Captivating Cole Read online

  “For a whole week?” My backside ached just thinking about it. Or perhaps it was the bustle poking me from my position against the wagon’s rough planks.

  The self-satisfied smirk smeared into a full-blown grin across his face. Cole’s stance widened and he planted his fists on his hips as if to intimidate me. “Or longer…if there’s any trouble.”

  My eyes widened before my chin dipped as if such a scandalous wager needed more consideration. Several seconds ticked down until I sat up straight, forced myself to look my husband square in the eyes, then stuck out my hand.

  “Mr. Carston, you have yourself a deal.”

  His eyes narrowed in turn. But he didn’t look away this time. “Excuse me?”

  “I just agreed to your wager that if we take all my trunks, I’ll sleep on the ground with you instead of in the wagon.”

  “I don’t…”

  “I must say, it will be an inconvenience, though a small price to pay in order to secure my possessions for our journey.” I slid from the wagon and dusted my dress off as much as possible before glancing up at my stupefied husband. “Don’t you think?”

  The bark of laugher from Drew punctuated the air, the perfect complement as Cole’s smirk fell from his face like a dive off one of the distant bluffs.

  And I relished in the satisfaction of knowing he never saw it coming.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cole

  I should ride Buck on ahead. Leave the wagons choking on our dust and let Drew and Evan deal with the wily creature. My youngest brother was particularly in the doghouse, after standing up for Estella and giving her the opening to twist my words to satisfy her female whims.

  Nineteen trunks piled high in the overloaded wagon. Nineteen! Plus that ridiculous loom of hers took up even more room. That contraption might’ve served a purpose on the ranch, if not for the fact it was for – what had she called them – tapestries. I thought those were things they made for castles way back in the dark ages, not for modern times.

  And where the hell did she expect me to put the damn thing when we reached the ranch? I was tempted to chop it up into pieces. That enormous, heavy frame would make great firewood come winter. Or I could lighten the load and hack it into logs when we settled on the trail for the night.

  Yeah, I could hardly wait to see Estella sleeping on a bedroll come nightfall. Sleeping under the stars. Tucked into my side to keep warm.

  My cock twitched.

  Damn her. That wasn’t how things were supposed to pan out. Yet the one time I let myself really look into those teary eyes, all I wanted to do was sweep her up the stairs back at the fort and find a room. Or even a closet. It didn’t help that she just had to cry.

  Now all I wanted to do was wring her neck for tricking me into dragging all of this shit along. Drew’s too for questioning me – or maybe more for the fact that he got to sit next to Estella in the wagon seat, yacking away like she was suddenly his best friend.

  I couldn’t rightly be mad at Evan though. Yet all he’d done when we came rumbling through the fort gates with the massive load was lift a brow as he finished tying off the new stallion’s lead rope to the back of the covered supply wagon. Then he passed off Buck’s reins to me and led the way across the river toward home.

  Home. What would Estella think of the two-story house we’d built? About the touches of Sky that remained? The barn and the stables?

  About Bret?

  With his calm and gentle manner with the horses, Bret was key to making this plan work to break down Estella’s defenses and open her to acceptance of our needs. She hadn’t acted too uptight when seeing the Indians encamped around the fort, though I’d been consumed with licking my wounded pride at the time to pay close attention.

  Right then, I’d rather be licking more than my pride. Namely my wife’s pussy. Dripping wet with succulent juices as I licked and sucked my fill of her sweet essence.

  But if we were going to be successful at getting Estella to come around, everything had to start with Bret. Which meant my aching cock had to be put on hold a little while longer.

  I shifted in the saddle to ease the tightening pressure. It was as if I hadn’t found any relief with the whore last night. My sacrifice had to be worth it in the end – and Bret would owe me big.

  I grinned at that, easing a bit of the temper that had plagued me since we’d left the fort – and allowing me to notice twilight was upon us.

  “Hey, Cole!” Evan’s shout from behind drew me up short, and I halted Buck to wait for the second-born to rattle up alongside. “You planning to ride through the night or something?”

  “Nah.” I quickly scoped out the landscape while we still had some light, focusing in on a loose gathering of pine up ahead. “I was thinking we might camp over there for the night.”

  Evan followed my raised hand while we waited for Drew and Estella to catch up. “Decent cover. Creek’s close enough.” His head swiveled around to take in a full arc of the view. “Good sightlines too.”

  “Just in case there’s any trouble.”

  “Yup.” Evan was good at keeping a solid poker face. Even so, the slight twitch below his eye gave him away.

  I glanced back at my lovely and oblivious bride and lowered my voice to a mutter. “Think we’re being followed?”

  “Yup.”

  Man of few words. Being out in the wild for half the year had reduced my brother to single word responses and short sentences. But steady hunting was what’d also made him the best shot around. Even though Pa had taught us older three, not a one of us could hit a target like Evan.

  “Thanks for earlier today, by the way. For saving Estella.”

  Evan grunted then spat a stream of tobacco juice that missed his shorter beard. “Bastards were more afraid of you than me.”

  “But not enough to stay completely away though.”

  “Nope.”

  “Let’s set up camp then.” I urged Buck forward and Evan followed with the wagon. I kept the pace slow so my brother stayed alongside. “While you’re doing that, I’ll shimmy up a tree and see what’s on the horizon while we still have some light.”

  “Nope,” he challenged. “I’ll shimmy up a tree while you set up camp.”

  “You’re forgetting who’s in charge here,” I reminded.

  “My night sight is better. So’s my aim.”

  I barely had to consider that before conceding. “Can’t argue with that.”

  I tied off Buck at the trees edge so he could happily munch on grass instead of a bed of prickly pine needles, then got a quick fire smoldering to a flame. After helping unhitch the team, Evan wandered off to find himself the perfect tree for spying, while I led Drew’s exhausted horses to butt up to the supply wagon and establish a protective perimeter. Estella’s damn trunks did make for good cover in the event of a firefight.

  Drew took care of his horses and led all five off toward the creek for a needed long drink. I reached up to wrap my hands around Estella’s impossibly tiny waist and hefted her from the wagon. Her groan shot straight to my cock.

  We were alone together for the first time since we’d become man and wife. The warmth of her skin seeped through the silk dress. Her face flushed from an afternoon in the hot sun, tendrils of dark hair were plastered with sweat against her cheeks. Lips parted, ready for the tasting.

  And shit, I wanted nothing more than to taste them. Taste all of her. But this marriage wasn’t just about me. “You got a better hat in one of those damn trunks?”

  I hadn’t meant it to come out so harsh. But she flinched and blinked at my tone anyway. I turned away before those eyes sucked me in again.

  “Yes, I have several hats…and parasols,” she replied, releasing my arms to dust herself off – an impossible task. “But I wasn’t given time to change into something more suitable before you whisked me off like a heathen.”

  If she only realized how heathen I could be. I pulled supplies for dinner from beneath the tarped wagon and walked over
to tend the fire. “Well, you’ve got time now.”

  She glanced over to the one piled-high with her things. “And how would you suggest I go about doing that, now that you’ve managed to create such a disorganized mess of them?”

  “You could start by opening them.”

  “I can’t even reach but a handful of them as it is.”

  This woman was going to be the death of me. I tossed her a tin of beans. She didn’t even try to catch it and instead let the tin fall with a thunk at her feet.

  I stood up with a groan of my own. “You start dinner while I check your storage.”

  Wide-open eyes tracked me as I marched past her to untie and haul down first one trunk. Then another. Books. More books. How many damn books could one woman read in a lifetime?

  Oh yeah. She’d get along with Bret just fine, assuming I didn’t strangle her before we made it back to the ranch. Four trunks in, and I still hadn’t located a stitch of clothing. By the time I did, all I found was a bunch of silk and lace like she already had on. Did the woman own nothing practical?

  Finally! The next one I opened had a wide-brimmed straw hat in the top box that I snatched out before looking around at the eight or so trunks I’d pulled down. If I pushed these aside, I might get by with accidentally leaving them behind come morning. Save us all from aching backs by the time we reached the ranch.

  But I’d deal with that later. I had the rest of the night to think on such actions – and the ramifications.

  Evan came around the edge of the wagon, dusting off pine needles and frowning. “Getting too dark to see much, but I can feel ‘em out there.”

  I’d long ago learned to trust his instincts. “Me too.” I glanced over to see Drew helping Estella with the beans. “Make sure all the guns are primed and ready, then we’ll set up rotations after dinner.”

  He nodded. “I’ll take the first watch.”

  “Me second, then Drew third,” I finished. “Just don’t let on to Estella that we’re being followed. No need to spook her.”

  Evan snapped open his Colt Peacemaker and eyed the remaining bullets, replacing the one he’d used to save our girl. “She ain’t a timid little sheep, brother.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “She made it all the way out here to marry your sorry ass.” He spun the cylinder then shoved it back in its holster. “By herself.”

  “Well, we’re not home yet,” I reminded him. “I want to be loaded up and on the trail at first light.”

  “Done.” Evan glanced over the assortment of trunks scattered at my feet. “Nice of you to clear out the wagon for Estella’s bedroll…‘specially after all that fuss you two made.”

  My gaze followed his, first to the trunks on the ground and then to the partially emptied wagon bed. I growled as I realized my wife had gone and bested me again.

  I thrust her damn straw hat into my brother’s hands. “Yeah, I’m a fucking saint.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Estella

  I was going to die out here. Forget ever seeing Carston Ranch. Forget meeting the other brother. Or ever consummating my marriage – as if I wanted to any longer.

  No. The Montana prairie was to become my final resting place. My dust-coated body fodder for the scavengers. My sun-scorched remains fertilizer for the fragrant grasses and wildflowers beneath the never-ending sky.

  I’d lost count of the days since I’d last strapped into this damnable corset and put on this once lilac dress for my wedding. How long had it been since I’d taken anything close to resembling a full breath?

  I could no longer feel rivulets of sweat beading between my breasts before running down my torso. My entire body had gone numb. I could no longer feel much of anything.

  Except a constant dull ache.

  There was little point in attempting to freshen my clothes out here in the open. No need to ruin more than one dress. Besides, everyone was equally dusty and smelly on this trail. This long and endless trail that stole the very essence of my femininity.

  Leaving me with absolutely nothing left with which to attract my husband’s attentions.

  Instead of a neat and carefully pinned roll, hair strands wilted in a tangled mess from beneath the worthless hat Cole had fished from my trunks. Every stitch of clothing and accoutrements I’d brought with me were worthless in such an environment. I suffered from endless thirst, painful joints, and a backside perpetually pinched between the high wagon seat and my bustle.

  If it hadn’t been for Drew’s continual stories of adventures concerning this bluff and that copse, spying a wolf and her cubs or shooting the head off of a dreadful rattlesnake along the trail, I’d have run sobbing back to the fort to face whatever other dangers it harbored.

  Perhaps I should’ve married Drew instead of Cole. At least his stories provided a distraction from the endless days.

  Unlike my husband.

  Cole just stayed astride his horse farther ahead before stopping and circling around to speak with Evan, who’d moved his wagon to our rear. Most likely it was an attempt to keep us moving forward instead of lagging behind.

  Every day the brothers switched out which team of horses pulled the wagon laden with my trunks, possessions I too finally realized served little to no purpose in such a wasteland.

  Wasteland? That was entirely too harsh a term to describe my new home.

  The Montana Territory was actually quite lovely, filled with fresh air, revitalizing breezes, and crystal clear streams that provided much needed sustenance when we stopped to fill canteens. Drew even kept a bucket at our feet so I could dip a once white handkerchief in to refresh my fevered brow.

  I wrung it out for the umpteenth time that day and laid the cool comfort against the exposed skin above the neckline of my dress. Mother had always said a lady keeps to the indoors to protect her delicate skin. Fortunate for her, she’d never been exposed to the bright Montana sun.

  Cole trotted his horse our direction again, staring at my hands as I mopped at my chest. I could barely squeak the question from my parched lips.

  “How much longer until we reach your ranch?”

  “Been on it since this morning,” he replied much to my surprise, having been unable to comprehend the magnitude of their acreage. “If we’re lucky, we’ll reach the house in another day…or two at this pace.”

  Another day or two? I would die before then. I swiped the now warm cloth over my cheeks to hide the tears that threatened.

  Cole frowned as he stared at the fluttering of my fingers. “What are you doing?”

  This was the longest conversation we’d had since – well, since however many days it’d been after the first fitful night on the trail.

  “I’m trying to keep myself cool.”

  He shook his head and scowled like he’d been doing since Fort Union. “Well don’t.”

  “I beg your pardon?” I called after him as he galloped toward Evan. I turned to Drew, who didn’t even have the decency to blush when I caught him ogling the rise above my neckline. The moist rag did little to dry my tears. “Can I not at least have one comfort on this godforsaken journey?”

  “Wet skin burns easier,” Drew finally offered with a grin. “He’s trying to protect your tits, is all.”

  I gasped at such language used to describe my being. The grin widened. Then a chuckle slipped from between Drew’s full and irreplaceable lips. After all, that mouth had saved me from sheer and utter boredom and kept me from thinking only about my numbed bottom these last days.

  I bit my lips. Pressed them into a thin line to stop them from twisting into a smile. My efforts proved futile as a sprig of laughter tumbled out from deep inside my belly.

  I smacked his firm thigh. “Such a beastly thing to say to your new sister-in-law.”

  A beautiful and rich laugh of true camaraderie erupted. “Even when it’s true?”

  I went to smack his thigh again, then gripped it when the wagon wobbled sharply over a large hole. Drew reached out and w
rapped a strong arm around my waist and clutched my frame against him to keep me from pitching off and under a wheel.

  My heart hammered as I stared up into green eyes brightened by the angle of the sun as the orb reached toward the horizon. His gaze fell to my lips, and for a moment I thought he might kiss me. More startling – I realized how much I wanted him to.

  Yet my husband was in full view behind us – somewhere. I closed my dry mouth and scooted away, his arm relaxing to allow me to do so. But only just, as the free hand lingered in the narrowed space on the bench between us.

  “So, um…,” I began, dipping the cloth in the water and wringing it out for something other than his thigh to occupy my hands. And my mind. “You haven’t yet told me the story behind how you obtained that particular scar.”

  “Which one?”

  I tentatively traced a fingertip along the hairline near his temple. Even covered in dust and sweat, the first touch of the chestnut tendrils peeking out from under his hat sent a shiver straight to my core. I had to press my lips together to stifle the moan that begged for release and quickly withdrew my fingers.

  Drew sobered, the perpetual grin fading like the twilight I’d become so intimately acquainted with these last days.

  “I don’t have a good recollection of the particulars from that incident,” he readily admitted. “One of my brothers could better explain it though. You’re free to ask them.”

  Our unstilted conversation virtually dissipated after that question. I’d obviously stumbled upon a sensitive subject with that one. However, he had given permission to ask one of his brothers, though I didn’t see either Cole or Evan heaping sparkling conversation upon me anytime soon.

  But I yearned to get to know this young man better – and as I’d long ago discovered, when I set my mind to it, I wasn’t a woman to be denied.

  “So what about this scar?” I asked, pointing to a rather raggedy one along his forearm below where he’d rolled up a sleeve.

  Drew picked up the storyline as if the previous disruption to our conversation hadn’t even occurred. “Oh, that ‘un? A claw got me real good.”