Four Sworn

by Delilah Devlin

“This is where we leave you.” Ezra’s voice sounded far away, already moving toward the door. Footsteps padded, the door closed, the lock making a quiet snick of a sound.

  The air cooled the sweat on her back, and she shifted, uncomfortable now that she’d said it. Hoping he hadn’t changed his mind. “I didn’t want to love you.”

  His snort sounded so normal, so “Bo”, that she relaxed against him, letting the heavy thud of his heart quiet hers.

  “I’m goin’ with you,” he said.

  “Goin’ where?” she said sleepily.

  “Away. Wherever you want.”

  “But what about your job? You’re up for foreman when Jed retires. You’ve worked hard for it.”

  “I can find something else. Who says I have to ranch?”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “I’d do anything for you, Shanna Davies. I’d die for you. I’d marry you.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t know whether to melt or laugh. Is marrying me gonna kill you?”

  Bo snorted again. The hand cupping the back of her head pushed her face against his shoulder. He rolled to his back, taking her with him.

  Shanna stretched out on top of him. “Was that a proposal?”

  “I didn’t do it right?”

  “I’m not letting you take it back. But a husband has to be able to provide for a wife and family. I don’t think I can let you quit.”

  His fingers tugged her hair, pulling to raise her face. He was frowning, his brows drawn into a straight, fierce line. “I’m not doing a long-distance thing. You’re gonna sleep in my bed every goddamn night.”

  “Don’t get huffy, cowboy.” She bit her lip, and then locked her gaze with his. “I’m just sayin’…maybe we could stay here.”

  His scowl eased. “Thought you were all hell-bent to blow this town.”

  “I don’t reckon I give a damn now what anyone thinks. Not when you think I’m good enough to be your wife.”

  Bo watched a beaming smile slide across Shanna’s lovely mouth. She was a hot mess. Her hair in tangles and sticking to her face and shoulders. Her skin was shiny with sweat. Fatigue darkened the delicate half-circles beneath her soft brown eyes.

  He bracketed her face with his palms, feeling like his heart would explode inside his chest because he’d held the hope for so long and finally, at last, she’d be his. Bo lifted his head and kissed her, the backs of his eyes stinging as he stroked into her mouth.

  Her knees cupped his hips, opening her sex to rub against him. Her breasts were mashed against his chest. She pressed as close as she could get—without crawling right inside him. He recognized the sentiment, returned it a thousand-fold.

  His cock filled again, pushing into her slowly, rousing as she began to rock gently, encouraging his invasion with sexy dips and swirls until he was fully embedded.

  “Think they have their ear to the door?” he whispered.

  “Bet Josh does,” she drawled, then groaned. “God, I don’t know how I’m gonna face them. The things I said to them.”

  “They’re good guys, Shanna. They won’t make you feel like a wh—”

  She kissed his mouth hard, bumping against his teeth. “I’m not my mama. I hated her for being easy and embarrassing me, but I loved her too.”

  “I know, baby.”

  “Just because I like you to challenge me, to take charge now and then, won’t mean I’m bored with you, or want another lover.”

  Bo nodded again, letting her make her intimate vows.

  “I’ll be a good wife,” she said, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

  Bo smiled and dug his hands into her hair, loving the warmth that wrapped around his fingers. He was surrounded by her loving heat. “I’ll be the best husband. I swear to you, Shanna, you’ll never regret being mine.”

  Josh eased his ear from the door, a small smile curving his lips. He tiptoed back to the kitchen where the brothers gathered to prepare a meal for everyone, sure the two lovers tucked into Ezra’s bed would be starving the moment they came up for air.

  Josh rubbed his belly. “Feels hollow.”

  Cade handed him a roast beef sandwich. “They doin’ okay?”

  Josh waggled his eyebrows. “I think we’re gonna be best men.”

  Ezra snorted. “Then it was worth it.”

  “Tell me you didn’t enjoy that,” Josh said, eyeing his too-serious brother.

  “Makes it hard to wait,” Ezra ground out.

  Cade nodded. “Yeah, think she’ll ever let her guard down again?”

  Josh leaned against the butcher block. “Didn’t you learn anything from tonight?”

  His brothers eyed him like he’d grown a second head. “So I’m not the smartest one, but Shanna just proved something. You can’t back away from love. It won’t come to you. You have to crowd against it, push it. Push her. Maybe scare her a little too.”

  “We did plenty of scaring. She hasn’t spoken to us in seven damn years,” Ezra said, his voice raw.

  Josh shrugged. “She didn’t press charges. We didn’t leave a bruise on her she didn’t beg for. She needs remindin’ who owns her ass.”

  Ezra and Cade shared tense glances then turned back to Josh.

  “If we try and fail,” Ezra said, his voice still tight, “we move on. Find our own women.”

  Cade nodded. “She’s worth the wait, but I agree. We have our whole lives ahead of us. I for one don’t want to spend it without a woman in my bed.”

  Josh nodded slowly. “Since we’re in agreement, we should make a plan.”

  The brothers migrated to the kitchen table. Beer bottles slammed on the table as they plotted.

  In the end, all their hopes fell on Ezra, the one Chrissi Page had surrendered to the first time.

  About the Author

  Until recently, award-winning erotica and romance author Delilah Devlin lived in South Texas at the intersection of two dry creeks, surrounded by sexy cowboys in Wranglers. These days, she’s missing the wide-open skies and starry nights but loving her dark forest in Central Arkansas, with its eccentric characters and isolation—the better to feed her hungry muse! For Delilah, the greatest sin is driving between the lines, because it’s comfortable and safe. Her personal journey has taken her through one war and many countries, cultures, jobs and relationships to bring her to the place where she is now—writing sexy adventures that hold more than a kernel of autobiography and often share a common thread of self-discovery and transformation.

  To learn more about Delilah Devlin, please visit www.delilahdevlin.com. Send an email to delilah@delilahdevlin.com or join her Yahoo! group to enter in the fun with other readers as well as Delilah: DelilahsDiary@yahoogroups.com

  Look for these titles by Delilah Devlin

  Now Available:

  Saddled

  Lone Star Lovers

  Unbridled

  Unforgiven

  Coming Soon:

  Breaking Leather

  How does a man get over a cheating woman? Sweet revenge…

  Unforgiven

  © 2010 Delilah Devlin

  Lone Star Lovers, Book 2

  For Cutter Standifer, the pretty little redhead who opened a café in Two Mule, Texas, was “the one”. Until he caught her in a compromising position with the town’s worst womanizer. To further strain his rigid code, his little sister just married the same damn bastard who shattered his world and she’s living in sin with him and another man.

  A year later, he still can’t forgive his ex-girlfriend. And forget? Forget, hell. He’s ready to kick his code into the nearest manure pile and take what he never had from her—full satisfaction.

  That fateful morning, all Katie Grissom meant to do was use the bad boy’s reputation to force Cutter to piss or get off the pot where their own relationship was concerned. But she went too far—deliciously too far—giving Cutter an eyeful she lived to regret.

  When Cutter offers her a no-strings affair she jumps at the chance, hoping to either break t
hrough the rigid wall he’s built around his heart…or get him out of her system for good.

  Warning: When a hard-as-nails cowboy finally lets loose on the only woman he’s ever loved expect the loving to get hot enough to melt a cold, cold, heart—toys, front and slammin’ backdoor sex are only the beginning…

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Unforgiven:

  Katie didn’t know why she’d decided to open the diner today. She’d posted a note earlier that morning to let customers know that she’d be closed. She could have stayed home, drawn the blinds and wallowed all day in self-pity.

  But she’d been restless. After she’d showered Cutter’s scent from her skin and tossed the blue dress into the trash, she’d automatically donned her jeans and Katie’s Diner T-shirt and headed out the door.

  She’d let the staff go for the day. So she was the sole waitress, cashier and cook. Not that she’d been busy since she’d flipped the Open sign. Her only customer so far was Ole Win, whom she’d told yesterday not to come, but maybe the habit was too ingrained. He came every day, ordered the same meal, then read his paper while he downed a pot of coffee, which she kept fresh.

  Already he’d told her another one of his stories about the old days in Two Mule, before the roads were paved, when men still tied horses to a hitching rail in front of the saloon.

  Not that she minded the chatter. She enjoyed his stories most days, but today her mind wandered, back to the wedding and that awful moment when Cutter had thrust inside her a little too hard and fast and made it crystal clear she’d never have a chance at earning a place back in his life.

  Not that he’d hurt her physically, not really. Her body had been primed, her pussy melting and caressing his length the whole time he’d fucked her.

  She wouldn’t allow herself to use a prettier description for what he’d done, what she’d invited. She’d had the crazy notion that if she could get them in the same room, stripped of clothing and old resentments that maybe he’d give her a second chance.

  Cutter wasn’t willing. He’d only taken what she’d offered. Without strings.

  She couldn’t feel ashamed about what she’d allowed to happen because she’d needed so badly to touch him. However, now, she thought that maybe she was ready to let go.

  The bell above the door chimed and she glanced over her shoulder then did a double-take because Cutter was striding through the door, his hard gaze pinning her like a butterfly to a display board.

  Katie stiffened and cast a quick glance toward Win, who’d perked up in his chair and was following Cutter’s progress as he made his way toward her. No doubt even the old codger was aware of the rumors that surrounded her and Cutter’s demise as a couple. Now the old tattletale would have another story to add to his arsenal.

  “We have to talk.”

  Katie gave Cutter her back and swiped a table she’d already cleaned, determined to ignore the heat she felt prickle up and down her spine. “You already made your point,” she muttered. “There’s nothing left to discuss.”

  “Let’s not do this here,” he said, laying his hand over hers and the soggy dishcloth.

  She slipped her hand from underneath his and pressed it against her stomach before turning, then took a step backward because she hadn’t realized he’d come so close.

  His thighs rubbed up against her, and she drew a deep breath, leaning back to prevent his chest from touching hers.

  Too late. Her breasts were already aching, her nipples spiking against her bra. Thank God she wore an apron or he’d know her body was a lot happier than she was to see him here.

  His fingers latched around her wrist, and he tugged her behind him, heading toward the kitchen door.

  “Let go. This is getting old, Cutter. You can’t drag me around like a dog on a leash.”

  “Bitch on a leash,” he murmured.

  “What did you just say?”

  He halted and faced her, standing so close again, his warm breaths washed over her face. “Dammit, Katie, don’t fight me. All I want to do is talk and I don’t want an audience.”

  Maybe he’d come to apologize, but his thighs rubbed hers again, and she felt his cock, thickening under his jeans.

  She glared, and then peeked around his shoulder at Ole Win, who was pretending to read his paper, but glancing their way over the top of his reading glasses. “In the kitchen then, but make this quick.”

  He followed her, so close he bumped her backside when she paused to lift the counter ledge. The kitchen door swung and Cutter pushed her forward, toward the walk-in freezer in the back.

  At least the cold would keep their clothes in place and the conversation short. She opened it and swung around as he followed her inside, ducking because he was taller than the ceiling height.

  Frozen puffs of breath, short and fast, gave away her agitation. “Can we get this over with?”

  Cutter raked a hand through his short-cropped hair. “Why’d you leave in such a hurry?”

  Katie planted her hands on her hips. “We were through.”

  “Maybe I wasn’t.”

  “So sad,” she said, in a singsong tone.

  His gaze narrowed. “You seein' anyone?”

  “You think I’d have let you do that if I was?” Then she had the grace to blush. She’d done just that to him

  His eyelids lowered as he looked down her body. Then he came closer. “Just makin’ sure I’m not stepping on anyone else’s toes.”

  “Why the hell should it matter to you? Gonna ask me on a date?” she said, raising her chin.

  “Not exactly.” He bent over her, his hand slipped beneath her hair. His palm was warm against her cooling neck.

  Katie lifted a hand to his chest to push him away, but he was as immoveable as solid rock.

  “I’m thinking we should see each other,” he said, his sliding toward a sexy growl. “Every now and then.”

  Her eyes widened. A lead weight settled in her middle, but lower, her body began a slow burn. “You’re saying we should fuck. Tell me, are you thinking you could just drop by whenever you’re horny?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what about me? What about when I’m horny?”

  One corner of his mouth quirked. “You wantin' rights too?”

  “I’d be stupid if I let it be all about you and your needs again.”

  “Mad ’cause I didn’t finish it for you?”

  She’d been devastated, but all those weepy moments were past. Anger flared, hot enough to melt the ice coating the walls. Did he honestly think she was such a slut she’d go for a proposition like this?

  Then again, she’d never gotten what she wanted, sexually, from Cutter Standifer. When they’d dated, he’d been painfully remote. Even after they’d finally gotten naked. Today, he’d been ruthlessly cruel.

  But if he wanted something from her now… Well, wasn’t she in a position to bargain for more? Did she want to risk her heart with him again? If he was even contemplating having an affair with her, did that mean that somewhere deep inside him, he still cared?

  God, she was pathetic. The cruel twist of his mouth didn’t betray a single ounce of pity or affection. Still, her body reacted, predictably, to his presence.

  Her pussy still ached from his earlier forceful thrusts. Unabated arousal had kept her edgy, angry. From just the memory of his invasion, her body had remained primed, her clit swollen, her nipples tight and hard. Even now, moisture seeped into her panties.

  Could she do this? Begin a strictly sexual relationship without losing herself and her self-respect? She still wanted him. And didn’t she deserve pleasure for herself?

  Katie lifted her chin and kept her gaze locked with his. “If I do this, you won’t be the only one getting what you want.”

  If it feels right, do it…even if it could get you killed.

  Honor Bound

  © 2010 Myla Jackson

  Bound and Tied, Book 1

  After months of isolation—and celibacy—claim partners Zach Braun
and Jake Thompson finally discover gold. And, as their celebration spills over into forbidden lust, an unexpected sexual attraction to each other rises. Then they discover they’re not alone…and the spy is trying to make off with their clothes and their gold.

  On the run from an Indian captor, parson’s widow Honor Whitaker is hungry, desperate, and determined to never let another man control her. Stumbling upon two men touching each other in an extraordinary way, she finds herself mesmerized by their tryst. And scandalously aroused by a totally different kind of hunger.

  Catching the little thief is easy, but Zach can think of only one way to silence Honor’s panicked babbling. Kiss her senseless. One sample of her delightful lips leads to more…then to a night where Zach and Jake show her that a man’s control over her body isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

  Even as the three learn to let go of the notion that pleasure is the devil’s work, someone else is watching. Someone who’s out to reclaim what’s his.

  Warning: This title contains hot ménage a trois scenes, man love, bondage, and two lonely, sexy cowboys/miners who find that catching a thief only takes a little bit of rope and a whole lot of lovin'!

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Honor Bound:

  Using the last of the lye soap they’d purchased from a merchant down in Idaho Springs last fall, Zach had scrubbed his clothes before stripping free of them and laying them flat to dry on a nearby boulder. Naked, he went to work scraping the stink out of his skin from the last couple months of hard work in the mine they’d eked out of the Rocky Mountain hillside on their claim.

  Clean for the first time in days, Zach floated on his back, staring up through the aspens to the clear blue sky above. “Whatcha gonna buy with your half?”

  Jake stripped his shirt off and flung it over the rocks, then rubbed river sand in his armpits and across his chest. “I’m gonna buy the biggest steak, the hardest liquor and the prettiest woman in Idaho Springs. How about you?” He ducked his head under the water and ran his fingers through the long, reddish-gold locks. When he surfaced, he shook his hair, flinging water over Zach.