Chapter Twenty-Five

Ance woke with the dawn the next morning. In truth, he hadn't slept more than an hour the night before. His body had been too overheated from the way Audrey had given herself to him in that water--and his pride had been too wounded by her rejection of his offer to hold her. 

Ance had no idea why he'd thought they would curl up together and sleep. Hell, he had never, not once in his life, held a woman close to him after lovemaking....Shit, he'd never called it lovemaking before!

Ance chewed on the cigar in his mouth and studied her sleeping form. His mind drifted back to the night before. Ance growled low in his throat as he remember the way her touch had seared his skin. The sound of his name leaving her moaning lips had been intoxicating. 

And then, when Ance had been feeling open and more true emotions than he'd felt in his entire life, Audrey had turned down his invitation to give her more of himself and it had hurt. Ance couldn't explain it but Audrey made him feel...tender. 

Never before had Ance wanted to touch a woman tenderly, kiss her softly, hold her gently in his arms... Damn he had wanted to do those things so badly Audrey, which of course, only served to further piss him off. 

Hellfire!! He was supposed to be a full grown man in charge of his own emotions and body for God's sake! But even now, watching Audrey dream, Ance was fighting the urge to swoop down, take her in his arms and kiss those frown lines from her brow and he was losing the battle. 

Then Penelope shifted upon her bedroll and Ance's attention was drawn to the girl. He remembered Audrey's excuse for turning him down and he sighed as he sat back on his heels. 

Audrey had been right to deny him. If Penelope had seen them sleeping together, the girl would have asked questions that Ance had no idea how to answer. He didn't want to do anything that would hurt or confuse that girl. 

Penelope's brown eyes opened slowly and lit up when they fell upon him. Ance saw her mouth open and he quickly put his finger to his lips and tilted his head toward a slumbering Audrey. Penelope giggled and nodded as she sat up and stretched her arms over her head. 

Without a word, Ance grabbed up her metal brace, raised her skirt up a bit and fastened it to her leg. He could still remember the difficulty he'd had accomplishing that simple task when Penelope had first come into his life. Things had certainly changed a lot since then--hell, he had changed a lot since then. 

Ance shoved himself to his feet and held out his hand to help Penelope get to hers. "Where are we going?" she whispered. 

"For a walk. I want to gather up some things for breakfast," Ance replied. 

Hand in hand, Ance and Penelope walked into the sparse forest they'd spent the night beside. "Those birds sure make pretty music," Penelope noted happily. 

Ance frowned. He hadn't ever bothered listening to the songs of birds. He would have considered that a foolish thing and a waste of time before Penelope. Now he decided to give it a try. Falling quiet for several moments, Ance let their whistles and tweets fill his ears. 

Finally he shrugged. "They sound alright." He grinned down at the freckled girl. "You sing better though." 

Penelope giggled and launched into a story about the horses at her ranch and how she was beginning to really miss home and wanted Ance to meet her favorite pony who, apparently, was solid black save for one white foot and a white heart on its forehead. 

Ance hung on her every word, partially because Penelope seemed to always steal his attention, but also because of the distraction that the chattering girl gave him from confusing thought of her mother. 

Ance glanced up as they entered a small meadow and he put his hand on Penelope's shoulder to get her attention. Penelope gazed questioningly up at him and he slowly pointed toward the three rabbits munching on clover. 

Ance's first instinct was to kill one for a hot meal but then he recalled Penelope's reaction to killing that fish only a few days ago. "Penny?" he whispered. "One of those would make a real good meal for us today. Do you mind if I kill one?" 

Ance saw her begin to chew her lip and it reminded him of Audrey which had him grumbling under his breath. "Rabbit stew is real good," Penelope finally admitted. "Go ahead and get one but let the other two go." 

Ance chuckled, realized that he'd have to make camp early tonight to fix that stew and pulled his knife. The trio of rabbits had yet to notice his presence so Ance gripped the tip of hi knife, let his breath out slowly and flicked his wrist. 

The knife went sailing through the air and hit its target perfectly. The unlucky rabbit died instantly and his companions made a hasty retreat into the forest. Once Ance had the rabbit gutted, he tied it to his belt and searched the meadow for Penelope.

"Look, Ance!" Penelope exclaimed from beside the tree line. "Wild onions!" 

"Fill your pockets then, girl. We'll need 'em for supper tonight." 

It took nearly half an hour but Ance and Penelope finally gathered up enough berries and even a few bird's eggs for breakfast. They were heading back toward camp when Penelope gasped and ran to a cluster of wildflowers. The delicate purple flowers were tiny but they smelled decent enough Ance supposed. 

"Ance, braid my hair and put flowers in it!" Penelope exclaimed with excitement. 

"Penny, we don't have time for that," Ance scolded. "We have to get back to camp before your mama wakes up and starts to worry." 

Penelope shook her head. "She won't worry. She knows I'm safe with you." The con artist of a child stuck out her bottom lip and batted her lashes up at him. "Please, Ance?" 

Ance crumbled like a muddy bank after a rain storm. He knew the damn girl was playing him like a fiddle and yet he couldn't seem to stop himself from giving in to her. With a sigh, he nodded, sat down their sack of food and crouched down. With an ear to ear grin, Penelope turned her back to him and stood still as his calloused hands braided up the long blond strands of her hair. Once he had that completed and tied up with a leather strip, Ance stuck several of the flowers into it and then stood up straight to admire his handiwork. 

"Not too bad if I do say so myself." 

"Thank you, Ance!" Penelope beamed before wrapping her arms around his legs and hugging him tightly. 

Ance smiled down at her and patted her head gently. "Anything for you, Penny. Just don't go telling too many people that I'm doing hair now and picking flowers." 

"Can I tell mama?" Penelope inquired as she pulled away. 

"Yeah," Ance sighed. "Yeah, I reckon you can tell your mama." 

He grabbed up his sack of food and motioned for Penelope to get a move on toward camp. Ance glanced over at those purple flowers and with a grumble, he tore off a handful of flowers and leaves and clutched them in his gnarled hand before setting off toward camp with Penelope. 

***

Audrey's dreams had her smiling but that smile quickly faded when she began to wake and reality settled back in. In her dreams things had been so simple.... Ance hadn't been a roaming outlaw with no urge for family life. Instead he'd vowed to stay beside her and not leave her side. They had raised Penelope together and spent their nights tangled beneath the sheets at her ranch home. 

Audrey knew that wasn't their future--Ance wouldn't want a life like that. It would be too stable, predictable and confining to a man who had lived the way he had. 

Audrey could smell eggs and she frowned. How would Ance have gotten eggs? She also smelled something sweet near her and she slowly blinked her eyes open to find a spray of wildflowers directly in front of her face upon the ground. 

The purple petals were small but they were fragrant and very pleasing. Where had they come from?

Audrey glanced around camp and saw Ance crouched beside a small fire frying eggs while Penelope was down beside the water skipping stones. Her hair was newly braided and filled with the same wildflowers that were beside Audrey. 

Had Ance....? 

Audrey sat up gingerly, her body stiff and sore from sleeping upon the ground. She desperately missed having a bed to lay upon at night--though it wasn't the sleeping arrangements that were to blame for all her aches. Her hips were tender from Ance's hands gripping her tightly, her nipples ached from all his attention and her upper lip and chin felt as if they'd been rubbed raw by his beard. 

Ance's deep blue eyes instantly fell upon her and Audrey felt her heartbeat quicken. "Good morning," rumbled lazily from his chest. 

"Good morning," Audrey whispered back. She ran her teeth across her bottom lip as she picked up the flowers. "Are these from Penelope?" 

Ance grunted before removing the pan from the fire and shaking his head. "No." 

Audrey could hardly believe the truth she was suddenly left with. "You picked me flowers?" 

Ance handed her a plate of eggs and berries. "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, Audrey. Hell, it's just a handful of wildflowers," he stated without meeting her gaze. 

Before Audrey could speak, Ance hollered for Penelope and held up a second plate. "Come on and eat, Penny. We gotta get a move on." 

Audrey's mind was a jumbled and confused mess that entire day. Ance was a mystery--a puzzle--and she simply couldn't figure him out. He seemed different today. Sure, he was still a bit prickly and he was grumbling and growling just as much as before, but there was also something softer about him today. 

The flowers were only the start. More than once while they'd been cleaning up camp, he'd taken her elbow gently or let their hands graze together as they walked past one another. More than once, Audrey had been tempted to jump into his arms and let him kiss her senseless but then she would remember Penelope and it would bring her back to her senses. 

She and Ance had to be sure of what each of them wanted before they involved Penelope in anything they were doing. Audrey didn't want Penelope to think they were going to be a family or anything more than they were until Audrey herself knew what they were.....

Not to mention that they all had to survive long enough to figure out what the future would hold.... Barnaby and his hired guns were still out there and Rodger might very well had lived through his injuries and be on the road to recovery. After yesterday and what she and Ance had shared last night, Audrey had somehow forgot about the danger they were all truly in... 

It all came crashing back down on her in that moment and her stomach twisted. Ance glanced her way and he must have seen her conflicted emotions written on her face. He moved his horse closer, while Penelope napped in his lap, and he reached out a hand and took Audrey's elbow gently. 

"Are you okay?" he questioned, true concern lacing his voice. 

Audrey let out a shaky breath. "I just realized that it's pointless to be so worried about a future when there is a fairly good chance that none of us will live long enough to be concerned with it." 

Ance's lips turned down in a frown and his blue eyes narrowed. A low growl rumbled from his chest his grip on her elbow tightened. "I won't let a goddamn thing happen to you, Audrey, and neither one of us will let a damn thing happen to Penny." 

"Ance..." Audrey began but Ance shook his head. 

"Lady, I..." he sighed and released his hold on her elbow to rub the back of his neck. "I've never had a reason to think about a future and...and I might have finally found a reason so you better believe I ain't gonna let anybody take it away from me now." 

A/N: Updates should become more regular after this weekend. I've been sick but things seem to be straigtening up now and the kids are back in school so i have a bit more free time :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter!