Authors: Stolen Ecstasy

Hannah Howell (4 page)

BOOK: Hannah Howell

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Glancing at Charlie, Leanne could see that the man now realized the error he had made in leaving her alone with Jed to go hunting. “It was the oddest thing, Mr. Hunter.” She began to look through the supplies he had brought to see what might go well with the rabbit. “They just hopped into camp.”

“Skinned and ready for the spit, hmmm?”

“No, they had neglected to prepare themselves. Charles was forced to perform that service.”

Hunter caught sight of Jed half-sitting up and clutching his blanket around him. “Why are you setting there buck-nekked, Jed?”

“Well, the lady there had to fix my foot.”

“I see, but I don’t think that required you to take all your clothes off.”

Leanne had to bite her lip to keep from giggling. She concentrated on making biscuits to go with the rabbit. Hunter clearly wanted some explanations and she knew that he would have trouble getting complete and clear ones from Charlie and Jed.

“I know that. First she washed my foot, then my socks, then she made Charlie scrub me and my clothes. She’s the washingest woman I’ve ever known. See, my foot had gone bad on me.”

Moving to Jed’s side, Hunter tugged up the blanket to look at Jed’s foot. “Looks fine to me.”

“Yeah, now. She had to do a lot of work to get it looking so good.”

It was several more minutes before Hunter got the full story of what had happened while he had been gone. It still puzzled him. Moving back to the fire, he sat down and poured himself some coffee. For a moment he just sipped the brew and studied Leanne Summers. The coffee had never tasted so good.

“I’m surprised to find you still here.”

“I was well guarded, Mr. Hunter.” .

“Those two couldn’t stop a baby from crawling away, and you know it.” He scowled as he watched her prepare what he knew would be the best meal they had had in a very long time. “What game are you playing?”

“Game?”

“Yes, game. You shoot Jed, then tend his wound. Doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not? When I shot him he was helping to rob a bank. I wasn’t trying to kill him. But ignoring the condition of that wound today
would
have been murder. I suppose that in certain circumstances I could kill someone. However, when my life is not being openly threatened I cannot, not even if it is killing through negligence.”

“His wound had gotten that bad?”

“Bad enough to be life-threatening but, fortunately, not so bad it could not be mended.”

“He does look better than he did this morning.” He eyed her carefully. “ ’Course, your feeling that way makes me think your constant remarks about being eager to see me hang might not be truthful.”

“No? That would not be murder, Mr. Hunter, but justice. I have never had any difficulty seeing justice done.”

Even as she said the words, she knew they were a lie. She was glad when he made no reply. Concentrating on making a meal that would compensate for the poor fare she had suffered since joining the outlaws, she forced herself not to think about the matter. Something told her she would not like the answers she might come up with.

Just as she was preparing to take a plate of food to Jed, Luke and Tom rode back into camp. The look on Hunter’s face told her there would be a tense confrontation. She quickly filled a plate for herself, deciding she would sit by Jed and Charlie as she ate. As she hurried over to Jed’s side she told herself that the gnawing feeling she had was not concern for Hunter, but for her own future if anything happened to him. Glancing at Luke and Tom as they squatted before the fire, Leanne felt sure there would be trouble. Luke was looking very antagonistic.

“Where the hell have you been?” The stench of heavy, cheap perfume that clung to the two men answered Hunter’s question, but he was curious to hear what they had to say for themselves.

“To visit a whore. I had coin in my pocket and an itch.” Tom grunted agreement to Luke’s blunt reply.

“You were supposed to stay here and guard the woman.”

“She’s still here, ain’t she?”

“Sheer luck. While you were out rutting, she could have been half-way to Kansas.”

“And half-way to a noose. Martin’s painted her guilty.”

“There’s other sheriffs.” Hunter kept his voice low, not wishing to give Leanne any ideas she might not have come up with on her own. “One of them might be inclined to listen to her.”

“Then shoot her like I first said.”

“I’m not shooting a woman.”

“Then I will.”

Leanne nearly choked on her food when Luke suddenly drew his gun and aimed it at her. She was only vaguely aware of Charlie and Jed tensing, their hands on their own guns. All she could see was that gun aimed at her heart and the deadly purpose in Luke’s small, hard eyes.

Hunter had his gun drawn and aimed at Luke’s heart in an instant, before Tom could move to support his friend. “No, you won’t. Another thing you won’t do is leave camp when you’ve been told to stay here.” He waited a moment after Luke reholstered his gun before slowly putting his own away.

“You want her watched, you watch her.”

“It’s not just her. There’s a lot of law between here and Mexico. We’ll be skirting towns like Pueblo, Albuquerque, and El Paso, but she could try to escape and reach them. There may be a posse out searching for us. We can’t afford to get careless.”

Tom nodded slowly, and Hunter felt relief surge through him. He could handle Luke. The man was dangerous, but mostly bluff. The tall, dark, and broadly built Tom was the one he was not sure of, and that made the man doubly dangerous.

No one really knew Tom. He had joined Watkins not long before Hunter had and now appeared to have paired himself with Luke. So far, Tom had stayed out of the confrontations Hunter had had with Luke, but that could change with deadly swiftness. It was impossible to know which way a quiet, secretive man like Tom would jump.

“Ain’t right for you to deny others when you’ve got a warm piece right at hand,” grumbled Luke, his too thin lips twisted into a scowl. “It ain’t my fault you ain’t got the sense to make use of her.”

“What I do or don’t do with the girl is not important. Getting the money to Watkins is. I doubt Mister Watkins would understand the loss of the money due to your whoring.” He noticed Luke could not argue with that, did not even try to.

Leanne realized that she was not frightened anymore. She was angry. They talked about her as if she were baggage and she sorely resented it. If she had forced herself upon them, she might have understood their feelings. However, it had been their criminal activity that had started everything.

The vision of Luke pointing his gun at her kept her from spitting out her anger in caustic words. She did not trust herself to maintain such restraint, however. She decided that the smartest thing to do at the moment was retire for the night. As she walked by the fire where Luke, Tom, and Hunter still sat, she tossed her plate down, then kept on walking.

“Where’re you going?”

A little surprised that Luke would speak to her, she glanced back at him. “I’m turning in for the night.”

Tossing his now empty plate on top of hers, he said, “You got some cleaning up to do, woman.”

“I cooked it. You clean up.” She strode over to Hunter’s bedding and sat down to tug off her boots.

Before Luke could say another word, Charlie hurried over to gather up the empty plates. “I’ll clean up.”

“It’s woman’s work.”

“If it’ll keep her cooking, Luke, I don’t mind doing the cleaning up.”

After Charlie hurried away, Luke glared at Hunter. “That woman’s useless. You let her act the damn queen, Hunter.”

“Leave it.” Tom took out a pouch of tobacco and began to roll a cigarette, no expression on his dark face but a cool deadliness in his voice.

“What?”

“I said leave it, Luke. Coffee was good. Food was good. Charlie’s cleaning up. We just have to fill our bellies. Leave it.”

Hunter was a little surprised that Tom had spoken out. He was not, however, surprised at Luke’s quick obedience. Tom seemed to be able to silence Luke’s blustering with little effort. A quick glance at Leanne told him she was scrambling into the bedroll and turning her back on them all. Hunter hoped she did not think she had won an ally in Tom, for he would be a dangerous one to play games with.

When Tom finally left to stand watch, Hunter sought his bed. Although he was tired, the bed did not look welcoming. The hard ground was not what troubled his sleep. It was the soft Leanne. No matter how weary he felt, his body was suddenly reawakened when he crawled in beside her.

Sitting down, he began to tug off his boots. He wished he could put her in her own bed. While it would not cure him of the wanting she stirred in him, at least it would keep that longing from getting so acute it robbed him of much-needed sleep. Sighing, he slipped in beside her and wondered if it was humanly possible for a man to get accustomed to nestling so close to such a tempting bundle of femininity.

Murmuring with pleasure, Leanne snuggled closer to the warmth surrounding her. It took several moments for her sleep-clouded mind to realize that that warmth was a man. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked up into Hunter’s moonlit face.

Looking into her wide eyes, Hunter told himself not to do what he was thinking of, but the admonition carried little strength. He had finally gone to sleep, only to wake to Leanne’s moving against him in a way that had him instantly taut and alert. The soft noises she was making had his blood running hot. He put his hand on the back of her head to bring her lips closer to his.

“No.” Leanne wondered why she could not make her body act out the denial she spoke.

“Sssh. You’ll wake the others.”

The moment his mouth touched hers, Leanne thought waking the others might have been a good idea. It would have been a little awkward, but she was sure it would have been safer. Lying there in the dark being passionately kissed might be exhilarating, but she knew it was dangerous. The danger was not that Hunter would force her to do something she did not want to do, but that he would be able to make her want to do it.

When his tongue slipped between her lips to stroke the inside of her mouth, she found herself clinging to him instead of pushing him away. It was delicious, intoxicating, and she realized that she lacked the strength to turn away from him. Ever since that first kiss, she had given herself a stern lecture on the liability of getting involved in any way with a man who robbed banks. She realized now that she had not listened to that lecture very well.

She felt him begin to undo her shirt and weakly placed her hand there to try to stop him. He quickly kissed her into ceding her grip on her shirt, and when his hand covered her breast, she gave up. She did not question what she was doing or care about the why. She simply felt.

Hunter felt the change in her. He sensed when the last shred of resistance melted and nearly cheered. The willingness he felt in her erased what little hesitation he had felt. Briefly he wondered if she would blame him afterward, if fury would replace her passion. Then he decided he did not care if it did.

Giving in to the urge that had taken hold of him from the moment he saw that one small, perfect breast outside Martin’s office, Hunter kissed her hardened nipple. Slowly, he drew it into his mouth, sucking gently. She was as sweet as he had thought she would be. She arched toward him and her muffled sounds of pleasure inflamed him. He quickly undid his shirt and placed her hand on his chest.

Leanne shivered when she felt his warm, taut skin. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined a man could feel so good. Tentatively, she moved her hands over his skin. When he trembled beneath her shy touch, she grew bolder.

A small part of her mind was shocked when she realized she wanted to touch all of him. She ached to discover if. the rest of his lean, muscular body felt as good as his chest.

Just as Hunter reached to unbutton her pants, a deep voice whispered, “Posse.”

The man who had been so tender, so exciting, suddenly tensed in Leanne’s arms. “How many, Charlie?”

BOOK: Hannah Howell

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