I urged my sisters to walk ahead of me onto the boardwalk, passing them as we carried our bags to the hotel. The two men I’d noticed earlier turned their heads and continued to look at me as I went by, tipping their hats. I told myself not to look. I swear I did. But it was like they possessed a secret power over my body and my eyes refused to listen to my head. I glanced at the closest man and a shiver raced down my spine at the intense interest I saw there. His friend, a few steps farther, drew my attention directly thereafter. His gaze was dark and thoughtful, but he looked at me as if he knew me, as if he knew my secrets and could see straight into my soul.
I held my breath as I passed in a vain attempt to avoid the spicy scent of their bodies. They smelled so much better than I’d expected. Sweat and dust and the odor of horses clung to the air, yet these men smelled of wild pine trees and earth.
“Miss,” the second man said, his voice rough and dark and deep.
Up close, I could see that the first had green eyes; the other’s were dark as coffee. I should have been wary or even fearful of their unswerving attention. Instead, I felt… hot all over. Lightheaded, as if I would faint. My heart was practically beating out of my chest and my nipples tightened beneath my corset. I pulled my thin wool coat closed around me, thankful it would hide that embarrassing fact, and forced my feet to carry me forward.
As I turned away from them and headed toward the hotel at the end of the block, I could feel them watching me, their gazes like fire tracing a mark on my back. Once in the hotel room, my sisters took over the bed to rest. I stripped out of my dusty clothes. Standing before the mirror, I saw my scrubbed complexion. No matter how much soap I used, how much I scrubbed, I would always feel dirty. Years and years of living with my uncle had reinforced that notion.
Tears of exhaustion filled my eyes as I washed my body. My nipples were hard and when I cleaned myself between my thighs I felt a hot ache there. I knew the throbbing fullness wasn’t caused by thinking of the man I was to marry, but of two rough and handsome cowboys, and a tear slid down my cheek.
Chapter Four
Logan
“We’ve been all over the world and we find her in the Montana Territory,” I muttered, shaking my head. The black-haired beauty had met my gaze, met my fire with her own. I knew what desire looked like on a woman, and suddenly all I could think about was seeing her hot and naked under me, her body glistening with sweat and my name falling from her lips as I made her beg for release. “Damn it.”
I wasn’t cursing the woman; I was cursing the rock-hard cock taking up too much damn room in the front of my pants. Less than a minute and a complete stranger made my cock so hard and full it ached.
I dropped a bucket of nails onto the back of the wagon with a loud rattle. A few spilled out and I grabbed them, tossed them back into the tin. There was no denying it; the dark-haired beauty that had alighted from the stage was the woman for me. And I’d clearly heard one of the lovelies say the name Jenkins. These women were about to fall into a terrible trap. After what that little shit, Samuel Jenkins, and his sons had said the night before, it was our duty to protect the women. I just didn’t know which woman was his bride. Nor did I care. Not one of them was going to be touched by Jenkins or his filthy sons, not while I lived.
“Which one do you think is the future Mrs. Jenkins?” I asked Ford, who was standing still as a statue watching the women as they walked toward the hotel. He turned to glance at me as he reached down to the front of his pants and adjusted his own problem. I laughed. “Please tell me that hard cock is for the dark-haired beauty.”
“I don’t know which one is for Jenkins, but I know the one that’s for us.”
“Please say the dark-haired one, because I have no doubt that she’s ours,” I grumbled. This was a serious moment and I had no interest in jests.
“Hell, yes, the dark-haired one. Kane warned me that when we saw her, it would be like this, but bloody hell.” He rubbed his chest. “She’s ours. No question about it.” He shifted his cock again. “If you wa
nt to marry her and fuck her senseless, then yes. I agree.”
“Good. Now that I’ve seen her, now that I’ve looked into her eyes, I want her. She’s walking away and it’s actually painful. I want her in our bed by nightfall.” Ford’s green eyes slanted with determination as he lifted his gaze to follow the women as they entered the front door of the hotel. “We have to marry her today. That’s the only way we can make sure Jenkins doesn’t touch her. Hell, I don’t want him touching any of them.”
“Agreed.”
The other men in our group circled around, none willing to allow Mr. Jenkins and his sons to defile such beauty as we saw alight from the stage. “Which one is Jenkins’ bride?” Evan spoke up, but our entire group was intense and focused. We had a mission here, and couldn’t leave town until we all made sure those women would be safe.
I frowned. The Jenkins men hadn’t described the woman last night, only what they were going to do to her. We hadn’t even been able to get a glimpse of the photograph. The idea of those bastards touching any of those women made me want to cut off their cocks and stuff them down their throats so they choked, but it was the eldest woman Ford and I had just agreed to claim.
“Doesn’t matter. The dark one is ours,” Ford said and I added my agreement. Somehow, I preferred the one who didn’t have milk-white skin. The other two were pale and fair-haired, but the eldest—she was clearly a few years older—had hair as dark as midnight and her skin had been kissed golden by the sun. Her lips were full and soft and her eyes held definite interest as she looked at us. When she’d glanced at me, then at Ford, and stilled, my cock had turned rock hard. I saw the truth in her eyes. She’d felt it, too, an instant connection. Want. Right then and there, her fate had intertwined with ours.
The other men nodded at Ford, understanding our interest. “How you know she’s yours, like that.” Garrett snapped his fingers. “It’s beyond my understanding.”
“You just haven’t seen your woman yet,” Ford told him.
“And you can’t have ours.” I felt the need to emphasize our claim. I, too, would have asked the same question if it hadn’t felt as if I’d been kicked by a mule when her dark eyes met mine. I wanted her hot and wet beneath me. I wanted to taste her skin and her pussy. I wanted to explore every inch of her body and discover all her secrets.
“The younger two—the blondes—are surely sisters,” Evan offered.
The other men nodded. That the younger girls were related was impossible to miss, for they looked similar enough to be twins.
“It’s unusual that three women just happen to come to this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Today.” Evan stroked his beard. “It’s not often we see three lovely ladies out here at all. Hell, it’s been months.”
“Since Fargo, at least,” Thompson added, grumbling. “And those green eyes. Damn. They were full of fire and ice.” He reached down to adjust his own cock and Garrett laughed.
“Brown dress? Golden hair?” Garrett asked.
Thompson looked at Garrett and a nod of understanding passed between them. I lifted my fingers and snapped them in front of Garrett’s face. “Just like that,” I said.