Tucker's Justice (Wild West Cowboys Book 1)

by Maggie Carpenter

  “Ida, you’re not old,” Dolly interrupted.

  “I’m a whole lot older than you, Dolly,” she smiled. “Anyways, they’d didn’t pay me no mind, and sat down a table close by. It was when they started talkin’ that I realized one of them was Patrick McGill. He talked like an Irishman, he spoke it real thick, and the other man called him Patty, so it had to be. That’s when I started listenin’ hard.”

  “This is unbelievable,” Duke exclaimed. “What a stroke of luck!”

  “That’s exactly what I thought,” Ida said, leaning across and staring at him. “God’s work, if you ask me. That priest I’ve been hearin’ about brought some good into our town.”

  “What did Patrick say?” Tucker asked, trying to remain patient.

  “It just about made my heart stop,” Ida said gravely. “Patrick said that once Duke Baker watched his gang set fire to the thicket, the rest would be easy.”

  “The thicket? You’re sure he said the thicket?” Duke pressed.

  “Yep, Duke, the thicket sure enough! He said you’d realize it was time to surrender. He said, and these were his words, it’ll be like I kissed the Blarney Stone, whatever that means.”

  “Sounds like he’s throwin’ away the idea of settin’ fire to the cabin, and usin’ the thicket instead,” Tucker remarked.

  “How in the world did you know about the cabin?” Ida exclaimed. “That’s just what he said. He’d planned on burnin’ it up, but changed his mind ‘cos he thought the cabin could be useful and the thicket would be more… what was the word he used? More convincin’, that’s what he said, the thicket would be more convincin’.”

  “Goodness,” Dolly mumbled, shaking her head. “This is terrible.”

  “He’s gonna have his men walk through the thicket like an army, then come out on the field below your house and set fire to it while you’re watchin’.”

  “But it’s so dry in there, if they carry torches through, it’ll catch alight and they’ll all be burned to a crisp,” Duke said, shaking his head.

  “They won’t do that. You have striking sticks here at the ranch. I know they’re not common, and they cost, but what if McGill has them?” Tucker murmured, almost talking to himself.

  “I’ll just bet you’re right,” Duke agreed. “That makes all kinda sense.”

  “This is great!” Tucker suddenly exclaimed.

  “What do you mean?” Dolly asked, wide-eyed. “How can this be great?”

  “You were right, Ida, this is God’s work,” Tucker proclaimed triumphantly. “The priest blessed Spring Junction, and McGill is goin’ down.”

  “But Tucker, what are you talkin’ about?” Duke demanded. “Just what in blazes are you talkin’ about?”

  “I’d figured out how to handle this without firin’ a shot, and take McGill out at the same time, but I wanted McGill here with you.”

  “Here?”

  “Yep, where I can arrest him easy-like. I was gonna have you invite him for dinner, but I wasn’t sure he’d accept. Now I don’t have to worry about gettin’ him in the house.”

  “You’ve been real smart so far,” Duke declared. “I’m dyin’ to hear what you got runnin’ around that head of yours now.”

  “Are you planning on another ambush?” Maude asked.

  “Of a sorts, but not the kinda ambush you’re thinkin’. I reckon he might be expectin’ that, and gun battles at night in trees, that’s bad. You can end up shootin’ your own men. I’ve got another idea, but, Duke, it’s gonna keep your ranch hands real busy until Saturday night.”

  The dinner had sat uneaten, and as Tucker began to outline his plan, the dishes were passed around and everyone filled their plates.

  “I thought you were clever before,” Duke said, shaking his head, “but dang, Tucker, that’s about as sneaky as a mountain lion stalkin’ its prey, and I’ve gotta say a mighty big thank you to you, Ida. You just saved my skin and our town.”

  “You can thank Tucker,” Ida said modestly. “If he hadn’t been so generous, I never would’ve heard those two fella’s talkin’.”

  “Tucker,” Dolly said softly, “what made you buy Ida coffee and cake?”

  “She was headed into the ambush at the minin’ office. I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

  “Is that what it was?” Ida exclaimed. “I wondered all afternoon why you were so set on me havin’ coffee and cookies. See there, you did somethin’ good from your heart, and God rewarded you.”

  Overflowing with love for him, Dolly studied Tucker across the table. She wanted to hug him and hold him and never let him go. He wasn’t just a strong, brave, smart man; his heart was as big as the sky.

  “It’s that priest,” Maude said profoundly. “He did it, he brought God back into Spring Junction, and the two of you ran into each other at just the right time. Speaking of the priest, where is he?”

  “It got too dangerous for him,” Tucker said soberly. “I switched horses with him, put him in regular clothes, and sent him on his way.”

  “Wise,” Duke nodded, “now Ida,” he continued, turning his attention back to the older woman, “what can I do for you? I’ve gotta say thank you properly.”

  “Land sakes, Duke, after all you’ve done for my husband and me over the years? I’m still owin’ you.”

  “No, that’s not so,” he protested. “Please, there must be somethin’.”

  “The only thing I’d like is to see that evil Patrick McGill bein’ arrested and hauled away.”

  “Then you’ve gotta stay here for the weekend, longer if you want. It must get lonely for you in that house, and it’s not the best part of town anymore.”

  “I’d love to have you here,” Maude said earnestly. “I would, honestly. Please say yes.”

  “That’s mighty kind, and I’ll accept for now, ‘cos like I said, I wanna see that wicked man get what’s comin’.”

  “Excellent,” Duke exclaimed, smiling broadly, “then it’s settled. Tucker, what’s next?”

  “Lucy,” Tucker replied, “and this is what I’m thinkin’. Maude, what time does Lucy arrive? Is she here all day?”

  “She gets here in the morning at eight, and usually leaves after cleaning up the kitchen before we eat, but with you and Ida staying, I was going to tell her we need her overnight.”

  “That’s just what I need. I can’t have her goin’ back through the thicket on her way home, but there’s somethin’ I need her to pass on to the fella who’s workin’ for McGill. You and Dolly need to have a chat when she’s listenin’, and this is what you’re gonna say.”

  As he spoke, everyone paid close attention, and when he was finished, Duke nodded his head approvingly. It wrapped things up like a neatly tied ribbon on a package.

  “It’ll work,” he declared. “For sure, it’ll work.”

  “If luck is on our side,” Tucker said solemnly. “These things always take some luck.”

  Chapter Twenty

  An almost full moon was low in the sky, the coyotes were howling, and the house was silent. As Tucker slipped into the large, comfortable bed, he knew the house would not be set upon, he knew Dolly was just down the hall, and he knew this would be a night without incident. Closing his eyes, his mind at rest and his heart at peace, he surrendered to the dark blanket of sleep.

  He was on a cloud, a soft pillowy cloud, and his arms were wrapped around her. He could feel her breasts, so full and glorious, in his palms, and as he molded them, she softly moaned and whispered his name. Her fingers wrapped around his cock, and the vision was so lucid, so remarkably lucid, he thought he might climax. It was a strange state, awake but not awake, and the dream was becoming more real as it continued. He was kissing her neck, he could taste the sweetness of her skin and smell the flowered scent of her perfume, and as he traveled his hands over her nakedness toward her sex, he sensed her legs were spreading. His fingers moved into her slippery seam, and as his finger found no resistance as it pushed into her depths, a fleeting thought told him it was b
ecause she so often rode astride.

  “Take me, please take me,” she whispered. “I’ve waited so long.”

  His eyelids were heavy, tremendously heavy, but something was telling them he needed to be awake, and managing to push through the divine dream he blinked them open. For a moment he thought he was still in his fantasy. Dolly was in his arms gazing at him, her blue eyes appearing almost silver in the dark, then he realized, with a start, the joyous intimacy had been real; she had sneaked into his room and slipped into his bed.

  “Criminy!” he exclaimed, sitting bolt upright. “What the dickens are you doin’ here?”

  She didn’t speak, just continued to stare at him, but her face was crinkling.

  “Answer me, dang it.”

  “I wanted to be with you,” she mumbled, “and you were holding me and—”

  “We talked about this earlier in the barn,” he said in a hushed whisper, cutting her off. “Dagnabbit, Dolly, this is disrespectin’ your pa.”

  She sat up, and putting her arms around his neck, she leaned into his body.

  “Please don’t send me away,” she mewed. “I love being with you, I love it so much. People do this all the time. I know they do.”

  Tucker grit his teeth. Dolly was right. Though back east the puritanical ways of Great Britain ruled the day, things were different in the west. Women had freedom, and it wasn’t shocking for a couple to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh before marriage, but besides his secretly held traditional beliefs, they were in her father’s home, and Tucker’s sense of decency wouldn’t allow it.

  “Dolly,” he said softly, wrapping her up in a bear hug. “I wanna be with you, but I explained this, I can’t, especially not here, and sneakin’ in like you did, you know it was wrong.”

  “I suppose,” she admitted, letting out a heavy sigh.

  “You need to get on back to your own room,” he said firmly, and though aching to devour her, he released her and gently pushed her away.

  “How can you stand it?” she groaned.

  “It ain’t easy, girl,” he muttered, slipping into his cowboy twang, “it ain’t easy, not a bit.”

  “When can we be together?”

  “You are so dang stubborn,” he frowned. “I need to get this battle with McGill behind me, behind all of us.”

  “Your plan is so clever,” she said, smiling at him. “Like father said, it will work.”

  “I’m hopin’ and prayin’.”

  “I can’t wait to see you take that horrible man off to jail.”

  “Best you get on back to your room before I make you my first arrest,” he warned.

  While he was loving having her next to him, he wished she would leave. It was becoming almost impossible not to drop his eyes and gaze upon her bare breasts. They were begging to be touched, her nipples were pert, waiting be tweaked and sucked, and his cock was screaming to thrust inside her.

  “If you did arrest me, what would you do to me?” she purred, inching closer to him.

  “What I just might do anyway, if you don’t get your hide back to your room,” he said huskily.

  “Tell me,” she breathed, pressing herself against him and wrapping her fingers around his bursting penis. “Would you put me over your knee? Would you tie my hands behind my back? Would I be your prisoner to do with whatever you wanted?”

  “Dang, girl, whatta ya doin’?”

  “Trying again,” she whispered.

  Kissing his neck, she used her free hand to try to push him down, but suddenly, in a deft, swift move, she was in the air and being flipped onto her stomach. She bit her lip, suppressing a squeal, and as he straddled her she looked over her shoulder and saw his back.

  “Tucker? What are you doing?”

  “One way or another, you’re gonna learn,” he scolded. “Don’t you squeal or yell, not unless you want your pa comin’ in here and findin’ you.”

  “What are you going to do?” she whined. “You’ll make too much noise if you spank me.”

  “There’s more than one way to punish a stubborn, disobedient girl,” he said sternly, “and I’m guessin’ a dose of humiliation just might get through to you.”

  “What are you going to do?” she whimpered, then suddenly afraid of what was to come, she hastily added, “I’m sorry, I’ll leave right now.”

  “Your sorry is too late, now stop your chatterin’ and put your head down. I’m done talkin’.”

  His voice was strict, and she immediately buried her head in the pillow. A moment later his hands clutched her bottom and he began squeezing her skin, digging his fingers into her flesh, then to her absolute horror, he pulled her cheeks apart and exposed her most private parts. Mortified, she wailed into the pillow and curled her fingers into fists. Never had she felt the hot embarrassment that was washing over her, and kicking her legs, she tried to writhe out of his clutches.

  “I’m not gonna let you go,” he growled. “I’m gonna hold you open until I reckon you’ve learned.”

  “Please, please,” she begged, turning her head to the side, her voice a plaintive whisper. “I can’t bear it.”

  “It’s only been a few seconds.”

  “But it feels like forever,” she whimpered. “I’m sorry, I’ll go back to my room right now and never do this again.”

  “I’m not sure you got the message. You gonna start doin’ what I tell you?”

  “Yes, yes, I swear.”

  “You lie real still and count to ten while I hold you like this, then tell me why you’re sorry, and Dolly, when you do, you better call me Sir.”

  “Yes, Sir. One, two—”

  “Slower. Start again.”

  “Ooh, Sir. One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight… nine… ten. I’m sorry because, uh, you told me how you felt and I snuck in here anyway, and it wasn’t fair to you, and you’re right, it’s disrespectful to do this in my father’s house.”

  Her voice had been tremulous, and releasing her cheeks, he climbed off her back and lay next to her, and as he wiped the hair off her face he saw her hot crimson blush.

  “Catch your breath a minute,” he said tenderly. “You deserved that, and more. You know you shouldn’t’ve come in here.”

  “I couldn’t help myself.”

  “Again? You say that every time you get yourself in trouble.”

  “I know,” she sighed. “Can I tell you something?”

  “Sure, but then you’ve gotta go.”

  “At dinner tonight I felt this… this… sort of… pull, as if I was being drawn to you. After I came to bed I couldn’t sleep, and all I could think about was you just down the hall. You and me together kept going around and around in my head, and I thought once I was here it would be dreadfully wonderful.”

  “And it was,” Tucker murmured, “but it will be even more wonderful when there’s no creepin’ around.”

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered. “I’m so glad my father brought you to Spring Junction.”

  “Me too,” he replied, locking her eyes, “and about what you said today… in the barn… before you left… I feel it too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “Can you say it? Please? Can you say it?”

  The three words she was longing to hear were words he’d never spoken, and gazing down at her, he felt a well of emotion rising up from his heart.

  “I love you, Dolly, I sure as heck do.”

  His voice had been a soft murmur, and when his lips touched hers in a soft, warm, gliding kiss, she was sure she would sob from happiness.

  “Tucker,” she sighed as he pulled back, “why do I want to cry?”

  “’Cos it’s some kinda miracle,” he breathed, “and I hate to let you go, I hate to let you go real bad, but you’d best scoot. You need some good sleep. We’ve got big days ahead.”

  “I’m leaving, and, uh, this may get me in trouble again, but I’m not sorry I came, not now, not after this. How can I be?”

/>   “I guess maybe you can’t,” he admitted. “Go on now, before I make you stay.”

  She moved off the bed, and in the moon’s muted light, as she reached down and picked up the robe she’d left lying on the floor, he saw her naked beauty. It took his breath away, and he grit his teeth to stop from grabbing her and pulling her back into bed.

  “See you over breakfast,” she said softly, tying the robe around her waist, then walking silently across the room, she disappeared out the door.

  Immediately taking hold of his member, he began to rub. As he’d straddled her and clutched the cheeks of her curvaceous bottom, she had struggled and kicked, exposing her glistening pussy. He could see it in his mind’s eye, and with his teeth still clenched he let his orgasm flow forth, relishing the pleasure as it tingled through his limbs. Moments later, closing his eyes and letting sleep overtake him, he thought he had scratched his erotic itch, but he was already missing her. Lying next to her may have been for only a short time, but it had been enough to make him hunger for more.

  * * *

  Dolly had reached the magical orgasm in the past, but it had always been a struggle. She’d agitated her tiny nub for ages before she’d been able achieve the goal, but after leaving Tucker and lying on her bed, the moment she touched between her pussy lips, she found the sensations were already hovering.

  Closing her eyes, she relived the glory of being in his arms, the joy of his lips on her neck, and the thrill of holding his steel shaft in her hand. The orgasm that usually took forever suddenly shivered through her, and doing her best not to cry out, she could see Tucker’s handsome face staring down at her. The spasms shot their sparkling prickles through her body over and over again, and when they finally waned, she stared at the ceiling breathless and amazed.

  “Please let it be soon,” she muttered, “please, dear God, let it be soon.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sitting at the breakfast table sharing hot coffee and sourdough biscuits with Maude and Ida, Dolly was pretending to listen as the two women chatted, but her mind was elsewhere; she was completely lost in thoughts of how divine it had been lying against Tucker’s strong, naked, muscled body. Recalling the effortless way he’d flipped her onto her stomach, her butterflies began wildly fluttering, and when the memory of how he’d punished her by opening her seat cheeks began floating through her head, she felt the familiar hot flush cross her face. Swallowing a splash of coffee, she shifted in her chair. In spite of the deep humiliation, she couldn’t deny the erotic thrill that she was now feeling, nor could she ignore the fresh flood of moisture between her legs.