Free Adam: Braddocks, Book Two by Starla Kaye

it firmly from time to time.”
    She gasped and shuddered at the next swat. When she caught her breath, she said with determination, “He may discipline me as he feels needed, but I will love him nonetheless. He will own my heart…and I will own his.”
    She felt him hold the brush against her burning bottom, but she bravely added, “Adam, I love you.”
    To her surprise and regret, he stepped away, let her clothing fall back into place. He set the brush on the counter and said wearily, “But I cannot love you back.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Dry Fork was being over–run with women arriving on one stage after another for the last two weeks. Angelica and Faith watched from the mercantile’s window as another three women left the stage depot and headed for the Dry Creek Hotel. As far as Faith knew, the hotel was full up.
    She turned to Angelica. “It looks like you’ll have more guests.”
    Angelica sighed and shook her head in amusement. “Strangest situation ever, having the rooms above the saloon taken over by a bunch of single women. And not the kind who sometimes make use of those rooms.” She winked at Faith. “Not that I have any idea what those ladies do upstairs.”
    Faith was well aware of what happened in the privacy of those rooms, but she didn’t care. She knew the four “ladies” involved and liked them. They’d all had hard lives before finding their way to Dry Fork and the Tumbleweed Saloon. She also knew Angelica hadn’t had an easy life either, although her friend had never actually talked about her life before she came here. Which was fine with her. But she did find all of what was happening with the arrival of these numerous mail–order brides amusing. Jennie did not. She was currently furious with all of the Braddock brothers, which amused Angelica and Faith even more.
    “How are your regulars taking this change?” Faith turned from looking out at the street with its heavier than usual traffic of wagons and riders, cowboys who came into town more and more to ogle the new women.
    “At first there was a lot of grumbling about their being ‘inconvenienced.’” Angelica grinned. “Now, though, I think most of them are kind of enjoying having so many ladies around. A couple of them have even been trying to do some courting.”
    They heard footsteps on the boardwalk and irritated women’s voices. Faith didn’t have to look to know it was the newest three women headed for the Tumbleweed. The proper ladies didn’t like being turned away from the hotel and told the only rooms available in town were in the saloon, and those were fast filling up.
    “It looks like you’d better go take care of your new boarders,” she said. The other good thing about having all these women in town was that her mercantile’s business had picked up considerably.
    Angelica nodded and stepped toward the doorway at the same time Jennie came storming inside. She stopped, raised a dark eyebrow, and asked, “What’s got you so fired up now?”
    Jennie’s chest puffed out and she snapped, “All of those women! Daniel! Adam! Ben! Caleb!”
    Faith watched Angelica’s lips twitch as she struggled to keep from outright laughing. She really enjoyed seeing the Braddock brothers in trouble.
    “What have they done now?” she questioned and took a second glance outside. She stiffened at the sight of a stunning redhead stepping onto the boardwalk. The woman in her early twenties had to have spent days travelling by stage and yet she looked fresh as a daisy, not a hair out of place from the chignon she wore. Faith’s own red hair never looked so neat. No matter how hard she tried, a strand here or there managed to slip free of being pinned back or staying in a braid. She fought to keep from reaching up to check her hair.
    Evidently Angelica noted her discomfort. “You’re every bit as pretty as that woman.” When Faith glanced at her, she added, “Adam only has eyes for you anyway.”
    “No, he