Page 18 of That Fateful Ride

“That’ll be nice. It will be good to have some extra protection there.” He wanted Rebecca protected at all times but also, didn’t want any of the soldiers to be near her.

“Perhaps you can come by more. I know the girls love you. All big and brawny.” She bent down, her breasts in Cy’s face. “And from what I hear, well versed in using that big dick of yours.”

“Perhaps.” That was the only concession he would give her. Avoiding the bosoms thrust in his face he flicked in another coin and leaned away from her.

“Just because I’m a bit older doesn’t mean I wouldn’t show you a time you’d never forget.”

“I’m sure that’s true Ms. Royal, but I don’t think I’m the one who is to get that special treatment.”

She dragged her knuckles down the back of his cheek. “You would tempt a nun and that’s the last thing I am. Although,” she plumped up her tits, “if you’re in to that kind of thing, I would be willing to find a habit.”

The men around the table whooped and hollered. Cy shook his head and folded.

This wasn’t what he wanted to be doing.She should be on her way back to the station right now.

Winter was bearing down on them and soon the plains would be covered in snow and the winds would be insufferable. The thought of Rebecca out in such weather cut him deep.

“You in?”

He glanced over the table at Landon. “Yeah.” Cy forced himself to stay there and not leave to track down his woman.

The wind broughtwith it the promise of snow. Blinking against the biting cold she dipped her chin as Polaris finished his trek to the general store. She needed to run home and get herself more winter clothes.

Exhaling slowly, she swung down, trying her best not to feel betrayed that Cy would be heading inside that damn saloon to the waiting women there. He would be a welcome change from a lot of the ones who visited there. A lot of the riders were small skinny men, perhaps wiry was a better word. Some of the larger ones tended to be fat but then there was Cy.

Hard bodied. Muscular. Large broad shoulders. Chiseled features. Shaggy hair and sometimes scruff on his face that she dreamed about skimming along places on her skin that would make her tremble.

It wasn’t fair. Muttering to herself, she tied off her ride and stomped onto the sidewalk and inside the general store. Two others were in there, a woman and her daughter. They were up by the front purchasing material. They glanced in her direction then sniffed and went back to finalizing their purchases.

It didn’t take her to long to figure what she needed to take back. “You from Buffalo Creek Station?”

Angling her head to view the older, rotund man approaching her. “Yes sir. Robert Freeman. I was sent to get some purchases. They need some staples.”

He nodded. “Names Buchannan. You have a wagon?”

“No sir.” She scratched her upper arm through the coat. “My horse is strong and I don’t weigh a lot. I can take the flour and sugar back on him.”

“That flour is a hundred pounds and the sugar is close to forty.”

“We can do it.”

“Fine. I’ll put it on the stations account. You have to load it yourself, I can’t be bothered to help.”

“No problem, sir. Am I allowed to take from the floor here or should I go around back?”

“Back. I’ll let my boy know you’re coming.”

Touching the brim of the cowboy hat, Rebecca walked outside and saw Polaris waiting but there were two others tied up beside him. Military men and she immediately went on guard. She knew how they acquired their horses. They liked what they saw and it became an acquisition.

With a low whistle for her mount, she made her way to his ide and swiftly unwrapped the reins and walked toward the alley around back the general store and mercantile. Behind her, she heard them talking and her gut churned as their discussion swung to her mount. She wasn’t about to give him up for anything.

Or anyone.

Steps brisk as she moved through the alley to the back door of the store, she positioned him at the hitching post there and hastened to the door, pounding on it three times. A man, young and a lot like his father but with more hair on his head opened the door. Blue eyes ran over her as his lip turned up.

“One bag of flour and one of sugar.” He jerked his thumb to the left. “Don’t be touching anything else.”

“No sir.” She swallowed back the anger, but again, nothing she’d not faced before.

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