Caden's Vow by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page A

women up there.”
    “You think the married ones would let a whore in their midst,
boss?”
    She raised her brows at the man. “Are you calling me a liar,
sir?”
    She didn’t know what she’d do if he said yes. She wasn’t used
to confronting people head-on. She thought of Bella and her fire and added for
good measure, “Because if you are...”
    “If I am, what?”
    So much for Bella’s inner fire. She couldn’t copy that.
    “Then I would have to tell you, you’re wrong.” She put her hand
to her chest, drawing the man’s gaze back to her best assets. The feel of her
cotton dress was a shock when she’d been expecting skin. It was hard to flaunt
your attributes when you were covered to the chin, but Tia had insisted nice
girls didn’t wear low-cut dresses. It had been useless trying to explain to Tia
that she wasn’t a nice girl, and while rape was something to be avoided, it
wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. But Tia was Tia and she always got her
way.
    After Maddie’d gotten used to thinking of herself as
unavailable, she’d loved her dresses. The material was cool and comfortable, and
while men smiled at her, none had touched her. None had tried to corner her when
their wives weren’t looking. No one treated her with anything but respect. And
even better, women didn’t pull away when she came close. She’d started to form
friendships. As a result, she’d begun to think of her coming to Hell’s Eight as
a new beginning, a wiping clean of her past. She’d kept herself pure. Felt good
about it, even. Having a choice made her feel so...strong, in a unique way she’d
never had.
    But it had been just another illusion like so many others. As,
predicably, the men leered at her, Caden’s face flashed in her mind. She saw his
frown as she smiled back, and her heart sank. He wouldn’t want her if these men
touched her. The knowledge was a stab through her heart. Around the edges of her
consciousness, the opportunity to escape presented itself. Worth whined. She
shook her head. She couldn’t give in. Worth was Hell’s Eight. He would die for
her. She was Hell’s Eight. She couldn’t abandon him. She checked to make sure
Flower was still between the man and her dog. She was. “May I ask your name,
sir?”
    “Who I am’s not important. Who are you?”
    She tossed her head again, wishing her hair was free so it
could flow about her shoulders. Men loved her hair almost as much as they loved
her breasts. “They call me Ginger,” she said, giving them her saloon name.
    His eyes went to her hair. “Your spirit as fiery as your
hair?”
    She smiled the smile she knew he expected from her, the one
she’d been taught to give, the one that came too easily for the proper woman
she’d been training to be.
    “So I’ve been told.”
    “Hell’s Eight owes us, boss. We lost our last woman because of
them.”
    Last woman? That sounded ominous.
    “True enough.” The boss stared at her a moment. “She’s got more
meat on her bones than the last one.”
    “I gotta say I like the idea of a sporting woman better than I
do a virgin.”
    The boss snapped, “The woman never said she was a virgin. Would
never have brought her home had she mentioned that.”
    What kind of men were these?
    “I say we keep her,” the man in the back said.
    She kept her eyes on the leader. The others could say all they
wanted, but until this man spoke, nothing was going to be in stone. She knew it.
So did they, which was why they were angling so hard.
    The leader looked at her.
    “You really a working girl? Because I don’t want no
misunderstandings this time round.”
    The answer lodged in her throat as the reality of where she was
sank in around her. Once a whore, always a whore. She’d heard that so many times. She’d stopped believing it when Tracker had
taken her away and the acceptance of Hell’s Eight had settled around her. But
just ten hours away from Hell’s Eight, she was back to where she’d