Clay watched Levi pour the last kettle of boiling water into Emily’s bath. One of his cousins, Levi if he cared to guess, purchased a thin white gown and then draped the damn thing over the tub. Naturally, the blasted thing ended up wet. Luke and Levi dumped one bucket of hot water after the next into the iron clawfoot bathtub and failed to notice when the white mass floated around on top.
“You gonna sit there all day and watch or are you gonna help?” Levi asked.
“Planned on sitting right here until I join Emily in that big bathtub the two of you were kind enough to fill,” Clay said. “That is if I can get in there without getting tangled in that white sheet there.”
“Shit!” Luke said. “That was the dry gown I had for her. I gave her one to put on now and wanted her to have another one to try when she stepped out. Damn it.” He rolled his sleeves up and grabbed the short nightdress. After he knotted it up and wrung it one way and then the other, he hung it on a nearby chair and scooted it close to the fire.
“Yeah, I appreciate you taking the time to fill my bath. Emily and I will enjoy it,” Clay continued to taunt.
“When outlaws are heroes is when you’ll get that far, cousin,” Luke barked. “If anyone is slipping on the porcelain covering this iron tub, it’s me.” With a throaty call he added more, “And I plan to go head first, by the way.”
“I know three outlaws who are my heroes,” Emily said in a small voice.
They all turned to find her behind them. Levi dropped his bucket. Luke lowered his jaw and Clay nearly swallowed his tongue.
There, in the dim candlelight, Emily stood in a sheer nightdress. Clay saw the contour of her body and itched to touch her. “You look beautiful, Emily.”
Luke held one hand over his heart and reached for her with the other. “Your bath is ready.”
Clay grinned. Damn if his cousins didn’t look plumb silly holding their hats in hand directly over their cocks. He understood, of course. Why wouldn’t they? Their breeches covered a rise but it hardly concealed a fully loaded weapon.
Emily took Luke’s hand and he led her to her bath. She dipped her fingers in the water and then allowed her hand to drift through the wild flowers floating to the top.
“It’s hot,” she said with a bashful expression covering her face and sincerity lingering in her eyes. They weren’t really looking at her eyes. Clay loved the hell out of his cousins right then. They chose the ideal gown for the perfect little woman.
“I’d say,” Clay remarked as he loosened the top buttons on his shirt. “It’s damn hot in this room too.”
“Is it too warm, Emily?” Levi asked. “I can cool it off for you, if you need me to.”
Her eyes sparkled. Her nipples pressed through the material and her voice changed. It sounded raspy, needy, and sexual in every way. “I can wait. Ease into the water once I’m used to it.”
Levi paced nervously from one side of the room to the other. “Okay, let me move that screen there for you and you can have some privacy.”
Clay felt his jaw twitch. Damn Levi. He tried too hard to accommodate her and each time he did, it cost the rest of them. He was going to have to sit him down and explain a thing or two to him.
Emily pulled her hair back and somehow tied it in place on the back of her head. She wrapped it around in a loop of sorts and then tucked the strands into the center.
Grabbing both sides of her gown, she hiked the dress up to her knees and sat on the thick rim of the white porcelain finish. “I used to dream of these tubs. The kind, like this one that has a slanted back,” she paused, pursed her lips and giggled. “I used to dream I’d fall asleep and almost drown. A handsome cowboy would come along and look in my window. He’d save me right before my nose filled with water and I choked to my untimely death.”
“That’s sort of a bad fantasy,” Levi squinted his eyes.
“I’m sure glad to know we’ve made at least one dream come true,” Luke said. “Now, Emily once you get in the tub, you pretend you’re asleep and I’ll pretend to save you. After all, Clay already got to pretend he was a doctor. It’s my turn for make-believe next.”
Clay chuckled. “I kind of like the idea I first had.”
“Which notion are you talking about?” Luke asked.
Levi glared at him. “I know which one.”
“You ain’t bathing with her,” Luke informed.
“Emily?” Clay asked.
“Don’t give me that Emily nonsense now. I’m still a little pissed off at you, Clay Justice.”
“Don’t be mad now, woman because I have plenty of ways to make you glad and…” he reminded. “You damn well know it, don’t you?”
She closed her eyes and the prettiest shade of red splattered across her cheeks and the blush matched her hair. “Clay, now stop it, why don’t ‘cha?”
“No. I can’t do it. In fact, after what you’ve put me through over the last year or so, I dare say I won’t stop until you spread those pretty thighs for me and let me sink in between them.”
Levi grabbed the side of the oriental dressing screen and started his grumbling. Clay understood it. Levi and Luke always grunted and groaned when they thought Clay was trying to move in on their territory.
“One of you care to help me move this?” Levi looked at Clay and Clay narrowed his eyes on Emily.
She tilted her head and ran her fingertips over the rounded head of the tub. “Clay?”
“Emily.” He deadpanned. They understood one another and right now, he wanted to watch her bathe. By damned, the little vixen wanted him to watch. She wanted all of them to watch.
She looked down at her gown and then with a heated stare, she tilted her chin and stared back at Clay once more. “Clay, do you want to help Levi?”
Levi tugged at the screen. The flimsy three-fold partition was bulky more than heavy.
Clay licked his lower lip and his gaze fell to her breasts. “No, Emily. I don’t have the first inclination to help him right now if you’d like to know the honest truth.”
Luke knew his tone and he stopped in the middle of the floor, just long enough to give his cousin a blank stare. Luke’s lips turned up with approval and a lot of anticipation before he shook his head at Levi. “Leave the damn screen where it is.” He grabbed two chairs and dragged them across the floor.
Emily knelt beside the tub. She propped her chin up on the side and plucked a couple of the flowers from the water. She was so tired and yet excitement kept her focused on the men in front of her. This was the night she’d become a real woman. This was the night she’d find out what it felt like to be wanted by outlaws.
Levi arched a brow. “Is the water still too hot?”
“Levi, shut up about the damn water,” Clay said.
Levi frowned. “I want Emily to—”
“Undress,” Clay suggested.
Levi misinterpreted. His hand fell to his buckskins and he started to untie them.
“Not you, dimwit.” Clay sat down and splayed his legs open. His moist lips parted and his hungry eyes made her want to rip her gown to shreds but she practiced forced restraint. She’d waited for months and a few more hours wouldn’t kill her. Besides, they went to a lot of trouble to draw her a hot bath.
She gripped the side of the tub and pushed herself up. With her back to them, she took a deep breath, crossed her arms and started to lift the thin material away from her body.
“Wait,” Clay said. “Turn around.”
She gulped. He wanted to see her breasts and she was afraid if he watched her undress, stared at her hard nipples, he’d know how badly she already wanted them.
“Emily, honey,” Luke drawled. “Turn around for us, sugar.”
She drew her last breath of pure air and took a step back. She nervously pinched the gown at her sides and then raised it up inch by agonizing inch. Levi made a sound effect or two. Luke leaned back in his chair and Clay—God help her—stroked himself right in front of her.