“Don’t let her drink too much, boss. She’s got a hollow leg. You do want her conscious, don’t you?”
Manning laughed. “Not necessarily. Call one of the maids in, and have Deer undressed and put in a bed for me.”
Billy stood up and turned to go.
“There’s enough of this little brown gal for both of us. Why don’t we go three in a bed?”
The thought made Billy a little sick. What sort of things did Lily endure that she never told him? Once again, he wished he had enough money to take her away somewhere. “No, thanks, boss, I’ll send a maid to get Deer ready. Enjoy yourself.”
Manning’s blue eyes were bright with lust. “I intend to! She’s young, isn’t she? I had a Cheyenne girl about this age I kept for a few months back when I was in the army, eighteen or nineteen years ago. It sure brings back memories.”
Billy looked over at Deer. She was very drunk and didn’t object as Manning reached over and fumbled with the front of her yellow satin bodice. He pulled it off her big breasts. “Maybe I don’t need a maid to do anything,” he said thickly. “Just tell them I’m not to be disturbed.”
Billy’s heart began to beat hard. “I hear you.”
He watched Manning cradle the girl’s head in his lap, and reach to unbutton his pants. “She looks like she’s got a talented, hot mouth. You sure you don’t want to stay? We could have some fun, the two of us.”
The perverted old bastard. “No, I’ll be going. Maybe if I’m lucky, I won’t have to run into your French whore as I leave.”
Manning didn’t even answer. He had one trembling hand on the girl’s full breasts. He took the whiskey from her hands and she complained softly.
“Little Injun gal,” he said, “you do what I want with that warm little mouth, then I’ll give the liquor back to you.”
Her smile said she’d do anything to get that whiskey bottle returned, that she understood what it was Manning wanted.
She wouldn’t live very long if she kept drinking like that, Billy thought as he closed the door softly and went out. Who the hell cared? Injun girls were a dime a dozen. While her father searched the prairie for her, she could entertain Manning, maybe make a little money for the establishment if Lily could think of something exotic to do with her.
He walked softly to Lily’s door and rapped. She opened it, and came silently into his arms. “You’re taking a big chance, Billy. Isn’t he down the hall?”
He put his finger to his lips for silence, went into her room, and closed the door. “I just brought him a new toy, a pretty, dark girl that should keep him entertained for at least a few days.”
She sighed with relief. “That means that we–”
“Yeah, baby.” He cut off her words with his lips as he took her in his arms. While Manning Starrett rutted like some old stag over a drunken Pawnee girl in a room down the hall, Billy Reno could enjoy the old man’s mistress with safety. He swung Lily up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. “I haven’t thought about anything but this moment all day.”
She opened her scarlet dressing gown and freed her breasts for his mouth. “Be my baby,” she whispered. “They’re aching for you. Nurse me. . .”
He needed no urging. Tonight she was his. “I’m your baby tonight,” he murmured, pulling her breasts down to his mouth. “Feed me, sweet. Feed me . . .”
Chapter Thirteen
Major Frank North leaned back in his office chair and looked at the three men sitting on the other side of his desk. Cody was a handsome devil, but at this moment, the others . . .
He studied Johnny’s bruised face, Carter Osgoode’s black eye and cut lip. “What happened to you two?”
They both fidgeted, avoiding his direct gaze.
“Are you two deaf?”
Johnny Ace studied his moccasins. “I–I fell off a horse.”
“Fell off a horse? You’re the best rider on this post!” No answer. In the silence, a fly buzzed through the open window. North sighed audibly, and turned his attention to the uppity young snob from Boston. “What about you?”
“I fell down some stairs.”
“Looks like you rolled under the feet of the whole outfit,” North snorted, then steepled his fingers, considering. So they weren’t going to tell him. He would have been surprised if they had. Could it have been over that half-breed girl, Luci? Of course it had to be.
He glared at both of them. “I have enough trouble with hostiles without my men trying to kill each other.”
Still no sound, save for Osgoode, shifting his weight nervously, glancing over at the Pawnee. He must be scared spitless of Johnny. North didn’t blame him. He looked at the big knife in Johnny’s belt.
Cody shook back his shoulder-length hair. “Major, I don’t mean to be impudent, but I don’t see how one man falling off a horse and another falling down some stairs is of any importance–”
“Do I look stupid enough to believe those stories?” North shouted as he lost his temper, and was immediately sorry. The stress of this Plains war was beginning to get to him. It wasn’t anything to him personally if these two young stallions wanted to fight over some pretty girl–as long as it didn’t affect the Fifth Cavalry.
Cody looked carefully out the window. Obviously the chief scout knew what had happened, and was hoping North didn’t.
“I ought to turn this matter over to General Carr,” North grumbled, knowing he wouldn’t. They were his men; he’d deal with it. But now he was afraid to send Johnny and Osgoode on a mission together. What the hell was he supposed to do? “The Dog Soldiers seem to be better armed than we are lately A patrol out of Fort Sedgewick was ambushed a couple of days ago. Hostiles were armed with new repeating rifles.”
The three of them looked thunderstruck.
He nodded. “I’m afraid it’s true. We need to find out where those rifles are coming from.”
Johnny rolled a cigarette. “What kind of bastard white man would sell them rifles, knowing soldiers were their targets?”
“Someone who cares more about money than conscience,” Major North said, and shrugged.
Cody’s handsome face furrowed. “Any clues at all, Major?”
“I don’t know what to make of these,” North replied, reaching in his top drawer and throwing the brass coins out on his desk.
Johnny leaned over, picked one up, and stared at the hole punched in it. “These look like-”
“They are,” North said. “Brass whorehouse tokens. We found these on a Dead Dog Soldier. He had used them to decorate his hair.”
The three handed the coins around, looking as puzzled as North felt. In some bordellos, the customers bought tokens from the madame and paid the girls with them. That way the madame handled all the money herself. It kept girls from cheating the house or the customer.
Johnny turned one of the small brass coins over in his hand. “That’s what it is, all right. He tossed it back to the major, who caught it. “It stands to reason no Cheyenne warrior was buying entertainment at a whorehouse. Probably he took them off a dead prospector.”
Osgoode held out his hand. “Let me look again.”
The major tossed it to him. The lieutenant studied it. “Isn’t this a flower on one side? Looks like a lily.”
Cody grinned. “Seems I recall an elegant place in Denver called the Gilded Lily, but Johnny’s right—no warrior would be welcome in an elegant Denver whorehouse. Not much of a clue, Major.” He flipped it back to North.
“Not much, but all I’ve got at the moment,” North admitted, studying the trio. “The Dog Soldiers seem to know a lot about troop movements, or if not, they’re awfully lucky to be at the right spot at the right time.”
“Major”–Johnny paused, a match halfway to his cigarette–“who do you think would stoop to spying–?”
“Ye Gods! Come to think of it”–the Lieutenant rubbed his chin thoughtfully–“that little Luci did ask me a lot of questions when I took her picnicking–”
“Why, you rotten–
!” Johnny came up out of his chair, grabbed him by the front of his uniform, lifted the smaller man off the floor, and gave him a good shaking.
“Dammit, Johnny!” North barked. “Scout! Sit down!”
Johnny let go slowly, flopped back down in his chair, and tossed the cigarette away dejectedly.
North glared at both of them. “Scout, how dare you cause a disturbance in my office!”
Johnny didn’t look at him, but sat clenching and unclenching his fists. Osgoode smirked in a way that made the major wanted to shake him like a terrier with a rag. “And Lieutenant Osgoode, wipe that smile off your face!”
Silence again. So that was what it was about. Osgoode had taken the girl on a picnic. For the first time, he wondered if Luci might be slipping information to the Dog Soldiers. How much would officers tell her if she smiled prettily when she returned their laundry? He dismissed the idea. She wouldn’t know that much, and wouldn’t have any way of getting the information out of the fort anyway. Somehow, he suspected whatever help the Dog Soldiers were getting came from outside and higher up.
The handsome chief scout cleared his throat, bringing North back to the present. “Cody, I’m sending my brother to Denver. He’ll need a scout, so you go along. Take Osgoode with you.”
The lieutenant brightened. “May I inquire if we are escorting Miss Starrett to her father? I’ll be so delighted-”
“No, Miss Starrett is staying right here until it’s safe enough for the stages to run again. For one thing, I’d have to send a whole patrol to ensure her safety and deal with all her bags and trunks, and I can’t spare the extra men.” North paused. “Besides, I want this mission carried out as quietly and with as little notice as possible. A big cavalry patrol escorting a beautiful, prominent girl would let the whole of Denver know you were in town!”
Cody nodded. “You’re right, Major. A trio of men could move a lot faster than a patrol escorting a buggy.”
North looked at Johnny glowering, and saying nothing. His handsome face was purple with bruises, but Osgoode looked worse. Damn the two of them! Getting the snotty young officer off the post for a few days might cool things down.
“Pani Le-shar,”–Johnny leaned forward in his chair–“I’d like to go–”
“Request denied,” North snapped, “Dismissed!”
All three jumped to their feet, saluted at the curt command, and turned to go. Even though North knew the Pawnee had personal reasons for hating the Cheyenne because of his father, there were important scouting duties here.
North reached out and handed the tokens to Osgoode. “Take these with you, although I’m not sure what good they’ll do. Dismissed!”
The trio started to leave. “One more thing,” North said, “I don’t want anyone else falling down stairs or off horses. If any man wants to fight, I can guarantee he’s about to be belly-deep in hostiles this summer!”
The three saluted again and left his office. He leaned on the door post and watched them scatter out across the parade ground. The Fifth Cavalry was outmanned, outgunned, and the Indians had better horses. These brass tokens weren’t really clues. The brave had taken them off a dead miner or settler as Johnny suggested. It was bound to be a wild-goose chase unless they overheard some gossip around Denver. One thing he did know for sure. This was going to be a helluva summer already without those two fighting over the favors of a woman.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luci come out of the back of the trading post, lugging wet laundry to hang on the line. He felt bad about the way she had been treated the night of the party, but had been powerless to help her. He wondered whose idea of a cruel joke it had been to invite her in the first place.
Johnny Ace couldn’t sleep. He lay staring at the ceiling, stripped as usual to his loincloth. But on a hot night like tonight, it didn’t help much.
He thought about the meeting in Pani Le-shar’s office two days ago. Why hadn’t North let Johnny be one of the ones going to Denver? Did his beloved commander no longer trust him? North had made it plain that he might suspect Luci of leaking information, which was ridiculous. Or was it? Did North fear that Johnny, bedazzled by Luci, might leak to her what little he knew of the Fifth’s plans?
Johnny had gone on a couple of scouting trips since those three had left for Denver, but he didn’t find anything the cavalry didn’t already know. The Cheyenne Dog Soldiers were roaming the whole of Kansas and Nebraska, and when the Fifth hit the campaign trail again, there were going to be a lot of women wailing in empty lodges and tipis, a lot of blood watering the buffalo grass.
The Pawnee scouts thirsted for revenge because of all the killings by the more numerous Cheyenne. And the Dog Soldiers would rather die fighting than be forced back onto reservations. He couldn’t blame them.
Cheyenne. Luci. He felt a strong stirring in his groin as he always did at the thought of her. Restlessly, he rolled over on his belly, ground his hard tool against the cot, and imaged her spread beneath him, her body and her soft lips open to him, wanting him, too.
He swore in sheer frustration. What the hell had she been doing out picnicking with Osgoode? What was it that officer had hinted at? Johnny hadn’t seen much of her since that fight. She seemed to be avoiding him. Was she afraid he might ask questions she didn’t want to answer?
He rolled back over, clasping his hands behind his head. His manhood was still hot and swollen big under the skimpy loincloth. When she had let him make love to her, had it been because she cared for him, because she’d wanted him, too? Or had she been trying to wheedle information out of him? Try as he might, he couldn’t remember whether he might have told her anything important. In her arms, all he could think of was her Cheyenne caress, her pliant body as he entered her, the hot warmth of her open mouth accepting his tongue.
Damn! He had to know! Getting out of bed, he slipped into his blue cavalry pants and moccasins, and padded quiet as a cat to the trading post. Cautiously, he threw a small pebble against her window, then another.
Her small face appeared at the glass. He gestured in the moonlight for her to come out. Her expression told him she might not. He gestured again. She hesitated, then disappeared. In a couple of minutes, she stood before him with only a thin wrapper pulled over her sheer night dress. “What is it you want, Pawnee?”
You, he thought, feeling his manhood throb, his groin ache. “I need to talk to you.”
“In the middle of the night?” She sounded outraged.
“Don’t talk so loud, you’ll wake someone.” He put his finger to his lips in a cautioning gesture.
“Wake someone?” Her whisper was loud. “You throw rocks at my window and then worry about waking someone? I ought to start screaming and get the whole post up. You’d end up in the guardhouse!”
“If you do, I’ll tell them we had a prearranged meeting, you got mad, and decided to get me in trouble.”
“Why, you worthless Pawnee dog!” She turned as if to leave, but he reached out and put his hand on her small shoulder. The cloth was so thin, he could feel the heat of her under his fingers. He fought a terrible urge to reach out with both hands, push her nightdress down her shoulders to her waist, and then pull her hot, naked breasts against his bare chest.
“Let go of me, Johnny.” Her voice sounded tense, her half open mouth looked shiny wet.
He had to fight himself to keep from dragging her to him, covering that mouth with his.
“Let go of me, Johnny. I’m going back inside.”
“Not ‘til we’ve talked.” Then he couldn’t control his impulse, jerked her nightgown off her shoulders, pulled her hard against him even as his mouth covered hers.
She struggled but he only held her against him more tightly, feeling her small nipples harden like two points of fire, burning into his broad chest. He pressed his throbbing manhood against her belly, grinding it into her while he probed his tongue deep into her mouth, forcing her head back. She struggled only a moment, then she trembled and clung to him, letting him
ravage her mouth.
“I’ve missed you, Star Eyes,” he stroked her hair.
“I–I should go back in.” Her voice was shaky. Could she not dare admit she might have missed him, wanted him, too? Or had it all been an act? Had she played up to him and Osgoode both for any information she might get to help the Dog Soldiers?
“Don’t go in–yet.” Two could play this game, he thought grimly. He knew what made her weak and breathless. If she had any secrets, could he get them from her while they were in the throes of passion?
“There’s no future in this, Johnny. It was loco from the first.” But she gasped breathlessly against his mouth when he ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip, kissing the corners.
“Let’s not think about that. I want you. You want me. Can we only think of that and let tomorrow take care of itself?”
“That’s the attitude that got my mother in trouble,” she whispered, but she kept clinging to him, rubbing herself against his pulsating hardness.
He nuzzled the lobe of her ear, kissed his way down her neck, then swung her up in his arms so that he could bend his head to suck her nipples.
She made a soft cry and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding his face against her breast.
He had her now, he thought coldly, grimly. He looked around for a place to take her. Off behind the trading post was a row of giant lilac bushes, just going out of bloom. A lavender bloom still clung here and there, radiating heady scent into the warm night air. In the dark sky, the giant star that she had been named for now hung over the eastern horizon. It was almost morning.
He carried her there and stood her on her feet.
“I–I don’t think . . .” She looked around wildly as if she might bolt and run for the building. In answer, he reached out and savagely ripped the nightdress from her, leaving her standing naked in the shadowy moonlight.
“I’ll have you now if I have to rape you! And don’t pretend you don’t want me, too!”
In answer, she fell to her knees before him, clasped him around the thighs, and kissing his swollen manhood submissively through the cloth.
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