Cade

"Yet you left without a word. I thought we had something … you were my only real friend …"

He couldn't think straight with her lips so close to his. All he could think about was pressing his mouth to hers, tasting her sweetness. He couldn't help himself. He reached for her, cupped her chin and lowered his mouth to hers.

Her taste surged through his veins, settled low. Need slammed into him with the force of a mule kick. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him, her soft curves molding against his hardness.

She made a whimpering sound as her lips parted. He deepened the kiss, expecting her to draw away. She didn't, only opened herself more to his plundering.

She shifted, her body pressing even closer, until the heat rushing through him threatened to erupt into an inferno. He couldn't think, could only feel.

He wanted her. Had always wanted her. Wanted to undo that long row of buttons down her dress, strip her of the chemise and petticoats underneath, and bury himself into her sweetness until the burning need inside him was doused.

God help him, this plan of his had gone so totally wrong. Bella was a means to an end, to him finally getting revenge on Dobson in the only way he knew how besides killing him. He was going to hit the man where it mattered most – his finances.

He sure hadn't planned on still wanting Bella so badly he couldn't think of anything but loving her. He'd planned to let her go after four days. Instead, he wanted nothing more than to have her by his side until his dying day.

He dragged his lips from hers. Gripping her shoulders, he pushed her away. "Dammit, Bella, that wasn't supposed to happen."

Her breathing was ragged, her lips swollen from his kiss. "Why not?"

He couldn't get into a discussion right now, when the only thing on his mind was dragging her back into his arms and kissing her senseless. "Go back inside, Bella."

"Cade …"

"Please. Just go."

For several long moments, she didn't move. Above them, a few stars twinkled in the sky. Her eyes glistened in the pale light as the moon peeked out from behind a cloud.

"Fine," she said finally. "But this isn't over. When you're ready to tell me what's going on, I'm willing to listen."

Cade watched her leave, his body burning, his breathing shallow. He cursed again. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Another few days, and he'd have what he'd spent the last twelve years hungering for. He'd have his revenge. But instead of feeling satisfied, he knew another hunger would take it's place. A hunger he'd never be able to satisfy.

Chapter 5

"You okay?" Trey looked up from the deck of cards he'd spread across the table. Zane was sitting in front of the fire, a book in his hand. "You're looking a bit flushed. You and Cade get into an argument?"

She almost laughed. Words coming from Cade's mouth she could deal with. What he'd actually done to her with that mouth of his was something else indeed. "No. I'm fine, thank you."

Trey grinned. "Care for a game of cards? I'll even let you win a hand or two." He raked in the cards and divided them in half.

As she watched, he gripped the corners of each pile and flicked them together, then shifted his hands so that an arc formed and the cards met in one neat pile. He'd obviously spent a great deal of time with a deck of cards in his hands. "No, thank you. I think I'll retire now."

Zane set his book face down on the table beside him. He got up and took a few steps toward her, then stopped. "I just want to say, ma'am, that I'm real sorry about all this. But Cade's a good man, and he has his reasons."

"I'm only sorry he doesn't trust me enough to tell me what those reasons are."

"He has a hard time trusting people, but if he's going to trust anybody, it'll be you."

Her chest tightened. "I hope so," she said quietly. "Goodnight."

Slowly, with trembling knees, she crossed to the bedroom and went inside, closing the door behind her. The room was pitch black except for the shaft of pale moonlight coming through the window.

She picked her way to the bed filling the center of the room and sank down on the side, buried her head in her hands and let the tears fall unchecked.

What was going on? What was she going to do?

Until a few minutes before, she'd had her mind made up, and she'd had a plan. Cade was so sure she wouldn't try to escape, but he was wrong. She'd make her escape as soon as it was light enough for her to make her way to where the horses were tied up. And then she'd be gone.