If she died a virgin, he’d die with his cock pointed toward the sky.
“Are you sure, Clay?” Luke looked at his cousin and then back to Emily. “I mean, you’re both sure.”
“We’re sure,” he told him.
Levi walked out to the porch and climbed onto the wagon. They watched him check out the deceased.
Luke and Emily exchanged heated stares. “Luke, do you like my body?”
Yep, the woman was taking advantage of the situation. No doubt about it.
Luke cleared his throat. “Yeah, Emily.” He smacked his lips and looked at her tits. “What’s not to like?”
Levi raised a few blankets and then covered the bodies back up one by one before he walked back inside. “Marshall Coe ain’t one of the dead.”
Clay drew his gun, “Check the loft again, under the bed.”
Levi climbed up the ladder and disappeared for a second before he called down to them. “Nope, he ain’t here.”
“Then, he got away somehow,” Luke said. “Fuck!”
“Which means he’ll be back,” Clay advised. “And maybe sooner than we can get these bodies out of here.”
“They’ll hang you,” she said. “When they came in here, they announced they were looking for outlaws. They told me over and over again what they planned to do to me and then pin it on outlaws. Marshall Coe will see you hang if he comes out here. You have to go. Get out of here.”
“Not without you, Emily.” Luke declared with that crazy love-sick expression in his eyes.
“I can’t leave my place here. I’ve settled in and have some roots again,” she whined.
“Dump those bodies out of that wagon,” Clay ordered. “We’re going to move out before they come riding back. When they show up this time, they’ll have a posse and she’s right. We’re getting ready to hang for murder in cold blood. Some of these men are Coe’s friends.”
“No, you go without me,” she said. “I can’t ride with you. I’ll draw too much attention and once they find the bodies here, Coe can make it look like you killed those men and took me. It’s not a good idea. They’ll put a bounty on your head.”
“Then we need to go into town and kill him before he can send a telegraph,” Levi said.
Clay rubbed his chin and shook his head. “It’s too late for that. We’ve been so preoccupied with Emily, we never thought about the chance someone rode away. The whole town probably knows we’re out here and a posse is formed by now.”
“Emily, we don’t have much time. It’s not all that far into town when you’re ridin’ like hell. It’s gonna take them less than two hours to round up men with a lot of guns. Here’s what I want you to do. Can you write?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then find something to write on or scribble it in your table there. Tell these folks coming for us that Marshall Coe did this and then say you’re riding into town to find some help. They’ll waste some time listening to the honorable Marshall plead his case. Then, they’ll ride out to look for you so they can ask you face to face to confirm Coe’s involvement.”
“Levi, take off on her horse and lead out until you pick up Coe’s trial and circle back on another path. We’re gonna head for Cripple Creek so you’ll follow us from a distance long enough to sweep those wheel tracks for a piece.”
“Got it.” He started off the porch and then turned back. He took off his cowboy hat and held it respectively in his hands. “Emily, I hope you’ll wait for me too before you—”
“Damn it, Levi! Get out of here. We ain’t got time to fuck around,” Luke hollered at his cousin.
“Get busy with that wagon, Luke,” Clay said. “Now Emily, get dressed and grab your things. You’re coming with us. Is there anything here you can’t live without?”
“Just a few personal items,” she whispered. “I’m not coming back here?”
He shook his head, and then bowed it. “Probably not.”
“So I’ll never have a home again?”
Rock-size tears formed and fell. She swiped them away one by one.
Clay grabbed her wrist and pulled her tight against his chest. “You’ll have a home. So help me, if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure you have a home.”
Luke pressed his palm to her cheek before he started to work on the wagon. “We’ll all make sure of it, Emily. I swear it too.”
By the time they were well out of danger and headed toward Cripple Creek, Levi caught up to them. He sported a wide grin when he rode up beside the wagon. “How you doin’ Emily?”
“I’m makin’ it,” she said.
Trying to show off some, he pulled his horse to a slow, gentle gait beside the wagon. He swung his leg over the saddle and then the sideboards and landed beside her, taking the time to tie off his mount, her horse, at the back. In a matter of minutes, the chestnut mare found a new leisurely pace behind them.
“That’s some stunt there cowboy, Clay called out over his shoulder. Luke tossed the long reins at his cousin and joined Levi and Emily behind the seat.
“They bedded you down good here, didn’t they Emily?” Levi asked with nothing but pure lust in his eyes.
“Yeah, I reckon it’s as good as it gets for a woman who just left behind everything she owned in a town she’ll never see again.”
“Ah now, Emily, don’t act like that. You’ll break Luke’s heart,” Levi said. “Besides, why would you want to stay out there in the middle of nowhere in the first place?”
“I had good company from time to time.”
“Uh-huh,” Levi agreed. “And now you’ll have more company than you can stand. Right, Luke?”
“I imagine so,” he remarked. “What do you think about it Emily?”
“I think I’m in good hands,” she answered.
“Not yet,” he said with a wicked smile. “But soon you’ll fit right nice in mine.”
Emily looked from one cousin to another. Damn if they weren’t the cutest men around. How’d she get so lucky? She didn’t ask them. No point in giving them a bigger ego than they already had.
“Are we gonna travel all night?”
Luke took his buckskin gloves off and swatted Clay’s butt. “What about it, are we gonna stop somewhere or take turns driving these horses?”
“Get some shut eye. We’ll stop to water the team here and there. That’s gonna be it until we reach Cripple Creek.”
“You think that’s gonna be it, do you?” Luke let his eyes drift over Emily’s body. Her breasts pushed through her plain thin dress and she shivered when he stared. She realized her body reacted to Levi and Luke once they moved closer to her.
“How come we’re headed there?” she asked.
“It’s a booming town, we hear. Lots of gold and strangers rushing in and out means we can blend in pretty good, or we should,” Clay shouted over his shoulder before he snapped the reins and encouraged the horses to pick up their pace.
Emily watched her old mare struggle to keep up. “She’s gonna need some rest. I think we’re safe to stop soon, don’t you?”
Levi shook his head. “Can’t be sure, exactly. By the time I started back by your place, I could’ve sworn the earth shook with the sounds of hooves pounding in the distance but it’s hard to say. I guess with the right form of entertainment, anything is possible.”
“Knock it off, Levi,” Luke growled. “Don’t pay him any mind.” He pulled the brim of his hat down over his brow and hunkered down into the depths of his coat about the time Levi draped his arm over Emily’s shoulder.
“Are you cold?” Levi asked.
“Not so much. You can snuggle up under these blankets with me, if you want to.”
Luke tilted his hat up and shot Levi a knowing grin. Levi wrestled with the edge of the material and took her up on the offer. At the same time, Luke followed suit.
The second their bodies were under the blankets, each of them reached for her hands. She held them for a second, shifted and then had a sudden thought. She needed something to amuse her.