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

horse.
    If Jake were into dark-haired beauties, he’d be scratchin’ his balls about now. “He left for the hills early this morning.” Jake’s attention returned to the blonde beauty in front of him. Then he realized the significance of the other woman’s words and he faced her, his brows raised. “Are you Honor’s companion?”
    The woman dipped her head in a single nod. “Rosalyn Smythe.” She held out a gloved hand.
    Feeling like a clod, Jake took her hand and shook it. “Honor will be mighty happy to have you around. What with the baby comin’ soon.” He stared at the woman’s fancy dress and then at Katherine’s. “I hope you two have something more suitable for climbing hills than that.”
    “We do.” Rosalyn hadn’t let Katherine speak since Jake arrived.
    He wanted to hear Katherine’s voice. He wanted to know what she was thinking after he’d made the deal with her father. “Are you ready to head up into the mountains?” he asked Katherine.
    When Rosalyn opened her mouth to answer for her, Jake held up his hand to stop her. “I want Katherine to answer.”
    “Like I have a choice?” she bit out.
    Rosalyn clamped a hand on her arm and squeezed.
    Katherine glanced at her before turning a smile toward Jake—a stiff, tight smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I can be ready as soon as I pack my horse.”
    Jake’s brows dipped low over his eyes. “Remember, I expect to be properly entertained.”
    “You’re no gentleman.”
    He laughed. “Never claimed to be.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do we still have a deal? Or do I need to go collect my money and ranch from your father?”
    Katherine’s mouth thinned into a straight line. “We still have a deal.”
    He stared at her for a long time before he finally nodded. “Then I’ll meet you two ladies at the livery stable in an hour.”
    Rosalyn glanced around at the teeming streets of the mining town, her nose wrinkling. “Can we make it less than an hour?”
    Jake’s brows rose into the hair hanging down over his forehead. “In a hurry?”
    Rosalyn smiled. “No, just thought I recognized someone, but that’s ridiculous. I don’t know anyone here.” She looked back over her shoulder.
    “Anyone important?” the blonde woman asked.
    Rosalyn’s lips thinned. “No.”
    Katherine’s eyes narrowed. “I can be ready in thirty minutes.” She spoke as though a half hour was too much time between her and her hangin’.
    A twinge of guilt nudged at Jake, but he pushed aside that feeling, looking forward to having her to himself. She was one saucy, sassy woman he could thoroughly enjoy riling with his teasing. And if he hadn’t been mistaken, when he touched her breasts last night, she hadn’t been immune to him either.
    The day promised to be interesting. Jake tipped his cowboy hat at the two women and leaped off the porch, headed back to the stables to gather his horses and supplies.
    Yup, the day promised to be downright interesting.

    Back in the hotel room, KC stripped down to her skin. “You don’t know how happy I am that you’ll be coming with us.”
    “Me too.” Rosalyn quickly sorted through her clothing, selecting a riding skirt and jacket. “Your Mr. Thompson is quite a handsome man.”
    “So?”
    “Makes it easier to pretend to enjoy making love when he’s not a hideous ogre.”
    “He’s an ogre all right, dressed in a pretty face.”
    A peal of laughter rang out from Rosalyn’s lips. “You sound like you’re not going to like him.”
    “I won’t.” KC slipped one leg and then the other into her dungarees. “What kind of man buys a woman for entertainment?”
    “Lots of men. Honey, you’re in a mining town. Women are highly valued when there is only one woman for every forty males.”
    “That’s why they have prostitutes.”
    “And what you’ve done is not prostitution?”
    “It’s different. I did it because I had no other choice.” Her hands paused with the dungarees still