Her Dominant Saviors

by Bonnie Parker

  “You definitely don’t have to say it twice,” she muttered, wriggling in his embrace.

  He barely contained the growl that rumbled in his throat. “Keep rubbing that perfect body against me like that and they’re gonna see more than me squeezing this shapely rear.”

  Water didn’t freeze as rapidly or as hard as her body did at that moment.

  Surprise darted across her face, but the arousal that turned her eyes an even deeper blue gave more weight to her true thoughts. “I’m not one of the whores from the brothel.”

  No, but he didn’t harbor a doubt that she wanted to get as wild as one. He’d prove it, too, as soon as he got her to spread her amazing legs. “That’s about enough lip out of you for now.” He made his tone hard, his embrace tighter so she wouldn’t mistake his words for anything more than the stern warning he meant them to be.

  She lowered her gaze subserviently, but he didn’t miss the muscle ticking along her delicate jaw. Christ Almighty, he loved her spirit. Whatever he and Billy did, they’d make sure she never lost her spitfire ways. She wouldn’t be their Sarah without the grit and defiance that turned him on.

  James shifted his hold on her until his hand closed around her lower arm.

  “Let’s go. We’re burnin’ daylight.”

  “Aren’t you going to untie me?”

  He had a half a mind not to. “I’m thinkin’ I like you this way, bound and at my mercy, unable to slap at me. Those hands of yours can be a helluva weapon.” He’d learned that the hard way. It turned out to be one of the first times he seriously considered turning her over his knee and spanking her shapely ass until she came all over his thighs.

  Sarah slid him a sideways look. When she batted her eyelashes like some highfalutin southern belle he nearly choked with laughter. “Afraid I might get the best of a big, strong man like you?”

  “Afraid I might have to put you in your place in front of these few people still hangin’ around, darlin’,” he countered in a low drawl. “I’d hate to have to yank up that skirt and turn that pretty fanny all nice and red right out here in the open. Some things are meant to be private between a man and his woman.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She narrowed her eyes at him but widened them a fraction when he held her gaze, leaving her no doubt that yes, he would dare.

  “I’ll leave the untying up to Billy,” James responded as he led her down the platform steps and through the few remaining people.

  He heard one mutter how it was about time he got hold of his woman.

  Obscene things spilled from the mouth of another woman and, if he’d ventured a guess, he would’ve pegged Barbara-Sue McCoy to be the one that said them. Another voice congratulated him on finally manning up enough to put her in her place. He shot a seething look toward the owner of that comment but couldn’t figure out exactly who said it. A couple of women pinned him with glares that would’ve made a lesser man drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. Those same women bored envious holes through Sarah with their hard stares. James knew he was a wanted man around town. He could put a finger, literally and figuratively, on half the female population, taken or not. He figured right about now those women would do just about anything to be in Sarah’s shoes. He glanced over at Sarah and figured she wouldn’t be at all averse to handing those shoes over to the first available female if he gave her half a chance.

  “That’s some show you put on up there, brother.” The boyish grin that spread Billy’s lips made James smile, too.

  “I only did what I had to.” He slid his hand to the small of Sarah’s back and gave her a gentle push toward Billy.

  Billy’s hand replaced James’s on Sarah’s back. She looked up at him as he pulled her close. The same spark of awareness James saw in her eyes when he held her against him made another appearance.

  “You’ve had a helluva mornin’.” Billy leaned in, brushing his lips to Sarah’s forehead. “Are you okay? The sheriff and his deputy didn’t hurt you, did they?” James could see Billy’s concern hit a spot in Sarah that triggered the first hint of surrender. It would take far more than a few nice words and a little distress to make her give completely, but anything with Spitfire Sarah was a start.

  Sarah swallowed visibly and shook her head. “They didn’t do anything but string me up and settle in for the hangin’ show. They were real nice about it, though.” Billy chuckled and dipped his head again, this time giving her a kiss that looked far cooler and tamer than the one James had laid on her for half the town to see. “That’s my Sarah, always with a quick tongue and a sharp attitude.”

  “She’ll be riding with you,” James told his brother. “I’ll let you decide if you want to keep her bound or take your chances with her hands.”

  “Tough decision seein’ as I’ve been wantin’ to tie this hellcat up for a few years now.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said, too.”

  “I can ride by myself. I have my own horse.”

  “I’m headed to fetch your horse, but you’ll still be riding with Billy. I doubt it’ll surprise you, Sweet Sarah, but we ain’t aimed to trust you just yet. For all we know, the second we let you go on that horse, we’ll be eating your dust.” James saw the flare of anger in her expression and knew he’d hit on exactly what she planned. Damn it all to hell, he might be forced to tether the blasted woman to the bed and keep her there before it was over.

  The mental picture of Sarah McLaury’s curvy, naked limbs bound to his bed made his dick weep.

  Chapter Two

  Billy considered leaving Sarah’s hands tied. He had never found himself at the receiving end of one of her punches, as he knew James had a few times, but he didn’t aim to put himself there now. He also valued his cock. That realization led to his untying her hands when he started to lift her onto his horse. He planned for her to ride in front of him, where he could keep hold of her and the horse’s reins. Putting her between his spread legs with her wrists bound behind her back, however, put those dangerous hands in sure reach of his cock. While he couldn’t wait to feel her slender fingers curled around his shaft, giving her the opportunity to do it when she was still spitting mad didn’t bode well for his family jewels.

  “I’m lettin’ your hands go.” He spoke against the side of her face as he worked the rope on her wrists free. “Give me one reason and I’ll tie ’em right back up again.”

  Sarah turned her head, her nose bumping his as she tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “Why do I get the feelin’ I don’t have to give you a reason to tie me up, Billy?”

  “Well, now, that would likely be because I don’t need one. Stayin’ on the horse will be a smidgen easier if you can hold onto something, though. Hike up your skirts and I’ll help you on.”

  “I can mount a horse just fine by myself.” She bunched her skirts in her hands, giving Billy a flash of smooth, milky flesh that made his tongue throb for a taste.

  It took him a half a heartbeat to recover from the sight. Muttering an oath, he shook it off and reached for her. For a woman who could handle most chores fitting for a man, she weighed little to nothing. He lifted her despite her protests, planting her on the front of the saddle and mounting behind her, all without releasing his hold on her waist.

  “Settled?” He rested his chin on her shoulder and gathered the horse’s reins.

  When she squirmed, grinding her perfect rear against his already-swollen cock, he bit back a string of oaths far more profane than the one he let loose mere seconds ago.

  “Keep that up, Sarah, and I’m liable to bend you over this horse and take you right here.”

  She stilled, and he heard her quick intake of breath. She turned her head slowly, her succulent lips parting on words she failed to say when James joined them at their side, her horse tethered by a rope to his.

  “Let’s ride?”

  James waited until Billy set his horse at a fast gallop before taking up the rear, no doubt wanting to keep the
m in sight in case Sarah gave Billy any troubles. The only troubles Billy found came in the sensory overload of friction her tantalizing ass created against his cock as she bounced up and down with the horse’s steps. He peered over her shoulder, keeping his gaze dead ahead, trying desperately to find something else to lasso his thoughts around besides the growing need to fuck her blind. Taking a woman so vigorously usually proved more James’s style than his. He liked his women wet, ready, and submissive, but he enjoyed most taking his dear sweet time with their lithe, lovely bodies.

  “What did you tell the sheriff back there?”

  Billy grinned. He couldn’t think of a better way to divert his attention than to praise himself and James on a job well done or, in this case, a scam well pulled. “I just explained to him how you were with James and me when those cattle went missing. You ran off when you got your back up ’cause we expected you to make dinner, and that’s how you came to be back at your place when they found the stolen cattle on your land.”

  “You told him I was with you, both of you?” Billy shrugged. “It wouldn’t have been as believable otherwise, seein’ as how the whole town knows James and me do nearly everything together.” Sarah scoffed. “The sheriff actually swallowed that? I never took him for an idiot.”

  “You can’t say it doesn’t sound like somethin’ you’d do.” She smiled, a slow unfolding of her lips into a dazzling grin that sent his blood pressure soaring. Her beauty nearly knocked him clean off the horse.

  “Yeah, I guess it does. What excuse did you give him for waiting so long to come for me?”

  “I told him we figured a night in jail might teach you a lesson in obedience.

  Then I apologized from the bottom of my heart for letting it go so far as to set up your execution and string you up in front of the courthouse.”

  “I assure you that won’t go down as one of my fondest memories.” Sarah sighed and shivered against him.

  Billy transferred the reins to one hand and wound the other around her waist.

  He squeezed, hugging her close. “Tough one, seein’ you that way. It’s not something I ever want to see again.”

  Sarah fell silent, looking away from him. They rode along that way for a good long time before she sighed and turned her head slightly toward him again. “So now everyone in town is gonna think my virtue has been taken by the Cassidy brothers.”

  “Is it so far from the truth? It will be soon.” Not soon enough by any means.

  He and James should’ve taken every delectable inch of her sprightly body years ago.

  “What if I don’t want to give it to you?” Her chin went up and he didn’t have to see her face full-on to know she found her spitfire tenacity once more. “You plannin’ to rape me?”

  Billy nosed her braid from the side of her neck and licked a path from the bend of her shoulder all the way up to the tender flesh beneath her lobe. When she shivered and an almost imperceptible moan escaped her, he knew licking her from head to toe would be the most rewarding thing of his life so far.

  “We won’t have to rape you, Sweet Sarah,” he told her softly in her ear, purposely using James’s nickname for her. After that single taste he knew the name fit her all too well. “By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be beggin’ James and me to fuck you.”

  * * * *

  Billy’s husky promise echoed through Sarah’s mind for the remainder of the ride. She didn’t tell him it likely wouldn’t take him or James much to set her to begging. Blast them both, she wanted them already! The feel of Billy’s hardened cock against the small of her back awakened primal desires not fitting for a lady. Her nipples throbbed to be touched. Her belly danced with a zillion butterflies set to a sizzling flight of arousal. Between her legs settled the hottest fire of all, the embers sparking to coax juices from her channel that left her slit slick and weeping.

  Tough it out. She forced herself to ignore the carnal urges of her body. It would be too easy to give in, to give herself to the Cassidy brothers. She hadn’t held onto her virginity this long to let it go so easily now.

  The determination barely settled in her mind before the Cassidy ranch house came into view. James rode past them, gaining the lead to the front posts. Sarah watched him in abstract fascination, the lust pooling in her belly as he dismounted and tethered both the horses. He waited for Billy to catch up and then moved to help her dismount.

  “I’m perfectly capable of getting off a horse on my own,” she grumbled, getting tired of them babying her already.

  “Not as long as we don’t trust you,” James told her, his hands tightening on her waist, preventing her from moving away.

  Feeling him so close to her front sent her mind on a whirlwind of thoughtless babble. Her brain simply couldn’t function when he pressed all those hard muscles against her needy breasts. “I’m not going to run,” she managed to tell him. It wouldn’t do her a lick of good to try. She’d been running from the Cassidy brothers for years, and look where she ended up. Right here in James Cassidy’s strong, corded arms.

  “I still ain’t so sure about that, Sweet Sarah, and until I am, you aren’t gettin’

  very far.”

  “What are you planning to do, hog-tie me inside so I can’t go anywhere?” The twinkle in James’s eyes stoked the heat between her legs. Blast the man, she actually wanted him to tie her up inside the house, inside his bedroom. What was wrong with her? She fought to retain her virginity, to maintain her independence, because she didn’t want to be treated like a man’s possession. She knew many a woman who got treated with less respect than the animals her husband raised. She didn’t want that in her marriage, and yet here she found herself turned on like a whore in a brothel by the idea of this man binding her and having his way with her body.

  “That idea sure seems like a pleasant one. I figured I’d save that for later, though. Come inside and I’ll rustle us up some grub.” Sarah’s jaw fell open before she could stop it. She stared after him, her stunned gaze dropping to appreciate the swagger of narrow hips clad in denim as he sauntered into the house. She didn’t realize he left her the perfect opportunity to run until Billy’s arm snaked around her waist from behind. No doubt James knew his declaration of being the one to scrounge up food would leave her too shocked to think of moving.

  “Somethin’ wrong, Sarah?” Billy’s arm tightened around her, pulling her close to the solid wall of his body.

  “Too much to name,” Sarah said on a baffled burst of air. She turned her head, tipping it back to meet Billy’s gaze. The moment she did she felt herself start to fall.

  The man’s eyes offered a cliff that dropped into a dark abyss of heavenly compassion. They were so unlike James’s eyes that tended to change from a warm green to a wintery greenish-brown at the tip of a hat. “James is headed inside to cook.”

  “Yeah, I heard that. I’m sure he figured you gotta be getting hungry after the mornin’ you had.”

  “Can he cook?”

  Billy chuckled, the sound a deep baritone that moved the fine hairs on the side of her neck as he dipped his head and grazed his lips over her flesh. “It’ll likely be some biscuits left from last night to sop up a spot of gravy. I think there’s still a chunk or two of beef in there, too.”

  Sarah’s tummy grumbled at the thought of real meat to fill her belly. She didn’t get that on her own land. Instead, she relied on the scant vegetables she could grow and the breads she made.

  “We do all right for ourselves, darlin’.” Billy gave her waist another quick squeeze before releasing her from his embrace. “Ma made sure she raised boys who could see after themselves even if they had to do women’s chores. I guess she somehow knew it’d take us a spell to get our woman in line.” Sarah shot him a narrow-eyed glare that made his lips twitch at the corners. “I knew your ma. She was a fabulous lady who wouldn’t stand for her boys treatin’ a woman like some kind of possession.” She’d envied Sue Cassidy her spirit and strong wil
l, knew the woman ruled her house with an iron fist right alongside a husband who loved her to the ends of the earth and back.

  “Naw, I’m guessing she wouldn’t. ’Course, she wouldn’t stand for a woman givin’ us such hell over claimin’ her, either.” Billy’s wide hand closed over the top of Sarah’s arm, his grip more one of guidance than control as he propelled her forward.

  “Ma had a head made of stone, ’least that’s what Pa always said about her, but she knew her place as a woman.”

  “She didn’t deserve to die the way she did.” Sarah stopped walking, lowering her gaze at the memory of the stories she’d heard, the atrocity the eldest Cassidys had suffered in their final hours.

  She lost her own parents to a double bout of consumption around the same time the Cassidys met their deaths. The horrid disease that had taken so many God-fearing people in the West didn’t hold a candle to what happened to James and Billy’s parents. Robbed, knifed, and left for dead mere miles from home on the Western trail, their bodies were found first by a pack of what had been believed to be coyotes before any other human folk had come across them.

  “Neither did your pa. I’m real sorry for what happened to them. I don’t know if I ever told you that.”

  Billy nodded once, the pain of his parents’ death obviously still raw despite the years that had passed. “Whether you did or didn’t, I’m much obliged to hear it again.”

  Sarah hated the shadows that clouded his handsome face and silently cursed herself for putting them there. She started walking again, shaking her head and letting a small, disbelieving giggle escape. “James is gonna cook. This I gotta see.”

  “He ain’t too bad at it. I can make do in a pinch, too.”

  “In a pinch, huh? I expected you two to eat with the hands, let Mary-Beth take care of all the woman stuff here on the ranch, seein’ as she’s the only female around.