Caden's Vow Read Free Page A

didn’t want it. “I need to do this on my own.”
    “Because of that promise you made your da?” Ace asked, his dark
hair flopping over his brow, giving him the look of a devil-may-care no-account.
Until you looked a little lower and saw his eyes. No one that had any ability to
take a man’s measure could mistake the coldness and purpose that shadowed his
light brown eyes. Ace could cut a man’s throat with the same aplomb with which
he could perform those card tricks he liked to show off. And with a smile on his
face. Not that Ace enjoyed killing, but if it was necessary, he didn’t have any
qualms about settling a score. Caden sighed, noting Tracker and Shadow making
their way over, too. This had all the makings of a well-intentioned ambush.
Shit.
    “Did someone send out an invite I missed?”
    Sam smiled. “Nah. This is more of an impromptu party.”
    “What promise did you make to your da?” Caine asked, with that
tenacity that marked everything he did.
    “Nothing.” Caden glared at Ace. Of all the Hell’s Eight, he was
closest to Ace, which had resulted in a drunken confession about his father many
years ago that should never have been made. Ace merely shook his head.
    “Don’t get your tail in a twist. You’re a grown man. You get to
be as foolish as you want.”
    “The hell he does.”
    “Let it go, Caine,” Caden ordered.
    “The hell I will.”
    Sam leaned in and poured more whiskey into Caine’s already
quarter-full glass. “Drink that.”
    “Shit, if I drink that, I’ll be drunk.”
    Sam shrugged and offered Ace the bottle, before saying, “At
least you’ll have an excuse for spouting nonsense.”
    “It’s not nonsense. That gold mine is in the middle of Indian
country, and Culbart isn’t going to be any help if anything goes wrong out
there.”
    That was true. The mine wasn’t the only thing Fei had blown to
hell and gone. When Fei’s father had sold her cousin Lin to Culbart, Fei had
taken matters into her own hands. A lot of dynamite had been blown to rescue
Lin. Which meant the only white man close enough to come to Caden’s aid at the
mine wasn’t going to be feeling that friendly toward a Hell’s Eight man. Caden
mentally shrugged. He’d faced tougher odds.
    “Culbart’s a hard-ass, but no one has ever accused him of being
stupid,” Ace said. “If Hell’s Eight calls for help, he’ll be there. He can’t
afford to be that friendless with that ranch of his smack-dab in the middle of
Indian country and tensions rising the way they are.”
    “Besides, I thought some of the problems with Culbart stemmed
from the fact the man thought Lin was being kidnapped?” Caden asked.
    “He’s got a point, Caine,” Ace offered. “Like the man or not,
truth is Lin came to no harm in Culbart’s care, and any man worth his salt would
go after a woman stolen from his care, even if it was one of us who did the
stealing.”
    Caine frowned and took a large swallow from his glass. His
green eyes narrowed. “The man still has an ax to grind. He lost good men in that
‘misunderstanding.’”
    “It would have been easier if Fei had bargained a bit before up
and taking off with her cousin,” Sam interjected wryly. “Might have saved on the
grinding.”
    “Culbart didn’t leave her much choice,” Caine drawled, taking
another sip. “He’d lost good money in the deal. Holding on to Fei was his best
chance of getting it back.”
    Ace shook his head. “Or so he thought. Fei did a good job
covering her pa had gone bat-shit crazy. You can’t totally blame Culbart.”
    Caine cocked a brow at Ace. “You sound as though you like the
bastard.”
    Ace shrugged. “I do. He’s tough as nails, but he’s got a strong
sense of right and wrong.” He took a drink of whiskey. “Not to mention an
interesting sense of humor.”
    “When the hell did you ever see his sense of humor?” Caden
snapped, impatience rubbing his temper raw. He wanted to go, not sit here and
discuss Culbart’s good