Gunslinger (9 page)

“You wanted it as much as I did. The way you looked at me was…well, let’s just say no woman could have expressed her needs more thoroughly than you did by simply looking at me. I gave us what we both wanted.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to flush. “I…I must have lost my mind.”

“It certainly wasn’t your virginity you lost,” Desperado taunted, and could have bit his tongue afterward. He wasn’t being fair. But it rankled to think that Tate Talbot had been the first with Chloe.

Desperado wasn’t prepared for Chloe’s rage. She launched herself at him from her mare’s back. Not expecting the attack, Desperado fell backward to the ground, taking Chloe with him. They rolled on the ground as she pounded him with her fists. It was all Desperado could do to keep from hurting her as he defended himself as best he could. When she began to tire, he grasped her wrists and rolled her beneath him.

“Are you through?” he drawled.

She writhed beneath him, trying to escape, but his hard body gave not an inch. “You don’t know me at all. How dare you judge me?”

“You’re right,” Desperado agreed. “I have no right to judge you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s not good enough, Mr. Jones.”

“Will this do?” he asked as he covered her mouth with his.

He tasted the sweet puff of air that left her lungs and he deepened the kiss. She tried to keep her lips closed against his invading tongue, but he probed until her mouth grudgingly opened, allowing his tongue to sweep inside. He kissed her until he felt her body relax, until she arched against him and moaned. Until her arms came around his neck. He touched her intimately between her legs before he broke off the kiss.

“Now do you accept my apology?”

No longer driven mad by his warm mouth, hot kisses and talented hands, Chloe was finally able to think clearly again. What was she doing? She didn’t want a repeat of what had happened this morning. Nor did she want this treacherous half-breed anywhere near her. His kisses stole her mind and left her body aching with need. It was intolerable. No half-breed gunslinger was going to turn her life upside down.

“I accept your apology,” Chloe said before he had a chance to kiss her senseless again.

He grinned at her. She had the unaccountable urge to kiss the dimple in his cheek but restrained herself. “Now, where were we?” he asked.

“You were going to let me up. It’s time I returned to camp. No telling what Tate has planned, and I want to warn the drovers.”

“That’s not what I had in mind.” Desperado sighed as he rose slowly to his feet. So slowly Chloe knew he was reluctant to let her go. She scooted out from beneath him. When he moved to help her mount, she sprang up into her saddle before he could touch her. She didn’t know if she could resist his hands upon her again, in places where she still ached from his fevered caresses.

Touching her heels to her mount, she rode off. “Don’t bother to follow,” Chloe called over her shoulder. “I fired you, remember?”

The only thing Desperado remembered was how warm her sweetly curved body felt in his arms. And how arousing her kisses were. He wondered how long it would be before his erection subsided.

Desperado made himself scarce during the following days. But he wasn’t idle. Far from it. He rarely slept during the following days of the drive. Three times he’d stopped Tate and his friends from stampeding the herd. He patrolled at night, making the drovers aware of his presence while cautioning them not to tell Chloe about his activities on their behalf.

He watched Chloe like a hawk. When she rode out alone, he was right behind her. An expert tracker, he followed her everywhere. Twice he’d stopped Tate from accosting her. He still laughed when he recalled how frightened Tate’s friends were of him. They feared his gun, and with good reason. His reputation as a lightning draw was no exaggeration. He’d worked hard to make the world see him as a dangerous desperado with an itchy trigger finger.

It was the way things had to be, he tried to convince himself. He was a man with no past, no future, no place to call home. Then he’d met Chloe Sommers, the daughter of a woman he had every reason to despise, and suddenly he’d found a conscience. He hoped to hell he hadn’t found more than a conscience, for he didn’t know if he could handle a deeper emotion. He convinced himself that what he felt for Chloe was simply lust. Just looking at her made him hot and hard and primed to go off.

Thanks to Desperado’s intervention, the herd crossed the Kansas border and the Cimarron River without mishap. Another few days would see them in Dodge. One night he became careless and rode straight into Chloe when she came to check on the herd before retiring.

Chloe reined in sharply. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave.”

“No one tells Desperado Jones what to do.”

Just then Cory rode up to join them. “Something wrong, Miss Chloe?”

Chloe gritted her teeth in frustration. Obviously the drovers knew about Desperado and had chosen not to tell her. Even Rowdy had remained silent, and Rowdy didn’t like the gunslinger any more than she did. “How long has this traitor been riding with the herd?”

Cory shrugged. “I…don’t recall. Seems like he’s always here. If you don’t mind my saying, Miss Chloe, all us drovers appreciate having Desperado around. Even Rowdy thinks he’s a necessary evil.”

“I do mind your saying, Cory,” Chloe maintained. “This is my drive. You work for me. I fired Mr. Jones, he has no business being here.”

“Whatever you say, Miss Chloe,” Cory said. “We’re almost to Dodge anyway.”

“So we are,” Chloe snapped. “Go back to camp, I’ll take over for you here.”

Cory didn’t argue as he turned his horse and rode back to camp, leaving Chloe and Desperado alone but for two drovers patrolling the outer perimeter of the herd.

Chloe turned back to confront Desperado, her green eyes blazing furiously. “What do I have to do to get rid of you, Mr. Jones?”

“Nothing, I reckon. Once my mind is made up, nothing is going to change it. I intend to protect you, Chloe, whether you like it or not.”

Chloe went still. “Why?”

“Damned if I know. Maybe I feel guilty about deceiving you.”

Chloe gave a shout of laughter. “Who are you trying to kid? You don’t have a guilty bone in your body. And I doubt you ever had a conscience. You had your fun, now get out of here.”

“I don’t think so.”

Her gun was out of the holster before Desperado had a chance to react. He grinned at her. “You’re fast for a woman.”

Chloe caught her breath. That dimple was distracting as hell. She looked elsewhere. “If I ever see you within shouting distance of me, my men, or my herd, I’m going to shoot to kill.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Desperado rasped.

“Deadly serious. Now turn around and ride.”

Desperado made as if to wheel his mustang away from her. He surprised her instead by bringing his horse beside hers. Fast as a whip, he reached out, twisted her gun from her hand and shoved it back in her holster. Then he pulled her head forward and kissed her. Hard. Full on the lips. A stunningly tempestuous kiss meant to remind her, she was sure, of the passion they had once shared.

Desperado left the trail drive after that last confrontation with Chloe, but he didn’t go far. Dodge lay but two days away and he didn’t dare relax his vigilance now. Once he was certain the herd was safe from Talbot’s machinations and Chloe’s land was secure, he intended to ride as far away from Trouble Creek as he could get.

Desperado trailed Tate Talbot and his friends throughout the remaining days of the drive. He made sure he was seen from time to time so that the trio knew they were being followed. Cowards that they were, he doubted they’d do anything more to sabotage the drive as long as they knew Desperado Jones was watching them.

When Talbot and his friends rode into Dodge hours ahead of the herd, Desperado was close behind. He didn’t relax his guard until they took rooms at the hotel. Only then did he follow their example and engage a room for himself. In the several hours before the herd reached town, Desperado got a haircut, soaked in a hot tub and bought himself the biggest steak the Dodge House had to offer.

He was standing in front of the Longbranch Saloon, smoking a long black cigar, when Chloe and her drovers herded the cattle down the main street to the holding pens near the railroad. When Chloe happened to glance in his direction, he tipped his hat and smiled. He laughed when she lifted her chin and looked through him.

Later that day Desperado watched from a distance as Chloe’s herd was auctioned to the highest bidder. Beef was at a premium back East, and she received the unheard-of price of thirteen dollars a head. The buyer paid her in cash, and Desperado felt a glimmer of admiration for the plucky wildcat. Now that she had more than enough money to pay her taxes, Desperado considered leaving the next day for parts unknown. It wasn’t healthy for him to stick around in one place too long.

After the auction, Desperado saw Chloe enter the hotel and take a room. He wondered how long she would stay in Dodge, then chided himself for caring. He’d thought he’d lost the ability to care when he’d lost his conscience. Obviously he hadn’t, for something deep and disturbing stirred inside him when he thought of riding away and never seeing Chloe again. Having no patience for maudlin sentiments, Desperado pulled his hat down over his forehead and walked away.

At loose ends after a late supper that night, Desperado felt restless and decided to visit the Longbranch Saloon and maybe sample one of the local women. At this point he was willing to try anything to banish thoughts of Chloe from his mind. He strode through the swinging doors and saw Tate and his friends standing at the bar, drinking and talking with a man he recognized as the day clerk at the hotel. They were so engrossed in their conversation they failed to see Desperado slide out a chair and sit down at a table close to the bar. Desperado watched with growing rage as the clerk accepted money from Tate and handed him a key. Then he heard Tate say, “Keep your mouth shut about this. I’m going to surprise my girlfriend and I don’t want anyone to know.”

Chloe.

Unwinding his long, lean length from the chair, Desperado hurried after Tate, his face set in hard lines. Outside the saloon, Tate had disappeared. He couldn’t have had too great a head start but he had a key and room number, which Desperado didn’t. He stormed into the hotel, startling the night clerk and two men checking in. He must have appeared menacing to them for the two men immediately made for the door and the clerk backed up against the wall, away from Desperado.

“C-c-can I help you, sir? Did you lose your key?”

“Quick!” Desperado rasped, “I need Miss Sommers’ room number.”

“I’m sorry, sir, rules, you know. We aren’t allowed to—”

Desperado reached across the counter and dragged the quaking clerk forward until they were nose to nose. “I don’t give a shit about rules. Do you know who I am?”

The clerk shook his head, unable to speak beyond a squeak.

“My name is Desperado Jones. Ever hear of me?”

“Y-y-yes, sir,” he stammered. “Who hasn’t? You’ll find Miss Sommers in room 215. Second floor, on the right.”

Desperado released the clerk so fast the poor man hit the floor with a thud. Seconds later Desperado was bounding up the narrow staircase to the second floor, thinking he must be either crazy in the head or under the spell of the full moon.

Chloe had gone directly up to her room after placing her money in the hotel safe. She’d seen both Tate and Desperado in town and was taking no chances. That money was her assurance that she would keep the land she’d grown to love. She owed it to Ted Ralston to fight for the ranch he’d built. Then she’d ordered a bath and dinner and gone to bed, falling asleep immediately.

She slept so soundly she didn’t hear the key she’d left in the door fall to the floor, or the scraping of a second key turning in the lock. Or the click of a door opening and closing. She was aware of nothing until she felt a heavy body smelling strongly of sweat and alcohol fall upon her.

She opened her mouth to scream.

Immediately a hand covered her mouth.

“Don’t fight it, baby. This time Desperado ain’t around to interfere. Spread those white thighs for me, I can’t wait to push myself inside you. It’ll be like old times.”

He removed his hand to kiss her, and Chloe promptly bit his lower lip, drawing blood. He cursed and slapped her hard. “Bitch! Lie still. I’ll show you what a real man is like. I’m a better man than Desperado Jones any day.”

He shoved her nightdress up past her knees and slid between her legs. She kicked him and he slapped her again. “You’re forcing me to hurt you.”

“I’ll kill you,” Chloe warned.

The scrape of an opening door caught Chloe’s attention as a sliver of light spilled into the room and a low, angry hiss pierced the silence. “Not if I kill him first! Get away from her, Talbot.”

Desperado’s menacing form was silhouetted in the open doorway, feet planted wide apart, fists clenched at his sides.

Tate reared up, finally realizing they weren’t alone. “This is none of your business, Jones,” he grated as he wiped blood from his lip.

“I’m making it my business. Move away from Chloe. I’m not going to use my guns on you. I’ll give you a sporting chance. Then I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

Chapter Eight

Chloe turned her face to the wall, listening to the sound of Desperado’s fists thudding into Tate’s body. Not that Tate didn’t deserve everything Desperado dished out. Tate Talbot was an animal without a redeeming bone in his body. Rape was an ugly act, yet that was exactly what Tate had done to her. And tonight he’d tried to do it again. He seemed to think she belonged to him and whatever he did was all right.

She heard Tate cursing, heard him whimpering, heard him begging, and it did her heart good. Had she the strength, she would have beaten him herself. The knowledge that Tate didn’t stand a chance against a man like Desperado brought a smile to her lips. Her smile died when she heard the door slam and the key turn in the lock. She dared a glance over her shoulder and saw Desperado strike a match to the lamp. When the light flared, he turned to regard her. His face remained half in shadows but she could tell by his rigid stance that he was angry. His jaw was clenched so tightly she thought it a miracle his teeth didn’t crack.

His voice grated harshly in the charged silence. “You can turn around now. I tossed the bastard out on his ass. It will take a while for his friends to pick up the pieces.”

“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Though she hated Tate, she didn’t want his death on her conscience.

“He’ll live.” He searched her face, his expression grim. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “A little. Not badly. How did he get in? How did you know you’d find him in my room?”

“I saw Talbot in the Longbranch with the day clerk from the hotel. When the clerk exchanged a key for Talbot’s money, I put two and two together and realized Talbot intended to pay you an unscheduled visit. I hope I didn’t interrupt something you and your former lover had planned.”

“Damn you, Desperado Jones! You know how I feel about the Talbots. And Tate is the worst of them. If you call him my former lover again, I’ll make you sorry. And don’t think I can’t do it!”

“Women have needs, just like men,” he said bluntly. “It’s your choice of lovers I’m questioning.”

“Tate Talbot was never my lover!” she spat from between clenched teeth.

Desperado shrugged. “He said…Well, hell, you weren’t a virgin and I just assumed—”

“Why do men always jump to conclusions?” Chloe blasted. “Do they value a woman’s virginity more than they value the woman herself?”

Desperado appeared to mull over that question before answering. “I reckon most men do. I have no room to talk. I’m no angel myself. If you wanted Tate Talbot…” His words trailed off, as if completing his sentence was painful.

Chloe shuddered at the memory of that terrible night she’d lost her virginity. “I thank God I found out what Tate was like before I agreed to marry him.”

She touched his arm. “You showed me the difference between loving and the obscenity Tate forced upon me.”

Desperado looked confused. “Forced? He wasn’t your lover?” The look on his face was so fierce she felt an unaccountable urge to run, though she knew his fury wasn’t directed at her. “Tell me what happened,” he said quietly, too quietly.

Chloe shook her head and looked away, plucking nervously at the blanket. “I…can’t. I don’t want to think about it.”

Desperado perched on the bed beside her and lifted her chin. “Tate Talbot hurt you, didn’t he?”

Rage built inside her. Rage she’d buried deep within her for too long. She’d told no one about her humiliation after it had happened. But she’d changed after that. She had quietly gone about making certain she’d never be taken advantage of again. Now the horror of that night returned, bringing with it all the pent-up resentment and emotions she’d kept under strict control for the last two years. The hurt had been a part of her too long, and suddenly she felt as if she’d been offered a chance to unburden herself.

She dragged in a sustaining breath and whispered the words she’d never breathed to a living soul. “Tate Talbot raped me. He was courting me at the time. Mama encouraged me to accept his proposal. She thought him a perfect man for me.”

Desperado said nothing; he didn’t need to. His fathomless black eyes spoke eloquently of his rage.

She closed her eyes, her mind wandering back to that dreadful night. She winced as if in pain but somehow managed to continue. “Tate took me to a dance in town one night. He’d had too much to drink but I never thought he’d—” She swallowed with difficulty. “He wanted me to…to make love with him. I said no. He insisted. I got angry and told him I never wanted to see him again. Tate Talbot is an ugly drunk. He stopped the carriage, threw me to the ground and…r…raped me. I was an innocent.”

She turned her face away, unable to look Desperado in the eye. “I wanted to die.” Did he believe her? Or did he still think Tate had been her lover? She didn’t know why, but it mattered that he believe her. “Somehow I found the courage to go on. I never told anyone. Afterward I learned how to defend myself against scum like Tate Talbot. No man has ever gotten close to me again. Until you.”

Grasping her chin between thumb and forefinger, Desperado lifted her face to his. She raised her eyes and saw something she’d never seen there before. Compassion. Regret. And something that mystified her.

“You’ve told me enough,” he rasped. The words sounded as if they had come from the deepest depths of his soul. “I’ve done a lot of rotten things in my life but I’ve never raped a woman.” He rose abruptly. “Get some sleep.”

“Where are you going?” Had her confession disgusted him?

“To finish what I started with Tate Talbot.”

He was going to kill Tate! Chloe thought, seized by a terrible fear. He could end up in jail, or dead at the hands of Tate’s friends, and she didn’t want that for him.

She wanted…“Don’t go!”

He turned back to her. His face was set in harsh lines and his dark eyes promised terrible retribution to the man who had caused her suffering. Never had she seen a man more bent on mayhem than Desperado Jones. She wasn’t even sure he’d heard her until he enunciated very slowly, “You don’t want me to go?”

“Please,” she heard herself saying. “I don’t want you to leave.” She remembered what had almost happened in this room tonight, and there was no pretense in her shudder of revulsion. “I need you. Stay with me.”

He looked overwhelmed, and more than a little wary. “Do you know what you’re asking me?”

“I know exactly what I’m asking. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

A subtle change came over his harsh features. The corners of his mouth kicked up into a crooked smile and his eyes seemed to glow from within. “If I stay with you in this room tonight, I want you to know exactly what will happen,” he rasped. “I’m going to climb into that bed with you and love you in all the ways possible for a man to love a woman. What we’re going to have if I stay is primitive, basic sex. We’re going to get hot and sweaty, and it will be so good you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven. I’m going to make you want it as badly as I do. What we do
won
’
t
be rape. Now,” he said, his voice so low she could barely hear him, “ask me again.”

Chloe swallowed past the lump in her throat as she vividly recalled the morning Desperado had made love to her. She’d never known such pleasure existed until Desperado had shown her how wonderfully fulfilling sex could be between a man and a woman.

She took so long to answer, Desperado must have thought she’d changed her mind for he turned abruptly and walked toward the door. His jangling spurs roused her from her reverie and she cried out his name.

“Don’t go! Stay with me. Love me.”

His answer was a long, drawn-out groan. She heard the key turn in the lock and then he was standing beside the bed, his gaze hot and hungry as he shed his gunbelt and shrugged out of his shirt and vest. Chloe felt the bed dip as he sat down to remove his boots and pants. When he was naked he reached over to turn down the lamp.

“No! I want to see all of you. Stand up.”

“Chloe…” His voice was taut with warning as his body reacted violently to her words. But he obeyed despite his misgivings.

Chloe dragged in a startled breath as she stared at his rigid sex. Without volition her fingers closed around his erection. She watched him closely as she stroked him, her eyes widening as he grew even larger and harder. His tormented groan gave hint of the turbulence that lay just beneath the surface, and she reluctantly released him. Her gaze slid down his strong, muscular legs, then back up to his massive chest and shoulders, carefully avoiding his sex this time. His skin was the color of warm honey and she wanted to touch him all over. She noticed a small bag attached to a string around his neck and curiosity made her ask, “What’s in that bag around your neck? I’ve noticed it before.”

Desperado touched the rawhide pouch. “It’s my medicine bag. It carries my good fortune and small mementos of my life. It was given to me by my Indian grandfather. I only saw him once, and he wanted me to have it so I wouldn’t forget him.”

“I see,” Chloe said, too engrossed in other parts of his anatomy to waste time wondering about the medicine bag. “Turn around.”

“Chloe…” His voice shook from the restraint he was imposing upon himself.

When she touched the velvet smooth roundness of his buttocks he jerked as if gut shot. He turned abruptly, his night-dark eyes savage bright with implied violence. And something else. Promise. “No more!” he growled as he flung himself down on the bed beside her.

The breath slammed from her chest as he dragged her against him and covered her mouth with his. It was as if she had unleashed a sleeping beast within him as his mouth moved sensuously over hers, driving all thought from her mind but for this moment, this man, and the longing deep within her that only he could assuage.

A cry of protest escaped her throat when the warmth of his lips left hers, but the cry turned into a purr of pleasure when his lips slid over her cheek, tracing a burning path down her neck to her breast. When he found his way barred by her shift, he ripped it down the middle and shoved it aside. He did nothing for a long moment but look at her breasts.

“They’re beautiful,” he said, cupping a full, rose-tipped mound in his hand. “A perfect fit for my hand.” He bent his head and licked a puckered nipple with his tongue. Then he drew the rosy bud into his mouth and sucked upon it. When the tip grew hard he abandoned it for the other tasty morsel, and Chloe got a glimpse of what torture was like.

“Now, please,” she gasped, letting her legs fall apart in blatant invitation.

“Not yet,” Desperado growled as he tore away the remnants of her shift and tossed them on the floor. Then he returned his attention to her mouth, pressing hot, humid kisses against her open lips, driving his tongue in then out just as his loins jerked against hers in imitation of the sex act.

Her breath came in jagged gasps. She wanted him inside her so badly she felt she would die if he didn’t end this soon. She groaned in frustration and grasped his hair when his mouth left hers and started a slow descent down her trembling body.

“Damn you! What are you doing to me?”

He kissed her navel and grinned up at her. “Giving you what we both want, honey. I swear you won’t be sorry. Now let loose of my hair and lie back so I can love you.”

Short on patience and aroused beyond human endurance, Chloe tried to pull him inside her. Laughing, he grasped her legs and spread them wide. Then he lowered his head and touched her heated center with his tongue. Briefly. She gave a muted shriek and tried to close her legs.

He laughed again, raised her hips up to his mouth and buried his face in the sweet scent of her arousal. He licked at her, sucked at her. She went wild beneath him; never in her wildest dreams did she think such wickedness existed. But what wonderful, glorious wickedness! She felt wet pleasure flowing from her and should have been embarrassed, but Desperado seemed unconcerned as he lapped up the liquid essence of her desire with obvious relish. Then his tongue slid inside her, deep, sending her to oblivion. She cried out and undulated beneath him, unable to contain the overwhelming sensations roiling through her.

“Desperado! I can’t…Please. It’s too much.”

Desperado didn’t answer. Didn’t even lift his head as his mouth and tongue pushed her over the edge. Lights flashed before her closed eyes as her body flew upward to touch the stars.

Desperado gazed rapturously into Chloe’s passion-glazed face as she slowly tumbled back to reality. His distended sex throbbed with the need to thrust into that warm, wet place he so desperately craved, but he deliberately denied himself his own pleasure until Chloe was fully aware of what he was doing. He wanted to take her to paradise again, but with her full knowledge of what was happening.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she raised her hand to her head, as if confused by what had just happened. She released a shaky breath. “I…I thought I died and went to heaven.”

“I told you so,” he rasped smugly. “Did you like that?”

“It was terribly wicked.”

“Not when it brings us both pleasure. I’m going to come inside you now, Chloe. Are you ready for me?”

He touched her between her legs and felt her trembling response. “You’re more than ready,” he said in a voice harsh with need. “Damnation, I’m going to die if I have to wait much longer. Shall I arouse you again, honey?” He didn’t know how he’d survive if she said yes but he’d give it a damn good shot.

“Come inside me now, Desperado.”

Her words unleashed a powerful force inside him. Before she could change her mind, he flexed his hips and pierced her cleanly, thrusting himself into the sweetest, tightest, hottest place he’d ever had the pleasure to visit. He grasped her buttocks and pounded into her; his eyes were narrowed and his face was rigid with concentration as he thrust and withdrew, again and again, wringing moans from her that set him aflame.

He felt her nails digging into his shoulders and welcomed the sting, secure in the knowledge that he was giving her the same kind of pleasure he was receiving. Her wordless cries made his heart feel newborn, bringing a dimension to his life that had been lacking before Chloe Sommers strutted into it. He felt needy and uncertain, but happier than he could ever recall.