I stifled a cry, first with my lips, then with the hand that had been at my breast as visions of the men's thick members, pushing at my body, their hands grabbing me in places only I had seen sent me careening over the edge of a giant climax and into the dark abyss of the greatest pleasure that I'd ever felt.
I don't know how long I lay there, panting, drifting slowly back down into the bed. At some point I must have fallen into sleep but I can't recall a single dream I may have had that night.
The next thing I do recall was Sam Spencer's growling voice, barking in the yard.
Chapter 5: A sleepless night
Austin did try to sleep that night and should have been able to. The long ride, coupled with the excitement at the end of the day and doused with a few swigs of whisky should have made sleep an easy job. But it did not come easily at all.
Lying first on one side of his body, then the other, every time he turned his head filled with visions of the beautiful woman in whose home he was lying and their conversation that evening. After some time, it was difficult to tell whether an hour or two had passed, he got up and walked quietly out the door and into the room where Cole was on the bed.
"Cole," Austin whispered, standing at the foot of the bed.
"Yup," Cole's voice responded in the darkness.
"You sleeping?"
"Nope."
"Me neither." Austin paused, then sat on the edge of the bed. After a few moments he broke the silence with another whisper. "Why not?" Cole thought for a moment.
"Havin' trouble thinking of a way to tell the sheriff that we stole his bride."
Chapter 6: The proposal
The sound of Sam Spencer yelling at someone was abrasive enough, though I'd not heard it before, that it roused me from the deepest sleep. Throwing on what clothes I'd worn the day before, I burst out of the room, forgetting completely about the two men who had slept under my roof in my groggy stupor. When I opened the door to the outside the sun was already bright and the summer day burst into the house on a cool mountain wind and a million rays of sunshine.
I squinted at the sudden light and put a hand up to my face. Only then did it dawn on me that my head was pounding for the second day in a row, though this time not because I'd been injured in any way but by the fiery liquid I'd ingested the night before. I guess I really wasn't much of a drinker.
Slowly the shapes of Sam Spencer and his posse sitting tall on their horses in the yard came into focus. In front of them, that is to say between them and me at the house, stood the muscular frames of the two men I'd met the night before. They turned at the sound of the door opening and looked at me, each bringing a finger up to the brim of his hat in greeting. I nodded at them both, the memory of my secret fantasy from the night before coming back upon seeing them.
"What's the meaning of this? What's going on here?" I asked, trying to put on my sternest voice. I could already tell by the look of the men Sam had brought that no good could come of this.
"I come to take what's rightfully mine," Sam growled, holding up the paper that bore the title to my land. My eyes narrowed and my blood began to boil at the nerve of the man. What was rightfully his indeed! I didn't know what the hell I was going to do about it, but I sure knew I wasn't going to give in without a fight. Turned out someone else had the same idea. Austin turned around to face me, Cole keeping a close eye on the man a few dozen feet away, his one hand hovering at his side close to the gun slung lazily at his belt.
"Mornin' Grace," Austin said with a smile. I felt my heart skip a beat and if they all hadn't been staring at me I would have rolled my eyes at my own reaction. "We were just explaining to the sheriff here that he no longer holds claim on this here land, nor on your hand as his bride."
For a second I couldn't comprehend what on earth he was talking about. Though I did wish it were true, that the sheriff had no authority over me or the ranch, I knew it wasn't so. Doc had explained it all the day before.
"Look," I began, stepping towards the cowboy, "I appreciate your help and all but..." But Austin held up a hand and silenced me.
"Now let me finish. As I was saying, we were just telling the good sheriff and his men that we have come to this fine corner of the world at your behest," Austin said, staring at me with an intensity I couldn't understand. "That we have in fact been in correspondence for some months about the matter of our courtship and that you had finally, just a few short weeks ago, agreed that we may come and claim you for our own."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The man I'd had such a strong reaction to, the man that had made me touch myself in ways I never had before, was standing in front of the sheriff and a posse of his men, telling them he was here to marry me! I stifled
