Free Sullivan by Linda Devlin

over with here and now," Sullivan said calmly. "Go ahead. Have your say."
    "Jed's going to kill you," Cash said with a smile. "You come riding into town with his baby sister in tow, a little girl who calls you Papa, and a kid that would easily pass as yours on a quick glance. Quite the happy-looking family." The words were light, but Cash's eyes went hard.
    Sullivan explained, as curtly as possible, how he'd met Eden Rourke. He told Cash about Webberville and the run-in with the Merriweather brothers.
    Cash's smile died quickly; his eyes darkened, turning almost black. "Webberville, you say. What say we pay them a visit, you and me and Rico and Nate? A surprise visit. Hell, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes to set those rubes straight."
    "No," Sullivan said. "I'll handle it myself."
    Cash shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care one way or another. "If you need someone to watch your back, give me a holler."
    Sullivan knew if he rode into Webberville with Daniel Cash at his side, the men who'd been so quick to jump him would piss their pants and run like hell. While it was an entertaining and tempting thought, he wanted to take care of those men on his own. And he wanted his damn hat back.
    "She's an attractive lady," Cash said, changing the subject. "Reminds me of the girls back home. Innocent, respectable, so sweet you just want to lick them all over and see if they taste like penny candy. They have the world at their feet and paradise between their legs and they don't even know it yet." His voice was hard, cynical. His eyes darkened.
    Sullivan turned his back to Cash and took a sip of his whiskey. Daniel Cash was as fast and loose with his women and his mouth as he was with his gun, and Sullivan found he was in no mood to hear the gambler and gunslinger talk about licking Eden.
    Not that he had any right to feel possessive, not that it made a damn bit of difference to him who licked Eden, when the time came. She'd taste good, though, wouldn't she? She'd smell good, too, with his nose right against her skin, with his tongue...
    "You got a claim on her?" Cash asked.
    "Nope," Sullivan answered without hesitation and without a hint of emotion in his voice. "If you want her, she's all yours."
    A soft, harsh bark of laughter was Cash's answer. "Jesus, I wouldn't touch Jed's little sister with a ten-foot pole if you gave me a dozen saloons like this one to do it. Do you know what happens to men who trifle with women who have brothers like Jedidiah Rourke? I do," he said without waiting for an answer. "And I like my nuts."
    Sullivan looked Cash in the eye.
    "If you like yours," Cash added in a lowered voice, "you'll quit daydreaming about little Miss Rourke."
    Nate came in, stumbling over an invisible obstacle near the swinging doors. His citified suit was rumpled; his hair was cut so short it couldn't possibly be mussed. His eyes were bloodshot and he needed a shave, as usual. He looked like he'd been drinking all day, maybe all week. The ex-preacher claimed a table in the corner and ordered a bottle.
    Sullivan ordered his own bottle from Yvonne and joined him. At least Nate wouldn't preach. He'd given up that calling long ago.

 
     
     
    Chapter 5

     
    Breakfast in the hotel dining room had been as glum and unappetizing as dinner the night before. Lydia was just as antisocial, but Eden refused to allow herself to be dismayed. She had plans for the day. Perhaps she couldn't do anything about the condition of the hotel, but she could certainly make improvements in her room.
    The children helped with the enterprise, Millie sweeping and Teddy washing the window and wiping down the walls. The door, as well as the window when Teddy didn't need it closed for washing, remained open in hopes that a bit of fresh air might carry away the sour odor that permeated the room. She didn't want to spend another night in a room that smelled like someone else's sweaty feet. They'd just been working a few minutes when a raspy voice in the