by Lana Dare
She rode away before he could say anything else, anxious to get back home. Hopefully, she would have the chance to get some water hot and ready for Hayes and Wyatt to take a bath before they came back for supper. While the water heated, she could start measuring and cutting the curtains.
Thinking about her evening plans, Savannah rode toward the house, slowing to check the progress of the house the men seemed intent on finishing first, the house the women who came here would live in until they were claimed.
The men figured that building the house close to the sheriffs’ home and the jail would be the safest, and many of the other men who eagerly anticipated being married had begun to build their houses close by.
The beginning of a town.
“Savannah Hawkins?”
Startled, Savannah whipped her head around, alarmed to find a stranger sitting on his horse only about twenty yards away.
Her hand went to her gun, some instinct warning her that this man wasn’t from the ranch.
“Who are you?”
“Name’s Slick. They call me that ’cause I’m so fast with the pistols. Heard you was, too. I got a reputation for being the fastest gun out here, but lately I ain’t heard nothin’ but talk about you. Say you’re fast and could shoot the wings off a fly at twenty paces. They tell me I wouldn’t be nothin’ against you. Can’t have that now, can I? You’re ruinin’ my reputation.”
Savannah had seen that not quite sane look in her uncle’s eyes often enough to respect it.
“I think you’re mistaken.” Damn it. She should have stayed at the ranch. Just the thought of having to shoot another man made her sick to her stomach.
To her dismay, four other men on horseback came out of the woods behind Slick, two stopping on either side of him.
“This her, Slick?”
Slick nodded, straightening in his saddle. “Yep. You all can watch me kill her and then tell everyone in Tulsa that you seen me outdraw her with your own eyes.”
“That’s going to be a little hard to do when you’re all dead.”
Wyatt’s deep voice came from somewhere behind her, razor sharp and cold as ice.
She’d never heard anything so wonderful in her life.
To her further amazement, several of the other men from the ranch came from everywhere, surrounding Slick and his friends.
Hayes spared a glance at her before turning his attention to Slick. “That’s my wife, and I don’t appreciate it when men want to draw on her.”
Hawke, Blade, Phoenix, Hart, Gideon, Eb, and Jeremiah surrounded the men, each with a gun pointed at them.
Wyatt rode up beside her. “Don’t draw those guns, Savannah.” He continued ahead, placing himself between her and the other men.
“If you apologize to my wife, and turn around, we’ll let you go, but only because we want you to tell anyone you come across that women are treated with respect in Desire. We take any slight to them real personally.”
Slick frowned and pointed at Hayes. “I thought she was his wife.”
Hayes smiled coldly. “She is.”
Wyatt nodded. “She’s married to both of us. The women here are protected. Any man who harms a woman here will have no mercy shown to him. The only reason we’re letting you go is so you can pass the word. Uh-uh. Get those hands away from those pistols.”
Savannah couldn’t breathe, the atmosphere so highly charged, she started to shake. With her heart thumping nearly out of her chest, she stayed as still as she could, scared to death one of those men would draw and—
In the blink of an eye, all hell broke loose around her. Before she even knew what was happening, two shots rang out, almost simultaneously.
Smoke still rose from the end of Hayes’s gun, while Slick screamed and held his gun hand.
The other men sat frozen, slowly lifting their hands away from their own guns, while eyeing the men of Desire, who still held guns on them.
Jeremiah grinned. “None of you gonna go for it?”
Wyatt backed his horse up until he sat next to her, glancing at her while still keeping his gun trained at Slick’s friends. “Savannah?”
Savannah nodded, drawing her first deep breath.
“What just happened?”
“Slick there decided to draw on Hayes. Hayes shot the gun out of his hand.”
“Anybody hurt? I thought I heard two shots.” She looked at each of the men from the ranch, searching for blood, but the only blood she saw was on Slick’s hand.
Hart picked up his hat from the ground, poking his finger through a hole in it.
“I just got it broke in.”
Wyatt chuckled, his eyes still hard as they raked over her. “Hart goes through hats like you go through peppermint sticks. Every time he gets a new one, something happens to it.”
It didn’t escape her notice that he searched her eyes while talking to her, or that even though he tried to sound playful, his voice still carried an edge.
Holding a gun on the men now sitting on the ground while Hawke and Gideon tied Slick and his friends’ hands behind their backs, Eb smiled, a smile that didn’t even come close to reaching his eyes.
“Hart hates new hats. He’ll be complaining until he gets it broke in. You all right, honey? You look pale.”
“I thought I was going to have to shoot him.” The words slipped out before she even knew she wanted to say them.
She met Hayes’s eyes and then Wyatt’s. “I knew I could do it. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I knew I could do it. It was a relief that I didn’t have to.” Aware of the tension coming from both of them, she searched their eyes, but their icy ones revealed nothing.
Wyatt pulled her close, running his hands up and down her back. “You’re going to have to be watched closely. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her.” Hayes came close and dragged her from her horse to his. “We’re going to take these men to Tulsa and let everyone see what happens to men who come to Desire to cause trouble.”
Hayes gathered her close, burying his face in her hair. “I love you so damned much. When I heard what that man said to you—”
Grateful for something solid to hold on to, Savannah smiled, staring at Wyatt, who’d moved closer.
“If that man got a shot off, that means that he outdrew Hayes, doesn’t it?”
Wyatt blinked. “Slick’s gun went off just as Hayes shot it out of his hand. Messed up his aim enough that he couldn’t shoot him.”
Savannah smiled. “Uh-huh.”
Hayes stiffened. “He didn’t outdraw me. We drew at the same time. I hit my target. He didn’t.”
“If you say so.” She couldn’t resist teasing him, wanting to erase the horror still lingering in his eyes. She needed to prove that she was tough enough to survive life out here, and that even though she’d fallen apart before, she wouldn’t let it happen again.
Leaning back, he glared at her. “He did not outdraw me.”
Savannah leaned back against him. “Of course not.”
The other men did their best to hide their smiles, Eb shaking his head, not even bothering to hide his.
“I always knew you were trouble, Savannah. Hayes and Wyatt are both hell with guns and with their aim. I’ve seen Slick here in action. He’s fast, but against your husbands, he didn’t stand a chance.”
Savannah shrugged, winking at Eb, keeping her tone thoughtful. “Hmm, I’m sure you’re right. I wonder if I could outdraw them.”
Wyatt placed a hand on her thigh and leaned over her threateningly. “Savannah Hawkins, you’re treading on thin ice here.”
“Everything all right here? I heard shots.”
All eyes whipped around to see Duke ride up, his eyes scanning the clearing.
Wyatt nodded. “Everything’s fine. The one bleeding over there wanted to draw on Savannah. The others are his friends.”
Duke’s eyes met hers and then lifted to Hayes’s. “Told her to stay back at the
ranch and wait for you. She wouldn’t.”
Hayes leaned back, lifting her chin to stare down at her, his eyes hooded and swirling with anger as he turned his horse, putting himself between her and the other men, and her between him and Wyatt.
“Is that a fact?”
His deceptively low tone didn’t fool her one bit.
Chills went up Savannah’s spine. “Well, I—”
Wyatt squeezed her knee, and she heard several uh-oh’s from behind her.
“We’re going to have a talk about that later, Savannah.”
Memories of the time he’d spanked her came rushing back, making her clit swell.
She actually looked forward to it, but didn’t want her husbands to know that.
Over the last two months she’d learned a great deal about her husbands and used that knowledge now.
Out of sight of the others, Savannah stared up at Hayes and lifted his hand to her breast.
“Thank you so much for coming to my rescue. I love you so much.”
His eyes softened, the flash of heat in them unmistakable. His fingers moved on her breast as though he couldn’t help himself. His touch intensified her need, making her pussy clench and her clit begin to throb.
“I love you, too, but don’t ever do that again. You need a damned spanking for the things you put us through.”
Savannah smiled coyly, placing her hand on his chest, no longer able to sit still. “I’m looking forward to whatever punishment you think I deserve, Sheriff.”
Hayes unerringly found her nipple and squeezed lightly, his eyes flashing again at her soft cry.
“We’ll just see about that tonight, now won’t we?”
Wyatt groaned.
“Now I’m going to spend the rest of the day hard. Give her to me.”
Hayes pinched her nipple before releasing her. “Until tonight. Then you’re mine.”
Savannah touched her lips to his chin, tracing a finger down his scar. “I’m always yours.”
After Hayes passed her to Wyatt, he rode away, leaving her staring after him. Watching the men put Slick and his friends facedown over their horses’ backs, with their arms tied behind them, Savannah leaned back against Wyatt.
Concerned at his stillness, she turned her face to look up at him, surprised to find him staring down at her. Concerned that he might be jealous, she stiffened. “What’s wrong, Wyatt?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I would die for you, Savannah. I don’t know how I could ever live without you now.”
Incredibly touched, she blinked back tears. “You won’t have to.”
Wyatt nodded. “You won’t be able to get away with what you did today. Your safety is the most important thing in the world to us. You’re going to get a hell of a spanking tonight.”
He gathered her close, turning her in his arms and burying his face in her hair. “Then I’m going to love you like there’s no tomorrow.”
“That’s all I need.”
She looked forward to a lifetime of tomorrows with two men she now couldn’t live without.
She’d found more love than she’d ever known existed, and lived in a wonderful place unlike any other.
She had it all.
She had love—and Desire.
THE END
WWW.LEAHBROOKE.NET
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Lana Dare’s not writing, she’s spending time with family, friends and her puppies.
Also by Lana Dare
Ménage Everlasting: The Lost Collection: Beaumonts’ Brand
Ménage Everlasting: The Lost Collection: Amanda’s Texas Rangers
Ménage Everlasting: Desire, Oklahoma – The Founding Fathers 1: Untamed Desire
For titles by Lana Dare writing as
Leah Brooke, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/leah-brooke
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com