Wanton in the West

by Lisa Plumley

  Violet seemed frustrated. Insistently she said, “You can hightail it to Avalanche. Or Landslide. Just hide out awhile. I’ll send you a message when it’s safe for you to come back.” Furtively she shoved a wad of bills at him. “Here. Take this.”

  “No!” Gob smacked, Clayton shook his head. “I appreciate your warning me. I do. You’re a true friend.” He enveloped her hand in his to make her keep her money, even as—with typical bashfulness—Violet protested. “But all I need you to do is look after Adeline for me while I’m gone. Will you do that?”

  “Will I watch over Adeline while you’re in jail?”

  Clayton nodded. “It would mean the world to me to know she’s all right. And don’t let her visit! It’s a bad place.”

  He could have sworn Violet rolled her eyes. “Your concern is sweet, Mr. Davis, but what you need to do is skedaddle!”

  Clayton peered at her, still thinking that this whole situation seemed peculiar. “If I didn’t know better,” he said, “I’d swear you’re trying to make me leave town in a hurry.”

  “Don’t you patronize me!” Violet stamped her foot. “I’m trying to save your life! The least you could do is cooperate!”

  “All right.” Helplessly Clayton raised his palms. “Don’t get all riled up.” He gave her a grin, knowing there was only one way out of this: humoring her. “I’m running. See?”

  He took off at a trot. Spinning, he tipped his hat to her. “Thank you kindly, Miss Benson! I’m eternally indebted to you!”

  Behind him, Violet harrumphed. But she also seemed pleased he’d complied. If pretending to run away would make Violet feel better—and make her quit badgering him—he didn’t mind doing it.

  Within a few minutes, Clayton’s unasked-for guardian angel was well behind him. Slowing, he approached his tidy cabin on the outskirts of town. Between the trees, he saw…

  Men. With rifles. And Sheriff Caffey at their lead.

  Damnation. Violet Benson had been right! He was in trouble.

  On the verge of striding into the clearing to declare his innocence, Clayton paused. Yes, he was blameless. Yes, he wanted to explain himself. But wandering into the midst of a worked-up, murderous-looking posse was just asking to be killed by mistake.

  He couldn’t do that to Adeline. Later, he’d clarify things. For now, if he wanted to stay out of the hoosegow until he could rightly explain himself to the circuit judge, he’d better keep out of sight. So Clayton wheeled around, then legged it in the opposite direction…thinking all the while of Adeline.

  Feeling more overheated than any woman had a right to be, Adeline raised her forearm to mop her brow. She exhaled deeply. Then, with no one around to see her do it, she finally gave in to the urge that had bedeviled her all day—the urge to cool off.

  Plopping onto a boulder near the stream where she’d been washing her delicates outside her papa’s farmhouse, she hastily undid her shoes. She cast them aside. She wriggled her toes.

  Ah. She felt cooler already, even with her stockings on. But if she went further… Furtively Adeline cast a second cautious glance. No one was around for miles. With a burst of impulsiveness, she reached under her skirts. She unhooked her cotton knit stockings. She peeled them off, sighing with relief.

  Her long, dark stockings landed beside her shoes, near her basket of damp, ready-to-be-hung laundry. But her chores could wait. For now, in the dappled shade of the scrub oaks that grew along this part of the creek, Adeline intended to treat herself.

  With a frisson of anticipation, she waded into the water. Its chill made her gasp. Her toes curled against the creek bed’s rocky bottom; silt rushed upward, swirling in ticklish eddies. She couldn’t help squealing with delight. Gooseflesh prickled her arms. Her whole body felt enlivened. At least this was one aspect of doing summertime laundry she could appreciate.

  Wanting more, Adeline bent to splash creek water on her arms. She’d already bared them to the elbow before putting her washboard to good use; now, she raised her wrists high. Water droplets fell on her head, undoubtedly ruining her high-swept hairstyle, but Adeline didn’t care. The water’s cooling power was simply too delicious. Daringly she unfastened the first few buttons on her dress bodice, then sprinkled water there, too.

  Delightful. Closing her eyes, she tipped back her head. It was a good thing Papa was gone for a few days, selling a cow. If he’d come across her like this, he’d have thought she was—

  “Are you crazy, Adeline? What are you doing?”

  At the sound of that masculine voice, Adeline started. Eyes wide-open now, she jerked around her head to see…Clayton.

  Involuntarily she released a sigh. He looked so handsome standing there on the creek bank, with his muscular shoulders and tousled golden hair and overall swoon-worthy presence.

  Impossibly compelled to do so, Adeline smiled coquettishly at him. “Why, can’t you see? I’m cooling off. Why don’t you join me in here? The water’s awfully refreshing.”

  To demonstrate that fact, she dipped up more of it. Still gazing at Clayton, she let it drip down the gap in her bodice.

  Those little water droplets did their job. They lured her beau’s gaze to her bosom as surely as did her next breath.

  Clayton blinked. Her spell dissipated. “I can’t do that. I’m in big trouble, Adeline. Sheriff Caffey is after me.”

  He gazed at her with breath held, as though expecting her to scream or bawl or perhaps fall into a genuine ladylike faint.

  Instead Adeline only shrugged. “I know. The sheriff and his men were here a little while ago, looking for you. I told them you couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong.”

  “I haven’t. This is all a terrible mistake.”

  She squinted at him. He seemed like the same reliable, loyal and trustworthy Clayton Davis to her. “I’m sure it is.”

  He seemed gratified by her fidelity. “But until I can explain myself… Well, I’m leaving, Adeline.” Clayton stepped forward, all the way to the water’s edge. His gaze dipped to her figure again. “I don’t stand a chance against Caffey alone. I’ll be back to clear my name with the circuit judge in a few days.”

  “Leaving?” Troubled, Adeline splashed nearer. “You can’t!”

  “I have to.” He cast another roving glance over her person—this time, centering with a certain flattering intensity over the unbuttoned areas of her dress bodice. He swallowed hard. “But I didn’t want to leave, even for a little while, without saying goodbye to you. So I…” Clayton took a seemingly involuntary step forward, almost tromping his boots atop her cast-off stockings. He glanced down. His brow gave an adorable crinkle. “Are those your stockings?” Another speculative glance. “Are you…naked?”

  She laughed, grasping her skirts. “You can see I’m not!”

  “But under your dress—” he pointed “—you must be—”

  With a naughty thrill, Adeline raised her brows. “Yes?”

  “Naked. Bare legged. I’ve never known you to be—”

  Clayton broke off, lifting his gaze to meet hers. Something in his eyes beckoned her. It made her feel all fluttery inside. Awash in the unexpected excitement of it, Adeline trembled.

  She nodded. “It feels very good, too. Won’t you join me?” In a burst of daring, she took his free hand. “I want you to.”

  For an instant, it seemed he would. Adeline knew she saw desire in his eyes.

  But then Clayton eased his hand from her wet, slippery grasp. “I’d like that,” he said. “I truly would! But we shouldn’t even be out here like this. It’s not proper. If anyone found out, there’d be hell to pay. We’d be in awful trouble.”

  He was sweet to consider her reputation. “If I’m not mistaken, you already are in awful trouble,” Adeline said. “There’s no sense in caution now, is there?”

  Tilting her head, she considered how alluring, how masculine, how wonderful his mouth looked just then. Clayton seemed to be considering the finer aspects of her mouth, too. His gaze centered on her lips, th
en got stuck there. They wavered, the two of them, with the creek water trickling past and the sunlight beaming down and the birds twittering in the bushes, and just…breathed as though they wanted to be one.

  Adeline did want to be one with Clayton. She wanted to be his wife, his helpmate, his love, his everything. She knew he was a good man. He’d sort out this issue with the sheriff. Until that happened… Well, who knew what might occur between them?

  “You already were a wanted man, you know.” She raised her palm to his chest, making a damp imprint on his shirt. His heart thudded wildly beneath her palm. “Because I want you,” she teased, “and I always have. So you’d better get used to it.”

  Giving a groan, Clayton covered her hand with his. His gaze searched hers, dark and unfathomable. “Aww, Adeline. I want you, too! You don’t know what you do to me. You can’t know.” His hand tightened on hers. “I was already all fired up, just getting out here to see you. Every feeling I ever had is racing around inside me, wanting to get out. Ordinarily I’ve got better control of myself, but today… Well, everything’s changed.”

  “You still seem like you. Only more…dangerous, somehow.”

  He gawked at her. “You’re teasing me? Now? Adeline, I could have been shot today. Thinking about never seeing you again—” He broke off, then squeezed her hand. “It tore me up inside.”

  Surprised at his depth of feeling, Adeline moved nearer. His hand felt good over hers. It felt right. So did Clayton. He belonged by her side, forever and ever, no matter his troubles.

  “The world can’t possibly separate us, Clayton. We’ll always be together. Forever.” Wanting to make her point more emphatically, Adeline pressed a gentle kiss to his brow. Then another. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m here.”

  She lifted her free hand to smooth his hair. When it fell over his brow, it lent him a boyish air—one she loved. With another reassuring murmur, she kissed his cheek. Next, she kissed the faint scar where a splinter of lumber had hit him at the mill. She kissed his jaw and felt his bristly stubble at her mouth. That’s when—wonderfully—Clayton kissed her, too.

  Her knees felt all quivery. Her breath came in pants. The only thing holding her up seemed to be Clayton’s strong arm and his hand, cradling her against his wide, remarkable chest. The warmth she felt emanating from him felt different from the warmth of the sun that had affected her all day. His warmth felt necessary, especially mingling as it did with his nearness and the sweet piney smell that always clung to his clothes. Mmm….

  “It means so much to me that you came to see me,” Adeline told him. “I’m so happy you trust me and need me! And I—”

  “Adeline, I came here to say goodbye to you. Remember?”

  “Goodbye?” Jolted by those words—and bereft at the imminent lack of his kisses already—she came up for air. “But I thought I could change your mind. I don’t want you to go!”

  “I don’t want to leave. But what else can I do?”

  “You can stay here, at my farmhouse.” At Clayton’s dubious look, Adeline rushed onward. “Sheriff Caffey has already been here! He won’t think to come back—not for days. You’ll be safe.”

  “That’s probably true.” Clayton seemed torn. “But I can’t put you or your father at risk. Mr. Wilson will never consent—”

  “Papa’s not here.” She told him about the cow.

  “No. It’s not proper,” Clayton insisted. “I want to marry you someday! I can’t endanger your reputation, just because—”

  “—just because your life is at risk? Please, Clayton. You can!” Feeling a bit stung at his cavalier mention of their not-yet-scheduled nuptials, Adeline nonetheless mustered the courage to put Clayton’s needs ahead of her own. “You have to stay.”

  Still, her beau remained typically mulish. “No. Violet suggested Avalanche,” Clayton said, “and I think she’s right.”

  “Violet?”

  “Yes. She’s the one who warned me. I thought you knew.”

  Newly alert at the mention of her most helpful lifelong friend, Adeline inhaled. “Violet told you to leave town?”

  Clayton laughed. He looked downright irresistible when he laughed. “She did everything but shoo me out of town herself!”

  “Interesting.” Reminded of Violet’s crazy talk about making sure Clayton had a chance to miss her—and to want to finally propose to her—Adeline probed further. “Tell me more.”

  Clayton did. By the time he’d finished, Adeline was plumb certain that her friend’s well-meant scheming was behind the supposed manhunt for Clayton. Adeline didn’t know how Violet had concocted such a plan, and she didn’t know precisely how it was meant to compel Clayton to drop to one knee. But she did know that she could hardly admit to Clayton that he’d been duped.

  Especially by her very own closest friend, Violet Benson.

  She also knew that she couldn’t allow Clayton to skedaddle all the way to Avalanche on a pretense. It wouldn’t be right. Adeline prided herself on always trying to do what was right.

  Not necessarily what was proper…but what was right.

  Which is why, given the next chance she had, she grabbed hold of Clayton’s arm, let out a squeal, then dropped backward.

  Inevitably they slipped. Startled, Clayton reached for her. If she’d been less determined, he’d have saved her. As it was, Adeline clung mightily to him, then dragged them both in the creek. Water splashed in a merry arc. They both sputtered.

  Surfacing, Adeline caught sight of Clayton. His shirt clung wetly to his shoulders. It outlined his muscular arms and chest in a fashion that bordered on—no, was—positively indecent.

  She liked it. She liked it to a powerful degree.

  “Adeline!” He hauled her up. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” Breathlessly she swept soggy clumps of hair from her face. She blinked away water. “Are you? You look as if you’re soaked clean through! I can’t let you go on the run like that. If you try, you’ll catch your death of cold. Come on.”

  She tugged his hand. Suspiciously he regarded her. “It’s hot out. The sun won’t set for another hour. I’ll dry off.”

  “Nonsense. I’ll take care of you. Just come with me.”

  In her best, most generous manner, Adeline hurried him to the creek’s bank. Efficiently she attempted to wring out his clothes—and only succeeded in making him more jumpy than before.

  “Adeline! Hang on. That’s my trousers you’re grabbing!”

  Crouched before him, she glanced up matter-of-factly. “I’m trying to wring out the water. I already did your shirt, so—”

  “So that’s good enough. I can stand a little wetness.”

  “I’d never forgive myself if you caught a fever. Besides, if you stay in those wet duds, you’ll get cold. Just come inside for a little while, while I hang up your clothes to dry.” With all the innocence she could dredge up, Adeline smiled at him. “If you still want to pull foot for Avalanche when your clothes are ready, I promise I won’t say a peep to try to stop you.”

  Clayton wavered. Through no volition of her own, Adeline felt her gaze drift to his trousers again. She’d never touched his person in such a forward manner before. But these were desperate times. She was determined not to give away Violet’s plan—at least not until she knew what it consisted of—and she was equally determined not to allow Clayton to suffer unduly.

  That meant he had to stay with her. Possibly all night.

  At the very idea, her whole body perked up. With Clayton at her farmhouse, it would be exactly like being married!

  Except…not really. Her shoulders slumped. She felt mopey.

  “Aww, don’t look so sad! I can’t stand it.” Fiercely, Clayton took hold of her shoulders. His fingers nearly singed her, they felt so hot. “I guess…a short delay won’t hurt.”

  Adeline brightened. “I guarantee I’ll make it fun for you!”

  Now Clayton appeared worried. He peered at her. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d s
wear you’re trying to make me spend the night with you on purpose.” He grinned. “But I won’t.”

  That’s what you think, Adeline thought, newly determined.

  It might not be strictly proper to take advantage of their unusual circumstances this way, but it certainly felt right. For as long as she could, Adeline meant to enjoy this time with Clayton. No matter where it led, proposal or not. She meant to—

  Shriek. To her surprise, Clayton scooped her up in his arms. He headed for her farmhouse, dripping water all the while. His sodden boots squished, making puddles with every big step.

  “Wait! My laundry! My shoes, my stockings, my—”

  “I’ll collect them for you later. After you’re safely inside. You didn’t think I’d let you catch cold, did you?”

  Aww. He really cared about her. Touched, Adeline sighed. Comforted, she let her head rest on Clayton’s shoulder. By the time they reached her farmhouse’s front porch, she realized he would have to carry her over her threshold—like a true bride!

  As though sensing the significance of the moment, Clayton paused. He gazed down lovingly at her. “Besides,” he said, “if I carry you, I can look all I want at your lovely bare ankles.”

  His wolfish grin made her girlish daydreams evaporate.

  Maybe, it occurred to Adeline, she’d underestimated Clayton. Maybe he wanted her even more than she wanted him, and had only maintained his gentlemanly behavior with effort—effort she was about to derail by spending time alone with him. It seemed so. But it was too late now to entertain second thoughts.

  “Look all you want,” she said bravely, hoping she sounded at least a bit seductive. “There’s more where they came from.”

  Clayton laughed. “More ankles? Now that’s a trick.”

  To her vexation, he released her. Adeline clung to him anyway, doing her best impression of being stuck tight. With a breathless wiggle, she felt her toes touch the floorboards.

  Her performance wiped the smile clean off Clayton’s face. He looked…aware was all that came to mind. That, and alive.

  Clearing his throat, he yanked at his soggy shirt collar. He opened the door, then gestured inside. “After you, miss.”