by Sarah Hegger
“No.” Ellie’s jaw tightened. “But I will be.”
She wasn’t wearing her normal saloon getup but a plain traveling coat over a dark blue dress. Also, and it stopped him, she had a travel bag that she must have dropped inside the door when she came in.
The same gut feel that often made him turn the next card, that had kept him alive more times than he could count, whispered to him now that his life was about to get a lot more exciting. His blood awoke to the challenge, thrumming through his veins in a reminder of how alive he was.
Ellie walked over to the window and peered out. “Can you turn down the lamp?”
In other circumstances, he and Ellie, alone behind a locked door with the lamp turned low, he might be getting all kinds of interesting ideas.
Not tonight, however. Ellie looked tense enough to explode.
He waited while she watched the street in a loaded silence. Finally, she breathed the smallest sigh of relief and turned to him. “I need your help.”
“I figured that much already.” He picked up the bottle of whisky he had brought to his room and offered it to her. “No glass I’m afraid.”
“I’m not that much for glasses,” she said and took the bottle and swigged. She came up coughing and spluttering and wiping her eyes.
Cole took it back from her and took a sip. She also didn’t have any of the face paint on she used in the saloon. Whatever her age, it was younger than he had thought.
“I came to make you a deal,” she said. “You once offered five hundred dollars for a night in my bed.”
“Actually the last offer was twenty thousand.” This was getting more and more interesting. Desperation like the sort you saw across the table when a man had lost money he didn’t have, clung to Ellie. “And I made it tonight.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “You didn’t mean that one. I meant the last serious offer was five hundred.”
Actually, the twenty thousand might be worth it to satisfy an itch eight years in the making. “You sell yourself short.”
“I don’t have time to haggle. Let’s call if five hundred.” The desperation in her eyes and in her voice gave him pause. Ellie was deadly serious and whatever had brought her here tonight had gotten her spooked.
“What do I get for the five hundred?”
“Nothing.”
He almost laughed. “Ellie, sugar, that’s not how bargaining works.”
“I know that.” She gave a small chuckle but even that sounded forced. “What I’m saying is I don’t want the five hundred.”
“But you do want something?”
“Yes.” She nodded and went back to staring at the street. “I need you to take me with you.”
That caught him with the bottle halfway to his mouth. “Take you with me?”
“When you leave. I need you to take me with you.”
Something was not right. “Why not ask one of your brothers to take you?”
“You ask too many questions.” She scowled at him. “I’m offering you me, my everything, and all you got to do is get me out of town.”
“And then what?” His gambler’s sense prickled a warning at him. Ellie’s was holding cards on him. “Say I get you out of town, then what?”
“That’s my problem. You leave me at the closest train station, and I’ll take care of myself from there.” she said. “But I’ve never been anywhere on my own and I would get lost.”
“Sugar.” This plan made no sense to him and it reeked of trouble. “I can’t leave you at a train station and ride away.”
“You can.” She nodded, but her eyes shone like maybe she was holding back tears. “That’s all I want from you.”
“And I get you in exchange?”
Her chin came up and she nodded. She looked like she was steeling herself for an ordeal. Now Cole didn’t like to think of a night in his bed as a trial. “You get me.”
As he considered her, he took another sip of whisky. There was a whole lot about this that made no sense. Ellie wanted to leave town and leave her business behind.
Puzzle pieces slotted into place. The tension between Ellie and Jake tonight at the saloon had to have something to do with why Ellie was knocking on his door in the middle of the night and acting jumpier than a squirrel in a coyote’s den.
Cole had always seen the mean streak in Jake, but Theo kept him under control. With Theo out of the way, there might be no controlling Jake. Especially if he was getting his nob polished by that piece of cheap ass Cole had seen him with. A woman like that could play a man with Jake’s conceit like a fiddle.
He offered Ellie the bottle and she took it. This time her sip was smaller but her big eyes stayed fixed on his face, her entire petite form tense and alert, waiting for his response.
So, trouble with Jake had brought her running to him. How much trouble was anyone’s guess, but as she’d never done anything like this before, he was guessing big.
What the hell! It had been a while since he’d rolled the dice, spat in the eye of fate, and it might very well be his last chance. “Like I said before, Sugar. You undervalue yourself. For a taste of what you got, I’ll take you all the way to Denver.”
Her shoulders collapsed and she heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
Now that the bargain was made, Cole’s cock got behind the idea. Typically, his cock ignored his brain, which was letting it know how they weren’t doing this to get laid. They were doing this to see what the game was. Now, if in the discovery of that game their might come a time, a mutually agreed upon time, when he and Ellie scratched that itch, then so be it. He lay back on the bed and patted it beside him. He’d never forced a woman and Ellie didn’t have a ready for loving look on her face, but he was shuffling the deck here, seeing what dropped out. “You’re going to have to get a lot closer than that to fulfill your side of our bargain.”
“Actually.” She twisted one of the big brass buttons on her coat. “You’re going to have to accept an IOU on the getting me part.”
This was getting more and more intriguing. “Why’s that?”
“Because we need to leave now,” Ellie said. “Right this minute.”
Chapter Five
Ellie thanked God Cole asked no more questions, because she was running out of the sort of answers she’d like to give. He grabbed his shirt and put it on, which was also a relief. Ellie had seen plenty of bare chests in her time, but Cole’s was the only one that made her want to sink her nails into it.
The man was put together fine, and it had gotten harder and harder not to stare.
While he shoved his few belongings into his saddle bags, she checked the street again.
Pearl would cover for her until the saloon woke up, but there was always the chance something would happen, and she would be discovered missing. She also had most of the last three nights’ take in her bag, and Jake would be livid about that.
“Ready?” Cole shrugged into his duster. “I don’t suppose you have a means of getting your sweet ass out of town.”
“Means?” She hadn’t gotten that far.
After Pearl had released her, she’d grabbed her bag, the take from Jake’s office, and made tracks. Her plan had been formulated in the five minutes it took her to run over to the hotel.
“Never mind.” Cole cracked the door and peered through the gap. “We can get you a horse.”
He leaned out and checked the corridor before he motioned her out. “Now, I suggest you stay out of sight while I pay up.” He stopped and raised his brow at her. Those gold eyes of his gleamed with humor. “Assuming you don’t want to be seen leaving town.”
“No, I don’t.” She grabbed his arm, the female part of her registering the muscle, and pulled his head closer to hers. “This is not a joke. I’m in danger.”
“Sugar.” He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush with his body. “Then you came to the right man.”
Son of a bitch was loving every minute of this, but as long as that got her the hell
outta town, she could live with it. Also, when he held her close to him, she felt better and better about their bargain.
He motioned her back as he strolled to the front desk and rang the bell. He had to ring it a couple of times before the door to the back opened and Ezra Patterson stumbled out, hair mussed and shirt unfastened. He blinked at Cole. “What is it?”
“I need to pay up and be on my way.”
Ezra squinted at the clock. “At this hour?”
“Yep.” Cole leaned forward and dropped his voice. “A little matter of a lady and her enraged husband. A man like you, you know what I mean.”
Like hell Ezra knew what Cole meant. According to Maisy, Ezra was a once and done kind of man.
Ezra puffed up and blushed, but he tallied Cole’s bill and took the money with a gruff, “You go on now, and watch yourself.”
Ellie waited until Ezra went back to his quarters before she crept to the hotel door, staying close to the wall. Nobody was about, but she didn’t want to chance somebody spotting her now.
Outside, Cole emerged soundlessly from the shadows and took years off her life.
She got such a fright, her heart leaped into her throat. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.” He took her bag and led her down the walkway. For a big man, he moved like a ghost, his boots making no sound on the wooden planks.
Ellie tried to imitate him, all the while checking to see if anything moved around the Four Kings.
Cole ducked into an alley and motioned her after him.
“Stay here,” he whispered, his breath stirring wisps of her hair. “I’m going to procure you a means of escape.”
“You mean buy a horse?” Even at this hour Cole smelled good. Like leather and whisky and soap.
He chuckled and slipped out of the alley. A bright moon showed him as he crossed the street to Gus’s livery, opened the door and disappeared inside.
The alley smelled like somebody had thrown up and she didn’t want to risk stepping into anything nasty.
Boots clopped on boards. Heart racing, she flattened herself against the building, praying the deep shadows would keep her hidden.
Deputy Riley strode past, stopped a few feet away and struck a match. He put it to the end of his cheroot and dropped the match almost at her feet. Tobacco scented the air, and then he moved on.
A hand fastened around her waist and mouth. “Hush,” Cole whispered in her ear. “It’s me.”
She was going to have to fix his habit of scaring the life out of her, but later.
Still holding her about the waist, he pulled her deeper into the alley and toward the other side.
Something soft slid beneath her heel and she didn’t want to think about what she was stepping on.
The alley came out behind the general store.
Cole motioned two horses standing by a trough. He whipped off his hat and gave her a low bow. “My lady, your steed.”
“Thank you.” Ellie didn’t think it a good time to mention she had only ever ridden a mule, and years ago. It couldn’t be too much different. Right?
Horses were a lot further off the ground, as it turned out, and Ellie had to use the edge of the trough to clamber into the saddle.
Cole swung himself up with the sort of easy grace that made her want to kick him. It was not a good idea, however, to give one’s rescuer a kick in the britches, so she settled herself as comfortably as she could.
Fortunately, her horse was a follower, and dropped into place behind Cole’s horse as if she’d asked him to.
They took a slow walk out of town, that nearly set Ellie to screaming with nerves, but she understood why. Hooves galloping through town in the night would bring every set of eyes to the window to see what was up.
She didn’t draw a proper breath until they reached the outskirts of town and Cole kicked his horse into a canter.
By the time Cole called a halt for them to rest, Ellie was not sure if she wanted to shoot Cole, her horse, or herself more. Her tailbone and thighs ached from staying in the saddle all night.
Willing her limbs to swing over the saddle so she could dismount, she stared at the ground. It wasn’t going to happen.
Cole, the insufferable braggart, had already swung out of the saddle and was unsaddling his horse. He glanced over from loosening the girth. “We’ll rest here for a few hours. Give the horses something to eat and drink and move on after the heat of the day has worn off.”
The ground was a long, long way down, or she might have thrown herself at it.
Cole stopped and looked at her. “What are you doing?”
“Aching.” She was way past pretense.
He flashed her his wicked grin and sauntered to her horse’s side. “Need a hand?”
Oh, how she would like to slap his outstretched hands away, but pride came before a fall. In this case, a long fall to the hard-packed red clay ground.
Ellie lurched into his waiting hands.
He gripped her waist and guided her gently to the ground. “You don’t spend much time in the saddle, do you?”
“Nope.” It would not behoove her to show her annoyance. She had asked him to rescue her, and that’s what he was doing. She was tired, hungry and ornery, and none of that was Cole’s fault.
He’d been trying to put as much distance between them and town as he could. The very thing she’d bargained with him to do.
“Will they come looking for you?” He half carried, half dragged her to a dead tree trunk and helped her sit.
She wanted to offer to help set up camp, but the torturous few steps from that bedamned nag to the tree had discouraged that idea. “Pearl will cover for me as long as she can.”
“Going to tell me what kind of bother you’re in?”
Ellie stretched her legs out in front of her, one careful inch at a time. “Nope.”
“That’s what I figured.” He unsaddled her horse, brushed them both down with dried grass and led them to the small, near dried up riverbed to drink.
The sun peeped over the red rocks and turned the sky rosy.
Cole had chosen a big rock to shelter them while they rested. He dropped their saddles to the ground in a puff of red dust.
“I guess we’ll be sharing my blanket,” he said as he laid it down in front of their saddles. “Unless you thought to pack one for yourself.”
Ellie shook her head. Other than the few belongings in her carpetbag and the money she’d snatched on her way out, she hadn’t thought to take anything else.
Cole dipped his bandanna in the stream and wiped his face and neck.
Ellie’s gaze refused to move away from the blanket. Although she was untouched, there wasn’t much Ellie didn’t know about what happened between a man and a woman. Her girls spoke candidly in front of her, and it wasn’t like she’d never caught herself an eyeful here and there.
Still, Cole’s blanket stretched in front of her, an otherwise innocuous thing that would mean a huge step forward for her.
All things considered, it was amazing she’d gotten this far with her virtue intact. She had Theo to thank for that. No big brother could have been more protective. Even nice women were mostly married and had a few children by the time they reached her age.
She wasn’t exactly nervous. Maybe a little nervous, but more disappointed. Some hidden part of her had been hoping she might get rid of her virginity at a time of her choosing.
Her profession ruled out any hopes of love and marriage, but she could take herself a lover without anyone thinking any worse of her. How much worse could they think of her anyhow?
Finding the right lover had proven tricky. The only man she’d ever met who could be trusted with her secret was, well, Cole. Given that, it was fitting he would get the business done now. Still, she had hoped to have more to it than a quick poke on the hard ground.
Getting comfortable, Cole stretched out on the blanket, his long legs in front of him and his head propped on his saddle. He patted the ground bes
ide him. “Come on, Ellie. Get some rest. We’ll be riding hard again tonight.”
“Shouldn’t one of us stand watch?” Her body protesting every movement, she got up and looked about her.
Dried ground, brush and scrub oak stretched all the way to the lightening sky.
“Nah.” Cole tipped his hat over his eyes. “I sleep light enough to hear anyone coming.” He yawned and crossed his ankles. “Besides, they will only now be figuring out you’re gone and we’re hours ahead of them.”
With less grace than a punch-drunk cowhand, Ellie lowered herself to the blanket beside Cole.
Her leg muscles protested as she imitated him and stretched them in front of her.
She crossed her hands on her chest and waited. Cole had never struck her as the shy kind.
His chest rose and fell, and the slight huff of his breathing rode the still dawn.
Uncrossing her arms, Ellie placed them by her sides. She had made a deal with him, and she wouldn’t be the one welching. Maybe he thought her crossed hands meant she wasn’t willing.
She was. Sort of. In the way of having made a deal and sticking to it.
With the rising sun, the first glimmer of the day’s heat started up. It looked like it would be a hot one, and Ellie unbuttoned the top three buttons of her fitted jacket.
Cole’s breathing lengthened, and he snored softly.
He was asleep. Not laying there waiting for the right time to get his leg over, but fast asleep.
As the sun climbed higher, Ellie lay there prepared to do her part.
Cole slept on.
Finally, she undid the rest of her buttons and wriggled out of her jacket. Laying it between her head and the hard saddle, she settled in to rest. They would be riding hard tonight, God knows where to and toward what, but she wanted to be ready for it regardless.
Chapter Six
Ellie woke to Cole preparing to move them on. The sun blazed down from a mercilessly blue sky and grit coated her eyelids.
“Here.” Cole handed her a water canteen. “Time to get moving.”
