So why did she feel herself about to fall apart in James’s arms again? Why did she think this time would be more violent than the first?
“Two cocks inside your slender, sexy body, Sarah.” James delved the tip of his finger into her anus, at the same time pushing two fingers into her flaming channel.
Sarah mewled, her head lolling from side to side as her lower body writhed in his touch.
“That’s right, darlin’. We’re gonna make you come so hard you’ll scream for sure. Then you’ll beg us to do it again.”
Sarah wanted to scream now. She wanted to yell at him that she didn’t beg.
Except the words stinging the tip of her tongue could be defined as a plea for sheer mercy. How could a promise of things that would surely rip her apart make her want to implore them to do it now?
“Come for me.” Though James whispered the words in her ear, they rang with an authority that sent a thrill rocketing through her. His fingers in her channel wiggled, pressing against the barrier but not breaking through.
Her hips jerked, thrusting forward, wanting to feel that touch deeper. Forget what doing so would take from her. He gave her an unfathomable burn in her ass instead, inching his finger inside, stretching her and stroking her straight to another body-spasming release.
Sarah heard the scream leave her and didn’t possess the strength to stop it.
Drained, convulsing, and mindless, she fell on top of Billy and let it all drift away.
Chapter Six
Billy heard the pounding of horses before he saw them. He pulled off his cowboy hat, raking a hand through his already-sweaty hair as he squinted into the sunlight at the couple of riders headed his way. It took only a blink for his eyes to adjust and recognize the sheriff and his deputy.
“Looks like we’ve got company.” He raised his voice so James could hear him where he hefted a bag of feed and tossed it on the stack outside the barn.
“I see ’em,” James grumbled back. “That’s the last of the feed. Wouldn’t you know they show up when it’s time to get cleaned and get you doodied up for our trip into town?”
Billy stuck his tongue in his cheek and glanced at his brother. “Mighty ready to get to town this mornin’, aren’t you?”
“And you ain’t?”
“’Course I am. Just don’t think I’ve ever seen you so ready to put off work to see the townsfolk unless we were headed to the brothel.”
“There won’t be no more headin’ to the brothel now that our woman is finally home where she belongs.”
No, but Billy knew his brother’s anxiousness to get to town mirrored his own for the very same reason. They’d both tortured the hell out of themselves last night showing their woman pleasures they didn’t receive in return. “There won’t be no waitin’ until tonight to finish what we started last night, either.” James shot him a grin. “Naw, I reckon we won’t make it until sundown once we get back from the preacher.”
Billy figured they’d all be lucky if they made it out of town before finding a place private enough to stake their final claim to their woman. “Think this visit’s got anything to do with her?”
“Damn well better not, but I got a hunch it is.”
“Guess we better find out.” Billy sighed and placed his hat back on his head as he and James started walking.
“Sheriff.” James tipped his hat but didn’t take it off as the sheriff and deputy stopped several feet from where the Cassidy brothers stood beneath the tree at the corner of the house.
“James. Billy.” The sheriff nodded at each in turn as he dismounted. His deputy stayed on his horse. “Mighty fine day today.”
“Seems like.” James hooked his thumbs in his gun belt and stared down the sheriff.
Billy moved forward a half a step, knowing he’d better do the talking or James might be liable to say something he shouldn’t and get the sheriff’s back up for nothing. The mutual respect James and the sheriff showed one another only went so far, and they all knew it. James’s hot head and quick lip often tried the sheriff’s nerves.
“Is there a problem, Robert?” Billy asked. No need to get his back up until he knew what brought the sheriff around for this little visit.
The sheriff removed his cowboy hat, raked a hand through his hair, and puffed out a hard, audible breath. “’Fraid so. It seems there was a disturbance at the McCoy ranch last night.”
Billy saw James stiffen out of the corner of his eye. “You don’t say?” Temper simmered in his gut, but he kept his tone level, friendly. “What’s that got to do with us?”
The sheriff’s gaze danced from Billy to James and back again. He replaced his hat on his head and settled his right hand to rest on the butt of his gun at his hip. Billy took the move more as a show of the sheriff’s authority than a threat. Robert Spicer was a smart man. The odds might be even at two to two, but any fool in Laramie knew the Cassidy brothers to be faster draws than the sheriff and his deputy.
“Couple of McCoy’s boys claim they saw a woman scurryin’ off, seemed to be headin’ this way.”
“And nary a one of ’em was fast enough to catch her?” James’s tone seethed with derision.
The sheriff didn’t answer. He shook his head and went on. “Several heads of cattle went missin’ in the ruckus.”
“Sounds to me like old man McCoy should hire on some better cowboys to see after his stock.” Billy knew his men. The hands that worked the Cassidy spread were some of the best cowboys in the West. No way would any of them let several heads of cattle and a woman slip from plain sight.
“Sounds to me like you’re thinkin’ you might’ve made a mistake in not hangin’ our woman,” James added.
The sheriff’s brow winged up at James’s reference to Sarah being their woman. Billy caught James take a half step forward and steadied his own stance, ready to get his brother’s back if trouble unfolded.
“Is that it, Sheriff? You thinkin’ our Sarah was out rustlin’ cattle last night?” Billy asked, leveling his gaze on the other man.
“Didn’t have a notion that’s what folks called it these days.” Billy glanced at James, surprised to find his brother suddenly grinning like a loon. He thought back to last night, to the feel of Sarah’s thighs on either side of his face, of her luscious pussy on his lips, and understood his brother’s joke.
“Sarah was right where she belonged last night.”
Billy didn’t have a hankering to disagree with that. She could make a permanent seat out of his face for the rest of his life and he’d die a happy man.
“You boys sure about that?” The deputy spoke for the first time from where he remained saddled on top of his horse, his hands lax on the reins. “She could’ve sneaked out in the night. That Sarah McLaury ain’t a tame woman. Keepin’ her in her place is a sure job for a man, even two of ’em.”
“If she crawled out of bed, one of us would’ve known it, seein’ as how she’d’ve had to climb over one of us to escape,” Billy told the deputy and watched on the faces of both lawmen as understanding took hold.
“We ain’t hard sleepers,” James chimed in. “Hell, I reckon even if we were the feel of a naked woman spreadin’ her legs over one of us would bring us out of the sleep of the dead.”
“Is it really fittin’ to talk about a lady in such a way, even if it is between gentlemen?”
All gazes turned at the sound of Sarah’s voice. She came slowly across the yard, her face flaming in obvious embarrassment, but she held her chin high. She stopped between where Billy and James stood and glanced at them both before speaking.
“Am I to gander, since neither of you are sendin’ me back in the house, that this friendly meeting has somethin’ to do with me?”
Billy and James exchanged looks and imperceptible nods. Billy took the lead in explaining. “Some more cattle came up missin’ at the McCoy ranch last night, and a woman was sighted fleein’ the spread. The sheriff and his deputy here seem to thi
nk that woman might’ve been you.”
Sarah planted her fisted hands on her hips, and Billy could’ve sworn he heard her temper blow. “Now you listen here, Sheriff, and you listen good. I’m past tired of bein’ blamed, damned near hanged, and brutalized for things I ain’t had no part in doin’.”
“No one’s brutalized you, Miss Sarah,” the sheriff said calmly.
“There’s ways to harm a woman without leavin’ a mark on her flesh,” Sarah shot back. “You tell that to those yella-belly cowards that tore my place apart.”
“Now hang on, Miss Sarah. I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ’bout. You’re sayin’ somethin’ happened out at your place?”
Sarah scoffed. “Somethin’ happened, all right. It seems some bastards got their jollies riddin’ me of damned near all my worldly possessions while I was holed up in your jail.”
“Someone looted her place?” the sheriff asked, turning his attention on Billy, but it was James that answered.
“They did more than that. They only stopped short of burnin’ the place down.”
“Any sign of who did it?”
“Not that I could find.”
“You should’ve sent word to the jail. Mind if we head out there and take a look?”
“Suit yourself. I planned on comin’ to the jail later today when we headed into town. Didn’t see how it’d do much good to ride out yesterday. Whoever is responsible covered their tracks pretty good once they headed for the woods.”
“I’d still like to see with my own eyes. I can’t do much about nothin’ if I don’t know about it and see it for myself.” The sheriff hesitated a moment then added,
“Piece of advice, I’d suggest you boys keep close to the ranch for a few days and keep Miss Sarah here with you. Word’s already gotten back to town about the commotion on the McCoy ranch last night. Folks aren’t thinkin’ too kindly on Miss Sarah these days.”
“Well, now, that’s nothin’ new,” Sarah muttered, and Billy stifled a laugh.
* * * *
Sarah was spitting mad and damn sexy with it.
James watched her long legs stamping the ground in an act of pure temper as the dust from the sheriff’s and deputy’s departure settled in the air. The temptation to catch her by her slim waist, wrestle her to the ground, and plant his body between those amazing legs sizzled through his blood. Sanity held him back. He’d seen Sarah in all kinds of mad over the years. Most of the time, her anger had been directed at him. He had a notion if she got those legs wrapped around him now, she’d likely squeeze the life right out of him.
“Yella-belly cowards meddlin’ in my life and tryin’ to pin stuff on me I ain’t done,” Sarah muttered. She stomped several steps away, whirled around, and paced back, her gaze seemingly transfixed on nothing in particular.
James had a hunch she didn’t see anything around her, not even him or Billy.
A mad like what she was spewing now could make a person’s vision cloudy around the edges.
“Men, thinkin’ they know everything without a care in the world to what’s really going on,” she spat. “If men are so big and strong, why in the blazes they gotta hang it on a woman when somethin’ goes wrong?”
Beside him, James heard Billy cover a laugh with a cough. Sarah didn’t seem to hear it. She spun around mere feet from where they stood and paced away again.
Billy leaned toward James. “How long we gonna let her go at this?”
“Better her goin’ at it this way than goin’ after us with it,” James said out of the corner of his mouth.
“I reckon you’re probably right.”
Yeah, he was, except knowing Sarah the way he did they’d still be standing here watching her come nightfall if one of them didn’t calm her down.
“Sarah.” James tried to get her attention, not that he was sure he wanted it right about now. When her stomping didn’t falter a step, he tried again. “Sarah.” She whipped around, her long braid flying to slap her in the cheek. A smarter man might’ve flinched at the darts of sheer anger shooting from her eyes. James held his ground, leveling his gaze on her.
“I can tell you what’s goin’ on,” she ranted, not missing a beat despite the fact that she was making very little sense. “And I don’t need a tin star to figure it out.
Someone wants the whole town to think I’m rustlin’ cattle.”
“James and me have already come to that notion, Sarah,” Billy said evenly.
“And you’re lettin’ whoever it is get away with it,” Sarah spat, pointing an accusing finger their way.
James stiffened. Letting her pound the ground until she rid herself of that sexy temper tantrum she had going on was one thing. Taking the blame for it wasn’t going to fly. “Now hold up. If we let the sheriff or anyone get away with anything, your pretty neck would’ve snapped at the end of that rope two days back.” She winced, her steps halting in midstomp. The memory of those moments when she stood on the hanging platform in front of the courthouse flashed through her eyes.
James didn’t let up. He moved toward her, reaching her in three long strides.
Her head was tipped back, her body was ramrod straight, and her expression was full of censure and rage as she squared off with him.
“Billy and I have a strong word in this town, and we put it on the line for you, darlin’,” James reminded her firmly.
Sarah didn’t back down. “You used it as a trap.”
“You’re not trapped,” Billy told her, moving to James’s side. “We gave you the chance to leave last night. Are you changin’ your mind about that now?” James watched the war going on in her expression and kept his own carefully blank. A lump pretty akin to fear rose in his throat, but damned if he’d let her see that.
Her gaze shifted to Billy before her head slowly lowered and she whispered,
“No.”
“We could force you to stay. Hell, it might’ve started that way, but only
’cause we want you.”
Better you showing the weakness than me, brother, James thought. Truth was he’d grown tired of sparring with her at every turn. He enjoyed the way his spitfire Sarah butted heads with him and Billy, but it was time to move on to other battles.
“Go now if you want,” Billy said softly. “We ain’t stoppin’ ya.” To hell we ain’t, James thought, knowing Billy was bluffing. If she called Billy on it, it just might be the biggest lie he’d told in his life.
Sarah’s head came up, and the tears glistening in her eyes nearly did James in.
Her teary gaze danced from Billy to him. “Maybe I don’t want to go.” James shook his head and lifted a finger to her cheek. “Sweet Sarah, do you always have to be so stubborn?”
“Would you still love me if I wasn’t?” Challenge sparked on her beautiful face.
“God only knows.” James chuckled and made an on-the-spot decision. “Now go inside and change into some trousers. We’re taking you out on the land today.” Her expression brightened a spell, but the lingering hints of temper remained around her luscious mouth and gorgeous eyes. “Think I don’t know you’re just doin’
that so you can keep your eyes on me?”
“Naw, I’m figurin’ you know that easy enough. We can’t spare a man to stand watch today.”
Sarah hesitated and let out a half laugh. “First you’re tellin’ me to go, and now you’re back to not lettin’ me out of your sight.”
“That option was all Billy, darlin’. I never gave you the chance to leave.” Sarah held his gaze for a long moment then nodded and stepped to Billy. She rose to her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips. “Thanks.” Jealousy twisted in James’s gut as she turned and started walking to the house.
She stopped short of the porch and turned back.
“We ain’t going into town today, are we?”
“No,” James answered, surprised by the disappointment now becoming the paramount emotion on her face.
“Then we can’t see the preacher.”
“Not today.”
Sarah squared her shoulders and narrowed her eyes on him. “I’m not backin’
down from my values, James Cassidy. I may not be proper in all things, but I have to be in this.”
“We expect you to be,” Billy told her.
“There’s still other ways to pleasure a woman,” James added and marveled in the flash of heat and spark of excitement that overtook her lovely face as she turned and disappeared into the house.
* * * *
Sarah found her comfort and calm on the Cassidy land. James and Billy put her to work feeding the cattle, tending the horses, and even put a shovel in her hand for a spell to help dig out a shallow trench. Sweat dripped from the ends of her hair and she figured she likely looked a fright with all the dirt and grime she could feel on her exposed flesh, but she’d take the labors of the land over household chores any day. No doubt about it, she thought as she stopped to wipe her forehead with the back of her hand, I should’ve been born a man.
The sound of an approaching horse beckoned her attention from the trench.
She immediately recognized Buck as the ranch foreman brought his horse to a stop where James and Billy worked a short distance away. They might have given in and let her pull some weight outside today, but they hadn’t faltered in their task of keeping her well in their sights.
James turned to her, pushing at the brim of his cowboy hat with his knuckle to set it back farther on his head. “Take a break. Get a taste of the water from the canteen in my horse’s satchel.”
Sarah nodded and let the shovel fall to the ground as the men moved in closer to each other. She didn’t intend to eavesdrop, figuring the conversation between the men would be about Buck’s duties and what was still needing to be done around the ranch. But when the talk took a decided turn to missing cattle, her hearing became sharp as a wolf. It only took her seconds to realize the men weren’t talking about the cattle missing from the McCoy ranch. No, a scattering of others had gone missing from the Cassidy ranch shortly before she had been set to hang for rustling.
Her Dominant Saviors Page 8
