Staking Their Claim (3 page)

“You aren’t Will Beaumont.” Cody reached down and hauled Jenny up by the shirt collar. “So who are you, boy?”

“None of your business.” She lowered her voice to the point that it sounded ridiculously fake, even to her ears.

“I don’t think that’s a boy, Cody.” The other man stepped forward, his accent strange to her ears. An English accent. There were other Brits in the camp, so she recognized it. He reached out and tipped up her chin, but Jenny kept her eyes averted.

“Come on now, don’t be afraid,” the Englishman said.

“I’m not afraid,” she said, her voice cracking.

“No, looks like you are,” he said gently.

“Do as he says!” Cody’s voice was harsh where the Englishman’s was mild. Jenny felt herself start and then reluctantly dragged her gaze up to theirs. She closed her eyes as the Englishman carefully removed her hat.

“Her hair’s bound up,” he said, and pulled out several pins, sending dirty blond tresses cascading down her back.

“Good God.” Cody transferred his grip from her shirt collar to her arm, staring down at her with surprise. “Jenny? It is Jenny, right?” He seemed to be trying to process what was happening. “Where’s your brother? Where’s Will?”

Tears stung her eyes. “He’s dead.”

Cody let her go and stepped back. “What? How…”

“He took a fall from his horse. At first we didn’t think it was bad. He walked home but complained that his head hurt and went to bed early.” She wiped a tear away. “He didn’t wake up the next morning. The doctor said there was bleeding inside his brain.”

“God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. He’d been writing. He was going to follow me out.”

“I know,” she said.

“But wait,” the Englishman was speaking again. “So what are you doing here? You can’t be more than sixteen, wee little thing like you.”

“I’m eighteen! An adult!” She glared at him. “And it’s not right, asking a lady her age, Mr.… whoever you are.”

“Simms, my dear,” he said. “Nigel Simms.” Nigel removed his hat, stepped back, and bowed in a courtly manner as Jenny stared at him in annoyance.

“Nigel’s a friend of mine,” Cody explained. “I was looking forward to introducing him to Will. I never expected this…”

“Well, neither did I.” She looked around the room and then back at the men, her eyes registering her dismay. “Will talked about how easy it would be, coming out here and finding gold. He said you just come out and stake your claim. I knew it wasn’t a place for a woman, but after he left, I had to try. I had to come honor his dream…”

“Hold on,” Cody interrupted. “You mean to say you came out here on your own?”

“And why not?” Her blue eyes flashed with indignation. “I’m grown now. So what if I want to come in my brother’s stead? It’s what he would have wanted!”

“No,” Cody said, putting his hands on his hips. “It is not what Will would have wanted. No man would want his sister in a mining camp. How long have you been here? One, two days? You should have known this was no place for you as soon as you stepped off the stage. Have you even seen another woman here?”

Jenny thought back to May, moaning and writhing under two men. Horrible, wanton May.

“No,” she lied, rather than admit she’d been in a whorehouse.

“Right,” Cody said. “And you know why that is? Because most ladies know better than to set foot in a place like this.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jenny said stubbornly. “I’m not leaving. I staked a claim for my brother. It’s his! In his name!”

“You staked it as an imposter, Jenny!”

“I don’t care! It’s still his! And I’m going to mine it.”

“The hell you are,” Cody said. “Come tomorrow, you’re going back to Oklahoma on the train.”

“I can’t!” she said, balling her fists up. “There’s nothing for me to go back for. When Will died, the farm passed not to me, but to my aunt and uncle.” Her chest was heaving. “All they care about is money. If I go back, my aunt will make me marry Rufus Platt.”

“Fat Rufus Platt?” Cody asked. “Roy Platt’s son? Your brother hated him!”

“I do, too!” she said. “But Rufus is from a wealthy family and my aunt is hungry for the connection. She doesn’t care that Rufus is fat and already bald and mean as a bucket of rattlesnakes to boot.” She sniffled. “Will would roll over in his grave to think that I was given to that awful man. But if you send me back I’ll have no choice. So I’m staying.”

Cody fell silent. When he spoke again, his voice was firm. “All right. I don’t want to dishonor Will’s wish for you. You’ll stay, but only until we can figure this out,” he said. “You’ll stay with us.”

Jenny felt herself grow uneasy. “What do you mean, with
us?
”

“This boardinghouse is dangerous. Nigel and I have a place together. It’s not a tent, but a cabin. You’ll come stay there. We’ll protect you. If you stay here, you’ll end up raped, or forced to work at Cora’s when your money runs out.”

“You mean the whorehouse?”

“How do you know about that place, lass?” Nigel stepped over, his face concerned.

“I don’t,” she lied sheepishly. “Other than its reputation. And I know enough of that to know I don’t want to work there.”

“Damn right you don’t,” Cody said. “But that’s where you could have ended up if we hadn’t tracked you down, young lady. It was a risky, foolish thing you did, coming here. Now get your things.”

The tall cowboy’s firm resolve angered Jenny. He wasn’t asking her, but telling her—ordering her around as if she were some little girl and not a grown woman who had just braved a harrowing trip and staked a claim despite intimidation. After all this time, he still treated her like a little girl. Well, she wasn’t having it.

“Go to hell, Cody Drake!” she said. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

She felt a moment of satisfaction when her brother’s friend turned away. For a moment, Jenny thought he was going to leave. But instead he pulled a chair away from the wall, brought it to the center of the room, and grasped her again by the arm before sitting down and pulling her over his lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked angrily.

The answer came in the form of a hard smack to her bottom.

“Let me up, you… you… bastard!”

But Cody didn’t listen. Instead he began to spank her—hard. The fabric of her trousers was thin and offered little protection against the sting of his correction. Within a few seconds, the sting had turned into a burn that Jenny didn’t think she could endure one more second.

“Stooooop!” she wailed, kicking her legs and rocking back and forth in an effort to work herself off of Cody’s lap. “Let me go!”

To her horror, she realized she was sobbing, fat tears rolling down her face and into her open mouth. And he was continuing to spank her like a naughty little girl, his hand working over an entirely new area now that he’d set fire to the crest of her bottom. The blows were now landing just at the base of her upturned nates. It was a whole new level of agony for a young woman who had never been spanked in her life, and the humiliation was nearly as intense as the discomfort.

And then, finally, it was over. Cody’s hand lay on her throbbing bottom for a moment before Jenny was lifted gracelessly back to her feet, where she stamped on the floor and rubbed her backside, her sobs continuing unabated.

“There, there, love. It’s just a wee spanking. And well-deserved from where I’m standing.” The Englishman had stepped forward, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket. He put an arm around Jenny’s shoulder and held the cloth to her face. “Now blow like a good girl. Cody’s right. You can’t stay here. We’re taking you home with us, where it’s safe. And you’re going to be a good lass and not fight us.”

His words were kind in tone, but the definitive delivery sent a firm message nonetheless. It was two against one, and these men were not going to take no for an answer. Jenny’s bottom throbbed with hurt, and she was shaking as she stood there, helpless now, her capacity to decide for herself stripped by two men determined to protect her.

When Cody turned to gather her things, she spoke up.

“No,” she said. “Let me do it. These are my belongings.” As she tried to slow her breathing, Jenny walked over to the table and picked up her cloth satchel. She immediately secreted the threatening letter inside of it. There was no need to let the pushy cowboy and his fancy-talking friend know about that. Next came the few pair of trousers she’d brought, the shirts, and the extra pair of boots. There was no women’s clothing. All she’d brought was some old things that had belonged to her brother as a boy.

“Let’s go,” Cody said. “Put your hat back on and tuck your hair under it. No need to raise suspicion. We’ll be walking past the desk. Keep quiet and keep your head down. Act up and I’ll spank your backside in the lobby in front of everyone. You hear?”

She nodded angrily, and then walked out between the two men.

“Tomorrow I’ll come back and let the desk clerk know what happened,” Cody told her as they passed.

Jenny didn’t reply. She couldn’t. Anger and frustration rose like bile as she walked between the two men, who were flanking her closely, protectively. She didn’t want to admit that she was suddenly grateful for their presence; the streets of Coloma were rougher now as evening approached. Men fought in the shadows of buildings or lurched drunkenly back toward camp. Two men walking past argued loudly in a language she did not recognize. Off in the distance, a wolf howled mournfully. Somewhere a gun fired once, then twice.

Cody and Nigel’s cabin sat on a piece of ground higher than the camp around it. It was, Jenny noted, the largest cabin around, and also the most solidly built. In fact, it looked inviting compared to the tents—some made of nothing more than threadbare clothes on rickety poles. Even the boardinghouse, with its rough clientele and thin walls, could not compare.

Cody kept a hand protectively on Jenny’s back as his friend opened the door of the cabin. The interior offered another surprise. It was tidier than she’d imagined the abode of two unmarried men would be.

“It’s not the most elegant of accommodations,” Nigel said as he shut the door, “but Cody here is quite the craftsman and made all the furniture.” He beckoned toward the sturdy table and chairs and other furnishing as he spoke.

“There’s just two bedrooms,” Cody said. “But of course you’ll have your own. Nigel can bunk with me as long as he doesn’t snore.”

The Englishman laughed at this and then looked down at Jenny. “If you don’t mind my asking, lass, when is the last time you bathed?”

Jenny’s face flamed. She could only imagine the sight she must be presenting at the moment. She’d been afraid to undress since her arrival. When she didn’t answer, the Englishman continued.

“I don’t intend to embarrass you, but that boardinghouse is crawling with lice and we won’t have them in our home. Your clothing will have to be burnt. What else have you brought?”

“Looks like just men’s clothing,” Cody added, and Jenny turned to see him going through her bag.

“Hey!” She stomped over. “Those are my belongings! You can’t just…” Then her voice died away as the tall cowboy pulled a piece of paper from the satchel and opened it. When he looked back up, his face was grim.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were being threatened?” he asked. Cody handed the letter to Nigel, who quickly read it.

“I didn’t think it was that important,” she said in a display of more defiance than she felt.

“You didn’t think it was important?” Nigel walked over and took Jenny’s chin in his hand. “Your life was threatened, lass. Were it not for serendipity, we’d have never even found you, but we happened across your claim today and that led us to the boardinghouse.” He paused. “This isn’t the kind of secret you keep. I’ve a mind to spank that bum of yours myself.”

Jenny felt her eyes fill with tears as her hands instinctively flew back to protect her still-sore bottom. “No,” she said, her voice wavering. “Please don’t.”

The Englishman stared down at her, and she held her breath. Would he spank her as the other man had done? She didn’t think she could take it.

“Well, if you don’t want to be spanked, then you’ll have to take a bath. I’ll not have lice in the house. Then afterwards you’ll dress in a clean shirt until we can get you some suitable clothes and get some food into you. Then after a good night’s sleep we’ll talk about what’s to be done with you.”

She looked over to see Cody already hauling a tub into the center of the room; even he knew she wasn’t foolish enough to risk another spanking.

“Very well,” she said. “But am I supposed to bathe in front of two men?”

Cody chuckled as he put a kettle on the stove to warm some water. “I assure you, we’re honorable men. The girls down at Cora’s regularly flash their wares in our direction, but to no avail.” His eyes moved up and down her form. “And it looks to me like you have less to tempt the eye than they do.”

Jenny flushed at this insult, but did not retort. The last thing she intended to do was argue the merits of her own figure. In truth, she realized, she could not stack up to May with her huge billowy breasts. But as Cody filled the tub and she reluctantly—if not obediently—began to undress, she heard the Englishman give a sharp intake of breath.

“Bloody hell, lass. What’s that about your body?”

Her shirt was off and she turned to him. “This?” She pointed to the wrapping that bound her chest flat. Behind her, the sounds of the bucket filling the tub had gone silent and she turned to see Cody staring as well.

“I couldn’t very well look like a girl if I were playing the part of a man, could I?” Jenny looked from one man to the other.

“That doesn’t look the least bit healthy,” Nigel said, taking hold of her shoulders and gently turning her around. “Let me help you out of this, lass. I won’t hurt you.”

Jenny felt her breath catch at the closeness of these two men. They towered over her—one in front and one in back—making her feel small and helpless. The Englishman soothed her with comforting words as he unbound the tight bands, and she whimpered in fear as full circulation painfully returned to her tightly bound breasts.

They did not stop her when she raised her hands over her chest.