Page 52 of Wellspring

OVER THE next weeks, Erick’s days settled into a routine.

In the mornings, after breakfasting with Grace and Payne (and he felt honored that they trusted him enough to display even the small tokens of affection they allowed before him), he worked on the ranch accounts, entering whatever amounts Javier or Burke had expended and updating the herd records with births or cullings and those head identified for sale in the upcoming drive to market.

He also worked with Grace to determine how much they could make available from savings and working capital to bid on Reichardt’s assets.

At midday he would walk to the kitchens to join the other hands for lunch.

If he was fortunate, Cade would be among them, though too often he was out on the range, making up the shifts he’d missed.

After eating, Erick returned to the ranch house, sitting on the porch to perform his breathing exercises and engage himself with whatever busy work Payne had managed to find for him that day before joining the rest of the hands again for the evening meal.

When Cade was present for dinner, they would walk together back to the ranch house. Those few hours they could share before Cade needed to return to the bunkhouse were precious to Erick, and he begrudged every night Cade spent on the range until he was fit enough to join him again.

And then word came that a judge had arrived in town and Reichardt’s trial would begin the next day. Grace, Payne, Javier, and Cade would all be called to stand witness.

“I can go,” Erick asserted.

“And set your recovery back days or weeks?” Cade replied. “Why?”

“Because Reichardt tried to destroy Wellspring, and he deserves to pay for that,” Erick said.

“Yes, he does,” Grace agreed. “And he will, but he didn’t shoot you or have anything to do with you being shot, not directly, so what would you add to the trial that we can’t say just as clearly? What could you add to the trial that would justify the cost to your recovery?”

“I heard the threats he made in Austin before I ever came to Wellspring,” Erick insisted.

“So did I,” Cade countered. “We can tell the judge we have another witness who can’t testify in person because he was shot by Reichardt’s foreman.

If he thinks it’s necessary, we can come back and get a written statement from you to confirm it.

” He laid a hand on Erick’s shoulder and squeezed gently.

“I know how much the trip from town cost you. I don’t want to see you go through that again, twice, when there’s more than enough evidence to convict Reichardt without you. ”

“And if you think I’m driving the goddamn wagon all the way to town and back just to give your pampered ass a seat, you’re sorely mistaken,” Payne growled. “Can’t keep out of trouble when you’re there anyway.”

Erick wanted to protest that he could ride with them, but the thought of controlling even one of the ranch horses, let alone Zephyr, on the hours-long journey was enough to silence him.

“I will write up my statement tonight so you can present it to the judge.” Despite Cade’s confidence, he could only hope it would be enough.

“If the judge needs more than your written statement, we’ll send someone for you,” Grace promised. “We all know you’d be there if you could, but it isn’t worth the risk to you if it isn’t going to make a difference to the outcome of the trial.”

Erick nodded once more and slumped into his chair as Grace and Payne withdrew to the parlor, leaving him and Cade alone in the kitchen. “Come on,” Cade said. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Where?” Erick asked morosely.

“Anywhere you feel up to,” Cade replied. “The barn, the shooting range, the creek. Just somewhere that isn’t here. It’ll make you feel better.”

It would make him feel better to attend Reichardt’s trial, but unless the judge was willing to delay it by some weeks, that wouldn’t happen, so Erick would have to make the best of it.

“I am not sure I can make it all the way to the creek and back, as much as I would relish the coolness of the shade.”

Cade pursed his lips for a moment. “Here’s a thought. It’s late enough everyone is probably done in the showers by now. We could go stand under the water in there. That would help cool us off.”

“Sharing a shower with you would do nothing to cool me off,” Erick said with a crooked smile, remembering when he’d said something similar before making love at Cade’s waterfall.

“But after weeks of nothing but sponge baths, I would enjoy being able to cleanse myself fully. A shave would not go amiss either.”

“I’ll be happy to help with that.” Cade’s answering grin was positively wicked. He held out a hand, and they walked slowly to the deserted shower block. Cade ducked into the bunkhouse and returned seconds later with Erick’s straight razor, soap, and two towels.

It was foolish to feel awkward undressing before Cade, but Erick still hesitated before removing his undergarments.

His physique had never matched Cade’s muscular frame, but now jagged scars marred him both back and front.

Cade had seen them, of course, but Erick couldn’t help feeling vulnerable at being so completely bared.

Cade came to stand at Erick’s back, his body a line of heat, even in the humid summer night, but Erick didn’t pull away.

His presence was a welcome comfort and silent protection.

Instead he leaned back and let Cade take his weight.

Cade nuzzled Erick’s neck and spread his hands over Erick’s shoulders, tracing across Erick’s collarbones before resting his fingers at the top of the scar.

He shifted enough to wrap one arm low around Erick’s waist, his half hard cock nestling gently along the seam of Erick’s ass.

Erick gasped and resisted the urge to spread his legs, to bend forward, to beg.

They had neither the privacy nor the supplies for what he wanted, nor had he recovered enough to withstand the pummeling that would surely follow, but oh how he wanted!

As if sensing his desires, Cade nipped his earlobe. “Soon, sweetheart,” he drawled. “Tonight, though, we’re just going to step under the spray and cool off.” He ran his hand down to Erick’s swiftly filling cock. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about letting me take care of you?”

The temptation to fall to his knees and take Cade into his mouth was strong, but Erick knew he didn’t yet have the breath to manage the feat.

“Not until I can take care of you too,” he insisted, hoping Cade would not press the issue.

He wasn’t sure he had the strength of will to continue to fight what they both wanted.

Cade rubbed against Erick. “You’d be taking care of me, believe me, but we’ll wait as long as you want.”

Erick sighed and took a step forward into the cool water. “What I want is unfortunately not the same as what my body is ready for.” He turned and cradled Cade’s cheek in his palm. “Do not doubt my desire for you, now or ever.”

“I know,” Cade said. “Let’s get you clean and us both cooled off.

” He stepped under the water next to Erick, brushing against him lightly enough to have been an accident were it not for the mischievous smile he tossed over his shoulder as he bent to retrieve the cake of soap.

He worked it into a lather and smoothed the foam over Erick’s face.

“Sit. It will be easier for me to shave you that way.”

Erick eased down onto the wooden bench, his breath catching in his throat as Cade steadied his head with one hand, the other drawing the razor carefully down his cheek.

Erick had always considered shaving a routine necessity, but in Cade’s hands it became an act of intimacy, each pass of the blade over his skin a caress.

Cade felt it too, if the way his blue-green eyes darkened was any indication. He rinsed the razor and returned to begin shaving the other side. “If this feels half as good to you as it does to me, we might have to make a habit of it.”

“I have never found it so before.” Erick swallowed when Cade gently tilted his head back before plying the razor over the tender flesh of his chin and throat. “But it feels good any way you touch me.”

“I’m glad.” Cade set the razor aside and ran the tips of his fingers over the freshly shaved skin. “Close your eyes now.”

When Erick did, Cade sluiced water over his face, washing away the remnants of soap. “There. As smooth as the day I met you.”

“On that day I would not have dared to do this.” Erick reached up to cradle Cade’s head between his hands and draw him into a kiss. “You have taken such care of me, from that day to this.”

“I wish you’d dared. We might have figured things out faster if you had.

As for taking care of you, I’ll do whatever it takes to help you get back on your feet again.

” He urged Erick to stand and moved behind him to begin washing his back.

“Don’t complain,” he added before Erick could do just that.

“You can’t reach your own back right now, and I won’t have you hurting yourself trying. Let me help you, okay?”

The gentle press of Cade’s palms eased aches Erick hadn’t acknowledged even to himself.

He leaned into Cade’s strength and turned his head to brush his lips against Cade’s jaw.

“I do not mean to fight you. But you must allow me to regain what I have lost, if I am ever to become worthy of you again.”

“Wor—” Cade stammered to a stop. “Erick, is that what you think? That being shot somehow means you aren’t worthy of me?

What the hell? You survived something that should have killed you!

If either of us should be worried about being worthy, it’s me.

” He set the soap down and kissed Erick long and slow and deep.

“I love you so much. I’m no good with words, not in English and not in Comanche.

Maybe it comes from bouncing back and forth between languages when I was a kid.

Or maybe it’s just me. But I love you. I don’t care if you never get any stronger than you are right now.

You’re all I want. All I’ll ever want.” He stopped and took a breath, then another.

“Tomorrow I have to go to town with Payne and Miz Roarke for the trial, but when that’s over and I come back, I will fix this. ”

Erick’s heart swelled at Cade’s declaration.

He knew Cade cared for him. No one took such care with another person if they didn’t, but hearing the words aloud with such force and surety erased any remaining doubts.

Still, he could not let Cade believe he was anything less than the amazing man he was.

“How can you doubt your own worthiness?” he countered.

“You survived a childhood that would have broken a lesser man. You are strong and capable and resourceful—everything I hoped to prove myself to be in starting a new life. I am proud and humbled to have won your regard—your love.” He shook his head.

“There is nothing you need to fix. If I sometimes fear I will never regain my full strength again, all I have and all I am belong to you.”

“When you spend ten years listening to men call you ‘squaw’ or worse because a tribe of Comanche were kind enough to take you in, it’s easy to start doubting yourself,” Cade admitted.

“Still, they are as much or more a part of me as the white man’s world.

Wellspring is the only place I’ve found since leaving the tribe that has welcomed all sides of me. ”

“Why did you leave?” Erick had wondered since the first time Cade mentioned his family, but the moment had never been right. Now, after all this time, he finally felt like he could ask.

“The Army actively tried to find and rescue children ‘captured by Indians’,” Cade explained in a bitter voice.

“They saw a white youth riding with a Comanche and shot first instead of asking questions. They killed one of my brothers, shot him clean in the back, never mind that we were trying to flee, not fight. I couldn’t stay after that, not when my presence put the rest of my family at risk. ”

Of course Cade would sacrifice his own happiness for the safety of his adoptive family. Erick could only be grateful that fate had brought them both together from such separate worlds.

“When I decided to come to America, I scarce dared dream of finding a haven as accepting as Wellspring.” Erick picked up the soap and ran the lather over Cade’s chest. “Nor a man as perfect as you.” He placed a finger against Cade’s lips before he could speak.

“You are perfect for me. I wish only to become once more the man you deserve.”

“You are the man I deserve,” Cade replied. “But there’s no point in arguing over it.” He ran the soap over Erick’s chest in turn. “I can think of other things I’d rather do instead.”