Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarty Read Free Book Online Page A

looking for or what he expected, but she sincerely hoped he gave up looking for it soon, otherwise she was going to break and the whirlwind of emotion twisting inside would rip free. If that happened, she didn’t know how she’d ever get it back under control.
    The salve stung as Caine worked it into her cuts, giving her something else to focus on. She winced, and Caine paused.
    “I’m being as gentle as I can.” The apology in the flatly worded statement brought her gaze down. Caine’s attention was on her foot. Despite the fact that her bare leg was inches from his face and she could see the bulge of his manhood where his chaps hugged his hips, there was nothing lecherous in his touch. Only caretaking with a hint of…tenderness? The sheer absurdity of the notion brought her up short. That soft part of her was once again chasing rainbows. Men like this weren’t tender, and even if they were, it wasn’t the kind of emotion they wasted on women like her.
    Sam turned to Caine. “Beyond the horses and a couple decent guns, there wasn’t much worth saving off that bunch.”
    Caine didn’t look up from his treatment of her foot. “Not a shock there.”
    “One of the horses is wind broke.”
    Even Desi knew what that meant. Her brother had once, in ignorance, bought a horse with that condition, ridden so hard and cared for so poorly that he couldn’t exert himself without fighting for breath. Her father had had one of the guides put it out of its misery. There was no mercy for the weak in this territory.
    “Damn. Which one?”
    “The sorrel. It’s a shame, too. He’s got a nice gait on him and a real pleasant how-de-do.”
    Caine patted her thigh almost absentmindedly and ducked under the paint’s neck before taking her other foot into that inexorable grip and dousing it with more of the icy water. “You like him.”
    It wasn’t a question so much as a statement of fact. Sam shrugged. “Just hate to see good horseflesh abused.”
    Caine ran his finger down the center of her right foot in an ethereal caress, sending strange tingles upward and outward. She couldn’t help her shiver. She didn’t know if the quirk of his lips was for her reaction or Sam’s.
    “I don’t suppose it would hurt to bring him along. As long as we don’t run into trouble, he should be fine.”
    Sam nodded. “That was my thought.” He jerked his head in the direction of the other women. “Suppose I’d better go help Tracker get that lot saddled up.”
    He sounded like he’d rather be nibbled to death by ducks. Not the reaction Mavis and her friends were used to getting from men.
    “Better you than me.”
    Desi looked down as Caine probed the edges of the deep cut near her arch. “You’re not going to put the horse down?”
    She couldn’t see his face for the brim of his hat, but his attention was clearly more on her foot than her words. “Not without need.”
    She would have thought the fact the horse couldn’t pull his weight constituted need. Fleeting pressure on her ankle was her only warning before he worked the ointment into the wound. It hurt nearly as much as getting the injury in the first place. Her exclamation was involuntary. His response disconcerting.
    “Easy, baby.” The stroke of his hand on her calf was both soothing and absurdly comforting. She yanked back, but she couldn’t break his hold. Caine’s palm curved around her calf. He massaged her leg while standing so close the heat from his body warmed her cold skin. The pain eased.
    At her terse “Thank you,” he touched her tightly curled toes in a way she could only describe as tender. Except this was not a tender man. She relaxed her foot, watching him carefully. Her reward was another squeeze of her calf and the resettling of her leg against the horse’s side. He was defintely a confusing one, though.
    Caine tugged the reins over the horse’s head and dropped them to the ground, his mouth creasing at the corners with the hint of amusement as he