He felt it beginning, felt it building inside him, knew his peak was nearly upon him. In the past, he’d made it a habit to withdraw from a woman’s body before giving her his seed. The women he’d had were experienced, but he’d never fully trusted any one of them not to conceive his child.
This time, there lived a part of him that hoped his seed found a ripe and ready womb. His tongue swirled and dipped, drinking her. He angled his thrusts so that the hair around his cock brushed against the tiny bud hidden within her folds. Sarah shivered as that bud came awake, and Caleb did it again, and then again. Her sheath convulsed around him as her pleasure burst upon her once more. He held himself deep inside her as his bliss exploded, as his seed shot out of him, racing from his body into hers.
Caleb tried to hold his weight on his arms, but shook with the effort. He’d been in a near constant state of arousal since he’d first looked up and seen Sarah peeking over the banister down at him. He’d never believed he would actually ever get between her legs.
Sarah labored for breath, and he raised himself up to ease his body from hers and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her eyes had closed but she was smiling. He grinned. Beside them, Joshua laid on his side, one hand supporting his head, the other stroking up and down Sarah’s arm.
“You all right, Sarah?” Caleb asked.
“Mmm. Amazing. Simply amazing.”
“You certainly are.”
She popped her eyes open. Even in the soft glow of the fire, he could see the color kissing her cheeks. He grinned even wider, then swooped down and kissed her. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so happy.
Moving carefully, he eased himself from her body, ranging himself on her right side, across from his brother.
“You too tired for me, sweetheart?” Joshua asked. He bent over her and placed his lips on hers.
“I’m not tired,” Sarah replied.
“Sore?”
“A little,” she nearly mumbled the confession.
Caleb recognized that playful light in his brother’s eyes.
“Do you trust me?” Joshua asked her.
“Of course I do.”
Caleb bet it wouldn’t take Sarah long to figure Joshua’s moods out. In the mean time, he could only chuckle.
“Good!” Joshua got to his feet then reached down and scooped her into his arms.
“Where…where are we going?” she asked when, naked as the day he was born, he began to carry her away from the fire and into the darkness. Caleb got to his feet and followed, laughing out loud at Joshua’s answer and Sarah’s small scream.
“We’re going to bathe in the creek.”
Chapter 9
Tyrone Maddox wasn’t a man easily intimidated by anyone or anything. Once he set himself on a course of action, he let nothing dissuade him from it. He would never have been able to achieve all he had in life, otherwise. But the events of the last few days, as relayed to him via telegram, had him more than a little concerned.
He didn’t like it when events deviated from his plan.
He had a ranch that need running and other business interests he needed to tend to. He didn’t have time to go into Waco to speak to the law. Especially when the only available law was Adam Kendall. Unfortunately, he could see no way around this unexpected trip.
Maddox couldn’t say why Kendall rubbed him the wrong way. He had from the first moment they’d met. Maybe it was the eerie color of the man’s eyes. Watery blue, when he fixed them on him, Maddox felt as if the lawman could somehow see into his head, knew all of his secrets.
A man didn’t rise as high and come as far as Maddox had without harboring a few secrets along the way. Maddox knew he had more than his share, and just the idea someone might know them irritated him beyond measure.
He’d heard more than one rumor about Adam Kendall. He sometimes knew things he couldn’t possibly know. The way others sometimes spoke of him in hushed tones, it wouldn’t surprise Maddox to find out the man had Indian blood and was in fact some mystical shaman.
Despite Maddox’s antipathy for him, he’d done his level best to make Kendall a friend. Only smart business to do so, really. But the Texas Ranger had remained aloof. Because he’d failed to get the lawman under his thumb, Maddox tended to steer clear of the man.
The information he’d just received dictated a change in policy. He saddled up early, wanting to get this business out of the way and get home again as soon as possible. He felt most secure at his ranch.
His wife had gone missing, taken into the wilderness by those two gunslingers he’d hired. That had not been a part of the plan. And even though this new ripple could work to his advantage, it was a ripple that found him somewhat in the dark and not in complete control.
Maddox liked to be in control of things. He maintained a poker face as he entered Waco as would befit a man in his situation, but he smiled on the inside. One way or another, he would reach his goal. Soon he’d be so far above everyone else he’d no longer have to worry about petty annoyances like Adam Kendall—or Gareth Peterson, for that matter.
In fact, if he worked it right, he might manage to be rid of them both thanks to this unforeseen development. A smart man made the best of the cards he got dealt.
Tyrone J. Maddox knew himself to be a very smart man. He just needed to wait for his instincts to tell him which way he should play this particular hand.
The Texas Ranger Station had been erected beside the county court house as a part of The Square. Unlike other days when he came into Waco, he made straight for there.
He usually stayed as far away from The Square in the morning hours as possible. The place had become overrun in recent years with newcomers, all engaged in the business of trying to separate men from their money. Mondays were bad enough, with an open market teeming with people. That at least served a useful purpose, and he knew his houseman sometimes came to market for supplies. Even on non-market days, a man could likely encounter his fill of charlatans here, some offering the latest in “must have” wares and others offering all sorts of dubious enterprises under the heading of legal services.
He’d never seen so many damn, cursed lawyers in one town in his entire life.
Maddox ignored the noise and the people, barely acknowledging a couple men who called out greetings. While he tied his horse to the hitch, he replaced his poker face with the visage of a man deeply concerned, verging on alarmed by the news he’d just received. Approaching the office, he caught a glimpse through the wide front window of lawmen huddled around the captain’s desk.
He hadn’t believed for one moment he’d been the only one to receive a telegram. That’s why he’d had to come to town right away.
“I received a telegram late last night from the sheriff in Springfield,” he said before the door had even closed behind him. “It would appear that those two gunslingers you introduced me to, Kendall, have made off into the open range with my wife!”
Captain Kendall looked up at Maddox’s accusation. The man appeared unruffled, and if Maddox didn’t know better, he’d swear the lawman seemed amused. Three other rangers had been standing by the Kendall’s desk, their attention fixed on the map he had spread out there. At Maddox’s thinly veiled accusation, they looked up and stepped back.
“I received a telegram from the sheriff as well,” Kendall said. “The Benedicts are doing what you paid them to do. They’re keeping Mrs. Maddox safe after an attempt was made on her life.”
“Maybe and maybe not. All I know is that they’ve deviated from the route I set out for them and are somewhere out on the trail between Springfield and here, alone with my wife. I’ll be the laughingstock of the county when they eventually arrive with her after all those days and nights isolated together, no chaperone, when word gets out. Did those two bastards have no thought as to the potential scandal their actions would cause? A woman in the wilderness alone with two hired guns.” Maddox let his temper show. What those two no-accounts had done was totally unacceptable, and he w
as determined Kendall would pay the price. A good strategy, even a righteous one.
“It seems to me,” Kendall said, “Anyone wanting to gossip would have had enough fuel to do so already, considering that you left Mrs. Maddox behind in the first place then arranged for her to travel in the company of the Benedicts, with no chaperone, as you put it.”
“Perhaps it is partially my fault.” Maddox chose his words and his stance carefully. “I made the assumption that since you knew the Benedicts, they could be trusted. Perhaps I should have relied upon my father-in-law to arrange for Sarah’s transportation through Mr. Pinkerton’s agency.”
He’d handed Kendall a way out, but the man’s response wasn’t the one Maddox expected.
“You seem to be under the impression that the Benedict brothers are a couple of drifters, no-accounts, out to make a fast buck, who would hire out their guns without engaging their consciences. Cut from the same cloth as Dick Morgan and his gang.”
“I’m sorry, who?” Maddox asked.
“Five drifters known to run wild these last several years all throughout the southwest but in Missouri, mostly. It was Morgan and his men who attacked your wife’s stagecoach, and then tried again to shoot her in Springfield last night.”
Maddox looked at Kendall for a long moment, well aware the other man studied him closely. “The sheriff is certain of these facts?”
“Very certain. Look, I’m sorry if I gave you the impression Caleb and Joshua were like that, though I don’t know how I could have since you never asked me a single thing about them, never inquired into their backgrounds.”
Kendall sat back then and got such a look on his face that if they’d been playing cards, Maddox would have folded then and there, regardless of his hand.
“So let me put your mind at ease. I’ve known Caleb and Joshua Benedict for more than a decade. We served together for two years in the Union Army. And since that time, they’ve drifted some, yes. But only because their mother died during the war of typhoid, and their sister, Becky, married a Southern sympathizer. Becky and her husband took over the family ranch, and the man hasn’t been too keen, to date, on having anything to do with his north-supporting brothers-in-law.
“And while they have been known to take on the odd job—such as escorting the wife of a wealthy rancher—mostly they’ve worked where needed as deputy United States Marshals.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in. Maddox was a good enough poker player he kept his expression from reflecting the riot of emotions coursing through him.
He had assumed the men he’d hired to escort Sarah to be the sort who wouldn’t question orders, who’d do the least of what was required of them for the cash being paid, and would put their lives and well-being first if the situation got dangerous.
He realized he’d been silent too long. “Well then, Captain Kendall. I feel much better. Thank you for easing my mind.” He paced to the window, looked out on the street before turning and skewering the ranger with a hard stare.
“The sheriff didn’t give me any details. He said only that an attempt had been made to kill my wife. Sarah has spent her entire life in Chicago, a pampered young chit of no consequence. I find it hard to believe that anyone would actually want to kill her.”
“That’s pretty much the conclusion the Benedicts and Sheriff MacFarlane came to as well. They believe that whoever targeted Sarah—twice, not once, so they do mean business, and there is no mistake that she indeed had been the target—likely is an enemy of yours or her father’s.”
“Matthew Carmichael, have an enemy that would go after his daughter? Highly unlikely. The man’s led an amazingly boring existence. His entire life is his modest sized business—that, and his second wife, a lovely young woman with very expensive tastes.”
Kendall shook his head. “The father is boring and the daughter of no consequence. Not the family one would expect to see a man of your stature marry into.”
“Sarah suits my needs perfectly, not that it’s any business of yours. No, I can’t imagine anyone hating Carmichael enough to target his daughter. I, on the other hand, have made an enemy or two along the way. Of course I have. The one that comes to mind immediately, as a matter of fact, is Gareth Peterson.”
“I got that impression the other night during our poker game. We’re looking at Mr. Peterson, of course, and I will question him personally. All the hired guns who came after your wife are dead. Sheriff MacFarlane is questioning known associates of theirs, attempting to reconstruct events, hoping that someone in the Morgan gang had a big mouth and let slip who’d hired them.
“Beyond that, unless something more happens, there’s not much we can do here. You’ll let me know when your wife arrives safe and sound, and I’ll come out and speak to her.”
“Thank you, Captain. I will.”
Once back on the boardwalk, Maddox took his time, nodding to a man who greeted him, looking around The Square as anyone might on such a lovely summer day.
Inside, his thoughts scrambled. He’d misjudged the situation, and his failure in that regard more than displeased him. It alarmed him.
He’d been so sure of his course, he’d not made any contingency plans. He eased himself up on his horse, turned the creature toward home.
The feeling of eyes following his every move accompanied him long after anyone from the Ranger’s office could possibly still be watching him. That was the sign of a guilty conscience, which was laughable because Maddox didn’t have a conscience, guilty or otherwise.
He could only hope, as he headed for home, that his latest thoughts didn’t prove, in the end, to be his epitaph.
* * * *
Sarah came awake to the sensation of being lifted by strong masculine arms. Eyes closed, she snuggled against the naked male chest and inhaled deeply. Joshua. She wondered then if every woman could recognize the scent of her lover, or just those who, like her, were fortunate enough to have more than one of them.
“Where are you taking me?” She kept her eyes closed, but the brightness of daylight and the warmth of the sun on her flesh told her morning had broken.
“The stream.”
“Again? Fancy water a great deal, don’t you?”
“Well, I do, but that’s not why we’re going there.”
Sarah heard the smile in his voice and felt her lips spread in response. Memories of the night before, of being held on Joshua’s lap as water eddied past them flooded her memory. He’d cleansed her between her legs, his touch so soft and arousing that he’d had her writhing in no time. When he’d lifted her, spread her legs so that she’d straddled him, she’d been shocked. That sensation had only lasted a few seconds. Once he showed her how to take him into her body, to move in such a way as to pleasure them both, Sarah had found great joy in bringing them both to release.
“Caleb’s waiting for us there,” Joshua said, interrupting her reverie. “He’s found a spot that’s a bit deeper than what we used last night.”
“Why do we want deeper water?” She opened her eyes and watched as the trees gave way to the babbling stream.
He kissed the top of her head, and Sarah snuggled deeper into his embrace. “We were greedy with you last night, love. You’ve got to be sore this morning.”
Sarah had noticed an insistent ache between her legs and deeper, up inside her, where her two virile lovers had spent so much time the night before.
“Mmm. I am.” She thought she should protest being carried, but the very fact she felt sore made her stay mum. She enjoyed being carted around. It made her feel cherished.
“We were careful after the first time, so there’s no more blood on you. I checked. But still, we really should have let you alone after we’d each had you once.”
“You aren’t solely responsible for the tenderness I feel. It seems to me I awoke in the middle of the night and made some demands of my own.”
“For which we shall be eternally grateful.”
Caleb came into view and his statement, a
long with Joshua’s personal commentary, made her blush.
“I shouldn’t be embarrassed after last night,” she mumbled. Both men laughed at her discomfiture, but she sensed nothing unkind in their amusement.
“This is just our first morning as lovers,” Caleb said as he lifted her from Joshua’s arms. He held her as easily as his brother had. “It will probably take you until at least tomorrow to rid yourself completely of your embarrassment.”
“Rid myself of my embarrassment? It’s called modesty, I’ll have you know. Even virtue, by some.” Sarah sighed. “Though I guess we took care of getting rid of my virtue last night.”
“Not in our eyes,” Joshua said. There was an edge to his tone that brooked no argument. His attitude made her feel good. She knew they held affection for her because of the tender and caring way they treated her. It was good to know they respected her, too. Still, she felt a bit ill at ease with all the personal privilege these twins claimed.
“I can walk,” she said. Sarah had no idea why she felt compelled to protest.
“We know. And we’ll let you start doing things for yourself tomorrow. For the rest of today, why not let us pamper you? All right?”
The water felt colder in this deeper part than where she’d bathed, and been bathed, the night before.
“It’ll ease the pain,” Caleb whispered against her head. He used his hand to gently rub low on her belly. The touch comforted more than it aroused.
Joshua joined them and though it was unnecessary, helped support her. She was submerged to her chest. They had been right. The cold water did help ease the uncomfortable feeling between her thighs.
Joshua palmed the soap and rubbed it gently across her breasts. The light rose perfume teased her senses, the fragrance adding to her pleasure.
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