The Good, the Bad, and the Naughty (12 page)

No, she needed to stop this foolishness. She smiled and gently moved her hand away. “I had to do something important this morning that couldn’t wait. I need to go on stage now, but I’ll see you boys afterwards and we’ll talk, all right?”

Trevor took her hand, kissing it. “And then later continue where we left off last night, right?”

A shiver of excitement shot through her hand, up to her arm, and body. She sighed at the promising, luring look he gave her. Mmm, yes, she would love that. That’s if John and Mat didn’t call the posse on them beforehand.

“Right.” She smiled.

As she walked away, her legs felt like numb stumps. Her hands trembled when she dipped to sit at the piano. She tried not to stumble and looked at the captivated crowd. Attempting to remember the first note of her song, she realized, to her horror, her mind was a complete blank.

* * * *

John and Mat climbed into Belle’s room as quietly as they could. She told them she would leave the window open for them. The dark room left them blind as they felt their way to the door.

Placing his ear to the door, John whispered, “Okay, I hear nothing. The coast is clear.”

They gently opened the door and glanced out. Sure enough the corridor was empty. They crept over to the next room, and Mat took out a small, thin metal rod and inserted it into the key hole. Within seconds, they heard the click of the door unlocking, and they slipped in.

While John dug into his deep pants pocket for matches, he pointed to Mat to take off his jacket and place it against the bottom of the door to hide the light from outside. Right before John struck a match, he heard a smacking sound and something heavy falling to the floor.

“Mat, you okay?” he whispered.

When he heard no response, he clumsily tried to light the oil lamp as quickly as he could. The moment the light came on, he saw a big fist head for his face. The blow came fast and strong.

Before the pain registered, he lost consciousness.

Chapter 8

By some miracle, she didn’t mess up her performance tonight. As she ended her last song and stood, the crowd cheered. She bowed, smiling, and started to walk back to their table. Much to her chagrin, Jesse stood in the crowd, blocking her path. He had a wide smile plastered on his face while he continued clapping.

“That was amazin’, Miss Belle.”

She didn’t stop, but tried to walk around him. “Thanks. I’m glad you liked it.”

He grabbed her arm and looked at her with a sideways glance. “How about I buy you a drink?”

Before she could respond, she felt a gentle, warm hand on her shoulder.

“Belle has to get home now,” the male voice said.

She noted a sneer on Jesse’s face and turned to see James smiling at her. Her hero. She wanted to kiss him for saving her.

“I’m sorry, Jesse. I forgot I have to leave early tonight. I have an important appointment. We’ll make it for another night, then,” she stated.

Looking none too pleased, he responded, “All right,” and then slumped away.

James extended his arm for her to take. “Shall we go?”

She looped her arm through his. “Now, that sounds like a great idea.” She glanced at their empty table as they passed it heading for the exit. “Where’s Trevor?”

“He left a little earlier. He headed back to the inn.”

A pang of fear possessed her. “He went back to the inn? How long ago?”

“Oh, about half an hour ago.” He leaned in to whisper, “We figured since you are uncomfortable with people seeing you with us together, that only one of us should escort you home.”

She rubbed her neck as stress started to rise in her. “Uncomfortable? What gave you that idea?”

“When you came to our table before your performance, you weren’t yourself.”

“Oh, right. That’s sweet of you both.” She nodded.

The moment they stepped outside, Belle lifted her dress so she could walk faster and quickened her gait.

James followed her pace and laughed. “What’s your hurry, Belle?”

Panic formed a lump in her throat. She worried John and Mat hadn’t had time to check out their room thoroughly before Trevor headed back there. They would have been caught and their whole ruse gone up in flames. But of course she couldn’t tell James that.

Giving him an alluring, bashful look, she replied, “I’m anxious to pick up where we left off. I’ve been thinking of last night all day long.” Which was true. Every waking hour, thoughts of their kisses and caresses haunted her, making her desire mount. She wondered what more was to come.

James glanced around, smiling. “Well, seeing as there is no one here.”

He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her in his arms. She gasped in delighted surprise. He twirled her around behind a big oak tree, setting her delicately on the ground and cupping her face. Gently, he brought his lips to hers, kissing her..

It was a sweet kiss that warmed her heart, and when it ended, he looked deep into her eyes with longing. “I’ve been dying to do that all night.”

She licked her lips and leaned closer to him, hoping he’d kiss her again, but he just stared into her eyes and said nothing. His expression turned serious for a brief second, giving her the impression he was deep in thought, but then his jovial look returned.

After a few seconds, she asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He took her hand and kissed it, then meshed his fingers with hers. “Oh, just thinking how great it is that you’ve come into our lives and that I want to get to know more about you. Trevor told me a little of what you talked about last night at dinner. He said we had a lot in common.”

“He said the same thing to me. Apparently, we have the same views on the Civil War and history.” She laughed, nodding.

He brought his hand to her cheek, cupping it and caressing her skin with his thumb. “You know, I’ve never met a woman like you. I’m not suave with words like Trevor is. I’m a shy, reserved man, a man of few words, but with you, I’m not. I find myself wanting to speak my mind and my heart. Why don’t we talk now about ourselves before we head back to the room?”

Her heart pounded with affection, listening to those words. As much as she wanted to stay there staring into his beautiful eyes and discuss what was in his mind and heart, she needed to get back to the inn. She began to walk and gently pulled his hand to follow her.

“I’d like that, too. You have a heart of gold, James, and I’d like to get to know more about you. I also want to learn more about Trevor. Let’s hurry on back to meet Trevor in your room. Then we can talk all together.” She lifted her brow, teasingly. “And after talking, we can enjoy each other’s company some more.”

He groaned, smiling and lifting his left eyebrow. “Now that sounds like a darn good idea. You don’t need to tell me twice. Let’s go.” He speeded his pace, and she giggled as he gently pulled her along.

They arrived at the inn about five minutes later. Her nerves were so rattled that her mouth had become dry. She swallowed, but because she barely had any saliva to lubricate her throat, it hurt and scratched. They mounted the stairs in silence, obviously trying not to alert the other tenants of their arrival or that they would be going into his room.

James looked at her and winked when they reached the second floor. He put his finger to his lips to signify they should be quiet and started tiptoeing toward his room. She followed his movements, and her heart jumped to her throat right before they got to the door. A pounding sound echoed in her ears because of her raging heart.

Several haunting questions swarmed in her mind. Who was behind that door? Did Mat and John have enough time to search the place and then leave undetected? Or had Trevor come back while they still sneaked around in the room and caught them red-handed? If he did catch them, what did he do to them?

The moment they got to the door, the answer to all her questions hit her in the face when Trevor opened the door slowly and smiled broadly at her, whispering, “Well, howdy, pretty lady.”

She tried to smile back, but the muscles in her cheeks refused to contract. “Hi, cowboy.”

He pushed open the door for them to enter and then closed it behind them. She examined the room, noticing everything looked undisturbed. Before she had a chance to turn to face him, strong arms snuck around her waist from behind and hugged her in an affectionate embrace. Her breath stilled in her lungs in surprise.

Trevor said, “Oh, it’s good to have you here in my arms.” He slowly pivoted her so she faced him, then he bowed to kiss her. His supple, heated lips pushed her bewildered mouth open, and his hungry tongue darted into her mouth wantonly looping hers. Making her mind switch from paranoia to affection wasn’t instant. But his excited, hard body hugging hers and his heated breath on her face made the transition easy.

Soon her legs weakened, and she wrapped her arms around his muscular shoulders and raised herself on her tiptoes to reciprocate his kiss the right way, getting lost in the moment and her arousal.

When she heard James close the door behind him and his footsteps approach, reason came back to her, and she focused on her dilemma. She gently pushed Trevor away to draw in air.

“My, that sure was a nice welcome.” Disorientation overwhelmed her once more. Too many questions whirled in her mind. For the love of God, what happened in this room in the past hour?

Hoping not to arouse any suspicions in their minds, she asked Trevor, “So what have you been doing here while we were back at the saloon?”

He gave her a sideways grin, “Ah, that is a surprise, sweet thing. Something we plan to pop on you very soon.” He walked over to the bureau and poured three shots of whiskey and brought them over to James and her. “But before we get to that, why don’t we sit down and relax?”

James nodded and walked over to the beds that were adjoined like the night before. He sat at the end of the closest one. “Now that sounds dandy.” He patted the seat next to him. “Come on, Belle. Come sit next to me.”

She grinned and followed his suggestion, but deep in her mind, she wanted to scream.

What surprise do you have in store for me, Trevor? The same thing you surprised Mat and John with? Where are they? Did you hurt them? Are they still alive?

When she sat down, James wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and her pussy whimpered in delight at their physical closeness. But as soon as Trevor sat beside her, she straightened her back and began worrying again.

Either one of them could wrap their hands around her neck now and choke her to death. God, she wanted to jump up and give an excuse she needed to get back to her room, that she wasn’t feeling well. But before she could react to her paranoia, Trevor touched her chin gently with his hand.

“All day long, we’ve been waiting to be alone with you, sweet thing. I especially have been waiting to do this.” He guided her in for another kiss as he met her halfway by leaning forward.

While he kissed her softly, James loosened the lace ribbons in her hair. Once he let her locks loose, they cascaded onto her neck, caressing her skin, inducing gooseflesh. She shivered from the pleasurable movement. Soon Trevor’s seductive kiss took effect, and her paranoia and all other trains of thought shot out the window the moment James began to nibble on her earlobe.

She closed her eyes and moaned, absorbing and enjoying their amorous ministrations. No more stress panged her. Serenity and sexual passion blended together to bring her to the threshold of euphoria.

Continuing to kiss down her neck, James untied the ribbon on her collar and unbuttoned her dress from the back. Meanwhile, Trevor’s lustful kisses made her heart race with arousal. Bringing her hands to his head, she urgently combed her fingers through his thick hair.

She realized James had finished unbuttoning her dress when he started to pull it down, exposing her corset to the cool air. Shivers of delight formed on her upper chest and neck that remained exposed to the air. Her nipples pebbled and perked for attention under the constraining undergarment.

Trevor released her lips and gazed upon her, and her body screamed for his touch. Since the ribbons to tighten the constricting garment lay in the front, James couldn’t remove it from his position, but Trevor could, and from the look of amusement in his eyes, he enjoyed every second of it as, one after one, the hook and eye attachments became undone. The agonizing anticipation was almost too much to bear. Almost.

But she didn’t move, just sat staring at him and enjoyed James’s continued ministrations from behind. He inched his kisses from her earlobe down to the nape of her neck, making her gasp. When the corset opened, she felt her bosom break free of the highly confining undergarment, and her breasts tightened instantly when the gelid air hit their sensitive tips. Her nipples perked and rubbed on the side of the open corset. She shivered with delight at the friction and took the initiative to unbutton Trevor’s shirt.

He stared down at her fingers then and smiled at her, lifting his brow when his gaze returned to her bosom. Heat seeped to her clit and pussy from his hungry stare. As he removed the corset, leaving her completely exposed from the waist up, James brought his arms under hers to her front and cupped her breasts, squeezing them softly together and then pinching her nipples.