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  Crawford took a deep breath. "Before I came here and was asked to be the deputy sheriff, I was working as a bounty hunter, as well as a hired gun. Now I don't know how much you know about what that role entails, but it essentially involves being paid to shoot… at something or someone—if the price is right, it don't really matter. That includes being asked to take part in executions. If a man has been condemned to die for his crime, and it has been decided that he should be shot, a firing squad is organized. That squad is comprised of hired guns. Men like me."

  Sapphire could feel the room begin to spin. "Did you ever participate in hangings, too?" she croaked.

  "Please, darlin', please let me get this out and then I'll answer any questions you have."

  "Whereabouts were you working?" she blurted, unable to stop herself. "Was it San Francisco?" Please say no… for the love of God, please say no.

  He frowned. "Amongst other places, yes. Why would you ask?"

  "Because that's where they hanged Seth!" she yelled, leaping up from the bed and beginning to pace the room. "They… they hanged him, murdered him in cold blood. I had to watch it!" The sudden pain was as raw as the day it had happened.

  "Please, please, settle down! Who's Seth?"

  "My brother! My big brother, the last family I had left after our folks died. He didn't hurt anyone, he just did a little thievin' to keep us alive, to keep me alive! He took food so I would be able to eat. I was just fourteen when the sickness took Ma and Pa, he was only three years older." The memory was overwhelming her, her mind was racing, the words pouring out in a rush. "Don't you see? He did it for me, Deputy, so I wouldn't have to find unsavory ways to make money. He didn't want me having to steal, or to end up walking the streets with my skirts around my ears. And you know what happened? He took from the wrong man one day, some bigwig in town, who decided the best way to punish him would be to 'make an example of him.' To murder him! They dragged him to a tree, right then and there, and then they…" Unable to go on, she sank to the floor and buried her face in her hands. She hadn't even realized the tears were falling until she felt them, wet on her palms.

  "Oh, Christ." Crawford was by her side in a flash, pulling her into his arms, rocking her gently as great sobs wracked her body. "Oh you poor, sweet girl."

  "I couldn't help him," she whimpered, barely aware of his attempts to comfort her. "I was right there and I couldn't help him. For three years he was all I had, the only one, and then those lawman bastards murdered him. He was just twenty years old, younger than I am now!" Suddenly realizing who was holding her, she reared back, staring at Crawford, fury building inside her to replace the grief. "People like you. Maybe it even was you!" Shoving him away, she leapt to her feet. "Get out of my room!"

  "Wait," he said, standing up and holding out his hands. His handsome face was drawn tight with shock. "Please, Ada, wait."

  "My name is Sapphire!" she spat. "Ada died the day they killed her brother."

  "Sapphire," he begged, "you said you'd hear me out. Please, just let me finish what I want to say and then, if you still want me to, I'll go. I promise."

  She didn't know what to think. Even now, all these years later, the pain and grief sometimes came out of nowhere, knocking her sideways. The sheer possibility that she could be standing opposite one of Seth's killers, that she had given herself to and begun to have feelings for him, was enough to make her want to curl up, go to sleep, and never wake up.

  "Promise me," she whispered. "Before you say anything else, I need you to tell me you never helped to hang a young man of twenty. Truthfully."

  "I'm so sorry for what happened to Seth, sweetheart, I really am. And I promise you that I never participated in any hangings."

  "All right," she said shakily, sinking down onto her mattress. "I believe you."

  There was an awkward pause, during which they simply gazed at one another; the air thick with emotion.

  Unable to bear it any longer, Sapphire was the first to break the silence. "Well then," she said at length, "you came here to tell me something. I'm sorry for… what just happened. Please, say what you need to say."

  Crawford shook his head. A lock of thick, dark hair had won its battle against the pomade and now fell across his high forehead. "I don't think now's the time to go into detail," he said slowly. "Not now, not after—"

  "Then summarize," Sapphire said dully. "Just give me the gist of it."

  "I love you."

  His blurted words hung in the air and she stared at him, noting he looked every bit as stunned as she felt.

  "What?"

  "Crap. I did not mean to say that, I—"

  "So you don't? Love me, I mean?" Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might bruise her ribs.

  "No, I do, I just didn't mean to—oh, for the love of Christ." He sank back down into the chair in the corner and put his face in his big, strong hands.

  Watching him, Sapphire was hit with the terrible realization that she loved him, too. Up until then she'd hoped her reaction to the man to be purely physical, that it was just desire she felt whenever she was around him, but it was as though, with his declaration, he'd spoken her own truth. Getting unsteadily to her feet, she made her way across the room and sank to her knees at his feet, gently taking his rough hands in her own and drawing them away from his face.

  "Did you really mean that?" she whispered. "Do you really love me?"

  His eyes still closed, he nodded.

  "Look at me and say it," she demanded, suddenly desperate to see his eyes.

  His light grey gaze was unwavering as he stared at her. "I love you, Sapphire. I think I've loved you from the very moment I first saw you, on that miner's back, pummeling him for all you were worth." The corner of his wide mouth crooked up in a half smile at the memory.

  Everything inside her wanted to tell him she loved him too, to jump into his lap and kiss him with all the passion she felt, but she restrained herself. "Then why have you treated me so cruelly?" She was careful to keep her voice steady, she didn't want to sound as though she was accusing him, but she had to know.

  He flinched at her question but didn't look away. "Because you don't deserve me," he said at last. "Because I've done terrible things in the past, and because I didn't want to hurt you. I'm not like the other men you know, Sheriff Justice, that golden-haired piano player downstairs, that infuriating Mr. Vasquez. I'm… different. I have a dark past and dark needs, and you deserve a whole lot better than that. I thought that before, and now, after hearing what happened to you, I'm even more certain that you need a man who… well, a man who's the opposite of me."

  Sapphire cocked her head to one side, watching him carefully. "When you say "dark needs," are you referring to things like what happened this morning in the jail cell?"

  Had it only been that morning? It felt like a lifetime ago.

  He nodded. "I don't know why, and I wish I was different, but when the passion gets me fired up, things get rough. I like it that way. I need it that way. I don't think I have it in me to be gentle. And I know that women… well, they don't like that. It's why I should remain single. It's why I've always been careful to stay away from the Petticoat, why I've been careful never to get close to a woman."

  She couldn't help herself. A bubble of mirth rose in her throat and within moments, she was curled up on the floor, laughing almost hysterically.

  "What's so funny?" Crawford glared down at her. "I'm baring my soul here, and you think it's amusing?"

  "No, no… please, don't be offended." She wiped her eyes. "I don't really know why I'm laughing, it's just that… oh lord, we've both been behaving like such fools!" When he continued to stare at her uncomprehendingly, she got back up on her knees and once more took his hands between hers. "Don't you see?" she said softly. "We both want the same thing. We both want each other. And I don't know whether you were too overcome to notice this morning, but I…" Heat prickled across her face and she had to force herself to continue. "I have dark needs, too. I l
ove the way you touch me. I hated the reason why you were switching me, I hated that I made you angry, but while you were doing it, I—"

  His lips came down on hers with a savage hunger, cutting off both her words and her breath. The next instant, he had hauled her into his lap with brute strength before he resumed kissing her, his tongue claiming her mouth, his hands finding the pins in her hair and yanking them out to allow her ringlets to cascade down over her bare shoulders.

  Leaning back, he studied her for a moment, his fingertips tracing her cheek. "You're so fucking beautiful," he said hoarsely. "You really feel the same way about me? About everything?"

  She nodded.

  "Say it."

  Her nipples were already tight under her corset and she longed to be naked beneath him. Biting her lip, she looked up at him with a sly smile and shook her head.

  Lifting her as though she weighed nothing, he got out of the chair and threw her gently onto the bed. He was so handsome as he stood over her, she thought she might swoon with heady excitement.

  "Tell me you love me," he ordered. "I need to hear the words. Say it."

  Raising her chin defiantly, she shot him a cheeky grin. "Make me."

  With a growl, he gripped her ankles and flipped her over on to her belly, pushing her skirt and petticoat up over her back before tearing at her bloomers.

  "Oh, I'll fucking make you," he said, ripping the material of her drawers in his haste to get at her bare skin. The first spank landed before Sapphire had time to comprehend what he was doing to her.

  She squealed at the sudden burn, remembering with a jolt how much just his hard palm hurt, but already another part of her was coming alive. A second, then a third slap branded her bared behind, stealing her breath away.

  "You ready to say it now?" he asked.

  Terrified but hopelessly excited, she shook her head.

  "So be it. I won't stop hurting you until you do," he said.

  She felt the mattress sink down under his weight and the next thing she knew, his hand was in her hair, twisting in her curls until he was able to yank her head back, her scalp prickling with pain.

  Holding her immobile that way, with her ringlets wrapped around his fist, he began to spank her once more, over and over again, lighting an almost unendurable, steadily building fire in her backside until she was drumming her toes on the quilt and hissing.

  "Is this what you like?" he asked, aiming his next swats to the backs of her thighs.

  Her squeals went up a notch.

  "I asked you a question! Just now, you said you like my dark side. Well, this is just the start of it, baby. You have the most beautiful little ass, and it's still covered with welts from my switch. So I suspect this must hurt even more than it usually would on an unmarked butt."

  Sapphire wasn't so sure. His hand had felt like a branding iron even when she'd been stuck in the flue, even when she hadn't been punished recently. She bit her lip, relishing the sensations Crawford was creating in her body. Her nipples chafed against her corset, her scalp ached from the way he was pulling her hair, her behind was ablaze… and yet the throbbing delight between her thighs was unmistakable.

  "Tell me," he said again, landing a particularly vicious spank just above the back of her knee. "Tell me how you feel right now, pinned to the bed, helpless and unable to do anything but endure whatever it is I decide to do to you."

  A jolt of need snaked through her sex, concentrating on the little bud at her core.

  He slapped her again without mercy. "Say it."

  "I… I like it," she moaned.

  "You like it?" He sounded incredulous.

  Squeezing her thighs together, trying to subdue the longing, she let out a sob. "I love it!" she cried. "I love what you do to me!" Admitting it aloud made her face blaze with shame, but at least he, being behind her, wouldn't be able to see it.

  "You wouldn't lie to me, would you, little Sapphire?"

  "No, sir!"

  "Shall I check to see whether you're telling me the truth?" His hand slipped between her legs and cupped her wet heat. At his sudden touch, bolts of lightning shot through her loins and she bucked, helplessly, against his palm.

  "Good girl," he crooned, applying just the lightest pressure to her aching nub. "You're so damn wet… guess you were telling the truth. You know what happens to good girls?"

  She tried to shake her head but he was still holding her hair too firmly. "No," she croaked, desperate for him to rub her harder.

  "They get rewarded. Can you imagine how I might reward you?" One of his fingers slid inside her, the others still working her most sensitive place.

  "I can," she gasped, closing her eyes as he brought her ever closer to the edge.

  "Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for you to say something else to me. So I'm going to stop doing this…"

  He removed his hand from her sex and she could have wept with frustration.

  "And resume doing this…" He began to spank her again, even harder than before, if that were even possible. The stripes from her whipping that morning were bursting back into sizzling life with every slap of his broad palm. "I'm not going to stop until you tell me what I want to hear."

  Letting go of her hair, he instead rested his forearm against her back, pinning her skirts out of the way as he held her down and resumed spanking her in earnest, the swats landing so fast she could barely tell one from the next.

  The heat on her punished flesh was building to an unendurable peak, he was holding her immobile, and yet it felt so good…

  In the end, it was the need between her legs that broke her resolve.

  "I love you," she whispered.

  "What?" Another well-aimed spank. "I didn't hear you."

  "I fucking love you, you insufferable man!" she howled. To her surprise, he chuckled.

  "Such a romantic little thing you are." His fingers crept once more between her legs. "You want me to stop spanking you? You want me to keep doing this?"

  The sheer pleasure radiating from her core prevented her from being able to form a coherent reply. Instead she ground herself against his palm, humping him helplessly, simultaneously ashamed and excited by the way he was making her behave.

  "I'm going to fuck you," he said, sliding two thick fingers into her slick heat, at which she arched her back and moaned, feeling herself clench around him.

  "I'm going to fuck you here, in your tight little pussy. I'm going to fuck you here…" He withdrew his fingers and slid them to her lips. Sapphire found herself suckling them, tasting herself hungrily as he continued, "in your sassy, beautiful mouth, and sometime soon, I'm even going to fuck you here…" His fingers slid from her lips and began to trace circles over her most intimate place, "in your gorgeous little ass. I'm going to take and claim every single part of you. Would you like that?"

  "Oh yes, sir." She was surprised she could still speak, such was her arousal.

  "But first, I think I remember promising you a reward."

  His hands found her hips and yanked her up onto her knees. She clutched at the quilt to steady herself. Her voluminous skirts made it impossible for her to see what he was doing, but within moments, she felt him shift, and then something hot, soft and wet fastened around her pounding sex.

  His mouth.

  Even as her face flamed with the shame of what he was doing to her, her thighs began to tremble as his tongue slid over and around her stiff pearl, lapping at her folds before returning to the place she ached to feel him the most.

  When his fingertips dug into the hot, sore flesh of her punished backside and he began to lick her faster, the pain and pleasure reaching a crescendo, Sapphire lost control and came, her whole body shuddering with the force of her climax, keening as his tongue forced every last spasm from her fluttering pussy.

  The exquisite torment didn't end there. She was still moaning into the cushion when she felt him enter her, his thick girth stretching her open, his hands moving back to her hips to pull her against him, again and again.r />
  "God, baby, I could die right now and be a happy man," he growled, never wavering in his deep, hard thrusts. "You fit me so perfectly. And you make the sweetest sounds when you spend." As if to illustrate that statement, he canted his hips, his cock now reaching a place inside her Sapphire didn't even know she had. Over and over again he moved against it, and then he slipped a hand between her legs, once more finding and fingering her swollen bud.

  "You gonna make those sounds for me again, darlin'?"

  She rammed her fist to her mouth, biting down in an attempt not to cry out.

  His other hand gripped her shoulder, tugging her harder against him. "Spend for me, sweetheart. Show me you like it when I fuck your tight little pussy."

  A part of her felt like fighting him, an impudent side of her which didn't want to immediately do as she was told; which wanted to see what would happen if she disobeyed.

  But the friction of his cock against that spot deep inside, combined with the relentless circling of his fingertip on her pulsing nub, forced Sapphire to obey his command and she came again.

  As she tried in vain to stifle her cries of pleasure with her fist, she was vaguely aware of Crawford gripping her harder before he, too, gave a shout and climaxed, his hips jerking wildly before he drove into her with such force her knees gave way.

  She landed flat on the mattress with a little gasp, him on top of her, his breath warm on her back. Then he chuckled. "Can you breathe?"

  Sapphire shook her head, her whole body still quivering with the force of her release.

  "Then I'd better move." He rolled off her, pulling her to him, cradling her in his thickly muscled arms.

  Stroking the soft, dark hair above his wrist, she gave a contented sigh.

  "I can barely believe that just happened," he murmured, dropping a kiss on her bare shoulder.