Longarm and the Yuma Prison by Tabor Evans

same.”
    â€œI’ll get another room.”
    â€œNot good enough,” Kent Hamilton said, his voice firm and final. “We’re going to find a justice of the peace and be married today. You’ll become my wife before he returns to Yuma.”
    â€œOr you won’t help my father?” she asked. “Even after what we’ve just done and what we mean to each other?”
    â€œYes, even after all that.” Kent began to dress. “If I thought you were in love with him or making love with him . . . it would destroy me after what we’ve just done here. Marry and move in with me . . . or I’m sorry but we’re done. My heart just won’t stand up to more pain or loss.”
    She understood and began to gather her clothes. She needed a towel to soak up his seed, which was running down the insides of her legs. “Kent, I’m a mess. Please find me a towel or something and then we’ll get dressed and get married.”
    â€œWhat is the marshal going to do when he finds out you’re no longer willing to go to his bed?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWill he just get back on the train and leave for Denver?”
    â€œI don’t think so. Part of the reason he’s doing this is that he knows how much my father meant to his department and boss in Denver.”
    â€œAnd the other part?” Kent asked.
    â€œHe loves to lay me down just as much as you do.”
    â€œWell, if he leaves, we’ll just have to find a way to help your father get out of prison without his help.”
    â€œI guess so,” Jessica said. “But when you meet Marshal Custis Long, you’ll understand why we really need his help and protection. He’s tough and determined, Kent. He can shield us from Marshal Beeson and all the corruption of the man’s office.”
    Kent nodded with understanding. “Okay, but he has to realize that once we’re married, he’ll no longer get to bed you.”
    â€œHe’ll understand. At heart, he’s a southern gentleman. And besides, Custis is the kind of man who can find women quickly and easily. He won’t be heartbroken and he won’t be jealous or resentful.”
    â€œGiven how you look and make love I find that pretty hard to believe.”
    â€œBelieve it,” she told him. “Custis Long isn’t a man whose heart can ever be broken by a woman . . . any woman . . . even me.”
    Kent came over and kissed her breasts before she could finish covering herself. “After we’re married we can’t go away and have a proper honeymoon.”
    â€œNo,” she said, realizing that was true.
    â€œBut we will, Jessie. When we’ve gotten your father free and all this bad stuff is past, we’re going somewhere beautiful and we’ll have that honeymoon that we used to talk about.”
    â€œYou talked about.”
    â€œAll right, so I talked about it all the time. But it’s going to come true,” Kent vowed. “With you as my wife, I can’t be stopped by anyone or anything.”
    Jessica pulled his face into the soft mounds of her breasts. “Kent,” she whispered, “I don’t deserve you.”
    â€œProbably not,” he agreed. “But then who said people get what they deserve . . . for good or for ill . . . in this world?”
    Jessie hugged him tightly. She was going to be married within the hour and she had no earthly idea what Longarm would do or say when he found out.

Chapter 12
    Longarm had bought four bottles of the saloon’s cheapest whiskey and then he’d rented a skinny, bigheaded blue roan. However, it had an easy gait and wasn’t lazy so he had no complaints. As he splashed across the Gila River, riding north, he was thinking about how he would react if he were fired upon by the claim jumpers. No doubt he should have brought his Winchester instead