Flirting With The Law (Outlaw Brides Book 1)

by Vanessa Vale

  “Don’t you want to marry us?” Landon asked.

  I had my hands up, adjusting my hat. “I don’t know you. I…I didn’t even know your profession until just now.”

  “You know us, sweetheart. You know what counts. That we’re compatible—”

  That was an understatement.

  “—and that we are honorable men. We wanted you from the first time we saw you at the front desk.”

  “We will always want you,” Seth added.

  Did I want them? Yes. Did I want to marry them? God, perhaps. It was all too much. Before I knew they were US Marshals, the idea of being with them, waking up to them, letting them love me, was powerful. Having a man, no, men, be there for me was something I hadn’t realized I’d been missing.

  I finished with my hat, smoothed out my dress. Being lawmen couldn’t change my decision. They didn’t know I was an outlaw. They wanted me. The real me. But when they found out I was a criminal, would they turn me out? Or worse, turn me in? They’d said they were honorable, but how far did that go?

  I had one more bank robbery to retrieve the remainder of the funds that Mr. Rollins owed me, Tara and Amanda. Our plan was to rob the bank at eleven. By noon, hopefully, I would be a retired criminal. I could live my life as I wanted and keep the revenge a secret.

  I glanced at the men, who were eyeing me with a seriousness I hadn’t seen before. They were waiting. “Your job…”

  I didn’t say more, let them interpret the rest.

  “This morning’s meeting is to collect information about our final criminal. Once we bring him to justice, we’ll retire. There was just no reason for us to do so, before now. We have money, means to support you.” Landon dipped his head. “And any children we might have. A ranch to live on.”

  I flushed hotly. The way they were on me last night, the way their mingled seed slipped from me, it was highly possible I could be with child. And by the look in their eyes, they intended to keep at it, just as they’d said in the restaurant, until the job was done. Why did that not scare me? Wasn’t it my dream to be married with children of my own?

  I just needed to finish this one last robbery and I could have it all. I could have them.

  “Yes, I’ll marry you.” I bit my lip, considering the legality of the plan. “How will this work? I mean…with um, two of you.”

  “You’ll marry me,” Seth said and I watched as he practically puffed up with pride.

  “But you’ll be married to me, as well,” Landon added. “When I took you last night, there was no going back. I don’t need a blessing from God or a marriage license to know you’re mine.”

  I studied them once more. Took in their handsome faces, their expressions, their words. Even their actions from the night before. “You really want me?” I asked, this time hope instead of anger lacing my words.

  “Yes,” they said at the same time.

  This was insane! I was honestly contemplating binding myself forever to men I’d met yesterday. Men! Not just Seth, but Landon, too. And not just regular men, but US Marshals. I had to tell them the truth. But how? They’d hate me, take me to jail, walk away. Even have Amanda and Tara arrested. We were robbing the banks not to be greedy, but to take back what belonged to us. It was illegal, but ethically right. Like Robin Hood. Seth and Landon though, seemed like the men who wouldn’t see my actions that way.

  They were waiting for an answer. They had no intention of doing anything else before they made an honest woman of me. That proved their honor, the quality of their character. They were good men.

  Was I good enough for them? What would they think of me if they learned the truth? They’d be stuck with me and it would be horrible. I had few choices. I could tell them the truth and I’d be behind bars in the jail instead of standing before the sheriff reciting marriage vows. I could tell them no and leave. But they’d want a reason and since I couldn’t tell them the truth, they’d probably decide to step back to court and woo me until I said yes. Or, I could say yes now and get what we all wanted: to be back in bed together as soon as possible.

  “All right. I’ll marry you.”

  That was all it took before they steered me out of the room and outside. I walked between the two down the town’s boardwalk, Landon’s hand on my elbow. It was early still, just past sunrise, and we only saw one other person on our journey from the hotel to the jail. He was in the distance and didn’t offer us much more than a passing glance, had no idea I was about to marry two men. Just thinking about the jail made my heart beat frantically.

  “You’re quiet all of a sudden. Lost your voice from all that screaming? How many times did we make you come?” Seth asked, looking down at me, the corner of his mouth tipped up in a sly smile. I knew I was tense, but he obviously took it for pre-wedding jitters, not fear of being arrested. He was intentionally making me blush, to think about something besides what we were about to do, and it endeared him to me more.

  Why did he have to be so good looking? I was desperately attracted to him. My nipples tightened at just the raspy tone of his voice. His straw colored hair curled from beneath his hat. He winked one pale eye at me. Not paying attention, I tripped over a warped board in the walkway and Landon’s grip on my arm tightened to steady me. He wouldn’t let go. Not now, not once we were married. Once the vows were said, I doubted I’d be let out of bed—not that I minded.

  We’d barely slept the night before, only snoozing between bouts of lovemaking. I had no idea I could straddle a man’s lap and ride him. I had no idea I could take a cock into my throat and swallow down the spurting seed. I had no idea I would like being taken from behind.

  All the while, I’d never mentioned I was the Black Widow. They also hadn’t mentioned they were US Marshals. In fact, we hardly spoke other than for them to tell me what to do.

  Spread those lovely legs. Suck me harder. Tilt that ass up so I can spank it. Thrust out those perfect breasts. Ride my cock and come for us.

  All I seemed to have said was “God” and “Please” and “More” because I’d loved every minute of it with both of them. Both! Four hands, two mouths and two very large cocks on men who knew exactly what to do with them.

  I walked between them, surprised by my own actions. I wasn’t that kind of woman. Well, I didn’t used to be that kind of woman. I was now. And Seth and Landon liked me that way. They hadn’t done anything I hadn’t wanted. Yes, they’d been dominant and very bossy, but I’d wanted it. No, needed it because when their mouths were on me, when their hands slid over my curves or their cocks plunged deep, my mind went blank. They’d made me forget my need for revenge, my face on the wanted poster, my own name. It had been bliss to just have been desired. Nothing more. But with the dawn, reality returned and I learned the truth. I’d fucked two US Marshals whose job was to bring criminals to justice. I just had to be thankful they were going to a meeting about a man they had to hunt down while I was busy robbing the bank.

  I saw the jail down the block. The building loomed even though it was squat and plain. I could hear the iron bars clinking behind me if they knew the truth.

  Seth stopped across the street, tilted his head toward the jail. “Anything you want to say, sweetheart, before we go inside and make you ours?”

  Why did he ask me that? I looked up into his pale eyes, then to Landon. I would not panic. No, they weren’t arresting me.

  The sheriff came out of the jail, leaned against the open doorway. While he was as big as Landon and Seth, he had an obvious interest in his wife’s cooking, for his belly extended over his belt buckle. Regardless, he was probably eager to have the Black Widow residing in his jail, if he knew who she was.

  I shook my head. Landon tilted my chin up with his thumb—a gesture he seemed to like to do—and smiled. “You’re not going to the gallows, sweetheart. We’re getting married.”

  I took a deep breath. Exhaled. No, I wasn’t being hung. At least, not today.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Seth

  I lifte
d up the wanted poster and waved it in the air. The rough paper crumpled between my fingers. “When we were brought in to find a ruthless bank robber, this is not what we expected.”

  Norman Rollins sat behind his big oak desk, as pretentious a piece of furniture as the man himself. In his fifties, he carried the weight of a man with excess. Excess food, excess spirits and excess money to buy it with. He was a widower. After knowing him for ten minutes, I had already decided his wife was better off six feet under than under this man’s thumb.

  “I requested you because of your record of capturing criminals.”

  “Yes, criminals. This is a woman,” I added. I turned the paper and glanced down at the likeness. Dark hair, wide set eyes, strong cheekbones. “She is wearing a fucking hat with lace edging in this drawing.”

  My gaze flicked to Landon. While he was leaning quietly against the wall, ankles crossed, remaining quiet as usual, I knew he was angry. Mr. Rollins wasn’t familiar with him to know he should give him plenty of room. That’s why he was good at being a Marshal. People underestimated him, took his quietness for lack of smarts. His jaw was tense and his eyes were narrowed on the old fucker.

  The only perk of leaving Billings and traveling to Helena was Maddie. Yes, we’d wanted to take a few days of rest on our ranch after following the trail of two men wanted in a string of cattle rustling across the eastern plains, but Rollins had been insistent. And we hadn’t expected to find her. Fuck her. Marry her. And, dammit, leave her to meet with this fucker. No married man wanted to leave his bride, not after the things we did with her.

  Last night had been amazing and ruined us for all others. There would be no whores, no widows. Just Maddie for the rest of our lives. The ring on my finger was public proof of that. I was married.

  The idea felt good. Damn good, but Rollins was ruining it. We were wasting time we could instead spend between Maddie’s thighs. But no, instead we were stuck with a rich man who’d apparently been robbed by a woman.

  A woman!

  A woman who’d obviously been smart enough to get away with it not once, not twice, but three times. Per Rollins, she hadn’t hurt anyone or fired a shot with the revolver she supposedly presented. Yet Rollins was like a bear who’d been poked a time or two. Or three.

  “She wore a hat in the robberies,” Mr. Rollins said, referring to the rendering. “It’s what the tellers remembered.”

  “The Black Widow?” I asked, reading the words beneath “Wanted!”

  I handed the paper to Landon. He glanced at it, then said, “Did she kill anyone in the robberies?”

  “No. She had a pattern. She walked in, sweet as a kid’s candy, and asked for the money. She had a revolver. Said men outside would hurt people if the teller didn’t do as she said. Walked right on out.”

  “Didn’t you see a pattern after the third time?” I added.

  He didn’t like that question, for it poked at his intelligence. “I have twelve banks all across the territory. What was I to do, send notice to each one to keep watch for a woman?”

  I wasn’t sure if he was upset his money was stolen or because it was done by a cunning female.

  And now we were supposed to hunt her down, bring her to justice.

  That was our job as US Marshals; put criminals in jail. We’d just never had to find a woman before.

  “What about the men outside? Don’t you want to go after them?”

  “One was held, but he had no idea what had happened. He’d just been walking by.”

  “So she worked alone,” Landon stated.

  “She’s cunning.” That was all Rollins said in reply.

  “If she really is ‘pleasing to the eye’ then surely she would be memorable,” Landon said, pointing to the wanted paper. “The local sheriffs would have checked with the train conductors at the very least and known where she’d come from.”

  When Rollins just shook his head, I asked, “Liveries?”

  “No one recognized her, therefore she didn’t take the train from town to town. After each of the robberies, she just…disappeared.”

  A beautiful woman disappearing in the Montana Territory? Impossible. Well, until we found her, it seemed it was possible.

  “Then why’s she called the Black Widow?” Landon asked, handing the paper back to me, then tucking his hand into his pants pocket. “Isn’t that moniker reserved for one who kills her husband?”

  If she was as wily as she sounded, I wondered if Rollins should marry her instead of having her taken in by the law. He seemed to be a wily man himself. Perhaps he feared she’d kill him, too.

  “Exactly.” Rollins pursed her lips, tugged on the lapels of his suit coat. “The teller in the second robbery came up with it. It stuck and makes for salacious news.”

  I looked down at the paper again, read the details. Wanted Woman: The Black Widow. Young. Pleasing to the eye. Dark hair. Five feet tall. Armed.

  “Let’s be clear here. You’re telling me this slip of a woman robbed three of your banks all by herself?”

  Mr. Rollins stood, his jowls swaying. “She did. I want justice.”

  “How much money did she take?” Landon asked.

  “She robbed me blind. Took everything that wasn’t in the safes at the time.” A vein pulsed in his temple and his skin took on a mottled red tone. I didn’t doubt his upset with this woman, but he was rich. He wasn’t a copper king like some over in Butte, but he had a damn town named after him.

  “Do your job, men. I sent for you because you’re better than anyone else at tracking.”

  That was a true statement. Our record for captures was higher than even the Pinkertons.

  “Find her. It can’t be all that hard. A woman, for god sakes.” He wiped spittle from his lips. “I want her hung for what she did. Three banks.” He shook his head in disgust.

  Landon pushed off the wall, put on his hat. “We’ll find her.”

  I knew he wasn’t eager to go track down a woman, especially when we had one of our own. We needed a honeymoon, not an investigation. For now, though, we could end this meeting and get back to our bride. She’d said she was going to visit her friend, then meet us back at the hotel by noon.

  A loud knock had Landon standing upright, turning to the door.

  “Enter!” Rollins shouted.

  A little man came in, cheeks flushed, eyes wild. Blatantly drunk.

  “I’m sorry for interrupting, sir.” The words weren’t all too clear and extremely slow, as if he had to think hard about each one before he said it.

  “Drinking again, Timms?”

  The man waved his hand in the air. “Needed some liquid courage,” he slurred.

  “For what? Gallagher!” Rollins shouted.

  Another man came in moments later. He was not drunk and with clear eyes quickly assessed the situation. “Sorry, sir. He hasn’t told you?”

  Rollins pursed his lips. “No.”

  “Your bank. It’s been robbed,” Timms shouted.

  “What?” Rollins came around his desk, face turning as red as the messenger. “Which one?”

  “The one here in Helena,” Gallagher supplied, taking Timms by the arm and steering him toward the door, then pushing him out of it. We heard him stumble in the hallway and mumble. “That’s why Timms is… indisposed. He was worried about your response and must have stopped at a few saloons on the way from the bank.”

  Rollins swore under his breath.

  I glanced at Landon. “Was it a woman?” I asked Gallagher.

  He nodded. “Appears so. It seems the Black Widow has struck again.”

  When Rollins swiped all the papers off his desk in a fit of rage, Gallagher fled, clearly used to his boss’s anger. Smart move. Perhaps Timms was smart to drink heavily if Rollins was his boss. Landon and I just stood out of the way, let Rollins have his moment.

  He put his hands on the edge of the desk, stared down at it. Then he spun about quickly for a man of his stature. “You will head to the bank to investigate.” He didn’
t say it as a question.

  “We’ll start there, move on to the other three. We will get back to you with our report, or we’ll wire you an update.”

  I put my hat back on as Landon nodded at Rollins and left the office. I followed, but didn’t say anything until we were out on the main street. It was noisy with wagons and people, but calmer than Rollins’ wrath. A stray dog ran past me, almost knocking me over.

  “That was fun,” I grumbled, still clutching the wanted paper. I looked at the drawing again. It wasn’t remarkable and not enough of a likeness for us to find her using it as a guide. “Now what? Do we go to every hat shop in the territory?”

  Landon snatched the paper from me. “A woman like this? She’s smart. Smart enough to out think Rollins, although I doubt it’s all that difficult.”

  He tipped his hat to two ladies that passed.

  “She could be the Black Widow,” I commented. “The one on the left has brown hair and is pleasing to the eye.”

  “It could be her, yes. It could be that woman over there.” Landon pointed across the street to a woman selling fruit from a cart. “Or her.” He pointed to a lady coming out of a restaurant. “Hell, it could be Maddie.”

  I rolled my eyes at the possibility. She was having lunch with a friend and would soon be back at the hotel, hopefully getting naked so we could fuck her. This was not going to be easy.

  “We start at the bank, talk to the tellers. We don’t change the way we track someone just because she’s a woman.” He adjusted his hat, then sat his hand on the butt of his gun which rested on his right hip. He sighed and I knew we were thinking the same thing. Because of the latest robbery, we couldn’t return to Maddie right away. My cock ached to fuck her again, to see her smile, to hear her come. Now we had to hunt a woman who had more brawn than sense. Why would she need to rob a damn bank? No, why would she need to rob four of them?

  “She might be a woman, but we need to be cautious. Remember, besides being a cunning bank robber, the Black Widow might even be a murderer.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT