Accepting His Love

Accepting His Love: Chapter Fourteen

Coraline's thighs hurt something fierce, and they were sore from where they spread on the saddle to allow her to ride. She wished that she could ride side saddle, but that wasn't an option as she continuously slid off the seat.

Deciding that it was time for a break, she stopped her horse and while holding her reigns in her hands, painfully pulled one leg over the saddle and slumped to the dry ground. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain when the hard ground further bruised her rear.

Licking her parched and chapped lips, she reached a hand into her saddle bag and pulled out a canteen. Untwisting the cap, she raised it to her lips, but not a single drop of water came forward to wet her thirst. She screeched in frustration and chucked the empty container into the distance.

The next time Coraline got her hands on Abigail Jenkins, she'd make sure she'd strangle the little black b*tch. She was the reason that Coraline was now in this predicament. Coraline had absolutely no idea where she was headed. She had no supplies, no money, and she was sore as ever. Her jaw still felt swollen and she had felt a scar running down the side of her cheek, most likely from the way Abigail clawed her face.

She reached back into the saddle bag and pulled out the remainder of her meager rations. Biting into a stale piece of jerked meat, she focused on what she was going to do next. For the last two days, Coraline had been riding in what seemed to be circles. The last river she had pasted was a few hours behind her and right now, she needed to find a town.

Figuring that there was no better way to do that but to ride, she swallowed the last of her beef jerky and forced her body back up onto the saddle.

She continued riding for another hour and was about to give up for the day when she saw what looked to be like a town just about a mile ahead. It seemed that her bad luck was finally breaking and she picked up her pace to reach hopeful civilization. She was sick and tired of the dusty, dry fields of the open territories and she needed a bath, a bed,but more importantly, a man she could scam out of their money.

Coraline smiled when she thought of her preferred past time. She hadn't been able to do what she had wanted to with Derek, but as soon as she got herself a decent bath and a nap, she would seek out a rich enough man to seduce and rob.

She was very, very, very good at doing that. In fact, she'd been doing just that time and time again for the last six years.

At first, it had been just for fun. All the men had wanted her and she was more than happy to oblige them. She'd been so caught up in her activities, that she'd risked her father catching her in the act.

To say that he had been furious when he found out would've been the understatement of the century, and after giving her a sound beating, he had dismissed her from his home with only the clothes on her back. Coraline had disgraced him and for it, had been forced to start robbing from the men she slept with. At first, it had been small things, like watches, wallets, and little trinkets.

Then one day, one of the men she'd been sleeping with at the time, took her back to his home and tried to make her his mistress. It had been fun at first and she'd lived the life of luxury for a few weeks. But, like she was prone to do, she became bored and tired with her conquest. In the night, while her lover for the moment had been sleeping, she'd broken into his safe and made off with all of his money, gold and whatever jewelry he had lying around.

That was how her life had been and still is. All up until she'd gotten the foolish notion to go into the open Oklahoma territories and test her luck.

Coraline felt a fresh rush of anger flow through her body when she remembered how Derek had rejected her advances time and time again. Well, when she came back for her revenge, she'd show him too. Him and his little tramp.