Page 13 of Wellspring

CADE SIGHED with relief when Heller disappeared into the bathing room.

Fuck, he’d come close to letting more show than he meant to, but Heller had this way about him that made Cade want to throw himself at Heller’s feet and beg for his attention.

Oh, he knew what kind of attention that would gain him from most men—a kick to the balls if he was lucky, a bullet to the head if he wasn’t. But nothing stopped him from wanting.

When a second room opened up, he hurried inside and stripped down.

He sank into the tub and let out a groan as he relaxed against the tin rim.

If the water wasn’t as hot as he’d get at Wellspring, it was still hotter than the Brazos or the rain shower had been.

More importantly, it was private and he could indulge his fantasies.

He’d seen the way Heller stroked Zephyr’s soft nose.

If he was that way with his horse, how much more care would he show a lover?

Damn, what Cade would give to find out! He jerked his cock quickly, knowing others were waiting for a bath and that Heller would probably be waiting for him outside.

He briefly entertained the thought of Heller coming in to look for him and finding him like this.

He’d watch at first, unsure of his welcome, but this was Cade’s fantasy, and in that fantasy, he’d dare what he couldn’t outside his thoughts and let Heller know just how welcome he was.

And once he knew, all hesitation would disappear, and Heller would take charge, kneeling down beside the tub and replacing Cade’s hand with his own, stroking and rubbing until he found the perfect rhythm to bring Cade pleasure.

The thought, brazen as it was, tipped him over the edge.

He was lucky no one from the ranch could see how bad he had it. Chel would laugh her ass off if she were here. Then she’d kick his for falling for someone he couldn’t have.

With a sigh, he pulled himself out of the tub, dried off, and got dressed. A drink was sounding better and better. If he couldn’t lose himself in Heller’s arms, he’d lose himself at the bottom of a bottle instead.

He walked out to see Heller waiting as he’d predicted. “Fancy a drink?”

Heller’s face wore the bland expression Cade hadn’t seen since the early days in Galveston, making Cade hope he hadn’t shouted Heller’s name without realizing it, but Heller only nodded. “Lead on.”

THE LUCKY Penny looked a lot better these days than it had the first time Cade had seen it, lost and alone in the white man’s world days after leaving the Comanche.

He hadn’t been interested in the saloon girls, just in losing himself at the bottom of a bottle, but Chel hadn’t let him pass the point of no return, insisting he eat and bathe and eventually he’d found his feet again.

He’d returned the favor a few years later when she’d traded the life of a saloon girl for that of a cowhand.

Cade couldn’t take any credit for the saloon’s improvement other than having cleared the way for a management change.

He pushed through the swinging doors and smiled.

The room was busy, most of the tables full of rowdy cowhands, but the floor was clean, the chandelier bright, and the girls smiling as they served drinks and enticed the men out of their hard-earned pay.

He walked up to the bar and leaned forward casually. “Got a whiskey for a thirsty cowboy?”

The bartender was reaching for a bottle when a sultry voice stopped him. “The good stuff for this one, Rudy.”

“You’re looking fine, Abby.” Cade ran an appreciative eye over the tall, auburn-haired woman in the stylish dress, its higher neckline and silky material distinguishing her from the rest of the girls.

“Miss Roth,” she corrected him. “Have to keep these buckaroos in line nowadays.”

“Miss Roth,” Cade repeated, unable to stop his smile.

“That’ll be a nickel,” Rudy said as he set the whiskey on the bar.

“A nickel?” Cade repeated. “That’s highway robbery, Miss Roth .”

“That’s good whiskey, Mr. Webster,” Abigail replied. She turned to the bartender. “His drinks are on the house.”

“And my friend’s?” Cade asked. “You aren’t going to make him drink the cheap swill, are you?”

“I can pay for my drink,” Heller protested from where he stood a few steps away from the bar.

“His too.” She waved them toward a table. “Anything else, you’ll both have to pay for, just like anyone else.”

“I wouldn’t dream of denying your girls their hard-earned money,” Cade said.

Not that he’d be doing anything with them for them to earn any of his money, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud.

Heller might be interested, after all. Watching Heller walk up the stairs of the Lucky Penny with any of Abigail’s girls, knowing he was interested in them, not in Cade, would mean he’d misread everything since leaving Galveston.

If ever there was a reason to get drunk, that would be it.

“Pick your poison, Heller.” Cade gestured to the array of bottles behind the bar. “Miss Roth stocks a fine selection.”

“Perhaps a brandy, then.” Once the bartender poured Heller’s drink, Cade pulled out a chair and settled in at the table Abigail indicated.

“Business seems good,” he commented while Heller followed and took his own seat.

“Better now that Farrell’s gone.” A commotion at a table across the room drew her attention, and her expression hardened. “They never learn. Enjoy your drinks, gentlemen.” She stalked away toward the ruckus, leaving Cade sure that particular cowboy would never be welcome at the Penny again.

Sure enough, she had the brawl settled and the offending cowboy tossed out in a matter of minutes. Cade took a sip of his whiskey and smiled at Heller. “That is one hell of a woman.”

“You know her well,” Heller said, his expression blank and his voice neutral.

“Pretty well,” Cade replied. “I helped her and the girls out a couple years back, nothing any decent man wouldn’ta done. Abigail shows her gratitude with free drinks when I’m back in town.”

Heller raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, one of the saloon girls dropped into Cade’s lap and threw her arms around his neck “Cade!” she squealed. “It’s been forever since you came around!”

“You know me, Millie.” Cade pulled the dark-haired girl in the low-cut gown into a tight hug. “I go where the wind takes me. Or where Miz Roarke sends me, anyway.”

She pouted at him and pressed a smacking kiss to his cheek. He rubbed at it and grimaced when his fingers came away covered in her lipstick. “Did you have to get rouge all over my face?” he asked.

“I could help you wash it off,” she purred with a coquettish smile.

Heller took a sip of his drink and grimaced. Probably wasn’t up to the standard he was used to, Cade supposed, though anything he’d find once they left the Penny would be even worse.

“C’mon, Millie, don’t hog Cade all to yourself,” another girl protested. She caught Millie’s arm and pulled her to her feet, promptly taking her place in Cade’s lap. “He’d much rather spend time with me anyway.”

“Now, girls, you know you’re all my favorites,” Cade protested, because if he didn’t, he’d end up in real trouble.

To prove his point, he shifted so Izzy was sitting on one knee and patted his other thigh for Millie to come back.

She did with a flounce and a squeal that made Cade want to wince.

“Say hi to my friend Erick, girls. He might appreciate some love too.”

Even if he hoped Heller wouldn’t take them up on it.

“Hi, Erick,” the girls chorused, though neither of them made a move off Cade’s thighs.

Heller didn’t seem distressed at their indifference, or at Cade’s use of his first name. “Ladies.” He rose to his feet with a small bow.

“Ooh, a gentleman!” Millie sidled over to Heller’s lap as soon as he sat again.

“Don’t get many of them around here, do we, Izzy?

” She wrapped an arm around Heller’s neck, and damn, but Cade shouldn’t find the blush that bloomed in his cheeks so arousing.

Izzy squirmed closer, so at least Cade would have an excuse if Heller happened to notice.

Not that Heller was looking his way. Before he could say anything to Izzy, who was running a finger down his cheek, another saloon girl wriggled her way onto Cade’s empty thigh.

Cade wrapped his arm around her waist automatically.

He might see the girls here more as sisters than anything else, but their attention still felt good.

He didn’t get a whole lot of human contact out on the range.

He might insist he’d only done what any good man should have done when he shot Farrell after he caught the man trying to abuse Chel, but everyone at the Penny insisted it made him a hero—their hero, anyway.

“You’re looking better than the last time I saw you, Ruby. ”

Ruby hadn’t been there when Farrell was still in charge. Abigail had taken her in after she’d been beaten half to death and abandoned. That didn’t seem to matter, though. She fawned over Cade the same as all the other girls. And he adored her right back.

“I could show you how much better.” She ran a hand down Cade’s chest, and Izzy pouted.

“No one would dare raise a hand to anyone in here after what you did for Chel.” Not to be outdone, she slipped open a button of Cade’s shirt and slid a hand inside. “How is Chel, anyway? We haven’t heard from her since you took her away.”

“She’s doing good,” Cade said. “Miz Roarke don’t stand for any nonsense on the ranch.

” Cade suspected Chel had taken a lover once or twice from the other men in the outfit, but it had been on her terms, not anyone else’s, and if he’d noticed her spending more time with Trujillo, the outfit’s cook, recently, well, that was her business and he was keeping his nose well and truly out of it.

“Give her our love when you see her again.” Before Millie could say more, Heller put her off his knee—gently, not that Cade would have expected him to shove her off, no matter how uncomfortable he clearly was at her attentions.

“I think I shall return to the hotel. The chance to sleep in a real bed is appealing.” Heller flushed again and drained his glass of brandy. “Ladies, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he said as he stood.

Cade started to rise as well. “Do you know the way back? I can come with you.”

Heller shook his head. “I can find my way. I would not want to take you away from your… friends.”

Cade heard what Heller didn’t say, but the girls here were his friends—nothing more, perhaps, but no less important for being friends, not lovers—and he didn’t see them often. “Good night, then,” he said as he sat back down.

His movement had displaced Izzy and Ruby enough that his lap was momentarily empty. Momentarily because Millie took advantage of the opportunity to reclaim his attention.

ERICK FOUND his way back to the hotel easily—he had been paying attention on the way to the saloon, despite the distraction of a clean and freshly dressed Webster walking beside him.

Cade—he was Cade in Erick’s thoughts now, at least—had obviously wanted to impress the girls at the saloon.

Any hope that Cade might possibly return his interest was well and truly dead now, and all for the best. The way the saloon girls were hanging all over him, and Cade plainly welcoming their advances, made his preferences all too clear.

Not that he should have expected anything different, Erick acknowledged as he let himself into their room and stripped down to his union suit.

He’d let a few sidelong glances and his own attraction feed his imagination.

Well, he knew better now. Cade could have any one of the girls who’d thrown themselves at him.

Judging from what they’d said, he’d already taken one of them back to the ranch with him.

Whether she was a wife or merely a lover, he was clearly still open to taking up with others in her absence.

It’s none of your business , he told himself as he slid beneath the sheets.

He had no right to judge the other man’s actions, no claim on him at all, much as he might wish otherwise.

He fell into a restless sleep, waking at any noise from the hall outside as other guests made their way to their rooms. As the night wore on and Cade didn’t return, Erick tortured himself imagining in him one of the saloon girl’s beds.

Though why only one? Cade was strong and virile—he could take his pleasure more than once.

Or maybe they’d share him. A vision of Cade sprawled naked across a mattress and surrounded by fawning women refused to be banished.

Erick groaned and took himself in hand, imagining himself in the saloon girls’ place while damning himself for an attraction he’d have to fight all the harder to keep hidden.