Authors: Connie Mason
Colt had spent the entire day searching the hills, valleys, and mesas surrounding Karlsburg for the Crowder gang. He was willing to bet they were camped somewhere nearby and were responsible for the cattle rustling at the Krebs ranch—not Indians as everyone assumed. He had been out there, talked to Krebs, and examined the evidence. The arrow he found was a white man’s attempt to copy a technique the Indians had spent centuries perfecting. And he never knew Indians to ride shod horses. He had even discovered a boot print. Too many conflicting signs roused his suspicions, so instead of returning to town he took his search into the hills and eventually ended up gazing down on his own property.
The house, fence, corral, and stock pen looked in worse shape than when he had first set eyes on them weeks ago. A deserted aura had settled over the land and buildings, and if something wasn’t done soon, nothing would be left to salvage. Weeks ago he had acted to prevent just such a catastrophe, and now expected that things would look different when his men arrived.
Suddenly Colt noted a movement near the corral and positioned himself for a better view. The horse he saw tethered to a fence post looked vaguely familiar and he moved in for a closer look, his right hand dangling loosely above the holstered gun riding comfortably on his hip. He relaxed somewhat when he recognized the horse as belonging to Sam. But that knowledge served only to release a string of foul oaths tumbling from Colt’s lips and bring a ferocious scowl to his face.
What in tarnation was Sam doing out here alone after he forbade her to return? Didn’t she realize the dangerous situation that existed since the Crowders had returned? Her father hadn’t done her any favors by allowing her to grow up as wild and untamed as a Texas tornado, Colt reflected. Didn’t she realize she was a woman whose extraordinary beauty made her more vulnerable than most? Her undisciplined ways had already gotten her into a heap of trouble, but the little firebrand wouldn’t listen. He had a mighty urge to turn her over his knee and blister her backside. But he knew exactly where that would lead.
Reining in beside Sam’s mount, Colt tethered Thunder nearby and moved noiselessly toward the house. He entered through the front door, but Sam was nowhere in sight, evidently too engrossed with what she was doing to hear his approach. A noise from the back of the house brought a smile to Colt’s lips, and he aimed his steps toward the bedroom.
Sam had just finished packing the clothing she had left behind and was tucking into an old carpetbag a few family keepsakes when a shadow loomed above her. With a speed born of panic she reached for the revolver strapped to her waist, the same gun she’d worn when she held up the stagecoach. Colt had put it in a drawer and she had just found it, feeling more at ease with it buckled around her slim hips.
“Don’t even think it, darlin’,” Colt warned.
“Hellfire and damnation, you scared the living daylight out of me!” Sam scolded, whirling to face the man who had turned her life upside down. “What are you doing here? Have you been following me?”
“Christ! I was about to ask you the same question, you little hellion. What are you doin’ here by yourself? Must you be so damn contrary?”
“You told me I couldn’t live out here, but you never said I couldn’t return for my belongings!” Sam defied.
“I would have brought you here myself if you had said somethin’.”
“I haven’t seen you since—” she flushed with warm remembrance, “well … since the Crowders returned to town,” she finished lamely.
“You mean that day we made love?” A lazy grin touched his lips.
“If you want to call it that,” Sam returned disdainfully. “Personally I think what we did had little to do with love. We wanted each other and were honest enough to admit it and take what we wanted.” Her cynicism was as sharp as a cactus spine. “Besides,” she added coolly, “it would have happened with me sooner or later anyway. You were in the right place when … the urge struck me to find out what loving was all about. I doubt you’ll be the last.”
Colt ground his teeth and glared at Sam. Had she used him? Had she known what would happen when she came to his room? Had she
wanted
it to happen? Perhaps he was right in the first place when he accused her of buying her way to freedom with her body. “Well, darlin’, ‘pears like we’re two of a kind. Shall we strike a deal? You’re an enticin’ little piece, and one taste wasn’t near enough to satisfy my cravin’.”
Was he testing her? “You lowdown, no-good sidewinder!” Sam spat. “You’ve no more scruples than a rattlesnake. What makes you think I’d …”
Colt’s brows arched and he regarded her defiant expression for a long silent moment. “If I created an itch in you, darlin’, I’m the one who’s goin’ to scratch it.”
Sam flinched. Damnation, when was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? “You’d be the last man I’d let touch me.”
Impulsively Colt clutched her arm, yanking her to him until their bodies were plastered together tighter than wallpaper on a wall.
“Christ, Sam, you’d try the patience of a saint.” This slip of a girl had the uncanny knack of turning his guts inside out. She had him acting like a jealous husband. He had taken his pleasure from dozens of women and knew nothing of jealousy—until now. The mere thought of another man touching Sam drove him to do and say things he surely would regret later.
Sam was never more aware of Colt as a man. He was so close, so virile, so damn masculine it shattered her self-control. She was positive no other man would never affect her in such a manner, but she dang sure wasn’t about to let him know that. Then his words about striking a deal came back to haunt her. “What…what kind of a deal?”
“What!”
“You said something about a deal.”
Colt’s original purpose had been to tell Sam he no longer intended to take her to jail. Never had meant to, actually. But she had angered him so with her open defiance and taunts about taking other men to her bed that he changed his mind. It was obvious he was never going to rest until he satisfied his craving for the little wildcat. Once he appeased this maddening need, he’d be shed of her for good. Colt knew only one way to prove that Sam was merely a woman like all the others who had come and gone from his arms in moments of passion. But, knowing Sam, she was likely to balk unless he continued to maintain control over her life.
“You want your freedom, don’t you?”
Wide violet eyes searched Colt’s face, wary yet wildly eager. “You know dang well I do.”
“Okay, darlin’, it’s yours.”
“Just… just like that?” Openly skeptical, Sam waited for his answer with bated breath.
“Well … not ‘zacdy,” Colt hedged, smiling wolfishly. “I reckon I did mention a deal.”
“Go on.”
“I want to continue makin’ love to you for as long as I’m around.”
“You want me to be your whore?”
Colt frowned, not exactly pleased with her choice of words. “I want to be your lover. I want you to be available when I … need you.”
“Need me?”
“Christ, Sam, you’re not witless. No commitments are necessary for a man and woman to enjoy each other. Bindin’ promises only cause resentment. You know what kind of man I am. I live for the moment, knowin’ I might not be around tomorrow. I want you, dammit! For as long as I’m in Karlsburg. When I leave, you’ll be a free woman.”
For some obscure reason Colt was not yet ready to let go of the delightful pleasure her body brought him, totally denying he would ever be ready.
“So I’m to earn my freedom,” Sam snarled bitingly.
“However you want to phrase it.” Veiled, tawny eyes twinkled at her from the shadows of the broad-brimmed felt hat he wore. “You can’t deny we had a wild, reckless sort of passion that first time. Why not explore it more fully?”
The thought was so delicious Colt savored it a moment. He readily admitted Sam had a delightful body that could drive him to the peak of passion, but he damned well didn’t intend it to go beyond sensual pleasure.
A ferocious scowl drew Sam’s brows together. His outrageous suggestion jolted her with fury as well as with an emotion she’d rather not put a name to. She reacted in a flash of wild and brilliant rage.
“You ornery polecat! Snake! Toad! You despicable—”
“We’re definitely goin’ to have to do somethin’ about your language, darlin’,” Colt threatened, his lips twitching suspiciously.
Then he proceeded to shut her up in the only way available to him. Forcefully his mouth seized hers. It was hard and warm and demanding. His questing tongue tugged her lips apart to trace the trembling curves before plunging inside and savoring the sweet moistness within. Sam had every intention of biting down to stop his sensual invasion, but her body turned traitor. Not only her lips but her entire body reacted and responded to his kisses, his closeness, the feel of his hard, lean body pressing against her own soft curves. Though she tried, she could not deny the almost unnatural physical desire she had for him. His kisses left her grappling with the intensity of her conflicting emotions. This ruggedly handsome and wickedly dangerous man was a threat to her very existence.
Reluctantly Colt lifted his head, tawny eyes two smoldering firebrands speaking eloquently of his desire. His hands skimmed lightly over the contours of her body, finding the twin mounds that filled out her trousers so delightfully. Sam felt the strong surge of his desire prodding her thighs, and her pulse quickened in unwelcome response.
Damn his ornery hide, she silently fumed. He knew exactly how he affected her and used her weakness against her. Sam had no idea she was affecting him in the same way. He needed her, craved her; the urge to lose himself in her tempting flesh was so compelling it nearly brought him to his knees—a sad state for a man who prided himself on his nerves of iron.
Against her will, Sam’s arms crept around Colt’s neck, her body alive and pulsing. Her mouth clung to his with a desperate yearning; seeking, taking, accepting all he had to offer. He chortled, surprised at the ease of her surrender, his kisses deepening, his hands moving upward to cup her breasts, feeling the nipples harden beneath his palms. Tugging the shirttails from her waistband, his fingers caressed the satiny flesh beneath. Each place he touched burned like wildfire. His mouth rolled over hers. It was soft and warm and intoxicating. Then the feel of his hard, seeking hands on bare flesh brought her abruptly to her senses and she made a feeble attempt to resist.
Colt’s arms tightened around her, stilling her struggles. Then he was forcing her closer, crushing her, his body hard and demanding against her softness. Sam felt herself melting beneath the intensity of his need, aware of his power, knowing beyond a doubt that he meant to have his way and he
would
have it.
Colt lifted his head, his voice made hoarse with desire. “Once the deal is sealed there’s no turnin’ back. I’m goin’ to make love to you, sweet darlin’.”
Despite her misgivings, Sam would have been grievously disappointed if he didn’t. She knew she should resist this crazy magnetism that drew her to him like a horse to water, but she wanted him with a passion she couldn’t explain.
She also wanted her freedom. Going to jail was the scariest thing she ever faced. If Colt meant what he said, and she had no reason to doubt him, all she had to do was let him make love to her and she would be a free woman. It smacked of blackmail, but he had given her little choice. As long as he was so determined to have her, Sam decided, she may well benefit from the pleasure he gave her. Suddenly a thought came to her, and she voiced it while she still had the breath to do so.
“What about Will? Does our bargain include him?”
Taken aback, Colt paused, his drugged mind reacting slowly. Sending Will to jail was never his intention. He was just a misguided kid who followed his sister’s orders because he loved her. What he needed was a strong male to guide him. Someone to mold his character and lead him into manhood. As things stood now, Colt had no idea where Sanchez had taken the boy, and obviously Sam wouldn’t say.
“Your brother is safe from me, Sam,” Colt said, “as long as you deliver your end of the bargain.”
Sam grimaced distastefully as Colt added, “It won’t be for long, darlin’. My enlistment is up in less than three months and you’ll be rid of me. Sooner if the Crowders have their way.”
“Then I agree, Colt. Make love to me.”
“Gladly, darlin’.” A slow smile tilted his mouth in a crooked grin and tiny lines gathered around his tawny eyes as he swooped her off her feet and carried her to the bed. His gaze softened, riveting on the tempting mounds of her breasts peeping through the gaping shirt he had unbuttoned. Pale gold and perfectly formed, each firm peak was tipped with a pouting cherry bud just begging for his attention.
He dipped his tawny head, nuzzling the delicate nubs, drawing each one deeply into the flaming heat of his mouth until they swelled and became achingly swollen and deliciously taut against his moist tongue. He sucked vigorously as a moan drifted past Sam’s parted lips.
Then, without really knowing how, Sam lay on the bed, Colt’s hard body sprawled atop hers, his lips continuing their delicious foray while his hands worked to remove her boots and skin-tight pants. He savored her flesh with sensual enjoyment, moving his mouth slowly, nibbling, tasting—sensing the heat within her—unleashing it in ways she never knew existed. And then she was naked, writhing beneath the intensity of his gaze.