To Claim a Wife

They stepped off the elevator and were halfway down the hall when a doctor walked out of the ICU. Reno stopped and reached for her arm to halt her. The doctor caught sight of them and approached. Caitlin read his somber expression and her heart fluttered sickeningly in her chest.

The doctor’s quiet “I’m sorry,” was directed to Reno before his kind dark eyes shifted to include Caitlin. “He passed away ten minutes ago.”

The words caused a faint roaring in her ears. Her father was gone. The stifling numbness she felt helped her maintain her composure those next moments.

Reno was still gripping her arm when his fingers tightened. The hot current that radiated from his touch made a deep impression on her. The sudden human instinct to crowd close to that hot current, to somehow capture it and hold it close, made her reach for his hand.

The moment her fingers came in contact with his hard warm ones, she jerked her hand away. Confused by shock and appalled that the impulsive gesture had revealed her weakness, she tried to pull from his grip. His fingers flexed to hold her close while the doctor related an abridged version of her father’s last moments.

The words “He went easy,” stirred a restlessness that made it almost impossible for her to listen. When the doctor offered his condolences and quietly excused himself, she shuddered with relief.

Suddenly, Reno was leading her away. She walked along in a daze, dismayed by how unsteady she felt. They were alone in the elevator before she was fully aware of where he’d taken her. She pulled away to go back to the ICU, but he caught her as the doors slid shut.

Caitlin braced her hand against his chest. Her eyes were smarting and so blurred that his blue work shirt swam before her like a dark smear.

“I have to see him,” she choked out, and somehow she lost her grip on the wild feeling she dimly recognized as hysteria. “H-he can’t be gone—not after he s-said those hateful things!”

She looked up through swimming eyes and tried to focus on Reno’s harsh face. She clutched his shirt-front urgently. “Those can’t have been the only words—the only thing he had left to say—”

Reno’s hands moved to her upper arms. The action registered, but she was losing control of herself too quickly. He gave her a small shake that jarred a sob out of her. The sound helped sober her and she bit her lip ruthlessly to stop the others.

She was coming apart in the presence of the man who hated her. God, what vicious pleasure he could take from her pain! Pride wouldn’t allow this man—this man above all—to see her reduced to a pitiful heap of misery.

She tried to take a deep breath, but her throat was so swollen with pain that she could barely breathe. She tried to push away from him, but he held her too tightly.

They struggled briefly, and Caitlin realized his touch was burning her, sending sensual signals to every part of her body. But his refusal to release her so she could go to the ICU to see for herself that her father was really gone, tortured her.

It was irrational to fight him, but she did. He retaliated by backing her into the corner next to the elevator buttons. He released her arm only long enough to hit the stop button to bring the elevator to a bumping halt between floors.

Her gritted “Damn you—let me go!” only made him press harder. He wedged her lower body between his and the corner as his hands slid down her arms to her wrists. It was as if he’d read her mind and knew she was wild enough now to try to scratch him.

“It’s over.” Reno’s voice was a rough murmur.

Caitlin shook her head emphatically. “He owed me something,” she burst out “Whether I’m his daughter or not, he was all I had.”

She suddenly realized what she was saying and this time she bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. There was a rampage of fury and hurt inside. Repressing it was like trying to smother a forest fire with her bare skin. She shook uncontrollably, and the effort of holding back tears made her head pound.

“H-he was a cruel, unfeeling bastard.” Hearing herself say the words aloud was shocking, and she took a series of deep breaths to calm herself before something worse came out of her mouth. She doubted Reno had ever glimpsed the man that she knew her father to be. She felt his surprise, sensed his strong disapproval.

Reno stared down into Caitlin’s flushed, stricken face. She was shaking, but she held herself as stiffly as a fence post. Moments flew by in the silent elevator as he watched her struggle with her pain.

Though his heart was hard toward her and he believed she’d often deserved Jess’s harsh treatment, it gave him no pleasure to witness her anguish. He hadn’t approved of Jess’s insistence on a blood test. On the other hand, Jess hadn’t been completely rational the past couple of weeks. It was unfortunate that his last words to his daughter had been cruel.

The feel of her soft body trapped between his and the corner began to work on him. Their position—they were pressed together from waist to knee—was dangerously sexual.

Slowly he eased away from her until they were no longer touching. He still held her wrists, but the heat between them was scorching. He felt the stiffness seep from her body. She stared hard at his shirtfront, collecting herself. He sensed her strong will, her absolute determination to get control of herself. He couldn’t help that he found a spark of admiration for that. The Caitlin Bodine of the past couldn’t have summoned this control.

Satisfied with her progress, he released her wrists by slow degrees. The moment he was no longer touching her, she slipped from the corner. He pressed a button on the keypad and the elevator continued downward.

Caitlin didn’t look directly at him again. She didn’t speak to him either. The young woman who rode beside him in his truck to the motel was focused deeply inward, oblivious to everything outside her own wordless misery.

For the first time in five years, Caitlin awoke in her bedroom at the Broken B. Normally she was an early riser, but she glanced toward the alarm clock, surprised to see that it was almost 7:00 a.m.

Reno had brought her to the ranch. She’d been a zombie the night before. She dimly recalled watching him pack her things while she sat on the motel bed.

She hadn’t protested when he’d taken over, she’d not had the will. As she lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling, she was amazed that he’d taken care of her. It was absolutely stunning that he’d brought her to the Broken B when he hated her so.

Perhaps it proved that Reno wasn’t as heartless as her father after all. Perhaps he didn’t hate her as intensely as she’d thought.

The moment the notion entered her mind, she shoved it away. Reno blamed her for his brother’s death. How could he not hate her? In light of how he felt, the mystery of why he’d taken such good care of her and brought her home was baffling.

It was too much to sort out. She got up and dressed, then went downstairs. The realization that she was finally home put tremendous pressure on her battered emotions. She almost retreated to her room before she reminded herself that she had to face everything eventually.

Quietly, she wandered through the massive ranch house. She knew every inch of it, and it was a comfort to see that nothing much had changed. Her father had spent most of his waking hours out-of-doors, so she associated the house more with her memories of her mother than with him. Reno’s mother had changed almost nothing.

Now that Jess was dead, she thought about her mother’s pictures. Had Jess destroyed them, or merely packed them away someplace? She didn’t think he’d given them to her grandmother, since she’d never mentioned them. The idea that they might still be in the house somewhere, hidden, made her determined to find them.

She walked into the back hall on her way to the kitchen for breakfast when Reno came down the hall from the other end and met her there.

His eyes were intent on her face, searching, assessing. “You look better this morning.”

She stiffened as his blue gaze ran down her slender body. She saw the male interest in the look and felt faintly threatened. Once, she’d have given anything to attract Reno’s interest. Now it made her uneasy. Anger gleamed in his gaze. Clearly, his attraction to her infuriated him. She didn’t speak.

“Mary’s waitin’ breakfast.”

The news surprised her. “Mary? Isn’t Corrie around anymore?”

“Corrie retired last year. Hannah, too, the year before that,” he told her.

Corrie and Hannah had been the cook and housekeeper since just after her mother’s death. A part of her was relieved. Hannah had never seemed to approve of her. Both women had been charmed by Beau, though they hadn’t cared much for his mother. In the two weeks after Beau’s death before Caitlin had been banished, they’d been distant with her. She’d always believed they’d blamed her for Beau’s death. Like everyone else.

Reno waited for her to step forward and precede him to the kitchen.

Mary was a warm, friendly woman, who seemed pleased to be introduced to Caitlin. She offered her condolences to them both. Caitlin was less tense then, but she was surprised when Reno joined her at the kitchen table for breakfast.

When Mary set two heaped plates of food before them, the appetite Caitlin was certain she couldn’t muster began to stir.

She picked up her fork and had a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs. When Mary left the kitchen, she glanced Reno’s way and caught him staring at her. She read the traces of hostility in his gaze. He probably hated sitting across the table from her. She was suddenly so self-conscious that the bite of food stuck in her throat. His blue gaze dropped to watch her swallow, then went dark.

Caitlin rested her fork on her plate, her meager appetite fleeing beneath his scrutiny.

“When’s the funeral?” Her soft question distracted him and he focused on his own meal.

“Day after tomorrow.”

Neither of them spoke again while they ate. Caitlin eventually relaxed enough to force down a few more bites of food. Reno finished and leaned back with what was left of his coffee.

“I’d like to see the ranch.” Her statement brought his gaze back to hers. She endured a long burning look. She could tell the instant her request reminded him of Beau’s death. His eyes darkened again and went hard.