Carol Finch (7 page)

He barked an incredulous laugh. “You have me mixed up with my tenderhearted family. I’ve sworn to uphold the law. It’s Judge Parker’s duty to decide if there is enough evidence to convict you or to open an official investigation.”

She inhaled a deep breath that made his attention drop to the swells of her breasts. He wondered if she’d done it on purpose when she said, “What will it take to persuade you to show leniency? Money? Comfort? Pleasure? What’s your price?”

Desire coiled into a painful knot south of his belt buckle. He gritted his teeth and said, “I can’t be bought.”

“Can you be convinced to look the other way while I leave?” Lori questioned as she strained against her leash. “Can you be persuaded to at least
consider
that I might be telling the truth?”

When he took a step toward her, Lori felt that now-familiar sensation of irrational lust sizzle through her body. It baffled her that something unexplainable inside her called out to him.

It was the damnedest feeling she’d ever experienced.

She’d only known this swarthy lawman a day. Yet, unruly desire assailed her when she caught his scent, felt his lean, muscled body brush familiarly against hers and tasted him. She simply couldn’t ignore his dynamic presence, no matter how hard she tried. And she had tried, to no avail.

“What are you suggesting, hellion?” he asked in a husky voice as he reached out to trail his forefinger over her lower lip, then trace the line of her jaw.

Pleasure hummed through her as his hand drifted down her shoulder to skim over the scooped neckline of the borrowed peasant blouse. Burning heat flared inside her as she focused helplessly on his sensuous mouth. God help her, she craved his kiss, craved the feel of his masculine body gliding suggestively against hers.

Of all the men in this world, why did
he
have to be the one who made her ache to discard her inhibitions and taste forbidden desire?

“Take what you want from me, Gideon,” she whispered as his knuckles brushed against her breast, making her arch wantonly toward him.

“My pleasure for your freedom?” he rasped. “That’s the bargain you’re offering me?”

“Temporary freedom,” she clarified, her voice wobbling from the erotic effect his caress had on her. “I’ll come back to you.” And if he didn’t kiss her quickly, she was going to burn into a pile of smoldering ashes.

When he angled his head toward hers, her eyes fluttered shut. She felt herself melt against him as his arm slid around her waist. She desperately wanted her hands free so she could rake her fingers through the damp raven hair that indicated that he, too, had taken the opportunity to bathe recently. Instead, her hands were imprisoned between them and she inwardly moaned when his lower body glided suggestively against her, assuring her that he was aroused.

He distrusted her and disliked her, but he lusted after her to the same irrational degree that she lusted after him. Knowing that made her bold and she brushed her bound hands against the hard ridge beneath the placket of his breeches. She was rewarded with his growl of pleasure as he tightened his grasp on her.

“You drive a hard bargain, vixen,” he rasped before his scalding kisses trailed along the curve of her neck.

His freshly shaved cheek skimmed the swell of her breasts and another frisson of heat sizzled through her body. Lori swallowed a gasp when he tugged at the neckline to suckle her breast.

She swore her legs had turned to jelly when scorching sensation after scorching sensation blazed through her. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he flicked his tongue against one taut nipple and then the other. Suddenly he picked her up with no effort whatsoever and laid her down on the pallet. He pulled her cuffed hands over her head so she couldn’t continue caressing the hard length of his arousal through the fabric of his breeches.

“Enough of that,” he growled against her neck. “You’re
setting me on fire already. I’ve no wish to burn down this barn. It took my brothers and me a long time to build it.”

Lori gasped aloud when his hand cupped her bare breast and he plucked at her nipple with thumb and forefinger. She arched helplessly toward him, astonished by the sensations of pleasure that streaked through her. Then he flicked at her nipple with his teeth and tongue.

One wild sensation after another shot through her body as he taught her the meaning of lusty pleasure.

It amazed her that a man who had been gruff and unaccommodating all the livelong day could become so attentive and tender when he touched her body. Sweet mercy, he was such a contradiction that she swore she’d never figure him out. He could ignite her temper in nothing flat and inflame her forbidden desires in the space of one heartbeat.

Suddenly her precious freedom was the farthest thing from her mind. She was burning alive with the pleasure of his gentle touch and she wanted to know what other nerve-shattering sensations he could unleash inside her.

Wondered what wicked sensations she could arouse in him.

When his hand glided beneath her skirt to caress her from ankle to knee, she held her breath—or rather, what was left of her breath after he stole it from her lungs with his ravishing kiss. She waited in shameless anticipation as his brazen touch moved across her inner thigh then skimmed her hip. She didn’t voice the slightest protest—couldn’t have if her life depended on it—when he teased her mouth with the gliding penetration of his tongue. When he cupped her in his hand, Lori arched toward him. His thumb grazed her heated core, leaving her to sizzle and burn with the most erotic pleasure imaginable.

She found herself wanting more and more. She needed something to appease this wild throb of desire that
threatened to overwhelm her with each tantalizing motion of his hand beneath her skirt. Then his fingertip slid inside her and she couldn’t contain the wobbly groan of pleasure that tumbled from her lips.

“Gideon…please…”

“Please what?” he whispered as his warm lips skimmed the column of her throat. “Tell me what you want.”

The feel of her moist heat bathing his fingertip had Gideon aching to such extremes that it was difficult to breathe, to think. He’d been afraid that if he touched this maddeningly alluring firebrand that he wouldn’t be able to stop until he’d had his hands and lips all over her lush body.

Sure enough, he couldn’t get enough of her quickly enough to satisfy this crazed yearning that left him hard, desperate, aching and irrational.

Earlier, when her hands had skimmed over his arousal he swore the top of his head was going to blow off. He hadn’t dared to let her touch him like that again, for fear he would explode. As it was, her eager responses to his kisses and caresses pleased him to no end. He’d never given a thought to bending a woman to his will with his touch. But taming this spirited firebrand was challenging, fascinating. He watched her come alive in his arms and he wanted to hear her whisper his name in helpless surrender.

“Gideon…” she panted breathlessly.

“Mmm?” He marveled at the satisfaction he derived from stroking her intimately, repeatedly.

Gideon wanted nothing more than to be buried deep inside her, feeling those long sleek legs wrapped around him as he rocked against her, appeasing this insane need she ignited within him. When he glided two fingers inside her and then bent to suckle the pebbled peaks of her breasts, her bound arms slid over his head to hold him close. He
could feel her body shivering against his fingertips as he withdrew then delved deeper again. He set a provocative cadence that left her gasping for breath and moving in rhythm with his intimate caresses.

When she shattered around his hand and held on to him for dear life he gritted his teeth and wished he had been there with her when she climaxed. Instead, he ached until hell wouldn’t have it. Rather, hell
would
have it because he’d broken his hard-and-fast rule about becoming personally and emotionally involved with his captives.

None of his captives tempted him the way Lori did. Most were men, after all. The women who’d offered him favors had never tempted him past his self-disciplined control.

Yet, this woman did. He
wanted
her like hell blazing. He
desired
her to mindless extremes. He even considered bedding her and granting her the freedom she desperately wanted….

The thought reminded him that she’d offered her luscious body to him as bargaining power. Maybe her responses were a little too eager and enthusiastic—so much so that he’d be inclined to look the other way so she could escape.

Gideon recoiled, furious with himself for allowing this amber-eyed siren to use his reckless need for her to tempt him past his usual resistance. No doubt, she was an exceptional little actress who made him feel as if he held some unique power over her tantalizing body and her emotions. He had extreme contempt for fakery and hated being taken in by manipulation. It stung his pride that he’d fallen beneath her wicked spell and nearly succumbed to a fit of lust.

Swearing foully at himself, Gideon sat up then pulled down her high-riding skirt. Before this scheming siren could lure him in again, he bounded to his feet. She still lay
there, her full breasts exposed from his kisses and caresses, staring up at him with slumberous golden eyes that cast a nearly impossible trance of seductive temptation.

“Cover yourself, hellion,” he snapped then turned away from the arousing view that left him hard and aching all over again. If there were such things as witches who cast spells to bedevil men she was in a league with them.

His bitter thoughts scattered to the four winds when he heard someone approaching. Immediately on guard, wondering if the thieves had circled back to see what else they could steal while Galen was feverish and wounded, Gideon drew his pistol. When the intruder approached, he pounced. He clamped one arm around the man’s neck and stuffed the pistol in his neck.

“Awk!”

A moment too late Gideon realized his little brother had come calling. “Hell and damn, boy, you should have announced yourself.”

“I am not a boy and I didn’t know you were back,” Glenn squeaked as he shoved at Gideon’s arm to grant himself breathing space.

Gideon stepped back to reholster his pistol. He spared Lori a glance, noting that she was huddled in the corner, her blouse modestly in place and her skirt settled over her legs. The look she flashed him indicated that she expected an answer to her proposition after their near tumble in the hay.

The very idea that she had offered herself to him in exchange for her freedom incensed him. Especially since
she
had found release and
he’d
deprived himself when he’d come to his senses in the nick of time.

“The answer is no,” he snapped tersely. “But nice try.”

She glowered flaming arrows at him, as if he had betrayed her. As if
he
had used and abused
her.
Damn it,
it was the other way around—and didn’t he know it! Scowling, he turned and walked off without looking back.

“Leave her be, Glenn,” he demanded gruffly.

“I brought her fresh cakes that Sarah baked,” Glenn explained.

“Fine, feed your pet then go to bed.”

The comment drew Lori’s outraged gasp, but still Gideon didn’t glance over his shoulder. He suspected she was glaring murderously at him—as only a conniving murderess could.

“I found the thieves’ tracks,” Gideon went on to say. “You can come with me day after tomorrow to hunt down the men. I’m not leaving until I’m assured Galen is recovering.”

On the wings of those remarks, Gideon exited the barn. He was looking forward to hunting down those horse thieves. Anything to take him away from that flame-haired, golden-eyed minx who had tempted him until he didn’t recognize himself. She had destroyed the code he lived by the moment she materialized from the fog, looking like a misplaced angel.

“Not an angel,” he corrected himself sourly as he stalked upstairs to his room. “She’s the devil’s sister.”

Gideon muttered several profanities when he entered his room and realized that his quilt and pillow were gone, just as he thought they’d be.

L
ori was so humiliated and embarrassed she wanted to dig a hole, crawl into it and die of shame. Desperate, she’d tried to sell her body and soul to that callous devil but she was no closer to freedom than before. He’d toyed with her to prove his power over her traitorous body. He’d used her uncontrollable desire for him as a weapon against her, and she hated her weakness for him.

She’d come apart in Gideon’s arms, reveling in his tantalizing caresses—and he’d pulled away abruptly. Then he’d looked at her as if she were his worst enemy. He’d spewed out a few snide comments that cut to the core.

How could she be so susceptible to someone who treated her with mistrust and disrespect? She’d become his pet on a leash!

Damn that coldhearted marshal!

Damn her for thinking she could bargain with the devil!

The mortifying situation took its toll on Lori’s emotions.
Despite her valiant attempt to maintain her composure, she burst into tears and embarrassed herself again.

This time with Glenn as a witness.

“Aw, honey, don’t cry,” Glenn murmured as he dropped to his knees in front of her.

“Your big brother makes me so crazy I can’t think straight!” she blubbered. “He refuses to believe I’m as much a victim as my friend who died. He treats me horribly and I’d like to—”

She clamped her trembling lips shut before she voiced a threat against Gideon that made her seem suspicious in Glenn’s eyes.

“You’d like to shoot him?” Glenn finished for her. Then he reached over to rake his hand through her disheveled hair. “I know the feeling well. Gid has been lording over me for years, refusing to see that I’ve grown up and that he doesn’t have to feel responsible for me these days. I swear, he looks at me and still thinks I’m twelve.”

That was nothing, Lori thought to herself. When
Gideon
looked at
Lori,
he thought she was wicked to the bone and nothing she could say or do would convince that block-headed marshal otherwise.

That helpless thought provoked more tears. Lori hated that Gideon had reduced her to blubbering sobs in front of Glenn. He was just as good-looking as Gideon and he was a lot nicer to her. He treated her as if she were human and female.

Gideon treated her as if she were the Origin Sin.

So why didn’t she feel the same fierce attraction to Glenn?

When Glenn sank down beside her, pulling her close to comfort her, she cried harder. Sometimes life was so maddening and unfair. Glenn was offering her soothing words and compassion. Idiot that she was, she longed for
Gideon
’s shoulder to cry on. If that wasn’t testimony to her lunacy, she didn’t know what was.

“Tony and I were bushwhacked,” she said on a panted breath, needing to tell someone who would listen to what really happened that fateful night. “Tony proposed and I turned him down as gently as I could. That’s when we heard rustling in the underbrush then a gunshot. Tony stepped in front of me like a shield to protect me. He caught the second of the three bullets the sniper fired.

“Maggie Burgess, the widowed owner of the stage station, heard the shots and came running. She falsely assumed I’d shot Tony because I was holding the pistol I’d used to return gunfire. Tony told me to run for my life when he collapsed and Maggie was screaming at me and shouting for her hired hands to capture me. Like a dazed fool I ran.”

She lifted her face to Glenn, imploring him to believe her. “I swear that I had nothing to do with Tony’s death. Now the bushwhacker is running loose. I can only speculate as to why he wanted to dispose of Tony in the first place.”

“I’m sorry you had to endure that ordeal,” Glenn commiserated as he held her. “It’s the same as Galen getting shot by horse thieves. It could just as easily have been
me.
It should have been,” he added emphatically. “Having Galen shot upset Sarah and she’s carrying a baby. She doesn’t need that kind of torment right now.”

Lori blotted her eyes on her sleeve and sniffled as she sat upright. She stared at the shackles that rubbed her wrists raw. “You better return to the house before Gideon rants at you for showing me the slightest kindness. I don’t want to be the cause of conflict between you and your brother. He’s already warned me against involving you in my problems.”

Glenn climbed agilely to his feet. He stood over her for a long moment then turned away. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Don’t bother,” she insisted. “I’m serious, Glenn. I don’t want to be the cause of trouble for you or Sarah.”

Glenn shrugged a broad shoulder then walked away.

Lori inhaled a cathartic breath then expelled it slowly, struggling for hard-won composure. Her life had gone straight to hell and Gideon was her resident jailer. He pleasured her and tormented her to such extremes that she couldn’t sort out her feelings for him. Instinct told her to run away from him, as far and as fast as she could, but shackles and a leash made that impossible.

Exhausted, frustrated, Lori flounced on her pallet and begged for sleep. An hour later, she finally nodded off.

The next day, Lori noted that Gideon avoided her like the plague. He only showed up to allow her to relieve herself and stretch her legs, but he spoke not a word and only glanced in her direction when necessary. His impassive stares and disinterest hurt her feelings but she would be damned if she let him know that his opinion of her mattered so much.

She’d heard his boisterous laughter outside the barn. She’d wished she could be the reason for that pleasant sound instead of the cause of his scowls. But someone in his family, not
her,
had provoked the delightful sound of amusement.

Glenn and Sarah checked on her at irregular intervals and brought meals. For that, Lori was grateful. If Gideon had supplied her food, she figured it would’ve ruined her appetite.

Late that evening Lori heard someone approach her improvised jail cell.
Please don’t let it be Gideon.
She
couldn’t tolerate another round of emotional torture. To her relief, Glenn stepped into view. He carried the shirt and breeches that Sarah had washed for her. A canvas knapsack hung over his shoulder.

Lori gaped at him when he crouched down in front of her to display the key to the handcuffs. No doubt, he had confiscated it from Galen again, as he had when he had granted her a bath and change of clothing the previous day.

“I’m not going to let Gid take you to Fort Smith until you’ve had a chance to ask questions and search the scene for evidence that proves you’re innocent,” he murmured as he clicked open the cuffs.

Lori stared into his dark eyes with hope and amazement. “You’re letting me go free?”

“Not exactly. Gideon would kill me if I did that. I’m going to escort you to Burgess Stage Station and Ranch to make sure you’re safe and protected.”

Lori shook her tousled red-gold locks. “The last man who tried to protect me died. I don’t want you to come to harm.”

He smiled reassuringly. “I might not be Gideon’s caliber of a lawman yet, but I’m damn good with weapons. I’m going with you and that’s that.”

Lori threw her arms around his neck and hugged the stuffing out of him. “You are such a wonderful man, Glenn. You don’t deserve to have Gideon for a brother or me as a troublesome friend—”

Her voice died beneath Glenn’s quick, unexpected kiss, and she felt the same reaction to Glenn that she’d felt with Tony Rogers—brotherly affection. Hell and damn, she thought, unaware that she’d borrowed Gideon’s favorite expression. Life truly wasn’t fair.

“We better get moving before someone—like
Gid—discovers we’re missing,” he murmured as he rose to his feet and hoisted her up beside him. He scowled when he noticed the raw flesh left by her shackles. “Those are Gid’s fault. He should have seen to your comfort and he’s been entirely too hard on you.”

“That’s because he dislikes me and distrusts me,” she replied as she changed clothes, while Glenn walked over to saddle the horses.

Glenn fastened Drifter’s girth strap in place. “He’s not always like this.”

“Really? You could have fooled me. I guess we just bring out the worst in each other,” she said as she crammed her feet into her boots.

He made a neutral sound that could have meant anything.

“I’d like to be around when he realizes that he’s mistaken about me and feels the need to apologize. Not that I would accept his apology without letting him suffer first.”

Glenn chuckled quietly. “I wouldn’t mind seeing the mighty Fox eat crow myself, honey.”

Lori decided that
honey
must be the Fox brothers’ fall-back endearment. She’d heard all three men use it. Galen and Glenn could call her honey any time they pleased, but she didn’t want to hear it from Gideon.

She didn’t take time to analyze why the casual endearment, coming from his lips, offended her. She just wanted to beat a hasty retreat from Fox Ranch before the fire-breathing dragon realized she had escaped. He didn’t like her now. His opinion of her would deteriorate completely after she slipped her leash—literally—and was spirited away in the darkness.

She grabbed Drifter’s reins and told herself if she never saw Gideon again that was fine and dandy with her.

“We’ll use the shallow creek to cover our tracks,” Glenn
whispered as he led the way to the barn door. He checked to ensure the coast was clear before slipping around the corner into the copse of trees. “Gideon is too blasted good at tracking and scouting. I’m sure he’ll figure out where we’re going, but maybe he won’t be hot on our heels if we have a head start.”

Lori cast one last glance at the spacious cabin illuminated by moonlight. She would have liked to take time to thank Sarah for her kindness, but she didn’t dare risk encountering Gideon.

She left, knowing she’d never experience those wild, reckless sensations with another man. Yet, the one who stirred her desires wasn’t the man she needed. Besides, she convinced herself, she didn’t need any man in her life. She was strong-willed and independent and she could manage just fine on her own, thank you very much.

So fare-thee-well and good riddance to Gideon Fire-Breathing Fox.

Gideon groaned softly as he came awake to realize he’d slept in his own comfortable bed once again. The sense of security and his exhaustion must have combined to make him sleep soundly. He hadn’t awakened until dawn and he swore he hadn’t moved a muscle all night. He felt stiff, achy and groggy. Not to mention that he’d worn himself out the previous day, dashing from one chore to the next to keep his mind off that amber-eyed minx who was more addictive than whiskey.

Reluctantly, he threw his legs over the side of his bed and sat up. He raked his tousled hair away from his face and was reminded that he needed a haircut. He’d get one in Fort Smith, he promised himself. Standing, he worked the kinks from his back and legs. He wondered why he felt
so listless. Overworked, he decided. He definitely needed a vacation from these tedious forays to capture fugitives.

Once he’d dressed, he tiptoed downstairs so he wouldn’t disturb Galen and Sarah. He sliced off two pieces of bread to appease his growling stomach. On second thought, he cut a piece for Lori. It was the slightest of concessions on his part. But he wasn’t going to bend over backward like his tenderhearted sister-in-law and his sappy little brother—who seemed too infatuated with Lori to show the kind of common sense Gideon had tried to pound into the kid’s head for the last dozen years.

Gideon intended to set off early to track down the missing horses. Now that Galen was on the road to recovery and his fever had broken, Gideon felt comfortable leaving the ranch. He packed beef jerky in his saddlebags and filled his canteen. Stepping outside, Gideon inhaled a breath of fresh spring air then mentally prepared himself to face Lori before he rode away. He was still uncomfortable with the tryst two days ago and he was sexually frustrated as hell.

He blamed her for responding to him, damn her. She’d tried to use him to gain freedom, and he’d allowed himself to forget that indisputable truth during those mind-boggling moments when he was kissing and caressing her intimately.

Soon as he rounded up the horse thieves, he intended to return Lori to marshal camp and let the other lawmen deal with her—which he should have done in the first place. But the moment the other men in camp had leered at her, he’d felt possessive and protective. His mistake. He wouldn’t let it happen again. Someone else could investigate her case. Or not. It wasn’t going to be him.

He’d decided to take the outstanding warrants and track a few more fugitives before riding back to Fort Smith. Time and distance from that seductive temptress was exactly
what he needed. The woman was nothing but trouble. He’d sensed that the instant she came walking from the fog. He should’ve run screaming in the opposite direction when he had the chance.

His thoughts evaporated when he walked into the barn to see that she wasn’t in the stall. Her horse was gone. So was Glenn’s. Furious, Gideon wheeled around to storm back to the house. He was so angry that he barged into Galen and Sarah’s bedroom unannounced.

He skidded to a halt when he realized Sarah had clutched the sheet to her bare chest and Galen—injured though he was—had rolled sideways to retrieve the pistol he kept under his pillow—same as Gideon did.

“Damn it, Gid,” Galen growled while he held his older brother at gunpoint. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

He glanced at Sarah, who had turned a half-dozen shades of red before she pulled the sheet completely over her head.

“Sorry, Sarah,” Gideon mumbled.

Obviously, Galen’s injury, and Sarah’s delicate condition, hadn’t prevented them from enjoying the pleasures Gideon had been doing without for more weeks than he cared to count.

“Close the door on your way out,” Galen snapped as he discarded the pistol. “Let us get dressed.” He glared at Gideon. “And do not ever do that again, even if you are a Deputy-goddamn-U.S. Marshal!”

See what that infuriating woman has reduced you to?
Gideon snarled at himself as he shut the door then waited for the married couple to make themselves presentable.