by Marie Harte
“Come on, miner. Why don’t you fight real men, and not the good earth that feeds our families? That provides grass for our animals and lumber for our homes? People like you have no place in Little Valley, tainting our crops.”
Maybe they weren’t all wranglers. The speaker sounded like a farmer.
“I don’t want no trouble. I just need to get back to my family.” The young man tried to go around them, but the foursome boxed him in. “I got a younger sister to feed,” the boy said quickly. “Honest. If I don’t help her, she’ll have to go whoring for food.”
“What?” One of the men stepped forward and punched the boy in the gut. His friends grabbed hold of the youngster’s arms and held him upright. “You saying your sister’s too good to whore for us?”
“No, no,” the boy rasped. “But Momma never wanted her to—”
“Dammit, Hank. Let the boy go. I wanna see his pretty little sister,” the farmer said with a sneer.
And again, Hinto thought of that word “abuse.” There was no doubt in his mind every one of these good men would rape the boy’s sister until they’d had their fill. Sex had never been more necessary than it was lately. As if humanity sought a hold on its own existence, men wanted nothing more than to shove a pecker in a warm hole and strive to create in their own image. Even he had thoughts of making a child someday. A fantasy, but one that haunted him despite his troubles.
With a sigh, he moved forward to help the kid when a familiar form stepped in instead, gripping a troublesome, ivory-hilted knife.
“Let him go. If it’s not a fair fight, you shouldn’t trouble yourselves.”
The stranger’s voice was husky, low, and…feminine? Hinto stopped a few feet away just as the kid ripped his arms free and dashed to freedom.
“Well, now, friend, you just ruined a fine day’s entertainment,” Hank said.
Hinto heard the slur of alcohol in his words.
“I’m not your friend. But if you want a fight, I’ll happily give it to you.”
She spoke with an odd accent. To his surprise, up close, Hinto couldn’t see her as a male at all. That the others did attested to her height, her leanness, and the clothing that hid all but her eyes from view.
“You’re everywhere you shouldn’t be today, aren’t you?” he drawled.
She didn’t give him an answer, not that he thought she would. Instead, she nailed Hank in the balls and slammed her fist into one wrangler’s neck. He fell to the ground next to Hank, gasping for breath.
His friends roared their displeasure. One of them managed a punch that grazed off her arm as she turned and crouched low with a leg sweep that took his friend off his feet.
Hinto grabbed her other attacker and knocked him out cold. He turned to help her with the one on the ground and saw her calmly tying the man’s hands together with his own belt. Hinto waited until she finished. “Not bad. Your hat’s falling, though, and your bandana’s too low to hide that smooth chin of yours. How do you keep the hat on, anyway?”
She ignored him and stood. When she tried to walk away, he cut her off and intercepted the fist meant for his throat. Her eyes widened.
“I like your moves, but I’ve seen them before.” She met his stare, her green gaze bright beneath the brim of her hat. “Damn, honey, you’re pretty,” he whispered, conscious of the men around them and the fact that she dressed to disguise her sex.
Pretty didn’t come close to describing her, but it was all he could manage. Green eyes dominated a face full of character and strength. High cheekbones, a slim nose and stubborn jaw hinted at control issues. Her full lips remained flat, though a rosy flush told him she wasn’t immune to his study. As he looked at the rest of her, his body responded. How could it not? Despite the vest hiding her chest, this close, he could see the faint swell of her breasts against the denim underneath. She had a slender build, but no one fragile could take down the Appersons or these louts. She stood only a few inches shorter than his own formidable height. Were he to lean down, their lips would meet at the perfect angle…
She pushed away from him so suddenly she freed herself from his hold. She stepped back and continued to stand in silence, watching him without expression. After a few moments, she frowned, and her lips parted. He envisioned her on her knees, her mouth open to receive him, and he had trouble stifling a groan of pure need.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re too scared to talk?” he asked in a thick voice, captivated by the sweet femininity he could almost taste, wrapped in such a tough package. He’d seen a few women who could handle themselves, but none of them had been this fine. Or smelled so damned good. When the breeze blew, he caught a faint flowery smell, one he couldn’t identify, but one that seemed to encapsulate the woman before him. Pleasing, not overpowering, and addictive.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to thank me for helping you by meeting me at Kitty’s?” The cathouse rented rooms as well as provided services for paying clientele.
“Kitty’s?”
Definitely new to town. “Kitty House is a whorehouse, a fine one, with a red awning over the front porch.” Unlike Delware’s, Kitty didn’t advertise by forcing her women to hang out the windows and flaunt themselves half-dressed.
She blushed a bright red and focused on his mouth. “I have need of Kitty House.” She licked her lips, and he wanted to shout out thanks to his maker.
“You do?” He’d expected a refusal from this one. Not much shocked him, but this woman continued to surprise him. “Well, hell, follow me.”
He walked with a spring in his step, contemplating all the ways he planned to slake this sudden lust. The fatigue weighing him down seemed to have all but vanished. Conscious of her behind him, he wondered about her name, where she was from, what brought her here.
And then she walked around him to enter Kitty’s and requested a private audience with the madam.
“What the hell?” He walked in after her and saw DeeDee lounging in the blue room. Shit. He didn’t want to upset her, but he couldn’t possibly ignore the opportunity to slide between the thighs of this intriguing woman. He couldn’t explain his urgent need to possess her, but until he rid himself of it, he’d get no peace. He tried to follow her into the madam’s private quarters.
She stopped right in front of him and turned around with an irritated expression on her face. “Why do you follow me?”
“Honey, you said you needed Kitty’s. And I sure as hell need you.” He glanced down at himself, pleased when she followed his gaze and stared, her eyes growing wider by the moment.
“I—I do not need you. I need Kitty.”
Shocked anew, he watched her enter at Kitty’s invitation. Kitty shook her head and grinned. She winked, throwing brown ringlets in waves around her painted face before she closed and locked the door behind them.
Poleaxed, Hinto didn’t know what to think. The woman had blushed, had looked at him with eyes that saw too much and not enough, and then sought out a woman for companionship. Yes, he wanted her, but Hinto Dakota didn’t fawn over any female.
Disgruntled and tired all over again, he spun on his heel and sought DeeDee. After a few expected niceties, he found himself in her room and soaking in a warm bath that smelled like pine. Pleasant, natural, and soothing.
“Ah, Dee, you know how to please a man.” Unlike some women.
DeeDee smiled knowingly and washed his back when he leaned forward. Like the others in residence, she tried to look years younger than her own age. He’d visited her on and off for a few years and knew she had to be older than the twenty years she advertised. Still, she had all the assets he required in a woman. Large breasts, full hips and the wherewithal to sate a man’s needs with no expectations of anything more.
“Lean back, sugar.”
He leaned back and spread his legs wide, knowing what came next. She didn’t disappoint. Dee reached into the soapy water, leaning low enough to show him those fine, round globes plastered to the sheer blouse that gaped at her cleavage. He
r nipples stood stiffly beneath the fabric, and Hinto liked to think they grew hard just for him. Though Dee had always preferred him to any other customer in the place, he wondered if she desired him, his gold, or just sex in general.
Cupping him, she exerted gentle pressure on his balls before sliding her hand up and down his shaft, the way he liked. After his day spent chasing the Appersons and dealing with an infuriating woman who didn’t seem to realize she was one, he needed the break. But as his desire increased, he imagined the green eyed woman with her pouty lips and lean lines pulling on him, rubbing on him, sucking on him. His arousal grew.
“Oh, baby, that’s it,” Dee crooned and kissed his neck, his chest, his chin. Her hand moved faster and she began whispering in his ear. Things she wanted to do to him, things she would do to him after he came the first time. Things I want another woman to do to me without Kitty or anyone else present.
The thought of shoving hard inside his green eyed stranger made his heart race and his cock throb. To watch those expressive eyes widen and her ripe lips part as she came around him nearly undid him.
“Oh, you’re ready today, baby. So full for me,” Dee murmured as if from far away.
Hinto groaned and closed his eyes, needing the release. She flicked her thumb over him and stroked the spot just below the head of his shaft. Once, twice… He shot hard, gasping for breath as a fog of pleasure consumed him. Emerald sparks glittered behind his lids, a blaze of color in tune with his passion. Time seemed to stand still as euphoric wonder overtook him. As he came down off his sexual high, he flushed at Dee’s grin.
“You needed it bad, hmm? A hard day?”
“You have no idea.” He sighed. “Thanks, Dee. Now how about that dinner you promised me?”
She nodded. “But not before I get a good look. Trust me, sugar. There is nothing finer in this life than the sight of a well hung man dripping wet. Especially one that looks like you.”
He shook his head and stood, aware that she told the truth about liking the look of him. He’d never hurt for companionship when he needed it, but he’d always chalked up the attention to his naturally large frame. Perfectly proportioned, he’d often heard said after a night in bed.
“I love your hair. It’s so dark it’s almost blue.”
Like his name. Hinto meant “blue hair” in Dakota, the language of his mother’s people. “Yeah, well it’s nothing compared to your beauty, Dee.” His gaze lingered over her breasts and he reached out, weighing a heavy mound in his hand. He shoved her blouse aside and lowered his head to suck on the stiff peak. “Mmm, almost as good as that steak you promised me.”
She laughed breathlessly and scurried out the door.
He toweled off and lay back on the bed. Clasping his hands behind his head, he had to force himself not to throw on his clothes and find out what the hell Green Eyes wanted with Kitty. Not my concern, he told himself. But the hell of it was, he couldn’t stop thinking about her, which aggravated the piss out of him.
Throughout his dinner, a massage, and another few romps with Dee that ended in cathartic orgasms for them both, Hinto forced himself to concentrate on the woman servicing him. A simple enough exchange. Gold for pleasure. No strings attached.
He fell asleep with green eyes on his mind.
Chapter Two
Thais studied the painted woman before her with unease. Kitty wore her sexuality like a moth-eaten cloak. Such age and pain could not be covered by the cloying paints these whores used. In the four years she and her sisters had spent acclimating to the Territories, Thais had come across some strange things. But this driving need men, and apparently women, had for sex baffled her.
“So you want to know if I’ve seen who?” Kitty paused to take a puff of a smoke that smelled of clove and another substance she couldn’t identify.
Yara would know what it is. Thais missed her friends dearly. They’d parted two months ago, and in the time since, Thais felt more alone than she’d ever been. Or at least she had, before she’d run into that male, a warrior with light blue eyes.
When Kitty raised her hand in front of Thais’s face, she coughed through the smoke and apologized. “I’m sorry, Kitty. I’m not used to such libation,” she said haltingly, not sure if she used the right word. It had taken her two years to conquer the Territory language, and she still misused words when she took the time to speak them.
“My clove cigarettes?” Kitty laughed. “Honey, that’s not libation. That’s good clean medicine. The clove helps me to swallow. Numbs my throat.” She winked, as if sharing a joke. Thais had no idea what she was talking about. “The filler is homegrown leaf. The damned UTO outlawed tobacco ages ago. One of our last great vices.” She sighed. “It was organic, but toxic. Well, shee-it. Who the hell wants to live forever, anyway?”
Not sure what to say, Thais tried to regroup. “I am looking for a man.”
“Ain’t we all,” Kitty muttered and took a long drag.
“This one goes by the name Aaron Bartel. He’s very rich. His chest is broad, and he stands this high.” She held a hand slightly above her own head. “He also has dirty yellow hair and dead eyes. He’s a leader of men like him.” Murderers and rapists and thieves.
“Hmm, Bartel, you say?” Kitty puffed away on her cigarette. “Why are you looking for him?”
The sharp look on the woman’s face urged caution.
“I think he may be traveling with a few women I know. The warrior—women would be like me. Tall and strong, maybe with darker skin than many of you here, from time spent in the sun.”
“I’d bet they talk funny, too, eh? Like you. One of ‘em have a purple flower with a yellow dot inked on her cheek, just under her eye?”
Pilar. Thais’s heart pounded. The traitorous Amazon would lead her to Bartel. She knew it.
Kitty smashed her cigarette on a ceramic plate. She blew out a residual puff of clover scented smoke, and Thais fought the urge to gag. “What’s it worth to you?”
“What do you need?”
Her quick answer took Kitty by surprise. “Hmm, what do I need?” She eyed Thais up and down. “Take off that hat and lose the bandana.”
Thais grudgingly did so.
“Holy shit, honey, you’re a beauty. Now take off that vest and open a few buttons.”
Thais had a bad feeling Kitty would demand of her something she refused to give. She slowly took off her vest and unfastened a few buttons.
“You binding ‘em?” Kitty nodded at her chest.
“Yes.”
“Thought so. You have a build that screams sex, you know.”
“No, I do not.” Not sex. Never that.
Not sure if it was her tone or her stillness, Thais watched as compassion replaced the speculation on Kitty’s face. “Oh, okay, hon. You can’t gimme another girl to use. I get it. What about currency?”
Thais buttoned up her shirt and donned the vest again. The thin barrier of clothing made her feel safe. As if cotton and leather would protect her from the evils of men.
“I have some gold, but I think it will not be enough. Is there some service I might perform instead?” Realizing how Kitty might interpret that, she hastily amended, “Some man who has wronged you? Someone you wish dead?”
Kitty stared in surprise. “You a merc?”
“A merc,” she tested the word. Chow Yen had taught them much when they’d reached the Territories, but apparently the little man hadn’t taught them enough. She learned something new every day.
“A mercenary. You a killer for hire?”
“No, but to learn of Bartel, I would right a wrong done you.” To balance the scales of justice. The Goddess encouraged right. Death was a natural part of balance, an accepted occurrence in Thais’s scattered world.
“Right a wrong, hmm? You know, honey, I think you and me just might have a deal.”
Not only did they have a deal, but Kitty added in a room and a meal for Thais’s promised service. Considering what Kitty wanted done, Thais would have don
e the job for free. But she needed information about Bartel.
As Thais settled in for a night’s sleep, she tried to tune out the moans and groans around her. The rooms in this building had thin walls. Conversations droned like the buzzing of bees, low and insistent despite her closed door. The constant banging of something against her wall and the accompanying moaning of both a man and a woman made her think, surprisingly, of the tall stranger she’d encountered twice today.
He’d led her here to Kitty House with the expectation that she’d service him the way the women here pleasured their customers. Despite what had happened to her village four years ago, Thais didn’t hate men. Chow Yen had seen to that. She didn’t necessarily like them, nor did she anticipate ever mating with one of them. Though from what she’d heard, sexual intercourse wasn’t always painful, and most men seemed to derive pleasure from it.
To hear Kitty tell it, nothing satisfied like a good ride from the right man, whatever that meant. Though well-intentioned, Kitty’s offer to help Thais get over her discomfort with sex—and she still didn’t know how she’d been so transparent—bothered the hell out of her. Thais couldn’t imagine spreading her legs for a man, surrendering to his control. Still, today when the warrior had asked her to thank him, she’d felt a stirring of… something. Unfamiliar yet exciting. Her heart raced, her breath grew shorter, and her face heated. Nerves, not anxiety. A kind of interest, she supposed.
And why not? Even Mother consented to lying with a male once. Besides, he’s the first decent looking warrior you’ve seen out here in the land the Goddess forgot.
Taller than Thais and strong of form, he’d impressed her at first with his stillness and steady reserve. As he’d drawn closer on his vore, she’d sworn she sensed an answering wildness in not just the beast he rode, but in the man as well. Shoulder length black hair so dark it shone blue under the sunlight had captivated her, but his eyes had held her attention like nothing could. An exact match to the crystalline blue waters in the Goddess Cave, those orbs possessed unfathomable depths.
