by Marie Harte
Wolf chimed in. “Hinto, we all know it. Even Dad knows it. But if it makes you feel better to think you’re doing something we can’t, have at it.”
The hurt and anger Hinto didn’t want to feel burgeoned to the surface. Did they think it was easy to leave? To know he might return to find his father dead and buried? He worked hard to give his father a chance at new life, not to escape the doldrums of disease. Fuck, he should have known better than to think they’d actually changed their minds about the Divide since he’d last been home. He’d been fooling himself that his brothers actually understood why he did what he did.
Before he could say something he’d probably regret, Thais reached past his father and grabbed Hinto’s hand. “Thank you for bringing me here. Your house is very nice indeed.”
Aware of what she was doing, he allowed her to change the subject after glaring at both his brothers. They’d shelve this topic, but it was far from over. “Ah, yeah. You want a tour?”
“Good idea,” Dan said on a sigh. “We’ll be having the mid-meal in another hour. Why don’t you show Thais the rest of the house? You two rest up. You’ve no doubt had a full day already. Wolf, Mahpee, grab their things and tend to the horses.” The command in his tone couldn’t be ignored.
“Sure.”
“Okay, Dad.”
A loud pot banged in the kitchen. Dozie. He’d missed her apple turnovers.
The moment Thais turned to investigate the sound, Wolf leered at her until Mahpee gripped him by the back of the neck and dragged him out the door.
Dan chuckled. “Such a pain in the ass.”
“No kidding,” Hinto mumbled.
Dozie barked at Thais to leave her kitchen the hell alone, and she left the area with a frown on her face. Instead, Thais studied the dining area just outside the kitchen.
His father crooked a finger for Hinto to lean closer and whispered, “Now go show off the place to Thais. Make her like it. And take your time.” He smiled. “Been a long time since we had such a spirited woman in the house. Be a shame to scare her off so soon.”
Hinto didn’t know how to tell his father that nothing scared Thais. Not rapists, murderers, and surely not two annoying Dakota brothers.
“I’ll be back down later.” He left his father and caught Thais standing under his mother’s portrait.
All in all, the house looked good. The wooden logs stacked tightly on top of one another, insulated against the weather by a conglomeration of packed dirt, cement and wool that held the walls upright. When the fireplace blazed, the house offered a comfort that kept them more than warm, but safe from the elements and the predators outside.
They used the large main room to relax in after a hard day working the ranch. The oversized furniture fit their big frames. Made of leather and a cotton weave, the durable couch had been stuffed and restuffed and withstood the test of time. Native rugs covered the wooden floors and were swept regularly by Dozie, who slaved away in the kitchen and muttered about the crazy Dakotas. He needed to introduce Thais to the crotchety old woman—Dozie yelling didn’t count—but not before he’d had a good conversation with his Amazon.
“Your mother?” she asked. “Very pretty.” She stood under the portrait, which sat above the fireplace in the dining area, where a large table would seat a dozen hungry men after a long day working the ranch.
“She was stubborn, like you,” he said, realizing it was true. Sky Dakota bossed everyone in the house. They’d abided by her rules and basked in her love. Giving, independent, and obstinate when she thought she was in the right, she’d have liked Thais a lot. “Want to see the upstairs?”
Thais nodded and turned from the picture. Beside the fireplace, Mahpee’s cabinet remained empty. He’d crafted it with their father years ago to house Sky’s prized porcelain dishes. After the attack that had destroyed most of the house, they’d lost her prized possessions. Now only her picture and their memories remained.
“This is a grand house,” Thais commented as they walked down the hallway toward the stairs. Up and to the right, the stairwell curved to a second level. Currently made up of five bedrooms and a lavatory—thanks to Wolf’s odd penchant for pipes and plumbing—the upstairs would soon have one area for each of the brothers and a separate section for his father downstairs.
They walked down the hallway, the floors again covered with woven rugs in dark colors, and he showed her his brothers’ rooms. “Mahpee and Wolf don’t like visitors, so make sure you remember where you’re sleeping.”
The warning didn’t go unheard.
“Do you really think I’m likely to forget that?”
The whip-like staccato of her question warned him to tread warily.
“No, not at all. I’m just telling you that Mahpee mistrusts anything in a skirt thanks to Wolf’s antics. And Wolf is as likely to tear your clothes off as he is to hear you made a wrong turn.”
She calmed somewhat at his explanation, unaware of what he really wanted to say. “You’re mine, so don’t even think of sharing yourself with my brothers. Family they may be, but you belong to me.”
Needing to bridge the gap between them that had grown the past few days, Hinto led her into his bedroom and closed the door behind them.
Granted, the uncomfortable silences had been his fault, but how the hell was he supposed to think when the woman made him hard half the time, and the other half he spent figuring out how to keep her?
“Hinto?” She held a wooden carving of a wolf in her hand. “You made this?”
He flushed and grabbed it from her. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s very good,” she said with surprise.
“There’s a lot more to me than being a stupid gun for hire,” he snapped, despite not wanting to take his anger out on her. It wasn’t her fault he could barely keep his hands off her.
“If this is about me leaving town earlier—”
The perfect excuse. “Let’s talk about that,” he said, frustrated beyond reason when it came to her stubbornness. He dug in his pocket for his handkerchief, an idea forming.
“I don’t take orders from you. You can’t tell me to wait whenever you need to do something. We’re partners. Equals.” She dared him to dispute her words.
“I agree.” He moved fast, before she could stop him, and spun her around, yanking her hands behind her back. “But we’re also something more than partners. We’re lovers.”
“Hinto, let me go,” she said in an even tone and tugged at the kerchief he’d tied around her wrists. She glared at him, her ire enraging his need.
“I’ve tried for days to give you space.” To try to get you out from under my fucking skin. “To let you think about what we are to each other. I thought by now you’d have come to me. But I think you’ve forgotten your place.”
She gritted her teeth, but he could see the arousal she tried to hide. Thais needed a strong hand. “My place is a knife at your throat. How dare you do this to me? I am a guardian, an Amazon. My pride—”
“Has no place here. I don’t want your pride, only your pleasure.”
She faltered, her anger turning to confusion. “My pleasure?”
Hinto turned her to face the wall, and she tensed. “I was worried about the town when we arrived. I didn’t know who owned the new buildings. That’s all we need, another Butch McKenzie type to deal with. I asked you—”
“Ordered me.”
“—to stay because I didn’t want you to get hurt if all wasn’t as it should have been.”
She swallowed loudly in the silence, and his pulse raced at her nearness. He pressed against her back and nipped at her throat.
Thais gasped and tried unsuccessfully to contain a moan.
“When I couldn’t find you, I went a little crazy. I want to show you a little crazy, Thais,” he whispered and knelt behind her to remove her boots, then her trousers. He loved that she wore nothing underneath, just the long, lean lines her Goddess had given her.
Unbuttoning each and every bu
tton, he took his time undoing her shirt then unwinding the binding beneath. He liked the idea of her wearing nothing but an unfastened blouse as he pounded into her.
He found it telling Thais didn’t fight him at all.
Slowly running his hands around her front, he massaged her breasts, reading her body language as he played. Her raised nipples scored his hands. Her belly tightened with his every pass. She rubbed her thighs together, sliding them through the moisture pooling just for him.
As he made short work of his own clothes, he told her what he intended. “You’re going to stay right there, Thais, like a mare awaiting her stud. I’m hard and aching for you, ready to enter that fine, trembling body.” And trembling she was. “You’re so soft, but so strong. I can’t wait to taste you again. But not until you feel a little bit of what I’ve been feeling for days.”
Naked, he molded himself to her back, groaning at how good she felt against him. “You miss your family. You want to be near your sisters as I want to be near my brothers. But you want me just as much , and that bothers you.”
Hinto didn’t give her a chance to protest. He squeezed her breasts and pinched her nipples. His cock begged for entrance, and he teased himself by rubbing between her ass cheeks. He couldn’t wait to take her there and wondered if she’d let him.
“You feel me back here, don’t you?”
“Yes, damn you,” she breathed.
“Someday I’m going to push harder, and I’ll penetrate that virgin flesh the way I took your pussy. You want it, don’t you?” He rocked into her and lowered a hand to toy with her clit. Her cream coated his fingers when he delved into her cleft, and he groaned with desire, so ready to fill her.
“No,” she tried to deny him.
“Yes,” he hissed and angled down, riding between her wet lips. Her pussy begged for more. “I could make you so hot you wouldn’t give a damn if I shot inside you. Admit it.”
Hinto leaned back so he could slide his shaft between her bound hands. Her grip tightened around him.
“That’s it. Yeah,” he rasped as he struggled to control himself before he blew too soon. “How do I feel, Thais?”
“So hot,” she moaned. “I’m so wet for you. No matter how much I try, I can’t stop wanting you.”
Gratified she’d been as frustrated as him, Hinto’s annoyance with the irresistible woman began to fade. “You told me to leave you alone, so I did. I was trying to give you space. Hell, I was trying to give me space. It’s all I can do to remember to pull out after I fuck you,” he said crudely, and she clenched him, nearly making him come.
“Dammit, ease off before I spend,” he growled. “Now spread your thighs, honey. That’s it, wider.”
She did and he pulled back, away from her touch.
“I like you tied up. No chance for you to regret what you can’t control, right, Thais? You can take the pleasure and enjoy it,” he bit off as he thrust slowly inside her and held tight to her hips.
“Hinto, yes,” her voice rose.
Beyond caring, he shoved the rest of himself deep inside her. “Yeah, that’s right. We’re joined now, but you can’t do a thing about it, can you?” He put a bit of mean into his voice, loving the way she writhed against him. “Can you?” he asked again.
“No,” she said and shoved back against him, grinding against his balls.
“Fuck, I love how wild you are, how you need it as much as I do. Don’t you see, Thais? This is right.” You were made for me.
Hinto pounded inside her but couldn’t get deep enough to satisfy him. He withdrew from her heat and led her to his bed, where he shoved her onto her back. He knew she had to be uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her, but he didn’t care.
“Tell me what you want,” he rumbled, fisting his cock, so smooth from her juices.
She blushed but didn’t look away. “You think I won’t? That I’m too ashamed to be honest of my woman’s need?” His warrior glared at him and spread her thighs wider.
“I think you’re scared of what you feel,” he rasped, taunting her to spill her secret desires.
“Taste me, then, with your tongue,” she said in a voice filled with desperation, as if she didn’t want to feel the intensity between them but couldn’t help herself.
He knelt and caught her clit in his mouth. Rolling the taut nub, he sucked and licked, enjoying the feel of his woman on his bed. Her breathy moans as she tried to ease back from him only inflamed his desire to possess her completely. He wanted to fill her, to own her, to create a tie she’d never be able to break.
“Please, Hinto,” she panted as he brought her to the edge. “I need you inside me.” She cried out as she came under his mouth.
He mounted her and thrust deep, want mingling with the desire to protect her, even from himself. Love for this woman gave him the strength to do what he’d promised when his mind and body demanded he give her his all.
He groaned her name, a litany of unrequited longing as he shafted her until he could no longer stave his climax. He pulled out and spilled all over her belly. The orgasm seemed to last forever. By the time he caught his breath, Thais was running her fingers through his hair, comforting him with soft words of praise.
“So strong, so sure. I always want you.”
“How—” He croaked, swallowed, and tried again, embarrassed at the depth of his need. “How did you get your hands free?”
“You didn’t tie a very tight knot, did you?” She laughed softly. “Even as you want to punish me, you don’t want to hurt me.”
He leaned up on his elbows and regarded her with all seriousness. “Never, Thais. I never want to hurt you.”
“Nor I you,” she admitted and bit her lip.
You don’t want to, but you will when you leave.
The knowledge that they tread on shaky ground remained between them, but neither spoke of the future. They made love again, slower this time, but still, Hinto took control. That she let him was a testament to her trust, and he hoped, her growing affection.
“I know what you need,” he murmured as he brought her over. You need me.
Chapter Sixteen
Pilar needed to have her head examined. She could feel danger pulsing in the very air around the ranch hands she passed. The ragged gathering of men had a manner of lawlessness about them. Different from the contained chaos she and her gang channeled, Butch McKenzie’s ranch seethed with oppression. To an extent, the place and its people made her think of Aaron Bartel, and she had to force herself to show no reaction as she rode into the center courtyard.
An open area surrounded on several sides by a large house, a barn, side buildings and feed stores showed a ranch used to being worked. She’d counted at least two dozen men, and if she wasn’t mistaken, every one of them carried a gun of some sort.
At least she’d had the sense to leave Deke and Brian behind, conscious she might need them to save her, for once.
She didn’t see Gregor McKenzie until she climbed down from her horse, which she tied up in front of the main house. She gripped her spear in her hand and waited for him to step out from the doorway.
No one spoke. No one moved.
And then Gregor stepped outside onto the covered porch.
“Well, sugar, fancy meeting you here.” The thin smile he wore did little to detract from the coldness of his gaze. “Come on in and meet Butch.”
Pilar followed him inside, her concentration on Gregor and not the extravagance around her. Trust McKenzie to live like a pampered prince. Sculptures, paintings, finely woven rugs and clean, plush furniture. The Amazon queen hadn’t lived in such majesty. What made Butch McKenzie so special?
Intrigued despite her resolve to remain impartial, she wound through a hallway and passed two servants, the first women she’d seen other than the whores lingering outside the bar in Morrow. Both women were young and wore clothing which emphasized their curves and exposed their arms and their legs, from the knees down. Bruises dotted the younger girl’s skin. The ha
unted expression in her eyes warned Pilar to tread warily.
“In here,” Gregor said and stood back to allow Pilar entry. He winked at the girl behind her, who skittered away with haste.
Pilar brushed by Gregor and clutched her spear—a thin stalk of bamboo fixed with a sharp edge of black death rock she’d personally honed to a fine point. On the off chance her hosts decided to get creative, she also had Brian’s snub-nosed pistol tucked behind her back. A Territory weapon to handle Territory men.
Gregor closed the door behind them with a soft snick.
Butch McKenzie sat waiting for her behind a large desk. He regarded her with dark eyes full of curiosity and what looked like a strange wealth of hunger.
“I was hoping to talk to the leader of the Flower Gang,” he said in a low voice. Smooth, cultured, and unlike most of the men she knew.
Pilar studied him, searching for weaknesses. She couldn’t tell his height since he sat, but the breadth of his shoulders, the fit of his shirt and the size of his hands told her he’d be the one to watch in a fight. Gregor had a meanness in his eyes and a whipcord leanness. He would know how to handle himself, but Pilar sensed the majority of the threat from the man behind the desk.
“You are talking to the leader of the Flower Gang,” she replied, no arrogance in her tone, simply truth.
Butch smiled and pushed out from the desk. Damn, he stood a head taller than Pilar. He walked with surprising grace for a large man. “I meant no insult, Pilar. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Butch McKenzie, owner of the McKenzie Ranch.”
Gregor’s lips tightened. Good, friction between the brothers. She hadn’t imagined what she’d seen before from Gregor. Hopefully, this tension was something she could later exploit.
“You’ve already met my brother Gregor. He sang your praises, you know. But then, I’ve already heard about your successes. You and your gang are making quite an impact on the railroad.”