Bounty on a Baron

Chapter Thirteen

Farther up the river, in a town named Broadus, the man who called himself Brand—but whom others called the Baron—rolled over in bed and came into contact with a warm female body.

Brand looked at the woman who was lying next to him. She was a big woman, with long black hair and a broad, very sexy behind. He slapped it loudly.

“Hey!” he said as her head snapped up.

“What?”

“Breakfast!”

“Oh, Lord,” she said, rolling over. Her front was just as impressive as her back. Her name was Josephine Hale. “My head is killing me.”

“That will teach you to try and drink like a man,” Brand said.

“Can all Russians hold their liquor as well as you can?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Russians are famous for their ability to drink—and eat. Breakfast, woman!”

“I’m getting it, I’m getting it,” she said, jumping out of bed. He watched her as she walked naked across the floor, acres of bare flesh sprouting goose bumps until she slipped into a robe.

“Eggs and bacon?” she asked.

“For a start.”

“Oh, Jesus,” she said. “It’s going to be one of those mornings. Flapjacks and sausages, too?”

“Yes.”

“How can you eat so much the night after you’ve drunk so much?” she asked, shaking her head as she left the room.

Brand reclined on the bed, hands behind his head, and thought about his little hideaway on the Powder River.

He had found Broadus quite by accident. What he had been looking for was a part of the United States that had a climate similar to Russia’s. Montana filled the bill, especially in the winter. Finding Montana, he had then found Broadus, and there he found Josephine.

Josephine owned a store in town that sold women’s clothing, and she owned a small house that she lived in alone. That is, she lived there alone when Brand was away.

She didn’t know what Brand did when he wasn’t in Broadus, and she didn’t care. All she cared about was that when he was finished he came back to her.

Montana, Broadus, and Josephine had come to mean a lot to Brand, which was the reason he’d decided never to ply his trade in Montana.

He smelled the bacon grease as it hit the pan, and he got up. When he dressed he did not bother to strap on his gun.

He often wondered what the townspeople would say—and what Josephine would say—if they ever found out that he was the hired killer known as the Baron.

Sometimes he wished he could take Josephine up on her offer to simply live off what she made at the store, but he knew he’d never be able to do that. He was in too deep ever to do that—and besides, in a year the store could never bring in what he could make from one job.

Of course, all he ever did with his money was put it in the Bank of Broadus, but it pleased him to know that it was there. If anything ever happened to him, if he didn’t return one day from a job, the money would go to Josephine.

She didn’t know about that, and she’d never find out until after he was dead.

As he left the bedroom the smell of coffee mingled with that of the bacon, and his mouth watered as he entered the kitchen.

“Is it ready?” he asked, seating himself at the table.

Josephine turned away from the stove, a cup of coffee in her hand. She set it down in front of him, kissed him, and said, “Anybody ever tell you that you were too demanding?”

“I have never had any complaints from my other women,” he said as she returned to the stove.

“Ha!” Josephine said over her shoulder. “I happen to know that no other woman would have you. No other woman would put up with your kind of behavior.”

She often wondered, however, whether or not he had other women in other parts of the country. He was never gone for much more than a month or two at a time, but he was sometimes away several times a year. At least that meant that even if he had other women, he spent most of his time with her.

For Josephine, that was enough.

She knew that she was a big woman, and that most men had trouble measuring up to her. She also knew that although she might have been described as “handsome,” she was certainly no beauty.

Brand had been one of the few men who hadn’t been intimidated by her or put off by her. Many other men had wanted her, she knew, for one night, just to see what it would be like, but Brand had never been like that. In fact, he had known her for months before he had even tried to kiss her.

No, although she had had affairs with a few men Brand was the only man for her, and even if he had found it necessary to have other women, she would be satisfied with the time he gave her.

She did still wonder, though, what sort of business took him away for those long periods at a time.

She wondered, but she had never asked.

And she never would.