by Lana Dare
Because of Maggie’s condition, Eb had settled her as comfortably as possible on the buckboard he drove, and kept travel slow.
Staring straight ahead, Savannah let the men’s low conversation flow around her, a little surprised at their camaraderie with Wyatt and Hayes. Soothed by their low, sometimes teasing, conversation, she shot several glances at Maggie, curious about how she got along with such a group of men, but her friend leaned heavily against Eb and drowsed.
It gave Savannah time to think.
All hard masculinity and obvious caring and respect for each other, the other men fascinated her, but nothing could distract her from Wyatt and Hayes.
They sat tall in their saddles, their gazes always shifting, mostly in her direction. The self-confidence and intelligence in their eyes spoke volumes, letting the world know that they would have no trouble handling whatever trouble came their way.
Their arrogance, a source of both pride and annoyance with her, couldn’t be contained, evident in every hard line of their bodies and steely glint of their eyes.
They flanked her, staying close enough to make it clear that she was with them, their eyes daring her to run.
The knowledge that she wanted to gleamed in Wyatt’s dark gaze and Hayes’s brilliant green one.
The anticipation of catching her glittered bright, a look they probably used on their prisoners, a look that would have stopped her from running if she’d considered it.
So, she rode along in silence, too aware of their intimate knowledge of her to attempt conversation.
Swallowing her impatience, she kept her mount at a steady, even pace. She could feel the others’ curious gazes and didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself than necessary.
She’d promised to stay until Maggie had her baby, and Savannah never broke a promise. She’d had too many promises made to her broken and had vowed that she would never do that to another.
She would, however, do this on her terms.
She’d keep her head down, spend as much time as she could with Maggie, and leave just as soon as possible.
Even after several hours of riding, her awareness of Wyatt and Hayes and their sharp attention never lessened.
If anything, it grew stronger, the affection they’d shown to her in Kansas City shining in their eyes more frequently now, but remained tempered with frustration and anger.
Her skin prickled, a sensation that intensified every time they looked at her.
Their attention kept her on edge, making her stiff in the saddle, and renewed a closeness with them she’d thought long forgotten.
It brought back too many memories of the night they’d taken her.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t forget the way their warm strength felt against her body. Instead of being scared and vulnerable, she’d felt protected and safe in their arms, something she hadn’t expected at all.
Hayes had taken her first that night, holding her and murmuring sweet words to her, raining kisses over her face as he apologized for hurting her.
It had been the most amazing night of her life. She’d felt closer to them than she’d ever felt to anyone in her entire life.
As he rode beside her, she couldn’t help glancing at his gloved hands, remembering the scars on them and how they’d felt moving over her body.
Finding it difficult to believe that the hard man watching her with such anger in his eyes could be the same man who’d taken her with such tenderness, she looked away, rubbing her arm against the chill that went though her.
She knew they both had a right to be angry with her, but she hadn’t thought she’d have to face it.
He moved closer, keeping his voice low and even as though trying not to spook her, but nothing could disguise the danger he exuded.
“Wyatt and I are the sheriffs in Desire now. Good group of men.”
Experienced at hiding her emotions, she kept her expression bland.
“Why would you give up your job as Marshals to be sheriffs of a small town in the middle of nowhere?”
Hayes moved closer.
“To be with you. Everyone will recognize you as wife to both of us there. Eb and Jeremiah’s men have already built the jailhouse. We just have to get a house built for you before winter sets in.”
She trembled as Wyatt moved in on her other side, shrugging and staring straight ahead.
She wouldn’t allow herself to want something that could never be with men she could never hold.
“I don’t have any need for a house. I’ll be staying with the Tylers just until Maggie delivers the babe. I’m hoping to be long gone before winter sets in.”
All conversation around them stopped, the rapt attention of the other men a tangible thing.
After several heart-pounding seconds, Hayes spoke, the muscle working in his jaw making his scar appear more prominent.
“No. You won’t.”
Savannah couldn’t help but smile at the arrogance in his tone. His arrogance didn’t stand a chance against her determination.
“I hear Texas is wide open and full of opportunity.”
“What kind of opportunity?”
Wyatt’s icy question had her turning to glare at him, struck again by his blatant masculinity.
Her mind went blank as a surge of longing hit her.
She didn’t know how a man so hard looking could be considered handsome, but somehow Wyatt managed to be both.
All hard lines and angles, and with the scar on his cheek, Hayes could be downright scary, intimidating all but the bravest men. Wyatt, on the other hand, had women chasing him all over Kansas City—women determined to tame the gorgeous and dangerous Marshal.
Wyatt’s charm drew people while Hayes’s icy demeanor and scarred face kept them at a distance.
Even wearing the cold expression Wyatt wore now, his masculine good looks made her tongue-tied.
Savannah turned away, her face burning and her heart beating nearly out of her chest.
“What I do is really none of your concern.”
Wyatt’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You know better. Everything about you is my concern, Savannah.”
From the other side, Hayes touched her shoulder, leaning close enough for her to clearly make out the possessive gleam in his eyes.
“And mine.”
Savannah gulped, finding it difficult to breathe. When Wyatt’s easy charm turned to ice, it chilled her from within, while the warmth Hayes displayed now left her frazzled and confused. It was as if both allowed her to see a side of them they hadn’t before.
“If she accepts your claim. Until then she’s under our protection.” The underlying iron in Eb’s tone left no room for argument.
Wyatt kept his gaze steady on Savannah.
“Hayes and I have already declared our intentions. We’ll keep Savannah safe and care for her.”
Several whoops from the other men made Savannah’s stomach tighten. If not for the fact that she’d promised Maggie she’d stay, she might have ridden away right then and there.
“I don’t need your protection, and I have no desire to be claimed.”
Hayes moved in closer, keeping his voice low enough not to be overheard.
“You’ve already given yourself to us. You’re ours now. There’s no turning back.” Straightening, he nodded once. “We’ll talk somewhere private.”
Eb eyed her for several seconds before inclining his head. “I’ll allow that.”
Bristling at the arrogance in Eb’s tone, Savannah whirled in the saddle.
“I don’t need your permission to talk to them or anyone else.”
Eb bent low to say something to Maggie, who appeared agitated. Once he settled her, he turned back to Savannah, still caressing Maggie’s shoulder.
“So you feel as though you could handle talking to Wyatt and Hayes alone? I don’t want you putting yourself in a situation where you might be in over your head. I trust them with you, though.”
His smug smile set her teeth
on edge. He shrugged and adjusted the blanket on Maggie’s shoulders.
“Until I hear from your lips that you’re going to marry them, you’re my responsibility.”
Savannah’s strict upbringing kept her from cursing out loud, but her anger had them running through her head.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a grown woman now, not the child you knew in Kansas City.”
To her surprise, instead of snapping back, Eb chuckled.
“Always did have a temper underneath all that politeness.” He shared a look with Wyatt and Hayes. “She’s always been polite, sometimes too polite—just apparently not with the two of you.”
Wyatt’s lips twitched, his twinkling eyes making him even more breathtaking. “We noticed. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
Eb sobered, his gaze holding hers and filled with determination and tenderness, bringing back memories of a night long ago, a night in which he’d rescued her from the most frightening experience of her life.
“Savannah, you’re under our protection, and you’ll obey the rules we laid out for you. You’ll do nothing to endanger yourself. My men have all sworn to keep every woman on the place safe. If they tell you to do something for your own safety, then you’d better do it.”
He smiled, taking some of the sting from his words. “Besides, I don’t want to have to be the one to answer to Maggie if something happens to you.”
Savannah blinked, slowing her horse and looking at each of the men in turn. Amazed that they all wore the same sober expressions, she turned back to Eb, carefully avoiding the searching looks both Wyatt and Hayes gave her.
Knowing she owed Eb Tyler a debt she could never repay, she bit back her anger.
“I have no intention of putting myself in danger and—”
Eb had already started shaking his head.
“No, I don’t believe you would, but you’ll abide by the rules we’ve established here, rules designed to—”
“Bully women around?”
The words slipped out before she could stop them, her anger bubbling at the amusement in Wyatt’s eyes.
“It’s not enough that men are physically stronger. They don’t want women to read, unless they get to pick the reading material. They don’t want them to have minds of their own. They’d rather tell them what to do every waking moment of their day. They want slaves and make whatever laws they have to make in order to keep women under their control.”
Thinking of her mother and some of the women she’d helped in Kansas City only made her angrier. Turning to face Wyatt fully, she clenched her fists on the reins.
“They suck the life out of a woman, making her old before her time and desperate enough to believe whatever a man says. Meanwhile, men go out and do whatever they want to do, sometimes staying out all night with one of their painted ladies, while the woman stays home and works like a dog.”
By the time she finished, she was breathing heavily, her heart pounding in her chest.
Shifting in embarrassment at the ensuing silence, Savannah turned away from Wyatt’s speculative look and Eb’s knowing one.
She didn’t have the courage to look at Hayes.
Gritting her teeth in frustration, she turned her horse and continued on at a much faster pace.
She knew better than to let anyone know what she was thinking or feeling.
Keeping her thoughts and feelings to herself had always been one of her rules, one self-imposed, and that had always worked well for her.
Letting her anger loosen her tongue only made her angrier.
Eb looked furious. “Those rules are for the sole intention of keeping our women safe!”
Savannah snorted inelegantly, saying nothing.
Hayes closed in on her other side, his tender smile surprising her.
“Savannah, Wyatt and I swore to uphold those laws. If we didn’t think they would keep you and all the other women safe, we wouldn’t have agreed to become the sheriffs.”
Remembering all the times Eb and Jeremiah had confronted her uncle on her behalf, and their patience in letting her tag along with Maggie, she sighed, her temper cooling.
Well known for his patience, Eb waited until she met his gaze again, nodding in satisfaction when she did.
“You know I would do anything to protect the women I care about. When have I ever stood by and let anyone hurt a woman?”
She glanced at Wyatt, breathing a sigh of relief when his speculative gaze slid from her to Eb and back again.
He didn’t know.
She hoped he never would.
Meeting Eb’s sharp eyes, she nodded and focused her attention straight ahead.
“Never. I trust you.”
Gesturing toward the men approaching from a distance, she put a hand over the butt of her gun, a little surprised that the men didn’t.
“That doesn’t mean I trust anyone else. Trust has to be earned.”
Hayes laid a hand over her forearm, the tingling awareness from his touch shooting straight to her nipples.
“You can ease up on that pistol. That’s Jeremiah, Phoenix, and Hart up ahead. I’m sure Jeremiah can’t wait to see Maggie, and Phoenix and Hart are probably checking to see if they brought any women back with them. They all know that you’re already spoken for.”
Something had already told her that the approaching riders posed no threat. The men had obviously seen and identified them, probably long before she’d even noticed them.
Uneasy at her own lack of vigilance, she took her hand from her gun.
Wyatt glanced at Eb, but Savannah could feel his attention on her.
“We’re on Tyler land now, Savannah. Eb, Hayes and I are going on to the pond with your charge. We’ve got a few things to discuss before we get to the ranch. She’s safe with us.”
Eb nodded without hesitation.
“Didn’t doubt that at all.”
Savannah thought about objecting, but one look at the worry in Maggie’s eyes changed her mind. She didn’t want to upset her friend by arguing with Wyatt and Hayes in front of her, and figured this would be as good a time as any to set them straight about a few things.
“I won’t be long, Maggie. I know you’re tired. Why don’t you go on up to the ranch and get a little sleep? We can talk later.”
Not bothering to wait for Maggie’s reply, she turned away, a little surprised at the looks of respect and indulgence from Eb’s ranch hands.
She hadn’t expected that, assuming that they would think less of her after hearing that both Wyatt and Hayes had an interest in sharing her.
She thought about it as she rode in silence between Wyatt and Hayes, staring straight ahead as they made their way through a small grove of trees.
Perhaps the other men had been forced to accept what Eb and Jeremiah had with Maggie. After all, their pay depended on respecting their bosses’ wishes.
When the trail narrowed, Hayes urged his horse forward to lead the way, while Wyatt fell back to ride behind her.
Her position between them filled her with an inner warmth she didn’t want to examine too closely.
It struck her suddenly that ever since they’d approached her in the store, she’d let her guard down, relying on them to keep her safe in a place where danger lurked around every corner.
No matter what she’d said to Eb, she trusted Wyatt and Hayes with her safety every bit as much as she trusted them with her body.
Somehow she felt connected to them, and in ways she hadn’t even considered. Even now she couldn’t keep her eyes from the compelling sight of Hayes riding in front of her. Staring at his broad back, she couldn’t help but admire his wide shoulders as he sat straight and tall in the saddle.
The coat he wore against the early autumn evening only emphasized his rugged build, a build she knew intimately.
It hit her suddenly that the night they’d spent together in Kansas City would always be between them—an intimacy they’d shared that nothing could ever change, and one that no one, not even her
uncle, could ever take away from her.
Her stomach tightened at the memory of just how firm and sleek those shoulders she couldn’t stop staring at felt under her hands. How safe and solid his body felt as he cradled her against him.
How hot. How strong.
How those wide shoulders could block out the rest of the world and make a cocoon of warmth and safety just for them.
How they’d blocked her view of the fire he’d built as he held her, whispering words of affection and encouragement as he took her virginity.
“I think you were right in suggesting some sleep. Mrs. Tyler was looking a little under the weather.”
Wyatt’s low tone coming from right behind her snapped her back to the present. Raising her collar around her burning face, she nodded and looked around, taking in the small clearing they’d entered and the cluster of large rocks by the pond.
“Yes. I’m sure she needs more rest now. I just hope Eb and Jeremiah are taking care of her.”
Glancing in her direction, Hayes brought his mount to a stop beside the pond. He slid from his horse in a graceful move and headed straight toward her, frowning when she dismounted without waiting for him.
“Of course Eb and Jeremiah take care of her. They worry about her all the time and check on her constantly. Sometimes I wonder if she’s strong enough for life out here.”
From behind, Wyatt touched her shoulder, making her jump because she hadn’t even heard him approach.
“It’s a hard life, but I have to give them credit for making sure she’s as protected as possible. I just don’t know if she’s got the sand to make it here.”
Insulted, Savannah rushed to defend her only friend.
“You know nothing about Maggie, you sidewinders!”
Ignoring their looks of surprise, she rushed on, not giving either one of them a chance to speak.
“You don’t know her at all! She might have been surrounded by people who loved and protected her, but she’s never been spoiled.”
Wyatt straightened to his full height, several inches over six feet, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know she’s nothing like you. I know she didn’t have the kind of life you had to endure. Your friend’s been protected and spoiled her entire life—”