Caroline Hartford had enchanted him. There was no denying it anymore.
After dinner that night everyone retired to the gold salon where the tall French doors had been opened to allow in the cool breeze blowing over the mountains. The sun had just set, leaving the horizon with a burnished glow directly at odds with the bright stars struggling to shine in the velvet eastern sky. As beautiful as that sunset was, Castillo was having trouble pulling his gaze away from Caroline to properly enjoy it.
He’d been captivated by her on the train. And then annoyed with her when he found her here and she’d offered that proposal. But then—though he couldn’t say when it had happened—he’d started to become captivated by her again. She sat across the room on the settee next to Tanner, discussing her plans for the future. He’d tried not to listen, but her voice kept drawing him in. It wasn’t the sound of her voice, though that was pleasant…soft, with enough of a husky timbre that it spoke directly to his baser instincts. It was her words and the conviction with which she said them.
She knew what she wanted to do with her life, and it wasn’t at all what anyone else in her position would want. She didn’t value marriage, not the way his mother had. His mother had been crushed when she’d been abandoned by Tanner. Some of that had been heartbreak, but Castillo had come to realize that much of it was because the life she’d imagined for herself had been taken away.
Marisol Reyes had been raised by very conservative parents, and that meant her only calling in life was to be a wife and mother, to be obedient to the needs of her family. A caretaker of her family who ran an efficient household. She’d never had a chance to develop interests beyond anything domestic, and truth be known, as he thought back, Castillo wasn’t certain she’d have wanted anything more. She’d been the perfect mother.
Caroline was different. Her family was affluent. She could’ve been just like all the other women in her life, content to allow her future to be planned for her. Content to follow her given role in society. He’d seen those women in Boston and had met a few during his visits to Helena once he’d been recognized as Tanner Jameson’s son. Not one of them had intrigued him like Caroline did. She wanted more. She wanted control of her destiny. There was something about that independence he found appealing.
No one understood it better than Castillo. His destiny had been planned out for him from the start and he’d been trying to take back control ever since. The Reyes hacienda was his destiny. But with his grandfather gone, he was struggling to make it his.
“Yes, I’ve been influenced greatly by Dr. Mary McLean. I was fortunate to attend a lecture she gave last year. She’s a fascinating person,” Caroline was saying, raising her glass of champagne.
Amelia, the eldest Bonham girl, played a soft tune on the piano in the corner, offering a pleasant, melodious backdrop for the evening. Castillo looked outside and caught a flicker of light in the distant hills. It disappeared too quickly to be a fire. Was it a flicker of the dying sunset against a piece of metal—or a signal?
“You certainly sound as if you’re set on this plan,” Tanner remarked.
“Oh, I’m quite set on this. I hope to run my own practice someday. I think there are strides to be made yet in the area of women’s health.”
“As long as you stick to females and young children, and avoid taking on male patients, you’ll do fine. I’m certain of it.” This was said by Mr. Bonham, who’d just walked back into the room after smoking his after-dinner cigar on the veranda.
Castillo whipped around to gauge Caroline’s reaction. She was as elegant as usual, her spine straight, shoulders back. She’d changed from the dress she’d worn on the picnic into a pale-green evening gown. The hair piled on top of her head shimmered like liquid gold in the candlelight. She made her expression deliberately bland, but something burned in her eyes.
“Why do you say that, Mr. Bonham?”
“Because it’s less challenging. Caring for women and children is a fair extension of the woman’s role at home with her domestic duties. Continuing that role outside of the home will be challenging enough to keep you occupied without overly taxing the intellect.” The bastard actually grinned as if he was explaining a well-known fact to a child or someone of lesser intelligence.
“Now, Bonham,” Tanner said before she could answer. “While there are a few notable differences between the genders, human anatomy is much the same between them. Disease doesn’t discriminate.”
Bonham shook his head and sank down into the chair next to the settee facing the piano. “But it does. The same disease works much differently in the male anatomy. We’ve a much stronger constitution.” Looking back at Caroline with that indifferent smile, he continued, “You’ll learn all about that in your studies.”
Castillo couldn’t hold silent any longer. He’d never read a book about human anatomy or disease, but even he knew Bonham was talking nonsense. He itched to put his fist through the man’s smile, but thought Tanner might not appreciate the violence. “Miss Hartford has spent her entire life studying under her father. You’re a banker. She knows far more about the subject than you ever will.” Castillo turned his attention to Caroline. She had a little smile on her face and the anger had left her eyes. “Come walk with me, mi corazón?”
Her mouth dropped open, much like Bonham’s, except hers changed into a smile while Bonham kept opening and closing his mouth as if he couldn’t quite figure out what to say. Caroline quickly regathered her wits and rose to her feet, setting her champagne down on the spindly side table. Castillo deliberately ignored the smile on Tanner’s face as he held out his arm to her. She slipped her small hand through it and he led her out to the porch.
“What an ass,” he muttered, keeping his gait calm and steady as he led her on a walk around the veranda.
“It’s fine.” There was a smile in her voice.
“No, it’s not fine. To imply that you—”
“Castillo.” She placed her hand on his forearm, drawing his attention. “It really is fine. I’ve been dealing with that sort of ignorance for my whole life. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”
They’d come to a stop around the corner of the house. The soft music from the piano still reached them here and a lantern hung from the rafters, flickering softly. The cadence of Tanner’s voice along with the occasional word could be heard coming from inside, but they were nearly alone. She was beautiful, smiling up at him, and she was all that he could see.
His gaze dropped to her mouth and the small white teeth pressed gently against her lush bottom lip. The blush over the soft curve of her cheekbone. The small nose with the delicate, gold-rimmed spectacles perched on the bridge. Everything about her was delicate. Everything except her height. The top of her head caught him at his chin, when he was accustomed to most women being far shorter.
He liked it, though he had no reason to pay attention to anything about her enough to like it. This courtship was a farce. “Anymore? It doesn’t bother you anymore?” he asked, because he’d been staring at her for way too long.
“There was a time it bothered me.” She nodded. “I’ve heard it all, from how it’s not fair to the patients because I’ll almost certainly faint at the first unsightly lesion I see, to how my female brain is too small to comprehend everything I’ll need to learn. I couldn’t understand why anyone would think that way. I’ve spent so many hours learning under my father that I know as much as he does in some areas. I know more than the people saying those thoughtless things. Eventually, I realized that it doesn’t matter what they think. They hold on to their prejudices because it comforts them in some way. I don’t claim to understand it, but I know that I can’t dissuade them with words. Only my actions can prove them wrong.”
“But, Carolina, he just said your intelligence was inferior.”
She shrugged. “I know, and I also know he’s wrong. I can’t go battling every ignorant comment. Believe me, I’ve tried and it’s exhausting. I do feel sympathy for his daughters, though.”
His gaze had settled on her clear blue eyes. They shone with intelligence and warmth. He couldn’t believe that she could be so calm when anger still swelled within his chest trying to force its way out. The only way to assuage it would be to go back in that room and confront Bonham, but Castillo wouldn’t ruin the rest of the week. There were still days until the wedding.
But then she tightened her grip on his forearm, her fingertips pressing gently into his flesh. Her touch was warm and reassuring through the fabric of his coat and shirt. Immediately, all the blood in his body took a drastic turn south.
“Thank you for standing up for me. You didn’t have to, but I appreciate it.”
He sucked in a breath to cool the heated blood in his veins. It didn’t help. He merely pulled in her lavender scent, which was mixed with something that he couldn’t identify. Something feminine and sweet. A scent that was hers alone.
An image of her pale skin glowing in the darkness of his room flashed through his mind. He was licking that scent from her skin, tasting her, shattering her composure. He moved his hand to the railing, dislodging her touch as he stared out across the field and tried to scrub the image from his mind. He replaced it with memories of that time he and Hunter had been holed up in a muddy canyon for two days with no food, in the cold rain, while being shot at relentlessly. It helped, but only a little.
“It’s ignorance—like you said. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.” And this is why she was so worried about marriage standing in her way. If she married someone with Bonham’s attitudes there wasn’t any way she would be attending school. Of course, he knew many people felt the same. Except that he’d been too much in his own world the past few years, obsessed with finding Derringer and earning money to resurrect the hacienda, and he’d stopped interacting with society. He tightened his hand on the railing. Perhaps she wasn’t that much different from him. She was fighting for something she wanted against a world that seemed intent on making it tougher for her.
He blew out a breath, the dark, looming shadows of the hills in the distance drawing his attention. There was that flicker of light again. Definitely a signal. They’d had men take watch over the east field and west field. Was it one of them? He’d need to check it out before heading upstairs to bed. He was tired and was scheduled to take over the watch well before sunrise. Playing suitor and tracking Derringer was proving to be exhausting work.
“Does that light mean something?”
He whipped his head around. She was looking out toward the same light he’d seen, her brows knitted together.
“No.” It was an automatic response. He could simply tell her that it was likely a signal that one of the men on watch had found something. But he still couldn’t trust her completely. He’d been keeping things quiet for so long in his quest to find Derringer, he wasn’t certain he’d ever be able to trust anyone outside of his small circle of brothers ever again. “Why would it mean something?”
She shrugged. “You tensed when you saw it.”
Mierda, she was observant. She hadn’t mentioned it, but she’d noted the weapons on their ride today. Her brows had knitted together like now, like she was trying to figure him out. He’d have to be more careful. There was no sense in creating panic when he didn’t even know if Derringer had his sights set on the Jameson Ranch. The ass would be stupid to target it. It was common knowledge that it was well protected. “I’m always tense.” He tried to smile but failed miserably.
“Maybe, but that’s not it. You were tense on the picnic today, too. And while it’s true this is my first visit here, I don’t think it’s normal to travel to a picnic at the river armed with a rifle and at least one revolver, not to mention the guns Hunter carried.”
“Never hurts to be cautious.” Even he could admit that was a weak argument.
“Cautious?” She turned to face him, leaning her hips back against the railing. It seemed so natural to put his hands on either side of her, to lean in, that he almost did that, catching himself just in time. “Do you think we’re in danger?”
He took in a deep breath. He was in danger right now. His gaze darted down to her mouth and she licked her lips, as if getting them moist for him. His brain stuttered over some way to allay her fears without raising her suspicions even further, but her next words ground his thoughts to a complete halt.
“Will you kiss me, Castillo?” she whispered.
His breath stopped in his throat and he stared into eyes that widened as if she’d only just realized she’d voiced the request. His heart punched against his chest, trying to make him move toward her, and before he realized it, he was mere inches from her mouth.
“I can’t do that.”
“Why?” she whispered.
Why couldn’t he do it? She was right here in front of him. Her plump bottom lip shimmered in the light of the oil lantern. Her tongue darted out again nervously and he wanted to chase it, to suck it into his mouth and learn her taste. His hand stroked the silky skin of her bare arm as his palm moved up to rest on her shoulder. He could feel her delicate bones beneath her flesh, smell her lavender scent, feel the heat from her body as he angled himself closer.
“One kiss wouldn’t be enough,” he said. It wouldn’t be. He hadn’t really touched her yet, but this longing she created within him wasn’t asking for something so casual as a kiss. It wanted more. All of her. Yet even as he warned her off, he tilted his head, already anticipating the touch of her mouth. Her breath brushed across his chin. “Carolina,” he whispered.
“Is wanting more so bad?” she whispered back.
Yes. Very bad. His mind yelled the words, but couldn’t make his body listen to them. He just kept moving toward her, crowding her back against the porch railing. She reached up and grabbed his biceps, her fingers squeezing into him gently.
His lips touched hers, a soft caress that was more teasing than kiss. It wasn’t nearly enough, but he drew back before he gave in to the temptation to dip his tongue inside her. His breath came as fast as it did after a fight.
“This is only an agreement.” He said it as much to remind himself as to remind her. If it were only an agreement, then why did it feel like more? “We have no future together. You know that.” Even as he spoke, he couldn’t draw his gaze from her mouth. Her lips were pink and perfect. He knew the bottom one would be lush and soft between his teeth.
“I know, but I don’t think a future is required for kissing.” The words, or perhaps it was the way he was looking at her, made her blush. It rose from her breasts all the way up her neck to her cheeks.
His whole body tightened. His mind had gone far past kissing—at least, in the way she meant it. He wanted to kiss her mouth, but he also wanted to dip his tongue into that indentation where her neck met her shoulder, to savor the pink of her nipples, to taste the nectar between her thighs. Somehow, his body had gone far past mild flirtation faster than it ever had before.
He shifted his hands to the railing at her back and leaned down, afraid that if he held on to her he’d crush her against him and she’d feel how hard he was. “You’re right.” He covered her mouth with his and she sighed against his lips as she opened for him. He traced the wet rim of her lips with his tongue and found her hot and so damn sweet he couldn’t resist pushing further. His tongue delved deeper, brushing hers and sending fingers of pleasure dragging down his spine.
Shrill laughter rent the night air, dispersing the haze of arousal that held them locked together. Prudence, along with Caroline’s father, approached around the corner, their heels echoing on the wood floor of the veranda. He drew back, gasping for air. Despite his vow not to compromise her, he’d been very close to doing just that. Tanner and Bonham’s voices could still be heard coming from inside.
He hadn’t even waited for privacy to touch her. Pushing off the railing, he walked in the opposite direction of her aunt and father, and jumped down to the ground, heading off into the darkness to get himself under control.
* * *
Castillo disappeared into the inky darkness of the night as soon as he stepped from the ring of light cast by the lantern. The moon was covered by clouds. Caroline’s only clue to his whereabouts was that she could still hear his boots on the packed dirt as he hurried away. Each step matched the nearly frantic beat of her heart. Her lips were warm from his and she still tasted the heady mixture of whiskey and peppermint from his tongue.
“Caroline?” Aunt Prudie’s concerned voice came from far too close behind her.
She turned to find her aunt standing just feet away, a puzzled look on her face that told Caroline she’d almost certainly missed something the woman had said. Caroline’s father was coming up behind Aunt Prudie, his gaze narrowed in the direction in which Castillo had disappeared. Their presence explained why he’d left so abruptly. Caroline had been too absorbed in the kiss to even hear them approach. How much had they seen?
Caroline couldn’t resist one last glance over her shoulder, but Castillo was gone. When she looked back, Aunt Prudie’s concerned expression had changed to one of amusement. “Enjoying your evening, dear?”
They hadn’t seen the kiss. Caroline couldn’t allow herself to believe it, but her aunt’s gaze had dropped to her lips. The impulse to touch them was too great for Caroline to ignore, so she’d pressed her fingertips against them before she’d thought better of it. They felt a little tender. Caroline dropped her hand, curling it into a fist at her side. “It’s a lovely evening. How about you?”
“Lovely indeed. Samuel and I have been having a pleasant walk. Perhaps you’d like to take a stroll with Mr. Jameson?” Aunt Prudie raised a brow and tilted her head toward the path Castillo had taken.
“I don’t…um… I think he had to go talk to someone.” Caroline glanced back at her father. He didn’t seem angry, but his brow was furrowed in concern as he stared out at the night sky. Perhaps he hadn’t seen the kiss and only knew they’d been talking.
Guilt tightened her chest. She didn’t like lying to these people she loved more than any others in the entire world. It suddenly felt wrong to give Aunt Prudie hope when Caroline knew that nothing would ever come of her relationship with Castillo. It seemed wrong to continue allowing her father to worry, as he so obviously was worrying right now.
But most of all, it seemed wrong to keep Castillo from the mission that called to him. He could have been out all evening searching for the man responsible for his grandfather’s death, but instead he’d been here with her.
“I’m going to go to bed. I haven’t been sleeping well.” She needed to get away and think about what to do.
“Is everything all right?” her father asked.
“I’m tired.” Caroline smiled and kissed his cheek good-night. After some murmured words of concern from Aunt Prudie, Caroline made her way to her room to think.