Olivia said warmly as she slid from her horse. With a small sense of shock Dee realized that Olivia had been riding astride, something she would never have suspected her of doing. It was something that she herself did all the time, but Olivia was different.

  “I feel fine,” Dee said, smiling as she went down the steps. “I don’t have my full strength back, but every day I’m a little stronger.”

  They hugged each other, aware as they did so that their lives had changed over the course of this summer and would never again be the same. Olivia’s eyes misted over, and Dee bit her lip to keep her control.

  Luis dismounted and stood beside Olivia, his dark eyes surveying Dee with obvious approval. She felt herself blushing a little and was surprised at herself. There was something in that very male look, which was in no way insulting, that made her soften. “This is my husband,” Olivia said with pride. “Luis Fronteras. Luis, this is Dee Swann, my best friend.”

  Dee held out her hand, but instead of shaking it Luis folded her fingers tenderly in his and carried them to his lips. “Miss Swann, you were amazing with that shotgun. It was something to see.”

  Her hand still tingled where he had kissed it. She looked down at it in amazement, then back up to Luis. “I owe you my life,” she said simply. “Thank you.”

  “Thank Mr. Cochran,” Luis said, nodding toward Lucas, who was striding toward them. “If he hadn’t arrived when he had, I think we would both be dead.”

  Lucas shook Luis’s hand and kissed Olivia’s cheek. “Congratulations,” he said to Luis. “You have a wonderful woman for a wife.”

  “I think so,” Luis said peacefully.

  “Come inside and have something cool to drink,” Dee invited. “It’s too hot to stand around out here.”

  Lucas put his hand on Dee’s elbow as she went up the steps. She was feeling the effects of the heat far more than anyone else, which indicated how far she was from complete recovery.

  There was iced tea to drink, for Orris had been making it for Dee. Lucas and Luis each took a glass, and their eyes met ruefully, but they didn’t say anything. Dee and Olivia, of course, saw nothing unusual in drinking tea.

  “I wanted to see for myself that you were recovering,” Olivia said to Dee, “and to tell you and Lucas good-bye. Luis and I are leaving tomorrow.”

  “Where are you going?” Dee asked. “Will I ever see you again?”

  “Of course you will! We won’t be gone forever. We’re going to go to St. Louis and take a train ride.” A look of ecstasy came into Olivia’s blue eyes. “We’re going to go as far as the tracks will take us. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

  Dee thought about it. She had always thought of traveling as what you had to do to get to a definite destination; she had never considered traveling just for the sake of traveling. If that was Olivia’s dream, she could scarcely have picked a better husband for herself. She wished them all the happiness in the world.

  Lucas and Luis were talking quietly, and without being able to hear what was said Dee knew they were discussing what had happened at Angel Creek. Their faces were too serious for it to be otherwise.

  “Bellamy hasn’t been seen in town,” Luis said. “Opinion is pretty strong against him.” He eyed Lucas. “I heard you beat the hell out of him.”

  “I tried hard enough,” Lucas replied grimly.

  “Tillie has been staying out at the Bar B with him, taking care of him.”

  “She loves him,” Lucas said. “I don’t understand it myself, but she does.”

  “Yet she still rode out here to get you to stop him.”

  “And she was crying the whole time. She begged me not to kill him. I guess I would have if it hadn’t been for her. If Dee had died, I’d have killed him anyway.”

  “Is Dee truly all right?”

  Lucas glanced over at her. “Stronger every day. She’ll want to go back to Angel Creek pretty soon.”

  Luis grimaced. He knew what Lucas had done, because he’d heard rumors and had ridden out to Angel Creek himself to see if they were true. He hadn’t told Olivia, knowing that she would be very upset on Dee’s behalf. His dark eyes were grave. “I don’t envy you, my friend, when she finds out.”

  Lucas grinned. “It’ll be interesting for a while, but she’ll eventually see reason.”

  “If she loves it so mu