Quicksilver Passion Read Online Free Page A

probably have moved on. Pretty whores didn’t stay too long in one spot. They ended up in places like San Francisco, got married, or found a rich man to keep them in luxury as long as their looks lasted.
    Silver. Whore. The two didn’t seem to go together. He remembered her hard eyes that looked as if the owner had seen too much, experienced too much. And yet her full, soft mouth betrayed a vulnerability and sensitivity rare in a saloon girl. No wonder the men of Buckskin Joe loved her.
     
     
    It was a long time before he dropped off into a troubled sleep. In his dreams, he heard her singing and saw her dancing only for him in some remote place where no other man could enjoy her beauty or lust after her.
    Then she came into his arms, soft and giving, opening up her thighs like some exotic flower so he could mesh with her, become one in an ecstasy of love. Her flawless face smiled at him as she reached for him and he saw his reflection in her pale eyes. She was special to him at that moment, not because of her beauty, but because he saw his reflection in her eyes, and knew she loved him, too.
    Cherokee came to her, gently taking her, murmuring sweet words, whispering that he loved her, wanted her with him for all time. Even when her looks were gone, when she was wrinkled and old, she would always be beautiful to him as long as he saw that love for him in those aqua eyes.
    Silver, oh, sweet darlin’ . . .” In his dreams he crushed her to him, poured his seed deep into her. At that moment, he awakened, sweating and thrashing in his bed. Her hair spread over the pillow. Cherokee blinked sleepily, reached to stroke those silken locks. But it was only moonlight spilling through the window and across the pillow.
    Cherokee sat up in bed with a curse. It couldn’t be long until morning. He’d get his business taken care of and get out of town before thoughts of the woman drove him loco. The only other alternative was to kidnap her and take her up to his cabin, where she would be at his mercy while he sated his lust on her small, ripe body.

Chapter Two
    Silver paused in the doorway of the shoemaker’s shop before picking her way along the wooden sidewalk in the early morning chill. The shop had promised the new dancing slippers delivered just before tonight’s show.
    Drat! The street looked muddy in front of Haw Tabor’s general store and that was where she wanted to go. Maybe if she was careful . . .
    Gingerly, Silver lifted her full, aqua skirt and eyed the mud. These new, fashionable hoops didn’t help matters any. She looked up and down at the busy street. All she had to do was indicate her need and some miner or cowboy would rush over eagerly and carry her across.
    The thought of a man’s touch made her shudder all over. After all that men had done to her, she never intended that another one even touch her hand.
    Her mind went to the dark half-breed from last night. His hands were as big as he was, and probably as hard and tough as the man himself. She had a sudden vision of those callused hands stroking her breasts and felt her nipples harden into pink points at the thought.
    The feeling shocked her. Never had any man made her feel desire. Revulsion and fear—those were the emotions men aroused in her. But her mind was still occupied with him as she began picking her way across the wet street.
    The mud was deeper than she had thought. The slippery ooze pulled at her shoes. Silver paused halfway out, still struggling to keep her skirts above the mire. What a sight she would make if she tripped and fell! Worse than that, it would ruin the fine new dress that had just arrived on the Denver stage last week.
    She took another step and felt the cold mud ooze over her shoe tops. Drat! Why hadn’t she had Haw deliver what she needed? There was no real reason to be out this morning. Certainly, she told herself, it wasn’t because she thought the big ’breed might be on the street or in the stores where she might see