STORY EXCERPT

Sarah Roberts watched two cowboys on Appaloosa stallions riding hell-bent for leather trying to beat the storm chasing them across the open range. Behind the pair of riders, in a violent wash of purple and orange, the sky roiled with fury. Overhead, booming thunder rumbled like the hooves of a thousand stampeding buffalo. Taking a deep breath, Sarah could smell the oncoming storm, the scent of ozone, and taste the dust being stirred by the wind. She knew this would be a bad one.

Trapped in the corral, the livestock bawled nervously, and the horses pawed at the ground, snorting in fear. They needed calming. Where the hell is Collis? she wondered. He wasn’t good for much, but he did have a way with the horses. She suspected he lay passed out drunk somewhere, snoring loudly, unaware of the approaching storm or the incoming riders.

A gust of wind whipped particles of dust in Sarah’s eyes, flinging her dark auburn hair wildly around her face as she fought her way through the blowing sand to the livestock enclosure. Financial considerations dictated her decision to leave the bellowing cattle alone. Instead she went for the horses they kept in a separate holding area rented by the Sweetwater Station stagecoach line. To lose any of the horses would be devastating beyond compare, as they would have to replace the animals.  

Sarah tugged on the wooden gate, testing the leather strap holding it shut. The tie seemed secure enough, and she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.  Chasing down a corral full of panicked horses during a blinding storm was the last thing she wanted to do. Still, it might be more enjoyable than facing an evening with Collis, she thought.

Sarah screamed involuntarily when a bolt of lightning split a saguaro cactus not more than a hundred yards from the house. Time for retreat, she decided, gathering her long calico skirts nearly to her knees and sprinting for the shelter of the porch.

Glancing over her shoulder, she stopped for a moment to watch the riders advance. They drove their mounts hard, galloping side by side like a pair of bookends. Something about the way they rode and the muscular build of their bodies gave Sarah the impression of men in their prime. Certainly not the grizzled old prospectors or well-fatted ranchers that occasionally dropped by the station for a home cooked meal.

The pair of them made a fine sight on their magnificent horses with the Arizona landscape and their flapping black dusters, low-slung gun belts, and leather hats pulled down over their features. Even from this distance, Sarah thought they looked dangerous, and she hoped they weren’t bandits or outlaws on the run from the law.

Unable to turn away from the sight they made galloping in the face of the storm, she stood on the porch until the men rode into the yard, stopping no more than a few feet away from her. One of the riders looked up, locking his gaze onto her with such intensity she nearly took a step back. He had deep blue eyes the color of a summer’s twilight.

“Ma’am,” he said, touching the brim in his hat in a fashionable western greeting. “You mind if we take shelter from the storm?”

It took Sarah a moment to find her voice. He was the finest looking man she ever laid eyes on. A day’s growth of beard couldn’t hide the slight cleft in his chin or the attractiveness of his sharply chiseled features. He should have looked unkempt with the stubble on his face. Instead, it gave him the appearance of a handsome desperado.

“Of course,” Sarah finally managed, pointing in the direction of the barn. “You can put your horses in there while I fix something to eat.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“For a woman who said I didn’t have a chance, you’re giving me a pretty invitation,” he growled.

“A woman can change her mind, can’t she?” Sarah ran her fingers down the stubble of his face feeling the sandpaper roughness of his day’s growth of beard. “I was thinking on the way here that I have nowhere to go, no family, but I have you and Lucas for right now.”

She felt Cade’s heartbeat speed up, but he didn’t speak, so she continued. “Your partner offered me quite a shocking wager, Cade. A bet I took him up on with full intentions of winning.” She ran her cool fingers into the collar of Cade’s shirt feeling the rapid beat of his pulse. “But now that I’ve had time to reconsider, I’m thinking my winning isn’t really such a good thing.”

His eyes glinted with reflections of the fire as he stared down at Sarah. “Why’s that?”

Sarah deliberately raised her face to his so that their lips nearly touched.

“Deep inside me,” she said, touching her heart, “I’m an adventurous woman, Cade Hawke, but I suppressed it while my parents lived. They deserved a proper daughter.” She dropped a kiss on the edge of Cade’s chin. “Then, because of necessity, I married. It isn’t seemly for a wife to act impulsively, either, and Mr. Roberts treated me kindly, so I continued to perform in the manner expected of me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I think so.” Cade’s hand brushed a strand of auburn curls away from Sarah’s neck before trailing lower to skim across the bodice of her dress, seeking out the hard nubs of her breasts. She shivered when his fingertips skipped lightly over the puckered flesh, pushing the damp material against her fevered skin.

“I suddenly find myself in the position of being my own keeper. I’m free to do as I please and there is something about your partner’s wicked offer that…”

“Intrigued you,” Cade finished. “You want to know what it feels like to have two men pleasure you. You feel the wildness in your soul, don’t you, Sarah?” Cade’s voice grew husky. “I knew when you looked at us, when you stared right back at me, bold as brass, that you weren’t afraid. Your eyes showed only curiosity, not fear.”

“Then teach me,” Sarah coaxed breathlessly. “Teach me to be wild and free. Show me the pleasures Lucas whispered in my ear. I said I knew what it was like to be a woman, but I lied. No man has ever touched me like that.”

She stood up from his lap, staring at him as she gathered her skirts high, giving him a look at her shapely legs. When she had her skirts gathered at her waist, she tucked them into the sides of her waistband where they would be easy to release if necessary. “Touch me, Cade.”

* * * *

Cade’s dick grew so hard he ached. Things weren’t turning out exactly like he and Lucas expected. Hell no. Things were getting better by the minute. He sure didn’t intend to make the lady wait for his touch. With a gentle hand, he ran his palms up her legs before pulling down the muslin pantaloons she wore. Soft as the serviceable fabric felt, he made a mental note to buy her silk undergarments when they reached Tucson.

With his hands between her legs, she bent over to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his until he groaned. He kept his fingers working at her, feeling her pussy get slicker with every stroke of his finger. He kept massaging her clit, rubbing gently across the hard little peak after lubricating his finger with her juices.

At last, she drew back from his mouth. “Get undressed. Please.”

Cade did what she asked, and then sat back on the chair. “Sit down here, darlin’.”

He watched Sarah study him a moment, her eyes focusing on the sizeable erection he sported. With a dimpled smile she turned away from him, giving Cade an up close and personal view of her ass before she reached back to enclose his dick in her small fist. The sensation of her fingers gripping him made him feel breathless. When she had him firmly in her grasp, she started to lower herself onto him. He felt the head of his cock slip inside her, squeezing its way into her tight channel. She stopped for a second when he was halfway in, as if she enjoyed the sensation of him opening her. She wiggled around as she pushed downward, forcing him deeper with each movement of her hips. When he felt she had taken his full length, Cade reached around her, cupping her breasts in his hands. He rolled her nipples between his fingers as she bounced up and down on his cock. She sat on his lap facing away from him while leaning forward to better accept his long member.

“Wait, Sarah,” Cade whispered, dropping a soft kiss on her ear. He trailed his finger between her legs again, finding the swollen clit he’d been teasing earlier. As he put his finger on the button, he pushed his feet against the floor to start the chair rocking. It was an incredible sensation, he thought, as the chair rocked back and forth, shoving his cock deeper into her pussy at the same time his finger lightly touched the sensitive tip of her clit. The slow rhythm drove them both a little crazy, and Cade couldn’t help speeding up until he and Sarah rocked so fast he wondered if the chair could take any more.