Love Under Two Gunslingers

by Love Under Two Gunslingers (lit)

  Joshua leaned forward and Sarah blinked, for the heat had been between herself and Caleb. With his action, Joshua claimed his piece of her attention. With his words, he sent a chill down her spine and proved he could melt her innards as well as his brother could.

  “Why, Miss Sarah, my brother and I are gunslingers.”

  Chapter 3

  “I’ll flip you. Heads I get guard duty, tails you do,” Joshua said the moment the door to their hotel room closed behind them. He knew his brother, knew every mood, every expression, every stance. And what he knew right now was that Caleb was wound tighter than the spring on his Colt 45. Joshua still had the double-headed coin that gambler he’d met last year in Dallas had given him. In Caleb’s frame of mind, he might have forgotten about the coin. He figured it couldn’t be called cheating when he did it for his brother’s own good.

  “No, you sleep. I’ll watch. That way I have an excuse for closing my eyes on the train ride tomorrow. I might even sleep. That would help.”

  While Joshua wandered over to the room’s one window that looked down on the narrow alley between the hotel and the saloon next door, Caleb took the straight-back chair and dragged it to the door. He opened the portal a crack, then took his place on the chair. His brother could be vigilant to their surroundings and talk to him at the same time.

  Sarah’s room was across the hall and down one. That’s how he and Caleb had arranged things just so one of them could keep her door in sight, stay on guard all night.

  Not that they expected trouble. They really didn’t. But when the Benedict brothers gave their word to keep a woman safe, they damn well kept her safe.

  “She bothers you,” Joshua said, his back to his brother.

  “Bothers me? If you call the way she gets my cock hard a bother, then yeah. Yeah, she bothers the hell out of me. Fuck.”

  “Me, too. Been a long time since a female’s made me this horny this fast—if ever. Good thing she’s married. With both of us randy as young bucks we’d be pulling her under us, otherwise.”

  Caleb chuckled, and Joshua knew there was no humor in it. “It’s not like she’s cut from the same cloth as some of the women we’ve shared over the years.”

  “No kidding.” Joshua didn’t bother to kick off his boots, just dumped himself on the bed, smiling when the springs gave him a two-bounce ride. Folding his hands behind his head, he settled in, got comfortable.

  “Thinking about past experiences isn’t helping here because it doesn’t take much imagination for me to see Sarah naked and writhing on top of you while I fuck her ass from behind. I have a feeling one taste of Sarah would wipe the memory of every other woman from our minds and our cocks.”

  “Fuck. That’s a nice hot image to take into sleep with me. Thanks a lot, brother.”

  “What can I say? You’re my brother and my best friend. If I suffer, you suffer too.”

  “The way I see it, no matter what, we’re both going to suffer until we get to Maddox’s spread and give him his wife,” Joshua said. There could be no question, of course, of trying to see if they could talk the lovely Sarah out of her clothes and into their bed. She had chosen to marry Tyrone Maddox. She must have had a good reason. Hell, even though she didn’t seem to know much about him, she could have fallen in love with him at first sight. None of his business.

  “Damn straight. Married means off limits.”

  Exactly. Over the years there were some things he and Caleb had done that neither one of them would have wanted their mother to know about. But they did have their standards and poaching another man’s wife was on the list of things they’d never do.

  Even the tempting young wife of a man who’d rubbed them wrong the way Maddox had.

  That got his mind working. “Why do you suppose Adam wanted us to take this job in the first place?” Adam Kendall had been in their unit during the war, and the three of them had become good friends. If Joshua needed a man at his back and for some reason Caleb wasn’t available, he’d want Adam there. Unlike them, Adam didn’t have any difficulty settling down in one place in the years since 1865. He’d become a Texas Ranger and rose to the rank of Captain of the Waco troop.

  He looked over to find Caleb frowning at him. “I don’t have the damndest idea. He didn’t give us a reason at all. At first, I thought that he asked in order to do a favor for the man, Maddox being a wealthy landowner and rancher in his neck of the woods and all.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. But now—”

  “Now when I think on it, it seems strange because there’s no way I can picture Maddox and Adam as friends.”

  “No way in hell,” Joshua agreed, closing his eyes. It didn’t surprise him that Caleb’s thoughts mirrored his own. They might not look like twins on the surface, but under the skin they often thought as one. “And since we both know the way Adam’s mind works, you have to wonder if there’s another reason he wanted us here other than just giving us a way to earn some extra cash.”

  “I’m not going down that road any further,” Caleb said quietly. “I’m sticking to the here and now, focusing on what we know for certain and on what we have on our plates, not what looks good on the sideboard. We’ll get Mrs. Maddox to her husband because that’s what we’ve been paid to do. And that’s all we’re going to do.”

  “Sideboard sure as hell holds one tempting morsel,” Joshua said. Caleb didn’t respond, and Joshua let it go. His brother was right. No sense in trying to bend speculation just to suit their prurient needs.

  On the other hand, it made no sense to not pay attention to their instincts, either. Maybe his instincts hummed because he was drawn to Sarah Maddox, because the sight of her and the scent of her went straight to his cock. And maybe another reason existed altogether for this strange sense of alertness. So while he didn’t specifically expect any trouble between here and Waco, he’d keep a sharper eye about him anyway, just as he knew his brother would do.

  Just in case.

  * * * *

  Smoke hung heavily in the air, the space illuminated only by the gaslights set on the wall and the Tiffany lamps placed around this upper-floor private game room in the Old Ranch saloon. Tyrone Maddox had his cigar clamped securely between his teeth, his cards tucked confidently into his hand as he eyed the rest of the players around the table. He’d known every man there a decade or more. A couple had been born in Waco, the others newcomers of a dozen years or so. He knew every important fact about each and every one. And he trusted not one of them.

  Poker was poker.

  “Adam? Your turn to open.”

  Bob Kramer acted as dealer tonight, a role the man seemed to enjoy.

  Might as well, since he was a piss-poor gambler.

  It never seemed to bother Bob that he couldn’t keep a poker face or read a hand of cards or any of the other players. He came each month and cheerfully lost his stake and always came back the next month for more. Strange bastard.

  Maddox flicked his gaze over to Adam Kendall, a man whose friendship he’d deliberately courted over the last few years. It never hurt to have the law in one’s corner. As the man in charge of the Ranger post in Waco, Kendall was the most visible symbol of the force in the entire county. Despite his efforts, though, Maddox hadn’t managed more than a “friendly acquaintanceship” with the man.

  Fine.

  Adam had found him two gunslingers, a couple of out-of-work former army buddies of his to fetch Sarah, and that had been an enormous help. In fact, Adam’s act of kindness had been the perfect gesture at the perfect time.

  “Yeah, I’ll open. A nickel,” Adam said, tossing the coin into the pot.

  Downstairs in the main saloon stood tables where men bought in and used chips when they played cards. Any time, day or night, if a man wanted a little game, the chance to win just a little coin, then those tables would suit. Upstairs the table awaited real money and real men. Maddox could never see the point in prettying the game up with chips, trying to give it an air of respectability
, as if sitting down and anteing up constituted a harmless diversion. Why not call things what they were?

  Gambling was gambling.

  “Hear you went and got yourself hitched a few weeks back, Maddox. But I ain’t seen hide nor hair of a wife. You keeping her chained up out at your place? Or did she already run off?” Gareth Peterson of the big mouth and small cock—according to Mandy here at the Old Ranch—never failed to irritate the hell out of Maddox. Despite that, Peterson’s decision to attend tonight’s game had figured prominently in Maddox’s presence. He wanted to win every damn cent the bastard had on him.

  Gareth Peterson always seemed to be just one step ahead of Maddox, scooping up the best bulls at auction, the best opportunities for investment, just as Maddox reached for them himself. But a new deal was blowing in the wind, a new opportunity that Maddox determined would be the making of his fortune, his future, and his name. Something that would make him the richest man in all of Texas.

  Discovering the opportunity and knowing no one else hereabouts knew about it yet resulted in Maddox scrambling for every penny he could lay his hands on. Quietly, arrangements had been made. Soon, he would be in possession of enough money to buy hundreds of acres of East Texas land. It would be his before pecker-head Peterson even heard word of the new gold rush about to be unleashed in the land: oil.

  Competition was competition.

  Maddox planned to grind Gareth Peterson into the dust. When he finished with him, the man would wish he’d never been born. Now, however, he only said, “I’ll be having a huge party to introduce my wife once she arrives. She’s on her way here now, from Chicago, even as we speak.”

  “You sly dog, Ty,” Silas Jones, the final member of their game said. “All those times going up north to negotiate for your beef. It wasn’t just the beef that drove you. It wasn’t all just business, was it?”

  Maddox felt little respect for Silas, a man he considered a fool. But fools sometimes had deep pockets and, as in this case, could sometimes prove to have other uses.

  “A smart man knows never to close himself off to whatever opportunities may arise. Sarah is the daughter of the man I’ve been doing business with for years. I first set eyes on her a couple of years ago, but I had to wait until she came of age. Her father kindly gave his consent during my most recent visit, and I didn’t want to risk his changing his mind. I am a very lucky man.”

  “Take ’em to your bed young, then break them in right. That’s the way, Maddox. Too bad you had to leave her behind, after finally nailing her and all. Poor bastard, had your wedding night rut and then took off? Must be hard to do without, once your cock gets to dip into that fresh young cunt.” Peterson said. “These last few weeks must have been hell.”

  The other men around the table tensed. Silas looked as if he would swallow his cigar. Adam made a subtle move that alerted Maddox the lawman could easily grab his gun, and would, if necessary. Kramer fidgeted in his seat.

  There existed a basic code of behavior, one understood by gentlemen even in as rough and tumble a place as Waco, Texas, and Gareth Peterson had just crossed it. Maddox’s own cross draw thirty-caliber Remington lay on the small table by the door but that was all right. Bullets weren’t his preferred ammunition where Gareth Peterson was concerned. Bullets would only wound his flesh. Maddox knew his adversary, knew the financial coup he planned would be a far more hurtful wound. And then, when the man lay bleeding, he’d see to it that certain people knew certain things, and his name, his reputation would be destroyed.

  The silence drew out and only he and Peterson sat perfectly still, gazes locked, each perfectly attuned to the other.

  “I assure you I had no trouble heeding the urging of my better angel, allowing my wife a little extra time to bid farewell to family and friends. I’m certain that under similar circumstances, you would have done exactly the same.”

  Kramer snickered at that because it was a well-known fact that Peterson’s wife wore the pants in that family, and if her pussy saw any action, it sure as hell wasn’t from Peterson’s shriveled up old cock.

  “I’ll see your nickel and raise it to two bits,” Maddox said, easily keeping his tone pleasant. He tossed the money into the kitty, then turned to give Captain Kendall a steady look. After just a moment, Kendall nodded and relaxed.

  As far as any of the men seated in that room were concerned—Peterson included—Maddox had simply let those unfortunate words roll off his back.

  But inside, Tyrone Maddox seethed. Peterson was an ass, but he couldn’t allow that insult toward his wife to goad him to action before he was ready, not under any circumstances. Instead, Maddox added that insult to the list of crimes his adversary had committed. Just one more mark against a man who had sealed his fate years before.

  Revenge was revenge. Tyrone Maddox planned to have his soon.

  Chapter 4

  Sarah thought it just might be possible she would never forget the sound of metal wheels on rails or the sensation of the rocking sway of train travel. In fact, she wondered if she would ever willingly submit herself to this torture again. She turned her attention to one of her traveling companions. Across from her, arms folded on his chest, hat pulled down over his face, Caleb Benedict slept as soundly as a babe in a nursery.

  When she awoke that morning, Sarah gave herself a firm talking to. She was on her way to join the man she had married. Yes, it was an arranged marriage, and no, Tyrone Maddox wasn’t a man she likely ever would have chosen on her own. But the marriage had taken place, it was fact, and she’d determined before ever laying eyes on her escorts that the proper course of action for her to follow would be to simply make the best of the turn her life had taken. She reminded herself there could be worse fates than marrying a man she didn’t know, that other women had entered into arranged marriages down through the ages, and many of those unions had proven successful, even happy. Before she opened the door to her hotel room, she felt renewed in her determination to do her duty with a whole heart.

  They’d been traveling for just half an hour, and Sarah already could feel her grip on that resolve slipping.

  It took no effort to recall the short amount of time she’d spent with Tyrone Maddox three weeks ago. He came to dinner the evening before the ceremony, and seemed polite, if distant. He kissed her hand, told her she looked lovely, and saw her seated at the table. He complimented her stepmother, Miranda, in the same offhand manner. And then he spent the rest of the evening in conversation with her father. He’d barely paid her any attention after the first few moments.

  He kissed her when the priest directed him to at the end of the wedding ceremony—a not unpleasant brush of his lips on hers. But their wedding night…thinking about it, even now, weeks removed from the event, Sarah felt her face color in embarrassment and shame.

  Men had never flocked to her. Likewise, she’d never felt any kind of attraction to any man before yesterday when she met the Benedict brothers. That was one of the reasons Sarah went along with her father’s decree that she marry Maddox. She wanted to be married, to have children. And while the man was older than she would have liked, he was well established, financially secure, and those were important considerations.

  She knew what to expect on her wedding night, for Colleen had, with a great deal of blushing and stammering, told her.

  What she hadn’t expected was to kiss her husband goodbye the next morning, virginity still intact.

  Against her will, her mind conjured the time spent so far with these two gunslingers. They had paid her more attention than the man who had taken her to wife. And they had inspired more tingles and excitement in her body than she’d believed herself capable of feeling.

  In that instant, Sarah understood that in doing her duty she would be sentencing herself to a life without passion or pleasure, excitement or romance.

  “Are you all right?”

  Sarah blinked and looked up. She’d been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t noticed that Joshua had moved from his s
eat across from her to sit beside her.

  “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, Mrs.—Sarah. You just looked so very sad all of a sudden.”

  He looked at her with more attention, more concern, than Tyrone Maddox had. He saw her, where she doubted her husband had seen her at all. “I’m fine, thank you for asking, Joshua.”

  Oh, Sarah, you must stop these thoughts!

  Searching for something else to say, her gaze wandered to Caleb, still held in the depths of sleep.

  “Is Caleb all right? He fell asleep before the train even left the station.”

  “He’s fine. He stayed awake all night, keeping watch. So now he’s catching up.”

  “Keeping watch? Keeping watch for what?”

  “Not what, whom. He kept an eye on the door to your room all night. Guarding you.”

  “Oh.” Sarah had nothing to say to that. She didn’t think, in all her life, anyone had ever gone to such effort on her behalf. Well, no, that wasn’t right. Colleen had stayed by her bedside once when, at eleven, she’d been sick with a bad ague.

  She let her eyes rest on Caleb. He had exhausted himself watching over her. She felt something soften inside her. “I guess I never considered that beyond being escorts, you’re guards. I…thank you.”

  “I’m going to be presumptuous again, Sarah.” Joshua pitched his voice low. The car wasn’t crowded. Barely a dozen other souls occupied space with them this morning. That might change as the day wore on and they pulled in to more stations, but for now, no one sat too near, and no one seemed to pay them any particular attention whatsoever.

  “You don’t seem very eager to join your husband. Now, I’m not condemning you for that. I think it’s strange, in the first place, that a man would leave his bride behind. And strange that you appear more like a woman heading to the gallows than one destined for connubial bliss. What’s going on here, Sarah?”