To Tame a Wild Mustang

by J. Rose Allister

  “But I didn’t,” Kate said. “Why are you acting like this? A few minutes ago you were happy to let me finish breaking the mare and get it up out of the water. Now you’re spitting vinegar.”

  He scowled at her. “Did you intend to disobey me all along? Or was it a spur of the moment thing?”

  She raised a brow and finished tamping down a foot to get her boot back on. “Disobey you? Why, William Tyler, you seem to be forgetting you’re not my boss, my pa, or my husband.”

  With that she stood up to face him, ignoring thighs that were begging for a rest. “And no, I did not intend to jump on a mustang tonight. The mare just walked right on up to the water, easy as you please. I couldn’t see how I could pass up an opportunity like that.”

  “You could have said somethin’.”

  “You were busy. I let Jack know.”

  “Leave me out of this,” he said, hands folded over his broad chest. “Yeh let me know the mare was there, not that yeh planned to jump on her.”

  Kate sighed and fidgeted in her uncomfortable clothes, then tried to squeeze some of the water from the bodice of her blouse. “Look, if you don’t want the mare, I’ll take her.”

  “I didn’t say that.” William took her by the shoulders. “Though you earned her right and fair, if you want her. I just wanted you safe. That kind of horse tamin’ is no job for a woman.”

  “Oh, so I’m good enough to doctor your animals, but not to ride them?”

  He rolled his eyes and let go of her. “Why are you so stubborn?”

  She lifted her chin. “If you’re trying to sound like my pa, the term he likes to use is mule-minded.”

  Jack snorted. “You must give the man gray hair.”

  “Several. Are we all gonna stand around in wet clothes, or what?”

  William shook his head with a sigh. “I’ll get your bag, and you can change before we ride back.”

  Chapter Six

  William stood at the riverbank, staring at the shimmering ripples of water while he battled chaotic emotions. Jack was wringing out wet things by the tree behind William, and Kate had ducked behind another tree to change into dry clothes. He forced out thoughts of her standing wet and naked not twenty feet away. Replaying the memory of her plummeting into the water and nearly getting herself thrown under a wild mustang did the best job of shunting aside the improper images, and even now his heart sped at the thought of it.

  What in the world had the woman been thinking? Kate never failed to surprise him, but half the time that was because he wondered whether she was plum crazy. He might not have detailed every last nuance of his taming process, but surely she hadn’t harbored delusions that it was a simple matter for a woman to take on? It was a dangerous enterprise even for a weather beaten cowboy, which was why he preferred to have Jack back him up rather than make the man do his dirty work. If something happened to his hand during a taming, it would be William’s fault.

  Every time he got a mind to take on another mustang, he kept a healthy respect for the danger at the forefront of his thoughts. Not the stubborn filly that was busy peeling off men’s soaking wet denims behind a tree, though. Oh, no. She apparently felt it was child’s play to run a wild-eyed mare into a river. He’d been half crazed with panic when her attempt to jump from her horse had gone awry, and he had just about abandoned his own mount to come after her before she’d stopped him. Jack had looked just as wild-eyed with fear, too. Despite her reassurance, it had been all the men could do to sit by and swallow the urge to scoop her off that animal. Even now he wondered whether that would have been the smarter thing to do—followed by delivering a sound spanking. Still, a splashing, panicked rescue approach would not likely have set well with the already agitated red mare. He or Jack trying to intervene could have made matters worse.

  As he stood there with his arms folded, trying not to envision what would have happened if the horse had gotten Kate pinned under water, he came to terms with something he’d felt building inside of him for some time now. In that heart-stopping moment of danger, his world had shrunk to the size of Kate. He also realized it was not the first time in recent weeks. His sights had been steadily dimming to everything else around him, and his head buzzed with thoughts of her like a persistent fly he couldn’t bat away. In short, he was falling in love, as hard and fast as a cowboy could ride the wind.

  If the situation was different, it would definitely be time to fess up to it, but in reality there was absolutely nothing he could do about his feelings. What use was there in baring his soul just to say he’d made a mistake in asking to call on her?

  With a sigh he turned and passed where Jack was putting his wrung out shirt back on. William wandered over to check on the new acquisitions, unbuttoning his soaked knit undershirt and jeans while he went. With some difficulty he tugged the wet denims down over his long johns, and then approached the animals with caution and soft murmurs. Best to not leave them to their own thoughts for too long right now, lest they get too much wind back and decide the next human ride would be the last. The horses accepted him without much fuss, including the red mare. He took that as a good sign that the spirits had smiled on him that night, and after a few moments he headed back to where the dry shirt he’d retrieved awaited on Raven’s saddle.

  He’d shrugged the top of his wet knit underwear off his shoulders when Kate’s shrill scream pierced the air—and his heart.

  “William! Jack!”

  The sleeves of his long johns flapped loose behind his legs as he sprinted around the tree to find Kate wearing nothing but moonlight and a scared, wide-eyed expression. She held her split skirt up to cover the front of her nakedness, but plenty of creamy flesh was on display. From his vantage point behind her, that included the rounded swell of perfect, ripe buttocks. Still, the luscious woman was not what drew his attention, but rather the sight her gaze was fastened on.

  “What the devil?” Jack said, panting behind him.

  William rushed in front of Kate to shield her from view of the three Indian braves sitting on horseback, staring down at her. He hadn’t heard them ride up, and apparently Kate hadn’t, either. Indians were nothing if not masters of stealth.

  “Friends of yours, I hope?” Jack asked him.

  William nodded. “It’s all right.”

  Moments later, he felt Kate’s hands digging into his upper arms from behind and her warm skin pressed to his bare back. She leaned around him to spit out broken, but serviceable Hupa.

  “Do xo’ji nohn-’e:n ininde:t’ a tsumehst¬’o:n!” she said, a complaint that the Indians had not approached the woman in proper fashion. Apparently the Indians interpreted it that way, too, for they glanced at one another with raised brows before turning their attention to William.

  “WillTyler,” said the brave in front. In Hupa he went on, “We meet again.”

  “Riding Wolf,” William said, and then raised his palm. “He:yung.”

  “He:yung,” the others repeated his greeting.

  Both men wore traditional Hupa dress of deerskin leggings or loincloths. Their chests were bare. Riding Wolf and Flying Arrow had smeared mud symbols on theirs for luck. They wore long twin braids and woven headbands with feathers sticking out.

  “We come seeking horses,” Riding Wolf said, still in Hupa.

  William nodded. “As did we. Two mustangs agreed to come with us tonight.”

  More raised brows followed, along with whispers. Flying Arrow laughed. “When we taught you our ways they did not include using women for taming.”

  “Perhaps she was the one in need of taming,” Riding Wolf said with a grin.

  He felt Kate stiffen and heard her draw a breath for a retort, but he elbowed her gently.

  “What are they sayin’?” Jack asked, moving up closer behind Kate.

  “Later,” William replied. “She’s no ordinary woman,” he continued to the braves in Hupa. “She’s an animal doctor.”

  The braves grunted, and William wasn’t quite happy with the wa
y Flying Arrow’s dark eyes were scrutinizing Kate, almost as though William were invisible and he could see every perfect inch of the naked body glued distractingly close to him.

  “So the woman is not yours, then?” Flying Arrow asked. “She is yet to be claimed?”

  William stepped more fully in front of her and swept an arm behind him to draw her closer against him. “She is mine.”

  He ignored her little gasp of shock and the electric tingle shooting up his arm as his hand slid along the silken flesh of her back.

  “You have taught her our tongue,” Flying Arrow went on. “Why?”

  “He did not,” she said. “I learned it from your people in a village north of here, higher up along the Klamath.”

  Flying Arrow shot an incredulous look at his fellow Hupa. “The northern tribe does not care for white folk. Whites seeking yellow rock have shown their cruelty.”

  William felt her squirming behind his back, and suddenly wished his native friends would leave for an altogether different reason.

  “The Hupa cared for me,” she said. “They found me injured on the road after a stagecoach attack by white men. They healed my wounds and taught me how to heal animals. They are a good people, just as you have been good to William.”

  “Maybe it is time to pay a visit to our northern brothers,” Riding Wolf said. “Some of them did not agree with our decision to barter with whites to help make our way. Maybe hard winters and empty stomachs have changed their minds.”

  The Indian searched William’s face for several moments. “It seems the spirits have favored you with better fortune since our last meeting, WillTyler.” Dark eyes shifted to the woman behind him. “In many respects.”

  “In many,” he said.

  “Since you have already run the wild herd,” Flying Arrow added, “we will return tomorrow, while the moon is yet full.”

  After a brief farewell, the trio stood silent to watch the riders depart. Only after the backs of their mounts vanished into the night did Kate relax her hold on William and pull away.

  “Thank you for what you said,” she told him. “I understand it was just an act to stop whatever ideas they might have had, but I appreciate you claiming I was your woman.”

  He turned to her, heat spreading in his gut at the shape of her silhouette. Even half-hidden by the darkness under the elm and the garment she clutched in front of her, she was so beautiful that it made his throat ache. Jack’s eyes sought every inch of the bare curves of her backside with a hungry, desperate look that he flashed at William for a moment. Kate’s blue eyes looked like wide, shimmery orbs set into a delicate, china-doll face. Eyes that asked much of him.

  William’s voice was thick when he spoke. “Who said it was just an act?”

  Before she could answer he bent to her lips, knowing how foolhardy it was to make a move on a poor woman who had just been exposed to strange natives. Still, he gave in to the need to explore the velvet of her mouth. Jack was there in an instant, smoothing his hands over her shoulders from behind while he sampled her neck with his lips.

  A muffled gasp sounded against William’s demanding mouth, but Kate soon yielded to the men. With one hand still holding the skirt up between their bare torsos, she slid a tentative palm up over William’s chest. His cock responded with ferocity, and within seconds was straining behind his wet leggings with throbbing urgency.

  He groaned, certain she could feel his heart beating against her palm like a war drum. “You make me so crazy, Kate,” he said against her lips. “How can I treat you like a proper lady when you make me feel like a wild animal?”

  “Maybe because you know animals are my specialty.”

  “Then I know a couple wild ones yeh need to tame,” Jack said. “Right now.”

  With a growl William reached around and tugged away the fabric she held feebly in place. He tossed the skirt aside and pulled her to his chest, reveling in the heat of her supple flesh searing him like a brand that marked her as his. When Jack moved around to the front, his shirt was off. William shifted over and let Jack’s tongue probe hers while William’s hands skimmed along her back to the thick, wet braid that hung there. He was possessed by the urge to release those tresses and let them spill over his bare skin. A gentle tug pulled free the tie securing her plait, and he finger-combed the wet braid apart while Jack’s mouth roamed over her lips, jaw, and throat.

  When her hair hung free at last, William pulled Jack away so they could take in the sight of her, undone at the goddess-like perfection standing naked on tufts of grass before them. Wavy strands of chestnut silk hung over her creamy skin, covering her nipples.

  “You’re so unbelievably beautiful,” William whispered and took hold of the sides of her face to plant a kiss over each eyelid.

  “Perfect. Like an angel,” Jack said.

  She reached for him and brought him in close, and both men went to her with desperation. Their hands found the ripe swells of her breasts and closed over them, rolling stiff peaks of nipple between their fingers. Her moans of pleasure sent waves of need through William’s cock, and while part of him was urging him to stop before he took things too far, the rest knew it was already too late. She was his woman—their woman. They would make it so here and now.

  Jack’s hands continued their work while William bent down to replace his own hands with his mouth. She tasted like a wild spring breeze drizzled with honey, and her gasp turned to a loud moan when he used his tongue to tease her nipples into even higher, rubberized peaks. His hands slid over the smooth flare of her hips, then around to her ass to knead her cheeks until Kate was heaving with ragged, uneven breaths.

  “My legs,” she said, breathless. “I can’t stand up anymore.”

  The men lowered her gently to the grass, and when she was on her back with her hair splayed in a seductive tumble around her, Jack and William lay down on either side to sample every inch of her belly, hips, and thighs with their fingers and tongues. The first stroke of Jack’s fingers through the heated curls between her legs sent a wanton cry from Kate that nearly undid William. She spread her legs wide, arching and writhing under his touch in a way that reminded William of taming a mustang. Kate was like a wild mare and they the desperate riders, seeking to command the responses of her body with every touch.

  She surprised William by reaching a hand out to grope his aching cock through his wet trousers, and both of them groaned at the feel of it. His fingers skimmed down to make teasing circles over and around her clit while Jack worked lower on her pussy.

  “William,” she said in a frantic whisper. “Jack. Kiss me.”

  They complied while she squeezed William’s cock. He looked down and saw her rubbing Jack’s bulge with the other hand. The man groaned, and his tongue flicked out against hers in a dance that tightened William’s balls in warning. God, he was going to explode before he could even get his knit drawers off.

  He pulled his hips away from her reach, but kept his hand busy working between her legs. Her slit was hot and wet, and the pulse in his cock near thundered with the demand to thrust inside her and claim her virginity. Would Jack challenge him for that right? How far could this whole sharing thing take them? Still, before they crossed that bridge he had to make sure she was ready for any cock to breach her.

  “Her pussy is so wet,” Jack said, seeming to read William’s thoughts. William gasped when the man’s hand slid up over the one William was working on her clit. “Here. Taste it.”

  Jack’s finger came up and slid between William’s lips. His eyes rolled back as he caught the flavor of her sweet musk, and his groin tightened at the feel of Jack’s finger stroking in and out of his mouth. He caught the finger between his teeth, holding it in place a moment while he rolled his tongue around the tip. The other man hissed in pleasure, and William released it.

  “So sweet,” William said. The men’s eyes met, and his pulse raced like wildfire.

  William slid a finger inside Kate’s soaking pussy, moist enough to almost m
ake him rethink his assessment of her readiness. Jack’s warm hand moved over his, sending tingles up William’s arm.

  “More,” Kate whispered. “It’s so good.”

  Her head turned back and forth on the grass, again bringing to mind the vision of an untamed beauty, begging to be claimed by her chosen riders. And this beauty would be ridden by no others—not now, not ever. William felt a fierce need to possess her and to ensure that no other man aside from Jack ever could. That her willingness to take on the two of them would go no further—that she would accept no other men’s hands sliding between her honeyed thighs and bringing the pleasured groans he heard from her now. That privilege would belong to him and Jack alone.

  He slipped a second, then third finger inside her, and when he joined Jack in sucking her nipples firmly into their mouths, he felt her tighten. A shocked, almost tortured cry followed. “Oh!” she shouted. “I’m…what’s happening to me?”

  She began to shudder and moan her release.

  “That’s right,” Jack cooed to her. “Come for us.”

  Her cream coated William’s fingers while muscles pulsed in ecstasy, her back arching and face turned to the sky in a picture of artistic magnificence no master painter could ever capture.

  “I’ve never felt anything like that before,” she whispered in shock. Then she moaned and arched her hips more.

  Jack pulled his mouth from her nipple when her climax began to dwindle. William did the same, but before he could get far, Jack leaned in and kissed him. William’s surprised groan sounded almost pained, the way the man’s mouth lit a fire in his already aching cock. Their tongues met and devoured each other right over Kate, who gave a little gasp. Then her hand reached up to rake through both men’s hair, encouraging them to extend the kiss. Much as it pleasured him to have Jack plundering his mouth, William couldn’t wait one more minute to possess the woman beneath them.

  He lingered on Jack’s lips for another moment while he reached down to release his erection from his long johns. When he broke off, Jack’s eyes were glazed and dark with need. William pushed himself up and moved down to kneel between Kate’s thighs. His lust offered no patience for the task of peeling off the clingy wet garment entirely, so he merely shoved it down enough to give him access to the woman flushed and ready beneath him. Jack’s cock was already out, stiff and even longer than he’d guessed when he’d accidentally brushed it the day in the barn. He fought off a momentary urge to wrap his fist around it.