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Tanner McBain might not have been the kind of man to chase after women, butstalking… that was another matter entirely.
A noise from the theater roused Tanner out of his thoughts. The audience was once again exploding with cheers and applause. He got to his feet and turned around to see what all the commotion was about.
On the stage, the performers had switched positions. Little Red Riding Hood was now sandwiched between her two alpha mates, and she was taking both of them between her legs at the same time. Their naked bodies glistened with sweat in the spotlight.
The omega’s skin was much fairer than the Duffy woman’s, and her dark hair was wavy, not straight, but if Tanner squinted his eyes enough, he could almost imagine that was Shannon Duffy down there, and the two alphas giving it to her were him and Logan.
His cock swelled until it felt like it was about to bust through his britches. He unfastened his belt buckle, unbuttoned his fly, and took it out. It felt hard and hot in his hand.
He began to stroke it, working his fist up and down his shaft in time to the omega’s moans. He imagined those sounds coming from the Duffy woman’s trembling lips. He imagined her turquoise eyes staring up at him as he filled her.
Hewouldsee those eyes again.
Tanner felt his knot starting to form and quickly aimed his tip toward the corner of the booth. His first shot of seed hit the brass spittoon with a satisfying, metallicbong!
CHAPTER 7
Ned Flarity reached across his mahogany desk, flipped open the ivory cigar box, and pulled out a fat cigar. He trimmed the end of it with the tip of his Bowie knife, stuck it between his lips, and lit it with a nickel-plated kerosene lighter, turning the cigar slowly so it would burn evenly. When he was done, he leaned back in his chair, fished his watch out of the pocket of his waistcoat, which was straining around his bulging paunch, and checked the time.
“Ten o’clock,” he said, blowing out smoke with his words. “Where the hell’s Lacerda?”
“Don’t know, sir. He said he’d meet us here at ten.”
Flarity stared across the expanse of his desk at the two men who stood on the other side. Whittaker and Guthrie, two of the sorriest excuses for cattle rustlers he’d ever seen. Good help was so damned hard to find these days.
“What do you mean he said he’dmeetyou here at ten? He was supposed to be with you all along!”
“I know, Mr. Flarity,” Whittaker stammered. “But something came up. You see, we all three rode out there to Duffy Ranch, just like you wanted us to. It was still light when we got out there, so we hunkered down behind a ridge to wait for it to get dark. While we was waiting, we seen somebody a’ridin’ out from the ranch. From where we was at, it looked like a man. Then I looked through my spyglass, and I seen it was Miss Duffy herself, all dressed up in a duster and hat, just like a cowboy.”
“What has any of this got to do with Lacerda’s absence?”
“Well, when we seen Miss Duffy ridin’ off by herself like that, Lacerda reckoned maybe we ought to take advantage of the situation. He reckoned maybe we could kidnap her, or k—”
“Buffoons!” Flarity slammed one meaty fist against his desk, and the two men standing on the other side flinched. “I’ve told you a thousand times, the Duffy woman is not to be harmed… notdirectly.”
Lamentation was not anentirelylawless place, and money only went so far. Murder or kidnapping—especially of a woman—were acts that would be met with hostility by the local lawmen, and even a man of Flarity’s means would have difficulty paying his way out of that kind of trouble.
“That’s what I told ’em!” Whittaker blurted. “But then Lacerda, he got the idea that maybe he ought tofollowthe Duffy woman, just to see where she was going. He reckoned he might be able to learn something.”
Flarity puffed on his cigar and scowled.
“I don’t pay you idiots tothink!I pay you to do what I tell you.”
“I know, Mr. Flarity. That’s exactly what I told Larcerda. But you know how that boy can be. Once he gets a notion in that durn head of his, he just can’t get shed of it.”
Flarity just glowered.
Suddenly, a deep and rumbling voice spoke from the corner of the room where a huge man was sitting, half concealed by the shadows. His eyes reflected the light like the eyes of an animal.
Butch Bartram. He was an alpha, and the one man in Flarity’s operation that was actually worth a damn, which was why Flarity liked to keep him close by for protection.
“You want me to go find him, Mr. Flarity? If he’s here in town, I’ll be able to catch his scent easy enough.”
Flarity waved his cigar dismissively. “No. If Lacerda doesn’t show up, he doesn’t get paid, simple as that.” He shifted his attention back to Whittaker and Guthrie. “Now tell me, how did everything go out at the Duffy Ranch? I trust the two of you were still able to complete your little mission without Lacerda’s help.”
The Duffy Ranch had been at the forefront of Flarity’s thoughts for a long time now.
Several years ago, he had extended an offer of marriage to Shannon Duffy. It wasn’t the woman he was after, it was her land… though that curvy little body of hers would have been a nice bonus.
