After a few minutes, he let his hand slide down Lacy’s back and pulled her in tighter. He listened to her breathing become soft and even in sleep, and found himself relaxing too.
When had he become so comfortable with her by his side? All the women he’d had over the years, none had spent the entire night with him unless he or Dakota were buried deep inside them working their bodies to come one after another.
With Lacy it was different.
Holding her like this filled something inside him, something he hadn’t known was missing. He’d delighted in her happiness over the new dress. Talking with her like tonight at the café seemed natural to him. Hell, he’d just trusted her with his darkest secret.
Whether he wanted her to or not, she’d managed to become important to him. And wasn’t that a kicker? Because what was he going to do with her when this was all over? Even if she wasn’t involved with Cap’s death and the other two murders, she still had to answer for helping in the bank robbery.
What kind of punishment would fit her crime?
* * * * *
“Damn, bitch, you’re as loose as the valley walls.”
Devil gripped the whore’s ass tighter with one hand as he pounded into her from behind. He grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the table beside him and took a slug. It burned its way down his throat. Damn if he didn’t feel more from the whiskey than he did from his prick these days.
He looked down at the fat blonde and knew he’d never be able to spend his seed in her. She wasn’t Lacy.
Anger shot through him.
With a slap to her ass, he pushed the camp whore off him. She fell face first onto the floor and stared over her shoulder at him as he struggled to his feet.
“Get out!” he growled then stumbled back to his chair.
She scrambled to her knees, clutching her dirty clothes to her chest. “What’d I do?”
He lifted his gun and pointed it at her. “Nothing. That’s the problem. You’re a whore, now get your ass out before I shoot it.”
The door to his shack slammed shut seconds later. Swilling down more whiskey, he leaned back, closed his eyes and waited for the ache in his prick and balls to ease. Trouble was, he hadn’t been able to come for months, not with any real woman, only with the vision of Lacy that last night.
As if he’d conjured her up he could see her strapped to the pole in the middle of camp once more, stripped naked, her light caramel skin glistening in the evening sun. He’d gripped the whip and let it swing, the whistle sounding just seconds before the crack, followed by her screams.
His cock jumped at the sound.
Now he fisted it as he watched his arm draw back again, anticipating the pain, the terror in her eyes, the whimpers that came after the screams. Her pain fueled his lust.
He’d meant to break the bitch’s will, but she wouldn’t tell him where she’d hidden the money.
Another stroke of the lash.
Her body jerked.
His hand moved faster, stroking his throbbing shaft.
Another stroke.
Her skin tore.
His balls tightened.
One more stroke.
She arched against the pole, arms pulled taut, then collapsed, blood oozing from the stripes.
“Fuck, yes!” Hot cum spewed out over his hand.
Finally, he relaxed back in his chair and opened his eyes. The witch had ruined him for any other woman. Soon Santos and his men would return her to him, and he’d finally get to taste her body. But first, he’d let the whip have its turn.
Chapter Eleven
The midmorning sun had cleared the tops of the trees before they stopped to rest the horses. Lacy sat on a long flat boulder hanging above the river’s edge, letting the spring sunshine warm her face while Quinn and Dakota stretched their legs.
Even in their relaxed state, she knew they watched for trouble by the way Dakota cradled his rifle in his arms and how Quinn scanned the area while they talked. Despite her experience with the cougar, she felt completely safe out in the wilds with these two men.
They talked a few more minutes, then Dakota headed into the forest farther up the trail. Quinn hobbled the horses, then wandered in her direction. She liked how he moved, as if he were in control of everything around him, comfortable in his surroundings.
Too bad the end of their trek would take her back to the valley, and afterwards she wouldn’t be spending quiet time in the outdoors with him. No, she’d probably be seeing the sunshine from behind prison bars or facing a noose.
No use worrying about it now. Trouble would find her soon enough. Might as well enjoy the freedom while she had it.
She closed her eyes and let out a long contented sigh.
“That sounded happy.”
Opening one eye to peek at Quinn a moment, she closed it again and leaned her head back. “Right here, right now, I am happy.”
“Any particular reason?”
She felt him sliding in behind her on the boulder, his legs spread outside hers, his chest pressed against her back. “It’s a beautiful day, if a bit chilly. The company is good. Do I need another reason?”
“Not really. You’re not worrying about what’s going to happen in the valley?”
“No.” Her smile faded. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have right now.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
She swallowed then looked over her shoulder at him. “You don’t know that.”
“You won’t be out of my sight. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” She laid a finger on his lips to still the protest forming there. “I trust you and Dakota to do your best to protect me. That’s enough. Don’t spoil this beautiful day with ugly thoughts.”
“What would you like to talk about then?” He kissed her finger then grinned at her. The sight made her heart swell, her stomach flip and her pussy throb. There was too much to love about this man.
Love? Dear God, had she fallen in love with him? Her captor? The man who meant to see her punished for her crimes?
“Lacy?”
The concern on his face snapped her back to the present. And that’s why she’d fallen for him. Even though he planned to turn her over to the territorial judge at the end of all this, he treated her with more kindness and concern than any man ever had in her life.
Any other time, if they were different people, she might confess her feelings, but the whole situation was hopeless. Her love would be a secret, probably one she’d take to her grave.
He laid his hand on her arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” And she knew she was. She smiled at him. “Why don’t you tell me about your other brothers?”
“Nicco and Ian?”
“Yes. How did they come to be part of the group?”
Quinn reached over and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, then wrapped one arm around his bent knee, the other hand hovering near his holster. Always watching, always protecting.
“Nicco comes from a small town in Italy.”
“Really? How did your father find him? Did he travel all over the world?”
“Nah. Cap didn’t like the ocean at all. Said he was the only man in his family to get seasick.” For a moment he chuckled at the memory, then grew more serious. “Cap found Nicco wandering around in the desert between Fort Bliss in Texas and Santa Fe. Poor kid had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, a gash in his head, and spoke no English. At first Cap thought he was Mexican, but he didn’t understand half the Spanish Cap spoke either.”
“Oh my God, what happened to him?”
“His father brought the whole family—Nicco, his two brothers and two sisters—to America to start a vineyard. Nicco swears they had the best grapevines with them.” Quinn wrapped his arms around her and cradled her back against him, almost as if he wanted to comfort her or himself from the story’s sad ending.
“A group of bandits attacked them as they were
headed to Santa Fe on their way to California. They slaughtered the men, took the girls captive and stole the cattle and horses. They must’ve thought Nicco, who was the youngest, was either dead or not long for this world and left him to die. Cap found him a few days later.”
“How old was he?”
“About ten.”
“How horrible.” An ache settled in her heart and Lacy covered her mouth to stem the trembling.
“Yeah, he fought Cap when he tried to bring the kid home with him. None of us knew what to make of the fact that Cap had tied him up and kept him locked in a room for a few weeks. We thought he was some kind of outlaw.”
“Why would he do that to the poor boy?”
“Seems for the first few days, Nicco kept trying to get free. It took Cap awhile, but finally he figured out that Nicco wasn’t wandering in the desert. He was searching for the trail of the men. He kept saying, ‘Devo trovare le mio sorelle’.”
“What does that mean?”
“We finally learned it meant ‘I must find my sisters’.” For a moment Quinn was silent, resting his head against hers and rubbing her arm with his hand. “It took a lot of patience for us and Cap, but finally Nicco learned we meant him no harm and that he was too little to be looking for the men all on his own. Every trip Cap had to take to Santa Fe, he’d let some of us go with him and we’d try to find news on Nicco’s sisters.”
“Did he ever find them?”
“No. Every now and then word comes up that some young girl has been kidnapped and Nicco heads out to try to find them. He spends most of his time based in Santa Fe these days.” Quinn shifted his weight behind her and let his hand slide down to where her skirt split. He slid his warm palm up her inner thigh.
Lacy bit back a grin. The man loved to touch her.
“And the other brother, Ian? How did he join your family?”
“His grace, the duke?”
She blinked and peeked over her shoulder at him again. “You mean he’s a real duke?”
“So he claims.”
“Then why? How?”
“I think you need to earn that story.”
“Earn it? How?”
“Open your shirt.” The soft, dark command sent shivers up her body.
“Right here, in the open?” Her body reacted instantly, nipples drawing taut and her pussy growing slick. It took every fiber of her resolve not to reach for the buttons.
He pulled her hair from her neck and trailed his lips to her ear. “Lacy, we’re headed into a den of rattlers, you know that. Our plan relies on them believing you’re my sex slave. That you’ll do anything I command you to. You have to obey me without question in order for us to fool them.”
Fool them? After the week she’d spent with him and Dakota and the things they’d made her do, she didn’t need to try to “fool” anyone. She was afraid it was all too true. He was right though, the more times he commanded and she obeyed, the less nervous she’d be when he made her do things in the camp with Devil and Santos watching.
“Open your shirt.”
This time she didn’t hesitate. With his warm breath caressing her ear and neck, a masculine scent that tickled her senses and pushed her own lust higher, she slipped each button through its fastener, slowly exposing her skin and her breasts covered by the lacy camisole beneath.
He settled his hands on her shoulders, his long calloused fingers caressing the skin just above the swells of her breasts. “Now the rest. Untie the strings.”
This time her fingers shook, from her own physical need, not nerves, as she reached for the satin ribbon. He slid his tongue along the folds of her ear and bit down on the lobe. She moaned softly, loosening the lace ties to open her camisole until it hung just on the tips of her nipples.
“Let me see all of them, sweetheart.”
With a deep breath, she lifted the edges outward, revealing the dark rosy buds, tight and aching in the cool air. And damn if she didn’t love the decadent feeling, being exposed to him and anyone else watching out here in the wild.
“Mmm, so delicious. Pinch them. Show me how you like them treated,” he commanded, then latched his mouth on to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, his breath warming the cool metal of her collar and sending frissons of heat shooting through her body.
“Oh God,” she moaned, grasping her nipples between her thumb and first two fingers of each hand. Eyes closed she gently plucked them like pulling feathers from a bird. Then she pulled them just hard enough to feel the tingle spread through her, down to her swollen nether lips. She arched her body in response, opened her legs. Wanting more. Needing more.
“Open your eyes, look up river,” Quinn ordered, settling his hands on her thighs once more and pulling the slit skirt open to her groin. He loosened the ties to her drawers and wiggled them down her legs, the cool mountain air sending shivers on her exposed flesh.
When she obeyed, she saw Dakota approaching, his horse tethered near the others, his gaze fastened completely on her.
And she knew. They meant to take her, together, right here. With that knowledge another thrill ran through her. That’s exactly what she wanted. To please them and let them please her in the way only they could.
Quinn slid his fingers up her inner thighs to her pussy lips, petting them softly, as if he were stroking a kitten. “Do you know what he’s going to do to you when he gets here?”
“Watch us?”
“Mmm, he might like that and I think you would too.” Quinn chuckled against her ear, his fingers slipping into her folds to rub circles around the nub of pleasure hidden there. “No, he’s not going to watch. He’s going to taste.”
The words sent heat and moisture to her pussy.
“You like that idea, don’t you?”
“Yes, I love it.”
“Yes, you do. You like the idea so much you’ll do whatever I ask, won’t you?”
All she could do was nod.
“Reach behind you and unfasten my pants.” He moved one hand up to continue teasing her nipples as she obeyed and slid her hands behind her.
It took her a few minutes to get the fastenings open, but she was rewarded when her fingers encountered the hot, throbbing cock beneath. She eased him out and stroked him from base to tip, watching Dakota stop in front of her and loosen his own britches.
“Enough.” Quinn released her and reached down to still her movements. Then he gripped her by her ass cheeks and lifted, Dakota holding her thighs open. “Ease back on me.”
Her boots scraped on the rock as she scooted up and back until her pussy lips were speared by his thick cock head. A moan escaped her as she impaled herself on him.
“That’s it, darlin’. Take me in deep.” Quinn’s voice sounded dark and raspy, as if his body was as fulfilled at being in her as hers was by having him there.
“Lean back, pet,” Dakota said, slowly pushing her shoulders back against Quinn. “Keep your legs open for me.”
She wouldn’t close them if she could.
Then he lowered his head between her thighs, latching onto the nub at the top and suckling.
“Oh God!”
She thrust her hips upward slightly, only to find herself trapped between them and able to move a few inches at most. But what glorious inches they were. Quinn slid out then thrust back in to the hilt, stretching and filling her more than she’d ever experienced. And Dakota, dear lord, he’d slid his tongue down to where she was joined with Quinn, teasing and stroking her opening.
“Damn, so good,” Quinn growled in her ear, apparently enjoying his partner’s tongue as much as she.
Had he felt it before? With Dakota?
As much as the thought surprised her, it also ratcheted up her own lust fever, sending her spiraling upward.
Each man cupped one of her breasts, pulling and rolling the nipple, knowing this would heighten her pleasure, take her closer to the edge. She needed…
“More.”
Turning her face to seek out Quinn’s lips, she
slid her hand down to cup Dakota’s head, pressing him in tighter.
Quinn swept his tongue into her mouth, mimicking the way his cock thrust into her body. He murmured his growing desire as he bucked beneath her while Dakota held her imprisoned with his hands and mouth, keeping her from flying off when the spasms hit.
Like a fine-tuned violin string, they plucked her climax from her body, holding her taut between them until every last note of the chord was wrung from her body.
Then they switched tactics.
Dakota released his lips from her pussy, sliding his hard body up hers, the friction sending sensation exploding through her body again.
“Oh God, I can’t…”
“You can’t what?” Quinn asked, releasing his hold on her breast and hip to slip his fingers between them and tease her as he pumped in and out of her more, faster.
“I can’t…take…” Another moan escaped her as Dakota trailed his lips across her stomach, up her chest, then latched on to the side of her neck just below her gold collar.
“You can’t take what, darlin’?” Quinn plucked her pleasure nub with his fingers while the other hand caressed her where his cock stretched and filled her.
“I can’t…take…anymore,” she blurted out as another spasm ripped through her body.
“Yes, you can, pet,” Dakota whispered against her lips just before claiming them, swirling his tongue with hers in a mating dance. The tangy sweetness of her own climax on his tongue and lips sent her senses higher, the pure decadence of tasting her own pleasure making her want more, to please these two men in every way possible.
As her body once again relaxed, Dakota moved to the side until he knelt next to her face, his hands gripping her head, fingers entwined in her hair. She opened her eyes and mouth to protest, only to have him rub the head of his cock against her lips.
“Open wider, pet.”
“Suck him, Lacy. Let both of us find release in you,” Quinn whispered, then rolled his tongue over the curves of her ear.
Pleasure shot through her.
Could she do less for them?
Her gaze locked on Dakota’s deep, soulful brown eyes, she opened to let the head slide between her lips. She suckled on it, taking it deeper each time.
The Surrender of Lacy Morgan Page 18