Buck, you’re gonna owe me dearly for this one.
Stepping out onto the slanted awning, he banded his arms around Rachell’s shivering body and concentrated on keeping his balance. He took broad steps, trusting only the wide-spaced beams to support his weight. Wood creaked beneath his feet with each slow advance.
Delilah ain’t gonna like this, he thought as he reached for the open window emitting a red glow and the heavy scent of perfume and smoke. The saloon owner had just harped on at him about men like the four downstairs and how they were ruining her business by bringing in their own girls. She’d been irate when he told her he planned to rescue the red-haired strumpet.
But he couldn’t ride off with Rachell wearing nothing but a sheet. He also needed to flush out the source of Rachell’s trouble. Stewart Sumner wasn’t likely to greet him in a diplomatic fashion.
The moment his feet touched the floor of Delilah’s room, Jed set her trembling body away from him.
“What in tarnation?” Delilah cried out.
Rachell stiffened. Her wide eyes locked on Delilah still lying on her bed, cheroot in hand.
“Keep your voice down,” Jed grumbled.
“You weren’t worried aboutme makin’ noise just a bit ago.” Delilah rose from the bed and flicked blond hair over her bare shoulder. Glaring at Rachell, she thrust out her bosom which swelled from her well-fitted corset.
Jed bit back a smile. It had been a long time since his wild weekends with this particular woman. He’d been damn lucky when he’d spotted her tonight in this saloon, but he didn’t dispute Delilah’s bluff.
“Why’d you bring her in here?” she demanded.
“She needs a dress.”
“So go buy her one!”
“Delilah.”
She took a leisurely drag from her smoke, and scanned Rachell from head to toe. “It’ll cost you, and I ain’t givin’ up none of my nice silks.”
“Give her a damn shift for all I care, just so she’s not stark naked.”
“Begging your pardon, Miss Delilah,” Rachell cut in. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would prefer a dress. Any dress.”
Jed was stunned by Rachell’s steady tone and charming smile as she held Delilah’s hostile gaze. Damn if the woman didn’t manage to look dignified, standing there in nothing but a sheet, her long hair a wild mess of tangles.
“Ain’t got nothin’ that’ll fit ya,” Delilah retorted. “Can’t imagine you draw much business. You got the build of a ten-year-old boy.”
The color already staining Rachell’s cheeks heightened. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I’ve not been blessed with your splendid figure,” she said softly, shocking Jed to his core. “I noticed your gown of lavender silk when I was brought in.” She smiled prettily. “A stunning gown, and quite flattering.”
Delilah’s face lit up like a Roman candle.
Well, I’ll be damned. The imp was a charmer, all right.
Walking toward Delilah’s night table, Jed took a thin rolled cigar from her tin. “You gonna give her a dress or not?” he asked, striking a match.
“I suppose.” Delilah crouched in front of a wooden chest at the foot of her bed. “Here ya are, sugar.” She tossed a green calico skirt and waistcoat onto the bed. “Ain’t as fancy as the one you had on when you was brought in.”
“Thank you, Miss Delilah. This will be lovely.”
“Aw, hell,” Delilah said, waving her hand. “It ain’t nothin’.”
“I do appreciate your help.”
Intrigued by the sincerity he heard in her tone and saw in her eyes, Jed couldn’t pull his gaze away from Rachell. She doesn’t seem the uppity sort. Course, what did she have to be uppity about? He knew she had attended some eastern school for upperclass ladies, but a refined, well-educated whore was still a whore. Not that he held her profession against her. Some of the nicest women he knew were saloon girls, or had been for a time.
What he couldn’t tolerate was a liar. So far, none of the information she’d written in her letters to her sister had been truthful. “Enough with the sisterhood display. Put the damn thing on so we can get out of here.”
Rachell met his gaze. “Mr. Jed, will you kindly turn around?”
“Sure.” Flashing a slow smile, he turned his back to her.
Hearing the wisp of her sheet falling to the floor, his mind flooded with the image of her ivory skin. The small room seemed to amplify the sound of the rustling fabric as his mind visualized her delicate limbs slipping into the green garment.
Blazing hell. Think about something else!
Staring at the door, he finished his smoke in a few hard puffs. “You dressed yet?”
“Land sakes, Jed,” cried Delilah. “Who stomped on yer tail?”
He spun around just as Rachell began to button the roomy waistcoat. With two strides he was in front of her. He flicked his cheroot into an ashtray and reached out, brushing her shaky hands aside.
“Woman, I don’t have all night.” He quickly fastened the row of small black buttons, all the while wondering what in the hell he was doing. Finishing, he looked up at her stunned expression. “Just so you know, there’s bound to be gunfire. I prefer not to have you shrieking in my ear. Hold still and keep quiet and we might get out of here lead-free.”
“We’re not leaving through the window?”
Her face lit with fear, and Jed grimaced. “To flush out the vermin you’ve got on your tail, I have to leave a good trail of bait. Sneaking out the back like a coward ain’t gonna get that done.”
Turning away from her, he pulled a pouch of coins from his britches pocket. “Delilah, I’m obliged for all your help. You take care of yourself,” he said as he stuffed the money into the top of her corset.
“I always do, Jed. If you ever get back this way, be sure to stop in for a visit. It’s always a pleasure. That is, if you’re still an unclaimed man,” she added, glancing at Rachell.
“Since when has that ever mattered to you?” he asked. He pulled her against him and planted a firm kiss on her mouth.
She laughed and pushed him away. “Sugar, you know it don’t, but it would matter to you.”
As he turned toward Rachell, she cast him a look of pure fire, hot as her flaming hair.
Without warning, he grabbed Rachell and strode toward the door. She shrieked as he hoisted her dainty frame over his shoulder. “I said no screaming,” he reminded her as he pulled the door open then slammed it shut behind him.
“I can walk on my own two legs!” She twisted in his grip and jabbed her pointed elbows into his back.
“I won’t have you running off or stepping in front of a bullet.” Keeping his arm wrapped tightly around her backside, he descended the stairs.
As expected, the four men sitting at the poker table near the staircase spotted Rachell and jumped to their feet. Hopefully their speed with a side iron matched the meager mentalities he’d witnessed earlier. He hadn’t had a chance to assess the skinny blond kid now standing at the table. He’d been tending their horses when Jed had first entered the saloon.
“Mister, jus’ what the hell do you think yer doin’?” shouted the man who’d been tagged by Rachell’s sharp claws.
Sumner. “Takin’ the lady back to her family, where she belongs,”