Chapter Eight
"Well, one thing is for sure, we're going to have to go to town and get groceries," Nicole said with a sigh the next morning as she threw the now empty egg carton in the garbage. "I didn't realize four men could eat so much."
Nicole turned and laughed when she realized that none of those men were still listening to her. They had eaten, left their plates on the table and were now filling her living room as they flipped through the television channels.
The television had been quite a shock for them. Andrew and Jamison were the most entertained by it. Ian had nearly shot it, though Nicole was grateful that Cavanaugh had managed to stop him and keep her flat screen from meeting the same fate as her alarm clock.
She sighed, marveled at how men from the 1800's were just as enthralled by television as men from the 2000's and turned to wash the dishes currently piled up by her sink.
Steaks, potatoes, corn and biscuits for dinner last night and an entire carton of eggs and two boxes of bacon for breakfast had used a lot of dishes and emptied her refrigerator.
At least Cavanaugh had finally wanted to eat though. He had seemed to enjoy her dinner and breakfast more than he had the boxed macaroni and cheese at lunch the day before. She had pretended like she was cooking for her now deceased grandfather who had always wanted everything homemade and it seemed to have worked on the picky cowboy.
She got the dishes stacked and was filling the sink with hot soapy water when she was suddenly aware of someone standing beside her. She turned and saw Ian standing there with his hands in his pockets.
"You walk quiet," she accused. "I didn't even hear you come in here."
"I guess that's just one of those things that come with being an outlaw," he replied with a shrug.
Nicole's eyes widened as she began scrubbing the dirty plates, "An outlaw? You were, are, an outlaw?"
"I was. Before my mama died she asked me to change my ways. Apparently the way I was living let her down."
Nicole could hear true regret in his voice and it tugged at her heartstrings, which had always been overly sensitive and prone to helping those in need, "So when you say outlaw.... What exactly did you do?" she asked, wondering if she had a murderer standing next to her right now. She kind of wished he'd get those big hands wet and help her rinse but clearly he was only here for moral support.
"I didn't murder nobody if that's what you're asking. I just took things that weren't mine from time to time." Nicole glanced at him and raised her brow. He gave a sheepish grin and shrugged, "Okay, all the time."
"So you're an outlaw and Jamison a U.S. Marshall; I'm sure that made for awkward family get-togethers."
Ian laughed as he propped his hip against the counter and stuck his thumbs in his pants pockets, "We didn't have family get-togethers. Actually it had been a good eleven years since we'd all been together but, yeah, it made it pretty damn awkward when Jamison and I would run into each other."
"Eleven years is a long time," Nicole stated.
"Yes'm. I was the third one to leave home and I fell in with the wrong sorts I guess. Andrew he did too. Though he never did steal nothing, he just liked to drink, gamble and well.. Uh.."
"Have his way with saloon girls?" Nicole asked, enjoying the awkward smile on Ian's face. It made him seem more human and less polished and perfect.
"Yes'm," Ian replied with a grin. "Jamison is the oldest and he left first about eleven years before our mama died, bound and determined to be a ice cold lawman who didn't need anybody. Cav left next. He met a woman and left to go set up a home near her family."
"So Cavanaugh is married?" Nicole asked feeling more than a little disappointment at the thought. Ian shook his head and she saw sadness enter his brown eyes.
"No, ma'am. He was married but uh..."
"Ian!" Cavanaugh's sharp voice came from behind them and Ian and Nicole turned to look at him standing in the doorway, each with a guilty expression on their face.
"I'm gonna go outside for awhile," Ian said quickly and he slipped around Cavanaugh and out of the house.
Nicole quickly turned back to her dishes as she began rinsing the clean ones and stacking them in the bright red strainer.
"Andrew will never be happy in the 1800's again," Cavanaugh stated as he came to stand beside her. Unlike Ian, Cavanaugh pitched in as he stuck his hands in the soapy water, found the rag and began washing out the dirty cups.
"Why is that?" Nicole asked, though she wasn't sure how she spoke. Their bodies were close while standing together at the sink this way and she couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep from touching her.
"He's addicted to that talking picture box."
"The television?" Nicole asked with an amused smile.
"Yeah, that," Cavanaugh replied. He found himself looking at her instead of paying attention to the dishes he was washing. The sunlight was streaming though the window in front of them and sparkling off the golden strands of her hair. Her hair wasn't just one color. It was a mixture of golds, yellows and even reds.
"Cavanaugh..." Nicole whispered as she looked up and saw his blue eyes watching her. Her heart thundered in her chest and her knees shook. Heat pooled low in her body and her hands itched to spread themselves across his broad expanse of chest.
Cavanaugh felt as if he'd been punched in the gut at the sound of her whispering his name. It had been quiet. It had been barley more than a breathless sound but it might as well have been a bullet sent straight into the defenses around his heart.
Suddenly Cavanaugh was lost in her green eyes. His fingertips were dancing across her freckled cheekbones as she moaned and leaned into his touch.
Nicole had never felt something that felt so right. It was cliché she knew to think such things and it was like something straight out of a romance novel. A cowboy from 1875 gets teleported through time and in him a lonely, overweight woman finds her one and only. Her soul mate.
She didn't know Cavanaugh but that didn't stop her body from wanting him or her heart from calling out for him. It was too fast and too soon to feel such things but it was there and it was undeniable. For a split moment she was sure he was going to kiss her and then suddenly he jerked away and broke the contact between them.
Nicole suddenly felt cold and she searched his face for a reason behind his sudden change, "Don't ask my brothers about me anymore." he growled as he limped toward the door.
Nicole felt her temper flare, "What is your problem?" she demanded. "Why do you seem to hate me so much? All I've done is help you!"
Cavanaugh took a deep breath through his nose before letting it out slowly. He didn't hate her. If she knew just how much he didn't hate her.... Cavanaugh wasn't from a time and place where relationships moved slowly. Cavanaugh was from a time and place where you grabbed what happiness you could and you ran with it as fast as you could because life was so tenuous.
But he had been in love before. He had loved his wife with everything he had and losing her had damn near killed him. In fact losing her and their children had killed a very big piece of him and he was not ready, willing or able to risk what was left. Not for love. Not even for a woman like Nicole. The first woman to cause him to even entertain thoughts of a future in the last three and a half years.
"I don't hate you, ma'am. I just don't like people trying to stick their noses into my personal business. Now I thank you for helping us and I'm real sorry we showed up here and disrupted your life but we plan on getting out of here just as soon as that woman lets us and you'll never have to see any of us again."
Nicole didn't like that thought. She should want these men gone but she didn't. Strangely they already felt like family... All except Cavanaugh. He made her feel like she was back in high school. The fat, freckle faced tom boy with a crush on the hot quarterback who wouldn't even acknowledge her presence in the hallways let alone ever show any real interest in falling for her.
But she had seen the way Cavanaugh had looked at her. He had been just as caught up in that moment as she had been and he had wanted to kiss her. What had changed in just a few seconds?
"She did a number on you didn't she?" Nicole asked quietly. Cavanaugh frowned, "Who?"
"Your wife. Ian said you had a wife. What did she do run off with someone else and now you hate all women because of what she did?"
She saw anger flash in his eyes and then it was gone quickly and he just looked sad as he sighed and shook his head, "I'll make sure everyone knows we're leaving soon. You did say we need to go shopping didn't you?" Without giving Nicole time to nod or respond he turned and left the room.