Caden's Vow

“Maybe when she first got here. But have you noticed lately she’s more here than there?”

“She’s healing.”

“Desi says she’s forgetting.”

Caden took one of the glasses from Caine. “How the hell does a woman forget being forced to serve men from childhood?”

“A woman who knows how to escape into make-believe?” Caine made a slashing motion with his free hand. “How the hell do I know?”

“Then, why are you bringing it up?”

“Because Sally Mae told Desi that I should.”

Of course she had. Caden sighed and swirled the whiskey in the glass. “Life was a hell of a lot easier before we had women cluttering up the place.”

Caine’s whole expression softened as he looked over at his wife. Blonde and petite, her curly hair temporarily confined in a knot, Desi was the love of Caine’s hard life and he was hers. If ever two people fit together like pieces of a puzzle, it was Desi and Caine.

“I happen to like the clutter,” Caine drawled.

Caden bet he did, but the Miller men didn’t have that kind of heart luck. They were treasure hunters, adventurers, trailblazers. Caden took a sip of whiskey. The only thing the Millers brought women was loneliness and disappointment. “I know.”

“You really going to try to salvage that gold mine of Fei’s?” Caine asked.

Caden swallowed the whiskey, savoring the burn. That was more like it. Enough whiskey could cauterize any wound. “Yup.”

“Sam said Fei blew it to hell and gone.”

Caden shrugged. There were ways around that. “Just presents more of a challenge.”

“A hell of a challenge for one man.”

Caden smiled and took another sip. “Since when did Hell’s Eight shy away from a challenge?”

“Never.” Caine swirled the whiskey in his glass. “Is that what has your feet itching? No more challenges for you here?”

There were plenty of challenges at Hell’s Eight. Just because they’d staked their claim didn’t mean there wasn’t someone who was going to try to take it.

His father’s face flashed into his mind. Frozen in time. Remember who you are...

He’d done his duty by the Hell’s Eight and Tia. But now it was time to do right by his family.

“More like a promise I’ve got to keep.”

“What promise?” Caine asked.

“Nothing that involves you.”

“If it involves you,” Caine countered, “it involves Hell’s Eight.”

Caine’s loyalty to those he considered family was all encompassing. Caden drained the glass and set it beside the delicate champagne flute. Such elegance where before there had been none. He turned away. “Not this time.”

“The hell you say.”

He met Caine’s gaze squarely. “I do.”

“At least let Ace or Luke go with you.”

Caden could see Maddie scooping up her piece of cake. Saw her smile at Tucker shyly as he pretended to grab for it. Inside, something twisted, revealing a touch of...anger? He pushed the feeling aside.

“You can’t spare the hands.”

“We can spare what you need,” Caine said.

Caden knew the state of the ranch as well as anyone. Knew the threats against it. They’d just expanded. Every man was necessary. And now with the cavalry being pulled back East to deal with the discord there between North and South, they had to add the renewed threat of Indian attacks to the mix. “Too many people would draw attention.”

“Two is hardly too many,” Sam cut in, coming up beside them, a whiskey glass in one hand and a bottle in the other. Behind him was Ace. “Hell, it won’t even get the job done. Remember, I saw the place after Fei blew it up. The woman is thorough.”

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.”