Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Lawmen [The Lost Collection] (Siren Menage Everlasting) (25 page)

“After all this, can it really be that easy?” She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.

“Honey, if you think this has been easy, you’re tougher than I gave you credit for,” Adam said.

Amanda shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

Warren reached out and ran his hand down her back. “Yeah, we know.”

“Let’s go take a look. Even if it’s not the right cave, we ought to use it.” He looked up at the sky, at the dark clouds that gathered in the west and seemed headed their way.

Amanda followed his gaze and understood what he meant. They’d probably have rain during the night.

It took another half hour to work their way down from the ridge they were on to the flat little mesa. The river was a bit bigger than it looked, not too fast-running despite the rockiness of the land. Once the horses were tethered and unsaddled, Amanda looked at each of the men in turn.

“I want to see.”

Adam nodded. “Okay, let’s go see.”

The terrain was surprisingly smooth as they made the small trek to what they now could see was the mouth of a cave. Amanda wondered if this could really be it, the cave with the overhang where her father had hidden that Confederate gold all those years ago.

“Well, damn.” Amanda’s words echoed inside the rock cavern. The opening, while tall enough to enter, seemed shallow. They stood about five feet inside the opening. No overhang greeted them, just a wall of broken rock. To the right of the entrance, the cave seemed to open wider, as if a bubble had formed additional space.

No overhang. No bodies. No gold.

They walked the interior of the cave, seeing no sign that anyone, or any creature, had ever explored or even taken up residence here.

“Nothing.” She couldn’t help notice how barren that one word sounded.

Adam walked back to the entrance, his gaze on the rubble that formed one of the walls of the cave.

“Maybe,” he said quietly, “it fell.”

“What fell?” Amanda asked.

“The overhang.”

Amanda surveyed the rubble. “How the hell are we going to find out if it did?” she asked.

Warren came to stand beside them. “We could dig.”

“Tomorrow,” Adam said. “We’ll dig a little tomorrow. In the mean time, let’s set up camp. We’ll put the fire near the cave, but not in it.”

Amanda felt waves of disappointment washing over her. She didn’t know how they were going to manage to dig through that rubble. Sure, some of the rocks looked as if they could be lifted, but the others seemed too large to move.

“Come on, sweetheart. We’ll eat, play, and sleep. In the morning, we’ll dig. Maybe we’ll find it’ll be easier than we imagine.”

“Maybe.” She turned from the cave, her eyes on the river. “I don’t care how cold that water is. I’m getting naked and getting into it.”

“Yeah,” Adam said.

He smiled and looked at her in such a way she felt her disappointment ebb into the background.

“Let’s just gather our firewood first.”

That, Amanda thought, sounded like a plan with a promise.

Chapter 22

“How far behind them do you think we are now?” Baker asked.

Colin watched Bodine as he examined the abandoned camp site, or more specifically, the spot where their quarry had tied their horses for the night. There could be no mistaking the fact Bodine looked at him with fresh eyes.

You don’t think I’m such a dandy now, do you?

All he’d had to do to change Bodine’s attitude was to kill one crazy old prospector and steal his supplies. Since he’d procured coffee and beans as well, he figured he’d leave it to Bodine to look at horse shit and try to decide how fresh it was.

“I’d say less than a full day. Reckon this was last night’s site.”

Colin nodded. “Good. It’s just noon. You sure you know the way to this place they’re headed?”

“Tahlequah? Yeah, been there a time or two. This trail seems like they’re headed just west of the town.”

Colin had made a decision shortly after he’d killed the old man. Rifling the man’s possessions, he’d discovered a compass and something that had filled him with instant desire—dynamite.

The old guy had been carrying a stick of dynamite as if it was nothing. Crazy old bastard likely would have blown himself to bits, anyway.

Bodine had shot the man’s burro when the stupid jackass wouldn’t stop its noise, standing there next to the old man’s body. That act had earned Bodine some of Colin’s trust, so he’d told Bodine just what it was they were chasing after.

Shame he wasn’t going to let Bodine live to see any of the gold.

“Let’s keep moving, then,” Colin said. “We took enough jerky from that old bastard we don’t really need to stop and make camp. I’d rather catch up and move on them just before dawn.”

“Now that’s a plan I can get behind,” Bodine said.

Colin liked the man he’d become over the last few weeks. He felt tougher, as if living off the land had given him a new outlook, and a new set of skills. He’d been soft before he’d made the decision to head West.

He wasn’t soft any longer.

At his urging, Bodine picked up the pace, and they pushed their horses to make up the time that separated them from their quarry. They stopped once in the late afternoon to water the animals and drink from the stream. Bodine suggested making a quick fire, brewing some of the coffee they’d stolen from the prospector.

Because Colin wanted to ride as far as possible that day, he reasoned a quick meal now would carry them to nightfall, possibly beyond. It didn’t take long for Bodine to make that fire and that coffee.

He ate jerky and beans and drank black, strong coffee—a meal Colin would have turned his nose up at only months before—and felt himself well-fed, well-rested, and ready to finish this business.

He couldn’t fail, for right was on his side.

No one would doubt Amanda Dupree had worked some sort of guile to convince the aging and increasingly senile Gladstone to give her money and the journal. Who in his right mind would mention a whore or a bastard daughter in his will?

Colin nodded. He knew he was right, for the bequest to the woman had not been mentioned in Gladstone’s will at all, but had been arranged ahead of time, bestowed by a separate document, given over to that useless lawyer even before Gladstone had died.

“How much gold, exactly, you figure there’s there?”

Bodine’s question brought Colin back to the present. He scanned the area, noted the rise in the land, the gradual change in scenery. Trees grew in small groups, farther apart than they had been.

“Likely tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth,” Colin said.

“We’ll have to get us a couple of wagons, then, once we kill those bastards and have that treasure all to ourselves.”

“Huh.” Colin pretended as if that was something he’d not thought about. “Yeah, you’re right. Where would we get wagons?”

“In Tahlequah. There’s a stagecoach trail you’d find, if you rode east for a time. Then it would be north into the town. Don’t have any idea how far, really. Won’t know till we find the gold.”

“And you said it wasn’t far from Tahlequah to St. Louis, Missouri?”

“No, it’s some distance—near to three hundred miles. But there’s a rail station that’s not that far—take you either to St. Louis or points west, depending.”

After all he’d endured, Colin felt confident that once he got to Tahlequah, he’d be able to hire the wagon and a guide. He’d have Bodine’s horse, and two horses ought to be able to pull a wagon filled with gold.

He kept his smile to himself and fell silent, his eyes on the trail and the ever sinking sun.

They smelled the fire first. Dusk had fallen, and with it, their ability to make out the trail. But the smell of a campfire spurred them on. They followed the scent onto a ridge. Here, the night air felt chillier and the slight breeze stiffer than it had been all day.

Bodine had pointed out the clouds to the west, remarked that it might rain that night. Colin didn’t care one bit about his comfort at this point. Nothing could stop him now, certainly not a little rain.

Bodine held his hand up. They were downwind from the whore and her guides, but Bodine kept his voice down anyway.

“This here ridge ends just yonder. Best if we go on foot, as I reckon we’ll see them as soon as we reach the edge of it.”

“Right.” Colin dismounted, tied off his horse. He followed Bodine and approached the edge of the cliff. While Bodine got down on his belly, Colin stayed back, waiting.

“Yep, that’s them. Don’t see no reason they’d be camping in a cave, but there they be.”

Cave. Some of the journal he’d read so many years ago came back to him then, and he knew why they were in the cave.

That’s
where the gold had been hidden.

“So, where are we, exactly? Are we in any danger of being found out here easily by passersby?”

“Not likely. Nothing out this way much but rocks and ridges. I’d say the town’s due east, likely not even a full day’s ride from here.”

“Good, then,” Colin said.

“Just trying to see what those bastards are up to. It looks like they’re nekked.” Bodine’s words whispered, and Colin could see the man’s attention was riveted on the people less than a quarter mile away.

Colin looked around him and spotted what he wanted on the ground not three feet away from him. Bodine remained lying on his belly, his attention focused on the scene below.

He’s made it easy for me
.

Colin picked up the rock and took the few steps necessary to bring him even with the outlaw.

Bodine must have sensed his presence, for he shook his head, but still didn’t take his eyes off the others.

“What in the Sam Hill you figure they’re all nekked for?”

Colin slammed the rock down on Bodine’s head with all his strength.

Bodine died silently, blood and gray matter oozing from his head.

Colin dragged him away from the edge of the ridge, out of the way, and returned to take his place.

One down, three to go
.

He’d wait, let them sleep. Wait until nearly daybreak to make his move. He smiled, knowing his goal was within reach. That whore and her friends were going to go out with a bang, and they wouldn’t even know what happened till they faced each other in Hell.

Colin settled in to wait for the approach of dawn.

* * * *
  

Warren stretched out, supporting his weight on his elbows behind him, and watched his lovers. All three had chosen to leave their clothes off after their swim, giving themselves and their garments a chance to air out.

Night had fallen, and the fire cast a golden glow on Adam and Amanda and, he guessed, himself. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so relaxed or so aroused.

“I’m not going to spend another moment tonight thinking about that gold,” Amanda said.

They’d been discussing it, of course, and whether or not they’d be able to dig it out of the rubble—if indeed it was actually there.

“So what do you want to talk about instead?” Warren asked. Since his cock had stiffened and currently pointed at the clouds overhead, he thought the question almost rhetorical.

Amanda shot him a sly, teasing glance. Adam didn’t disguise his gaze. Warren felt his cock react to both lovers’ interest.

“How about we talk about what you would like to do about that loaded gun you’re carrying there, Lawyer Jessop?” Amanda asked.

Warren felt his grin widen. “Funny you should ask that, Miss Dupree. As it happens, there’s something I’ve wanted to do since the first time the three of us got together.”

“Name it,” Adam said.

Warren loved it when Adam’s voice took on that dry, husky tone. It meant he’d been aroused to the point of near madness. Warren could understand how he got into that condition. They’d not touched each other beyond the comforting these last two days. Both he and Amanda needed to make sure Adam’s injuries healed first.

Now, as Warren read the signs of growing need on them both, he felt his heart trip and his belly tighten. There were so many ways to arouse his lovers without even touching them. Warren used one of those methods now, his smile slow, his words soft.

“I want my mouth on your balls while you fuck Amanda. I want to taste you both at the same time, drink you both at the same time.”

The fire gave enough light Warren could see the effect his words had on them. Adam’s cock bobbed, and Amanda’s nipples tightened into sweet little buds.

“My God,” Amanda breathed. He knew his words would arouse her. She loved having his mouth—or Adam’s—on her cunny. Of course, she loved having their cocks inside her just as much.

They’d laid one of the blankets out by the fire. Warren got to his feet and went over to Amanda, offering her his hand. She gave it, and he pulled her up and into his arms.