Double Chance Claim [Badlands 3] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (16 page)

“Forget it. It’s way too late for that. I only wanted to do that to get in here. I’m in here now. But instead of having to watch my back or wonder what heroic thing you’re about to try, I’ll just point my gun at Miss Maggie and we’ll see how hard you try to keep her head on her shoulders.”

Sadie nodded once at Ronald, and he disappeared down the hallway leading to his bedroom and, more importantly, Maggie. Sadie pushed the shotgun barrel harder into his chest. Wyatt closed his eyes. He didn’t want to die. Today had been perfect up until this surprising threat. He knew he’d let Sadie do whatever she wanted. He wouldn’t risk Maggie’s life for any amount of money.

“Ronald,” Sadie yelled over one shoulder. “Bring her out here.”

Wyatt gritted his teeth until he thought they might crack in his mouth. Ronald came back alone. He shrugged. “There’s no one in the back room.”

“How very interesting.” Sadie turned and smiled. “Now where could she have gotten to do you suppose?”

Wyatt smiled for the first time since being rudely interrupted from his honeymoon. Maggie must have heard what was going on and escaped. Hopefully, she’d run to get the sheriff. “I don’t know what you mean. Can’t a man take a day off without every nosy busybody in town trying to discover why? Maybe I just wanted to sleep.” Apparently, Sadie hadn’t seen his note on the front door as to why the bar was closed.

A clatter came from the direction of the back door, and Maggie’s very angry voice drifted down the hall and into the saloon.
Double damn.

Wearing only her shift and a thin robe, Maggie was shoved into the room by unseen hands—hands that, once Wyatt got a hold of them, might be wrenched off at the wrists for daring to touch her.

Maggie’s irate gaze found his eyes and turned apologetic. She mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Through the door strolled a familiar figure. He held a small pistol and a large sneer encompassed his face.

Sadie laughed out loud. “Percy, where did you find our wayward girl?”

The thin, sour man who clerked at the hotel had a self-satisfied smirk on his face that Wyatt wanted to remove with his fists.

“She was running down the street in her under things like a whore. When I stopped her, she said you were robbing the saloon. She was headed for the sheriff’s office, but I figured we could make another
arrangement
if I brought her back here to you.”

“Thank you for returning her, Percy. I’ll have a big reward for you once we find the money.”

“No. I want half.”

“Half of what?” Sadie frowned. The pressure from the barrel’s end eased against Wyatt’s skin a fraction of an inch. As much as he wanted to find an opportunity to snap the gun out of Sadie’s fingers, he didn’t want to risk any gunfire. He checked Maggie and gave her a once over. Her open robe exposed her chemise, and he noticed for the first time that she was also barefoot.

Percy sent Sadie a calculated smile. “I want half of the money you find in here.”

“What if I don’t want to give you half? It’s
my
money.”

The hotel clerk lifted his chin defiantly, and Sadie quickly added, “What if I gave you a nice reward for helping out. I could also arrange for one of my girls to make regular visits to your room.”

Percy pulled another gun from behind his back. This one was much larger. He pointed it at Sadie, but kept his small derringer trained on Maggie. “I don’t want a
nice
reward or regular visits from a whore. I want half of the money. Or else I’ll shoot you and Ronald and set the other two free.”

Sadie shut her eyes tightly for a count of three before opening them with renewed anger. “Fine. I’ll give you half.”

Wyatt didn’t believe
that
for a second. She’d crossed whatever point of no return already calculated into this brazen burglary plan. Percy’s presence added the potential for stray bullets. Wyatt tried to reason through a scenario where he and Maggie escaped without holes riddling their bodies from the quick tempers in the room.

“Sadie, let Maggie and me go. You can search the saloon to your heart’s content. It’s not worth the price of our lives.”

“Bullshit. You’ll go straight to the sheriff.”

Percy piped up. “The sheriff left town a couple of hours ago headed up north. The deputy said he was after a horse thief.”

Unbelievable. Wyatt, suddenly distracted by the notion that the sheriff might find out about Wade, figured he had endured enough. It was time to get out of here.

“Percy, she’s going to shoot you in the heart the second she gets a chance.”

“That’s not true.” Sadie poked him in the chest again harder. It was all he could do not to grab her shotgun and snap it in half over his knee. “Ronald, get some rope from the back room. We’ll tie them up and then the three of us can search.”

Ronald complied and disappeared once again down the long hallway leading to the back of the saloon.

“And while we wait, why don’t you lower your gun, Percy?”

He nodded and swung the big pistol around to point at Maggie. The small derringer disappeared in his pocket.

“Ronald,” Sadie screeched, “what’s taking you so long? Hurry up.”

No sound came from the direction Ronald had gone. All of them turned toward the hallway entrance and watched.

The grandfather clock chiming and startled Sadie enough that Wyatt decided—do or die—to make his move. He grabbed the stock with both hands, tilted the gun upward from his chest, and shoved Sadie backward. She clung to the weapon even as she swayed off balance. She wrenched the gun sideways, pointed it toward the stairway wall and pulled the trigger. The resulting discharge reverberated up his arms, and the blast of buckshot hit the grandfather clock. With its face splintered, the clock stopped in mid-chime on its third bong, never reaching the fourth one, and glass sprayed the floor.

Sadie lost her balance, fell backward against a table and chairs, and got tangled up in the furniture. Wyatt quickly shouldered the rifle and turned toward Percy. His gun no longer pointed at Maggie, a familiar shape entered the room and placed his gun at the back of Percy’s head.

Wade.

With a flick of his wrist, Percy’s gun sailed to the floor. Wyatt twisted and pointed the rifle in his hands back at the instigator of this whole situation, Sadie

“I see you’ve done some redecorating since I left this morning,” Maggie flew into Wade’s arms. He kissed her forehead and released her as Sheriff Vanguard, Deputy Cross, and Joe Stanton appeared right behind him.

“Hi, Wyatt,” Joe said. He turned to Wade and squinted his eyes with amusement. “I didn’t want to interfere in your business, but I saw Maggie in her night clothes running down the street before this fool,” Joe punched Percy’s shoulder, “stopped her, pulled a gun, and pushed her toward the saloon again. I figured something wasn’t right so I went to the sheriff right away.”

“Thanks, Joe,” Wade said.

Joe nodded and smiled. His gaze went to Wyatt, but he only grinned wider.

Sadie sat up, tossed a chair off of her lap and into the dilapidated grandfather clock, breaking the rest of the glass front. “I always hated that stupid grandfather clock.”

She twisted around and noticed Wade for the first time. Her gaze went from Wade to Wyatt and back again. “So there
are
two of you? I thought Ronald was daft.”

“Vanguard, I’d like to report a couple of intruders in my bar.” Wyatt motioned for Sadie to get up.

“Sheriff, there has been a grave misunderstanding here.”

“Save your breath, Sadie I don’t particularly trust you right this moment, and speaking of graves, Wade and I just found one up north and investigated it. We dug it up and guess what we found?”

The blood drained out of Sadie’s face, giving her a gray pallor. “I don’t know anything about a grave up north.”

Vanguard pulled something small out of his jacket. “We found this pocket watch on the body we dug up. It was located in the green vest pocket of the man’s clothes. The inscription on the back says it belonged to your former partner, Henry. He’s likely been dead for six months. Guess he didn’t run off like you suspected.”

Sadie’s lips pressed together flat, and she shrugged. “I wouldn’t know anything about that, Sheriff. Henry just disappeared one day, with all of my money, which you’ve never found, by the way.” She frowned and drilled an angry stare at Vanguard.

“He didn’t have any money on him, just a big hole blasted in his chest.”

“Serves him right for stealing from me.”

“No man deserves to get murdered, let alone over money. And I don’t like killers living in my town getting away with it.” Vanguard returned her ugly stare with one of his own scowling gazes.

“What makes you think I murdered him?” Sadie sneered and crossed her arms. “I’m a lady. Besides, how could I have lifted all those heavy rocks to cover the body?”

Vanguard’s gaze sharpened. The gun he trained on her lifted a notch. “How did you know he was covered with rocks? All I said was that we dug him up.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Were Joe Stanton and Sheriff Vanguard surprised to find out that the two of you were twins?” Maggie asked as they cleaned up the saloon. She had wanted to help them clean up the mess of shattered glass strewn about, but they didn’t want her to cut herself so she waited on the steps.

“The sheriff said he knew all along,” Wade said, as he swept glass into a pile next to the bullet-ridden grandfather clock. “But didn’t mention it because we weren’t wanted by the law.”

Wyatt laughed. “He checked to see if we were wanted by the law?”

“Yep.”

Maggie asked about them for a different reason. “Do you think they suspect the three of us are a trio?”

“Does it matter?”

She shrugged and rested her chin on one open palm.
Do they think I’m a whore like the rest of the town does?
That was her real question. She didn’t care about those who already had a negative opinion of her, but friends of Wyatt and Wade did matter.

Wyatt, half-dressed still wearing only pants and standing behind the wooden bar cleaning up broken bottles, stopped what he was doing and sent a concerned gaze over to where she sat on the steps. “Joe knows we got married. He’s genuinely happy for us. And even if he thinks the three of us are involved, he’d never say a word.”

Maggie stared back, watching the way Wyatt’s muscles rippled across his still shirtless chest. Now that the three of them were back together again, she was very interested in getting them both into bed.

Wade set the broom against the wall next to the glass shards and wood splinters. “Vanguard doesn’t care what happens between us in our personal life. He’s more worried about lawlessness and murderers in town. Given what Sadie likely did to her partner, Henry, his plate is pretty full right about now.”

“What about your plate, Wade? Is it full or do you have some time to spend with me on a honeymoon?” Maggie looked away from Wyatt and fixed her stare on Wade. He still wore his traveling clothes complete with dusty pants and boots. His cowboy hat rested on the newel post next to where she sat perched. She grabbed it and put it on her head.

He and Wyatt traded uncertain stares before Wade said, “My plate isn’t so full that I can’t stop for a honeymoon.”

“Good. Then I think the three of us should spend time together before you head back to your northern property. Today’s my wedding day after all. While the first part was lovely,” she glanced at Wyatt and smiled, “the middle part was unnerving, so I’d like to finish off the evening with two men in my bed.”

Wade’s mouth fell open a little before he caught himself and shut it. “Is that a fact?”