«Marriage has softened Cal’s brain,» Reno said in a flat voice. «That little saloon girl was going to trade forherlife, not mine.»
«The less you say, the fewer words you’ll have to eat,» Rafe retorted. «But don’t let that stop you from running off at the mouth. When you get tired of eating your words, I’m looking forward to feeding them to you one by one.»
Green eyes narrowed into glittering slits, but Reno said no more. He was in no shape at the moment to take on his brother, no matter how badly he wanted to. Both of them knew it.
«After we took care of Slater’s gang, we went to the mine,» Rafe said. «Eve stood there covered with dirt from head to heels, cut and scraped and bleeding from trying to dig you out. She refused to let Wolfe or Caleb go into the mine. Said it was too dangerous.»
Tension began to steal through Reno’s body once more as he listened.
«She said she wouldn’t have minded killing Comancheros to dig you out,» Rafe drawled coolly, «but she wouldn’t risk family men. Said she was going to do it herself, because she had no family waiting for her.»
«You didn’t let her go back in the mine, did you?» Reno asked in a harsh voice.
«She was the only one who knew where you were,» Rafe said flatly. «She led me to the cavein, and I dug like hell burning, not knowing if you were alive or dead, and that goddamned ceiling kept coming down on me like a hard rain.»
Reno gripped his brother’s arm. «Christ! You should have gotten out. The rock in that coyote hole was as rotten as fruitcake!»
«Would you have gotten out if I were stuck down in some godforsaken hole?» retorted Rafe.
Reno shook his head. «Not a chance.»
Rafe’s expression softened for a moment. Of all his brothers, he had been closest to Reno.
«I finally opened up a hole a cat would have had trouble getting through,» Rafe said. «I saw light, but you didn’t answer my yells. Every time I tried to make the hole bigger, the ceiling came down.»
«Then how did you get to me?»
«I didn’t. Eve did.»
«What?»
«Somehow she shoved herself through that little hole. She started uncovering you, and then the whole damn shooting match started groaning and grinding. I yelled at her to leave you and save herself.»
Reno’s hand clenched on his brother’s arm hard enough to leave bruises.
«But she didn’t,» Rafe continued harshly. «Somehow she managed to drag you out of the rubble before the wall caved in. When I got to her, she was still pulling on you, crying your name, trying to save your life and to hell with her own.»
Reno opened his mouth, but no words came through the constriction in his throat.
«You may have found that girl in a saloon,» Rafe continued in a savage voice, «but she’s worth more than any gold you ever dug out of the ground.»
Eyes closed, Reno fought for control.
«She hung around long enough to hear you run off at the mouth about cheating saloon girls,» Rafe said. «Then she washed up, put on a fancy red dress, and took that lineback dun out of here like its heels were on fire.»
Reno put his head in his hands. He had thought he could hurt no more than the moment when he had learned of Eve’s betrayal.
He had been wrong.
But Rafe was still talking, and Reno was still learning how much he could 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.
«PLEASE 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 cabin where 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.»
EVE sat at the only table in the one-room cabin, watching moonlight and lantern light send conflicting shadows across the table’s wooden surface. 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 would hear rocks grinding and breaking over Reno in a long, brutal wave.