Cale rose from the bed like a menacing beast, heedless of his nakedness. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“First snowfall,” Orrin said, whipping his hat against his thigh and brushing flakes from his hair. “I came to get my daughter. Seems like you two got along just fine.” Orrin crossed to the stove and took a tin cup from a peg and helped himself to some coffee.
Cale dragged his long johns on over his feet, then added his buckskin trousers. He figured that made him decent enough for company.
The whole time he was thinking, It’s too soon. I’m not ready to let her go. Could he live the rest of his life without her? Could he go back to being alone?
No.
He heard his next words as though they were being spoken by someone else. “I’ve decided to keep Raven. I’ll pay for her. Name your price.”
He ignored the gasp from the bed. Raven would be happier with him than with her father, he told himself. He would make sure she was. Only, how could he expect Orrin to set a price on her? There weren’t enough furs in the territory to pay what she was worth.
“Whoa, there, son. Hold your horses. Who said I’d be willing to sell her?” Orrin demanded. “She’s my flesh and blood. To tell the honest truth, the thought of selling her never crossed my mind.”
Cale was stunned when he realized the gist of what Orrin had said, of what he himself had said. Buying Raven? Selling Raven? If anyone else had suggested such a thing, he would have flattened them. But it was different for him. He loved her. Furthermore, he was determined to have her, and that meant offering whatever it took to get Orrin to release her.
“I’ll give you my catch for the next six months. Hell,” he said, shoving a hand through his hair, “that isn’t near enough, is it? I know she’s worth far more.” Cale bit his lip. You didn’t tell a man how much you were willing to pay when you were trying to bargain with him. Only it didn’t seem right, suddenly, bargaining for Raven. How could he possibly measure her worth in monetary terms? Except, he didn’t know how else to free her from her father.
Orrin’s eyes narrowed speculatively. He slipped into a chair at the table. “Well now, son, I’ll tell you, I didn’t realize till Raven was gone just how much I need her to help me out. It was like losing my right arm to be without her.”
Cale settled down across the table from Orrin to dicker in earnest. “I know you can’t set a value on her in worldly goods. But I’d be willing to give you all of next year’s catch to keep her with me.”
“Now, son, I’m sorely tempted to take you up on that,” Orrin said. “But a year’s catch?” He made a tsking sound. “I’m afraid that wouldn’t last me very long.”
“I’ve got gold buried under this floor. Enough for you to hire someone to help you out. It wouldn’t be the same as having Raven. Hell, I know that! She’s worth more than all the furs and gold I’ve got or ever hope to have.” Cale heard the desperation in his voice. “You have to take the money. You have to set her free.”
I need her. I can’t live without her.
Orrin shook his head. “I’d only gamble the gold away,” he said. “I think I’ll keep the girl. Come on, Raven. Get your things together. It’s time to go.”
Once upon a time Raven would have obeyed her father. She would have gone with him and never thought twice about it. But she had been listening to Cale, and his words were music to her ears.
You can’t set a value on her in worldly goods.
She’s worth more than all the furs and gold I’ve got.
Because of Cale she had allowed herself to dream. He had held her and cherished her as someone worthy of his respect and love. She had begun to see herself as a person with needs and desires she was entitled to fulfill.
“I think the choice of whether I go or stay should be up to me,” she said.
Orrin gawked at her as though she had grown a second head.
“What did you say?” Cale asked. It had never occurred to him that Raven might want to leave him. Or that she might stay if he simply asked her to.
“It should be up to me what I do,” Raven repeated. Sometime during his conversation with Orrin, Raven had gotten dressed. She had never looked more lovely to Cale. Her cheeks were still flushed from sleep, her hair tousled from lovemaking. She stood with her shoulders back, her chin held high in that regal way that made him think he ought to bow to her. He was willing to do that, just as soon as they were alone, and press his head to her breast and wrap his arms around her waist and love her as she had never been loved before.
That is, if she gave him the chance. That is, if she didn’t leave with her father. He understood now that she was entitled to that choice. He could never force her to stay against her will. If she wanted to go, he couldn’t—wouldn’t—stop her. He had meant what he said to her father. There was no price he would not pay to keep Raven with him. Except, how did you measure the worth of the woman you loved? He would do anything to ensure her happiness. Even if it meant helping her to leave him.
Of course, he wanted her to stay. But he hadn’t asked a woman for anything in ten years. And he wasn’t sure he could now. Pride was a terrible, awful burden for a man.
“The decision is yours,” he said in a voice that sounded like a rusty gate. “I’ll support whatever you choose. If you’d rather go back to your people than stay with your father, I’ll make sure he lets you go.”
“Now look here, son—”
“Shut up, Orrin,” Cale said.
Raven felt an awful, sinking feeling of defeat. Cale hadn’t bothered asking whether she wanted to stay. He had simply assumed she would want to go. She stared at Cale with her heart in her eyes, willing him to speak, willing him to ask her to stay. She even considered telling him that she loved him. But it would be foolish to admit she loved Cale before he had voiced his love for her. He was never going to love another woman. Perhaps it was better this way.
She turned her back on the two men. “I will go back to the Nez Perce. It is where I belong.”
Orrin snorted in disgust.
Cale heaved a long, heavy sigh. Raven had made her decision. He would have to abide by it and make sure that Orrin did, too. He would have to let her go.
The hell he would.
Cale was across the room in two strides. He grabbed Raven by the arm and whirled her around to face him. He caught her shoulders in a deathgrip and fixed her with a fierce look from dark, angry eyes.
The price of having her was higher than he had ever dreamed. But he realized, suddenly, it was one he was happy to pay. There was one thing he hadn’t offered her, one last inducement to convince her to stay. He could offer himself. He could offer love.
“Don’t go, Raven. I love you. I need you, and I want you to be my wife.”
Raven stared at his beloved face, taut with worry. His eyes were anxious as he waited intently for her answer. Her heart was in her throat, making it hard to speak.
“You want to be my husband?” she asked. “To live here in this cabin and have children together?” It was her dream come true, and she held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“Yes. Yes, Raven. You’ll sit in the rocker with a child at your breast and I’ll make another rocker and sit beside you. We’ll rock together until we’re old and gray. Will you marry me, Raven?”
“This is very interesting,” Orrin said.
“Shut up, Orrin,” Cale repeated. His hands were trembling and he balled them into fists. “Well, Raven? The decision is up to you.”
She smiled. “Oh, yes, Cale, I will marry you. I lo—”
“Now, hold on a minute,” Orrin interrupted.
“Shut up, Orrin.” Cale’s eyes softened, his hands relaxed and his lips curved into an answering smile. “Now, what were you about to say, Raven?”
“I love you, Cale,” she said. “I have for a very long time.”
He kissed her, passionately and possessively. She was his woman, a pearl beyond price. Cale intended to make sure she never doubted it in all the years of their lives.
“This might not turn out so bad after all,” Orrin finally said, a greedy, speculative gleam in his eyes. He rose and headed for the door. “Two’s company, three’s a crowd,” he added with a wink at Cale. “I’ll just be taking myself off.”
“You do that.” Cale kept Raven tucked beneath his arm, her hip pressed tightly against his.
“See you in the spring,” Orrin said as he let himself out into the snow. “I’ll be back then to hold my first grandchild.”
Cale just growled at the old man.
“You will be welcome, Father,” Raven replied.
Cale shoved the door closed and turned to lift Raven into his arms. He stalked toward the bed, a feral animal in possession of its quarry. There was no doubt in Raven’s mind that Cale would take what he wanted from her, that he would mate with her and claim her as his own.
She smiled. He was the beast again, wild and dangerous. As he laid her on the bed with gentle care, her heart swelled with love for him. She sought his eyes and found them filled with a savage need that was barely leashed. She slid her hand into the shaggy hair at his nape and pulled his mouth down to meet hers in a kiss that was all the more powerful for its tenderness.
“I love you, Cale,” she murmured against his lips.
“I love you, Raven,” he snarled in reply.
Raven moaned as his lips found hers and claimed them.
The beast had found his beauty, and all was well.