Cowboy Hero
Published: Mar 11, 2013
Words: 17,871
Category: western, romance
Orientation: M/F
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OPENING EXTRACT
Travis was exhausted. He and his men had just finished a long cattle drive and while his men were probably half soused by now, he had just finished up the paperwork for the sale of the cattle and gone to the hotel to clean up.
The hotel arrangements had already been made so he went to his room, took a nice long bath, put on clean clothes and headed to the saloon. He couldn't wait for his first cold beer. He walked toward the saloon and suddenly stopped.
What was that sound? It sounded like whimpering. Where was it coming from? He stood still and listened carefully. It was coming from the alley between the saloon and the general store. Slowly and quietly he made his way toward the sound.
He took a deep breath at what he saw. There was a small child curled up in a ball, whimpering. Quickly he bent down and picked up the small bundle. Instead of a docile kitten, he suddenly found a scratching, fighting wildcat in his arms. Although it didn't take him long to get it under control, he certainly didn't expect this reaction.
"Settle down right now," he snapped. "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you," he tried to explain as he turned the fighting bundle in his arms around so he could see what he had.
"My god, you're a little girl," he said shocked.
"No, I'm not! I'm a grown woman. Put me down right now," she screamed at him.
"Not quite yet, young lady," he replied. "Settle down and I'll consider it."
Still squirming for all she was worth she yelled, "God damn it, put me down right now."
"Watch your language young lady or you'll be getting your mouth washed out with soap. Do you understand me?" he said. "Now, settle down right now or I'll turn you over my knee and paddle you until you do settle down."
She quit squirming and settled down. He guessed she knew he was serious about spanking her.
"That's better," he said as he put her back on the ground. Damn, she was a tiny thing. Probably not 5 feet tall and no more than a hundred pounds, soaking wet with dark hair down to her waist.
"Let go of me," she demanded as she looked up into the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen.
He had no intention of completely letting go of her. He knew she'd take off running and he didn't feel like chasing her down. Instead, keeping a firm grip on her arm, he guided her toward the small café that looked to be still open.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Just over to the café," he replied. "I have a lot of questions that you're going to answer; and besides that, I'm hungry."
"I don't want to go with you. I have no intention of answering any questions. I have to get out of here," she said as she pulled away from his grip and took off running.