“Why didn’t you yell for your sisters?” he asked again not understanding. Why was she staying with him when she could have left? Was it the money? Or was it something more?
She shrugged. “Like I said, I’m going to see this to the bitter end. I’m staying by your side until we reach Fort Worth. I’ll turn you in, and then we’ll part ways.”
If only he wanted a woman by his side, he would easily choose Annabelle. She was everything he loved about a good woman. She was strong, she defended those she loved, and she was soft as butter in his arms, melting into all the right places. If he were a marrying man, she would be his first choice for a wife, a mother to his children.
But there was his family to consider, his job, his lifestyle, and right now, the bounty on his head.
He smiled. That’s what he liked about Annabelle. She was honest to a fault and always told him exactly how things stood. “So you’re still planning on turning me in.”
“Yes, I am. And I’m going to try to collect on the Harris gang.”
He nodded. “I’ll do what I can to help you.”
Her brows drew together in a frown. “They’ll take your word that I killed those men?”
“Don’t know. All we can do is try.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes, watching the sky as it changed from afternoon into evening, the east filled with shadows as the sun sank into the west.
“How much further do you think we should ride tonight?” she asked.
“As long as possible, so we reach Fort Worth tomorrow. I’d love to take a bath and get a good night’s sleep in a hotel bed tomorrow night. Plus, I need to take care of the money.”
He wanted to enjoy the luxury of Annabelle in his arms in a bed, not the cold, hard ground. For once he’d like to make love to her surrounded by softness on cotton sheets.
“Hmmm, that sounds nice. And a home cooked meal, sitting at a dining table.”
“I think we can arrange that.”
“God, I would love to feel some soap and water on my skin.”
He grinned and wondered how she’d smell after a fresh bath, how her soft skin would feel. “Now you’re talking.”
“Wash my hair and change my clothes.”
Sure, Annabelle looked grimy from the trail, but she was still a beautiful woman. Seeing her all cleaned up was frightening because he was afraid of how the sight of her beauty would affect him. Would it cause him to trade in his life for a chance with her?
No, Frank and Jesse were too big a danger. If they located him, his life would be hell. They wanted their brother’s blood. They wanted him dead.
“We have one more night on the trail together,” Beau said, nostalgia gripping his chest making it hurt to breathe. Had they only known each other for over a week, yet it felt like a lifetime. He felt like he could see her brain churning and knew what she would say before she opened her mouth. He felt like he knew her better than anyone else in the world, including her family.
And yet, they had only been together a short while—a short, tense, life-threatening trip filled with danger from bad guys and weather and everything else Texas had to offer. And while he didn’t want it to end just yet, he knew it was time. They would soon reach their destination, and they would each go their separate ways.
That was life. That’s what happened. With each new day, they would soon forget about each other and the time they rode together. He’d return to his old life, and she would go home to her bounty hunter sisters.
All the attraction they felt at this moment would disappear.
Yet, he knew Annabelle had left a permanent mark on his heart, and he’d never be the same. It was hard to see a future without her by his side.
*
After their evening meal, they sat around the campfire, watching the flames dance an erotic beat.
“Last night,” Beau said softly.
“Yeah,” she said, staring into the glowing fire. A pop filled the air with sparks, and he watched her shivering from the chill in the air.
“Cold?”
“A little bit,” she said, wrapping her arms around her knees, her skirt pulled tight around her legs.
He stood and walked around to her side of the fire. Sinking down to the ground beside her, he pulled her into his body. Knowing their time together was short, he couldn’t resist holding her close, feeling her sweet body against his.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said, glancing up at him.
In the glow of the fire, her sapphire eyes sparkled, and he thought of the afternoon they’d made love down in a root cellar during a tornado. That memory would stay with him forever and he’d never forget how he’d loved the way she made him feel that day. Trusting him and wanting to be in his arms.
How many women ran from him when they learned he was Jesse James’ brother? But not Annabelle. The woman had met every challenge head on. She’d faced bats, a tornado, and the Harris gang. Every time, she’d come out more powerful and better than any woman or man he’d ever met. She was so strong, and he wanted her more than his next breath.
“Annabelle, I’ve never met a woman quite like you. You’ve changed me.”
“But not enough to quit robbing banks.”
There were so many things he needed to tell her, but now was not the right time. “Sugar, let’s just focus on tonight.”
“Beau.” Her voice was filled with want. She reached up and ran her finger along his cheek. “I know this is a bad idea, but I’m doing it anyway.” She pulled his mouth to hers.
The moment his lips covered hers, he melded her mouth to fit his. His hands gripped her face, and he held her firmly in place, letting his lips savage hers with all the desire he could feel coursing through his body. He wanted Annabelle. He wanted to experience joining with her again. To feel her sweetness surrounding him, enveloping him.
What was it about this woman that made him throw caution to the wind and forget his focus on the job he had to do and the harm his family had done to him?
He couldn’t resist her any longer. Lord, he’d tried, but now he had to have her, again.
She wound her arms around his neck, opening her mouth greedily to receive his kiss. He poured his emotions into his lips, letting her feel what he could not say. Her scent flowed around him, filling him, tantalizing him and making him crazy with need. This woman wrung him inside out and left him craving more.
He reached for the buttons on her dress, his hand fumbling, only knowing he needed her, he had to have her, and it had to be now.
She pushed away from him, her breathing harsh. “Stop, let me.”
“Thank God,” he breathed a sigh of relief with a smile. Together, the two of them undid her dress. When the buttons were undone, he helped her raise the garment over her head.
“When we get to Fort Worth, I’m buying a new dress and soaking this one in the laundry tub for a month.”
“You deserve a new dress.”
While he shucked his pants and shirt, he watched as she undid her chemise and pulled her pantaloons down. They stood in front of each other, naked, staring at one another in the firelight.
He’d never had a woman who was so sexually innocent, yet daring and brave. She’d wrapped her hands around his heart, and even now, he could feel it slowly dying with the thought of never seeing her again. He pushed the thought out of his mind, focusing on the here and now and the way she looked tonight.
“I guess the last time we were in such a hurry we didn’t slow down long enough to really see each other,” he said. “God, you’re so beautiful, Annabelle.”
“You’re not too bad looking yourself.”
Annabelle deserved so much more than to be taken on the hard cold ground, but it was the best he had to offer. Even though he longed to be with her in a luxurious bed, right now, he wanted her so badly it wouldn’t matter if he had to lay on a bed of nails with her weight pressing down on top of him.
She shivered, and he pulled her into his arms. He touched her with his hands, rubbing her skin, trying to warm her both inside and out.
“Sugar, I need you so badly,” he said, next to her ear.
“I can feel just how much you want me,” she said, her voice husky. “Quit talking and get on with it.”
He chuckled. God, this was what he loved about this woman. She was practical as the day was long and told him in no uncertain terms what she craved. And right now, she fancied him as much as he needed her and that left him starving for her.
He lowered his mouth to hers, accepting her unspoken acknowledgment of the passion that wrapped around them. She moaned and the sound charged through him like a matador in a bullfight.
Lord, he wanted to go slow. To savor each touch, each caress, the feel of her soft satiny skin, but he knew he wouldn’t last long. He traced circles around her nipples with his fingertips, feeling them harden beneath his touch. He slid his hand down along her ribs, past her waist, where he pulled her leg over his hip, letting his erection slide along her center.
Though the temptation was strong to plunge into her womanly silkiness, he waited. Her pleasure was more important than his. He wanted her to enjoy this as much as him.
Breaking off their kiss, he laid her down on their bedroll and placed his lips on the puckered tip of her nipple, tenderly sucking the tiny bud. She gasped and arched her back, pushing her chest toward his mouth. He pulled her tight against him, loving the way her pressed flesh felt against his naked skin. All her womanly softness tight against his male hardness.
While his mouth continued lavishing attention to her breast, his hand crept down toward her center. Her skin was so silky smooth, creamy to his touch, and he wanted more. Annabelle filled his empty spaces. She stirred him and soothed him and made him want to be a better man. He wanted to be her man. But that was impossible.
His fingers fondled the springy curls that covered her velvety folds, and she jerked from the intimate brush. His heart pounded in rhythm with this breathing as he stroked her until she was moaning. Stroked her until she was wet with desire for him. Stroked her until she was crying out his name.
“Beau.”
Desire raced through his veins at the sound of her voice. He covered her lips once again, raking the inside of her mouth with his tongue, teasing, and dancing, retreating and withdrawing. From the beginning, this woman had tantalized his senses mercilessly, goaded him, vexed him at every turn, and now writhed beneath his touch.
No woman had ever responded so completely, so lovingly.
Reaching down between his legs, she found his hard shaft. As she gripped him in her soft sweet hand, he thought he was going to die. For a moment, he feared he would not be able to control the fierce need that overwhelmed him, causing his blood to race through his veins like a stampede out of control. The touch of her fingers brought him right to the edge.
He couldn’t wait another minute to be inside her, to feel her womanly sheath surround him. He moved his body over hers until his manhood lay between the vertex of her thighs.
With a sense of rightness and homecoming, he sank into her body. He gazed into her eyes, dilated with passion, her breathing heavy. Intense tenderness overcame him, and he covered her mouth with his in a kiss that sizzled with the fervor of their lovemaking.
Why did Annabelle affect him like no other woman? Why, with her, did he think of hearth and home and family and a life that was futile for a man like him? Why, with Annabelle, did he feel like his life had been empty until the moment they’d collided in the bank changing his course forever?
That collision was the catalyst that had set his life into a tailspin of emotion and feelings he had no control over.
She matched his thrusts, and he felt the need to devour her, consume her until they were one. No other woman had ever affected him like Annabelle. Just her mere touch had him reeling with the need to make her his own. To experience over and over this paradise in a world of pain. A world where no matter what he did, either good or bad, no one seemed to understand him, except this woman.
She raked her fingers down his back, sending shivers stampeding through him. Knowing his climax was rushing toward him, he held onto her tightly, trying to absorb her into his skin, knowing she’d branded her soul onto his own.
Annabelle released his lips, a cry escaping her throat like he’d never heard before as her body spasmed with release. The sound of her calling out his name sent his own release ripping through him, shattering him. He shuddered, clinging to her as the world lurched and he knew he’d never be the same.
As the heavens slowly stopped spinning and his breathing began to quiet, he lay on top of her, wishing he could give her everything she wanted but knowing he could not marry her or be the man she needed. He would have to let her go.
Her arms were wrapped around him, holding him like she’d never let him go, and he longed with a fierceness he’d never known before that it was true. He rolled them to their side and pulled the blankets of the bedroll up tight against them. They watched the fire die down, letting their bodies cool, while once again rational thought overcame him.
He wasn’t good enough for Annabelle, but he wanted to be. He was a man with a family everyone believed were nothing but outlaws, while she came from the other side of the law. A family of sisters who brought men to justice for the bounty on their head. And they would hang him if they believed he’d harmed their sister.
They would do everything they could to protect Annabelle from a man like himself. While the sex was fantastic, there was no room in their lives for anything permanent. Once they reached Fort Worth, they would have a parting of the way. A parting that would come with the cost of his heart.
T
he next day they rode into the town of Fort Worth, and Annabelle felt like her heart would explode from the pain. As they passed the sheriff’s office, she wanted to call out to Beau to stop, but the words were stuck in her throat.
The night before he’d asked her to wait until after he’d had a bath, one last meal with her, and a good night’s rest. She’d reluctantly agreed, hoping he didn’t make her look like a fool.