Texas Lily Quotes

“filtered through from the front porch even as he reached for the door. Lily flung herself into the arms of the tall man coming up the dusty walk. He looked older and grayer, but he was still the father she had always adored. Brushing a recalcitrant wavy lock from his eyes, Ephraim gathered Lily into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “It's been a long time, little mite. After I got your letter, I thought it was time to come and see you. Have you had word of Jim yet?” Lily shook her head against her father’s shoulder, and he stroked her hair as he had when she was a child. Catching her waist, Ephraim led her up”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Don't, Lily. I will not be able to stop myself. I forced the burden of bearing a child on you once before. I will never do so again. There must be time for you to grow strong. We do not need to have more children. I would not see you suffer through that pain again." Lily glared at him. "I am strong, Cade. I am strong and I am not afraid of bearing your children. And I need you in the same way that you need me and you will drive us both mad if you deny it." She”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Oh, Cade," Lily whispered, running her hands through his hair and down his shoulders, massaging the tight muscles of his arms as he leaned over her. "You still do not understand, do you? I love you, and I want you to be happy, and you cannot be happy while your mother's land goes to ruin. I can help you, if you will let me, and I will be happy just to be with you. It is not the land that is so important to me, it is you. I know this place will be safe with Travis here and you to guide him when necessary. I can learn to make friends anywhere. I cannot find another husband I would want more than you." Hope finally dawned on Cade's face. "You would go to Bexar with me, live in the hacienda, make that your home?" "Well, it's only fair that Davy be given the same inheritance as Roy," Lily shrugged, trying to hide her delight at Cade's reaction. But”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Exhausted, she leaned against the pillows, her hair streaming in a golden-brown cascade over the thin linen covering her shoulders. But she beamed a look of unadulterated happiness as she held out her hand to him, and something inside Cade crumbled to sand in recognizing the significance of her gesture. Cade fell to his knees beside Lily, and she brushed away the streaks of tears he hadn't realized were there. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her breasts. She stroked his hair. "Gracias, querida, muchas gracias... I love you so much. How can I say it? How can I thank you? I did not know... I thought a child would hold you, I wanted you to bear my child, but I did not mean to cause you such pain." The piano crashed into a resounding "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to celebrate this victorious Fourth, and Lily smiled and stroked Cade's thick black hair, feeling the glory of this day seep into her bones where she could remember and cherish it forever. "It's because I love you that I wanted your child. The pain is just the price we pay to have what we want. Can I see him now? Will you bring him to me?" Cade jerked his head up to meet the blazing happiness of blue eyes and knew Lily spoke what was in her heart. It was difficult for him to absorb. He had been a man alone for too long, an outcast wanted by nobody, yet this woman knocked down doors none had dared approach to declare her love for him. He stroked her cheek, his dark hand contrasting with her light skin, and she kissed the web of flesh beneath his thumb. Cade accepted that as confirmation of her words and allowed a smile to form. "I”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Cade struggled helplessly for words to convey his feelings, but Lily was already straining against another pain. "Why does it not come?" he demanded sharply of Dove Woman, who was merely sitting cross-legged on the floor, humming to herself. "Because it is not time," she repeated. "But it is killing her! Look how she suffers. We must do something." Cade paced, throwing anxious looks at Lily as she took a deep breath and released the bed once more. "You had better go out with the others, Cade. There is nothing you can do to speed the child's coming." Not understanding the actual words between Cade and Dove Woman, Lily understood their content. "I will fetch Travis. He will give you something for the pain." Before Cade could start for the door, Lily gave a groan of pure agony, and Dove Woman unhurriedly rose from the floor. "She is in pain! Santa Maria, do something!" Cade dropped to his knees beside the bed and tried to lift Lily into his arms, but she reached for the bed rails. "Send him out," Dove Woman enunciated in clear Spanish when Lily rested once more. "It will save pain for both." Lily looked up at Cade's anguished expression, startled by the immense emotion displayed for the first time on his usually implacable features, and her heart took two leaps and a jump before settling more calmly in her chest. "Leave, Cade. There is nothing more you can do here," she said softly. "How can I leave?" he cried. "I have done this to you. I would take the pain away." As Lily's eyes closed with the onset of the next contraction, Cade panicked. "Lily, I can't lose you! Lily, please..." Dove Woman went to the door and murmured to the two boys waiting outside. The eldest looked rebellious at her words, but he disappeared into the opposite cabin. Moments later, he returned with Travis. Travis pounded on the closed bedroom door and shouted, "Cade, get your royal ass out here before I have to come in and get you!" Lily's eyes blinked open, and she half smiled at this command. "Go, Cade. You can't bring the child any faster." "I can't leave you here to suffer alone." Cade touched her brow, unwilling to form even in his mind the words for the fear he felt. He had just watched a man die, but it was Lily’s pain that was ripping him apart, tearing down the walls of his heart and soul. "I wish there was music," Lily whispered, surrendering to the pain once again. Cade caught the wish even as Travis slammed into the room, gun in hand to order him out. "Cade, damn you, the women want you out!" Travis shouted. Seeing only an obstruction between himself and the means to satisfy Lily's wish, Cade coolly knocked Travis's gun aside, floored him with a single punch, and stepping over his friend's fallen body, walked out the door. In”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Lily sent your woman out. She says Juanita would never wish to have a child if she watched now." Juanita glared at Travis, although she swished her skirts and boldly walked up to confront him. "I shall never have children," she declared firmly. "Why go through such pain just to bring another man into the world?" Wiping his dusty brow with the back of his arm, Travis looked away from the old Indian on the porch and down at Juanita, grinning widely as he looked her up and down. Her brown skin glinted with golden highlights in the dawn, and the loose neck of her lacy blouse revealed more than was necessary of the narrow valley between her breasts. He had finally been treated to more than just a glimpse of that delight last night, before the raid, and even in his weariness he couldn't control his surge of lust. "Where would women be if they did not have men to cook for and to warm their beds and to fill their bellies with bonnie babes? And look what fun you'd miss." With one quick grab, Travis hauled Juanita into his arms before she could escape, and he assuaged some of his hunger with the feel of her ripe body pressed into his and her lips opening beneath his kiss. Several”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“You and Cade are a pair if I ever saw one, Lily. What in hell were you planning to do if I hadn't been here?" "Did you think I was all alone, Ralph?" Lily looked up with the best imitation of sweetness that she could arrange. At his sardonic look, she pointed toward the window. "I think right about now you'll see Travis riding in from the field. That bell you heard clamoring earlier wasn't for dinner. If I'm not mistaken, you'll soon see men galloping in over the prairie, and they're not expecting dinner, either. And you'll have to believe me on the rest because you'll not ever see them, but up in that stand of trees are at least two Indians who would have been down here in seconds if I'd hung that red rag there out the window." Lily smiled at Ralph's astonished look. "Cade just doesn't believe I can take care of myself. What do you think, Ralph?" Langton picked up his rifle and started for the door. "I think I'll be going home and making similar arrangements. Maybe we better figure out some smoke signals so we can warn each other." "Two puffs of black smoke every minute, and my men will be there, Ralph," Lily replied calmly. Slamming his hat on his head, Langton gave her a long look and stalked out.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“I do not want you to go, but I know you must, just as I knew you had to go with Houston. I'm not going to leave you, Cade. We're bound together for the rest of our lives, no matter what is thrown our way. I know the words were never said, but in marrying you, I agreed to be your wife until 'death do us part,' Just don't go getting killed on me. This brat of yours will need a man's handling." Cade smiled at the roof over their head. He had never owned more than a horse and a saddle, and he knew he didn't own Lily, but she was his, just the same, by her own admission. He liked the notion of having a companion for life, one who wouldn't walk out when she got bored or irritated. He sure as hell was tired of talking to four walls. And it wasn't just an end to loneliness, the beginning of something more. Remembering Lily's heated arguments and equally heated lovemaking, Cade's smile grew broader. "I think I'll bring a priest back with me. I want to hear those words said before a man of the cloth. I think I will feel much better if I can produce a witness when you start throwing things at me again." Lily laughed against his shoulder. "I'll hold you to that promise. I don't want you disclaiming this child when he starts screaming all night. If you think Ricardo is a formidable foe, you've never tended an infant." *”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“I spent the months with Houston regretting leaving you. When I heard you were no longer with my grandfather, I thought I had lost you. I don't ever wish to live through that time again." Perhaps”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“You are staying because of me?" For him, she had worn her hair unplaited, and it spilled across her shoulders and breasts now. Cade ran his fingers through the strands before answering, "You and the child are more important to me than all the land in the world." Lily couldn't believe she was hearing this. She searched his face for lies, but whatever Cade might be, he wasn't a liar. The wall that he had built around him was finally opening, and she could see the shadows of his doubts and fears in the look he returned to her. Lily fell into the wicked trap of her emotions. If she loved him, she had to let him go. Returning to Cade's side, she curled there, fear and desperation and a terrifying wave of love sweeping her downriver and over dangerous shoals. She meant more to him than the land. It wasn't a gallant, romantic declaration of love, but it spoke the truth as Cade knew it. And her hopes swirled, spiraling upward to new and previously unexplored heights. She hadn't thought love was real, but whatever this was she couldn't control it, couldn't rationalize it, couldn't even speak of it, it was so new—and frightening. Lily”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“What are we going to do?" she asked quietly. Cade shrugged. "We'll wait. There's nothing else that can be done." Trying to ease the mood, he stroked the place where his child grew. "We'll watch our child grow and wait for the corn to rise." That was what she wanted to hear, but Lily had a feeling that wasn't what Cade wanted to say. She could almost feel him erupting inside, feel the frustration and the fury tearing at him. She knew that despite his size, Cade wasn't a violent man, but there was a limit to how much any man could take. Lily very much suspected Cade had been pushed to his limit, but still he lay here calmly telling her he was content to wait for events to happen. "I”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Rounding up cattle!" Cade had Lily in a state halfway to fury by the time Travis ambled in. As a tin cup flew across the room, Cade ducked and Travis jumped out of the way, letting it slam against a far wall with a satisfying crunch. Travis lifted an inquiring eyebrow and caught the next cup that flew at him and set it on the table. "I don't suppose the two of you ever thought of sitting down at the table and discussing things rationally, did you?" "Look who's talking!" Shoving her straying hair back from her face, Lily looked scathingly at the mud stains on Travis's shirt. "Just tell me what happened out there and don't give me a cock-and-bull story about rounding up cattle. Something's happened or El Monstruo over there wouldn't be grinning all over himself." Travis shrugged and took the mug Juanita handed him. "Can't rightly tell you more than that. I've been up visiting with the Indians myself." Juanita retrieved his mug and dumped the contents over his head. Travis howled, and Roy—sitting quietly on the hearth—finally gave in to mirth. Serena, not to be left out, giggled and pulled herself into Travis's lap, patting her small hands against his wet shirt and making smacking sounds. Looking around at the bedlam that was his home, Cade pulled Lily against his side and kissed her soundly before she could offer any protest. "I'll wager they're married before the baby comes." "I'll wager she kills him before then." Lily poked a fingernail into Cade's side to indicate the threat worked for both of them. "You'll not do it," Cade declared boldly. "If you did, who would you have to..." he whispered the rest of the sentence so little ears couldn't hear. As it was, the whispered words singed Lily to her toes and made her cheeks redden. It was obvious she wouldn’t get anything sensible out of him any time soon, but he would regret making her wait. In the meantime, she turned her mouth up for a kiss, bit Cade's lip, stepped on his toe, and sidestepped his grab as she sashayed out the door in search of their belated supper.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“She was waiting anxiously for him. Seeing the worried look on her face, Cade attributed at least part of her concern to himself. He needed to feel wanted for just a little while. He swept her into his arms and held her close and allowed the warmth of her embrace to ease his hurts just a little. "You've been gone for hours. I was afraid you weren't coming back," Lily murmured against his open collar. Those words were balm to his angry heart, and Cade pressed a kiss to the golden spill of her hair. "I came as soon as I could. You'll have the child all stirred up and complaining if you go working yourself into this state just because I'm out for a little while." "Out”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“You can't go taking the law into your own hands, Cade. Think about Lily." "I am thinking about Lily. If I weren't thinking about Lily I'd be out of here now, chasing Satan back where he came from.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“I can guess who that imaginary owner is. Tell Ricardo to give up and I won't add his scalp to my collection. Otherwise I won't bother wasting my time with the law and the courts again. I'll have his scrawny neck instead. I'll make him sorry he ever messed in my wife's business." The other man bristled at the threats. "I don't know any Ricardo, mister. I'm just doing my job. If you don't keep out of our way, we'll have the law after you." Cade smiled, and the men around him stared in astonishment. Cade never smiled, and they hoped he never smiled again. The look was pure malevolence, and they glanced at the intruder to see if he shivered as they did when Cade spoke. "Try it, gentlemen," was all he said. Turning his horse, he rode away, leaving his men to get across the message that trespassers had better turn back. *”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Lily smiled and stroked the aquiline jut of his arrogant nose. "I have married a monster. I suppose hard work is one way of preventing all the children we are likely to have if left to idleness." "Or of supporting them when they inevitably arrive. We will have to beware of planting seeds under the new moon in the future, or we will have a lively crop spilling out the walls." Cade swung from the bed and splashed in the pan that had replaced the porcelain washbowl. Amused, Lily levered herself up from the bed. "Is that how you succeeded in getting me pregnant with just one try? You planted me under a new moon?" Cade dried his face in a linen towel and came up grinning. He watched admiringly as the golden sun played across his wife's proud figure and danced through the silken strands of hair tumbling down her back. "Plowed and seeded, querida." He stopped smiling and reached to pull a stray strand of her hair over her shoulder. "Do you still regret it?" Lily tilted her head and studied his face. "I don't think I ever regretted it. I want this child, Cade. Does that seem strange?" "No." Because he wanted it too, but it was a concept Cade couldn't explain. He didn't want just any child, but he wanted this one—carried by a woman alien to anything he had ever known in his past but similar to him in so many ways. He kissed her then, not the usual kiss of lust that they shared, but a gentle kiss of understanding—and something else, but neither of them was ready to recognize it. Lily”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“They woke together, the stirring of one causing an equal reaction in the other. Lily thought maybe this was what it meant to be man and wife in every sense. Cade's dark hand lay splayed across her pale abdomen as if safeguarding their child, and his large body curled protectively around hers. She felt more secure than she ever had in her life. Perhaps this was what love was all about. She had certainly never expected to find a man who would hold her and love her as Cade had last night even when she was at her ugliest. Any man who did that had to care for her to some degree. That was all she needed to feed her hopes. If he could truly care for her above and beyond what they had in bed, she would do everything within her power to make him happy.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Cade, this is foolish. I look like a beached whale. Allow me some decency." Instead, Cade flung the covers to the floor and straddled her legs, leaning over to rest his ear against her stomach. "I think he speaks Apache, but I can't understand a word he says." Lily laughed softly and tried to push him away.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“You've been spending money again," Lily murmured as she felt Cade's arms tighten around her. "I spent a lifetime saving that money until I had someone to spend it on. I think I've found what I was looking for." Lily”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Cade read the satisfaction in Lily's eyes as she gazed around her, felt the relaxation in her body as she discovered home almost as good as she remembered it, and recognized the bitterness of defeat along with his relief at her happiness. This would never be his land as his grandfather's would, but Lily had given him something he had sought all his life and craved more than he craved land—acceptance. He had thought to mold her to his way of thinking, but he had come too close to losing her to ignore her wishes any longer. If she could be happy nowhere but here, then here they would stay. Cade”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Leaving Travis to find his own way out, Lily went to the small satchel with her few possessions and removed the flute that Cade had given her. It was a little more worn now, the polish developing a patina from use, and Lily regarded it with satisfaction. It had taken hours of practice, but she was learning its use. Sitting on the opposite side of Cade from his father, she began to play. El Caballo frowned. Music was not woman's work or something to be taken lightly, but Lily knew she played well. Even the man in the bed thought so; he began to stir. Cade's eyes opened and sought Lily. The opaque depths that had once kept everyone out softened as he watched her with the flute.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Should I wake him?" "Damned if I'd try. Even with that shoulder he's likely to come up out of that bed with murder in mind if we startle him. There were times when he was fevered that I thought he'd throttle me. For a man who likes children and animals, he's got a lot of violence in him." "I daresay he has his reasons.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Travis grinned and gave her an admiring look. "I wish I'd been there to see you grow that big with Roy. A woman never looks better than when she's carrying a man's child." That”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Pain consumed him, but Cade concentrated on the softness of her touch, the tenderness in her voice. She bathed his face, and then his chest, and he was certain he had died and gone to heaven. He couldn't remember anyone ever caring for him before. He could remember countless times lying injured in whatever lonesome shack he had occupied at the moment, but no one had ever bothered to tend him. It was almost worth the injury to know this sense of belonging. "Papa.”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“A wide-eyed and terrified Roy staggered into Travis's path, and Travis bent and scooped him up as if he were as small as Serena. Lily didn't watch the reunion. Her attention was focused wholly on the unconscious man in the bed. Hugging Roy, Travis glanced back at Lily with sadness in his heart and let the last piece of his dream go. She had been a bright part of his adolescence, of his growing up. He was grown now, and as a child surrenders the comforters of his past, Travis surrendered any notions he might still have harbored about the mother of his child. He didn't want to let his son go, but the woman was already lost to him. Reassuring”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Lily kept Serena's chubby body curled tightly against her own and prayed as she had prayed every night since Cade's departure. She had been furious with him at first. Then she had felt rejected, as if she were of no account in his life. Cade had never said anything to contradict her fears. But then she had begun to remember little things—the kitten in his lap, the flute on her pillow, his pain in setting Roy's leg, the fierce passion of his lovemaking—and she had to wonder if these weren't Cade's way of showing how he felt. A sliver of hope had entered Lily's heart then, and she had nourished it in the days since, hoping to block out the growing fear when there was no sign of Cade even after the battle was won. Lily”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“Cade stood still in the doorway to the bedroom that had been the source of the only happiness he could remember. The mattress had been gutted by someone looking for hidden wealth. The bed frame and washstand had been used for firewood. The porcelain washbowl and pitcher with their colorful roses and greenery lay shattered on the floor. And Lily's elegant windows had been blasted by a shotgun. Cade was a proud man, and a strong one. Nothing in all his life had ever brought him to his knees, but he was on the verge now. Clinging to the door frame, Cade held himself upright by sheer force of will. Lily's cries of passion still haunted these walls. He could almost hear the sound of a flute as he clung to the wood. He had wanted to give her music and happiness. He had wanted to lay the world at her feet. He had wanted... He had wanted. And this was the result. Everything she had, destroyed. It was a poor return for everything she had given him in those few short months. Cade closed the door and walked away. Lily carried his life with her. He knew it as the soul knows the stars are out of reach. If Lily lived, he would survive. If she did not, he was a walking ghost. He could not return to being the man he had once been. He could not live alone again. He”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“He didn't want to hear Cade's fury. He wasn't ready yet for whatever Cade would decide. Travis had been on his own since he was fifteen. Lily and their son and Juanita were as close as he had ever come to family since then. Even the little brat, Serena, had carved a place in his heart. He wasn't made like Cade. He longed for the warmth of human emotion. He even missed that old rascal Ephraim. He didn't care about the damned land or the cattle or whatever else it was that drove men to fight. Travis required Juanita's shy adoration, Roy's admiring phrases, Lily's rare laughter. Ricardo could have the damned hacienda. Travis wanted the women and children. He was afraid Cade wouldn't think the same. These past weeks had made it obvious that Cade had a single-minded fascination with the Spanish family and the hacienda he had been denied all these years. When he was coherent, he had spoken of the changes he would make, the plans he had for that mesquite-studded acreage. When he was fevered, he had cursed Ricardo, cursed every obstacle that had ever stood in his way, and sworn oaths that made Travis shiver. Behind that stoic facade lay a lifetime of hate and longing. He didn't want to think about the decision that Cade had to make now. Lily and her small farm had only been an afterthought in that lifetime. When”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“The implacable Indian had turned out to be one hell of a cantankerous patient. Besides,”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily

“If he could fully believe in the pearly gates of the priests or the spirits of his father, he might welcome death, but all Cade could think of was Lily. It was odd that he had spent twenty years of his life simply surviving, only to spend his dying minutes dreaming of a woman who hated him. Closing his eyes, Cade felt the warmth of her body close to his. She didn't hate him completely. Her body was too warm and alive to his touch to hate him entirely. Had there been time... "Damn”
― Patricia Rice, Texas Lily