Read Love and Fury: The Coltrane Saga, Book 4 for Free Online Page B

shook his head adamantly. Charlene had almost quit trying to rope him in after the talk he’d had with her in New York. Then she heard the news about Kitty and Travis leaving, how he’d have to settle down and take care of things, and she’d started right in again. He did not want to hurt her, so he had almost stopped going to see her. Damn it, he didn’t want to get married. Not yet, anyhow.
    He leaned forward and started looking through the papers. It was the end of the month, so tomorrow he’d have to go into town to draw the payroll for the hired hands. Maybe he’d just stay in town awhile. He could use a good time…
    He froze, then leaped to his feet, drawing his pistol. Someone was walking in the hall. He doused the lantern on the desk and positioned himself directly in front of the door, waiting.
    Two sounds broke the tense silence: the creak of the door opening…and the ominous click of his gun hammer.
    “Colt?” a soft voice called.
    “Damn it, Charlene, you almost got yourself shot!” Disgusted, Colt shoved his gun into the holster and went to the desk to light the lantern again. He sat down, making no effort to mask his annoyance. “What are you doing sneaking around here?”
    She crossed to the desk, perched on the side, and gave him a coquettish smile. Her voice husky, she said, “I wanted to surprise you. I was hoping I would find you already in bed, and I was going to just slip in beside you and—”
    “Are you crazy?” he exploded. “You want your daddy to shoot me? How’d you get out of the house this time of night, anyway?”
    She trailed her fingertips down his cheek, but he grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “Don’t be mean to me, Colt,” she said in her baby voice. “Momma and Daddy are away for the night. Momma’s sister in Pine Bluff is sick, and Daddy took her there. We’ve got all night.”
    He stood up, declaring firmly, “No. You aren’t spending the night here, Charlene. I’m not insane.”
    Her lower lip dropped petulantly, and she blinked her incredibly long, silky lashes, gazing at him with those beautiful blue eyes. “You don’t want me, Colt? You don’t want…?” She pulled her bodice down, exposing full, firm breasts. Nipples already taut with anticipation looked like ripe berries, just waiting to be savored in his mouth.
    Colt felt a quickening of desire. It had been a while since he’d known pleasure with a woman, and Charlene knew how to give him the ultimate. She hadn’t been a virgin that first time, that night so long ago in the back of Harley Jernigan’s wagon behind the grange hall while the harvest dance was going on inside. But that didn’t bother Colt one bit. His father had told him through the years that virgins were trouble. “Stay away from virgins unless you’re looking for a wife,” Travis had said. “Virgins make a man feel guilty for being the first one. Also, they don’t know what they’re doing and you have to teach them. Why bother teaching her if you aren’t planning on making her your wife?”
    Colt hadn’t had to teach Charlene anything. She knew it all and managed to teach him a few things. Oh, she was no whore, not Charlene. Like every other male around Silver Butte, Colt figured she’d been broke in by Billy Earl Lassister. They’d courted for over two years when Billy Earl was caught fooling around with a girl in Pine Bluff and her daddy marched him to the parson with a shotgun at his back. Everybody said the baby that arrived six months later was born with hot feet because he tried to arrive in time for the wedding.
    Charlene was hurt and humiliated, and people said she was going to wind up an old maid because she had a broken heart that wouldn’t heal. But then Charlene set her sights on Colt, and the gossips had another field day.
    The way Charlene was fondling him between his legs, Colt was fast losing his resolution. With every bit of willpower he could muster, he caught her wrist and held it as he said tightly,