to seduce me into givin’ in to you?” he asked, his voice laced with contempt. “If you did, you sacrificed your innocence for nothin’.”
“The only seducer in this room is a cantankerous billy goat who thinks with that thing hanging between his legs,” Sam sputtered angrily.
Colt’s scowl disintegrated as he broke into raucous laughter.
“What are you laughing about, you cross-eyed rattlesnake?”
“Your language hasn’t improved any, has it?” Colt said, leering at her heaving breasts. “I reckon I’ll have to find a way to shut you up.”
“I don’t—” The words died in her throat as Colt seized her open mouth and the magic began anew. It didn’t end until the last sigh, the final moan, was wrung from her.
Colt still slept soundly when Sam slipped from his bed. Glancing at Colt’s pocket watch lying on the dresser, she was shocked to discover it was six o’clock. She had been in his room over three hours! Gathering her scattered clothing, she hastily dressed, noting that the sun was a red ball low in the western horizon. She hoped to reach home before Ida arrived and asked a lot of uncomfortable questions. She couldn’t help pausing for one last looked at Colt, thinking how innocent and young he looked with his ruffled tawny hair falling across his forehead. Yet she knew him to be anything but innocent. He was a devil—a womanizer with a heart as cold as stone. She found him utterly without morals or conscience. She didn’t expect marriage from him—and he didn’t offer. But the least he could do was let her live on the ranch until the new owner showed up.
A kind of hopelessness settled over her when she thought of how easily and totally she had surrendered to Colt’s seduction. Why? she wondered bleakly. Why hadn’t she resisted? Why had she allowed him to capture her senses so thoroughly and seduce her so effortlessly? A part of her heart which she kept guardedly locked held the answer to those questions. But she dare not turn the key and confront the truth. Fully dressed now, she tore her eyes from Colt’s magnificent body and left the room.
As she stepped into the corridor, the sound of boisterous laughter could be heard from below, and the terrible realization struck her that the saloon was now crowded with customers. She hadn’t meant to stay so long in Colt’s room, but she seemed to have had little control over what happened that afternoon. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to descend the stairs with as much aplomb as she could muster.
“Miss Howard.”
A groan of despair slipped past Sam’s teeth when she whirled to find Dolly Douglas standing behind her.
“I began to think you’d remain in Colt’s room all night.”
Sam flushed. “You spied on me,” she accused.
“There’s not much going on here that I don’t know about.” Dolly shrugged carelessly. “If you’re interested, there’s a private stairway at the end of the hall. To preserve your reputation as well as mine, I suggest you leave as unobtrusively as possible.”
“Why should it make any difference to you?” Sam asked curiously.
“Idle talk could ruin my business. It wouldn’t do for the townspeople to learn that an innocent girl was seduced in one of my upstairs rooms.”
“You don’t know that!” denied Sam, incensed.
“I know Colt,” Dolly said bluntly. “You were in his room for over three hours. He’s not the man for you. Miss Howard.”
“I suppose he’s just right for you,” Sam returned shortly.
“Colt and I understand one another. We go back a long way. We’re both takers. We take what we want and give nothing in return, except, perhaps, pleasure. Could you live with that? Would you want a man under those circumstances?”
“There’s nothing I want from Colt,” Sam refuted resentfully. “You’re welcome to him.”
“If you knew Colt like I do, you’d know his goal in life is to steer clear of commitments. All his life he’s done his best to avoid women
“The only seducer in this room is a cantankerous billy goat who thinks with that thing hanging between his legs,” Sam sputtered angrily.
Colt’s scowl disintegrated as he broke into raucous laughter.
“What are you laughing about, you cross-eyed rattlesnake?”
“Your language hasn’t improved any, has it?” Colt said, leering at her heaving breasts. “I reckon I’ll have to find a way to shut you up.”
“I don’t—” The words died in her throat as Colt seized her open mouth and the magic began anew. It didn’t end until the last sigh, the final moan, was wrung from her.
Colt still slept soundly when Sam slipped from his bed. Glancing at Colt’s pocket watch lying on the dresser, she was shocked to discover it was six o’clock. She had been in his room over three hours! Gathering her scattered clothing, she hastily dressed, noting that the sun was a red ball low in the western horizon. She hoped to reach home before Ida arrived and asked a lot of uncomfortable questions. She couldn’t help pausing for one last looked at Colt, thinking how innocent and young he looked with his ruffled tawny hair falling across his forehead. Yet she knew him to be anything but innocent. He was a devil—a womanizer with a heart as cold as stone. She found him utterly without morals or conscience. She didn’t expect marriage from him—and he didn’t offer. But the least he could do was let her live on the ranch until the new owner showed up.
A kind of hopelessness settled over her when she thought of how easily and totally she had surrendered to Colt’s seduction. Why? she wondered bleakly. Why hadn’t she resisted? Why had she allowed him to capture her senses so thoroughly and seduce her so effortlessly? A part of her heart which she kept guardedly locked held the answer to those questions. But she dare not turn the key and confront the truth. Fully dressed now, she tore her eyes from Colt’s magnificent body and left the room.
As she stepped into the corridor, the sound of boisterous laughter could be heard from below, and the terrible realization struck her that the saloon was now crowded with customers. She hadn’t meant to stay so long in Colt’s room, but she seemed to have had little control over what happened that afternoon. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to descend the stairs with as much aplomb as she could muster.
“Miss Howard.”
A groan of despair slipped past Sam’s teeth when she whirled to find Dolly Douglas standing behind her.
“I began to think you’d remain in Colt’s room all night.”
Sam flushed. “You spied on me,” she accused.
“There’s not much going on here that I don’t know about.” Dolly shrugged carelessly. “If you’re interested, there’s a private stairway at the end of the hall. To preserve your reputation as well as mine, I suggest you leave as unobtrusively as possible.”
“Why should it make any difference to you?” Sam asked curiously.
“Idle talk could ruin my business. It wouldn’t do for the townspeople to learn that an innocent girl was seduced in one of my upstairs rooms.”
“You don’t know that!” denied Sam, incensed.
“I know Colt,” Dolly said bluntly. “You were in his room for over three hours. He’s not the man for you. Miss Howard.”
“I suppose he’s just right for you,” Sam returned shortly.
“Colt and I understand one another. We go back a long way. We’re both takers. We take what we want and give nothing in return, except, perhaps, pleasure. Could you live with that? Would you want a man under those circumstances?”
“There’s nothing I want from Colt,” Sam refuted resentfully. “You’re welcome to him.”
“If you knew Colt like I do, you’d know his goal in life is to steer clear of commitments. All his life he’s done his best to avoid women
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