by Mary Wine
“My apologies, sir, but you will have to extend my regrets to Mr. McAlister.” She used her firmest voice and kept her back straight with her chin steady, but Warren wasn’t impressed.
“No, ma’am. You’ll have to take the matter up with him yourself. But you will be here when he returns.” There was a chink of chain as Warren reached behind his back and drew a pair of handcuffs off his belt. Her mouth actually dropped open as she viewed his threat. She blinked a few times as disbelief stunned her. But the iron bracelets didn’t vanish and the stern look on Warren’s face told her the man was dead serious.
“You are quite out of line, sir.”
“That may be, ma’am, but you’re not walking off on my watch.” The hint of concern in his deep voice perplexed her. Any manner of empathy seemed completely misplaced when the man threatened her with physical restraint. “Now, turn around and go cook up some breakfast for yourself. You’ll find that a hard task with one of these iron bracelets on your arm.” He moved the handcuffs and the metal rattled against itself, making her flinch. Her hands clasped behind her back in an unconscious defensive motion. Warren took one long step closer.
“But you are staying put until Sloan returns from checking out your place. That’s man’s work and I gave him my word that you’d be here when he got done making sure your unwelcome guests didn’t just bed down when they found the place empty. Don’t worry, he didn’t go alone.” Warren softened his voice a tad with his last statement. A clear effort to ease his order, but the look in his eyes wasn’t softening one bit. “Now don’t make me lock up a pretty lady like yourself. Step back inside.”
Her gaze darted from side to side as she tried to conceive a plan of escape. Her ears detected a soft hiss of male disgruntlement before her upper arm was hooked. Warren’s grip was firm and unyielding as he turned her around. He pulled the wooden door open and pushed her through the doorway before she swallowed the unladylike retort she wanted to fling at him.
“One step out and I’ll chain you to that bunk…ma’am. Lady or not.”
The “ma’am” was added on as an afterthought. Brianna turned and watched the door being closed. A blast of air hit her face because she was standing so close when it was stopped by the doorjamb. The wood actually touched the hem of her skirt.
Her temper caught fire as she snarled at the rough wood panel. She stomped beneath her petticoat, but she couldn’t do a whole lot. Sure, it wasn’t legal, but she would have to complain to the sheriff in order to get anything done about it. That meant getting out of her impromptu prison. Pulling the door open, she looked straight into Warren’s somber expression. He was right back in his seat facing the door. One of his dark eyebrows rose as she looked at him over the tree stump. He stretched his tall frame up out of his seat and flexed his hands.
“Brute.”
“Ma’am.” With a little snort, she let the door fall closed against the challenge written on his face. Pacing her way around the room she tried to bring some kind of order to her thoughts. Being mad only sent her rational thinking up in smoke. Gaining a grip on her emotions was the key to thinking her dilemma through.
But her temper sure didn’t agree.
Her belly rumbled but she didn’t stop pacing to cook. Stoking up the fire in the stove felt like hoisting a white flag. She wasn’t surrendering to Sloan’s will. Not Brianna Spencer. She’d made it just fine without a man and today wasn’t going to be the moment she cried like a little lost girl just because life had decided to turn tough. She was made of sterner stuff.
But Sloan didn’t think so. That thought deflated her completely. It actually humbled her, because it had been a long time since she’d encountered a man who made someone else’s troubles his own. Even a good number of sheriffs needed a nudge to look into things. They often had friends who took precedence over the written law of the state. If your dispute was on the wrong side of those friendship lines, you might just find yourself waiting a long time for any lawman to investigate an incident. But some mining towns were far worse off. At least they had a sheriff who hadn’t bought his badge or, worse yet, been placed in his office by the saloon owners. The fledgling state was rife with loose concepts of just what United States law was.
That brought in men like Sloan and Warren. The railroad agents were men who ensured that their companies didn’t take losses due to bandits. Bankers like Wells and Fargo weren’t willing to allow their profits to go up in nighttime robberies.
That didn’t explain why Sloan was out at her place. He owed his time to the railroad, not some tiny mill in Silver Peak. The room she stood in was just one bunkhouse in a series that he’d used throughout his postings. Sometimes agents stayed a year in one spot before moving on. Some moved every month in an effort to disguise the strength of their numbers from the locals in each town. But Warren and Sloan didn’t have the look of the normal agents she’d seen in Silver Peak. There was something far more precise about them. Standing up to some of the miners in town hadn’t prepared her for the hard presence that was sitting on the opposite side of the door right now.
And running her father’s mill alone this season sure hadn’t taught her a thing about dealing with Sloan. With a little huff, she turned and looked at the stove. She was starving. Her belly complained loudly as she looked at the cupboard. Taking his food seemed an insult to her pride, but pride didn’t do much for an empty stomach. With another snort of disgruntlement, she moved towards the stove and opened the door on the front of it to take a look at the coals.
She shook her head while she poked the coal in the stove. No, she had a much bigger dilemma to chew on while she waited for Sloan to show back up. Sloan wasn’t something she had any clue as to how to deal with and the man would be back. No doubt about it.
She could just wish she wasn’t looking forward to it quite so much. Her nipples tingled with little nips of sensation that felt far too good for her to muster any real shame over. The man did make her feel. In all those places that she knew she had but had never spoken about to another living soul. Buried beneath her knickers, that spot he’d touched was begging for another forbidden moment of bliss. The concept of right versus wrong might be firmly instilled in her head, but her body wasn’t the least bit interested in her childhood teachings. She wanted to be bare against Sloan’s hard male body again and that was the truth.
At least she blushed at the idea of it.
“Three men. Heavy.” Jedidiah considered the tracks in the soft dirt a while longer before standing back up. The half-breed didn’t raise his voice, he never did. But no one read tracks like the Kiowa did.
Sloan studied the front door of Brianna’s house, searching out the little details that would tell him what had happened here last night. Most thieves were sloppy. Their greed made them blind to the evidence they left in their wake. Sometimes, he ran across hardened criminals, but not today. The door was smashed in with the aid of an ax, telling him that whoever had come stealing last night, they’d planned it. A drunken group loose from one of the saloons wouldn’t have thought to bring along an ax and Brianna’s was sitting neatly above the chopping block in back of her mill.
Hooking his hands into his belt, he surveyed the mess in the front room. Brianna’s cupboard was ransacked. A glistening mess of broken jars lay on the floor with the contents oozing among the fragments of glass. There were still a few rows of jars left exactly where Brianna had placed them. Their neat labels all faced forward. But empty shelves proclaimed her loss, a thin layer of dust marking where rows of winter stock had been neatly stored until last night.
“Anything interesting?” Jedidiah Hancock’s voice came from behind him and Sloan stepped aside to let his fellow agent get a look at the pantry. Silence hung over the room for a moment before Jed turned his attention back to him.
“Thief has a sweet tooth.” Sloan nodded agreement. “Nothing but tomatoes and carrots left.” The scent of sweet summer berries drifted up from the pile of smashed ones, but there wasn’t a single
fruit preserve left on any shelf.
Turning around, Sloan noted the disorder of the rest of the home. Every garment Brianna owned was lying on the floor, the drawers still open to reveal their polished insides. The bedding had been torn from the mattress and left in a heap. Mud was tracked through the colorful quilts, marring their bright surface. If there had been even one copper penny in the place, it was long gone. Leaving Brianna the task of rebuilding her life out of the mess left behind. It wasn’t an uncommon event in the West. It was even less unfamiliar to women who lived alone in a community that embraced the idea that possession was nine-tenths of the law.
She was lucky to have anything remaining at all. It was strange in a way, because the thief had plenty of time to load up her own wagon with the contents of the cabin. The buckboard was stored in the barn with the single horse her father had left her. Even one horse could have pulled the wagon a few miles, plenty far enough to get a second horse to complete the team. A few days’ drive and it would have been simple to sell every last household item to new prospectors. If they only wanted the food, chances were, the culprit was local.
“I doubt they’ll be back, at least until next season.” Jed’s voice was somber with the certain knowledge that Brianna’s trouble with the lawless wasn’t likely to be a one-time event. As long as she lived alone, she was an easy mark for thieves.
Sloan felt his gut twist. Something far more menacing than anger surged through him. People lost their lives over food more often in the remote towns, but this time, the crime hit him personally. Brianna’s face was etched in his memory, just as he’d found her last night, her lips blue from the river and ice clinging to her from head to toe. Even if it was merely a crime of winter supplies, it had almost cost her life. The intentions didn’t make a damn bit of difference to him. He itched to hold a rifle on the scum. Men like that needed to face the barrel of a gun. It was the only thing they respected.
The harsh emotion didn’t shock him this time. He enjoyed it as it moved through his blood like fine whiskey.
Jed watched him from across the room. “What’s the woman to you?” It was a blunt question from a man who had backed him up for too many years. The Indian’s dark eyes issued a faint challenge as he waited for him to claim or deny his interest in Brianna.
“She is strong.” That was high praise from Jed. It needled him though, because he didn’t like any man being attracted to Brianna, even Jed. Especially Jed, half-blooded Kiowa. If the man took an interest in Brianna, he’d hunt her.
“I’ll let you know when I decide what she is to me. Until then, she’s mine.” Sloan turned and left the home. He wasn’t going to dwell on his comment. Most of the time, his first instinct was the right one. Maybe it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that didn’t change the warm feeling he got as the warning rolled past his lips. The taste of her kiss lingered in his thoughts. A whole host of other memories rose up from the dark hours of the night and he savored the heat that stiffened his cock in response.
Jed chuckled, moving along behind him. “Women distract men. That is why they are never allowed on a hunt. Warriors know better than to challenge nature.”
“Brianna is distracting, I’ll give you that. But I’m beginning to enjoy it.”
And she was his, at least until he figured out just what his fascination was with her. Jed and Warren would understand.
Jed’s hand shot out to catch his arm. The half-breed leveled a harsh look at him. “She will haunt your soul if you taste her. A woman like her will touch your heart with her innocence. There is life in her.”
A ripple of anticipation went down his spine in response. His cock twitched as it stirred back to attention. Haunt? No question about it, but the warning felt late. Her kiss was a slow intoxicating venom moving through his blood. “You have that right, my friend.”
Jed whistled softly. “You do not understand but I think you are too lucky. Now that she has seen you, there is no chance for me.” He returned his eyes to the tracks left from last night. He moved along, reading the faint trail as Sloan battled the need to growl at him for even thinking about his woman.
“Find your own woman.”
Jed turned his face toward him. A whisper of amusement touched the halfbreed’s lips. “You have not claimed her yet. She has not promised you her heart.”
“Fat lot you know.”
Jed smiled in response. Sloan felt like cussing. A base reaction, one that he wasn’t sure how to handle, but he’d figure it out and the only person he needed to help him was Brianna. His lips twitched with amusement as he contemplated her response to that notion. Her spunk was sure to raise its head and in all honesty, he looked forward to the confrontation.
Joseph Corners watched his pa slurp down a jar of jelly like a bowl of chowder. He ate it with a spoon, smacking his lips as he licked them. He didn’t stop until he scraped the bottom of the glass.
“Not bad, son.” The spoon clattered as it dropped into the empty jar sitting in front of his sire. “Could be better though, if there was a woman here to get to the cleaning. I’d sure enjoy a clean bed.”
“She went into the river.” Joseph’s younger brother Sam snickered as he spilled the information. “That little bitch jumped into the icy water to escape Joe’s bed. Better luck next time, brother.”
“Shut your mouth, Sam!” Joseph surged forward towards his sibling, but his father’s fist connected with his youngest son’s nose before Joseph got close.
“Quit your squalling, Sammy. Joseph’s just got to chase her down. That’s part of the fun. I tumbled your mother a few times before she agreed to marrying me. Nothing better than spirit in a bitch when you mount her. Joseph will bring her around. He’s my boy after all.”
His pa grinned, showing off his yellow teeth smeared with strawberry jam. He pointed a sticky finger and Joseph leaned closer to listen up to his father. His own nose was still sore from the last time he’d failed to give his father the respect the man demanded from everyone around him.
“Now you just got to be a little more sneaky about it. You made too much noise and had light with ya. Next time, you wait until the full moon and don’t let that gal do anything that might kill her. We don’t get the mill unless you are married legal-like.”
Greed brightened his pa’s eyes. The sight of it sent a chill down Joseph’s spine, because disappointing his pa was never a good thing. His cock itched for a taste of Brianna Spencer but he had never been real keen on jobs that took too much trouble. Sammy, Will and he had filled up their kitchen with all her preserves and provisions. He wasn’t so sure her pussy was worth another night of work. But the look on his pa’s face said that the older man wasn’t in the mood to hear about what Joseph wanted. His pa wanted that mill. He’d better get Brianna to the church altar or his father’s temper was going to thrash his hide something fierce. At least he’d get to fuck her. He wouldn’t have to share her pussy with anyone and that would be a first in his life. He’d never owned a woman before. The idea danced in front of him, mesmerizing him.
“Like you said, Pa. I’ll be careful.”
Joseph turned and rolled into his bunk. He didn’t bother to kick off his boots. The inch of mud caked on the worn leather crumbled into his bedding as he stretched out and began to think about having Brianna at his beck and call. Reaching down, he rubbed his swollen cock as he drifted off to sleep and began snoring.
Chapter Five
When he pushed his door open, his bunkhouse smelled like heaven. Sloan hesitated behind the protection of the hard wood as he waited to see just how angry his guest was. Shouldering his way into the room, he scanned the interior with a quick look in case Brianna was waiting to chuck his coffeepot at his head.
She stood on the far side of the room with an expression that should have conveyed her annoyance, but all he noticed was that spunk of hers. Her lips were pressed into a pout and her eyes glimmered with the promise of retaliation. Heat bubbled up from where he’d strapped it down. There
was no question of controlling his reaction. It emerged instantly in response to being close to her once more. Last night was too fresh in his brain and his bunk too private to ignore the rise of renewed need.
“You have too much nerve.” She’d known that and didn’t really need to state it out loud, but her nerves were twitching. Shifting her feet, Brianna bit into her lower lip as she studied Sloan. All her thinking and planning didn’t hold up when she faced off with him. Distractions popped up from all over her flesh as her mind insisted on reminding her of just what he’d done with her body last night.
More importantly, how much she’d like to repeat the experience in spite of being at odds with his methods of dealing with her break-in.
He pushed the door shut with a firm hand before his dark eyes returned to survey her. As her gaze traced the wide shoulders that had allowed him to pull her out of a death trap last night, a hint of shame wiggled past her annoyance with being left under Warren’s care. “Thank you.” She clasped her hands together as her mother had taught her was polite and tried to bleach the annoyance out of her voice before clarifying. “For fishing me out of the river. I certainly appreciate it.”
“And warming you up before you ended up dead?”
Her face turned scarlet. “Yes.” Her voice failed her miserably as she squeaked like a child caught with her hand in the sugar jar. It was something you craved, in spite of knowing it would rot your teeth. Still, the vision of sticking your finger into those sweet crystals was mesmerizing. Taunting you until you braved the consequences.
There was a hint of something untamed in his eyes as she answered right up concerning those forbidden moments in his bed. Brianna looked at him straight, refusing to duck her head out of some practiced idea of modesty. That flicker of heat in his dark gaze drew her attention completely.
