Chapter Twelve

Chase breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the horses in the distance. He had been worried that he wouldn't find them before nightfall and he wanted to put more distance between Leah and camp before that time.

Though in truth Chase wasn't very worried about being pursued. He had killed Boss's only two men who had been unfailingly loyal. The other men in camp had liked Boss well enough but they wouldn't feel any need to seek vengeance on the mans behalf. Though they would probably shoot Chase if they saw him because of the fire and stampede.

"Is that your horse?" Chance asked as he stared wide-eyed at Blaze who was tossing his head and snorting at their approach.

"Yes." Chase replied simply. He gently put Leah down on her feet and then went to the sacks tied to a pack horse. He began looking through them and smiled when he realized that either Tig or Yancy had managed to get Chase's money from the robbery the day before and place it here.

He pushed it aside and continued to search, growling when he had finished looking through all the bags and realized there were no dresses or underclothes for Leah. He settled for pulling out a clean tunic type shirt meant for him and a pair of lace up buckskin pants.

"Turn around." he ordered Chance and it was clear the man did not appreciate being ordered around.

"I don't exactly think it's proper for you to see her without clothes on when you ain't her husband." he countered. Chase rose to his full height of six and a half feet, a good two inches taller than Chance, and looked down his long nose at the other man.

"I am her husband in every way that matters. All that is lacking is a piece of paper signed by a fat man in robe."

"That piece of paper is pretty damn important and I think our father is gonna expect to see it if he hears you've seen his daughter without her clothes." Chance informed him. Chase opened his mouth to speak again, though he would rather simply shoot Chance and be done with this argument, he knew he could not kill Leah's brother. That would potentially cause some tension between he and Leah.

"Can the two of you please stop arguing?" Leah demanded, her voice weak and tired. "Chance, as badly as I hate to admit it, I am going to need help getting dressed and I would much rather Chase be the one that helps me rather than my brother."

"Father is not going to like this." Chance stated matter of factly and Leah shrugged.

"Father has not liked much of anything I've done since I reached the age of six."

"Leah..."

"Don't you think you've doubted me enough? You doubted me and I ran away to be kidnapped by dangerous outlaws. Thankfully Chase was there to save me. You doubted me again and I ended up shot by your gun. Now you are doubting and questioning what? Whether or not I love Chase? Whether or not he loves me? What father will think? I love you, Chance, but you really need to just leave me alone." Chance let out a long breath and then turned and walked a short distance away.

"You were harsh with him." Chase scolded gently as he slowly helped Leah from her soiled, blood covered clothes. Leah winced with both pain and guilt.

"I have to be, Chase. If I'm not harsh with him and with father then they walk all over me and control my every move. That's just the type of men they are. They aren't bad men but they believe themselves to be the unquestionable bosses of the women in their lives."

"Are you sure you want to go home and subject yourself to both of their judgment and harshness at the same time? Chance could go without you and let your family know you are okay." Chase said as he knelt to examine the deep gash on her side. He rose to his feet and grabbed a canteen of water and Leah gritted her teeth against the pain as he poured the water over the wound to clean it.

"I need to see them all at least once more." Leah admitted once the pain had subsided. "Trust me, I'm not delusional. I know that my being with you will likely be too much for my father to accept. He'll have a hard enough time getting past me running away that night, let alone me staying gone when I could have come home sooner. Knowing that I have chosen a man who goes so far against everything he believes will be too much for him. But I want to hug my mother and say a proper goodbye to them."

"I will support you in whatever you want to do, Leah." Chase assured her as he kissed her brow and then pulled the clean shirt over her head. "You know that I would stand beside you during the roughest of storms and not leave your side. If this is what you want to do, I will be there."

"I love you, Chase." Leah whispered and he placed a large calloused hand on her cheek. He gave the most tender smile she had ever seen on his face and then began to help her into her pants.

"Can you help me on that mare?" she asked, wondering if her side would ever cease throbbing.

"You will ride with me." Chase stated and Leah could tell from his tone that arguing would be futile. And besides she didn't want to argue. His arms were her favorite place to be.

Chance snorted as he walked back over and got onto one of the saddles horses.

"So you just listen to him, no questions asked and you fight me and father on every single thing we ever ask of you?" he demanded. Leah nodded as Chase pulled her up into his lap on the big black stallion.

"Yes." she replied.

"Can I ask what's so special about the damn savage?" Leah felt Chase tense and laid her head gently against his still bare chest and steadily beating heart.

"You have a lot of nerve, Chance. You are just like father." she replied sadly. Chance frowned.

"There's obviously more you want to say. You might as well spit it out." he grumbled as they started making their way through the forest.

"You have continuously insulted Chase. You have called him an animal, a savage and tried to shoot him. In turn he has put up with your insults, not insulted you a single time and even cut you free and saved your life. You tell me who the uncivilized one is." Chase didn't give Chance time to respond before he urged his horse faster and forced him to have to pay attention to the forest floor in order to keep up.

***

"I'm drawing a line." Chance stated firmly that night as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She is not sleeping in your bedroll with you."

"She is." Chase replied as he simply continued adding plenty of prairie grass to their bed in order to offer Leah more cushion for her side.

"No she is not. She is a proper lady and won't be acting as your whore." These words had barely had time to leave Chance's lips before Chase was holding a knife against his mouth.

"You speak that word and your sisters name in the same sentence again and we will be feasting on your tongue for our dinner." he snarled.

"Chase, calm down." Leah scolded as she walked over. "And Chance, make yourself useful and find some wood we can use for a fire. It's going to get cold tonight." Chance glared at Chase for several long moments and then slowly Chase removed his knife and Chance wandered off into the darkening evening, mumbling with every step he took.

"Honestly, Chase! Cut out and eat his tongue? I'm trying to make them see that you're not a savage but with outrageous threats like that...." Leah shook her head. Chase raised his brow and his lip twitched slightly.

"Outrageous?"

"You wouldn't honestly cut out his tongue and feed it to him!" she exclaimed and Chase shrugged.

"Don't get confused, Leah. If that man does not cease with the insults he may well lose that tongue he loves to wag so much."

"And you'll heat it over the fire and eat it with a biscuit?" she asked, fighting back the smile that was wanting to form on her lips.

"They taste better cold." Chase countered, the twitch in his lip becoming more pronounced. Leah laughed loudly and waved her hand.

"That's disgusting!" she exclaimed and Chase laughed as he went to her and wrapped her tight in his arms.

"You are beautiful when you laugh."

"As opposed to when I don't?" she asked mischievously and Chase's face sobered.

"I no longer have to hide my affection for you." he stated as he kissed her brow. "In a very short time you have become my whole world. You are all of my hope, every bit of my happiness. Never for one moment should you doubt your beauty in my eyes." Leah felt a tear fill her eye and she smiled up at his handsome, sharp angled face. She put her fingers in his thick black hair and pulled his face closer to hers.

"You're getting better at sweet talk." Chase smiled, his mouth so close to her own that she could feel the tingle from the near contact.

"It is not sweet talk. Simply the truth." he countered.

"I love you." Leah whispered against his lips. Instead of responding with words, Chase's lips captured her own in a possessive demand that had her clinging to him for support.

She knew no way to describe this kiss other than to say it felt as if she were being devoured. His long arms wrapped around her, his big hands splayed across her back holding her up. His lips and tongue took possession of her mouth and left her helpless to do anything other than give in to his passions. Not that she would have wanted to fight him off.

The heat from his touch was nearly unbearable and Leah forgot all about the chill in the air. Suddenly Chase was breaking the kiss and she could tell by the darkness in his black eyes that he was close to losing the careful control he always kept of himself. It raised her passion that much higher to see how desperately he wanted her.

"As her brother I should probably shoot you." Chances' voice spoke out, destroying the passionate mood that had been surrounding the two lovers.

"As my brother you should just walk away." Leah countered.

"I don't think so. You need to be resting, not... doing whatever it is the two of you were thinking of doing." Leah looked around Chase's arm to see Chance red-faced and tossing an armful of wood onto the ground.

"Tongue is rather delicious." Chase whispered in her ear before pulling away and leading her to the bed he had made. He helped her get comfortable and then went about getting a fire ready.

"We need to talk." Chance said a while later as he sat down beside Leah. Leah glanced at Chase who was sitting at the edge of the firelight smoking a cigarette and staring off into the night.

"Then talk." she replied with a sigh.

"What are you doing with this man?"

"I'm in love with him." Leah replied with annoyance. How many times would she have to explain this to her dense brother?

"Do you fall in and out of love that easily?"

"Why would you ask me that?" Leah demanded, feeling defensive and upset that her love for Chase was being questioned. She glanced at Chase but he was still staring off into the night and it as impossible to tell whether he could hear them or not. Though knowing him as she did, Leah knew that Chase was listening.

"Just weeks ago you were desperately in love with Benjamin. So much in love with him in fact that you ran away in the night to marry the man! Now suddenly you've forgotten all about him and you have given yourself to another man? Are you truly that kind of woman?"

"How dare you?!" Leah hissed. She was so infuriated by her brothers accusation that she didn't notice the way Chase stiffened and then breathed deeply several times as if to calm himself.

"How dare I what? Did you ever really love Benjamin at all or were you just using the poor man to get away from father?"

"Of course I loved him!" Leah exclaimed. "I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and I thought he was the love of my life but those bastards killed him! And then I met Chase... I didn't mean to fall in love with him and I fought it hard for a while but the truth is, Chance, that he is my soul mate. Everything happened for a reason, as horrible as it all was, it was meant to happen because it brought me to Chase. I was never in love with Benjamin the way I am in love with Chase. If that makes me a bad person..."

"It kinda does." Chance informed her.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I knew it would be hard for my family to accept that I am in love with Chase."

"Leah you can't be with Chase."

"Why?"

"Because he's no damn good for you!" Chance exclaimed, he wanted to tell her that Benjamin was alive and he probably would have had his sister not twisted to glare at him angrily before letting out a whimper, grabbing her side and hissing with pain.

Instantly Chase was there, having moved so quickly and stealthily that Chance hadn't even known he'd been approaching.

"You will speak to her no more until we get back to your home! She needs to rest and heal not be insulted and treated like a common whore by you." Chase growled and Chance saw that Leah offered no argument and must agree with her current man.

Chance blew out a defeated breath, stood and moved to the other side of the fire. If his sister didn't want to listen to him then she didn't have to but there was no way their father would allow her to marry Chase. Not when Benjamin was alive and crippled for life back at home, waiting for the time when the love of his life would come back to him.