She tasted of heaven and song, of everything he ever wanted in life and dared to leave behind. But not this time, he vowed as his tongue tangled with hers in a dance as old as mankind. He might ride away again before sunset, but only for a little while.
“You did that on purpose,” Lara accused him breathlessly when she broke the kiss.
Luke winked at her. “Everything I do is for a purpose, though to what you might be referring to at this moment I’m a bit unclear.” He watched her struggle not to smile, the corners of her tasty lips twitching in her efforts to retain her scolding expression.
“I’ll have you know the innocent act doesn’t work for you.” Her fingers tangled in the back of his hair. It felt so good he let his eyes drift closed for a moment, enjoying the tenderness of the sensations. “You kiss me like that and all my irritation with you disappears.”
“The day that stops working I’ll be concerned.” Luke kissed her again, this one nothing more than a chaste brush of his lips to hers, and then gave her a swift pat on her bottom. “Head on up to the house. See if Ma needs your help with anything. Adam and I will be right behind you.”
She hesitated for only a moment before she nodded. She walked to Adam and laid a kiss on him that looked to blow the man’s mind clean out of his head before she headed for the path leading back to the main house. Luke didn’t bother to speak until she disappeared through the trees. Then he gave a low whistle that drew Adam’s attention and a quiet chuckle to go with it.
“How did we get so lucky, my bother?” Luke asked only half in jest. He hooked his thumbs in his gun belt and took the three steps necessary to bring him to Adam’s side.
“As I recollect, we’ve asked one another that very question since she learned to walk.” Adam dusted his cowboy hat on his britches and set it on his head.
“I’ve got to say, I appreciate how well she learned to walk, too.”
“You and me both.” Adam chuckled, but the sound faded quickly. “She’s worried.”
Luke slanted his brother a glance. “I know.” He’d seen it in her eyes, one of the many emotions that swam in the mesmerizing depths of hazel. “Truth is, I’ve been having trouble figuring if she’s worried I won’t come back this time or hoping I don’t.”
Adam shook his head. “For a cowboy hell bent on justice and quick with a gun, you’ve always been dense in the head.”
“Maybe.” Luke rocked back on his heels. “Or maybe it’s you I should be wondering that about.”
“Now you’re just plain stupid. I got jealous seeing you together for the first time. I didn’t go mad. If I had, I would’ve drawn on you.”
“Drawing your gun on me would prove you insane.”
“I’m not going to argue about who is better with a gun.”
“Because you know I’ll win.”
Adam brought the conversation full circle. “She needs you. You’re stronger, harder, more commanding. Hell, I didn’t know she wanted that kind of stuff.” He stopped and ran a hand down his face. “Oh, who am I kidding? I knew she got turned on by stuff that make most women run away and hide. Her favorite place to have sex is out in the open fields where anyone can come upon us.”
Luke barked a laugh. “No kidding. Anyone ever catch you?” The picture that sprang to mind of Adam scrambling to hide Lara’s assets with his stark naked body while one of the ranch hands just happened by kept the grin plastered to Luke’s face.
Adam pushed a hard breath through pursed lips. “Not so far. Been a couple of close ones, though. I’m thinking I’ll let you handle that end from now on.”
“I’d be much obliged.” Luke tipped his hat at his brother, still grinning. “It’s the same it’s always been, you know. She likes all that hokey pokey playwright shit you quote, gets all starry-eyed when you start talking all sappy and sweet.”
This time Adam grinned. “I told you one day it would help me romance the lady.”
“That you did,” Luke agreed. “We’re good together, the three of us.”
“Keep it that way.”
Luke bowed his head at Adam’s abrupt change from smiling to serious. “I aim to do just that. You keep her safe until you hear word from town.”
“I’ll keep her safe until you come back to take up your end of the job,” Adam countered. He started walking, and Luke followed. “Don’t send anyone with news. You come back yourself. She’s not going to accept any word unless it comes from your lips.”
Luke didn’t say anything as they made their way down the path. The sun barely peeked over the trees, casting a pinkish-orange glow over the land as they pushed through the wood and stepped into the clearing. He spotted Lara first, leaning against the post where he tethered his horse, her hands on either side of her slender hips, her legs outstretched. She had changed into a pale blue dress and tied her hair in a ribbon at the back of her head. He swallowed the sudden urge to head straight for her, to lick his way over the creamy expanse of skin she left exposed along the side of her neck. His ma stood at her side. His pa sat in a wheelchair by his wife. His Lara might find thrill in the chance of being caught in a primal act of passion, but he didn’t figure tossing her to the ground at his parents’ feet and fucking her blind would be too proper.
Grace Stonewell covered her mouth with a delicate hand as he approached. He realized when he remained more than three feet from her what warranted her reaction. She noticed the deputy badge on his shirt.
“I guess there’s no hope in changing your mind, then?” Her eyes swam in hope all the same as she met him halfway and wrapped him in her motherly embrace.
Luke buried his face in the top of her head and breathed in her lavender scent. He’d missed her. That didn’t come as a shock to him. It did surprise him how the absence of her love left him feeling empty. Without her, without Lara in his life, he had been little more than a soulless walking dead man. “You know better, Ma.”
“Yes, but a mother has to try.” She pulled back enough to stare up at him, her gaze intent and as firm as he ever saw it. “You’ll take heed of yourself and the gang. You’ll be careful. You’ll come back.”
“I will,” he promised and swallowed down a lump forming in his throat. “I’ll do all of those things.”
“You better because Lara and I are throwing a party when you return.”
Luke groaned, mostly because he knew she expected him to. It made her smile, a bright beam of sunshine that lit up her pretty face. “Now, Ma, what are you going and doing that for?”
“We want to dance,” Lara chimed in, drawing his attention to her. She stood between Adam and his pa, one hand on his father’s shoulder and the other arm hugging Adam close.
“She makes quite a picture, doesn’t she?” Grace whispered.
“She always has.” Luke looked down at his ma. “You two go ahead and plan your party, but make sure you invite the guests to the wedding that will be before it.”
“Wedding?” Grace whirled out of his embrace, one hand flying up to cover her mouth, while the other fell to rest on her chest just below her throat. “Oh, oh, my boys are going to be married.”
Lara cleared her throat. When Luke looked to her again, he found her once more glaring at him, her foot out as if she meant to tap her toes impatiently on the ground. She might have been doing exactly that, but he couldn’t tell for her dress covered her feet. “Exactly who do you mean to marry, Mr. Stonewell? Surely you do not have me in mind for I have not heard a proper proposal pass your lips.”
Luke bit back a grin and cocked a brow. “Do you really wish to engage in a conversation about proper words passing the owner’s lips, Miss Franklin?”
She blushed. Luke figured if he had been gifted with vision to see through clothing he would’ve likely seen her flush all over.
Beside her, Adam covered his laugh with a feigned cough. “I’ll take care of my asking while you’re gone. You can see to your own when you get back.”
“Good enough.” Luke tipped his head back. The sky
had already turned a purplish blue in the distance. “It’s time for me to head out.” He pulled his ma in for another tight hug. “I love you.”
“That’s one thing I’ve never doubted, son.” She patted his back and stepped out of his way.
Five steps brought him in front of his pa. As he looked down at the man who once stood taller and stronger than himself, his throat grew tight. “Pa…” He shook his head when no other words came. How did he apologize to the man who taught him everything? Everything except how to ride away, he amended silently. He taught himself that one.
“You do what you have to do, son. You do what you feel is right, just as you’ve always done.” His pa gazed up at him with nary a tear or sour spot in his eyes. “A man can’t ask for more out of a son than that.”
Luke nodded and leaned down to hug his pa. Straightening, he moved to Adam. “I won’t send word,” he told his brother, remembering what Adam said to him. “I’ll come back myself.” As he spoke, he reached for Lara. He snaked an arm around her and yanked her against him, smiling when she gave a startled gasp. “Then we’ll finish making it right with our woman.” He locked his gaze with hers as he leaned in to capture her mouth with his. “And we’ll see who’s more proper in the asking.”
Chapter Eight
The taste of the last kiss he shared with Lara lingered on Luke’s lips as he rode for town. They planned to hold a dance upon his return. Damn it all to hell, he hated to dance, and both his ma and Lara knew it. Leave it to women to get their jollies out of a man’s discomfort, he thought sourly. His cock stirred in his pants at the thought of a far different kind of dancing he planned for his Lara when he got back to the ranch.
The sun had disappeared by the time he reached town, leaving Wildwood in full dark. Lanterns hung on posts outside the eatery on the corner of the main road, and a few buildings down, another hung outside the Franklin Saloon. More lights drifted out of the saloon through the door, and the two windows on either side. As he guided his horse at a slow gallop past the saloon, he spotted Lara’s pa behind the bar and two lone cowboys on stools at either end, their hands fisted around glasses of whisky.
Luke’s mouth watered as the craving for a good jigger kicked in. He hadn’t touched even a sip of whisky in over a year seeing as he almost drowned himself in it when he first rode out of Wildwood. Perhaps he would have a glass to celebrate his return to rights after this whole mess got cleared up.
He rode on past the saloon without another glance, knowing he would find his men at the sheriff’s office tonight. The gang would be holed up there until the threat of the Desert Riders passed despite John Franklin’s insistence they stay at the saloon. None of them wanted to involve Lara’s pa any more than necessary.
Up ahead, Dillinger stepped onto the front porch of the sheriff’s office. The deputy sparked a cigarette, puffing slowly as he watched Luke’s approach. “Still can’t get used to that sight again, my man.” He spat on the ground as he took the two steps down to the street to greet Luke.
Luke dismounted, securing his horse’s reins to the post, and shook hands with his old pal. He tipped his chin at the door to the sheriff’s office. “The rest of the gang inside?”
Dillinger nodded. “Waiting for you.”
“And the sheriff?”
“Pacing the floorboards like a man waiting for his child to be born.” Dillinger shook his head. “I’ve worked with the man for nearly two years, almost since you left. I’ve never seen him this antsy. Something don’t seem right, Luke.”
Luke agreed, though he didn’t put it to voice. An uneasy feeling had settled in his gut almost immediately upon meeting the man the townsfolk appointed their first sheriff. “We’re all antsy, Dill. That’s a bad bunch of outlaws headed our way, dangerous bastards without a lick of care. A man would be crazy not to be a bit jumpy knowing they were about to face off with men like that.”
Dillinger spat again, took a puff on his cigarette, and then tossed it to the ground, putting it out with his heel. “I suppose you’re right. Come on in. The gang is anxious to finish laying out the plans.”
Luke followed Dillinger inside. The conversation in the midst went silent the instant he stepped through the door. He spotted Walt and Hiram first, leaning shoulders on either side of an open doorway leading to the only prisoner cell in the small building. A cursory glance through that doorway confirmed the cell to be empty of wrongdoers. Dirk took up space in a corner chair, his booted feet crossed nonchalantly on a log stool. The desk sat on the left, the chair behind it unoccupied, and a scatter of telegrams, newsprint, and papers cluttered the top. If Luke ventured a guess, he’d say someone had been hell bent on uncovering information in recent hours.
“I thought we might get a better handle on how soon they’ll be here if we traced their recent activity in the papers,” Sheriff Baird said by way of explanation. He turned from the lone window to the right of the door and trekked to the desk. Given the cleanliness of that particular path in regards to the rest of the dirt-covered floor, Luke deduced the sheriff paced that way more than once tonight.
Luke stuck his tongue in his cheek as he studied the sheriff. Calm, cool, and collected didn’t spring to mind in any liberal form. Nervous, ruffled at the collar, and at loose ends fit the tall, burly man better by Luke’s observation. He wondered if the sheriff ever faced anything like what he would soon come up against. Pinning a tin badge to a man’s vest didn’t make him stronger, harder, or more able to stand up to a threat like the Desert Riders. Perhaps Luke could lay blame for the unease in his gut on that, because he’d yet to figure any other cause.
“And?” Luke prompted when the sheriff didn’t go on.
“If we’re to go with your plan we should ride out at first light.”
“Have you got one better?” Luke tried to be cordial. He tried to remember the people of this town, of his town, saw this man fit to be appointed their first sheriff. Maybe he and the sheriff would find they didn’t quite see eye to eye on the best way to handle the upcoming events. The fact still remained that the man swore Luke in as one of his deputies. Luke might lead the Stonewell gang, but as long as they wore the tin stars on their chests, the final answer in justice lay with Baird.
The sheriff scratched his chin and shook his head. “Nah, can’t say as I have. I’m thinking you might be right.”
“That they aren’t as far away as you thought?” Luke hid his surprise. The sheriff’s admission only succeeded in raising Luke’s unease about the man.
“They’ll be here sooner.” Sheriff Baird sounded certain.
Luke studied the man through narrowed eyes, not trusting the change in his attitude. “Then we’ll head them off at Miller’s Pond.”
“Leaving at first light is still assuming they’re a good half day or more from town,” Walt pointed out. “Yet you’re both talking like they’re almost on top of us.”
Luke considered Walt for a long moment before he answered the man. “They’ll find a place to hole up for the night. It’ll be too dangerous, even for them, to ride straight through in the dark. No telling what they’re likely to come across. Besides, they’ve got to know there are at least a half dozen Rangers on their tails. That’s all over the papers. Some of them are pretty damned good at tracking.”
“Not as good as the Desert Riders are at getting away.”
Luke shot a look at the sheriff, certain he imagined the reverence he picked up in the man’s tone.
“What they’re not expecting is to make it to a town that’s waiting for them,” Dill put in from where he took up post at the now closed door.
“I want to be at Miller’s Pond waiting for them. Not here in town.” Luke turned to the deputy, a man he always thought of as his second in the gang outside of Jeb. “But, if we do as the sheriff says and ride out at first light, we’ll get there in plenty of time to take up positions and see they don’t get past us.”
“Then it’s settled.” Sheriff Baird lowered himself into the chair
behind the desk. Even sitting didn’t seem to calm the man’s tension for he immediately began shuffling through the telegrams and newspapers with hands that shook, albeit slightly.
No, nothing was settled yet. Luke watched the man, his distrust growing deeper by the second. One moment, the man fought tooth and nail to keep the gang from getting involved, the next he swore them in as deputies. One moment, the man insisted at the top of his lungs the Desert Riders were nowhere near their town, the next he agreed with Luke that the outlaws were closer than they thought. The sheriff flat out didn’t make a damned bit of sense.
Instinct reminded Luke that he didn’t know a thing about the sheriff’s personality or skill. He didn't know how the man went about upholding justice in Wildwood. After a while, Luke averting his gaze and let it land on each of his men in turn. Them, he trusted with his life. He knew they had his back and wouldn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done when the time came. Did they put their faith in the sheriff? Luke hadn’t asked and didn’t plan on doing so now. Still, believing they likely did didn’t ease his soured stomach one little bit.
* * * *
Lara lay in the crook of Adam’s arm, shifting so she could look up at him from beneath her long lashes. Something prayed on her mind. He saw that much in the wrinkles of her forehead, and could swear he heard the wheels grinding as her thoughts struggled over the choice to keep quiet or put voice to whatever concerned her.
She would tell him, when she got it worked out exactly how. He decided to give her time, content to simply lay there with her curled against him. He stared unseeingly at his bedroom ceiling, his attention focused on the woman in his arms. The warmth of her naked flesh gave him a comfort nothing in the world could match. Her hand on his chest lay still but for the fingers that twirled strands of his hair around their tip. One breast pressed his side, the nipple taut either from a chill he didn’t feel or a growing arousal within her despite their most recent exchange of love. His cock flexed, a tingling sensation dancing through his shaft, and he hoped for the latter.
Her Vigilante Passion Page 11
