Wanted by Outlaws

Natalie Acres

Chapter One

“Evenin’ ma’am.” A short, pudgy man with a muddy star didn’t wait for an invitation. He stepped inside the minute Emily Masterson opened the rickety door.

“Marshall.” She lowered her eyes and tilted her head to the side trying to escape the stench of whiskey before she moved out of his way. Might as well step aside, the man with the notorious and rude reputation almost plowed right over her.

“What brings you out here this evening?” She forced a smile but with the rumble in her belly, she knew his visit wasn’t what she’d classify as a social call.

Marshall Coe never bothered to answer. He took his own sweet time looking around her small cabin. One step here and another over there, he peeked into a bedroom before he climbed a short ladder located in the corner. He turned his head to the left and then snapped it to the right. He gave the place a good suspicious once-over.

With a huff, he inched back down the same way he went up. His gaze drifted over Emily with particular time spent at the neckline of her nightdress. She nervously tugged at the thin collar.

With a leap backwards, he leaned outside the cabin, careful to keep his hands on the doorframe. “Boys, they’ve been here. Come on in and let’s have a chat with Ms. Masterson.”

“Who are you talking about?” She didn’t raise her voice but the alarm sounded out when she hit a higher note. “No one has been here. No one at all.”

The other men traipsed inside and never bothered to wipe their feet. No one made eye contact or provided a polite introduction. The Marshall slammed the door so hard it shook and then nodded toward the men who joined him.

There were four of them, none looking particularly friendly. Two of them took her arms and quickly pinned them to the wall right beside her hips. The other two made themselves at home. One went through her personal things while the other disappeared into the narrow loft.

“Stop this! Please! Take your hands off me!”

One of the Marshall’s bandits smacked his lips while the other ran his index finger over her collarbone. “Coe, you were right. She’s just what I’ve been a wantin’.”

The Marshall’s lopsided smile made her stomach churn. He nodded and rolled back on the chair legs. He further studied her for himself. “Been havin’ all sorts of complaints in Central City.

“This one doesn’t know how we handle whores here in Colorado. Ain’t no way for a woman to know these things if she lives all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. She lives by her lonesome and waits for her no-good outlaws. Ain’t that right, Ms. Emily Masterson?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not. I am alone, Marshall, but I rarely have company and not the kind you’re implying.”

“Ms. Masterson, we’ve been hearing all sorts of things but in the past, we ain’t had any trouble, now have we?”

She swallowed stiffly. “No…No, sir….I…I don’t plan to start giving you any now.”

Marshall Coe had a bad reputation, one she realized held true. She quickly understood how much the odds stacked against her the second he arrived with his bandits. He was a disgrace to the badge. The evil look in his eyes, the expression washing across his swollen cheeks, and his firmly set jaw let her know she was in for some real trouble. She realized her predicament.

Grim, real grim.

“We’re out here tonight looking for three outlaws.”

“I…haven’t…”

He puffed his cheeks, took an agitated and exaggerated deep breath, nodded quickly, and waited. The man holding her from the right immediately began to feel her up and down. His calloused hands ran over her arm and flesh before squeezing her breast, groping her and himself at the same time.

She held her head high and tried to sink into a safe place somewhere deep inside of her mind. The place they’d never be able to find or destroy just because they touched her body and she resigned to the fact quickly. They were there for more than outlaws. They came for her.

They wouldn’t leave without what they were there for, because each of these rogues rode out of Central City with a perverse man’s goal. If she cared to guess, and she didn’t, they probably didn’t give a mule’s behind about outlaws.

“Miss Masterson, can I speak now?” The Marshall flipped something off his coat and tried to act like he remained forever bored.

Her breathing labored, she blinked her eyes and then verbally agreed. “Yes.”

He slowly stood and then paced around the room. “These men you’ve been harboring here are dangerous. They rape innocent women and steal their animals. They prey on widows and women living alone.” He grinned and abruptly stopped in front of her. “These fellas take their turns,” his motives revealed, he let it sink in before he finished, “one man at a time.”

The beastly human to her left ran his knuckles up and down the contour of her ribcage. He growled at her ear and then nipped at the lobe. She squirmed but she didn’t fight. She refused to react in the way they expected, the way they wanted, and apparently craved.

“Hard to say what they would’ve done to you, a woman like you, living out here all alone. We came in and saved the day, saved you from yourself, and those dirty rotten outlaws.”

Marshall Coe sat back down again and added more with a wink, “It’s just a damn shame we didn’t get here in time to save you from everything. No, we may have saved your life, but we couldn’t protect you from the things they were able to do to you before we arrived.”

Emily closed her eyes and resisted the urge, and the sudden need, to scream. Two pairs of hands ripped the only gown she owned away from her trembling body and everything quickly turned into a chaotic blur.

Luke pulled a large blanket from Emily’s bed. “This is my fault.”

Clay and his other cousin, Levi, watched from across the room. They didn’t dare move closer. Luke’s rage was unmatched after a battle and enough blood spilled there. They shed it the hard way, after a good ‘ole gun fight with a few knives thrown in for a better show. Too bad their lone audience passed out prior to their arrival.

“Is she gonna be all right?” Clay asked.

Luke’s eyes showed his fury as he gathered her in his arms. “I don’t know. Damn it to hell! I should’ve been here!”

“You’ve been shadowing her for months now, but you didn’t know this was gonna happen. No one whispered a word about it in town,” Clay said.

“That’s true, Luke. Most of the time when Coe and his men are traveling out, the buzz is everywhere. It didn’t happen this time. You can’t blame yourself.” Levi started dragging the bodies toward the door. “At least they didn’t…well you know. I don’t think no one got to her thata way.”

Luke wrapped Emily tight against his body. “God, I hope not.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I don’t know if I could stand it if somebody hurt her.”

Clay poked Levi in the ribs. “What’d I tell ya?”

“Yeah, looks about like what you said,” Levi grumbled.

Luke swiped her hair away from sticky cheeks stained from plenty of tears, no doubt. “She’s so beautiful and really fragile. Just look at her. She’s so close to perfect.”

Luke looked away from her then. The seething continued and after a few moments of silence, he spat off once more. “Get those bastards up and let me kill ‘em again!”

He started to cradle her harder against his body. He rocked her back and forth and back and forth. Her shape formed to his and he tried to soothe her with some nervous humming. Truth told, he couldn’t carry a tune.

Her long strawberry blond hair roped over his arms, fanning out over his thighs as he held her. The stench of blood lingered everywhere and with the swelling under her rosy red cheeks, Luke probably wanted another good fight, and someone among the living to blame.

“Damn it, boy. She’s not a prize you found in the middle of the field somewhere, or a child. Now go put her in the bedroom. Let’s get these dead bodies out of here before she wakes up and wonders what she missed.” Clay took charge. Right now, Luke most likely didn’t want to hear him speak. He planned to hold his woman and rock her into comfort and he wanted to do it in silence.

Too damn bad.

Emily started to mumble and then jerk. “Help…me,” she croaked out the request before she rolled her head against Luke’s shirt.

Nothing moved in the room while she mumbled. Luke patted her head and Clay looked on.

“Shh…It’s Luke, Emily. I’m here. Shh…We killed ‘em all, Emily. You’re safe now.”

Levi kicked at the dirt floor swept tight to perfection. “Go put her in bed, Luke. Give us a hand here.” He sounded angry, pissed off and ready to fight somebody else too. They’d fought plenty when they first arrived, several on the outside and a few more in Emily’s cabin.

Oh yeah, the dead ones picked the wrong woman.

Clay glanced over his shoulder before he loaded the smallest of the bunch over his back and tossed him on the porch. He turned around to find another corpse to carry, and grumbled as he lifted and tossed the deceased.

Levi’s lips formed a tight line. He stuck his hands in his pockets while he glared at his cousin. Anger washed over him and Clay noticed. Levi wanted to comfort Emily too.

“Here, help me.” Luke handed off Emily and if Clay had to guess, he did it for a test if nothing more. Luke once mentioned what he’d suspected for awhile. There wasn’t proof, no way to know for sure whether or not his cousin shared the same enthusiasm, a similar attraction for Emily. Now, all their cards were face up on the table.

Clay and Luke loaded the remaining bodies in the wagon. After they removed the evidence of death, they returned to wipe down the area and swipe away the blood, so Emily wouldn’t see it.

Luke walked into Emily’s confining bedroom. Levi wasn’t sitting in the chair next to the bed, but instead he sat on the mattress with his hand in hers.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” Luke asked.

“Tell you what?” Levi looked up, reluctantly tearing his gaze from the sleeping wonder in front of him—Emily.

Tension separated the cowboys, on some level. Right now, neither one of them needed to fight out their differences. They were both smart enough to realize when rage existed like this, it was better to walk away. Better still, maybe even run. This kind of fury often got a man killed when a woman brought about certain feelings hardly understood.

Clay motioned for them, and they both stepped out of her room. “Boys, before you decide to roll around on the ground out here, I think there’s a thing or two we all need to discuss.”

Luke and Levi exchanged glares but the stark anger they kept in reserve suddenly changed and they found a new direction to point it. The target had a name, his. He saw them headed straight for him.

“You been coming out here too, Clay?” Luke cautiously asked.

“Well?” Levi waited.

“You two are something else, you know that?” Clay glanced from one cousin to the next. “You were ready to kick each other’s ass and now you’re both looking at me like you don’t know if you want my blood or my scalp.”

Luke’s lips formed a tight line. Clay had a way with the ladies. If he was visiting Emily, he was fucking Emily. He’d bet on it.

“You seeing her?” Levi apparently suspected the same thing.

“Yeah, ‘bout like the two of you. Sittin’ right here on this here porch and lookin’ at the prettiest woman I ever did see. She brings out that fine china teacup when I come to call. We sit here for a few minutes and I try to work my thick fingers through the tiny handle without breaking it.”

Luke grinned for a second. He had the same trouble with Emily’s china, no doubt.

“Sweet talkin’ her pants right off of her too, I’d reckon.” Levi stalked off the porch.

“What the hell are you mad about?” Luke hollered after him. “I told you two what my intentions are, were. Hell, you know what I mean and what did you do?”

“I got to her as soon as possible. I tell ya, I did,” Clay admitted. “I ain’t gonna deny it and I don’t care if you like it or not. When you said you figured on one day marrying her, I had to see for myself what kind of woman cracked a man’s nuts without laying a finger on ‘em.”

“Why? Why the hell would you do something like this?” Luke asked.

“Oh come on, Luke. We’ve shared women before, and it ain’t ever been a problem.”

“It’s not the same.” Luke took the reins of the wagon and hoisted himself on top of it. “Not a woman in Tombstone or Dodge City or anywhere in Oklahoma looks like that one, and neither one of ya had your mind set on sharin’ her, now did ya?”

A blood curling scream interrupted them.

Luke’s face lost its color. He jumped from a perched advantage and landed on the porch mere steps in front of his cousins. The three entered her room cautiously.

Emily wept into her palms. Startled, she pulled her hands away from her face and they looked into the eyes of the familiar. Fear and shame stared back.

“I…I…” She buried her face again. Oh, this was so bad, so terrible, so awful, and unbearable. She wept and shook, sobbed and rocked. All three stood silently, helplessly; unaware of how much pain she’d endured because they weren’t there from the beginning.

Clay, several years older than his cousins, spoke first. “Emily, is there something we can do for you?”

“No!” she wailed from behind her hands. “Yes!” she cried almost immediately.

“Okay, tell us.” Luke moved closer. “What do you need, name it and it’s yours.”

Emily glanced up. She searched their faces for the answers she needed. “I don’t know what happened. Do you?”

“What do you mean, you don’t know what happened?” Luke questioned. He looked like a burly bear lurking in her corner. A big man with deep chocolate eyes and coal black hair, most men feared Luke Justice. Emily felt safe around him, most of the time. Right now, he looked mad enough to kill, or maybe like he’d already done some killing.

Clay cleared his throat and translated. “She said she don’t know what happened and that means she don’t remember or care to talk about it. Right, Emily?”

She reluctantly nodded. “I can’t remember anything after…they…put their hands on me.”

Clay set his jaw. Luke clenched his fist and Levi had to turn away from her to hide the anger. She saw the red flush of Levi’s skin before he hid under his mess of brown hair.

“Okay, well then. If you don’t remember, it’s for the best.” Luke took a deep breath and walked over to the window. “We’ve taken care of them, Emily. You don’t have to worry. They won’t ever hurt you again.”

Emily’s breathing increased with each passing second. She felt like she was going to get really, really sick. “So they…”

“Oh, no, he didn’t mean that, uh, we wouldn’t know about that, and uh…” Levi didn’t have a way with words.

“Levi, you and Luke, why don’t you two wait outside?” Clay peered up at Emily from under his long eyelashes. His royal blue eyes pierced through hers. Maybe he realized several men had their way with her. Did he know for sure? Probably so, Clay always knew things. Maybe he wanted to save her the embarrassment of discussing whatever he suspected in front of them.

“I think I’ll stay here with Emily too, if you don’t mind.” Luke crossed his thick arms over his chest but Levi tapped his arm and motioned for him.

“Just give me a few minutes, for crying out loud. What do you think I’m gonna do, jump in bed with her?”