He tightened his arm around her in a warning gesture.
“Oh, that,” she said, remembering what she had told that dreadful, dirty man. “I wanted him to have a reason not to kill me, so I told him I knew where there was money hidden. But there is no hidden money. My father put everything in trust in a bank in Philadelphia. I am given the smallest amount possible every month.”
“Listen to me,” Cole said, leaning forward so his mouth was almost on her ear. “I want you to help me get us out of this mess. I’ll keep telling Ford that you have money and I’m after it. I’ll tell him it’s the only reason I care about you.”
“Is it?” she asked.
“Is it what?”
She knew he understood what she was asking, so she didn’t bother to answer him. Obviously he didn’t want to tell her what she wanted to know.
Cole didn’t want to say anything to make her think about love. Women in love did stupid things. True, they were blindly loyal to a man no matter what a piece of horse manure he was, but they often jeopardized their own lives in the process. “I want the five grand you promised me and that’s it. After I get that I may never want to see the state of Texas again.” He couldn’t lie
well enough to say that he never wanted to see her again, but that’s what he meant to hint at. If she thought he didn’t care about her, she’d be more obedient when the time came.
“What am I to do?” she asked dully.
He wouldn’t let himself feel anything at her tone. “I’ll make Ford realize that he can’t get any of the gold without me and that I can’t get it without you. I’ll tell him that you lied when you said you didn’t like my touching you.” There was some pride in his voice when he said this. “I’ll say that I’ve been sweet-talking you so you’ll trust me and tell me how to get at the money. Only a husband can get the money, and that’s why I married you. You have to sign some papers.”
When she didn’t say anything he leaned forward to look at her. “Are you asleep?”
“No. So this means that you’re going to be, well, courting me? Lots of hand kissing, that sort of thing? You’re going to try to coax me into signing papers, is that right?”
He hadn’t thought that far ahead, but that was probably the right idea. “Yes. Do you have anything against that?”
“Why don’t you just hold a gun to my head and threaten to kill me if I don’t sign?”
No flies on this little lady. “Maybe your father worried that you were an idiot when it came to men, so he stipulated in his will that you had to sign the papers in front of witnesses.”
“You could hold my sister and not release her until after I sign the papers.”
He smiled into the darkness. She certainly kept a man on his toes. “Your sister is on her way back to England, remember? You know, you could drive a man to drink.” He took a breath. “I don’t think Ford has a clever mind like yours. I’ll just tell him that I, your husband, have to persuade you to sign the money over to me. We have to be there together so that Ford’s men can’t tie me to a pole and beat me half to death. Does that answer your questions?”
“Does it answer your outlaw friend’s questions?”
At that Cole almost laughed out loud. Instead, he buried his face in her neck. “Do you think you can pretend you like me?”
“Haven’t I already proven that I’m a great actress?” she said, making Cole move away from her neck. He wasn’t sure, but he thought she had just said something terrible to him.
“Put your head back and get some sleep. Give that devious little mind of yours a rest. We’ll probably stop for a few hours before daylight, but try to sleep before then.”
She snuggled back against him, but she didn’t go to sleep. Instead, she felt his strong chest against her back, one arm encircling her, the other pressed against her side so that the palm of his hand was against her ribs. His chin was near her forehead, and she could feel his breath in the cool night air. Rubbing against her small thighs were his larger ones, hard from years in a saddle, muscular from commanding wayward horses to his will.
Dorie knew she should be terrified at what was happening. She knew she should be worried and frightened, shaking even. But the truth was, part of her didn’t care what happened tomorrow. All she could think of was now. The last few days had been the best of her life. All her life she had lived by logic. She had planned everything down to the finest detail. She had studied her father as if he were a textbook for a course she had to pass, and she’d taught herself how to deal with him. She learned his schedule, his philosophy of life—“get all that you can”—and his habits. Using her brain, she had adapted to him.
She had found Cole Hunter through logic. She had chosen him based on things she’d heard and read, and especially based on her need for a man to do a particular job.
But Dorie had learned that while her father acted in a predictable manner, other people didn’t. Cole Hunter hadn’t done anything the way she’d thought he would. When she’d presented him with her marriage proposal he became angry, but Dorie had expected that: she always made men angry. What she hadn’t expected was his growing softness toward her.
And she was coming to like that softness. She liked the way he sometimes looked at her. Oddly enough, what seemed to please him the most was what had made her father the most angry: her impertinent remarks. Her father had hated it when Dorie said or did anything clever, something he hadn’t thought of himself. Her father needed to believe that all women were stupid—then he felt justified in every petty, despicable thing he did to either of his daughters.
Closing her eyes, she leaned her full weight back against Cole, and he seemed to close around her, protecting her, keeping her safe from all harm.
Chapter Eight
Let me have her.”
Dorie came awake slowly, aware that the horse had stopped and Cole was pushing her into an upright position. Standing to her left, his arms eagerly upraised, was one of the dreadful men who rode with the outlaw who was trying to kill her husband. Since she wasn’t fully awake, Dorie hadn’t had time to remember the story she’d told the men; she had temporarily forgotten that she’d said she hated Cole Hunter. She reacted instinctively to the sight of the awful man holding up his arms for her: she turned and wrapped her arms around Cole’s neck and held on tight.