To Reap and to Sow Read online

  After a few quick flicks of his tongue, Clint circled her little clitoris until Lynn was moaning and bucking her hips against his face. Soon, she was out of breath. She didn’t even get a chance to catch her next breath before Clint stood up and moved her legs a bit further apart.

  Even though she looked surprised to see him on his feet, Lynn opened her legs and even reached down to guide Clint’s rigid penis into her. As Clint pushed his hips forward, Lynn kept her fingers wrapped around him so she could stroke every inch of his cock as it entered her. Lynn moved her fingers down so she could touch herself as Clint started to pump in and out.

  Clint fell into a rhythm as he pumped his hips back and forth. Soon, he felt Lynn’s legs wrapping around him. This time, however, she tightened her grip on him with her legs to pull him in even harder as he entered her. She would ease up a bit to allow him to pull back, only to pull him in once more.

  Soon, Clint felt her tighten around him in a different way. Lynn let out a shuddering moan and leaned back onto the bed. She gripped the blankets with both hands and clenched her eyes shut as her first climax rippled through her body. When it built to its peak, her orgasm caused her pussy to grip his cock as if she never wanted him to slip out.

  Once that storm had passed, Clint eased back and flipped her onto her stomach. All Lynn needed to feel was his hands upon her legs and she immediately knew what he wanted. She turned around so her back was to him as she placed her knees on the edge of the bed. From there, Lynn lowered her upper body and propped up her backside to make her buttocks seem even more perfectly rounded.

  Clint took a moment to admire the view from behind her. His hands traced along the upper edge of her buttocks, all the way down to the wet lips of her pussy. As soon as his fingers found that spot between her legs, Lynn clawed at the bed and moaned softly in anticipation.

  Even if Clint had wanted to wait any longer, he wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. Only a few seconds had passed, but it felt as if he’d waited an eternity before guiding his cock inside of her. Once the tip of his erection was in her, Clint took hold of Lynn’s hips and pulled her toward him as he pushed his hips forward. He could feel his erection growing even harder as he slipped inside of her. By the time he’d buried himself within Lynn’s warm depths, Clint could feel her pussy gripping him once more.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. When Clint grabbed hold of her hips and started pumping in earnest, she tried to say something else. All she could get out after a few tries was “Oh my…oh my God!”

  Clint placed one hand on the small of her back so he could feel every little wriggle of her hips. He kept his other hand on Lynn’s backside, simply because it was too soft to let go.

  Lynn tossed her hair over one shoulder so she could turn and look back at Clint. Her mouth was open to let out every gasp. Those gasps turned into an excited yelp as Clint gave her rump a little playful smack. The grin on Lynn’s face was all Clint needed to see to know how much she’d liked that.

  Before long, Clint could feel his own pleasure building to its climax. His thrusts had become more powerful, and Lynn had her face buried in a pillow so she could cry out as much as she wanted. While she was riding the crest of her second orgasm, Lynn threw her head back and moaned to the ceiling.

  Clint reached out to take hold of her hair and pulled it just enough to take up the slack. That pushed Lynn over the edge, and she was quickly in the grip of a climax that got her entire body shaking.

  Once Clint let his eyes run from the tangle of her blond hair in his hands, down the curve of her back and along the slope of her buttocks, he was past the point of no return. He pumped into her a few more times, driving harder each time. Finally, he exploded inside of her until he swore he felt the floor tilt under his feet.

  Clint let her go and then crawled onto the bed. Within seconds, Lynn was curled up and facing him with one leg draped over his side.

  “I feel like I should be thanking you,” she said. “Again.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Clint replied breathlessly.

  Lynn ran her fingernails along Clint’s arm and smiled in satisfaction. “I think I’ll thank you anyway. That is…once we’ve caught our breath.”

  SIX

  Spelling was a small enough town that Clint didn’t have to walk far before reaching the edge of it. He took such a walk as the sun was breaking the eastern horizon the next morning. Standing with the dusty streets behind him, Clint gazed out at a stretch of wide open land and pulled in a breath of crisp air.

  It was an odd time of year wedged in between the most recent cold snap of winter and the earliest wave of heat that would roll in for the spring. Actually, it was still mostly winter, but the winds were being generous, and Clint hadn’t needed his thick wool coat for the last couple of weeks. As he pulled in another breath, he caught a hint of frost at the back of his throat.

  It would be getting colder soon. There could possibly even be some snow before too long. This morning, though, was bright and clear. It was the kind of morning that made Clint want to sit down to a big breakfast and stuff himself with griddle cakes covered in syrup.

  He had those thoughts in his head as he turned around and spotted a pair of men walking straight toward him. Clint squared his shoulders and dropped one hand to rest upon his Colt when he saw that one of those men was Mark Rowlett.

  “Where’s Lynn?” Mark grunted.

  Clint didn’t say a word. Instead, he spent the next few seconds sizing up the two men in front of him. Mark was just the same as he’d been the day before, except a little angrier and a little more cautious. The other man was doing his best to put on a tough facade, but was obviously there to follow Mark’s lead. Both of them were armed.

  “What’s the matter?” Mark asked as he planted his feet and leaned forward. “You go deaf? I asked you a question. Where’s Lynn?”

  “If she wanted to see you, she’d be with you,” Clint replied.

  “Don’t bother with what I got going with her. You just tell me where she’s at and you won’t get hurt.”

  Clint stood his ground without moving a muscle. His eyes darted back and forth between Mark and the other man as a cold wind blew past them.

  “Who’d you bring with you?” Clint asked. “Backup?”

  Mark gritted his teeth and snapped, “I don’t need anyone to back me up. If you don’t answer my damn question, I’ll drop you right here and then go find Lynn myself.”

  “I don’t think you could find your own hat if it was nailed to your head. Now, why don’t you go find yourself another woman who’ll put up with the likes of you? Something tells me Lynn’s more than you can handle.”

  “You think so, huh?”

  “I know so,” Clint replied. “Why don’t you ask her yourself? Oh, that’s right. She ran from you like you had the plague, didn’t she?”

  Hearing that, the man next to Mark let out a chuckle. He quickly tried to choke it back, but wasn’t quick enough to do so before Mark turned to glare at him.

  “You think that’s funny, Joey?” Mark grunted.

  Joey shook his head. “No, I just—”

  “Then shut yer damn hole and help me bury this cocksucker.”

  When Joey shifted his eyes toward Clint, he found Clint already staring at him with a deadly fire burning in his eyes. Joey didn’t want to hold Clint’s gaze and quickly looked back at Mark. “Lynn’s probably back at the hotel by now. Why don’t we look for her there?”

  “What?”

  Still keeping his eyes away from Clint, Joey added, “That bitch is more trouble than she’s worth. You said so, yourself.”

  Mark pulled the gun from his holster and spoke in a voice that sounded as if it had been dried out and tom to shreds. “I can say whatever I please about her. She’s mine, you hear? Mine!”

  Clint would have been content to let Mark spout off all he wanted. He drew the line, however, when he saw the gun leave Mark’s holster. Seeing that, Clint reacted out of pure reflex and d
rew his modified Colt in a one fluid motion.

  A single shot barked from the Colt and clipped a piece from Mark’s sleeve. Mark pulled his arm away with a surprised expression that was almost funny. As soon as he saw Clint standing there with a smoking pistol in his hand, Mark let out a profane grunt and shifted his aim in Clint’s direction.

  The modified Colt spat out another round and bucked against Clint’s palm. This time, the bullet sparked against Mark’s gun. It was pure luck that the round ricocheted from there and whipped past Joey’s head.

  Mark couldn’t toss his gun away fast enough. His face had turned beet red from his own anger, and he was fit to be tied when he saw Joey back away from him and Clint.

  “Son of a bitch!” Mark hollered.

  Clint kept his pistol aimed at Mark and said, “Next time I see you, I’ll figure you’re out to shoot me. Whatever happens after that will be self-defense.”

  “She’s mine, goddammit,” Mark shouted. “I’ll take her back whether you like it or not. I’ll have her back whether she likes it or not!”

  “Just leave.”

  Without a gun in his hand or any friends to back his play, Mark didn’t have many options other than the one Clint had given him. “She’s a whore, you hear me?” Mark said as he backed away. “You can have her.”

  Clint stood his ground and watched as Mark sputtered and kept shuffling backward toward the town. He didn’t pay any mind to the obscenities rolling from Mark’s mouth or the gestures he made with his wildly flailing hands.

  Once Mark turned tail and ran, Clint holstered his Colt and started walking back to the hotel. He kept his eyes open for either of the two men to come at him again, but there was no trace of Mark or Joey. Clint’s mind shifted to more pleasant thoughts when he caught a whiff of bacon coming from one of the nearby restaurants.

  SEVEN

  “I’m glad Mark didn’t hurt you,” Lynn said as she pulled apart one of the fresh biscuits that had been set onto her plate.

  Clint picked up a strip of bacon and snapped off an end that was burned just right. “You heard about that, huh?”

  “It’s a small town, Clint. All I needed to do was open a window to hear it.” She shrugged and showed him a tired smile. “Sorry about that. I feel like maybe I am more trouble than I’m worth.”

  “I won’t hear any talk like that. Seems like all you did wrong was spend too much time with an asshole like Mark. Stepping in was my choice and coming after me today was his.”

  “All right then,” Lynn said with a wider smile. “At least let me pay for breakfast.”

  Shaking his head slowly, Clint said, “I don’t know if you’ll want to do that. I haven’t even gotten started yet.”

  “I think you’ve earned a big breakfast.” With a subtle wink, she added, “You earned it after our third go-around last night.”

  Clint couldn’t exactly argue that point, so he picked up his fork and tore into the stack of griddle cakes in front of him. He didn’t stop until he was halfway through the delicious cakes. After drinking some coffee to wash them down, he asked, “So what did you ever see in a man like Mark anyhow?”

  That caused the cheery smile to drop right off Lynn’s face. “Let’s not talk about him anymore, Clint.”

  “Just making conversation.”

  She sighed and bought a few seconds by taking some bites of her own breakfast. When she saw Clint still looking at her, she gave in. “He came along and said some sweet things at the right time. To be honest, we only met up a few times over the last year. He’d come and go while I went about my own business.

  “I thought we were just meeting up when we could and going our separate ways when we couldn’t. It turns out, he thought we were together for a year and two steps away from the altar.”

  Clint laughed and took another bite. “Good Lord.”

  “How do you think I felt? I wanted to visit a friend of mine and he said he’d come along as far as…well…here. He caught wind of me spending a bit of time with someone else and lost his mind.”

  “That’s it?” Clint asked.

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  “I mean, that’s all that led up to this whole mess?”

  She thought about it for a few seconds, but couldn’t think of anything else to add. So Lynn simply nodded and said, “Yep. That’s it.”

  Shaking his head, Clint could only say the words he had already said. “Good Lord.”

  As she looked back on it, Lynn had to laugh as well. It wasn’t much of a laugh, but more of a tired couple of breaths that shook as she let them out.

  “So what did Mark do while he was away?” Clint asked.

  Lynn paused with a fork halfway up to her mouth and shrugged. “I think he worked on a few trail drives or maybe did some scouting.”

  “You think?”

  “I honestly don’t even know for sure. Most of the times, I was hoping he would just go away and not come back. This time was different. There were some other men who came around as if they were up to no good, and Mark chased them away.”

  Clint narrowed his eyes and asked, “Really?”

  She nodded. “That’s why I agreed for him to come along with me this far. Truth be told, I was going to part ways with him before I left. I figured it’d be best if I did it then when I was planning on leaving anyway.”

  “Leaving where?”

  “Dodge City. I worked there as a faro dealer for a few different saloons. It was pretty good work for a while.”

  Chuckling as he took another sip of coffee, Clint said, “Good work for a cheat, from what I’ve seen.”

  “Or good work until they expect you to cheat.”

  “You refused to stack the odds for the house?”

  Lynn waited for a few seconds, but couldn’t keep the mischievous smile from her face. “Actually, I just wasn’t very good at cheating. I knew the tricks, but I couldn’t get a knack for pulling them off.” She only had to watch Clint for a few more seconds before noticing the expression on his face. “And don’t preach to me, Clint Adams. Every gambler cheats and most folks expect faro dealers to be running some sort of game.”

  “Just so long as they don’t get caught.”

  “Yes,” she replied. “And that’s why I was given my notice from that saloon. Before I got through the door on my last day, every place in town knew about me. I thought I could serve drinks, but every faro player in town came asking me how a game was rigged or any number of things, so I left.”

  “And you came here?” Clint asked. “Must be awfully strange after living in a place like Dodge.”

  “I’m just passing through,” she quickly told him. “I’m headed west to a town called Thickett.”

  “Actually, that sounds worse. Maybe you should stay here.”

  “I’m going to stay with an old friend of mine. Her father owns a farm out there and he’s got some space for me to live until I can scrape together enough money to head farther west.”

  “California?”

  Lynn brightened up as if Clint had correctly told her fortune. “How’d you know that?”

  “Call it a hunch. You look like you’d be at home on the Gold Coast. Don’t tell me you’re working your way there by stage.”

  “Oh, no. I’ll catch a train in Wichita and ride from there. I just need to save up for the ticket.” Lowering her eyes and poking at her breakfast, Lynn added, “I also need to make it to Thickett in one piece. With Mark acting the way he is, I though…”

  “What if I come along?” Clint asked before she could get around to it. It was worth the effort just to see the surprise on Lynn’s face grow even brighter than it had been a few moments ago. “But there is a price.”

  “Name it.”

  “Tell me how to clean up in faro.”

  EIGHT

  Although he didn’t come right out and tell her, Clint wasn’t about to let Lynn ride out of Spelling by herself. He also wasn’t about to let her stay there, since Mark Rowlett would have been able to
mess up both of those simple plans just by being there.

  Lynn had intended on staying put until the next stage came through town, but Clint decided to offer the back of his saddle as a way to speed up the process of getting her on her way. She was more than happy to climb onto Eclipse’s back and wrap her arms around Clint as they put the small town behind them.

  It would have been a couple days’ ride to Thickett, but Clint knew a shorter route than the stagecoaches used. Eclipse was also a hell of a lot faster than any team of overworked horses pulling a wagon. The Darley Arabian stallion thundered down the narrow trail like the wind. He barely even seemed to feel the extra weight of Lynn sitting on his back.

  Kansas may have been easy to ride through, but there wasn’t a whole lot to look at. Clint thought he may have been spoiled after spending so much time in places like the Badlands, the Rocky Mountains or even the deserts of New Mexico.

  He kept his eyes open for any trace of Mark or anyone else who might decide to follow him. When he came up short on that end, he was forced to pay closer attention to the landscape itself. Tall grass swayed all around, keeping slow time to the gentle breeze. To some, the sight might have been relaxing. For Clint, it made it difficult for him to stay awake.

  The air was dry.

  The grass parted for Eclipse like a tall, feathery ocean.

  It was easy to see just about anything at all for miles in every direction.

  The terrain allowed Eclipse to run at a full gallop most of the time.

  Still, Clint found himself wishing for a bluff to climb or even a river to cross. As soon as he spotted the glint of sunlight reflecting off water, he pointed Eclipse in that direction and held on. In no time at all, they’d arrived at a small lake and Clint was pulling Eclipse to a stop.

  “What a perfect day to ride,” Lynn said cheerily as she took the hand Clint offered to help her down.

  “I suppose.”

  “At least there’s nobody shooting at you,” she offered.