“That’s already more than I have a right to ask you for.”
“Jesus Christ, Lorelei,” he exploded. “You have a right to a lot more than that. You deserve a husband who’ll take care of you. You shouldn’t be saddled with your rotten brother…or a bastard like me.”
She touched his cheek. “Meeting you is the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.”
He grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from his face. “Then you’re worse off than I thought.”
She tried to jerk her hand away.
He held her, but gentled his grip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t say that to hurt you, but to warn you. I can’t promise you anything, not even that I can keep your brother from hanging. I have no right to, but I want to make love to you again. And I don’t have enough conscience to stop myself if you give me half a chance.”
She rose on her tiptoes to touch his lips to hers. She wanted him, too. Any way she could have him.
“I told you to stay away from her, Braddock.”
At the sound of Corey’s voice, Lorelei came down hard on the balls of her feet. Braddock didn’t budge a muscle. “And you know what I told you, kid.”
Corey braced himself with his feet apart, looking like he itched for a fight.
Braddock lowered his head, and Lorelei feared he was going to kiss her just to provoke her brother. She turned her head to avoid his mouth.
“I’ll do what I can for him, but only because of you. And I’ll try to keep my hands off you. But if you want me, all you have to do is come to me. Whenever, wherever,” he whispered next to her ear.
He straightened, then cut a bruising glance to Corey. Corey lowered his gaze and relaxed his stance. Apparently satisfied, Braddock turned his back on them. He picked up the rifle resting against his saddle.
“Get some sleep. I’m going to look around and see if we were followed.”
As soon as Braddock melted into the darkness, Corey rushed to Lorelei’s side. “We’ve got to get away from him.”
She raised her hand and turned her face away from him. For the first time in her life she shut out her brother’s plea. “I’m too tired to think about it tonight. You heard him. Let’s get some sleep.”
***
Lorelei thrashed, trying to escape from a disturbing dream. She was back home in her old house, the one where they had lived before her father lost everything. But she wasn’t happy because she knew what could happen, what would happen, without knowing how or what. The smooth plaster walls of her home were slowly crumbling. She would no sooner patch one hole using mud, grass, and her favorite dresses, covering it all with whitewash, then the other walls would start to fall apart. Corey played cards with his horse in the living room. And even in the dream she knew everyone else was gone. She knew it with every part of herself, and every part of herself ached.
She blinked hard, trying to shake the effects of the dream. But its awful clarity left her with a sticky residue of pain. She opened her eyes wide, desperate for wakefulness. The open sky instantly brought her back to the present. Thousands upon thousands of stars stretched out into the velvet darkness. The vastness threatened to swallow her.
She propped herself on her elbows and searched for Christopher.
He sat on the other side of the fire, wide awake, a tin cup in his hand. His steady gaze centered on her, as if he’d been watching her for hours.
She sat up and brushed her tangled hair away from her face. “Can’t you sleep?”
“You’re sleeping in my bedroll.”
She touched the folds of the thick flannel, forgetting that it had been his. How had she come to think of it as hers so easily? “Sorry.” She eased out of the cocoon of blankets.
“Stay. I want you to use it.” He took a sip from the cup he held, then studied its contents.
She glanced at Corey, who slept a few feet away. They hadn’t gone to bed angry with each other since before their mother took sick. There was no room for anger when there was so much sorrow.
She turned back to Christopher. His gaze had settled on her again but he pulled it away when their eyes met. Lorelei stood and stretched. She’d slept fully dressed but he acted as though he had caught her in her underclothes. Which was silly, because they had gone way past that. Then she remembered what he had told her. If she wanted him, all she had to do was come to him. His eyes were hooded and she wondered if he was thinking of it too. Maybe he regretted making himself so available to her. Maybe he had thought about his pledge and realized Lorelei was too much to take on, even as a lover.
She sauntered toward him, only slightly surprised by her boldness. She felt free somehow. As if she were leaving behind everything she had ever known to be true. She realized she had nothing else to count on besides him, nothing else to believe in.