Castillo woke her up the next morning with kisses and murmured love words in Spanish. She opened her eyes to his tousled head and smiling eyes.
“I need you again,” he mumbled against her neck as his fingers skimmed up and down her body.
She needed him, too, and held him against her. Caroline had laid her heart before him last night, and he’d not taken it. She refused to let the bitterness of that come between them. How could she be bitter about his refusal to give up his dream when she wasn’t able to give up hers? Maybe Aunt Prudie was right. Maybe this was the point where she had to have faith that it would work out. Somehow.
“I need you, too,” she whispered and savored his groan as he moved between her thighs.
Blindly, she reached for the tin on the bedside table and pulled out the last prophylactic. He rose up enough so that she could reach between them and help him slide it on, and then he fell over her. They made love gently and slowly. He lingered over her, careful of the tenderness of her untried body. Neither one of them were willing to deny themselves the pleasure of just one more time before she left. Once it was over, they held each other, barely speaking lest something break the spell of their love. Finally when it was time, they helped each other dress.
As they left the hotel and walked the few blocks to the train station, he slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. She smiled as the warm comfort of his presence filled in all the hollows in her body. Gazing up at his profile, she noted his strong jaw with the bit of scruff he hadn’t bothered to shave that morning. The memory of how it had rasped the skin of her breasts as he’d moved over her made her blush. It didn’t seem fair that this beautiful man was her husband and she’d only have the one night with him. It didn’t seem fair that he was hers, but not as much as she was his.
He felt her watching and looked down at her, giving her a half smile. “You know, I’ve been thinking.” His boots thudded on the wooden planks of the boardwalk with each step. She thought she’d remember the cadence of his step for as long as she lived.
“About what?” she asked when he paused.
“I spent so much time worried about your virginity…and here we are, married with a proper deflowering on our wedding night.” The smile stayed intact while his heavy gaze raked down to her lips.
She knew she was blushing at his crude words even as they pulled a laugh from her. She couldn’t seem to stop blushing around him. “Maybe next time you’ll listen to me,” she quipped.
He threw back his head and laughed. When his eyes met hers again, they were filled with so much emotion that a lump welled in her throat. The train’s sharp whistle cut through the air with the quarter-hour warning. The hotel had sent her trunk ahead hours ago, but only now did leaving feel real to her. She hadn’t even realized they’d come to a stop on the boardwalk until his fingertips touched her face and ran across her bottom lip. His touch was heated, awakening all the nerve endings that had been slumbering, sated from their night together.
“Oh, Carolina,” he whispered, his eyes heavy lidded and dark.
Someone jostled past them, prompting him to take her arm and lead her to an abandoned storefront, set into the corner of the brick building. They were only a block from the station now, where her parents and Aunt Prudie were probably waiting for her. Pushing her back against the paper-covered glass window, he kissed her. It was a proper goodbye kiss filled with passion and longing, a tender reminder of how they’d passed their wedding night.
“Come with me,” she whispered when they broke apart to catch their breaths. “We have the money my father settled on me. We can find a little house near the university.” She wasn’t certain Castillo had even read the paperwork he’d signed yesterday. Her father had settled a healthy amount of money on them with their marriage. It wouldn’t last indefinitely, but it’d be enough to last them for a few years. She pressed her hands against his chest, trying her best to memorize how he felt against her. The memories would have to last.
“I cannot.” His voice was low and he’d closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against hers. “My life is here, and your life will be better without me in it.” When he opened his eyes, she saw that he truly thought that.
Despite her resolve to not allow bitterness to overtake the morning, a shard of anger tore through her. “You’re too stubborn to see how things could be so much better for us.”
“I’m not stubborn, Carolina.” He kept his voice calm and stroked her cheek. “I’m realistic.”
The sting of tears prickled the backs of her eyes, but she refused to give in to them. They were little more than self-pity. The simple truth was that he didn’t love her as much as she loved him. She shoved him away, intent on making her way to the train station alone. Better to get used to being without him now.
Before she’d gotten two steps past him, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her around so she fell into his chest, and he supported her with his back to the window, much the same as he had held her on the train. Only, this time, he was searching her face, looking for some answer when she didn’t even know the question. He whispered her name again and kissed her, gripping her face gently with his hands.
She didn’t see the man approach or sense his presence until it was too late.
* * *
Castillo opened his eyes to a world that had changed. Or maybe he was the one who’d changed. One moment he was holding Carolina in his arms and the next she’d been pulled away from him. He grabbed at her but was a second too late. Her eyes were wide with fear as she was whisked around the corner and into the alley, a large arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulling her away. He only got a glimpse of a dark shadow as she disappeared.
Pulling his gun from its holster, he bolted after her, rushing around the corner and into the alley. Derringer stood there, looking dirty and disheveled, his hair a bright beacon of white in the shadows, with her in his arms, the muzzle of his Colt .45 held against her temple. She gripped his forearm, her knuckles white as she tried to loosen his hold, but he only tightened his grip. Castillo’s blood ran cold. He’d faced down enemies before and always managed to find a cold focus as he did it. It allowed him to stay calm and measure the outcomes of his choices before he acted.
Not this time. This time he couldn’t see past the one outcome that scared the life out of him. Carolina’s lifeless body lying on the dirty ground. Just thinking of it made his fingers numb.
“Stop where you are, Reyes.” Derringer’s voice was cultured, calm despite the fact that they were in an alley holding guns.
Castillo stopped, but he took in their surroundings, looking for a place someone could hide. The alley was littered with debris, a broken chair, a forgotten weather-beaten sign advertising an apothecary leaning against the brick wall, but there was nothing large enough to hide a man. He couldn’t see the roof, though, so he figured that’d be the most likely spot for someone to be hiding, ready to unleash a hail of bullets. Derringer had probably been staked out all night waiting for his chance.
Damn, Castillo should’ve been more prepared instead of being so infatuated with his wife. He’d put her at risk because he couldn’t keep his hands off her. She would die in an alley because of him.
“Put the gun down nice and slow.” Derringer’s tone was that of a man meeting a long-lost friend in a saloon. It didn’t seem right. Something about this was very, very wrong.
“I can’t do that, Buck. You need to let her go.” Castillo gauged the distance between them to be about nine feet, give or take. He’d be able to reach Derringer quickly, but not before the man had a chance to pull the trigger.
“Put that gun down or I’ll shoot her right now.”
Derringer didn’t betray impatience in his voice or demeanor. Castillo’s only clue was the subtle tightening of the man’s finger on the trigger. In the split second it took for Castillo to make that assessment, he realized that Derringer held everything that had ever mattered to Castillo in his arms—his hopes and dreams for a better future. Because if Castillo walked out of that alley without her, he wouldn’t care about the hacienda or restoring the ranch to a profit. He only cared about Carolina. He wanted to know that she walked the Earth, that she was happy and cared for. In that moment, his quest for vengeance became a thing of the past.
“Don’t hurt her, Buck. Please.” His voice shook a little and he sent up a silent prayer. Take me, not her. Please, God, not her.
Derringer smiled, and then he laughed a little as if the joke was too funny not to. “Oh, I’m going to hurt her, Castillo. I’m going to hurt her so badly that she’ll wish she was dead long before I get to that part.” His eyes were cold under the brim of his bowler hat. He looked like madness. The wind picked up as if prompted by his words and blew through his shoulder-length, bright white hair.
Castillo’s mouth went dry, but he knew if he dropped his gun he’d lose any chance he had to free her. “If you plan to kill her anyway, I’ll keep my gun.”
Derringer glanced down at Castillo’s gun and back up before cocking his own gun. The metallic click sent a cold chill down Castillo’s spine.
“Figured you’d prefer the fast way.” Derringer grinned and the muscle in his hand flexed.
Castillo couldn’t get a clear shot, but that didn’t matter. He only had a second to act, so he launched himself forward, planning to plow into them. The bang of a gun firing sounded loud in his ears as he fell forward. Carolina screamed.
Castillo landed hard on his knees, stunned that he couldn’t move forward and uncertain about what had happened. Derringer crouched before him, blood spewing from behind the hand that cradled his nose. He groaned like an old man in the throes of death, but Castillo couldn’t figure out how that had happened. Castillo hadn’t shot the man. Derringer had shot. He’d seen the flash of Derringer’s gun firing. The man still held that gun loosely as he cradled his nose.
The ringing in his ears faded enough that he could hear Carolina calling his name. “Castillo!” She landed on her knees beside him. He tightened his grip on his gun and put his other arm around her, trying to get her behind him. A searing pain shot through his side, like he’d been stabbed with a hot branding iron.
But he couldn’t pay attention to that. Derringer was coming back to his senses, lowering his hands to show a nose that was slightly askew and spewing blood. Castillo realized that Carolina must have hit Derringer in the nose as he’d fired, likely breaking it from the amount of blood that poured out. The man raised his gun, but Castillo raised his first and fired three shots to Derringer’s chest.
Then it was over. Dear God, all these years his life had been put on hold as he searched for this man…and it was over. Derringer fell backward, his arms splayed out wide. Castillo could only stare at him and wait for the triumph to find him. It didn’t. It was over, and he felt relief, but there was no feeling of victory. Just a grim certainty that he’d accomplished his goal and a glimmer of satisfaction that Derringer would never hurt anyone else.
Dimly, he became aware of the strength leaving his body, but he couldn’t focus on it. Caroline was at his side and her arms went around his shoulders. “Carolina,” he said her name over and over as he gathered her in his arms. “Forgive me. I didn’t know what was important until I saw him put that gun to your head. Please forgive me.”
She clutched him back briefly and then tugged away to look down at his stomach. “We need to get you inside.” She looked down the alley toward the street and then the other way.
“Carolina,” he said again, reaching for her face. His arms felt like lead weights and he didn’t understand why, but he needed to hear her forgive him. “Forgive me, please.”
Her eyes shone with absolute terror when she looked at him. “Yes, yes, of course I forgive you.”
He smiled and noticed how soft her skin was beneath his palms. “I love you.” Suddenly, his knees wouldn’t hold him anymore and he fell forward. She moved with him to brace his fall. The horrible pain shot through him again, twisting him up on the inside.
“Cas!” Zane called to him, but his voice sounded far away.
“Down here!” Carolina called back. She was hovering over him now, worried lines across her forehead. “Keep your eyes open. It’ll be fine, but keep your eyes open.”
“What’s happening?” He should know. His ears still rang with the gunshot. Dammit. He’d been shot. The knowledge had been there all along, but he’d only just now allowed himself to recognize it.
Panic overtook him that her train was due to leave soon and he might not see her again. “Don’t go, Carolina. Don’t get on the train.”
“I won’t,” she assured him as she tore off a length of her skirt and wadded it up. “I’m staying here to take care of you.” She pressed it against the wound and he nearly came out of his skin from the pain.
Zane ran up beside them followed by Hunter. “Let’s get him to Glory’s. She has a room, and it beats that damn butcher they call a doctor at the hospital.”
Castillo nearly blacked out when they picked him up.
* * *
Castillo awoke to a room full of his family. Hunter and Emmy sat in a chair in a corner consoling each other, while Zane stared out the dark window and Tanner sat on a chair right beside the bed. But the most important person was Carolina and she was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s awake.” Tanner’s proclamation alerted them all so that four sets of eyes turned to him.
The room was sparsely furnished and clean, but he couldn’t place it. “Where am I?” he asked through a throat that felt like sandpaper.
“Get him some water,” Tanner called to no one in particular, but Zane moved first, crossing the room to a table with a pitcher. “We’re at Victoria House.”
Castillo laughed, but it hurt so he groaned instead. “I nearly die getting shot and you bring me to a brothel?”
“Take it easy.” Hunter had walked to stand on his other side, opposite Tanner, and put his hand on Castillo’s shoulder to gently hold him still. “We brought you here so you could have a better doctor.”
“Caroline patched you up, with the help of her father.” Tanner grinned like he was proud of her. “We didn’t know what to do…you lost so much blood, but she came in and had us all following orders. The bullet passed right through you, and she had you stitched up before your head hit the pillow.”
“Where is she? Did she take the train to Boston?” He’d been so stupid to ever think his revenge was more important than her.
“I’m right here, Castillo.” She stood inside the open door of the room. She was beautiful, her face beaming in the gentle glow of the light, but he immediately saw the blue shadows under her eyes. She was tired, and her hair was a mess, pinned up with tendrils falling down around her face.
She was beautiful.
“Carolina. You stayed.”
She smiled as she walked over to him, taking Hunter’s place at his side and holding his hand. “You got yourself shot. Someone had to fix you.”
“You stayed and you saved me.” He could hardly believe it.
With her other hand, she touched his forehead, her fingers stroking his hair. “My father helped.”
He brought her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on her palm. “I was so stupid to let you go. When I saw him grab you, it became clear to me everything that I had to lose. I don’t want to lose you. I want to go to bed with you every night and wake up to you every morning. I want to live my life with you. Say it’s not too late. I know I don’t deserve it after putting you in danger, but I swear I’ll live my life making it up to you.”
Her smile widened and tears formed in her eyes as she leaned over him. “It’s not too late. I want that too. I want to spend my life with you, Castillo.”
Despite the pain, he pulled her forward until he could tangle his fingers in hair and take her mouth in a kiss again. She laughed but kissed him back.
“I love you, Carolina.”