TheSurrenderofLacyMorgan (27 page)

“Take another step and she dies.”

“You don’t want to kill her. She’s the only one who knows
where the money is.”

“So, ya know about it after all? She said ya didn’t.”

He gave a shrug as if it was of no consequence and ignored
the pain that crossed Lacy’s face. He needed to make the other man think she
wasn’t important to him so she became less of a target. “She’s a woman, they’re
only good for one thing…”

“And thinking ain’t it,” Maddocks finished with a laugh
reminiscent of a braying donkey.

The sound set Quinn’s teeth on edge. If Lacy’s life weren’t
in jeopardy, he’d just as soon plug holes in the outlaw than listen to it
again. One false move, though, and she’d be dead.

“She tell ya where she hid the money?”

“No, we couldn’t get her to tell us.”

“Thought you’d fucked it out of her by now.” Maddocks pushed
her so they both moved closer. “She’s a tough one, all right. Her stepdaddy
couldn’t beat it out of her neither.”

So that’s why she had the scars lacing her back. She’d taken
the payroll from Devil and he’d wanted it back. Why had she taken it? What had
she done with it? More importantly, why hadn’t she used it to hide in some big
city instead of hiring on as a schoolmarm in Beaver Run?

Once he had her safely out of Maddocks’ hands, he intended
to get some answers.

“Maybe you and that breed was too nice to her. I’m planning
to get everything out of her.” He slid his free hand from her throat to her
breast, squeezed it at the same time he licked the side of her face.

Lacy cringed but didn’t wiggle loose. She kept her gaze
focused on his face, and Quinn stared back hard, trying to will her to
understand that he meant to get her free. She just had to trust him.

Then she closed and opened her eyes. She understood.

“I’m gonna make her tell me if I have to choke her while I
pound my cock into her cunt.” Maddocks continued to maul her, sealing his fate
as a dead man. Only he didn’t know it yet.

“You gonna let me watch?” Quinn asked as he lifted three
fingers in the air, his eyes still locked on Lacy’s. He looked at her boots,
then quickly back to her eyes, signaling her to hit the ground on the count of
three.

She blinked like before.

He mentally counted to three before coming up from behind
the trunk, just as Lacy slapped her arm up, forcing Maddocks’ gun arm upward.

The gun went off.

She dove toward the muddy field and Quinn opened fire.

Maddocks’ body jerked backward. His arms shook like a man
having a fit. Blood splattered with each impact as Quinn emptied all six
cylinders into him.

Lacy remained huddled on the ground, her hands covering her
head, long after the shooting and Maddocks’ life had ended.

Concerned, Quinn stalked over to her. He knelt beside her
and pulled her hands off her head. “You’re safe now, Lacy.”

For a moment, all she did was stare up at him with wide,
frightened eyes. Then suddenly, the fear gripping her broke. She shoved him
hard and struggled to her feet. “Get away from me!”

“What the hell?” He stood and reached for her.

“No, don’t touch me!” She backed away, staring at the blood
covering her shirt and camisole, dripping off her hair and hands. “Oh God.”

“Whoa there.” He reached for her again, but held his hands
up when she took another step backward, almost stepping on Maddocks’ corpse. “I
won’t touch you, I promise, but come this way, darlin’. No, no, don’t look.”

But his warning was too late.

She stood frozen, hand covering her mouth, staring at the
outlaw’s glazed, lifeless eyes. Then the shaking started. Quinn eased up behind
her, careful to grip only her shoulders and pull her away.

“Come away, darlin’.”

He turned her and walked her to the edge of the clearing.
“Take a breath, Lacy.”

She gasped then sucked in air, nearly doubling in half.
“I’ve never…seen…oh God, I was…going to let…I think I’m going…to be sick…” She
turned and proceeded to empty her stomach.

Quinn backed up a few steps, unsure of what to do.
Comfort
her? Hold her? Go find the dead man’s horse, which had to be hidden somewhere
nearby, and give her some space to come to her senses?

Taking off the kerchief tied loosely round his neck, he held
it under some leaves still dripping from the morning’s rains to soak it
through, then thrust it in front of her. “Here.”

She mumbled a thank you but kept her face turned away.
Giving her space seemed to be the best option. He turned on his heel and went
in search of the horse.

It took a few minutes, as Maddocks had hobbled the roan near
a small patch of green that had started to fill in the scorched earth beyond an
outcropping of stone. He gathered the reins and drew him back to the trees
where he’d left Lacy.

Only she wasn’t there.

Dammit! Where had she gone now?

“Lacy!”

His rifle stood where he’d left it. He grabbed it then
listened. Her voice carried back to him through the trees.

“Water. I need more water.”

Who the hell was she talking to?

“Lacy!” He pulled the horse back the way he’d come earlier
when tracking Maddocks and Lacy.

“Got to wash the blood away,” Lacy muttered ahead of him.

“Lacy, wait for me, dammit!” He moved the horse as fast as
he could, but Lacy seemed to be gaining ground on him.

He cleared the trees to the trail and saw her running ahead,
flapping her hands as if trying to shake something off.

Fool woman. She was going to kill herself.

Was that it? Did she plan to run right off the mountain?

He had to stop her. Grabbing the horse’s pommel, he pulled
himself up.

“Giddyap,” he said, snapping the reins and digging in his
heels. The horse kicked and broke into a run, mud flying from beneath his
hooves as they chased after Lacy.

Just as he was within feet of her, she veered off to the
right, through the trees again toward the river. He pulled back on the reins,
causing the horse to stop and rear up. Then he hurled himself off the saddle,
tied the reins on a tree branch and ran after her.

“Lacy, stop. You’re gonna get hurt!”

He slammed to a stop on the riverbank, gasping for air,
heart pounding in his chest. The panic he’d felt back on the trail eased,
slowly replaced with a heat farther down his body.

There she stood, completely naked, in the river up to her
knees, like the painting he saw once of a water nymph, bending and scrubbing
the blood from her clothes and body.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Washing that demon’s blood off me.”

“It couldn’t wait ’til we got back to camp, or at least
until I retrieved the horse?” Women! They made no sense.

“No. I don’t want even a stain of him on me or my things.
You gave me this shirt. The only one I want it to remind me of when I wear it
is you.”

Her words pleased him. He didn’t want to think of why, but they
did.

“And the silky underwear? I didn’t give that to you.” Had
her first lover bought it for her? As a gift for her virginity? White-hot anger
flare to life again at the idea.

“I bought the camisole and I’m not about to wear any of that
man’s blood close to my skin.”

Her fear appeared to have been replaced with her own anger
and determination. Good. Quinn inhaled and relaxed a bit to watch the vision
before him.

Once she’d wrung the water from the shirt and camisole, she
laid them out flat on a large boulder protruding from the riverbank to dry in
the afternoon sun peeking through the clouds. Then she scooped up her riding
skirt and soaked it in the river.

Bent at the waist, her back slightly to him, her long leg
muscles stretched even farther and the firm globes of her ass cheeks begged to
be caressed or smacked or gripped with both hands while he plowed into her heat
from behind.

She stood and squeezed the bundle of sopping material over
her head.

“Oh,” she gasped as the ice-cold water showered over her,
her flesh pebbling and dark nipples drawing even more taut.

When she bent to soak up more water, he pulled his shirt
over his head, then sat to pull off his boots and socks. Finally he stripped
off his britches and underwear, making sure they were on a boulder out of the
river’s reach.

As Lacy straightened, he stepped up behind her.

“Let me,” he said, taking the soaked skirt from her and
pressing his body against her cool flesh. “Part your thighs.”

Her hand resting on his arm encircling her waist, she took
one step to the side, opening for him.

Damn, if he didn’t love her responsiveness to him.

Gently, he brought the cloth around and washed her neck and
shoulders. Then leaning back a little, he continued down her back, making sure
he cleaned every inch of her golden skin of any trace of Maddocks.

“It surprised me to see you stripping off your clothes for
Maddocks,” he said, careful to keep his voice neutral.

“I didn’t want to, but figured it was the only way to keep
him from attacking me or killing me quickly.”

He felt the tremor run through her at the memory. “It took
courage to do that. And it was smart. It kept you safe until I could track
you.”

“You were the reason I could do it,” she said, glancing over
her shoulder at him.

“Me?” He moved so his thickening cock could slip between her
thighs and throb against her swollen pussy lips.

“I thought about what you’d said to me about Devil. That I
wouldn’t be doing anything to please him. I’d be doing things to please you.”

He slipped his hand down her stomach to the soft curls
covering her sex. “How would teasing another man with your body please me?”

“I’d hoped me staying alive by any means would please you
and me both.”

He growled into her ear and pulled her close as he doused
them both with water. “You’re right. It pleased me greatly.”

Then it suddenly hit him. If he’d been a few minutes later,
or she hadn’t been so quick in thinking of a way to stall Maddocks, it might be
her blood he’d be cleaning off them. Or even worse, her cold body he’d be
burying instead of holding close.

Something hard and tight clenched inside his chest. He
tossed the skirt onto the riverbank and latched his lips onto her uninjured
shoulder, sucking hard to mark her as his.

More.
He needed to claim her completely, in the way
only a man can claim his woman.

Pressing his body along hers, he slid his hands down her
arms and grasped her hands. Then he leaned in, pushing her down until her hands
lay on the boulder in front of them. “Don’t move. Stay just like this.”

“What are you doing?” she asked, but didn’t move one muscle
from how he’d posed her.

With his hands on the cheeks of her ass, he leaned down and
slid his tongue along the slit of her sex, tasting her essence.

“Ohhh,” she moaned.

He repeated the process, lapping at her until he felt her
legs begin to quiver, her juices running like warm honey. Then he rose,
gripping the golden globes tight in his hands and impaling himself in one long
thrust into her slick hot sheath.

“Yes. You are so tight, so hot, so mine.” He held himself
still, enjoying the union with her, how right it felt.

Lacy whimpered, a soft mewling sound like a kitten begging
for milk.

“You like that, darlin’?”

“Mmm, yes.” She tried to move her hips but he held her
still.

“Do you know how scared I was when I realized you’d gone
with Maddocks to keep Dakota safe?” He slid out and thrust into her again.

She moaned. “You were worried about me?”

“Damn straight, I was.” He slid his hand up to grip her hair
and turn her head so he could see her eyes. “When your trail disappeared I
nearly panicked.”

“You panicked?” She lifted her hips to push snugly onto him.

“Until I saw the piece of your skirt and other signs you’d
left to mark your trail.” He ground hard into her.

She moaned again and licked her lips. Eyes wide, she stared
over her shoulder at him.

“Then I saw you enticing Maddocks with your breasts and
body, I wanted to stop you from showing him any more of what’s given me so much
pleasure.” He slid out of her and held himself still, throbbing at her
entrance.

“But you told him you’d used me to find out about the
money.”

“He had you with a gun pointed at your heart. I didn’t want
him to know how crazy that made me.”

“You didn’t mean it?”

“Until that moment I didn’t even know you’d taken the
money.”

“What made you crazy about him holding me?” she asked
between moans as he thrust slowly in and out.

“That he could take you away, when I’ve just found you. I
wanted to tear him limb from limb for daring to touch you.”

Further words were lost in his desire for her. Needing to
confirm she was fine. That the outlaw hadn’t harmed her.

He captured her lips with his, working his cock into her
heat, needing to mark every inch of her as his. His tongue mated and toyed with
hers as he worked them both to the pinnacle.

Then he felt her tighten around him. Clenching. Pulling.
Spasming as her orgasm shook her body beneath his, her moans erupting from deep
inside, only to be swallowed in his kiss.

Then he released her, straightened and ground hard into her,
his balls tightening as his seed churned then shot deep inside her pussy.

“God, yes,” he growled as he held himself tight to her,
amazed as another tremor of pleasure ripped through her with his own
completion.

Slowly he slid from her body, holding her close and helping
her to stand. He retrieved the wet skirt and used it to clean her once more.
Every touch a promise, every caress an oath to protect her and care for her, no
matter what the next few days brought.

* * * * *