Romance: Luther's Property (19 page)

“We should leave soon.” I say as John picks up another pint
of beer and begins to chug it. He eyes me over the top of his glass. His
tenderness hadn’t lasted long and yet, I couldn’t help but love him. He was,
after all, the other half of my future husband. If there were a way to save
them both I would. But even were I to come up with a harebrained scheme my
father would never fall for it. So I must settle for trading one brother for
the other.

“We will leave when I’m ready to go.” He says gruffly,
slamming the empty pint glass on the table. The rest of the saloon turns and
looks at us and then realizing it’s John making the noise, they quickly look
away. John takes a deep breath and pushes his chair back from the table. Shifting
his gaze to one of the men at the poker table, he opens his mouth.

“Shorty, you put this with the rest of the stash. I’ll be
back for it.” Then he turns his gaze to everyone else at the table. “And if I
find a single penny missing, I will hunt you all down like dogs!” They all nod
hurriedly. John turns to me and nods. “Let’s go.”

I let John take the lead, sitting behind him I wrap my arms
around his waist. The rhythm of the horse rocks me against him and I’m reminded
of our indiscretion.

“John?” I try to take my mind off what I have done.

“Mmm?” He answers in a gruff voice.

“Why did you agree?” I ask.

“I’ve always wanted to bang a sheriff’s daughter.” He
laughs. I feel the color rising in my cheeks. I’ve only ever heard that word
once before, but at least then I had no personal knowledge of what it meant.

“Oh.” I had somehow fooled myself in to believing that there
was a heroic reason behind his choice. That perhaps he had wanted to make love
to me as his last act before going to jail where he would almost certainly die
for his crimes. I had wanted to believe that somewhere inside John there was a
good man. But most of all, I wanted to believe that I hadn’t just been a notch
in his bedpost. I regret ever offering myself to him now, to know that all I
was, was a piece of meat to him. But then, without such sacrifice Jim would
surely hang.

The ride back home seemed to last forever. At the half way
point, I was sure that we were going in the wrong direction.

“John?” I asked.

“Hmm?” He said.

“Why are you turning yourself in?” I hear him laugh. “What’s
so funny?”

“You. You ask too many questions. You as why I’m turning
myself in. Why does it matter? If I’m doing it, why does it matter why? You get
what you wanted, don’t you?” He asks derisively. I nod my head silently.

“I was just…wondering, I suppose.” I loosen my grip around
his waist, barely wanting to touch him at all now. How can he be so detached?
It’s almost as though he’s not even human.

“Wonderin’ about things never gets you anywhere.” He says.

It’s already dark as the town appears over the horizon. I
can make out the bright lights still on in Main Street. I point out ahead.

“It’s just up there. That’s Main Street. At the end of the
street, that’s where the jail is. That’s where Jim is.” I say. John nods his
head.

“Sheriff!” John brings our horse to a halt outside the jail.
“Sheriff, I’m callin’ you out!”

I want to get down from the horse, to run for cover, but I
daren’t. I remain seated behind John, my hands still wrapped loosely around his
waist.

“Sheriff, do ya hear me?” John shouts again. This time I
hear footsteps coming to the door of the jail. I peek around John’s broad
shoulders and catch a glimpse of my father’s boots.

“Who’s callin’ me out?” He shouts back.

“Well you better come on out and see, I reckon’!” John says.

My father pushes open the door and steps out on to the front
step of the jail. When he sees me on the horse along with a man who looks just
like Jim, his face turns pale.

“Father! I found Jim’s brother!” I shout triumphantly. But
my father’s face remains pale and drawn and then I notice it. John is holding a
revolver in his hand. It’s pointed straight at my father.

“Now, sheriff…you’re gonna let my brother go ‘cause he
didn’t do any bank robbin’. Do you understand me?” John pulls back the hammer
and squints one eye as he aims the revolver at my father. My father stares at
me and I can feel him willing me to get off the horse, to save myself. But I
can’t. I can’t move. My legs are frozen with fear and I couldn’t even throw
myself from the horse if I tried.

“You let my daughter down off that horse first.” My father
demands. John cocks his head.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re in any place to be making
demands, sheriff.” John says. “You let my brother go and then we’ll talk about
your daughter here.” I watch my father nod his head submissively and step back
in to the jail. Moments later he reappears with Jim who is staring at the whole
scene in disbelief.

“Here’s your brother. He’s free to go when you release my
daughter.” My father is holding Jim’s hands behind his back. Keeping him there.
For a second I can’t help but wonder, if it came to me or John, which one of us
would Jim choose?

“Get off the horse.” John says to me without turning around.
I release my shaking hands from around his waist. I try gracefully to slide off
the massive creature, but fall slightly sideways and land in a pool on the floor.
Jim pulls free from my father’s grasp and runs to my side.

“Sara-May! Are you alright?!” He lifts me to my feet and
taking my face in his hand he looks in to my eyes with a smile. “Are you okay,
my love?” I nod sleepily.

“I think so.” I say. My father takes a step towards us, but
John reminds him of the gun by retraining it on him.

“You stay right where you are sheriff. I got no plans of
coming with you, guilty or not. I know what your folk do to outlaws in these
parts, and I don’t intend on spending my eternity hangin’ from my neck by a
noose.” I see my father’s face fall at the turn of events. “Just you remember,
you can’t win ‘em all.” John nudges the horse forward and turns around, his gun
still trained on my father.

“John!” Jim shouts. “John, do the right thing!” But John
shakes his head.

“Sorry little brother. You’re the good one, remember? Me?
Well, I got my own life to live and I prefer the rough ridin’ running from the
law kind of life I lead.” He nudges his horse forward and with a jerk of his
heels he races off down Main Street.

“Sara-May? Are you alright?” My father comes rushing to my
side.

“I’m fine, father, really.” I say. Upon seeing that I mean
it, he steps back and hardens his expression.

“You could have been seriously hurt, young lady! Do you have
any idea what men like that are capable of?” He says. I want to tell him yes,
that I had seen exactly what John Carson was capable of. Instead, I nodded
obediently.

“Sorry, father. I was only trying to help. I didn’t know how
else to clear Jim’s name. I knew it couldn’t have been him and…” My father
holds up his hand.

“About that…” He looks at Jim. “I’m very sorry for the
misunderstanding. I do hope that under the circumstances…” Jim nods.

“Of course.” He says. I can’t help but bite my tongue
because almost all of the things I’d like to say would get me much more than a
look of disapproval.

“Right…well, with that settled, shall we try to get things
back to normal around here?” My father says.

“I don’t know if that’s possible.” I tell him. He gives me a
look of concern and I smirk back at him. “John stole your horse.”

By: Karen Summers

Falling Into Bed With A Billionaire Cowboy

© Karen
Summers, 2015 – All rights reserved

Published by
Steamy Reads4U

No
part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including
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in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This
is a work of fiction.
 
Names, characters,
businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
 
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.
 
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

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Warning

This book contains explicit content intended for readers 18+
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If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with
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I stood at the window and watched as children raced their
bikes up and down the quiet, gravel road.
 
It was almost four o’clock, and the school bus had just let the last of
the kids off at the top of the hill.
 
I
smiled, wondering what they were all going to do if snowed tomorrow like the
weather forecast was predicting.
 
It was
one of the few highlights of my day- watching the children as they raced off
the bus.
 
The rest of my time was usually
spent under the covers, wallowing in my sorrow.

“Alyssa, you can’t just stay in bed all day.”
 
My sister, Rebecca, had come over after work
a few minutes after I watched the last of the kids make their way over the
hill.
 
“You really need to get out and
try to move through this.”
 
She handed me
a cup of tea and then walked quietly out of the living room.
 
I could hear her chopping vegetables in the
kitchen and I knew that she was making me something for dinner.
 
She knew that I wouldn’t eat, otherwise.
 
My despair had taken way any interest that I
once had on food.

“I’m going to pick up Cherry at seven, but I have two hours
to spend with you until then.”
 
She
called out but I remained motionless, standing like a frozen statue, listening
to the last echoes of the children as they faded over the mound in the
distance.
 
I knew she was worried about
me.
 
I’d overheard her telling her
husband, Manfred, that she thought I should get counseling.
 
I didn’t take offense to it.
 
She was probably right.

“Thanks, Rebecca.”
 
I
moved like a tortoise into the kitchen, my hands plunging deep into the cotton
pockets of my robe.
 
“I appreciate all
that you’re doing for me.
 
I really
do.”
 
I pulled my long hair away from my
face and realized that it had been days since I’d showered.
 
I watched as Rebecca chopped an onion and
then a pepper.
 
She slid her hand down
the cutting board and I watched as the vegetables made their way into the pot.

“You know, Alyssa.”
 
Rebecca set her knife down and then poured a cup of broth into the
pot.
 
“There are ways out of this.”
 
She gave me a wry smile and then reached for
a few potatoes.
 
I was grateful for her
culinary leanings because there was no doubt in my mind that all of my
groceries would have rotted by now if it weren’t for her coming in and making
use of them.
 

“I just can’t believe it happened, Rebecca.
 
I just can’t accept that he’s really
gone.”
 
I pulled out one of the kitchen
chairs and sat down at the table.
 
A
small mason jar with daisies beamed at me as I buried my head in my hands.
 
I was amazed that there were still tears left
because I thought I had cried them all out.
 
Rebecca stood quietly as I sobbed, then she sat down across from me at the
table.

“Alyssa, I’m here for you.
 
I know I can’t make you feel better, and I know that it hurts, but I
don’t want to see you fall…”
 
Her voice
trailed off and she frowned.
 
“I don’t
want to see you fall into a depression that you never get out of.”
 
She nodded her head and then got up.
 
I could hear her stirring the pot and I
lifted my head.
 
The aroma of her
home-cooked goodness seeped through the walls of the kitchen, then drifted
above the curtains and up toward the ceiling.
 

“It’s just going to take time.”
 
I gave her a wry smile and then reached
across the table for a tissue.
 
She sat
back down and smiled.
 

“You know, the day that I bought you those daisies, there
was a man standing in line at the register.
 
I was over at Remi’s Supply.”
 
Rebecca looked fondly at the flowers.
 
“He turned around when he saw me holding them and said ‘My wife used to
grow daises in our yard.
 
It was the one
thing that kept her going while she battled cancer.’
 
I didn’t want to pry, but I asked him how
long they were married, and he said sixty-five years.
 
He said she passed away last year, and that
he buys daisies every week in her memory.”
 
Rebecca nodded slowly and then sighed.

“That’s a nice story.”
 
I forced out a weak smile and then blew my nose.

“You know, I told you that for perspective.
 
They were married sixty-five years, and he’s
still out there, getting through life.”
 
Rebecca shrugged.
 
“I don’t know,
Alyssa.
 
I wish I had a way to fix it all
for you, to make the pain go away.”
 
She
shook her head and then watched as I crumpled up my tissue and gazed out the
window.

“What would I do without you?”
 
I got up and threw my arms around
Rebecca.
 
Of all my siblings, she was the
one I appreciated the most.
 
Her
generous, kind nature always amazed me and she had always been there when I
needed someone.
 
When Joey was killed in
a construction accident only two months earlier, Rebecca had come to my
aid.
 
She was the truest friend in every
sense of the word.

“Let’s eat some of this food before I have to rush off and
get Cherry.”
 
Rebecca took out two bowls
and a ladle.
 
She served us both bowls of
piping hot soup, then sat down and smiled.
 
“You’re going to be okay, Alyssa.
 
It’s just going to be…”
 
She
spooned a mouthful of soup in her mouth.
 
“Different.”
 
She nodded her head
and then swallowed.
 
What I didn’t know,
right then and there, was just how different it was really going to be.