Let Me Love You (7 page)

“Brute.”

“Ma’am.” With a little snort, she let the door fall closed against the challenge written on his face. Pacing her way around the room she tried to bring some kind of order to her thoughts. Being mad only sent her rational thinking up in smoke. Gaining a grip on her emotions was the key to thinking her dilemma through.

But her temper sure didn’t agree.

Her belly rumbled but she didn’t stop pacing to cook. Stoking up the fire in the stove felt like hoisting a white flag. She wasn’t surrendering to Sloan’s will. Not Brianna Spencer. She’d made it just fine without a man and today wasn’t going to be the moment she cried like a little lost girl just because life had decided to turn tough. She was made of sterner stuff.

But Sloan didn’t think so. That thought deflated her completely. It actually humbled her, because it had been a long time since she’d encountered a man who made someone else’s troubles his own. Even a good number of sheriffs needed a nudge to look into things. They often had friends who took precedence over the written law of the state. If your dispute was on the wrong side of those friendship lines, you might just find yourself waiting a long time for any lawman to investigate an incident. But some mining towns were far worse off. At least they had a sheriff who hadn’t bought his badge or, worse yet, been placed in his office by the saloon owners. The fledgling state was rife with loose concepts of just what United States law was.

That brought in men like Sloan and Warren. The railroad agents were men who ensured that their companies didn’t take losses due to bandits. Bankers like Wells and Fargo weren’t willing to allow their profits to go up in nighttime robberies.

That didn’t explain why Sloan was out at her place. He owed his time to the railroad, not some tiny mill in Silver Peak. The room she stood in was just one bunkhouse in a series that he’d used throughout his postings. Sometimes agents stayed a year in one spot before moving on. Some moved every month in an effort to disguise the strength of their numbers from the locals in each town. But Warren and Sloan didn’t have the look of the normal agents she’d seen in Silver Peak. There was something far more precise about them. Standing up to some of the miners in town hadn’t prepared her for the hard presence that was sitting on the opposite side of the door right now.

And running her father’s mill alone this season sure hadn’t taught her a thing about dealing with Sloan. With a little huff, she turned and looked at the stove. She was starving. Her belly complained loudly as she looked at the cupboard. Taking his food seemed an insult to her pride, but pride didn’t do much for an empty stomach. With another snort of disgruntlement, she moved towards the stove and opened the door on the front of it to take a look at the coals.

She shook her head while she poked the coal in the stove. No, she had a much bigger dilemma to chew on while she waited for Sloan to show back up. Sloan wasn’t something she had any clue as to how to deal with and the man would be back. No doubt about it.

She could just wish she wasn’t looking forward to it quite so much. Her nipples tingled with little nips of sensation that felt far too good for her to muster any real shame over. The man did make her feel. In all those places that she knew she had but had never spoken about to another living soul. Buried beneath her knickers, that spot he’d touched was begging for another forbidden moment of bliss. The concept of right versus wrong might be firmly instilled in her head, but her body wasn’t the least bit interested in her childhood teachings. She wanted to be bare against Sloan’s hard male body again and that was the truth.

At least she blushed at the idea of it.

“Three men. Heavy.” Jedidiah considered the tracks in the soft dirt a while longer before standing back up. The half-breed didn’t raise his voice, he never did. But no one read tracks like the Kiowa did.

Sloan studied the front door of Brianna’s house, searching out the little details that would tell him what had happened here last night. Most thieves were sloppy. Their greed made them blind to the evidence they left in their wake. Sometimes, he ran across hardened criminals, but not today. The door was smashed in with the aid of an ax, telling him that whoever had come stealing last night, they’d planned it. A drunken group loose from one of the saloons wouldn’t have thought to bring along an ax and Brianna’s was sitting neatly above the chopping block in back of her mill.

Hooking his hands into his belt, he surveyed the mess in the front room. Brianna’s cupboard was ransacked. A glistening mess of broken jars lay on the floor with the contents oozing among the fragments of glass. There were still a few rows of jars left exactly where Brianna had placed them. Their neat labels all faced forward. But empty shelves proclaimed her loss, a thin layer of dust marking where rows of winter stock had been neatly stored until last night.

Jedidiah Hancock’s voice came from behind him and Sloan stepped aside to let his fellow agent get a look at the pantry. Silence hung over the room for a moment before Jed turned his attention back to him.

Sloan nodded agreement. “Nothing but tomatoes and carrots left.” The scent of sweet summer berries drifted up from the pile of smashed ones, but there wasn’t a single fruit preserve left on any shelf.

Turning around, Sloan noted the disorder of the rest of the home. Every garment Brianna owned was lying on the floor, the drawers still open to reveal their polished insides. The bedding had been torn from the mattress and left in a heap. Mud was tracked through the colorful quilts, marring their bright surface. If there had been even one copper penny in the place, it was long gone. Leaving Brianna the task of rebuilding her life out of the mess left behind. It wasn’t an uncommon event in the West. It was even less unfamiliar to women who lived alone in a community that embraced the idea that possession was nine-tenths of the law.

She was lucky to have anything remaining at all. It was strange in a way, because the thief had plenty of time to load up her own wagon with the contents of the cabin. The buckboard was stored in the barn with the single horse her father had left her. Even one horse could have pulled the wagon a few miles, plenty far enough to get a second horse to complete the team. A few days’ drive and it would have been simple to sell every last household item to new prospectors. If they only wanted the food, chances were, the culprit was local.

“I doubt they’ll be back, at least until next season.” Jed’s voice was somber with the certain knowledge that Brianna’s trouble with the lawless wasn’t likely to be a one-time event. As long as she lived alone, she was an easy mark for thieves.

Sloan felt his gut twist. Something far more menacing than anger surged through him. People lost their lives over food more often in the remote towns, but this time, the crime hit him personally. Brianna’s face was etched in his memory, just as he’d found her last night, her lips blue from the river and ice clinging to her from head to toe. Even if it was merely a crime of winter supplies, it had almost cost her life. The intentions didn’t make a damn bit of difference to him. He itched to hold a rifle on the scum. Men like that needed to face the barrel of a gun. It was the only thing they respected.

The harsh emotion didn’t shock him this time. He enjoyed it as it moved through his blood like fine whiskey.

Jed watched him from across the room. “What’s the woman to you?” It was a blunt question from a man who had backed him up for too many years. The Indian’s dark eyes issued a faint challenge as he waited for him to claim or deny his interest in Brianna.

“She is strong.” That was high praise from Jed. It needled him though, because he didn’t like any man being attracted to Brianna, even Jed. Especially Jed, half-blooded Kiowa. If the man took an interest in Brianna, he’d hunt her.

“I’ll let you know when I decide what she is to me. Until then, she’s mine.” Sloan turned and left the home. He wasn’t going to dwell on his comment. Most of the time, his first instinct was the right one. Maybe it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that didn’t change the warm feeling he got as the warning rolled past his lips. The taste of her kiss lingered in his thoughts. A whole host of other memories rose up from the dark hours of the night and he savored the heat that stiffened his cock in response.

Jed chuckled, moving along behind him. “Women distract men. That is why they are never allowed on a hunt. Warriors know better than to challenge nature.”

“Brianna is distracting, I’ll give you that. But I’m beginning to enjoy it.”

And she was his, at least until he figured out just what his fascination was with her. Jed and Warren would understand.

Jed’s hand shot out to catch his arm. The half-breed leveled a harsh look at him. “She will haunt your soul if you taste her. A woman like her will touch your heart with her innocence. There is life in her.”

A ripple of anticipation went down his spine in response. His cock twitched as it stirred back to attention. Haunt? No question about it, but the warning felt late. Her kiss was a slow intoxicating venom moving through his blood. “You have that right, my friend.”

Jed whistled softly. “You do not understand but I think you are too lucky. Now that she has seen you, there is no chance for me.” He returned his eyes to the tracks left from last night. He moved along, reading the faint trail as Sloan battled the need to growl at him for even thinking about his woman.

“Find your own woman.”

Jed turned his face toward him. A whisper of amusement touched the halfbreed’s lips. “You have not claimed her yet. She has not promised you her heart.”

“Fat lot you know.”

Jed smiled in response. Sloan felt like cussing. A base reaction, one that he wasn’t sure how to handle, but he’d figure it out and the only person he needed to help him was Brianna. His lips twitched with amusement as he contemplated her response to that notion. Her spunk was sure to raise its head and in all honesty, he looked forward to the confrontation.

Joseph Corners watched his pa slurp down a jar of jelly like a bowl of chowder. He ate it with a spoon, smacking his lips as he licked them. He didn’t stop until he scraped the bottom of the glass.

“Not bad, son.” The spoon clattered as it dropped into the empty jar sitting in front of his sire. “Could be better though, if there was a woman here to get to the cleaning. I’d sure enjoy a clean bed.”

“She went into the river.” Joseph’s younger brother Sam snickered as he spilled the information. “That little bitch jumped into the icy water to escape Joe’s bed. Better luck next time, brother.”

“Shut your mouth, Sam!” Joseph surged forward towards his sibling, but his father’s fist connected with his youngest son’s nose before Joseph got close.

“Quit your squalling, Sammy. Joseph’s just got to chase her down. That’s part of the fun. I tumbled your mother a few times before she agreed to marrying me. Nothing better than spirit in a bitch when you mount her. Joseph will bring her around. He’s my boy after all.”

His pa grinned, showing off his yellow teeth smeared with strawberry jam. He pointed a sticky finger and Joseph leaned closer to listen up to his father. His own nose was still sore from the last time he’d failed to give his father the respect the man demanded from everyone around him.

“Now you just got to be a little more sneaky about it. You made too much noise and had light with ya. Next time, you wait until the full moon and don’t let that gal do anything that might kill her. We don’t get the mill unless you are married legal-like.”

Greed brightened his pa’s eyes. The sight of it sent a chill down Joseph’s spine, because disappointing his pa was never a good thing. His cock itched for a taste of Brianna Spencer but he had never been real keen on jobs that took too much trouble. Sammy, Will and he had filled up their kitchen with all her preserves and provisions. He wasn’t so sure her pussy was worth another night of work. But the look on his pa’s face said that the older man wasn’t in the mood to hear about what Joseph wanted. His pa wanted that mill. He’d better get Brianna to the church altar or his father’s temper was going to thrash his hide something fierce. At least he’d get to fuck her. He wouldn’t have to share her pussy with anyone and that would be a first in his life. He’d never owned a woman before. The idea danced in front of him, mesmerizing him.

“Like you said, Pa. I’ll be careful.”

Joseph turned and rolled into his bunk. He didn’t bother to kick off his boots. The inch of mud caked on the worn leather crumbled into his bedding as he stretched out and began to think about having Brianna at his beck and call. Reaching down, he rubbed his swollen cock as he drifted off to sleep and began snoring.

Chapter Five

When he pushed his door open, his bunkhouse smelled like heaven. Sloan hesitated behind the protection of the hard wood as he waited to see just how angry his guest was. Shouldering his way into the room, he scanned the interior with a quick look in case Brianna was waiting to chuck his coffeepot at his head.

She stood on the far side of the room with an expression that should have conveyed her annoyance, but all he noticed was that spunk of hers. Her lips were pressed into a pout and her eyes glimmered with the promise of retaliation. Heat bubbled up from where he’d strapped it down. There was no question of controlling his reaction. It emerged instantly in response to being close to her once more. Last night was too fresh in his brain and his bunk too private to ignore the rise of renewed need.

“You have too much nerve.” She’d known that and didn’t really need to state it out loud, but her nerves were twitching. Shifting her feet, Brianna bit into her lower lip as she studied Sloan. All her thinking and planning didn’t hold up when she faced off with him. Distractions popped up from all over her flesh as her mind insisted on reminding her of just what he’d done with her body last night.

More importantly, how much she’d like to repeat the experience in spite of being at odds with his methods of dealing with her break-in.

He pushed the door shut with a firm hand before his dark eyes returned to survey her. As her gaze traced the wide shoulders that had allowed him to pull her out of a death trap last night, a hint of shame wiggled past her annoyance with being left under Warren’s care. “Thank you.” She clasped her hands together as her mother had taught her was polite and tried to bleach the annoyance out of her voice before clarifying. “For fishing me out of the river. I certainly appreciate it.”

“And warming you up before you ended up dead?”

Her face turned scarlet. “Yes.” Her voice failed her miserably as she squeaked like a child caught with her hand in the sugar jar. It was something you craved, in spite of knowing it would rot your teeth. Still, the vision of sticking your finger into those sweet crystals was mesmerizing. Taunting you until you braved the consequences.

There was a hint of something untamed in his eyes as she answered right up concerning those forbidden moments in his bed. Brianna looked at him straight, refusing to duck her head out of some practiced idea of modesty. That flicker of heat in his dark gaze drew her attention completely.

“You shouldn’t be thanking me.” Sloan’s voice was full of reprimand. Brianna frowned at the chastisement. He sounded like he was attempting to shift into the role of parent, but the memory of his kiss made that an inappropriate vision if ever there was one.

“I value my life, which was why I thanked you.” Adding a nod to her words, she watched his frown darken. “Being alive this morning sort of has me in the mood to leave the details behind me. What matters is I’m among the living.”

His lips twitched as he shrugged out of his duster. With one large hand, he hung it on a hook that was driven into the thick timber framing the doorway. The black oilcloth draped the wall like a slice of midnight that he’d carved out of the heart of the night.

“Good. At least I won’t have to listen to you complain about Warren.”

Brianna frowned. “That’s something altogether different. Placing me under guard is quite out of line.”

“Not to my way of thinking.” His voice told her that he wasn’t willing to budge on the matter. He considered her face for a moment before taking a long step towards her. A shiver shot down her spine as she fought to keep her feet firmly in place. An annoying reaction, but chastising herself didn’t change the sensation coursing through her.

His mouth curved up in response. She couldn’t seem to control her reactions to him and something flickered in his eyes that said he enjoyed that fact.

“I suppose we’ll simply have to agree to being on opposite sides of that issue.”

Sloan crossed his arms over his chest as frown lines appeared on his forehead. “As in we agree to disagree?”

Brianna nodded and his eyebrow rose.

“That’s just like a woman.”

The way he uttered his words made her temper flare back to life. Propping her hands on her hips, she lifted one shoulder. “Well yes, I suppose it is. Men, on the other hand, much prefer to fight, so they never give up a reason to let their fists talk for them. You’d much rather fight than be civilized and understand that sometimes people disagree. I really don’t see that as something to boast about.”

A deep rumble of amusement shook his chest. His gaze flashed with warning as he closed the distance between them. Brianna lifted her chin as he loomed over her. Sloan’s eyes were full of heat as he tapped the end of her nose with the tip of one finger.

“You’ve got a temper hidden inside your respectable shell. You should be careful who you show that to.”

“I call it confidence. Besides, I’m not frightened of you, Sloan.” Even if it would have been smarter for her to transform into a mouse whenever he showed up. His mouth was set in a firm line reminding her just how good his kiss made her feel. She’d never believed a man’s lips could make her head spin with delight, but Sloan’s had. She’d kissed him back too. If she’d cowered or cried, she’d bet he’d cast her one long disgusted look before hightailing it away from her weak-kneed body. A man like Sloan wouldn’t waste his time on a woman who couldn’t stand up to him.

“You really should be, honey. I’m not a gentleman.” His gaze dropped to her lips and the tender skin tingled in response. She caught a whiff of his warm scent. It triggered a response that made her shudder. Heat filled her cheeks instantly, like some signal her body wanted to display in the hopes of attracting his attention. His eyes shifted to her face, lingering on the scarlet stain. He stroked a single finger across the blush. “But I already told you that.”

His touch slid all the way across her cheek. It was a deceptive caress, so soft and tempting. The illusion ended as his fingers threaded into her hair and tightened into that grip she recalled so well. Strong and unbreakable, but still painless unless she moved. His head angled as he leaned forward to connect their mouths in another firm kiss. But it wasn’t hard. He teased her lower lip with the tip of his tongue before pressing her to open her jaw for a deeper taste.

It felt too good to resist. Brianna let him push her mouth wide as she lifted her hands and allowed her fingertips to explore the hard chest that fascinated her. A low groan shook his torso as an arm clamped around her waist. Her hands slid up to his shoulders as he pulled her against his body, securing her in his embrace. The cotton of his shirt frustrated her. She longed for the warm male skin hidden beneath the garment. His tongue thrust deep into her mouth, teasing her own with a hard stroke. Brianna shivered as hot need flowed down her body to that spot between her thighs. It throbbed for attention as she twisted towards Sloan, gripping his shoulders in an attempt to get closer. Her skin became alive with acute sensation, causing her to hate her dress and corset. She wanted to be bare for his hands, so that she could enjoy being stroked.

The grip in her hair pulled her away from his kiss. A muffled word got caught behind his clenched teeth as he broke their kiss but didn’t relax the arm that bound her to his body. Hunger brightened his eyes as he looked at her like a starving man. She felt his huge body shudder before he let her go.

Brianna bit into her lower lip to contain the little whimper that wanted to spill from her mouth. Being turned loose was like setting out into the snow with your face ruby-red and warm from standing over the coals. The icy wind slapped you like tiny, frozen daggers when you set off without a scarf to protect your face from the harsh elements.

“I need to go home.”

Sloan grunted. His gaze moved down her frame before he slowly nodded. “Yes, you do. Before I do something irreversible.”

Wicked temptation taunted her to challenge his control. The look on his face said he didn’t want to stop touching her and a large part of her wondered just what it would take to push him past his limit. But that was a coward’s way. She looked at the floor as she tried to scrape up some composure. Dignity was out of the question, because she flatly didn’t want to be honorable or any kind of proper. All she wanted was to press herself back into his embrace and discover just how much better the sensation might get.

Life was somehow more precious today and she wasn’t so willing to miss out on anything because of someone else’s rules. Her body wanted Sloan to take her down that dark path that was hidden behind shadows of ignorance that all the good wives in town called modesty.

Respectability felt like a poor trade for the delight she knew Sloan could produce with a single touch. But she wasn’t willing to taunt him for it and she wasn’t quite bold enough to demand it from him. Yet.

“Is my house still standing?”

At least there was something to funnel her frustration into. The harsh reality of looking at bare cupboards stole every scrap of composure she’d dredged up. Her face turned red, this time with her temper. Wrath might be a deadly sin, but at that moment she was a little more interested in handing out a well-deserved thrashing to the thieves who’d stolen her hard work. Most of the fruit had come by way of trade. It was the same as lifting coin out of her purse. A hard hand curled around her upper arm as she rose onto her toes to peer at the few remaining jars in her pantry.

“That glass will cut your feet.”

Sloan gave her a tug and she stumbled right back into the middle of the cabin. A hiss escaped her lips as she faced another dilemma brought on by last night’s robbery. Food and now shoes, both were necessities. But providing them would prove hard with the river full of ice today. The best she might hope for was hiding the worry seeping into her brain from Sloan. Poor comfort but better than nothing.

“I’ll pull down some of my old shoes.” Her gaze landed on the rifle resting in the gun rack over her father’s bed. She’d pull the weapon down first. She couldn’t count on luck to save her life again, so that left cold steel. Sloan didn’t miss where her attention went.

“You know how to use that?”

Brianna nodded. She forced her head to move in a firm gesture because she couldn’t afford to be timid. Paying the bank note on the mill was apparently not the only hurdle she had to clear in order to maintain her home.

“I’ll manage.”

A harsh snarl startled her. Jerking her eyes off the rifle, she looked at Sloan. Heavy disapproval darkened his face. “You need to pack up and move into town for the winter. Today. I’ll bring a buckboard around to help you.”

“No, thank you.” Her spine straightened with the aid of her temper. “I’ll manage just fine.”

“Like you did last night?” Sloan scowled, but it only reinforced her determination. She was not going to collapse into his care.

“That’s right, Sloan McAlister.” Her hands propped on her hips as she stood firm. “Last night I managed to make sure I didn’t end up violated and murdered. Rather decent accomplishments if I do praise my own efforts.”

Sloan snaked a hand back out and captured her wrist. He held it secure in his grasp for a long moment, showing her that she didn’t have the strength to escape. He yanked her forward and she tumbled into his hard body as he clamped his arm around her waist to hold her captive against him. He cupped her chin and raised her head up until their eyes met. She felt his breath hit her lips as he leaned down towards her.

“Sure about that, Brianna? There’s not a whole lot more to bed sport than you ended up getting last night from me. You were on your back with my hand between your thighs.”

She slapped him. Her palm cracked across his face as her eyes flared with outrage. He didn’t turn his head to ease the force of her blow but kept his eyes locked on her face.

“Stop trying to scare me, Sloan. You’re a better man than that. Maybe not a gentlemen, but you don’t lack integrity. Don’t shame your mother.”

An angry handprint appeared on his skin but he didn’t flinch or slacken his grip on her. Brianna stared at him, unwilling to back down. Something inside her refused to believe he was anything less than a decent man. She couldn’t bear the disappointment of finding out otherwise.

“I told you not to trust me, honey.”

The endearment stoked the fire that had begun in his cabin. She melted against him, her curves some sort of perfect fit against his harder male body. Smoothing her fingers over the red spot where she’d struck him, she enjoyed the sensation that rippled down her arm from the skin-to-skin contact. “Trust isn’t something you decide about, Sloan. You can just walk out the door, too, if you’ve got the notion to turn your back and forget you ever laid eyes on me. I didn’t decide to trust you, it just grew somewhere inside me. A lot like the idea that I like the way you make me feel when you touch me. I’ve failed to talk myself out of it. But not from a lack of effort.”

“You’ve got that part right.” He shuddered as she stroked his chin again, drawing a harsh breath as she gave in to the temptation to touch him.

“You should tell me to leave.” His mouth landed on top of hers before she took a single breath. Her brain refused to continue to dwell on reasons or rules. The scent of his skin was intoxicating, taunting her with just how good it felt to be bare against his body. She reached for his shoulders as she touched his tongue with her own.

A hard male groan shook his chest and it fed her budding confidence. Lifting up on her toes, she sent her tongue along his in a long stroke making delight race down her spine. The arm clamping her to his body shifted and his hand smoothed down past her waist to her bottom. He cupped one cheek through her petticoat and skirt. A little gasp from her broke their kiss while the front of her sex throbbed with demand. It was thick and hot this time, leaving no room for contemplation. Like a starving woman, she pressed her mouth back against his to renew their kiss.

But his kiss was no longer enough. She needed to feel him, like he had stroked her last night. Her hands slid down his chest and lingered when her fingers found his male nipples. She’d seen them, but never touched them. Rubbing them, she felt his chest shudder as a deep sound of appreciation rose from his mouth.