Three Men and a Bounty

by Three Men

  It wasn’t until he brought the horse to a complete stop to dismount the animal that Troy noticed the house they had all stopped in front of a sturdy A-frame house with an adjacent corral and barn. Several horses and cows grazed in the nearby field and drank water from a water trough under a tall, shady oak.

  Troy and Chris looked at each other then at James, who at that moment dismounted his horse and took the animal by the reins.

  “Come on in and set for spell. I won’t bite…” James turned then to wiggle his eyebrows at the two of them. “Not unless you want me to.”

  Chris laughed and threw one leg over his horse before dismounting and walking his horse over to where James stood.

  Troy watched them for a moment, thinking how right they looked together before he followed suit and dismounted.

  They didn’t just look right, but their looks perfectly complemented each other—James tall, dark, and powerful, Chris smaller, fair, and fresh-faced. The kid wasn’t powerful at a glance, but Troy sensed in him a well of inner strength that had only been hinted at before now. That strength attracted Troy as well as Chris’ pretty looks and obvious need.

  Troy caught James’ glance, and James reached out a hand to welcome him over. He didn’t even know when his feet started moving, but in seconds, he found himself by James’s side with Chris, and the three of them glanced up at the house.

  “Yours?” Troy asked.

  “Lock, stock, and barrel.”

  Troy heard the pride in the other man’s tone, and he remembered how he had felt when he’d first opened Barrow’s for business. It wasn’t the fanciest place in town, though it surely proved the most profitable. And it belonged to him, something he had built from the ground up.

  His one regret about the saloon remained that his mother and father had not lived to see him make a decent living for himself. However, knowing the God-fearing people they had been, they might not have approved of the set-up.

  Troy dragged himself from his past to look at James.

  The idea that the marshal had invited him and Chris into his corner of the world, obviously a very special place to him, filled Troy with a fair amount of wonder.

  Did he even deserve the lawman’s consideration?

  “I built it a few years ago, figured I’d need a place to settle down once I stopped gallivanting all over the territory catching outlaws.”

  Troy figured it only right that a man of James’ years would think about settling down eventually. Most men his and James’ age were already settled down with a woman and maybe a few head of kids.

  Most men weren’t him and James, though, not that Troy knew of. Most men didn’t love other men and, beyond being cowboys, didn’t want to spend their lives with other men.

  Troy realized right then he wouldn’t be reluctant to spending his life with James and Chris if given the chance. More than likely, he’d have to take the chance.

  He vowed to himself that he would take it.

  Chapter 10

  Chris hadn’t felt at home with anyone in a long time. Even with Cooper, he’d never allowed himself to think further than one day at a time. He knew they were just passing through in each other’s lives. Admittedly, he’d latched on to Cooper for the protection he could provide, and Cooper used him for sex. Sure, there had been some affection mixed in with the manipulation and necessity, but Chris hadn’t fooled himself to think they had anything lasting.

  With Troy and James, he dared himself to believe that there could be more than just the older men using him for physical pleasure. He wanted to believe that they cared about him for him in the same way he had grown to care for them.

  He knew it was kind of soon to be mapping out a future like that. None of them had known each other all that long. Out here in the territories, though, a few days could seem like months, especially when he was never sure where his next meal was coming from or whether he would even live to see another day.

  That James had a house of his own, one he had invited Chris and Troy to, made Chris feel right secure and protected, like he finally belonged somewhere. Maybe he jumped the gun feeling this way, but he could help it nonetheless.

  “So what do you think, Chris?”

  He turned to James and grinned. “Did you build all this?”

  “Sure did.”

  “I think it’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen.”

  James chuckled. “If you feel that way about the outside, you’ll plumb love the inside, then.” He put an arm around Chris’ shoulder to lead him up to the front door right before it flung open and an attractive colored woman came out to stand on the threshold.

  “Well, it’s about time you showed yourself since you been back in town a spell.” She wiped her hands on the front of the apron she wore as she took a few steps forward then stopped to take in Chris at James’ side and Troy standing just behind him. Unlike the people in the colored town that they had passed on their way to James’ place, this woman didn’t look angry with him and Troy for being with James. In fact, she looked right amused, a small grin curving her plump lips. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

  Chris didn’t know what she referred to, so he turned to James and found his mahogany complexion flushed red. In the brief time that he had known the marshal, Chris didn’t think he had seen him blush.

  “Well, don’t just stand there. Come on in. I’ve got supper simmering on the stove. And I guess it’s a good thing I always make extra, just in case.”

  “You make enough for an army as a matter of course.”

  She put her hands on her ample hips. “I ain’t heard no complaints from you.”

  “And you ain’t hearing none now.”

  The woman folded her hands across her stomach and rocked back on her heels, eyebrows arched. “So who is it you have here? I haven’t had the pleasure.”

  James motioned Troy to his side and put an arm around his shoulder like he did Chris’. “This here is Christopher Mi—”

  “Come here and let me look at you, chil’.” The woman put her arms out like she fully expected Chris to obey so he did. He felt like he didn’t have a choice since the woman sounded like the one in charge, despite James’ profession to owning the house.

  As soon as Chris got within arms’ reach of the woman, she grasped him around the shoulders, shook her head, and clucked her tongue as she looked him up and down.

  “Boy ain’t nothing but skin and bones.”

  “I’m sure you can remedy that right and proper,” James said.

  “I’m thinking that ain’t the only reason you brought him here.”

  “Not likely.”

  “And what about this ’un?” The woman waved a hand at Troy, who stepped forward as if summoned and gave a slight bow.

  “Troy Barrow, at your service, ma’am.”

  “Don’t ma’am me, though I suspect I do have some years on you. The name’s Lucy, and I run this here house when the marshal’s not here and sometimes while he is.” She winked.

  “Nice to make your acquaintance, ma’am—Lucy.”

  She smiled as she took the hand Troy offered and shook it. “I’m expecting you two are staying with us for a spell. It’s too dangerous to be traveling around these parts this late in the day. Although some of us think danger is his middle name.”

  “We’d be honored,” Troy said.

  Chris nodded his agreement, getting the hint that James was the “some of us” in question. He couldn’t help remembering how calm James had been when the shooting had started, how he’d worried only about protecting Chris and Troy before he’d worried about himself. Not to mention how James had saved Chris from being shot by that Bart character.

  Lucy put an arm around Chris’ shoulder and led him into the house.

  He smiled as he willingly followed. He liked her fiery, take-charge attitude and sense of humor. He liked her and could see why James had hired her. The marshal needed someone as tough as himself to run his household. No one else would be able to
put up with his long absences and still welcome him home with a smile at a moment’s notice.

  Would he be able to? Would he have to with Troy involved, too?

  “My husband, Caesar, is out back in the barn seeing to the animals. He’ll be in directly, and you can meet him, too.”

  “Looking forward to it,” Troy said, but Chris wasn’t so sure.

  Women tended to be more accepting of men like him, Troy, and James, and Lucy in particular didn’t seem fazed a bit by the fact that James had brought home two men.

  Despite the fact that Caesar obviously worked for James, Chris didn’t know how tolerant the man would be of him and Troy. He hoped he proved to be just anxious, that his wariness was unfounded. He didn’t want to believe that anyone associated with James could be intolerant or as hateful and mean as the men who’d tried to brand him at Whitfield’s ranch.

  Chris looked at his surroundings, impressed with the simple but comfy furnishings.

  The bare floors were polished to a high shine and covered with a turquoise and burgundy Navaho rug.

  A fire crackled in the stone fireplace, giving the room a warm, welcoming glow.

  Chris had just enough time to admire the living room before Lucy rushed him and Troy through it to the kitchen where the appetizing smells of seasoned meat, potatoes, and vegetables filled the air.

  His stomach immediately started to growl.

  Lucy laughed and patted him on the back. “Sounds like someone’s hungry.” She turned to James and scowled. “And someone else hasn’t been taking care of this chil’.”

  “Oh, that’s not true. James is powerful good about taking care of me. We just got…caught up in the woods and…”

  James pulled Chris to his side before he could say anything else. “I’ll show these two the rest of the house and then they can wash up and get ready to eat your delicious meal.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Lucy said.

  Her chuckle followed them through the spacious house, and Chris felt James’ grip on his shoulder tighten as if to give Chris strength.

  James showed them the rooms on the first level of the house, which consisted of the living room, kitchen, dining room, and a book-lined study.

  Chris had never seen so many books in one place except a library. He wondered if James had read all of them and blurted the question before he could stop himself.

  “Not all of them, but a fair amount.”

  Chris wandered over to the shelves, running his fingers over the spines with a sense of awe. What it must be like to be so smart, smart enough to read any of these books and be a U.S. Deputy Marshal. It made him wonder what James saw in him besides a warm body. Sure, he could read and had digested his fair share of dime novels, but he wouldn’t go as far to call himself learned by any means.

  Chris turned to James and noticed him begin to fidget after a while, his complexion turning an enticing and flattering red.

  “Your admiration is showing again.”

  “I can’t help it,” Chris confessed.

  “I know what he means,” Troy said from his place at the threshold.

  “Not you, too.”

  Troy ducked his head, shuffling his feet like a little boy who had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and Chris laughed, glad he wasn’t the only one impressed.

  “What is it with you two? I’m just a regular old man with a little more book smarts than most and a few breaks under my belt. I’m no one to idolize or admire. I do my job, and that’s it. Just so happens it’s something I like doing.”

  “Risking your life to save mine wasn’t your job. You could have let Bart kill me, and no one would have batted an eye.”

  “I would have batted an eye,” James said.

  “And that’s what makes you different from everyone else in that bar.” Chris turned to Troy. “Except you.”

  Now it was Troy’s turn to blush.

  Chris smiled at the ability he had to make each man so uneasy, reveled in that power for a brief moment, realizing that just because he was the youngest among them didn’t mean he was the powerless one in their relationship. If made him feel like he belonged, that for once his opinion counted, and he was worth more than the sex between his legs.

  “How much time before we have to make an appearance for dinner?” Chris asked.

  “What ya got on your mind, kid?” Troy grinned

  Chris shrugged, suddenly shy, unable to say what he wanted. He thought it would be easier to show Troy and James what he wanted but didn’t want to be rude to their hostess. Besides, after getting a whiff of Lucy’s vittles simmering in the kitchen, he figured he’d eat first and worry about what he and James and Troy could do for entertainment together later.

  “Let’s finish the tour. I’m anxious to see the rest of the house and then eat.”

  “Your wish is my command.” James escorted them both upstairs where he showed them two large, airy bedrooms with swanky bedcovers on the roomy four-poster beds and matching bureau, nightstand, and rocking chairs in each room.

  The second room seemed more lived-in with a well-worn Stetson and gun belt hanging over the back of the rocking chair and a pair of boots at the foot of the bed beside an old trunk. Chris guessed that this was James’ bedroom just as James confirmed it.

  Before Chris’ imagination could run wild with what thoughts of the personal treasures that lay in the trunk and all the things James and Troy could do to him on the big bed, James showed him and Troy to the water closet down the hall.

  Suitably impressed with the facilities, Chris asked where Lucy and Caesar stayed, and James explained that the pair lived in a cabin on his property, right behind the main house.

  Chris couldn’t remember being anywhere near as fancy as James’ house other than a hotel and said as much to James’ satisfaction.

  Still, despite his obvious pride, it seemed like James didn’t like talking about his possessions or how he had gotten them.

  Chris could understand that and decided not to bring it up again unless James did.

  “Y’all about finished up there? Supper won’t keep forever!”

  “Guess we’d better be getting downstairs,” Chris said.

  James cupped his face with one hand. “There’ll be time enough for what you had in mind. If you plan to stick around, that is.” He glanced at Troy with the same questioning look, and Troy flushed. Chris grinned, thinking he wasn’t the only young’un in this relationship despite Troy’s being almost a decade older than he.

  Being with James and Troy made him feel less alone. They made him feel like he wasn’t worthless after all. He liked the feelings and wanted them to take hold.

  Chris looked from James to Troy and back again. He thought twice about saying what lived in his heart but, in the end, couldn’t help murmuring, “I’ll stick around as long as you want me to.”

  Chapter 11

  James watched Lucy as she brought various platters and bowls of colorful and aromatic food to the table, acting in her typical bossy and maternal manner, fussing over and making sure everyone had enough on their plates. He appreciated that she made Chris and Troy feel as welcome as visiting dignitaries and thought coming home had never felt so right before. Even the normally soft-spoken Caesar got into the act, talking politics and farming with Troy and getting Chris to talk about his life in New York before he’d come out West.

  Though James had more than half-suspected the boy wasn’t from around these parts, the confirmation proved more surprising than Troy’s background as a farmer.

  Through Lucy and Caesar, James learned more about his companions than he had ever hoped to learn on his own, especially in the limited time they’d spent together. That was Lucy. Like Nell, she held nothing back and had a way with folk that just made them drop their guard and talk about themselves. It was a way he hadn’t always appreciated when the couple had first turned up at his door looking for work just after he’d put the finishing touches on his house. Though it had taken a while for
him to warm up to Lucy’s outgoing manner, he’d finally come to like and trust her and her husband, something he didn’t do easily after so many years on the trail. He hadn’t trusted too many men or women since taking up with the Choctaw so many years ago.

  James sensed the same wariness in Chris and, to a lesser degree, Troy, though the boy had come around nicely since they’d all been together.

  Of course, a body couldn’t help but come around with Lucy on the case. The woman didn’t allow shyness on her watch and appeared to have appointed herself Chris’ substitute mother.

  Chris didn’t seem to know what to do with all the attention aside from settling back and accepting it in his quiet way.

  James sat back himself and smiled as he let out a notch of his belt to accommodate a belly full of Lucy’s delicious meal. He thought, however, that the woman didn’t know who she dealt with. Chris may have appeared the picture of angelic innocence, but James knew how wild he could be in the bedroom, how he could bring James to his knees with just a lick of those unusually full lips.

  “Well, you four just make a body feel right proud packing away my vittles like this,” Lucy said, and four sets of appreciative male eyes all turned to her.

  He’d been dealing with Lucy for long enough to know that she loved being the center of attention but loved even more to serve and please those she cared about. Sparing her only a glance, James focused most of his attention on the other men at the table, heart skipping a beat as his gaze fell on Troy and then Chris.

  How had he gotten so lucky? Sure, he hadn’t considered himself so lucky a few nights ago. He’d considered himself downright cursed to be in the vicinity of Barrow’s when that difficulty had started. Now he knew better. He knew that Chris and Troy had been sent to him and that the three of them were meant to be together.

  James hadn’t been so fatalistic in a long time, not since he left the Choctaw. He saw reason to be now. All the signs that had led him to the two men made him feel like their being together proved destiny.