"I don't think there's time enough in this world to tell you all about all of them. I live a dangerous life, and it leaves its mark on me, but I wouldn't trade it for any other life."
Sampson raised his eyebrows still interested in knowing more but passion trumped curiosity, and he said no more as he flipped her back over on the bed and she reached out, taking hold of his member and guiding him into her. They rode harder this time. Their bodies made slapping noises as they moved against each other. His lips were all over her neck, and her legs were clasped and intertwined behind his back.
The man was getting close; he could feel the pleasure building within him. The veins in his body were straining, and his breathing was labored. He quickly pulled out of her and thrust his dick between her breasts. She smiled and held both breasts against his dick as he began sliding between them. Sampson suddenly drew in a sharp breath, and his body jerked as she felt the warmness of his desire coat her neck and face.
Cassie smiled and dropped her head back, breathing lightly and closing her eyes and feeling a sense of great contentment washing over her. This was what being alive was truly about for today she and her beloved sisters had played the game of life and death, and once more they had won allowing them to go on living, loving and longing for the ride to never end.
EPILOGUE
Cedar Ledge Ranch
Arizona Territory
Home!
With a great sigh of relief Honor Elizabeth caught sight of the entrance to the family ranch that always filled her with such happiness as she galloped down the road from Alamieda. Seconds later she had turned her mount and swept through the gates of Cedar Ledge. Above her and atop the sturdy bar of cedar wood that proclaimed the ranch’s name was the welcome sight of the large metallic circle with the letters HBH the sisters had long ago asked the ranch’s blacksmith to create.
Erecting it at the very entrance to the ranch was their satisfying way to mock those who had nicknamed the ranch Half Breed Haven in an attempt to hurt them. Instead, the siblings embraced the nickname and added it atop the sign for all to see. Crossing over the sturdy bridge over the river she headed up the sweeping, curving driveway that flowed up the rise that was crowned by the grand ranch house with its jagged ledges rising behind it and the numerous cedar trees that dotted here and there. It had not been lost on Honor that the two metal gates were wide open as she had passed underneath the sign
as when they had left Cattie had hopped off the buckboard and closed them. There should have been no reason for them to have been opened because a separate road lead to the cattle operations that were offset from the Wilde's home and lay between it and glimmering Rock River that wound its way through the family's scenic empire. Elanie had surely made it to Cedar Ledge, but the question was if she was still there.
Honor had been forced to stop and rest her horse for the night, or she might have been able to close the gap between her and the Greek woman, but she had no choice. She did take heart in knowing that Elanie would have had to rest her horse as well and the woman was likely not going to be hurrying since she undoubtedly believed the Wildes were either outright dead or in the hands of Black Hawk. Honor felt reasonably sure that she would catch up with her before she could disappear from the ranch with her plunder.
Still, besides the rest stop, she had only made one other stop along the way which was in Godspell where her ex-lover Quillan Dodge ran his stagecoach business. Honor had stopped just long enough to grab a pair of pants among the clothes that she still kept in the handsome black man's home. Theirs was an off and on-again relationship and whenever they weren't seeing other people they inevitably wound up tumbling back into bed with each other. It happened enough that she kept some clothes at his place and upon arriving she had been thankful that Quillan was out on one of his stage runs when she arrived. She didn't want to disappoint him if he thought she was there for one of their trysts.
When she had snatched the shirt and pants from the bottom drawer of the dresser in his bedroom, she realized that perhaps she hadn't needed to worry as she caught sight of some female clothing draped over a chair in the corner. Despite having no claim on him anymore, she couldn't help feeling a tinge of jealousy as she stripped out her dress and changed into the attire more suited for the west. Honor Elizabeth detested pants, but she wanted mobility if she were to engage Elanie. With her dress draped over her arm, she put Quillan and whoever his new lady friend was out of her mind and fixated on one thing and one thing only Elanie Kanakanares.
Now rounding the final curve, the magnificent two-story L shaped ranch house was before her with its sweeping front lawn and parked directly in front of the open double doors to the house was a wagon she did not recognize. Honor’s mouth curled into a grin, ready for action. Most people dismissed her as somewhat of a flighty debutante that was until they saw her in action, either alone or with the rest of her sisters. Honor knew she was more than capable of handling the young Greek.
Bringing Sesame to stop, she leaped down off her before wrapping the end of the bridle around the hitching post, which was actually two anchors with a metal bar running between them. They were a nod to her father’s days in the U.S. Navy before he had been drummed out for the cardinal sin of falling in love with a colored woman, Honor’s mother, Miss Lizzie.
Honor gave the horse a loving pat on the nose. The steed was nowhere as fast as her beloved horse in the stables beyond the ranch house, but the animal had served her well and she would give it a good home at Cedar Ledge. Quickly she hustled towards the door but paused long enough for her eyes to sweep over the inventory of Wilde family belongings that Elanie was engaged in pilfering. Grudgingly Honor couldn't help but be impressed. In the time, the woman had worked in their home apparently; she had developed an eye for what was valuable.
In the wagon bed was the Renoir that Honor had once begged Whip to purchase along with a vase from China her father had bought to commemorate his time shipwrecked there that had given him Lijuan. The entire gun rack of rifles that the Wildes kept near the door was loaded up. There were dishes from the kitchen, a silver tea service belonging to her grandmother, an upper-crust member of Philadelphia society, that Honor had never met what with her passing away long before she was born. There was much, much more but she didn't bother looking at the rest of it. It was time to put a stop to the theft in progress. As calmly as she was taking one of her daily constitutionals around the ranch, she walked across the threshold.
At the top of the stairs that lead down from the family’s bedrooms and passed through the Great Room before leading to the entrance, Elanie was struggling under the weight of a wooden box in her arms. She had spent the last half hour going from room to room collecting every bit of jewelry that she could find. She was still annoyed to find that Catalina Wilde apparently didn’t’ own not one set of earrings, no necklaces, and no rings nothing! Yet despite doing nothing to garnish herself the woman managed to work her wiles on other women.
At the top of the stairs, her voice yelped in fright as suddenly a Bowie knife buried itself in the front of the box. Elanie lost her grip, and it tumbled down the stairs spewing its contents of booty on every riser along the way before it clattered to the bottom coming to rest at the feet of Honor Elizabeth Wilde.
Honor took great delight in the look of shock and horror that bloomed on Elanie’s face as she stood their stock still, apparently unable to believe her own eyes. The cook’s helper remained frozen as Honor Elizabeth, yanked her knife out of the front of the box and began charging up the stairs at her. Suddenly as if a switch had been thrown, the woman spun on her heels intent on running down the length of the hallway in hopes of gaining the rear stairwell in the adjoining wing. She was not fast enough however as Honor seized the mane of black curls and yanked the younger woman backward. Grabbing one of her shoulders Honor spun her around.
“Please no! Dixon made me do it!”
“He did not make you do anything! In fact, in his own words, he did say he
would not have been able to accomplish any of the horrors he had intended to inflict upon us yesterday without you!”
Elanie knew she was trapped and looked wildly around, but she was out of options. Her eyes fell fearfully on the knife in Honor's hand, who caught the downward shift of the woman's eyes.
“If you are concerned about this…do not be.” She said as she suddenly threw the knife sideways burying it the door to her brother Blue River's room. "I consider myself a lady, but that does not mean I have to fight like one."
As she raised her fists, Elanie’s head was a blur looking for escape, the rooms were on one side of her, the other side was the railing overlooking the Great Room, Honor was in front of her and that left her only avenue of escape was to turn and try and run the length of the landing and into the other wing of the house where the rear staircase awaited but there was no chance she would ever make it.
Elanie took one last glance over her shoulder at the only potential escape route and then sighed. Honor saw it in her eyes that she had accepted her fate and was now going to have to pay for what she had done. When Elanie gritted her teeth, it completely telegraphed her move as she swung her right fist at Honor and only managed to land a glancing blow as Honor drew back from the swing.
The inexperienced woman lost her balance with the failed punch and stumbled towards the railing, but she pushed herself off from it and spun around to face Honor who let fly a left hook to Elanie's face, splitting her lip in the process. The young woman's howl of pain morphed into one of rage, and she charged at Honor knocking both women to the floor with Honor landing on her stomach. Elanie leaped on Honor's back and managed to encircle her right arm around Honor's neck.
With her eyes blazing with fury that all her plans for a wealthy future with the man of her dreams rapidly becoming undone, she raised her left fist, intent on slamming the side of Honor's head with it but as she swung Honor jerked her head, and Elanie's hand managed only to pound the immaculately polished wooden floor. Honor Elizabeth bucked and threw the woman off from her. Both scrambled to their feet, but Elanie got there first, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the knife in the door. With a quick yank, it came free and was now in her hand.
Honor shook her head and laughed at her. "That is why I threw it there. I knew you would eventually go for it. Please, do your worst. I am quite ready." She taunted cocking her head to one side. Being mocked served to enrage Elanie further, and an animalistic growl came from her throat, and she slashed at Honor with the knife only to be shocked when Honor Elizabeth caught her by the wrist and began squeezing. Sweat flowed down Elanie's face from the pain of Honor's grip until at last her fingers splayed open and the knife clattered to the floor. To her surprise Honor suddenly released her grip and she was free. Instinctively her left hand reached to feel her throbbing wrist as she looked at Honor with hatred.
“I’ll kill you bitch!”
"I strongly disagree." Elanie's mouth opened wide, and she gave a scream as one of Honor's boots flashed upwards crashing into her stomach, launching her over the railing behind her. It was only a one-story drop, but Elanie managed to do one full flip in the air before thudding to the floor on her back, breaking a score of bones throughout her body.
Honor Elizabeth dusted her hands and peered over the railing looking down, her eyes locking with those of the injured and defeated woman.
“You may consider yourself fired.”
Thanks for joining the Wildes on their latest adventure! And now a quick excerpt from the next book due out the first week of October. HALF BREED HAVEN#9 INTO THE LAIR OF LOS REY LOBO
Like a polished gentleman, rather than one of the ruthless parties who had managed to run nearly the entire population out of their valley, Lobo pulled out the chair for Cassandra as she took her seat at the small table in his master bedroom. As soon as he pushed her chair back in he scooped up the bottle of wine that was sitting on the table and held it out for her.
“Chardonnay. From the Corderro Crest Vineyards! How wonderful!” she exclaimed as a look of approval swept across the man’s face.
“I figured a learned woman such as yourself would be able to spot a fine wine when she saw one. A shame what is happening to that once fine vineyard south of the border. Word has reached even up here that the drunkard who runs it is mismanaging it towards its extinction. What a loss to the world when no more of these fine wines flow from it.”
Cassandra could only nod. She knew full well of the plight of the vineyards, as they were owned by the family of Catalina’s late mother. A lifetime around the abundance of alcohol had left Catalina’s Uncle Hector addicted to his own product and despite the best efforts of his children, Cattie’s cousins, he was on the verge of ruining the prestigious vineyard that had thrived for well over two hundred years. It brought great sadness to Catalina she knew, that the legacy of the Corderro family was on the brink of ruin.
None of this, of course, could she discuss with Rey Lobo and wouldn't have even if she could. Instead, she merely nodded as the man produced a corkscrew and set to work on the bottle. Her eyes traveled about the room and one thing became very obvious. She had been in many a man's rooms and most looked like they were hit with some cross between a tornado and a hurricane, but not Carlos's room. Everything was in complete order and nary a speck of dust could be seen, which was no small feat living in the West. It seemed the man lived by a code of neatness that bordered on the obsessive.
As the cork came free and made a popping sound, her mind wandered back for a moment to earlier after she watched Honor Elizabeth and Cody Holmes slip back into the dense woods only moments before Dogget and Lobo returned. Once reunited, the hunting party journeyed back inside the mission walls with the fox. Lobo had left it with Dogget and had quickly escorted her up to his room. It was all playing out as she had overheard. The man was intent on getting her into his bed before Daniella returned.
If she wasn’t a trained professional, she would have snorted at the flimsy excuse he had given her to get her into the room. They were going to celebrate his “victory” in hunting down the fox. Now, if he had brought down a bull moose like she had seen her father do when she was a little girl still living in Philadelphia and they had gone on a trip to New York’s Adirondack Mountains, that would have been an impressive victory sparking a celebration. Still, she had shrugged her shoulders. At least he was going to try and seduce her. A much less suave criminal would have attempted to simply rape her, and she would have had to drastically alter her plans by killing the man right on the spot.
With the cork free and Lobo pouring them each a glass, she took it as an opportunity to study him closer. He truly was a handsome man. How had he gone down the path that he was on now? Was perhaps he once a good man and had been led astray by this sister Daniella? No way to know. Cassandra was just thankful that she found him attractive. Had he not been she would have had to find a way to stall his seduction until it was too late, and his sister returned. Instead, she knew she would actually enjoy the sex she was about to have with the man.
Long ago all four sisters had agreed that they intended to enjoy life to the fullest, doing what they wanted when they wanted and with who they wanted. Sparking this had been the sobering knowledge that not one of their mothers had the chance to experience all that life had to offer as they had all died before their time. The four Wilde sisters were adamant that would never happen to them.
So here in this room, she would enjoy a carnal romp with this man. It had been longer than she had wished since her last man. Cassandra had been presented with a chance the previous week with a handsome sheriff that she had delivered a prisoner to. The criminal had been a man that her uncle the governor was determined to see behind bars for his reign of terror robbing post offices in the territory and had given her the assignment to track down.
Once the prisoner was locked up she and the sheriff had engaged in a great deal of flirtation. Unfortunately for her, that very day her “monthly” had commenced. The
best she had been able to do was send the lawman on the way contented with blow job he wouldn’t soon forget and as fun as it had been for her she wanted a little gratification for herself.
Well, her monthlies were behind her, and she was going to lay with Rey Lobo right now and enjoy it. She hoped the criminal would enjoy it as well because there was every chance in the world that she would have to kill him later.
***
OTHER BOOKS IN THE WILDES OF THE WEST SERIES
EITHER AVAILABLE NOW OR COMING SOON
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #1: THE DAUGHTERS OF HALF BREED HAVEN
HALF BREED HAVEN #1: WILDE-FIRE
HALF BREED HAVEN #2: IN DANGER’S SHADOW
HALF BREED HAVEN #3: DARK RIVALS
HALF BREED HAVEN #4: SILVER, GOLD & DECEPTION
HALF BREED HAVEN#5: THE FORBIDDEN RANCH
HALF BREED HAVEN#6: SING THE DEATH SONG
HALF BREED HAVEN#7: DISASTER AT DEVIL’S CANYON
HALF BREED HAVEN#8: RENEGADES AND REVENGE
HALF BREED HAVEN#9: INTO THE LAIR OF LOS REY LOBO
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #2: THE REAPER OF THE RIO SANGRE
(BOOK 1 OF THE DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY TRILOGY)
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #3: THE TOWN OF NO RETURN
(BOOK 2 OF THE DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY TRILOGY)
THE WILDES OF THE WEST #4: THE BOOT HILL EXPRESS
(BOOK 3 OF THE DANGER DOWN MEXICO WAY TRILOGY)
INFORMATION ON THESE BOOKS CAN BE FOUND AT THIS LINK
https://www.amazon.com/A.M.-Van-Dorn/e/B077GNX3GP/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
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Renegades And Revenge: Daughters 0f HBH (Half Breed Haven Book 8) Page 15
