A Lethal Lady
Chapter 12

Tom went straight to the back of the hotel, his mission was not to be interrupted while he was questioning the supposed Miss LeRoy... immediately spotting the room where Rouse was staying in the background, he approaches it with his mind fully made up about the woman; the sheriff found the door open and his instincts lead him to enter the room, discovering that it was empty.

-Hell, she's escaped," he mumbles, just as he hears a noise outside the room.

The sheriff drew his revolver, and walked slowly towards where the noise came from, the brown man noticed a thick white sheet in the middle of the road, so he pushed it aside abruptly to see who was behind it, but, to his surprise, what was lying behind the sheet was not what he expected to see.

-AHHHH!" The sheriff was petrified by the woman's scream and presence.

-Rouse! -he exclaims, startled.

-What the hell is she doing? -She asks, covering her naked body with her nightgown, although it was obvious that it didn't cover her completely. What the hell are you doing? Get out of here," she demanded irritably. -Miss Rouse, are you all right? -It had to be Lauren, who had heard her scream.

The blonde thought that if she saw her half naked and accompanied by the sheriff, it could be misinterpreted. And the last thing she wanted was for that damned town to be talking about her as if she were a whore.

Her reflexes kicked in immediately, as she caught a glimpse of young Lauren leaving the hotel. She grabbed the sheriff by the lapel of his overcoat and dragged him into what was supposed to be the bathroom.

It consisted only of a small cubicle, the walls of which were made of thick sheets. Inside lay a wooden barrel filled with ice water. And that was all the bathroom in that place, not the best of services, but at least it was much better than before. -Quiet, sheriff," she whispers, while looking him in the eye.

Tom was stunned by the calmness with which this woman acted, what kind of lady wouldn't be alarmed at being so exposed in front of a man she didn't know? And she acted as if she didn't care about his presence.

And try as he might, the sheriff was tempted to lower his gaze. Not to say that he hadn't seen her before would be a lie to himself. Of course he had, the first glimpse was as clear as day. It was impossible for him not to notice the nakedness of her body, those curves, those thighs and those breasts that....

-Miss LeRoy, are you all right? Lauren's voice brought him out of his less-than-decent musings.

-Yes, Lauren. I'm fine, don't worry," The blonde looks away.

-I heard her scream, I thought a snake came out of her. I'm so sorry that the bathroom is outside the room, but the servants' quarters inside the hotel are occupied by my mother and me.

Rouse rolls her eyes, that girl wasn't going to leave, the more she talked on the other side of the savannah, the more that sheriff would never leave the bathroom. And it was fine if she had clothes on, but she was practically naked, it was very uncomfortable to have to share such a confined space with that man on his terms.

-No problem, I'll be fine.

-Well, I've left dinner for you in the kitchen. The sheriff's is there too, my mother told me he hasn't wanted to eat. If you see him, tell him his food is served.

At that moment Rouse observes the man in front of her, he did not take his eyes off her. His silence was intimidating enough, but his gaze was more so. -I'll tell him, if I see him," she replies, keeping her eyes on him.

-Thank you, miss.

Both the sheriff and Rouse heard Lauren's footsteps as she walked away, but still, they couldn't stop staring into each other's eyes.

-I don't know whether to congratulate you on dodging this problem, or to be more curious about you," he whispers close to her face.

-What the hell are you doing here? -Rouse tries to ignore the sheriff's proximity and concentrates on what's important.

-I've come to talk to you.

I don't think this is the right time, much less the appropriate time to have a conversation, besides, do you usually converse with half-naked ladies in a bathroom stall? -He asks.

-You don't seem to mind my presence very much, Miss LeRoy," at which point he lowers his gaze for a second, and then fixes it again as before.

Those last words were spoken in an unconvincing manner. Rouse didn't like the way he referred to her, nor did she expect him to trust her, but it wasn't the fact that he was treating her as if she was doing something wrong in the village.

-Mr. Wesley, if you don't mind, I'd like you to leave me alone, so I can finish getting cleaned up and dressed.

It was true, they were still in that awkward situation. The best thing to do was to get out of there and wait for her outside, it was possible that someone else might come along and replace them in that predicament again. He was the sheriff of the town, he couldn't afford to be seen involved with a stranger.

-I'll be waiting for you outside, Miss LeRoy.

-I wish it wasn't so, sheriff.

-I'm sorry I can't accommodate your request.

-I wish you'd try.

-In that case, I'd rather stay in this place and ask you a couple of questions. You're quite well enough to answer all my questions.

-But I'm naked.

-I think I've seen her before.

Unbidden, Rouse's cheeks began to burn. Tom was out to get as much information out of her as he could, and he didn't know where the hell she was. He didn't even care that she was naked, and that it was only a damp nightgown that prevented him from seeing any further.

-If you're not going to leave, then I will," she makes an attempt to get out, but immediately the blonde feels a hand reach around her clothless waist.

The touch of Tom's hand on her skin causes Rouse to tense instantly, the sheriff was completely pinning her down, and the pressure he was exerting told her he wasn't kidding. The blonde looks up and fixes her gaze on the man's eyes.

His gaze had darkened from one moment to the next, and although everything was too dark, it didn't take a genius to realise that the sheriff was furious.

-I demand that you take your hands off me, Mr. Wesley," Rouse warned, growing tired of the man's unseemly attitude.

-Here or out, you're going to answer all my questions.

-I have nothing to say to you, all I'll say is, I'm working on this place to pay you what I owe you and after that I'll leave. Now, take your hand off my body, or I'm going to end up thinking you're not the gentleman everyone says you are. Tom clenches his jaw, that woman sure knew how to get out of trouble. The sheriff was quite irritated by her attitude, he thought that threatening him with a few simple words of decorum was going to get him out of this interrogation.

-You think you're going to persuade me with your words? -Tom tightens his grip on her waist, causing Rouse to shudder a little, making her swallow.

-I'm simply telling you the truth," she replies, trying to keep her composure.

-I am a gentleman, but I am a gentleman when I have a real lady before me," she says with conviction.

Those words were indeed hurtful to the blonde, she was a hard woman, and even somewhat flippant. But to have a man, well, "that man" tell her that she wasn't a damn lady, really put her in a very bad mood.

Her patience was coming to an end; it wasn't enough to keep her in that damned town by force, to harass her constantly, to interrupt her first bath in days, to have her held by the waist while completely naked, and on top of that she had to put up with him telling her she wasn't a lady. Was she selling herself at the bar for a few coins?

Anger crowned Rouse, driven by it, she slid her free hand down the sheriff's forearm as she looked at him in a different way that seemed as if he was puzzled. And judging by his expression, she senses it was working, because the sheriff seemed startled by the unusual caress.

Tom looks at the way Rouse was leading his hand, and for a moment he didn't believe what this woman was doing. But unable to escape his emotions, they overcame him and enveloped him, for a slight shudder began to well up inside him. The feel of Rouse's caress on his arm was inexplicable.

Even with that pile of clothes on him, it was inevitable not to feel some kind of trepidation, and even less so when this woman's gaze was on him at the same time as she was caressing him. He was a man, and blood ran through his veins, not water....

-Don't play with fire, Miss Rouse," he mused, cupping her cheek with his free hand. You can burn yourself," he added as he lowered his gaze to her lips.

But Rouse kept a rather flirtatious expression with the sheriff, which gave her the upper hand in the game; she was naked, she warmed the sheriff's blood, she had everything going for her...

So, without Tom's expecting it, the blonde holds him tightly by the arm he was subtly caressing, and out of nowhere lifts her knee at an angle no man would want to have a woman that close. Rouse hit the sheriff's crotch with such force and brutality that he closed his eyes and immediately released the woman.

-To show you what a lady I am, Mr. Wesley. I'm defending my decorum.