Sweet Justice (7 page)

"You thought I was guilty of murder just the other day and now you're protecting me?" She trotted her horse up next to mine.

"You were innocent of the crime and I'm protecting you because you're my wife. You're
mine.
When you showed up in Ethel's room last night you chose to be mine. I didn't make you. It was your decision. You grabbed my cock, sweetheart."

There was no question who she belonged to, and she was
not
going to go to that brothel. No way in hell.

PIPER

I was not going to let Wiley go into another brothel. The temptation of the other women was too great. Did he get a good look at Ethel? She had breasts and hips and lips and was so pretty and certainly knew more about fucking than I did in my little finger. I couldn't compete with her in any way. Why Wiley had chosen me over her was obvious. I'd had my hand on his cock and I was free. I was his wife and he could use and fuck me any way he wished. It sounded harsh, but it was true. He was so handsome, so...virile, that he could have any woman he wanted. He hadn't
wanted
to marry me, so why should he change his ways?

He'd said he didn't want another, but it was hard to believe him. It was hard to believe any man, especially after the way my family had betrayed me, lied to me and used me. If my own family treated me that way, then Wiley was certainly going to as well. He'd end up with another woman at some point, but he wasn't going to do it when I knew about it, when I could do something about it.

We rode into Carey as the sun was setting. It was smaller than Banning so it wouldn't be hard to find the local brothel. I feigned a headache and Wiley had been gentlemanly enough to secure us a room at the hotel before taking the horses to the livery. Once he rode off in that direction to have the animals tended for the night, I ducked out and worked my way to the brothel. It was much more obvious to me now than when in Banning, for it seemed they were all the same. Slipping in through the back door, I was greeted with a similar arrangement than the night before. Two women were eating at the table dressed solely in their undergarments. An older woman was cooking at the stove, the scent of baked bread and stew filling the warm kitchen.

All three women looked me over. While I swallowed down my fear and nerves, I was fortunate to have experience to know what to expect. I assumed a little naiveté only helped my act. While I knew Wiley would miss me when he returned, hopefully I could get some information out of some of these ladies like I had the night before, and then slip out.

"Hello, I wanted to ask...I mean, do you think I could—"

"Lookin' for a job, honey?" the cook asked. The same question was asked by the ladies in Banning. It seemed women came to the back door for work with such frequency they expected it. "If not, you get yourself right on home now."

She waved a spoon at me but I did not retreat. I held my ground. This wasn't as easy this time. I couldn't just ask her after Miss Carter, for all I knew one of these women could be Miss Carter and she was supposedly quite dangerous. While I doubted she kept a gun in her corset or drawers, it didn't mean she wasn't deadly. I could leave and let Wiley do his job, but I didn't want him anywhere near the likes of these women. But then I thought of my husband and remembered how he'd spanked me when I'd just shown up in a brothel, not getting a
job
in one. I didn't have to worry about Miss Carter doing it; he'd kill me himself

"Well?"

I swallowed and shook my head. "No. No thank you," I replied before fleeing out the door.

I all but ran back to the hotel and up the steps. When I pushed open the door to our room, Wiley stopped his pacing and turned to me. "Where the hell have you been?" His voice boomed in the small space.

"I couldn't do it," I replied, trying to catch my breath. My hand was against my chest and I felt my heart pounding.

He narrowed his eyes. "Do what? Leave me?"

"What? No. Why would I do that?"

He shook his head and repeated, "Where the hell have you been?"

"I wanted to find out about Miss Carter so you didn't have to go to another brothel."

He approached me and put his hands on my upper arms. His hold was firm, his touch warm. "What...did...you...do?"

I swallowed. "I...I went to the back door of the brothel."

"After I distinctly told you not to?"

"You were going to go there after I distinctly told you I didn't like it," I countered.

"It's my job!" he replied.

"I'm your wife!" I shouted.

Before I could even realize his intentions, his mouth was on mine and I was pressed up against the door. I felt hard wood at my back and solid muscle and hard male at my front. His tongue plundered and tangled with mine, his big hands gripping my arms. It was all heat and energy, the kiss. I didn't need to breathe when I had Wiley kissing me. I could live off his kiss.

He kissed along my jaw to my ear, nipping at the lobe, then kissing the soft spot beneath it.

"Wiley, I...I need—"

He kissed along the length of my neck and whispered, "What do you need, sweetheart, besides a stern spanking?"

What did I need? "I need...I need you to want
me
. I need you to take me because you ache for me just as much as I ache for you, not just because I'm your wife. I need you to—"

His brow went up as his hand wrapped around my nape to hold me in place. "Need me to what?"

"Take
me
."

His eyes narrowed, but the green darkened, his jaw clenched. "You want me to fuck you, sweetheart?"

I nodded.

"I should spank your ass red, but I'm going to fuck you instead. I can't be gentle this time."

I shook my head. "No. No, I don't want you to be gentle. I want to get lost in you."

I didn't say more. I didn't need to. Wiley lowered his head and kissed me. It wasn't gentle, but an all-out assault. His mouth ravaged mine, his tongue plundering. Just kissing him was wild and decadent and my body instantly responded. My nipples pebbled beneath my corset and my thighs grew slick with my arousal. In less than a day, my body had recognized Wiley's mastery and willingly submitted.

I wanted what only he could give me and I wanted it now.

"Wiley, please," I begged against his lips.

He lifted his head and brought his hands to the front of my dress. Gripping both sides of the bodice, he ripped it open, off my shoulders and down my arms so they were trapped by my sides. Now I knew what he meant about not being so careful. It was...exhilarating! I could do nothing as he worked the stays of my corset free until the sides opened and my breasts spilled free. He kicked the door shut then pushed me against it, my back pressed into the hard wood. Lowering his head, he took one nipple into his mouth. Instead of the sweet, gentle exploration he'd done earlier, this was...oh. He sucked and licked and tugged at it while his hand worked my other breast. His fingers plucked and tugged at the nipple just shy of being painful. I cried out and winced. The sharpness of his actions morphed into heat and I felt my inner walls clenching.

Somehow my nipples were in direct connection with my woman's core and it wanted to be filled, for I felt empty without Wiley's cock within. He didn't stop his ardent attentions on my breasts, not until my knees became weak and I began to slump. He reached down and pulled up the long hem of my dress, pushing it up and securing it by wrapping his arm about my waist. With his free hand, he yanked at my drawers and they tore and fell to the floor.

"Take my cock out," he breathed.

I hastily worked at the placket of his pants, tugging and fighting with the material until his cock sprang free. It was a dark, ruddy red, a pulsing vein running up the thick length. The wide head had clear fluid seeping from the tip. I didn't have time to ogle, for Wiley closed the small distance between us and pressed his torso into mine. Hooking one of my knees with his hand, he lifted my leg to spread me wide as I felt him nudge against my opening. In one shift of his hips he filled me, trapped as I was between his strong body and the hard door. He didn't go slowly, didn't ease me into being filled so completely. Instead, he pulled back and thrust into me once again.

"Wiley!" I cried out. The sheer intensity of his claiming stole my breath. Wiley did not stop his motions, only began to move faster, deeper. Harder.

I lifted up, wrapping my free leg about his waist that enabled him to shift my hips and go even deeper. How, I didn't know. I just knew that the way he stroked over me, the way his body rubbed against that small place between my thighs that ached and heated had me almost to the brink of my pleasure. I recognized it now, recognized how my pleasure grew and grew, overwhelming me to the point where there was no sight, no sound, only feeling. This time, it was coming upon me so quickly that I didn't have time to do anything but tilt my head back against the door and let go.

"Yes!" I cried. "Oh, it feels so good," I crooned as Wiley's hips pounded me. I was caught upon his cock; there was nothing I could do but let the feelings of being impaled by such a wicked instrument rush over me.

"Good girl, Piper," he breathed. "It's my turn now."

He pushed deep, held still as he groaned. I felt his seed scalding hot within my depths, filling me to overflowing. This was what I'd needed. I'd needed him taking me without measure, using me, yet forcing me to succumb to the pleasure only Wiley could find within me.

Slowly, Wiley lowered my legs to the ground, yet held me in place. The lower part of my dress slipped back down over my legs. I felt his seed trickle out, drip down my thighs and most likely onto the floor at my feet. My arms were still pinned to my sides, my breasts exposed. I saw that my nipples were tightly furled and a bright cherry red. Wiley had not been gentle.

"Are you all right?" he asked, adjusting himself back into his pants, buttoning the placket. He watched me carefully. "I wasn't too rough?"

"Too rough?" I laughed. "That was...incredible."

He looked me over as he grinned. This was the smile of a well-satisfied man. "I like to see you this way as if I've just captured you and had my way."

"You did," I countered.

"Mmm," he replied noncommittally. "You seem to enjoy a little rough play."

"If that was rough play, then yes."

"Good to know." Instead of pulling the dress back up over my shoulders, he tugged it down and off my body. "It appears this dress is no longer serviceable. Neither are your drawers."

With my hands free, my corset also fell to the floor. I was naked except for my boots and thigh length stockings.

"Thank you, Wiley."

"For fucking you?" His gaze raked over my body. "I assure you, no thanks is needed."

I shook my head. "For taking me as you would one of those women."

He didn't look happy by my answer. "Piper, listen to me. I took you that way because I want you. You, Piper Easton. Not some whore. You are my wife, don't you understand that?"

I swallowed the tears that clogged my throat. "But you didn't want to marry me. My family
killed
your father."

"Do I seem uninterested? Unaffected?" His dark eyes bored into me.

I shook my head. "No, but how do I know you won't leave me for a woman like Ethel? My brother was infatuated with Miss Carter enough to die for her."

He hooked a hand behind my neck and gently pulled me into his chest. "I'm not your brothers or your father. I don't intend to use you."

"But you thought I had left you."

He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in places. "My mother left us when I was small. A traveling preacher. I have a very jaded view on women. Now that I know a woman was among the band of criminals that killed my father, an innocent on a train, it is skewed even more."

"So I'm supposed to trust you not to be like my family when you think I'm just like your mother?"

That gave him pause.

"I take my vows to you seriously. I know you're taking our vows seriously as well."

I looked at him, confused.

"Piper, you went to a brothel, again, against my wishes because you are one possessive woman. If you didn't care about me, about our marriage, you wouldn't have done it."

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it. He was right, which meant I would fight for him all the more.

WILEY

"There's been another robbery."

I sat down at the table across from Piper. We were in the hotel restaurant having breakfast and the news of the latest stage robbery was spreading through the room like wildfire.

She put down her coffee cup and leaned toward me. "Was it...her?"

I had that angry, tense feeling I always had when I was on the search for a criminal and couldn't find them in time before they committed another crime. It was frustrating and a little helpless and I hated that. We were getting closer to finding the woman, but now that there had been another robbery, I knew it wasn't just Miss Carter who needed to be caught. One woman couldn't hold up a stage on her own.