The Outlaw (9 page)

“And what if someone did see?”

Shaking her head, she let out a small laugh.
“It makes little difference. I’m already ruined. Thankfully no one
in this town knows me.” When she’d slipped into her boots, she
turned to face him. “Thank you for kidnapping me, dragging me
through uncounted territories, half starving me and irritating me
beyond belief. I’ve a stagecoach to catch so,” she stood,
straightened her skirts and gave him a saccharine smile, “Have a
nice life, outlaw, whose really a US Marshall. It’s been an
adventure.”

Colt’s eyes widened when she said he was a US
Marshal and he was out of the bed and across the room, grabbing her
arm before she reached the door. “Who told you I was a US
Marshal?”

She laughed. “You did.”

“When?”

“Last night.” She gazed up at him, her smile
mocking. “What’s wrong, Colt? All that whiskey you consumed last
night fogging the brain a bit this morning?” Her smile faded as she
lowered her eyes, her attention drawn to his neck. Something dark
and murderous glinted in her eyes when she looked back up at him.
“Have a nice life, Colt. Be sure to thank the saloon whores for
your good time. With marks like that, there’s no way you couldn’t
have had the time of your life.”

She jerked her arm free from his grasp,
turned and walked out the door, slamming it closed behind her. Her
comments confused him until he turned to find his shirt and saw his
reflection shining back at him from the mirror hanging on the wall.
Small bruises were dusted across his neck and throat, one on his
chest, and the whiskey he’d drank the night before burned sour in
his stomach when he saw them.

The night came back to him in flashes, the
whores at the saloon an unwelcome vision. He’d fought them off for
well over two hours and only escaped after getting them so drunk
they could barely stand.

Of course, those two hours had been hellish.
Only a saint could have survived the attention of two woman as they
pawed and kissed him and not come away unscathed. Regardless of his
refusal, they didn’t stop trying to get into his purse, or his
pants, those little bruises on his neck from their small, playful
bites all the proof he needed to the fact.

And now Sarah had seen them…and left in a
tizzy because of them. He grinned, his pounding head forgotten in
the realization. She was obviously mad when she left. Mad when she
saw those marks. She wouldn’t have been so upset if she didn’t
care. About him. About him being with another woman.

He grabbed his shirt, slipping it on and
buttoning it before walking to the window. He thumbed the curtain
aside and glanced down at the street. The townsfolk were bustling
about, filling the wooden sidewalks and it only took Colt a few
minutes to spot Sarah. She was walking briskly toward the
stagecoach station, her hips swaying in that ugly dress that was
one size too small, with her head held high.

Thoughts of her departure rushed at him,
leaving him bereft even as he looked at her. After she stepped foot
on that stagecoach, he’d never see her again. He wasn’t sure he
could live with that. Not with her being mad at him and all.

Letting go of the curtain, he grinned and
found his boots, slipped them on and started for the door,
snatching his coat and hat up off the floor as he went. He wasn’t
about to let her have the last word. Besides, he’d curse himself
for every kind of fool for letting a woman that fine, with lips
that soft, go without one more taste.

* * * *

Sarah bought her ticket and walked back out
onto the sidewalk to wait. It wouldn’t be long, according to the
ticket agent. The stagecoach was due in any minute now.

She found a bench and sat, watching people
walk up and down the walkway, going about their day, before she
glanced over at the hotel. The moment she did, her blood heated
again.

The marks left on Colt by some unknown woman
had been mere smudges of color the night before but in the bright
morning light coming through the window, they’d looked like dark
beacons screaming to his previous sins. Just the thought of seeing
them caused something hot and ugly to twist her heart and her
fingers curled into her palm, her fists clenched.

Why she cared what he’d done, she didn’t
know, but the fact he’d been with another woman caused her throat
to tighten, her heart to pound and she ground her teeth together to
keep from screaming what a bastard he was. How dare he say he
wanted her, wanted to bed her, and then turn to some… whore? And
then to crawl back to her like a lost puppy in need of a home. That
was the final insult.

Hot tears burned at the back of her eyes and
she blinked them away. As crazy as it sounded, she felt betrayed.
She meant nothing to him but seeing those marks and knowing some
other woman had been in his arms, had kissed him and done lord only
knows what with him caused her stomach to ache.

How could he say he wanted her then turn to
someone else?

Because he’s a man
, her mind
taunted.
They only want what
they can’t have.
She knew then that she’d
gotten every thing mixed up. She’d mistaken his interest in her as
something else. It was sexual, that was all, he could care less
about her, the woman, Sarah.

The thought made the ache more profound and
she lifted her head to look back at the hotel. She saw him then,
walking across the street toward her and some twisted part of her
jumped for joy. She tramped down the glee moments later by
reminding her traitorous heart what a low down dog he really was
and tilted her chin up a notch at him when he stepped onto the
sidewalk.

He was grinning at her, that insufferable
smug look on his face and with his hat on, tilted down in the front
and his trail coat on, he looked every bit the dangerous outlaw he
claimed to be.

“Did you get your ticket?”

“Why?” Sarah asked. “Eager to be rid of
me?”

He repositioned his hat and looked down the
road before turning his attention back to her. He stared at her for
long moments before shaking his head. “For what its worth, I wish
things could have been different.”

“Meaning, what, exactly?”

He stared at her, a slight smile pulling the
corners of his mouth. “I mean, under different circumstances, it
would have been nice to meet you.”

“And it wasn’t this time?”

The smile grew until the whites of his teeth
were showing. “Plenty pleasurable, sweetheart, but it could have
been so much better.”

This mans arrogance knew no bounds. Those
blasted “love bites” on his neck were still visible and Sarah
stared at them long enough for her anger to burn hot again. She
stood and stared him in the eye. “I wish I could say the same for
you, Colton Avery, but I can’t. You’ve been a burr in my hide since
laying eyes on you. You’re the reason I was taken and you’re the
reason I’m stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, having to
travel back home alone with nothing but the clothes on my back.
You’ve been nothing but trouble to me and I hope never to lay eyes
on you again.”

She turned and stomped away, a small voice in
the back of her mind screaming to turn around, say she didn’t mean
any of that and throw herself at him. She refused to do so and kept
walking, her heeled boots making loud clicks against the wooden
sidewalk as she attempted to put as much distance as she could
between them.

He caught her in front of the General Store,
his strong arm banded around her waist, turning her to face him.
Laughter danced in his eyes and the arrogant tilt to his mouth let
her know he was trying not to laugh at her. “Why are you mad at
me?”

Sarah let out an unladylike snort. “Oh, let
me count the ways.”

“Is it because of what you think happened at
the saloon?”

“I could care less what you do, Colt. Now let
go of me.” She struggled but his hold on her tightened.

“Yes you do. You care what I do, who I do it
with, and where I’m doing it at. You proved that this morning.” He
finally grinned at her and lifted one hand, cupping the side of her
face. “You want me. Admit it.”

Another little snort was all Sarah
managed.

Colt lowered his head until his warm breath
teased her lips. “You want me as much as I want you but you’re too
uptight to act on it. Afraid your perfect little world will crumble
if you give in to desire and take what you want. Do you honestly
think your pudgy marshal hasn’t indulged while waiting for you to
say, I do?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat and
stared into the blue of his eyes, hating the fact that being this
close to him caused her heart to thump wildly in her chest. He was
so warm, his hand on her back like a branding iron and the look in
his eyes... She blinked and focused on anything but the need she
saw in his eyes. But looking at his lips was a bigger mistake. She
remembered the way they felt against her own. Remembered how he
tasted, the velvety texture of his tongue sliding against her lips
and she barely contained the urge to moan at the memory.

Stiffening her spine, she looked over his
shoulder and said, “William is faithful to me.”

He laughed. “You think so?” His arm around
her waist tightened another fraction, his body fitted snugly
against hers from thigh to chest. His voice, a rough whisper she
felt against her mouth. “Where is he, Sarah? If you were my woman,
I’d ride day and night until I found you, and kill the bastard who
took you. Yet here you are, with me, while your faithful fiancé is
nowhere to be found.”

Sarah gritted her teeth at his words. She’d
thought them herself a few dozen times. She’d been gone for days
and no one seemed to be looking for her. Surely any good lawman
could track an outlaw, especially one who had a gang of
bloodthirsty outlaws on his trial. Their chase across the desert
should have left a path several miles long yet here she was with no
one to protect her but the outlaw who took her.

She stared into his smiling eyes, glanced at
the mouth that spewed scandalous things to her and knew he was
right about one thing. She did want him but she’d die before she
let him know. “Are you quite finished?”

He shook his head. “Not by a long shot,
sweetheart.”

Sarah saw his intentions gleam in his eyes a
spilt second before he lowered his head and kissed her, right there
on the street! She gasped, giving him the opening he had to be
waiting for. His tongue slipped into her mouth and the reasons she
had to protest vanished.

The hand cupping her face moved into her
hair, holding her to him and angling her head the way he wanted.
The noise on the street grew but Sarah found little reason to care.
The feel of him pressed against her, the silky glide of his lips
against her own, the taste of him, washed away everything else. Her
body heated within seconds, her knees were wobbly and if not for
his tight hold on her, she would have fallen to the sidewalk.

She knew this was her only chance to have him
and threw caution to the wind, raised her arms and wrapped them
around his neck. He groaned, his hold on her tightening and she
savored the wanton abandon, took charge, and kissed him back like
her world was ending. She forced her tongue into his mouth, tasted
the pure wickedness she’d thought about since he first kissed her
and took what she wanted from him, held him to her and was
breathless by the time he pulled away and looked down at her.

They were both panting for breath, staring
each other in the eye and it wasn’t until Sarah heard someone
giggle that she realized they were still on the street, outside the
General Store, in each other’s arms in broad daylight. The fact
she’d been kissing him for the entire world to see registered a
moment later and she pulled away, took two steps back and looked at
everyone stopped on the street watching them.

She was mortified. How could she have been so
wanton in public? What would her father say? What would William
say? Looking at Colt’s face, she didn’t want to care but one glance
at those still gawking at her and her face burned hot, her chest
tightened until she could barely breath and she clutched a hand to
her heart.

Turning without a word said, she walked back
to the stagecoach station, ignoring those watching her as she
passed them and toning out Colt when he shouted her name. Fear that
he’d follow her again, and cause another scene that should remain
private, she picked up her skirts and ran. She didn’t stop until
she reached the dressmakers shop, running through the door and
straight to the back dressing room and pulling the curtain closed
behind her.

In the darkness of that small room, she
leaned against the wall, tried to catch her breath, and blinked
away tears. One exhilarating, lustful moment and Sarah knew she’d
spend the rest of her life wanting one more moment of it. It wasn’t
the act that filled her with excitement, but the man who did what
he wanted, said what he pleased, and took what he desired. And what
he wanted was her, but for what exactly? Just to bed her? To keep
forever?

The tears she’d been blinking away gathered
and slipped from her eyes as that annoying voice in the back of her
head told her, no, that it wasn’t forever. He just wanted what he
couldn’t have. Colton Avery wasn’t the keeping kind, he’d said as
much himself. So why did her foolish heart beg her to try and
change his mind?