She continued on upstream until she found an ideal place. It had easy passage into the water and was deep enough to rinse and play in the water. It was bracingly cold, but the towels and washcloth Caelan had purchased in town for her were soft, like velvet.
Elizabeth dove into the water and swam for a few moments, allowing the water and its swift-moving current to rush over her skin, refreshing and cleaning it. She was completely wet and stood close to shore where the water trickled over the pebbles in the sand, leaning over to wash her hair and using the cloth to clean herself.
She smiled as she considered her life. She had two men who said they loved her, and she believed them. She had a new home that sounded beautiful. Gavan had described a huge tub that would hold all of them. Elizabeth blushed when she recalled his description of the wickedly erotic things they would do to and with her in the hot water. Her beaded nipples ached for their attention. She was just rinsing off when she heard the sound of someone else entering the water. Elizabeth turned, expecting to see one, or both, of her husbands.
Nude and having just rinsed out her hair, she turned smiling, “Ready for more?”
Instead, she was confronted by Sheriff Gutherie.
“You have no idea, bitch,” he said swinging the butt-end of his rifle into her jaw, knocking her senseless.
6
GAVAN
“Cae, shouldn’t Lizzie be back from her bath? I could understand a delay if we were at home and she was soaking in that huge tub ye insisted we buy. But that creek water is cold.”
“Ach, yer just feeling randy and want another go at our girl,” he laughed.
“Always,” Gavan agreed with a smile. “But she should have been back by now. Ye didna think she’s gone further than I told her she could go?”
“Maybe. She’s still testing us to see if we’ll make her mind.”
“Ye think that’s all it is? Ye didna think she wants to leave us, do ye?”
His friend crossed to him. “Nay, Gav. I knew she hasn’t said it, but Lizzie loves us, and she loves her life with us. We dote on her. Yer far more indulgent with her than I would have thought.”
“She’s had a hard life, Cae. Everyone always telling her what she couldn’t be and ripping her away from people she cared about. She had to become hard in order to survive. Everyone in her life has abandoned or disappointed her. We need to give her some time to see we’re different and she has no need to keep us at bay for we’ll never hurt her.”
Caelan shook his head. “I don’t agree. It made her strong and gave her a brittle shell, but there are cracks in it already. She reaches for one or both of us when she has a bad dream. She likes to snuggle between us at night and is so responsive when either of us reaches for her. And the look she gets on her face when one of us fills her with our seed. ‘Tis a wonder to behold.”
Gavan smiled. “Aye, the lass does like to fuck. She’s a veritable alley cat in heat…”
Caelan chucked. “And we’re the tom cats looking to make her howl as we breed her.”
“Did ye ever think we’d find a lass as fine as she?”
“Not in my wildest dreams.”
“I think I’ll go make sure she’s all right,” said Gavan.
He left Caelan and made his way down to the creek, expecting to find her just around the bend. Gavan swore when she wasn’t there and followed her footprints upstream until he found a place that had an easy entrance into the fast running water and was deep enough for Lizzie to go swimming. He had to admit it was a better bathing spot than the one he’d told her to use, but he’d need to punish her for disobeying.
“Lizzie, where are ye?”
He looked around and could see no sign of her still there. He called for her again; only the sound of the rushing water responded. Lizzie was nowhere to be found. Had she run from them? Had the past few days been her simply lulling them into a sense of false security so they’d let their guard down and she could escape? Gavan made a preliminary search of the area and then ran back to the camp.
“Caelan, she’s gone.”
“What do ye mean gone?”
“She’s not there, not at the creek. She played us. She used us to escape the hangman, then lulled us into believing that she wanted to be with us. She played us false.”
“Gav, yer making a lot of assumptions, and none of them in her favor. I didna believe Lizzie capable of what yer accusing her of. Despite the outlaw face she showed to the world, she’s a sweet thing, and I think already has feelings for us, both of us. She has a wildly passionate, naughty steak, but there isn’t a mean, nor truly deceitful, bone in her body.”
“She’s a rustler and a thief,” Gavan countered, angrily. “We never should have trusted her. Just kept her confined to our bed where we could fuck her and sire children on her. Saddle up yer horse and let’s get after her. When we catch up with her, I’m going to take my belt to her backside and lay a set of stripes on it she won’t forget any time soon.” With a great deal of agitation, he began to saddle his horse. Muttering his breath, he continued, “After that, I’m going to fuck her until she can’t walk, much less run away.”
Without a word, Caelan walked over to his partner of many years, turned him away from his horse and toward him, and punched
