Scoundrel

by Rebecca Goings

  “Right.” The doctor looked at the timepiece tucked into his waistcoat and climbed the boardwalk steps. “Good day, Shirley.”

  “Good day.”

  Once he’d walked into her father’s shop, Shirley took a deep breath and sighed. Not too many people were on the street today. A few cowboys rode down the thoroughfare on their horses, and two wagons had stopped in front of the mercantile. Pain twisted in her gut at the sight. Two more customers lost.

  Something red caught her eye on the other side of the road. It was Luke in a fine red shirt, chatting amiably with…Christopher and Margaret! She couldn’t hear their words, but she saw Luke grin and he held out his hand. Christopher took it tentatively, but Luke forced him to shake hard. With a slap to his back, Luke let them walk past.

  Christopher glanced over his shoulder a few times at Luke, but didn’t stop as he led Margaret to McHale’s restaurant a little further up the walk. Shirley tried hard not to march across the street and give Christopher another upbraiding. How dare he be seen with Margaret so soon after their parting?

  But Luke’s intense gaze stopped her.

  He’d spied her, standing next to the water trough, still holding her empty bucket, staring back at him in confusion. He cocked his head and began to saunter toward her. Shirley’s breathing stopped. If he caught her, there was no telling what he’d do.

  She turned from the trough and dashed back toward the rear of her father’s shop. She should have known she had no hope of outrunning him. He’d probably run himself the moment he saw her fleeing.

  “Where you goin’, pretty lady?”

  Shirley stumbled, but turned to face him, strategically placing the water pump between them. “Nowhere,” she said, panting.

  “Coulda fooled me,” he said, his tone light-hearted. “Thought I saw you tearing off like the law was on your tail.”

  She would not smile at his choice of words. When he slowly began to advance on her, she rounded the pump, keeping it between them.

  “I was coming back for more water.”

  He shook his head. “You were runnin’ from me.”

  She licked her lips. He noticed. “No I wasn’t.”

  “You can’t stop thinking about what I said to you. You’re terrified I’m going to pounce on you.”

  “You’ve given me plenty of reason to believe that you will!”

  “A-ha, so you don’t deny it.”

  “Luke, please.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “Why can’t you kindly leave me be?”

  He stopped walking to hook his thumbs in his denims. “Mmm, can’t do that, sweetheart.”

  She tossed the bucket to the ground and threw up her hands. “Why not?”

  “Because when a filly’s spooked, you gotta earn her trust before you can mount her.”

  Shirley stomped her foot. “You are a crass, foul, poor excuse for a man!”

  His look darkened. “You’re just sore I haven’t come to you these past few days. You’re looking forward to our next kiss.”

  “I most certainly am not!”

  “You like it when I talk dirty to you.”

  “I…I do not,” she said with less force.

  Luke smiled and lunged, successfully catching her within the circle of his arms. “Yeah, you do,” he whispered into her hair.

  She pushed against him, shoving his shoulders back until she tilted her head and gazed into his eyes. The look he gave her captured her attention, and she marveled at the tender change in him. His eyes roamed her face, staring at her lips, her nose, and finally her eyes, before giving her a grin that made her shudder from head to toe.

  “Not right now, Luke,” she pleaded, trying to sound unaffected. “Please?”

  “Then when?”

  Good Lord, had she just given him her permission to kiss her again?

  “I…I…” Her mind went blank. “What did you say to Christopher?”

  He arched a brow. “Changin’ the subject.”

  “What did you say?” she pressed.

  Luke’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t let her go. “I thanked him.”

  “For what?” She was genuinely confused.

  “For letting you go. Now you’re mine to pursue.”

  “You did what?” All he did was smile at her. “If you want to be my suitor, you’ve got to speak with my father—”

  “I don’t give much thought to bein’ proper, darlin’, you know that. I take what I want. And right about now, I want you, filly. And nothing short of an act of God will keep me from hearing you scream my name.”

  She closed her eyes. She had to. This man jumbled her senses and turned her inside out. “What makes you think I want you?”

  “If you felt nothing for me, you woulda pushed me away—many times. If you didn’t care for my advances, you wouldn’t run. And if you didn’t want me talking dirty, you would have screamed bloody murder the other night. You want me.”

  Shirley swallowed hard and opened her eyes once more. His face was closer, and his breath puffed warm on her lips.

  “So you tell me right now, woman. When?”

  “I-I can’t—”

  “When?”

  Luke’s thumb just barely swiped her nipple. She gasped in shock, but didn’t deny it felt good. Too good.

  “When?” he whispered again, rubbing his cheek against hers.

  Damn him, but she was wet again, and she couldn’t stop her hands from rounding his neck. “I don’t know.”

  “Better think of somethin’, filly, or I get to choose.”

  Her breaths ruffled the hair behind his ear as both fear and anticipation shot through her. “Right here. Tonight. Late.”

  “When does you pa go to bed?”

  “Around nine thirty,” she answered, her voice shaking.

  “I’ll be here at ten thirty.”

  “Luke…”

  He pulled back slowly, making her mourn the loss of his body against hers. “No second thoughts,” he said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. “If you’re not out here, I’m comin’ in.”

  It took a long moment for Shirley to respond, but when she did, she gave him nothing more than one silent nod.

  He responded with a wicked, sensual grin. How her knees didn’t give out when she walked back into the shop, she had no idea.

  Six

  Shirley felt as if she was going to be sick. Her father didn’t settle until nine forty-five, and he’d asked her why she was still dressed when she ‘retired’ for the evening. The truth was she didn’t want to meet Luke in her sleeping gown and night cap, but she couldn’t very well tell her father that.

  All she could do was shrug and smile, claiming she’d forgotten.

  “I think I know what’s got you tied up in knots,” her father said with a smirk.

  Shirley swallowed hard. “You do?”

  “Ayup. Newcomb’s nephew had you flustered all day long after you met the man. You like him that much?”

  She stared at her father for a few long moments before answering. “He is handsome.”

  That was the truth. Nathaniel Newcomb was indeed a handsome man with a thin mustache and slicked dark hair. Almost out of medical school, he was studying in Boston, but vacationing in Texas, and he’d smiled at her more often than not. However, her cheeks had been rosy for a different reason. Another man was all she’d been thinking about. Her nerves and stilted conversation had been due to rough-and-tumble Luke Austin, not the shiny, spotless city boy Dr. Newcomb had introduced her to.

  Yet Nathaniel was exactly the kind of man she’d been looking for—wealthy, handsome, and obviously interested in her. Why, then, couldn’t she banish all thoughts about the one who’d promised her debauchery as surely as he lived and breathed?

  She didn’t know. But what she did know was that she needed to talk Luke out of his plans for this evening. She’d been wrong to give him hope, to allow him such liberties with her. She could only surmise she was infatuated with him, clingin
g to him to soothe her heart, broken by Christopher. But enough was enough. She was a respectable woman. She was bound and determined to have a respectable husband.

  And that meant not soiling herself with a forthright cowboy.

  Once Shirley was sure her father had settled for the evening, she tip-toed down the steps of the shop as softly as she could. She hadn’t realized how loudly they creaked until she tried not to make any noise. With every step, she cringed, but her father didn’t make an appearance.

  Finally at the bottom, she crossed the store and unlocked the back door. She hadn’t brought a lantern with her. Perhaps she should have. Stepping out into the shadows didn’t bolster her courage, but she knew Luke was out here, waiting for her.

  Despite her decision to push him away, that knowledge sent a thrill straight to her core. She moaned and placed her hand over her belly.

  “Luke?” she whispered. “Are you here?”

  As if she’d conjured him out of the clear blue, he stepped around the corner of the store and advanced, coming right for her until she was pressed up against the wall.

  “Yup,” he answered.

  Even the sound of his voice was enough to make her mouth go dry.

  “I came out here to beg off from our…our agreement.”

  “Thought you might,” he said, his tone sour. “So I came out here to convince you otherwise.”

  “We can’t do this. These torrid rendezvous’ must stop.”

  He took a deep breath. “Why?”

  “I met a respectable man this afternoon. The way he was looking at me, I know he’ll soon be asking my father to court me. I’ve seen that look before. And…I can’t be courting him and meeting you in the moonlight.”

  “No, you can’t,” Luke agreed, shocking her. But his next words made her want to slap him once again. “But your body tells me you don’t want any other man but me. Besides, I’m respectable.”

  She almost laughed in his face. “You most certainly are not.”

  “You only think I’m not because of what I said to you the day we first met.”

  She nodded. “You thought I was a…a whore. And it disgusts me that you patronize those establishments.”

  Luke chuckled, and her skin responded as every hair stood on end. “I thought no such thing. Heard from Lissa and Marcus about what you’d done to them while they were courting and thought I’d try and get a rise outta ya. What I got was a pretty hellcat with claws!”

  “You…you made the whole thing up?”

  “I did,” he answered without hesitation.

  “Let me go this instant!”

  “Uh uh. You promised me a kiss, and I promised you I’d do it.”

  “Don’t you dare. Keep your hands to yourself!”

  “All right, if that’s what you want,” he said, his words laced with mischief. “Don’t need my hands to kiss your breast. Just my lips. And my tongue.”

  Shirley was speechless. But Luke wasn’t finished.

  “I’m gonna lick you, and suckle you, and bite you, filly. And you’re gonna love every damn minute of it.”

  His lips were on hers in an instant, cutting off any further words she might think to say. But her knees were weak and she clutched his shoulders. Only to steady herself, definitely not to give in to her yearning to embrace him.

  But her fingers weren’t listening to her common sense. They wandered into his hair and held on tight, anchoring her as he thrust his tongue deeply into her mouth. His entire body held her against the wall, and she felt something hard and long between them. At first she thought it was one of his guns, but when he thrust his hips gently against hers, she knew what it must be.

  “Feel my cock?” he asked, pressing into her again. When she didn’t answer, he made her answer. “Do you, Shirley?”

  She nodded vigorously while his mouth wandered to her neck. His hot tongue licked her skin, ripping a gasp from her lungs.

  “Say it. Say you feel it.” He thrust again and Shirley tossed her head back, trying desperately to keep her wits about her. “Say it!” He bit her painfully, then suckled where he’d bitten, and her body rubbed on his against her will.

  “I feel it!” she cried.

  Luke’s fingers plucked at the buttons of her calico dress, deftly undoing most of them until her corset was exposed. “I want to bury myself inside you. I wanna make you come so hard around me you claw my skin.”

  Shirley’s nipples hardened at his words alone. But it was his warm palm gently prying her breast from her corset that made her cry out in alarm.

  Luke didn’t give her any time to protest. His mouth was suddenly exploring her newly exposed nipple, lapping at it before suckling her deep into his throat. He groaned, and the vibration brought her to her toes, just to feel more heated bliss. He released her with a loud pop and lightly bit the tip of her nipple.

  “You feel that in your clit?”

  Shirley tried to breathe, but it was nearly impossible.

  “Answer me,” he demanded once more.

  “Yes, I feel it,” she told him once again.

  “That’s your body’s need to come for me. Damn, baby, if you weren’t wearing so many heavy skirts, my fingers would be ridin’ you. In fact, next time I kiss you, I’m gonna taste your cream.”

  “Oh…God!” Luke’s words brought a rush of sensation throughout her body. Pleasure unimaginable thundered through every nerve, bringing stars to her eyes. Pressing against him, she held his head and nearly shrieked when his scorching mouth took her breast once again. It was wicked, it was sinful, and she couldn’t do anything other than ride it out while his knee pressed into her skirts.

  “Christ, woman,” he said, growling. Luke bent low and lifted her feet off the ground. “You’re gonna make me come in my pants.”

  “I-I’m sorry…” Her mind was gone, blown away with the wind. She had no idea what Luke was doing, but somewhere in her head she felt the cool night air on the bare skin of her thigh.

  “Don’t apologize,” he whispered. “You just gave me your first orgasm. I want you to give me another one.”

  The sound of a door slamming open made Shirley come to her senses right quick. A lantern lit the night a moment before her father’s furious voice echoed across the yard.

  “What in God’s name?”

  All at once, she realized her entire body was wrapped around Luke. Her legs were hiked to his hips while the front of her dress was wide open.

  And Luke’s face was buried inside.

  Shirley squealed and pushed on his shoulders to get him to back away. But he didn’t do so until he was good and ready. He had the audacity to ease away from her slowly, sliding her legs down his frame before turning to face her father.

  “Step away from my daughter!”

  Luke didn’t do as he was told. Instead, he stepped in front of her, giving her the privacy she needed to close her buttons. Shirley’s hands shook violently as she fastened them.

  “Father, I can explain—”

  “Explain what?” he yelled. “I can see with my own eyes. Mr. Austin was assaulting you!”

  “No, he wasn’t!”

  The loud click of a shotgun hammer resonated around them. Shirley’s heart thundered within her.

  “You let this son of a bitch put his hands on you?” She clearly heard the disgust in her father’s voice. Whatever pride he’d taken in his youngest daughter had flown out the window.

  “Father, please, if we could just go inside—”

  “No!” he exclaimed, interrupting her again. “We’ll settle this right here and now. You tell me, girl, did you let him touch you? Because there’s only two outcomes to this…this depravity. We’re wakin’ the preacher or the sheriff! And I don’t think Marcus’ll take too kindly to his sister-in-law being manhandled.”

  Once she’d finished buttoning her dress, she moved to step in front of Luke. “You will not shoot him.”

  “Get outta my way!” Chuck moved to shove her, but Luke yanked her back aga
inst him.

  “The lady’s inclined to stay where she is,” he said, his voice ominous.

  “Get your goddamn hands off my daughter!” Chuck angled his shotgun up to Luke’s head.

  “Luke, please?” Shirley glanced back at him, hoping he could read her pleading expression. But his jaw was set. He was determined to win.

  “Wake the preacher.” Luke’s low voice sent an icy chill right through her.

  She gasped. “There’s got to be another way!”

  “Nope,” Chuck replied with a shake of his head. “Either you marry Luke or he goes to jail for a long, long time, girl. You’d best think good and hard about how you want this to end.”

  Shirley’s eyes stung and panic nearly overwhelmed her. Luke still held her against him, and if he let go, she wasn’t sure if she could stand on her own two feet.

  The ground spun beneath her and she felt as if a noose was slowly closing around her neck. It was hard to breathe, much less comprehend what had just happened.

  Her father had caught her fixing to make love to a man. She couldn’t be any more humiliated than she was at that moment.

  “Wake the preacher,” she finally whispered.

  Seven

  Shirley trudged up the aisle of the darkened sanctuary with wide eyes and a rock in her belly. Luke walked right beside her while her father prodded them up the aisle with the barrel of his gun. Never in her life had she been so terrified, and tears threatened to fall the moment she noticed Pastor Richardson waiting for them at the altar.

  To her horror, Christopher stood next to him, in a wrinkled suit and his hair pointing every which way. If she hadn’t been so intent on her own fate, she’d have been shocked by his unkempt appearance. But all she could think about was the roiling upset within her and holding back the urge to vomit.

  It hadn’t taken long for her father to convince the pastor to perform the ceremony. They’d needed two witnesses, and the pastor had woken his son for the duty. Apparently they didn’t need rings to be married. Before she knew it, she was standing before God, pledging her life to Luke Austin.

  Her father must have told the pastor what he’d caught them doing. Or perhaps he’d come to his own conclusions. But for the first time since she’d known him, Pastor Robinson gave her a few disapproving glares. Even Luke didn’t look at her while the vows were said. His attention was focused on her hands, firmly held in his.