Free Devils on Horseback: Gideon, Book 5 by Beth Williamson

along at a steady pace without turning in his direction.
    Gideon silently agreed with her. “That might be so, but I’ve seen a couple of dry creek beds along the way. It’s also possible this trail hasn’t been used in a while because the water dried up.”
    “It doesn’t matter if it did. We can keep going without it.”
    “No, we can’t.” He took hold of her arm to stop her. “You look like you’re about to perish.”
    Her lip curled. “You sure do know how to flatter a lady.”
    “I’m sure I don’t look much better.” He didn’t have time to be thinking about her delicate sensibilities or whether his words offended her. It was time to make command decisions. “If we both get too weak to go on or too weak to fight for them, then we’ve defeated ourselves before we even got started.”
    Chloe pulled out of his grasp. “I ain’t losing their trail because you’re thirsty.”
    Gideon swallowed his angry retort before he spoke. “It’s hot, we’re sweating and we haven’t had a drink in hours. That means all the water we have in our bodies is leaving without putting more in. I’ve seen men drop dead after marching for days without fresh water.” He leaned in close and noticed just how long her lashes were. She was such a damn distraction. “The tracks should be easy to pick up again, but we are going to have to stop to find water. We also need to find something else to carry it in or make something.”
    He didn’t mention the tobacco pouch and wasn’t going to. It was important to her, and he respected that. However he wasn’t about to let her kill herself because she didn’t want to listen to what he had to say.
    “I ain’t stopping. You go ahead and find yourself a drink, but I’m moving on.” She walked on, heedless of the fact it was completely illogical, not to mention maddening.
    “Chloe.” He started after her, then stopped and listened. The sound of wagon wheels echoed faintly in the afternoon air. He snatched her up by the waist, covering her mouth with one hand so she couldn’t scream, and dove into the brush.
    The woman was like a wildcat in his arms, bucking and twisting, even biting his hand. He leaned down and whispered harshly in her ear, “Shut up and be still. There’s a wagon coming.”
    She quieted, but the daggers shooting from her eyes got sharper.
    “You ready to be good?” He wasn’t playing games with her, but damned if he didn’t have to treat her like a little kid.
    She was anything but a little kid though. Her breasts pushed into his arm and stomach, and her body, honed by years of work, tucked into his like a key in a lock. Stupid dick noticed it all. It twitched against her hip, and her eyes opened wide, then narrowed again.
    Gideon let her loose, momentarily flummoxed by his reaction to this spritely creature. She was a stranger, a woman he’d bedded because she had crawled in beside him offering herself. Chloe Ruskin meant nothing to him, yet his body disagreed. She was definitely more than nothing, perhaps bordering on something.
    “You keep that stick in your pants, mister.” She scrambled a few feet away. “I ain’t got the time to please your inclinations right now.”
    If they weren’t in such dire straits, he might have laughed at the notion he had to keep his “inclinations” to himself. It was absurd to consider that he would force himself on a woman, much less put their lives at risk to do so. Women didn’t quite understand how a man’s dick did the most outrageous things, whether or not he wanted it to. Sometimes it took control, however short-lived, until Gideon took it back, with force, if necessary.
    “Take off your pack and leave it here until we know who is in the wagon. As for my inclinations, I don’t have the time or the desire to do anything to you right now.” He kept his voice barely audible. “Now shut up and listen.”
    He was surprised to see something like hurt pass across her features as she turned away from