Her warm body took the chill from his bones, and he molded his hand to the hollow of her back. Outside the cabin, the rain showed no sign of letting up, and the steady cadence against the shake roof was strangely erotic.
'You're right. There are things worth dying for,' he murmured just before he bent and kissed her. Then he asked her the question that weighed heaviest on his mind. 'Tell me about Jack Cannon.'
She stiffened. 'There's nothing to tell.'
'Leave that for me to decide. I want to hear it, all of it. No lies, Tamsin. I want the truth, if you can tell it.'
'I told you, it was nothing. I was working my way west, staying in this little town in Nebraska, Wheaton. I was a clerk in a general store, very little pay, but there was a clean room in the back of the building where I could sleep. And Mr. Harvey let us eat at noon and six. We could take cheese, crackers, dried fruit, even bread and pies that hadn't sold and were starting to go stale. He didn't charge me, so long as I ate in my quarters and didn't tell his wife.'
'What does this have to do with Cannon?'
'He came into the store, and I sold him ammunition and a pair of expensive boots that Mr. Harvey had been trying to get rid of for a year. Jack told me that he was a rancher in town to purchase livestock. He seemed pleasant enough, but I'm no fool. He asked me to have dinner with him, and I refused.'
'You refused?'
'Yes. I was a woman alone without friends or connections in the town. I felt that I had to guard my reputation.'
'So you didn't let him take you to eat?'
'Not then, not until he'd asked every day for nearly a week. Then he asked me if I was a churchgoing lady. I said that I was, and he suggested we attend services together.'
Ash felt a wave of disbelief sweep over him. 'You're telling me that Texas Jack Cannon, train robber, thief, and murderer, took you to church?'
'No, he didn't. He stopped at the store on Saturday evening and told me that he couldn't make church. Would I accept his apology and have Sunday night supper with him? We did. He was charming and funny, even a little old- fashioned. He bought my dinner a few more times, and then we went to a church social, and we rode together. My animals needed exercise.'
'After-church suppers and apple pie. This sounds better and better.'
'You wanted the truth,' Tamsin said. 'I'm telling you.'
'Goon.'
'While we were riding, we stopped to water the horses, and he became… ungentlemanly. He implied that I had given him reason to expect more than friendship. We argued, and he tore my blouse. I slapped his face. He frightened me, and I drew Granddad's pistol and told him I'd shoot him if he didn't back oft He did, I mounted Dancer, and rode back to town. The next day, when he came to the store to tell me that he was sorry, I wouldn't accept his apology.'
'Don't imagine that went down well with Cannon.'
'It didn't. He got very quiet, but I knew he was angry. He said that he wasn't used to being refused, and that I'd regret it. That night, I delivered an order to a lady on the far side of town. We talked, and I didn't get back to the store until after dark. Someone had forced their way into my room. Nothing was disturbed, but the latch was broken, and a meadowlark lay on my bed. Its neck was broken.'
'I was terrified, and I went to my employers' home and told them what had happened. They laughed and said the cat must have killed the bird, but they let me sleep there. The next morning, I left town. That's it, that's all there was to my association with Jack Cannon.'
'You never slept with him?'
'No! What do you think I am?'
'Did you kiss him?'
'No. Yes…'
'Yes or no?'
'That's what we argued about. He tried to kiss me. He did kiss me, but I turned away. I wasn't ready for that kind of attention from a man. And I wasn't about to be forced into… into trading that for a few suppers.'
Ash exhaled softly. 'You spin a fine tale, Tamsin. You want me to believe in your complete innocence, yet you defended Cannon soundly enough when I first-'
'I didn't want you prying into my affairs. I was ashamed that I'd been taken in by him. I had no proof that Jack broke into my room. The cat might have killed the meadowlark. And I wasn't sure that he wasn't right, that I had led him on by riding out unchaperoned.' She paused. 'I can understand why you can't accept my explanation… after letting you…'
'Us, you mean?'
She nodded. 'It wasn't the same with Jack. He's attractive, but…'
'He's a sight prettier than me, if my memory serves me well enough.'
'He's handsome, but almost too much so. It's still hard for me to believe that a murderer and wanted outlaw would come into town and walk around as though he were an honest citizen.'
'But he frightened you.'
'Yes, when he kissed me.'
'And I don't?'
'Not now,' she whispered.
'Maybe you should be afraid of me.'
'I don't think so.' She sighed. 'I don't want to fight with you, Ash. Not tonight. Maybe not ever again. I don't want to think about Jack Cannon or the Cheyenne or even about California. I just want to lie here with you and listen to the rain on the roof.'
'Just listen?'
'Talk to me. Tell me about you when you were a child. Before your father died.'
'Was murdered.'
'Was it all violence? Don't you have any good memories?'
'Once I rode a calf and won ten cents at a barn raising.'
'That's better.' She closed her eyes. 'Hold me, please.'
'I can do that.'
'Tell me something else. Something warm and happy. Something good that happened to you when you lived with Aunt Jane.'
'Hmmm, not school. I didn't like that much. Or church, too much preachin'. Sam Houston.'
'Who?'
'Not who. What. Sam Houston was my cat. Aunt Jane gave him to me for Christmas one year. He was so tiny, he could fit in the palm of my hand.'
'A kitten? I thought children who grew up to be gunslingers had wolves for pets. At least a mean dog.'
'I like cats. Always have. They're independent.'
'What color was Sam Houston?'
'About the shade of your hair. Maybe more orange.'
She laughed and traced tiny circles on his bare chest with her fingertips. He cupped her breast with his hand and was rewarded with her sigh of pleasure.
'Keep that up, and you'll wake the dead.'
'You mean, we could… again? So soon?'
He chuckled and brushed the cleft between her breasts with the tip of his tongue.
'Don't laugh at me,' she said. 'I didn't know. Once my husband… I didn't know a man could…' She left the rest unsaid and began to massage his shoulders and neck.
His loins tightened. 'A man can do a lot when he's with you.' He rubbed his thumb over her swollen nipple and felt her growing arousal.
'I want to make you happy,' she murmured. 'Tell me what to do.'
He groaned as her exploring hand slid down to caress his loins. 'You're doing fine on your own,' he managed.
