The Lawman Said I Do

by Ana Leigh

  If you wanted to be with a woman day and night; if thoughts of her monopolized every waking hour and all your dreams—was that love?

  You’re damn right it is!

  She was no fragile piece of china; whatever hardships faced them on the way to California, she was the best trail partner a person could hope for. They could get married and catch the next stage to California.

  He’d just yelled to Gus to stop the stage when a shot rang out and the coach come to a halt.

  A masked bandit on a black horse rode up with another horse tied to the saddle horn. “Hands up and everybody out.”

  The rider may have been masked, but there was no disguising the black stallion. It was Midnight.

  “What in hell is Cassie up to now?” Gus grumbled to Buck.

  When one of the men inside the coach reached for his pistol, Colt put a restraining hand on the man’s arm. “That’s not necessary, sir. There’s nothing to be alarmed about,” Colt said calmly to the three passengers. “The poor woman’s a little deranged. She imagines herself to be Belle Starr, but she’s harmless, so just humor her.”

  Arms above their heads, the four passengers climbed out.

  Cassie tossed a pair of handcuffs down to one of the male passengers.

  “Put these on that tall, ugly one,” she said, pointing to Colt.

  Grinning, the man clamped the cuffs on Colt’s wrists and winked at him.

  “Okay, you three passengers get back in the coach.”

  “Cassie, we ain’t got time for this,” Gus groused. “We’ve got a long ride ahead of us.”

  “So get going,” she said.

  “Cass, what are you doing? I had to keep one of those men from shooting you,” Colt declared as the stagecoach rolled away.

  Pulling off the bandanna, she dismounted and came over and unbuckled his gun belt. Then she untied the other horse and tossed the gun belt over Midnight’s saddle horn.

  “Mount up, Deputy. You’re coming with me.”

  “How do you expect me to ride with my hands cuffed behind my back?”

  “Please—I’ve seen you ride.”

  “Don’t you think this joke’s gone far enough?” Colt grumbled, and swung into the saddle.

  Chapter 29

  After several minutes they turned off the road, and Colt knew where they were headed. He continued to go along with her plans.

  “Where are we going?” he asked, feigning innocence.

  “The Lazy B. I can hardly take you back to town without making a lot of explanations. This way, no one will know you’re even here until Gus shows up next week.”

  “And what is the purpose of all this, Cass?”

  “You’ll find out when we get there.”

  They reached the ranch ten minutes later and went into the barn. Dismounting, she kept her pistol pointed at him as she motioned to a far corner. “Get over there and don’t try anything dumb.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it, Miz Braden.”

  He waited, amused, as she unsaddled the horses, put them in stalls, tossed in hay, and filled their troughs.

  “You planning a long stay, Miz Braden?”

  “Get moving,” she said, with a menacing gesture of the pistol.

  Once inside, she directed him to her bedroom. Then she pressed the gun against his stomach. “Now, no quick moves, Colt; I’d hate for this gun to go off.”

  Colt frowned. “This joke’s losing its humor, Cass. Up to now I went along with it, but sticking a gun in a man’s gut is dangerous.”

  “Then you know better than to try anything stupid.” She unlocked the right handcuff. “Slip your shirt off your arm.”

  As soon as he finished, she attached the right cuff to the iron rail of the headboard. Then she unlocked the left cuff, pulled his shirt down that arm, and recuffed him so he was tethered to the bed.

  “Good, you can sit down now. Are you comfortable?”

  Colt sat down and glared at her. As much as he loved her, that gun thing was just too dangerous to even consider. It was typical of her damn recklessness.

  Cassie sat down on the edge of the bed and began to pull off his boots and stockings. “It was very smart of you, my love, not to try any foolish moves with a loaded gun shoved in your stomach. But the gun wasn’t loaded.” She picked up the weapon, pointed it at the ceiling, and pulled the trigger. Six times, it clicked on an empty chamber. “You don’t actually think I’d stick a loaded gun into you?”

  “You fired a shot to stop the stagecoach.”

  “One shot. I had emptied the chamber and put in one cartridge to do so.

  “And now I’ve got seven days to convince you to marry me and take me to California with you.”

  “And you intend to do that by keeping me cuffed to this bed?”

  “Well, what do you think of this idea?” she asked.

  “There once was an innocent sprite,

  Who loved a lawman beyond measure.

  But she found herself in a plight,

  when he spurned her offered treasure.

  Determined to make it right,

  She set off on a path of corruption.

  So now, alas! Poor Cass

  is forced to resort to seduction!”

  Colt held back a laugh. Good Lord! Didn’t she realize she seduced him every time he looked at her? At this moment, he wanted to take her in his arms and make love to her until they were both senseless.

  “So you’re going to try to seduce me?”

  “Not try, my love—I will,” she said confidently.

  She straddled his lap, slipped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Then she pulled back with an impish grin. “So, what do you think of my idea?”

  What did he think of it! He’d already become aroused just at the thought of it, and as soon as the warmth between her legs hit his, he became so hard and hot, he thought he would explode. Since he was more sexually sophisticated than she was, he figured he could outlast her in this sex game. But he doubted he’d have to: every time he touched her, Cassie was like a wound spring ready to pop.

  He reflected for several more seconds, then replied, “If that’s your intention, Cass, it leads me to say:

  “Well then, Miz Innocent Sprite,

  Seems we’re in for a long, sleepless night.

  The question being: who will win?

  So, ‘Let the games begin.’”

  “Yes, let them.” She lightly traced the slope of his shoulders with her fingertips.

  “I love your shoulders, Colt. They’re so beautiful.” She retraced the route of her fingertips with her tongue. “So broad. So muscular.”

  “I’m glad they please you.” He could feel the perspiration beading on his brow.

  “I love touching your body, Colt.” Her eyes danced with merriment as she cocked a brow. “And there’s so much of it to touch.”

  “That there is. You figure you’ll get around to all of it in seven days?”

  “Many, many times.”

  She dipped her head and teased one of his nipples with her tongue. He jerked, and she looked up in surprise. “Oh, you like that.” She lowered her head and laved it again, then lightly took the tip between her teeth. A gasp slipped past his lips.

  “I think I’ve found your Achilles Heel, tough guy.”

  “Wrong again, sweetheart,” he bluffed. “My Achilles Heel is between my legs. It’s been waiting a long time for the pleasure of meeting up with you.”

  Cassie pulled off her shirt and camisole. The twin peaks of her breasts loomed before him, so near that if his mouth hadn’t gone dry, he’d be drooling.

  With a smile as seductive as the one Cleopatra must have worn to get Marc Antony to shuck his armor, she murmured, “Do you like my breasts, Colt?”

  “Oh yeah—I like them a lot.”

  He offered no resistance when she brought his free hand to one of her breasts. His fingers closed around its roundness and his thumb toyed with the peak.

  “Does that feel good to you?”r />
  “Oh yeah—real good,” he said.

  “It feels good to me, too. Would you like to taste them?”

  His mouth was there before she even finished getting the words out. With ragged gasps, she threw back her head and closed her eyes. She’d bitten off more than she could chew, and the crazy little fool was becoming as far gone as he was.

  With a smothered groan she leaned into him, and her taut peaks burned his chest. Clasping his face between her hands, she captured his lips, tracing the chamber of his mouth with hot, darted forays that charged every nerve end in his body.

  “Who taught you to do that?” he asked when she broke the kiss. His voice was hoarse and his groin was on fire.

  “You did,” she murmured, and covered his mouth again. This time their tongues dueled. He slipped his free hand to the back of her neck and held her head motionless in a kiss that made a beeline straight to his groin and fueled the blaze. He figured he was good for about another ten seconds, then he’d lose it.

  “I love you, Colt,” she whispered, “I love you beyond words.”

  “Action speaks louder than words,” he replied. He grabbed her hand and brought it to the swollen, throbbing mound of his penis. She palmed it and the pressure became an exquisite agony.

  When he began to fumble at the fly of his pants to free it, she stood up and opened it, then pulled the pants off his legs. When she started to cast them aside, he stopped her.

  “Hold on a minute. I need something out of the pocket.” She brought the pants to him and he pulled out a small object.

  “What is it?”

  “The key to these handcuffs.” He put the key in the lock and released his arm.

  She stood, stunned. “You mean you could have unlocked them all this time.”

  “That’s right. I kept the key to remind me of you when we’re apart.”

  “And you let me believe that—”

  “I was your helpless prisoner.”

  “That was a sneaky trick.”

  “Yeah, right up there with letting me believe you were sticking a loaded gun in my gut. We can argue ethics later—right now I have a little score to settle with you.”

  The angry glint in his eyes caused her to draw back in alarm. Before she could guess his intent, he grabbed her and clamped the handcuffs on her wrists.

  “Now sit down and be quiet.”

  Colt began to pace the floor. “You’re the most headstrong, shameless, conniving female I’ve ever met.”

  He spun on his heel and pointed a finger at her. “I told you when I left that I’d be back when I finished what I have to do in California. But no, that wasn’t good enough for you. You had to have it your way.”

  “Can you blame me? The last time a man kissed me good-bye and said he’d be back, I waited for five years. I admit I’m all the things you’ve said. And I know I’m not a refined lady, like you’d prefer to marry. But Colt, no woman could ever love you as much as I do.”

  “You’re also quick to jump to wrong conclusions. When did I ever tell you the kind of woman I prefer to marry?”

  “Actually, you never said it aloud, but your actions indicated as much.” Cassie eyed him warily when he removed his belt. “What are you doing to do?”

  “I told you; I have a score to settle with you.”

  He looped the belt around the chain linking the handcuffs and pulled her arms over her head; then he buckled the belt to the railing of the iron headboard.

  “Comfortable, sweetheart?” he said mockingly. Bending over, he placed a light kiss on her lips.

  “At least I let you have one hand free,” she said.

  He pulled off one of her boots and the stocking. “Cass, I fell in love with you the moment I met you.” The other boot hit the floor, along with the other stocking.

  Then he unbuckled her belt and started to work her jeans past her hips. “You’re courageous, energetic, tireless, stoic when it comes to pain…Lift your hips a little, will you, honey?”

  With a combination of fear and anticipation, she did what he asked. He pulled the pants off her and tossed them on the floor.

  “You’ve got a good sense of humor, you handle a horse superbly, and you’ve got the best little ass I’ve ever seen in or out of pants. What more could a man want for a wife?”

  She gasped when he grasped the neckline of her camisole and ripped it down the center. Then he pulled off the torn pieces and tossed them aside. They landed in the heap with her jeans, as did her drawers.

  “And did I mention how beautiful you are?” His gaze devoured her and he lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “So very beautiful.” He leaned down and kissed her again.

  “But, my beloved, once again your impetuousness has gotten you into a situation where you’re in over your head. You see, as much as I enjoyed—and appreciated—your attempt to seduce me, you’ve ended up like the snake who caught its own tail in its mouth—and found it a hard dish to swallow.

  “Perhaps when I told you the difference between making love and merely having sex, I failed to mention that being in love doesn’t prevent two people from sometimes having just sex.”

  He bent his head and licked her earlobe, then darted his curled tongue into her ear. Tremors of passion rippled her spine and her breath quickened.

  “So it’s payback time now, baby. The velvet gloves come off,” he whispered in her ear. “You know what that means? No sweet kisses, no tender caresses, no whispered words of love. Just hot, carnal sex that’s going to make you beg for it. Whenever you can’t take anymore, just tell me to stop.”

  “I can take anything you dish out, Colt Fraser. And you’ll be the one left begging.”

  He dropped his drawers and stretched out on top of her. He began slowly with light, feathery kisses that aroused her need for deeper contact. She lifted her head to capture his mouth with her own, but he succeeded in avoiding her.

  Then he slowly skimmed his hands along her sides until he reached her thighs. Parting her legs, he began to massage the heated flesh between them. Hot waves of sensation pounded at her brain, and she began to squirm. As he continued, she couldn’t control her body’s response, and he didn’t stop until she felt the first ecstatic release.

  Then his mouth and tongue moved to her breasts. When he began to suckle her taut nipples, his hand between her legs increased the tempo and pressure of the massage, his long fingers a mind-shattering probe that caused her to moan with ecstasy. Once again, her body imploded with exquisite, fiery tremors of release.

  She struggled to draw ragged gasps of air into her lungs. She needed to touch him, to feel his flesh beneath her fingers, and she strained to release her hands.

  “Please,” she managed to plead. “Please, Colt.”

  He raised his head. “Are you asking me to stop?”

  “No, release my hands. Let me touch you.”

  “That would spoil the point of this, now, wouldn’t it?”

  His hands and mouth continued their arousing exploration, finding every sensitive pleasure spot of her body. She writhed beneath him as each ecstatic gasp, each erotic moan, became a clarion call to the slide of his lips and mouth, the tantalizing pressure of his touch.

  Floating in raw, sensual sensation, she lost awareness of time, of place. Time and time again he brought her to a body shuddering, soul-shattering climax where nothing existed except hedonistic sensation.

  Somehow, through the erotic haze, she became aware that her arms were now free. Opening her eyes, she looked into his troubled ones.

  “I can’t take any more,” he murmured. “This is killing me.”

  She smiled raggedly. “What do you think it’s doing to me?”

  “I’m sorry, love. I thought we could just have sex, but I can’t do it. I need to make love to you. To kiss you, and caress you. I want to feel your touch, to smell the sweet scent of you. I want to whisper how much I love you, and hear you say the same to me. And then I want to lay beside you and reach out and pull you closer to
me. To kiss you when I feel the need to. To have you kiss me when you have the same need.

  “And I want our children conceived in love—not lust.”

  He kissed her passionately—a passion spurred by the love and need he’d spoken of. She responded with the same caresses of love, the same whispered expressions of her love.

  When she felt the slide of his body on hers, she slipped her arms around his neck. Her body opened instinctively to him as she clung to him, and he entered her. Their bodies locked, their hearts beat as one, and they moved in the rhythmic dance of lovers to the melody of love. And when the dance was through, it ended as it began—with love.

  Later, as she lay cuddled against him, Colt suddenly chuckled.

  “What is it, my love?” she asked.

  “I still can’t believe your brazen attempt to seduce me.”

  “Attempt?” She sat up and poked him in the arm. “It only took about sixty seconds to succeed.”

  He pulled her down and kissed her. “Just the same, let’s keep this between the two of us. None of this ‘twins don’t keep secrets from each other’ kind of talk.”

  “Okay, but that’s gonna cost you.”

  “I’ve already promised to marry you and take you to California with me. What else do you want from me?”

  There was a devilish glint in her eyes. “Next time, my love, I get to cuff both your hands.”

  “You’re such a brazen little hussy, it’s no wonder I’m in love with you.

  “But you were willing enough to leave me?” she said.

  “I knew I was wrong about that as soon as that stage pulled out of town. I’d just told Gus to stop the stage when you held it up.” He chuckled. “You saved me a long walk back here.”

  Cassie slipped her arms around his neck. “Oh, Colt, I love you so much,” she murmured between kisses. “And you really will take me to California with you?”

  “Guess I’ll have to, or I’d always be worrying about what you’ve got yourself into that I’m not here to get you out of. Honey, after we marry, you’ve got to promise you’ll stay out of trouble. Trying to keep you alive can cut a lot of years off a man’s life.”

  Her eyes filled with devotion as she opened her arms to him.