by Lily Graison
Opening her eyes, she did a mental check and realized that Colt had crawled into bed with her at some point. He was wrapped around her like a blanket and even though the feel of him pressed so intimately against her back was more pleasant than it should have been, her heart started pounding in her chest.
His arm was around her waist, his palm cupping her breast as if he was scared it would get away from him. His leg was sandwiched between her thighs and every breath he took, a warm rush of air was felt against the side of her neck.
Grabbing his hand, she pried it from her breast and looked over her shoulder at him. “Colt.” It took her saying his name three more times, and jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow, to get him to stir. When he did, she wished he hadn’t. His slight movement caused his apparent erection to be felt against her bottom.
A mere shift of his hips made that evidence even more noticeable and Sarah swallowed a sudden lump forming in her throat. “Colt.”
“Hmmm.”
“Get out of my bed.”
He did the complete opposite and wrapped himself around her more, burying his face into her hair.
“Colt.” Sarah sighed when he made no move to wake. She looked down at his arm, noticing she didn’t see the sleeve of his shirt. Her tripping heart nearly exploded from her chest when she realized he could very well be naked, that erection of his bared with nothing separating him from her except the thin material of her shift. The thought caused naughty images no proper lady should have to flood her mind.
She had to get him out of bed but waking him, and finding him naked, was too much to bear. Him pressed so intimately against her back was causing thoughts she shouldn’t have to dance across her mind’s eye. Thoughts of pulling the hem of her shift up and letting him bed her like he’d said he wanted to do.
The idea terrified and excited her at the same time. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t wondered what it would be like to let him have his way. She was attracted to him. Had been the instant he pulled the bandana covering his face away outside the bank. He was handsome, protective and a danger in more ways than one. If it weren’t for the fact she’d be ruined by letting him take what he wanted, she’d throw caution to the wind and let him take her.
Ideas like that only caused more trouble down the road and Sarah knew if she couldn’t get him out of her bed, she’d have to be the one to move. It took a bit of struggling but she managed to break his hold on her and crawled from the bed.
When her feet were on the floor, she hurried across the room, refusing to look at him. If she did, and found him naked, she’d be too tempted to crawl back into the warmth of his embrace.
She found the calico dress she’d purchased the day before and slipped it over her head, buttoning it to her neck before trying to finger-comb her hair. The bed-ropes made a squeak and she froze, torn between the desire to look over her shoulder or keep her eyes averted. She kept her gaze locked on the wall in front of her and tried to ignore that voice in her head daring her to take a tiny little peek.
* * * *
Colt’s head was pounding and the sun shining through the curtain only made it worse. He pried his eyes open a fraction before slamming them back shut and turning his face into the mattress. Her scent filled his head, lilacs and fresh mountain air. Sarah, the woman he couldn’t stop thinking, or fantasizing about, no matter what he did.
He turned his head and cracked open an eye. He saw her then, near the wall. Her back was to him and it took long moments before his cloudy mind replayed the events of last evening. He grimaced at most of it but when he remembered Sarah, and coming into her room, he smiled.
She’d been so scandalized, her face flushing the softest pink at being caught in her shift, he couldn’t imagine her looking any more fetching. Of course, that was before seeing her curves outlined in that god-ugly dress she was wearing now. The calico material did nothing for her, the small blue flowers on a yellow background was plain and ordinary looking. Her feet were bare and he smiled while looking at her small ankles. One never paid much attention to a woman’s feet since they were covered all the time but now that he could look, he did. Like the rest of her, they were small and dainty looking.
His gaze traveled up her legs, over her generous bottom, lingering there for longer than he should have, before lifting to her small waist, to her shoulders. Her hair was pulled in front of her while she braided it and the ordinary task of her fixing her hair felt too intimate in the small room. Seeing her barefoot with her hair down, him half naked in her bed caused something warm to twist in his gut. He imagined her in his home, those blonde locks swaying near her hips as she dressed in his room. Their room. Her face flushed after he’d spent the morning showing her just how much he wanted her.
He blinked and the images faded away. She was still standing where she had been but she was looking over her shoulder at him, her hair still held in her hands. “Whatever you’re thinking about, stop.”
Colt grinned at her and wrapped his arms around the pillow on the bed, laying his head on it. “Make me.”
She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t make a sound. She whirled, flung her braid over her shoulder and searched the room for something. She found it moments later and crossed to the bed, bending over. When she stood, her stockings were in one hand, her kid boots in the other. “I would ask where you got the audacity to barge into my room last night but I already know.” She sat on the foot of the bed, turning her back to him before lifting one leg to slip her stockings on. “I hope no one saw you other than the nosey man in the hall last night.”
“And what if someone did see?”
Shaking her head, she let out a small laugh. “It makes little difference. I’m already ruined. Thankfully no one in this town knows me.” When she’d slipped into her boots, she turned to face him. “Thank you for kidnapping me, dragging me through uncounted territories, half starving me and irritating me beyond belief. I’ve a stagecoach to catch so,” she stood, straightened her skirts and gave him a saccharine smile, “Have a nice life, outlaw, whose really a US Marshall. It’s been an adventure.”
Colt’s eyes widened when she said he was a US Marshal and he was out of the bed and across the room, grabbing her arm before she reached the door. “Who told you I was a US Marshal?”
She laughed. “You did.”
“When?”
“Last night.” She gazed up at him, her smile mocking. “What’s wrong, Colt? All that whiskey you consumed last night fogging the brain a bit this morning?” Her smile faded as she lowered her eyes, her attention drawn to his neck. Something dark and murderous glinted in her eyes when she looked back up at him. “Have a nice life, Colt. Be sure to thank the saloon whores for your good time. With marks like that, there’s no way you couldn’t have had the time of your life.”
She jerked her arm free from his grasp, turned and walked out the door, slamming it closed behind her. Her comments confused him until he turned to find his shirt and saw his reflection shining back at him from the mirror hanging on the wall. Small bruises were dusted across his neck and throat, one on his chest, and the whiskey he’d drank the night before burned sour in his stomach when he saw them.
The night came back to him in flashes, the whores at the saloon an unwelcome vision. He’d fought them off for well over two hours and only escaped after getting them so drunk they could barely stand.
Of course, those two hours had been hellish. Only a saint could have survived the attention of two woman as they pawed and kissed him and not come away unscathed. Regardless of his refusal, they didn’t stop trying to get into his purse, or his pants, those little bruises on his neck from their small, playful bites all the proof he needed to the fact.
And now Sarah had seen them…and left in a tizzy because of them. He grinned, his pounding head forgotten in the realization. She was obviously mad when she left. Mad when she saw those marks. She wouldn’t have been so upset if she didn’t care. About him. About him being with another woman.
He grabbed his shirt, slipping it on and buttoning it before walking to the window. He thumbed the curtain aside and glanced down at the street. The townsfolk were bustling about, filling the wooden sidewalks and it only took Colt a few minutes to spot Sarah. She was walking briskly toward the stagecoach station, her hips swaying in that ugly dress that was one size too small, with her head held high.
Thoughts of her departure rushed at him, leaving him bereft even as he looked at her. After she stepped foot on that stagecoach, he’d never see her again. He wasn’t sure he could live with that. Not with her being mad at him and all.
Letting go of the curtain, he grinned and found his boots, slipped them on and started for the door, snatching his coat and hat up off the floor as he went. He wasn’t about to let her have the last word. Besides, he’d curse himself for every kind of fool for letting a woman that fine, with lips that soft, go without one more taste.
* * * *
Sarah bought her ticket and walked back out onto the sidewalk to wait. It wouldn’t be long, according to the ticket agent. The stagecoach was due in any minute now.
She found a bench and sat, watching people walk up and down the walkway, going about their day, before she glanced over at the hotel. The moment she did, her blood heated again.
The marks left on Colt by some unknown woman had been mere smudges of color the night before but in the bright morning light coming through the window, they’d looked like dark beacons screaming to his previous sins. Just the thought of seeing them caused something hot and ugly to twist her heart and her fingers curled into her palm, her fists clenched.
Why she cared what he’d done, she didn’t know, but the fact he’d been with another woman caused her throat to tighten, her heart to pound and she ground her teeth together to keep from screaming what a bastard he was. How dare he say he wanted her, wanted to bed her, and then turn to some… whore? And then to crawl back to her like a lost puppy in need of a home. That was the final insult.
Hot tears burned at the back of her eyes and she blinked them away. As crazy as it sounded, she felt betrayed. She meant nothing to him but seeing those marks and knowing some other woman had been in his arms, had kissed him and done lord only knows what with him caused her stomach to ache.
How could he say he wanted her then turn to someone else?
Because he’s a man, her mind taunted. They only want what they can’t have. She knew then that she’d gotten every thing mixed up. She’d mistaken his interest in her as something else. It was sexual, that was all, he could care less about her, the woman, Sarah.
The thought made the ache more profound and she lifted her head to look back at the hotel. She saw him then, walking across the street toward her and some twisted part of her jumped for joy. She tramped down the glee moments later by reminding her traitorous heart what a low down dog he really was and tilted her chin up a notch at him when he stepped onto the sidewalk.
He was grinning at her, that insufferable smug look on his face and with his hat on, tilted down in the front and his trail coat on, he looked every bit the dangerous outlaw he claimed to be.
“Did you get your ticket?”
“Why?” Sarah asked. “Eager to be rid of me?”
He repositioned his hat and looked down the road before turning his attention back to her. He stared at her for long moments before shaking his head. “For what its worth, I wish things could have been different.”
“Meaning, what, exactly?”
He stared at her, a slight smile pulling the corners of his mouth. “I mean, under different circumstances, it would have been nice to meet you.”
“And it wasn’t this time?”
The smile grew until the whites of his teeth were showing. “Plenty pleasurable, sweetheart, but it could have been so much better.”
This mans arrogance knew no bounds. Those blasted “love bites” on his neck were still visible and Sarah stared at them long enough for her anger to burn hot again. She stood and stared him in the eye. “I wish I could say the same for you, Colton Avery, but I can’t. You’ve been a burr in my hide since laying eyes on you. You’re the reason I was taken and you’re the reason I’m stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, having to travel back home alone with nothing but the clothes on my back. You’ve been nothing but trouble to me and I hope never to lay eyes on you again.”
She turned and stomped away, a small voice in the back of her mind screaming to turn around, say she didn’t mean any of that and throw herself at him. She refused to do so and kept walking, her heeled boots making loud clicks against the wooden sidewalk as she attempted to put as much distance as she could between them.
He caught her in front of the General Store, his strong arm banded around her waist, turning her to face him. Laughter danced in his eyes and the arrogant tilt to his mouth let her know he was trying not to laugh at her. “Why are you mad at me?”
Sarah let out an unladylike snort. “Oh, let me count the ways.”
“Is it because of what you think happened at the saloon?”
“I could care less what you do, Colt. Now let go of me.” She struggled but his hold on her tightened.
“Yes you do. You care what I do, who I do it with, and where I’m doing it at. You proved that this morning.” He finally grinned at her and lifted one hand, cupping the side of her face. “You want me. Admit it.”
Another little snort was all Sarah managed.
Colt lowered his head until his warm breath teased her lips. “You want me as much as I want you but you’re too uptight to act on it. Afraid your perfect little world will crumble if you give in to desire and take what you want. Do you honestly think your pudgy marshal hasn’t indulged while waiting for you to say, I do?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat and stared into the blue of his eyes, hating the fact that being this close to him caused her heart to thump wildly in her chest. He was so warm, his hand on her back like a branding iron and the look in his eyes... She blinked and focused on anything but the need she saw in his eyes. But looking at his lips was a bigger mistake. She remembered the way they felt against her own. Remembered how he tasted, the velvety texture of his tongue sliding against her lips and she barely contained the urge to moan at the memory.
Stiffening her spine, she looked over his shoulder and said, “William is faithful to me.”
He laughed. “You think so?” His arm around her waist tightened another fraction, his body fitted snugly against hers from thigh to chest. His voice, a rough whisper she felt against her mouth. “Where is he, Sarah? If you were my woman, I’d ride day and night until I found you, and kill the bastard who took you. Yet here you are, with me, while your faithful fiancé is nowhere to be found.”
Sarah gritted her teeth at his words. She’d thought them herself a few dozen times. She’d been gone for days and no one seemed to be looking for her. Surely any good lawman could track an outlaw, especially one who had a gang of bloodthirsty outlaws on his trial. Their chase across the desert should have left a path several miles long yet here she was with no one to protect her but the outlaw who took her.
She stared into his smiling eyes, glanced at the mouth that spewed scandalous things to her and knew he was right about one thing. She did want him but she’d die before she let him know. “Are you quite finished?”
He shook his head. “Not by a long shot, sweetheart.”
Sarah saw his intentions gleam in his eyes a spilt second before he lowered his head and kissed her, right there on the street! She gasped, giving him the opening he had to be waiting for. His tongue slipped into her mouth and the reasons she had to protest vanished.
The hand cupping her face moved into her hair, holding her to him and angling her head the way he wanted. The noise on the street grew but Sarah found little reason to care. The feel of him pressed against her, the silky glide of his lips against her own, the taste of him, washed away everything else. Her body heated within seconds, her knees were wobbly a
nd if not for his tight hold on her, she would have fallen to the sidewalk.