Three Men and a Bounty (10 page)

He’d licked his injuries, literally, and survived to see another day.

He’d moved on.

Had he not been so eager to bury his past and forget the old miner, Josiah Maynard, he never would have fallen in with the Baird gang.

Troy had been blinded by pain and the loss of what could have been.

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And Jack had come along at just the right time, preying on Troy’s loneliness and pain like the predator he was.

Troy understood all that now, but back then, no one could tell him that Jack didn’t like him just for him, that Jack had less-than-honorable intentions.

He didn’t want to be that man to Chris and knew that if he forced himself into the middle of what was going on with the kid and the marshal, he could be seen as the bad guy.

Normally, Troy would have gone out for a run, let his wolf out to take off the edge, but he’d already done that and it hadn’t helped. It had only made things worse.

He needed to be patient and bide his time.

They would come to him.

The wolf inside felt it, and the wolf had never led him astray when he bothered to listen.

* * * *

The boy jerked awake in his arms, screaming about a wolf coming to get him.

James clamped a hand over Chris’ mouth as gently as possible and whispered soothingly in his ear. He brushed a loose tendril of hair behind the boy’s ear and kissed his temple.

“I won’t let the wolf get you. You’re safe here. Shh.”

Had Chris seen the same wolf in his sleep that James had met out at the lake?

James shook his head at the impossibility, still not sure himself about what had happened to him at the lake. Still not sure he had seen the wolf at all.

He pulled Chris closer, holding him tight until his trembling slowed before finally stopping. He loosened his grasp to let the boy turn in his arms and face him.

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A pair of startlingly blue eyes stared up at him, blinking as the boy appeared to get his bearings.

James watched him lick his lips, and his critter jerked below, instantly awake. He cleared his throat before saying, “Troy is probably worried about you.”

“I know. I need to get back to Barrow’s today. I feel like I’ve taken advantage of Troy’s kindness already, especially in not coming back to help out at the bar.”

“I’m sure he’ll make out okay.” Business-wise, anyway, James thought. Emotionally, he wasn’t so sure how Troy made out. He knew if Chris belonged to him, he’d be a mite upset if he just up and disappeared, even if it was on the pretense of a goodwill
mission.

“I’ll escort you back to Wolf Creek so he’ll know you made out okay.”

“Would you?”

“If you want me to.”

“I do.”

James frowned at the young’un’s eagerness. He wondered what he had up his sleeve.

He didn’t seem to have any reservations about James and Troy being in the same space together, but then why should he? It wasn’t like he betrayed a spouse being with James. Maybe in his heart he felt like he
had
cheated, at least on Troy’s kindness.

Did he prefer Troy over James? Had he been with Troy already to even know the differences between the two men?

James doubted it. He couldn’t see the bar owner letting the boy out of his sight for so long so soon after they had been together. He knew he wouldn’t, which proved why he wanted to accompany the boy back to town.

If he wanted to be honest with himself, he had to admit a mite curiosity on his part, too—curiosity and
hunger
.

He wanted to see Troy again. He wanted to see if the feeling that had shot through him the other night at the bar when he’d laid his
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gaze on the saloon owner proved as strong now as it had then. He wanted to know if his feelings proved mutual.

Not that any feelings for Troy diminished what he felt for Chris, even though he wasn’t exactly sure what feelings he felt—not yet.

James bent his head and kissed Chris’ upturned nose. “We’d better get to going, then.”

Chris laughed and pulled himself out of James’ grip to get out of bed.

James leaned up on his elbow, chin cupped in the palm of his hand as he watched the boy walk across the room to retrieve his clothes.

Naked, the young’un took away James’ breath the same way those wide blue eyes and honey-blond hair did. Slight, at about five-foot-nine, several inches shorter than James’ own six-foot-three, and at least fifty pounds lighter, Chris nonetheless proved to be made of sturdy stuff. His lean muscles stretched taut under his smooth, tawny skin flexed and rippled as he bent over to pull on his long johns.

James knew that Chris was aware of his scrutiny when the little firebrand wiggled his hips in such a way that made James’ mouth water as he watched the way the material clung to the boy’s round, tight rump. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard at the memory of how he had pounded inside that hot rear end last night and into the wee hours of the morning, how the warm squeeze of Chris’ inner muscles had felt around his hard shaft. The young’un had been so willing last night and showed no signs of embarrassment this morning.

“Enjoying yourself?” James blurted.

Chris turned to him with an encouraging, lopsided grin lighting his face. “Are you?”

“Not as much as I’d like to.” James pulled back the covers and patted the mattress beside him, trying to ignore the bruises covering Chris’ ribs. Asking him what had happened rested on the tip of his
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tongue, but he couldn’t summon the words, saying instead, “We’ve got a little time before we have to be on our way.”

Chris’ eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

He looked so unsure of himself all of a sudden, as if he expected James wanted to throw him out rather than cuddle.

Is that what usually happened to him? James wouldn’t be surprised. Young kid like him, so open and honest. He was just the perfect candidate for being taken advantage of and hurt by the wrong people.

Besides the one or ones responsible for putting the bruises on him, how many wrong people had Chris come across in his short years, and had they totally ruined him for a relationship with anyone, much less him and Troy? Odd, how he instinctively thought of the three of them together, as if they were all meant to be, as if they had all discussed what lived between them and already agreed on what to do about it.

James wondered if the situation would be more workable if Chris and Troy were female. Would it be any more acceptable for him to have designs on a relationship with two women instead of the two men he found himself so attracted to?

He knew the answer intrinsically. What he was thinking about nurturing, even with one man, would be frowned upon by everyone he knew. They were ideas and desires that could get a man killed, especially himself, with his two crosses to bear—respect and position notwithstanding.

When Chris crawled back into the bed beside him, wrapping his arms around James to cuddle close, James’ throat clogged, and all thoughts of repercussions flew out the window.

He knew he would do whatever it took to be with Chris and Troy, too, if the saloon owner proved willing to take a chance. He knew there was something there, something he wanted to explore with both men.

For the first time in his life, James didn’t want to worry about what others might think or how his behavior would affect his
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reputation. For once, he had serious ideas about settling down with someone, maybe two someones, and balancing his profession with a personal life.

He felt as excited at the thought of flouting authority and tradition and going after what he wanted as he did at the prospect of a good fugitive hunt. He knew the feeling would be ten times better when he got his man this time than it ever had before.

James gingerly returned Chris’ hug for fear of hurting the boy’s ribs, instantly regretting how rough he’d been the night before, even if Chris hadn’t complained. Several times he had come close last night to asking the young’un what had happened to him, but he had kept his pie-hole shut for fear of ruining the moment. He didn’t want to cause the boy anymore discomfort than he already experienced.

Coward.

Ignoring the self-castigations, James placed his lips over the Chris’, holding back as much as he could. The kiss proved leisurely at first before James wanted more and pushed his tongue past Chris’

parted lips into his willing mouth.

They attacked each other hungrily. James’ hands buried in Chris’

honey-blond locks before trailing down his body until he reached the young’un’s nipples. He caressed a swollen, tight little nub with his thumb, instinctively circling the nipple and skin around it until Chris groaned into his mouth and pressed against him.

Chris rubbed his erection on James, and the friction he produced near ’bout sent James through the roof. Before he could flip Chris onto his back, though, Chris tumbled James onto his back and climbed on top of him.

“Bossy little thing, aren’t you?”

“I wanna taste you.”

James arched a brow, hiding his pleasure behind his tough lawman’s façade. “Have at it, young’un.”

“Chris. Call me Chris.” He delivered the words with much more confidence than he had before, and James grinned.

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He reached out to touch Chris’ hair, habitually pushing a loose strand behind the boy’s ear and cupping the base of his skull. James closed his eyes as he caressed the downy hair at the nape of Chris’

neck. “I reckon I could play with your hair all day.”

“I reckon I’d let you.”

James grinned again, bringing his free hand up to join the other in Chris’ hair. He gently fisted the locks and drew Chris in for a hard kiss. He released Chris and pulled away after an endless moment.

“I’m wanting to feel your mouth on my cock now,” James rasped and watched as Chris’ pupils dilated before he closed his own eyes.

He heard the young’un’s breath hitch in his chest, too. From his reactions, he knew that Chris liked him giving orders as long as it was for something he wanted to do anyway. James sensed the boy’s tough backbone and thought if Chris really objected he would say so.

Good. He didn’t want a doormat. And he already knew he wouldn’t get one in Troy, either.

James’ eyes popped open, and he gasped when Chris licked the head of his penis. The rascal had slid down his body when James wasn’t looking.

“Wait.” He quickly reached for the wash cloth in the basin of water beside the bed and squeezed some of the water out before handing it to Chris.

Chris smiled, his movements almost reverent as he washed James’

shaft from root and balls to tip before replacing the wash cloth in the basin.

James’ hands automatically went to Chris’ head again to guide him. Not that the boy needed much guidance. His lips wrapped around James’ freshly cleaned erection as if he had done it a thousand times before and knew exactly how James liked to be sucked. He circled the smooth head, licking the liquid from the slit of James’

penis before he swallowed him whole.

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James stiffened, caught in the grip of powerful lust as Chris moved his mouth up and down his shaft. Chris simultaneously pumped it with his hand while he sucked.

James palmed the back of Chris’ head. “God, boy…don’t stop.”

Chris did stop, but only long enough to lick James’ balls before he pulled the full weight of each testicle into his mouth and sucked until James growled deep in his throat.

“Want you. Want you now.”

Chris quickly moved back to James’ shaft, and by the time his lips reached the base, James proved ready to explode. Seconds later, he released in the cavern of Chris’ welcoming mouth, his member throbbing and pulsing as Chris sucked him off.

When James finally opened his eyes several moments later, it was to the alarming sight of Chris’ solemn face. He didn’t look like a man who had entirely enjoyed his experience, but his next words explained some of his expression.

“I missed the wolf,” Chris whispered.

James heard the wonder in his voice, as if the boy was shocked by his own words. “I did, too.” Maybe it was just wishful thinking on his part, but James had a feeling the animal wasn’t too far away even if they hadn’t heard him.

His gut instincts, which had never steered him wrong before, told him that they would be seeing the wolf, and very soon.

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Troy felt the two men long before he heard their horses gallop to a stop outside. His beast had sensed them before they entered the town proper—and another figure shadowing them at a far enough distance that the two men weren’t aware. His beast proved aware and recognized the figure on a level bone-deep.

Had Cain decided to make his move and come out of the shadows to finally avenge Jack? Had he been the presence in the woods that Troy felt the other evening after he’d left James?

Troy stood still, stopped rubbing his rag over the bar top, and imagined the two men outside tying off their horses to the hitching post. He inhaled and caught their road-influenced pine scents before the doors swung open and they entered the saloon.

Troy’s eyes flew open as Chris crossed the floor toward the bar, looking so small, vulnerable, and young walking next to the colored marshal flanking him. He caught his breath at the sight of them. He had forgotten how striking each man was in his own way.

Where Chris demonstrated light and sunshine and innocence, James demonstrated raw experience and power, dark desires and secrets. They were the flip side of a coin that Troy wanted to put in his pocket, keep next to him and never spend, just own forever.

Schooling his features, he cleared his throat as the men moseyed on up to the bar. Troy found it hard to maintain his poker face when Chris leaned his elbows on the bar. Temptation made him lean forward to meet the kid halfway, and only the most monumental effort made him stop before he kissed Chris. As it stood, they looked like they were in the midst of a private confab, foreheads almost
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