Read The Outlaw Online

Authors: Lily Graison

Tags: #romance, #historical, #historical romance, #western, #cowboy, #western romance, #frontier romance, #historical western romance, #cowboy romance, #1800s montana, #pioneer romance, #lily graison

The Outlaw (16 page)

BOOK: The Outlaw
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Why did he keep Sarah around?

 

He blew out a breath as she turned back to
the house, a smile lighting her face until she looked like an
angel. Small sprigs of hair had come loose from the knot at the
back of her neck to dangle near her face and the late blooming rose
in her hand paled in comparison to her beauty. She was lovely, any
man’s dream, and one he could see himself with if it weren’t for
the fact he never wanted to end up loving someone so much it tore
his heart out when she was gone.

 

Did he love Sarah? Probably, but that didn’t
mean he’d ever tell her. It would kill him when she left and for
that reason alone, he’d let her go without a second thought. A
woman like Sarah was all wrong for him. She was too refined, too
beautiful. There was too much blood on his hands to ever taint her
in such a way. Besides, she had a fiancé waiting for her. A town
marshal her father liked and respected. Why would he ever give the
hand of his daughter to an outlaw?

 

 

* * * *

 

 

The normal sounds of a busy household woke
Sarah. She stretched, working the kinks out of her spine and sighed
before snuggling back down into the blankets her thoughts drifting
to Colt.

 

One of the ranch-hands had informed them of
the stagecoach schedule. She had one day before she had to leave.
Two days before saying goodbye to Colt. The thought left an odd
pain in her chest. A constriction that made it hard to breathe.

 

She closed her eyes, seeing Colt’s face in
her mind’s eye and smiled at the image. Such an arrogant, cocky
man. All that swagger and male posturing. Those smiles and soulful
eyes, the sinful words and wicked tongue. Her heart was racing by
the time the last image faded.

 

Rolling onto her back, she stared at the
ceiling. He’d told her the night before he’d take her into town
today if she’d rather stay at the hotel until the stagecoach
arrived. She hadn’t given him an answer. Truth was, she was happily
content right where she was and the thought of getting on the
stagecoach and leaving Colt behind left a hole inside her heart big
enough to drive the stagecoach through.

 

She should have let him have his way the
night he’d tried to seduce her. She’d fended him off thinking if
she didn’t indulge, her heart would be safe. That she’d never miss
what she didn’t have. But now, in the bright glow of the morning
sun, she realized what a fool she’d been. Her one chance to love
him was gone, thrown away like so much trash that she was bereft
from the missed opportunity. When she stepped on that stagecoach
and waved goodbye to Willow Creek, she’d leave her heart behind, in
the care of a man who wouldn’t even know he had it.

 

Throwing the blankets back, she sat up and
looked out the window. She could see the barn from her room. Colt,
or maybe it was Holden, walked inside the darkened building, coming
back out a moment later guiding a horse. It wasn’t the one Colt had
been riding.

 

Looking harder at the man checking the
cinches on the saddle, Sarah decided it was Holden. She grinned.
How in the world was a person supposed to tell them apart from a
distance? Twins. The lord must have been having a good day when he
made them.

 

Standing and crossing the room, she washed
her face, combed her hair and dressed. She only had one more full
day in Willow Creek and she wasn’t about to spend it in bed. There
was an outlaw somewhere on this ranch and she aimed to find him.
What she’d do with him when she did was still a mystery but if she
followed her heart, she’d make sure he knew exactly how she felt
about him once she was gone.

 

 

* * * *

 

 

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust once
stepping inside the barn but Sarah saw Colt in the upper loft as
soon as her vision cleared. He had his back to her and was bent
over something. She looked around the barn until she saw the ladder
and climbed up, tripping on her skirt twice before reaching the
top.

 

The loft was large with a walkway that ran
the entire length of the barn on all four sides. Hay was stacked
along the walls to the ceiling and in the back where Colt was, the
bails had been cut and loose hay lay in massive piles waist
high.

 

She took a step, the floorboard creaking
under her weight. Colt turned, his face showing surprise at seeing
her before he smiled. “I was beginning to think you’d sleep til
noon.”

 

“It’s only half past nine.”

 

“Maybe so but life on a farm starts before
the sun is up.”

 

She crossed the space, noticing the tools
hanging from the back wall. “Well, I’m not a rancher, so I think
I’m exempt.”

 

“You keep bankers hours, then?”

 

Sarah laughed. “Yes. What else?”

 

He pulled his leather gloves off, tossing
them to a spot near the edge of the loft. “What are you doing up
here?”

 

She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing.” She
looked around again for lack of anything else to do. “Just curious
as to how a working ranch is operated. Living in town my whole
life, I’ve not seen the inner workings before.” She avoided looking
at him. She was sure he’d see her lie for what it was.

 

Since waking she’d thought of nothing but him
and if watching him work, or whatever it was he was doing, was all
she could have, then she wanted to be right beside him. With only
one more day she didn’t have a choice. After tomorrow he’d be out
of her life forever. “So,” she said, walking further into the loft.
“What exactly are you doing up here?”

 

He cocked his head to one side and Sarah kept
her gaze averted. “Getting ready to haul the hay down.”

 

“Oh.” She moved a bit of it with the toe of
her boot and felt her face heat. Purposely seeking him out, just to
be in his presence, was a bit humiliating now that she thought
about it. She wondered if he knew she had or if he was puzzled by
her presence. Knowing Colt, he knew exactly what she was doing.

 

“Want to help me with something?”

 

She turned to look at him. Nothing showed on
his face to alert her that he’d figured her out so she shrugged her
shoulders. “Might as well. I’ve nothing else to do.”

 

A smile crossed his face and caused her pulse
to leap in reaction. He walked toward her, stalked would be a
better way to describe his gait, and stopped once he reached her.
In a move she didn’t foresee, he grabbed her around the waist,
lifted her, and tossed her to the pile of hay. She landed with a
squeal, sinking into the brittle, dry hay and clawed it away from
her face.

 

He followed her down, his body trapping her
underneath him. “I don’t think you thought your answer through,
sweetheart. You didn’t even ask what I wanted your help with.”

 

The look on his face let her know precisely
what he wanted and her heart fluttered. The blood coursing through
her veins heated in an instant and that throbbing pulse between her
legs grew until she was dizzy from it. She licked her lips, met his
gaze, and took the weight of him on top of her, the feel of his
muscled chest against her own and locked it all away inside her
mind so she’d never forget how it felt. “And what is it you want?”
The words came out in a breathy whisper and the effect they had on
him were instantaneous. She felt him grow against her hip, hard and
thick. Knowing she could arouse him so quickly caused things low in
her stomach to tighten. For her to feel languid, her limbs liquid
underneath him.

 

“You know what I want.” He lifted his hand,
moved the hay away from her face and glanced at her lips. “I want
the same thing I’ve wanted since laying eyes on you.”

 

Sarah swallowed to moisten her throat. “And
what’s that?”

 

He smiled, a tiny lifting at the corner of
his mouth enough to show his teeth. “I want to feel you naked
against my skin. To taste every inch of your flesh and bury myself
so far inside you you’ll never forget me.”

 

“As if I could ever forget you.” The words
were out before she could stop them. Heat flared in his eyes,
hunger so profound it stole her breath.

 

His smile grew and his hand slid to her
ribcage. “Don’t tease me, Sarah. You’ll make me think you want to
keep me.”

 

She did but was too afraid to say so. Her
heart was hammering inside her chest so hard she wondered if he
could hear it. The intense look in his eyes warming her in places
no man besides him had touched. She glanced at his mouth, the
strong jaw he hadn’t shaved this morning, his rugged, handsome
features, and knew his face would be etched into her mind until she
took her last breath. “You’re too much trouble to keep, Colton
Avery. What woman wants a man who kidnaps women and tries to seduce
them at every turn?”

 

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re the
first I’ve kidnapped.”

 

She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “Not the
first you’ve seduced, though?”

 

He laughed and lowered his head, his mouth
mere inches from hers. “Seeing as you’ve yet to let me have you,
I’d say my skills at seduction were lacking somehow.”

 

“Maybe you aren’t doing it correctly,
then.”

 

His hand slid up her ribs, stopping
underneath her left breast. “And how exactly should one go about
seducing someone?”

 

Sarah bit her lip. She had no clue how to
seduce someone. She wasn’t worldly, or wanton by nature, but being
with Colt made her want to be. She wanted to excite him, to make
him desire her to the point of recklessness. To crave her in a way
that made him crazy with need.

 

She glanced at his mouth again, those
sensuous lips, and that craving she felt flooded her body. She
wanted to taste him, to drive him to the point of insanity with a
single touch and make him beg her to never leave him. “Slowly,” she
said, answering his question. “Make them feel cherished and loved
and they’ll give you anything you want.”

 

He lowered his head without another word
between them, molding his mouth to hers. Her lips opened in
invitation, his tongue teasing her bottom lip before sliding inside
to taste her. Sarah sank further into the hay, lifting her arms to
pull him closer to her and angled her head.

 

His lips were soft, his tongue searching,
caressing the inside of her mouth with long languid strokes. His
hand under her breast rose, cupping her through the fabric of her
dress and squeezing gently. Her nipple ached with need to be
touched, to feel his warm fingers against her skin. She arched her
back, trying to get closer, and molded her mouth against his,
taking what she wanted from him.

 

A small groan worked its way up his throat,
the sound husky and needy. His hand tightened on her breast, his
hips pressing against her more tightly. The heat she felt was
consuming and the fabric covering her skin, stifling. Her hands ran
the length of his back, feeling the corded muscles shift underneath
the fabric of his shirt. She wanted to feel him, needed to feel the
heat of his flesh under her hands.

 

Grabbing his shirt, she pulled, loosening the
end from the waistband of his pants. He broke the kiss and lifted
his head enough to look at her. “Don’t start something you have no
intention on finishing, cause I promise you, you’ll be sorry you
did.”

 

Sarah licked her lips, looked to the buttons
of his shirt and reached for the first one, unbuttoning it. His
skin was exposed in slow increments, his chest expanding with every
harsh breath. When the material parted, she pushed it away, her
gaze devouring his flesh as if she’d been starved.

 

She flicked her nails lightly against his
stomach, and he inhaled a sharp breath, his muscles contracting.
His breath washed across her head, his eyelids sweeping down. Sarah
watched his face as she explored him, her fingers searching and
caressing every inch of his skin and she could see the pleasure of
her touch etched into the lines near his mouth.

 

Raising her head, she kissed his chest,
peppering small, playful bites against his skin. He exhaled, the
sound following it almost pained. She raised her eyes to his,
extended her tongue to flick one taunt nipple, and saw the moment
he lost control. Something feral flashed in his eyes, a small sound
coming from the back of his throat, and he was kissing her again
before she could catch her breath.

 

He tugged at the buttons of her dress, freed
her breasts from the confines of material and cupped one in his
palm, squeezing before lowering his head to suck her nipple into
his mouth. He rolled the small bud with his tongue, closed his lips
around it and suckled until she thought she’d die from the pleasure
of it.

 

Pulling at her skirts, he slid his hand up
her thigh straight to the waistband of her bloomers. He let go of
her breast and looked at her. “Tell me to stop, Sarah.” He bunched
the waistband of her bloomers into his hand, his knuckles hot
against her stomach. “Tell me to stop and I’ll never touch you
again.”

 

She could barely breathe the intensity in his
eyes was so severe. She inhaled a shaky breath, raised her hands to
his face and cupped his cheeks, giving him a kiss, and whispered,
“Don’t stop,” against his lips.

 

He pulled her bloomers down in jerky
movements, the material ripping in places as seams popped loose.
She reached for the waistband of his pants with clumsy fingers, the
fear of the unknown fluttering across her mind only briefly. She
freed his erection, heard his exhaled breath when she touched that
hardened column of flesh and lost all semblance of composure when
he spread her legs and settled between them.

BOOK: The Outlaw
9.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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