Page 22 of The Copper Heir (The Gilded West #1)

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen shirtless men before.

Ship didn’t exactly run a very strict household and when his men helped work the farm they often did it without a shirt.

But, dear Lord, none of those men had ever looked like the outlaw.

None of them could compare to his wide shoulders and sculptured chest. Though she’d never seen any of their more manly parts, she suspected that none of them could compare to the shaft of perfect masculinity she had just seen.

As she’d watched, it had grown, doubling.

..no, tripling in size as it stood proudly reaching for his navel.

“Did you hear me?” Emmaline shook her head, trying to get him out of it as she focused on the madam who was staring at her with tender concern. “You don’t have to talk to him. You don’t even have to see him again.”

No, she didn’t have to do either of those things.

Glory had just spent the past hour with her in her room, reassuring her that she did not have to follow through with the night ahead.

When she’d left, Emmaline had felt much calmer, much more rational, than when she’d run from the stage.

The outlaw might have found her, but that didn’t mean she would be his hostage again.

They were in civilization now and the men in that room had seemed to know him.

They called him Jameson and she was betting everything on the fact that they didn’t know he was an outlaw.

The entire territory had been lobbying for statehood, with Helena the capital of that new state, and it wouldn’t look good to outwardly harbor an outlaw in their midst. So, while her screams in the brothel might go unheard, on the streets of Helena the good men of the town couldn’t allow them to go unchecked.

He couldn’t take her out of the house without exposing to everyone in town what he was doing.

She was safe and the reminder fanned the dampened sparks of her anger until they flamed back to life.

He had some nerve barging into her auction and bidding.

He had some nerve thinking he had any rights to her.

She had come here to his room to tell him just what she thought of him and, come hell or high water, she was telling him and then their brief acquaintance would be at an end for good.

“I know. I want to talk to him.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea.” Glancing at the bedroom door and then the bathing chamber door, Glory lowered her voice and closed the gap between them.

“Unless you do want to honor the auction. Fifty thousand dollars is enough money that you wouldn’t have to work again.

You could even get the girls an education.

I won’t take commission. It’s all yours.

And I can make sure he allows you to leave in the morning.

” She paused, her green eyes holding Emmaline’s and her voice lowering to a whisper.

“This wouldn’t be a bad option, if it’s what you want.

He’s an ass in many ways, but he wouldn’t treat you harshly. ”

Sucking in yet another shuddering breath, she nodded.

That argument had been turning itself over in her mind throughout the past hour.

It would be a simple solution to her problem.

Spend a night with him and leave the next morning with her fifty thousand dollars.

It was so much money she’d have plenty of time to get the three of them settled somewhere.

Ginny could go to some fancy finishing school for girls where she might have a chance at a respectable marriage one day and Rose could have toys, real dolls with real hair. It all could be so simple.

The only problem was that it made her worse than a whore.

It seemed an absurd problem given that she had been the one auctioning herself off to the highest bidder.

Yes, she had intended to spend the night with one of those men, but she had never intended to enjoy it.

She’d anticipated sacrificing herself for a good that was so much greater than herself, not reveling in the act which was just what she would do if the man was him.

Revel. That’s exactly what she had done with his decadent kisses back at the cavern.

Reveled in each and every taste of his tongue as it stroked hers.

That’s exactly what she had done the moment her gaze had settled on his body, bare as the day God had made him.

Reveled in not just the sight of him, but in the way her body had come alive at the sight of him.

The way her nipples had beaded and a spot deep between her thighs had begun to thrum in anticipation.

“No, I can’t do that.” I would enjoy it too much.

She couldn’t admit to that out loud so, instead, she said, “There is too much between us for that to ever work out smoothly. I’d rather just return the bank draft.

” It was there in her room, waiting on top of the old and scarred bureau.

The auctioneer had tapped on her door soon after Glory had arrived and handed it to the madam without a word.

Glory hadn’t mentioned it either, just set it on the bureau.

And it had stayed there throughout their conversation, staring at them with his bold signature across the bottom.

“No,” she said again, taking a fortifying breath and squaring her shoulders. “I just want to talk to him and—”

“Leave us, Glory. I promise not to eat her alive.” His deep voice cut in before she could finish.

They both turned toward the now-open door of the bathing chamber.

He stood there between the dark wood door and the frame draped in nothing but a towel riding low across his hips, leaving the broad, well-developed planes of his chest bared to them.

There wasn’t a muscle she couldn’t see in his torso, as it narrowed from wide shoulders to the tantalizing ridges of muscle crossing his stomach, a path of dark blond hair disappearing beneath the sanctuary of the plush, white towel.

She dared not allow her gaze to linger there, remembering all too well what it hid.

Dragging her gaze back up the path it had traveled over skin that was smooth and sun-bronzed, she wondered how that was possible given that there was still snow in the foothills.

Oh, yes, he was an outlaw, part of the Reyes Brothers.

A gang that operated somewhere south along the Mexican border where it must stay warm all year long.

It was strange and more than a little infuriating that she had to keep reminding herself he was an outlaw.

He might not look like Ship and his men, but he was that type of man.

Transient, irresponsible, reckless...everything that she didn’t want.

“Do you want me to go, Emmaline?” Thankfully, Glory’s voice broke into her inappropriate thoughts about the man before her.

“Yes, please, just for a little while.” She wanted the woman to stay, but was a bit afraid and ashamed of what might come up in their conversation.

While she was mad at him and intended to let him know just how much, she also needed to clear her conscience.

She had left him unconscious in the wilderness and she wanted to apologize.

The irony didn’t escape her that he had kidnapped her and she was the one feeling guilty.

But the reality was that she really did wish they had met under other circumstances, that he wasn’t an outlaw and that they could be free to explore their strange and wonderful connection.

And, yes, if she was being honest, she wanted to kiss him one last time as she told him goodbye. Was that so terrible?

Glory squeezed her shoulder, and turned to go, her footsteps muffled as she crossed the thick carpet, then closed the door behind her.

The metallic click of the lock was unmistakable in the silence of the room.

Glory shrieked in anger, her voice muffled a bit through the door as she cursed the giant outside to every ring of hell.

His answering deep laugh chilled her to the bone, but she couldn’t focus on that because her captor stood before her.

“You have some nerve having your henchman lock me in here.” Emmaline glared at the almost naked man in front of her.

The giant had been waiting outside her bedroom door when she’d walked out to find the room where Glory had told her Jameson was staying.

She had ignored him, intent on the idea that she was free, but he had shadowed her the entire way, never hindering her progress or saying a word.

Apparently he’d just been biding his time.

“Zane does what he wants. I don’t think I have to remind you that you came here of your own will.” Jameson moved forward into the room and she backed up, keeping a steady distance between them.

“That’s right, I came here to talk to you. There was no reason to lock me in.” She crossed her arms over her chest, wishing that she had changed clothes. She felt so exposed in the virginal robe with its deep neck and high slits up each leg, but she hadn’t even been thinking of that.

He stopped walking when he reached the foot of the bed and leaned back against the curved, mahogany footboard. “Talk.” One word. An order. His face gave nothing away, save his restrained anger, as he watched her.

Nodding to indicate his towel, she asked, “Don’t you want to get dressed first?”

“No. I want you to talk.”

The skin on the back of her neck prickled as if it was stretched too tight and her cheeks suddenly felt too hot.

She gritted her teeth to bite back an angry retort and forced herself to remain calm, remembering why she had come to see him and that, despite Zane, she could leave when she wanted.

Glory had gunmen ready to help her if needed.

In fact, the woman would probably be back with them any moment.