“Okay, we have a deal.” He removed a glove and held out his hand.
The thought of touching his skin made Hannah’s stomach turn, but, nevertheless, she reached up and shook it, cementing their agreement. A shiver crawled along her spine as he held on to her fingers a little too long. He stroked his fingertips deliberately across her palm as he finally withdrew it, and stared her straight in the eyes. It only served to remind her of the evils she would have to endure if Jacob failed.
“My boys here are our witnesses, but I’ll have it drawn up all legal-like if that’s what you want. I look forward to doing business with you.” The innuendo clear, his laughter rang out as he whirled his horse around and galloped off.
Jacob hugged her tightly to him after they’d gone. He told her she’d gone mad and that he’d changed his mind about everything. They’d leave tonight, and together. He’d abandon his land to McCabe after all. He, they, would start over again somewhere else. It wasn’t worth risking her honor for.
Hannah squeezed him to her for a moment before shrugging him away. Forceful and adamant as she spoke, she told him someone had to make a stand against McCabe. She doubted any document he produced could ever be deemed watertight, but when Jacob returned, at least everyone would see that they’d had the strength to take him on. Maybe then, the townsfolk and other ranchers might take it as a sign that they could fight him, too. Her honor would never become an issue.
It also gave them a year’s breathing space.
McCabe might be a villain and couldn’t be trusted as far as one could throw him, but he’d enjoy taunting her more during the coming months than actually making her have sex with him. If only for a short while, she’d kept herself safe.
* * * *
“So there’s a document somewhere stating that you’ll become McCabe’s whore if Jacob doesn’t make it back with the gold?” Luke sounded totally flabbergasted, barely able to say the words.
“Signed and sealed,” Hannah answered.
“And Jacob actually agreed to it? I can’t believe a man would stand by and allow his woman to be the collateral on such a madcap scheme.”
“No. I did it on my own. He disagreed with it every step of the way, but I couldn’t let that evil man take everything Jacob’s ma and pa had worked for. Jacob was their only son. They’d come here to make a new life for themselves. It was as much for them as for Jacob. It was also important that we show everyone that McCabe could be beaten”
“So, you’re prepared to put your honor on the line, even though it was his father who lost it all in a card game?” Jed drawled dryly. “You must be mad.”
“You don’t understand. It was more than that. He was cheated out of it. Like I said, someone has to stand up to McCabe. He’s driven too many good folk out of their homes and taken too much of their money. If we stood up to him, maybe it might make others do the same.”
Luke shook his head in disbelief, his mouth set in a grim line.
“It’s still disgraceful. A man should protect a woman, not the other way around. And there’s still no guarantee he’ll give back the deeds even if Jacob does make it back in time,” he said. “Men like McCabe don’t have a decent bone in their bodies. He’s still likely to end up killing him, take the land, and you, after all. You should have gone with Jacob when he told you to. You could have started over again.”
“What with? Jacob has nothing. Neither have I. This way, we still have a chance.”
Jed shook his head.
“Sorry, I can only see one winner here,” he said slowly. “There may be tales of those making their fortunes with gold but I’ve yet to meet one. There are too many whores, card games, and hard liquor out there for men to spend their gold on. Life’s hard so men play hard too.”
“Not Jacob,” Hannah protested vehemently. “He’d never do anything like that. He promised every grain, every nugget he found would be marked ‘Hannah’s Gold.’ That every bit of it would go to pay off his father’s debt and release me from mine.”
Chapter Sixteen
Hannah couldn’t contain the restlessness she felt. Her heart thumped loudly and strongly in her chest. Its erratic beat leaped to her throat every time she recalled her conversation with the two brothers. They’d not been at all positive about any possibility of Jacob’s success or return. It only fuelled her own fears that she’d experienced more and more over the past few days. The deadline drew near and there’d been no word from Jacob in months.
During the past year, she’d lain awake many a night wondering how Jacob fared, whether he’d found her brother, and whether he’d found a rich vein of the precious metal that would be their salvation. In all that time, just as from her brother, she’d only received one letter but, in it, he had told her so much.
He spoke of the rains that had come unexpectedly, the mud, and the ramshackle, ungodly towns that made their little town look wholly civilized, despite McCabe’s cruel grip. He’d also written that he’d sought out a good spot and spent hours each day panning for the shiny nuggets and grains that would pay off their debt.
Despite the grim life that Jacob portrayed, he’d sounded optimistic and positive that it wouldn’t take him long to get the money they needed to pay off McCabe. He’d also asked around about her brother, and one or two prospectors said they thought they’d seen him. They said he’d struck it lucky a little way upriver. But, as yet, he hadn’t found him.
She read his letter over and over again.
He told her that, each day, he weighed in his finds, and that he’d found a bank, newly opened, into which to entrust his money. He only kept back enough to pay for food and lodgings. Unlike other prospectors, who spent it in the whorehouses, saloons, and in poker games, he was determined not to waste one jot of it. This gold was for Hannah, to repay the faith she had in him. He had never succumbed to the evils of gambling as his father had done. He wouldn’t start now.
He reiterated his dreams, telling her he’d build up the ranch once more to pass it on to his children. He’d waited for so long for the right woman to share his life. Now that she was here, he was determined he wasn’t going to lose her to McCabe’s evil clutches.
Hannah loved the things he wrote and she spent many a long night remembering the sweet things he said to her just before he left.
She knew he’d never been short of female admirers but, with a shortage of women in their wilderness town, other young men soon snatched them up. Eager for their soft flesh to warm their beds at night, they hoped to produce the next generation of farmers and ranchers.
She also knew about Becky, a sweet girl who wore her love for him on her sleeve. He’d been stepping out with her before Hannah arrived. Hannah also knew she would have married him and borne him a houseful of children if only he’d asked. But he hadn’t. Instead, he seemed to forget all about her when Hannah stepped from the wagon, looking for her brother, William.
From William’s last letter to her, Hannah knew he’d bedded down in Jacob’s stable for a few weeks before moving on to California. Jacob told her that, during the brief time William spent with him and his father, he’d told them all about his headstrong younger sister whom he’d left behind to support his scandal-ridden family. Jacob also told her that William’s description of her sassy ways had been enough to make him fall in love with her before he even clapped eyes on her.
Hannah’s thoughts churned through her brain. Her head whirled with them. As she tossed and turned in her bed, even the memories of when William left her and her family came tumbling back. How, at the time, William had told them he was sorry but, with everyone calling for their heads, he felt he had little choice. As the eldest and only son, he felt it was his duty to try to make his fortune elsewhere, and out of reach of those who’d once deemed them friends but now treated them with hate and contempt. It wasn’t his family’s fault their father had made some bad financial calls but that wasn’t how others saw it.
At first, Hannah had been angry with William. Her mother and
sisters had wept and wailed. However, eventually, she saw he’d had little choice. Before leaving, though, he made sure his mother and sisters had a roof over their heads and that they had some sort of income, however small. After that, Hannah took it upon herself to rally round and organize them all. Once she’d accepted his imminent departure, she’d taken everything in her stride. She faced the demons head on. Their father’s suicide had driven their mother to hell and back and she’d needed immense support to help her through it. Hannah became her rock.
By the time she arrived here, in town, Jacob knew almost everything about her. William had told him the lot.
Initially, Jacob placed himself in the role of her protector. It was his promise to William. However, later, when Hannah showed him her tenacity in learning how to milk a cow and how to grow vegetables, he told her she absolutely bowled him over. In addition, she amazed him with her expertise with horses.
Having ridden in the parks back home, she’d often stayed behind in the stables to groom and tend the creatures. Yet, when Jacob showed her how to really handle them, she proved a natural. She loved to feel the wind in her hair and the sun on her face. As she rode the wide, open spaces, Hannah quickly knew this was the life for her. It also wasn’t long before they became really close. That was when Jacob confessed to her that he’d fallen for her, even before he clapped eyes on her.
For a tough cowboy, Jacob certainly had a way with words, and Hannah loved to hear them. He’d run his fingers through her hair, calling them his dazzling, golden curls, and he’d say, so charmingly, that her beauty mesmerized him. That her sapphire blue eyes were like two clear, bright limpet pools that sparkled with the adrenalin of adventure. Her bones would melt as she smiled back at him, and gaze into his warm brown ones.
He told her that her mouth was like a luscious rosebud, and that her lips rendered sensuality so wonderfully reckless, no wonder they attracted men to her like bees around a honey pot. She was a delight to behold.
He whispered such wonderful, sexy things to her, she was totally besotted by him. He’d tease her and tell her she oozed sexiness by the way her hips swung when she walked, and that he loved the way she tilted her head so sassily when the men tormented her. Moreover, he’d murmur in her ear that he loved her quick tongue which gave back as good as she got. His words sent tingles down her spine.
After the stifling, constricted existence she’d lived for the past twenty years, Hannah now felt truly alive. Suddenly, she and Jacob shared their thoughts and ideas as though they’d known each other all their lives. The attraction between them became too much to endure and before long, unable to stem their growing lust for each other, they made love.
Hannah sighed with frustration. With all these thoughts trampling roughshod through her brain, there was no way she was going to sleep. She swung her legs from the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. Her head pounded and, her body ached. She missed the way Jacob’s hands touched her skin, and traced pathways around her body, caressing her swollen breasts until she moaned and sighed with tortured need. She also missed the way he pried her apart with his expert fingers, releasing her fluids, until her passage became slick and wet, ready to welcome his hard shaft as he thrust into her. She sighed again. That hot, needy ache resurfaced, ravaging her flesh and soul.
A sudden twinge of guilt raked through her heart that maybe she’d betrayed Jacob with the two strangers, but she’d been unable to help herself. After all, he’d been the one to release the sleeping dragon within her. The two cowboys had only stirred up feelings she’d successfully put away this past year. She’d been so touched by their kindness, unlike that from everyone else around her.
Neighbors and townsfolk had been wary of her ever since she arrived. She was a newcomer who, not only had taken the most eligible man around, but who’d also caught the eye of the most dangerous man in town. They treated her with respect but they knew she was strictly off limits in any shape, way, or form. They suspected she’d be heading for McCabe’s bed once he’d disposed of Jacob and his preposterous scheme. She’d even overheard some saying that it served her right. She’d broken poor Becky’s heart, snatching Jacob away from her like she had. Yes, Hannah had heard all the whispering, as well as the not-so-quiet comments, said behind her back.
At the same time, though, some said they secretly admired her courage. Yet, they also condemned her stupidity. They muttered scathingly that was Jacob’s downfall, too. He should have stuck with Becky instead of having had his head turned by this woman. That way, he wouldn’t be in all this trouble either.
She knew even McCabe had expected her to have given up before now but she hadn’t. In fact, she knew her stubbornness impressed him all the more. After Jacob left, it wasn’t long before his last few remaining ranch hands fell by the wayside, helped along by a few well-placed threats. Within six weeks, she was totally alone but still she continued to trade where able, just as Jacob had shown her. She lived her life frugally, but with no men to help her, the ranch had begun to fall into disrepair, and it was no good hoping anyone in town would be brave enough to come to her aid. McCabe just bided his time, smiling sweetly at her and telling her how hard she was trying, and that it would make his prize all the sweeter when the time came.
After supper, the two brothers had offered to stay a few days to help her out with a few jobs. She wasn’t naive enough to think it was just to mend fences or nail a few boards on the stable walls. After all, they didn’t think Jacob would come back either, so what would be the point? However, they did express an interest in her deal with McCabe and his eagerness to bring it to an early conclusion. They told her she needed a pair of strong hands in more ways than one. Maybe they could even help her to find a way out of the bargain she’d made. Despite her earlier bravado, Hannah didn’t feel as confident about Jacob’s return any longer, nor was she in any rush to finalize the deal.
The thought of sex with McCabe made her blood run cold, especially the things he had in mind. He’d told her often enough, and they were not at all like the delightful, pleasurable things the two cowboys had done to her earlier.
“A gentleman always makes sure the lady comes first,” Jed had said with a mischievous grin slapped across his face. “And my brother and I are true gentlemen.” Although the last thing Hannah had felt like was a lady as she’d shared her body with them. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help smiling to herself in the darkness at Jed’s roguish charm and Luke’s gentler nature. A frisson of excitement shivered down her spine.
She stepped from her bedroom and recalled how she’d begun to pleasure herself while secretly watching him in the bath. His broad shoulders and strong chest had drawn her eyes to him first but when they’d slipped to his flat, washboard belly...
She gave a start. Suddenly, the memory of his manhood protruding stiff and proud from the dark curls nestling between his legs and rising toward his navel, made her hot. Blood began to pound through her veins and heat pooled in liquid jelly at the confluence of her thighs. She ran her hand round the back of her neck and lifted her hair from out of the sweat now sitting in little droplets on her skin. Her nightgown stuck to her back and breasts. She needed some air.
What the hell was wrong with her? Twelve months without a man’s touch and a stranger’s kindness and handsome body already turned her into a whore.
She stepped outside onto the front porch and sucked in the cold night air. She let it waft over her skin to cool her burning flesh and evaporate the dampness that sat, wet and slick, on the surface of her skin. She raised her eyes to the black, velvet sky.
Studded with stars that sparkled and winked down at her, the constellations looked clear and beautiful. It all looked so peaceful up there. She wished she felt as tranquil.
She gave another start as the wooden boards creaked behind her.
“I take it you can’t sleep either,” a voice said softly in her ear.
Chapter Seventeen
Luke had lain awake, listening to Jed’s snorin
g. The smell of horses and straw filled his nostrils. The stable was more comfortable than the hard ground he’d lain on these past few months but he did miss opening his eyes and looking up at the night sky.
He’d also have preferred to have shared Hannah’s bed but, after her willing participation earlier, she had appeared a little reluctant to mention it again after supper. Instead, she’d suggested that they might like to bed down in the stable rather than make the journey back into town. Furthermore, she’d suddenly looked a little shy and nervous, concealing the hot blood and sexual frustration that had overwhelmed her with such passion earlier. Luke respected her need for some solitude and went with Jed to the stable.
They’d readily accepted her invitation to stay but with more in mind than just a night’s stopover. They decided they’d keep an eye on her. She was worth more than just ending up as McCabe’s sexual toy.
Alone in the stable, Jed had reiterated his doubt that Jacob would be returning, even taking into consideration that he might still be alive. Too many men out there wanted to make their fortunes. With poker games rife and stealing the norm, if a man did strike it lucky, there were always other ways to get gold from him. A stray bullet never came amiss.
Also, as for her brother, apart from that one letter, Hannah hadn’t heard from him either.
What use was he?
He was as bad as this Jacob for abandoning Hannah and the rest of his family after their father killed himself.
They’d remained silent throughout her tale, especially when she went on to tell them about her father and family back East. Only a brief glance, between Jed and himself, acknowledged that this was the source of their father’s ruin, too. Although, back then, they’d laughed cruelly at Cornelius Turner’s demise. They’d heard all the stories of how his brains had been splattered all over his parlor wall. At the time, they decreed he deserved everything he got. They were only sorry he’d taken the coward’s way out and hadn’t stuck around to face his creditors who’d thought their money safe in his bank. Luke and Jed had never given his family a thought about the suffering they must have endured too.
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