Springer, Jan - The Pleasure Girl [The Desperadoes 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

The Desperadoes 1

JAN SPRINGER

Copyright © 2011

Chapter One

Logan Leigh sat on his midnight-black stallion and gazed down into the early morning frost-covered valley below. A lone spiral of gray smoke drifted from one of the several rock chimneys of an old white clapboard, two-story farmhouse, and to his surprise, an unusual warmth sifted through him. Coming to this place felt like he was coming home. Weird that he would think that way of this valley nestled in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta, Canada, a place he’d never seen before, but that’s what he felt.

The warmth of the sight urged him to hurry up and ride down there, but he knew the dangers for a man on the run. He needed to keep an eye on the place and make sure there were no surprises when he rode in. Aside from laundry fluttering in the cold breeze on the line, there appeared to be no sign of movement. Past experience, however, cautioned him that looks could be deceiving.

Members of the gang he rode with had told him a pleasure girl lived alone down there, and despite the insistent hardening of his cock at finally having some female companionship, he knew he’d have to force himself to sit up here a while longer until he was sure they wouldn’t be interrupted by a posse.

Then he’d ride in.

* * * *

It was getting dark fast, and she needed to get cleaned up at the water pump and grab her laundry off the line before it got too creepy out here, Teyla Sutton thought as she struggled to close the damaged greenhouse door. The darned hinges had been ripped off several weeks ago during a violent wind storm, and the plate glass door was so heavy she could barely move it, but she knew getting the door into the proper position would keep the heat from escaping the building, and so she struggled with it until it gave a good closed fit.

Wiping a bead of perspiration off her forehead, she wrapped her thick wool cardigan tighter around her and headed into the chilly wind toward the water pump in the middle of her farmyard. She’d been working inside her greenhouse for most of the day, planting a new crop of carrots and Boston lettuce, weeding and watering the rest of the plants, and enjoying the moist warmth, compliments of the southern exposure of the building as well as the solar heating.

But out here in the gloomy evening, it was a different story. Since the Catastrophe over four years ago, the weather had turned cold. Sure, the sun continued to shine during the day, but it just wasn’t warm enough to grow most crops or any flowers anymore.

Since the weather had turned bad, she’d had to make do without pretty much everything. Food at the store in town was priced out of her reach, so she’d turned to growing her own food in the greenhouse. She fished or hunted her meat and got her water supply from the well. For her, there was nothing but healthy organic living these days, and she was lean, thin, and healthy because of it.

But boy, she could kill for a large double-double coffee and a plate full of apple fritter doughnuts about now. As if her tummy knew exactly what she was thinking, it growled in protest, the spooky sound sending another volley of shivers up her spine, making her think of a growling grizzly bear ready to pounce on her from behind the nearby pine trees, encouraging her to pick up her pace.

She didn’t like being outside when it got dark. Every shadow became a potential murderer, and every sound became a pack of wild dogs that could be lying in wait, ready to rip her throat out and dine on her. Despite the spooky shivers racing up her spine at her vivid, overworking imagination, Teyla forced herself to smile at her silliness.

She’d been lucky since the Catastrophe. She didn’t get unexpected visitors because most humans had been killed, disintegrated actually, compliments of the solar flares. Many of the survivors tended to live in what was left of the cities and didn’t really bother with her, way out here in the foothills. She had, however, heard rumors of cannibal gangs roaming around killing and eating people because meat was just simply too expensive for the average person. Those cannibals stayed mainly in the populated areas where the food, so to speak, was more accessible.

At the pump, she quickly pushed the squeaky handle up and down until the cold water splashed out. Grabbing the bar of homemade lye soap she kept beneath a tin cup, she hurriedly washed her hands and face, shivering in the cold breeze. Thrusting a bucket beneath the pump, she filled it with water. Once she got inside, she’d get the fire roaring at the woodstove and wash herself more intimately with warm water. Yes, she had solar water heating in her farmhouse, but she preferred to use it only when absolutely necessary. She knew if her solar parts broke down, they would be too expensive to replace or even get, for that matter. So she tended to play pioneer with her water, lugging buckets and heating her water on her kitchen woodstove.

She was about to lift the full bucket when a jolt of alarm ripped through her, stopping her cold. At the sound of a horse neighing, her head snapped up, and shock and fear cracked through her as she saw a big, dark-haired man wearing a black leather jacket and tight blue jeans quietly leading a black horse into her yard not more than forty feet away.

Oh, darn! Why hadn’t she seen him coming?

She forced herself to remain as calm as possible. Forced herself not to make any fast moves in case he went for the rifle in his scabbard. But her fingers sure did ache to reach for the gun sitting heavy and loaded in her cardigan pocket.

“Can I help you?” she called out, wishing her heart wasn’t pounding so violently against her chest.

“Mrs. Teyla Sutton?” he asked. He spoke quietly, as if trying not to spook her, but damned if she wasn’t ready to either run for the farmhouse or start shooting at him.

“That’s right,” she answered, cursing herself for the shakiness in her voice. Okay, so he knew her name. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

“Your neighbor, Dr. Elizabeth Brandywine, sent me. I’d like to purchase your services for a couple of days.”

Her services.
Despite the cold air lashing her face, her cheeks went warm. Why in the world would Liz send a stranger to her? Teyla preferred to service only men she knew. Men from town. She had no idea who this guy was.

“She said you might also accommodate my two friends.”

Her breath backed up in her lungs. Two friends? And him?

“I don’t accommodate strangers. I’m sorry.”

“She’s already inspected me, if that’s what has you worried. My friends will be here tomorrow.”

Teyla shook her head, fear starting to really grab hold now. What if he got violent for refusing him? Why in God’s name would Liz send her a complete stranger?

“She gave me this note to give to you. It gives me a clean bill of health,” he said. She tensed as he took a couple steps forward and handed her a sealed envelope, and when he did, she didn’t miss how large his hands looked or how long his fingers were. They were clean, his nails clipped. It was a good sign and showed the man took care of himself.

Opening the envelope, she relaxed as Dr. Liz’s delicate scent whispered off the page and her handwriting explained that she’d done a physical on him, and that he appeared clean and he came recommended by a trusted friend.

“A letter of introduction, I would assume?” He grinned down at her and Teyla’s tummy flip-flopped quite nicely at the man’s succulent smile.

“She says she knows a friend of yours. I don’t normally service men I don’t know, so this doesn’t make me eager to take you on as a client. Mr…?”

“Logan Leigh,” he offered. “I’m from the States. Crossed the border a few days ago.” His smile widened, and it reached his dark brown eyes, making them sparkle with amusement and heat. That heat had her thinking sex with this guy might be worth breaking her usual rules.

“Before you give me your final decision I want to say I’ll give you five times your rate for doing my two friends and myself.”

Her eyes widened at his generosity. With that amount, she could buy those pickling seeds, mason jars, and pickling salt she’d been dying to get and down her beets and cucumbers when they were ready. Not to mention pay off several months of her mortgage. But have sex with a stranger? And two others?

She swallowed at the nervousness shifting through her. But all her clients had been strangers in the beginning.

Confidence edged away her fear. Liz had sent along a letter of reference and stated he was in good health. Teyla needed the money, and having sex with men was her job. So why in the world was she hesitating? Because it was too unexpected and he looked too damned sexy, that’s why, that inner voice whispered again.

Sighing in resignation, she nodded to her pump.

“You can wash up here. Give me about fifteen minutes, then come in. The bedroom is at the back of the house, just off the kitchen. Please leave your weapons in the kitchen, and I need to have half the money up front.”

“My horse?”

“You can put him in the barn to protect him from the coyotes. There’s some feed in the bags left over from my horse. It should still be good.”

She didn’t explain her only horse was dead and buried just last week. None of his business that she didn’t have any sort of transportation anymore. She grabbed her bucket and started toward the house, hoping he wouldn’t pull out a gun and shoot her in the arm, or worse. His next words stopped her cold.

“We haven’t discussed the terms yet,” he said softly.

She tensed, placed the bucket on the ground, and turned around again, ready to grab her pistol from her pocket if need be.

“I do anal, oral, and vaginal. Condoms are a must. No kissing on the mouth,” she said, trying hard to keep the huskiness out of her voice. God, just talking sex with this guy was kind of exciting.

“Bondage. I want to do some bondage on you, plus you’ll have to accept three men doing you at the same time, or there’s no deal.”

Three men at the same time! She’d never done
that
before.

Before she could mount a protest, he held up a hand.

“We want access to all of you whenever we want for tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night. You’ll get half your money up front. The other half at the end of the second night. You’ll wear no bra while we are here. You’ll dress the way I want you to dress. The first night is just us then tomorrow and tomorrow night will be the four of us. The next morning we’ll be gone. Is that acceptable to you?”

Teyla couldn’t believe how warm her cheeks had gotten at what he’d said or how nervous she’d become, too.

She’d never agree to bondage. They could tie her up and slit her throat or torture her and she wouldn’t be able to defend herself.

“No bondage. No pain,” she said firmly

“No pain, and only your wrists bound. Your legs will be free, Mrs. Sutton.”

“Yeah, like that’ll help me if I need to fight you off.”

“You’ll be too busy fighting the pleasure.”

She blinked at the sultry way his deep, gravelly voice whispered through her.

His smile dropped into a serious frown. “Mrs. Sutton, if I wanted to harm you, I would have done it early this morning when I first saw you hanging up your laundry.”

“Maybe you need an audience,” she replied tartly, feeling spooked at the thought he’d been lurking around here all day, watching her, and she hadn’t even noticed.

“I enjoy watching a woman get fucked, and I enjoy an audience when I’m taking a woman.”

He certainly got to the point, didn’t he?

If Liz sent him to her, then Teyla would have to trust he wouldn’t hurt her. She just wished Liz could have come herself with the guy and made the introduction. She shook away those thoughts. She was acting like a child. This would simply be a business transaction. No emotions. Just like all her other clients.