“I’m going to kill him if he touched you before the wedding,” Mark said.
Her color went deeper. She looked at Luke, not the tallest and not the shortest but the coolest, then at her father. “Kincaid is dead. There was a robbery. Right after the wedding. I was in shock, and I had to get out of there. I got a horse and left.”
They all stared in dumbfounded silence.
“Candice, I’m sorry,” her father finally said.
Candice’s mouth began to tremble. “Oh, Pop. It was awful,” she said, thinking of how Virgil had betrayed her and tried to rape her, and how she’d had to defend herself.
Her father hugged her again. Then he raised her chin sternly. “Where isthere?”he asked.
She started chewing a nail. “Fort Yuma.”
More stares and more silence. Little John broke it. “God, Candice! You left alone—you came alone—all the way—alone!”
She bit her lip. “I’m so sorry.”
Even Luke was looking appalled. “I can’t believe it,” he said. She gave him a pleading look, and he softened and hugged her.
“Well, at least Kincaid got what he deserved,” Mark said.
“Mark,” John reproved.
“I don’t care. He ran off with our sister. She’s gonna never live that down. Who’ll want to marry her now?”
Candice inhaled sharply. She should have known Mark wouldn’t hold back, and it was true—it would be even more true if they knew she’d never married Kincaid, and if they knew about the half-breed.…
“Mark, that’s raw,” Luke said. “I don’t think Candice will have too much of a problem. Tim McGraw’s asked her three times this year, and Judge Reinhart was about to pop the question before she eloped. It’ll be just a matter of time.”
Candice gave Luke a grateful look. Her father affirmed what Luke had said, adding, “Besides, there’s no rush, and there’s mourning to think of.” He reached out to hug her. “Honey, it’s so good to have you back.”
Candice smiled back, relieved.
She tried not to think about stealing Jack Savage’s horse. She had a niggling thought. He wouldn’t come looking for his horse—would he? She assured herself that he would not. The guilt was too much to bear, so it was easier to put it out of her mind and concentrate on the reunion with her family. After the warmth came the lecturing, which she staunchly braved. And when she finally crumpled into bed, she said a brief prayer of thanks to the Lord, asking for forgiveness for the murder, and the lies and the horse-stealing.
And why, God, was it the last that preyed on her mind and nerves? She had killed a man, but all she could think about was stealing an Apache’s horse while he lay sleeping and wounded.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Candice, get up.”
She opened her eyes to see Luke standing in the doorway. “Huh?”
He was grim. “There’s a half-breed Apache in the yard and he says you stole his horse.”
She sat up, her face paling. “Oh, God.”He had came.
“Pop wants you downstairs. Now.” Luke stalked out of the room.
Candice leapt from the bed, shaking. She felt fear and sought control as she pulled on a chemise and petticoats. Her whole family was there, so he couldn’t do anything. She didn’t have to know him very well to know he would be furious. And her omission of the truth was about to be exposed.…
She shrugged into a skirt and blouse and ran downstairs, barefoot, her hair still loose and uncombed.
He was standing in the yard, facing the verandah, at gunpoint. One of the hired hands had his rifle trained cautiously on his back, and three others ringed him warily. Mark, Little John, Luke, and their father stood facing him. His eyes were blazing, and he was wearing only the loincloth and moccasins, an empty gunbelt and the knife. One of the hired hands had his Colt stuck in his own waistband. The scabs on Savage’s chest and knee had opened, and were raw and bleeding slightly.
Their gazes locked.
Candice was shaking, and she could barely breathe.
