Author: L

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: COPYRIGHT 2002: Frank James nor any of the other from American Outlaws my creation ( *grin* like you didn't know that ) and I can not claim copyright on them. All other characters are my creation and I hold rights to them and on the plot of this story.
 

Part 1
 

*********
 

She stepped off the train just as pretty as she pleased, Wichita Kansas laid out before her, black duster whipping around her booted heels. "Gonna be a long ride," she sighed, moving away from the bustle of the platform. Spurs clinking against the wood in her wake, she glanced from person to person looking for someone in particular, but the youngster she expected to find wasn't about so she turned her feet towards the local news print office.
 

Her long unruly hair tucked carefully under her worn Stetson, she proceeded to inquire after their most recent newspaper and was handed one by the rotund woman behind the counter for a small price. Turning back outside, she quickly scanned the front page and there it was, just like she has expected.
 

Frank and Jesse James Apprehended, the article went on to say how a misfiring revolver was the cause for the botched robbery. It stated local men, being hailed as anti-heroes, had gotten the jump on the two because of the moment of hesitation, the rest of the James/ Younger gang managing to evade authorities under a volley of gun fire. She carefully noted what she had already suspected, but that was right there in print. Both men would be transferred to Wichita for a federal trial.
 

"They make it too easy." She smiled, looking up and down the street. Her first instinct was to find the Youngers, knowing they would be lurking about close. She knew because she had practically made every town they had, watching them work, watching one in particular. But she decided a quick order to things, a room, a horse, and then the Youngers. She tucked the paper into the saddlebag thrown over her shoulder and headed  two streets over to the Baltmoore.
 

Dusk was lending it's pink orange glow to the towns taller buildings as finally the systematic check of the towns saloons began, one by one, yielding nothing but drunk patrons until the last saloon, the last rats hole in town. She sat sipping the contents of a tall semi-clean glass surveying the comings and goings when through the batwing doors Cole Younger strolled, his younger brother Bob right behind him. Her eyes tracked them as they made their way to the bar, ordered whiskey and fell into a whispered conversation. They drew a few curious stares but no one seemed inclined to approach them. Downing the last of the amber liquid, she stood and made her way across to the men. With her arm hitched up on the bar she stared at Cole Younger's back. A sharp laugh came from her as Bob's head appeared around Cole's head. "Something we can do for ya?" he asked, eyes narrowed. Cole glanced at the intruder over his shoulder.
 

"More like something I can do for you." She smiled with an abstinent glint in her eyes as she reached insider her long duster.
 

"You best just keep your hand right there, mister," Cole growled, never moving a inch.
 

"Hell, it's just a paper," she said, continuing to reach for the print. Slapping it on the bar, she slid it down to Bob. "You need me........"
 

"The hell we do," Cole turned to her then and grabbed her by the front of the duster, shoving her slightly.
 

"I ain't goin no where, Cole Younger, so you might as well hear me out," she hissed, her gray blue eyes narrowed to slits. "Like I was saying, you need me." She titled her head smiling. "You'll need a powder man to get your cousins outta the Wichita jail. And you're lucky enough to have just found yourself one."
 

"I ain't sayin it again, we don't....." Cole began. He lifted his fist and was inches away from planting it squarely against her jaw. She cringed anticipating the impact but it was all a part of the risk she had accepted when she decided to pursue her present course.
 

Bob clamped a strong hand on Cole's shoulder. "Maybe, we outta listen, Cole."
 

"Shut the hell up Bo...."
 

"You do know that those walls inside the cells are double bricked, a steel bar ran up inside every five feet. You can't just waltz in there either. Not only do you have the Pinkerton's to contend with but the army's gonna be swarming the place. YOU NEED A POWDER MAN."
 

"Why'd you wanna help bust Jesse and Frank out?" Bob questioned, looking between her and Cole.
 

"Got my own reasons," she plainly stated, blunt and leaving little room for discussion on the subject.
 

"Got a name?" It was Cole's turn to throw a question at her.
 

With that she pulled the Stetson from her head, a long cascade of sable black flowed downward coming to rest against her waist. She lay the hat on the bar and smiled back at the pair. "Destiny....Destiny Chilles."
 

Bob gaped at her and Cole tilted his head smiling, unconvinced. "I thought you said powder MAN."
 

"Powder man, powder woman, what the hell does it matter so long as I blow the back wall off that jail?" She stepped closer to the older Younger coming nose to nose with him. "Don't believe me? Try it without me and see how many necks stretch." She turned shrugging and pulling her hat from the bar. "I'll be around, you let me know if you want my help."
 

Just as she was stepping away from the bar Cole's hand snaked out wrapping around her arm and dragging her back to him, against his hard chest. "How do we know if we can trust you?"
 

There was a near mocking laugh that came from her throat. "You don't. But do you have a choice?"
 

"She's got a point, Cole," Bob chimed in. His eyes weren't the eyes that Destiny had expected an outlaw like Mad Bob Younger to possess, so youthful and kind, a playful glint from time to time.
 

"Yeah, Cole, she's gotta point," Destiny mimicked, a smirk on her face.
 

Cole released her arm, pushing the hat back on his head. "Ok..." he huffed. "Let's hear what you got in mind, Destiny."
 

"How about calling me Des. Friends do." She put a slight amount of space between her and Cole. She hitched her thumb towards the saloon doors. "How about we go some place we can have a conversation?"
 

"You got that some place in mind?" Cole asked, reaching out and tossing back the whiskey he'd left sitting during the exchange with the woman.
 

"Yeah, matter of fact, I do. The Baltmoore."

There was a low whistle that came from Bob. "The fancy hotel over by the courthouse?" He asked, eyes wide with surprise.
 

"One and the same. Got two rooms there. One's mine and the other's yours. That is, if you wanna give up sleepin on the ground a while." She smiled, invitingly. Turning she made her way towards the door without waiting to see if they followed.
 

Outside she stopped and surveyed the street, as was her habit. The people were thinning, going to their homes, preparing for dinner, spending time with families. She envied that, always wanting it, but it was always just out of her reach.
 

"You sure this can be done?" Cole asked, stepping up beside her.
 

"There aren't any certainties, Cole. But I'll tell ya this, I'll level this town before I let them be hung for criminals," she spat, eyes filled with determination as she strode with the two men down the street.

Part 2
**********
 
Destiny shoved open the door to her room and moved inside motioning to the two men following to enter. Bob Younger quietly closed the door behind him, his eyes scanning the interior of the room. To him it seemed a hard contrast from the woman that resided there.
 
"Nice some place," Cole commented, fingering the fabric of one of the room's wing back chairs.
 
"Yeah, suppose so..." She shrugged, moving to the window. "But this is what we're here for. This is why I asked for the third floor, last rooms in the east wing." She pointed out the window as both men moved up behind her.
 
"Damn, girl, you put some thought into this., Cole blurted out.
 
"Yeah, there's a certain finesse to being a powder man. Ya gotta do it with style." She smiled teasingly over her shoulders at the two as she watched the traffic around the courthouse across the street. The jail entrance was right below them, a perfect line of sight.
 
"We have three days before they'll be bringin 'em in." Bob glanced between the two. "That gonna be enough time?"
 
"Yeah, should be....."
 
"Plenty of time," Cole interjected, grinning at his take charge demeanor, something that was as natural to him as breathing.
 
"So, tell me what's next?" She turned to Cole, hands on her hips ready to turn over the show to him. She knew he was capable enough had seen him work with Jesse, orchestrating each of the bank robberies.
 
"Well, I reckon we get to know this town. All the ways in and all the ways out. Bob and I can handle that. Need somebody to get us the layout of the jail." He pulled his hat from his head and tossed it on the nearby chair, running his hand through the thick hair below.
 
"Well hell, ask and ye shall receive..." A cocky smile overtook her face and she strode towards the suite's other room. Moments later she returned in a flourish of petticoats and fine cotton, her bountiful hair pulled up and ringlets falling softly around her shoulders, lips a delicate pink just a shade darker than her cheeks.
 
"I'll be damned, there was actually a woman under all that." Cole chuckled, cutting his eyes to Bob.
 
"Yeah, looks like it." Bob joined in the teasing, feeling his mood lighten for the first time in the past week.
 
"Just keep it up boys. Did I mention I know a hundred in one ways to blow you to hell." She smiled menacingly. But secretly she did nothing but tease the two, comfortable with the easy banter between them. She had waited to be a part of this, of them, for so long it seemed surreal now.
 
By the day's end Destiny was gainfully employed, employed by the hotel to deliver meals to the prisoners at the Wichita jail. It was the perfect way to get the information they would need, how many deputies where inside at one time, how often cells were checked, and when Jesse and Frank were delivered she would know exactly which cell they were in.
 
Cole and Bob spent their time walking the streets and allies of the town, dictating it all to memory and then returning to the hotel rooms to lay it out on paper. Tom, an equally important part of the formula, spent his time tending horses assured that they were rested and well fed for their wild run to come. Jim, Clell, and Loni worked on the shopping list that Destiny had carefully prepared leading to the theft of four powder kegs from the garrison's powder room.
 
By lamp light for the next two nights Destiny would point out where things were located inside the jail and Bob would draw them out, labeling everything carefully. Cole standing over his shoulder watched and tossed out scenarios that would possibly work to extract the James.
 
Then the time came, with the hot summer sun blazing down on the streets of Wichita, Kansas two new prisoners were delivered to the jail. Frank and Jesse rolled through the town in the back of a buckboard, Pinkertons and soldiers alike surrounding them, shackled hands and feet. People stopped on the street to gawk and the occasional shout of support for the two would ring through the streets.
 
On the third floor of the Baltmoore Destiny and the two Youngers watched the wagon roll to a stop outside the jail.  Rifles aimed dead at Frank and Jesse, they were shoved from the wagon. Both were dirty and dusty, shirts practically ripped to shreds, the seeping stains of blood could be seen, even from such a distance, as the wide iron bands cut into their wrists.
 
 
"Bastards!" Cole hissed, his hand locked on the window frame in a white knuckled grip.
 
"Easy..." Destiny whispered over her shoulder. "We can't afford to let any of this effect us. Keep our heads and get the job done, right?" She met Cole's eyes. "Right?"
 
"I reckon...Right." His eyes shot back to the two being esscorted into the jail. Cole could see Jesse glancing around quickly as if looking for something or someone and his gut twisted painfully knowing it was him he was looking for.
 
Destiny slipped from the window and into the other room, shedding her clothes quickly for the finery of her work apparel. In the other room Cole paced with restless energy, paced like a caged mountain lion. Bob continued to watch the street below, noticing Allen Pinkerton, the man looking upwards towards the room as if he expected them to be there. Bob stepped away quickly and slammed the drapes together.
 
"Goddam it, Cole........" He turned to where Cole had been pacing and was met with an empty room.  Glancing towards Destiny's door he saw that it was being pushed closed.
 
"Oh hell," he sighed, rolling his eyes. This wasn't good, Cole being so restless and Destiny being who and what she was. He fell into the nearest chair and tilted his head back pulling his hat over his eyes.
 
Inside her darkly panelled room Destiny stood bare to the waist with white petticoats floating around her bare feet. She glanced over her shoulder as the door opened and then quietly closed.
 
"Des, I..." Cole started, crossing the room towards her. His hands went to her shoulders fingers gliding against her smooth alabaster skin, gently kneading, seducing.
 
"What, Cole?" She sighed, leaning slightly against him. It wasn't an invitation but she wasn't turning him away either. She couldn't deny there was a burn inside, a need and a wanting.
 
His warm wet lips were against her skin in the next seconds erasing the need for words. She moaned into the tide of sensations it stirred. His hands came around her waist to caress the firm underside of her gently upturned breasts, fingering the nipples to hard peaks. At her back she began to feel the insistent prod of his erection against the small of her back. Pulling slowly away she turned against his touching, his questing hands and met his smoldering eyes. "Cole, I said I had my own reasons for coming here and helping. It wasn't because of you and I still have those reasons. I'm sorry.." Her hand came up to gently caress his jaw.
 
Her words were like a dash of cold water in his face. He tried to muster the old Cole Younger rage, white hot anger but it wasn't there, for the first time he could remember it had deserted him. Inside he was simply left cold and filled with an unquenched ache. He dipped his head and captured her lips, parting her them with his tongue and noted there was no resistance. The moment stretched on and on as he tongue plundered the depths of her mouth, suckling her tongue, allowing her the same pleasure and then he broke away from her. Turning towards the door clipped steps carried him through the door and out of the suite.

Part 3
***********
 
Cole stormed into the saloon.  The same saloon he'd had the misfortune to meet Destiny in and he grabbed the first sporting woman he passed pulling her up the stairs with him. Fate intervened then, lending her a familiar visage, lending her what he needed that night.
 
"Which one's yours?" he asked, nodding towards the doors that lined the hallway.
 
"That one, right there,"  the buxom red head replied, pointing to a door mid way down the dark hall. She cut her eyes to the assertive man that had claimed her for the night, or so she hoped. She knew he was one of the outlaws, one of the Youngers, Cole Younger in fact.
 
Cole maneuvered her in front of him, just as he'd had Destiny in her room and kissed her throat. "Well, lead the way, darlin." He grabbed this one not by chance, like he would so very much like to believe, but because she looked enough like Destiny to fool him in the dark. Cole wanted to imagine sinking into her wet heat, he needed to gather together his bruised pride. He needed to show her that no promise was worth turning away Cole Younger.
 
Her head fell aback against his shoulder and she ground her round bottom hard against the apparent erection between them. "Ummm," She whimpered, her hand coming up to his cheek.  She couldn't see or feel how that effected him, his eyes falling closed, another's name poised on his lips. Hesitantly pushing away from him she took his hand and lead him down the hall. "This way, Mr. Younger."
 
"Cole, It's just Cole," he told her, kicking the door closed behind them and they stepped into her room. He watched her for a moment hoping she would ease the ache that was growing inside.
 
She eased onto the bed, kneeling in the center, a feigned look of passion on her face. "What can I do for you, Cole?"
 
He crooked his finger and she eased back off the bed.  He motioned for her to stay beside the bed and turn away from him. "Just the petticoat and nothing else."
 
She quickly complied and shed everything but the dull white undergarment. Sighing she felt him moved behind her, grinding roughly against her lower half as he kissed her neck and shoulders, his hands moving around her, coming up to caress the ripe swell of her breast and pinching at the tight nipples. Again, she sighed her head falling to his shoulder. "I like that, Cole." She whispered.
 
"Good.  I've wanted this since the first time I laid eyes on you," he growled,  jaw clenched tight with the rolling desire that coursed through his veins.
 
There was a moment of confusion for the saloon girl and then she understood, understood all to well what was happening. "Tell me all about it, Cole."
 
"Why the hell don't you just tell me why you're here? What game you're playin...." He spat hurt warring with other emotions he didn't dare examine. He shoved the girl's shoulder and sent her pitching forward, hands bracing herself against the bed her ass in the air. Shoving at the petticoat his hand came to light on the bare skin below and without preamble or consideration he inserted a fingers inside her most intimate opening, sinking deep inside.
 
"Fuck, Des.....Fuck!" He ground out, his breath all but trapped in his lungs. "You're so hot....So wet...You want me, don't you?"
 
"I do want you, Cole. I want you bad...." The woman below eased off his fingers and turned onto her back on the bed, thighs spread in invitation to him. "Yeah. Yeah, I believe you do." He ripped at the buttons of his trousers and freed his thick length, not bothering with removing even his heavy duster he settle between her thighs. But there was a moment of hesitation and it cost him dearly as he gazed into her eyes, the wrong eyes, not her eyes. He went cold inside and he felt his interest wain along with the frenzy of excitement of seconds earlier. He dropped his forehead between her ample cleavage and stroked himself trying regain a full erection, to regain enough to penetrate her.  The strokes slowed as his frustration mounted and finally his hand stilled all together. He pounded the mattress beside the saloon girl and rolled off of her, sitting at the edge of the bed his head in his hands.
 
Turning and pushing to her knees she moved behind him wrapping her arms around his shoulders gently, with care and true concern. "How long?" She asked.
 
His first instinct was to push her way but he just didn't have it in him at the moment, even the hot cauldron of anger that usually simmered inside deserted him. "How long what?" He asked.
 
"How long you been in love with her?"  Long silky waves fell across his shoulder and he absently fingered the coppery hair.
 
"I'm not in lo...." He began and then it hit him like a well aimed punch in the gut. He was in love with Destiny, so in love with her it hurt. "Two days. I think." He sighed, standing and tucking himself back into his pants. "But she ain't afflicted with the same feelins." He fished a couple of coins from his pocket and tossed them on the bedside table. "Don't matter, it's somethin I can't have."
 
**************
 
Inside the walls of Destiny's room she lay across her bed, body wracked with sobs, thick trails of saline tears coursing down her cheeks. She hadn't meant to feel anything for them and least of all Cole Younger. Her heart lay heavy inside her chest battered and bruised.
 
"Miss Des?" Bob's head appeared around the door, his voice unsure and filled with concern.  He held his hat in his hands as he watched her fighting to compose herself. "I'm really sorry for what Cole did to you...."
 
"It's not like that, Bob." She said, sitting up on the bed pulling the bedding up to cover her nude breasts. "Sometimes people feel things they just never thought they would. It's hard when you're not free in your heart or body to follow those feelings," she tried to explain.
 
A understanding light came into Bob's eyes as he chewed at his bottom lip, his eyes glued to hers not daring to drop. "I think I know what you're saying, Miss...."
 
"Des, Bob. I want you to just call me Des." She gave him a weak watery smile as she swiped gently at her tears with the back of her hand. Tucking her feet under her on the bed she watched Bob, his nervousness and uncertainty, wondering how on earth the Younger brothers could be so different. "I didn't mean to allow him to think....to lead him on, Bob. I feel awful...." She sighed, dropping her eyes to the floor.
 
"Des, it ain't your fault. Cole sees something he wants and he's gonna have it come hell or high water," Bob said with conviction. "That's good for us most of the time but when I comes to a woman....I don't know, I guess it means a lot of trouble for both of 'em...for the both of you," he amended, and turned towards the door.
 
"Bob?"
 
"Yeah?" He stopped with his fingers curling around the door's knob.
 
"I would love him if I could...You gotta know that, Bob.....If it wasn't here and now, I WOULD love him. Maybe, I do anyway but it's not right of me," she told him, her voice low and pleading, pleading for him to understand.
 
"I know, Des, and I bet anything deep inside Cole knows it too." It was the only comfort he could offer her and with it he left her to her own misery, left her to examine the heart she thought had been so true.
 
*************
 
Through the jail cotton swished around her ankles in a flourish as Destiny went about her routine, taking special note today where deputies were and how many where there.  She cursed under her breath as she saw Pinkerton, his back to her talking to the occupants of the far cell. From where she stood she couldn't see into its darkened interior.
 
"Hello, Miss. Emily. It sure is right nice to see you this evening." One of the deputies ambled over to her, his smile sweet enough but she turned her head handing a slice of cornbread to the man in the cell in front of her.
 
"It's nice to see you too, Josh," Destiny replied, forcing as much kindness as she could into her voice without her stomach aching.
 
"You heard about or new visitors today?" he continued, laying his hand gently on her hip as she moved to the next cell. She tried not let him see the tremble of disgust that rushed along her skin.
 
"No. No, I haven't. Was there some excitement that I neglected to hear of?" She turned deceptively curious eyes to him.
 
"Damn right!" he hooted, and then thinking better of his loud bragging he leaned in whispering in her ear. "The James boys. Them Pinkerton fellas brought 'em in today. I'm one of the men that volunteered to guard 'em too."
 
"The James Boys, you say?" she gasped, feigning surprise and just the right amount of fear.
 
"Yeah. But don't go worryin none. I ain't gonna let no one hurt you, Emily. NO ONE," he assured her with a hard vehemence.
 
"Oh, I know that, Josh. I surely do. I just worry about you and guarding such killers..." She clucked, lying with the perfection of a true artist. "But I must admit to being intrigued by those outlaws. I would like to have a look at them." She smiled, turning on her natural charm, honey practically oozing from her full pink lips.
 
"Tell you what.." he started, whispering so close to her ear that his breath fanned against her neck and she wanted to draw away, repulsed. "Come by tonight after dark and I'll let you have a good long look." He lifted his keys, jingling them for her to see.
 
"Oh, would you!" True excitement lept into her eyes at the thought of getting to the men so easily.
 
"Sure thing," he nodded his head.
 
"Well then, Josh, I'll bring you a fresh pot of coffee for being so kind to me," she whispered, adopting a conspiratorial air about her. It had been so easy, so very easy, and as Josh walked away she lifted her fingers mimicking a revolver and leveled them at Allen Pinkerton's back and jerked. "It's just a matter of time you sonofabitch..." She hissed.

---


 
Part 4
 
**********
 
Destiny lifted her head and glanced across the table to him, eyes hooded as she tried desperately to hide any emotions that would give her away.
 
 In that instant Cole cut his eyes to her, wanting to see something in her gaze, something for him, anything. But there was a void there, deep and unbreechable. He quickly averted his eyes, remembering how she haunted him, how she came to mind at the most inconvenient times leaving him cold and wanting. No one had ever had that power over him and it was a constant puzzlement how it had happened now, how he was to deal with it.
 
"Tom and lil' Jim are ready," Bob announced, coming through the door and managing to startle Destiny.
 
"Good.." She glanced again at Cole, ice cold seeming to radiate from him now. She swallowed back the hurt she had no right to feel. Turning her attention back to Bob, she asked, "Clell and Loni? They ready with the powder?"
 
"Yeah....Just waiting on us," Bob replied, looking between the two as tension crackled through the air. Shaking his head he muttered under his breath something that neither could grasp and turned and left the room again.
 
"What's gotten into him?" Destiny quirked a delicate brow at Cole.
 
"How the hell should I know," he growled in response, going back to loading his colt which took all of a minute to do. Pushing away from the table he began to pace, glancing to her every few seconds, taking in the form fit of the trousers she wore, the way the white cotton shirt clung to her high breast. It wasn't long before he felt as lathered as a hard ran horse and twice as mean, his frustration mounting.
 
"Why are you here, Des?" he blurted out again, his eyes narrowed, willing to use anything to purge her from his mind.  He wanted it to be her body but a fight might do just as well he reasoned.
 
"I told you, Cole. I have my reasons." She went about packing the small black case that housed the various items of her trade, some improvised, some tried and true.
 
"Bullshit, Des!" he spat, advancing on her. "You show up here just when we're in a spot. You're offerin us help. Help we can't very well refuse now can we? It ain't right. Ain't right at all."
 
She looked up as he drew near, the anger his words should have envoked were oddly missing. "I can't..." she began, only to have her words curtailed as his hands clamped around her arms.
 
"Can't what, Des?" he growled,  his face so close to hers she ached focusing on his lips.
 
"I can't tell you why I'm here, Cole. My reasons are damn good ones but I made a promise and I can't go back on it. I wouldn't even if I could." Her whispered plea would have sounded weak and pitiful to her any other time but not now, not when she needed him so badly to trust her.
 
"So that's all I get? You made a promise?" He lightly shook her and then pulled her hard against him.
 
"You don't have the right to ask me more, Coleman. You don't," she gasped making hard contact with his body, her flesh feeling the thick hot male heat that rolled off his body even through their layers of clothing.
 
"Bitch..." he hissed, hurt and rage warring inside which was a dangerously combination in the ever volatile Cole Younger. "You been teasin me since you walked into that saloon."
 
That was it, he'd managed to say the one thing that made hot scalding rage bubble through her veins. "Bastard..." she spat, jerking her arm from his grasp and with a wide ark she landed a resounding slap hard against his cheek.
 
With her stinging slap something came over him he didn't expect, didn't want in that moment.  But it was there, hard driving passion. He was instantly hard and near mindless with a rutting need for her. Thought escaped him as he pushed her backwards, her eyes wide with surprise, to the rooms only accommodating furnishing, the finely crafted settee.
 
"Cole....Cole....Don't cole...." She was whispering her pleas, so as not to bring others running, so as not to alert Bob outside the room. Then it didn't matter ... she was on her back, Cole poised between her thighs. He grasped her breast roughly and she found herself arching into his seeking hand, moans of excitement pouring from her throat.
 
His lips covered her to quiet the wild tumble from her lips.  But just lips weren't enough for the moment.  His tongue found its way between her lips. There and then he was completely lost to her sweet body, wanting so badly that he felt it bone deep. And her responsiveness brought him to an emotional peak, near to breaking him. There was a vow on his lips, a promise of the world if only she'd be his.
 
The hot wet sensations trickling between her thighs brought about wanton abandon, fully giving her body over to him then. She wasn't disappointed as he pumped hard against her, the barrier of clothing keeping him from truely penetrating her but the effect of his body only slightly lessened.
 
Minutes passed by in a flurry of lovemaking, one time, stolen moments are all they had. Neither could know how this moment would play out, how lives would be changed, how hearts would break and heal.
 
Just as Cole felt the ultimate tense of her body below him he slammed once more at the appex of her thighs. His rewards was a warm sticky jet of his own semen that clung to his skin and soaked into his trousers. Then it hit him hard what had just happened, what he'd just done, practically forcing her. With a strangled groan of misery he tried to roll off her trembling body before he faced her. But her hand at his back stilled him, kept him in place. Turning his eyes to her, he would have shot himself just not to have seen the tears gliding along her cheeks.
 
"Goddamn, Des...I'm sor...." He dropped his head between her breast.
 
"Hush, Cole," her strained voice soothed, fingers threading through his hair. "What's done is done. We can't undo it now." How could she go now? How could she stay? It was all so confusing, confusing except for the love of one man and that she clung to.

---

Part 5
***********
 
With the cover of darkness Cole Younger stood scanning the area at the back of the Witchita jail with two soilders laying in a heap on the ground nearby, unconscious. He glanced at Destiny's back and whispered, "Best hurry it up. My guess it ain't gonna be long before some body comes lookin for these two."
 
"Yeah, Cole, I know,." she replied, glancing at him over her shoulder. "I'm goin as fast as I can without blowin my damn hands off."
 
He glanced around her, watching her apply a dark stickiness to the mortar between the bricks. "What's that stuff?" he questioned, brows drawn together.
 
"Pine resin and nitro glycerin. Makes a hell ofa boom. my own little concoction." She gave him a wide conspiratorial smile.
 
He nodded, returning the smile as his eyes broke contact and scanned the shadowed edges of the building with hawk like preception. His own features swathed in darkness as she turned to him and then back to her work, contemplating the total loss of her honor, doing the one thing that still keep her true to herself. A promise, a simple promise spoke so easily and how could she have known it would be so hard to keep. She shoved fuses into the sticky substance at four different points.  She had to do it now, now or it would all go unsaid until it was to late. "Cole, there's something I wanna tell you."
 
He leaned close to her, planting a warm quick kiss against her lips. "What is it, Des?"
 
She took a deep breath and forged ahead. "That promise I told you about....The reason why I'm here and insisted on helping...Well, it's time I told you. Time I told you I'm......" Her words came to sudden halt with the sound of sprinting foot falls coming in their direction. Just as they looked up a young wide eye soldier came around the corner.
 
"Light it..."Cole hissed, and turned to the startled man moving closer with a confident swagger.
 
"Look, mister. Don't make me shoot..." Cole came close enough and with luck the man was frightened enough not to fire on him. He slammed butt of his revolver against the man's head sending him pitching to the ground much like the two before him.
 
"Now!" Cole turned on her a heartbeat before he sent a shrill toned whistle renting the air across the street to Bob, who sent the signal on. Chaos filled the next moments as two streets over an explosion tore through the night sending flames licking towards the night sky.  Seconds  followed and a twin explosion sent debris in all directions and the ground shook with the percussion. When finally the third explosion occurred it went unnoticed, eclipsed by the larger more dangerous fires raging far away from the jail. From a secure distance Cole pulled his arms from Destiny, untangling his body from her. Later, if asked, he would say he had held her so carefully, so tightly to protect her. But now as he stood with her body pressed so intimately against his he knew that was only in part. He had the sudden, unreasonable fear of loosing her, the feeling she was about to disappear right before him. All to quickly she was pushing away from him sprinting back towards the jail, where a neat square section was blow out of the back wall
 
"Des!" He barked a split second before she would have went charging straight into what mayhem might lay inside. "Three, ok?" He quickly counted it off as she drew her gun and on three they stepped through the portal as one deadly presence, guns leveled at anything that moved. And with a quick scan of the area  they both realized the hours of planning had paid off. They stood in a cell three down from the James' with the cell door blown outward off its hinges.
 
"Cole!" Jesse's voice was the first to be heard and Cole turned his attention to him. It was a mistake that almost cost him his life as a guard rounded the corner and fired a shot in their direction, the hot lead whistling just over his shoulder. There was no hesitation when Destiny pulled the trigger of the colt held tightly in her hand. The shot struck home, the man's chest opened up just where his heart should have been beating, dead.  She'd killed a man without stopping to think, without caring the price to her. The only other guard in the interior lay moaning under a heap of rubble.
 
Frank watched the exchange with a curious eyes, wondering if he was imaging her. Was she flesh and blood or an angel straight from heaven? He couldn't figure out which he wanted more, and a smile twisted his lips for the first time in weeks. He watched the two stalk down the row of cells towards them, keys jingling along the way, taken form the dead guard. It was good to see Cole but even better to see the vision beside him, her eyes pinned directly on him and in that moment he felt like the luckiest man alive. He stood from his crouch at the floor, glancing to Jesse, as the cell door flew open and Cole strode in embracing the younger James.
 
Destiny grimaced at seeing the damage the iron shackles had done to his wrists, the various cuts and bruises that lay across his skin. Over her shoulder she heard Jess ask who she was, she cut her eyes to Frank, a smile turning up her lips.
 
"That there is Destiny. She's the one that made us a nice little distraction. Ain't that right, Des?" He smiled proudly over at her as he released his hold on Jesse.
 
"Yeah, that's right..."She said with a little less enthusiasm than she should have, noticing Cole give her a curious glance. She shrugged, tossing the keys back to him just before she turned back to Frank. She drew in a deep relieved breath and nodded. "We best be movin on. Those fires ain't gonna keep 'em occupied forever."
 
Beyond the jail Tom waited with the horses blowing and tossing their heads. The smoke filled air made the animals nervous and few could handle horses in such a predicament. Tom was one of those few. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he saw the four step one by one through the blasted back wall of the jail. " Come on...Come on..." He motioned as the small group hurried towards him, eager to make the final flight of their escape. "Jim and the others are waiting outside town," he said, kicking his gelding into a fast run towards the darkness beyond the outskirts of town.
 
Destiny looked sidelong at Frank as she rode, catching his eye. A myriad of emotions passed between the two in the brief seconds of eye contact. When his lips turned up in a smile, she could see the exhaustion in him and her heart ached. She would have offered comfort in that moment if she were able, but as it were all she could give him was a smile. A smile that spoke volumes to him.
 
If only time would stand still, Frank thought, stand still just for a moment and allow him to drink her in. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and tuck the auburn tendrils that slipped from beneath the worn stetson behind her ear to caress the dusky skin of her cheeks, to inhale her scent until that was the only thing he could smell.
 
Soon enough the wild ride to freedom was over and the James and Youngers were together again. Whoops and yells of accomplishment rented the air. But no sooner had the celebration died down then Destiny had her revolver leveled at Frank, a wide smile twisting her lips. The moment she'd been waiting for, the surprise she knew she'd see in his eyes made her near giddy. But in her planning she hadn't taken into account Cole, hadn't even thought how this moment was going to rip him apart.
 
"Let's go, Mr. James. Time for you and I to take a little ride. Time to settle some unfinished business." She reached over and grabbed the reins to his horse, careful to point the colt just past him. "Thanks much for your help boys."
 
"So, where we headed Destiny?" Frank growled, as they were swallowed up by the moonless night. leaving behind the James Younger gang, leaving behind the rest of the world as everything narrowed to just the two of them.

---

Part 6
***********

Destiny sat at the side of the down mattress, a thin camisole covering her feminine curves. A cool bowl of water sat at her feet tinged pink. Beside her on the bed, was Frank, bare to the waist, hair attractively mussed, his arm lay cradled in her lap as she gently swabbed at the laceration along his wrist.

"I missed ya, Des," he whispered, leaning into her and planting a warm kiss against her neck. "Your sweet visage filled my mind every second we were apart, beautiful. There wasn't a waking moment that you weren't in my thoughts, your voice filling my ears with music, your taste on the tip of my tongue.." He continued to talk as she tended his wounds, as she cried out her belated fear for him. What Frank didn't know, couldn't have understood was that in part those tears were also for another man. A man she knew mostly likely believed her to be a vile bitch, believed that she deceived him. Cole would be a long time leaving her mind, leaving her heart, and still there would be a part of him to remain. She knew she would never fully be able to forget him.

".....Why the gun, Des?" he finally asked, curious about their departure from the rest of the gang, the rest of the James and Youngers.

"You deserved it, you know. I figured it was the only way I'd finally get you alone for a honeymoon. Get you all to myself. I didn't wanna share you another minute with your family or anyone else." She smiled through her tears at him. "Besides, you ain't told no one. I ain't told no one. I kept my promise, Frank. Let them think the worst of me so that we have here and now, let them thinking it until you tell 'em who I am. You still insist you be the one to break the news to them. Tell them that I'm Mrs. Frank James and have been for over six months?"

"Yeah, Des, I need to do the tellin. Especially with Jesse, I owe him that." He sighed, reaching for the rag in her hand and tossing it with a slosh into the bowel below. "I wanted to bring you home to ma and him and do things proper but..." He dropped his head against her high breasts, breathing her in, pulling the comfort he needed in that moment from her. "When ma was murdered and Jesse was set on going after Reins I thought it was a bad time to bring you into all that," he tried to explain, reaching down to take her hand in his. Lifting the small delicate appendage to his lips, he kissed, his eyes coming to light where the thin gold band should have been. "Des, where's your ring?" He lifted his head, meeting her eyes with a questioning gaze ... a gaze filled with just the smallest incroachment of fear.

The same hand he'd been holding pulled from his grasp and moved with feather like pressure to his cheek to smooth away the worry, the pain and the fatigue. "I have it, Frank. I have it safe and sound." In that moment she slid from the bed and padded silently across the room to where her duster lay thrown across a low back chair. Returning, she slid in next to a curious Frank. "It's always been near my heart, Alexander." She smiled, her voice a bit breathless at the wash of love that she felt for the man beside her. Working her fingers into the lining near the breast portion, she gave a quick jerk of the material.  There was loud ripping that filled the room and then her hand appeared with two perfect circles of gold. "Near my heart."

"Oh god, Des."  He grabbed her and pulled her tight against his chest, his lips wasting no time in melding over his. "I missed you so much..." He took the rings from her and slid hers slowly into place, a place that it would never leave again. She mimicked taking back the thicker gold band and sliding it up his finger.

"I love you, Frank James," she sighed against his lips feeling herself being eased to her back, her husband moving between her thighs. And as the moments with her husband flowed into an erotic mix of emotion and tactile feeling her mind went to him, went to Cole.

She clamped her eyes closed and shut her mind out letting only Frank's hands, his knowing touch, keep her anchored in the moment. He was slowly and carefully peeling away the thin cotton that covered her, that kept her from his eager gaze.

As he moved away from her to remove his trousers he took a long look at her, remembering their wedding night. He remembered how nervous she had been, how nervous he had been, like he'd never been with a woman at all until that night, until Destiny.  The memories of their slow lovemaking fired his blood, her body against him in so many ways. He'd taught her that night how to please him, how to make his body ache with desire for her and in turn he'd learned every sensitive spot across her body, every spot that would have her withering for him. Pushing the rough cotton down his thighs he stepped from the material and moved back to her, moved back to his wife and wrapped her in his arms. He'd dreamed of this moment every night since they had been apart, every night since he'd left her in the safe keeping of her family.

Des' smile was warm and welcoming inviting Frank to her body and she giggled in response to his throbbing erection that was pinned between their bodies. "Well, I see your need for me hasn't lessened." She trailed her fingers down from his shoulder to insinuate between them, wrapping slowly around this thick member causing a low groan from him.

"You doubted that, darlin?" he panted near her ear as she stroked the wildfire of desire to a fevered pitch inside him. And, just when he thought the torture of her hands would be endless she shoved against his shoulder and he rolled to his back. And, there she was straddling his hips before he even knew what she had planned.

Destiny leaned down and licked slowly and deliberately at his lips, tongue slipping inside just when his lips parted to renew her exploration of his mouth. He let her take the lead then, letting her bathe his mouth with her tongue, his hands draped lightly across her hips as she rubbed the gentle swell of her mound across his manhood, moaning all the while.

When she couldn't seem to wait a moment longer for him she raised and he guided the glossy slick tip of his cock to her opening and with and long high whimper she impaled herself fully on him plunging down until their pelvic bones met in a shared sweet collision.

Frank tired to remain passive and let her take over their lovemaking but it was as impossible to him as trying explain Shakespeare to Cole. He thrust upwards into her tight gripping portal as his flowery words were left behind for grunts and moans of exertion. As the rhythm built he gripped her firm well rounded bottom and began slamming her down on to him, his body racked with the need to spill inside her. She was no better with the spiraling fire that began to unfurl in the depths of her womb, reaching outwards to overtake her with its sheer power. Arching her back wildly she shouted his name over and over as her inner muscles gripped and released him in hard succession.  That was all it took to push him over the edge and with one last buck into her tense body he released a thick hot steam of creamy fluid inside her, filling her womb with his seed. "I love you, Des, you know that don't ya?" he panted as he eased from the high that her body provided.

She nodded against his chest where she lay panting, her breathing ragged and harsh. " I love you, too. Promise every night will be like this, Frank. I don't wanna have to come chasing after you again. I don't wanna have to watch you hauled into another jail. I don't wanna have to meet up with Co..." She broke off then her mind screaming at her to stop but her mouth taking over.

"Meet up with who?" he asked, his brows drawn together in a curious gaze and then his eyes narrowed. "Sounded like you were about to say Cole, Darlin."

"I..." She hesitated, cutting her eyes up to his and holding his now turbulent gaze. "I was about to say Cole."

"Why, Des? You got a problem with Cole? Did he try...." Frank eased up to the headboard drawing her with him.

"Frank, he didn't try anything that...Well, that I wasn't a party to... When I met him I didn't expect...." She went on telling him about the week that was spent in Wichita, the days and nights with Cole. The one time that they had been on the brink of becoming lovers and she cried with guilt, cried at how she had hurt two men that were so important to her.

Frank sat at the edge of the bed far away from her, head in his hands.  "Goddamn it, Des" he spat jerking roughly at his thick mane of hair before he stood. "Cole? You let him...He touched..."  He turned on her, pinning her with a pained glare. "Why? Didn't our vows mean anything to you?" he hissed, feeling the pain boil through his gut.

"Yeah, Frank, they did mean something. That's why I left Cole in the dust back there on that trail outside of Wichita and I'm here with you, where I WANT to be. Where I've always wanted to be. Your love is what I looked to to see me through the rest of my life, see me through stormy night, see me through hot summer days, see me through the pains of child birth.  Your love is what keeps me taking the next step, the next breath. I love you, Frank James, and I've never stopped loving you," she said vehemently, her words pouring from her lips in a soul shattering moment.  "I love you," she whispered, easing off the bed and moving to him just waiting for him to push her away, realizing it was what she had coming and deserved whatever he did.

Something in her words struck a deep true chord inside him.  His heart ached but he knew in the end he couldn't do anything but forgive her, and love her like he did. As she came near he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her hard against him, his forehead going to hers.  And then he gave her a kiss that melted away everything else.

"You're mine, women."

---

Part 7

***********

 

It had been three long months since she'd left him. Three months since she had rode off into the night with his cousin at gunpoint. Three months of rage and hurt burning into his gut, three months of unrequited love gnawing at him. How was a man supposed to deal with those emotions? Emotions that would tear a lesser man to shreds, but not Cole Younger. He kept it fueling, that simmering temper of his. Kept it near the surface and called on it often in the last months. Everyone was witness to his more frequent eruptions, the fights that kept him swinging until the other combatant had one foot in the grave, the nights of drinking strait through till dawn, and the banks. There wasn't a town on the map with a bank that Cole wouldn't robe-- no score was too small.

 

Jesse had been up night and day searching for Frank, hoping that he was in some nearby town and that the woman, Cole introduced as Destiny hadn’t turned him in down the trail for the bounty. To his immense frustration, weeks went by without a trace, a sign, a word about his brother. And then, they had stopped searching for Frank once a simple to the point letter had arrived from Frank, no return address and cryptic as hell. He had asked them to stop looking and they had, stopped looking for Frank James.

 

Cole couldn't help looking at every woman's face he came across, hoping that it was her, hoping it was Destiny. He'd spent hours thinking about what he would do to her, what he would say to her when he met her again. And, there was no doubt for Cole that he would meet her again. There was a part of him that wanted to hurt her as badly as she had hurt him and another that loved her so unreasonably that he wanted to do nothing more than bury that hurt deep inside her body and force her to ease it. All the confusion, all the uncertainty brought him to the fantasy that helped to ease his body on a near nightly basis.

 

In his mind he would see her coming, he would be prepared, and with the first words from her mouth he would crush them back with his lips. His tongue would delve into her mouth claiming the sweet interior for his own. A predatory moan would slip from his throat as he branded her with his lips, branded the softness of her sun kissed neck. Lower he would brand across the pale swell of her breast, and lower still to the flat concave plane of her stomach. He would leave no doubt she was his, would leave the purplish marks of love to prove it. The world would melt away then leaving just the two of them, alone, and filled with burning need. There would be the softest of down mattress below them as he eased between her thighs and drove his body hard into hers. He would make love to her for hours upon hours, never letting her go.

 

Now, he stood in the dim dusty livery of some town he hardly remembered riding into. He hoisted his saddle to the back of the dark horse below and still he couldn't distract himself. His fantasy chose then to rise up and tease him to make his anger spiral out of control.

 

"Sonofabitch!" He dropped the saddle back to the stall floor, reaching for the bottle of firey amber liquid that was never far away. He threw it without thought or care to where it shattered.

 

"Cole?"

 

He went still, completely motionless with his name slamming into his ears It was her voice that called to him. He took a moment to slow his hammering heart and turned to her, eyes hard and accusing.

 

"Well hell, if it ain't our long lost powder man." He growled, voice deadly in its intensity as he broke the silence that stretched between them.

 

She cringed with the hot scalding anger she saw reflected in his eyes, saw reflected even in the dimness of the livery. "Cole, I...I..." She tried to speak but the words she'd carefully rehearsed fled her mind.

 

"You what, Des?" He barked, striding towards her, stopping only to push his face close to hers, so close that her shuttering breath fanned against his face. "You gonna give me a load of horse shit about being sorry? About how you didn't wanna leave me?" Things he suddenly wanted more than anything to hear her say.

 

"I am sorry, Cole. I'm more sorry than you can ever understand." Destiny ached with her first sight of him in months. "I didn't wanna leave you..." She tried to keep the trembling from her voice but it refused to be subdued. "At least not like that, not beside some dark trail. I didn't have a choice. There are things...."

 

"Where the hell is Frank?" He asked, wanting to grab her and shake her for the months he'd spent with her memory haunting him day and night.

 

"He's...He's over at the saloon having a word with Jesse, Bob, and Jim. There's things he needed to tell them, needed to tell them in person." She met the hostile glare leveled at her with unfailing courage. "It's the same thing I've come to explain to you, Cole. I needed to do this face to face. There are so many things......."

 

"Then get to the tellin, Des, I ain't got time for......"

 

"Cole, when I met you in that saloon in Wichita I wanted you. I wanted you and I had no right to." She dropped her eyes for a moment attempting to still the wild pitch and roll of emotions inside.

 

"Shit, I wanted you too, Des. You know I wanted you." His eyes softened hearing the beginnings of what he thought would be the reunion he needed, he had waited for.

 

Her eyes slowly made there accent back to his hope filled gaze, her face paled in the dim light, eyes overly bright with unshed tears. She lifted her left hand and pulled away the black lace of her glove, the warm flesh of her palm came up to caress his cheek lovingly. "I think I did, Cole. I think I new from the first moment you touched me."

 

"Aww, Des" He melted against the softness of her touch and let it begin to erase the months of pain and loneliness. Turning his lips to her, palm he caught the soft metallic glint as a shaft of light fell on the ring at her finger. "What the hell...." He grabbed her hand away from his face to get a better look.

 

Destiny steeled herself against her next admission , letting him examine her hand more closely. "Cole, that's what I came here to explain." A soft sigh slipped the bonds of her lips. "Frank and I are married."

 

Cole clamped down on the long line of curses that jumped to his lips, itched to be uttered, his gut aching with the force of the emotional blow dealt him. "You and Frank?" Was the only thing he could manage in that moment of shocked heart ache.

 

"Yes, it's why I came to Witchita. The ONLY reason I came." She confessed, trying to ignore the distance he’d put between them as he took a step back.

 

"Why didn't you tell me?" He questioned, his eyes dulled with the pain, with the betrayal of his own body. Where was the heat, the vinegar, the shield that insulated Coleman Younger from the pitfalls of love?

 

"You remember the promise I told you about? It was to my husband, Cole. I promised I'd tell no one until he had a chance to introduce me to Jesse and his ma. When his ma was murdered things took a different direction but I still had a promise to keep. We've been married almost nine months now." She rambled and she knew it, but she could not seem to stop the wild tumble of words, tears she could no longer contain suddenly gliding down her smooth cheeks. "I love him, Cole, I always have. I never stopped, not even when I started loving you too." She whispered, taking the glove and slipping it over her hand."But I made a vow and I'll honor that. I'll love him and forget that there was this.....this.....There was love between us. I had no right, there's no excuse for me. At least you didn't know, you didn't know I was your cousin's wife." She turned, her courage fading in the face of pain and hurt, of lose and need.

 

Cole let the words sink in, absorb into his mind and still there was no rage, no need for revenge, there was only Destiny. Realizing this was the last moments they had, that he’d have with her, that he could claim as his own, he reached out and grasp her arm and turned her back to him pulling her hard against his chest. "Tell me you know I loved you too, Des. Tell me you know that I'd be married to you right now if I'd of met you first."

 

"Oh god..." A hiccupping sob tore from her throat. "I know, Cole. I do....." She laid her head against his chest, listening to his thundering heart for a moment. "But it still doesn’t change all this. I love him, Cole, and I always will."

 

"I'm not askin anything from ya, Des. That ain't me and you know that." He growled winding his arm around her as he tipped her face to his. "But you better understand this, woman. For a night you were mine. That night in the hotel, that was me and you, there wasn't no Frank." With that he dipped his head and met her lips with a fierceness that surprised even him. "You remember that kiss, Des. You remember there's another man in the world that loved you too." He released her and put as much distance between them as he could.

 

The kiss shook her to the soles of her feet, tore through her already battered heart. She couldn't imagine a more difficult moment ever appearing in her life. And as he stepped away from her a loud cough came from the doorway. "Des?"

 

"Frank..." She sighed, quickly swiping at the tears, tears she knew he pretended not to see.

 

"We best get going. Jesse wants to have dinner with us before we leave." Frank told her moving more fully into the livery. He touched the brim of his hat in the way of greeting Cole but still could not manage a word to his cousin.

 

"Just one more minute?" She smiled with that slight pout that Frank could never resist.

 

"Make it quick." He turned with a sigh and left her with the one man he hated and loved all in the same breath.

 

Destiny turned back to Cole. "I'll be seein you Cole. And, don't go getting yourself killed before you can spoil my kids."

 

He nodded, trying to ignore the fact that he wanted to see her growing with a child inside her but not just a child, his child. "I wouldn't miss it for all the money in the world, Des." It was then that he turned his back on her, silently bidding her to go, to go before he threw her on the back of his horse and rode away with her.

 

"Your loved, Coleman Younger. Your loved." Came her last whispered words as she slipped from the livery, slipped out of his life for the last time.

 

 

Fini