Painted Lady

by Roxy Harte

  Véronique had unbuttoned the front of her chemise, and the fabric hung off her shoulders, accentuating the curve of her breasts rather than providing modesty. Two of the women wore only bloomers, stockings, and shoes. Seeing their breasts flustered Lucy. Now what?

  They looked uncomfortable, she felt uncomfortable, but she kept thinking about what Daniel had said. She had to think like a madam if she was going to be one. “Line up.”

  She walked over to them and scrutinized them one by one, just as she'd seen Emma's main house slave inspect the others' uniforms each morning from the time Lucy was old enough to understand what was happening. Their little remaining clothing was all stain free and sweet smelling; they'd obviously all recently bathed. Their skin was free of pock scars. It wasn't easy to do her task; her heart was pounding and her palms sweating, but she managed.

  “Georgie?” She met her bartender's gaze over the bar. “Schedule the doctor—for tonight if he's available—by morning at the latest.”

  “I'll see to it right away, Miss Lucy.” He grabbed his hat, then hurried outside. Following him with her gaze, Lucy only felt slightly bad for sending the man out into the weather. Turning back to the girls, she announced, “As soon as you each have a clean bill of health, I'll put you to work. For now, you can take your things upstairs and settle in. Clancy, would you mind showing them to the available rooms?”

  He hurried to do as she asked, and the girls followed. Véronique sent a deep look toward Daniel, rankling Lucy. She demanded, “Why are you here?”

  His expression closed. “Not much else to do but drink on a day like today.”

  “Did you know they were coming?”

  “Now how could I know a thing like that?”

  Lucy, believing he must have known, turned from his denial and stormed away. It was all too convenient that he was there when they'd shown up, when he'd been so intent on not coming around for so many days.

  “Nothing is ever a coincidence.” That's what Emma used to say. Damn it. Damn it all to hell and back. She needed the whores. Needed. Them. But she certainly didn't like the way Daniel had looked at Véronique, or especially the way Véronique had looked at him.

  He caught her by the elbow just as she'd crossed the threshold from saloon to foyer. “Come to the ranch.”

  A howling wind whistled through the closed front doors.

  “I'm going nowhere in this storm.” She glared at him. “I'm going nowhere with you.”

  “Why are you mad at me?”

  “Mad?” She didn't know why she was picking a fight with him; she only knew she was intent on it. “Hardly.”

  “She means nothing to me, Lucy.” Daniel pulled her backward—into him—and crushed her in a tight hug from behind. “You could let me explain.”

  She craned her neck around to argue with him, to tell him she didn't give a damn if there was something to explain, but he caught her angry mouth with his and kissed her hard, forcing her lips apart. She struggled only a minute before going limp in his arms. I like his kisses, damn it. She just didn't want to think about the other women he'd made feel as wonderful.

  When he released her, she managed to stand, though her knees were shaking. Lucy managed to muster enough steam to mount the stairs and leave him standing in the foyer. “Perhaps at a later date I will be interested in hearing your explanations. For now, I prefer a moment alone.”

  Thunder snickered, irritating Daniel even more. “Women.”

  Daniel lifted his glass and took a long swallow. Coming here was a mistake. He'd known it was and almost talked himself out of it a dozen times, but here he was, and here he'd stay until he was certain Thunder was capable of protecting Lucy. “I'm going away for a few weeks, maybe a month.”

  “You don't say,” Thunder replied.

  “Job down south, droving.”

  He felt Thunder's eyes on him but didn't look at the man. Couldn't look. “I'm telling you this because I know that when I'm not here you spend a fair amount of time with Lucy.”

  Thunder stiffened beside him, a new tension rolling off him in waves. His reaction made him believe he cared about her. He hoped he did. “I'm hoping you'll protect her while I'm away.”

  Thunder didn't say anything; his lack of response made Daniel look at him, finding his face tightened with an intensity that would have made lesser men hide. “You won't have to worry about Lucy.”

  Daniel met his gaze and held it. “Good. 'Cause any harm befalls Lucy while she is under your protection, I will hunt you down and make you wish you were dead many times over before I finally get around to killing you.”

  * * *

  Lucy sat in her room, looking through the window at the falling rain. Seeing Thunder and Daniel sitting together at the same table had left her confused. She'd found herself comparing them, and that couldn't be right. Did it matter who was taller? That one was dark and one was light? Did it matter that one was left-handed or one had a long, thin cock that curved to the left? Or that the other had a thick penis that pointed straight as an arrow?

  It hadn't stopped there.

  She'd thought about how they kissed and how they fucked.

  She'd thought about how warm it made her feel inside when Thunder said, Hello, beautiful, and how wicked she felt finding joy in Daniel's possessiveness.

  “Mine.”

  God, yes, she wanted to be Daniel's.

  But she couldn't imagine never entertaining Thunder again, and it was driving her crazy not knowing what the two men had been talking about.

  And then…

  The whores had arrived.

  What a day.

  A tap at the door made her look up. Daniel didn't wait to be invited in—he just strode in and swept her into his arms.

  He carried her to the bed, and once he laid her down, he undressed her. Slowly. Kissing her skin as it was revealed, shoulders, arms, wrists, fingertips. He worshipped her breasts, cupping them, squeezing them, teasing her nipples to taut points before sucking them. He kissed his way down to her navel, and as he eased her dress down her hips and over her thighs, he followed the fabric with kisses.

  Lifting her leg, he kissed the inside of her thigh, her knee, her calf, her ankle, the arch of her foot.

  Licking and kissing the inside of her arch before taking each toe into his mouth.

  After setting her foot down gently, he picked up the other and started kissing at the tips of her toes and slowly and methodically made his way back to where he'd started.

  Lucy watched him, wondering at his gentleness and afraid to say anything, fearing she might break the spell that had brought him to her room. He could have gone to Véronique's room, but he hadn't. He hadn't.

  He rolled her onto her stomach before standing to remove his own clothes. When he joined her on the bed, he was naked. “Go up on your knees.”

  Feeling ridiculous, she did and immediately felt exposed. Daniel ran his hand up the back of her thigh before sliding his fingers between her legs to stroke her gently.

  “Some men like this.”

  She hated it when he reminded her that she was a whore with little experience, though she assumed that it might be better than being reminded she was a whore with a lot of experience. She wondered when that day came, if it would matter at all.

  Positioning behind her, he slid inside her, hitting all the sensitive places inside that made her blood speed through her veins. He took her to new heights and helped her find a quick release, leaving her surprised when he slowed his thrusts and didn't take his own.

  He withdrew, then slid his fluid-drenched prick between her ass cheeks.

  “Some men like sodomy too.”

  Realizing his intent, Lucy tried to struggle away, but he held her tightly.

  “Better with me the first time than with a stranger, sweetheart.”

  He pushed against the tight virginal bud of her anus.

  “Daniel, no! It's wrong. It's against God's law!”

  He held her and kissed her nape. “We'r
e worried about God's law now, are we?”

  She felt mocked as the heat of embarrassment flooded through her, smothering her.

  He continued to ease into her slowly, making her shake with fear and pain. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

  He tweaked the bud of her sex hard enough to make her yelp, the momentary distraction enough to ease his deeper passage. Feeling stretched and full, Lucy held herself rigid.

  “Relax. Move against me.”

  “It will hurt.”

  He licked her earlobe before biting it gently and rubbed her sex. Oh God. Lucy moved, not because he demanded it, but because she had to. Arching her back, she pushed into him. Needing. And not understanding how he'd swayed her so easily.

  She pushed against him again and again, setting a rhythm for them both and using muscles she hadn't even known she'd possessed to milk his firm length.

  Her orgasm took her by surprise, lifting her and spinning her around before allowing her need to crash through her, wave upon wave riding over her, back to front and deep inside.

  * * *

  Lucy woke up lying in Daniel's arms, and for a long moment while he was still sleeping, she wondered why it seemed harder to wake up beside him than when she woke up alone to find coins lying on her pillow. Her second thought was to wonder where Thunder had spent his night. She closed her eyes, telling herself it didn't matter if he were in Véronique's arms or Esmeralda's or Francisca's or Madalena's, because Daniel had been in hers.

  “Thinking about last night?”

  She opened an eye and looked at Daniel. She swallowed hard, unwilling to admit the truth. She blushed. “Maybe.” How could she admit her thoughts had gone again and again to his sodomy of her?

  “Maybe I should try harder to create a longer-lasting impression.” His fingers slid over her belly and down, finding their way to the soft fur between her legs. He dipped lower and found her wet.

  She admitted, “I was fairly impressed.”

  “Me too, especially after you started begging.”

  Lucy swatted at his head, humiliated that he would remind her of such a thing, but he ducked under the blankets and managed to remind her fairly quickly what she'd been begging for the night before. As his mouth slid over her sex, he slid a finger deep inside her tight anus, and though she was tender, her entire body shuddered with a deep pleasure. He licked her front to back with an intimacy that left her gasping and had her screaming his name.

  Daniel crawled over her, his legs stretched between hers. He kissed her softly, and she could taste herself on his lips. “Now tell me about your relationship with the sheriff.”

  Her eyes widened, and she gasped, making it impossible for her to deny she'd had sex with the man. “I don't think it's appropriate to discuss my clientele, Mr. Hatch.”

  He slid his fingers between her legs, making her writhe. “Mr. Hatch, is it?”

  He tweaked her clit before thrusting into her hard and fast. He sealed his mouth over hers, so that when she cried out his name again, he captured the sound with his mouth. He took her to orgasm again quickly and followed with his own while holding her trapped by his weight. “I don't want to know what you do with him here. I need to know you will be safe when I go droving. Tell me you have feelings for him, and he for you, and I will drop the matter entirely.”

  What? “I will admit no such thing.” Droving? “You're leaving?”

  “There's a herd I've been hired to drive farther south for the winter.” He stroked her cheek. “It's my job.” The words sounding like an apology.

  “When do you leave?”

  “I wasn't planning on leaving for another week, but with the sudden turn of weather, I think sooner would be better.”

  A tear slid down her cheek. “Don't go.”

  Daniel stood and dressed before bending and kissing her. “Not today or tomorrow, but the day after that. Don't worry; I'll be back before you have a chance to even miss me.”

  Lucy didn't believe him, because as he slipped out of her bedroom, she was missing him already.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thunder was sitting in the jail, cleaning his weapons, wasting time mostly. It would be hours before the town would come to life. Longer still until his services would be needed. He closed his eyes and thought about Lucy. It seemed he did that much too much lately. He couldn't get enough of her. She was intoxicating, lovely.

  The door to the jail burst open, letting in a draft of chill air. Dan. His hand went automatically to the pistol at his waist, but the man lifted both hands, a gesture to make him feel more at ease. He wasn't wearing his guns, but just that fact didn't make him feel any safer.

  Daniel pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of his desk. “You're probably wondering what brings me out so early on such a cold, miserable morning?”

  He shrugged, watching him closely.

  “Last night I told you I'd be away for a while. Before I go, I'd like for you to do something. Help ease my fears concerning Lucy.”

  So that was what this was about? Dan wanted him to stay away from the woman? Thinking the man had lost his mind, Thunder crossed his arms in front of his chest. It was too early in the morning for such nonsense, and though the sun should have been lighting the sky by now, dark clouds seemed determined on another dismal day. An oil lamp set in the middle of the table created flickering shadows across the man's face, making him seem every bit the devil his reputation alleged him to be. “I want to watch you with Lucy.”

  Stunned, Thunder lifted his steaming mug of coffee and took a long swallow. Dan picked up a second mug near the potbelly stove and pointed at the coffeepot. “You mind?”

  Thunder shook his head, watching Dan pour the coffee. Surely he hadn't heard him correctly, or he had misunderstood the meaning, because Dan certainly couldn't be asking him to have sexual relations with Lucy in front of him.

  Daniel drank.

  Thunder set his cup on the table. He didn't need this little show to prove the drover was in love with the woman; it was as obvious as the besotted gleam in Lucy's eyes the night she was determined to join Daniel at the ranch. “Lucy? With so many beautiful women here, are you set on the one?”

  Dangerous Dan stayed quiet, real quiet, and that made Thunder more nervous than if he'd stomped around in a fit of jealous rage. Thunder repeated, “Lucy?”

  “Lucy. I can't leave without knowing.”

  “Knowing?”

  “How much you care for her.”

  “What does the woman have to say about this?” His mouth went dry, images filling his brain. He could see the scene set, a chair in the corner from which Dangerous Dan could watch the bed sport. Thunder'd heard of men who liked to watch. He even knew of a few parlors with peepholes set into the walls for just such service.

  “She's a whore. Does it matter what she wants?”

  Thunder pushed away from his desk and stood, hand still on his gun. Daniel stayed seated, both hands in plain sight on top of the table. Leaning over his desk, he whispered near Daniel's face, “Let's get one thing straight. I only do what the lady wants me to do.”

  Daniel leaned closer, his breath falling warm on Thunder's cheek. “Is that right?”

  The sheriff stepped back, locking gazes with the man. “What game are you about?”

  “This isn't a game. Expect her visit.” Daniel watched him a moment longer before striding out of his jailhouse.

  “Shit. Oh shit.” Alone, he could admit to himself that Dangerous Dan was a scary dude, but that didn't explain why he was incredibly turned on and hard as a rock. That could only be attributed to the request. He couldn't believe he'd even entertain the idea, but the vision in his mind was already playing out the details of how it might go. Fuck.

  * * *

  Nightfall brought a packed house, and Lucy was thankful the doc had been able to give her an assurance of each of the new girls' health. By the time the evening was in full swing, six women were working the floor. She was mentally congratulating herse
lf for how well things seemed to be going, when she was approached by a man fresh off the stage. He handed her three coins. “I would procure your services for the evening.”

  She almost refused but realized both Véronique and Francisca watched her closely. If she were going to manage them, she needed their respect. Lucy took a deep breath. This is my job. She shuffled the coins in her hand. “This will cover you for an hour. You could watch me bathe.”

  The man retrieved his wallet from inside his jacket and started pulling out bills. “How much for the night, Miss… Ah?”

  “Lucy.”

  She took the three hundred dollars he offered. “The night.” She turned away from him and started toward the stairs. “You have a room already?”

  “Yes. Top of the stairs on the right.”

  Lucy veered around the staircase that would have led her up to her room and walked the short hallway to the second staircase. Climbing the treads, she commented. “It's one of the nicest rooms.” She hoped her voice wasn't shaking. God, could she do this? She was a total and absolute fraud.

  “Yes. It has a view of the railroad right-of-way.”

  She smiled. “The railroad. Yes. The town is very hopeful the train will come.”

  She opened the door to his room and stepped inside. Rolls of paper and ink drawings covered almost every surface—including the bed. “Well.”

  “I apologize. I should have tidied.” He started removing the rolled papers from the mattress. Turning toward her, his arms filled, he winked. “Perhaps you can punish me for being such a messy guest.”

  Lucy gaped at him, not understanding. He crossed the room and placed the rolls in a large satchel. He returned carrying a riding crop. “I hope you don't mind. I brought my own.”

  Her mouth rounded as she took the small whip. He really wanted her to… “Oh.” She panted, backing away, but he didn't seem to notice her discomfort, because he'd removed his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt. She blinked, needing to buy time, needing to slow him down. “It's really coming? The railroad?”