Taming Texanna (2 page)

Because of it, Fort Worth and the trail just north was bursting at the seams with cattlemen, cowboys, merchants, and drovers looking for a job. It also made it a prime target for those less honorable, but no less industrious men looking for easy money. There was some talk of a railroad coming through Cowtown, and Colton was sure he would rue his desire for more activity then. The women unspoken for as of yet filled the streets by day and those not looking for a man but for his dollar filled the saloons at night. The sheriff had plenty on his plate in this town.

The one woman who filled Colton’s thoughts this last year and especially these last few months was a lovely young lady by the name of Texanna Rae Grant. His cousin Mandy was a close friend with Texanna and Mandy said the girl was looking for a home of her own and a trustworthy, reliable man to come with that home. The difference was, as a half-breed, he wouldn’t be welcomed if he came calling and asked to court her. He had been thinking about it for a while. He figured he would soon either give up and look elsewhere or take the bull by the horns and court her.

The bull that he would have to wrestle would be Mr. Grant. He had made no bones about letting everyone know how particular he was to his ‘own kind’ but the word was he didn’t take care of that girl and hadn’t ever in anyone’s memory. His cousin, Brock Joseph had just talked to him before going home last night about how out of control Grant was becoming. He was worried about Grant's daughter, Texanna. Colton had asked Brock if he was sweet on her and was assured he wasn’t. Brock felt more like a brother to her and had been friends with Texanna’s brother, Ben, agreeing to keep an eye out after Ben went out west.

Texanna’s ma was gone off somewhere long before Colton came around this way and Texanna’s brother, according to the judge, had moved out west, some time ago just as she was becoming a young teen. It left her with what was, now at least, a bitter, angry man but she remained caring and sweet in just about every way he could think of. His lust hoped she wasn’t sweet in every way. A bit of bobcat would suit him fine. Her soft-heartedness was well known. That tenderness appealed to him. He also knew it could be dangerous if you were soft-hearted without guile and naïve, as she seemed to be. She needed a level headed keeper.

This was another place that his unusual vision medicine was helpful. There were plenty of sidewinders out there. Men who spent their time trying to get a buck they didn’t earn. They had just begun to pop up more and more with the added cattle drives. It seemed that Colton was able to discern if a man was telling the truth or not and that came in handy being a marshal. There were a few instances where he was at a loss and had to rely on his wiles and his gun, but that was proving accurate as well. He was a good shot.

His gut stood him in good stead usually and often came through when he played poker. It was getting to the place where no one would play him for money and he didn’t blame the man who cautiously declined. He wouldn't play himself for money either, but he loved the game so did it now for fun, mostly. Especially since the time last winter when Colton had sat in on a game in the saloon. Colton just
knew
that the man playing him had a bad draw and an itchy finger. With high stakes on the table, Colton had called the bluff and reached for his gun while his opponent still had his hand on the handle of his own shooter.

Colton had held his gun on the man while several others relieved the gentleman of his sidearm and his seat, helping him out the door all the while hearing the accusations of Colton being dishonest. Colton called it an evening, only retrieving the money he had put into the pot, giving the rest to the community fund.

As he was walking toward the front of the saloon, waving farewell to a few, he had a strong premonition that his life was in danger. Again, the hair on his neck bristled and his body shuddered. He called a few men over and while several walked out the front doorway, Colton went out the back. He came around the side and took his opponent at cards by surprise. He disarmed him. No, Colton never cheated but he did have too good of a sense of fairness and a strong desire to live a long life so he decided not to play for stakes anymore. His ability to tell if a man or woman was truthful was becoming as well known as his tracking ability.

He was finding it a bit harder to get a girl to step out with him since that had gotten around, though. He figured it was because they didn’t want any of their fibbing to be caught out. Colton didn’t think that it would stop Texanna though. She seemed to be an honest girl and any time he had spoken to her, she was open and her responses unreserved. That is what a man wanted in a woman but Colton surely did love to lay his hand on a warm, bared bottom for fun. Anything more than that was only for his wife.

When the war was over, his intent was to rejoin the Rangers. However, it was obvious that things had changed dramatically. The Rangers weren’t immediately reinstated as the policing force, thereby forcing him to throw his lasso in a wider circle. He was never far from a good job so long as he kept his skill and reputation up as a crack shot and an unparalleled tracker. That was where being a half-breed came in handy, lending credence to his celebrated ability. That and he didn’t make the wrong enemies, ensuring his bedfellows were honorable or, at least, predictable. He had gone looking for employment.

Unfortunately, when the Rangers were finally reinstated, fighting his mother’s people was a primary task on their agenda with one of their main purposes unofficially being to annihilate them. Officially, it was to settle them down onto reservations. However, that particular cause was yet another fight he couldn’t afford to get into. The fight between the Indians and the Whites meant taking a side. He did not intend to take any. Not if he wanted to be in a position to protect his mother and Grandmother. Therefore, to stay clear of the skirmish, Colt knew he needed to align with something else. If he wanted to survive in the changing world, he would need to find his niche and stay in it.

Movement out of the window caught his attention and he got up, dropping his feet from the desktop to the ground with a loud thud. He stretched his limbs and moved his neck to ease the crick in it before turning toward his well-worn and much loved Stetson Boss hat, placing it on his head. He was glad for the activity and walked over to the door jerking it open before striding through it and across the dusty road of Cowtown, with a long, confident gait. His intuition was poking at him again.

As he advanced closer, he could see that these weren’t unruly boys but two girls, dressed in britches and fannies sticking out, primed for the palm to behind version of the swat and dance. He laughed when he thought of these girls finding their hind ends smacked for getting into trouble just across from the sheriff’s office and his view. He figured they were just playing when he noticed they weren’t too young.

These were young ladies and if he wasn’t mistaken, those females were his cousin Mandy Sue and her friend Texanna Rae. Everyone called her Anna for short mostly because she liked it, but he liked Texanna just fine for a name. It was a goodly name for when you were in trouble. These two young ladies he could swat without any recourse. Well, Mandy was fair game anyway.

Colt watched them as he approached. Mandy had been getting into trouble lately but he thought Texanna was not one to do that. She was a quiet girl and well-liked. He loved the way those britches outlined assets she possessed and remembered why young ladies were not to wear britches. His cock jumped and instead of refocusing his thoughts, he enjoyed those lustful thoughts while he walked across the street.

As he approached, he looked over at their bent frames to see what it was they were actually doing and he spied a hole in the chinking of the supply shed. He watched as Texanna covered her eyes and stood up before sliding her hand down while turning just in time to see Colton walk up to stand behind them. Whatever it was had seemed to shock her. Her eyes were wide and she was obviously apprehensive. He liked it that way so lies were not likely to be told.

“What is it you girls are looking at? Maybe I should have a peek, huh?”

Mandy jumped up automatically covering her backside and screeched. “No!”

That was enough to tell Colt there was a problem with what these girls were doing.

“Okay, if nothing is going on, then let me see through your little Peeping Tom hole.”

“No, really, Colt, there isn’t anything. Just some storage boxes and stuff. We looked inside and saw that there were new things that came in on the supply wagon for Thompsons Mercantile that we had never seen before so we were curious, that’s all. There wasn’t anybody naked in there.”

“Uh huh. Now, what’s a couple of young ladies doing out here looking through a hole in the wall at the storeroom full of goods of an open store, with a working front door? Now that I think about it, if the merchandise is so good, I might better look myself in case someone has a mind to take it. Maybe I should be keeping my eye on it and alert the sheriff he should do the same.”

The look on Mandy’s face was priceless and it was immediately apparent to Colt that she would do anything to keep him away from the viewing spot. Colt knew that the shopkeeper used his storage area as a changing area as well. He figured that is what was going on now. Her friend, Texanna Rae, had been backing up slowly as the two cousins talked. His inner sense told him she was about to take off so he watched her out of the corner of his eye but kept his focus on his cousin.

“Mandy, girl, you have gotten into more trouble this last month or two than any girl I have ever seen. I know you just turned eighteen a couple of months ago. That is plenty old enough to understand right from wrong and I know you understand lying is wrong.”

He let that stand in the hot and humid North Texas air as he stood to see if she would try to write what he knew to be a fable. One that would end with the moral of the story being what young ladies get when they are caught telling a lie and doing naughty things. He thought about the bottoms he would spank raw over this. Well, one anyway, and shook his head, he’d like to lay his hand over that second bottom. He was positive it was a fine one indeed.

Even though she was nineteen, a girl needed discipline by her daddy until her husband took over and he was neither. Too bad, really, because he was already thinking impure thoughts about her and if he were her husband, he would relish his hand on her bared ass. He would have to think on that courting again as she was something to behold with that hair and curvy body. His pants got tighter as he thought of Texanna. He needed to bring his thoughts out of his trousers.

The real problem was, even though he had light eyes, was educated, and had a very respectable job, it was not always enough to override his half-breed heritage. His skin tanned deeper and his body held a more developed muscle tone than most. Add to that birth blend his ability to
know
things, and he often came up lacking in people’s eyes, most especially, young women's father's eyes.

Colton sighed. He would have to think about how to get around her daddy on that. However, for now, he needed to keep his mind on the situation at hand instead of his hand on the situation in his mind. For now, he would make sure she got a hot and fiery fanny for her trouble. This type of behavior was best if one nipped it in the bud.

***

Texanna looked at her friend and then the marshal wondering if she was going to be sick with anxiety or her lusting body was going to betray her. She blushed thinking of that word, lust, but it surely was the right one to use. Colton McFadden was a powerful man and she figured she was not the type for him but she sorely wanted to be. Marshal McFadden was older, intelligent, and too gorgeous to think he would even look at her. When she saw him strong and sure with that Stetson tipped just right on his head, she nearly swooned. Of course, today that might have been because he had just caught them where they should never have been.

Her pa would never agree to him as her beau but Texanna was almost twenty. If she wanted him to court her or even marry her, she could consent. Texas allowed women to do that if the situation came up and since he was a marshal, she didn’t think anyone would say a word against it. Nevertheless, even though he wanted her gone from his house, her pa would be against him because he was a half-breed. This was one of the many times in her life that she wished her mother had not left her alone. She needed a woman to talk to about this and to be her defender.

Colton would never look at her the way she had been looking at him since she was seventeen years old. She longed for him shortly after he had shown up to stay around town, anyway. It had been right at the ending of the Civil War and so many things were confused. Now, Texanna loved that she would see him every time she walked this way and tried to do it most every day. He was polite and tipped his hat, opened doors for her and other usual courteous things, but that was it. It didn’t matter that she longed for more; he just never did anything to make her think she was more than another citizen of an ever-expanding cattle town. Mandy had said he was interested in her. That he watched after her whenever she came near but Texanna was sure that was wishful thinking.

Texanna, who preferred Anna, knew things were not going well at home right now and would welcome her own home. She could only guess at the motivation behind her only parent growing more reactive to everything she did these days. She did spend time thinking about the reason behind the behavior but was only guessing. It appeared that as she had become a woman, her father had become more irritated with her. She also noticed that as her hips rounded and she imagined her breasts became the size to fit in a man’s hand… she looked over at Colt’s hand, well, she hoped they fit most men’s hands…  her pa began to pick at near everything she did.

She sighed and realigned her thinking. Right now, that was not what she needed to worry about so she changed her focus. She didn’t need to get into any more trouble with her parent as she had already been warned that the next time would earn a good long time with his strop and skin would be stripped off her backend. She knew not to mess with that.