Marly's Choice Read online

  Cade shook his head. For eight years, every year, one way or another she ended up in the damned hospital. The first year, it had been double pneumonia. Every year after that it had been a concussion. A fall from a horse. A fall from the roof, and only God knew what she had been doing up there. The manner of the accidents were never the same, the outcome usually was. Her head. Damned good thing it was a hard one.

  “Cade.” Dr. Barnett entered the room, his portly body moving with surprising grace, his homely face creased in a smile, his gray hair standing on end.

  He had been Marly’s doctor since her first visit to him; just days after her mother left her on the ranch. Cade still refused to allow anyone else to treat her.

  “Hey, Doc.” Cade wiped his hands over his gritty face. His jaw was bristled with a day’s worth of beard, and he hadn’t had a shower yet.

  “You look tired, Cade. You should have gotten a room at the motel last night at least.” Dr. Barnett frowned at him in disapproval. “I’ll have you in here next, at this rate.”

  Cade grimaced. He had promised Marly he wouldn’t leave her, no matter what. She had awakened a few times through the night, scared, calling out for him. He had been there, moving close to her side, leaning close to her so she would know she wasn’t alone.

  “I’ll be fine.” He shook his head wearily. “When can Marly go home?”

  “Soon as she wakes up this morning. They just wanted to keep her for observation. The concussion was pretty bad. You know the routine, though. Keep an eye on her; wake her up once every so often after she goes to sleep for another forty-eight hours. Plenty of fluids and rest.”

  It wasn’t Marly’s first concussion. It wasn’t even the second. Cade doubted seriously it would be her last.

  “I can wake her up then?” He just wanted to get her the hell out of there and get her home.

  “Go ahead and wake her up.” Dr. Bennett nodded. “I’ll have a prescription brought to you and the sign out papers by the time she’s dressed. Take her home and let her rest, it’s the best thing for her.”

  Dr. Bennett made several notes on the board he carried, then nodded a farewell to Cade as he left the room. As he left, Sam and Brock walked in carefully. Cade glanced at Sam’s bruised face. He almost regretted hitting his brother the night before, but not enough to apologize. It was his fault she was on that damned motorcycle to begin with. He should thank his lucky stars his nose wasn’t broken too.

  “Did you bring her clothes?” he snapped out. Marly’s clothes had been trashed the night before, even her beloved leather jacket. They had been nearly ripped from her body, bloody and streaked with dirt and grime.

  “Here.” Brock handed him the bag. “We bought her a new jacket, too. The bomber kind she keeps hinting at for Christmas.”

  Cade took the bag, peeking in. There was a loose cotton dress, white canvas sneakers, and her jacket. Her usual garb for leaving the hospital. This habit of hers was going to have to stop. Her head was only going to take so much abuse.

  “Get out of here then, I’ll get her up and dressed. Did you bring the limo?” He snapped out the question.

  “Outside waiting.” Sam nodded cautiously. Cade bet that black eye hurt. Served him right.

  “Anyone find out who hit them?” The question of the day.

  All Dillon could remember was the black four by four pickup and some guy trying to help Marly into it. He had dropped her and went running when Dillon had picked himself up from the dirt in the field they had run into and went running towards them. It was too dark for a description, and he hadn’t recognized the truck. After the accident with the horse, Cade wasn’t in a coincidence frame of mind.

  “Nothing yet, Cade.” Sam glanced at Brock who shook his head as well. “There was no one else on the road that night that the police have been able to find out.”

  Cade laid Marly’s clothes out carefully, frowning over the information he had received. He didn’t like the feel of this at all.

  “Where’s the James boy?” He asked them.

  “He’s waiting outside. He’s pretty scared of you after that episode at the wreck. We just can’t convince him that you always hit someone whenever Marly gets hurt.” Sam shook his head as though it made perfect sense to him.

  “Especially the one responsible.” Cade grunted. “Get the hell out of here while I wake her up. Make sure the limo is running and warm, and I want it right outside the front door when we bring her down. You understand me?”

  “Sure Cade.” They should know the drill well by now, Cade thought.

  “Go on then. I’ll wake her.”

  The two other men filed out of the room, glancing back at Cade with a frown. Cade shook his head; he had tired of trying to figure out the twins a long time ago. Their brains just worked differently than anyone else’s. Except Marly. He sighed wearily. These yearly accidents were going to have to stop. If this one had been an accident.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Man, Marly your life is just too exciting here.” Greg shook his head as he packed his bags, his voice carrying a rich vein of bemusement. “Honest. I don’t understand it. You never had problems at school.”

  Marly contained her laughter, her head still hurt too badly to be laughing out loud. But she smiled, lying comfortably on Greg’s bed where Cade had carried her after she had awoke that evening and been informed that Greg was returning to Dallas.

  “You aren’t able to study are you, Greg?” she asked him with a smile.

  Greg paused, shaking his head wryly. Marly knew Greg was determined to hurry and get through college as quickly as possible. Anyone who knew him knew this. He was desperate to find a way to support himself, and to begin paying off the student loans he was accumulating.

  “I’ll miss you,” Marly sighed. “You fit in well here.”

  And he did. When Cade wasn’t brooding over the younger man’s presence, Greg lightened up and actually had fun watching how the ranch was run. He had even learned how to ride a horse.

  “It’s a great place, Marly.” He shook his head as he zipped his suitcase. “I don’t know how you bear to leave it for even a day.”

  She heard the thread of longing in his voice, his need for a home, a place that welcomed him. Marly knew that since the death of his parents years ago, Greg hadn’t had that sense of ‘home’.

  “I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to.” Marly yawned, shifting on the bed as she closed her eyes. Her head was pounding. “This is home, Greg.”

  And it was. She missed the house, and the family terribly while she was away. She knew, though, that the day would come that she may not have a choice but to leave. If she couldn’t get Cade to see sense, make him see that he loved her as more than a niece, then it would no longer be her home. He would marry eventually, moving another woman in, and there would be no way she could live here then.

  “Mr. August is having one of the ranch hands drive me in, so you’ll still have your truck when you want to come home,” he told her as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Do you know when you’ll be back?

  “Hm, next Monday,” she answered him drowsily. “Gotta test.”

  A test she needed to be studying for and wasn’t. She had a few days, though, she assured herself. Besides, this damned medicine Cade kept poking down her throat left her too dazed to try to study. Not that he would let her anyway. He was like a mother hen trying to anticipate her needs since bringing her home that morning.

  “Is she asleep?” Marly heard Cade’s voice as he entered the bedroom.

  “Not really, mostly just drifting.” She heard Greg’s worried answer.

  “Bret’s ready to take you back whenever you want to leave,” Cade told him softly as he looked down at Marly. “You don’t have to leave, Greg. She’ll settle down now with that concussion. For a few days at least.”

  “I swear, I’ve never seen her like this,” Greg said with a shake of his head. “She’s always so quiet and contained at school. She never gets into trouble. G
ets strange ideas sometimes, but no real trouble.”

  Marly heard Cade grunt and imagined the look of disbelief on his face. She was always getting into trouble here at the ranch.

  “She’s never quiet and contained, and she stays in trouble somewhere, somehow,” Cade told Greg with patient tolerance. “But we love her, so we deal with it.”

  He sounded like an uncle again, she thought in disgust. She hated it when he did that.

  “Well, I guess I’m ready to leave then,” Greg sighed. “I’ve had fun Mr. August, thank you for allowing me to accompany Marly.”

  “Thank Marly,” Cade’s voice was amused. “It’s her home too, Greg, and she brings who she wishes. Thankfully, she has good taste in friends.”

  Marly wondered why Cade had glowered at Greg ever since they arrived if that was the way he felt? The man was such a contradiction she wanted to smack him.

  “Thank you. She’s a good woman, Mr. August. A good friend.” Greg’s voice retreated from the room.

  “Yes she is, Greg. You take care, and we’ll see you again sometime.” Marly would have peeked to see the expression on Cade’s face, but her eyelids were just too heavy.

  She knew Greg had left, though. His steps were muffled as he went down the hallway, and soon she heard the front door close as he left the house. She hoped he would be okay. Their housemates were away for vacation as well until Sunday, and Greg would be all alone at the house. He forgot to eat sometimes when he started studying.

  “Come on Sleeping Beauty.” Cade lifted her into his arms gently. “You can sleep downstairs where I can keep an eye on you.”

  On the couch, where she had spent most of the nights during her childhood, curled up, waiting on Cade to finish his bookkeeping before going to bed. He had always had to carry her to bed. Tucking her in tenderly, kissing her forehead, sometimes sitting by her bed for long minutes as she drifted off to sleep once again.

  “Are you my Prince?” She asked him softly as he carried her down the hall.

  She felt his heart race at her question. Oh yeah, she thought, he wasn’t totally unaffected.

  “Is that what you want, Marly, a Prince?” He asked her as they went down the stairs.

  “No,” she sighed. “I just want you, Cade. All of you.”

  “And what would you do once you got me, Marly-love?” There was an edge of sadness in his voice. “You’re too young to want someone as hardened as I am.”

  Her hand curled into the edge of his shirt, the heat of his skin burning her fingers. It was a strange sensation, caught somewhere between waking and dreams, her body cradled against his as he carried her to his study.

  “You could show me what to do,” she suggested, a smile curving her lips at the thought of that.

  Marly felt his body jerk as though a shock of electricity had shot through him. His breath caught, just as hers did, at the thought of that.

  “You’re dangerous.” He lowered her, her body sinking into the plush contours of the blanket-covered couch, her head lying gently on a soft pillow.

  “I can get worse.” A smile curved her lips.

  Her favorite fantasy. She would sneak into his bedroom while he slept, naked and warm. She would slip silently under the blankets, her body pressing against his heatedly. He would turn to her. Kiss her. Touch her. She wanted to moan at the need such an image generated in her body.

  “I have no doubt you could,” Cade growled.

  Suddenly, she felt his lips at the corner of her mouth in a brief kiss. No, not brief. She hurt, she needed more. Her head turned slowly, her lips seeking his hesitantly. Cade stilled, though he didn’t pull away. Marly’s eyes opened, her gaze meeting his as she fought to keep them open. He was staring down at her, the color swirling in his eyes as her lips trembled beneath his.

  Then she did something she had always longed to do. As long as she could remember she had wanted to taste him. Her tongue slid between his lips, touching his as she watched the pupils flare in his eyes. His lips opened, his tongue meeting hers as his head slanted, his lips covering hers experimentally.

  Marly didn’t close her eyes, she couldn’t. Her gaze was snared by his, held in a trance-like fascination as he caressed her lips softly.

  “Is that what you want, Marly?” He raised his head enough to whisper against the rounded curves.

  Marly was breathing harshly, fighting to draw air into her lungs, to convince herself this was real and not another erotic dream come to taunt her.

  “More,” she whispered against his lips, the headache nearly forgotten as his tongue slid slowly over her lips.

  Marly cried out. She shook with need.

  “We have to think about this, Marly,” he whispered as she felt his hand at her waist, the other braced by her head. “We have to talk about it. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  He spoke against the lobe of her ear, then his lips slid slowly down her neck. Marly groaned with the sensations of it. Hot, like fire racing across her skin, making her crazier for him than she already had been.

  “Shh,” the sound whispered over her skin. “I want you to rest, Marly. To get better, so we can talk about this.”

  His teeth sank gently into the skin bared by the fallen sleeve of her blouse. Lightning raced from her shoulder to her thighs, making her arch her hips.

  “Cade.” Her hands rose to his shoulders, then his head, her fingers spearing into his hair. “Kiss me right. Please, Cade.”

  “Shush, Marly,” he whispered, licking the small bite sensually. “A little bit at a time, slow and easy, until we find out where we’re going. Okay?” He rubbed his cheek against her upper arm, and Marly wanted to scream out in frustration.

  “Just once,” she pleaded desperately. “Please, Cade. Just once.”

  Cade cursed harshly, then his lips were covering hers, his tongue driving deep and hard, the kiss so carnal it made her blood pressure skyrocket. Her hands tightened in his hair as his lips slanted over hers. Her body arched against him, her inner flesh melting in a heated plea. And his hands weren’t still. His fingers caressed her waist for just a moment, then cupped the firm weight of one thrusting breast.

  “Son of a bitch.” His curse rang through the room as he pulled back quickly.

  “No,” she moaned as he pushed back from her, taking his heat and passion, leaving her bereft.

  “Easy, baby,” he groaned roughly, holding her hands as she reached for him. “You’re in no shape for kisses, let alone what I could do to that hot little body of yours.”

  She watched him drowsily, seeing the flush that mounted his cheekbones, the swollen fullness of his lips. She wanted those lips against hers again, tasting her, taking her.

  “Cade—” Love welled inside her, nearly bursting her heart with hope.

  “No, Marly.” He laid his fingers against her lips, halting the outpouring of devotion. “Don’t say it, don’t say anything. We have to talk first.”

  Marly stared up at him, breathing raggedly, seeing the flare of desire in his eyes, in the way he watched her heatedly.

  “Rest for now,” he told her gently, moving away from her as he pulled the light blanket from the back of the couch and laid it over her. “Rest. We’ll talk when you’re better.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cade watched her sleep. He wasn’t getting any work done, the accounts lay forgotten before him on the desk, but he was content to watch Marly. Watch her and ache and worry. And try to find a way out of the damned mess he found himself in.

  The touch and taste of her was intoxicating. He should have never kissed her, should have never touched her in the shape she was in. But he had seen her need in her eyes, felt it in her body. The drugs took away her inhibitions and she watched him like she craved the touch, the taste of him.

  He leaned back in his seat, his eyes never straying from her pale face, her relaxed body. She had kicked the blanket off her, leaving her clad in the long shirt she had stolen from him at least a year ago. Damn girl wouldn’t sleep
in the hundreds of gowns he bought her over the years. She stole his t-shirts, his flannel shirts, and even the damned silk dress shirt to sleep in.

  Charcoal gray silk now covered her body, and should have gone to her knees. The shirt could have wrapped around her three times at least it was so big on her, but as she lay there, the silk conformed to ripe breasts, her flat stomach, and rode along her silken thighs. He had covered her twice already, trying to hide the sight of her. He wasn’t getting within touching distance of her again.

  He blamed himself for that accident. She was going out with Dillon to get to him, she had admitted that while delirious with concussion. To make him jealous. To make him want her as desperately as she wanted him.

  Cade wanted her. His body was so hard and hot for her; he could barely stand the constriction of his jeans. But did he love her the way she needed him to love her? Or had he just gone so long without a woman that he was going crazy for the only one that seemed readily available? Was it love, or lust?

  He sighed wearily, dragging his hands through his hair in a gesture of desperation. He couldn’t take her until he knew. Not until he could make sense of the sensations and needs storming his body. She would be going back to school soon. He would have three months to weather the storm inside his body, to figure out what he felt himself, to be certain she knew what she wanted. Three months was a damned long time, but the rest of their lives was even longer. If he took her, he would have to marry her. He had to be certain of her because Cade knew he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.

  Marly shifted in her sleep, a low moan coming from her lips as her body protested the movement. One arm curled gracefully above her head, emphasizing the full breast thrusting against the material of the silk. Her long, silken curls fell from her head to the floor. Her head was too tender to braid the mass, and it flowed around her, making her appear wanton, inviting. As though she needed the hair to contribute to the overall picture. He was going crazy as it was.