Wild Lilly Read Free Page B

alone? This wasn’t like home. None of this would ever happen on the streets of Hartford. How was she to know men like this roamed Caldwell in such a brazen fashion? It wasn’t as if she’d gone for a stroll at night—it was midmorning on a Tuesday, for pity’s sake.
    “Hold ’er,” the bearded man rumbled as he began to pull at the belt that held his pants up.
    Now she did scream, long and loud. She tried to hold onto her shawl, but it almost ripped in two as the men laughed and tore it from her grasp. The man in the straw hat darted forward, as quick as a snake, slammed a grimy hand over her mouth, and ripped the bodice of her dress. She stared down in shock at the sight of her corset. The tips of her nipples had escaped the confines of her modesty shift. The men let out a hungry chuckle and moved in on her. Two of them held her arms back while the third tried to tug down the top of her stubborn corset. She tried to scream past the hand over her mouth and kick at him, but her skirts hampered her movements. Fear tore through her stomach as one of the men holding her began to paw at her skirt, yanking it up with his free hand.
    A gunshot rang through the alley.
    The men dropped her and wheeled around toward the shooter. Lilly leaned back against the brick building, panting and holding her arms around herself.
    At the entrance to the alley stood a tall man with smoke wafting from the tip of his nickel-plated pistol. His shoulders were broad and his hips narrow. Waist overalls clung tight to his hips and muscled legs in an indecent fashion. She edged against the wall, getting a better look at her would-be savior and tugging at the top of her ruined dress.
    Skin tanned a dark brown set off his soft blue eyes, the color of washed-out denim. A strong jaw and high cheekbones gave his face a masculine charm. The rough stubble of dark hair shadowed his jaw as he stared at the bearded man without fear. She tensed, getting ready to try and slink past the men while they were distracted. Her heart pounded so hard she heard it in her ears.

    ***

    Paul McGregor glared down the alley at Hank and his no-account buddies. He’d been passing down the road when he noticed them cornering someone in the alley. He couldn’t make out who it was, but the glimpse of pink between their bodies and the muffled, high-pitched scream let him know it was a female.
    “What the hell are you doing,” he asked, keeping the gun trained on Hank.
    “We’re just havin’ a bit of fun with the new soiled dove,” he answered, in an overblown aw-shucks voice. His mean little eyes watched the gun in Paul’s hand. Hank, a trail boss over at Lee Krisp’s cattle ranch, was an all-around bully of a man with a mean temper, much like his boss.
    “She doesn’t look like she’s having much fun. Why don’t you boys let her come over here by me?” He never took his eyes off the other man.
    The trio of grimy ranch hands parted to reveal a stunning creature. His breath caught in his throat as the morning sun shone off her. A pink bonnet with little blue flowers and silver ribbon covered hair the pale gold of winter wheat. The pretty hat graced a face as delicate and pure as a snowflake. Big, emerald-green eyes stared at him as her perfect lips curled into an O of shock. A pale pink dress with a cream shawl covered her slender body.
    The front of her dress was torn and she struggled to hold up the top of her corset. The tips of her nipples, pinker than the velvet, peeked out and distracted him. Feeling like a lecher, he forced his gaze away from her tits and back to the scene before him. He really should tell her that the best set of breasts he’d seen in a long time were struggling to get out of that tight bodice.
    The remains of a ruined parasol and a scrap of fabric lay at her feet. She started to bend down to retrieve her belongings when her top slipped down a little more and she noticed him staring at her. He cleared his throat and made a hitching motion