Renegades and Pretty Women

The smoky haze filled the stale air as Jonah sat at the bar with his whiskey and his thoughts. Two years of his life were gone. Wasted. Wasted on a woman who had run off with the first rich banker who had come sweeping in, leaving her poor ranch hand lover behind with a shattered heart and a ruined reputation.

After being called Penny’s Clown a couple dozen times and hearing the whispers and the snickering that had seemed to accompany him everywhere, Jonah had known it was time to leave that town and that life behind.

Back to a life of wandering. With no possessions other than his horse and what few scraps of clothes and this-or-that that happened to be in his saddlebags.

His friends were happy to have him back at least. Reb had let him know how crazy he’d been to try to change who he was for a woman and Bart had said he knew Jonah would come to his senses eventually.

“Turn that frown upside down, Jonah!” Bart exclaimed with a laugh as he flopped his skinny frame down on the stool next to Jonah. “There’s a good card game fixin’ to start. Why don’t ya come on and show us how it’s done?”

Jonah downed his remaining whiskey and then nodded as he swiped his dirt stained shirt sleeve across his mouth.

“When you’re left broke and crying just remember that you asked for it.” he replied with a grin. Bart chuckled and slapped Jonah on the back as the two men stood up and made their way across the fairly empty saloon.

It was the middle of the day and the sunlight coming through the windows, shone off the dust motes floating in the air and made the whiskey inside the glass bottles seem to glow in the reflection.

Jonah sat down at a table with a dealer from the saloon, Bart, Reb and two men that Jonah didn’t recognize.

“Ain’t a damn poker player alive today that’s any better’n our Jonah.” Reb stated with confidence as he adjusted his patch over his left eye. One of the strangers snorted and the other spit a long stream of tobacco into the spittoon on the dirty wooden planks of the floor.

“I’d beg to differ with that statement, gentleman.” he stated with a broken toothed grin. “I happen to believe that title would belong to me.”

“I doubt that.” Reb scoffed, his single blue eye narrowing as he picked up his dirty glass and took a long drink of beer.

“Whatd’ya say y’all quit gabbing like a couple of school girls and get down to business?” Jonah asked as he nodded at the dealer.

The men all placed their bets and the dealer dealt the five card stud game they were playing.

After ten hands in which Jonah won more than half, folded twice and only lost one it seemed that the two strangers were coming around to seeing things Reb’s way.

“You are damn good at poker, young gun.” The tobacco chewer stated as he rubbed the back of his neck. “You make a living at this or something.”

“Well…” Jonah started, but in true Reb fashion the man interrupted him.

“Hell no! Not Jonah. He’s looking for a town to settle down in. He’s a settler. He wants a job .” Reb said the last word as if it were some sort of curse or the plague and there was a collective shiver from the all the men at the table other than the dealer and Jonah.

“I try to tell him to stop trying to be what he’s not. His mama was a whore, his daddy was a outlaw and here he is trying to be an upstanding citizen.” Bart added with a shake of his head. Jonah rolled his eyes and adjusted his hat on his head.

“Well I believe I’ve heard just about enough about myself. I’m out.” he said nodding at the dealer as he stood. Jonah walked toward the door and Reb was quick to jump to his feet and follow him.

“Hey, you ain’t sore at us are you? We was just foolin around.” Jonah shook his head and squinted as he looked out at the sunlight.

“Naw, I ain’t sore at y’all. I already knew ya never knew when to shut up.” he replied with a grin.

“Where you goin’?” Reb asked and Jonah shrugged.

“Reckon I’ll check on the horses.”

“Well I’m gonna stay here and work on makin’ some money back. Gotta have money if I want me a warm bed at night.” Jonah chuckled and patted his friend on the back.

“Have fun, Reb.” Reb laughed and then walked back in the saloon, leaving Jonah alone on the rickety boardwalk in the late February chill.

He looked up and down the rather deserted main street of what they pathetically called a town. Really it was barely a dot on a map. But it had the essentials. A livery that was in better shape than the rundown hotel that didn’t cost much, a gunsmith , a blacksmith, a tiny mercantile that didn’t actually sell much of anything and a saloon complete with rot gut whiskey, skunk beer and used up whores.

He narrowed his gray eyes, ran his hand over the blond scruff on his jaw and then let his long, lean legs lead him toward the livery to see to his horses. He didn’t trust the overweight, sleepy looking youth who was in charge during the day to take care of Copper the way Jonah saw fit.

After all, the gelding was the last steady thing that Jonah had in his life other than Reb and Bart and Jonah didn’t figure they’d need fresh oats and rubdowns, not from him at least.

The livery was dark and dingy and it took Jonah’s eyes a moment to adjust before he could make out anything more than shadows and blurs. He looked around for the boy that worked here but didn’t see him. The lazy lay about was probably napping in the loft. Jonah shook his head at that thought and headed toward the stall that he’d placed Copper in the night before.

He was nearly there when he heard a scuffling from an empty stall to his left.

“Shut-up, bitch.” he heard a man growl.

“Please don’t.” a woman pleaded. The sound of a hand striking skin came to his ears and Jonah saw red. He could guess what was happening and he sure as hell wasn’t gonna just sit here and allow it.

He ran for the stall and saw the man, with his pants and gun belt around his ankles and a woman below him, her legs flailing and kicking while her arms were pinned to the hay and dirt covered floor beneath her. Her dress was up past her knees and the man was currently trying to rip her thin underclothes away.

Jonah jumped forward, grabbed the man by the back of his dirty brown vest and yanked him away, flinging him across the barn and against the closed stall door on the other side.

“What the hell?!” the man exclaimed and then his blue eyes widened just before Jonah’s fist came down hard on his face. Blood poured from his nose and Jonah yanked him up by the collar of his shirt.

“You think it’s fun to touch a woman who isn’t willing?” Jonah demanded coldly and the man shook his head.

“Hell no! She was plenty willin’! She likes it that way!” he gasped, blood covering his lips and the front of his shirt. Jonah nodded, punched him one more time for good measure and then threw him down. The man scrambled to his feet, pulled up his pants and then scurried from the barn.

Jonah turned to the woman to find her sitting in the corner of the stall, trembling with her knees pulled up into her chest. Jonah pulled off his duster coat and held out his hand.

He saw her brown doe eyes narrow as she studied him carefully. Her black hair was a disheveled mess and her clear porcelain skin was flushed with fear. Her full, heart shaped lips were turned down in a frown as she looked up at him.

“You can trust me, ma’am.” Jonah said gently. Slowly she reached out her hand and took his, allowing him to help pull her to her feet.

She used her free hand to clutch together the ripped bodice of her dress. Jonah wrapped his duster coat around her shoulders and she pulled it tight around her to hide the disheveled state of her own clothing.

“Do you live around here, ma’am?” he asked and she shook her head.

“My brother and I are passing through. We’re staying at the hotel.” Jonah nodded and led her from the liverly. The fat boy met them at the door.

“What happened?” he exclaimed when he saw them both. Jonah just shook his head.

“Where’ve you been?”

“I had to use the outhouse.” the boy replied. “What happened to her?”

“I took care of it.” Jonah assured him. “Have you given my horse fresh water today?” The boy swallowed hard and nodded, his chins bouncing.

“I was on my way to do that now, sir.” he promised and then he walked quickly into the livery barn, looking over his shoulder once at the woman.

Jonah noticed that she was much shorter than his six feet two inches, probably just over five feet, and his duster coat was dragging on the ground, the sleeves swallowing her arms. She was pretty in an exotic way. Jonah wondered if maybe she had some injun blood in her, though her skin seemed awfully pale for that.

“Where is your brother, ma’am. I feel I should let him know what happened.”

“Oh, he is dealing with some business, sir.”

“My name’s Jonah, ma’am. Jonah Winchester.”

“Thank you, Jonah, for being in the right place at the right time. I hate to think of what could have happened had you not been there.”

“Well, ma’am, don’t you worry about what coulda been. I was there so it didn’t happen.”

“My name is Scarlett Reign. This hotel has a diner inside, Mr. Winchester.”

“Yes it does.” Jonah replied with a shiver as he recalled the runny, bland excuse of a breakfast he had eaten there that morning.

“Won’t you please join my brother and I for dinner there tonight? It’s the least we can do after what you did for me.”

“That won’t be necessary, ma’am.” Jonah replied with a shake of his head but Scarlett smiled sweetly and batted her thick, dark lashes.

“Please reconsider, Mr. Winchester.” Jonah felt every bit of his willpower and resistance fade away. Reb and Bart had always told him that he fell too quick for a sweet voice and a pretty face and this Scarlett had both.

“Well, ma’am, I guess a man’s gotta eat don’t he?”

“Yes, Mr, Winchester, yes he does.” she replied with a nod. “Thank you again for saving me.” she replied as she shivered and wrapped his coat tighter around herself.

“Don’t mention it, ma’am. Get on up to your room now and ya oughta stay there ’til your brother is done with his business. That man might still be hangin’ around and I’m sure he’s plenty mad.”

Scarlett nodded, offered him one more grateful smile that made the sun seem to be a little dimmer in comparison and then turned and disappeared up the hotel stairs.

Jonah watched her until she was gone and then headed back to the livery to tend to Copper.

Chapter Two

“You just don’t learn do ya?” Bart asked as he watched Jonah run a comb through his ear length dark blond hair.

“What the hell you talking about?” Jonah asked and Reb came to stand behind him.

“You just got done bein’ Penny’s Clown not too long ago and now you’re hunting for a new woman.”

“The only kind of women you need to worry about are the kind that you pay a bit of money to and they see to your needs. Foolin with any other kind is just asking for trouble!” Bart exclaimed.

“I ain’t foolin with her.” Jonah informed them with irritation. “I’m just getting a free dinner since I saved her virtue earlier today. It don’t mean nothing more than that. Just free food.”

Reb and Bart shared a look. With Jonah and women it was never that simple. Never had been, never would be.

Reb rolled his eye and stepped back.

“You know we’ve got your back, Jonah, but just remember that we warned you.”

“It’s just dinner, Reb. Just dinner.” Jonah stated a bit more patiently as he placed his worn brown leather hat on his head.

He kind of wished he owned fancier clothes or had the money to buy some seeing as how Scarlett seemed to be a high class lady and her brother no doubt was high class as well.

Oh well, he was a wandering, drifting ranch hand and they’d just have to accept him at dinner the way he was. Stained shirt, frayed vest, sweaty hat and all.

“Well you go ahead and have your dinner. Just make sure your pecker knows that‘s all it is.” Bart warned. Jonah just grunted and strode to the door. He grabbed his gun belt off the coat rack and strapped it silently around his hips before walking out the door and shutting it rather loudly behind him.

‘Penny’s Clown’ had been his nickname for a while and now apparently it was going to become ‘Anybody’s Clown’. It seemed even his closest friends had completely lost faith in his ability to handle relationships with women.

Jonah shook his head to clear his thoughts. He could handle his own pecker just fine and didn’t need their input or two cents about things. This was about a free dinner and nothing else.

Jonah was still telling himself that as he stepped into the diner and looked around the candle and lantern lit interior. It was six o’clock and darkness was already falling.

The diner was full since all the hotel patrons seemed to have chosen the same moment for their dinner.

Jonah wondered how he was going to find Scarlett and her brother in this swarm of people but then he heard a soft feminine voice calling his name.

“Mr. Winchester, I’m over here.” Jonah’s eyes turned toward the sound and his throat and mouth went dry.

If ever a raven haired beauty existed, Scarlett Reign was it. Her dark hair hung down her back, pulled away from her face by some sort of fancy braid. The flame light filling the room caused her long locks to sparkle and shine and her pale skin seemed to glow against the maroon dress she was wearing.

The dress was tight on top with long sleeves, hugging her delicate arms. Her full breasts were clearly outlined and the neckline of the dress awarded him a view of the smooth skin of her chest and a small line of cleavage before the dress hid the rest from his view.

She stood as he forced his boots to approach the table and he saw that the dress pulled away at her full hips and the skirt was long and full. The firelight shimmered off the soft fabric.

She looked like a right proper lady, right down to the gold and ruby necklace dangling around her delicate neck.

“Evening, ma’am.” Jonah said politely as he removed his hat and ran a hand through his messy blond hair. Right now he wished he had taken the time to grease it down the way all the high class men did. Instead it was wild and out of control thanks to his hat.

. “Good evening, Mr. Winchester. I am sorry to say that my brother fell ill this evening and is in bed. I trust you won’t mind if it is just you and I eating dinner tonight?”

Jonah shook his head, his mind filling with all the different things he would like for he and she to do together.

“That’ll be just fine, ma’am.”

Scarlett waved her hand and flashed him a sparkling smile as she took her seat and he pushed her in to the table.

“Please, Mr. Winchester, none of that ‘ma’am’ business. That type of address is meant for little old ladies you are helping to cross the street. Certainly you don’t think I am old?” There was a teasing look in her doe brown eyes as Jonah sat down across from her.

“Of course not, Miss Reign.” he replied with a smile and a tip of his head. Then a server appeared, placing a plate of steak and potatoes in front of him and some bread and soup in front of her.

“I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of ordering your dinner while I was waiting.” Scarlett stated guiltily. “I assumed from our first encounter that you were probably a meat and potatoes kind of man.”

“You assumed right.” Jonah said reassuringly. “This’ll be just fine.”

Jonah was impressed by her ability to keep a conversation light and flowing as they ate their meal. Jonah had never been much of a talker but Scarlett had a way of prying words out of him with just a bat of her long dark lashes.

“So you see, my brother is very interested in buying up land out west because he knows that the railroad will be extending to this land within the next decade or so and this land will make him a very rich man.”

“And that’s what brings you all out here then?” Jonah asked.

“Yes and we’re not going to be in town for very long. As a matter of fact we’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon.” she replied sadly.

“I’m passing through as well.” Jonah said. “Me and a couple friends of mine are just kinda driftin’ around ‘til I find a place I want to settle.”

“Well then it is lucky we both happened to be driftin’ through the same town at the same time, isn’t it, Mr. Winchester.”

“Yes it is, Miss Reign.”

“It is truly a shame that dinner is over so soon.” Scarlett sighed as she pushed her plate away and traced her finger along the golden chain of her necklace.

Jonah found his eyes following the movement of the dainty finger, slipping along the line of her cleavage. He forced his eyes back to her face and saw her tongue dart across her full, red bottom lip.

“Yes, a shame.” Jonah replied, his voice gruffer than it had been just minutes ago. This woman made him want to forget about trying to be a gentleman. She made him want to take her upstairs, lay her down and ride her hard…..

Jonah hadn’t had a woman in a long time. Not since the last time with Penny and that had been a good year before. Now he was realizing that that had been a mistake and his cock was in serious need of female attention.

But not from this woman. Surely after what she’d been through just that morning she wouldn’t be interested in sharing a bed with him… plus she was a lady. They didn’t just lay with poor ranch hands. But then again….

Scarlett reached across the table and laid her hand over his, her fingertips dancing and skimming across his skin.

“I’m afraid I left your coat up in my room. Would you accompany me up there to go and retrieve it?”

Somehow Jonah found the sense of mind to nod. How long had it been since he’d been so aroused, so tangled up in knots because of a woman?

Jonah had always tried to be good and decent. No sleeping around with different women. He was a one woman man… But what had that gotten him? The name ‘Penny’s Clown’ that’s what it had gotten him.

He was turning over a new leaf, here and now. No more denying himself what he wanted just for the sake of ‘being good’. From now he was going to take what he wanted and what he wanted was Scarlett, and judging by the way he could feel her foot caressing his calf beneath the table, she wanted him too.

“I’d be happy to walk you upstairs, Miss Reign.” She smiled and he stood when she rose. She looped her arm through the crook of his and he let her lead him up the stairs.

He, Bart and Reb had rooms on the second floor but Scarlett and her brother were on the third. The hallway was empty and dimly lit by oil lamps and when they came to a stop at a door toward the end, Jonah’s heart was thundering behind his ribs.

“I’ll be just a moment, Mr. Wnchester.” Scarlett removed a key from her pocket and opened the door. When she slipped past him and inside Jonah caught her perfume on the air just before she closed the door and the floral scent of it intoxicated him.

Yep, she was a lady alright. Ladies always smelled good. It was another thing that he found irresistible about them.

Jonah stood in the hall, wishing he’d been invited in and it seemed to take hours before the door finally opened and she appeared, holding out his dirty dark brown duster coat.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Jonah said and then he smiled at her raised brow. “Miss Reign.” he amended. He looked at the door with longing, realizing she probably wasn’t going to let him in and she laughed lightly.

“Really now, Mr. Winchester, what kind of lady would I be if I let you in my room?” she asked and Jonah sighed.

“I understand, miss. Thank you for dinner. You and your brother have a safe journey to wherever it is you’re going next.”

Jonah was turning to walk away, the brothel was just down the road and while he had never been much for brothels he knew he’d have to have a woman tonight.

He was stopped in his tracks when her small hand closed on his lower arm.

“I was hoping, Mr. Winchester, that perhaps I could get a goodnight kiss?”

Jonah nodded and then pulled her close to him and tipped her head back. Her lips were full, red and moist and Jonah couldn’t wait to get a taste.

He slid his hand into her hair and then covered her mouth with his own. Her arms wrapped around him and her hands gripped his back.

This kiss was intoxicating. Jonah had never felt a kiss like this. Scarlett seemed to know just how to do this….. She moaned his name and pressed her body long against his own as her scent seemed to envelop him.

She purred and wiggled herself against his throbbing arousal that was pressed tight against her stomach. She pulled away, a smile gracing her kiss swollen lips.

“Why, Mr. Winchester, I do believe you enjoyed that kiss.” she teased.

“Yes’m.” Jonah replied, staring at her with shock. He had thought that she was an innocent young woman, a lady, but innocent young women didn’t know how to kiss like that… How to use their entire bodies to tease and arouse a man so that every ounce of his self control went out the window.

She had been using her body, using her alluring nature ever since he’d walked into that diner this evening to rope him in and make him forget about anything other than his lust….

“I know what you are thinking.” she stated as she folded her hands in front of her and studied him. “You are thinking that I must be a terrible woman. A whore perhaps? Well I am not, though I am not innocent. I live a life of freedom. I do not let society dictate to me what is right and wrong. I go after what I want, Mr. Winchester.”

“And what do you want, Miss?” Jonah asked. Scarlett licked her lips and stepped toward him. Tipping forward just enough so that the line of cleavage at her neckline became more pronounced and her dark hair fell across her shoulders.

“Breakfast. I want to meet you for breakfast in the morning. Does nine work for you, Mr. Winchester?”

It took Jonah’s lust clouded mind a moment to comprehend her words. Dear God! The woman had him so heated up he knew he’d have to jump in the town watering trough in order to cool back off.

“Breakfast?” he managed to whisper and she nodded, her fingertips dancing across the neckline of her dress.

“Yes. Breakfast. Nine o’clock. Be there, Mr. Winchester. You won’t regret it.” Without giving him time to reply, Scarlett turned and sashayed her way back into her room, her hips swinging deliciously in time with her steps.

Jonah was aching all over… He literally felt as if fire was running through his veins. Scarlett Reign was everything that was his weakness. Everything he should know better than to trust and want and yet want her he did.

He turned on his boot heels and headed for his room, hoping that Reb and Bart would still be gone so he’d have time to be asleep before they got back. He was sure to hear enough of an earful come morning when they found out about breakfast.

---

Scarlett smiled with satisfaction as she closed the door tightly and looked at her husband sitting in the arm chair beside the fire watching her expectantly.

“So?” he questioned. “How did it go?”

“It went wonderfully.” she replied as she walked across the room and perched herself on his lap. She trembled as his hands closed around her waist and his lips teased the sensitive skin of her neck.

“He’ll do then?”

“Yes, Harmon, I believe he will.” Scarlett pushed his face away from her neck and frowned as she ran her thumb along the welt that Jonah Winchester had put there just that morning.

“Would you like some ice for your face?” Harmon grunted and shoved her hand away.

“Hell no. That bastard should be grateful that we need him or else I would have never let him lay hands on me like that this morning.”

“I know it was hard on you, dear heart.” Scarlett sighed as she stood and breezed her way across the room to the decanter of whiskey on the bedside table. She poured some into a crystal glass and then walked back to her husband. “But it was necessary. We had to ensure that the man we chose would be roped in by a damsel in distress. Now he’ll be protective of me and I already know he desires me.” She smiled as Harmon grabbed her arm and yanked her down onto his lap.

“Of course he does. Tell me, how did it feel to kiss him?” Scarlett moaned and leaned forward, teasing Harmon’s lips with her own.

“It was amazing.” she whispered breathlessly. “He is all heat and strength.” She felt Harmon growing hard beneath her and his grip on her waist tightened.

“Too bad I couldn’t see you kiss him.” Scarlett put her lips to his ear and felt him shivering with pleasure.

“If breakfast goes well tomorrow I have every intention of kissing him again, perhaps more. You know if the curtains are drawn and the lights are out, this room is fairly dark. Perhaps you can come in and he will be so blinded by dark and passion that he will not recognize you and he will let you watch.” she teased.

Harmon just grinned hungrily in response and then stood quickly, lifting her in his arms. Scarlett laughed lightly and wrapped her arms tight around his neck as he carried her to the bed and then tossed her down before covering her body with his own and kissing her hungrily.

Chapter Three

“Once a fool, always a fool.” Bart said with a sigh. Reb rolled his single blue eye and nodded with exasperation.

“Ya can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Jonah’s always been a bit deaf and dumb when it comes to women. ’Specially ones that got big breasts, tiny waists and know how to bat them lashes.

“Better add blind to that list with deaf and dumb.” Bart stated matter of factly. “Hell Reb, you got better vision in that one drunk eye than that bastard has in two good ‘uns.”

“Damn straight.” Reb nodded in whole hearted agreement. Jonah blew out a breath and shoved himself to his feet, deciding that he’d had just about all he could stand of watching the sunrise with these so called friends of his. Clearly they suffered from idiocy.

“The old dog can hear you,” he grumbled as he stretched out his legs.

“Really?” Bart asked with a frown. He nudged Reb with his elbow, nearly knocking the other man off the bench they were sitting on. “So the problem isn’t that he’s hard of hearin’, it’s just that he plain don’t listen.” Reb nodded whole heartedly once again, his head bobbing in such a way that furthered Jonah‘s belief that he was an idiot.

“Well if you fine gentleman will excuse me,” Jonah said with a shake of his head. “I have a breakfast to be getting to.”

“Scarlett’s fool.” Reb muttered under his breath and Jonah felt his arm twitch as his fist clenched.

“I do believe the man wants to punch you, Reb.” Bart stated before spitting a stream of tobacco into the dirt. Reb laughed.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” he replied with amusement. “Probably wouldn’t be the last.” he added.

Jonah walked off with their laughter ringing in his ears. Reb and Bart might just be his best friends but that didn’t change the fact that they were a couple of brainless jackasses.

He crossed the street to the livery to check on Copper, relieved to not find any women being violated in empty stalls and the gelding happy and fat, munching hay in his stall.

The sun was just beginning to break through the fog and clouds when Jonah stepped back into the open and he knew it was getting to be time to meet Scarlett for breakfast.

His stomach was tied in a bit of a knot, his palms were sweaty and his cock was still all but quivering with anticipation after the kiss he and Scarlett had shared the night before and her promise that breakfast would be something he wouldn’t regret.

He hoped that her brother was still ill and he could once again have her to himself!

He was just heading into the hotel to make his way through the double doors to the diner when the sound of feminine tears reached his ears. While it was none of his business, and he had no idea who she was or why she was crying, Jonah had never been the type of man who could turn away from any woman in distress.

He followed the sound around the side wall of the hotel and down an alley cluttered with barrels, wooden crates and bricks. He followed the sound of tears and then peeked around a stack of crates to see a woman, at least he thought it was a woman, crouched down with her head in her hands and her shoulders heaving up and down in time with her sobs.

“Ma’am?” he asked cautiously. The woman leapt to her feet quickly and swiped her dirty buckskin sleeves across her dirt and tear streaked face.

Jonah raised a brow as he looked her up and down. She had wild red hair, full of knots and tangles and streaked with blond from time spent in the sun. Her tanned skin served as another testament to her time spent under that big glowing orb. She was average height for a woman at around five and a half feet, though it was impossible to tell what her body looked like beneath her clothes.

Clothes that were dirty, trail worn and frayed. Jonah had never seen a woman that dressed in clothes like these. All oversized buckskin with fringes down the length of the sleeves and legs like some sort of mountain man. Her pants were tucked into boots, also made of buckskin that came nearly to her knees.

Her face was average, at least he guessed it was average. It was hard to tell beneath the layer of dirt and the scowl that she wore. At least she had pretty eyes. They were almost the same greenish gray color that the sea had been the one time that Jonah had ever seen it. Of course right now they were bright with tears and red rimmed.

“What the hell you lookin’ at?” she sniffed with indignation. Jonah frowned.

“A crying woman.” he replied simply. “You gonna be okay?”

“A’course I’m gonna be okay. I weren’t crying.” she scoffed. Jonah nodded and fought back a grin at the way she spoke. She talked about like some of the men he had worked with on ranches from time to time. As a matter of fact she had grammar almost as bad as Reb’s.

She adjusted the gun belt slung low on her hips. His brow raised in shock when he realized she was carrying a forty-five revolver similar to his own only she had what appeared to be custom made bone or antler grips.

And the knife which clearly had antler grips on her other hip hung to her knee!

“If you don’t need any help then, ma’am, I’m gonna get on to breakfast.”

“Well go on then!” she exclaimed as she turned her back on him. “I never asked ya to come waste a second on me anyhow.” Jonah shook his head and then turned and walked away.

Josephine, or Joe to those that knew her, watched the tall, handsome man walk away and again swiped angrily at her tear streaked cheeks.

She didn’t like that someone had seen her crying. She hadn’t let anyone see her cry since she her mother had died. She’d been eight and her father had caught her and whipped her soundly for letting weakness show. He had told her that weakness would only get her killed. Then he had saddled up her pony and took her into his world.

A world of outlaws, mountain men and surviving off the land with your own God-given wits. Joe could take care of herself without the help of anyone. She was a crack shot with her revolver and her rifle. She could wield and throw a knife better than any man she knew and she made all her own clothes from things found in nature. No stuffy dress shops for her.

She shuddered as an image of those shops and the prim and proper ladies being measured and trussed up like thanksgiving turkeys came to her mind. She’d sooner shoot herself in the foot than let herself be all gussied up like that.

Joe’s tears today had simply been a goodbye of sorts to the man who had made her what she was. She had come into town to trade off her furs and while here she had caught some scent on the breeze, a mixture of horse, whiskey and sweat, that had reminded her of her father and she had begun to weep.

He had passed on only two weeks before and everyday was still a bit of a struggle. While he had never been a soft or kind man, he had made her tough, he had made her strong and she had loved him with all her heart.

Oh well, no time to dwell on the past. There were furs to sell, supplies to buy and a cabin to get back to. The less time she had to spend in town, the better.

---

Jonah stepped into the diner and his eyes barely had to scan the crowded interior before they found Scarlett. She was dressed much simpler today yet still very much a lady in her emerald green satin gown with black lace trim around the bodice and collar. The gown was high necked, hiding that soft chest he had enjoyed looking at so much the evening before.

The sleeves were long and tight and this dress pulled away just before her hips, swelling out and hiding her natural curves from his view.

Once again though she was alone at the table when he approached.

“Good morning, Miss Reign.” he said, hoping to hide the disappointment at her prim and proper attire from his voice. He’d really been hoping to see that chest some more. It sure would have made the runny eggs and lumpy gravy this place called breakfast taste a whole lot better.

“Good morning to you as well, Mr. Winchester.” Scarlett replied, signaling with a wave of her hand for him to take a seat. “I trust you slept well?” she added with a playful wink.

Jonah shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

“Yep.” he lied. Truthfully he hadn’t slept worth a damn. Nothing he’d done had eased the raging arousal that Scarlett had awaken in him and all he had been able to think of all night was continuing that kiss, touching that body, tasting that soft skin of her neck and chest. Working his tongue lower as her dress fell to the floor, pooling around her ankles..

His pants began to feel a little tighter and he was glad when the server brought them their plates of breakfast. Eating this slop would certainly take his mind off of carnal thoughts.

“I hope you don’t mind that I ordered for you again.” Scarlett said apologetically as she laid her napkin across her lap. Jonah looked up in time to catch her winking at him. “I thought that steak and eggs might give you plenty of energy.”

“For?” Jonah inquired with a raise of his brow and Scarlett laughed lightly.

“Whatever you might find yourself getting into today.” she practically purred. Jonah knew there wasn’t any amount of runny eggs that were going to make his mind stray away from the lusty images her words and flirtatious laughter had suddenly caused to begin dancing around in his head.

“Guess I’ll get to eating it then.” he agreed.

Once again, Scarlett kept the conversation flowing, light and airy as they ate. They spoke of her life back east and she and her brothers adventures coming west and Jonah found himself captivated by her flirtatious glances and all the tiny nuances of her face. Her laughter light and airy was like a drug and he found himself waiting in anticipation for the next chance to hear it.

When they finished their meal, Jonah helped her stand and she smiled up at him coyly, causing his heart to pound and his fists to clench as her alluring feminine scent filled his nostrils, bringing to mind fields filled with the first fragrant wildflowers of spring.

His mind suddenly snapped back to reality when Scarlett moaned and covered her stomach with her hand. She raised the back of her free hand to her mouth and looked up at him, her big brown eyes looking pitiful and sad.

“Are you okay?” Jonah asked with concern and she shook her head.

“I’m afraid I’m suddenly not feeling well.” she replied sadly. “I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Winchester. I was hoping to spend more time with you this morning.”

Jonah smiled comfortingly and tipped his head.

“There will be time for that later, right now we must focus on getting you well. Should I go find a doctor?” Scarlett shook her head.

“No. No, I have a weak stomach at times. I think I simply need to go lie down for a while.”

“Of course. I’ll walk you upstairs.” Jonah allowed her to take his arm and then led her out of the diner and to the hotel stairs.

Once outside her door, he prepared to bid her goodbye for a few hours to let her rest when she shocked him by opening her bedroom door, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him in with her.

Jonah stood there, still as a stone as she breezed across the room, suddenly the picture of health. Scarlett laughed lightly when she looked back at him and saw him watching her with shock.

“I had to come up with some excuse to get you in my room.” she purred as she went about filling two crystal glasses with brandy. “Would you mind shutting the door, Mr. Winchester?”

Jonah nodded slowly and closed the door with a click.

“Here you go.” Scarlett said as she handed him a glass of Brandy. Jonah watched in shock as she took a large swallow of her own. “Why so surprised, Mr. Winchester? I told you that I live the way I choose to. I do what I want and believe in making myself happy.”

“Just haven’t meant anyone like you before, Miss Reign.” he replied before downing his Brandy in one quick swallow.

“Do you know what would make me happy right now, Mr. Winchester?” she asked, glancing at him through her long dark lashes, over the rim of her crystal glass.

“No ma’am.” Jonah replied, feeling his pulse starting to race. Scarlett sat her glass on the side table and grabbed the lapels of his duster coat. Jonah couldn’t keep from grinning as he allowed her to lead him toward the bed.

“I’m afraid you’re wearing far to many clothes for what I have in mind.” Scarlett stated as she tapped her long nail against her full bottom lip.

“Is that right?” Jonah asked, and Scarlett felt her body heat up at the deep rumbling huskiness now in his voice. He was a good looking man that was for sure. All broad and hard… She couldn’t wait to see just how hard other parts of him would be.

Scarlett was blessed in her life with a husband who loved her and didn’t mind her little excursions with other men. It kept her from getting bored and made her very grateful and giving when she and Harmon were in bed together.

Jonah slid off his duster coat and was about to remove his shirt when Scarlett took his hands and stopped him.

“Let me take off what is in my way.” she ordered and Jonah raised his hands in mock surrender. It had been too damn long since he’d had a woman and he’d never been with a teasing woman like this. It should prove to be well worth the hassle he was sure to continue getting from Reb and Bart.

Jonah felt himself growing hard as Scarlett’s tiny hands undid his gun belt and unbuttoned his trousers. She slid them down his legs and then shoved him backward, causing him to get tangled up and fall in his backside onto the soft feather tick bed.

“Yes, that should work nicely.” Scarlett said with appreciation. Jonah was unable to breath let alone speak as Scarlett dropped to her knees in front of him and pushed the bottom of his shirt up and out of her way. He looked down at his cock, hard and throbbing, aching for a woman’s touch and he nearly lost all control of himself when Scarlett’s eyes widened as they fell upon it.

“Why, Mr. Winchester, you sure don’t’ disappoint.” her voice was full of awe and then her eyes looked up at him and a smile curved her lips. “I’ll try my best not to disappoint as well.”

Jonah nearly shot off the bed when her full lips were suddenly laying feather light kisses to his swollen arousal.

His fingers gripped the bed sheets with crushing force when she opened her mouth and took him inside her, surrounding him with that moist heat that nearly had him spending himself right there.

Never had he had a woman do this to him.

His head fell back as he moaned her name and one of his hands went to her hair, burying itself inside the soft locks and pushing her down further, causing more of his cock to disappear into her mouth as she moaned her approval.

Jonah had never known a woman’s mouth could work such wonders, Sucking, licking, working around and around until he thought for sure he couldn’t take it another second.

The pleasure built as he continued to push her head up and down at a fast rhythm that had her hair, bobbing back and forth.

Jonah growled out her name and barely managed to yank her head out of the way before his release blinded him.

When his heart rate slowed and the world began to come back into focus Jonah looked at Scarlett still kneeling down in front of him and smiled.

“Damn, woman, I didn’t expect that.”

“Are you up for repaying the favor?” Scarlett asked with a coy wink and Jonah nodded, but just as he was gripping her arms to pull her up into the bed with him, an angry pounded came to the door.

“Scarlett Reign, I know you’re in there! And I heard a man! What the hell’s going on!?” a man exclaimed. Scarlett’s eyes widened with shock and she jumped to her feet.

“You have to go!” she whispered desperately. “Leave now!”

“Who is that?” Jonah asked as he got to his feet and quickly redid his pants and gun belt. “Your brother?”

“Yes. Yes and you have to go!”

“I don’t’ want to leave you alone.” Jonah argued, grabbing his duster coat quickly as Scarlett let him toward the window. “He sounds angry.”

“Yes and he’ll be angrier if he catches you here.” she informed him, then she laid a gentle hand on his cheek. “I’ll be fine, Mr. Winchester.” Jonah was torn between his urge to defend her and his knowledge that being caught in her room with her hair a mess and a wet spot on the front of his trousers would probably only serve to get her in a deeper hole with her brother.

“I want to see you again.” Jonah said earnestly and Scarlett nodded.

“Of course you do. Now go!” she urged and Jonah stole a quick kiss before climbing out the window and shimmying down the drain pipe.

Scarlett walked to the door and opened it to find Harmon standing there with a smile on his face.

“Did you have fun?” he asked.

“I could have had more if you’d have waited just a bit longer.” she stated grumpily. Harmon laughed and let himself in before closing the door behind him.

Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and waited for an explanation.

“You can’t give him all the goods so quickly, wife. You have to keep him wanting more.”

“Yes well, he certainly wanted more.” Scarlett replied. “He’ll do just fine. I have him eating from the palm of my hand. He’ll be the perfect man to take the fall for us.”

“And just how exactly are we going to get him to come with us to Barbadine?” Harmon questioned. “That’s the nearest bank for us to rob.”

“I know that, Harmon. Don’t worry. I have it all planned out.” Harmon nodded and then ran his finger along her lips.

“How did he taste?” he asked, his eyes darkening. Scarlett’s tongue darted out and skimmed across the rough pad of his thumb.

“Not as good as you.” she replied with a purr and Harmon smiled before quickly covering her mouth with his.

Chapter Four

“What the devil do ya mean you’ll only give me twenty-five dollars for all these here furs?” Joe yelled angrily as she propped her hands on her hips and glared at the fur buyer she and her father had been coming to for years.

“I’m sorry, Joe, but these furs just ain’t worth what they used to be worth.”

“Ya know what I think?” Joe demanded as she gathered up the pallet of furs. “I think they are worth every damn cent they used to be worth but ya wanna take advantage o’me cuz ya know my pa ain’t here!”

Martin’s face turned red and he shook his head, his handlebar mustache blowing in the angry breath that whooshed from his nose.

“Now dammit, Joe, I wouldn’t do something like that…..”

“Sure ya would.” Joe spat as she headed toward the door. “Yer a business man and if’n there’s one thing my pa taught me it’s that ya can’t trust a businessman.”

Joe strode out into the noontime sun and blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the stark contrast in light from the dark trading post.

Joe hated being a woman. She had always wished that she could have been born with a pecker between her legs because men took other men seriously.

A young woman alone didn’t earn the same courtesy and respect. At least not from slick businessmen such as Martin.

Joe went to her waiting cart and tossed the pallet of furs on top of the other four pallets still sitting inside.

Twenty-five dollars for all of her furs when just last year Martin paid her pa nearly two hundred for the exact same amount?! And this years furs had been a major step up from last years.

Martin could suck eggs is what he could do. Joe would have no choice but to make the ride to Barbadine. Barbadine had several fur traders and they were always competing with one another. She stood a better chance of getting what her furs were worth there, even though she hated bigger towns… Any town with a bank was a town that was too big.

Why on earth would anyone trust to put their money in a building full of lying bankers, loaners and tax collectors anyhow? One other thing her pa had taught her was not to trust them types of people. Of course pa had always said not to trust anybody but he’d been extra firm about trusting those types of people.

“Joe? Is that you?” Joe heard the familiar voice of one of the rare friends of her pas behind her. She turned and grinned at Reb as he jogged toward her and then stopped with his hands on his hips. His single blue eye sparkling with good humor.

“Damn girl but I haven’t seen you in a good two years!” he exclaimed. “You sure did grow up!”

Joe nodded, though she hid just how much she had grown up by wrapping her breasts tight in a sheet and wearing over sized clothes. Wasn’t no way on God’s big green earth that she was going to try to show off her damned body. It was because she was a woman that no one took her serious in the first place!

“That’s what happens, Reb.” Joe had always liked Reb. He was in his thirties, though Joe wasn’t sure exactly of his age and knowing Reb he probably wasn’t either.

He’d lost his eye in a saloon brawl over a poker game which had also nearly cost him his life from a bullet in his chest. He was a loud one. A story teller. A man who could weave a tale a mile long but he had also been a helping hand a time or two when her pa had needed it.

“Yeah I reckon it does.” Reb agreed. “So where’s that pa of yours at?”

Joe swallowed back the pain and shrugged one shoulder as she leaned the other against the cart and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Buried up there on the mountain.” she replied simply, carefully keeping any remorse from her voice. Never show them weakness, even if they seemed to be a friend… That was yet another lesson from her pa.

“Shit…” Reb muttered, his eye turning sad. “What the hell happened to him?”

“He got himself attacked by a mountain lion.” Joe replied as she went to the front of her cart and grabbed her coat. The wind was kicking up and it had a real good bite to it. She slipped it on and felt warmth instantly surround her. She had made this coat herself. Dark brown skins on the outside and warm wolf fur on the inside.

“A mountain lion?” Reb demanded. “Don’t seem right that tough as nails Gideon ‘the hawk’ Redding would be taken out by a critter.”

“Well he was.” Joe snapped as she pulled her red hair out of the back of her coat. “I did what I could but his body was too tore up and then the infection set in and there weren’t nothing else I could do for him ‘cept wait for him to die and bury his body.”

“How the devil did you bury him up on that mountain in the winter? Ain’t that ground hard as rock about now?”

“Dynamite.” Joe replied simply as she patted her pocket which contained a stick. Reb chuckled and rubbed at his whisker covered chin.

“You’re pa taught you well, kiddo.”

Joe bristled at being called ‘kiddo’ but Reb was the closest thing to a friend that her father had ever allowed himself to have and so she would let it slide in honor of the mans memory.

“Well, Reb, I gotta be goin’ now. Gotta find a trading post that’ll offer me a fair shake on these here furs.”

“Martin’s always been fair before.” Reb stated as he spit out a stream of tobacco and adjusted his eye patch. Joe shook her head.

“I need more than he’s offering.” she replied, not willing to share with this man the truth. She didn’t need any man trying to rush to her defense against an unfair businessman. She wasn’t some helpless damsel in need of saving.

“I heard that.” Reb replied with a nod. “Well I’ll let ya get on down the road then but before ya do, have ya seen Bart or Jonah?”

“I ain’t seen Bart and I ain’t never heard of Jonah.”

“You ain’t never met Jonah?” Reb asked with a frown and then he shook his head. “No, I don’t reckon you would have. He hadn’t gotten out much in the last couple o’years.”

“Was he hurt?” Joe asked, knowing that’s the only way she or her pa would have stayed cooped up. There was too much wide world to see to spend life in one place for real long. ‘Course during the winter they’d pretty much stayed up in the cabin on the mountain. It was too damn cold to do much traveling this time of year.

Reb laughed harshly. “Brain ailment I guess you could say. The man fancied himself in love.”

Joe shivered. “Sounds like a brain ailment to me.”

“Jonah never has been able to resist a sweet ladies voice and a batting of lashes.” Reb added as he batted the lashes of his good eye and Joe found herself chuckling.

“So he’s a fool?”

“If y’all are going to talk about a man, you should at least make sure he isn’t where he can hear you doing it.”

“Jonah!” Reb exclaimed far too loudly and with far too much happiness, which gave away the nervousness he felt at being heard talking about his friend.

Joe felt her heart sink when she recognized that voice and she turned and let her eyes fell on the only person who had seen her cry in well over ten years.

His brow raised just a little on that tanned, sculpted face and then a friendly smile tugged at his narrow lips and he tipped his hat.

“Ma’am.” he said in greeting. Joe simply nodded in acknowledgement.

“Y’all know each other?” Reb asked as he looked between the two of them, his eye narrowing.

“We met this morning, ‘course we didn’t share pleasantries.” Joe stated, wanting desperately to get into her cart and ride away. She didn’t like being around this devilishly handsome man who had seen her crying. It just didn’t sit well with her. He would think her weak and that could prove dangerous.

“Well allow me then.” Reb stated graciously with a wink, or Joe figured he might have simply been blinking, it was impossible to tell since the man only had one eye. “Jonah this here is Joe, her pa was a friend of mine. Joe, this is Jonah, the one with the brain ailment.”

“Joe?” Jonah asked with an amusement in his gray eyes as he looked down his nose at Joe. Joe rose to her full height, still nearly a foot shorter than Jonah and nodded.

“Yeah that’s right. Ya got a problem with my name?”

Much to Joe’s irritation Jonah’s amusement merely seemed to grow as he shook his head and smiled, his cheeks crinkling with the movement and lines forming at the corners of his eyes.

“No, Joe, I sure don’t.”

Joe decided she had enough of socializing for one day. She gave Reb a wave and then turned, grabbed the rigging attaching her horse to the cart and began to lead the mare down the road, knowing she would need a few supplies in order to make the three day trip to Barbadine.

---

“ Joe ?” Jonah asked with a raised brow once the woman was gone. Reb nodded and chuckled.

“Yep. That was one that was raised right. More stallion than mare in that little filly.”

“You seem interested in taking it for a ride.” Jonah stated dryly and Reb let out a bark of laughter and then spit into the dirt.

“Nope, not with that one. Watched her grow up, she’s gotta be about twenty or so by now, and I know for a fact that she’d remove a man’s favorite part from him in a hurry if he got to thinking he might like a ride.”

Jonah shook his head. “Good thing she isn’t my type then.”

“Speaking of your type…” Bart said as he walked up to the two of them ending the question of where he was. “How was breakfast ?”

“Breakfast was runny. You know how that diner is.” Jonah replied quickly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Reb and Bart share a look.

“And judging from that look on your face and the fact that breakfast would have ended hours ago, I’m guessing that the after meal show was pretty good too.” Bart stated and Jonah elbowed him hard in his skinny ribs, causing the man to let out a whoosh of air and fold his arms protectively over himself.

“A man doesn’t kiss and tell.” he warned his friends. “And quit looking at me like that Reb before I knock your other eye out. It was just breakfast and maybe a little something after but it didn’t mean nothing.’

“Uh-uh. You said the same thing after you and Penny first had dinner and a show .” Reb informed him as Bart took a step away, clearly in no hurry to have his ribs knocked again.

Jonah felt his temper flare at the mention of Penny.

“Penny was a whore and you’d do well not to mention that woman’s name to me again.” he warned, his nostrils flaring.

“No, she weren’t no whore.” Reb countered. “Whores is honest. They let ya know what they’ll give to you and just how much you gotta give them to get it. These ladies that you fool ‘round with are dangerous, Jonah. I just say something cuz you’re my friend and I worry ‘bout you.”

Jonah grumbled under his breath and shook his head.

“You can stop worrying.” he informed the two men. “It didn’t mean nothing and it won’t happen again.”

So he was lying, or at least he hoped he was because he really wanted what had happened this morning to happen again, but he wasn’t going to tell these assholes anything. He knew they just worried about him because they were his friends but honestly it was getting old. He wasn’t some young kid that needed their protection. He was twenty-eight years old and more than capable of taking care of himself.

“So where you been all day? It’s gotta be a little after noon by now and I know that breakfast and the show couldn’t have taken that long…” Bart asked cautiously though Jonah noticed he stayed far enough away to be out of reach of his elbows.

“It might have.” Jonah replied with a wink and his friends chuckled. “Naw I was in the livery tending to Copper.”

“Why don’tcha just up and marry that horse?” Reb asked with amusement. “Hell you take better care of it than most men do their own wives.”

“Let’s just get our supplies and get out of this town. We’ve been here long enough.” Bart added as he squinted and looked up at the sky as if judging the time.

“Y’all go on ahead and I’ll catch up.” Jonah said with a nod.

“Jonah….” Reb said warningly. “Don’t you make that mistake again… I wasn’t joking with Joe ‘bout you havin’ that brain ailment.”

“Joe’s in town?” Bart asked with interest and Reb nodded without looking at him. His blue eye was focused hard on Jonah’s gray ones.

“Reb why don’t you worry about you and I’ll worry about me?” Jonah growled. “Now go on to the mercantile and I’ll be there shortly.”

Reb just shook his head and then he and Bart walked away. Jonah let out a breath and headed toward the hotel. He wanted to see Scarlett again before he left. He needed to know where to meet back up with her to continue where they’d left off because damn that woman was something and he just didn’t know if he could live without finding out what other tricks her body might have in store for him.

Chapter Five

Jonah was about to enter the hotel when Scarlett came running out, throwing herself against his chest as she sobbed.

“Oh Jonah! He was so angry!” she cried out against his dirty brown vest.

Jonah moved away from the doorway and led her to a bench on the rickety boardwalk. He sat down and she sat beside him, though she continued to cling to him.

“What’s going on?” he asked gently, soothingly as he stroked her silky dark hair.

“He left me, Jonah.” she said sadly, her voice muffled against him.

“Your brother?” Jonah asked with a frown.

She gave a sniffle and pulled away from him, nodding. Jonah felt his heart constrict at the sight of those big brown doe eyes all red and wet and those full soft cheeks covered in tears.

“He is gone. His things are gone. He must have left without me.”

Jonah felt anger rise in him. What kind of man abandoned a woman that needed him? Not Jonah that was for sure.

“I’m all alone, Jonah. Despite my adventurous streak, I’ve never been alone before. I’m scared…” Her eyelids fluttered, those dark lashes batting against her cheeks as she stared up at him with wide eyes.

Jonah caressed her cheek with his thumb and shook his head. “You’re not alone.” he promised her. “I’m with you.” Not only could Jonah never turn his back on a woman in distress but he also felt responsible for the trouble between she and her brother. If Jonah had refused her advances then her brother would not have been angry enough to wash his hands of her.

“Lucky me.” she replied, a bright smile curving her full lips. Then she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and began to chew at it. “He left me with nothing, Jonah. I don’t even have any money to get home.”

Jonah frowned, he was fresh out of traveling money.

“Where do you live?” he asked, figuring he could always just accompany her home and make sure she got there safely.

He wasn’t sure that Scarlett had even heard him as she appeared lost in thought and then she sat up a little straighter.

“I know! I am a wealthy woman, Jonah, but I need to get to a bank! Do you happen to know where the nearest bank is?”

Jonah closed his eyes and pictured a map of this mountainous territory in his head. To the west it got more mountainous and completely impassable in the winter months but to the east the land formed rolling hills, mesas and land that could be traveled.

“Barbadine.” he replied with a nod. “The nearest town with a bank would be Barbadine. Do you want me to hunt down your brother and make him come back?”

“No.” Scarlett said with a shake of her head as she tossed her raven hair over her shoulder. “It is obvious that he does not care. Why bother him any longer?”

“It’ll take us a couple days to reach Barbadine. We’ll have to rent a cart. Are you okay to go get your belongings from upstairs or do you need help?’

“Jonah Winchester, I do believe you are a Godsend.” Scarlett whispered breathlessly, her doe brown eyes looking deep into his own. Jonah cleared his throat and stood up, wiping his hands on his dirt stained trousers.

“I can get my belongings myself.” Scarlett added as she took his offered hand and got to her feet.

“I’ll head to the livery and find us a cart to use.” Jonah replied with a nod. “If we leave out within the next hour or so we can cover a bit of ground before nightfall.”

“Thank you, Jonah.” Jonah’s eyes trailed over the creamy skin of her chest as she ran her finger along the hemline of her dress, dipping between her breasts. “You won’t regret helping me.” Scarlett assured him.

Jonah released his hold on her hand and adjusted his hat.

“No, ma’am.” he replied, unable to stop the grin that spread across his face. She offered him one bright smile accompanied by a knowing wink and then she disappeared into the hotel.

Jonah ran his hand over his face roughly and tried to prepare himself for the smart remarks and disbelief that Bart and Reb were sure to hand out to him when he let them know he was escorting the lady to Barbadine.

His long legs ate up the ground quickly as he strode to the livery and kicked the sleeping, fat youth in the shin causing the boy to let out a snort and nearly fall of the barrel he was napping on.

“I need to rent a cart.” Jonah stated while the boy was still steadying himself.

“Uh… Well, sir, we don’t have any carts to rent. We don’t get many requests for stuff like that ‘round here.”

“Dammit, I have a woman with luggage that I have to escort to Barbadine. I need something to help take her there in.”

The boy shrugged and rose to his full height, still a good six inches shorter than Jonah.

“I can rent you an extra horse and a pack mule but I ain’t got any carts.”

“I guess that’ll have to do.” Jonah sighed. “Go ahead and get ‘em ready and I’ll be back shortly.” Jonah walked back out into the afternoon sun, cursing the wind that was picking up and biting through his duster coat.

It was time to go find Reb and Bart and listen to whatever they had to say and Jonah knew they’d certainly have something to say.

---

“Come on, Joe! Just come to dinner with me!” Bart insisted and Reb laughed loudly as Joe fixed Bart with a look that would have had the devil himself freezing up and running for cover.

“Bart, you’ve obviously been out in that damned ol’ sun too long if you think for one cotton pickin’ minute, I’m gonna go anywhere and do anything with the likes of you. ‘Cept of course you’re talking about goin’ on outside and kickin’ your ass.”

The store clerk chuckled, well used to Joe and her mouth, as he continued gathering up the supplies on her list.

“Good girl.” Bart said with a bright smile as he patted Joe on her back and she glared at him. “Just wanted to make sure that pa of yours raised you right. Good to see he taught you to fight off a mans charming advances.”

“Charmin’ hell.” Joe replied with a laugh as she rolled her eyes at Bart. Bart had been another near friend of her fathers and the man had always had a bit of a soft spot for Joe, though the feeling wasn’t mutual and at most she simply tolerated the other man. He was more like a really annoying older brother. Joe had a feeling that if Bart were really her brother she would have spent most of their growing up years tying him up and locking him in closets. “You was practically grovellin’ at my feet.”

“She’s got ya there, Bart.” Reb stated between laughs and Bart’s face reddened as he stepped back.

“I weren’t really asking her to dinner.” he mumbled.

“Well I sure as hell hope not after all the hell you’ve given me.” Joe recognized Jonah’s voice as a shadow fell over them when Jonah’s body blocked the light coming in the door.

“The prodigal son returns!” Bart called out and Reb scratched at his chin and leaned toward Joe.

“What the hell does prodigal mean?” he whispered and Joe simply shrugged in response.

“So did you say goodbye to the little lady ?” Bart asked and Jonah pulled off his hat and scratched at his hair. Joe found herself watching the movement.

His hands were big, calloused and rough, clearly used to hard work and his hair was thick and a sandy blond color on his head. It was messy and wild which she figured suited him perfectly because he looked a little wild himself.

“Actually, I guess we need to talk about that…” Jonah started but his words were interrupted by a feminine clearing of the throat and a thud on the mercantile porch.

Jonah turned quickly and moved aside and Joe raised a brow as she took in the sight of the prim and proper lady dressed all fancy in one of those satin and lace numbers with a long wool coat, tailor made to hug her body and ward off the chill. Black satin gloves covered her hands and were nearly the same color as the hair that was below her lacy bonnet.

She batted her long lashes and looked at each person inside the mercantile in turn.

“Well holy hell!” Reb exclaimed. “Ain’t no damn wonder you fell fer this one! She’s even prettier than Penny was! Ain’t you learned by now, Jonah! You can’t trust women that look like that!”

“Look like what exactly?” the newcomer asked with a frown, which somehow managed to simply make her look troubled and delicate. Joe glanced at Reb, eager to see what the mans answer would be.

“Ya know… pretty. Take Joe here, she ain’t pretty but you can trust everything she says to be the gospel truth. She won’t love you one second and then drive a knife in your back the next.”

“No, I’d just go straight for the knife.” Joe agreed dryly, wondering exactly what the hell was so wrong with the way she looked. Not that she wanted men thinking of her as pretty… But dammit what the hell was so unpretty about the way she looked?

Reb laughed. “See, no lies there!”

“Are these your friends, Mr. Winchester?” the lady asked as she looked down her nose at Joe.

“This is Reb, Bart and Joe.” Jonah said, pointing to each of them in turn. “Y’all this is Miss Scarlett Reign.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Bart said as he shook the woman’s outstretched hand, though Joe noticed that the tone of his voice did not match the politeness of his words.

Scarlett then held her hand out to Reb, clearly wanting the man to shake it but Reb just adjusted his eye patch and then rocked back on his heels.

“I’d rather not, ma’am ,” he sneered. Joe nearly laughed out loud at the confused looked that graced Scarlett’s face. Her arched brows came together and a line formed between them before she seemed to shake off Reb’s greeting and then turned her attention to Joe.

“Hello… Joe? Was that your name?” Scarlett asked as she held out her hand.

“Yep, that’s my name.” Joe replied, shaking the offered satin covered hand.

“Oh dear!” Scarlett declared with light laughter that sounded a lot like tiny bells. “Was that a callous?”

Joe didn’t like the amusement she heard in the little twits voice. She held up her hands and looked at the dirt and calluses that lined them.

“Yep, I reckon it was. Not all us women go runnin’ to a big strong man when there’s work that needs done. We just push up our shirtsleeves and do it our damned selves.”

“Well okay then.” Scarlett replied as she folded her hands in front of her. Joe turned back to the counter and saw her box of supplies waiting on her.

“Thanks, Virgil.” she said as she tossed her money on the counter and reached for the box. A man’s hands shot out and tried to beat her to the box and Joe turned to glare angrily up at Jonah.

“What the hell you think you’re doin’?” she demanded.

“I was going to help you carry that box, ma’am.” he replied matter of factly and Reb and Bart snickered into their hands.

“When I need your damned help to carry a box I’ll be sure to ask for it. Since I don’t recall doin’ so just now, kindly step aside.” Joe nudged Jonah out of the way with her hip, noticing just how firm and hard his body was against her, which of course only fueled her anger.

She grabbed the box and tossed her messy hair over her shoulder.

“Go on back to your painted lady now and leave us real women to do our box carryin’ ourselves.”

“Yes ma’am.” Once again Joe heard amusement in Jonah’s voice and it caused her to growl and head toward the door, giving Scarlett the option of being run over or jumping out of the way and Joe noticed that at least the dimwit had the sense of mind to choose the latter.

---

“So are we ready?” Reb asked Jonah as the three men and Scarlett stepped out onto the porch.

“No, actually, that’s what I need to talk to y’all about.” Jonah replied as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m escorting Miss Reign to Barbadine.”

“What?!” Reb exclaimed as he jerked off his worn black leather hat and beat it against his leg.

“Yeah, Jonah, we weren’t heading for Barbadine, we just came from there.” Bart added and Jonah shrugged.

“Well I’m heading there now. Y’all don’t gotta come if you don’t want to but the lady needs to get there and she needs an escort.”

Jonah spared a glance at Joe when he heard her snort as she secured all her belongings and furs on her cart. She was something new and Reb sure hadn’t been kidding around when he had said there was more stallion than mare in her.

“Would it do any good to tell you that you’re a fool?” Bart asked with exasperation.

“He’s a fool because he’s helping a lady?” Scarlett asked with a raise of her dainty brow and Reb nodded.

“Pretty much.”

“Now dammit, y’all can either come or ya can go your own way but if ya do come there can’t be all this insulting the lady. I won’t stand for it. She ain’t done a damn thing to deserve it.” Jonah stated angrily.

Reb and Bart shared a look and then shrugged.

“Alright we’ll be good.”

“Good.” Jonah stated with a nod. “Now we gotta get a few supplies for the trip and then go on down and get the mule and the extra horse from the livery. They didn’t have any carts….”

“Joe has a cart.” Bart said quickly.

“And Joe’s goin’ to Barbadine.” Reb added.

Joe turned and if looks could have killed, Jonah would have lost his two best friends right then and there.

“Joe travels alone.” she snapped, her red hair flashing in the sun, even full of dirt and tangles the way it was.

“Alright then, Miss Reign can just ride a horse and we’ll have to buy some bags for the mule and leave her suitcase behind.” Jonah said, eager to solve the problem.

“Um…” Scarlett held up her hand and chewed on her full bottom lip.

“What is it?” Jonah asked.

“I can’t actually ride a horse.”

Laughter filled the air and Jonah frowned and looked at Joe.

“Instead of laughing why don’t you offer some help.” he demanded and Joe shrugged.

“Why on earth would I do that?” she questioned. “That woman ain’t my problem, she’s yours.”

“I’ll pay you ten dollars once we hit Barbadine if you let Scarlett ride on the cart and you can use the spare horse I rented.”

“Now hold on just a damn minute!” Joe stated angrily as she came around the cart and stood toe to toe with Jonah, glaring up at him with anger flashing in her green/gray eyes. “I never said I wanted y’all to ride with me! And you think I’m gonna give up my cart, my comfy seat, just so some prim and proper little painted lady who couldn’t survive for five minutes without the help of a strong man with a pecker, can keep her fancy little dress clean?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jonah replied with amusement at the little firecracker. She was like some little ankle biting dog. Not big enough to do any real damage but fired up and fighting mad anyhow. “Would twenty dollars work better?”

“Joe, it’s really not a bad deal for you. Besides there’s been a lot of thieving and murderin’ goin on ‘round here lately. Probably wouldn’t hurt to have some extra bodies ‘round.” Reb spoke up.

Jonah wished he could be inside her head to know what the woman was thinking as she studied Reb. She was either thinking over what he said or wondering if it would be worth the bullet to shoot him.

Finally she let out a growl and nodded.

“Fine. But ya better get to the damn docs and get her some drops for them eyes. If she keeps battin’ them there lashes so damn much, it’s likely that I’ll yank each and every one of them out for her before we ever reach Barbadine.”

Chapter Six

“This is where we’re sleeping?” Scarlett asked as she looked at the rocks behind them and the wide open space on every other side. The wind was cold and she knew that once the sun went down it was only going to get colder.

This hadn’t exactly been what she’d been hoping for on the trip to Barbadine. She knew Harmon was probably snug and safe in the covered wagon with all kinds of blankets to keep him warm. Knowing her husband he also had a woman or two keeping him warm as well.

At least Scarlett would have Jonah to warm her body tonight, that is if the man would allow himself to give in to her with so many other people around.

His friends were coarse, rude and very unpleasant to be around. Reb liked to belch and tell wild tall tales about the whores he had met. Scarlett highly doubted he had done half the things with them that he claimed to have done and she wondered why on earth the man would think it okay to talk that way in front of a lady such as herself.

Bart was a little quieter and kept fixing her with evil glares throughout the afternoon. It was clear that he did not like or trust her though she had no idea why. It wasn’t because he knew her or anything about her because Scarlett was quite sure she had never met the man before.

And then there was Joe. According to Jonah he didn’t know the woman and had only met her just that morning, though Reb and Bart both knew her.

Scarlett wasn’t sure what to think about that woman and of course the term woman was used very loosely. She was dirty, she smelled like a man. All sweat, horse, dirt and the outdoors. She had a bad mouth, cursed worse than any other person Scarlett had met before and she never seemed to have anything nice to say to or about anyone or anything.

“I’m afraid so. But don’t worry, the rocks will help block a lot of the wind and once we get a good fire going they’ll reflect the heat. You won’t freeze, I promise.” Jonah assured her.

“What about animals ?”

“Don’t worry.” Joe stated as she jumped from her horse, her knee high boots landing with a thud on the ground below. “They don’t eat things like you.”

“And what kinds of things are that exactly?” Scarlett asked, batting her lashes and forcing a sweet smile. “Clean things?”

“Trussed up, hoity toity things with sticks up their….”

“Alright, Joe, that’s enough.” Bart warned as he stepped between the two women. “Jonah take the lady over there and get her all set up before something bad happens to her.”

Scarlett sent a glare at Joe and then when she realized that Jonah was looking at her she batted her lashes once again and placed that smile on her face that always turned all the men to spineless, mindless servants.

Jonah began to lead her toward the rocks with a bedroll tucked under his arm and her suitcase held in his hand.

“I do not think she is very fond of me.” Scarlett stated, lacing her words with sadness and confusion.

She felt Jonah’s free hand fall on the small of her back.

“She doesn’t seem like she’s very fond of anything.” he agreed. Scarlett wrung her hands and looked at the open expanse of ground at the base of the rocks.

“Jonah….?” she whispered hesitantly and he turned to look at her with a frown.

“Yes?”

“I do not know if I can sleep so out in the open like this.” Scarlett admitted.

Then she was shocked when she was sure she saw irritation in Jonah’s gray eyes. He had the nerve to be irritated with her?! Scarlett found herself both angered and confused by this. Men were never irritated with her. And Jonah was supposed to be under her spell.

She had to fix this.

Scarlett stepped toward him, swinging her hips as she did so. So laid her hand against his cold reddened cheek and saw Jonah’s nostrils flare.

“I simply believe that a little privacy would be nice.” she added, bringing her body close to his and giving him an alluring smile.

Jonah cleared his throat and nodded, his hands circling around her hips.

“I’ll uh.. I’ll see what I can do to get you some privacy.” he assured her and she smiled brightly, her hand trailing down his chest, and her fingertips dipping into the waistband of his trousers.

“That would be nice, Mr. Winchester.”

---

“What the hell is that damned man a’doin?” Reb demanded with confusion as he stood with Bart and Joe beside the cart and watched Jonah gathering tall sticks and standing them up on the frozen ground, using rocks to brace the bottoms and hold them upright since digging a hole would have been a very difficult task.

“It looks like the man is making a shelter.” Bart replied.

“So them rocks weren’t good enough for the lady ?” Joe spat and Bart and Reb each spit into the dirt. Joe pulled a cigarette from her pocket and put it between her lips before searching for a match.

“Guess not. You know I’m worried ‘bout Jonah.” Reb admitted. “Now he’s always had a soft spot for them pretty ‘uns but this woman just oozes trouble.”

“All men get stupid ‘round a pretty woman that says she’ll tend to their pecker.” Joe informed them both just before striking her match and bringing it to her cigarette.

Reb and Bart both scoffed at her statement.

“Not me.” Reb insisted. “I reckon I’ve made it good and clear that the only woman I have uses for are the ones that are bought and paid for.”

“That’s all fine and dandy.” Joe replied, blowing out a puff of smoke. “And those women are usin’ your needs just the same as Scarlett is using Jonah’s. She’s getting a protector, safe and free passage to Barbadine and a nice warm bed with walls ‘round it in return for tendin’ to his pecker.” Joe glanced over at Reb and Bart who were frowning as they stared at Jonah and contemplated what Joe had just said.

Joe laughed lightly and shook her head.

“A whore’s a whore.” she added as she began to walk off in search of her own privacy to meet natures needs. “It don’t matter how pretty you dress her up.”

“Something just isn’t right about that one.” Bart stated as he tipped his head in Scarlett’s direction. “She seems nice enough most of the time but more than a time or two today I’ve caught a different look on her face when she looks at all of us and Jonah. Damn near predatory and haughty.”

“Jonah is one of my best friends.” Reb agreed. “But even I have to ask what a woman like that sees in a man like him. Hell Jonah is the son of a whore and an outlaw. He’s lived damn near his entire life on horseback. He ain’t never got more than a couple o’dollars on him at any given time. He’s wild and rugged just the same as you and me. It’s clear she don’t like us none so why like him? She’s too fancy a woman for a man like him.”

The two friends shared a look of concern and continued to watch their friend who was currently stringing some rope between the tops of the sticks while Scarlett stood there with her arms crossed over her more than ample chest and watched him with what had to be smugness on her face. There wasn’t any way it could be mistaken for anything else.

---

“This meal is…. delicious .” Scarlett said with a curl of her nose as she sniffed at the hard tack biscuit in her hand.

“You’re probably the first person to ever say so.” Jonah countered before taking a bite of his own biscuit.

Joe rolled her eyes and bit off a chunk of her biscuit causing crumbs to tumble down her chin and stick to the front of her coat.

“Food is food.” she grumbled. “If ya want gourmet ya shoulda stayed in the city. Why didn’t ya stay in the city?”

“Why the hell didn’t you stay on the mountain?” Jonah shot back. “All you ever seem to do is grumble and curse. You seem to hate every person and thing you come across.”

Joe glared at the man as she shoved herself to her feet. Darkness was all around them and the air was cold, though the large fire put off enough heat to ward off the worst of it.

“I don’t hate everyone.” she countered. “Just brain dead men trippin’ over their own boots and caterin’ to damn ladies who ain’t got no business comin’ ’round here in the first place.”

Joe stormed off into the night before giving anyone time to reply to her.

She hated women like Scarlett. All soft and silky with creamy skin and fancy clothes. Joe had good reason to hate them.

Her mother had been one. Joe had been one until she’d been eight years old and her mother had gotten herself killed by some men who thought that women were alive only to serve their needs.

Joe had hidden in the wardrobe in the corner of her mothers room while those men had brutalized the woman. A woman who had had no business living out in this world but who had been determined to prove that she could. Joe hadn’t understood exactly what had happened to tear her mothers clothes from her body and bloody her thighs but her father, when he had shown up three days later, had been sure to make her understand.

He hadn’t wanted the same thing to happen to his daughter.

And the day her father had shown up, Joe’s life had completely changed. Gone was Emily’s daughter, Josephine, and in her place was Gideon ‘the Hawk’ Redding’s daughter, Joe.

Gone was the girl being groomed and trained to be a lady. Being taught proper etiquette and grammar. Being educated to make a gentleman a suitable wife.

Her father had taught her the true way that a woman should be. Tough as nails. More able than any man with any weapon.

And now Joe hated any woman that reminded her of her mother and the woman that Joe herself had been born to be.

And she hated men like Jonah. Men with real potential to be great but who were blinded by the sweet words and batting lashes of ladies . Joe knew from experience that every lady had an agenda. Land a rich husband. Or further her social status. Ladies didn’t love men. No, they simply saw men as a way to get what they wanted.

Joe didn’t think Jonah had much in the way of money or influence but if Scarlett was paying attention to him it meant he had something that the woman wanted; she was using him to reach some kind of end though Joe had no idea what that end could be.

And she didn’t care. Jonah certainly wasn’t her problem and what he did wasn’t any of her business. All she was worried about was getting to Barbadine and selling her furs so she could stock back up on supplies.

---

Jonah lay on his bedroll with his hands behind his head and tried to focus on something other than the warm, soft body he knew was laying on the other side of the curtain.

He had spent a good hour and a half putting up those sticks and stringing blankets so that Scarlett could have her privacy and Lord help him but all he wanted to do was slip behind them with her and really explore her body, learn what she felt like. He hadn’t had a chance to do that yet.

His hears picked up a sound, it was soft and quiet but he heard it just the same. A sniffle. A feminine sniffle.

Instantly he rose to his feet, moving silently through the firelight as he went to the ’room’ he had made for Scarlett.

He didn’t understand the woman. One minute she was crying, then she was acting coy, then she was batting her lashes and giggling like a lady, and then in yet another turn around of moods she was glaring at his friends and looking down her nose at them as if he wouldn’t notice…. But that nose was awfully damn pretty.

He knew Bart and Reb were worried about him but they really had no reason to be. He wasn’t falling in love with Scarlett, not even close to it, he just wanted to bed her and she certainly seemed more than willing.

He knew damn well a lady such as her wasn’t going to want to settle down with somebody like him, Penny had taught him that lesson well. Jonah was just looking for some rutting. Just an ease to this constant throbbing in his cock, and Scarlett seemed more than willing to provide that.

He slipped beneath the curtains and realized that she was sound asleep, her long lashes resting on her cheeks and her lips parted slightly.

If she hadn’t been crying than who had???

Before Jonah could think any further about that Scarlett’s eyes flew open and she looked scared to death before realizing it was him. A smile pulled at her full lips and Jonah liked the way the glow of the fire shone through the fabric of the thin blankets he had hung up.

“Well hello there, Mr. Winchester. I wondered if you’d come.”

“Here I am, ma’am.” he replied with a wink and Scarlett laughed lightly. She sat up slightly and her loose raven hair fell across her shoulders, stealing his breath.

“Come on over here then, sir.” she ordered and Jonah nodded and laid his body over hers before crushing her lips with his own.

---

Joe was thoroughly irritated as she lay on her bedroll. Tears again. More of those worthless feminine tears that didn’t solve a damn thing and yet were strong enough to come out no matter how hard she fought against them.

Thoughts of her mother, her father, the loss of them both and the fear that she felt deep down each and every day because of their deaths was weighing on her heart heavier and heavier every single day and today they had caused tears twice. Twice!

She heard movement to her left and glanced to see Jonah rising up in the firelight. Now Joe had no more interest in taking a man than she did in buying a silky dress but she had to admit that Jonah was a fine specimen of what a man should be.

Tall and broad with long arms and big hands. He moved with a fluid grace, a lethalness that any outlaw would recognize. There was silence in his movements and it was clear that he was very tuned in to his body. He was comfortable in his own skin.

Then Joe saw him slip into the shelter he had built for Scarlett and her temper rose.

What a fool. What an idiotic fool with one hell of a brain ailment.

Joe heard Scarlett giggle and had had enough.

She stood and saw the centipede crawling around the fire. It was a good six inches long, fat, and had a good couple of thousand legs.

A smile curved Joe’s lips. She’d always been a bit too mischievous for her own good and she and her father had always enjoyed a good prank.

Joe scooped up the centipede and walked to the shelter. The wind blowing her hair around her face and causing the wolf fur around her neck to tickle her skin.

The sight of the two shadows lost in each others arms caused a strange tingling ache to form low in Joe’s stomach and she found herself watching them through the fabric for several long minutes.

What was that ache she was feeling? She felt moisture collecting between her legs and her nipples began to throb.

No. No. No. She wouldn’t start feeling such foolish things as desire! She wouldn’t start thinking of what it would feel like to have a man touching her that way. She was Joe Redding and she didn’t give in to such foolish fantasies.

Shaking off the momentary lapse of her brain Joe pulled back one corner of the blanket and tossed the centipede inside, making sure to land it directly on Scarlett’s face before jumping back all but running to her bedroll.

She no sooner jumped to the ground when a horrible screeching filled the night air.

Jeb and Bart were on their feet instantly with their guns drawn.

Joe was laughing loudly as the shelter that poor Jonah had worked so hard on was torn to pieces by Scarlett who came out of it swinging and swatting.

“That’s it!” she cried out. “I’m not sleeping on that ground anymore! I told you there were animals!”

Jonah disentangled himself from the blankets and ropes, still fully clothed, and tried to comfort her by laying his hand on her shoulder.

“It was just a centipede.” he assured her and Reb and Bart began laughing right along with Joe.

“I don’t care!” Scarlett exclaimed with a stomp. “I won’t sleep there any longer!”

“What’s the matter, miss Reign?” Joe asked as she stuck her hands on her hips and rocked back on her heels feeling quite amused. “You ain’t afraid of a little ol’ creepy crawly are ya?”

“Jonah, do something.” Scarlett hissed. Jonah fixed Joe with a look that told her he knew damn well where that centipede had come from and Joe’s smile only grew bigger.

“You can sleep in the cart.” he said to Scarlett, without looking away from Joe.

“Not on my furs.” Joe cut in and Jonah nodded.

“Yes on your furs. Maybe you should have thought of that before you acted like a five year old and tossed a centipede on an unsuspecting lady.”

Reb and Bart looked back and forth between the two of them as they faced off. Thirty feet separated their bodies and yet the air practically crackled with fire between them. Connecting them.

“It was funny.” Joe replied with a shrug. “Only reason you don’t think it was is cuz it interrupted all of your pecker’s fun.”

Scarlett gasped and covered her mouth with her hand and Jonah glared at Joe. She wondered what he was thinking and then he surprised everyone when he threw his head back and laughed.

“Jonah!” Scarlett exclaimed and Jonah stopped laughing, though his face was still lit with amusement.

“Come on now, it was pretty funny.” he stated and Scarlett glared at him, clearly not finding the humor in the situation. Joe shook her head when Jonah put his arm around Scarlett’s shoulders and led her to the cart. “Let’s get you settled back down now, Scarlett. I’m sure there won’t be no more flying centipedes.”

Joe grumbled under her breath and flopped back down on her bedroll. There might just be some more flying critters coming at Miss Scarlett Reign but Joe would make sure it was something that was plenty mad with teeth and venom to spare. Then when the twit screamed and acted like a fool, she would have a bit of a better reason.

Chapter Seven

Jonah was in a raw mood. He’d wanted to bed Scarlett the night before, had needed to bed her to soothe the raging desire the woman had created in his long neglected body, but thanks to Joe’s antics that hadn’t’ happened.

And to top it all off Scarlett had insisted that instead of sleeping, Jonah needed to stand guard over her and protect her from any other wild animals that might come along and try to get her.

And Jonah had done it because Jonah was a fool. He knew he was a fool but he just didn’t care enough to do anything about it. Satin and lace were his weaknesses. He’d been born into a hard life. A harsh life. Nothing had ever come easily to him. He had had to scrap, fight and struggle just to stay alive even as a boy.

The uncle who had raised him after his whore of a mother had died when Jonah had been five hadn’t given two hoots in hell about Jonah. As a matter of fact there were many times that Jonah was sure the old man locked him up without food and water in hopes that Jonah would die and he would be rid of the bother of having a child around.

Jonah had only been twelve when he had run away from his uncle, not that the man had tried to stop him or find him once he was gone.

Every day had been a struggle. He had scars from the fights he’d been in and the hard way he’d lived for the last sixteen years of his life on his own. He’d taken things that weren’t his but only for survival and he’d never harmed anyone to get it. He worked hard to be different than his father. He didn’t want to be an outlaw. A renegade.

He had killed men but only in self defense and he had killed his first man at only fourteen years of age. It had been a big, burly man more than twice his age and the man had been trying to sneak into Jonah’s bedroll.

Bart was Jonah’s age but Reb was a bit older, closer to forty. Jonah had taken up with the two men when he’d been sixteen and wandering aimlessly and they’d all been pretty much inseparable since.

Other than those two years that Jonah had tried to settle down. Those two years that he had wasted on a woman who didn’t care.

Penny had been everything Jonah had ever wanted. After the hard, harsh existence he had lived, all Jonah wanted was a bit of softness. He wanted a gentle lady. One that wore soft satins and kept her skin smooth. One with silky hair that would feel like velvet beneath his rough hands. A woman with gentle eyes and an easy temper.

Penny had been all of that. Jonah had worked hard to change himself for Penny. He’d held a steady job at that ranch. He’d given up gambling, drinking and smoking. He had done everything that he could possibly do to prove his worth to Penny.

And she had acted as if she loved him as much as he had grown to love her only to run off the moment the rich banker had asked her hand in marriage and leave his heart thoroughly shattered.

Jonah had learned the hard way that those soft, cultured painted ladies that he desperately wanted to counter the harshness of his life weren’t interested in the likes of him but that didn’t stop him from still wanting them.

A life as a gentleman with a real lady by his side had been his dream for as long as he could remember and dreams just didn’t die very easily.

Scarlett wasn’t Penny and he didn’t see himself ever loving the woman but that didn’t stop him from wanting to lay with her and get to know her better. Not all marriages were based on love and just having a soft, gentle, satin covered, painted lady to call his own would help erase and ease the pains of his past.

“Jonah, you alright?” Bart asked as he rode up beside him. It was midday and they’d been traveling since just after sunrise.

“Why?” Jonah asked as he rubbed his hand roughly over his face.

“You look like hell.” Bart replied honestly.

“I didn’t sleep much last night.” Jonah admitted and Bart chuckled.

“Had to stay up and watch for monsters?” he questioned and Jonah growled under his breath.

“Damn that Joe. What the hell is her problem anyhow? Why does she act like such a pain in the ass?”

“It’s not an act.” Bart replied with a chuckle. “Joe was raised tough as nails, Jonah.”

“Where the hell is her mama? Surely she’s gotta have something to say about her daughter running around with a gun on her hip and curses on her lips.”

Bart glanced over at Joe but the woman was riding far enough away to be out of hearing distance.

“Her mama was killed, Jonah. Back when Joe was just a young thing probably less than ten. From what I’ve gathered from her pa it wasn’t a pretty thing that happened to the woman and Joe sat with her mama’s body for days. Gideon had to raise her up rougher and tougher than he would have raised a boy in order to make sure she’d be able to survive in the world of outlaw men he ran with.”

“Well that certainly explains a few things about her.” Jonah admitted as he glanced back over at Joe and watched her take a long, slow puff off the cigarette in her hand as she gazed into the horizon.

“You keeping your head on straight with this woman?” Bart asked, tipping his head toward Scarlett who was driving the cart ahead of them. Jonah nodded.

“Of course I am. She’s a pretty woman and not shy about who she beds and I’d like a chance to bed her myself. That and her brother ran off and left her because he caught the two of us in a rather awkward situation and I feel like I owe it to her to help her out now.”

Bart nodded and rubbed at the back of his neck.

“It’s just that I know about that dream of yours and….”

“That’s enough, Bart.” Jonah warned. “Not one more word about it.” Bart nodded and raised his hand in surrender.

“Alright, not another word….”

“Trouble up ahead!” Joe’s voice called out before Bart could say more. Jonah followed her gaze and saw them.

On a Mesa a few hundred yards away, watching the small group cross the ground. There were six of them. Men on horseback, though they didn’t look like Indians. A gang perhaps?

“What are we going to do, Jonah? You have to save me.” Scarlett whimpered from up on the cart. Jonah felt that protective urge he’d been born with kick in but then it was dampened when Joe snorted.

“That’s just the kinda thing I’d expect to hear from a woman such as yerself.” she stated with a shake of her head. “Alls I know is if this goes bad, and there ain’t no proof that it will, I ain’t doin’ nothing risky for none of y’all and I better not catch any of y’all doin’ nothing risky for me.”

“Whatever you say.” Jonah replied with a shake of his head while Reb and Bart chuckled.

“Jonah.. I’m scared.” Scarlett whimpered.

“Don’t be scared, Miss Reign. There isn’t no reason to be certain those men mean us harm. Best thing we can do is just keep moving forward and don’t them know they’ve made us nervous.”

Jonah took the lead, patting Coppers orange neck as the buckskin tossed his head. The horse was clearly picking up on the uneasiness of the humans around him.

“Jonah, they’re gone! Where did they go?” Scarlett demanded. Jonah felt irritation fill him.

“Would you just sit there and be quiet?” he demanded and Scarlett gasped and let out a huff.

“’Bout time you tell the woman to shut that there mouth o’hers.” Reb stated and Jonah glared at him.

“You be quiet too.”

He felt bad for being so irritated with Scarlett. She was a lady. This was all new to her. And of course she would be frightened by those men’s sudden disappearance. If Jonah was being honest, it made him a bit uneasy as well.

“Everybody stay alert.” he called out, keeping his voice steady. “They might not be coming down here to us but then again they might be so be ready.”

“Thanks for those inspirin’ word o’ common sense.” Joe stated as she tossed her cigarette to the ground. Jonah was about to fire back at her but Bart quickly rode up between them.

“There ain’t no need to be arguing with the woman.”

“Is that what that is?” Jonah asked with an irritated raise of his brow and Bart chuckled.

“Believe it or not.” he replied. Jonah saw a smile tug at Joe’s mouth across the way and it only served to deepen his own scowl. “Now, if those men do come after us then Scarlett’ll be our biggest worry. Us four can handle ourselves..” Bart indicated he, Jonah, Reb and Joe. “…but I don’t think Scarlett, being a lady and all, knows much about fightin’.”

“I have a derringer.” Scarlett countered from the cart as she pulled the shiny metal gun from her skirt pocket. Jonah cursed and glanced around, ensuring that none of those men that had been watching them had come into view.

“Put that things away, Miss Reign.” he urged her. “I don’t want you pullin’ that thing out for nothing, you hear me? Not unless you’re out of every other option.”

She nodded and put the gun back in her pocket and Jonah breathed a sigh of relief.

“Damned woman would prolly end up shootin’ her own fool foot off anyhow.” Joe muttered and Scarlett smiled sweetly and batted her lashes.

“Oh no, my feet are far too pretty to make a silly mistake like that.” she replied. “Your feet however….”

“You ain’t even seen my feet.” Joe grumbled as she rode a bit closer to the cart. “Why I got the prettiest damned ol’ feet you ever did see. And they’ll look real damn good when I’m shoving one of ‘em a full three feet up your…..”

“Joe, why don’t you ride back here with me?” Reb interrupted and Jonah could tell that Joe was irritated but thankfully the woman backed off and let her horse fall in step beside Reb.

Things fell silent after that and Jonah was happy for the tiny reprieve from the war of words that seemed to never end between Scarlett and Joe. Those two women were as opposite as fire and ice and Jonah had had about as much as he could stand of their arguments. If it wasn’t for needing that cart to haul Scarlett and all her belongings, Jonah would tell Joe to get lost.

Jonah paid close attention to their surroundings. Reb and Joe rode behind the cart, with several feet between their horses and Jonah and Bart rode up front.

They were nearly passed the Mesa that the men had been sitting on when Scarlett said.

“Well I guess those men weren’t dangerous after all.”

A chuckle came from the outcropping of rocks to their right and a man stepped out.

“I would beg to differ with you, ma’am.”

Jonah cursed under his breath, yet kept his face void of emotion. This wasn’t his first encounter with men who took what they wanted.

He sized up the man who was wearing trail worn trousers and a stained shirt. A black bandana was around his neck and a tattered hat sat atop his head.

He had a revolver slow low on each hip and a big chew of tobacco in his jaw.

“We’re just passin’ through.” Bart said with a tip of his hat as the group continued to move. The man shook his head and whistled and three more men came out of the rocks around them.

Jonah cursed in his head. There were at least two more men hidden somewhere. Clearly they had planned this and given how far away Jonah and his friends had been when they had first seen the men, they had had plenty of time to hide and wait.

Jonah held up his hand and signaled for everyone to stop, which they did, and then he moved forward several steps and sat lazily upon his saddle, crossing his arms over his saddle horn and tipping his hat back with his finger.

“What can we do for you fellas?” he asked with a friendly smile.

The man with the black bandana stepped forward, his hands resting on the handles of his revolvers.

“Well you see my friends and I have been travelin’ for a long time and we’re fresh outta supplies.”

Jonah breathed a small sigh of relief, though he wasn’t dumb enough to relax completely. If all these men wanted were supplies then he’d be more than happy to give them supplies.

“And what kind of supplies were ya wantin’?” Jonah asked.

“Well let’s just take a gander at what kinda supplies y’all got.” Black bandana replied. Jonah saw movement out of the corner of his eye and realized the two missing men were no longer missing and had come to stand behind the cart, behind Joe and Reb. Jonah cursed, they were now surrounded.

“We don’t have much but we’d be happy to share.” Jonah replied with a nod.

“Oh I’m just sure you would.” black bandana sneered and then he laughed. “Boy’s can you tell me which one of these folks don’t belong?”

“I can boss! That pretty little lady up on that cart. I’ll bet she smells good. Them ladies always smell good.” Another of the men said with a laugh.

Jonah saw fear light up Scarlett’s features but he kept his posture relaxed.

“We’ve got some biscuits, some beans and a bit of jerked beef. You men are welcome to any of it you like.” he stated.

“Well, I just think we might have to discuss this.” black bandana said and then Joe let out a angry growl when one of the men who had come behind them walked around her and began looking through the bags on the pack mule.

“It’s alright, Joe. Let the men have what they need.” Jonah said with a warning glance at the woman. The last thing Jonah wanted was to get in a gunfight when they were surrounded and outgunned.

“Me and the boys want the cart and the pack mule and everything that’s one them.” black bandana’s dark eyes fell on Scarlett with a wicked light. “And I do mean everything.”

Jonah shook his head but before he could say anything Joe let out an angry yell.

“I don’t reckon you filthy, cow dung crusted, sons of bitches are going to steal my furs!”

“The furs!” Scarlett exclaimed with rage as she turned and glared at Joe. “He says he wants everything that’s on this cart which includes me and you’re only concerned about your furs!”

Joe shrugged. “What the hell else would I be concerned about?”

Jonah shook his head and pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger. What the hell had he done in his life to deserve this?

“I like her too, boss. Let’s take this one too.” The biggest, (and judging by the sound of his voice, the dumbest), of the men said as he walked over to Joe.

Reb tried to shout out a warning but it was too late. The man reached out and touched Joe’s thigh and it was like watching a mountain lion that had been lying in wait suddenly spring on an unsuspecting deer.

Joe’s arm came up and then her elbow came down hard, smashing into the leering man’s very large nose. He let out an animalistic roar of pain as blood quickly soaked his face and then Joe was pulling her revolver.

Before anyone had time to react she was pulling the trigger and after firing four bullet’s, three men were dead, including the big man who had touched her and the other that had been going through the saddlebags.

Everyone around seemed to recover from their shock and Jonah saw black bandana pulling his gun. Jonah cleared leather first and put two bullets in the man.

He heard shots being fired all around while Scarlett screamed with terror and curled up in the cart seat.

The gunshots ended and Jonah glanced around, taking in everything at once. The gang members were all lying on the ground, bleeding and dead or dying.

Jonah jumped from his horse and went to the cart. Scarlett leapt from the seat and into his arms and he patted her back and whispered soothingly to her as she sobbed against him.

Reb and Bart began going through the dead mens pockets and Joe walked to the cart to check on the state of her furs and ensure that no stray bullets had damaged them.

A movement caught Jonah’s eye and he realized that one of the gang members had gotten to his knees and his shaking hand was working to steady the aim of his gun at Joe’s back.

“Joe!” Jonah yelled, feeling panic rise up within him. Much to Jonah’s shock, Joe looked over her shoulder, rolled her eyes and then without so much as batting a lash or blinking, she pulled her knife, turned, flicked her wrist and sent the blade through the air, sinking it deep into the mans’ chest.

He fell onto his back, dead for good this time, and Joe stormed toward him. She yanked her knife out of the man and wiped it clean on her pants while Scarlett gagged.

Joe had a mischievous grin on her face as she walked to Jonah and Scarlett and patted Jonah on the back.

“If I weren’t so sure you hated my guts, I’d swear you was worried about me a minute ago.” she stated and then she winked at Scarlett. “Did ya take notes, sweetheart? Cuz I just showed you how a real woman deals with trouble.”

Chapter Eight

Joe sat alone in the dark on the edge of the rocky cliff. She let her legs hang over the edge enjoying the feel of the moon on her face and the total peace surrounding her.

Her body had still been on edge after the encounter with the gang earlier that day but sitting here in the quiet was soothing that.

Joe took a deep breath, catching the scent of the fire smoke from the camp in the distance. Though she would never admit it aloud, having people around her the last two days had been nice.

Despite her antisocial nature, (at least she’d been told a time or two that’s what she was), Joe had never been alone. She had always had her pa and usually a few of his buddies around her at all times.

The two weeks she had spent alone on the mountain in her cabin after burying her father had been the longest and loneliest of her life. And honestly? She’d been afraid. Yes the great Joe Redding had been afraid. While she was tough as hell and didn’t back down from any fight she was terrified of being alone.

When he’d been alive, her pa had let her deal with things herself but yet she had known he would always have her back. Now there was no one looking out for her and Joe’s survival was based only on her own abilities and wits.

Boot steps reached her ears and she laid her hand on her gun only to hear Jonah chuckling.

“Please don’t, Joe. I’ve managed to go the whole day without getting shot and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Well don’t sneak up on a woman in the dark.” she replied, though there wasn’t any anger in her tone.

She was more than a little surprised when Jonah suddenly sat down beside her, dangling his feet over the edge as well. His worn boots and hers both swinging back and forth.

“You come out here to chit chat or what?” she asked. Jonah pulled a cigarette from his pocket and offered it to her but Joe shook her head. She had just got done smoking one. Jonah shrugged and stuck the rolled paper and tobacco between his own lips before finding a match and lighting it.

“I guess you could say that.” he finally replied and Joe nodded. They fell silent once again and Joe was intrigued to find that Jonah’s presence didn’t lessen the peace that was feeling. At least until he opened his mouth again.

“What you did today was dumb and foolish.”

“What I did today was kill a bunch a men that needed killin’.” Joe spat back. “I don’t know if’n you realized, ya know with all your high and mighty glory surroundin’ that big noggin of yours, but those men were goin’ to kill you men and take us women.”

“Big noggin?” Jonah asked with a frown and then he shook his head. “I would have handled things without you deciding to play hero and do what you did.” Joe rolled her eyes and snorted.

“So your ego is hurtin’? That’s what this is about? You wanted to be the one to deal with the bad guys?”

Joe saw his gray eyes flash in the moonlight. “This ain’t got nothing to do with egos.” he assured her. “This has to do with me not wantin’ to have a woman’s death on my conscience.”

“Wouldn’t be no reason for my death to be on your conscience, Jonah. I’m not the type o’woman that takes orders or plays follow the leader. I do things my own damn way.”

Jonah shook his head. “I was just scared for you, Joe. I thought that man at the end there was gonna kill you.”

“Well don’t worry ‘bout it, Jonah. I’m fine. Your fine. Your pretty little screaming lady is fine. Go on back to the fire now and leave me be.” Joe ordered, feeling vulnerable and exposed somehow with his honesty.

Jonah nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

“Even though I found it foolish….” Jonah’s voice was quieter, more serious and Joe found herself looking up at him. He was staring off into the darkness and she let her eyes follow the strong lines of his chin and jaw. “You were real brave today, Joe. Real tough.”

Without waiting for her to respond, Jonah walked away. Joe just sighed and looked back up at the moon.

Of course she had been brave and tough. Her pa hadn’t raised her to be anything different.

---

Scarlett was angry. She was angry, irritated, upset, embarrassed, ashamed… The list simply went on and on.

She was supposed to be wooing Jonah. She was supposed to be getting him so deep into her spell that when she asked him for something he would do anything to help her. Even participate in a bank robbery. He was not supposed to be sneaking away from camp to go have late night rendezvous with Joe.

Joe was a problem. A big problem. Scarlett needed to kill the woman. Take care of her. Get her out of the way. She had made a fool of Scarlett today.

It wasn’t Scarlett’s fault that she had not been raised to be a wild, uncouth vagrant like Joe had. Scarlett knew how to shoot her pistol but not very well and she had never taken someone’s life. It had never been necessary. Always before she had been able to use her body and her charms to get men to do as she pleased. And, if for some reason dirty work had to be done, Harmon handled that end of the job.

Scarlett was used to working under much nicer conditions. In her own element she was a force to be reckoned with but out here??? Out here she was at the mercy of Jonah and apparently Joe.

Tonight, Scarlett had to give Jonah another taste. She had to keep him wanting her. Keep him wanting to protect and defend her. Keep him hanging onto her skirts like a lovesick little puppy. If she did not then the whole plan would fall apart and Harmon would be very angry with her.

She did not like an angry Harmon.

Scarlett looked across the fire at Bart and Reb. Reb wasn’t paying any attention to her at all as he sharpened the stained knife in his hand. Scarlett didn’t ask what the stains on the blade were from; she assumed that she probably didn’t really want to know.

Bart on the other hand was staring at her. His eyes boring into her own much like a hawk would catch a mouse in his gaze.

“Sir, didn’t your mother teach you that it is not polite to stare?” Scarlet snapped as she smoothed out her skirt. Bart shook his head.

“Nope, but she taught me how to brew some mean whiskey. You might have to try it some time.”

“A lady doesn’t drink whiskey.” Scarlett replied with a sniff and Bart grinned.

“Yeah but you ain’t no real lady are you?” Scarlett felt her pulse pounding just a little harder in her neck.

“What on earth are you talking about?” she asked with a frown. “Of course I am.”

“No you ain’t.” Reb agreed, without looking up from his knife.

“You gave yourself away today.”

“I can assure you both that I am very much a lady, but please indulge a woman. How on earth did I ‘give myself away’ today.”

“A real ‘lady’ wouldn’t have gotten over what happened by that Mesa quite so fast.” Bart informed her. “You went from scared and pleading with Jonah to help you, to calm and collected, to scared again, to snapping at Joe, to screaming like a tiny babe, and then back to perfectly calm.”

“And that means I’m not a lady?” Scarlett asked, her fingers tightening on the folds of her skirt. She really hated these two men. She was glad she had picked the more gullible of the three of them.

“That’s exactly what that means.” Reb agreed.

Bart nodded. “A real lady that wasn’t used to any kind of confrontation or danger would have been panicked and scared the whole time and she would still be upset and tense, scared, after everything that happened. She wouldn’t be sittin’ there as pretty as you please with a look in her eyes that makes it clear she’s plottin’ something.”

Scarlett kept her smile carefully in place and batted her lashes.

“Aww, Bart, do you really think I am pretty?”

“Of course I do.” Bart replied with a nod. “But then you already knew that. You ain’t no fool. You know that every man is gonna find you attractive and you use that. Only thing I can’t figure out is what you hope to gain by using Jonah. He ain’t got any money, no land, nothing that would interest a lady like yourself…”

“Perhaps I just like his company.” Scarlett countered with a raise of her brow.

“Yeah sure and maybe pigs’ll start flyin’ one day soon.” Reb muttered.

“So what are you going to do, Bart? Are you going to tell Jonah that I’m a sneaky little shedevil that is out to take everything he has, even though you yourself admit he has nothing worth taking?”

Bart chuckled and Reb spit as he slid his knife back in his sheath.

“We’ve tried to tell him.” he replied.

Scarlett smiled and folded her hands in her lap. “Obviously he is not as paranoid and ridiculous as the two of you.”

“There’s a lot of things that those jackasses are that I’m not.” Jonah’s voice suddenly came from behind her. “Were they giving you a hard time?”

Scarlett looked up at his face to see him glaring at Reb and Bart. She looked at the two men and their eyes narrowed as she grinned. Then she forced a straight face, an innocent wide-eyed appearance as she looked back up at Jonah.

“No, of course not.” she replied. “We were just talking, weren’t we boys?”

Reb and Bart just snorted but said nothing. Jonah held out his hand to Scarlett and she laid hers gently into it.

“I made us a separate camp.” he told her as he helped her to her feet and Scarlett felt a little thrill run through her body. “I did the best I could with a shelter between some trees and we won’t have to worry about anybody tossing centipedes on your face.”

“Darling, that sounds positively heavenly.” She threw one more victorious smile at Reb and Bart, knowing that Jonah wouldn’t see it, and then she let him lead her away into the darkness.

---

Jonah led Scarlett into the tiny lean to shelter he had managed to construct between two tiny pines.

“Are you tired, Mr. Winchester?” Scarlett asked teasingly as she ran her fingers down his arm. Jonah rubbed his face and nodded as he leaned against the tree he’d braced the lean to again.

“Yes. I really am.”

He saw her face fall and her eyes fill with disappointment. What did the woman expect when she hadn’t let him sleep the night before?

“Oh…”

Jonah couldn’t believe her. They had just had a life and death showdown hours before, she had been scared witless during the attack and now she acted as if nothing had even occurred and she was desperate for sex.

Then Jonah shrugged. Hell a good rut never hurt nobody. His mood was always a bit black after killing someone and his talk with Joe hadn’t’ helped. That woman was impossible to talk to. She had a ten foot wall of solid brick and mortar around herself.

“I guess I’m not that tired.” he amended with a grin and he saw her big brown eyes light up with passion.

“Lucky me.” she whispered coyly.

Jonah grabbed her arm and pulled her to him and she laughed as she spread her body over his. Jonah silenced her with a hot kiss.

Jonah lost all pretenses of gentleness or caring. He wanted sex and he wanted it now. He needed it. It had been a long time since he’d lain with a woman and Penny had hurt him. She had hurt him bad. He needed to heal and he was going to use Scarlett’s body to help him do that. He didn’t care if that was right or wrong. The woman was plenty willing.

He flipped their bodies over, laying her down on the blankets and as he moved his kisses to her jaw and neck, he slid his hand beneath her skirt, letting his fingertips trail up her legs. Jonah found the hemline of her underclothes and pulled them down, removing them from her body.

“Mr. Winchester, something tells me you are in a hurry.” Scarlett teased. Jonah grunted, his hand landing on the soft curls between her thighs and causing her to gasp.

“Is that a problem?” he asked as his throbbing cock begged to be let loose from his pants.

“No, sir.” Scarlett replied breathlessly as Jonah slid one long, calloused finger into her womanhood, finding that she was wet, hot and more than ready for him.

Scarlett’s fingers went to his gun belt and unhooked it before unbuttoning his pants. Jonah’s hands joined her and freed his arousal from inside them.

“I’m ready when you are, Mr. Winchester.” Scarlett whispered coyly and Jonah felt himself smiling just before he pushed up her skirts and then entered her, burying himself as deep as he could go in her heat.

He kissed her again, this kiss much more gentle as he began to move his hips.

Scarlett clung to him, her nails biting into his skin through his dirty shirt and vest. Jonah’s lips danced across her face, cheeks, jaw, eyelids.

He had wanted this to be simple rutting but Jonah wasn’t that type of man. He never had been and probably never would be. To him sex meant something and any woman who gave herself to him got treated right.

Jonah cursed that her dress kept him from tasting her breasts, yet it had been too cold to undress her completely. That would have to wait until they got to Barbadine and a real bed, a real room with walls to keep out the chill.

He kissed her breasts through the fabric of her dress and her hands buried in his thick hair as she moaned his name.

Scarlett’s hips began to buck against him and Jonah knew she wanted him to move faster. His painted lady. Softness to serve as a balm for the harshness of life.

Jonah let himself get lost in that. Lost in the fantasy of a life other than the one he’d been dealt.

He felt his body rising hire, tightening and filling with a tension that he knew only one thing could ease.

Scarlett cried out his name as her body began to tighten and then shudder around him. Jonah let himself go then, letting out a growl as he yanked his cock out of him just before spilling himself on the ground.

After adjusting the blankets and fixing his pants, Jonah stretched out on the blankets’ beside Scarlett and the woman curled her body around him with a purr and he covered them both with an extra blanket.

“Jonah, that was…. Amazing.” she breathed out, her warm breath washing over his neck.

Jonah smiled, hoping she wouldn’t see the way his thoughts were troubled.

“Thank you, ma’am. I agree.” he replied.

“I cannot wait to see the kinds of things we can do when we have a real bed to do them in.” Scarlett added, her fingertips dancing on his thighs and Jonah nodded before kissing her dark hair.

“Get some sleep, Miss Reign. Morning comes fast and we may be able to be in Barbadine by tomorrow night if we travel hard enough.”

“I’ll travel as hard as you tell me to, Mr. Winchester. You are quite a man and I consider myself lucky that you have decided I’m worth your trouble.”

Jonah raised a brow and looked down at her face. Her eyes were closed, her features relaxed. He let out a long breath and held her a little closer.

“You aint’ no trouble, Scarlett.”

Jonah lay there a long time, the firelight dancing off the blankets from outside. Something inside of him was restless and uneasy. Uneasy because of what he’d just done with this woman? Why? She wasn’t dangerous. She didn’t have his heart so it wasn’t in fear of being broken. She liked him. She found him worth her time and he was just going to enjoy that.

His friends could go to hell with all their doubts. As far as Scarlett Reign was concerned, she thought Jonah was good enough for her. Reb and Bart were piss poor friends if they didn’t think the same.

Chapter Nine

“I would give you everything I had, I would treat you right I would make you laugh. Baby, I would smile forever if you were mine.”  Cyndi Thomson ‘If You Were Mine’

“I guess I never did truly thank you for saving my life yesterday.” Scarlett said to Jonah as he rode beside the cart the next day.

“Oh I think you thanked him alright.” Reb grumbled but a look from Jonah had him mumbling under his breath and moving away instead of saying more.

“You don’t have to thank me, Scarlett. I said I’d take ya to Barbadine and that’s what I intend to do. Wouldn’t have been very good of me to let something happen to you.”

“Is that the only reason you didn’t want anything bad to happen to me?” Scarlett teased as she traced the hemline of her dress with her finger.

“No, ma’am.” Jonah admitted with a tip of his hat. “You know well that it wasn’t.” Scarlett smiled and felt triumph fill her. She had him. They had been left alone all night and it was nearly midday and Scarlett had been able to keep Jonah intrigued with her. Light conversation, breathy laughter and compliments over his bravery the day before and his loving last night had kept him following after her like a dog after a piece of juicy meat. That was just the way Scarlett preferred for the men she was leading on to follow her.

“Did you say last night that we might reach Barbadine today?” she asked.

“Tonight. It’ll be about dark, maybe even an hour after, but we’ll get there just as long as we don’t run in to any more bad luck.”

“Do you really think there’s more men like those out here?” Scarlett asked, feigning innocence and shivering. Jonah nodded but flashed her a comforting smile.

“Don’t worry, Scarlett. Me, Reb and Bart aren’t exactly new to this kind of thing and Joe seems like she’s more than capable of handling herself as well. We’ll get you to Barbadine just fine.”

“I trust you, Jonah.” Scarlett replied, batting her lashes and smiling brightly. She saw his gray eyes brighten at the sight of her smile and nearly rolled her eyes at the simplicity of tricking men. All you had to do was give them some pleasure, flash them a smile, make them feel tough and strong, and they would give you anything you ever asked of them. “I know that you would never let anything happen to me.”

She saw an odd look pass over Jonah’s face. It was as if there was a battle going on inside of him. One that he was trying hard not to lose.

“What are your plans once we reach Barbadine, Scarlett? Where is home?”

“Back east.” Scarlett replied, the lie and cover identity coming from her more easily than the truth every could. She honestly couldn’t remember the woman she had once been. The life she had led before her father had abandoned her and she had found Harmon. “Virginia to be exact. My brother and I live on our parent’s old estate. They left it to him when they passed on and of course left him as guardian of me until the day I can find a husband.”

“I never have been east.” Jonah admitted. “I’ve been told a time or two that I’m too wild to make it back there.”

“I do believe you might be a little too rough around the edges to fit in in high society.” Scarlett agreed with a coy smile. “But then I’ve always rather enjoyed the company of a real rough and tumble man over the soft, cultured men back home.”

“Well, you’re in luck then, Scarlett, because I’ve been told on more than on occasion that I’m the opposite of high society.”

Scarlett laughed lightly while Jonah chuckled and dug around his vest pocket for a cigarette.

“What about you, Jonah? What are you plans after we reach Barbadine?”

Jonah gave her an odd look, making it clear he was thinking hard and then he shrugged as he struck a match to light his newly found cigarette.

“I just don’t know yet, Scarlett. I just don’t know.”

---

Joe snorted and shook her head as another of Scarlett’s giggling light laughs filled the mid afternoon air. She reached in her pants pocket and pulled out a rolled cigarette and a pack of matches, quickly lighting the tobacco and paper and taking a long draw off of it.

The sooner they reached Barbadine and Joe could sell her furs and leave Jonah and his little lady behind the better.

“How you doin’, Joe?” Reb asked as he moved his gray mare up beside her.

“Whatdya mean, how am I doin’?” Joe asked with a frown. “I’m doin’ just fine, Reb.”

“Fair enough, I guess, Joe.” Reb acknowledged with a tilt of his head. “It’s just that you seem kinda sad is all.”

Joe stared off into the horizon as she took another long deep breath of her cigarette.

“Naw, I ain’t a bit sad.” she lied. She hoped the man would take the hint and leave her alone but it seemed no such luck was going to come her way. Had she really been grateful for his presence just last night?

“Ya miss yer pa, don’t ya?”

Joe felt an ache deep in her heart but knew better than to let it show on her face. Weakness got ya killed, her pa had taught her that lesson.

“Everybody’s gotta die sometime, Reb. That’s just one of them there facts of life.”

“For what it’s worth, Joe, I think he’d be real proud of you.” Reb acknowledged and Joe swallowed back the emotion in her throat. Instead of responding and giving away the raspy quality of her voice, Joe simply nodded.

“Did he leave ya with anything?” Reb asked suddenly and Joe raised her brow.

“Ya knew pa, Reb. He ever strike ya as the settin’ some back fer a rainy day or leavin’ something behind type?”

Reb shook his head and chewed at his dirty fingernail.

“Naw, he didn’t.” he spit a piece of nail onto the cold, dirty ground and then sat up a bit straighter in his saddle. “Now, Joe, I don’t want you takin’ offense or nuthin’ like that and I’d make this same offer here to Bart or Jonah that I’m gonna make to you…”

“Spit it out, Reb.” Joe urged. “What is it yer wantin’ to say?”

“If’n ya need anything, money, food, a ear, a friend… You can come to me ya know and I’ll do whatever I can.”

Joe’s first instinct was to get angry and defensive at such an offer. She didn’t want anyone thinking that she needed help to survive.

Then she reminded herself that Reb was a friend and only trying to help. But just because he offered didn’t mean she had to accept.

“’Preciate the offer, Reb, but I can take care of myself.”

“I figured ya’d say that, Joe, but I wanted to offer anyhow.” Reb replied. The two fell silent for a moment and Joe found her eyes kept being drawn back to Jonah.

He was so handsome. So strong looking in that saddle. His gray eyes taking in their surroundings and his posture making it clear he could handle anything those eyes might see.

There was something about that man’s smile that did things to Joe’s heart. Made it beat real fast and feel a little odd. His cheeks crinkled and lines appeared at the corners of his eyes and suddenly Joe wished he would smile at her…..

Scarlett’s light laughter filled the air again and Joe scowled. Of course Jonah wouldn’t smile at her, he was too busy romancing the lady. And Joe would never be a lady. She just couldn’t see any sense in being that way and depending on a man. The moment you depended on someone else you were setting up the stage for them to let you down.

“Ya know if’n ya wanted to talk to Jonah, alls ya gotta do is go over there and say something.” Reb stated with amusement. Joe glared at him and his single blue eye.

“I think yer eye patch is too tight.” she informed the crazy man. “Why on Gods green earth would I wanna talk to him?”

“I don’t reckon I know.” Reb teased. “I just figured maybe ya did seein’ as how I’ve caught ya starin’ hard at him more than once.”

“So he’s nice to look at. That don’t mean I wanna hear a damn word the man has to say.”

“What was he sayin’ last night when he snuck away from the fireside to find ya?”

“What the hell you talkin’ ‘bout?” Joe demanded, shifting awkwardly in her saddle. Reb laughed.

“You know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.”

“He just called me a foolish woman for puttin’ my life in danger by that mesa and then told me I’d been tough.”

“’Course you were tough!” Reb stated with a grin. “You’re the great Joe Redding.”

“I tried to tell him that but he seems to think I ain’t nothing’ but a regular old damsel in distress.”

“You like him.” Reb stated and Joe scoffed, coughed loudly and shook her head with force.

“You’ve lost your damned mind!” she exclaimed. “What the devil is wrong with ya? I ain’t got no use for an ignorant, skirt chasin’ man with a brain ailment!”

Reb chuckled. “Well you might be right about the brain ailment part and he can be a little ignorant because of that there brain ailment but you’re a million kinds o’wrong about the skirt chasin’ part.”

Joe looked back at Jonah and saw him leaning over and pressing a kiss to Scarlett’s gloved hand which was held in his.

“Looks like he’s chasin’ skirts to me.” she countered, even as she wondered what that ache was in her belly.

“Naw, not Jonah. Now Bart and I are what ya’d call skirt chasers. Different women every time we turn ‘round. Jonah fancies himself as a one woman man. It’s always the same when he starts out. He claims it don’t mean nuthin’, that he’s just havin’ fun and letting off some steam, then he starts to thinking that he’s in love.”

“Love?” Joe asked with a shiver. Her pa had taught her how bad love was. Love hurt you. When you were in love it made you do things that were foolish and stupid, if loved left you then it made you feel sad, depressed and made you do things that were stupid and foolish and if you never found love and wanted to then it made you desperate and you did things that were foolish and stupid. He had taught Joe well that love was an all around bad thing.

“Yep. You’da though he’d of learned the last time when Penny strung him along for two damn years and then left him for that rich banker but it’s clear from the way he’s hangin’ all over that black widow over there that he didn’t learn a damn thing.”

“Penny?” Joe asked with curiosity.

“Yeah. Jonah took one look at her and that was that. Bart and I tried to talk sense into him but he didn’t listen to a damned thing we had to say. Two years of that mans life he gave to that woman. He changed everythin’ there was to change about himself. He gave up smoking, drinkin’ and even gambling just to fit the image she wanted in a man. He held down a steady job at a ranch and even set back money tryin’ to build up enough to start a life with Penny.

“And boy if she didn’t use him for all he was worth. Buyin’ her food, presents, dresses. Anythin’ that woman wanted Jonah did for her. Then that rich banker rode in and Penny rode out with him, not even sparin’ Jonah one last goodbye glance. That was ‘bout a year ago and it seems to me that Jonah’s ready to do it again.”

“Why does he like women like that?” Joe asked with a frown. “He don’t strike me as a fancy house and brunch on Sunday kinda fella.”

Reb laughed, his blue eye sparkling with amusement. “Naw, he ain’t really. Jonah’s a wild one deep down. He just don’t realize how much he needs the wide open spaces. Jonah’s life’s been a rough one and he’s got these dreams…”

“Dreams?” Joe asked and Reb shook his head.

“I really shouldn’t say much else about ‘em, Joe. Jonah’d probably make me wish I’da kept my mouth shut if’n I told ya all about his dream.”

“That’s dirty, Reb, real dirty. Ya get into the good, juicy part of a story and then say ya can’t tell me no more.”

Reb threw his head back and laughed and Joe found herself laughing along, even as she wondered just what Jonah’s dream was.

---

Jonah glared over at Joe and Reb. Something about the sight of them laughing together really irked him though he wasn’t sure exactly why that was.

Joe had a pretty laugh, he decided, though she didn’t do it very often because she mostly just scowled, cursed and told him what she thought of him. Which wasn’t very damn much.

“This is pretty country.” Scarlett said and Jonah turned his attention back to the beautiful woman riding beside him.

“Yes it is.” he agreed, looking out over the hills and mesa’s. The long waving grasses, more brown than green this time of year.

“It’s no wonder you love it out here.” Jonah looked over at Scarlett’s face and sighed. It was no use, he was falling for her. She was pretty, educated, witty and she had a passion and lust inside of her that Jonah found himself wanting to sample more of.

“Scarlett, I’ve been thinking,” he began and she laughed lightly. He realized that she laughed a lot and he liked that about her.

“I have found that it can be dangerous when a man says those words.” she teased. Jonah grinned.

“Well actually, I’ve been thinking that maybe I could accompany you back east.” she raised her dark arched brow and Jonah was quick to continue. “What I mean is, it just wouldn’t be ride to allow a lady to.. It could be dangerous you know for a woman to go alone that far.”

“Why, Mr. Winchester, I think that is a positively marvelous idea!” she replied happily. “And you know it will keep that long train ride from becoming so tedious.”

“Yes ma’am.” Jonah agreed. Scarlett winked at him and Jonah felt his pulse kick up a notch and his pants get tight. They couldn’t get to Barbadine fast enough. Jonah knew tonight was going to be one hell of a night to remember.

Chapter Ten

“If I’m bettin’ on a loser, I’m gonna have the devil to pay, but it’s the only game I know to play, it doesn’t matter anyway. I’d bet it all on a good run of bad luck.” Clint Black ‘Good Run of Bad Luck’

Joe cursed her luck as she came out of the livery that night. Not a single fur trader was still open and that meant spending the night in a hotel, selling her furs in the morning and not getting out of Barbadine until whenever she got done.

Joe really wasn’t looking forward to a night in this town. There were too many people, too much chimney smoke and too much noise.

“Hey, Joe!” Joe saw Bart running toward her and she sighed.

“Howdy, Bart.”

“Ya still know how to play poker better than any other woman I know?”

“And most men.” Joe agreed causing Bart to laugh loudly.

“Well come on to the saloon with me then and let’s show them boys how it’s done.” Joe nodded and followed Bart down the dark street to the brightly lit, saloon.

The lanterns and light filled the dusty air inside with brightness. A staircase led up stairs to bedrooms and Joe saw a scantily clad woman leading a man up them. A piano toward the back of the room was filling the saloon with music while a woman wearing a black lacy skirt and matching corset, leaned against it singing softly.

The crowded saloon was full of tables and men drinking, laughing, talking and playing poker. Cowboys, drifters, rovers, trappers, outlaws, farmers and family men all just trying to forget their troubles and have a good time.

“I’m gonna get me a drink first.” Joe said to Bart and the man nodded. They made their way up to the scarred up bar with a thick wooden top and Joe tapped it with her finger.

“I need a beer.” she called out. The bartender, a man with sleepy brown eyes, a square head and black mustache simply nodded and began to fill a dirty glass.

“What’s a tiny filly like you gonna do with all that beer?” A man down the bar asked. Joe met his gaze. He was dirty, but so was she, and he grinned a crooked toothed grin at her from beneath his tattered hat.

“I’m gonna drink it o’course.” she replied before taking a big swig. The man walked toward her slowly and then leaned his forearms against the bar as he stood beside her.

“Where did a filly like you learn to drink like that?” the man asked with a smile and a wink just before he reached out and squeezed Joe’s backside.

Joe sensed Bart tensing beside her as her own jaw tightened almost painfully as did her grip on the glass mug of beer.

“I reckon it was the same damned place where I learned to do this.” she snapped and then she turned and caught the man hard in the jaw with her clenched fist.

His head snapped back as the saloon fell silent. The man stumbled backward several steps, his tattered hat falling to the scarred up wooden floorboards.

He glared at her, his dark eyes narrowing as he wiped a bit of blood from his split lip.

“Why you little…” he charged toward her but stopped suddenly when the tip of the twelve inch blade she carried was suddenly pressed against his stomach.

He stared down at the knife and then back at Joe’s face and she smiled at his fear.

“Who in the hell do you think you are?” he whispered in a shaky voice.

“I think I’m the damned woman gonna gut you like the hog you are if’n you so much as breath the wrong way toward me again. You think just cuz I ain’t got a pecker ‘tween my legs you can come pawin’ all over me like a ruttin’ buck? Well I got news for you mister.” Joe put her knife back in the holster on her leg and pointed toward the swinging doors. “Now get yer ass on outta here.”

The man looked as if he wanted to argue but then he took another look at the knife on Joe’s leg and seemed to think better of it. Joe snorted as the man all but ran out of the saloon.

“Woohoo! You sure showed him, Joe.” Bart stated appreciatively before taking a swig of his own beer. The saloon quickly became full of noise once again as everybody went back to what they’d been doing before, only now they had something new to talk and laugh about.

“Didn’t even spill my beer.” Joe replied with a smile as she took a long drink. The bartender chuckled.

“And I thank you for that and for not getting any blood on my floors.” Joe tipped her head in acknowledgement.

“Well let’s go find us a poker game, Joe.” Bart urged. They made their way to a back table with two men currently playing five card stud.

“Can we join your game?” Bart asked and the men eyed Joe curiously.

“What’s the matter, boys?” she asked with a tilt of her head. “’Fraid of losing yer money to a little old filly like me?”

“Sit on down then, y’all.” one of the men said with a chuckle. “I reckon your money will spend just as good as a mans.”

Joe bit back her smart retort and sat down.

They began the game and Joe quickly showed them why she was a force to be reckoned with at a poker table. At some point Reb entered the saloon and Bart waved him over.

It didn’t take long for the two other men playing to decide they’d had enough, leaving Joe, Reb and Bart playing poker alone.

“Where’s Jonah?” Bart asked Reb with a frown and the man snorted as he folded his cards and adjusted his eye patch.

“Where the hell do ya think that there fool of a man is?” he grumbled. “He had to make sure Scarlett was all settled in at the hotel. He couldn’t leave the little devil woman to fend fer herself.

Joe felt a twisting pang in her chest that made her stomach hurt. She wasn’t sure what the feeling was but thinking of Jonah with Scarlett, seeing the two of them acting like quite the couple all day, had caused that uncomfortable feeling to hit Joe quite a few times.

“What the hells he doin’, Reb? Are we gonna lose him again?” Bart asked with a frown and Reb sighed.

“It sure seems that away.” he admitted, his blue eye sad. “Ya know as well as I do that he’s always been the settlin’ down type.”

The three of them looked at each other and each of them trembled. Settling down, tying yourself to one place, one person sounded like Joe’s idea of hell. No more freedom. No more open space. Depending on someone else for your happiness. What kind of a fool would want that….?

Joe’s train of thought came to a screeching halt and was then sent careening off an unfinished bridge before crashing against the rocks and perishing in a giant ball of flame and smoke, the moment she looked up and saw Jonah walk through the swinging doors.

---

Jonah looked around the dusty saloon. Piano music filled the air and he heard feminine laughter come from a room above his head. Jonah made his way over to the bar and ordered up a beer.

He sat on the stool and looked down into the brown liquid. Scarlett had wanted some time to herself. She said she wanted to be clean and smell nice before they made use of that big bed in her room.

Jonah’s gut said something was off about her but he chose to ignore that. Surely his gut was just paying too much attention to Reb and Bart and their jealous disbelief that any woman as pretty, cultured and ladylike as Scarlett Reign would ever want to settle on a roaming drifter like him.

Tomorrow morning he would take her to the bank and then he would say goodbye to Reb and Bart and escort Scarlett to her home back east. Where things went from there only time would tell.

“Hey, Jonah!” Jonah turned when he heard Bart’s voice call out from behind him. He saw the other man waving him toward a back table where he sat with Reb and Joe. “Come on over here, Jonah! We found a better poker player than you!”

Jonah took a swig of beer and walked to the table with a smile.

“Who’s better than me?” he asked with amusement as he sat down between Reb and Bart, across from Joe.

“She is.” Reb admitted as he pointed a finger at Joe. “Never did think I’d see a day when a better poker player’n you came ‘round, but it happened.”

“I doubt that.” Jonah replied and Joe shrugged on shoulder and handed the blue backed cards she’d been shuffling to Reb.

“Only one way to know for sure.” she stated and Jonah could see the competitive spark in her green gray eyes.

“Well let’s get to it then.” he said with a wink. He frowned when he saw her gaze falter. Something flickered in her eyes and Jonah would be damned if he was almost certain he saw a blush on her cheeks. Of course it was impossible to tell beneath the layer of dirt smudged across them.

“Well ya heard the man, Reb!” Joe grumbled with a snap of her fingers. “Deal the damn cards.”

Jonah was faintly aware of Reb’s voice as the over talkative man told tales as he served as the dealer.

Jonah’s mind was not on him. It was on Joe and the game they were playing. Jonah was usually a man who could read poker tells fairly easily. Poker had never been a challenge for him and he seldom lost, but poker with Joe…?

Poker with Joe was different. She was good. Probably just as good as him, maybe even better.

He couldn’t seem to get a read on her and it didn’t take long before he realized he had bitten off more than he could chew.

Hand after hand it was all Jonah could do just to stay in the game and his pile of change was dwindling quickly as Joe’s grew.

“See!” Bart exclaimed as he slapped Jonah on the back after he lost yet another hand. “I told ya she was better than you!”

“I could have sworn she was bluffing….” Jonah replied quietly. She had twirled at her hair which she had done while bluffing a couple of hands ago.

“Tryin’ to learn my tells is a waste of yer time there, Jonah.” Joe said matter of factly as she leaned back in her chair. “Pa taught me well how to keep folks such as yerself guessin’.”

“Is that right?” Jonah asked with a grin as he took another drink of beer. Joe nodded before taking a drink of her own and then swiping her sleeve across her mouth.

“Yep, that’s right.”

“Deal another hand, Reb.” Jonah ordered and Reb chuckled but did as he was told.

Jonah noticed it then. A flickering in her eyes. Barely noticeable, hardly more than a twitch, but it was there.

He knew there was no way she was faking that just to throw him off. Jonah smiled to himself. He had just discovered her tell.

---

“Dear wife, have you had fun with our new friend?” Scarlett smiled when she heard Harmon open the door to her hotel room and speak to her.

She kept her back to him as she sat on the edge of the bed and ran the brush through her west black hair.

“Yes I have, darling. Though I must admit I have missed you.” she replied.

She felt the mattress shift and then Harmon’s arms were wrapping tight around her waist and his lips were on her neck.

“Our separation is almost over, my dear, and then we’ll be together for a good long time and I’ll give you what you’ve been missing.”

“I can’t wait.” Scarlett whispered, a tremor running through her and causing moisture to form between her thighs.

“I trust all is going according to plan?”

“Yes. He is thoroughly smitten, my dear. He plans on escorting me to the bank in the morning.”

“Wonderful.” Harmon growled, his hands cupping her full heavy breasts and squeezing them gently. Scarlett moaned and leaned back against him, her own hand dipping down into her underclothes and stroking the wetness that was forming in the dark curls between her legs.

“You have missed me haven’t you, dear?” Harmon asked with a chuckle. Scarlett’s breaths became more ragged as her pleasure built and grew. She continued working her fingers in her wet core and Harmon’s hands continued stroke her breasts, teasing her taut nipples through the thin fabric of her underclothes. His hot breath teasing her neck as he licked and nibbled at her ear.

Scarlett felt herself nearing her peak and then she fell over the edge and let out a whimper as her body stiffened and Harmon chuckled against her neck.

“There you go, my dear. You are now all good and warmed up for our new friend when he comes back tonight. He is coming back tonight, isn’t he?”

Scarlett’s breaths were still ragged and her body was trembling as she leaned against her husband.

“Yes, he’s coming back.” she whispered.

“Good. You just make sure he comes to the bank with you in the morning, Scarlett, and this is going to work out just fine.”

“You make sure you’re there to get me away.” Scarlett countered and Harmon chuckled.

“Don’t worry, dear wife, of course I’ll be there to take you away.” He stood from the bed and Scarlett remained where she was and gazed up at him. “I would never leave you behind.. Especially when you’re holding all the money.”

---

“Well, I do believe I was wrong.” Bart stated as he pushed himself to his feet after several hours of watching Joe go back and forth with their poker game. “She ain’t no better than you but she ain’t no worse either.”

“Yeah.” Reb agreed, tossing down the deck of cards. “I do believe this game could last all night.”

Jonah chuckled and pushed himself to his feet. After discovering Joe’s tell the game had become a virtual stalemate. A back and forth that had gotten neither of them any closer to winning.

“Nice game, Joe.” Jonah admitted as Joe got to her feet as well. “I can honestly say I’ve never played a more challenging game of poker.”

“Me either.” Joe agreed. Jonah reached out his hand and Joe placed hers into it.

Jonah felt as if a fire had just been lit in his fingertips and he quickly jerked his hand away and wiped it roughly against his thighs. He saw the questioning look that Reb and Bart sent in his direction and when he tried to make eye contact with Joe, she seemed distracted by the coins she was shoving into her pockets.

“I uh.. I’m gonna go get some shut-eye.” Jonah said quickly and then he hastened his pace and made his way out of the saloon.

It was well past midnight and Jonah took his time heading back to the hotel where he had left Scarlett. He hadn’t meant to stay gone for so long but playing poker with Joe had proven to be a more challenging and entertaining thing than he could walk away from.

Jonah rubbed at the back of his neck as he thought about that odd woman who had nearly bested him at poker.

She was dirty, grumpy and completely unladylike. Her body stayed hidden beneath those oversized clothes and her golden streaked red hair clearly hadn’t seen a comb in a long time.

So why then had he felt such a shock when he had shook her hand. Why had her touch seemed to burn him so? Jonah looked down at his palm which was still tingling from the contact and he shook his head and rubbed his hand once again on his trousers.

It had to have been simply a trick of his brain. It could not have been anything else.

Jonah made his way up to Scarlett’s room and tested the knob, finding that it was unlocked.

He opened it just a crack and saw her lying on top of the covers wearing only her sheer underclothes. Her light skin and dark hair illuminated by the dancing lantern light.

She sat up quickly, appearing startled by him and then she smiled coyly and motioned for him with her finger.

“How dare you keep me waiting.” she whispered teasingly.

“I apologize, ma’am.” Jonah replied with a wink. “How about I try my best to make it up to you?”

“Are you up for a bit of work?” Scarlett asked as she nibbled at her lip.

Jonah let out a bark of laughter as he undid his gun belt and tossed it onto the tiny arm chair by the door. He stalked toward the bed, his body heating at the anticipation of what was coming.

“Always.”

Chapter Eleven

“Ain’t no use in tryin’ to slow me down cuz you’re running with the fastest girl in town. Ain’t ya baby! Well I told you I was crazy. No I ain’t nobodies baby! He’s got the bullets, he’s got a gun and I got a hankerin’ for gettin’ into somethin’”  Miranda Lambert ‘Fastest Girl In Town.’

“These are some nice furs you’ve got here.” the trader stated appreciatively as he ran his hands over the pallet of furs that Joe had tossed up on his counter.

“Yeah, I know.” Joe replied as she chewed off a fingernail and spit it onto the wooden floorboards. “So how much you reckon yer willing to give me. I got these here and then these ones on the floor.”

The trader rubbed his smooth jaw and Joe felt her irritation grow as he clicked his tongue. She had already been to two traders that morning and neither of them had offered her a fair price, she had hoped this man would be halfway decent.

“And before ya give me some low balled offer I think that ya should know that I’ve been a trappin and sellin’ since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I know damned well when a slick business man such as yerself is tryin’ to slight me.”

The trader laughed and tapped his hand on the counter.

“Well at least you’re an honest one.” he stated, still chuckling. “So tell me, honey, what would a fair price be to you?”

Joe let out a breath and tapped her fingers several times on the scarred up wooden counter, before running her fingers through the top fur on the pallet.

“Two hundred dollars.”

“You’re out of your pretty little mind.” the trader replied with a shake of his head and Joe glared at him. Pretty? She’d rather be called anything other than that! Nothing would be a bigger insult than being called pretty! Pretty wasn’t tough! Pretty wasn’t capable. Pretty wasn’t smart. Pretty was just, well, pretty.

“Don’t call me pretty.” she snapped, wishing she hadn’t bathed that morning. Her hair hung down her back in long waves, though not tangle free seeing as how Joe didn’t own a comb and her face was free of dirt and shining. The minute she got clean men started calling her things like pretty. She made a mental note to smear dirt on her face just as soon as she stepped back outside.

“How about I offer you one hundred dollars?” the trader asked after staring at her for several long moments as if she were a crazy person.

“Nope.” Joe replied as she grabbed the pallet of furs off the counter. “Guess I’ll just have to go someplace else.”

Joe turned and then fought back a smile with the trader grabbed her arm.

“Wait.”

Joe turned to look at the man, keeping her face an unreadable mask. He rubbed his face and released his hold on her arm.

“I guess you realize I wasn’t offering you a good price.” he admitted and Joe nodded. “How about one hundred and seventy five? That’s gonna be the best I can do.”

Joe felt triumph fill her. That was almost as much as her pa had gotten and it was well over one hundred dollars more than any other trader had offered her so far.

“I believe ya got yerself a deal,” she replied holding out her hand. The two of them sealed the deal with a handshake and when Joe walked out of the small wooden building several minutes later it was with a whole pocketful of money.

She walked over to her cart and put her hands in her hair, rubbing roughly and giving the red tresses back their messy, wild quality that she preferred. Then Joe squatted down, rubbing her hands on the cold dusty ground. Once happy with the amount of dirt on them she smeared them all over her face.

“What in the hell are you doin’?” Joe stood straight and turned quickly when she heard Jonah’s voice behind her. The smile that had been forming on her lips quickly turned to a scowl when she saw Scarlett in all of her satin and lace glory hanging off his arm.

“Do I really gotta explain it to ya?” Joe grumbled, wiping her dirty hands off on her buckskin pants.

“Perhaps the why of it.” Scarlett replied as she looked down her nose at Joe. “It truly looked as if you were rubbing dirt on your face.”

Joe let out a bark of laughter and slapped her thigh before rocking back on her heels.

“Well hell, Jonah, she ain’t as dumb as she looks!”

Joe felt her heart beat quicken just a little when Jonah laughed and his smile was directed at her. Damn but why did a man need a smile that nice? And why did it make her so damned happy to have him smile at her?

“You are laughing at what she just said about me?” Scarlett demanded with a stomp and Jonah instantly sobered, though Joe was certain she could still see laughter in his eyes.

“Sorry, Scarlett.” he said earnestly. Then he turned his gaze back to Joe. “Scarlett and I are heading to the bank. I just wanted to thank you for helping get us here.” Joe crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it fer charity. Pay up.” she held out her hand expectantly.

“Pay up?” Jonah asked with a frown.

“What is it? All that lovin she been givin’ to ya affecting yer memory or sumthin’?” Joe asked with a harsh laugh. “I was told I’d be paid fer my services.”

“Ten dollars…” Jonah replied with a sigh as he dug around in his pocket.

“Actually it was twenty.” Joe countered. “Ya offered ten at first but I said no and so then ya offered twenty.”

“You were coming here anyway! You would honestly take this mans money when he saved your life and kept you from getting a bullet in your back out by that mesa?” Scarlet demanded with a disbelieving shake of her head.

Joe felt her temper flare. Not that it ever took much to cause her temper to flare. It seemed Joe Redding’s temper was always just a match head away from a raging inferno most of the time.

“First off ain’t nobody ever saved my life. I save my own damn life.” she spat, poking herself in the chest with her finger. “And second I gave you my damn cart and ya slept on my furs. If anything you should be a payin’ me the twenty dollars but seein’ as how ya got this big strong man to do it fer ya I guess ya probably won’t.”

“Joe…” Jonah began angrily but Scarlett laid a dainty gloved hand on his arm and he quieted.

“That’s okay, Jonah. The woman has a point and I will be more than happy to cover the twenty dollar fee but first I must get to the bank. Come along, Jonah.” The fancy woman began walking once again and Jonah glared down at Joe.

“You know it wouldn’t hurt you to lighten up just a bit. A woman ain’t supposed to be so hard all the time. Softening up won’t hurt ya none.”

Joe thought of her mother and her beaten, raped and murdered body that Joe had laid beside in that bed for three days before her father had found her. She felt a shiver run down her back as she looked up into Jonah’s gray eyes.

“Yeah it will.” she countered and then she broke eye contact and went to her cart. “You go on with yer little lady friend there and I’ll head down to the mercantile. Y’all can bring my money there.”

She heard Jonah sigh and then his footsteps carried him away from her and for that Joe was grateful. Jonah made her feel exposed and vulnerable and Joe hated both of those feelings.

Joe cursed when she realized that the mercantile was directly across from the bank and she was awarded with a view of the lovebirds walking arm in arm through the heavy dark wood doors.

Joe was just going to take her twenty dollars and then leave town and forget that she had ever met Jonah Winchester.

---

It took Jonah’s eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden change in light as he and Scarlett entered the bank and the doors closed with a thud behind them.

Not very many folks were here this early. Two sleepy looking tellers stood behind the wooden counters with bars protecting them from anyone who might want to jump over the counter and get to them.

An old man was busy speaking to one teller and it was clear the man didn’t hear well anymore as he all but yelled at the teller and she was forced to yell in response as he cupped his ear to better hear her words.

Then there was a tired looking woman, middle aged it seemed, with three young children running around her skirts. They were darting in and out of the folds of fabric and laughing happily as they did so.

Jonah frowned when Scarlett moved behind him and he heard the clicking of a lock sliding into place.

He turned and she was smiling up at him with her hand on the brass door lock.

“What are you doing?” he whispered and she simply shrugged one dainty shoulder. Jonah saw it then. A predatory gleam in her dark brown eyes that had probably been there all along and he’d just been too blind, too desperate, to see it.

“Here you go, darling. You might want to hold this.” Scarlett reached out and grabbed his revolver from the holster before placing it in Jonah’s hand.

Jonah was too shocked to do anything other than take it. Surely this couldn’t be happening. He wouldn’t have been that stupid… He wouldn’t have been fooled a second time by just a pretty smile and some attention… would he?

“Ladies and gentleman, can I have your attention?” Scarlett asked politely as she pulled her derringer from her pocket. “We are robbing this back and would appreciate your cooperation.”

The woman with the children gasped and ushered her children away from the teller window with fear shining in her eyes as Scarlett walked over and tapped her gun several times against the gleaming oak counter.

“Money. Now.” she ordered and the tellers quickly began to gather up paper bills and coins, as if this was a common occurrence and nothing to be overly alarmed about.

“What are you doing?” Jonah asked again, finding that his brain was refusing to allow him to believe this situation could really be happening. Scarlett was robbing a bank? Why? And what was he doing here with her? Why wasn’t he stopping her?

“I should think that was obvious, my dear. Now aim that gun at that woman before she goes out the door.”

Jonah was shocked to find his hands pointing the gun at the mother. He was certain he hadn’t actually meant to move and do as Scarlett had asked. The woman let out a cry of shock and then dropped to her knees, pulling her children all toward her lap.

“Now see here!” the old man bellowed and then Scarlett did the unthinkable. She aimed her gun at the mans stomach and pulled the trigger. The man let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor as the children screamed and began to cry and the tellers hastened their pace.

Jonah was frozen to the spot. Surely there had to be some other explanation for what was going on here. He was dreaming! That was it, he had to be dreaming. This couldn’t really be happening to him.

He watched Scarlett load her pockets down with money and then she quickly tied the bags to a rope that she hid inside her skirt. This took her less than a minute and Jonah was faintly aware of thinking that this must not be her first time.

“Let’s go now, dear. We’d hate to overstay our welcome.” Scarlet urged as she led him toward the door.

Jonah’s feet moved but his mind wasn’t on the steps he was taking. He kept looking over his shoulder at the old man who was still moaning as the pool of blood beneath him grew.

He felt the sun on his face and knew they must have walked outside. Yells and cries were filling the air from folks that had heard the gunshot inside the bank.

Then one cry rang out louder than the rest.

“HELP!” Scarlett screamed as she shoved the only sack of money she had kept in her hands into Jonah’s chest and he absently clutched it with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.

“What…?’ he managed to ask and she just smiled at him.

“You made it too easy.” she whispered and then fear lit up her features. “HELP! He robbed the bank! He shot a man!” she gasped.

Jonah saw lawmen running his way from about one hundred yards down the road. Still he stood there still as stone with the gun in one hand, a sack of money in the other and Scarlett running away from him.

A rifle shot echoed in the cold morning hair and Jonah felt a bullet slam into his side.

His breath came out in a whoosh of steam around his face. Jonah’s eyes stayed glued to Scarlett as he raised his gun, fully prepared to shoot the lying bitch in the back as she ran but another rifle shot rang out and the bullet ripped through his shoulder, snapping the bone and causing his revolver to fall uselessly to the ground with a clatter.

More gun shots and yells rang out, though Jonah wasn’t paying attention to where they were coming from.

A man on a horse came around the bank and held out his hand for Scarlett who jumped on behind him and then kissed the man thoroughly.

She turned and winked at Jonah before blowing him a kiss and then wrapping her arms tight around the mans waist. Jonah watched them ride off into the distance before yet another bullet slammed into him, ripping through his arm.

Jonah felt the pain then and suddenly everything came into brilliant focus for a few vibrant seconds.

He saw Reb and Bart firing shots at the lawmen who had taken cover still fifty yards away.

A horse came thundering toward him, the hooves kicking up clouds of dust as Jonah’s breath continued to form a cloud around his head and he sat there on his knees.

He looked up as he heard Joe’s voice calling out for him to take her hand. Her red hair was wild around her head and her green gray eyes were shining in the morning sunlight and wide with worry.

He saw her pull her gun and fire shots of her own down the road toward the lawmen and that was all he saw before his world went black.

---

“Dammit Jonah!” Joe cried out with rage as the man toppled sideways onto the dirt and his eyes closed. What was wrong with him? Why hadn’t he fought back against Scarlett. Why had he been holding a gun and a sack of money? And why the hell hadn’t’ he taken cover the second the lawmen started shooting at him!?

Joe shook her head. There wasn’t time for worrying about all of that just now.

“Bart!” she called out and the skinny man ran over. He was panting and bleeding on his arm from the graze of a bullet. “Throw him over the back!” Joe urged as a bullet whipped close enough to her head that she felt the breeze of it tug at her messy hair.

Bart grunted with the effort of lifting up Jonah’s dead weight and Joe tugged his arms from where she sat on her horse. Once the man was on his stomach over the back of the saddle Joe looked back down at Bart.

“Reb and I will keep the lawmen off of you two. We’ll lead ‘em in the opposite direction. Get him somewhere safe, Joe. Jonah don’t deserve to go out like that. There’s gotta be some reason he was doing what he did.”

“I’ll take care of him, Reb, don’t you worry ‘bout that none. When y’all lose the lawmen get yer asses to my cabin. That’s where we’ll be.” Bart nodded and then turned back around to join Reb in the gunfight.

Joe nudged her mares sides and galloped out of town with an unconscious, bloody Jonah bouncing behind her.

Chapter Twelve

Flashes. Jonah was aware of flashes of images.

Penny. He saw Penny. She was looking into his eyes and smiling as he told her how much loved her. As he opened his heart and let her know about the future he wanted for the two of them and the life he hoped they would one day have.

Flashes of Penny getting onto that train arm in arm with that rich banker in a top hat, and setting off to start her new life with the rich man, leaving a broken Jonah behind in her wake.

Scarlett in all her soft feminine glory, purring beneath him. Telling him that she wanted nothing more than to have him with her as she traveled east. Making promises of a future. Blinding him with her passion and with the way she seemed to know exactly what to do to take a mans attention away from anything other than the pleasure her body could give him.

Scarlett locking that bank door and pulling a gun.

Scarlett shooting that old man, probably killing him.

Scarlett shoving that sack of money into his chest and screaming for help.

Scarlett blowing him a kiss before riding away and leaving him to die on the dirty street.

Penny’s clown. Scarlett’s fool. Jonah was quite simply a fool in every sense of the word. Believing that women could love! Believing that love actually existed! It didn’t. Reb and Bart had been right all along.

Too bad Jonah had had to die to learn the lesson his best friends had been trying to teach him all along.

“Wake up ya damned stubborn jackass! We gotta get a move on and yer lazy backside has been layin’ here for a damned day and a half!”

That voice… Surely Jesus wasn’t Joe. Or maybe he hadn’t made it to heaven given his act of cowardice at the end of his life and Joe’s voice was coming from the devil… That would certainly make more sense.

Suddenly, a splash of ice cold water was raining down on his face and Jonah sat bolt upright with a gasp and a sputter before crying out in pain and laying his hand over his bandaged side.

His eyes flew open and he took in his surroundings quickly. Joe was crouched beside him with an empty tin cup clutched in her hand, though Jonah had a sneaking suspicion that that cup had been filled with water just a moment ago.

They were in what seemed to be a handmade lean-to with pine boughs for a roof. A small fire was burning at the entrance, too small to give off much smoke but providing a tiny bit of warmth to those inside.

“I’m not dead?” Jonah managed to ask, and immediately wished he hadn’t spoken when he felt the dryness in his parched mouth and throat. Joe snorted and shoved a canteen into his chest.

“No thanks to you. What kind of idiocy must a man suffer from to stay out in the open like ya did with guns goin’ off ‘round ya?!”

“The bad kind.” Jonah muttered and Joe grunted as if in agreement. “You sure as hell ain’t a gentle nursemaid.” he added as Joe’s finger began poking at the bandages on his bare arms.

It was then that Jonah realized he was wearing only his trousers, no wonder he felt so damn cold.

“If’n ya wanted a gentle nursemaid ya shoulda arranged that ‘fore you took part in a bank robbery and got yerself shot all to hell and back.”

Jonah glared at her. Her dirty face was pale and dark circles surrounded her tired eyes. Her buckskin clothes were covered in blood, his blood.

“How long did you say we’d been here?” Jonah asked as he looked down at the bandages. One around his upper right arm which was in a makeshift sling and one lower around his forearm. Then the third on his side. His stomach growled and then clenched tightly and his mouth still felt dry and scratchy, as if he’d been chewing on wool sock.

“We’ve been here ‘bout a day and a half.” Joe replied as she refilled the tin can with some fresh water from her canteen and handed it to him. “But we rode hard for a full day before I stopped and made camp. Had to make sure the lawmen and posse weren’t on our tail.”

“Lawmen and posse?” Jonah asked absently as he sipped at the water.

“Yep. Ya did rob a bank. That tends to piss off those sworn to uphold the law and whatnot.”

“I didn’t rob the damn bank.” Jonah growled. “I just didn’t stop the person who was….” he sat the now empty cup aside and grabbed the blanket beside him before pulling it tight around his shoulders. “Have you slept? You look like hell so I figure you haven’t.”

“Well thanks, dear. You look like a little ray a sunshine yerself.” Joe drawled dryly. Despite himself, Jonah felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Have you slept?” he asked again and Joe shook her head before handing him some jerked beef.

“Nope. You had a hell of a fever when we got here and ya just seemed to sweat it out a few hours ago. I let ya rest as long as I could but we really should get a move on.”

“Yeah, I reckon we should.” Jonah replied, not willing to thank her for the care she’d given. Knowing Joe she’d probably just curse at him if he did try to thank her.

“How about you lay on down here and get you some rest first?” Jonah asked as he pushed himself to his feet, wincing at the pain in his side.

“No time for that…” Joe began to argue but Jonah pointed firmly at the bedroll he’d been lying on.

“You won’t be any good to anybody if you don’t get some damn rest.”

“I’da been getting rest if you hadn’t up and gotten yerself shot.” Joe grumbled, though Jonah was pleased to see that she did as he said. “I still wanna know what happened in that bank.”

“It can wait.” Jonah replied as shame filled him. “Rest.” he urged as he grabbed his blood caked shirt from the ground and slipped it on and then walked away, down a small hill and onto a tight trail that wound through the canyon system that Joe had found for them to camp in.

Jonah was a bank robber. Not really but the law wouldn’t know that. Would he be a wanted man now? They shouldn’t have his name at least. He hadn’t used his name at the hotel and he hadn’t seen anyone he’d known while in Barbadine… Least not anyone who would have gotten a good enough look at him as he’d come out of the bank. Truth be told no one had probably gotten a real good look at him since everyone had been running for cover after hearing Scarlett fire her gun.

Only time would tell if he would earn his own wanted poster. And what of Joe? Where were Bart and Reb? Jonah felt worry fill him and wished he would have thought to ask Joe before telling her to rest…. She had seemed so tired and her fatigue had been his fault. He found it odd that the woman would work so hard just to save his life. He hadn’t been aware that the woman even liked him.

Jonah realized he had walked farther than he should have. His side was burning, his head was spinning and his weak legs were nearing the point of giving out beneath him.

He gingerly sat down on a cold boulder and lifted his shirt with his free hand, realizing that blood was beginning to soak through the dirty rag that Joe had tied around him to serve as a bandage.

He pulled the bandage back a little and winced when he saw the hole that the bullet had torn through his side. Far enough away from everything important to keep from killing him but nasty enough that it was going to take a while to heal.

Blood had soaked through the bandage on his forearm and was running down his hand and dripping off his fingertips. His upper right arm had been broken by the bullet that had slammed into it when he’d been attempting to shoot Scarlett….

That was a thought that stopped his train of thoughts. He had been willing to shoot a woman. Not only had he been willing to shoot a woman but he had been willing to shoot her in the back.

Bart and Reb had been right about him. He was nothing but a fool, the son of a whore and an outlaw. It was time Jonah embraced his heritage. There was only one thing he knew for sure…. Never again would he play any woman’s fool.

---

Joe sat up with a start and realized that she was still alone in the lean-to. The fire had dwindled down to nothing more than smoking embers and the sunlight was fading over the horizon. She must have slept for hours!

Where was Jonah? Why hadn’t he kept the fire going? Joe pushed herself to her feet, her stomach growling and cramping, desperately longing for a meal that she couldn’t give it.

She realized her horse was still there as were her saddlebags.

“Where in tarnation is that damned man?” she mumbled. Knowing the path he had taken when he’d walked away, Joe made her way down the hill and started on the rocky path. She saw dried blood splattered on the ground and cursed under her breath.

Jonah needed stitched up but the materials to do that were in short supply out here. If she could just get the man to do one more hard day of riding they could reach her cabin and then she could care for him properly. Until then, death from infection or blood loss were very real possibilities for him.

“Jonah, what the devil are you doin’?” Joe demanded when she saw him sitting on a boulder, slumped against the cliff behind him. When he didn’t reply Joe felt unease creep in.

Had the foolish man wound up dead? He never should have walked this far in his condition. He’d damn near bled to death, had three holes in him and a broken arm and he hadn’t eaten anything more than a piece of jerked beef or had more than that one cup of water to drink.

Joe was going to be real damn angry if the man had died seeing as how she had put a lot of effort into keeping him alive the last two and a half days. She hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept, hadn’t so much as left his side as she had struggled to lower his fever.

She wasn’t sure why she cared so much what happened to Jonah. She didn’t normally go out of her way to help anyone, it just wasn’t in her nature. But she wanted to help Jonah. She had seen such a strength and a potential for greatness in him and it was only because of the mans weakness for painted pretty ladies that he had wound up like this. Hopefully getting shot all to hell would cure his brain ailment, that was of course if it didn’t kill him.

Joe crouched in front of him and saw that his eyes were closed but he was breathing. “Jonah!” She said harshly as she swatted his cheek. Jonah’s eyelids fluttered and then Joe cursed the way her body responded when a lazy smile spread across his face.

“I was wondering if you’d come looking for me. Seems I’m not as strong as I thought I was.”

“Well ‘course yer not, ya damn idiot. Ya got shot three damned times, broke yer arm and nearly died o’fever. That’ll take the wind right outta anybodies sails.”

“Guess you’re right, Joe.” he mumbled as he sat up a little straighter and then winced in pain.

Joe stood straight and cocked her head.

“Ya gonna be alright here while I go get our stuff loaded up and I’ll swing down this way and getcha?”

“I don’t reckon I’m going anywhere without your help.” Jonah replied, his gray eyes meeting hers.

“No, I don’t reckon ya are.” Joe agreed with a little shake of her head. She turned to walk back up the hill but Jonah’s hand closed around her lower arm and stopped her.

“Thank you, Joe.”

Joe just grunted and pulled her arm away, not liking the way his touch made her feel.

“Don’t thank me yet, Jonah. Ya still have a pretty good chance o’dying.” she assured him and then she walked away quickly, without giving him time to say anything else.

Joe didn’t like having anyone’s gratitude. As soon as you started doing things and folks started thanking you for them then folks expected you to help them whenever they needed it.

It didn’t take Joe long to pack up what few belongings she’d taken out of her saddlebags. A few swatches of cloth were left that weren’t bloodied and she was sure to stuff those inside, along with her single tin cup. The blankets they’d been lying on, she kept out. If they were going to be riding after dark it was going to get cold and they’d need the blankets to wrap up in. Especially Jonah, since she’d had to sacrifice his duster coat and use it to help stop his bleeding.

She stomped around on the coals of their fire for a moment, enjoying the warmth that put into her cold feet and then she secured her saddlebags on her mares back before climbing into the saddle.

She found Jonah where she had left him, though the man had managed to get to his feet.

It took a couple of tries and some help from the boulder he’d been sitting on before Jonah managed to lift himself into the saddle behind Joe and Joe felt a strange tingling in her core as his long arm circled around her waist and she felt his breath against her neck.

“Ya ever think of sittin’ back a little bit?” she snapped. “I’d rather not have ya breathin’ on me the whole damn way!”

“Sorry, Joe…” he mumbled and Joe could hear the weakness in his voice. She sighed and squeezed her mares sides to get the beast moving again.

“Joe…” Jonah started and then he stopped. She rolled her eyes.

“What?”

“Where’s Bart and Reb? They didn’t… They didn’t get killed did they?” Joe could hear the dread and uneasiness in Jonah’s voice and she sighed.

“I don’t think so. ‘Course I can’t say fer certain. They was gonna lead the lawmen one way while I took you the other.” She felt him nod against his shoulder and then was thankful when he said nothing else.

If there was one thing Joe hated more than anything it was a bunch of chit chat. Of course she wasn’t too fond of having a man behind her in the saddle with his strong arm around her, his big hand laying over her stomach and his chin resting on her shoulder either.

It seemed life had decided to deal her one hell of a dirty hand and Joe, being the gambler she was, had made the decision to play it. Now she was stuck.

Chapter Thirteen

Joe breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her cabin come into view. Of course that relief was short lived when more of Jonah’s weight fell against her back. The man had lost consciousness some time before but miraculously he had remained in the saddle and Joe hadn’t stopped.

She had known that unless they reached true shelter and the medicine and supplies she had there, Jonah was going to die.

Joe pulled up on the reins and stopped her horse beside the porch of her ramshackle cabin that she and her father had called home during the cold winter months for the last twelve years.

She tried to figure out a way to get out of the saddle without causing Jonah to fall and could not so she slid off and then winced when he toppled to the ground, though she managed to use her body to cushion his fall slightly.

Now Joe just had to drag his unconscious ass into the cabin…

With a grunt, she squatted down and wrapped her arms around his waist before beginning to drag him as she walked backward toward the steps.

Sweat quickly slicked her skin and her arms and legs began to shake. Joe stopped to take a break and glared at his pale, fevered face.

“Dammit, Jonah, ya sure are a whole lotta man.” she grumbled, cursing the sheer size of him.

“Thank you, Joe. That might just be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” Joe felt relief flood her at the sound of his voice. It was weak, tired and strained but it meant he wasn’t as close to death as she had thought he was.

“Why don’t ya help me get yer big ass into the cabin?” she grumbled and Jonah’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.

“I’ll do what I can.”

It took quite a lot of grunting and sweat on Joe’s part and a bit of painful moaning on Jonah’s but finally Joe got him into the cabin and onto the bed.

Joe felt fear trying to work its way in when she realized that Jonah fell back into fevered unconsciousness the moment his body hit her fathers old feather tick mattress.

She pushed that worthless emotion away and instead busied herself getting a fire going to warm the cold interior of the cabin.

Joe filled two buckets with water from the hand pump well outside, thankful that it wasn’t frozen solid since that saved her a long walk to the river. She poured one of the buckets into her pot over the fire to warm it and then crossed the dust covered floorboards back to the bed Jonah was lying in.

Joe winced when she laid her wrist against his heated brow and felt just how hot his skin was. She peeled his blood covered shirt off his good arm and slid the other side off his right shoulder. The blanket he’d been wrapped in was lying out on the cold ground and Joe knew it was covered in blood as well, some dried and some still fairly fresh since the wounds on his forearm and side were still oozing.

She was pleased to see that the sling and bandage she’d crafted in that tiny lean-to seemed to be keeping his other wound closed up and his bones still. Absently she found herself wondering if Jonah was any good with his left hand. She knew from experience that he had a good six weeks before the bones in his right arm would knit back together.

As Joe began to use a rag and the water in her second bucket to cleanse his skin, she found her eyes taking in the sight of Jonah’s body.

She had noticed just how nice it was back at the lean-to while she’d been caring for him and Joe found that her body was heating now just the same as it had then.

Jonah had a man’s body, created by hard work and living in a saddle. It was all hard lines and edges. Lean muscles and small scars.

Joe shook her head to clear her thoughts and cursed the direction they had taken when she realized just how moist and hot she was between her legs. Desire was something she had worked very hard to avoid feeling in her life but it seemed impossible to deny around this man.

For some reason or another Joe’s body liked Jonah very much.

She pulled her knife and cut away the blood soaked bandage she had tied around his middle, The wound was a bloody mess and the skin around it was red and swollen and Joe knew that was the explanation for the fever plaguing him.

She blew a long strand of hair from her face and got to work fixing him up properly.

---

Jonah knew he must have died. Again he saw flashes of images though these images made no sense.

Flashes of Joe. Fear and worry laying heavy on her features. Her green gray eyes looking his body up and down and her strong rough hands seeming to have turned to velvet as she smoothed the sweaty hair from his brow.

Suddenly Joe realized he wasn’t dead when he heard the sound of singing reach his ears. He knew he wasn’t dead because he was fairly certain that in hell the demons didn’t sing ‘Amazing Grace’ and he knew, or at least he sincerely hoped, the angels would sing it better than Joe’s voice seemed to be singing it just now.

Her voice was off key and anything but angelic and yet Jonah found a smile beginning to pull at the corners of his mouth as he listened to her.

“Dammit, Jonah!” she suddenly exclaimed angrily. “Are you awake!? I’ve been sittin’ here worried to death ‘bout ya and ya got the damned nerve to smile?”

Jonah tried to speak but his throat and mouth were too dry and he found himself coughing instead.

He forced his eyes open and saw Joe sitting beside the bed in a chair with a glass of water in her hand.

“Sit up and I’ll give ya a drink.” she ordered. Jonah glared at her, though he noticed she looked like hell. He was almost certain the woman had actually been concerned about him which was odd considering the way she seemed to hate him.

Trying hard to keep any sign of pain from his face or his eyes, Jonah pushed himself up against the smooth wooden headboard.

Joe held the glass to his lips and Jonah sipped greedily before looking around the cabin they were inside.

“Where are we?” he asked as water trickled down his chin and splashed against his bare chest.

He looked back over at Joe to find her staring at the droplets on his skin and when she noticed that he had noticed she cursed and shoved herself to her feet before making her way to the pot over the fire.

“My cabin.” she replied, keeping her back to him as she filled a wooden bowl. “Been here fer darn near a week. I was startin’ to get worried that ya weren’t’ gonna make it. Yer fever would go down and then come right back without warning… But it’s been down fer a good day now so I reckon ya may just be alright.”

Jonah used the blanket his legs were covered with to wipe his chest dry as Joe made her way back to him with a wooden bowl full of what seemed to be stew.

Jonah found his mouth beginning to water and he licked at his lips. “That smells good.” he admitted.

“I’ve always been a good cook.” Joe replied with a shrug as she sat down and put a bit of stew on the spoon.

Jonah found his eyes drawn to her lips as she blew on the steaming spoonful.

He had never noticed just how full her lips were. She had nice lips…..

He was actually thankful when his thoughts were interrupted by her clearing her throat and shoving the spoon toward his mouth.

“I can feed my damn self.” he grumbled, angry that his mind had dared to find a damn desirable feature on this woman. Hadn’t his body learned its damn lesson from the three bullets that had torn through it?

Joe shrugged, dropped the spoon back into the bowl and handed it to him. It took Jonah a moment to get situated since his broken arm didn’t allow for much use out of his right hand, but when that first spoonful of stew passed through his lips, he groaned with pleasure.

“Well you certainly weren’t lying about being a good cook.”

“Yeah well, pa’s cookin’ was terrible so it was either I learn how or we’da both starved to death.”

Silence reigned as Jonah ate and then he sat the empty bowl aside and wiped his mouth on his bare arm.

“So how are they?” he asked, tipping his head toward the right side of his body which was the side sporting three new holes.

“Healing up.” Joe assured him, though Jonah could hear the fatigue in her voice. “Now that yer stitched up it won’t take no time. Yer bones on the other hand.. Ya probably got another good month or longer ’fore they heal up.”

“Good thing I can draw a gun with my left.” he replied and Joe grinned.

“Ya left your gun in Barbadine. As well as yer horse and yer saddlebags. There weren’t anything that had yer name or nothing on it were there?”

Jonah thought hard and shook his head. “No.” he replied, pain running deep at knowing he’d lost Copper. “I’m gonna miss that damn horse though.”

Joe didn’t reply, just got to her feet and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Jonah demanded as he saw the sun was setting. “You need rest. You look tired.”

“Playin’ nursemaid to yer stubborn ass and takin’ care of stuff ‘round here has a way of suckin’ it right outta me.” Joe snapped, but then she smiled and Jonah cursed the way that smile made her eyes shine. “Now that yer on the mend, you can start pullin’ yer own weight ‘round here soon and I’ll be able to lay about in the bed all day.”

With that Joe left the cabin, leaving Jonah lying there confused by his own thoughts. Joe wasn’t pretty. She wasn’t ladylike. She was probably tougher than he was. She was the complete opposite of what he was normally attracted to and yet attracted to her he was…. He grumbled under his breath and shook his head.

He had heard of men who had had such bad fevers that it had affected their brains, causing them to never work right again. That must be what had happened to him.

Jonah had no doubt that a man would have to be crazy to be attracted to a woman like Joe. Hell a woman like Joe would probably shoot a man just for thinking he might like a roll between the sheets with her.

Besides, Jonah had learned his lesson with women. It was only going to be paid and bought for whores for him from now one. He wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking women were really capable of loving him or that love even truly existed.

---

That night, Joe collapsed in the chair in front of the fire and stared into the dancing flames. She still missed her pa and while she would never admit it, it felt good to have another person here at the cabin with her.

She had been damned worried about Jonah, though that was something else she would never admit. She had been certain for a while that he wasn’t going to make it but now that he had woken up, eaten and the fever had stayed away, she knew he’d be okay.

She heard movement behind her and turned her head to see Jonah, rising from the bed, keeping the blanket around his shoulders, and walking toward the other chair next to hers. The chair her pa had always sat in.

It was clear that Jonah’s body was stiff, sore and in pain and yet Joe admired the fact that he didn’t voice a single word of complaint as he lowered himself down into the chair and joined her in staring at the fire.

“Sorry about all this, Joe. I owe you a hell of a debt.”

“Yeah ya do.” Joe replied as she found a cigarette and matches in her pocket. “But I ain’t really one to worry ‘bout things like that.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have another of those would you?” Jonah asked, pointing at her cigarette. Joe nodded, pulled out another cigarette and handed it and the matches to him after lighting her own.

“I’ll tell ya how ya can pay me back for saving your sorry ass…” Joe added once they were both breathing in the comforting scent of tobacco.

“How’s that?” Jonah asked with a grin.

“Tell me what happened in that bank.”

“I’d rather not.” Jonah replied, all signs of happiness and good nature gone from his face.

‘I nearly got killed saving you.” Joe reminded him as she thought of just how many bullets she had felt the breeze off of as they’d passed by her head.

Jonah sighed and shifted in his chair. “I was made a fool of.” he replied quietly and then he took another long draw off his cigarette. “It won’t ever happen again.”

“So it was her that did the robbin’?”

“Of course it was. I didn’t know what to say or do. I couldn’t breath, couldn’t move, couldn’t do a damn thing to stop her. I just kept thinking that I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to be fooled twice. That there had to be some other explanation…” Jonah stopped and looked uncomfortable as he shifted in the chair. It was clear he hadn’t meant to share so much.

“I saw you two come out of the bank. I saw her shove that sack into your chest just before she started screaming.”

Jonah just picked at a tear in the thigh of his trousers and said nothing.

“Where was the rest of the money?” Joe asked. “She didn’t give it all to you did she?”

“No.” Jonah replied, his gray eyes still fixed on the dancing flames of the fire and his jaw tight. “She stuffed her pockets full and then tied the sacks to a rope which she dropped down into her skirts.”

Joe was surprised when she actually felt sympathy for the man. She figured it wasn’t all his fault that he suffered a brain ailment that made him trust and love women that were no good for him. Joe wondered if he would ever find himself loving her… She would be good for him…

That thought had her shoving herself to her feet quickly and moving away from him.

“I’m going to bed. Now that I know ya ain’t gonna die in the night on me I might actually get some rest.”

“Why do you care?” Jonah asked suddenly, his words stopping her in her tracks. He stood and turned to face her, his features confused. “Why do you care so much what happens to me? Why did you risk so much to save me and why the hell have you been working so hard to keep me alive?”

Joe was caught off guard by the question and the answer that wanted to slip from her lips. She quickly swallowed that reply down and forced her shoulders to give him a half shrug.

“I’ve always liked Reb, and Bart was a friend of my pas. They’re both rather fond of ya so I didn’t just wanna let ya die.”

Jonah stared hard at her for several long moments and Joe prayed that he would believe her. Finally he nodded and a grin curved his lips, crinkling his cheeks.

“Get some rest, Joe.” he urged and then he turned and sat back down in the chair.

Joe was more than happy to lock herself inside the room that had always served as her bedroom. Her pa had given Joe her own room because he had always said it wouldn’t be right to have his daughter sleeping in the same room as some of the men that had stayed nights at their cabin.

Joe couldn’t help but wonder what her pa would think of Jonah sleeping in the other room… And she didn’t even want to think about the rage her own conflicting emotions about the man would cause in her temperamental pa.

---

Days passed quickly and as Jonah regained his strength he found himself more than happy to take over many of the chores around the cabin. He found that it felt good to once again he able to work his muscles, which had been mostly inactive for nearly two weeks.

He found that Joe seemed to be avoiding him. She did the cooking and saw to his wounds everyday but kept the conversation to a minimum. Which was just fine with Jonah. He didn’t like the way his body kept responding to the woman.

Surely it was simply because she was such the opposite of what he’d always wanted before. I couldn’t be true attraction. Joe was dirty, flat chested as far as he could tell, and scowled more than any other person he’d ever met. While she wasn’t quite as rude as she’d been when they’d first met, she still was certainly not what anyone could confuse as being sweet or kind. Though she did save his life so he knew there had to be a heart in that chest of hers somewhere.

Neither of them had mentioned Reb and Bart and yet the two men were constantly on Jonah’s mind. Were they okay? Had they survived? Had they successfully kept the lawmen from coming after Jonah and Joe?

Jonah had no way to answer these questions and he didn’t know what he’d do if the only friends he had had been killed because he’d been stupid.

And what of Scarlett? Where was she? And who was that man who had taken off with her. Jonah had found the man vaguely familiar but he had no idea where he had seen him before. Jonah knew that as soon as he was healed enough and knew the fate of his friends, he was going to find that bitch and he was going to make her pay for what she had done. Surely she thought he was already dead…. She was going to wish she had finished the job properly by the time he was through with her.

He didn’t care if she was a woman, he was going to kill her anyway and he was going to do it with a smile.

Jonah walked out of the cabin one morning, nearly a week and a half after waking up here and enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face.

The weather up here in the mountains was slowly beginning warm each day as they got a bit further into March, though Jonah knew that up here it was unpredictable and there was still a fairly good chance of more snow before the winter fully gave way to spring.

He was struck by the peaceful quality of the morning. The birds were once again chirping and he could hear the chicken in their coop. Jonah wondered where Joe was since he hadn’t seen her in nearly an hour.

Suddenly the peacefulness of the morning was shattered when he heard a feminine scream fill the air, followed by a splash and he took off as fast as his legs could carry him toward the lake just over the ridge behind the cabin.

Chapter Fourteen

Joe was confused. Never before had she given much thought to what happened between a woman and a man. It was never a thing that she wanted. While she wasn’t ignorant enough to think that any man she laid with would do to her what that man had done to her mother, she hadn’t ever wanted to risk it.

She hadn’t ever wanted to let a man paw at her with his nasty hands and shove his dirty pecker inside of her.

She hadn’t that was until she’d met Jonah.

She’d known from the start that he was handsome and then when she had watched him loving on Scarlett through the fabric of their tent it had only served to further fuel the attraction she felt for the man.

Joe’s pacing along the rocky shoreline of the far side of the frigid lake increased.

She wanted Jonah. She wanted to feel his hands touching her… Learn what kind of pleasures that man could give her. She knew it must be something because she had heard Scarlett’s moans. And while the woman had only been using Jonah to frame him for bank robbery, Joe knew that those moans hadn’t been faked… they couldn’t have been.

But Joe couldn’t let herself give in. She wouldn’t. Giving in would make her weak and Joe Redding was not weak and would not give in to such feminine follies as passion and desire. She did not need a man.

In her aggravated pacing and tangled thoughts, Joe was not paying any attention to where she placed her feet and she tripped.

Her body was suddenly suspended in air above the frigid water of the lake and Joe was shocked to hear a scream escape her lips before she went splashing into the water, striking her head sharply against a rock and slipping unconscious beneath the waves.

---

Jonah came to the lake and felt his heart stop beating in his chest when he saw Joe lying face first in the water. Her body was simply bobbing in time with the waves.

Jonah tried to tell himself that the urge to save her life had nothing to do with the desire and friendship he was starting to feel for the woman and was simply because she had saved his life and he owed her one, but he knew he was lying as he ran as fast as he could to the waters edge.

His side was screaming and burning, though he knew that the wound was healed enough that it shouldn’t tear back open and bleed. Even if it did he didn’t care. He had to get Joe out of the cold water.

If she didn’t drown, she could still very well freeze to death.

But exactly how was he supposed to reach her? She had fallen in the deeper side of the mountain lake and Jonah had a broken arm so swimming wasn’t an option.

Jonah laid down on his stomach on the rocks and stretched out over the water, keeping his lower body steady on the ground.

He stretched his left arm as far as it would go and grunted with the effort as his fingertips brushed against the fringes on the sleeve of her buckskin shirt.

He clasped onto those fringes with near desperation and pulled her slowly toward the bank, only releasing his hold once she was close to the rocks long enough to grasp her arm more firmly.

Ignoring his own pain and the way it felt as if his side was splitting open, Jonah dragged her up and over the rocks and flipped her onto her back.

Dread filled him when he realized that she wasn’t breathing. There was a bloody knot on her brow just below her hairline as well.

Jonah put his good hand on her chest and pushed hard several times, then turned her head to the side when he heard the gurgling in her throat.

Water poured from her mouth as she coughed several times and then began to breath, though Jonah noticed that she remained unconscious.

He pushed himself to his feet and then squatted down and grunted with effort as he tossed her body over his shoulder. It was no easy task seeing as how she was dead weight, wearing soaking wet clothes and he could feel warm blood running down his side, soaking into his trousers.

He laid her body down on the sofa once they were inside and quickly stoked up the fire, eager to add warmth to the air.

There was only one option. Joe wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon, if that bump on her head was any indication, and Jonah had to get her out of those wet clothes. Though the Lord knew he’d probably get shot for it whenever she did once again join the land of the living.

Joe’s lips were turning blue and her entire body was shivering and Jonah knew he didn’t have any time for doubts.

He pulled off her waterlogged boots first, and water poured from them, forming cold puddles on the wooden floorboards. She was wearing thick wool socks and he pulled those off as well, realizing that she had quite delicate and dainty feet…. He vaguely remembered hearing Joe tell Scarlett that she had the prettiest darn feet and Jonah realized that the woman had been telling the truth.

Shaking his head to refocus his thoughts, Jonah unhooked Joe’s gun belt, untied the knife from her leg and then slid her pants down her long legs before tossing them to the floor.

Jonah breath caught sharply when he saw just how shapely and long her legs were, though he didn’t let his eyes feast on them the way they wanted to. He had to get her warm and dry or he’d soon be admiring a frozen corpse.

Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, Jonah pulled off her buckskin shirt, tugging with one arm and grunting to get it off her arms and over her head as she laid as still as stone against the sofa.

Jonah frowned when he saw the dirty white linen wrapped tight around her chest. Had Joe gotten injured rescuing him in town and kept it a secret? If that was the case then Jonah would smack the shit out of her once she regained consciousness.

Grabbing her knife from the floor, Jonah used it to quickly cut away the dirty, wet fabric and his breath caught when he realized that it wasn’t a wound she was using it to cover….. Joe’s body was perfection and Jonah had been a million kinds of wrong about thinking she was flat chested and without curves.

Not only did she have curves, tight, full, high breasts with rose colored nipples dusting their peaks, a lean stomach that flared into very womanly hips and led into long, slender legs. She was lean and lightly muscled and yet curved in all the right places….

Her skin was pale, clearly not used to seeing the sun and light freckles dotted her shoulders.

Chill bumps popped out on that creamy skin as he was staring at her and Joe’s shivering intensified. Jonah snapped himself out of his daze and quickly grabbed a fur blanket off the back of the sofa and covered Joe with it before tossing her over his shoulder with a grunt and carrying her to the bed he’d been using.

He would not have made it to her bed.. He was bleeding quite a bit now, the pain was intense and he was feeling a bit light headed and winded from all the effort he had put in to getting her this far.

The fire was burning and she was covered in blankets but still she shivered. Jonah grabbed the warm water from the fire and a clean towel from the cabinet and began to run the warm wet rag over Joe’s skin… It was too little and Jonah feared it was going to be too late.

Her entire body was shaking now and when Jonah felt her pulse it was growing fainter.

He knew what he had to do… He also knew that she would probably kill him for doing so but at least she’d be alive to kill him.

Jonah slid out of his wet shirt, which Joe had made adjustments to so he could it would slide over his broken arm without him having to undo his sling. He yanked off his boots, nearly falling in the process and then slid off his blood covered pants.

He glanced down at the bandage on his side and saw that was saturated with blood but he had no time to worry about that now. Right now he had to warm Joe’s body.

Jonah slid himself beneath the blanket he had wrapped around Joe and then he pulled her delicate body up against his own.

He felt his body respond in a purely male way to having her tight little ass against his groin, though he was determined to ignore that reaction. Joe wasn’t anything for his body to be thinking about enjoying.

Jonah’s own exhaustion soon dampened his desire and as Joe’s shivering began to slow and her skin warmed, Jonah found himself drifting off to sleep with his arms tight around her and his face buried in her wet hair.

---

Joe had never felt so warm and content in her entire life. She snuggled up closer to the warm hard body of the man in front of her and breathed in the comforting scent of tobacco clinging to the bare skin.

Body? Bare skin? Man?

Joe’s eyes flew open and she found herself staring at a broad expanse of chest covered in a dusting of tawny hair. A chest she had seen many times over the last couple of weeks as she had been caring for the man it belonged to.

Jonah.

But how had she and Jonah ended up in bed together?! Joe heard him let out a grunt and suddenly his long lean leg was thrown over hers and Joe realized they were both naked.

She forced her gaze up to his sleeping face, feeling panic filling her at the way his leg had hers pinned to the feather tick mattress.

Just as she always was Joe found herself taken aback by his handsomeness…. She felt a tingling heat building between her legs and this only served to anger her more.

She remembered falling in the lake and she could tell by the aching in her head that she’d struck it. Had Jonah taken advantage of her while she’d been unconscious? And just how long had they been lying naked in this bed together?!

“Goddamn you, Jonah Winchester! I swear to God up above that I will kill ya right where ya lay, you dirty son of a bitch!” Joe exclaimed as she smacked at his face and chest, before scrambling from the bed and taking the fur blanket with her to cover her nakedness.

She went running for her gun which was still in her holster and lying beside the sofa and she turned, cocking the gun while she moved, only to find him lying naked and completely uncovered on the bed with a frown on his face as he stared at her.

---

Jonah knew he should be worried about having that gun pointed at him but all he could focus on was Joe’s face…. Dirt free, soft, full cheeks flushed and lined from being pressed against the pillow.

Her green gray eyes were wide and her heart shaped lips were parted as she glared at him. Her red hair was hanging in long waves, laying carelessly over her bare freckled shoulders, the golden highlights shimmering in the afternoon sunlight coming through the windows.

Beautiful… Joe was beautiful.

And angry…. She was also angry.

“Well, do ya got a damn thing to say fer yerself before I blow your head clean off yer damn shoulders?”

“You’re welcome.” he mumbled with a snort as he sat up, gripping the sheets roughly as pain shot through his side. He realized he was naked and she could see him clearly so quickly covered himself with a pillow.

Joe’s angry glare faltered. “For?”

“I saved your damn life, you mean, bitter woman. The least you could do is say thank you before you pull the trigger on that cap gun.”

“Whatd’ya mean you saved my life?” Joe asked as she lowered her gun and Jonah breathed a small sigh of relief.

“You fell in the lake and must have bumped your head.” he replied and Joe’s hand went to the bloody welt just below her hair line. “I pulled you out, got ya breathing again and then brought you back here. You were freezing and I knew I had to get you out of those clothes but then you were still freezing so I did what I had to do…”

“And that was get me naked and take advantage of me?”

“Trust me, Joe, the last thing on my mind was taking advantage of you.” Jonah lied.

“He sure looked ready to take advantage.” Joe argued, her gaze dropping momentarily to the pillow on his lap before jumping back to his face.

Jonah felt his cock harden even more than it had already been and it twitched. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek and shrugged.

“That’s what happens to a man when he first wakes up. It ain’t got nothing to do with you.” he assured her and Joe nodded.

“Well good, cuz there ain’t no way on Gods green earth I’d ever let ya try to stick that thing in me.” Joe spat back as she tossed her gun down. “Now turn yer damned head so’s I can go to my room and put some clothes on.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve had just about all I can take of seeing you without your clothes.” Jonah replied honestly as he turned and faced the wall.

He was being honest, though he hadn’t meant the words the way they had sounded. He didn’t want to be attracted to Joe. He had been fighting that attraction for a while now and seeing her without her clothes and without the dirt was pushing his newfound whores only policy to its limits.

Who would have thought that underneath the oversized buckskin clothes, chest wraps, dirt and scowls Joe was actually a very desirable woman…

Once she had gone into her room and slammed the door behind her, Jonah pushed himself from the bed and looked down at his side and the blood soaked bandage.

He tore it away with a grimace but was pleased to see that the blood seemed to have clotted, though it appeared Joe was going to have to add a few new stitches since he seemed to have torn one or two of them out.

Jonah walked to his pants and sat on the edge of the bed to pull them on, wincing when he realized they were still a little damp from lake water and stiff with his blood.

---

Joe didn’t want to leave the room…. Jonah had seen her naked. She had seen him naked! Joe had never seen a fully naked man before and Jonah was surely something to look at. All hard lines and muscles….. And that pulsing arousal between his legs had that dull ache she’d been feeling for him over the last few weeks increasing and turning into an almost painful longing between her thighs.

How was she going to face him now? Surely he would no longer see her as anything more than a woman. Hell he’d seen her without her bindings and he’d seen just how feminine her body really was.

But if there was one thing Joe wasn’t it was a coward.

If Jonah thought he could take advantage of her now then she would prove differently to him…. Though he had said he didn’t want to. As a matter of fact, he had basically said that he could never possibly want her at all…

Why did that bother her?

Joe grumbled under her breath as he finished wrapping up her breasts and then pulled on a clean buckskin outfit. She could hear Jonah moving around in the living area and knew she would have to come out soon unless she wanted him to know how bothered she was by the whole experience.

She had nearly died. She would have died if Jonah had not been there. He had risked his life to pull her out of that lake. And then he had taken off her clothes and held her body tight against his own for hours if the low hanging sun was any indication.

Joe felt a twinge in her chest and immediately let out a string of curses as she realized that it was affection.. Maybe more… She hadn’t realized just how loud her curses had been until she heard a tapping on her bedroom door.

“Are you okay in there?”

“I’m fine, Jonah.” she spat as she tossed her hair back and then threw the door open. He was standing there looking pale and bloody. Joe hadn’t noticed the blood before. His side had torn back open a little and while it didn’t seem to be bleeding at the moment, his pants were soaked with it and it was dried and crusted to the skin on his stomach.

“Go sit down and I’ll stitch ya back up.” she ordered and Jonah did.

Joe gathered up her supplies and got to work adding a few stitches to his side, and while Joe knew it had to hurt, Jonah did not voice a word of complaint, simply stared at the far wall, his jaw tense.

“I’ll get ya some of my pas pants since these ones are filthy.” she said as she stood. “They should fit ya… though they might be a little on the short side.”

“That’s fine.” Jonah replied, his voice a little strained. Joe walked toward the wardrobe in the corner and then stopped with her hand on the knob and turned to look at him.

“Thank you, Jonah.” she mumbled, though it killed her to do so.

“Don’t mention it.” Jonah replied with a half shrug.

“Why don’t we just agree to forget that today happened?”

“Sounds damn good to me.” Jonah agreed whole heartedly and Joe quickly turned back to the wardrobe to hide the hurt his words had caused, though she was more angry with herself for being hurt by his lack of interest than she was at Jonah for the disinterest.

Chapter Fifteen

The next week of Jonah’s life was the longest he could ever remember.

Knowing what Joe looked like beneath the dirt and the buckskin was a curse. It was a temptation that Jonah could not let himself give in to. He’d been made a fool of too many times and he wouldn’t let it happen again.

Jonah desperately tried to find things to do to keep himself busy but there were only so many chores to be done and his broken arm was still healing. The bullet wounds were still tender and sore but the stitches had done their jobs and they were closed up.

Jonah was ready to be healed. He knew his arm would still need another two weeks or so for the bones to knit together properly and waiting was torture.

He was thirsty for vengeance. He wanted to find Scarlett and whoever that man was she had ridden away with and he wanted to kill them both for what they had done. The money they had stolen. The old man in the bank that had probably died from Scarlett’s bullet and for what that bitch had done to Jonah… for the fool she had turned him into.

Though really he should thank her. She had taught him a lesson that he certainly would not forget any time soon. First Penny had left and broken his heart and then Scarlett has used him and broken whatever had been left. Jonah wouldn’t make the mistake of ever letting another woman in.

“What the devil you doin’ out here, Jonah?” Joe asked as she stepped out of the cabin and onto the porch. Jonah looked away from the darkness and down at her.

“Just watching.” he replied.

“For?”

“Reb and Bart.” Jonah admitted. “I’m getting worried.” Joe had told him that Reb and Bart would be coming to the cabin but Jonah and Joe had been here for nearly three weeks and hadn’t seen the men. Were his best friends okay or had they been killed? And if they had been killed how would Jonah forgive himself?

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Joe insisted as she walked to the porch banister and leaned her forearms against the rough wood. Her green gray eyes narrowing as she too looked out into the oppressive darkness around them. “It’s cold out here, you should get back inside.” she added.

Jonah shook his head. “Not nearly as cold as it was a week ago.” he countered. “I like the fresh air.”

“Me too.” Joe’s voice was softer than usual and Jonah knew it was because the woman had gotten used to his presence. A little of that rough wall she kept around herself had lowered in the last week. While she was by no means soft and sweet, she was at least going whole days now without biting his head off and cursing his soul to hell.

Jonah was actually beginning to think they were building up a fair friendship. They didn’t talk about personal things but Joe had given him her pa’s old gun belt and revolver and his clothes. If only the attraction Jonah felt for her wasn’t constantly hanging over him… It was like a giant elephant sitting in the corner of the room and Jonah was sure that eventually Joe would notice it. And when she did Jonah had no doubts that she’d kick his ass real good and proper.

“How long you reckon it would have taken them to lose the posse?” Jonah asked, filling the peaceful quiet. Joe shrugged and let out a long sigh.

“I don’t rightly know.” she replied and then a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “It’s been a month or two since I led me any posse’s on a wild goose chase.”

Jonah chuckled. It seemed Joe was always making him chuckle. She was good to have around and she kept him from wallowing in the self pity that he had found himself wallowing in the last time a woman had made a fool of him.

“Aren’t you getting worried?” he asked her and she shook her head and rubbed her sleeve across her nose, which had been a bit stuffy the last few days. Jonah hoped she wasn’t’ getting sick from her swimming trip. Thinking of her in that lake had him thinking of her without his clothes and he quickly moved a bit further away from her down the porch.

“Nope, I don’t worry ‘bout nobody.” she stated and Jonah shook his head.

“Why do you do that?” he questioned.

“What?” Joe asked pushing herself off of the banister and standing straight.

“Act like such a hard ass? Like you don’t care about anybody or anything?”

“I don’t do that..” Joe argued and Jonah laughed.

“Yes you do. I heard you crying in that alley that morning and you acted like I had imagined things but you were crying over your pa… and then I heard you crying again another time at camp one night on the way to Barbadine, I just didn’t realize it was you… But anytime I try to talk to you about your pa you just shrug and say ‘it’s one of them things and you’re over it’.”

Jonah watched her face for any sign as to what she was feeling but she seemed determined not to make eye contact with him.

“Carin’ don’t do nothing but show yer weaknesses and get ya hurt. I ain’t got no weaknesses and so I can’t be hurt.”

“Horse shit.” Jonah snapped, growing irritated by her evasiveness. “Everybody’s got weaknesses, Joe, but caring ain’t one of them. Caring is never a weakness.”

“Shows how much you know.” Joe grumbled. “You cared a bit too much for a couple of painted up ladies and look what it got you.”

Jonah was pissed and trying to come up with a reply that would convey his complete irritation with her when suddenly the sound of a horse snorting in the darkness reached his ears.

It came from the opposite direction of the barn so he knew it couldn’t have been Joe’s mare. Jonah was across the porch in three long strides and he took Joe’s arm, pulled her behind him and then pulled the gun off his side in one fluid motion.

“I don’t mean the lady no harm.” A voice called out in the darkness and Jonah cursed the lantern light behind him which would have he and Joe lit up while the man, whoever he was, was cloaked in darkness.

“Why don’t you just say what it is you’re doin’ here then?” Jonah demanded as Joe came around him and sent him a glare that let him know just how irritated she was by his actions.

“I was lookin’ for Gideon.”

“My pa is dead and I don’t recken I know who you are.” Joe stated. The man rode into the light and Jonah slowly put his gun away.

“Gideon is dead? Damn I hate to hear that.” The man said with a sad little sigh. “Ya weren’t with him the few times I saw him, but I’m guessin’ you’re Joe. Your pa was damn proud of you. Talked about ya all the time.”

“What do you need?” Joe snapped and Jonah knew from the angry tone in her voice, that the mans words had struck a nerve. She always got angry if a conversation turned in a direction that made her sad or uncomfortable.

“Well, nothing now, I don’t reckon…” the man replied, throwing a glance at the barn. Jonah nodded.

“It’s late, go ahead and put your horse up in the barn and you can sleep on the sofa in here for the night. We don’t have much in the way of food just now but we’ll make sure you leave on a full stomach in the morning.”

“Thank you kindly.” the man replied with a tip of his hat and Jonah nodded and grabbed the lantern from the hook on the porch. He walked down the steps and handed it to the newcomer who then headed toward the tiny barn.

“What the devil ya think yer doin’, Jonah?” Joe demanded as Jonah made his way back up on the porch.

“What?”

“This ain’t yer house! That food in there ain’t yer food! That barn ain’t yer barn! This is mine and you ain’t got no right telling folks they can stay here without talkin’ to me first.”

“Well, I’m sorry ya damn pain in the ass. The man says he was a friend of your pa’s and I figured you’d want to help him out. You want me to go tell him to leave?”

Joe seemed to be considering that for several long seconds and then she grumbled under her breath.

“No.” she snapped. Jonah was about to go around her and into the house when she stuck her finger in his face and stopped him. He couldn’t help but be amused. While he knew now that she could handle herself and probably give him a pretty good run for his money in a fight, he couldn’t help but be amused when she got into a good fit of temper and tried to act threatening.

“One more thing.” she started warningly and Jonah stuck his thumb through the belt loop of his pants.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t you ever think ‘bout throwin’ yerself in front of trouble fer me. First off, I done told you on the way to Barbadine that I ain’t gonna do nothing risky fer you and I don’t want you doin’ nothing risky for me. And second I don’t need some damned man protectin’ me. I can protect myself just fine and dandy.” Jonah could have reminded her that she had run into a barrage of bullets to get him away from the bank in Barbadine but he didn’t figure she would appreciate the reminder.

“I know you can.” he finally conceded. He felt foolish for having protected Joe that way. He was supposed to be turning over a new leaf and not caring so much about everyone. He was supposed to be turning into more of a cold and selfish bastard that didn’t want to save every woman that came around.

“Then what the hell did ya do that fer?” Joe demanded as she tugged on the bottom of her shirt and put her hands on her hips.

“Force of habit.” Jonah admitted.

“Well don’t you do it no more.”

“Fine.” Jonah replied with a shrug. “Next time I’ll let your pretty little ass get shot.”

“I ain’t got a pretty ass!” Joe snapped, color rising in her dirty cheeks and her eyes flashing in the moonlight.

“Sure you do.” Jonah countered with a grin. “I’ve seen it.”

Joe let out a loud angry growl and punched him across the jaw. Jonah’s head snapped around and his hand instantly went to the tender flesh she’d left behind. He glared down at her as she met his gaze full force.

“We said we was gonna pretend that never happened, ya son of a bitch.”

“You won’t hit me again, Joe.” Jonah warned and Joe let out a harsh bark of laughter.

“If you deserve a thump to yer damned head ya better believe I‘ll give it to ya.” she assured him and then she turned and stomped back into the cabin.

Jonah was standing there rubbing his sore jaw when he heard a chuckling behind him.

“You and the missus having trouble?” the stranger asked, having finished putting his horse in the barn. Jonah grunted but before he could answer , Joe’s angry voice interrupted them from inside.

“I ain’t nobodies damn missus and I never will be!”

“Got that damned right!” Jonah called out loudly back. “A man would have to be a million kinds of a fool to marry a goddamned mean, angry woman like you!”

The slamming of a door met his words and Jonah rolled his eyes while the stranger chuckled and Jonah led him into the cabin.

---

Two nights later found Joe staring into the firelight inside the cabin as she sat in her chair and worked on cleaning her gun.

Her gun didn’t really need to be cleaned but she wanted to appear busy, hoping that would keep Jonah from trying to start conversation.

Things had been tense between them ever since their confrontation on the porch.

Joe didn’t know what to do about Jonah. While part of her, the tough as nails daughter of Gideon Redding, was thoroughly mad as an old wet hen that he had overstepped his bounds and allowed that man to stay the night in her cabin, the other part, the part that was feminine and a woman, Josephine Redding, was flattered and excited about the fact that Jonah had wanted to protect her.

She was at war with herself and did not like it. Giving in to the Josephine part of herself simply wasn’t an option. She would not end up like her mother. Soft and dead.

She was Gideon ‘the hawk’ Redding’s daughter and would not give in to the temptation that was being Jonah’s woman.

“What are you thinking about so hard over there?” Jonah’s voice broke through her thoughts as she wiped down the barrel of her revolver.

“Nothin’ important.” she assured him.

“Sorry ‘bout the other night, Joe. This is your place and you’re more than capable of protecting yourself. I shouldn’t have stuck my nose where it didn’t belong.”

“No you shouldn’t have.” Joe replied with a shake of her head. Jonah sighed.

“Look, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that you are a desirable woman under all that dirt, buckskin and scowl but I don’t want nothing but friendship from you, Joe. I shouldn’t have said what I said on the porch. Can’t we get back to being friends? We seemed like we were heading down that road before.”

Joe sat there in silence, pretending to be very interested in oiling the cylinder of her gun.

Friends.

While her pa had never actually called them friends, Joe knew that he’d had them. Bart and Reb were an example. Surely since her pa had had friends, they were something Joe could risk as well.

But friends with Jonah? That could be dangerous given her attraction to the man. And he had just called her desirable… She cursed the way that thought made her heart pound just a little harder.

She sighed.

Josephine Redding would never be Jonah’s woman but Joe Redding could be his friend. Truth was she liked his company. She liked their poker games and the way he was able to match her word for word in sparring matches.

“Sure, Jonah. Sure we can be friends.”

A smile split Jonah’s face and those crinkles on his cheeks had Joe looking back down at her gun quickly.

“Good.” Jonah said and then they fell back into a more comfortable silence.

Chapter Sixteen

“I’m not waiting any longer. My damn arm is fine and now it’s time to go figure out what happened to Bart and Reb.” Jonah declared impatiently a week and a half later. He had taken his arm from the sling that had held it in place for over a month and while it was still sore and Jonah figured it would take a while before he had full use without pain, it was good enough to get him by.

Jonah’s pa had been left handed and had used a cross draw holster so it was perfect for what Jonah needed until his arm was back to one hundred percent. Thankfully Jonah had always been able to use both hands.

“There ain’t no point chasin’ after them, Jonah. We’ll no sooner get down the road and them two will come ridin’ in and we won’t be here.”

“We? You’re riding with me?”

Jonah and Joe had been doing better since their late night talk by the fire and their agreement to be friends. Jonah was pretty good at pretending he didn’t want her for anything more than friendship and Joe didn’t seem the least bit interested in hitting the sheets with him.

“’Course I am.” Joe replied with a shrug as she went about cutting up the last of the potatoes that had been in the cellar. “That bitch of your’n owes me that twenty dollars fer getting her hoity toity ass to Barbadine. That and I had to leave my damn cart behind and I want the money to replace it too.”

“I never said I was going after her .” Jonah replied with a growl, unwilling to say that bitches name out loud. Joe shrugged, and then poured a bowl of cut potatoes onto a heated butter filled skillet and the scent of them sizzling made Jonah’s stomach growl.

“I just figured ya would is all.”

“Yeah I’m going after her.” Jonah admitted, as he moved behind Joe to get a better look at the dinner she was cooking. Joe stiffened a bit and then moved across the kitchen and got two plates off a shelf.

“Well I’ll ride with ya. She owes me.”

“I kinda figured I’d be going alone.” Jonah admitted and Joe slid past him and into the living space before sitting down in one of the chairs by the fire.

“I figured since we both want the same woman we might as well ride together to find her. ‘Course if you’d rather we can chase her separate…”

Jonah shook his head quickly as he stirred the potatoes to keep them from burning.

“No, it’d be good to have someone with me. Kinda hard to play poker alone and we’ll be able to watch each others backs.” Jonah waited for Joe to insist that she didn’t need anyone to watch her back but the words never came.

“We’ll give Reb and Bart a couple a more days and then we’ll go lookin’ for ‘em.” she said instead and Jonah nodded because the plan sounded good to him.

Joe joined him in the kitchen as he scooped their potatoes onto plates and she pulled the last of the pork that had been in the smokehouse from the cook stove.

“I think we’ll have to make a trip to town tomorrow for food to get us through the next couple of days.” Jonah stated as they sat down at the table and Joe grinned.

“Yeah I’d hate to have ya kill over from starvation and be forced to eat ya.”

“I wouldn’t taste good anyhow.” Jonah countered. Joe crinkled up her nose and studied him.

“Yeah, fatty meat ain’t no count fer eatin’.”

Jonah let out a bark of laughter before shoveling a bite of potatoes into his mouth.

“You’ve lost your damned mind. There ain’t a bit of fat on me.” he argued and he was fairly certain he saw a blush beneath the dirt on Joe’s face, though her eyes showed nothing but amusement.

Silence fell over them as they ate their dinner and they both went about cleaning up the dishes afterward.

“I’m goin’ fer a walk.” Joe said once the mess was cleaned.

“Alright. I’m gonna stay here and make out a list of what we’ll need to get at the store tomorrow.”

Joe nodded and slipped out the door and into the encroaching darkness. It was around seven-thirty in the evening but night was already coming to the mountains.

Jonah’s comment at dinner about his body not having an ounce of fat had caused an image of him naked on that bed to flash through her mind. Joe had worked hard to forget that day. To forget the way her body had felt so small and soft pressed up against the rugged hardness of Jonah’s.

She had tried to forget the way she had felt so safe and warm wrapped all up in his arms the way she had been.

Damn him for making her remember.

At least she had finally let him know that she was riding with him when he left. There had been no way she was going to let Jonah go after Scarlett alone. The man seemed to lose good sense around women like her and Joe didn’t want him to wind up dead. She’d put far too much effort into keeping him alive to have all that time and work be wasted.

Joe made her way toward the lake, which was her favorite thinking spot and sat down on the cold rocks, folding her legs beneath her, and staring into the water.

She shared Jonah’s fears about Bart and Reb, though of course Joe would never admit that out loud. She hoped they’d be okay because Jonah was the sensitive type and it would take a giant toll on him if his friends had gotten killed because of his lack of good judgment.

A gust of wind blew and tugged on her hair, blowing several red strands across her face and bringing a scent to her nose. It was faint and Joe couldn’t even identify what it was but it brought an image of her pa to her mind and she felt her heart break as if he had died yesterday instead of nearly two months ago.

She missed her pa. He had been her everything for twelve long years until he’d died. Joe had lied about the cause of his death. Gideon ‘the hawk’ Redding had died after being attacked by some angry critter. Joe had said that simply to maintain the mans tough as nails image.

In truth Gideon had come down with a lung sickness and for nearly three long lonely months of winter Joe had watched her pa waste away. He lost weight, lost all muscle, had grown paler and more frail with every passing day. Then his body had taken fever and he had become bedridden and crazed, delirious from the sickness that had been warring inside of him.

Nothing Joe did seemed to help him and the doctor told her there was nothing that could save her pa. So Joe had simply kept him as comfortable as she could and watched him die…..

She wondered if that was the reason she had worked so hard to save Jonah. If that was why him living had meant so much to her. She had been unable to save her pa so she had used Jonah’s injuries as a way to redeem herself.

Joe decided that sounded like a better explanation than the possibility that she might possibly be coming down with a brain ailment toward the man.

Joe got to her feet and wiped her hands on her buckskin pants. She needed to get back to the cabin because Jonah tended to worry about her when she stayed gone too long after dark. Joe made sure to feign irritation whenever Jonah acted that way but in truth, deep down within her, she was actually enjoying his attention.

Not that she would ever let him know that!

She was starting slowly back up the hill that would allow her a view of the cabin when a gunshot suddenly rang out.

Joe stopped in her tracks and heard a man yell.

“No! Jonah!” Joe screamed and she pulled her gun and ran as fast as her legs could carry her up and over the hill.

“Damnation, Jonah! Ya blew a hole in my hat! That was my favorite hat!” Joe breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized Reb’s voice and then she topped over the hill and saw the three men in the glow of the lantern light at the porch.

Bart was standing to the side looking very amused as Jonah rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and Reb frowned while poking his figure through the new hole in the brim of his hat.

“You should learn to call out to a man before you ride right up on his place in the dark.” Jonah informed the man.

“ Your place?” Joe asked with a grin as she joined the men and put her gun away.

“Were you gonna shoot us too?” Bart asked and Joe shrugged.

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

Jonah laughed. “It’s about damn time the two of you showed up.”

Reb looked amused as he stuck his hat back on his head. “Aww, was y’all worried ‘bout us?” he questioned, his blue eye twinkling in the lantern light.

“Getting there.” Jonah replied.

“Not a damn bit.” Joe stated at the same time. Her eyes met Jonah’s and they shared a quiet laugh. Joe turned back to Bart and Reb just in time to see them share an odd look with one another before shaking their heads at Jonah.

“So I take it you escaped the posse?” she asked.

“Why don’t you let us go put these here horses up and then come on in and take a load off our boots and we’ll tell you all about?” Bart offered and then Joe heard Jonah’s intake of breath as Bart moved a third horse out of the darkness and into the circle of light.

“That’s Copper!” he exclaimed and Joe had never seen a grown man light up like a child on Christmas the way Jonah did in that moment at the sight of that big buckskin gelding.

“Well I’ll be damned.” she stated as Jonah went to the horse and the beast threw his head over Jonah’s shoulder as if hugging him.

“How’d you manage to get him?” Jonah questioned as he looked back at Bart and Reb.

“That’s another of them there things we’d be happy to tell ya ‘bout just as soon as we put the horses up and can take a load offa our boots.” Reb replied and Jonah nodded and quickly led Copper toward Joe’s tiny log barn.

---

“So get to talking.” Jonah said later as Bart and Reb finished up the last of the potatoes that he and Joe had eaten for dinner.

“Yer an idiot.” Reb began. “One hundred percent, brain ailment impaired dummy. Fallin’ fer some woman like that….”

Jonah was simply nodding as Reb spoke because he agreed with the man completely and he knew that everyone else in the room would too and so he was surprised when Joe spoke up and cut off Reb’s rant.

“Dammit, Reb, I reckon the man knows he made a mistake in trustin’ that hoity toity bitch. He’s got three bullet holes to show fer it. He don’t need yer two cents.”

Reb blinked several times, his blue eye full of surprise while Bart frowned and looked between Jonah and Joe. Jonah wondered what the man was thinking but didn’t think now would be the time to ask.

“Well alright then.” Reb grumbled as he picked at the rough wood of the table top.

Jonah nodded in thanks at Joe who just shrugged and went back to picking at her dirty fingernails.

“So what happened after Joe and I left Barbadine?” Jonah asked, looking back at Bart, deciding that he’d rather hear the story from the friend that was least likely to try to turn it into a whopping, epic tale.

“Reb and I just held the lawmen off a while and then we got the hell out of there. We had to help ourselves to a couple of saddled horses and we took off. Thankfully those lawmen were the only ones in town and they never did form a posse. They chased us for a while but we know how to hide.”

“We stayed outta town ‘bout a week and a half.” Reb took over the story selling. “Then we made our way back in, ‘course I stayed outta sight since I’m the more recognizable of the two of us.” he adjusted his eye patch as he said this. “So Bart went to the livery in the middle of the night with our stolen horses and got ours out, along with Copper. He hitched up the horses behind the hotel and then went on down to the station and turned himself on in.”

“What?!” Jonah and Joe demanded in unison and Bart chuckled.

“I wasn’t in any danger of being put in jail.” he assured them.

“Nope, I’da busted him out.” Reb agreed with a grin. “Done it a time or two in my life.”

Jonah just shook his head, rubbed his hand over his face and then looked back at Bart.

“Does this story have an end?” he asked.

Bart nodded and laid his hand over his skinny stomach. “Sure does. The sheriff wasn’t in but the deputy listened to my story, how I was just trying to defend my injured friend who’d been falsely accused and seein’ as how I never did shoot anyone I was shooting at, he said I wasn’t under arrest.”

“To beat it all, Jonah, you ain’t wanted either. That old man lived through it all and he, the tellers and the woman that were in the bank admitted that you didn’t have no part in what happened… That you was just as shocked as they was.” Reb added.

Jonah met Reb’s eyes and could see the disapointment in them. Jonah knew where it stemmed from. Reb and Bart had heard about his cowardice inside that bank and they were ashamed of him. Hell Jonah was ashamed of himself for how he had acted.

But he was going to make sure Scarlett paid for the wrong she had done. He was going to make it his mission in life to see her answer for it all.

“Now that y’all are back I don’t’ see any point in waiting. I’m leaving tomorrow to find Scarlett.” Jonah stated as he stood up from the table. He looked down at Joe. “Are you coming?”

“ ‘Course I am. I told you I was.” she said with a nod. Jonah looked at Bart and Reb in turn.

“Are y’all gonna ride with us?”

“Sure will. We found out some interesten’ things ‘bout Scarlett…” Reb informed him and Jonah stiffened.

“What?”

“Well fer starters she’s married.”

“Married?!” Jonah demanded angrily. He had bedded a married woman?! How hadn’t he known?

“Yep.” Bart said with a sad little nod. “To the man that she rode off with. Seems they’ve done things like that more than once. They find a way to lure the men into Scarlett’s little web and then Scarlett robs a bank, blames the poor sap and in the confusion that follows, they ride away. By the time anybody knows the truth, the man they framed is dead and Scarlett and her husband, who’s name don’t seem to be known, are long gone.”

Jonah tried to ignore the fact that Bart had just called him a poor sap and instead focused on thinking of where he had seen the man on the horse with Scarlett before.

Recognition dawned on him and he slammed his fist down on the table with a loud curse.

“What the devil, Jonah?!” Joe exclaimed as she grabbed her tittering tin cup. “Ya just ‘bout made a mess.”

“Sorry.” Jonah replied distractedly. “That bitch wasn’t being taken advantage of in that barn. He wasn’t forcing her. They faked it just to play me for a fool!”

The cabin fell silent for several long moments until reb spoke up.

“Don’t feel bad ‘bout it, Jonah. It weren’t the first time they did that and at least yer still alive to go back after them. That’s more than the last man can say.”

“I’m gonna go get some goddamn sleep.” Jonah grumbled. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Where the hell we goin’?” Reb demanded as the four of them rode together toward the nearest town the next day to get supplies.

“I don’t know.” Jonah replied honestly. “We’ll have to try to figure out where she would go.”

“According to what we heard, she and her husband always pick their man in tiny towns with no banks. Then they find a reason to have that man take Scarlett to a town that has a bank.”

“So we just gotta search around ‘til we find her?” Reb asked with a frown. “That could take forever and a day!”

“Then we’ll look forever and a day.” Joe cut in with a shrug. “She owes me twenty dollars and a cart and I intend to get what’s mine.”

“We’ll just travel all over, stopping at every town we come to. Scarlett’s got an easy enough face to remember and somebody is bound to have seen her and will be able to tell us where she went.” Jonah added.

Their plan decided the four of them rode into town, filled their saddlebags with the supplies they would need and then headed out toward Barbadine. From Barbadine they would travel east, roaming from town to town and looking for a sign of Scarlett. If they couldn’t find one then they would backtrack and head north, then south, eventually they would find someone who would be able to lead them in the right direction.

That night they camped beside a river. Jonah realized that Joe wasn’t in camp and he left Reb and Bart by the fire to go looking for her.

He wanted to thank her for riding along with him and for having his back with Bart and Reb. He knew his two friends meant well but having his face rubbed in his own foolishness tended to get tiresome. It was nice to hear a voice other than his own telling them to just shut-up.

Jonah had been walking a long while and was beginning to assume he’d come the wrong way down the river and was about to turn around when he caught sight of Joe.

Instantly every rescuer instinct that he had roared to life. She looked so sad where she sat on a rock with the sunset shining on her face. Her green gray eyes were staring down at the pool of water below her feet.

Jonah cleared his throat as he stepped toward her to keep from startling her and she looked over her shoulder at him and then quickly sniffed, wiped her hands over her face and squared her shoulders before looking back at the water.

“How long ya been spyin’ on me?”

“I wasn’t spying.” Jonah countered. “I was just going for a walk and happened to wind up in the same place as you.”

“I guess I can forgive that.” Joe sighed and patted the rock next to her. “Have ya a seat, Jonah.”

Jonah sat down and instantly regretted it when he realized that his leg was pressed against hers and the rock wasn’t’ big enough for either of them to move away.

“I was just wanting to thank you.” he stated as he tugged down the knees of his trousers.

“Fer what?” Joe asked as she pulled out a cigarette and handed it to him. Jonah pulled a pack of matches from his pocket and lit the tobacco and paper.

“For having my back with Bart and Reb.”

Joe shrugged. “Well we are friends, ain’t we? I aint’ got much experience in havin’ friends but I reckon having each others back is part of that.”

Jonah laughed lightly. “Yeah I reckon you’re right.” Jonah felt his pants get a little tighter when Joe closed her lips around the end of her own cigarette. Damn but the sight of those lips like that had him wondering just what that mouth would feel like on his cock.

“Besides,” Joe added with a smile as she wiped a spot of dirt off her buckskin pants. “I figure you done know how stupid you were fer trippin’ over yerself after Scarlett all that time. Ya don’t need me or nobody else to remind ya every time you turn around.”

Jonah snorted with amusement. Leave it to Joe to be so sensitive to someone else’s feelings.

“So what’s got you sitting out here alone and looking so sad?” Jonah asked and Joe grunted.

“I ain’t sad.”

“Sure you are. We’ve been living together for a while now. I know how to read you better than you think.” Joe was staring into the water and Jonah found his eyes following the line of her jaw, down to her long slender neck… He wished he could pull away her buckskin shirt and press his lips against all that creamy skin at the base of her throat.

Joe shook her head and blew out a slow breath of smoke. “I was just ponderin’ ‘bout my pa. I uh…”

Jonah frowned when she stopped talking.

“You what?”

“Nothin’.”

“You can trust me, Joe. I think since we’ve both saved each others lives we’ve pretty much seen each other at our weakest. I won’t take advantage of anything you tell me.”

“Boy, yer good with words ain’t ya! That must be what lures them fancy ladies in to ya.”

“It doesn’t keep them around though.” Jonah countered and he saw her frown as she continued to look out at the water.

“Good breedin’ don’t always mean good taste.”

“Are you saying I’d be a good catch?” Jonah teased and Joe snorted.

“’Course not. Yer messy, ya can’t cook a thing and ya lay about in the bed ‘til close to noon.” Jonah found himself laughing.

“What about you? You’re loud, opinionated and downright rude most of the time.”

“’Exactly. And that’s why we’re perfect friends. Neither one of us are anything the other one would ever wanna settle down with.”

“I’ll never make the mistake of thinking I wanna settle down again.” Jonah agreed and Joe nodded.

“I’ll never make the mistake of thinking I want to in the first place.”

“Good choice, Joe. Now be honest with me. What were you gonna say earlier about your pa?”

Joe was quiet for a long time and then she sighed quietly. “I miss him.”

Jonah looked at her and shook her head. It had been that hard for the woman to admit she missed her pa?

“Of course you do.” Jonah replied simply. “You know you don’t have to be such a hard ass all the time. It’s okay to admit you miss your pa.”

“No it ain’t. Pa taught me that bein’ a woman I gotta be tougher than any old man would ever have to be.”

“Okay but we’re friends so you ain’t gotta be tough with me. You can just be Joe.”

“This is Joe.” she spat as she spit into the river and then tossed the remains of her cigarette down into the waves. Jonah shook his head.

“No, I think there’s more to you than that.”

Joe just shook her head.

“Don’t argue with me.” Jonah grumbled. “I think you’re a beautiful woman. I think you’re strong and tough because you’ve had to be but I also think that you have a heart and feelings beneath that tough exterior and I think you miss your pa something terrible and you’re kinda scared now without him around. I think that you are scared of men and what happens between a man and a woman because of what happened to your mama and I think that’s why you try to make yourself as unappealing to men as you possibly can….”

“Alright that’s enough!” Joe snapped as she shoved herself to her feet and pointed her finger down at him angrily. “Got to hell, Jonah Winchester! You don’t know a damned thing about me!”

“I know more than you like.” Jonah countered with a shrug and this simply caused her to growl angrily, kick his leg and then storm off back toward camp.

Jonah shook his head and watched her go, enjoying the fact that only he knew what her ass looked like underneath those oversized buckskin clothes.

---

Joe was still fuming as she tried desperately to fall asleep on her bedroll the next night. She hadn’t said more than a few words to Jonah since their talk by the river the day before and didn’t plan on saying anything to him anytime soon.

How dare that bastard act as if he knew her? Who cared if what he had said to her had struck a chord and rung true? Why was that any of his business?

Joe felt an ache deep inside of her and cursed. She had become familiar with that ache since meeting Jonah. It was an ache for his touch… She wanted to be a woman for Jonah. She wanted to be his woman. Maybe not for always since settling down wasn’t anything she wanted for her future but being his woman for now was something she could see herself doing….

She was scared, he was right. She was scared of being alone after losing her pa and she was afraid of what happened between a man and a woman because of what had happened to her mama.

Maybe Jonah could help her overcome that fear? After all, the man had insisted he was her friend and it was obvious they both cared about one another enough to risk their own lives to save the others. So surely this wouldn’t be that big of a thing to ask of him.

Joe knew he desired her and her body desired him… Surely as friends it would be okay to explore that desire. Nothing more ever had to come of it.. Just Jonah getting his pleasure while calming the raging desire inside of Joe and helping her to overcome her fears.

Her mind made up about what she had to do, Joe curled up on her bedroll and stared across the way at Jonah’s sleeping form. His back was to her and she studied his broad shoulders.

This was going to be a giant leap for Joe but she figured it was about time she learned what it was to be a woman. After all, she knew that a woman’s body could hold a certain amount of power over a man and while Joe was sure she’d never use her body in that way, it couldn’t hurt to know how….

Tomorrow night they’d be in Barbadine and one of those fancy hotel rooms seemed like the perfect place to get her first taste of what a man could give a woman.

Chapter Eighteen

It was only a few hours before dark when the four of them rode into Barbadine the next day. Jonah was in a raw mood.

Not only was he worried about what he knew he had to do while in this town backfiring in his face but Joe hadn’t been speaking to him since their talk by the river.

She was bristly, angry, and short tempered even more so than usual. But only with him, of course. With Bart and Reb she’d been laughing and talking as if they were all best buddies.

Jonah didn’t want to admit it aloud but that bothered him more than her bad mood.

“I’m heading to one of the saloons. I’m feelin’ a bit thirsty.” Bart said after dismounting his horse and handing the reins to the livery keep.

“Me too.” Reb agreed as he adjusted his eye patch.

“You comin’? Hell with the two of you we’ll make a killing at the poker table!” Bart stated as he wrapped his arm around Joe’s shoulders. Joe glared at him and he chuckled as he removed his arm.

“I’ll catch up later. There’s some things I need to take care of.” Jonah said with a shake of his head and Bart and Reb frowned.

“You okay?” Reb asked.

“Yeah, Reb, I’m okay.” Jonah insisted. Bart and Reb nodded and then walked away, though Bart stopped and looked over his shoulder at Joe.

“You comin’?”

“Later.” she snapped.

Bart looked back and forth between Jonah and Joe, acting as if there was something he wanted to say, but then he just sighed, nodded and continued on his way.

“You oughta go on, Joe. I don’t want any company just now.”

“Where you plan on goin’?” Joe asked before sticking her thumb nail between her teeth and beginning to chew at it.

“I’m gonna go talk to some people.” Jonah replied, vaguely. He still wasn’t real happy with Joe and didn’t understand why she was suddenly talking to him again. For a woman who claimed to not suffer from any usual female tendencies, she sure did jump from mood to mood awful quick.

“Ya sure ya don’t want company?” Joe urged and Jonah frowned at her.

“I said I didn’t.” he grumbled and anger flashed in those green gray eyes of hers.

“Fine then. I’ll be at the saloon.” She turned on her heel and stomped away leaving Jonah shaking his head and watching her go.

She was damn confusing but he didn’t have time to worry about her right now. Right now he needed to go talk to the sheriff, and then, if the sheriff would allow him to, he wanted to go apologize to the old man and the woman with kids that had been at the bank the day Scarlett had robbed it.

With a sigh, Jonah left Copper and his saddlebags in the livery hands care and then adjusted his hat on his head before heading toward the sheriffs office toward the other side of the busy little town.

He kept waiting for someone to recognize him. For cries to ring out, demanding he be brought to justice for what he had done.

But that didn’t happen. A few men tipped their hats to him in friendly greeting and two ladies smiled, just the same as they would to anyone they passed.

Jonah took a deep breath and then squared his shoulders and pushed open the door to the jail.

The sheriff had been too far away from the bank the day of the robbery for Jonah to know the details of what he looked like but the star on the mans chest told him this was that man. The sheriff stepped around his desk, his long legs and rangy build moving with a lethal grace that told Jonah this was a lawman who knew how to handle himself.

“May I help you?” the sheriff asked.

“Yes, sir. My name is Jonah Winchester.”

The sheriff studied him for a moment and then recognition dawned in his pale green eyes. “Well I must say I’m surprised to see you back around here. You ain’t here to turn yourself in are you? Because I done told your friend that you aren’t wanted. There were a couple folks that spoke up for you.”

“Actually, sheriff, I was just wanting to apologize.”

“For what?” the sheriff asked with a grunt as he leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “If anything my deputy owes you an apology. He’s the one that filled you full of bullet holes.”

“Naw nobody owes me anything. I should have stopped her once I realized what she was doing…. I don’t have a real good excuse why I didn’t.”

“Shock, I reckon.” the sheriff said with a shrug. “She’s done it before in other towns but you’re the first fella she picked out that lived. You should feel lucky.”

Jonah thought about the shame and guilt he seemed to be constantly plagued with and then nodded without conviction.

“Sure. Lucky.”

“I’ve looked into finding that woman but nobody gets too good a look at her face for a poster…”

“I can help with that. I can help make a poster for both of them.”

“You met the husband?”

“Yes, sir. I didn’t realize that’s who he was at the time.”

“Well I got me a deputy that’s pretty darn good at drawing those things so why don’t we get him in here and we can at least get a couple made.”

“I’d like to have one to take with me…”

“Take with you where?” The sheriff asked with a raise of his brow.

“I plan on looking for her.” Jonah replied, squaring his shoulders and meeting the lawman’s stern gaze.

“Now I can’t aid some vigilante. You let the law deal with her, boy…”

“Sheriff, with all due respect, it’s my right to pay her back. She might have taken money from your town but she stripped me of every last bit of pride and dignity I had and set me up to die…”

The sheriff sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before pulling off his hat and scratching at his graying hair.

“Now I can’t help you out if you plan on killing the woman. She needs to be arrested, stand trial and then punished according to the law.”

Jonah’s jaw tightened painfully and his fist clenched. “I don’t plan on killing her unless she doesn’t give me any other choice. I’ll give her to the law and let them deal with her if that ends up being at all possible. You have my word on that.”

“And the husband?”

“Can’t make you any promises on that. Men aren’t known for going down without a fight.”

The sheriff studied Jonah hard for several long moments and Jonah just stood there proudly and met his gaze. Finally the sheriff sighed and nodded.

“Alright then. Truth be told the woman needs to be caught. I tried to bring the U.S. Marshalls into this but unless you got some money to make it worth their time it’s hard to buy their service.”

“So much for helping the helpless and serving their country.” Jonah mumbled and the sheriff chuckled.

“It is what it is. Bitching about it won’t change a thing, or at least it hasn’t so far. You sit tight here for a minute and I’ll go round up my deputy and we’ll get these pictures going.”

---

Jonah walked out onto the street and looked up at the darkening sky. Instantly he let his boots lead him toward the butcher shop down the road. He knew the shop would be closed but the sheriff had let him know that the old man who had been shot in the bank lived above the shop.

The sheriff had refused to tell him where the woman and her children lived. He’d said that her husband was the type to shoot first and asked questions later and he didn’t believe the man would be too keen on Jonah showing up at their home.

Slowly, Jonah climbed the steps to the upper door of the butcher shop and knocked several times.

He heard movement come from inside and then the door was thrown open and Jonah was staring down the barrel of a shotgun.

“Woah!” he called out as he held up his hands, stepping back and bumping against the banister. “Don’t shoot me.”

“Who the devil are you?” A gruff voice asked and Jonah looked around the gun to see the old man from the bank standing there. His gray hair was sticking up straight and his heavily wrinkled face was drawn angrily as his dark eyes studied Jonah.

“My name’s Jonah Winchester, sir.” Jonah replied politely. “Would you mind lowering that gun? It makes me feel a bit uneasy when I got one close enough to my eye I can see the pits on the inside of the barrel.”

The man scoffed and lowered his gun. “There ain’t no pits on the inside of that there gun.” he countered. “I recognize you. You’re that feller from the bank.”

“Yes, sir.” Jonah replied as he took off his hat and held it in both hands.

“Well what are you doing here?”

“I just came to apologize.” Jonah replied and the man frowned.

“For what exactly?”

“Well…” Jonah shifted his boots on the rickety wooden boards beneath them. “For what happened that day. For not stopping her before she shot you.”

The man just waved his hand and scoffed. “I lived a bit when I was younger so that wasn’t the first time I’d been shot. Besides if she hadn’t shot me then old Widow McLeary wouldn’t have had any reason to come over and tend to me while I was recoverin’.” the man winked and Jonah found himself chuckling. “That woman makes a mean pie.”

“I’m damn relieved to see you’re okay.”

“You shouldn’t feel so bad about what happened.” the old man countered. “One thing life has taught me is that things happen and we just have to deal with ’em and move on. Dwellin’ on the past does a whole lot more hurtin’ than it does helping.”

Jonah nodded, but knew that that life motto would be one that was easier said than done.

“Do you want to come in and eat ya a bite?” the old man offered. “I was just about to sit down to some pork and potatoes.”

“No thank you, sir. I actually have some friends that are waiting on me. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything you needed and….”

“Don’t let that woman ruin you, boy, that’s what I need. It’s clear from that sad look in your eye that she put a whoopin’ on you as big as the west itself but that’ll heal with time if ya let it.”

“No offense, sir, but I happen to think that she and women like her did me a favor. I won’t ever fall for that lie again.”

“What lie is that?” the man asked as he leaned against the door frame.

“Love.”

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head sadly. “That’s a hell of a thing to give up on.” he stated. “Why I was married to my wife for thirty years before the Lord called her home and then I was alone for damn near twenty before that woman shot me and Widow McLeary started coming around and fussin’ over me. Now I’m thinking’ I might just be fallin’ in love again. Love is good for a man. It gives him something to strive for. A reason to be good.”

“Yes,sir.” Jonah replied respectfully, though he didn’t believe it to be true. He’d loved Penny. Deep down loved that woman. He would have given her the moon and the stars, and he had bent over backward to give her everything she ever asked of him, (which had been an awful lot), but that hadn’t meant a thing to that woman and she’d run off without a backward glance.

Then there’d been Scarlett. While he hadn’t been in love with her, he had been going in that direction. He had trusted her. He had thought that the words she said, the way she touched his body and allowed him to touch hers had meant something but it hadn’t.

Love was a lie. A bold faced out and out lie and Jonah wasn’t gonna be dumb enough to fall for it a third time.

“Well you go on then and get to whatever it was you were gonna be getting to. I’m gonna go get to eatin’ my supper.” the old man stated as he pulled the silver pocket watch from his vest and checked the time.

“Have a good evening, sir.” Jonah replied and then he put on his hat and walked away, feeling the mans eyes watching him every step.

Jonah stepped into the saloon, knowing this was the one Bart and Reb would have chosen because it was the most questionable of all in town with the balcony rooms where whores pleasured the men and the dancing girls on the stage in the corner. The poker tables were manned by men that looked more like winos than dealers and it was clear the piano player had been sampling a bit too much whiskey.

“Over here, Jonah!” Bart’s voice called out and Jonah nodded, got a shot of whiskey from the bar and then joined his friends at the table.

“I figured y’all would be playing poker.” Jonah said as he sat down and realized that Joe wasn’t around.

“We were but ya can only lose so much money ‘fore you call it quits.” Reb informed him.

“Joe lost money?” Jonah asked, finding that hard to believe.

“Hell no, where do you think all our money went?” Bart demanded. “Naw she just up and left, though it seemed like she wasn’t feeling all that great. I believe she went to the hotel to lay down.”

“Was she sick?”

“She wouldn’t tell us if she was.” Bart replied simply. “I’m thinking about checking on her though, of course that might just serve to get me shot.”

Jonah chuckled. “I’ll check on her, Bart.” he assured the man before downing his shot glass. “She won’t shoot me, she likes me more than she likes you.”

“You leavin’ already?” Reb demanded as Jonah stood and adjusted his hat.

“Yeah. I ain’t really feeling much into conversation tonight. Y’all make sure you don’t stay up too late. We’ll be leaving out just as soon as we can in the morning.”

“Don’t worry, Jonah. I’ll make sure he don’t get carried away.” Bart said with a chuckle as Reb’s eye followed the movements of one of the whores from upstairs making her way into a balcony seat with a man and then pulling the curtains closed to block their view.

Jonah just shook his head and left the saloon, deciding that checking on Joe and then going to bed sounded like a good plan to him.

Chapter Nineteen

“It’s easy to be strong, I’ve done it for so long, but this time i have to remember. This time to get what I want, I have to surrender.” Ty Herndon ‘Surrender’

Joe no longer had finger nails to chew and had simply begun nibbling on her fingers themselves.

She knew that Jonah and the men were going to be sleeping in the room beside her own and she was trying to think of a reason to get Jonah into her room to discuss with him what she wanted to do.

The more she thought about it, the more nervous she became, which of course only served to make her angrier and angrier. She was angry that she was nervous. Joe didn’t like feeling nervous and what the hell would she do if Jonah turned her down?

Shoot him. That was all there was to it. If she had gone through all this stress of worrying and building herself up for giving her body to him and he turned her down then she would shoot him directly in the face.

Joe was pacing the room, coming close to wearing a hole straight through the soft rug covering it when a knock came to her door.

Instantly she moved to the side and pulled her revolver.

“Who is it?”

“Jonah.”

Joe nearly chickened out and told him to go away. But then that wouldn’t have been something that Joe Redding would have done. She had never run from anything and she wouldn’t run from this. She wanted to learn everything that a man and woman could share behind closed doors and she wanted Jonah to be the one to teach her.

“Come on in then, Jonah.” she urged as she holstered her gun. Jonah stepped into the room and Joe hated the way her body responded to just the sight of him.

It was so purely feminine, such a basic female reaction, that it confused her. Joe had spent every day of the last twelve years of her life ignoring the feminine part of herself but meeting Jonah had it roaring back to life.

“I was on my way to bed and thought I’d check on you. Bart said he didn’t think you were feeling good.”

Joe snorted. “Felt good enough to take every damn dime o’his money.”

“Well that isn’t a surprise to anybody. You can beat just about anybody at poker.”

“Just about?” Joe asked with a grin as she sat down on the end of the bed and tugged at the worn knees of her pants. Jonah frowned and stepped a little further into the room.

“Are you okay, Joe? Are you upset with me over what I said by the river because if you are then I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make you mad at me…”

“Can you shut the door, Jonah?” Joe asked quickly, cutting him off. Jonah gave her an odd look and then nodded, his gray eyes concerned as he shut the door and walked over to the four poster bed and leaned his shoulder against one of the thick mahogany posts.

“What’s going on, Joe?”

Joe took a deep breath and then got to her knees on the thick, feather soft mattress. She saw Jonah’s eyes widen momentarily and then they began to darken as she moved toward him.

Joe was surprised by the change in his eyes. She hadn’t known that men’s eyes changed so drastically when they were feeling passionate. It made Joe wonder if her own eyes looked different as well.

“What…” Jonah cleared his throat roughly. “What are you doing, Joe?”

“Josephine.”

“What?”

“My name is really Josephine. I want to be Josephine tonight.” Joe placed a trembling hand against Jonah’s chest and she could feel his heat through the thin fabric of his shirt.

She frowned at Jonah’s sharp intake of breath and then he grabbed her gently around the wrist and pulled her hand away.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded, his nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply. Joe noticed that his thumb was gently stroking the sensitive skin of her wrist and Joe could feel her pulse thundering beneath his touch.

“Do I gotta spell it out fer ya? I want you. I’m guessin’ you want me too.”

“Joe..” Jonah’s voice held a warning tone. “We’re friends…”

“That’s why this works. I ain’t got no interest in getting tied down and I done know that you ain’t got no interest in tying me down. We’re just two independent people, who happen to be friends, that are gonna help ease up this attraction between us.”

Joe placed her free hand on Jonah’s thigh and felt the thick hard muscles jump beneath her touch.

“This isn’t gonna work, Joe.” Jonah ground out between clenched teeth. Joe nodded.

“Josephine.” she urged. “And yes it will. We’re just two friends havin’ fun, Jonah. No commitment. When we find Scarlett and all this is over then we’ll go our own separate ways. Ya won’t owe me nothing… and if it’s my innocence yer worried about then don’t be. I ain’t had it in a long time.” Joe lied. She saw something flicker in his eyes.. Disappointment? But it was gone just as quickly as it came and it was replaced by a hunger that was plain for even her inexperienced eyes to see.

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I’m tougher than I look.” Joe insisted with a smile. “What about you?”

“I’m a big boy.” he assured her. “And I’ll be damned if I haven’t been wanting you for a while now.”

“Well come on then.” Joe urged. She was doing her best to hide her trembling nerves from him. Would he hurt her? Would this be rough and painful? Surely it couldn’t always be like what had happened to her mother. She knew that. If it was then whores wouldn’t be so eager to get men up in their rooms….

Jonah released his hold on her wrist and then buried his hand in Joe’s hair. She pulled away and then glanced at the glowing lamps.

“Turn out the lights.” she ordered.

“We could just keep them on.” Jonah countered and Joe shook her head. If the lights were on he would see her fear and that was unacceptable. Joe would not allow that.

“Turn ’em off.” she insisted.

---

Jonah’s body was all but on fire at the thought of bedding Joe. He hadn’t ever wanted to bed a woman this desperately. He had been watching Joe for weeks and wondering what her skin would taste like.. Wondering what her body would feel like against his own and now he would find out.

He was shocked to say the least as he walked over to the lamps and began to snuff them out. He hadn’t expected this from her. He had thought she was innocent after what had happened with her mother.

Jonah was satisfied that this time he wouldn’t be anyone’s fool. Joe was smart. She knew what this was. This was two friends just taking advantage of the benefits they could offer one another. No strings. None of that damned “L” word that liked to make Jonah turn into an idiot.

Just two grown adults having a little fun and relieving stress as they rode the trails together seeking vengeance.

Jonah slid the lock into place on the door to ensure that they wouldn’t be interrupted and then he turned back to the bed, nearly swallowing his tongue when he saw that Joe had removed her clothes and was standing next to the bed, barely lit by the glow of the moon coming through the thin curtains and the dwindling firelight below the mantle.

Instantly his pants grew tight as he took in the sight of all those curves and all that creamy skin. She was lightly muscled unlike the other women he had been with and yet somehow that only added to her appeal. She was perfect. Freckles littered her shoulders, though he couldn’t see them in the dim light, he remembered that they were there and he wanted to taste them.

Jonah crossed the room to her and wasted no time in devouring her lips with his own. Joe’s fingers buried themselves inside his hair as she knocked his hat off and Jonah growled low in his throat as they became simply a tangle of lips, tongues, mouths and fingers.

She tasted sweet, sweeter than he had ever imagined given her oftentimes rough exterior.

He was surprised when her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt and he felt them trembling.

“Are you okay?” he managed to gasp as he pulled his lips away from her shoulders which he had been nipping and licking at with fiery abandon.

“Just anxious is all.” Joe replied, her voice breathless and more feminine than Jonah had ever heard it before. He wondered if she realized that right now she was only a woman. She was a woman and he was a man and they were about to partake in the oldest pastime between women and men.

She wouldn’t be able to hide behind her sharp wit, her curses, her buckskin clothes or her indifference. They would be one person from the moment he slid himself inside of her until they reached their satisfaction and broke apart.

“Here, let me help.” Jonah urged when he realized it was going to take the woman all day to get him undressed at the rate she was going. Joe glared up at him and shook her head.

“I’ll get it.” she insisted and then she shocked him again when she shoved him down onto the bed.

Jonah’s body was hurting from the arousal this damnable woman had brought to life inside of it. And when she bent over him to continue undoing his shirt and her hair brushed against the skin of his chest already undressed he nearly lost control of himself.

Breathing deeply and gripping the sheets tightly in his clenched fists, he hoped and prayed he could hang on and not end this fun before it really began.

---

Joe had seen Jonah’s torso without clothes when she’d been caring for his wounds but never in a scenario like this one. Somehow, knowing that she was naked, knowing that they were completely alone and knowing that she was about to give her innocence to him, made Jonah’s body all that much more masculine.

The tight, well-defined muscles. The dusting of blond hair on his chest and the trail of that same hair leading down his stomach and into his trousers becoming visible as Joe slid his shirt away from his body. His body also bore the scars from a hard life. A life of being shot at, of shooting back, of breaking steers and being thrown from bucking broncos.

She knew his back had a tangle of scars across it from the whippings his horrible uncle had given him when he’d been a small child and Joe found herself wanting to kiss those scars, wanting to try to erase that pain… which surprised her. Where was this tender side coming from? She had never had much of one before.

Her father hadn’t allowed it and while her mother had tried and had raised her to be sensitive for eight years, her father had worked hard to erase all that work in the twelve years that Joe had been with him.

Joe, took her time in removing Jonah’s boots and she knew it was driving him crazy. She purposefully kept her eyes away from his face. She didn’t want him to see her uncertainty, her fear. If he saw it then he might make her stop, he might change his mind about all of this, and she couldn’t let him do that.

Joe wanted to lose her innocence on her own terms. She wanted to learn what a woman could do to a man and what a man could do to a woman on her own terms. Her father had always told her that she wanted control too much and she supposed he was right.

Joe undid Jonah’s gun belt and then slowly slid his pants down his long legs, though he helped by raising his hips.

Joe barely held back her gasp at the sight of his bulging arousal pressed tight against the front of the long johns he’d worn under his pants to help fight off the chill still in the air. She slid those off as well and then stared in awe at the part of his anatomy she had only seen one other time.

She heard Jonah let out a grunt and then his big hands closed around her upper arms and hauled her up onto the bed. Joe’s first instinct was to fight him as Jonah laid her on her back and then pinned her down with his own body, one arm braced over her and his throbbing arousal pressed into her hip.

Joe fought back that instinct and instead let herself get lost in the gentle touches that his fingertips were laying on her cheek.

“I’ve been wondering what you taste like for weeks.” Jonah whispered against her ear and then his mouth was on her collarbones. His tongue licking and darting against the soft, tender skin that had never before been shown any kind of attention.

Joe felt her back arching off the feather tick mattress and her blood pounding in her veins as Jonah’s mouth moved to her breast and closed around her swollen nipple.

She buried her fingers in his hair and felt him growl against her skin as he licked, nipped and teased.

Joe had never felt anything like this before. Why had she been so scared? Jonah’s calloused hand closed around her other breast and he rubbed the rough pad of his thumb over the rosy peak and caused her to call out his name.

She felt moisture building between her legs as the ache for him grew and she squirmed, trying to turn her hips to the side, instinct wanting to bring the aching flesh between her thighs closer to his arousal, knowing that only it could satisfy the craving inside of her.

“I wanted to take my time.” Jonah said with regret as he braced his body over her. Joe shook her head and met his gray eyes.

“I want you now.” she urged, her fear gone. Jonah’s touches, his kisses, had done nothing but bring her pleasure and she had no reason to believe that feeling him inside of her would be any different.

Jonah growled low in his throat, pushed her legs apart with his knee and then thrust himself inside of her quickly.

Joe felt him grow still even as her entire body tensed and she bit his shoulder to keep from crying out in pain.

It felt as if there were a fire between her legs. It felt as if his pecker was a knife and it had just sliced her wide open.

A tear filled her eye and Jonah remained inside of her but pulled away so he could look down at her face.

Joe cursed the fact that he’d be able to see that tear in her eye thanks to the firelight that would illuminating it.

“Get off me.” she ordered.

“You lied to me.” he accused, his eyes a tangle of so many emotions that Joe couldn’t read any of them clearly. She was pissed. He had hurt her. This was what whores got paid to do? This was what Scarlett had wanted so badly from Jonah? This fiery pain and burning?

“What the devil are you talking about?” she demanded as she tried to push him away but Jonah stayed firmly where he was. Joe realized in that moment just how small and vulnerable she was this way. His body was covering hers completely. She was trapped between his arms.. Pinned to this bed.

“You told me you weren’t innocent.”

“Well it’s a bit too late to worry about that now. Now get the hell off.”

“You’re hurting.” Jonah stated, sounding almost accusing and Joe glared up at him, even as that damnable tear rolled down her cheek.

“No, I’m not. I just don’t want to do this any….” Her words were cut off when his lips came down softly on hers.

She wanted to fight him off. Bite his tongue, claw at his eyes, anything…. But his kiss was too intoxicating. It was stronger than any whiskey could ever be and instead of fighting him, Joe found herself draping her arms around his neck.

The pain between her legs was beginning to fade as Jonah stayed motionless inside of her and his lips claimed her own. Their tongues warred in a battle for dominance. Joe felt that longing and ache building once again and she moved her hips and whimpered in the back of throat.

Jonah moved his lips to her ear as he pulled out of her just a bit before sliding back in slowly.

“Damn, woman, I wouldn’t have ever gone so fast if I’d known you were innocent. I would have saved you from a lot of that pain.”

“What pain?” Joe managed to gasp as Jonah thrust into her again and her nails dug into his back. “I never said I was hurtin’.”

Jonah chuckled against the skin of her neck and then Joe was simply clinging to him as his pace increased.

Joe had never felt anything like this in her life. She had never imagined that a man could make a woman feel so good. No wonder folks liked doing this so much.

It didn’t take long before Joe felt a pressure building low in her body. It made her claw at Jonah’s back, her lips becoming more forceful on his own and her hips ramming into his.

Joe didn’t know what was about to happen.. It felt as if her body was a band of leather twisted too tightly…. Stretching and stretching….

Suddenly a burst of pleasure shot through her body like a flash of bright white light and it blinded Joe to everything else.

She was faintly aware of her own voice calling out Jonah’s name and his body stiffening as his lips closed around one of her swollen nipples and he pulled himself out of her before spilling himself onto the mattress.

Joe closed her eyes as Jonah laid his head against her thundering heart. Silence filled the room as they both caught their breath and then Jonah stood from the bed and walked over to the washbasin.

He wet a rag and walked back to her. Joe glanced down at her legs and saw the smear of blood as well as the evidence of his release on her thighs. Suddenly she felt awkward.

Awkward and exposed.

She shoved his hand away when he attempted to clean her and instead grabbed the sheet and quickly covered her body.

“Ya can go on now.” she stated without looking at him.

“Joe….” he began.

“I said go on now. We gotta get an early start tomorrow.” She could sense him standing there, staring down at her, though she did not look at him. Finally he sighed and the wash rag was tossed back into the basin with a splash.

She heard him pull on his clothes and then he walked to the door. He opened it and then paused again and Joe had a feeling he was looking at her, waiting for her to speak, but she simply remained silent and stared at the wall behind the bed.

Without a word, Jonah stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Joe stood then, her legs weak and shaking from the passion that she and Jonah had just shared.

She went to the washbasin and began washing herself off before looking at her face in the mirror.

She didn’t look much different. Her lips were swollen and red and she guessed that was from his kisses. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was wild around her face. No real changes in her appearance and yet she knew that she would never be the same.

When Jonah had taken her innocence, when she had given him her body, she had a sneaking suspicion that she might have also given him her heart and that was bad. Love was something that was dangerous and only hurt you. Not that she was admitting that she was truly in love with Jonah….But she might just be falling.

Joe hadn’t meant to do it, she hadn’t meant to begin to fall for Jonah, and she had promised Jonah that she wouldn’t ask him for anything once they found Scarlett…. That meant she’d have to let him go.

Joe squared her shoulders and stood proudly in the mirror. She was Joe Redding, daughter of Gideon, and she would get through this. She would continue to enjoy what Jonah could do to her body and once it was over she would walk away with her head high.

She simply wasn’t the crying kind.

Chapter Twenty

Jonah awoke from one of the worst nights of sleep he ever had and sat up in the bed, rubbing his face roughly with his hands.

He stood up and stepped over Bart and Reb who were sound asleep on the floor, grabbed his gun belt by the door and then walked out into the hallway closing the door silently behind him.

Standing in the narrow hall, Jonah slid his gun belt around his hips and thought back on the night before and what had gone on in Joe’s hotel room.

Jonah wasn’t sure what he felt. What he did recognize was guilt. Guilt that he had taken the woman’s innocence when he had no intention of ever making her an honest woman. But then he was mad as well that she had lied to him about being innocent and then told him to leave after the passion was over. Jonah had wanted to stay with her. He had wanted to help clean her off and then hold her body against his until they both lost themselves in sleep.

Jonah growled as he began to pace back and forth between the two room doors.

He was not willing to fall in love. Not willing to become another woman’s fool. Settling down wasn’t something he wanted. And yet……

What he felt for Joe was more than just simple friendship. Suddenly Jonah was sure that sharing a bed with Joe had been a mistake. He should have told her no the night before but he couldn’t have.

It wasn’t like it had been with Scarlett. With Scarlett he’d made love to her because he had figured it couldn’t hurt anything and she was pretty, experienced and, well, there.

Being with Joe had been different. Never before had Jonah made love to a woman and then not been able to sleep after because he had wanted to have her in his arms. Never before had he been this nervous to discover how a woman would feel about what they had shared. Not even with Penny…..

Jonah knew Joe but the woman was impossible to read when she chose to be and last night Jonah had not been able to read her.

He had seen straight into her soul when their bodies had been joined but as soon as he had separated them her walls had come up quickly.

Jonah decided that before he would say anything about what he was feeling he would wait until Joe said something to him. He wasn’t going to admit that he might like her as more than just a friend, only to have her throw his words back in his face.

Last night had been amazing. He had felt a passion like thunder in his veins and lightening in his chest. It was a feeling he wanted to feel again and he knew that only with Joe would he experience it. Whatever happened, he hoped and prayed she wouldn’t change her mind about their agreement to ease each others passions while they rode together.

Jonah approached her closed door and listened closely, feeling his heart race when he heard movement on the other side. She was awake.

Unsure of what he was going to say or do, Jonah knocked quietly.

“Who is it?” he heard her voice asked.

“Jonah.”

A long silence followed and then he heard her sigh. “Come on in then, Jonah.”

Jonah opened the door and felt a bit of disappointment to find her fully dressed as if she’d been preparing to head out herself. He hadn’t known what he’d been hoping to see.

Her waiting buck naked would have been nice. Or perhaps her face lined from sleep and the white sheet wrapped temptingly around her feminine body.

“Whatdya want, Jonah?” she snapped.

“To check on you…” Jonah began and he saw her eyes flash and knew he’d said the wrong thing to this independent minded, strong willed, need nobody woman.

“Ya ain’t gotta trouble yerself with checkin’ up on me, Jonah.”

“I didn’t say I was checking up on you, I said I was checking on you. I thought you would…”

“What? That suddenly I would need yer attention and yer protection just cuz we shared a bed? I’m still the same woman, Jonah, and I don’t need no damned man fer anything other than a bit of fun after dark.”

“As your friend…” Jonah began, trying to pretend her words hadn’t hurt him. After all, neither one of them was supposed to want anything other than sex and a good time.

“As my friend, ya oughta be seein’ about getting us some breakfast while I go wake them layabouts next door up.” Joe interrupted. Jonah knew she was changing the subject to avoid talking about the night before and honestly that was fine with him.

He wasn’t going to fall into the trap of falling in love just because they were sharing a bed. He had done that in the past and it had never ended well for him.

“You better get a long stick to poke them with. They get a little on the grumpy side after a long night of drinking and cards.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Joe replied with a wink. Jonah could still feel an awkward tension between them but the joking had eased it some. It would simply take a while to fall into their new role as friends during the day and lovers at night.

“Well I’ll go find that breakfast then.” he said as he stepped back out the door.

“Jonah…” Joe called out and Jonah turned to look at her questioningly, barely throwing his hands up in time to catch his hat.

“You forgot that.”

Jonah decided to test the waters just a bit. “You know it’ll be a few days at least before we’re in another town with a nice warm bed.”

Joe clicked her tongue as she put her hands on her hips.

“Good thing I know you know how to build us our own little shelter then, isn’t it?”

Jonah chuckled. “Yeah, I reckon it is. Though Bart or Reb might just decide to throw a centipede on your face.”

Joe threw her head back with laughter and Jonah found himself swallowing hard. She stepped toward him and laid her hand on his arm.

“Ya wanna know the difference ‘tween me and the last one that had a creepy crawly tossed at her?”

Jonah knew there were too many differences to name but didn’t say that. “Sure.”

“I won’t scream my head off and run scared.”

---

“What is that damned man a doin’?” Reb demanded that evening as he adjusted his eye patch and spit into the dirt.

Bart shrugged as they watched Jonah gathering up sticks and rocks and making a shelter on the opposite side of the rocks from where Bart and Reb had placed their own bedrolls.

“If I didn’t know better I’d say it looks like he’s making him a nice little private spot to sleep.” Bart replied.

“Somethin’ mighty strange is a goin’ on….” Reb muttered as they watched Joe walk through camp with an arm load of firewood she’d gathered.

“You got that right.” Bart agreed. “By God, that woman is practically skipping through camp and has been all day.”

“That’s right.. They don’t talk fer damn near two whole days and now Jonah and her have been a laughin’, jokin’ and sharing grins all day. It’s ‘bout enough to make a man sick.”

“But Jonah said before that they were just friends….”

“Look at her watch him… She ain’t watchin’ him like a friend watches another friend.”

“Hell no she ain’t.” Bart agreed as they watched Joe stare at Jonah’s backside as the man bent over and braced a stick with rocks. “Why if you looked at me that way I’d have to tear out your one good eye.”

Reb shivered with disgust. “If I ever catch myself lookin’ at ya like that, I’ll tear it out myself.” he assured the other man.

“They’re beddin’ each other, sure as the world.” Bart said sadly. “What the hell is going on in their heads?! Jonah’s gonna end up being nothing but another woman’s fool.”

Reb nodded in agreement. “He’s gonna up and fancy hisself all in love with Joe and then she’s gonna laugh in his face cuz her pa didn’t raise her to fall in something quite as foolish as love .”

“We should try to talk to them.” Bart added with a sigh.

“You just don’t like it cuz yer sweet on Joe yerself.” Reb argued. “Let Jonah have a little fun with her. At least with this one we ain’t gotta worry ‘bout him tryin’ to settle down with her and disappearing fer years.”

“I am not sweet on Joe.” Bart argued and Reb laughed.

“Sure ya are. You have been fer years. I heard Gideon say more then once, under his breath o’course, that if you kept looking at his daughter the way you did, he was gonna have to skin ya alive and eat ya for supper.”

Bart scoffed and blustered for a moment and then he shrugged. “Wouldn’t matter none if I did fancy myself sweet on Joe. She’s never looked at me the way she’s looking at Jonah just now.”

“That’s for sure. Hell ain’t no woman ever looked at me quite that there way before. Kinda makes me jealous of the bastard.” Reb agreed.

“Knowing Jonah, he’ll find some way to get her scowling at him before too long.” Bart stated and Reb nodded sadly.

“Our pal seems to have that effect on women.”

---

“What the hell are you doin’, Jonah?” Reb demanded that night after they had all eaten supper and were preparing to go to bed. Joe had already gone behind the rocks to the tiny fire and makeshift shelter that Jonah had made for them.

“Going to bed.” Jonah replied with a sigh. He had been expecting this eventually, he had only hoped it would take his friends longer to jump his ass for being with Joe… Not that he and Joe were together . They were only friends that were sharing a bedroll at night.

“Really? Is there any simple reason why you and Joe seem to be headin’ to the same bed?”

“Do you really need a lesson in that, Reb? I know your eye chases some of the pretty ones off but…”

“Ain’t a damn thing wrong with my eye.” Reb countered as he batted his lashes. “Why my one eye is purtier than both of your’n.”

Jonah chuckled. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Jonah, don’t you hurt that woman.” Reb warned.

“That’s a hell of a thing for you, of all people, to say to me. I’m loyal to my damn friends, Reb, and I wouldn’t hurt her for nothing in the world.”

“Friends? So she’s just your friend but you’re sharing a bed?”

“It ain’t none of your damn business and a man don’t kiss and tell. Now if you’ll get the hell out of my way, I’m tired.”

Jonah shoved past Reb and stomped around the rocks. His mood was thoroughly darkened by his friends words but he felt his spirits lighten when he saw Joe sitting beside the tiny fire in front of their lean-to.

“I’ll be a better lean-to partner this time.” he promised with a smile as he sat down beside her. “Less bloody and more awake.”

Joe threw her hair back and laughed. “Ha! I preferred you unconscious.”

“That’s not what you said last night.” Jonah reminded her with a raise of his brow. It was the first time either of them had mentioned the night before and Jonah was glad to see the blush that appeared below the layer of dirt once again covering Joe’s cheeks.

She may have simply shrugged off his comment but her blush had given away her real feelings about the night before and what they had shared.

“What did Reb want?” Joe asked as she poked at the fire with a stick. Jonah shrugged as he leaned back against the rocks.

“To tell me not to hurt you.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” Joe replied with a snort.

Jonah was about to reply by telling her he’d rather shoot himself than hurt her but she cut him off before he could.

“I don’t reckon yer a woman beater and there ain’t nothing else o’mine ya got that ya can hurt.”

Jonah sat there quietly for a moment, surprised by how deeply those words had cut him. Joe seemed oblivious to his own discomfort as she stared into the flames she was stoking.

“Exactly.” Jonah finally replied. “Neither one of us are in any danger of getting hurt by being together.”

“Yep and that’s why we work.” Joe agreed.

Jonah nodded. “Yeah.”

---

The awkward silence soon became more than Joe could bear as she and Jonah sat beside the fire.

She hated that she was lying about what last night and Jonah meant to her but she had to! It was self preservation, plain and simple. Jonah wasn’t jumping up and claiming his undying devotion to her and so, dammit, she wasn’t going to take the risk of saying those words first.

This was just rutting, and that was that. Two friends having a bit of fun.

Although honestly she was sore tonight and unsure how making love was going to work. The longer she’d rode in the saddle today the more intense the painful ache had gotten between her legs. A soreness and a burn that was not pleasant at all.

Joe had hidden her discomfort, obviously, but it was there nonetheless.

“I believe I’m gonna get me some sleep, Jonah.” she finally said as she stood up and wiped the dust off the back of her pants.

“Sleep?” Jonah asked with a raise of his brow as he looked up at her. Joe cursed his rugged handsomeness in the glow of the firelight. Those creases in his whisker dusted cheeks, the crinkles beside his gray eyes and that mouth that she knew could work magic against her skin and her breasts.

“You could join me…” she offered. Jonah studied her and then a gentle smile formed on his face and it took her breath.

“You’re hurting, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“You can be honest with me, Joe. When it’s just you and I, you don’t have to be quite so tough.”

Joe cursed the comfort she found in those words. “It hurts a bit…”

“Rest then.” Jonah urged. “I’ll just lay out my bedroll and sleep here by the fire.”

Joe wanted to ask him to come to the lean-to and hold her in his arms while they slept… She could still remember the way it had felt when their bare bodies had been all curled up together in that bed in her cabin all those mornings ago.

“Goodnight then.” she said instead and quickly turned from him and buried herself beneath the blankets to hide herself from his view as she called herself a million different brands of a coward.

Chapter Twenty-One

“The right time, the right place, the right body, the right face. Timber I’m fallin’ in love…. You’re the only one I’m dreaming of. I can’t beleive that I’m fallin’ in love.” Patty Loveless ‘Timber, I’m fallin in love’

“I ain’t never been in this… town .” Joe said as they rode onto the dusty street of a town that had nothing other than a ramshackle saloon, a mercantile that didn’t look as if it could survive the wind from a hummingbird migration, a blacksmith with a couple of drunks passed out on the benches in front of it and several other buildings with such faded and peeling signs that it was impossible to tell what types of businesses they were.

“Two days of traveling to come here?” Jonah asked Reb and Reb shrugged.

“They like these here run down places.” he stated defensively. “We can show their pictures ‘round and maybe somebody here knows ‘em and might just be able to point us in whichever direction they might have taken.”

“That and the women in that saloon over there call themselves ‘Soiled Doves’ and they’ll take up on the balcony and give you all kinds of loving… They don’t even close the curtains first.” Bart stated.

“’Less of course yer one of them shy ones.” Reb added and the two men snorted with laughter.

“So are you all riding with me to help find these two or to get your peckers played with?” Jonah demanded and Joe chuckled quietly.

“Well I figure since you’re getting yours played with we….” Bart’s words were cut off when both Jonah and Joe slammed a fist into his gut.

Joe looked at Jonah with shock, wondering why he’d punched his friend. Joe had punched him because he’d been acting like an ass toward her ever since they’d left Barbadine and Joe was tired of it. She also figured he needed to be reminded that she was more than just some whore playing with a mans pecker and she didn’t like to be compared to one.

Bart took several steps back as Reb chuckled, rocked back on his heels and his blue eye sparkled with amusement.

“What..the hell?” Bart gasped, his face drawn with pain and his skin pale as he held his stomach.

“You’ll watch what you say.” Jonah warned and, without saying anything else or looking at Joe, he turned and stormed toward the building that Joe assumed was a hotel, leading Copper by the reins as he went.

“What the hell is y’alls problem?” Bart grumbled.

“I ain’t a whore and I don’t wanna be compared to one.” Joe snapped. “That’s my problem, I reckon, as far as Jonah goes, I don’t rightly know why he hit you.”

“I wasn’t trying to compare you to no whore, Joe.” Bart assured the woman.

“At times Bart’s mouth gets goin’ just a bit quicker than what his brain can keep up with.” Reb agreed.

“Shut the hell up, Reb.” Bart grumbled and then he kicked the dirt roughly and walked away toward the saloon, leading his horse as well since this town didn’t seem to have a livery…. Or much of anything to speak of.

“So have you and ol’ Jonah had fun having yer own little camps ev’ry night?” Reb asked, before spitting a stream of tobacco into the dirt.

Joe stopped biting on her thumb nail and glared at him.

“What the hell business is that of your’n. Ya ain’t jealous are ya? Jonah might just share a campsite with you if ya asked him real nice like.” In truth Joe and Jonah hadn’t shared a bed or anything other than conversations, some laughs and a glance or two since Barbadine but she didn’t think that was any of Reb’s business.

“Real cute there, Joe. Ya know yer pa would be rollin’ over in his grave if’n he saw what ya was doing with Jonah. He didn’t raise you to be that way.”

Joe saw Jonah step up behind Reb but knew that the other man hadn’t realized it. Joe didn’t understand just why Jonah looked so angry. Was it because Reb had insulted her? Why would Jonah care so much? He didn’t get pissed when she called Reb a one-eyed son of a bitch, so what was different about Reb insulting her?

“Now, Joe, Gideon worked his ass off to keep ya away from men that was just gonna lay with ya and then take off and he wouldn’t take too kindly to havin’ all that hard work be fer nothing. And yer mama, what would she say……”

Joe squared her shoulders, rose to her full height, only a couple inches shorter than Reb and stuck her finger into his chest.

“Don’t ya dare utter one more word ’bout my mama. My pa raised me to be tough and smart. I know damned well what I’m doin’ and I don’t need no lip offa you. Now you was my pa’s friend but that don’t mean I gotta put up with that mouth of your’n.”

“I’m yer friend too, dammit, and I just don’t wanna see all yer pa’s work be fer nothing’.”

“I believe that‘s all he has to say Joe.” Jonah spoke up with a growl. “Now ya ready to go get a drink?”

Joe nodded as Reb turned quickly and held his hands up to Jonah. “Now, I weren’t tryin’ to piss ya off or nothing, Jonah, but ya know as good as I do that ya ain’t got the clearest of vision when it comes to these things…”

Joe nearly chuckled at the way Reb swallowed hard when Jonah’s eyes narrowed. But while Jonah was bigger than Reb, Reb hadn’t lived as long as he had in this rough country by being a coward and he squared his shoulders and met Jonah’s gaze.

“Just because I’ve been made a fool of in the past don’t mean there’s a damn thing wrong with my head. Now we’re all supposed to be friends so why don’t you just back off and let’s head to the saloon and get a damn drink.” Jonah offered, his voice low and angry.

“Alright then, Jonah.” Reb agreed with a nod and Joe knew that Jonah had gotten his point across to the other man. She was happy that Jonah wasn’t a hot tempered man who swung fists too easily. Her pa had been that type and if Reb had spoken that way about her in front of her pa then Reb would have been shitting out his own teeth for a month to come.

Jonah walked around Reb and put his arm around Joe’s shoulders, leading her toward the saloon.

Joe wanted to pull away and scold him but she didn’t because in honesty it felt good to have his body so close to her own. They hadn’t laid together or even touched since leaving Barbadine and Joe was eager to go to the hotel and be alone with Jonah… She truly didn’t even want to go to the saloon but she knew that they needed to ask around about Scarlett and this town had no lawmen to speak to.

“Scarlett isn’t here.” Jonah said as he and Joe walked together. Joe noticed that their boots, his made of scarred up leather and hers made of skins and furs, were perfectly in step.

“What makes ya so sure?” she asked.

“I showed the picture to the hotel clerk and he hadn’t seen her. I showed him her husbands picture too and he hadn’t seen him either.”

“Maybe he was lying for them.” Joe countered and Jonah shook his head.

“Naw, I really don’t think so. I just think he flat out hasn’t seen either of them.”

“Sorry, Jonah.” Joe replied, though inside she was conflicted. Was she really sorry? The longer it took to find Scarlett, the longer she got to keep Jonah close to her. Then again Jonah needed to find that woman in order to give himself some peace.

“How ‘bout I buy you your first beer?” she offered as she pulled out of the grasp of his arm and grinned up at him.

Jonah nodded. “Sounds good to me. I’ll buy your second.”

They made their way through the swinging doors and into the brightly lit and dusty interior of the saloon.

Joe glanced around and nearly laughed out loud. This was the wildest place she’d been in in a long time.

Two men were locked in a brawl in the back corner while the source of their disagreement, a whore, or ‘soiled dove’ as they called themselves here according to the sign on the balcony, was watching on with amusement.

A drunkard was playing the piano while a scantily clad woman with her breasts on display stood next to it and sang very loudly and completely off key.

The bar was lined with thirsty men in varying degrees of drunkenness and poker games were being played at nearly every table.

“I see why Bart and Reb like it here.” Joe said and then her eyes were drawn to the upstairs balcony. Curtains separated the velvet covered chairs and men were in those chairs with whores in varying states of undress, servicing their needs.

Most of the women were sitting on the men’s laps with their heads thrown back as they bounced and moaned but Joe saw several who appeared to be on their knees and the only part of them visible was the top of their hair as the men sat there and appeared to be in ecstasy.

“You’d think they’d at least close the curtains.” Jonah mumbled as he went up to the bar and found two empty stools.

“Ya aren’t shy are ya, Jonah?” Joe teased and Jonah laughed as he signaled for two beers.

“Why, you want me to see about getting us a balcony room?” he asked and it was Joe’s turn to laugh.

“Not sure I’m quite drunk enough fer that.”

“I don’t believe I could ever be drunk enough for that.” Jonah agreed. “When we’re together there sure as hell won’t be anybody drinking whiskey and watching it.”

Joe felt a blush rise on her cheeks and quickly hid her face with her mug of beer as she took a swig. She planned on having Jonah teach her just what those women were doing to those men. She had had no idea that she could sit on Jonah’s lap like that and make love and she had no idea what the women on their knees were doing……

“So why did ya get so angry at Reb?” Joe asked, eager to change the topic.

Jonah’s eyes were locked on a few men that had just stepped up onto a little stage with fiddles, guitars and a horn.

“Because he was being an ass.” he replied simply as the men began playing a fast paced tune that had several of the unoccupied ‘soiled doves’ swaying suggestively in front of the stage.

“Yeah, but he was bein‘ an ass to me, not you. Ya don’t get mad when I call him a one eyed son of a bitch so why were ya ‘bout ready to shoot him for all but calling me a whore? ”

Jonah frowned and looked over at her.

“I was?”

“Seemed to be that way.” Joe replied with a half shrug. “And, hell, ya punched Bart fer sayin’ the same thing.” she added. Jonah rubbed his face and shrugged.

“Guess I just don‘t like to hear any man call a woman a whore when I know damn good and well that she isn’t one.”

“I could be.” Joe countered. Jonah’s gray eyes narrowed as he met her gaze full force.

“No. No you couldn’t be.”

“Is that right?” Joe asked, enjoying the challenge in his eyes. She knew she wouldn’t be a whore but she wasn’t about to tell him that all she wanted was his body loving her and never anyone else. That would just be setting herself up for a fall that she wasn’t willing to take.

“Yeah that’s right.”

The song the band was playing picked up tempo and Joe found her foot tapping along with the beat.

“You like to dance?” Jonah asked with amusement and Joe clicked her tongue.

“Naw, I ain’t no good at it.”

“I doubt that, Joe.” Jonah urged her and Joe shook her head as he stood and held out his hand.

“I ain’t dancing in front of all these people!” she argued. Jonah laughed.

“These people are all so damn drunk they won’t remember a thing come morning. Now come on.”

Joe had no idea why she let Jonah talk her into getting to her feet and walking out to the fairly empty section of dust covered wooden planks in front of the stage and she had even less of an idea how he managed to get her stomping her feet, clapping her hands and laughing loudly as they circled each other and danced to the fast tempo the men continued to play.

They were soon joined by more people dancing and eventually they were all stomping, spinning one another and doing the best square dancing Joe was sure this town had seen in a long long time.

Joe felt free in those moments and as she looped her arm through Jonah’s and let him lead her in a quick circle around the group, she met his eyes, so full of laughter and happiness and knew she was in trouble.

Timber, she had fallen in love.

---

“Well I’ll be damned.” Reb said as he threw his cards down and stared at Joe and Jonah as they danced and laughed.

Bart sighed and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If I didn’t know any better, Reb, I’d say those two were….”

“They can’t be!” Reb argued. Jonah leaned down then and whispered something into Joe’s ear as she passed by him and the woman threw her head back and laughed. Not the guarded chuckling laughter she usually showed the world but the full hearted, feminine laughter that she usually only reserved for moments when she was alone with those she trusted.

“It sure looks it to me though.” Bart said with nod. “Guess I might as well forget about her.”

“Ya never stood a chance to begin with. She says yer like an annoying brother.”

“She never said that!” Bart argued and Reb nodded.

“Yeah she did. But now her pa raised her better than to fall in love! And she ain’t nothing like what Jonah has ever wanted before. Why there ain’t a single solitary feminine bone in Joe’s body! The woman wouldn’t know how to be a lady if’n ya forced her into a dress at gunpoint and told her to act the part.”

“As bad as I hate to say this…” Bart admitted. “…I think it’s a good thing for them both. Joe actually seems happier now than she ever has before. She’s acting more like herself and less like she’s putting on a tough act. And Jonah…. Jonah ain’t depressed. He’s been depressed since Penny hightailed it away from him and right now he looks damned happy. After what Scarlett did to him I thought he’d sink back down into the bottle and the moping but he didn’t and I can only guess that’s cuz of Joe.”

Reb batted his lashes and his blue eye filled with amusement. “Why, Bart, that speech was plumb beautiful.”

“I’m serious, dammit!” Bart exclaimed with a grumble and Reb nodded.

“Me too.” he assured him. “Why you even brought a tear to my eye.”

“Well looks like that dove I’ve had my eye on all night is finally free.” Bart stated as he pushed his chair back and patting his skinny midsection. “I reckon I’ll be heading that way.” He stood and Reb nodded and watched his friend walk up the rickety staircase toward the dark haired beauty at the top, waiting to take his coin in exchange for a bit of fun.

As far as Reb was concerned that’s all any man oughta ever need. But then again, Jonah was smiling awful big every time he looked at Joe. Bart had been right about that much.

---

Jonah pulled off his hat and wiped his shirt sleeve across his sweat slicked forehead.

“Ya aren’t tired are ya?” Joe asked with a pant and Jonah nodded as he plopped his hat back on his damp hair.

“Yeah a bit.” he admitted with a grin. Joe took him by the hand and led him out of the throng of folks that had begun dancing after they had.

Jonah couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun and it amazed him.

After realizing Scarlett wasn’t here, Jonah had been more than a little upset and he had felt that darkness that always seemed to be ready to drag him down, building inside of him. He had wanted to get sloppy drunk and pass out until late the next day…

Joe had kept him from doing so. Joe and her smiles. Her touches. Her laughter.

“Have ya a seat, old man, and I’ll go get us a couple of beers.” Joe urged as she pointed at an empty table. Jonah chuckled.

“Since you’re bringing back beer, I’ll let the old man comment slide.” Joe winked at him and then disappeared through the crowd, though Jonah never lost track of that wild, thick red hair.

He glanced around the saloon and saw that the drunk had passed out over his piano keys and the woman who had been singing was laying across the top of the black piano, her breasts poking straight in the air, still uncovered.

Jonah quickly pulled his gaze away from that, feeling as if he was violating the woman by looking at her as she slept. He searched for Bart and Reb and caught sight of Reb going up the stairs to where there was a ’soiled dove’ waiting for him with light blond hair and a painted red smile.

Jonah figured Bart was probably up in one of the many balcony rooms, since several had the curtains closed.

He looked back toward the bar and saw Joe making her way toward him and then his blood froze when he saw two men, big men, come up on either side of her and block her path.

“What are you doin’ pretty thing?” Jonah heard one of them sneer. He couldn’t hear Joe’s response but the harsh laughter from the two men told him it hadn’t been good.

“Those are my buddies over there with your woman.” a skinny man with rotten teeth and stringy brown hair stated as he sat down beside Jonah. “They’ve been watchin’ her all night. They mean to harm her.”

“Is that right?” Jonah asked, as he leaned his back against the table and propped his elbows on it, his fingers dancing across the revolver in the new holster he had bought himself back in Barbadine.

“Yeah. Ain’t you gonna help your woman?” the man demanded. Jonah shook his head as he watched one of the big men twirl some of Joe’s hair around his finger.

“Nope, she ain’t my woman and she can handle herself. Ain’t you gonna help your buddies?”

The man snorted. “They ain’t in no danger from her! They plan on raping her…..” Before the man could finish, the sound of breaking glass filled the air as Joe raised a beer mug and brought it down hard against the side of one of the big men’s skulls.

The man crumpled to the floor without a sound and when the second man lunged at Joe he found his nose connecting with her elbow and Jonah heard the crack as it shattered and blood covered his face.

Joe looked around her.

“Anybody else think I got pretty hair and wanna take me on upstairs and have yer way with me?” she demanded, holding the unbroken beer mug in one hand as her other hand hovered over her gun.

There was a general murmur of denial to Joe’s question and then Jonah chuckled and raised his hand.

Joe grinned, took a big swig of beer, tossed the glass down at the feet of the man who was glaring at her and holding his broken bleeding nose.

“Come along then, Jonah.” she urged with a wave of her hand and Jonah tipped his hat to the skinny man beside him, holstered the gun that he’d had pulled and aimed at the second big mans gut, stood up, and walked to Joe.

She looped her arm through his and they walked out the swinging doors and into the chilly darkness.

“You were watching those men.” Joe stated as they made their way to the hotel.

“Yep.”

“You didn’t try to help me.”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a tough woman. I knew you had it handled.”

“So that’s why you had that revolver aimed at the man with the busted nose?”

“Well I aimed it before you busted his nose.” Jonah replied with a grin. “And I was just being cautious. I didn’t want him to try to take a cheap shot on ya.”

“My hero.” Joe replied with a snort and Jonah just smiled, his mind already jumping ahead to what was going to happen once they were once again alone in a hotel room.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Judging from my rough and rocky past, I wrote off love as just a game a fool will play and never win. And I felt certain i was right, ’til I turned a corner in the night and there was you.”  Trace Adkins ‘And There Was You’

Joe frowned as she and Jonah entered the hotel with their saddlebags over their shoulders and Jonah walked up to the counter.

“Hello?” he called out.

“I’m sure he’s done in bed, Jonah.” Joe assured him and Jonah shook his head and hit the bell on the counter several times.

“Jonah…” Joe scolded, wondering why he was being so rude. It was going on midnight and yet Jonah didn’t seem to mind waking up a man who was obviously in his room asleep.

A scuffling of boots indicated the hotel clerks approach just before the man came through the door behind the counter and scratched at his messy black hair.

“Oh it’s you.” he grumbled when his eyes fell on Jonah. “Two of the maids filled the tub up and I’ve been adding hot water to it all night. It should still be good and warm.”

“Thanks.” Jonah replied with a nod as he tossed several coins on the counter and then led Joe toward the back hallway.

“Tub?” Joe asked and Jonah smiled.

“Last time everything happened in a rush. This time, I’m taking my time with you and that includes a bath.”

Joe felt a little tremor of anticipation wash over her. “You seem to be getting mighty bossy.” she accused with a grin and Jonah nodded.

“Yes, ma’am, I am.”

Joe followed Jonah down the hall and then waiting with bated breath as he opened the door and stepped inside.

The hotel room was nothing to be too thrilled about in itself. The walls were a bit drafty, the floor creaked and bowed when you walked across it and all the furniture appeared to be on its last leg.

But the fireplace was glowing and crackling with firelight and warmth and a metal tub was filled with water that still had steam rising from it.

Joe was aware of Jonah locking the door behind them and she suddenly felt awkward once again. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Jonah tossed his saddlebags down and Joe quickly did the same as she continued to look around the room.

“You should enjoy your bath while it’s still good and warm.” Jonah urged.

Joe wanted to demand that he leave. The thought of undressing while he watched scared her and the thought of being in the bathtub while he was here made her uneasy.

She did not want to be helpless but surely he would see her as nothing but a helpless woman if she undressed and climbed in a tub under his hungry gaze.

Joe felt as if every nerve in her body was filled with lightning as Jonah stepped toward her and smiled. He put his face against her neck, his lips barely brushing against the sensitive flesh and his breath washing over her.

“It’s okay, Josephine. You can be a woman, just a woman, when we’re alone together, and I’ll be just a man.”

Joe swallowed down her fear as passion filled her. She turned her head and caught his lips beneath hers and Jonah wasted no time in deepening the kiss.

His body propelled her backward and Joe felt her back come against the wall, though she noticed that Jonah’s hand was between her head and the wall.

The kiss was hungry, desperate, passionate. Jonah’s free hand roamed down her arm, over her hips and then back up to feel her breasts through the buckskin and the cloth she had wrapped them in.

Joe clung to him, feeling her nipples harden beneath the layers of fabric separating their bodies.

Too many layers. She rose her hands to the buttons on his vest and Jonah pulled away from her quickly, panting and looking more than a little wild.

His hat had been lost in their fevered kisses and his hair was a wild mess atop his head. His cheeks were flushed, his gray eyes dark.

“I vowed I was going to take my time.” he said grumpily, as if angry at himself for making that vow. Joe stepped toward him, loving the way her lips felt swollen and her breasts heavy.

“You have my permission to break that vow….” Joe barely had time to finish speaking before Jonah was once again pushing her up against the wall. His hungry lips not even giving her a chance to breath as they continued their assault on her mouth, but Joe didn’t care.

She wanted more of him, all of him.

Joe couldn’t believe the feminine whimper that filled the room was her own as Jonah pulled away yet again.

“No.” he all but growled. Joe thought he looked as if he were in pain. “Your bath is going to get cold.” he added as he looked away from her and motioned toward the tub.

“Turn around.” Joe ordered as she walked toward the tub. “I don’t wanna be watched while I undress.”

Joe thought for a moment that Jonah was going to argue with her but instead he nodded slightly and then turned, shoving his hand through his messy hair as he did so.

Joe quickly slid from her clothes, unwrapped the cloth from around her breasts and then slid into the tub with a splash.

A moan left her lips as her eyes slid closed and the warm water washed over her body, easing the swollen, knotted and tired muscles from days in the saddle and the dancing they’d done at the saloon.

---

Jonah couldn’t believe how perfect Joe was. Even with her face still streaked with dirt she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever known in his entire life.

She had her eyes closed as she lay all stretched out in the tub. Her full breasts tempting him as their rosy peaks poked out of the water. All that pale skin of her body and the red triangle of curls between her legs.

Jonah grabbed a rag and a bar of soap from the washstand and dropped to his knees beside the tub.

Joe’s eyes flew open and her elbow raised. Jonah forced a smile to his face, though he realized how close he had come to having his nose crushed.

“You wouldn’t want to hurt my pretty face would you?” he teased and Joe snorted with laughter even as she sat up and tried to cover her breasts with her arms.

“This makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it?” Jonah asked. He wondered if she even realized how innocent and feminine she really was.

Penny and Scarlett hadn’t been this way. Scarlett had been a whore and Penny had had men before him. She hadn’t been shy about her body or about being alone with him.

Joe was different. She wanted to act as if she was unafraid but he could see her fear and uncertainty written across her face and in every gesture of his body.

“A course not. I’m not scared of you.” Joe replied quickly. Jonah nodded and dipped the washrag into the water before lathering it with soap.

“Lean forward.” he urged.

“Quit bossin’ me ‘round, Jonah.” Joe grumbled, even as she leaned forward. Jonah chuckled as he began to wash her back, letting his fingers trail against her skin and enjoying the tiny trembles he felt wash over her from his touch.

“I wouldn’t dream of bossing you around, Joe. I have no doubts that you could whoop my ass real good and proper if I tried.”

“Yes, I could.” she replied, though Jonah could hear the breathlessness in her voice.

He put his hand on her shoulder and eased her back before moving the wash rag down the front of her body, circling her breasts. She stiffened momentarily, her green/gray eyes locking with his own, but then she sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head back and simply giving in to the pleasure.

Jonah felt his arousal tighten that much more but told his pecker to calm down. He was taking his time with Joe tonight.

Jonah cleansed her upper body and her legs before dropping the rag and moving his hand to the mess of curls between her thighs.

Joe’s eyes flew open again and locked with Jonah’s as he began to rub and tease at her wet mound.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

“Taking care of you.” Jonah replied in a whisper. “Just enjoy it, Josephine. There ain’t anybody here but me and you.”

Jonah smiled when she bit her lip and then began to move her hips, rotating them and creating friction against his palm.

Jonah watched her face, watched the tiny changes in her eyes as she became more and more aroused. He saw the color rising in her cheeks and the way her teeth kept chewing on her bottom lip.

He wanted to learn all these things. Memorize them. Burn them into his mind so he could remember them always. He wanted to remember the way she purred in the back of his throat when his lips grazed against her neck. Remember the way her body arched against his hand and a gasp slid past her lips as he slid his finger inside of her.

He knew the time would come when he would have to say goodbye to Joe. She had made it clear where she stood on settling down and Jonah wasn’t willing to risk what little pride he had left by falling in love with her… But he had right now. He had at least this night with this incredible woman and he was going to take his time and burn every second of it to memory.

Jonah moved his mouth along her jaw and then down her neck, tasting the sweet saltiness of her skin. He smiled against her freckled shoulder when her fingers locked in his hair and urged his head downward toward her waiting breasts and he was happy to oblige.

As his finger continued to pillage and plunder the tightness between her thighs, his mouth sought out her pink nipple and suckled, nipped and teased it with his tongue.

Joe’s breaths came faster and her hips moved more frantically against his hand. Jonah continued his assault on her body and then he felt her tense around his finger. She cried out her name and Jonah caught the sound against his lips as he gave her a kiss that was gentle and full of the tenderness he felt for this woman…. This woman that was so different from any other woman he had ever known.

---

Joe’s heart was racing as she tried to slow her breathing down and focus on the tender kiss that Jonah was pressing to her lips.

“That was…. How did you do that?” she managed to whisper as she pulled her mouth away from his.

“Pure talent.” Jonah replied with a chuckle. Then he stood up and pulled Joe to her feet. “My turn to bath.” he stated as Joe stepped out of the tub and Jonah wrapped a blanket tight around her.

Joe watched him shed his clothes and felt her blood begin to heat all over again. She had no idea how he had just given her release without putting himself inside of her but he had….

Joe watched Jonah slide into the tub, thought it wasn’t quite big enough for him to stretch out the way Joe had.

Joe wanted to do to him what he had done to her. She let the blanket slide off her shoulders and went to the tub. She took the wash rag from Jonah’s hand and began to wash his body.

Joe heard him moan her name as her hand sunk down and she dragged the rag along his long hard shaft.

Emboldened by the way his eyes darkened and his body tightened at the touch of her hand, Joe let the rag drop from her grasp and circled his throbbing arousal in her palm.

“God, Joe….That’s good.” Jonah’s voice rasped as one of his big hands gripped the edge of the tub and the other slid into her hair and caressed her head.

Joe wasn’t sure what else to do and so she let her hand slide down, pumping once and Jonah nodded.

Joe let her instincts guide her as she gripped him tightly in her hand and caressed him. Jonah’s hips pumped in time with her movements.

Joe heard him moaning and more than once her name left his lips…. Joe liked the way it sounded when his voice said her name while it was so full of passion.

Then suddenly Jonah stood and pulled her away from him. His mouth came down hot and hungry on her own, stealing her breath.

“Damn you.” he grunted as he stepped out of the tub. “I wanted to take my time but I can’t now.”

In one fluid motion, Jonah lifted Joe into the air. She slid her legs around his waist and he brought her down onto his arousal.

Joe felt him at the entrance to her womanhood and had a moment of doubt. Would it hurt like last time?

Jonah growled and once again crushed her mouth with his before bringing her down all the way on him and burying himself deep inside of her.

Joe gasped out his name as Jonah pushed her back against he wall and thrust himself into her over and over.

It was fast, hot and hard…. Mouths devoured mouths. Tongues warred with tongues. Their slick, wet bodies slid and beat against each other as their moans became entangled in the quiet night.

Joe felt herself filling with that all consuming tightening of pleasure once again and this time she knew what was coming.

Her fingers were buried deep in his hair and as she felt her body toppling over the edge, she cried out Jonah’s name and threw her head back as his mouth closed over one of her swollen nipples and then he too began shuddering against her body as he found his own release.

Joe was only faintly aware of the movement as Jonah carried her to the bed and laid her down, settling his long, hard frame onto the mattress and keeping their bodies all tangled together.

Joe moaned with displeasure when he moved his upper body away just long enough to grab a spare blanket off the foot of the bed and drape it over their bodies.

Their eyes locked in the dim firelight and Joe knew she was in love. She didn’t know how she would ever let Jonah go.

“Do you want me to leave?” Jonah asked quietly as his scarred knuckles gently caressed her cheek.

Joe knew she should say yes. She should make him get out before she lost any more of herself to him but she knew it was a little too late for that. Strong independent, iron-willed Joe Redding was now completely at the mercy of a little thing called love and a man named Jonah Winchester.

“No. You can stay.” she replied quietly.

Jonah nodded and held her a little tighter. He kissed her hair, softly, tenderly.

“Goodnight, Joe.” he whispered and Joe simply grunted in response and she buried herself a little deeper in his strong arms. For the first time in her life she found herself enjoying this feeling of protection.

As she heard Jonah’s breathing change and the man fell asleep, Joe thought about the women who had wronged him in the past. What had Penny and Scarlett been thinking? Jonah was perfect.

Strong and able without being hot headed and trigger happy. Understanding and patient. A good horseman, one of the best poker players and a fair dancer. He didn’t try to butt in and protect Joe without giving her a chance to take care of herself first. He could make her laugh and keep her smiling and he had made her feel like a woman without making her feel weak…. That was the biggest gift Jonah had given her so far.

Joe knew one thing for sure. She would not be as dumb as those other women had been. She might lose Jonah in the end, probably would, but she knew for a fact that she would never be the one to let him go.

She loved him far too much.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Women like you, they’re a dime a dozen, you can buy ’em anywhere. For you to get to him I’d have to move over and I’m gonna stand right here. It’ll be over my dead body so get out while ya can cuz you ain’t woman enough to take my man.” Loretta Lynn ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough’

The next month passed by quickly. While everyone was thankful that the days were finally getting longer and the nights warmer, it was becoming increasingly obvious to everyone that they may never find Scarlett or her husband.

They had been to dozens of towns, big and small, and no one seemed to know who they were, let alone where they might be.

Joe glanced over at Jonah and felt a smile forming on her lips. She didn’t care how long it took to find Scarlett. The longer they had to search for the hoity toity little whore, the longer she got to keep enjoying Jonah’s company.

They shared a bedroll every night now. And even though there were nights that neither felt like making love, he still slept with her, and kept his long body curled against hers and his arms secure around her.

Reb and Bart seemed to have finally accepted Jonah and Joe’s relationship and no longer had anything to say against it. Instead they insisted on teasing the two of them every chance they could and while Joe had been taking the teasing in stride, it was beginning to wear on her.

She didn’t like being called ‘Jonah’s Lady’. Not only was Joe not a lady but she also wasn’t Jonah’s. He hadn’t said a word about falling in love with her. Not a single mutter about a future between them.

And so Joe hadn’t dared mention her love for him or the longing she had to be with him longer than just whatever time it took to find Scarlett. She had found the one thing that Joe Redding wasn’t brave enough to face; Jonah’s rejection.

“We headin’ where I think we’re a headin?” Reb asked as they topped over a rise and the booming town of St. Augusta came into view. Already the noise could be heard. Cattle, trains, newsboys and the din that comes from a town that thousands of people call home.

“Yeah. I figure if nobody here has seen them then we’ll head on back on a loop toward Barbadine and head off in a different direction. We’re bound to get lucky eventually.” Jonah replied with a nod.

“What a town….” Bart said as he looked down at the bustling city. Fancy dresses, men in top hats. “We sure are gonna stick out like a couple of sore thumbs.”

“We might have to get all dressed up so we can fit in.” Reb agreed and Joe snorted.

“The only way yer gonna get me all trussed up is if ya do it after I’m dead and gone and then my damn ghostie is gonna come back to the land of the livin’ and kick yer ass real good and proper.”

Jonah laughed, blowing out a stream of smoke through his nose and mouth. “I’m thinking an emerald green dress, or maybe something with purples in it….”

Joe glared at him and then she smiled. “And you’d look just as cute as a button in one of them top hats and a nice spiffy suit and vest. Why we could even get ya a little cane to twirl ‘round while ya walk.”

“Why Jonah’d have the women fallin’ at his feet then!” Reb cut in and Joe scowled and went back to chewing on her thumbnail.

“I don’t think she liked that image.” Bart stated. “I’d say they’d be falling at his feet alright but it would be because Joe was shooting them for looking at her man.”

“And I think y’all got a couple a over active imaginations and I think I got an empty spot in my gut that wants some fresh home cooked food.” she replied and then she let out a whoop, kicked her heels and urged her horse into a quick gallop toward the city, throwing up dust behind her.

Joe went straight to the livery and put her horse in the care of the attendants there. She was sure the mare would enjoy the comfy surroundings. Hell the livery stalls were nicer than some of the hotel rooms that they’d been staying in the last few weeks.

Thinking of the hotel rooms had Joe thinking about all the lovemaking she and Jonah had done. Joe had learned a lot from him and she was no longer afraid when they were together. She no longer worried about appearing weak. She had learned that knowing how to please a man actually gave a woman a lot of power…. Of course in pleasing Jonah she had also given him the power to break her heart.

She watched Jonah go into the livery while she sat in the bench beside it but instead of following him, Reb saw her, handed his horses reins to Bart and walked over to her.

“Why don’t ya just tell the man ya love him?” Reb asked quietly as he sat down beside her and Bart let his and Reb’s horses into the livery.

“What the devil are ya talkin’ ’bout?” Joe demanded, as she fished in her pocket for a cigarette.

“Tell Jonah ya love him, Joe. Ya might just be surprised by what happens.”

Yeah and her heart might just be stomped on and then tossed back at her too. “It’s really not any of yer business, Reb.” she countered. “Besides just a few weeks ago ya was sure that Jonah and I bein’ together was nothing but a mistake.”

“I was wrong.” Reb said simply. “I guess I felt kinda responsible fer ya since I knew yer pa better than most and I was tryin’ to do what I thought he would want.”

“I can take care of myself just fine, Reb.” Joe reminded the man, smiling with victory when she found the cigarette and pack of matches that she had been searching for.

“Yeah, I know that. So what is it, Joe? Are ya scared?”

“I ain’t scared a nothing.” Joe countered with a snort before taking a long draw off her cigarette.

“So ya aren’t scared to tell Jonah ya love him?”

“I ain’t scared to love a man.” Joe ground out and then she raised her brow and looked over at him. “But I ain’t scared to shoot a man either, so back off, Reb.”

“Alright, alright.” Reb said with a chuckle as he patted her on the back. Then he leaned against the livery wall and crossed his ankles as he laid his arms across his stomach. “But just so ya know, I think that if ya was to fall in love with Jonah and he was to fall in love with you, than I think it would be alright.”

“I thought love was a dirty word.” Joe asked with a grin and Reb shivered.

“It is fer me. But I reckon it works fer some folks and I think it could work fer you and Jonah.”

“What could work?” Jonah asked as his shadow fell over them. Reb opened his mouth to speak but Joe stood quickly and cut him off.

“Getting a drink.” she said and Jonah raised a brow as he looked down at Reb. Reb just grinned and nodded.

“I’ve found that drinks do work most of the time.” he stated.

Jonah gave them each an odd look and Joe took a draw off her cigarette and offered him a grin.

“Let me go book a couple rooms at the hotel down the road. It looks like it’s probably the cheapest one around here. Then we’ll go get us those drinks.” he finally replied.

“Sounds good to me.” Joe agreed.

Jonah walked away down the road while Joe, Bart and Reb watched him go.

“So what were you all really talking about? You and Jonah’s upcoming wedding?”

“Y’all are really startin’ to get on my damn nerves lately! I don’t love Jonah. Jonah don’t love me. He’s a good damn friend but that’s as far as it goes. I certainly ain’t ‘bout ready to start spoutin’ out weddin’ vows and saying ‘I do’,” Joe snapped.

“I think Joe needs two beers.” Bart stated with a chuckle.

“Or three.” Reb agreed as he adjusted his eye patch.

“Hopefully we can talk Jonah into staying around here for longer than just a night.” Bart said thoughtfully as he watched a pair of giggling women walk down the other side of the road. They gave him a tiny wave with their gloved fingers and he tipped his hat in response. “It sure does seem to be home to some friendly folks.”

“I’m sure ol’ Joe here could talk our Jonah into stayin’ at the hotel for longer than just one night. Couldn’t ya, Joe?”

Joe tipped her head, tossed her cigarette down into the dirt and crushed it with her foot. “I’ve found that there ain’t much ya can’t talk a man into just so long as ya put him in the right kinda mood first.” she replied with a grin.

Truthfully she wanted to hang around here a bit longer than just a day. While the town was too big and not her kind of place with the fancy dressed folks, the bank and the dress shops to name a few things, she wanted to spend all the time with Jonah that she could.

She missed having him all to herself the way she had at her cabin. True they had fought quite a bit during that time but they had also become friends in that place and she missed the one on one time with him during the day. The poker matches, the quiet nights by the fire and the chats about their past.

She had told him the story about her mother and he had told her the stories about that horrible uncle of his who had locked him in closets with no food or water for days and whipped him with belts, whips, sticks… anything the man could get his hands on.

Joe had learned how to open up and admit that she cared in that cabin with Jonah. If she was being honest with herself it was where she had fallen in love with the man.

“Oh shit…” Reb muttered. “Is that who I think it is?!”

“Sure looks like her.”

Joe frowned and followed their gazes to see a fairy like woman with silvery blond hair and pale skin stepping out of a dress shop.

She had tiny features, though she was too far away for Joe to see them with much detail, it was plan to see that she had a woman’s body beneath that dark blue satin and silk dress. The dark fabric emphasized the paleness of her snow white skin and Joe realized that she moved with an ease and grace that seemed to have her simply gliding and floating along.

“Who the devil is she?” Joe asked with a frown. She didn’t look like anything more than one more prim and proper lady, all trussed up like a turkey at thanksgiving, with probably no more than some hot hair and feathers bouncing around between her ears.

“What are the fucking odds?” Reb growled.

“That’s Penny.” Bart ground out.

“Penny…” Joe repeated as she gave another glace at the woman. Penny was crossing the street toward them, her eyes having found Reb and Bart. She waved one dainty arm, her gloved fingers long and slender.

So this was the woman who had hurt Jonah so badly? This is what Jonah had been so in love with?

“Hello, Bart. Hello, Reb. It is lovely to see the two of you again.” Penny said when she reached them, her hair, which was only half up, was blowing in the light breeze.

“Still just as bubbly sweet and false as ever I see.” Reb said with a sneer.

“And still insisting on wearing dresses that cost more than just a couple pretty pennies. How much did that rich banker of yours pay for that one?” Bart added.

Joe saw the poise and friendliness in Penny’s pale blue eyes falter and then she sighed.

“I deserved both of those comments, I suppose.” she admitted. “I was a terribly vain and superficial monster the last time we were around each other, I’m afraid.”

“I just thought that was you on a normal day.” Bart countered.

“Yeah, I seem to remember a bitch and a harpy the very last time we ever seen you.” Reb agreed.

“Well I can only hope that Jonah will disagree with you both. I truly do hope he is around here somewhere with you?”

Joe decided she was tired of being treated as if she were invisible and so she stepped forward and held out her hand.

“My name’s Joe Redding. I’ve heard a lot about you, Penny.” she said.

Penny looked at her dirty hand and then at her dirt streaked face and Joe knew the woman did not want to shake her hand. Apparently her eagerness to appear a well mannered lady outweighed her trepidation and her hand closed around Joe’s in a feather light embrace that was over very quickly.

“ Joe? That seems an odd name for a lady.” Penny admitted as she wiped her glove on her skirt before folding her hands in front of her.

Joe grinned. “Yeah, but I ain’t no lady.”

Penny studied her another moment and then turned her attention back to Bart and Reb who had been watching the women with amusement.

“May I ask where Jonah is? I trust he is accompanying the two of you since you all have always been such close friends.”

“That’s right, we are close friends.” Bart agreed.

“Close enough to know not to let him alone with a snake like you.” Reb added.

“Jonah’s a grown man, boys.” Penny replied, her voice lowering and ice appearing in her eyes. All pretenses of innocence leaving her face and posture. “Very grown. I assure you he can handle being let alone with me just fine.”

“I would have to agree on the grown man part.” Joe agreed as she spit out the thumb nail she’d been chewing. “He’s more than capable of satisfying a woman.”

Penny audibly gasped and then she stuttered several times as she looked Joe up and down.

“I must have broken his heart worse than I thought in order for him to have turned to something like… you … for comfort.”

A shadow fell over them all and Joe looked behind Penny to see Jonah standing there looking ready to kill as Bart and Reb chortled behind their hands.

Penny turned and Joe saw her skin turn an interesting shade of green. Jonah raised a brow. “Why don’t you repeat that, dear heart. I ain’t certain I heard you right the first time.”

---

Jonah walked out of the hotel with the keys to the two rooms in his pocket. He was going to have to think of a way to earn some money because their funds were running low.

He’d have to find a good poker game while they were here to fill his pockets.

While Jonah was a tough man and had plenty of experience sleeping out doors, nothing was quite so nice as a fire in the fireplace, a nice warm bed, soft covers and Joe’s body laid out all next to his. Skin to skin, breath mingling, watching her eyelids flutter as she dreamt peacefully in his arms.

Jonah looked over at the sun hanging just past midway in the sky and smiled.

Joe.

It seemed just the thought of her name, an image of that feisty woman, and Jonah felt lighter, happier.

He planned on having a long talk with her tonight once they were alone. He was no longer so into this path of vengeance as he had been.

He honestly simply wanted to put the past behind him and get on with his life… But would that mean losing Joe? He wasn’t ready to let go of her just yet. He might not ever be ready….

Jonah turned toward the livery where he had left Joe, Bart and Reb and his blood froze in his veins even as his heart began to thunder against his ribs.

Penny.

Every hurt that woman had dealt his heart bubbled up all at once and it was as if she’d left him yesterday instead of more than a year ago. He had had no idea what she was doing here but he was damn sure that the bitch was going to hear just what he thought about her before she left.

Jonah’s scuffed up boots ate up the ground quickly as he stormed toward where Penny was standing with Bart, Reb and Joe.

“I must have broken his heart worse than I thought in order for him to have turned to something like… you … for comfort.”

Jonah had never heard something that took his blood from freezing to boiling hot quite so fast as those words coming out of Penny’s mouth as she looked down her nose at his Joe.

He knew the moment Joe’s green/gray eyes fell on him and then he saw Penny begin to turn.

He looked down, Penny was short, barely five feet, and looked into the eyes he hadn’t looked into in over a year. The eyes that he had once thought he’d look into for the rest of his life. Hate burned in Jonah’s gut like a red hot ember.

“Why don’t you repeat that, dear heart. I ain’t certain I heard you right the first time.”

Jonah heard Bart and Reb snickering. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Joe cross her arms over her chest. Penny’s face took on a green hue as she looked up at him and then batted her lashes.

“Jonah, darling! How I’ve missed you so!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I have, truly, I have.”

Jonah shook his head. “Whatever it is you have up your sleeve, whatever it is you’re wanting, you can forget about it.”

Penny’s innocent façade faltered and Jonah could see the flash of anger in her icy eyes.

“I am not wanting anything other than simply a few moments of your time, Jonah….”

“I gave you two years of my time, Penny. I can promise you right now that you ain’t getting another minute of it to waste.” He took a step away from her, finding that that hatred that had been simply a burning ember was quickly beginning to sprout flames, licking at the insides of his heart. He wanted to hurt her the way she had hurt him… He simply wasn’t that kind of man.

“Jonah….” she began softly, her hand reaching out and falling on his arm. Jonah looked down at those dainty gloved hands against his dirty white shirt.

“I reckon yer gonna get yer hand off a him now.” Joe growled and Jonah took another step back, out of Penny’s reach. Jonah was surprised to hear the jealous edge in Joe’s voice.

“Let’s head to the saloon, y’all.” Jonah said to his friends. “There’s nothing else that needs to be said here.”

“So that’s it?!” Penny demanded. “I made one mistake and you’re going to turn your back on me for some foul smelling, mountain woman who speaks like an uneducated ruffian and does not have a single feminine bone in her body? You are a man, Jonah, you need a lady.”

Jonah shook his head. “You will watch what you say about that woman….” he began warningly. As far as he was concerned Joe was an angel. She had kept him from sinking and he owed her a great debt for that alone.

Joe spit into the dirt and stepped around Penny, coming between she and Jonah and rocking back on her heels.

“I can handle this here, lady , Jonah.” she stated. “I don’t reckon I need you to defend me to her.”

Jonah nodded, knowing he needed a drink, or two, to soothe his temper. “Fine then. I’m going to the saloon.”

---

Joe watched Jonah leave with Reb and Bart trailing behind him and she knew she had made him angry. Well damn his masculine pride! She hadn’t needed his help with bandits or drunkards so why the hell would she need his help with this Penny ?

“Ya got anything else ya’d like to say ‘bout me or are ya all done so I can go and have some drinks with my friends.”

“Friends?” Penny sneered, all pretenses of being a gentle, sweet-natured lady gone now that her audience had left. “Please, you’re probably keeping all three of them warm at night.”

Joe laughed. “Just a second ago ya basically said I weren’t a woman and now I’m warming three man’s beds? Seems that would take a mighty knowledgeable woman to do a thing like that. Ya know like the kinda woman that would let a man buy her purty things for two years and then take off with a rich banker that could buy her even purtier things.”

Penny laughed and Joe felt her fist clench. The tightening in her gut could only be one thing… Jealousy. She didn’t want this woman anywhere near her Jonah, because the man was hers whether he realized it or not.

“Just give me time, Joe , Jonah will be mine again. The man could never resist me and you certainly aren’t going to change that.”

Joe was about to respond when Jonah’s voice cut in loudly from down the street.

“Joe, come on now! Let’s play us a few hands of poker!”

Joe smiled at Penny and began to walk around her, stopping and patting the shorter woman on the shoulder. “It’ll be once I’m cold and dead that I let you sink your claws back into that man. He’s too good a man to be wasted on a pretty little, sweet talking thing like you.”

Joe enjoyed the sight of Penny’s mouth moving as she struggled to speak but now words came out. She looked almost exactly like a fish out of water and it made Joe chuckle and shake her head as she walked off to join Jonah who slipped back into the saloon when he saw her coming.

Joe could feel Penny’s eyes burning holes in her back but she ignored them. Joe Redding was a fighter and while Joe Redding would probably find a man too dumb a thing to fight over, Jonah had brought enough of Josephine back to life that Joe knew Penny wasn’t going to get anywhere near her man. Not so long as there was still a breath in her body.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Fallin in love with you just brought me sorrow. You leave smilin’ tonight but cryin’ tomorrow…..What kind of fool do you think I am? I ain’t fallin for you all over again. I ain’t playin a game that I know I can’t win. What kind of fool do you think I am?” Lee Roy Parnell ‘What kind of fool’

“Jonah.” Jonah froze and felt Joe stiffen beside him as they stepped out of the diner at dusk that evening.

Jonah had almost managed to forget that Penny was even around. He and Joe had talked, danced, played poker and laughed. But now reality was back, her name was Penny and she was calling his name.

Slowly he turned to see her standing a few feet down the boardwalk, wringing her gloved hands and staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked with a sigh.

“Please, can we at least simply talk? Let’s go back into the diner and simply catch up, Jonah. It has been a long time…”

“And who’s fault is that?” Jonah demanded.

“Mine.” Penny admitted with a tip of her head. “I was a fool. Please come in and speak with me for just a while and then you can get back to your life and never have to see me again if you choose.”

Jonah looked over at Joe but she was simply staring at Penny and her face was impossible to read.

“Give me just a minute.” he said to Penny and then he turned and moved Joe down the boardwalk and out of Penny’s earshot.

“I’m just gonna talk to her for a minute, Joe. I want to hear what she has to say for herself.”

Joe shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. “Do whatever it is you need to do, Jonah.’

“I just don’t want you to be upset or jealous or…..”

Joe snorted. “I ain’t jealous of that !” she insisted. “Besides I can’t get jealous of who you talk to. We’re just friends, remember.”

Jonah felt the sting of her words and then nodded quickly to cover the pain he was feeling. She was right after all. This was just friendship. They had both agreed to it and neither had ever called it anything different.

“Alright then.” Jonah replied.

“Alright then.” Joe agreed and then she walked away quickly toward the saloon where they had left Bart and Reb before coming to dinner.

Jonah watched her go and then turned back to Penny.

“Alright then, let’s go in and talk.”

---

Joe was fuming. Beyond fuming. She was a raging inferno of pissed off. She had heard it in Jonah’s voice when he’d turned and said ‘what?’ so softly to that damn woman that he was going to give her anything she asked him for.

What was wrong with the damned man? Was he that blockheaded and stupid? Maybe Reb and Bart had been right. Maybe he did have something wrong with his damned brain that kept him from thinking straight.

Then again maybe Joe should have told him not to go talk to Penny. Or at least not sounded as okay with it as she had. She and Jonah were more than just friends, at least they were in her mind, but she’d be damned before she spouted that out while he was pining away over the woman who had left him for another man.

She went into the saloon and sat down roughly at the bar, signaling for a beer.

Just an hour or so ago she and Jonah had been in here together. Laughing, talking, dancing…. Joe just didn’t understand why he wouldn’t love her. They were good together. Damn good. She might not be a lady but she was a woman, she knew that for a fact, and Jonah had been the one to open her eyes to it.

She took a slow sip of her beer and then rolled her eyes when Bart and Reb both flopped down in the stools on either side of her.

“What ya doin’ in here? Where’s Jonah?” Reb asked with a frown. Bart chuckled.

“Yeah, we didn’t think we’d see you two again ‘til morning.”

“He’s at the diner with Penny.” Joe replied with a snort.

“What?!” Reb demanded as he nearly fell of the stool in his drunken anger.

“Yeah, you heard me.” Joe replied.

“And you left ‘em alone together!?” Bart exclaimed. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“I just gotta have faith that things’ll work out the way they was supposed to work out. If Jonah and I are meant to be than I have nothing to be worried ‘bout. If something happen ‘tween the two of ‘em then I guess he and me just never were meant for each other.”

“You’re leaving too much to chance, Joe.” Bart warned. “Go back to that damn diner and get him away from her. She’s like a drug for Jonah! You think he was bad with Scarlett? That wasn’t nothing! When it comes to Penny the man loses all reason. I mean, shit, when she left him he damn near sunk down so deep in the bottle that Reb and I couldn’t get him back out.”

“I came here to feel better not listen at you make it worse than it is.” Joe scolded as she stood up and threw the money for her beer down on the bar. “Now I’m going to the hotel, I’m tired. And y’all leave him alone at that diner. I don’t want him coming back to me just cuz y’all interrupted his time with her. If he chooses her than that’s his choice and I’ll be just fine. It’s not like I’m in love with the man or nothing.”

Joe headed quickly for the swinging doors but not quickly enough to keep from hearing Reb mutter, “Yes you are.”

Joe made her way toward the hotel, going the long way down a back road to avoid walking past the diner where Jonah and Penny were talking.

Sure Joe could go in that diner, fists clenched and drag Jonah away from Penny. Or she could go to a dress shop, get all trussed up and show Jonah that she could be every bit the lady that Penny was, but Joe wasn’t going to do either of those things.

She was who she was. She was what she was. She wasn’t going to change that for anyone. Not even Jonah. He would either choose her like she was or he wouldn’t and either way Joe would be fine. She was tough. Her pa hadn’t raised her to be any other way.

---

“How have you been, Jonah?” Penny asked once they were seated in back corner of the busy diner.

“I’ve been good, Penny. How about yourself?” Jonah asked as he looked around him awkwardly.

It didn’t feel right to be here with her like this. He kept looking out the window for Joe and hoping she’d come bursting in here but why would she? She had said herself that they were only friends.

“I’ve not been so good.” Penny replied as she picked at the cloth napkin beside her cup of tea the server had brought out to her.

“Where’s your banker?” Jonah asked and Penny nodded and met his gaze.

“I wondered when you’d ask about him.” she replied quietly. Her icy eyes were sad when she added, “He’s gone.”

Jonah couldn’t find an ounce of sympathy no matter how hard he seemed to dig for it.

“What did you do? Leave him for a congressman?” Penny’s eyes flashed with that icy temper he knew so well. Had he really ever been foolish enough to fall for the lie of her sweetness. Truly she had been a terror. Nothing he had ever done for her or given her had ever been enough. She had always asked for more and more and more and Jonah had constantly been striving to please her and failing miserably.

That’s why he liked being with Joe. He didn’t have to be anything more than what he was and Joe didn’t ask him for things that he couldn’t give her…..Jonah shook his head when he realized the direction his thoughts had taken. The same direction they always took when he allowed them to wonder… Straight to Joe.

“He left me actually.” Penny admitted before picking up her tea cup and placing it to her lips. Jonah remembered how those lips had once felt on his own but instead of being aroused by the thought, he was disgusted that he had ever fallen for her and her obvious sexuality. “For a bureaucrats daughter. Apparently she had more to offer to him than I did.”

Jonah shrugged and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hurts don’t it?”

“Yes.” Penny replied and then Jonah frowned when tears filled her eyes. “I’m so so terribly sorry for what I did to you, Jonah!” she gasped. Jonah fidgeted in his seat. Damn tears. He hated women’s tears. They did something strange to his insides and made him feel as if he had to do something to make the tears stop.

“Uh.. don’t cry now, Penny.” he pleaded as he looked at the many eyes watching them. He reached out to pat her hand and she clutched onto his wrist and met his gaze.

“Please tell me that you’ll forgive me for what I did. I was a fool and I never, never , should have hurt you the way that I did.”

Jonah wanted to tell her to shove it up her ass but then he realized that that anger he felt wasn’t really directed at her, it was directed at himself for believing her, falling for her, wasting two years of his life on her.

“Sure, Penny.” he said as he tried to pull his hand away from her. “Sure I forgive you.”

Penny’s blue eyes lit up and the bright smile she gave him made her appear sweet and innocent.

“Oh thank you, Jonah! You won’t regret this. I’ll be good to you this time, my love. I realize now what a fool I was to ever let you go. You were the best thing I ever had…..”

“Now wait a damn minute,” Jonah interrupted as he yanked his arm from her grasp and shook his head. “I said I was willing to forgive you, I never said a word about us being together again.”

Penny’s face fell and she sat up abruptly. “What?”

“I don’t want you back, Penny. You or any other woman like you.”

Penny sneered. “Don’t tell me that’s why you’re with that horrid thing I saw you with earlier. Jonah, that could never satisfy you. Remember? I know what your body likes.”

Jonah chuckled. “You must think I’m a bigger fool than even I think I am.” he said with a shake of his head. “I wouldn’t take you back if you were the last woman on the planet. I loved you, Penny. I would have given you the moon and the stars if you’d a asked me for them and you came damn close to asking for them. I worked my ass off to give you everything you ever wanted and you told me that you loved me too. Then here comes this rich banker and you get him falling at your feet and you leave me without so much as a goodbye. Why in the hell would I take you back now?”

“So it is her?” Penny snapped. “I’ll kill her for taking what was mine!”

This made Jonah laugh out loud as he stood up. “I think we’re done here. I said what I wanted to say. You said what you wanted to say. I don’t see any reason why we ever need to speak again.” He walked past her but then turned and put his hand on her shoulder.

He felt her stiffen beneath his touch and he smiled and put his lips close to her ear.

“Word of warning, dear heart. I would steer clear of Joe. She’s a hell of a lot more woman than you are and I’m afraid you’d get hurt.”

Jonah could practically hear Penny’s jaw popping as she fougth to keep from screaming at him in a public place.

When Jonah stepped out onto the darkening streets he took a deep breath. In one way he felt lighter now after meeting back up with Penny. He might just be able to forgive himself for making such a fool of himself over her now that he had finally told her off… But Scarlett…Telling Penny off had him wanting to at least do the same to that bitch.

He couldn’t give up on trying to find her just yet. He had to give it just a little more time.

---

Joe tossed her gun on the bed and growled as she began to pace. If she cleaned the damn thing any more she was going to take the polish right off of it! And her knife hadn’t been this sharp in years.

This waiting around business was a bunch of shit. She wasn’t the type of woman to wait around and hope her man would show up. She was going to go down to that diner and drag his ass out of it!

Joe headed for the door but then stopped in her tracks when a knock sounded on it.

“Who is it?” she asked, more out of habit than anything. She recognized Jonah’s knock after hearing so many times.

“Jonah.”

Joe’s heart lightened but then she told it to calm the hell down. Just because he was here didn’t mean anything. Maybe he was just here to tell her goodbye. There was no point getting her hopes up.

“Come on in then, Jonah.”

The door opened and Jonah stepped in before closing it behind him. He didn’t waste a single second before walking across the floor, taking her in his arms and kissing her tenderly, before wrapping Joe in a hug that made her heart ache with love for him.

“What the devil was that for?” she asked after he pulled away. Jonah sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed and Joe sat beside him.

“Just wanted to, I guess.” he replied and then he raised his brow as he saw her gun on the bed. “You cleaned it?”

Joe shrugged. “Yeah. It was getting a bit dull.”

“I went to the saloon looking for you but Bart and Reb said you’d come back here. They were pretty damn drunk but they seemed mad at me…. You told them I’d gone to talk to Penny didn’t you?”

“They asked where ya was and I told ‘em. Ya never said it was a secret.” Joe reminded him. Jonah sighed.

“No, I didn’t.”

Joe picked at the blanket and then asked very nonchalantly, “So how did the talk go?” She hoped it had only been a talk.

“Good.” Jonah replied with a far off look as he stared at the wall. Joe didn’t like how that sounded. Had it been good for Penny or good for her?

“Well dammit don’t keep me in suspense all night!”

Jonah chuckled. “It’s strange.” he admitted. “After she left I would have given anything to have her back and today I could have.”

Ya could have? So ya told her no?” Joe asked, trying her best to not act as if her heart depended on his answer.

Jonah nodded. “She left me for the banker, someone better than me. The banker left her for someone better than her. She begged me to give her another chance but I told her no and it’s because I’ve found something better.”

“What’s that?” Joe asked, meeting his gaze. She could tell there was something he wanted to say. His gray eyes were intense as they stared back at her and then quite suddenly he looked away and shrugged one shoulder.

“Freedom. Peace of mind. Not having to be something I’m not every single day just to please somebody else.”

Joe swallowed hard. Not quite the answer she’d been hoping was coming but at least he had turned the woman down and come back to Joe. That was a start.

“What did you come back here for? Were you feeling bad?”

“Naw.” Joe replied with a shrug. “Ya can only drink so much whiskey and play so much poker ‘fore ya need a break.”

“I believe Bart and Reb need to learn that lesson.” Jonah replied with a chuckle.

“So, are ya tired?” Joe asked with a wink and Jonah shook his head, his gray eyes suddenly hungry.

“Not a bit.”

“Good.” Joe replied as she moved herself over onto his lap, straddling his waist and pulling off his hat. She tossed the hat across the room and smiled. “Me neither.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“So go on and tell me what ya told my friends if ya think you’re brave enough. And i’ll show you what a real woman is, since you think you’re hot stuff. You’ll bite off more than you can chew if you get too cute or witty. Ya better move your feet if you dont’ wanna eat a meal they call fist city”  Loretta Lynn ‘Fist City’

“Yeah, I know them.” Jonah and Joe shared a look of shock and then looked back at the older man who was currently picking bacon out of his crooked teeth.

They had come into this little diner for breakfast and after finishing their meal, had decided to just show Scarlett and her husbands pictures around on the off chance that maybe someone would recognize them.

“You do?’ Jonah asked skeptically. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” the man replied with a nod. “That’s Scarlett and Harmon Kilgore. They got a home place up around Biggley Falls, way up in the Montana territory.”

“I thought their last name was Reign?” Joe asked and the man frowned.

“No, I’m pretty sure their name is Kilgore. I’ve spent some time with them now and then when I’m up that way. Nice folks. They travel a lot and aren’t home often but I saw them a while back and they were headin’ that way.”

“You saw them how long ago?” Jonah demanded, receiving a warning glance from Joe that told him to rein in his temper and excitement.

The man clicked his tongue and wiped some biscuit crumbs from the front of his blue chambray shirt. “Three weeks or a month I reckon.”

“Thank you, sir! Thank you so much!” Jonah said with a smile and the man’s frown deepened.

“Those look like wanted posters, just what did those two do?”

“Them there real nice folks are bank robbers that frame innocent men and have them murdered.” Joe replied with a nod, Jonah was already out the door in search of Bart and Reb. “Ya have a nice day now.” she added as the man stared at her in shock.

Joe quickly dashed out the door to find Jonah and was instead nearly run over by Penny as the woman came barreling up to her.

“He was the best thing that ever happened to me! How dare you steal him away!” she exclaimed, her blue eyes flashing with rage. Joe fought back laughter but a snort of it escaped as she put her hands on her hips and looked at the feisty woman all dressed in satin.

“I didn’t take nobody from nobody. Ya gave him up all on yer own there, Penny, and then, when you came a crawlin’ back, the man chose me.”

“I’ll have him yet… Just one more taste of me and he’ll forget all about you.” Penny assured her with a sniff.

“Is that so?” Joe asked as she felt her temper rising just a little. “Well get along then and take him from me. He’s comin’ this way now.”

Penny and Joe both looked toward Jonah who was coming their way with Bart and Reb. Jonah’s jaw was tight and his fists were clenched as he quickly closed the distance between them.

Penny took a step toward him but Joe got in her way. “I’ll warn ya though that he might be a bit tuckered out. I kept him up pretty late last night and he got me up bright an early this morning…. And it weren‘t for breakfast neither.”

“Penny, maybe I didn’t make myself clear yesterday.” Jonah ground out as he came to a stop and Penny practically ran to him.

“Jonah, please…. There is nothing better than you. Please, just give me a chance.”

Joe crossed her arms over her chest and met Jonah’s gaze over the top of Penny’s head. Jonah sighed and motioned for her.

“Come along now, Joe.”

Joe felt a smile pull at her lips when Penny stepped back and looked at them both dumbfounded.

Joe went to Jonah, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began leading her toward the livery.

Bart and Reb were chuckling.

“Sorry for your bad luck.” Bart said as he patted Penny on the back.

Joe heard Penny screech and then she heard a whoosh of air and the sound of fabric all rubbing together, just before Penny’s hands buried themselves in her hair and yanked her away from Jonah.

Penny threw her sideways and released her hold on Joe’s hair. “I’ll kill you!” Penny exclaimed.

Joe frowned and looked over at Jonah who was shaking his head and fighting back a laugh.

“Did she just pull my hair?”

“Is sure looked that way.” Jonah replied with a nod. Joe laughed lightly.

“That’s what I thought. Why I ain’t had my hair pulled since I was ‘bout ten years old and that damn boy probly still smiles crooked.”

Penny let out a very angry growl and then launched herself at Joe who stepped out of the way and then kicked out her boot, hitting Penny in the backside and sending her, and her fancy dress, sliding face first on the dusty ground.

“Beat the hell out of her, Joe!” Bart exclaimed as Penny got back to her feet and held up her fists.

Joe laughed. “It just don’t seem right to beat up something so tiny and fragile.” she countered. Hell Joe could beat the shit out of grown men twice her weight and a foot taller than herself, why would she beat up such a tiny little thing like Penny.

“Jonah, please just come talk to me one more time.” Penny insisted, keeping her fists in front of her face as if to fend off an attack from Joe. Joe just shook her head and picked at a piece of fraying fringe on her shirt.

“You sure are a full bubble and a half another off of plumb aren’t ya?” she asked the other woman and Penny frowned.

“What does that even mean, you uneducated mountain heathen. Why don’t you go back to whichever rock you crawled out from under and disappear?”

“Why don’t ya put them fists down and come a little closer when ya say that?” Joe countered with a raise of her brow.

“Please! He’s only with you because I hurt him so bad that he feels as if he can’t do any better. Have you even looked in a mirror lately? You have nothing

to offer to a man.”

Joe looked down at her oversized buckskin clothes and then back at Penny.

“Is that right?” she asked quietly. She saw Jonah step forward as if to break them up and she held up her hand to stop him.

“I can promise ya right now that if’n ya give me half an hour, I can walk out here twice the lady that you ever dreamed of bein‘.”

Penny laughed and waved her hand. “I highly doubt that.”

“Joe this isn’t necessary. Come on now and let’s get our things around and get out of here.” Jonah urged.

“Jonah, it’s a good three week trip up to Montana. Thirty minutes ain’t gonna make one bit a difference.” Joe countered. Then she turned back to Penny. She leaned toward the woman and lowered her voice so only she would hear. “Keep yer damn hands to yerself while I’m gone or else I’ll show ya how my pa taught me to deal with folks that lay their fingers on what’s mine.”

Joe felt a small sense of satisfaction when she saw Penny swallow hard.

Joe looked down the road and saw a dressmakers shop. While she had always vowed to never get trussed up that way, she also couldn’t let this woman keep speaking to her this way. And she couldn’t just whoop her ass, it wouldn’t be a fair fight no matter which way you tried to look at it.

Instead Joe would make her eat her damned words. That seemed a much more fitting punishment.

“Ya sure ya can pull this off?” Reb asked skeptically and Joe looked at the three men in turn and realized they all looked doubtful. She laughed lightly, keeping the sound feminine and breathy.

“Why, gentleman, I do believe you are doubting my ability to be a true and proper lady!” she exclaimed with a smile. Her voice losing the bad grammar and accent it normally carried. She laid her hand over her chest and shook her head. “In all my years I have never been so offended. You boys just wait and see just how much of a lady Josephine Redding can be.”

With that Joe turned and walked away and Reb and Bart just stood there staring at her with shock while Jonah chuckled and wondered what in the world the crazy woman was thinking.

Joe stood straight when she walked into the dressmakers shop and heard the audible gasps from the ladies inside.

“M..May we help you?” A middle aged woman asked as she stepped forward and pushed her wire framed glasses up on her nose.

“Yep. I hope y’all ain’t busy, cuz ya got about thirty minutes to turn me into a lady.”

---

“Jonah, do ya really think Joe can pull this off?” Reb asked after they’d been waiting about fifteen minutes. Jonah was leaning against the banister in front of the diner and Bart and Reb were sitting on the bench while Penny kept chewing on her lip and trying to catch Jonah’s eye, causing Jonah to wonder what Joe had whispered to Penny to have the woman keeping her distance.

“Yeah, I mean, Penny might be a snake in the grass but she’s a snake in the grass with a perfect body, a woman’s body, I haven’t ever seen any proof that Joe’s got one of those under that buckskin. And is she as pretty as Penny under all that dirt?”

Jonah glared over at Bart and then rolled his eyes. “Trust me, y’all, Penny has nothing on Joe. Not real sure why Joe is so determined to waste time proving what a ’lady’ she can be but…. Sheer stubborn pride I suppose.” he finished with a shrug.

“So she’s actually got….” Reb motioned at his chest and then pretended to be gripping breasts. “.. under them clothes?”

Jonah threw his head back and laughed. “I ain’t talking to you about what my woman’s… those…” Jonah made the same hand gestures that Reb had made, “…look like under her clothes.”

Reb nudged Bart so hard with his elbow that the skinny man nearly fell of the bench. “Did ya hear that?!” he exclaimed. “That damned man just called her his woman.”

“Yeah I heard him, Reb! I didn’t need you to break my damned rib to make it any more clear!” Bart grumbled as he rubbed at his side. Reb’s blue eye was twinkling with mischievousness as he looked up at Jonah.

“So have ya told her that ya love her, Jonah?”

Jonah shook his head. “I don’t love her.”

Reb rolled his eye and Bart snorted. “Sure ya do.” Reb argued. “Ya just called her yer woman!”

“And she is my woman, but I don’t love her. We’re best friends and more. I like having her around. We’re good together.” Jonah kicked at rock beside his boot, feeling awkward to be having this conversation with Bart and Reb.

“But you don’t love her? Cuz it sounds to us like you love her.” Bart countered. Jonah simply shook his head.

“There’s no such thing… and even if there is such a thing, all it does is make a fool out of a person. I am fond of Joe. I would do anything for her but I am not in love with her. I won’t never make the mistake of falling for that fools game again. And luckily Joe feels the same way I do. There is no need for either of us to say that word and I’m glad. It works.”

“Well I hope it keeps workin’ fer ya, Jonah.” Reb said with a sad shake of his head. Jonah just let out a breath and looked toward the dressmaking shop.

It would keep working and that was the beauty of what he shared with Joe. Now where in the hell was that damned woman?

---

Joe stared in the mirror and damn near lost her nerve. She swallowed hard as she looked at her body in this tight purple dress of satins and silks. Joe forced her lungs to take breaths as she fought back the urge to tear it off, don her buckskins and get the hell out of town.

This dress made her feel weak and exposed. The bodice was tight and the dressmaker had insisted that she take off the wrap she normally kept around her breasts which meant they were on full display. The neckline dipped lower than what Joe would have preferred, offering a line of cleavage to anyone’s eye that happened to gaze upon her. Of course then Joe would be sure to make sure that their face ended up matching Reb’s.

The sleeves were long and tight, showing just how delicate her arms really were and somehow making her hands look more ladylike than they typically did. The skirt pulled away at the natural swell of her hips and the dress hung to the floor, hiding the fact that Joe was still wearing her boots. She simply hadn’t seen the point in buying shoes as well when no one would see them.

If her father could see her right now, with all her red hair pulled up with loose dainty curls hanging down her neck and across her cheeks, he wouldn’t recognize her. Her skin was scrubbed clean and shining and Joe just knew somebody was going to call her pretty.

“You are a very pretty woman.” the dressmaker said as if on cue. One of the customers who had taken pity and helped with Joe’s transformation nodded.

“Beautiful.”

“Alright. Alright.” Joe grumbled, throwing her arms up and moving away from the mirror. “I’ll be back in soon to get my things.”

‘You mean, you’ll want those clothes back?” the dressmaker asked as she curled her nose and pointed to the pile of buckskin in the corner of the dressing room.

“Yes. That’s ‘zactly what I mean. And y’all better leave my damn gun and knife alone too.”

“I wouldn’t dream of touching them.” the dressmaker assured her.

Joe nodded, took a deep breath and then headed for the door with her head held high.

She had a point to prove and, by God, she was going to prove it well.

---

“Jonah, can we talk for a moment away from… them ?” Penny asked as she approached him for the first time since Penny had left.

Jonah shook his head. “No.”

Penny laid her hand on Jonah’s arm and batted her lashes. “But what I have to say to you is something that would be better said in private.” she urged.

“You are something else. You left me, Penny. It wasn’t the other way around. I’m not taking you back now. Not now that I have something better than you could ever dream of being.”

“And what’s that?” Penny asked with a sneer.

Bart and Reb let out matching gasps and Jonah looked over Penny’s head to see Joe, at least he assumed it was Joe, walking toward the diner.

She certainly didn’t look like any Joe he had ever seen before.

“Her.” he managed to whisper, though his voice was hoarse and he cleared his throat quickly.

Joe smiled so brightly that Jonah was sure the sun dimmed. Holy hell but she was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. All smooth skin, soft curls and satin.

And yet… he didn’t really like it. That wasn’t really his Joe.

“Excuse me, dear,” Joe said with a wave of her hand as she turned her smile toward Penny. “But I do believe you must have misunderstood me earlier when I asked you to keep your hands to yourself.”

Penny stammered several times as her face paled.

“You can’t be her!”

“I can’t be who, dear? And do close your mouth. It is highly unladylike to leave it hanging open that way.”

“There is no possible way that you could be that horrid woman who shoved me in the dirt. It’s inconceivable.” Penny replied and then she made a point of snapping her mouth closed.

“I assure you that I am very much the same woman. You can put fancy clothes on any woman, do something fancy with her hair, and she will look every bit a lady. But that doesn’t change what she is on the inside does it, Penny? Some of us are tough as nails, independent women, who take care of ourselves and have a great loyalty to those we care about,” Joe paused and then smiled when she continued. “And some of us are nothing but whores who will spread our legs to anyone who comes along with a bit of coin in their pockets and have no sense of what the word loyalty might mean…. I do believe you know a great deal about that type of woman.”

Bart and Reb laughed behind their hands but Jonah saw the look on Penny’s face at Joe’s words and knew that trouble was about to happen.

He wanted to warn Joe but before he could, Penny lunged forward and tackled Joe to the ground.

“Holy hell!” Bart exclaimed as he jumped to his feet.

“What do we do?” Reb added.

“Watch!” Bart replied with a grin.

Jonah shook his head and watched the women roll around. He saw Penny land on lucky shot on Joe’s chin and then it was clear Joe had had enough.

“Damnation! This goddamn dress ain’t nuthin’ but a hindrance and I ain’t never puttin’ one on again!” she yelled as she grabbed Penny, flipped her off of her and then proceeded to punch her square in the jaw.

Joe got to her feet, leaving Penny on the ground dazed and panting.

“Feel better now?” Jonah asked with amusement as his finger traced the tiny red patch of skin on her cheek from Penny‘s fist. Joe shrugged.

“I proved my damn point to the woman didn’t I?” she asked as she leaned into his touch and Jonah pretended not to notice. Joe wasn’t the type who would want such feminine behavior pointed out in public.

“I reckon you did.”

‘Hell yeah you did! That was something else!” Bart exclaimed appreciatively.

“And no, I don’t feel better.” Joe added with a snort as she finished tearing off the ripped sleeve of her dress.

Jonah’s eyes traveled down the exposed bare skin of her arm and he swallowed hard. He realized then that her breasts were much more visible than normal but instead of liking that, he was upset and kept looking at Bart and Reb to ensure the other men weren’t looking.

“I won’t feel better ‘til I get this damn contraption off!”

Jonah laughed and then put his arm around her shoulders and led her back toward the dressmakers shop, leaving Penny on the ground with a crowd beginning to gather around her.

“That was real good.” Reb said as he stepped up on the other side of Joe. Joe snorted and pointed at him.

“I saw you look at my breasts, Reb.” she warned. “And if’n ya do it again, ya will be wearin’ a patch over both yer eyes.”

Reb laughed and took a couple of steps away when Jonah glared at him.

Jonah pulled Joe away from Reb and then smiled down at her.

“You look real pretty, Joe.” he admitted and she scowled.

“Don’t remind me.” Jonah laughed.

“Can I be honest though?”

“Sure can.” Joe replied.

“I prefer the scowling, cursing, buckskin wearing Joe over the satin and silk, proper etiquette, Josephine.”

Jonah saw a blush rise in Joe’s cheeks as she kicked the dirt they were walking over.

“Good.” she said after a moment. “Because this damn dress is itchin’ the hell outta me and I’m gonna burn it just the second I get it off.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

“So this is Biggley Falls.” Joe said with a frown as she looked around the tiny frontier town.

“Guess so.” Jonah replied. “I pictured her living somewhere a bit more….”

“Fancy, thieving, bank robbing, whore of a bitch friendly?” Bart offered and Jonah nodded.

“Yeah that.”

“How are we going to figure out where she and her man live?” Bart wondered as he glanced around at the townsfolk milling about the tiny town.

“Ask I reckon.” Joe replied with a shrug. She had been dreading this for the last three weeks it had taken them to reach Biggley Falls.

Jonah still hadn’t mentioned a future with her. No mention of love. No mention that what they shared meant anything more to him than friendship and rutting.

It meant oh so much more to Joe. Jonah wasn’t her friend, he was her best friend. She wondered if he realized that he knew more about her than anyone, even her father, ever had.

She had shared more than just her body with Jonah, she had shared her heart and soul. He knew about her mother, about her fear to appear weak. He knew the truth about how her father had died and the loneliness, desperation and fear that had consumed her as the man had lie there dying and then those weeks after he was first gone.

Would Jonah really be able to just pack up and leave her once this was over? Would it be that easy for him to walk away? Should she ask him to stay? What if he refused? What if he laughed at her? Jonah had awakened her feminine side and taught her how to let her guard down but could she let it down so completely? Could she put her entire future into his hands that way?

She wasn’t sure.

“Boy if Scarlett sees you, Jonah, she’d shit some bricks fer sure! As far as that woman knows you died back in Barbadine!” Reb exclaimed with a chuckle. Jonah snorted in response and Joe glanced at him.

It was obvious that the man was on edge. “Bart, why don’t you go see if’n ya can get somebody to tell ya where they live at.” she ordered the skinny man.

“Why me?” Bart asked, throwing a longing glance at what Joe knew had to be a whorehouse given the fact that a half naked woman was brushing out her dark hair in the window.

“Cuz it’s too personal fer Jonah and he’ll probably come off a bit too intense, Reb is still drunk from last night and folks don’t like talkin’ to a one eyed bastard that smells of a whiskey vat, and most folks would find it a bit odd if’n I start askin’ ‘bout where they’re at since folks tend to think I’m odd anyway.”

“Where’m I gonna ask at?” Bart grumbled.

“Mercantile seems to be busy this morning.” Jonah replied with a tip of his head. “Go start there.”

“Fine.” Bart spat. He jumped from his horse and began to lead the beast down the road.

“Bossy. Bossy.” Jonah accused with a half smile as he looked over at Joe. Joe winked at him.

“Some men like a take charge kinda woman.”

“Is that right?” Jonah asked, his smile growing a little.

Joe nodded. “Least that’s what I’ve been told.”

“And who told you that?” Jonah questioned, his gray eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Some randy stud lookin’ fer lovin’.”

Jonah threw his head back and laughed and Joe smiled in response. She loved that sound.

“See that’s your problem.” Jonah stated, forcing a seriousness in his tone that didn’t match the laughter on his face. “A man will say just about anything when he’s looking for loving.”

“Would y’all just get married already?” Reb asked with a scowl as he spit a stream of tobacco into the dirt. “That way you’ll get back to hatin’ each other and I won’t have to listen to all this back and forth lovey dovey bullshit.” Joe’s eyes lit up at the comment but Jonah quickly doused her good mood.

“Ya sound a bit mad this morning, Reb.” Jonah replied. “And why the devil would we get married? That’s something for them foolish folks who fancy themselves in love. We ain’t the types to do something so stupid.”

Joe swallowed back the anger those words stirred inside of her. She wanted to marry Jonah. Hell she would marry him just this second if the stubborn man would ask her.

It was becoming increasingly obvious to her that Jonah didn’t love her. He had said so more than once and Joe had somehow managed to hold out hope that that was just his stubbornness talking. She was starting to think it was simply his truthful side talking….. Now what was she supposed to do about that?

“That’s right. Only a fool would fancy herself in love with Jonah.” Joe added, forcing a teasing tone to her voice. Though she was beginning to think that she was a fool. Jonah’s fool. Hanging on his shirt tails and hopelessly in love with a man who didn’t feel the same while Reb and Bart looked on with a mixture of sympathy and pity.

That thought caused a sour rock to drop into her stomach. Joe Redding didn’t want to be any mans fool.

Silence fell over the group of them and Joe could feel Reb’s blue eye watching her with pity. Damn Jonah for making her look so foolish.

“What the hell’s taking Bart so damned long to ask a question?” she snapped before beginning to chew on her fingernail.

As if on cue, Bart came back out of the mercantile with a grin on his face.

“So where is she?” Jonah all but growled, his hands tightening and his knuckles turning white as he gripped Coppers reins.

“It seems she and her husband have a cabin about three miles east of town. They’ve been gone about a week but are expected back home today.” Bart replied and then he grinned as he jumped up in the saddle of his horse. “And apparently I got a pretty smile and Miss Sara Miller would love to have dinner with me.”

“This town must be hard up for good lookin’ robust men. Maybe I’’ll just go on down and introduce myself to Miss Sara Miller. She’ll forget all about your scrawny Mexican ass.” Reb stated with a grin.

“Half Mexican ass.” Bart shot back. “And I ain’t scrawny.. I just got a hard physique cuz of all the loving I get.”

“Yeah and I lost my damn eye saving a baby from a pack of wolves.”

Joe laughed. “Gotta love their lovers quarrels.” she said, turning toward Jonah, but the man wasn’t there. Joe glanced around her quickly and then caught sight of him heading out of town.

“He’s gone.” she muttered.

“Have you told the man you love him yet?” Bart asked. “Or even asked him what he wants to do once we take care of Scarlett and Harmon?”

“No, I haven’t.” Joe snapped. “And what business is it of your’n?”

“So you do love him?” Reb asked with a grin and Joe grumbled under her breath, before swinging her leg out and kicking him solidly in the chest.

She felt a bit of satisfaction when he nearly tumbled out of the saddle and began coughing. Without saying a word she quickly took off after Jonah, hoping she could figure out what was going on in the mans mind. She just had to make sure she helped him catch Scarlett and Harmon and managed to stay alive as he did so.

---

Jonah rode straight up to the cabin without stopping to think of what he might do if he got there and Scarlett and Harmon were home.

He wanted revenge. They had lied to him. Used him. Played him for a fool. Then they had left him for dead and he would have died if not for Joe, Reb and Bart. And to think that back before Barbadine, Jonah had been hoping he could get rid of Joe because she had driven him crazy…. How foolish he’d been.

Joe had become the one and only person he trusted one hundred percent with his life. He was more fond of her than he had ever been of anyone else. He knew her secrets, she knew his. She didn’t push words like love and forever on him and for that he was glad.

He would never love again and there wasn’t another woman in the world that was going to get him to promise her forever. The minute you started talking about a future with a woman they found the fastest way they could to make a complete and utter fool out of you.

No matter how much he might like, maybe even need Joe around, he wasn’t about to fall in love with her or be turned into her fool. He’d learned his lesson well and no woman was worth that.

Jonah was pulled from his thoughts when Joe’s voice came from beside him.

“I reckon nobodies here.”

Jonah realized that she was right and he cursed under his breath.

“I guess I’ll just stay here and wait.” he said. “I’ll hide Copper out in the woods behind the cabin.”

“I’ll stay here with you.” Joe assured him. Jonah looked down at her. Honestly he wanted her far away from danger but he knew that she would knock his teeth out if he dared to say so. Besides Joe was the toughest person he knew and he knew for a fact that she could kick his ass if she ever took the notion to.

“What about us? You want us to stay here too?” Bart asked as he looked around.

“No.” Jonah replied. “I’d rather y’all go keep an eye out in town. That way if somebody tips them off that we’re here you can grab them.” Bart and Reb nodded.

“Jonah, keep your cool when they show up, okay? Don’t make us keep you out of trouble again.” Bart warned. Jonah glared at him.

“I didn’t ask for your damn help the first time. If you’d rather just go on then you can.”

“Jonah, don’t be sore at Bart.” Reb pleaded. “He just worries ‘bout ya cuz he’s yer friend.”

“I know.” Jonah admitted with a sigh as he rubbed his face. “I promised the sheriff that I wouldn’t kill either of them unless they left me no choice and y’all know damn well that I’m a man of my word.”

“And if’n an accident were to happen, Canada and Mexico are both nice this time of year.” Joe cut in with a smile and Jonah found himself chuckling as his mood lightened a little.

He found it amazing that the woman was able to do that. Jonah had always struggled with a darkness inside of him. A sadness. It tended to pull him down and make him moody and miserable. It didn’t matter how hard he had tried to fight it in the past, the darkness had always won… . But Joe seemed to have a talent for pushing that darkness back.

Jonah could never remember laughing as much as he laughed with her. Her friendship was truly the best part of his life.

“Alright then, Jonah. We’ll head back into town now that we know how to get here and if they try to make a run for it, we’ll get ‘em.” Bart promised.

Jonah tipped his hat to his friends and watched the two men ride away.

“This place sure ain’t what I thought Scarlett would live in.” Joe said thoughtfully as she glanced around. Jonah nodded in agreement as he looked at the tiny cabin and drafy, hole filled barn.

“It just don’t fit that high class image of hers, does it?” he offered.

“No. But then again, I guess if yer a bank robber ya don’t wanna flaunt yer money ‘round too much.”

“She’ll be singing a different tune when we get her back to Barbadine.”

“Barbadine?!” Joe demanded. “We’re cartin’ her hoity toity ass all the way back to Barbadine?”

“Yes. This is personal for me and I want her dealt with by the law in Barbadine. I don’t give a rats ass where we drop that man of hers off at but Scarlett is going to Barbadine.” Jonah replied with a no nonsense nod.

Joe sighed and patted her horse on the neck. “I won’t be so nice to her this time.” Jonah raised his brow. “And you would consider the way you treated her the last time to be nice?”

“Sure was!” Joe replied before spitting out her thumbnail. “Why I was damn near cheery and chipper with that stick-up-her-ass, little tramp.”

Jonah found himself laughing again as he threw his head back. When he looked back at Joe her green gray eyes were full of fondness as she gazed at him.

“Guess I’ll be building her shelters again.” he teased and Joe snorted.

“I don’t reckon ya will. You’ll be too busy building ’em fer me.”

“Is that right?” Jonah asked as he began to lead Copper into the woods to hide him.

Joe winked over at him. “Yep. What can I say? Ya got me a bit spoiled.”

---

“It’s getting close to dark, Jonah. Ya reckon they’re coming tonight?” Joe asked as she and Jonah sat inside the tiny cabin. Jonah hadn’t moved from the chair by the window since they’d entered the cabin and he knew that Joe was getting tired of waiting. She’d been pacing and nearly wearing holes in the wooden floor for the last two hours.

“Bart said they were expected back tonight. But I don’t know. Mind reading and future telling are two talents that passed me right up.” Jonah replied as he turned from the window to look at her.

“Yeah but ya got a few other talents that didn’t miss ya.” Joe assured him as she crossed the darkening room toward him.

Jonah felt his heart quicken and desire flared to life for this woman whom he couldn’t seem to get enough of.

Jonah had thought that eventually his longing for her body would begin to fade but instead it was only growing stronger and deeper.

“I know a few things you’re pretty good at too.” he stated.

Joe smiled but then she scowled and her gaze flew out the window.

“I believe speaking of those devils caused ‘em to show up. We got company, Jonah.”

Jonah turned quickly and there, out in the darkness that was quickly swallowing the forests around them, he saw the wagon approaching.

And sitting there just as pretty as you please beside the man that Jonah recognized must be Harmon, was Scarlett.

Jonah felt hate fill him and his fists clenched tightly against his thighs.

He couldn’t wait to wipe that smile clean off her face with the back of his hand.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Go tell that long tongued liar. Go and tell that midnight rider. Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter, tell ’em that Gods gonna cut ’em down.”  Johnny Cash ‘Gods gonna cut ya down’

Jonah sat in the darkness of the cabin, his legs stretched out on the sofa and his hands behind his head. He had a clear view of the door from here and he was waiting on it to swing open.

Joe was lounging at the table, munching on a biscuit she had gotten from her saddlebags earlier in the day. Jonah knew that while she looked relaxed and at ease, she would be ready to fight in an instant if the need arose.

Jonah’s blood was pumping hard as he listened to Scarlett and Harmon speaking outside. His anger grew with every laugh he heard escape that whores mouth.

The door creaked open but Jonah knew that sitting in the dark, Harmon and Scarlett would not see he and Joe.

The sound of a match being struck and then the illumination of the tiny flame filled the cabin and Jonah was able to make out Scarlett, her painted lips teasing the skin of Harmon’s neck as the man lit a lamp beside the door.

Jonah smiled when Harmon’s eyes fell on him and the man made a choking sound as he shoved Scarlett away.

“Hello there, you two. Long time no see. You’re both looking well.” Jonah stated as he sat up on the sofa.

Scarlett gasped and covered her chest with her hand as she turned and her gaze met Jonah’s.

Jonah looked into those big brown eyes and all but snarled as he stood.

“What are you doing in our home?!” Harmon demanded and Jonah saw his hand edge closer to the rifle that had been leaning against the wall.

“I wouldn’t grab that shooter, friend.” Jonah warned with a tiny shake of his head. “I can promise you right now that you won’t have time to fire off a shot before you and your wife are both lying dead.”

Jonah saw Scarlett swallow hard and tears filled her eyes even as Harmon dropped his hand away from the rifle.

“Jonah, I thought you were dead.” Scarlett whispered.

“I think what you mean is that you hoped I was dead.” Jonah countered with a snort. “It didn’t go your way this time, darlin’. You have your own little wanted poster now.”

“She does?” Harmon snapped. Jonah nodded.

“Not just her. You do too.” Jonah reached in his pocket and pulled them out before handing them to Harmon. As Harmon was reading them, Joe cleared her throat from the table, causing Scarlett to jump and turn in her direction.

“You!” Scarlett snarled.

“Well a nice how do you do to you too.” Joe said with a smile. “Ain’t ya gonna bat them purty lashes fer me?”

“Who the hell is that?” Harmon demanded of his wife and Scarlett glared at Joe.

“The reason that bastard is still alive.” she spat. “Joe must have saved him.”

Jonah crossed his arms over his chest as Joe walked over to stand beside him.

“Yep, I did. Me, Bart and Reb. You didn’t think we’d just let y’all set our friend up and then carry on with yer lives did ya?” Joe asked.

“Now we’re taking you both to the authorities so you can pay for your crimes.” Jonah informed them as he grabbed a length of rope from the small table beside the sofa.

“I don’t think you are!” Harmon shot back as he once again reached for his rifle.

“Harmon stop!” Scarlett cried out as she shoved him roughly away from the rifle he’d been trying to grab.

Jonah grumbled as he holstered his revolver. “She just saved you from a bullet to the brain.” Jonah informed the man. “Now I done kicked your ass once, Harmon, and I won’t hesitate to do it again. Get over here and put them hands behind your back so I can tie them up.”

“Scarlett, why don’t ya toss down that derringer ya told us ya always carry in them skirts of your’n.” Joe added with a nod in Scarlett’s direction as she held her revolver on the woman. Scarlett reached into her pocket and Joe clicked her tongue. “Do it real slow like. Of course ya oughta go ahead and try to kill me so as I can just shoot you and get all this over with real quick.”

Jonah ensured the ropes were tight around Harmon’s wrists and then he quickly checked the man for more weapons. He didn’t carry a revolver on his hips but he had a boot knife which Jonah relieved him of.

“You will not tie me up!” Scarlett spat at Joe as took the gun from Scarlett’s hand, tossed it on the sofa and then held up her own bit of rope.

“Yes she will.” Jonah argued. “Trust me you’d rather it was her than me.”

“Jonah, please!” Scarlett begged as she rushed forward and grabbed Jonah by the front of his shirt. Her brown eyes were wide and searching as they looked up at him. “This is all Harmon’s fault. It was all his idea! I had no choice but to go along with him all these years. You have no idea what a monster he is.”

“Why you stupid….” Harmon growled as he stepped forward but Jonah shoved the man backward with one hand, causing him to fall into the arm chair.

“That’s Jonah’s way of askin’ ya to have a seat.” Joe cut in with a chuckle. “Now give me those hands, tramp… I mean, Scarlett. Sorry, I ain’t very good with names.”

Scarlett ignored Joe and continued to grasp Jonah’s shirt and look up at him.

“Please, Jonah… We had something special. I felt it too just the same as you did! I didn’t want to rob that bank! I didn’t want to turn on you but Harmon would have killed me if I hadn’t done as he’d wanted. You have to believe me.”

Jonah sighed and grabbed her wrists with one calloused hand before yanking her hands from his shirt roughly.

“Ow! Jonah, you’re hurting me!” Scarlett whimpered. Jonah didn’t releases his hold on her, instead he gripped her wrists tighter.

“I don’t have to do anything for you, Scarlett. You are a whore. An adulteress. A married woman who lies, cheats and uses men to get what she wants and then smiles at them as they lie on the dirt dying and she rides off into the sunset with her husband. You’ll get no sympathy from me.”

Scarlett began to cry as Jonah yanked her hands behind her back and allowed Joe to tie her wrists tightly.

“Where are you taking us?” Harmon asked as Joe and Jonah led them out the door and back into the darkness outside.

“To hell.” Joe replied gruffly and Jonah found himself chuckling at the look of horror that Scarlett and Harmon shared.

To Jonah’s surprise Bart and Reb were waiting beside Harmon and Scarlett’s cart with Joe and Jonah’s horses from the woods.

“We followed ‘em back from town.” Reb replied in answer to Jonah’s questioning look. “They really aren’t that bright for hardened bank robbers.”

“You don’t have to be bright when you’re conning mush brained fools like your friend there.” Harmon countered with a haughty sneer and Jonah felt his temper snap.

His fist shot out and caught Harmon hard in the jaw and the man went down without so much as a moan. Becoming just a crumpled heap on the ground.

“Jonah, listen to me, please…!” Scarlett began again as she stepped over her husbands unconscious body.

Jonah’s eyes widened with shock when Joe’s fist came out and caught the woman hard in the temple and she too fell to the ground, landing unconscious on top of her husband.

“Damn, Joe….” Bart mumbled and Joe just shrugged as she adjusted her gun belt on her hips.

“The damn woman was getting on my damned nerves. She was a beggin’ worse than that ol’ hound dog my pa used to have.”

“Well we got ‘em, Jonah.” Reb said with a grin as he patted Jonah on the back. “Now what?”

“Now we take ‘em to Barbadine.” Jonah replied. “And their money.” he added, pointed toward Copper’s saddlebags, in which Joe had stowed the sacks of money they’d found earlier in the day.

“All the way back to Barbadine?!” Reb demanded incredulously. “Why that’ll forever and I reckon we’ve earned at least some of that money!”

“It won’t take any longer than a month and less than that if we catch a train and take it part of the way. We’ll take the quickest route to get there.” Jonah argued. “And nobody deserves that money except the hardworking folks it was stolen from.”

“Well let’s get going then, Deputy Do-Good.” Bart mumbled grumpily. Then he grinned. “Turns out Miss Sara Miller was really a Missus and let’s just say that her husband ain’t none too pleased about that kiss she gave me after our supper.” Bart informed them and Jonah rolled his eyes.

“We’re about done with this and then we can all get back to our lives.” he said, not bothering to add that he had no idea what life he had to get back to. A life of wandering he supposed. A life of living out of saddlebags and taking care of himself. “I’ll sure be glad to get away from y’alls faces for a while.” he added jokingly and he frowned when Joe slammed an unconscious Scarlett’s limp body roughly into the back of the cart with a lot more force than was necessary.

Before he could ask her what was wrong she swung herself up into the saddle of her horse.

“Well come along then, everybody. I ain’t a bit tired and the moon is bright enough to give us a bit of light. Let’s cover some damned miles.” she snapped.

“How we gonna keep them under control all the way to Barbadine?” Bart asked as he climbed into the cart to take the first shift in driving.

Reb chuckled as he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out something wrapped in soft linen. He unwrapped the glass jar full of liquid and his blue eye sparkled with amusement.

“Just pour ya a bit of this on a rag, hold it against their nose real easy like and they’ll sleep like babies fer hours.”

“I still say it’s more fun to just knock ‘em in the head every time they start to moan.” Joe countered and Jonah laughed and tried to catch her eye but she turned her head quickly and seemed to make a point of ignoring him.

Jonah didn’t have time to worry about what was wrong with her. Right now he needed to focus on getting these two back to Barbadine without simply blowing either one of their brains out and winding up a wanted man himself.

---

Scarlett’s head was pounding and her body felt as if it had been beaten with very mean, stick wielding, dwarves as she began to awaken and felt sunlight beating against her eyelids.

Slowly she opened her eyes, just a crack, moaning at the new pain this introduced to her throbbing temples. Harmon was coming to next to her his hands secured behind his back just the same as hers were. Scarlett tried to twist her wrists to free them and nearly cried out in pain. Her wrists were raw and her fingers sticky as if they were covered in blood.

The lurching movement of the wooden cart beneath them told Scarlett that they were on the move and she struggled to remember just what in the hell was going on.

Memories came flooding back.

Jonah was alive. He had lived through being shot in Barbadine and he had come back for revenge. Now she and Harmon were tied up and being taken right back to Barbadine to pay for the crimes they’d committed.

“This is all your fault.” Harmon croaked, his eyes remaining closed.

“How do you have that figured, my darling?” Scarlett hissed. She glanced at the front of the cart as they hit a rock and her aching body was tossed sharply against the rough wooden boards beneath her.

She saw a flash of wild red hair and felt hatred fill her.

Joe Redding.

The source of every problem currently plaguing Scarlett’s life. If not for that bitch, Jonah would be dead. Scarlett had no idea that it was Joe who had actually saved the man. It had been clear to her that Joe was in love with Jonah and given the fact that the two were still riding together after all these months, Scarlett knew they were probably laying together now.

“You turned on me.” Harmon accused and Scarlett rolled her eyes as she looked back at her husband.

“I was trying to save us both. Don’t we have other things to be worried about just now than your pride?” she questioned, her throat and mouth dry and parched. Her tongue felt swollen and her words slurred as she spoke.

“You should have made sure he was dead.”

“I believe you were the one who said there was nothing to worry about and no need to go back to Barbadine.” Scarlett accused. Before Harmon could reply the cart jerked to a stop.

“Damnation, I never realized it was possible to hate something as much as I hate that damned voice of your’n.” Joe exclaimed as she jumped down and came around the cart.

Scarlett scooted her body toward the edge of the wooden cart and pushed her back up against it so she could look the hateful red haired devil in the eyes.

“What in the world did I do to you?” Scarlett demanded. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Ya cry worse than a damn blubberin’ new born babe.” Joe snapped. “Now hush that mouth ‘fore I have Reb over there give ya bit more of his sleepy juice.”

“Sleepy juice?” Harmon asked with a frown. Joe smiled.

“Yep. I ain’t real sure what it’s called but it knocks you two flat on yer asses for hours.” Harmon and Scarlett shared a look.

“How long have we been tied up?”

“Two days.” Jonah’s voice cut in as he rode up to the cart. “Now shut the hell up or we will knock you out again.”

Scarlett glanced over at Reb and saw the man grinning and holding up a bottle as he sat on his horse.

“He’s enjoyin’ that way too much.” Joe muttered as Reb gave the bottle a little shake. Jonah nodded with agreement.

“Jonah, you don’t have to do this… We’ll give you the money. Just let us go! Don’t turn us in.” Scarlett pleaded.

“We already have your money.” Jonah assured her.

Scarlett’s mind was reeling. She knew she should put on some act… Something that would garner her Jonah’s sympathy and possibly get the man to let her go but she didn’t think it would work.

He seemed determined to see her in prison.

“Fine. We’ll sit here quietly.” Scarlett conceded, shooting a warning glare in Harmon’s direction when he opened his mouth to argue.

“Good. Let’s get moving again then. We can be at the train station sometime tomorrow if we keep going.” Jonah said and Joe nodded and hopped back up in the cart.

“Jonah, I’m hungry and thirsty.” Scarlett whispered quietly. “Do you think we could have something?”

Jonah’s gray eyes were full of so much cold hatred that Scarlett swallowed hard and pushed her body tighter against the side of the cart. Instead of replying he simply urged Copper forward and left her sitting there staring at his back.

Who in the hell was that? It certainly wasn’t the man she had fooled just a few short months ago. This was someone else. Someone dangerous. Someone hard. Someone she and Harmon would never have thought about using.

“How are we going to get out of this, dear heart?” Harmon whispered as he positioned himself beside her. Scarlett looked at him with true fear.

“I have no idea.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“To apologize to her would be so simple, but instead he cries ‘I’ll be damned if I crawl’. If he loses her he’s lost his best friend and more than just a lover can provide. So he wrestles with emotions that defeat him. Chalk another love lost up to foolish pride.” Travis Tritt ‘Foolish Pride’

“Who’s watchin’ the lovers?” Joe asked Jonah as he joined her beside the tiny fire she had built away from the main camp that night.

“Reb’s got his eye on them.” Jonah assured her and then his gray eyes fixed her with a concerned stare. “Now we need to talk.”

Joe felt that familiar tremble wash over her as Jonah’s eyes looked into hers. Quickly she looked away and poked at the fire with a stick.

“What?”

“How about we start with you telling me what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” Joe snapped, glaring over at him.

“You haven’t acted right since Biggley Falls….”

“Yer just mad cuz we ain’t laid together since then.” Joe replied with a shrug. “I just ain’t been in the mood, Jonah…”

“No, it’s not just that.” Jonah argued. “You’ve barely spoken to me. Did I do something to piss you off?”

“I’m just fine, Jonah.” Joe assured him. Truth was she was far from okay. The end was coming for she and Jonah and Joe knew she was going to be powerless to stop it.

“So what are you going to do once this is over?” Jonah questioned and Joe shrugged.

“Head back to the cabin, I guess. Try to get some trappin’ done and get a bit of extra money. I’m hoping to travel up the northwest a ways. I’ve heard there’s some good furs to be got up there. I’d like to get enough money to not have to work too hard for a year or two.” she replied, though she made sure to not tell Jonah the real reason why she was hoping to not have to trap too much the next year.

“What about you?” Joe asked Jonah. He shrugged.

“Don’t know yet. Might see about gambling and putting some money back.”

Joe nodded. Jonah’s future didn’t include her, that much was obvious. Before she could say anything else, Jonah moved closer and pressed his lips to hers.

Joe wanted to give in. She wanted to let him make love to her, let herself be weak with him…. But she couldn’t.

All she kept seeing was the pity filled glances that Bart and Reb were always sending in her direction whenever Jonah denied loving her. All she kept hearing was a chant in her head repeating ‘Jonah’s fool’ so loudly that she could not drown it out.

She would not be his fool. This game had been her idea in the beginning but now the rules had changed and Joe no longer wanted to play…. Not while Jonah was holding all the cards and Joe was sitting there with a losing hand. A good gambler always knew when to fold.

Joe pulled away from him and Jonah suddenly looked angry.

“I don’t know what the hell your problem is but as soon as you’re done acting like some moody woman…”

“I am a woman, dammit!” Joe exclaimed as she stood up. “I’m a woman, not a whore, and I don’t wanna be treated like one anymore.”

Anger flared in Jonah’s gray eyes as he rose to his feet as well. “I have never treated you like a whore.” he argued.

“Yes ya have! Every damn time I’ve spread my legs fer you!” Joe stormed away toward the main camp but Jonah followed after her.

“That’ s a hell of a thing for you to say!” he bellowed, not seeming to care that they now had the attention of everyone else in camp.

“Go to hell, Jonah.” Joe spat as she kept her back to him and stared off into the darkness.

Jonah grabbed her arm and spun her around. “What is this about, Joe?”

“I want more, Jonah.” Joe replied, the words coming out of her before she had even realized they were going to. Here she went, setting herself up for that fall she had no idea she was going to take. But nothing good ever came for a coward, that was another of the lessons her pa had taught to her. Joe was no coward.

Jonah quickly released his hold on her arm and took a step back.

“More what?”

“More of you.”

“No.” he replied simply as he swallowed hard. “I won’t give you more. This was your idea, Joe. You and I agreed we wouldn’t attach strings to this. We wouldn’t ask for more.”

“Yeah well, I changed my mind.” Joe replied, trying to ignore the pain that his sharp edged words had caused. There was nothing worse than having your own words thrown back in your face. Especially once you realized just how foolish your words had been.

“So what do you want, Joe?”

“You.”

“I won’t love you, Joe.” Jonah warned her and Joe felt her heart crumbling. “I refuse to be another woman’s fool.”

“Dammit, Jonah!” Joe exclaimed as she punched him in the chest and he fell back several steps and stared at her with shock. “I ain’t Penny! And I ain’t her !” she screamed as she pointed at Scarlett, who was looking quite amused as she watched the confrontation.

“I know that!” Jonah yelled back, his face pained. “I know you’re not them, dammit! I know that better than anybody.”

“Obviously you don’t.” Joe countered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Joe, we’re friends, don’t do this. Don’t make me say goodbye to you.”

Joe felt a tear fill the corner of her eye and then she cursed that tear to the fiery pits of hell, blinked it away and squared her shoulders.

“I love you, Jonah Winchester, but I won’t be your fool anymore than you’ll be mine. But don’t worry, you aint’ gotta say goodbye as I ride off.” Joe couldn’t read Jonah’s face. He was keeping it masked, though his hands were clenched tightly at his sides.

“That’s it? You’re just gonna leave? Thought you were in this ‘til we got them to Barbadine?”

“I can’t….” Joe’s voice broke and she cleared her throat and met his gaze full force, not allowing the tears she felt gathering fall from her eyes. “I can’t do that.”

She turned to Scarlett and then reached down and ripped the fancy necklace from around her neck.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Scarlett cried and Joe shrugged.

“I figure this’ll be worth enough to cover what you owe me.”

Joe walked around Jonah, who said nothing, and unhitched her horse from the tree branch she’d had the reins wrapped around. She could feel those damnable tears gathering more and more and she knew that soon they were going to fall.

A part of her was screaming out, begging for Jonah to say something, anything, to make her stay. But he didn’t as she jumped up into the saddle of her horse and he continued to stand there silent and still.

---

“What the hell are you doing, Jonah? Don’t let her leave!” Bart yelled angrily as he came around Jonah. Jonah didn’t know what to say, what to do or even how to move.

Why was Joe doing this? They’d had something good and she was throwing it all away.

“I won’t beg her to stay, Bart.” Jonah replied. “If she wants to go, she can go.”

“You fool! She loves you. You love her. Make her stay.”

“I don’t love her.” Jonah replied with a shake of his head. “I can’t give her what she wants so I guess she’s better off leaving.”

“Yer an idiot.” Reb spat.

Jonah watched Joe riding off and then he froze when he felt his gun be taken from it’s holster.

“Distractions get you killed.” Harmon whispered in his ear as he pressed the gun into Jonah’s back. Somehow the man had gotten his hands loose from the ropes and now Jonah could very well die because of it. “Don’t you move!” Harmon bellowed at Reb and Bart. “I’ll pull this trigger if you so much as….”

Before Harmon could finish his warning threat the sound of a gunshot filled the air and a hole appeared in Harmon’s forehead just before the man fell lifeless to the ground.

“Harmon!” Scarlett screamed as she threw her body over his. Reb and Bart focused their attention on making sure she didn’t get the gun while Jonah stared at Joe who was on her horse at the edge of the light with her gun in her hand.

Her green gray eyes were illuminated by the dancing flames and the golden highlights in her red hair were shining. Jonah didn’t want her to leave. She was his best friend. He needed her.

“Joe….”

“Will you ever love me, Jonah?” Joe asked quietly as she holstered her gun. Jonah sighed. The answer was no. He would never give that much of himself to another woman.

Joe nodded and sat up a little straighter.

“Then I gotta go. Sorry I broke the rules of the game. Please don’t come around. I don’t wanna see ya.”

With those parting words, Joe rode off into the darkness and Jonah knew he’d just seen her for the last time.

Jonah swallowed back the pain he felt and turned to face the screaming woman, the dead man and his two friends who looked as if they wanted nothing more than to pull their guns and kill him themselves.

“How the hell did he get his hands free?!” Jonah demanded, deciding that being angry was the best option he had at the moment.

“Looks like the ropes loosened just enough for him to slip his hands free.”

“She killed my Harmon!” Scarlett cried as she laid kisses to the dead mans cheeks.

“You don’t care. All you care about is yourself and now you’re worried about how you’ll ever get free with him dead.” Jonah spat.

Scarlett fixed him with an icy stare, her brown eyes full of pain. She pushed herself to her feet, her hands still secured behind her and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“What do you know? Think what you want about me but I loved that man. I don’t care what you do to me now.” With that she turned her back on him and stared off into the night.

“Jonah, go after Joe.” Bart urged as he handed Jonah’s gun back to him. Jonah shook his head.

“No. I won’t chase her. She doesn’t want me to. You heard her.”

“You, her and all that stupid pride!! You’re going to lose a good thing if you don’t chase after that woman! You won’t find another one like her!”

Jonah felt a painful twist in his gut.

“I don’t want to. Just whores from me for now on. Any other kind of woman is more trouble than she’s worth.” Bart threw his hands up and stormed away with disgust.

“Most o’the time I’d agree with you, Jonah, but not now. Joe was good fer you. You were good fer her.” Reb cut in with his two cents on the situation.

“I won’t be her fool.”

“Who says she’d make you into a fool?” Reb asked.

“They all do.” Jonah replied with a shrug. “It’s over now. This whole affair was her idea and she said it would end once we had Scarlett. Least she kept her word about that.”

“Jonah…” Reb began and Jonah clenched his fist and turned on his friend.

“I won’t talk about it anymore! You either shut up and stand behind me or get the hell out of my way! I ain’t got no more use for any more of your damned lectures!”

Hurt filled Reb’s blue eye and the man nodded and raised his hands.

“Alright, Jonah… You got it.”

Jonah stomped to Copper and grabbed the tiny shovel he kept strapped to his saddlebags.

He had a grave to dig and some sleep to get if he was going to catch the train in the morning.

---

It took Jonah nearly a month to get to Barbadine and surprisingly enough Scarlett had not offered a single bit of resistance once her husband was dead.

She hadn’t begged, pleaded or tried to escape a single time. Hell what did Jonah know, maybe the woman had loved the man.

Jonah felt none of the satisfaction he had thought he would as he placed Scarlett into the lawmen’s custody. Jonah had stopped feeling much of anything the last few weeks.

That blackness, that darkness, that always seemed to be waiting to take him down now had a firm grip.

His boots kicked up dust as he made his way down the street under the hot summer sun.

He entered the first saloon he came to and ordered a whiskey, down it quickly and ordered another.

Jonah thought about ignoring Reb as the man sat beside him but Reb wasn’t going to allow that.

“What are you doing, Jonah?” he asked as he adjusted his eye patch.

“Drinking, Reb. Is your vision going?”

“Aint’ it a little early for that?” Reb asked. Jonah shook his head.

“Never too early.”

“I’m worried about you, Jonah….”

“Where’s Bart?” Jonah asked, not caring to hear what Reb had to say about his drinking or his mood.

Reb sighed. “Gone. He said to tell ya that he did his part and helped ya finish yer mission for vengeance but that he was tired of ya treating us all like shit. He said to tell ya that as soon as yer ready to pull yer head outta yer ass he’d be happy to be yer friend again.”

“Fuck him.” Jonah declared as he downed his second shot and tapped the bar for a third.

“Jonah, is this about Joe?” Reb asked and then Jonah shocked them both when he punched the man who had been his friend for most of his life in the mouth.

Reb fell off his stool and lay there on the ground staring up at Jonah with shock in his blue eye.

“Don’t you act like your better than me, Reb. I’m just being the man that you and Bart always wanted me to be. A whore loving, whisky drinking, roving and roaming man who don’t give a shit about anybody. Ain’t that what you wanted?”

Reb shook his head as he got back to his feet.

“No, Jonah. No it weren’t. Yer better’n that no matter what yer ma and pa might have been.”

“Get the hell out of here, Reb.” Jonah ordered and then he sat back down on the stool and downed his fourth shot of whiskey.

“We’ve lost ya ain’t we? I knew one day a whoopin’ would get laid on ya so big that ya wouldn’t be able to pull yerself back out the sadness it left ya in. I asked ‘round, Jonah, and it’s called depression. Drinkin’ won’t help it.”

“No, but putting a bullet in your head will and I’m getting’ damn close to doin’ it so why don’t you get outta here.” Jonah snapped, the fifth shot of whisky causing his words to slur.

Reb sighed and then nodded as he readjusted his hat on his head and left the saloon.

Jonah snorted as he turned back to the bar and tapped it for another whiskey.

Jonah didn’t need anybody. No Joe. No Bart. No Reb. He was gonna be the man his outlaw pa had been. The man his whore of a mama had wanted him to be. The man his uncle had tried to beat him into. The man that Reb and Bart had always told him to be.

He had outlaw blood flowing in his veins and he wasn’t about to try to fight that anymore. Anybody who didn’t like that could rot in hell for all he cared. Love and caring were for fools and he’d sure as hell never be one of those again.

The bartender tried to refill his shot glass and Jonah shook his head and jerked the bottle from his hand.

Jonah Winchester was finally putting those settling down with a family, a job, true love, and friendship dreams behind him. Foolish dreams is all they’d been to begin with.

He took a big swig from the whiskey bottle, deciding that that was something worth drinking to.

---

Joe stood on the cliff line and looked out over the valley that her new cabin was being built in. She had wanted a new home in a new place… Something in her life that wouldn’t have Jonah’s fingerprints all over it. It would take a while but with Bart helping it would get done.

It had been three months since she’d left Jonah and two months since Bart had tracked her down. They had agreed that he would help her build her cabin and then head back out but that had been before he’d noticed her condition. Now he insisted that he wasn’t going anywhere, least not for a while.

Truthfully, Joe was happy. She was entering territory that was completely unfamiliar and it would feel good to know that the man who had always been like an annoying older brother, would have her back.

Bart had tried to talk her into going to Jonah but Joe had threatened to kill him if he tried. Jonah didn’t deserve her. He was a foolish man who clearly no longer wanted to be happy. He just wanted to be miserable and lost in his drink. Bart had told her that he had become dark, moody and depressed as they’d traveled back to Barbadine. He’d said the man hated everyone and everything and rank from sun up ’til sundown. Not only that but Joe had already begged for him once and he had all but spit in her face. She wouldn’t beg for him again. And she wouldn’t use the life growing inside of her as a way to trap him and force him back. She wanted Jonah’s love and loyalty, she certainly didn’t want to be nothing more than his obligation.

Instead she would remember him the way he had been before she’d fallen in love and asked the same from him. And she would remember the times they’d had together. Full of laughter. Full or passion. Strong yet tender. Jonah had taught her the most important lesson that Joe had ever learned. He had taught her that it was okay to be a woman. It was okay to be soft sometimes and that didn’t mean you were weak. It was a lesson that Joe was going to need to know and remember, especially now that she was going to be starting on this new journey.

Thinking of Jonah always caused Joe’s heart to hurt and so she quickly pushed thoughts of him aside.

The whishing of a saw blade filled the quiet afternoon air and she could see Bart cutting logs for the cabin down below her. He raised his hand when he saw her watching him and she raised hers in response.

Then she laid her hand over her growing stomach and stuck out her chin. Joe Redding would be fine because she was tough. Her pa hadn’t raised her to be any other way.

A/N: And that is the end of ‘Renegades and Pretty Women’.  Part two is completed and is called “Renegades and Stubborn Pride’