His cousin Lawton.
Lawton was unique to say the least. The man’s head was always spinning with ideas and inventions. Not long ago, he’d accidentally blown up the bank in Prospect Springs. He’d been testing one of his new inventions and the results had not gone as planned. Thankfully, no one had been harmed, and since the bank was owned by a MacSweeny, all was forgiven. The family had long ago stopped worrying about Lawton’s safety and pretty much just crossed their fingers that none of Lawton’s brilliant ideas hurt anyone.
Lawton had the trademark jet-black MacSweeny hair and looked enough like Gabriel that only a fool wouldn’t see they were related. Though it was slightly hard to tell exactly what Lawton looked like as he was wearing a giant contraption on his head. Cogwheels twisted and Lawton walked at a slow pace, holding something Gabriel could only a hazard a guess was a controller for the thing on his head.
Huge, long-lens goggles hide Lawton’s eyes as he walked. The man rarely paid much mind to how he was dressed, often wearing the same clothes for days, but this was a first, even for his cousin.
Lawton was wearing an ill-fitting woman’s dress and he had two different shoes. He grumbled as he walked, seeming to not notice the crowd that was growing around him. Betsy touched Gusto’s arm. Lawton whispered something softly, sounding more like he was mumbling than actually talking. It was gibberish.
“Lord, I don’t think the man is sane,” she said.
Gabriel had to agree, but he didn’t voice as much. “Lawton, what in tarnation are you doin’?”
Lawton kept on walking at a snail’s pace, fumbling with his device as if he didn’t even hear Gabriel speak. It hit Gabriel then. “Dammit, he’s sleep walkin’”
“You know him?” asked Gusto.
Taking a deep breath, more for keeping his temper in check than anything, Gabriel nodded. “I do. He’s harmless.”
“He right in the head?” asked Pete.
“Matter is still up for debate,” answered Gabriel, reaching for his cousin and taking him by the elbow. He gave him a good shake. Lawton paused and then sniffed the air before lifting the giant contraption off his head and blinking several times. Rings of grease circled his lavender eyes. Bewilderment covered his face. “Why are you in my room?”
“We ain’t in your room, Lawton.”
His cousin glanced around. “Where did my bed go?”
“You sure he’s sane?” asked Gusto.
“No.” Gabriel focused on his cousin. “What in stars are you doin’ this far from town, alone, this time a night, on foot and in a dress?”
Lawton’s brows met. “In a dress?”
Gabriel waited as his cousin glanced down at himself. “You were sleep walkin’ again.”
“Thought I’d finally stopped that.” Lawton offered a sheepish smile. “I’m close to a breakthrough on my illegal transporter location device and I must have dozed off in my lab.”
Betsy laughed. “Brother?”
“Cousin,” said Gabriel. He cuffed Lawton behind the ear. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up. Your momma will kill me if I let anything happen to you. Though I’m tempted to haul your ass back to town in that getup just to let Eli see you.”
Eli was Lawton’s twin, though they were alike in looks only. Eli was a lawyer and didn’t live his life in a constant state of imagination. If anything, Eli often seemed to lack one.
Lawton smacked his lips together. “I’m thirsty.”
“No shit,” said Gabriel. “You walked how many miles probably without stoppin’. Do I even want to know what that thing is you’re holdin’?”
“Probably not,” answered Lawton. “I’m wonderin’ whose dress I have on.”
That drew snickers from the crowd. Some full-on laughed.
The next Gabriel knew, Adeline was there, wearing nothing but a sheer nightgown, her feet bare, her eyes wide. Everything on Gabriel took notice of her state of undress. He couldn’t even form words, his dick was in control of his thoughts that much. All he did know was he’d kill anyone who looked at her. He blinked, coming to his senses. “Adeline, you’re not decent.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you the one telling me earlier that you’re rarely decent?” she returned coolly as if he wasn’t exuding alpha maleness all over the place. She might as well have unmanned him for all the good it did. She eyed him up and down. “Move. This man needs help.”
“This man needs to be tied to his bedpost,” stated Gabriel firmly. “He doesn’t need you out here wearin’ next to nothin’ dotin’ on him.”
“I’ll be the judge of what he needs,” she shot back, bringing a snicker from Betsy as she did.
Gabriel groaned. “Woman, don’t push me.”
Adeline shrugged. “Or you’ll what? Huff and puff?”
Lawton grinned, and it was lopsided. “I like her.”
“Shut up,” barked Gabriel, earning him a hard look from Adeline.
She reached for Lawton and touched him, bare contact with his skin, and Betsy gasped.
“Sweetie, no.”
Adeline paid the crowd no mind. Compassion coated her face as she kept her hand on Lawton’s arm and began to lead him to her tent of all places. She shot a look up at Gabriel. “Your cousin’s feet are bleeding. Stop glowering at me and help me tend to him.”
He looked down at Lawton’s mismatched shoes and realized Adeline was right. Lawton’s feet were bleeding. The shoes he wore were not his, nor were they close to his size. Lawton and Gabriel stood at the same height, and while Lawton was slightly skinnier because he rarely remembered to eat unless someone brought him food and watched him eat it, he was still a shifter male, and shifter males tended to come in one size—muscular.
Adeline led Lawton directly into her tent and had him sit in the very seat she’d kicked up a row about Gabriel sitting in. Jealousy reared its ugly head, and Gabriel scoffed.
Adeline quirked a brow, shutting up his protest before it ever left his lips. She patted Lawton’s shoulders. “I’ll have Betsy start some tea for you, in the meantime, let me get you something cool to drink. Then I’ll take a look at those feet. The sores will need cleaning.”
Lawton glanced at Adeline and did a double take, no doubt noticing just how attractive she was. Gabriel growled, and Lawton’s gaze moved to him. He held his contraption on his lap as he watched Adeline leave the tent.
“You made the same noise when I played with a ball you swore was yours when we were little,” said Lawton.
“Play with this toy, and I’ll not be held responsible for my actions, cousin,” he warned.
Lawton grinned from ear to ear. “Ah, it’s like that then, huh? I swear you’re all fallin’ like flies.”
“Fallin’?” questioned Gabriel.
“In love,” returned Lawton. “Jonathon and Parker are mated. From the letter Eli read me the other day, Luke has it bad for some woman where he’s at. And now you.”
“I’m not in love,” countered Gabriel. As the words left his lips, his chest tightened. They weren’t a truth. But how could that be? He barely knew Adeline. He certainly couldn’t love her.
Not yet.
Could he?
Lawton placed the contraption on the ground and set about trying to get the shoes off his sore feet. He hissed and then paused, one shoe partway off. “Love is merely a chemical reaction. Completely scientific. Unless you ask our mothers and other aunts, then they’ll tell you stories of fated mates. Complete hogwash, you know?”
“I’m not in love, so, no, I don’t know.” Gabriel grunted.
Lawton bit the side of his lip. “But you made a noise indicatin’ you were layin’ a claim on her. Momma said a shifter male can’t help but do what is instinctual when they meet their mate—and instinct says to claim them, love them and protect them. I tried to explain it was merely pheromones and chemical reactions, but you know my momma.”
Shirley, Lawton’s mother, was strong willed and highly opinionated. She also loved the absentmin
ded professor with all her heart, as she did all her boys and her nephews. If she caught wind Lawton was missing, she’d have all the MacSweeny boys in Prospect Springs out searching for him.
Adeline reappeared in the tent, a tin cup of water in her hand. She went right for Lawton, handed it to him and watched him drink it down. She even wiped the corner of his mouth when he dribbled some, as if his cousin were a child and not a full-grown, healthy male. Gabriel saw red.
She smiled, took the cup from him and bent, taking the shoe the rest of the way off. “Sleep walking, huh? You do that often?”
Lawton merely nodded, seeming to be under the spell Gabriel was coming to term Addy. She was a force all unto herself.
“I have some herbs for that. They’ll help you rest better. Just put them under your pillow, and I have something else for you to put in your tea before bed. It will help you rest soundly.”
Lawton eyed her. “Gypsy?”
She nodded. “How did you guess?”
Gabriel moved forward. “I best be gettin’ him to my tent. Thank you, Addy.”
“Nonsense. I have some salve for his feet, and he hasn’t had any tea yet. Betsy said she’s rustling up some biscuits for him.”
“He’s not a child. He doesn’t need you motherin’ him,” said Gabriel, sounding like a child himself.
Lawton continued to smile. “I really like her.”
“Seriously, shut up.”
“Be nice, MacSweeny,” scolded Adeline.
Lawton scratched at his chest, the dress moving as he did. “This is itchy.”
Adeline suppressed a laugh. “I’m sure it is. I’ll get the salve.”
“Then he’s goin’ to my tent. He’s not stayin’ here.”
Chapter Seven
Gabriel handed his cousin a pair of pants and shook his head. “Take the damn dress off.”
“Your girlfriend is pretty.” Lawton pulled the ill-fitting dress over his head and cast it aside. He put the pants on slowly, his feet starting to heal. The shifter in him would speed the process, but since Lawton wasn’t great about taking care of himself, it would take longer for him than others.
“She is not my girlfriend.”
“But you want her to be,” added Lawton, yawning and then hopping onto Gabriel’s bed. “I’m gonna rest a bit.”
“You’re the only guy I know who could sleep and wear himself out while doin’ it,” said Gabriel, ignoring the comment about him wanting Adeline. He did. He more than wanted her. He wanted to march back to her tent and claim her.
He was too sensible to act rashly. And she confused him too much. He went to his tent flap and looked out, making sure Pete was where he’d left him—just outside Adeline’s tent. He wasn’t taking any chances with her well-being and safety.
When Gabriel looked towards his cousin, he found Lawton was already out cold on top of the covers, his bloodied feet hanging off the side of the bed. Shaking his head, Gabriel approached and grabbed an extra blanket from the trunk near the foot of the bed. He covered Lawton and stepped back, surveying the situation. He’d need to dispatch word to town that he had Lawton and that he was safe and sound. Since his cousin was prone to working odd hours in his lab, no one would probably notice he was gone until sun up, but then they’d launch a search party for him.
He smelled Betsy before she cleared her throat on the other side of his tent flap. He knew the gesture was meant to replace a knock since knocking on fabric wasn’t really an option.
She did, and she smiled softly when she spotted his cousin asleep. “I promised Adeline I’d come check to be sure Lawton was settled.”
He grunted. Why was Adeline so worried about Lawton?
Betsy snorted. “Jealousy is an ugly color on you, Mr. MacSweeny.”
Squaring his shoulders, he opened his mouth to tell her he wasn’t jealous but realized it was pointless. Instead, he sighed. “She cared for him like he was a child or somethin’.”
“Exactly,” said Betsy. “Not like she saw him as a potential lover. Adeline reads people with ease. She knows that man is harmless and needs nurturin’. She’s a good girl. Of course she’d look after him. Besides, its easy to see he’s important to you, so I suspect that made her want to see to his care even more.”
Gabriel watched the woman with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a smart man. Figure it out.” With that, she walked away, leaving his tent flap to sway as a breeze blew through. The scent of pending rain came with it, taking Gabriel by surprise. The area was long overdue for a good soak, and if what he was smelling was right, a storm was brewing.
More than one, he thought.
Lawton stirred slightly in his sleep, mumbling about this chemical or that—a very Lawton thing to do—before settling down once more. Gabriel couldn’t stop himself from looking out and checking that Pete was still in position. After his fourth time looking, he gave up and headed back in the direction of Adeline’s tent, where he found Pete kicked back against Adeline’s wagon wheel, whittling on some wood.
Pete stood quickly. “Hey, boss, no one has been in or out.”
“I got it from here, Pete,” he said. “Thank you.”
*
Adeline tried again to get her mind to stop racing with thoughts of Gabriel. Sleep was elusive, and at the rate she was going, she’d find none on this night. His cousin had been a welcome distraction from her feelings for the man. Lawton was sweet and tenderhearted. She’d felt as much the second she’d neared him. She liked how scatterbrained he seemed, his interest clearly lying more with science than with anything else. And she liked seeing how much Gabriel cared for his family.
It made her want the man more.
As if that were even possible.
She tossed and turned in her bed, pushing at her pillow, unable to find a comfortable position. Groaning, she sat up, ready to admit defeat and stop trying to sleep. She felt him then.
Gabriel.
He was close.
She moved from the bed quickly, throwing open her wagon door and looking out into her tent. He was there, in the chair he’d been in earlier, his feet propped once more, no hat on this time.
He sniffed the air and his eyes shot open, burning need reflecting in them. He stiffened. “Addy, go back into that wagon.”
“No,” she said sternly.
“If you know what’s good for you, you will.”
She moved off the step of her wagon and went right for him. To hell with what was good for her. She wanted the man and he wanted her. Their reaction to one another was visceral, and denying it was pointless. Whatever was between them needed to play out. Destiny demanded it, and she knew better than to tempt fate. He may just be a fleeting fling, or he might be the real deal. She’d never know if she didn’t act upon her feelings for him and stop being afraid of herself.
Gabriel came to his feet, towering over her, oozing raw sexuality. She felt herself running right for him, and she did nothing to stop it from occurring. Tossing her arms up, she leapt, and he caught her, lifting her and turning, laying her on the large table she normally covered with a dark cloth and read tarot cards upon. She’d not set up for any readings yet, so it was bare.
Good thing, or it would have all been on the ground.
Gabriel’s mouth found hers, and the fireworks returned, exploding as their tongues met once more. His massive body eased over her and his hands explored her hips, inching up her nightgown. Her skin felt feverish as he skimmed his fingertips over her body on their way to the juncture of her thighs. She gasped, opening her mouth more to him, their kiss increasing tenfold. He dug his fingers into her flesh, and she in turn clawed at his upper body, wanting him free from the vest and shirt he wore.
With clumsy movements, she got the buttons on his vest undone and tried to work it off his powerful frame to no avail. With a ragged breath, he tore his mouth from hers, jerked his vest off and then made short work of his shirt, casting it aside. His chest had the lightest of dusting o
f hair upon it, reminding her that he was all male.
As if there was any doubt.
His green gaze locked on hers as he eased her nightgown up, exposing her lower half to him. Gabriel whimpered, the sound was so adorable coming from him that Adeline couldn’t help but giggle nervously, feeling bare and vulnerable, all while a liberating sensation swept over her. She had power over this man, and she liked that. Liked knowing he needed her as badly as she needed him. Liked knowing he wanted to be joined with her as much as she did him.
His gaze snapped to her pussy and he bent before her. Before she could say anything, his head was between her legs, his hands spreading her legs wide, offering her sex up to him. Liquid heat burst free from her as Gabriel slid his tongue over her slit, sending jolts of pleasure through her body.
Her hands went to his long, wavy hair, and she held his head there between her legs, taking the pleasure he offered. His hungry gaze swept up to her as his mouth glistened with her desire. The entire scene was so erotic that Adeline thought she might burst into flames. She squirmed under the weight of his tongue, wanting free, yet wanting more. Unsure she could actually handle anything else, she tried to buck him free of her, but he held her there, his tongue working its own brand of magik on her clit.
She cried out, clutching his hair, holding his head there as blinding pleasure coursed through her veins, making her legs spasm. Gabriel lifted his head but remained above her sex, skimming a finger down her slit. He slipped it into her tight channel, pushing through her virginal barrier, making her gasp as fleeting pain came and went.
With a growl, he bent and put his lips on her wet entrance. He pushed a finger deeper into her, and she was sure she’d break from the intrusion. Quickly, need pulsed over her. She wanted more than just a finger filling her. She wanted him.
All of him.
“Please,” she whispered.
He added another finger, darting his tongue back and forth over her clit, exciting her more. Before long, she was coming again, her legs jerking as if they weren’t actually attached to her anymore and had lost their ability to act accordingly.
Gabe’s Fortune (Prospect Springs Shifters Book 3) Page 5