Free Reckless Territory by Kate Watterson Page A

clean up the rest of the house before it is really habitable.”
    It was true. They’d scrubbed the only bedroom that had a nice window overlooking the courtyard, but the house was still downright dirty everywhere else. They’d even cooked supper over an open fire outside.
    Victoria had bathed earlier, and she only wore Jace’s oversized shirt he’d given her the day they’d found her. It came down to about her knees, and the sight of her bare calves and ankles was distracting enough Robert had to consciously do his best not to look.
    Not that he did a very good job of it.
    For one thing, her silky hair was loose. Long, golden tresses that brushed her hips in a graceful fall. And then there was the matter of her exposed legs. He could only imagine running his fingers along that smooth, taut skin…
    “Outside the doorway?” She frowned, and her gaze was very direct.
    Could she see the growing bulge in his trousers? He hoped to hell not. Robert wanted her—they all wanted her—but he didn’t ever wish to make her feel uncomfortable with their unique arrangement. What he fantasized over, what he wanted so badly, needed to be freely given. If he wasn’t invited, he wasn’t going to suggest it himself.
    He had that much civilized upbringing left in him.
    “You are my nursemaid then.” Victoria made a face. “I have noticed, of course, one of you hovers by me at all times.”
    “This is dangerous country, my lady.”
    “I don’t think I’m a lady any longer,” she said dryly, but a smile quivered on her soft mouth. “What happened between me and Cole was certainly something no true lady would do.”
    “You are a true lady,” he argued, and meant it. He’d known scores of well-bred ladies back in Boston, and none of them had half her gracious charm.
    Or incomparable allure. A light sweat had broken out over his skin.
    It was going to be a long night, but he’d drawn the high card and so he got the first watch. This wasn’t Mayfair or Pall Mall. Even there she wouldn’t be without a chaperone.
    “I don’t wish to be a proper lady any longer,” Victoria said softly. “And since you are assigned as my protector, wouldn’t it be better done if you slept in the same bed?”
     
    What is the most shocking part of all of this? Victoria wondered. That her unusual circumstances allowed her to act upon her wanton impulses or that she had them in the first place?
    Robert stared at her as if he was wondering the same thing, but the unmistakable hunger in his hazel eyes told her he approved wholeheartedly. His body, not quite as tall as Cole’s but just as muscular with slim hips and wide shoulders, was tense. A wavy lock of chestnut hair hung over his brow in an endearingly boyish fall.
    And his lean hand shook just a little as he reached up to brush it away. “I’d be lying if I denied I was thinking about it,” he said finally, his voice unusually husky.
    The clink of his spurs as he took one step, bringing him close enough to touch, made a musical jingle. He smelled like fresh-cut pine with a slight hint of male.
    She might as well be honest. “I’ve been thinking about it too, and wondering how much of a harlot it makes me.”
    Robert gave a laugh that was flatteringly incredulous. “You are so far removed from a harlot that I can’t even begin to argue the difference. “
    She wasn’t sure she agreed.
    That was the truth of it. She wanted all three of them, and they all wanted her.
    Put that way, it sounded simple, but society frowned on women who gave themselves freely to more than one man.
    Yet, she knew that back in London there were aristocratic women who routinely slept with a variety of lovers once they’d given their husbands that requisite heir, and it was an accepted practice. Surely it was no different to take several lovers in the wilds of the American West… Or maybe better, for she wasn’t breaking her wedding vows of fidelity.
    There would be no wedding in her future. She’d known