Brave are the Lonely Read online

  “Sí señor, two hours.”

  Three tasks off his to do list and Kid headed for the general store. He’d get furs and the like there, as well as canvas to help lash together a shelter as needed. Sparing another glance at the ominous mountain and he knew they’d need a lantern and oil as well. His purse would be a hell of a lot lighter after this stop, but they could manage. Hunting would easily supplement their dry tack and even if it snowed up in the mountains, they could melt it for water.

  The general store turned out to be a collection of everything a prospector or hunter could need. Kid negotiated the flinty eyed Nikko down to a reasonable price on two grizzly bear skins, canvas, lantern, oil, flints and bullets. The bullets were an afterthought, but if Fort Courage was their last town for leagues and they had to hunt, he would need the shots. He packed everything up in rolls and had them sent to the stables where Alfonse could pack it together on a mule.

  With ninety minutes to spare, he walked toward the saloon. An itch between his shoulder blades grew worse the longer he stayed in the Fort. Aching loneliness wrapped around his bones and a sick sense of unease turned his stomach. No amount of telling himself that he would be on his way soon eased the desperate sensation.

  He’d promised Cody a couple of hours, but right now he could stand a whiskey to fortify. The air chilled further in the short time he’d been in the town, his breath frosting the air with every puff. The heat of the saloon slapped him as he stepped inside. A few old timers glanced up from their cards, their liquor or their women to give him a passing stare, but no cloud of treachery drifted in the crowd.

  Just hard times, a hint of greed and pained acceptance that this was the best life had to offer. Sidling up to the bar, Kid pulled his hat off and dropped it atop his saddlebag.

  “Whiskey,” he ordered and paid the man a penny and another after that for good will. Every barkeep in every saloon Kid ever frequented turned a better eye towards the patron who paid good coin. It had saved his hide more than once to earn a barkeep’s goodwill, so it was generosity well spent.

  The liquor hit his empty belly hard, but the wild heat rolled through him easing the hard knot of tension in his gut. Nursing the second glass, his gaze wandered over the saloon’s occupants. The women who weren’t sitting on some man’s lap were huddled around a table in the back. Their once white, ruffled bloomers set off bodies of all shapes and sizes. A sloe-eyed brunette caught his gaze and offered an empty smile.

  The corner of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly, but he studied each woman in turn. A silky haired blonde ignored his look, her attention focused on a black haired beauty that ducked away from his gaze faster than a cat facing the ranch dogs. Awareness skittered over Kid, the taste of raw fear a gouging out his shoulder blades.

  The black haired doll with rouged cheeks, pale chemise and avoiding eyes was the source of the itch. Terror clouded around her. Terror, pain, and a soul searing longing to be anywhere, but here clogged the air. Her skin was creamy pale beneath the evening paints. His gaze dipped to where her hands clenched together on the table. Her knuckles were a hard white.

  The wind of wounded trouble punched through the hazy heat of the saloon to slap at him. Tossing back the second glass, he let the alcohol dull the edge. The blonde edged into his line of sight, blocking the midnight-haired beauty. Kid set the glass down and met the blonde’s light gaze directly. She raised her eyebrows questioningly and Kid nodded. He was going to be out another fifty cents, but when the blonde rose, Kid nodded to the black-haired girl as well and the blonde hesitated. Holding up two fingers, he waited for the realization to wash over the woman.

  She gestured to the stairs and held up five fingers.

  Kid nodded once and let her shepherd the girl up the stairs. He accepted the weight of her terrified glances, sitting still and patient. He’d follow when she was out of sight, it would be easier on her. He wasn’t sure what the problem was, but once they were alone in the room, he would find out.

  The bartender returned and Kid waited until the women were out of sight before looking at him. “Two is going to cost you, especially Delilah.”

  Delilah had to be the dark-haired beauty. The name fit.

  Kid slid two fingers into his money pouch and slid one solid gold piece across the bar. It vanished with one swipe of the bartender’s rag. “Take all the time you need. Want a bottle of whiskey with that?”

  The alcohol might help. Kid nodded, grasping the bottleneck with one hand and his gear with the other. The noise level in the saloon didn’t rise or diminish as he crossed to the stairs and took them two at a time. But the ache in his soul climbed with every step.

  At room five, he knocked once.

  Unsurprisingly, the blonde answered the door. On closer inspection, the blonde was older than she appeared downstairs. Age lines crinkled her eyes and the weight of experience dimmed her smile. The rest of her seemed in good shape, fuller waist, flared hips and generous breasts. She reminded him of Caroline Carson, the widow whose bed he shared whenever he was home. A rush of blood heated his lower body and his cock stiffened. The pale chemise did little to hide the dusky colored nipples the fabric strained across.

  Beyond the blonde, Delilah waited as though wishing she could melt into the wall. Her skin gleamed golden between the yellow kerosene lamps and waning daylight against the window shutters.

  “Good afternoon ladies.” Kid set his bags down next to the door and slid the flimsy bolt closed. It wasn’t much for keeping people out, but these rooms weren’t meant for security. The room boasted one large bed, some piled furs and pillows and a pair of old, wooden chairs. A washbowl sat empty and Kid could only hope the chamber pot stored beneath it was also empty. The room smelled faintly of sawdust, fur and lemon. He assumed the lemon was one or both of the women.

  “Hello,” the blonde drifted up to him, her hands gliding down his. She was a professional and this was nothing new to her. Kid accepted the first pouty kiss she placed on his lips and stroked his fingers down her bare arms. Delilah’s gaze slid away from the intimate contact. “My friends call me Kid, what do I call the two of you?”

  “I’m Antonia and this is Delilah.” The blonde confirmed the dark-haired beauty’s name. Her fingers were nimble as she pushed the jacket off his shoulders and set to work unbuttoning his shirt.

  “And why is Delilah so frightened?” A man would have to be blind not to see the woman’s fear in every haphazard glance. Antonia’s hands nails raked down his chest as she tugged his shirt from the pants.

  “She is untouched, chaste, but she must eat. To eat, she must work. We are not running a charity.”

  A hard flush of pink rose over Delilah’s gold skin and her lips pressed hard together, washing away the color. A fist punched Kid in the chest right next to his heart and sympathy squeezed some of the desire from him. “Well, you’ve already earned your meal tonight,” Kid told her. But the woman reacted badly to the comfort. Her eyes went wild, the whites showing like a mare about to bolt.

  “Shhh,” he whispered, fisting his hand into Antonia’s hair as her mouth replaced her fingers on his chest. She was doing wonderful things with her mouth, kissing a path down to his belly. His cock stiffened further, jerking at the thought of that hot mouth closing around him.

  “She is frightened of men and their members—she has never seen a cock much less touched one. She will give you little satisfaction, but I will do the work for both of us.” Antonia’s words rung in his ears and then her fingers were pulling loose his belt and opening his britches.

  “Delilah,” Kid enjoyed the way her name rolled off his tongue. It was exotic and sweet, like the terrified girl who was far closer to his age than to Antonia’s. “Sit.”

  He nodded to the chair nearest her. “Sit, watch. You don’t have to do anything tonight. I’ve already paid for it.”

  Her dark eyed gaze flickered from the chair to Kid. Cool air rushed around his heated cock as Antonia pulled him free and gave him two delicious
long strokes with warm fingers. Delilah’s petrified gaze came back to his cock, but he didn’t look down, even when Antonia’s hot mouth closed around the tip and licked him with her tongue.

  Balls aching, Kid leaned back against the door. “Delilah, look at me.”

  It was hard to sound authoritative when Antonia’s greedy mouth pulled him deeper into her throat, head bobbing. She was working him hard and despite spending time just the day before between Maria’s silky thighs, he would blow anytime now.

  “Look at me, Delilah.”

  The skittish woman’s frightened gaze tripped up to his and he smiled as gently as he could. “You’re scared because you don’t know me, you don’t know about sex and you’re not even sure you want to do this.” He grimaced. His balls tightened as heat stabbed up his length, his insides went liquid. “Just watch, you can touch or not, you can let me touch you or not. You can…” he grimaced, and the first hard wave of coming hit him. Antonia didn’t slow down, her hands stroking his balls as he began to shoot into her mouth. He gripped her hair and fought against the urge to moan.

  It would probably scare the hell out of the dark-haired beauty. The tension ebbed from her, embarrassment having turned her completely pink in the face. But she wasn’t looking at his eyes anymore. Kid relaxed and let Antonia milk the rest of the orgasm out of him. His cock twitched in the furnace of her mouth, even the gentle scraping of her teeth sparked a harder need in him.

  “Watch,” he murmured and the slide of fabric on wood told him she was moving. When he peeled open an eye, she was perched on a bare wooden chair, legs pressed tightly together, curiosity edging out terror. Another knot loosened in his belly. He glanced down at Antonia’s snapping blue eyes and grinned. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “My pleasure,” she murmured, making a great show of licking her lips.

  “No, not yet. But I promise to return the favor.” He reached down and pulled her up for a hard kiss, stripping off the clothes she’d left on him and hoisting her onto the bed. Soft cock already stiffening, he peeled down Antonia’s chemise top to tease the puckered nipple. Behind him, Delilah’s swift inhalation flooded desire through him, hardening him stiff. Antonia let out a muffled sound of pleasure as he massaged her breasts.

  “Pleasure,” he murmured, gliding his tongue across the valley between her generous breasts. “Is better when it’s shared.”

  By the time he’d stripped Antonia down and knelt between her legs, Delilah’s piquant terror turned to hard, little gasps of wonder.

  Chapter 4

  The smell of the town swiped at him. Seared meat, cooked onions, damp hay, mud, aging grass, tobacco, and sweat assaulted Cody’s nose. He curled his hands impatiently as the gates behind him closed before the inner gates opened. The wolf clawed at his insides, but he choked off the need to growl. The sun was a memory behind the mountain, turning the low horizon red beneath the curtain of night.

  “State your business.” A well-armed shopkeeper smelling of tea, stew meat and a woman’s lavender, waited just inside the inner gates. If Cody’s rough appearance, thick beard and dirty face surprised him, he didn’t show it.

  “Meeting a friend.” His voice was low, rumbling and rusty with disuse. It took him a moment to even remember how to frame the words. “And a meal.” He tacked the last on as an afterthought. The overwhelming miasma of humanity clinging to the Fort turned his stomach, but a meal was not an unreasonable request in the cooling night air. The cold made the scents tolerable, heat would have turned the sour smells clogging his throat cloying.

  “Must be the kid that rode in a couple of hours ago. He’s at the saloon.” The man waved him onward, gesturing to one of the stacked wooden buildings at the center of the street. Music, smoke and feminine laughter spilled out into the wooden boardwalk when the doors opened and closed.

  Cody nodded. Beneath the buckskin shirt and britches, his skin itched. His feet ached inside the boots. He walked with slow, determined steps, having re-mastered the art of moving on two legs on the mile trek up to the Fort. Despite the wolf’s exhaustion, anxiety rode deep in Cody’s belly.

  The smelly town hid Kid’s scent from him. He’d start with the saloon, but a breeze on the boardwalk carried the faint, familiarity of Kid’s horse. The mare was down the street. Lanterns hung along the way gave away the faint outline of a stable. A combination of manure, hay and man surrounded the mare’s scent.

  His horse was still here. Kid was still here.

  The boy wouldn’t have left without his horse. Not willingly. His finger joints cracked and popped as he clenched his fists. Breathing through his mouth, he willed the wolf silent. Cody needed his wits to think like a man, not react like an animal. Pushing the doors inward, the alien air inside the saloon washed over him. His empty stomach revolted at the mass of unwashed bodies, old sweat and musk of sex.

  Sex.

  Kid found a woman. He knew it without scenting him at the bar or the distinct path that went up the stairs. He was going to throttle the boy. Cody absorbed the scene in the room. Ancient mountain men, trappers, prospectors and hardliners filled the chairs. The type of men who preferred living away from civilization sharing saloon space with whores in their stained bloomers and the bartender. Fort Courage was a dead end on the western trail to nowhere.

  Of course Kid found a woman here.

  Exasperation puffed up under his aggravation. Cody walked toward the bar, at a slow, pacing gait. He chose the end where Kid’s scent was cleanest. He’d sat here. Ordered a drink. Cody turned his head and looked at the table in the corner where three women sat, fanning themselves in the sticky heat of too many bodies in one building.

  Kid sat here and picked out a woman. Gaze skating from the girls to the stairs and then up. Cody knew exactly where Kid was.

  “Drink?”

  Having ignored the bartender until he spoke, Cody spared the man a look. “Water.” That seemed the safest choice, but the frown told him he needed to order something more. Patting his pockets, he drew out a handful of coins in a small, oiled pouch. Kid left everything in the pack he’d put together since they’d left the Flying K: clothes, coin, boots and a gun.

  He set a nickel down on the bar, one finger bracing it against the bartender’s swiping hand. “Water and information.”

  “Room two and room five.” The bartender answered easily. Too easily. “You either want the limping hunter or the boy. My guess is the boy. He ordered himself up a good time, room five.”

  The wolf slipped his leash and Cody’s jaw locked against the growl that wanted to vibrate out of him. Sold out for barely a nickel. If Kid were Cody’s brother, he’d thrash him for his stupidity. As it was, he wanted to smack him but hard for being late and being in danger.

  He and the wolf were in full agreement on that one.

  Cody nodded. “Water.” The man brought him a cloudy glass with clear liquid. Cody sniffed it first and scenting nothing but the requested water, let the man have his nickel. Leaning on the bar, he swallowed a long drink of the tepid liquid, trying to wash away the bitter taste in his throat. The bartender moved off, satisfied with his nickel, but Cody was aware of him. Just as he was aware of the dozen odd men playing cards, drinking and pawing the women they’d paid for the privilege.

  The dingy mirror behind the bar reflected a stranger’s image back to him. His blonde hair was matted. The beard coating his cheeks was thick, hiding his mouth. Pinched blue eyes were surrounded by more red than white. Cody never paid much attention to his looks, but the hair on his cheeks itched and his skin crawled.

  Kid was right.

  He needed a bath.

  The woman approaching on his right flank extended a hand as though to touch him, but he stopped her with a turn of his head.

  “Don’t.” His manners were rustier than his voice and the word rode out on a suppressed growl.

  “You just looked lonely, friend.” She smiled, an aging weariness giving her upturned lips a hint of mockery. She stank of the saloon
and of at least one other man. The stench of sex drifted around her. She’d rolled out of one bed and was already seeking another. Cody’s stomach revolted.

  “I’m good ma’am.” He was proud to have remembered the ma’am this time. “Nothing for you here.”

  Her vapid smile faltered and she shrugged a shoulder. “Can’t blame a woman for trying.”

  Yes, he could. Women selling themselves for a cheap coin, spreading their legs for any willing cock and the hard, empty life that it provided. Yeah, he could blame them. A woman shouldn’t give it up so easily, she should force her male to prove himself. But that was the wolf’s opinion. Cody had done his share of whoring over the years, but it never satisfied him. Easing the biological ache in a stranger’s bed couldn’t replace the longing for a real woman’s touch, a woman who wanted him.

  Scarlett.

  The memory dug sharpened teeth into the fresh wounds around his heart. The wolf wanted to bay, but Cody ruthlessly smacked the reaction away. Scarlett was happy. She’d run Sam a merry chase, she’d fought off the man she didn’t want and she’d made her life. It only stung that Cody and his wolf were the ones Scarlett rejected for Sam.

  But he had to stop thinking about her that way. She was his sister. His married sister. The marshal was a good man. A solid one who accepted his fire-starting sister for the rare treasure she was.

  And to the man’s credit, he had no compunction about dealing with her temper. Cody damn near toasted the memory, having been on the painful end of Scarlett’s hotter-than-hell temper tantrums.

  Annoyed, but accepting, the woman drifted away and was soon ensconced in the lap of another of the unwashed. The longer he stood there, the more Cody wanted that bath Kid taunted him with earlier.

  Three men entered the saloon in a burst of noise and blessedly fresh air that evaporated too soon in the muggy heat. They bumped Cody on their way around him to take up bar space. He fought back the urge to shove back, his humanity asserting itself steadily, but gradually. The wolf didn’t like it, but the men’s rudeness aside, it wasn’t a challenge.