With my hands free, my corset also fell to the floor. I was naked except for my boots and thigh length stockings.
"Thank you, Wiley."
"For fucking you?" His gaze raked over my body. "I assure you, no thanks is needed."
I shook my head. "For taking me as you would one of those women."
He didn't look happy by my answer. "Piper, listen to me. I took you that way because I want you. You, Piper Easton. Not some whore. You are my wife, don't you understand that?"
I swallowed the tears that clogged my throat. "But you didn't want to marry me. My family killed your father."
"Do I seem uninterested? Unaffected?" His dark eyes bored into me.
I shook my head. "No, but how do I know you won't leave me for a woman like Ethel? My brother was infatuated with Miss Carter enough to die for her."
He hooked a hand behind my neck and gently pulled me into his chest. "I'm not your brothers or your father. I don't intend to use you."
"But you thought I had left you."
He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in places. "My mother left us when I was small. A traveling preacher. I have a very jaded view on women. Now that I know a woman was among the band of criminals that killed my father, an innocent on a train, it is skewed even more."
"So I'm supposed to trust you not to be like my family when you think I'm just like your mother?"
That gave him pause.
"I take my vows to you seriously. I know you're taking our vows seriously as well."
I looked at him, confused.
"Piper, you went to a brothel, again, against my wishes because you are one possessive woman. If you didn't care about me, about our marriage, you wouldn't have done it."
I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it. He was right, which meant I would fight for him all the more.
WILEY
"There's been another robbery."
I sat down at the table across from Piper. We were in the hotel restaurant having breakfast and the news of the latest stage robbery was spreading through the room like wildfire.
She put down her coffee cup and leaned toward me. "Was it...her?"
I had that angry, tense feeling I always had when I was on the search for a criminal and couldn't find them in time before they committed another crime. It was frustrating and a little helpless and I hated that. We were getting closer to finding the woman, but now that there had been another robbery, I knew it wasn't just Miss Carter who needed to be caught. One woman coul
dn't hold up a stage on her own.
"It appears so, but she had help. It was just outside of town yesterday."
"Was anyone hurt?"
I shook my head. "Not this time."
"Then we must act in haste." Her words were so vehement, so strong.
"We?" I asked.
"You went to the brothel last night...after, well after. I don't think you can go snooping around again without raising suspicion."
I cut off a piece of steak and swiped it through my egg. "What are you suggesting?"