Sarah sighed, every muscle in her body groaning in delight from the heat of the water. She’d been in her room—a much larger and more richly appointed one than the night before—barely that half hour when there’d come a knock on her door.
Joshua stood guard as two burly men brought the tub in and set it down. Then came a parade of people, carting heavy buckets of steaming water which they’d poured into the tub. The last two buckets they’d set beside it, with a ladle.
“If you need anything, I’ll be across the hall with the door open,” Joshua had said just before leaving her to her bath.
If I need anything
? Oh, she needed something, though she wasn’t sure just what. She needed a cure for the emotions swirling through her. She needed a release for the tension in her body simply being near Caleb and Joshua caused.
Simply thinking about them made her innards quiver and her feminine flesh
ache
. She never would have guessed she could ache. Colleen had mentioned body parts, and where they went, and the fact that babies came of what she called the ‘marriage act’. She hadn’t said one word about aching, about a belly that could tremble and breasts that could yearn.
Daring, shocked by her own boldness, Sarah reached down, stroked herself, let her fingers trace back and forth over the over hot, swollen flesh between her legs.
Oh!
A delicious shiver pebbled her skin. Her hips tilted up, seeking more. She repeated the back and forth motions, her pleasure increasing when a tiny nubbin seemed to reach up from inside a hidden fold to touch her fingers.
Sarah shivered, feeling a deep tingling in her belly and a tiny gush of moisture from within.
Somehow, she knew there had to be more—more pleasure, more sensations. Shame forgotten, she moved her hand some more, catching that small, hungry bud of flesh, rubbing it lightly. When her hips surged again, she obeyed an unfamiliar urge and pressed a finger against the opening just below that piece of flesh until her finger sank inside her canal.
This must be what it will be like
. Rubbing, delving, Sarah closed her eyes, tried to imagine what should have happened on her wedding night. But it wasn’t the face of Tyrone Maddox her imagination conjured. As urgency filled her, as excitement clutched her belly and deeper inside in what she instinctively recognized as her womb, it wasn’t her husband she imagined touching her, pleasuring her.
No, images burst like fireworks behind her eyes, images of a starry night, the scent of a fire, and a hard male body on either side of her, of two men kissing her, touching her, making her shiver. Making her burn.
Sarah took control of the image, made it her own, made it whole as she allowed herself to pretend Caleb and Joshua Benedict touched her, excited her,
loved
her.
“Oh, God!” Something burst inside her, something hot and rapturous beyond her control. The amazing sensations flooded her, and she gave it mastery over body, letting it consume her completely.
As the shivers ebbed, as the excitement palled, a great desolate emptiness yawned open inside her. Her course was set, her future determined. Society dictated what actions she must take, and it didn’t care one whit if those actions suited her or not.
Lying back in the tub, Sarah let her tears fall as she acknowledged the sad truth. Heartache and loneliness littered the road ahead, and there was nothing at all she could do to avoid them.
* * * *
Riding in the stagecoach turned out to be just slightly worse than riding a train.
Guess that will teach me to complain, even to myself
. As rough as the journey was proving to be, Sarah couldn’t protest overmuch. She suspected that extra day between train and coach had been Caleb’s idea. She’d worried that he’d taken her exhaustion on their arrival in St. Louis as sign of weakness, but she’d seen no evidence of that. In fact, it felt as if he regarded her with even more respect than before.
He’d bought her a cushion for the ride, too.
The landscape had begun to change yesterday. By the time they’d reached the inn where they were to spend the night, the terrain seemed more rocky, less flat. In the distance she could see dark shadows rising high into the sky. She’d never seen mountains before and wondered how close she’d get to them.
She’d not slept well at the inn and not because of the rustic conditions, either. The room she’d been given was clean—all she really required. No, sleep had been elusive because every time she closed her eyes, forbidden images came to play in the field of her imagination.
The sun beat down hot and merciless, warming the inside of the coach. The young couple who’d ridden with them from St. Louis had been met by family at the inn last night, a relief to Sarah. She doubted either of them had seen soap and water in some time. On top of the olfactory irritant, the woman had been a chatterbox.
“Sure is quieter in here today,” Caleb said. His dry rejoinder speared through her thoughts, and Sarah snickered.
“Smells better, too,” Joshua said.
Sarah couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I was actually just thinking the same thing myself.”
“You’ll get a chance to cool off in an hour or so when we stop to change horses,” Joshua said. “I’d raise the flap on the window, but the dust would be worse than the heat.”
“I’m surprised one of you isn’t riding up top,” Sarah said. Yesterday, Joshua and Caleb had taken turns sitting beside the driver.
“Henry’s got a fellow driver up there, one who’s only going as far as the next way-station. Then we’ll trade off again like we did yesterday.” Joshua said.
“Not because we don’t want to spend time with you. Because we prefer it when one of us is on guard.” Caleb explained.
“That’s what I figured.”
Sarah rested her head against the seat and closed her eyes. She only intended to take a moment to try and relax, but the next thing she knew, the coach was coming to a stop.
She blinked her eyes open and realized she’d fallen asleep and slid down until her head rested on Caleb.
“Oh! I’m sorry!” Sarah straightened up quickly. There wasn’t a great deal of room on the seat, but she tried to scrunch herself against the opposite side of the coach. What an overly forward thing to have done!
“I’m not,” Caleb replied. His voice came out low and quiet and strummed the threads of attraction inside her.
“Lucky man,” Joshua said, his voice affecting her the same way his twin’s had.
“I…need some air.” She needed air and maybe a convenient horse trough to soak her head in and cool off. The heat that held her now had little to do with the sun and everything to do with the way the brothers Benedict looked at her.
Sarah wasn’t certain, half an hour later, if she was pleased the two had backed off or not.
Sarah Louise Maddox, you’re slowly but surely taking leave of your senses
. Sarah shook her head and settled back in the seat. Joshua sat across from her while Caleb took the first turn topside.
Despite the dust, Sarah raised the window flap. The scenery had changed again since yesterday. Gone were the flat grasslands she’d been seeing since St. Louis. Now, on either side of her, the land rolled and dipped. Looking out slightly, and ahead, she could see what looked like more mountains rising up in the distance.
“The Ozarks,” Joshua said.
“They seem so big,” Sarah said. “I’ve never really seen mountains before.”
“You’re not seeing them now. Maybe someday you’ll get a chance to see the Appalachians, or the Rockies. Now
those
are mountains.”
“Maybe. But I have to be honest with you. This traveling is wearing me out.” And mostly, Sarah thought, because of where she was going and why.
A gunshot rang out, followed by a sharp ping that made Sarah jump.
“Shit!” Caleb said from atop the coach.
Joshua had Sarah’s arm and was pulling her. “Down, sweetheart. Get down on the floor and stay down. Caleb?”
“Four of them. Armed and on horseback, waiting for us as soon as we crested that last rise.”
A second shot exploded, and to Sarah’s untrained ears it sounded as if it came from another direction.
“Damn, and another one coming from behind!”
Joshua already had his gun out. He reached over her and with one hand pulled the cord so the flap she’d raised came down.
“You need to stay still and quiet, and on the floor. Will you do that for me, sweetheart?”
Terror gripped her, but she nodded. Her hat had come askew, so she yanked it off and clutched it in both hands.
“Go left.”
Caleb’s voice, quieter, didn’t make any sense to Sarah.
“Here now!” This was a strange voice and seemed to be coming from the front of the coach. “We ain’t after killin’ ya if it’s not needed. Just pass us down your cash box, and hand over the woman ya got inside the coach there. You do that and you two fellers can be on your way.”
“Ain’t got no cash box on this wagon,” their driver Henry said, “This is a passenger coach only.”
Joshua eased his way to the left side of the coach. Slowly he lifted the flap, peered out. He nodded once, then looked at Sarah.
“Stay down, stay quiet. I’ll be right back.” With that, he opened the door and practically slithered out.
He’ll be right back?
Oh God, Caleb said there were five of them, and they’re all armed
! Before Sarah could think another thought, someone yelled, and gunfire filled the air.
The coach jerked as if the riders on top had jumped off—which they must have done. She covered her ears, the shots coming fast and furious. A bullet hit the coach, just above her head, and she could have sworn she felt the air move as it passed her. Horses screamed, men swore, and one gave a horrible cry that caused Sarah to convulse in fear. Death had claimed at least one man, and she prayed as she had never prayed before in her life that it had been one of the bandits and not one of her men.
Her men
.
“Go, go!” Then she heard the sound of horses galloping away, chased by a gun fired very close by.
“Oh, damn it. Damn it to God damned hell!” That was Henry’s voice and it sent ice through her veins until she heard other voices.
“Sarah?”
“Sarah!”
They spoke at nearly the same instant, but before she could answer, the door opened and strong arms dragged her out of the coach.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt? Oh, God!” Caleb’s strong arms surrounded her, and Sarah thought it funny that she shook so hard it felt as if he was shaking, too.
“I’m fine. I’m ok. Not hurt. You? Joshua?” her voice didn’t sound all that steady to her own ears. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking. She’d never been shot at before.
“We’re all right. Here, now.” Joshua pried her out of Caleb’s arms to give her his own hug. Then he set her back and kissed her square on the mouth!
“Good girl. You stayed down and saved your life.” He gave her another squeeze on her arms, then let her go. When she stumbled, Caleb steadied her.
“Here, sit a moment on the running board. Henry?”
“Damn glad to have you fellers along,” the driver said as he came toward them from the front of the coach. “Been driving this route three years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. Damn crazy bastards. Oh, beggin’ your pardon, ma’am.”
“Cuss away,” Sarah said. “I just might join you.”
“Well, hell,” Henry said as he reached out to finger the hole in the side of the coach. By Sarah’s estimate, the bullet must have been less than an inch from her body as it sailed through the coach and out the other side. Sarah shivered, the visual evidence of how close she’d come to dying making her heart thud in her chest.
“Henry, you sit with Sarah. Josh and I will take care of the bodies.”
“B...bodies?”
“These two got three of the bastards,” Henry informed her, sounding proud of the fact. “Two of ‘em got away, but three of ‘em got sent straight to hell. Beggin’ your pardon again, ma’am.”
Sarah looked up in time to encounter Caleb’s concerned gaze. “Please stay here. You don’t need to see them, Sarah.”
“All right. Yes. I’ll stay right here.”
She was more than happy to do as they asked. She figured it would take her a little time to be able to get her limbs under her again. In the meantime, Sarah didn’t mind letting the Benedict brothers do whatever they had to do to deal with three dead bandits.
Chapter 6
“She’s hardly said a word since the holdup,” Joshua said tightly.
Caleb eyed his brother, noted the barely leashed anger, and couldn’t fault him for it. They stood in the hallway outside Sarah’s room at the Lyon House Hotel. They’d made it to Springfield,