by Jovana
The captain gave them a knowing look. “You mean you became involved.”
“Exactly. All we want now is to get her off this damned boat without anyone finding out who she is. We had a close call at one time, but I don’t think anything came of it. With the help of the Pinkerton men, you should be able to conduct an organized exit.”
“It’s too bad we have to do it this way,” the captain said. “If that damned cowboy hadn’t escaped, you could sneak her off the boat with no trouble. He’s proved to be a bigger headache than we had anticipated. I just hope no one gets hurt.”
“Don’t worry, Captain. We’ll get him.”
“Look, Val, I don’t know how you do things at Pinkerton, but you really should have come to me from the beginning. I’m required to know who is on the riverboat at all times. Had I known, I could have saved you a lot of trouble, and our passengers from getting their jewels stolen.”
“We were simply following Pinkerton rules. Hell, we didn’t think she would commit any robberies on ship. I mean, it’s so confined. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
“The Desire is a rich ship, Val. You should have known that’s why she was here. Among other things, it’s a floating casino. There’s more money drifting on these waters than in most banks.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, feeling a little stupid. “Well, we’ve got her locked in her cabin tonight, and later today we’ll be out of your hair.” Val extended his hand. “Thank you for your help, Captain. Next time—”
The captain shook his head. “No next time, Val.”
“You’re barring us from The Desire?”
“No, of course not. But next time you come aboard, leave Pinkerton behind. I have the Black Dispatch here now, so we’re protected at all times.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t aware that the Black Dispatch had made it to the riverboats. Hell, they keep everything such a damned secret, you’d think they’d tell their own men.”
“I guess they have their reasons. Anyway, the next time if you see something suspicious, just report it and let them handle it. The only thing I want you to have on your mind is either gambling or love.”
Val smiled. “You’ve got a deal, Captain.”
* * * *
Love. The word made Clint think of what Lila had said the night before.
I love you, Clint. I love both you and Val.
When he pursued it, she’d thrown it back in his face just like he and Val had done to her. He wondered if there was a chance that she felt the same way about them that they felt about her. Or was it payback time? She’d been hurt, so she was out to hurt them now.
Suddenly, Clint was restless. “Val, we need to go.”
Val looked around. “Okay, Clint, but what’s the rush?”
“We need to get our things together for the landing later.”
“Well, he’s right about that. We have some packing to do, and we need to make sure Ms. Palmer is ready, too.” Both he and Clint headed toward the door when Val paused before going through it, and said, “Again, Captain, thanks.”
While the captain nodded in reply, Clint pulled on Val’s arm. “Will you come on?”
“What in the world is wrong with you all of a sudden?”
When Clint had gotten Val out of earshot of the captain, he said, “Last night on the deck when I was taking Lila to her cabin, we talked about a lot of things. During our conversation, she told me she loved me…I mean both of us.”
Val smiled. “She did?”
“Yeah, but when I questioned her about it, she did the same thing to me that we did to her the night before.”
“You mean she pretended—”
“Yeah. I don’t think she meant to tell me how she felt. The words just seemed to tumble out of her mouth before she realized it. Since she doesn’t know how we feel about her, I think she did it to cover up.”
“Or maybe she just wanted to turn our own words against us.”
“All right, so she got back at us for what we did to her. She’s going through a lot right now, and she deserves to have her revenge. I don’t know about you, but I think we need to let her know just how we feel. We’ll find out then if she loves us or hates us, but we have to be prepared for the worst.”
“I agree.”
They hurried back along the deck and through the corridors until they arrived at her room. Unlocking the door, they went in and found her sitting alone with a book. She looked up when she heard them come in, and suddenly a harsh, cold look filled her eyes. She quickly threw the book aside and hurried to her bedroom and closed the door.
Clint rushed to the door and tried it, but it was locked. He gently rapped on it, and said, “Lila, please come out. We’d like to talk to you.”
“Go away.”
“Lila, please. Val and I, we…well, we have something we want to say.”
“Send it to me in care of the Natchez jail.”
“There’s no way to send kisses and…”
Suddenly, the door opened and Lila stood there with tears shining in her eyes. “What did you say?”
“I said there’s no way to send kisses…”
“It’s simple,” she whispered. “X’s and O’s.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not quite good enough.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I don’t want to send the woman I love—”
“You said it again.”
“What did I say?”
“You said ‘love.’ I heard you, or are you going to deny it?”
“I said it, and I meant it.”
A big smile broke out on her face. “Oh, Clint!” She looked toward the shadowy foyer to Val. “Come here, you big coward.”
* * * *
Val rushed to her, and suddenly she was surrounded, her world at last filled with them. She felt giddy as she held them close, her heart overflowing in a floodtide of love and emotion. She lifted her hand and caressed each handsome face, never wanting to forget them and the look of love in their eyes.
Suddenly, she felt Clint’s hand reach up and slide her gown off her shoulders. Beneath their hungry gaze she could feel the pink tips of each breast harden into crested peaks, and felt the heat of the shifting light as it rippled across her ivory breasts.
She stood naked before them.
They closed in about her, her breasts crushing against their rippling chests, skin against skin, heat against heat, and desire against desire. She gasped when each of them began lovingly massaging her breasts that sent burning darts of pleasure rippling through her.
She felt herself being lifted in strong arms, and then felt the bed give with their weight. She gasped as Val’s tongue danced in and out of her ear, causing her to buck and moan. She lay in the drowsy warmth of their bodies, exulting in pleasure while Clint’s lips climbed the softness of her breasts and nibbled on her nipples. He then made a moist trail down her body until she felt him hungrily licking the rounded mount of her abdomen.
From there, he kissed his way down her thighs until he reached her feet. Handling them with the utmost care and gentleness, he took them in his hands and cradled them as he kissed each toe and then licked her instep, driving her into a spasm of lust. She felt herself melting between them as their fingers burned into her tingling skin. At long last, she felt Val’s hands reach between her legs and squeeze. Her hips writhed against his hand, feeling her sensitive cunt throbbing with want.
Her thoughts flooded back to the night she met them—to the soap bubbles, and the turbulence of their passion. That night they awoke the dormant sensuality of her body, and she never wanted to lose it. She wanted to stay where her senses were spun into glorious surrender. Suddenly she gasped in sweet agony when Val’s fingers at last penetrated her. Shivers of delight followed his touch until his cock finally invaded her. She abandoned herself to the sensation that whirled wildly within her. A thrill jerked her body, arcing through her again and again as he pushed himself inside, deeper and deeper, until the tumult of her pa
ssion was almost too much to bear. It whirled around her, to rage and flame, as he pushed in and out, in and out.
At last when their bodies began to move in exquisite harmony, this turbulence reached the ultimate, unable to be contained. It took only one more cool brush of his hands down the soft lines of her back to send her into a shatter so complete that his name burst from her mouth.
Oh, Val! Oh, God, Val! Oh, God!”
* * * *
Gently, Val moved away and Clint, with his enormous cock that was so hungry it had begun dripping semen, mounted her. His craving was new and hot as his hands moved over her, reawakening the flames that had been quenched. With his own unsated desire filling him, Clint covered her lips with his, his tongue reaching into her velvety mouth and pulling her out of her drowsy state and bringing her with him into a new realm of desire. As he handled her, she slowly became hotter and hotter until at last she felt she had to have him. Her thighs opened, her hips pushed forward, a blatant invitation to penetrate her again.
“Clint,” she whimpered, “do it! Oh, God, do it, Clint!”
Naughty boy that he was, he ran his thumb deliciously up and down her palm as he held them extended outward, and then he began to slip his hands down her arms ever so slowly. His hands searched for pleasure points as his tongue made a path down her ribs to her stomach. Her body became an instrument he played with such passion she trembled as his hand slid across her silken belly.
He could feel that she was open to him, and he reached down and pressed his cock against her hungry cunt. Her legs reached around him, and she clung while he pushed hard, in and out, lifting her with him as he sat up and leaned back against the rail at the foot of the bed.
“Dance, Lila. Fuck me hard, and don’t stop until you empty me out. I want to come inside you like never before.”
Lila felt herself get hot all over again. She ground her hips, feeling his rock hard cock as it filled her time and again, going in and out of her. Every dance she did led her to more, always more until they both cried out their relief, one and then the other, the sound echoing around the room where ménage paintings hung, showing men and women engaged in the lascivious practice of fucking in every position imaginable.
The three of them lay exhausted in each other’s arms, waiting until the moment they could love each other again, maybe forever.
Chapter 14
Dressed in black, two Pinkerton men had two tables set up on each side of the exit next to the gangplank. They made a big production of looking through carpetbags and luggage of all sizes and shapes even though they knew La Flame had been captured. Their problem now was the cowboy. They knew he would try to slip through them, so they had to be extra careful, and keep their eyes open.
Clint got in one line, while Val and Lila got in the other. “Don’t worry,” Val said, whispering to Lila. “He’ll probably just wave you through. When he does, don’t ask any questions, just go.”
Lila nodded, her insides trembling.
When she walked up with Val by her side, the Pinkerton man gave her a hard stare and stopped her. She could tell that he knew who she was, and said nothing when he took her bags and began looking through them.
“Why is he stopping me,” Lila whispered to Val. “He knows I don’t have the jewels, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. Something’s not right here. Just act like nothing’s wrong, so you can get through. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
She stood nervous and scared until she saw him close her bags and give them back to her begrudgingly. She quickly grabbed them and walked down the gangplank breathing easy until she looked back and saw that Val seemed to be having a problem.
“Where are they?” the Pinkerton man said. “She didn’t have them. Do you?”
Looking closely at the man, Val said, “Otis?”
The man glared at Val, his words being chewed by clenched teeth. “Where are they? Where are the jewels?”
* * * *
“You know I can’t tell you that,” Val said as his sharp eyes saw beyond the Pinkerton man’s bushy mustache and wire-rimmed glasses to a pair of eyes that looked familiar. Where the hell was Otis? This was his station, but Val knew this wasn’t Otis. He looked around at the other Pinkerton men, thinking he might have been given a different detail, but not one of them was Otis.
Val was getting uncomfortable while the Pinkerton man began frantically searching his bags but decided to bide his time and say nothing.
Finally the man looked up at him with a question in his eyes. “Where the hell are they?”
“The jewels? Don’t worry, I’ve got them. They’re under lock and key until we can get them to the authorities.”
“I want those jewels.”
“Don’t worry, they’re safe.”
“I’ll take them. Just hand them over.”
“Otis, she’s my prisoner. Mine and Clint’s. At this point, you give me a receipt to show the local sheriff that you’ve been through my luggage. I turn the jewels over to him, he gives me a voucher I can cash at the bank, and after that he returns the jewels to the owners.” He was silent a moment, and then said, “Otis, we’ve been through this time and again. Why are you acting so strange?”
“The rules have changed.”
“Yeah? Since when? Where’s Otis,” Val asked, his voice low and threatening, “and what are you doing out of the hoosegow?”
Without answering, the cowboy pulled his gun, held it in one hand while he felt around in Val’s bag with the other. “Tell me where they are, or I’ll kill everyone on this boat.”
“They’re under the false bottom,” Val said. “In a bag with a rolled up outfit and hat.” His attention was taken by someone fighting his way up the gangplank among all those that were getting off. He breathed easy when he saw his brother’s blond head getting closer. He let him get closer still before he said, “My brother’s in back of you with a gun.”
The cowboy gave a derisive chuckle. “That old trick? Forget it, Morgan.”
“Well, I tried.”
“That’s better,” the cowboy said as he threw clothes everywhere, looking for the jewels. When he found the bag, he gave a quick look into it and saw the glitter of the jewels and the rolled up suit. Satisfied, he pulled the string, closed the bag, and put it in his pocket.
“Now get the hell out of here,” he said, shoving Val’s bag back at him.
Suddenly, the cowboy stiffened when he felt a gun barrel sticking in his back. “What the hell is this?”
“Hello, again,” Lila said as she grabbed the cowboy’s gun. “We do meet in the strangest places.”
One of the other Pinkerton man quickly ran over, stripped the cowboy of the jewels, and took him into custody.
“Thanks, Jake,” Val said. “We’ve looked everywhere for him. I never thought he might be masquerading as one of us.”
The captain walked up just in time to see the cowboy being led off to jail. Lifting the megaphone, he turned to the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve found our thief, and it’s being taken care of by our capable Pinkerton men. You’re free to leave The Desire without having your bags checked.”
“Captain,” Lila said, “shame on you. You’re leading the people to believe the cowboy was the thief.”
“I just wanted to spare you a little embarrassment. You don’t mind, do you?”
Lila smiled and kissed the captain on the cheek. “Not at all. Thank you, Captain, that was very sweet.”
The three of them turned and left, knowing the worst part of their trip was just beginning.
* * * *
“Ms. Palmer, in view of the fact that you have no prior offenses, and the jewels you stole were returned, I am inclined to be lenient with you. I’m particularly impressed with your desire to put this all behind you and live a decent life. This attitude is refreshing and will serve you well. I am putting you in temporary custody of Val and Clint Morgan for as long as it takes for you to find work and be able to take care of yourself.” He picked
up his gavel and gave a quick rap. “So ordered. Court is adjourned.”
Lila jumped up and turned to Val and Clint. “Oh, Val, isn’t it wonderful? I don’t have to go to jail.” She turned to Clint. “What do you think, Clint?”
“Well,” he said casting a knowing look at Val. “I have a feeling we’d better keep a close eye on you. This stealing thing might be addictive. Who knows when you might be tempted again? Right, Val?”
“Oh, right,” Val said, a twitch to his lips as he suppressed a smile.
“Oh, no, not that again. You’re going to lock me away somewhere, aren’t you?” she said, looking at one then the other.
“We had something else in mind,” Val said. “We have a ranch not far from here called the Double M. Fresh air, sunshine, good food. A good place to rehabilitate someone.” He looked down at her. “How about it?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a thoughtful look on her face. “Any locks on the doors?”
“Will we need them?” he answered, a touch of reprimand in his voice.
She smiled. “I guess not.” When she got outside, she started toward the livery, but the brothers began walking in the opposite direction. “Hey, you’re going the wrong way,” she said, pointing ahead of her. “The livery is down this way.”
“Yeah, but we have something to do first.”
“Okay,” she said, and with one on each side of her, they walked down the dusty street to a small chapel. “A church?” Lila said as she stopped in her tracks. “You’re taking me to church?”
“Not a bad idea, really.”
“I know what you’re up to,” she said, pulling back. “You’re going to give me over to the reverend and have him lock me in one of those bare rooms with nothing but a bed and a cross.”
“It could be worse.”
“Oh, no!” she shouted, and turned back. “I’m not going anywhere near there!”
“Lila,” Clint said, as he and Val dragged her with them up the walk, “just trust us. We know what’s best for you.”
When they finally got her into the church and down the aisle, she looked up and saw the reverend.
“Ah, here you are,” he said.
