Acres, Natalie - Propositioned by Outlaws [Outlaws 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Natalie Acres Page A

Victoria drawled. “I’ve met her a few times myself. Lovely person. Just lovely.”
    “Get to your point, Victoria .”
    Victoria slid away from the desk and stalked him. “You were no father to me. After ma died, you came around just enough to make sure you could lie down at night and convince yourself you were a good man, a man who occasionally stopped in to say hello to his only daughter.” A beat later she added, “Doesn’t the Sweeny family work with neglected kids back east?”
    The marshal rubbed his forehead. He didn’t say either way, but Victoria knew they did. They were always placing kids with families there in Cripple Creek .
    “You’re not a kid anymore. Caroline would understand why I’m not active in your life.”
    “Would she?” Victoria asked. “I don’t think so. My mother was a whore. She took countless men to her bed—outlaws, farmers, Indians, and even marshals. Wonder if a fine, upstanding lady like Caroline would have the stomach for a man who took a whore to bed quite frequently?”
    “Why would you hurt Caroline? She’s an innocent woman.”
    “And you’re about to hang two innocent men. It’s called an eye for an eye. Considering the rumors in town about Caroline’s stability, I’d say that kind of rumor would be just enough to push sweet Caroline over the edge. What do you think?”
    The marshal turned to Art and Lane. He looked at Victoria and stood a little taller than before. Lane thought he detected a little bit of pride in the man’s worrisome eyes but he couldn’t tell for sure.
    Finally, the marshal grabbed the keys to the jail cell and said, “Did you rob that stagecoach or not?”
    Lane shook his head. Art followed suit.
    “Well then, I’ll send a telegraph to the judge.”
    “It appears you don’t have a choice, Marshal,” Art said.
    “On one condition,” the marshal added. “You two stay the hell away from my daughter.”
    “You might as well go ahead and hang me,” Lane said. “Because I tell you about what’s gonna happen if you let me out of here.”
    “What’s that?” the marshal asked, arching a brow.
    “I’m probably gonna love her.”

Chapter Ten

    Probably, hell , Art thought as they rode back to Victoria ’s place later that afternoon. The two of them had been making eyes at one another all the way home.
    Home.
    Fuck. He was as hung up on the idea of a future with Victoria as Lane apparently had been. As the clopping of horse hooves came to a halt by a shaded area near the river, Art caught the end of a conversation bound to snap him out of his daydreams.
    Lane said, “So what tipped you off to the marshal being your daddy?”
    Victoria slid away from the saddle, and Lane was there to catch her. She looked up at him and smiled. “I don’t know. Your wolf friend got me thinking. I knew you lied to me about robbing that stagecoach. After I thought about it awhile, I started beating myself up, thinking maybe it was my fault the marshal caught up with you before you had a chance to turn yourselves in.
    “Then I thought about how red-faced he was when he saw me naked. He kept looking away from me, trying to give me the chance to get dressed without gawking. My ma used to say if a woman had a good body, a man would look at her regardless of whether or not he had a good woman at home. She always said God couldn’t fault a man for looking at a woman when all he was doing was admiring the beauty of the big man’s handiwork.”
    Art and Lane laughed.
    “Anyway,” Victoria went on, “I noticed something else about the marshal, too. He was mad, enraged really, when he walked in that barn and discovered the two of you had been with me. He was so angry, he was unwilling to see what had happened there as a consensual agreement between adults. He wanted to pin some other crime on you.
    “So I studied on that for a piece, too. That’s when a stream of old memories rolled through my head. I didn’t just remember the handsome young marshal