Gold Lust [Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  In the next moment she and Green-Eyes went falling toward the ground. She landed on top of her quarry with a hard thud, her head connecting with something hard. She went toppling as the momentum pushed her body feet over head several times and then she landed on her back.

  Lacy saw stars and she couldn’t draw a breath no matter how hard she tried to inhale. It felt like she had one of those massive elephants she’d seen on the edges of a carnival show sitting on her chest, and she wondered if she was about to die from lack of air.

  No matter how many times she blinked or tried to focus she saw nothing but black and just as she thought she was about to swoon for the first time in her life, she gasped in a lungful of oxygen. The black cloak over her eyes began to dissipate and as her gasping breaths began to slow her vision came back to her.

  She blinked up at the bright sun and squinted her eyes against the dazzling light. When she went to push up into a sitting position her whole body ached, including her head, and she flopped back onto the ground like a seal on the shores of the small fishing village, she, her brother, and her papa had lived in on the southeast coast, miles from Melbourne City.

  For a moment she wished she’d never left her home, but since her papa had died and could no longer work for James Davey and he’d needed the small cottage for the new gardener, she’d had nowhere else to go. Her only thought was to go in search of her brother Craig. Craig had left home the day after he’d turned eighteen, seeking his own life.

  She’d had two letters from him in the ten years he’d been gone and since she turned twenty-two last month on September 23rd and had no prospects of marriage, and was considered a dried-up spinster, Lacy had decided the only thing she could do was search her brother out.

  The second letter he’d written her not six months hence had come from the goldfields of Ballarat. So after nursing her father through the lung fever and then seeing him buried, she’d packed up what little she had, sold off what she could and left the only home she’d ever known.

  Lacy blinked and brought herself back to the present when she saw warm blue-green eyes peering down at her.

  “Are you all right, Miss?”

  “I–I think so,” Lacy replied in a breathy voice and then tried to sit up.

  “Wait! Don’t move until I’m sure you’re not hurt.”

  Lacy held her breath as he ran his hands over her arms and legs with a quick, efficient, impersonal touch.

  “I don’t think anything is broken. Do you hurt anywhere?”

  “Uh…” Lacy wasn’t sure if she should tell him her whole body ached. She had no idea who he was or whether he was going to help her or hurt her. “I’m…fine.”

  “Let me help you up, ma’am.” He didn’t give her a chance to reply because he reached out, gently clasped her shoulders, and helped her into a sitting position.

  Lacy groaned when her throbbing head protested and the drum-like ache beat harder against the inside of her skull.

  “Is she all right?” another male voice asked.

  Lacy hadn’t even noticed she’d closed her eyes, but pried them open at the man’s question.

  “What’s your name?” Blue-Green-Eyes asked.

  Lacy met his warm gaze and to her surprise she felt her body react. It felt like her blood was heating her up from the inside, making her breasts feel heavy, and she felt a strange moisture between her legs. She had no idea what any of it meant but she liked the sensations. She actually felt her nipples peak and a weird pulsing at the top of her sex. She squeezed her thighs together and nearly gasped when she felt moisture seep out onto her feminine folds.

  “Miss?”

  Lacy cleared her throat as she stalled for time. He’d asked her a question but she been so lost in her own body she couldn’t remember. And then she heard his voice echo in her mind and opened her mouth to answer. “Lacy Tanner.”

  “I’m Chet Harland and these are my friends Will Lesley, Kenton Grady, and Walker Doyle.”

  Lacy turned her head to meet each man’s eyes and smiled as they tipped their hats to her. “Pleased to meet you, gentlemen.”

  “Do you think you can stand up?” Chet asked.

  “Yes…I think so.”

  Chet rose to his feet and that was when Lacy realised how tall and muscular he was. The other three men moved closer and she couldn’t help but notice they were all very tall, brawny, good-looking men.

  She placed her hand into Chet’s large one and shivered as the heat of his skin made tingles race up her arm and seemed to centre in her chest before racing down to her feminine core. As Chet tugged her up, Will moved in behind her and grasped hold of her hips.

  Lacy knew she should move away and scald Will for taking such liberties by placing his hands on her, but since he was just trying to keep her steady and trying to help her, she didn’t say anything. It had nothing to do with the fact that she liked having his hands bracketing her hips.

  “Damn! She’s bleeding,” Will snarled, making her jump. “I’m sorry, Lacy, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Let’s get her comfortable and I’ll tend to her wound,” Kenton said.

  Lacy saw him pull something from his saddlebag before he turned back and walked toward her. She gasped when Chet swept her off her feet and up into his arms against his chest. She closed her eyes and sighed as his clean, manly scent wafted to her nostrils. She inhaled deeply and rested her cheek against his hard chest. The beat of his heart against her ear was a comforting sound after all the harrowing turmoil she’d been through.

  Her eyes were heavy and all she wanted to do was drift off to sleep, but she made herself stay aware of her surroundings. She didn’t know these men, and although they seemed intent on helping her she wasn’t about to lower her guard. For all she knew they could be part of the bushranger gang.

  She pried her eyes open when Chet sat down and then settled her on his lap. He’d brought her into the stagecoach and when she glanced toward the door she met Kenton’s worried brown eyes before he ducked his head and climbed in, too. He sat down behind her and when she would have straightened up to look at him over her shoulder, Chet cupped her cheek and pressed her face back against his chest.

  “Stay still, little Lacy. Let Kent fix you up.”

  Chapter One

  Chet met Kent’s worried eyes as he looked at the back of Lacy’s head. He hadn’t seen her injury but from the way Kent was frowning, it didn’t look good.

  “She’s got a big goose egg on the back of her head and a cut.”

  “Does it need stitches?” Chet held his breath and hoped like hell the cut wasn’t bad enough for Kent to put needle and thread to it. If it was, he was going to make sure Lacy drank down some whiskey to dull the pain.

  When he’d seen the Crow Gang beside the coach, he and his friends had been determined to catch the fuckers and claim their reward, but that had all gone out the window when he’d noticed the petite blonde-haired beauty leaning against the side of the stage.

  But when Tom Crow had doubled back and swooped the little filly up from the ground, he’d been hell-bent on getting to her before the arseholes had ridden off with her. There was no way he was letting Tom and his brothers rape the woman only to sell her to a whorehouse once they were done with her.

  He’d been scared out of his mind when Doug and Luke Crow had started shooting at him and his mates because he’d been worried that the little lady was about to be shot. He couldn’t have been more surprised when he heard a gunshot and then saw Tom and the woman go tumbling to the ground. On his race to the blonde-haired woman, he glanced down at Tom to see him bleeding from the gut, and the only conclusion he could come up with was that the little lady had shot the bushranger in the stomach.

  Walker and Will had managed to round up Doug and Luke and they were currently trussed up on their bellies over their horses. Both of them had been knocked out with a well-placed hit on the back of their heads from the butt of his friend’s pistols.

  Will and Walker
had secured the horses to the back of the stagecoach and were currently hovering in the open doorway of the coach. Both of them were looking at Lacy as if she was a long drink of water after riding for a week without the thirst-quenching liquid.

  Chet knew exactly how they felt because the moment he’d looked down into her bewildered, hazy blue eyes he’d felt the exact same thing.

  “It’s a pretty deep cut and bleeding a lot. I think it would be better to sew it up.”

  Lacy stirred on his lap and lifted sleepy eyes to his. “I’ll be fine.”

  It took him a moment to work out what she’d said since she was slurring her words like a drunk. He just hoped that the knot on her head hadn’t knocked her silly.

  “Walker, go get the whiskey.”

  Walker nodded, grimaced at Lacy, and hurried off.

  “I’ll…be…fine.” Lacy’s eyes closed and she slumped on him again.

  He didn’t like the way she was reacting and was debating on getting her to a doctor’s once they reached Ballarat, but first he needed to make sure she was well enough to travel. He didn’t want to make her injuries worse by jostling her around too much.

  “Did you check on the stagecoach driver?” Kent asked.

  “Dead,” Will answered.

  “So we’re gonna drive the coach into Ballarat?” Walker handed over the bottle of whiskey to Chet.

  Chet nodded and pulled the cork from the bottle. He carefully moved Lacy so her head was resting back on his shoulder and tilted her head up with a nudge to her chin. “Drink, Lacy.” He placed the mouth of the whiskey bottle to her parted lips and tipped it up.

  She swallowed, gasped, and coughed, moaning and clutching at her head at the same time. Chet hated that she was hurting, but if he didn’t get her drunk she would hurt a hell of a lot worse when Kent applied his needle to her scalp.

  When she had her breath back, he put the bottle to her mouth again, but she turned her head away and scrunched her nose. It was such a cute feminine gesture he felt it all the way down to his toes, but he needed to get more drink into her.

  “Walker, come and help.”

  Walker crawled into the coach on his knees and then gently gripped Lacy’s chin. Chet poured the whiskey into her mouth and watched as she swallowed. When he thought she’d had enough he handed the bottle back to Walker and then moved her head until it was once more resting on his chest.

  “Give the bottle to me,” Kent said to Walker. “You’re gonna have to help hold her down.”

  Chet smiled when Lacy giggled and hoped that when all this was done he and his mates would be able to get to know her better, but for right now they needed to fix her up and get her home.

  Kent took the whiskey bottle from Walker and waited until they had Lacy secure between them. At Chet’s nod, Kent upended the bottle and trickled the spirit into the cut.

  Lacy didn’t scream like he expected her to, but she did buck and gasp and try to get out of his hold, but between him and Walker she wasn’t going anywhere.

  And then he looked down at her face when she slumped against him and sighed with relief when he realised that she’d passed out. He was glad because even though the drink would deaden some of the pain, she still would have felt every stitch.

  “She’s out,” Walker said in a hoarse voice.

  “Thank the Lord,” Kent muttered as he threaded the needle and got to work.

  It seemed to take forever before Kent sat back on the seat with a sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow.

  “How many?” Chet asked.

  “Five.”

  “Damn. I wished we’d killed those other two bastards.”

  “You and me both.”

  “Why wasn’t the guard riding shotgun?” Will asked.

  “Because the gold is being unloaded at the Bacchus Marsh bank from now on.”

  “What the hell for?” Kent questioned. “The gold is supposed to be taken to Melbourne City.”

  “Yeah, it is. The minted coins coming back were being taken to Ballarat, but the last three stagecoaches have been held up and robbed.”

  “What are they sending coins back for?” Walker asked.

  “Pays.”

  “Oh.” Walker removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “So we’re supposed to ride to the bank in Bacchus Marsh to collect our pay from now on?”

  “That’s about the size of it,” Chet replied.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Walker asked.

  “I was going to on the trail. The telegram came in right before we headed out, but we came across the Crow Gang before I had time to explain.”

  “You know word will spread,” Kent said. “Every bushranger from here to the border and beyond will start planning to storm that bank or rob the coach before it gets to Bacchus Marsh.”

  “None of the police officers we’ve met will be spilling the beans about the changed route. Not if they want to collect their pay.” Chet glanced down at Lacy when she sighed and rubbed her cheek against his chest. She was like a contented little kitten with a full belly after devouring a bowl full of cream. His heart caught in his throat and his muscles and cock filled with blood.

  What worried him was why a young, unwed woman was travelling without an escort and where she was going. It was unheard of for a maiden to travel alone and he wondered if she was supposed to be meeting someone at the end of the line.

  Jealousy stabbed into his chest at the thought of her meeting her groom and marrying the moment she stepped from the stage. The only way he and his friends were going to find out about her was to wait until she woke up and ask her.

  That meant they would have to take her back home with them. There was no way he was handing her over to anyone else to look after. He needed to know that she would recover from her injuries and her ordeal and if he had anything to say about it, she would be staying for the long haul. But first he and his friends needed to head out.

  “Walker, Will, pack her things back into her trunk and secure it to the coach. Luke, make sure those Crows are secure and can’t escape. The reward money will last a good long while.”

  Chet gently lifted Lacy and placed her along the coach seat. He was reluctant to let her go and wanted to hold her the whole ride back to Ballarat and their sheep farm, but he was going to have to drive the stagecoach. With a sigh of resignation and one last look at the small, curvy, beautiful Lacy Tanner, he exited to coach.

  “Are we taking her home with us?” Walker asked from his position atop the coach roof where he had secured Lacy’s trunk.

  “We have more than enough room.” Kent raised his eyebrow.

  “I think we should take her to the farm,” Will said. “We have no idea where she’s from, if there is someone waiting for her, and I’m not willing to leave her in the hands of strangers.”

  “We all know how bad the goldfields can be. That little gal is bound to get hurt.” Walker jumped to the ground.

  “We’ve been thinking of retiring from helping the police track bushrangers anyway,” Kent said. “We can call it quits and work our farm instead of hiring so many stockmen to look after our sheep.”

  Chet sighed. He was in total agreement with his friends and he had been ready to settle down for a few years, now. Just holding Lacy in his arms was enough to have the hankering burn deep in his gut and he wanted to settle down with her. But he wasn’t sure how she would react if he told her he and his three friends wanted to share her. Plus, there was the fact that she would be shunned by the few married women who had followed their husbands in search of gold. Not that he cared what others thought, but it was different for a female.

  And although he and his mates had talked about giving their tracking of bushrangers away, Chet knew it wouldn’t be that easy. They had an agreement with the head of the police and got paid a hell of a lot of money for each thief and murderer they brought in. Maybe they could take turns scouting those rangers so that one or two of them could be with Lacy at all times.

  Chet scr
ubbed a hand over his face and sighed again. He was getting ahead of himself. For all he knew, Lacy could be one of those mail order brides he’d been hearing about and had a prospective husband waiting in the wings. Jealousy surged through him, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

  But one thing was certain, he couldn’t leave her in the hands of someone else. Protectiveness swelled in the pit of his belly and rose up into his chest and heart. It didn’t matter what happened after Lacy had recovered. For now he and his mates would take her home and look after her.

  There was no way he was walking away until he knew for sure she was safely in the protection of her family, and yes, even though he hated to even think it, in the arms of her beau, if she had one.

  “We’ll bring her home.” Chet gritted his teeth when the youngest of his friends whooped it up. “But.” He held his finger up and waited until Walker calmed down. “None of you are to touch her. She could be married or about to be wed.”

  The smile left Walker’s face but he nodded his acquiescence.

  “Kent, Will, you two can take those reprobates to the police in Ballarat and collect the reward. The wanted poster said ‘dead or alive,’ so make sure you collect on Tom, too.

  “Walker, you can ride alongside the coach and keep watch. We’ll drop it off at the inn, but first go and get the driver and tie him on top. His brother is going to want to bury Neil Thompson.”

  Walker jumped onto his horse and took off.

  Kent and Will nodded to him, collected the reins of the ranger’s horses, and led them out.

  Chet walked around the coach, making sure nothing had come loose and then he checked the tack. When he was satisfied that everything was where it should be, he looked in on Lacy. She was so small compared to him and his mates. She couldn’t be much more than five feet tall, but what worried him was the fact she hadn’t stirred since Kent had stitched her up. He was concerned about the lump on the back of her head and hoped she didn’t have any lasting effects. He’d heard that a head injury could be bad and sometimes even cause memory loss.