Rogues and Riverboats Read online

  Rogues and Riverboats

  Temple Madison

  Published: 2016

  ISBN: 978-1-62210-332-4

  Published by Liquid Silver Books. Copyright © 2016, Temple Madison.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Manufactured in the USA

  Email [email protected] with questions, or inquiries about Liquid Silver Books.

  Blurb

  The riverboat Twilight was once a floating bordello with a scandalous reputation known all over New Orleans. It’s a ship that caters to hot, passionate ménage relationships as it follows the path of the moon along the romantic waters of the Delta. The Twilight is a rich ship, and Lady Chablis, a notorious jewel thief, is aboard with plans to make the biggest heist of her life until her plans are interrupted by two of the sexiest rogues she’s ever seen.

  While standing before them in quickly dissolving soap bubbles, they appear to her as nothing more than two drunken riverboat gamblers whose only desire in life is to make hot, passionate love to her. She doesn’t realize until she becomes involved that beneath their lace-edged shirts and diamond stickpins, breathe two rough-talking, rough-riding lawmen with the badge of a bounty hunter. And she is their prey.

  Prologue

  AS she gently pulled the dark netting of her hat away from her face, Camille Du Peret stood awed, her gaze traveling upward at the scandalous ship she’d never seen, only heard about. It stood tall, like a queen, her garish bulk shifting idly in the waters at the New Orleans dock. As she looked up at the large vessel she could feel an excitement stirring in her stomach as her gaze leisurely wandered along the ship’s mass, noticing the name.

  Twilight.

  Although it was a normal enough name, she still felt a gasp rise shockingly in her throat as she read it. Not at the name really, but at the reputation behind the name. Those who traveled extensively on riverboats knew the scandalous gossip that was attached to this ship, but for those who didn’t the name simply suggested beauty, rest, and relaxation. A far cry from what really went on aboard the Twilight.

  She stared, looking at the outrageous word stretched lazily across the ship’s hull proudly displaying several naked bodies of both men and women as they languidly intertwined through the suggestive lettering. Flamboyantly decorated, the riverboat that was once a bordello, stood proudly, her twin smokestacks reaching high into the sky, the deep whistle sounding as she was being prepared for sailing.

  The lurid pictures took her attention for only a moment before she turned away, trying to keep her mind on why she was going aboard. She’d heard all the stories about those who found love on the legendary boat, but she wasn’t looking for love. She turned a deaf ear to the outlandish rumors regarding the Twilight’s magical ability to fulfill your most ardent fantasies. She didn’t care how plush the riverboat was, or how beautiful its grand staircases and carpeted lounges were, or even how luxurious the passenger cabins were. She cared about only one thing. She was the renowned Lady Chablis, and the Twilight was a rich ship—rich enough to make all her dreams come true.

  * * * *

  Among the curious crowd stood two cowboys dressed in black. They wore knee-length trail coats, dusty leather boots, and the brim of their dark, western hats hid the secret look that passed between them.

  “That’s her,” Beau Bannock urgently whispered to his brother Jesse. “I’d bet my diamond stickpin on it.” He dug into his breast pocket, pulled out a folded paper, and gave it to him.

  Jesse unfolded the wanted poster and looked at it closely. The crude drawing was scratched, and the folds crossed her face, making a positive identification difficult. Both compared the drawing with the woman dressed in a burgundy traveling dress, but they were still unsure. Just then, the boat’s loud whistle sounded, followed by the gangplank being lowered onto the dock.

  “Put it away,” Jesse urged, refolding it. “I have an idea.”

  He quickly moved away, elbowing his way through the crowd until he reached the captain. While they talked, Jesse indicated to the woman in the plumed hat and veil, then reached into his wallet. As he slipped the captain several bills, the captain immediately pulled out his roster and made some changes.

  “You and your brother have a wonderful trip, sir.”

  “Thanks, Captain. We intend to do just that.”

  The minute Jesse walked up, Beau asked, “What were you talking to the captain about? You didn’t tell him who she is, did you?”

  “No, I just made arrangements for us to be put in the cabin next to hers.”

  “Did he ask why?”

  Jesse chuckled at the question, and shrugged. “Of course not. Why would he? He thinks our interest is…you know.” When he saw the lost look on his brother’s face, he said, “Beau, we’re about to board the Twilight. Can’t you use your imagination?”

  “Oh…yeah.”

  The crowd began moving, and little by little they melted into the swarming crowd that walked up the gangplank and onto the deck of the ship. Sightseers watched as the gangplank was finally removed, and the captain pulled a rope that sounded the last whistle that would usher the ship out of the New Orleans harbor.

  Chapter 1

  A creaking sound from the entryway caught Camille’s attention.

  While her heart thrashed wildly in her chest, she put her wine glass down and cautiously leaned forward in the tub. It sounded like someone had opened the door, but that couldn’t be since she occupied the cabin alone.

  Footsteps!

  She watched as a dark silhouette rounded the corner and stood lurking in the shadows. Surprised at his presence, she warily arose from the tub and stood before him, soapy water falling along the soft curves of her body. The scent of lilacs filled the cabin. When the cool air chilled her body, she came back to her senses and looked down, realizing she was naked. She quickly grabbed a towel. She had barely finished covering up when a cowboy, dressed in a shiny vest and a shirt edged with lace, came into the light. She gasped, struck by his handsome looks, until her gaze shifted downward to a small, ornate, double-barreled Derringer snug in a holster on his belt.

  “W-who are you? What d-do you want?”

  With a slight stagger, the cowboy leaned forward and looked at her closely.

  She stood wet and cold as his steely-blue gaze raked up and down her body, the steel in them turning to soft, sultry desire. “Please stop staring.”

  Like a true gentleman, he tipped his hat. “So sorry, madam. Wrong cabin.”

  Just then, another cowboy walked up behind the first, his formal attire every bit as grand as the first. “Whoa,” he said, plainly surprised at what he saw. Hesitating a moment, he finally said, “We’re the Bannock brothers. I’m Beau, and this here’s Jesse. We boarded there at N’awlins.”

  “Look,” she said angrily, “I don’t care what the hell your names are, or where you boarded. You’ve come into the wrong cabin, and I would appreciate it if you would leave.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Beau said. “Our cabin is next door. I guess Jesse here must have come in here by mistake.”

  “Go!” she shouted while she stood there freezing.

  As the two of them moved toward the door, she couldn’t help noticing that they were clearly the handsomest men she’d ever seen
with an unsettling amount of sex appeal. They were dressed in a combination of lace and cowboy boots, and had the most charming southern accent she’d ever heard. She quickly noticed that even the touch of lace didn’t seem to diminish their maleness at all.

  The one called Jesse had a manly aura that made her breath come a little quicker, and the other one who seemed a little more muscular looked to be the younger of the two. As she watched them, all she could think about was what it would feel like to have them kissing their way down her naked body.

  “Ma’am? You all right?” Beau finally asked, jolting her out of her reverie.

  “What?” she said, and then remembered where she was. “Please,” she began as she pointed to the big, overstuffed chair. “Before you go, would you please hand me my robe?”

  Beau rushed over to get it and quickly gave it to her. “I’m sure sorry we disturbed your bath. Jesse here just got a little confused. I mean, all these doors look alike.”

  She turned away from them, draped the robe over her shoulders, and with a few moves like a seasoned stripper, she managed to smoothly put the robe on, and then dropped the towel to the floor. Picking it up, she threw it aside, and then looked at them accusingly. “It’s obvious that you gentlemen are drunk.”

  “That we are, madam,” Beau answered as he tipped his hat and gave her a sexy wink. “It’s the firewater they serve here. It’ll do it to you every time.”

  As her gaze shifted to her own glass of “firewater,” she felt a twinge of guilt, and then looked back at Beau. Seeing only a look of silly inebriation, she gave him an understanding smile. “Of course. It can happen, I suppose.”

  “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be leaving.” Turning, Beau tried to steer his brother toward the door when he bumped up against a table and knocked off a vase of flowers.

  “Be careful!” Camille urged, watching them weave around on their way to the door.

  “Sorry.”

  The moment they were gone, she sat down and poured herself some coffee and drank it until she felt the dizziness pass. She wasn’t one to drink heavily, but she did have a weakness for wine which is why the name Lady Chablis seemed so appropriate as an alter ego. Normally, she would never let herself get tipsy, but tonight she was alone in her cabin and thought it safe to indulge herself. She hadn’t expected company.

  The images of those two brothers barging into her cabin during her bath stayed in her mind. Sure, she’d had too much to drink, but that was no excuse for what she’d done. In her own mind’s eye, she could see herself as they must have seen her—standing naked and wet for several minutes before she reached for her towel.

  What made her do it? Was it the alcohol? She knew she must have had more to drink than she realized, either that or she had experienced a moment of shock. But to stand before them like an exhibitionist, it wasn’t like her. Yet she got a definite thrill when she saw the looks of desire in both their eyes.

  It’s this damned boat.

  Her gaze raked over the cabin at the combination of elegance and whoredom. She’d felt different ever since she’d come aboard at New Orleans. The shocking paintings of ménage couples on couches, beds, even on deck seemed to be saying, It’s okay. Fuck your troubles away. She glanced around at the furniture, the decoration. It was all so suggestive, making it easy for the unsuspecting guest to fall into the lascivious hell the riverboat Twilight offered. She knew something of its reputation and its history, but nothing she’d ever heard could compare to being aboard this floating love den.

  * * * *

  As he prepared for bed, the vision of a naked woman with soap bubbles sliding down her body haunted Jesse. Beau noticed that he was restless and watched as he finally got up, grabbed his pants, and put them back on.

  “Where are you goin’?”

  “You stay right here. I’ve got an errand to run.”

  Beau watched him hurry out and knew his older brother was at it again, and the woman next door had something to do with it. They had spent half the night at the gaming tables in the casino and had come back to their room to get more money when it happened. They had almost reached their cabin when Jesse stopped at her door, brazenly walked into her cabin, and pretended to be drunk. Beau had no choice but to back him up. He knew it was Jesse’s idiot way of getting introduced to her, and that was his first mistake.

  Beau knew they were headed for trouble, but Jesse had always been one to act without thinking. He had a wild streak in him that simply couldn’t be tamed. Tonight, when he saw Jesse barge into her cabin, he knew it was just another one of his wild tricks. That little bit of craziness in Jesse had gotten them into trouble more times than he could count, and Beau felt like tonight would be the worst yet.

  He couldn’t sleep, so he got up and paced. The minutes passed, turning to hours, it seemed. While walking back and forth, he thought about the woman next door, and it finally dawned on him what Jesse was up to.

  Soap bubbles!

  He rushed around, putting on his clothes, grabbing his Derringer, and headed out. He didn’t have to go very far before he heard Jesse’s voice.

  * * * *

  While sitting there, Camille heard a knock. Putting her coffee cup aside, she rose carefully from her chair, went to the door, and opened it. She stood dumbfounded when she saw Jesse Bannock standing there with a bouquet of roses in his hand. His odor was a mixture of cologne, cigarettes, whiskey—and man.

  “Yes?” she managed to say.

  “I’d like to apologize for what happened earlier,” he said, and extended a bouquet of roses to her. “It’s not much, I know, but I hope they will somehow make up for my stupid mistake and the vase of flowers we knocked over earlier. I’ve had a little coffee and sobered up a bit.” He gave a light chuckle. “Enough, anyway, to feel a little embarrassed.” As he spoke, he maneuvered his way in until he finally closed the door behind him.

  “What are you doing?”

  His gaze shifted down to her robe, as if remembering what was beneath it. “By the way, I didn’t catch your name earlier.”

  “My name is Camille Du Peret, Mr. Bannock. Now, I would appreciate it if you would lea—”

  He pressed a finger to her lips. “No, you wouldn’t appreciate it. Not at all.”

  She looked up at him surprised, his blue eyes a searing flame that matched the moist, lush flame of desire beginning in her groin and flaring upward. The space was small, shadowed, and intimate, and his voice was husky and filled with need.

  His gaze shifted toward the tub. “I see you’ve finished your bath.” He smiled. “Too bad, I would like to have joined you.”

  “To join me? Really, Mr.—”

  With gentle hands, he reached out and lightly pulled the tie on her robe, allowing it to fall loose.

  She gasped at his blatant sexual overture, but her objection seemed weak and almost non-existent beneath his heated gaze.

  Protocol demanded that she slap his face, to ask him to leave her cabin, but the darkness of the foyer, the intimacy of the scene, and the dizzying closeness of the blond-haired devil who was touching her made her resistance melt like hot wax falling down a lighted candle.

  She knew she was quickly coming under his spell. Or was the Twilight to be blamed for the sensuous feeling that had by now consumed her? Before, she resisted him, but now she wanted to feel his hands, his tongue, his hot breath on her body as he made love to her. She wanted to scream out her satisfaction as he thrust himself inside her.

  At that moment her thoughts were interrupted by someone else opening the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Beau, the other Bannock brother. Their strong presence overwhelmed her, making any good intentions she had vanish into thin air. Before she knew what was happening, the bouquet of roses slipped from her hands, and she surrendered to the magic, allowing herself to be surrounded by their strong male flesh.

  Chapter 2

  SOMEONE’S strong arms surrounded her one moment, and the
next, her eyes opened to the ménage paintings on the wall of her cabin. The silk couches and the sinful beds where three writhing bodies moved against each other whirled in her mind.

  Oh, God, she could almost hear them as they moaned out their pleasure. What was happening to her? Somehow the paintings became real, and she saw clothes being discarded, and beautiful, brown bodies, strong and hard, lying beside her. She could feel their lips, their tongues, and their hot, moist breaths grazing her body until she was jolted by the invasion of probing fingers. They sank deep inside her, their sensuous manipulation causing a liquid fire to build inside her.

  The humid atmosphere was infused with the smell of her lilac bath. The fragrance was heavy, heated, the scent enveloping her in a cocoon of lust. One smothered her in kisses while the other gently opened her thighs and fondled the deep, dark passage into her soul.

  “Ohh, yes,” she moaned as she gave herself to it and ground her hips passionately. When the feeling intensified, she began a wild, bucking ride to achieve satisfaction. A mouth covered her nipples, its naughty tweaking of her stiff globes sending a piercing jolt that made her twitch and moan.

  “Oh, God, I can’t stand it,” she whispered as Jesse clasped her hands and forced them upward.

  She felt a spurt of hungry desire spiral through her, his every touch alive with flames. And then his lips scoured her body from her breasts down to her pussy where he lingered, his tongue playing along her slit. He teased her with tiny nudges, his tongue slipping in and then out while her cunt wept erotic juices. He lapped at them, his lips turning to erotic flames as he indulged himself.

  She realized that Beau was beside her, kissing her shoulder first, and then raining kisses down her arm until he came to her palm. With his tongue, he drove her to the brink of insane desire when he tickled her palm with his breath, and then licked it voraciously. Finally, his licks turned to kisses, and then he took her fingers into his mouth, one by one, and sucked them.