Staking Their Claim

by Ava Sinclair

  “No.” Cody forced a small smile. “I just want to make sure you stay safe tomorrow. Tell me again what we’ve said.”

  Jenny stood up straight and ticked off the orders like a child reciting a memorization. “No going outside unless the cabin is on fire. No answering the door for anyone. Don’t let the fire go out in the stove, but don’t overfill it. No touching the guns.”

  He sighed. “Right.”

  Jenny scowled then.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I just think…” she said. “Wouldn’t it be good for me to know how to use a gun?”

  “I think it would,” he said. “But right now hardly anyone knows there’s a woman in this camp, and it’s better for you to stay put than for us to take you out for shooting lessons.”

  “If I could shoot, I could take care of myself.” She brightened. “And maybe I could even help mine my claim.”

  “No,” Cody said. “That’s no place for a little lady like you. You know how we feel about that.”

  “Yes,” Jenny said. “Nigel said I’m to be protected.” She smiled. “I like how he says it. The sound of his voice…”

  “Jenny,” Cody said. “Nigel hasn’t… he hasn’t…?”

  “Hasn’t want?” She shook her head, confused.

  “He’s been nothing other than fatherly with you, right?”

  The sound of the door shutting got their attention.

  “I assure you I’ve been a complete gentleman with Jenny,” Nigel said. He placed the wood in the box. “If you ever have any doubts about my character, I’ll thank you to ask me directly.” The Englishman walked over until he was standing at Cody’s shoulder. “Of course, I’d think you’d already divined my character, given that I saved your life before I even knew you.”

  Cody felt an instant sting of regret as his trusted friend walked away. He turned his attention back to Jenny, whose innocent eyes now reflected her puzzlement and concern.

  “Nigel is telling the truth,” she said quietly. “He’s been nothing but a gentleman. He’s taught me poetry and helped me with my reading and…”

  “Of course he has.” Cody put his hands on her shoulders. “Of course he has.” He hugged Jenny to him, and felt his heart hitch when she put her slim arms around him. He could feel the swell of her breasts through her girl’s dress. He felt his cock hardening and stepped back, cursing his weakness.

  Matilda.

  He tried to recall her face, but it was a haze, replaced instead by the image of the young woman before him. Cody was no stranger to sex. He’d tumbled more than one willing female, but he still longed for that one special woman—that one innocent he could introduce to the mysteries of carnal pleasures. He imagined Jenny’s eyes widening in wonder as he penetrated her, the feel of her pink mouth around his cock, the taste of her sweet pussy as…

  “I think you should go to bed,” he said, his voice tight now. Cody suddenly wanted her out of his sight, wanted the temptation she represented removed until he could regain his self-control and cool the lust that was threatening to strain his relationship with his friend.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No, sweetheart,” he said, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s just your first day by yourself tomorrow. I want you to get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Will you tell Nigel I said ‘goodnight’?”

  “Sure I will,” Cody said, and turned her toward her room, sending her off with a little swat to her pert bottom. “Go on now.”

  He felt some relief as Jenny’s bedroom door shut behind her. Nigel had gone back outside, probably to cool off. Cody couldn’t blame him; he’d offended him needlessly, and was eager to smooth things over. They were a team, and he didn’t need to let a woman come between them.

  Nigel was a friendly person and lacked the reserve of so many Englishmen. Cody decided he’d misinterpreted this, but he also decided something else. He had feelings for Jenny. Matilda did not care for him; she didn’t need him. Even if he did strike it rich, he’d probably go home to find her already taken. But Jenny? She needed him, and she was better than Matilda. She was perfect for him, in fact, and she was here. He could get to know her, and once an appropriate amount of time had passed, he’d propose to her.

  And there was the key to solving everything. He’d tell Nigel his intentions; once his friend realized Jenny was spoken for, the line would be drawn. They’d still care for her as a child, but only until the marriage. There would be no mistake who would eventually claim her as a woman.

  Outside it was cold. Cody found Nigel sitting on the stoop off the kitchen. The Englishman stood when his friend opened the door.

  “I owe you an apology,” he said.

  “I’d say.” The Englishman’s usual easy tone was curt. “To suggest such a thing, and in front of Jenny, no less…?”

  “I’m sorry,” Cody said again, running his hand through his hair. “It’s just that… well… when she got here, I saw her as the little sister of one of my dearest friends. But now, to tell you the truth, I’m seeing her as something else.”

  Lantern light from the kitchen window had cast a glow across the Englishman’s face. Nigel’s tone was as dour as his expression when he replied, “Go on…”

  Cody shook his head. “I’m seeing her as a woman,” the cowboy said. “A marriageable woman. And I aim to ask her.”

  “Wait!” It was one of the few times Cody had heard anger in Nigel’s voice. “What about Matilda? That’s all I’ve heard about since I met you—how you cared about her, how you wanted to be with her…”

  “Yeah, and I did,” Cody replied, defensive now. “But I think it was to keep me going, Nigel. But Matilda doesn’t love me. She’s not answered a single letter.”

  Nigel crossed his arms. “So now you’ve decided that if you can’t get what you want, you’ll take what you can get. Is that it?”

  “No…!” Cody replied hotly, but Nigel stepped up to him. “So Jenny’s second best, is she?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying at all!” Cody said, refusing to step back from where he stood toe to toe against his angry friend. “Besides, what’s it to you?”

  “Has it occurred to you that I may have affection for Jenny also?” Nigel asked. “Has it occurred to you that I’ve had the same idea, and felt no reason not to develop my affections for the young lady, thinking you already besotted with another?”

  It fell quiet between the two men.

  “Well, that hardly matters now, does it?” Cody said. “Now that I’ve announced my intentions.”

  Nigel smirked. “Of course, you were out working on the claim today. Find anything shiny out there that helped you forget Matilda?”

  Cody acted before he could think, stepping back and landing his fist squarely on Nigel’s jaw. Nigel stumbled back, but recovered quickly as he leaned forward and charged, ramming his sturdy shoulder into the cowboy’s midsection and driving him against the stoop.

  The two were nearly equally matched in size and strength, and by this point equally matched in anger. Cody got off another right hook before Nigel nearly broke his nose with a left jab. Cody saw stars when the Englishman slammed him against the side of the house, but forced him to step back with a shot to the gut. They fell to the ground, rolling on the cold earth as they threw curses and punches. By the time they got back on their feet, both men were breathing heavily, bloodied and realizing that nothing would be achieved by fighting other than bloodshed and more anger. Shoving one another away, each eyed the other from the window’s glow, exhausted by their efforts to best one another.

  “So we obviously have a problem,” Cody said.

  “I’ll say, mate.” Nigel wiped a bead of blood from the corner of his mouth.

  “There’s only one thing to do, then,” Cody said. “We have to let her decide.”

  “Agreed.” Nigel nodded.

  “But we wait,” Cody said. “She has to have time to mourn her brother. Until then, she’s ou
r little girl. And we both agree to treat her like that, right?” He extended his hand. The Englishman took it.

  “And just so you know, I didn’t find any more today on her claim than you did yesterday. I’ve never lied to you, Nigel. I’m not about to start now.”

  “Same here.”

  “I suppose we’d better get to bed,” Cody said. “We have to be out by first light, anyway.”

  Both men limped back in to find their beds. Cody cast a glance at Jenny’s door, glad that the confrontation with Nigel had been outside. He had no idea that behind that door, she sat crying, having heard everything.

  Chapter Eight: May’s Advice

  Leaving the safety of the cabin was the most frightening thing Jenny had ever done, only second to stealing Nigel’s clothes. She’d come to expect punishment for doing wrong, and she was pretty sure that taking his things from his trunk would earn her another caning at the very least, if she were staying. But she wasn’t staying.

  As she donned his shirt and rolled up the hem of his pants she’d tied at the waist with string, she wiped away tears. The disguise was necessary if she was going to get out of Coloma, and even an outfit that swallowed her would draw less attention than the pretty dresses Cody had given her.

  It was all her fault, she decided. The two men who’d saved her—the two protective men she’d come to care for—had turned on one another. They’d come to blows because of her, and Jenny had decided that it was all due to her failings, to her sin, to her horrible secret.

  By day she’d spent time with them individually. But at night when it was dark, they both joined her together in her dreams. And as she lay in bed, she’d think of Cody’s intense eyes, his square jaw, his strong arms as he’d held her over his lap, his large hand delivering that first spanking. And she’d think of Nigel, and how he’d bared her bottom for the cane. And then she’d think of them not correcting her, but holding her, and then going beyond that to do—together—what May had let those two men do to her that day in Cora’s whorehouse. And there in the dark, the woman Cody and Nigel were treating as their sweet little ward would slide her hand between her open thighs and stroke her wet folds of flesh until she was struggling to contain the cry of her orgasm.

  She was bad. She was wanton. She was no better than May, and that meant she wasn’t fit to be a wife to either an English gentleman or a principled cowboy. The sooner she was gone, the sooner they could concentrate on what they’d come to Coloma to do—make their fortune. She didn’t care about the gold anymore. They could have her claim and anything it brought; it wasn’t worth the guilt of destroying their friendship.

  So with no real plan, Jenny Beaumont snuck out into the night. The mining camp and town never really seemed to sleep; men milled around, and Jenny kept to the shadows, realizing as she passed them that her short period of being safe and sheltered had made her forget the dangers this place held.

  She’d tucked what money she had brought with her into the pocket of the pants and mapped out a loose strategy as she made her way into town. She’d stay at the boardinghouse for the night and hop a stage to San Francisco in the morning. Once there, she’d wire the men to let them know she was safe; she owed them that. Then she’d appeal to her aunt for some money. Jenny knew that would mean crafting a lie. Perhaps she’d tell her aunt she’d felt a call to become a nurse, or—better yet—a teacher, and that she needed a stipend to start her new life here since memories of her brother left her too pained to return home. Surely her aunt would understand. That’s what she would do. She’d teach. After all, she could read. And now she even knew poetry.

  Her throat constricted with tears at the memory of Nigel’s reading as Cody sat watching with that half-smile on his handsome face. Much of her raising had been relegated to her cold aunt; she’d never really known a father’s love. In the brief time she’d spent with the Englishman and the cowboy, she felt as though she’d experienced it. Was it wrong that she felt she could lose herself in that warm cocoon of protection for the rest of her life? It hardly mattered now.

  Jenny had reached the boardinghouse. The old man at the desk wouldn’t thank her for seeking a room so late, and she reached into her pocket, wanting to have the money in hand when she entered. Suddenly, she froze in her steps. It wasn’t money her hand encountered, but a hole. A sinking feeling formed in her chest as she stuffed her hand deeper, hoping perhaps she was wrong.

  She wasn’t. Jenny resisted the urge to cry. Now what was she going to do? She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t stay out in the open. The alleys between the buildings were more dangerous than the open streets.

  Then she remembered Cora’s. It was the one place in town where she’d seen other women, and even if they were ladies of ill repute, surely they’d take pity on her. She hurried across the street, keeping her head down under the brim of her hat.

  Even though it was late, Cora’s girls were still working. When Jenny walked into the parlor, she saw a pretty, plump woman giggling as an Irishman complimented the size of her breasts.

  “I love the way you talk,” the woman said, curling a strand of red hair around one finger as she batted her eyelashes at him.

  “Well, then, what do you say we talk somewhere private?” he asked, and she turned, provocatively swaying her wide hips as the man unabashedly adjusted the tented front of his pants before rising to follow her.

  “You looking for some company?”

  Jenny turned to see an older woman behind her. The made-up face looked worn, but the eyes were calculating as they took in Jenny’s unusual attire.

  “Uh, yeah.” She deepened her voice as she looked down, hoping to pass herself off as a shy youth. “I come to see May.”

  “You’re in luck,” the woman said. “May! Got a young man here to see you!”

  The woman looked back at Jenny. “You sure you’re old enough?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jenny said. “I was the runt of the litter back home, but I know what I’m doing. And I got plenty of money.”

  “Good, because we got a couple of guys who take care of anyone who hurts the girls or try to skip out without paying.”

  Jenny nodded, cursing herself for bringing up money.

  When May appeared on the landing, Jenny turned and headed up the stairs, eager to be away from the woman she now realized must be the madam, Cora.

  “You’re lucky. I’m between gentlemen callers,” May said over her shoulder as she led Jenny to a room and opened the door. Jenny walked inside; it was the same room she’d hidden in the night she’d seen May and the two men locked in the throes of passion. She kept her gaze trained to the floor, hoping to hide her blush.

  “Have I seen you before?” May sounded slightly suspicious.

  Now Jenny did glance up from under the brim of her hat, but quickly shook her head. Her heart was thudding in her chest.

  What was I thinking?

  But May had looked away again and was turning down the bed.

  “A quiet one, huh? Well, the quiet ones are the most interesting, because they always want something unusual.” Having finished with the bed, May began to walk over, continuing to talk as she undid her corset. “There was a preacher man set up here in town. He was a quiet fella when he wasn’t saving souls of anyone who would listen. But at night he’d come around. Wanted me to tie him up to the bedframe and call him ‘Sally.’ One night he asked me to burn him with a cigarette.” She paused. “But there are some things I won’t do, no matter how much you give me.”

  “I won’t,” Jenny suddenly said. “Ask, I mean. And you don’t have to undress. I don’t have any money.”

  May stopped unlacing her corset.

  “I’m… I’m not even a guy.” Jenny reached up, taking her hat off and unpinning the plait she’d affixed to the top of her head, allowing the braid to fall across her shoulder. “I didn’t come here for… what you give people. I came here to ask for help.”

  May crossed her arms over the front of her unlaced corset. “I remem
ber you now,” she said. “You were here about a week or so ago. I spoke to you on the stairs. You were dressed as a man then, too. I remember thinking you were the saddest looking little fella that I’d ever seen, and that you wouldn’t last here. Guess I was wrong. You’re still here.” She paused. “You’ve been pretending this whole time, sweetie?”

  When Jenny nodded and began to cry, May walked over, intending to take her by the arm and lead her to a nearby chair.

  “No,” Jenny said, sitting down, and launched into her story, relieved to unburden herself to the first sympathetic female ear since leaving her home. May listened, nodding and sighing as Jenny recounted how her brother’s friend and his English companion had saved her, how she’d been living under their protection, and how she’d decided to leave when she’d heard them fighting over her.

  “Cody Drake and Nigel Simms.” May gave a small smile. “Yeah, I’ve heard the names but can’t say I’ve had the pleasure—or given it. Those fellas sound like decent men, hon.” She paused. “Those aren’t the kind of men a little thing like you should go running away from, if you don’t mind my saying. Especially if you’ve lost all your money.”

  Jenny wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t ruin their friendship.” She looked at May. “I can’t go back. They’re better off without me. Even if I wanted to be with them, I don’t belong there. I belong… here.”

  “Here? At Cora’s?” May put her hand over Jenny’s. “Now why would somebody like you say something like that?”

  Now Jenny burst into fresh tears, answering only after May had sufficiently soothed her.

  “Because I’m a lustful woman,” Jenny sobbed. “Even though I’ve never… been with a man, I have these desires. Oh, God forgive me, but I love both of them. I think of both of them, at night. And… it makes me feel…”

  Now May laughed. “Bless your heart. That don’t make you bad, sugar. That makes you honest. Folks may tell a woman how to act, but her heart and body will have their own ideas. You want both these men?”