“Their teeth are filed so they can tear into people when they attack.”
She’d heard but had hoped it was rumor.
He turned to her and saw Tobin standing behind. “Go back to the garrison barracks. Tell them two score and five. They’ve got the usual weapons. I want full lights on that bridge and the sentry fires set immediately.”
Tobin raced off.
“What next?”
“The sentry fires will be set along the walls. That’ll let them know you see them.”
“Obviously we can because they’re standing out in the open!”
He turned, taking her hands. “I’m not going to let anything harm you.”
She swallowed her fear back. There were twenty-five of them and at least five hundred fighters, more if everyone took up arms who had them and could use them. She could use a weapon. She was all right. They’d be all right.
He caressed her face. “I’d never let anything happen to you. I swear it.”
Loyal Alsbaugh wasn’t the kind of man she expected sweet words from, though certainly he said lovely things to her from time to time. But he made her feel safe. In a world like theirs, it meant everything to feel that way.
“You’re not helpless. Even if I wasn’t here, you’d be safe.” He paused for several long beats. “But I’m grateful I am. If I’d been elsewhere and got the news, if I hadn’t been here knowing you were under siege?” He swallowed and she stood, held by his words, the breeze sending her skirts swaying around her legs, catching a stray curl and bouncing it from her cheek. She could smell his skin. Woodsmoke and gun oil.
The sun was up somewhere, not quite there yet. But the promise of it lightened the sky and she looked up, caught by the masculine lines of his features.
“I’m grateful you are too.”
He brushed his lips against hers. “I’m going to send someone up here to keep watch. I want you back inside. Please,” he added after she’d given him a look.
“Can I be of help anywhere else?”
He chewed his lip for a time and sighed, deciding to just be blunt. “If you’re safe in your house I’ll be able to work better. I’ll worry if you’re out anywhere. I need to focus and gods help me, you’re on my mind so much as it is.”
The fierce look she’d been wearing softened. The fear and anxiety were gone, replaced by a smile that shot straight to his gut.
But she didn’t push it. She nodded.
He escorted her back and resisted re-checking her weapons. He’d already done so when she hadn’t been watching.
“You know all the warnings. If there’s any emergency communication, use the whistle and we’ll send a runner. I don’t think they’re going to get over the bridge. But it’s best to be smart and prepared.”
She nodded again. He pulled her close, kissing her until she lost all the stiffness in her spine. Until he throbbed with each heartbeat with the need to take her to the floor and fuck her senseless.
No time for it though.
He tore his mouth away. “I have to go.”
She followed him to the door. “Don’t get hurt or I’ll be vexed.”
He grinned and jogged away.
• • •
He was pleased to see his orders being carried out; the sentry torches lined the entire wall surrounding the garrison and could be seen from the highway.
“You think that’s it?” Haldeman tipped his head toward the bridge where the brigands had begun to gather.
“I wouldn’t count on it. They can travel in bands of several hundred. They often send out smaller raiding parties to reconnoiter the prey.” He’d sent out three scouts to see if there were others hidden elsewhere on the way up to the garrison and expected them to report back soon. If they had indications there was a large gathering of brigands he’d put in a blip and send for soldiers from Table Mount.
Otherwise, they’d be expected to repel the offensive force themselves. It wasn’t expedient or even possible to have the central government in Shelter City ride out to protect the garrisons outside the main security zone surrounding it. It was simply an accepted fact that the cost of independence for those who lived outside that safest zone was the necessity to protect themselves when they were threatened by outside forces.
“So do we tell them to back off or what?”
“They won’t make an immediate attack. They’re going to make a camp right out there on the other side of the bridge. So you can see them. It’s part of what they do. Build up your dread and terror.”
“We have sharp shooters. Let’s kill them all and be done. Why are we so afraid of a bunch of animals?” One of the garrison soldiers shrugged a shoulder.
“You’ll find that they’re close enough for you to see, but just out of range for that. They’re feral, yes, but they understand strategy. Don’t underestimate them. They live this way. For generations this is how they have survived. Understand that.”
“So what do we do then?”
“You need a show of force. Put men up on the sentry points in full view. With weapons. They’ll respond to that. You make yourselves a poor target. Show them you can fight back. That you have excellent defenses and will repel an attack. They’ll watch you, see how you react. Hold steady and if you’re lucky, they’ll leave. If they make a move we will react fiercely and immediately. You have to kill them. All of them. Your reaction is what will gauge whether or not they come back. And how soon.”
10
He took reports from his scouts. It appeared a smaller party of brigands were down on the highway. Which meant they were waiting to see what happened up at Silver Cliffs before they moved.
It was his hope that they could get out of this without a breach of the bridge. Underlining just how strong Silver Cliffs was. Then the brigands would find another, weaker target.
He convinced Jackson to have some of the businesses open during the day for the residents of Silver Cliffs. He wanted to keep a sense of normalcy, though also on heightened alert. Keeping the residents emotionally well adjusted was key. A long siege could make people more prone to rash decisions, which put everyone at risk. So he wanted them out in their fields and doing their daily tasks to stave that off.
He put everyone on three shifts so that the wall would constantly have soldiers on it and after a long day, he walked back up the hill to Verity’s place. He’d eat and rest a while before heading back. Brigands tended to move at night. He didn’t think it would be that day, but likely the following if they moved at all. But there was no harm in being prepared.
Earlier that day he’d gone through Silver Cliffs to patrol. He’d wanted to be seen by people, to reassure them they were safe.
Verity had her mercantile open, Tobin at her side as she filled orders and chatted with her customers.
He wanted her.
Wanted to stride up to her, pull her in for a kiss so everyone in the place knew she was his. She’d looked up and smiled, waving. He’d tipped his hat and kept walking.
He’d realized at that moment that it wasn’t so much that he planned to hide his involvement with her. Many people in Silver Cliffs had already figured it out. But he had a job and she had hers. He respected her, and considering the bits and pieces he knew about her husband, he realized that sort of possessiveness might not be welcome.
But now the streets were quiet. A sense of expectation hung in the air, but not as fervently fearful as it had been even the day before. He’d often found that once people knew what to expect they were less prone to panic. The show of force and the confident way the garrison defenses had been conducting themselves had given people a sense of direction and safety.
He headed up her back stairs, locking up again in his wake. He smelled something savory, but didn’t hear her. Had she taken a nap? He smiled, imagining how he’d wake her up.
Then he heard the water and
her voice as she sang. Not as pretty as the rest of her. Verity Coleman was incredibly talented at a lot of things, but those things didn’t include singing.
Once he was sure they were alone and he’d locked up and taken a look out toward the gate to be sure things were still quiet, he headed to her, discarding his clothing as he did.
He knocked, not wanting to startle her as he opened up. She smiled when she saw him.
“Why good evening to you, lawman.”
“Howdy, ma’am. May I be of some service?”
She took a leisurely look from his toes up to his face, a smile on her lips. “I can think of a great many services I’d be eager for you to provide.”
Something about her always eased the knots in his belly. He let himself be happy as she got to her knees and he moved closer.
“Do you need a back scrub?” she asked as he got into the tub, settling between her legs that she wrapped around his waist. She pressed a kiss to his neck, hugging him to her, back to front. “Let me take care of you for a change, hm?”
She soaped the cloth up, sliding it against taut, muscled shoulders. Circle after circle as he sighed, relaxing as she ministered to him.
She wanted to take care of him. Wanted to ease things a bit in a life she knew was hectic and filled with a great deal of responsibility.
“Long as you don’t sing to me.”
She snorted a laugh. “Are you insulting my lovely singing voice, lawman?”
“Verity Coleman, you are beautiful. You’re intelligent. Strong willed. You are eminently capable, you’re sexy as sin. You taste like heaven. But you are not a singer.”
She giggled, unable to deny his claim. “I had no idea you were out there listening to my rust voiced warbling. It’s a flaw, but I keep it within the confines of my bathing tub, after all.”
She massaged his muscles as he leaned back into her touch. The outside world was insane. Dangerous. Chaotic even. But right there things were wonderful. Her heart was lighter than it had been in ages.
“Close your eyes.” She took up a nearby pitcher and got his hair wet, pouring some of the liquid soap she’d recently come by into her palm and then massaging it into his scalp.
He groaned. “You’re mighty good at that.”
“I have ulterior motives.”
“Thank the heavens for that.”
She rinsed his hair and got out to rinse the rest of him appropriately. He stood and she helped him out, grabbing a towel, drying him. Rubbing over his hair, across his chest and shoulders, down his arms.
He watched her. Quiet. Emotion in his eyes. She got to her knees and finished drying his legs and feet and he pulled her back to hers, returning the favor, buffing her gently with the towel.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He said it so softly it was almost a dream.
She blushed up from her toes. Empty flattery she could take. Dealt with it all the time. But this was something else. He didn’t waste words. And it was him. Her lawman. Telling her she was beautiful and that made all the difference in the world.
“Thank you.”
He folded the towel and placed it on the side of the tub as it drained. He held a hand out and she took it, allowing him to draw her into her bedroom.
“On the bed. On your belly.”
She swallowed hard, but obeyed, her skin hyper aware of his gaze, and then of the cool, slight texture of her bedspread as she lay against it. Her nipples throbbed in time with her thundering heart.
The bed dipped on one side as he got on.
“Close your eyes.” He kissed her shoulder. “Let yourself feel.”
She did, with a shuddering breath.
“Trust me?”
“Yes.” Her answer was immediate. She did. With her life. With her body. With everything she was.
“Good.” He licked down her spine, pausing to give a quick nip of her left butt cheek. She giggled at the surprise and then moaned as he nipped again just beneath where her ass met her thigh. And then he licked.
Shivers flew over the surface of her skin. It was delicious and exciting and darkly taboo. His mouth so close to all sorts of places she should be embarrassed about.
He continued down her leg, licking at the back of her knee until she writhed against the mattress. He picked up her foot, kneading against her instep, over her ankle, kissing, nibbling and licking until she was nearly begging him.
But she wanted to know what else he had planned so she bit her bottom lip to keep the words inside.
He dug his thumbs into her heels, up her ankles and calves until she grunted. His touch was deeply sensual, but also reverent. She was glad her eyes were closed against the swell of tears.
So few people touched her in an intimate sense. Not necessarily sexual, but only her sister and Tobin touched her affectionately.
Like she mattered. Like there was nothing else they wanted to do than to touch her, feel her against them.
Loyal had unlocked something she’d buried deep, pretending it didn’t matter because she didn’t have it and to obsess on it would have killed her.
With him, like this, she was something more than the woman in town who gave you your mail. More than the pretty face at the mercantile or the little lady whose drunken lout of a husband had been murdered.
In Loyal’s arms, in this bed, she was worthy of reverence. Worth the time and effort it took to touch her this way.
No one had ever made her feel this way.
Cherished.
He took her seriously. He listened when she spoke. When she talked about wanting to see the rest of the world he didn’t chuckle, smug and self-satisfied as he patted her head and told her the big bad world was too much for her pretty little head. He understood her curiosity.
The allure of that. Of being understood and valued like that . . . she didn’t have words for it. She only knew it filled her up until she was satisfied. Warm and happy and tingly.
His cock pressed against her leg as he leaned over her to knead her arms, as he brushed his fingertips against the sides of her breasts. His beard rasped against her ribs as he kissed her there.
He swept her hair from her back and kissed down her spine again. This time though, he said, “Head down, ass up.”
Swallowing hard, her eyes still shut, she obeyed to his hum of pleasure.
His breath against her ass brought hers to a stutter. His fingertips slid against the seam of her pussy.
“When I’m on the road, far away from here, away from your scent and the feel of your skin against mine, I think about you. About how juicy your cunt is, about your taste. I think about the way you’re so buttoned up and lovely outside your door, but in here, with me? You’re open and eager. You want pleasure, you give it. There’s no shame between us.”
He spread her, dancing a fingertip round and round her pussy, up against her clit, down around her gate, just inside, and then back against her asshole.
The breath shot from her lips when he did that. Only once before in her life had anyone been back there. It had been done to humiliate her. To break her and bring her pain and domination in all the worst ways.
He paused for a moment, waiting for her to tell him to stop, but he’d asked her to trust him and she would. He wasn’t James. Everything they’d done had been totally different.
A brush again, against her asshole and she made herself relax. Again the hum of satisfaction. She smiled though he couldn’t see her do it.
Then he knelt, bending and licking her from behind, right up to her asshole, and she squealed. He cracked a hand against her cheek.
“Shh. Keep still.”
He went back to it. Licking at her pussy, lapping, fucking into her with his tongue before he pulled back to flick the tip of his tongue against her clit. And then he moved back up again, licking against the rosette of her
ass until her spine loosened and she let herself truly feel it.
He bit her cheek again, gently. “Sometimes it’s the things we’re not supposed to like that feel so good. Hm?”
Starting again, licking, stroking with his tongue until she was on fire for him. Because it didn’t matter what he was doing, it felt good, and because it was him, it was all right.
Her slide into climax was slow and delicious and when it hit she breathed through and let it come. She was warm and really wet and ready for whatever he had in mind next.
“I’ll be right back.” The bed moved and she listened to his footfalls retreat and then return as quickly as he promised.
He got to his knees, looking at the creamy skin of her shoulders, still a little pinked from the flush of her orgasm. Grabbing his cock at the root, he teased her pussy. Sliding in for several quick, deep thrusts and pulling back, brushing the head against her clit until she began to tremble a little.
He wanted all of her.
With a depth of greed that surprised him. Even scared him a little. But he wanted her nonetheless. She gave herself over with ease. Trusted him. It humbled him even as it excited and thrilled him.
He opened the little pot of the cream he used on his skin when the weather was so very dry and he spent long hours in his vehicle. Nothing in it that would harm her or sting. But it slicked things up nicely and it was perfect for what he planned next.
He dug a bit out and, using two fingers, he slicked it over her asshole, and then quested inside, stretching her. She stiffened at the first intrusion, much like she had with his tongue. He’d gathered from the way she froze in certain situations, that her former husband had mistreated her. So he took it slow, giving her plenty of time to see he was different and for her to call a halt to anything she didn’t want.
Smooth and very, very tight.