Duty Bound: Bound and Tied, Book 2 by Myla Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

burn.
    Despite her fears, KC slipped into a troubled sleep. Gone was the dust and grime of the cattle drive. Gone were her boots, hat and dungarees. She lay naked with both Jake’s and Rosalyn’s hands roaming over her virgin body, making her cry out in a fever of unfamiliar passion.
    It beat the hell out of pokin’ cows.

Chapter Four
    Jake stepped off the porch of the Golden Nugget Hotel, his pockets lighter, anticipating the prize he’d claim later that morning.
    The deal with Mr. Matheson had gone down with barely a hitch. The old man knew Jake had him with his back against a wall. He could sacrifice one daughter or all of his family. When Jake insisted he and Katherine were in love and planned to marry, Matheson agreed, taking the money and the IOU for the ranch.
    Jake clapped his hands together, eager to get on with the game at hand. All he had to do was collect Honor’s companion and he could head back to the mine.
    How far would Katherine go before she cried uncle? Would she make it all the way to the mine, or would she beg him to take her back before they cleared the outskirts of the mining town?
    The devil on Jake’s other shoulder was whooping and hollerin’ that he finally had a woman of his own to warm his bed and slake his desires. Bought and paid for. The best kind. If he got tired of her, he wasn’t stuck with her. He could send her back to her daddy.
    Though his groin tightened in anticipation and his blood rushed throughout his body, warming him in places that had no business being warm, Jake reminded himself he was an honorable man. He wouldn’t take advantage of a woman in that way.
    Unless she was willin’ and insisted.
    Either way, wouldn’t Zach and Honor be surprised? Zach had left too early in the morning for Jake to apprise him of the change in plans.
    Jake headed for the livery stables, shaking off the guilt weighing down on his shoulders. He needed to ask when the next stage would arrive in Idaho Springs. Surely Honor’s companion would be on it. Already three days late, if she was coming at all, she’d be in today.
    “The stage came in late last night.”
    “What?” Jake shook his head. “Was there a woman on it?”
    “Boy howdy, was there.” The livery man’s face split in a leering grin. “Quite a looker too.”
    “Where’d she go?”
    “Think she headed for the Golden Nugget.”
    Jake spun on his heels and trotted back up the street for the hotel he’d just left. If he’d known she came in last night, he could have been on the trail with Zach. It hadn’t occurred to him until now that he’d be hauling two females up the rugged mountain to the claim by himself. He hoped they didn’t grouse and complain the entire way.
    His footsteps slowed. Holy cow. From no women to two women… He frowned. How was he supposed to take pleasure from Katherine with another woman around? Well, hell. He’d figure it out somehow.
    He leaped onto the porch of the Golden Nugget and ran into two women stepping out of the hotel. They didn’t see him until he barreled right into them. “Pardon me.”
    They steadied him and he got his bearings, realizing one was the woman he’d bought and paid for less than an hour ago. “Ah, Miss Matheson. I take it you spoke with your father?”
    KC’s eyes flashed and she opened her mouth to respond.
    Before she could utter a word, the woman with her answered for her. “She has, and her father is on his way back to his ranch down south.”
    Jake’s heart skipped a couple beats and slammed against his chest. His hands itched for another feel of those luscious breasts, but he supposed he’d have to wait and see how the day progressed. Making love to her on the porch of the hotel wouldn’t be fittin’.
    “If you can pull your tongue back in your head, perhaps you can tell me where I can find a Mr. Zachary Braun?” The woman with Katherine stood tall, her shoulders back, her fine head held high, dark lustrous hair shining prettier than a prize