Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Lawmen [The Lost Collection] (Siren Menage Everlasting) (20 page)

Warren handed Amanda her rifle and Adam’s. He slung his over his shoulder and accepted a foot up onto another spotted horse.

Peter and two of the men who were riding with them to the ranch took up their packs. “I’ve instructed my men to bring back your saddles.”

“Thank you. They’ll need to be repaired before we can use them,” Warren said.

“George can do that, as he is a fine saddle maker and lives not far from my father. Many of our ranchers have taken to using saddles. Makes roping of the cattle easier.” Then Peter turned his horse around and led them in a more northerly direction than they’d been walking.

Peter Smith had never been the talkative sort, and Adam felt content to ride in silence. Amanda soon relaxed against him in such a way that told him she had fallen asleep again.

Warren pulled his horse even with Adam’s. His lover sent him a look he didn’t have any trouble interpreting.

Thank God Peter and his men had found them. The Cherokee had likely saved all their lives.

* * * *

Big Ben Bodine held up his hand, ordering a stop. He scanned the activity below and felt his temper begin to simmer. If they’d been just a bit faster, they might have succeeded in nabbing those bastards.

On the other hand, if they’d been in the process of subduing them and those warriors had come along, they might have gotten themselves killed.

He’d learned a lot about Kendall while he’d rotted in jail. The Ranger made friends with everyone, including those God-cursed Indians.

“Now what?” Baker asked.

Impatience laced the Easterner’s words, and Bodine thought he wasn’t far from killing the little prick just because he was tired of his damn complaining.

“Trouble.” Let the bastard ride forward and see if he dared to continue on down from this mountain in light of what was going on below. Bodine thought if he insisted, he just might let him.

Baker came forward, pulling his horse even with Bodine’s, his gaze narrowed as he watched.

As the tableau unfolded, Bodine began to plan. When the larger party continued on a trail that wouldn’t bring them all face to face, he grunted
.

One good thing, anyway
.

Then the smaller group, including that bastard Kendall and Baker’s wife, or whatever the hell she was to him, headed in the direction of a Cherokee settlement with just a few warriors riding escort. Still, the presence of those warriors tipped the scales against him. He and his men could take one Ranger, a woman, and a mealy-mouthed lawyer. They couldn’t, however, take on them and those Indians.

“Now what the hell are we going to do?” Baker’s words sounded as whiny as a little girl’s.

Bodine wondered if he was typical of men in the East. Still, he needed to keep on the bastard’s good side. He was after collecting that other half of his fee.
Then
he might kill him. For now, he said, “We wait a bit, and then follow them, although I have a pretty good idea where they’re going.”

“Bully for you.”

Bodine wondered if the pleasure he would get from beating Colin Baker to bloody death would serve as a sufficient temporary substitute for what he wanted to do to Kendall.

Probably. He took a moment to remember that fee.

He nodded toward the riders making their way north. “They’ve been walking for two days now. They’ll likely need to rest up—a day, maybe more. Those Indians will probably replace their horses, give ’em more food, then send them on their way. They won’t offer escort, of that I’m sure. It would be an insult. So we wait close by, ready to follow them when they leave the settlement. Take them first chance we get. I’m thinking the second day, because then their guard will be down.”

“This is taking entirely too long.”

“Well, we’re in agreement there, but it can’t be helped. We’ll wait until they’re out of sight, then we’ll get moving. There are hills around where some of those Cherokee have settled. We’ll be able to make camp and keep them in sight.”

Baker looked as if he had more to say, but apparently thought better of it. Bodine was impressed. He hadn’t thought the man that perceptive. Turning his horse and walking it away from him was the smartest thing the man had done in days.

“Why don’t we just kill the fucker,” Ira asked as his horse replaced Baker’s beside Bodine.

“Because we need him to get to a bank and get the rest of what he owes us. I checked the other night when he was snoring up a storm. He ain’t got the gold on him, else his corpse would be rotting in the sun already.”

“Maybe he don’t got it, period,” Ira said.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s got it. He’s a rich Easterner, I got no doubts there. And I have a feeling that little lady we’re following has something of his that’s valuable, too. So let’s put up with the little fucker’s shit for a while longer. We’ll help him nab what she’s got, then make him give us that and anything else he has once we get to that bank.”

“You’re a conniving bastard, Bodine,” Ira said. “I like that.” Then he nodded toward the retreating riders. “Maybe we can tell Baker some stories about what happens to carpetbaggers in Indian Territory. Make it so he’s afraid to close his eyes and sleep.”

Bodine thought about that for a moment, then smiled. “If we can’t beat him to bloody death, scaring him to it is the next best thing, I reckon.”

* * * *
  

Amanda had never given any thought to how the Indians in Indian Territory lived. She’d resided in Richmond for her entire life, and while she’d heard stories of Indians going to war against settlers, innocents being attacked and scalped, she hadn’t fully believed them. She’d read about the forced expulsion of the Cherokee and other tribes from Georgia and the Carolinas as she’d looked into her father’s career. To her way of thinking, ousting people from their ancestral homes and forcing them to walk so far, on a trail where many had died, was far more savage than anything she’d ever heard of the Indians doing.

It never occurred to her the Cherokee would live on ranches, in houses, or that they would have towns and cities, too.

They approached a ranch house, a wooden structure that appeared large enough to house a substantial family. An older man and woman and three younger women stood on the verandah, looking, Amanda thought, rather stoic.

She’d not meant to sleep on the ride, but once she understood they’d been rescued, exhaustion had consumed her.

Warren lifted her down, holding her until she nodded. Her legs, having been given the two hour rest, seemed even stiffer than before.

Adam stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.

“This is my father, Chief Smith, and my mother, Ellen. My sisters, Mary, Willow, and Jane.” Peter stood between them and his family, indicating each member.

Ellen stepped forward. “Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you so much for having us,” Amanda said.

Peter’s father grunted, then looked at Adam. “You will be given horses to replace those stolen from you. Your saddles will be repaired and returned to you. Those responsible will be dealt with.”

Amanda wondered why Adam didn’t thank the man. And then she understood the Chief was ashamed of what had befallen them.

“We don’t hold you responsible, sir,” she said to him. She gave him her best smile. “And we are very grateful for your kindness.”

Chief Smith looked at her then, the first time he’d done so. “Women’s hearts are softer, and forgiving. This is how they have been made. I am a chief of the
Ani-Yun' wiya. My people. My responsibility.”

 
“You have walked far. Come, my daughters and I will tend to you.”

Adam squeezed her shoulder, a gesture that filled her with warmth and told her she was safe following Ellen. She supposed the men needed to huddle and come up with some sort of plan—the way men always needed to do. For the moment, Amanda was fine with that. She knew whatever they discussed, her lovers would tell her about it later.

The women led her around the back of the house. There, set off a small distance from the main building, stood two others, not far apart.

“Father built us a bath house like the one they have in Denison,” Willow said. “Mother thinks that soaking in hot water has many healing properties.”

“Hot springs are better,” the older woman said, “but this is good with the herbs I added.”

The small building felt warm and comfortable inside. The younger women undressed her, not making any comment about her man’s apparel. She sank into the large tub of hot water. Her legs reacted immediately, shooting pains from her feet to her back.

“It is the muscles relaxing,” Ellen said quietly. “The pain will soon pass.”

They offered her tea, a beverage made from flowers she found pleasant.

“It was wise of your men to see to it you drank plenty of water,” Ellen said. “We will have a feast tonight, after you have rested.”

Amanda laid her head back and let the water do its work, the scent from whatever herbs Ellen had added combining with the steam and the heat to relax her completely.

Just as the water began to cool, Ellen urged her out of the tub. The younger women dried her, then led her to a bench padded with soft cloths. They offered her no coverings, urging her to lie face down.

Hands began to work on her, a press and release, grip and caress, and Amanda felt herself in heaven. This must be the woman Adam spoke of. She could smell flowers, and the chill of a lotion on her skin told her Ellen—obviously a healer—applied her knowledge to working the pain and the knots from her body.

Painful at times, the massage soon had every muscle in her body relaxing. Soothed, at peace, Amanda felt herself drifting to sleep.

Sometime later she heard voices, then felt familiar arms lifting her. Amazing how, relaxed as she’d been, her comfort rose when his scent, his presence filled her.

“Adam.” She sighed his name and tried to fully awaken.

“Hush, baby. I’m carrying you to bed. Go back to sleep.”

Her eyes too heavy to open, Amanda decided his suggestion was an excellent idea. She snuggled into him and dropped off.

Chapter 18

The touch of her lovers’ hot flesh snuggled against hers awakened her. Amanda felt the curve of the smile spread on her face before she opened her eyes.

“Am I dreaming?”

Adam faced her, his naked body warming hers, his cock stiff and, for the moment, resting against her belly. Behind her, equally hot and hard, Warren’s cock nudged the crack of her ass. Dappled sunshine lit the room.

“No, not dreaming. Chief Smith has given us the use of this cabin for the next day or so. They keep it for when they host overnight guests,” Adam said.

“How long did I sleep?” It was hard for her to focus on conversation when what she wanted more than anything was to touch and kiss her lovers.

“Not long, only a couple of hours. Which is, coincidentally, about how long we have until our presence is required for dinner.” His words moistened the skin of her face as he kissed her cheek.

“Wonderful.” Lying in bed in the middle of the day with the heat and scent of two men pressed tight against her had to be
the
most wonderful experience.

“Mmm. Speaking of wonderful, that’s how you feel,” Warren said. “Wonderful, soft, and sweet.”

He ran his hand down her arm, his fingertips lightly stroking her nipple as they passed. He caressed her left leg, then drew it up and out so that it draped over his hip, opening her to their lover.

“Ellen rubbed some kind of cream on me.” She recalled Adam’s words from earlier on the trail, and she speared him with as menacing a look as she could manage under the circumstances. “Tell me she’s the ‘mother of a friend’ you meant and that you know how to do whatever she did to my back and legs with her hands.”

His answer was a smile so smug it fluttered her belly and made her wet between her thighs.

“You not only feel good, you smell good. Good enough to eat.” Warren’s voice vibrated in her ear, and that, combined with the way he rubbed his cock against her ass, made her arousal climb even higher.

She opened her mouth to demand more, but they took choice from her when they rolled her onto her back. Adam’s mouth came down on hers, warm, wet, and wanton. His tongue invaded, sliding and tasting with total command.

Warren moved, came up onto his knees, and began to kiss his way down her body.

Amanda groaned in sheer delight when she felt warm breath on her pussy. The deep stroke of Adam’s tongue, then Warren’s nuzzling of her woman flesh made her shudder and gasp.

Adam’s lips lifted from hers, and he turned his head so he could watch Warren. A smile played across his face, and Amanda knew it turned him on, watching their lover use his mouth on her.

Her eyes drifted shut as her hips rolled, pressing her cunny even closer to Warren’s talented lips and tongue.

“Feel good, sweetheart?” Adam’s question vibrated wetly against her puckered nipple.