Gunslinger (6 page)

“My mother. She died when I was nine.”

“Are you originally from this area? What is your real—”

“I’ve said all I’m going to,” Desperado rasped, putting an end to her questions but not to her curiosity. There was so much more she wanted to know.

“If you’re finished with me, I promised the boys I’d help with the branding. With any luck, the branding will be completed today.”

For some reason Chloe couldn’t turn her gaze away from his lips. She remember his kiss and how hard his lips had felt and how they had softened as he deepened the kiss. She licked her own lips, as if his taste still lingered. She had no idea she was staring until she heard Desperado chuckle.

“See anything you like, honey?” His sexy whisper sent chills racing down her spine. No man had ever caused that kind of reaction in her before. Flushing, she looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring at him.

His question still hung in the air between them, heavy and potent. She chose to ignore it. “I’m sorry, I just thought of something I have to do. Thanks, you’ve answered all my questions.” She whirled on her heel and strode away, all too aware of Desperado’s dark gaze following her.

Later that day she happened to walk by the branding pen and saw Desperado wielding the branding iron with amazing dexterity. June had burst upon the land, bringing sunshine and hot weather with it. Due to the heat, she supposed, Desperado had stripped to the waist. His skin was shiny with sweat, and Chloe stopped in her tracks, struck dumb by the sight of smooth dark skin stretched taut over sleek muscles. He was so blatantly male she had to turn her eyes away.

“That’s the last of them, Miss Chloe,” Cory called as the last cow in the pen bawled out his displeasure.

“Good work,” Chloe returned, carefully averting her eyes from Desperado’s glistening bare flesh. “I’m going to town now to buy extra provisions for the drive. Check your gear with Mr. Jones. If you’re lacking anything, you can purchase whatever you need in town tomorrow.”

“Does that mean we’ll be leaving soon?” Rowdy asked excitedly. “Hot damn, I can hardly wait!”

“About a week into the drive you’ll be wishing you were back here tucked safely in your bunk,” Desperado said dryly. “It’s damn hard work.”

“Thank you for your words of encouragement,” Chloe said with asperity. “We’ll be heading out day after tomorrow,” she continued. “There’s not much left to be done, so the lot of you may as well go into town tonight. It will be your last opportunity to have fun for a long time. And you’ll have all day tomorrow to nurse your hangovers. But I’ll expect every one of you to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come sunup day after tomorrow.”

“You can depend on us,” red-headed Rusty said as he gave a whoop and a holler and hightailed it to the bunkhouse to get ready for a night of carousing. The others followed, leaving Desperado and Chloe alone.

“Was that wise?” Desperado asked. “Shouldn’t you have kept a couple of boys behind to guard the herd?”

“That’s what I’m paying you for,” Chloe said, trying not to sound smug.

Desperado sent her a disgruntled look. “What if I wanted to go to town and raise hell with the boys? Or seek…uh…female companionship. As you say, it will be a long time before we see a town again.”

“Men!” Chloe spat disgustedly. “Is gratification all you males think about?”

Desperado grinned. “Pretty much.”

That damned dimple was going to be her undoing, Chloe thought as she tried to think of a fitting reply. “Sorry, Mr. Jones, you’re going to have to disappoint the soiled doves in Trouble Creek this time. As long as you’re on my payroll you’ll follow orders. You’re needed tonight to guard the herd. Your gun is important to me. If trouble looks for us tonight, I’m sure you can handle it.”

“You’re expecting a helluva lot from me, lady,” Desperado grumbled.

“That’s why I’m paying you double what I’m paying the drovers.”

Desperado regarded her thoughtfully. “Are you sure you’re not envious of those soiled doves you accused me of wanting to visit in town? Does the thought of me romping in bed with one or more of them turn you green with jealousy?”

Chloe felt hot color rising from her neck to the roots of her hair. How dare Desperado Jones accuse her of being jealous? He could sport with every whore in Trouble Creek, for all she cared.

Isn’t that lying just a little?
a tiny voice in her head whispered.
Wasn’t there an ulterior motive behind your decision to keep Desperado on the ranch tonight?
No! she silently admonished herself. She had no reason to be jealous of a sidewinder like Desperado Jones. So what if his kisses drove her to distraction and made her wonder what it would be like to be loved by a man who cared for her feelings? She didn’t actually
know
Desperado would be a caring, unselfish lover, but she had plenty of reason to believe he would be skilled. Unlike crude, brutish Tate Talbot, who took what he wanted no matter who he had to hurt to get it.

“You’re conceited as well as arrogant, Mr. Jones,” Chloe snapped. “I’ll let the soiled doves fight over you, and may the best woman win. But not tonight. Tonight you’ll be protecting my herd.”

“Talk about arrogant,” Desperado mumbled to himself as he watched Chloe stride away. He remembered now why he’d steered clear of working for a female. Women were bossy, impossibly demanding, and foolishly irresponsible. Chloe had an abundance of all three of those shortcomings.

Not to mention the fact that she was the daughter of the woman who had ruined his life. Norie and Chloe had taken his ranch and made a shambles of it after his father’s death. But Desperado knew that even had he stepped forward and identified himself at his father’s funeral, the terms of Ted Ralston’s will wouldn’t have changed. Desperado had heard in town that his father had left all his worldly goods to Norie. Identifying himself would have done nothing but cause a scandal.

Chloe watched Desperado ride out after supper to relieve Cory and Rowdy so they could go into town. For some inexplicable reason she felt restless tonight. Anticipation, she supposed. That and the fact that she’d let all the cowboys go for the night. She hated to admit it, but Desperado had been right. She shouldn’t have acted without thinking it over. Too late now, she thought as she washed, dried and put away the supper dishes.

Eating supper by herself was the worst part of being alone, Chloe decided as she mounted the stairs to her bedroom. She smiled ruefully. There
was
one other thing lonelier than eating alone and that was sleeping alone, but
that
had never occurred to her until Desperado Jones came along.

She entered her room and lit a lamp. She stared at the long shadows dancing on the walls and felt a sudden chill. She quickly crossed to the window and slammed it shut, but her action did little to dispel the prickles that ran down her spine.

“Foolish girl,” she said aloud as she removed her gunbelt, draped it over the bedpost and sat down to remove her boots.

Alerted by a noise, she whipped her head around in the direction of the sound. When Tate Talbot stepped from the deep shadows in the far corner of the room, Chloe glanced at her gunbelt hanging from the bedpost.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Tate warned as he snatched the gunbelt away and tossed it into the corner.

“What do you want? How did you get in?”

“Through the window,” Tate said smugly.

“I could shoot you for breaking and entering and no one would fault me.”

“Not without a gun, you can’t. I’ve come to give you one last chance to sell your land to Pa before something real bad happens to you and your drovers.”

“Your father will never get my land,” Chloe bit out. “There is other land available. Why does he want mine?”

“Pa’s got his reasons. He says to tell you he’ll pay the back taxes and give you five hundred dollars free and clear for the deed to the land. He doesn’t have to give you anything, you understand. He could have it for the taxes alone, but I talked him into offering you something because I still have feelings for you.” He stepped closer. “I still want you, Chloe. You were set to marry me once.”

“That was before you showed your true colors,”

Chloe hissed. “I wouldn’t have you now on a silver platter.”

“That’s too bad,” Tate said with mock regret. “It would make things so much easier for everyone. If you married me, the land would be mine and you wouldn’t have to undertake a trail drive that could prove disastrous to everyone involved.”

“Are you threatening me?” Chloe charged.

Tate shrugged. “Take it any way you want.” He stared at her; his gaze traveled up her long legs, then settled disconcertingly on her breasts. “It’s not too late, you know. We can take up where we left off. You’re the best I ever had, you know.”

“Go to hell!” Chloe shouted, shaking with anger. She’d had just about all she could take from the rapacious bastard.

“Someone’s coming,” Chloe said, hoping to distract Tate long enough for her to dive under the bed for the shotgun she kept there for emergencies. It worked. When Tate glanced toward the door, Chloe dove to the floor, reached beneath the bed ruffle and retrieved the shotgun. She swung it up at Tate before he could reach for his own weapon.

“What the hell?” Tate said, his mouth hanging open in surprise. “Where did that come from? Is it loaded?”

“You’re going to find out if you’re not out of here by the time I count to three.”

“You’re just ornery enough to do it,” Tate complained as he stared down the gun barrel.

“One.”

“I wasn’t gonna hurt you.”

Two.

“Shit!” He headed toward the door.

“The way you came in,” Chloe ordered.

He scrambled toward the window, threw it open and stepped over the ledge onto the spindly limb of a young oak tree growing outside her window.

“You ain’t no woman, you’re a damn she-wolf,” Tate called as he clung to the branch. “Me and Pa know how to treat fractious women. You’re gonna be sorry, Chloe Sommers.”

Chloe heard a loud crack and suddenly Tate disappeared from sight. She ran to the window in time to hear a loud thump as Tate hit the ground, followed by a string of curses.

“I’m already sorry I didn’t shoot you,” she called down to him. “Now get off my property before Mr. Jones finds you. He won’t be as lenient with you as I am.”

Tate hobbled off, holding his rump and shaking his fist at her. Chloe didn’t know she was trembling until she set the shotgun down and felt her legs quaking beneath her. Damn that Tate Talbot, she thought. Would she never be free of him? For two years he’d been a thorn in her side, ever since he’d given her cause to hate him.

Chloe slammed and locked the window and pulled down the shade. She knew all the downstairs doors and windows were locked but she still couldn’t relax enough to undress and go to bed. She’d feel a whole lot safer if Desperado were here. That thought spawned another. She couldn’t sleep anyway, so why not ride out and lend a hand with the cows?

Chloe strapped her gunbelt around her slim hips, pulled on her boots and spared a moment to run a brush through her long blonde hair. Leaving her hat behind, she made her way downstairs and headed out the back door. She smelled the smoke the moment she stepped out on the porch. Then she saw the fire. It was licking at the corner of the house. As she ran for a bucket she realized she couldn’t fight this alone. The fire hadn’t done much damage yet and could be easily controlled with another pair of hands helping her.

Chloe hesitated but a moment before she drew her gun and fired into the air.

Desperado heard the shot, realized it was coming from the house and dug his heels into the mustang’s sides. The shot had been too far off to spook the herd, and he hoped nothing would disturb them while he investigated. He knew he shouldn’t feel that way—he’d been paid by Talbot to prevent the trail drive—but somewhere along the line he’d begun to take his job as Chloe’s protector seriously.

Desperado kneed his mount around the corner of the house, and a great weight seemed to lift from him when he spied Chloe, her trim figure outlined in the moonlight, furiously pumping water from the well into a bucket.

Then he saw the flames licking at the corner of the house.

Chapter Five

The fire was quickly extinguished. Chloe had discovered it too quickly for it to do serious damage. The paint was peeled from one corner of the house and the wood was scorched, but apparently the fire had been hastily set, without much thought or planning.

“Who did this?” Desperado asked as he squatted down to inspect the charred wood.

“Tate Talbot,” Chloe replied.

He rose slowly. “Did you see him? How did you discover the fire so quickly? I shudder to think what might have happened if you were asleep. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Tate was in my bedroom tonight,” Chloe mumbled.

Desperado went still, then he gripped her arms so hard he knew he must be bruising her. “What did you say?”

“Mr. Jones, you’re hurting me.”

“Sorry,” he muttered, releasing her so suddenly she stumbled backward. “Would you care to explain what Talbot was doing in your bedroom?”

“He wasn’t there at my invitation,” Chloe declared, rubbing her arms where Desperado’s grip had left red marks on her skin. “He climbed the tree beside my window and let himself in. He was waiting for me when I went up to bed.”

“What happened?” His voice was taut with anger, though he had no idea why. It shouldn’t matter to him whom Chloe chose to entertain in her bedroom.

“He came to warn me not to undertake the trail drive. He carried a message from his father that I took exception to.”

Desperado’s gaze went to her gunbelt and he recalled the shot that had summoned him. “Did you shoot him?”

Chloe wrinkled her nose. “I should have. He snatched away my gunbelt and put it where I couldn’t reach it, but fortunately I keep a shotgun under the bed. I made him leave the same way he came.” She grinned. “Evidently the tree limb wasn’t sturdy enough to hold his weight, for he fell most of the way to the ground. Serves the arrogant jackass right. He thought I would—” She paused, as if suddenly aware of what she was about to reveal. “Never mind, it’s not important.”

Desperado thought different but didn’t press the issue. “So Talbot started the fire because he was angry with you. How did you discover it so fast?”

“After the fight with Tate I couldn’t sleep and decided to ride out and lend a hand with the herd. I smelled the smoke the second my feet hit the back steps. I fired a shot into the air, hoping you’d hear it. I didn’t know if I could fight it on my own.”

“You did right,” Desperado said. “Fortunately, the fire did little damage. Will you be all right now? I should get back to the herd. There’s lightning off in the distance; it wouldn’t take much to spook five hundred head of prime beef on the hoof.”

“I’ll be fine,” Chloe assured him. “Once again I’m in your debt.”

“I’m only doing my job,” Desperado rasped.

“Good night, Mr. Jones. I’ll send Cory and Rowdy out to relieve you in the morning.”

Desperado watched her walk into the house, wondering when he had begun to take his responsibility to Chloe and the Ralston spread seriously. He wasn’t supposed to give a damn about Chloe, or whether or not she kept the ranch. He had every right to resent the curvy beauty for taking what should have been his. But suddenly the money Talbot had offered him didn’t look as attractive as it had before he’d come to know Miss Chloe Sommers.

Desperado shook his head. A gunfighter couldn’t afford to have a conscience. Hiring his gun out was a dangerous profession, and he didn’t belong in it if he couldn’t keep his mind on business and his hands off of Chloe’s sweet little body.

Satisfied that his mind was once more on track, Desperado returned to the herd. It occurred to him that tonight would be a perfect time to stampede the herd. He was all alone, the cows were edgy, and it would take little effort to spook them. It would be days before they could be rounded up again. A stampede might be exactly the kind of shock Chloe needed to persuade her to give up this foolish endeavor. He had half convinced himself to follow through with his plan when he heard a rider approaching.

Desperado’s hand hovered over his gun. He relaxed when he recognized Chloe’s blonde head glowing in the moonlight as she rode toward him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as she drew rein next to him.

“Nothing. I couldn’t sleep so I decided to give you a hand with the herd. They seem a mite edgy.”

“There’s a storm brewing,” Desperado said. He wondered if fate had had a hand in sending Chloe out here. It sure as hell put an end to any plan he might have concocted for stampeding the herd. It shocked him to realize he was more relieved than upset. What in the hell kind of gunslinger was he if he couldn’t stomach the thought of bringing Chloe to financial ruin?

The trail drive began on a somber note. Sheets of rain soaked the ground as jagged lightning cut a brilliant swath across angry gray skies. The drovers had rolled out of bed at four that morning, noted the threatening weather and grumbled among themselves about whether or not it was an ominous sign. The speculation continued throughout breakfast.

Chloe was already waiting when they appeared at the gathering site. The chuck wagon, with Randy on the driver’s bench, was ready to roll. The supply wagon had lined up behind it, with Cory handling the reins. Everyone was decked out in slickers and hats with brims turned down to deflect the rain. The cows were edgy and sluggish this morning, but somehow the drovers got them moving.

Since Desperado hadn’t been hired on as a drover, he rode ahead, his thoughts drifting aimlessly. He wondered when and where Talbot would strike next and how he would handle it. He was getting paid to look the other way when “accidents” occurred, and he wondered how long he could sit back and watch danger stalk Chloe. Calvin Talbot’s money guaranteed his compliance, but he was beginning to think he’d made a mistake.

Rain plagued them all day, yet they moved the herd about ten miles before Chloe called a stop for the night. The herd spread out on a level plain, seemingly content to munch sweet grass. Chloe had worked out a night schedule that allowed three men at a time to stay with the herd in two-hour shifts.

The rain stopped just as the chuck wagon pulled up. Randy built a cook fire and started the evening meal of stew and biscuits he’d planned for the first night, and before long the savory odor of cooked meat and vegetables permeated the air. The drovers had lunched in the saddle on jerky and hardtack they carried in their saddlebags and they were looking forward to a hot meal and dry clothing.

Desperado studied Chloe from beneath his hat brim while he ate. She looked bedraggled and tired, and this was just the first day of many. A month of this grueling pace was going to be too much for her, he reflected, noting her drooping eyelids. It seemed to take all of her effort to get the fork from her plate to her mouth. Before he realized what he was doing, he set down his own plate and walked over to join her.

“Why don’t you turn in? I’ll see to everything tonight.”

Chloe’s head shot up. “I’m not tired.”

“The hell you aren’t. Look around you. You aren’t the only one nearly asleep. This is new to the drovers, too. But they’ll harden. After a few days they’ll be pros.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Chloe observed.

“Spread out your bedroll under the supply wagon. If it rains again you’ll be dry. But I’d get out of those wet clothes if I were you.”

Chloe nodded, only too glad to comply.

Desperado watched Chloe climb into the supply wagon to change her clothing and had to restrain himself to keep from following. When she came out and ambled off toward a wooded hillside, he shot to his feet and followed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Chloe challenged.

“I’m only doing what you paid me to do,” Desperado returned. “Do you think Talbot gave up on you? You can bet your sweet little butt his men are out there somewhere just waiting to catch you alone, or cause mischief.”

“I need privacy,” Chloe persisted.

He gave her a cocky grin. “I won’t look.”

Expelling an angry puff of air, Chloe turned on her heel and proceeded into the woods. “You can stop right there,” Chloe ordered as she disappeared behind a wall of thick shrubbery. “I still don’t think this is necessary. You’re just trying to annoy me.”

Desperado plucked a blade of grass and stuck it between his teeth as he lounged against a tree and waited for Chloe to finish her business. “If I wanted to annoy you, I’d find a more pleasurable way to do it.”

He heard the rustle of cloth and closed his eyes, groaning when he imagined Chloe skinning her Levi’s over her hips and down her long sleek legs. Damn! What was wrong with him? He couldn’t recall ever getting an erection just thinking about a woman’s legs.

Just then Chloe stepped from behind the shrubbery, buckling her gunbelt over her slim hips. She gave him a disgruntled look and brushed past him. Unfortunately, she didn’t look where she was going and tripped, landing right into Desperado’s arms. He spit out the blade of grass and grinned at her.

“Unhand me,” she ordered brusquely. “Why must you always touch me?” She was pressed against his hard body, so close she could feel his hot breath fan her cheek.

“You feel good,” Desperado rasped against her ear. “You’re not as hard-bitten as you pretend. You’re soft in all the right places, honey. What man wouldn’t want to touch you?”

Chloe knew he was speaking but she was distracted by his full lips and didn’t hear a word. They looked so soft and inviting she wanted to touch them with her fingertip.

“Go ahead, touch them,” Desperado whispered in that sexy-as-sin voice. Chloe sucked in a startled breath. Could he read her mind? “Go ahead,” he taunted. “I won’t bite you.”

She laced her fingers together to keep them from creeping up to his lips. “Why would I want to touch you?”

He chuckled, a surprisingly lighthearted sound for a notorious desperado. “The same reason I want to touch you. Admit it. I attract you. You’re curious about me. You’re wondering if I’m as good in the sack as your other lovers.”

Now he really was ticking her off. Had he heard some gossip in town about her? “You’re being absurd,” Chloe charged, pushing against his arms.

Chloe blanched when Desperado refused to release her. Being alone with the handsome gunslinger was becoming too dangerous for her peace of mind. She felt overwhelmed by him. Unable to form a coherent thought. Submerged in a thick fog of sensuality. The feeling was so new and overpowering it frightened her. It didn’t take a prophet to know he wanted her sexually. Every look held sensual promise. And if she didn’t control her response, she feared she’d succumb to the pure animal magnetism of Desperado Jones.

“You want to kiss me, Chloe,” Desperado whispered. “Go ahead, I won’t stop you.”

“Conceited ass,” Chloe hissed. “Why, I wouldn’t kiss you if you were the last—” He swallowed the rest of her sentence when his mouth closed forcibly over hers. She beat against his chest, but it was like batting her fists against a solid brick wall. He didn’t even feel it.

His lips were like velvet, Chloe thought distractedly as he deepened the kiss. When he prodded her lips apart with his tongue, she was so caught up in the taste and scent of him that she opened to him, allowing his tongue to plunder at will. She had no idea how it happened, but suddenly her arms were around his neck, holding onto him as if he were the only stable thing in her life. She didn’t come to her senses until he started lowering her to the ground.

“No! I don’t want this!” she gasped, shoving him away. “I’m your employer. We can’t do this.”

“We can if we want to.”

“You’re a gunslinger and a—”

Desperado stiffened. “A half-breed. Say it.”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” Chloe protested. “We should get back to the campsite. The others will begin to wonder where we disappeared to.”

“They’re all sleeping like babies right now. Except for the drovers on first watch. But you’re right. I wouldn’t want to sully your ‘unblemished’ reputation. Go to bed, Miss Sommers.”

Chloe stared at him. What did he mean by that remark? Did he know about Tate? Did he think she took lovers to her bed? She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter what he thought. She wasn’t paying him to think. She was paying him to see that the herd arrived in Dodge City safely.

She whirled away from him. “Good night, Mr. Jones. Look after my herd. I can take care of myself.”

After that first rainy day the weather gave way to warm days and plenty of sunshine. They lost two cows in a swollen creek a week into the drive. Rusty almost lost his own life trying to rescue them. They lost a day after the crossing when Chloe called a halt to rest the herd and to give the drovers time to recuperate from their difficult day.

Desperado managed to steer clear of Chloe those first hectic days. He made a habit of riding ahead to scout the area and to keep an eye out for rustlers. He knew the Talbots would strike soon and supposed they would contact him first.

They reached the Canadian River a week later and found it overflowing its banks. Spring rains had made for lush grazing but played havoc with streams and rivers. Desperado tried to find a less dangerous crossing, but no matter how far he followed the bank, the river still remained dangerously turbulent.

“We’ll have to cross here,” Chloe decided when Desperado reported his findings. “I was told that this is the best place to cross, that under normal conditions the river is shallow enough to cross without getting our stirrups wet. Obviously this has been an unusual spring. We’ll camp here tonight and herd them across first thing tomorrow morning.”

Desperado slept fitfully that night. River crossings were dangerous and this one promised to be a killer. He wished he had tried harder to stop Chloe from undertaking so dangerous a trek, but perhaps the Talbots would make their move soon and end the drive once and for all.

That night someone tried to stampede the herd, but the drovers on duty managed to stop it before it really started. The next morning the drovers started the cattle moving across the swollen river. The current was swift, but the first one hundred made it across safely. The water reached the drovers’ thighs before the ground started to rise again. Chloe went across with the next hundred, and Desperado didn’t realize he was holding his breath while she crossed until he felt his head spin from lack of air. When she reached the opposite bank safely, he let out his breath in a great whoosh and took in another.