A Kiss for Cade Read Online Free PDF

took sick in Cade’s teens. Cade had been left to provide for the family. Sure, the congregation did all they could, but most folks in town had a hard time seeing to their own needs. He’d been proud after he nailed his first criminal. Arrogant. He’d made more money in that one arrest than he’d seen in his whole life. So he’d gone after another. And another. When he had to kill the first man, he’d cried, knowing what Pa would say. But money had a way of getting in your soul, under your skin, soothing the conscience. When word reached his folks of his new occupation, they refused the money. Wouldn’t touch a cent. It now sat in the local bank. Every red cent of it. Pa called it blood money.
    After every kill he promised it would be his last. Then he’d read a poster, see the price on the man’s head, and all of Pa’s teachings seemed distant, unrelated to the circumstance. He figured he was doing society a favor.
    “I think a lot of you, boy, but I have a tendency to agree. Those kids need some stability in their lives. You don’t stay in one place long enough to fry an egg, let alone raise a family.”
    Cade removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. Pop was right. His home was a campfire and a bedroll. Children needed schooling, a roof over their heads, clean clothes, and three meals a day. What did he know about rearing kids? What did he know about family life, period?
    “It’d be hard for a man with your reputation to settle down even if he set his mind to it,” Pop said. “Some no-good would always be tryin’ to get you before you get them.”
    Cade agreed. “Hart McGill. Heard of him?”
    “McGill? Who hasn’t? He and his gang have terrorized half of Kansas. There ain’t a woman safe around any of ’em. What’s he done to you?”
    “Other than being a plague to society? He’s out to get me.”
    “What’s it to you? You’ve watched your back for years.”
    “I shot his baby brother.”
    “That’ll do it every time.”
    “It was either me or him. I chose me.” Cade returned to the chair and sat down. “Someday I’m going to settle down, have my own kids and my own little parcel of land, but that’s not in the immediate future. You’re right, Pop. There’s always someone out there looking for a fight. I don’t want to bring my trouble to Winterborn.” He owed that much to his family’s memory.
    Pop nodded, looking past Cade to the posters on the wall. “There’re some mean cusses out there, all right. But where could you go to escape them?”
    “I won’t. My past will follow me wherever I go, but someday I’m going to be too old for this and I’ll have to quit. I’ve got a good nest egg put away. I wouldn’t be hurting for money. Maybe get a place down by the border…” Cade’s voice trailed off.
    “Mexico? Ain’t far enough, son. You’d still have to watch your back.”
    Cade knew that. He just didn’t like to think about it. “I’m going to need a place to sleep tonight, Pop.”
    Pop brow’s lifted. “That ain’t all you need. You could use a haircut. Walt’s raised his prices. Twenty-five cents. He’s got a gun to our heads, but we have to pay it. The baths out back don’t come cheap, either.”
    Cade laughed. “Zoe won’t let me near the kids until I clean up. I suppose Glori-Lee is still renting rooms?”
    “Not as many as she used to. It’s all she can do to keep up with the café. Anyway, she’s full up, I heard. You can either come home with me or take the bunk upstairs. It ain’t much—just a cot and a wash-stand. You’d have to take your meals elsewhere, but seeing as how you’re not going to be around long, it won’t matter.”
    “Zoe wants me to wrap up my business and clear out. Yet she also expects me to spend time with the kids.”
    “It’s not going to be easy. I don’t know anywhere you can keep them with you. If Glori-Lee had a room available, it wouldn’t be big enough to cuss a cat in, and my place can’t