Outrageous Offer

by Lola White

  Beyond that, he didn’t know what he felt, what he wanted or what he intended to do, though he spent the rest of his journey to Creek Bend trying to figure it out. By the time he arrived at the jail, he was more confused than ever and tired of thinking on the mess his life had become.

  Just inside his office, Sheriff Colton snored away on a cot under a dying oil lamp affixed to the wall. His narrow bed was crammed into the space between a desk and the doorway leading to the two holding cells gracing Creek Bend’s humble prison. Anyone who wanted to get to Hyacinth had to climb over Colton first.

  Offer shook him awake. Colton sat up groggily, rubbing at his eyes and glaring at the jailhouse door that Offer hadn’t closed behind him. Offer held out his hand and waggled his fingers.

  “Give me the keys.”

  “I’m not giving you the keys so you can break her out,” the sheriff mumbled.

  “I’m not breaking her out, I’m putting me in.” Offer wiggled his fingers again. “Come on, the judge didn’t say she couldn’t have company.”

  Colton considered for a moment, but dug a heavy key ring out from under his pillow and handed it over. “Don’t you take her out or I’ll make sure you’re the next person in Creek Bend on trial. You understand?”

  “I got it.” Offer made his way over the cot and stepped into the holding cell area.

  Colton had done what he could for Hyacinth’s comfort, Offer had seen to that when the man had first arrested her. The lantern in her cell was filled enough to cast a good measure of light over the thick blanket and feather pillow Colton had provided to decorate the inhospitably narrow bunk. At some point in the day, the man must also have picked her some flowers, because a thin bouquet drooped out of a cracked teacup on the window sill.

  But Offer barely spared a glance for Hyacinth’s surroundings, so wholly focused on the pitiful figure of the woman herself that nothing else mattered. She was huddled beneath her blanket with her knees pulled all the way to her chest, the side of her face sunk in the pillow. Her dark curls spread around her in a tangled mess, emphasizing the misery in her wide-open eyes.

  Offer stepped up to the bars holding her prisoner and fumbled with the key. “You all right, darlin’?”

  “What are you doing here?”

  He let himself in before he shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d check up on you.”

  Hyacinth sat up. She tried to smile, but her lip wobbled and tears filled her eyes. Her breath hitched and she moaned a sound just short of a sob. “I couldn’t sleep either. I’m so scared, Offer. I don’t know what to do.”

  He rushed to her side, the anger within him clicking into place in such a way he finally understood all the agitation within him. Bleak helplessness dropped away the moment he got his hands on her. “Shh, darlin’, I’m going to take care of all of this. It’s gonna be all right.”

  He slid onto the cot, maneuvering her on top of him as he went because there wasn’t enough room for the two of them to lie next to each other. She pressed her face into his throat and held his shoulders tightly as he arranged her legs over his and pulled her close. Wrapping his arms around her, Offer felt more collected than he had in nearly two days.

  Every irritated nerve in his body pulled taut and demanded action. A large part of some seething monster at his core was calmed by Hyacinth’s presence, by her fading rosewater scent and the lush feel of her breasts pressed to his chest. But a larger part demanded he fuck her so hard, so deep, that no judge in the land could tear them apart. That need was nearly impossible to achieve on the narrow cot, but Offer couldn’t keep from trying.

  He never gave her a chance to protest, he simply took it for granted that she wouldn’t.

  He stroked down her back in a single, urgent press of his palms. He caught her bottom and hauled her higher, then slid his hands up her thighs to yank them into a more accommodating position. He tore at her skirts until they fluffed over his knuckles and foamed around their waists.

  Hyacinth gasped and raised her head. “What are you doing?” she whispered roughly.

  “I need to be inside you, right now.” Offer reached between her legs and found the slit in her drawers. Boldly, he stroked in, deeply, over her clit to push between her folds, thrusting down until he reached her entrance.

  Hyacinth’s flesh flinched, but her near-soundless words were discouraging. “Sheriff Colton is just through that door, and he’s not snoring! He’s wide awake, Offer. He’ll hear.”

  “Then be quiet, darlin’.” Offer gave her a hard kiss. “I can’t stop, Hyacinth. I need you.”

  He rubbed her folds as she stared into his eyes. Hers were wide and scandalized, but whatever she saw in his expression gained her agreement. The set of her features relaxed and her pussy dampened. Hyacinth pushed her hand down between their bodies and fumbled with the buttons at his waistband.

  Offer bit his lip and struggled to slow down, to build her need as high as his, but it was an impossible feat. He circled her clit, tugging and flicking in the way she liked, stroking his fingers to either side and clamping them around the little peak in a move that usually had her arching with desire.

  It took less than a minute for his touch to have an effect on her. She began to rock against his rapid fondling, gasping softly every time he shifted to a new place as though she were unprepared for the pleasure he gave her. Her pussy grew wet and his fingers finally stroked over her with silky ease.

  Offer sighed with relief. “Yes, darlin’. Like that. Let me feel how soft you are, how hot and wet. Let me feel how much you need my cock buried inside you.”

  Hyacinth arched and jerked, her clever fingers finally unbuttoning his pants and releasing his dick. Slim fingers stroked down his length and held tight. Hyacinth dug her knee into the thin mattress at Offer’s hip and levered her body up.

  Offer closed his eyes as the tip of his dick smoothed through hot, liquid silk. Hyacinth’s soft flesh closed around his crest as she tucked him against her entrance and Offer couldn’t find the will to take her slowly. He lifted his hips with a violent jerk, pushing into her body and pulling her down his shaft with a heavy thrust that did not stop until he was fully buried inside her.

  Then he went still. He wrapped one arm around her hips to hold her still as well while he raised his other hand to her jaw. He lifted his lids and stared up into her two-toned eyes as the strangest sensation he’d ever felt swept through him. A raging river of heat plucked at every nerve in his body from his scalp to his toes. It paralyzed him and transformed his need.

  Whatever it was, Hyacinth saw. Vulnerability ate into Offer, but the feeling of weakness was battled back very effectively by the heat of her flexing pussy. Hyacinth tightened every inner muscle she had around his cock and leaned down, a surprised and hopeful expression etched onto her face.

  “Offer?” Hyacinth whispered close to his lips. “Why are you doing this? Why did you come here?”

  The arm he wrapped around her hips knotted of its own accord. A lump lodged in Offer’s throat but he tried to push words past the constriction. “I don’t know. Because I…” He shook his head. “Because…”

  He gave up trying to explain. With his hand holding her chin, he dragged her lips to his and consumed her. Demanding entrance, he pushed his tongue inside her mouth and sent it sliding over hers. Wanting her participation, he withdrew and thrust in again, over and over until she made a small noise and kissed him back. He fell into the caress and craved more.

  Hyacinth gave him everything he wanted, everything he needed. She tightened her inner muscles in a hypnotizing rhythm while Offer held them both still otherwise. So subtle, but so erotically wicked against his sensitized cock. She ran her hands through his hair and tangled her tongue with his, sucking and nipping in time to the muscle control she exhibited below her waist.

  Offer wanted to move. Offer wanted to drive into her body repeatedly, to roll them to the floor if need be and fuck Hyacinth hard enough she wouldn’t be able
to sit for her trial. He wanted to push to the ends of her, merge with her, find his pleasure inside her.

  But the raging heat snaking through him held him still. The most it would let him do was shift his hold from her hips to her ass, which he pushed against harder to hold himself as deeply inside her as he could. And he kissed her while his emotions roiled.

  It was Hyacinth who jerked over him, shuddering and moaning into his mouth as her pussy softened, gushed and convulsed. It was Hyacinth who rode his cock in hard jolts that barely moved her an inch against his hold—but it was the most glorious inch Offer had ever experienced. It was Hyacinth’s pleasure that gave Offer his own, as her body rippled and sucked his length, inspiring his balls to clench and implode.

  He held her to him as he thrust a single time. Deep into her hot body, his motion hard to the point of violence. His spine locked and flashed with heated release. Offer clutched her ass as he came so forcefully that light streaked before his eyes, an endless wave of pleasure and contentment that scared him senseless at the same time it filled some void inside his chest he’d never known about.

  The only thing he did know, as he clamped his arms around Hyacinth’s shuddering body and ravaged her mouth, was that she had chosen him, had accepted his outrageous offer, and he would—by God—take care of her to the best of his ability.

  No matter what he had to do.

  Chapter Twelve

  Offer listened to Ernest stumble over the words during his reading of Hyacinth’s letters and glared around the mob gathered for the trial in the only space Creek Bend possessed that was big enough to hold them all. It seemed the entire town had turned out. The saloon was packed, with Judge Wiggins holding court just in front of the piano on the far side of the room. Try as he might, Offer was unable to push through the crowd to stand by Hyacinth’s side and was forced to linger nearer the door.

  Not that he had a problem hearing. Judge Wiggins’ voice boomed out over the slightly raucous group, and Ernest showboated with a ringing tone of his own. It was only Hyacinth’s softly spoken, infrequent responses that Offer strained to hear, though he was proud that Jack’s voice carried so well.

  A slight stirring amid the press of bodies next to Offer caught his attention. He glanced left in time to see Joe Raines slip into a forcibly vacated spot at Offer’s elbow. Offer gritted his teeth and tightened his arms over his chest.

  The man leaned in. “I must say, this entire spectacle is wholly entertaining.”

  Offer turned his attention back to Ernest and the mocking, falsetto voice he read Hyacinth’s letter in. “I know you’re enjoying yourself, Raines, but she doesn’t deserve this.”

  Raines ran his tongue over his teeth. “I’m surprised you’re letting the kid be her legal representation. He’s not a lawyer. Hell, I’ve never even heard him speak, before today.”

  “His father’s a lawyer back East. He knows the law.”

  Offer experienced a fresh wave of relief just saying the words. On the first day of her arrest, Jack had volunteered to be Hyacinth’s lawyer, and though his unwillingness to say more than two words at a time had had Offer hesitating, he’d taken the kid up on his suggestion. Offer knew that no one else in town would help Hyacinth, and with only two days to prepare for the trial, he wouldn’t have been able to find another to represent her.

  “He’s doing a fair job,” Raines said with reluctance in his voice. “But Wiggins’ is a tough old bastard.”

  Considering the fact that the trial was taking place in the saloon and the judge was working on his fifth snifter of top-shelf whiskey, Offer had to agree. Wiggins’ face was composed of harsh lines and deep crags, his bushy, white sideburns twitching with clear irritation every time Jack or Hyacinth spoke while his lips pulled into a smile whenever Ernest held court. Offer could see the man was biased.

  He peeled his eyes away from Ernest and the judge to look at Hyacinth. She and Jack sat at a table pushed to the side, along with Bill, who’d dragged a chair next to them. The old man had somehow finagled his way across the room, something Offer kept failing at until he’d simply given up and stood where he was. He was grateful for his height, which allowed him to see over all the heads in front of him.

  Hyacinth met his glance with a perfectly blank expression. Offer’s chest clenched at the wideness of her eyes and the paleness of her skin. Even her lips appeared colorless as she pressed them together to still their trembling. Then her chin rose and she looked back to the judge.

  “‘You asked about my eye color, sir.’” Ernest paused in his reading to glare at Hyacinth. “‘My answer is brown.’”

  Every head in the saloon turned toward Hyacinth, evaluating her different color eyes. Murmurs raced through the crowd. Her chin notched higher, in spite of the furious glower on the judge’s face.

  Jack leaped to his feet and cleared his throat. “Your honor, Miss Woodley did not lie about her eye color. She does, in fact, have a brown eye. Mr. Horsham never indicated which eye he was referring to.”

  Ernest’s face turned red. “Non-defective people have the same color in both eyes!”

  “Nevertheless,” Jack persisted, “you should have been more specific in your questioning of my client’s attributes. And as you were not, I hardly see how charges of fraud could be applied in this situation.”

  Pride and hope nearly took Offer’s legs out from under him, but the judge was less impressed. “That’s an asinine comment, Mr. Rodgers, and will be stricken from the record.”

  “What record?” Offer muttered.

  The judge spoke again, waving a piece of paper before him as his soliloquy rang out in the saloon. “I have here a notice warning women about the consequences of lying, as well as informing men about their rights should they find themselves a victim of a woman’s deception. There have been several instances where women have lied about their appearance in order to con a man into spending his hard-earned money on travel expenses to get them out west. This notice has been published in several newspapers and catalogs, so there is no excuse for Miss Woodley’s behavior except blatant and willful dissemination of falsehoods for her own gain.”

  “What was that?” Raines asked in a low voice.

  “He’s saying she lied to get Horsham to pay her way,” Offer explained curtly.

  “Did she?”

  “No.”

  Ernest stamped his good foot and pointed at Hyacinth. “I paid two hundred dollars to get her here, only to find out that she lied. That cost me both my money and my pride, as I have now become a laughingstock among my peers.”

  Someone in the crowd called out, “He sure has!”

  “See?” Ernest whirled to face the judge. “And when I politely asked her for the money back, which she rightfully owes me because she is a liar and a fraud, she made her dogs attack me savagely.”

  The judge nodded and sipped his whiskey. “I assume you have someone who can verify that claim, Mr. Horsham?”

  The local barber raised a hand. “Right here, your honor. I saw to the dog bites. He was lucky he didn’t lose his leg.”

  “Oh my God.” Offer rolled his eyes. “It was a little nip. Horsham’s exaggerating.”

  “In total,” Ernest screeched, “I believe I deserve a payment of three hundred dollars, to recoup my losses, pay for my injuries and ease the humiliation I have suffered because of this witch.”

  The crowd grew more rowdy with Horsham’s pronouncement. Three hundred dollars was a lot of money—certainly more money than half the men in town would see in two years, and even more than all the women in the entire saloon would ever make, even if they pooled their earnings. Three hundred dollars would make Ernest the second richest man in Creek Bend, right after Joe Raines.

  Wiggins focused on Hyacinth. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “I don’t have any money.” She raised her hands helplessly.

  “She can earn it here!” Molly, the saloon woman, shouted. “She’d fetch a couple dollars a week, with her figure.
”

  Men throughout the place hooted and hollered. The saloon women laughed and called out sarcastic welcomes to the new girl. Lewd suggestions flew around the room accompanied by frenetic clapping. Offer bit his tongue until it bled.

  The judge beckoned to Hyacinth. “Stand up.”

  She did, and Offer could see how badly she trembled by the way her skirts shivered. He wasn’t the only one—the crowd had more than a few lecherous things to say about Hyacinth’s nervousness. Even the judge caught a certain gleam in his eye as he made Hyacinth turn a slow circle before him.

  “Well, now,” he drawled, “the saloon is one option.”

  “Your honor!” Jack’s desperate shout did little to stop the catcalls. “We still have an opportunity to plead our case.”

  The judge nodded, but Offer could see that the outcome had already been decided. He pressed his arms harder into his stomach as the internal organ clenched and rolled. Hyacinth looked utterly vulnerable, shaking before the crowd with her head held high and horror flashing over her features. Her visible panic was mirrored in Offer’s veins.

  Unfolding his arms, Offer seized Raines’ shoulder. “How much will you give me for Zeus?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Hyacinth nearly lost the few bites of breakfast she’d managed that morning when she saw Offer leave the makeshift courtroom. Her belly was twisting into knots and her legs threatened to dissolve, but staring at Offer had helped her maintain her stance, if not her pride. When he’d gripped Raines’ shoulder and hauled the man out of the saloon, Hyacinth had nearly burst into tears.

  When Offer didn’t return after thirty minutes, Hyacinth thought her heart would simply stop and save her from the spectacle of her own trial. She was hurt that settling his issues with the other rancher was more important to him than supporting her in her darkest hour. And thinking of how much hope she’d been filled with when he’d come to her the night before only added insult to injury.