She blinked away the dots and moved fast, knocking the gun out of line and seizing Jesse's wrist. He let the pistol drop without any struggle. Kate scooped up her six-gun and trained it on him.
"What did you think you were doing?"
"You missed."
"What?" Kate saw how Jesse stared past her. She whirled about, going into a gunfighter's crouch, her six-gun cocked and ready to fire. But there wasn't any reason for her vigilance now.
Stretched out on the ground, Ben Blackmun held his six-shooter with both hands. Her shot hadn't killed him outright, the way she'd thought. He had taken a mortal wound but one that wasn't instantly fatal. Through sheer hatred and meanness, he had lifted his gun with both hands to shoot her in the back. Jesse had saved her.
Her shot had—almost—drilled through Blackmun's heart. Jesse's had caught his brother between the eyes.
"That was either lucky or you're the best damned shot I've ever seen. And I've seen the best."
"He was going to shoot you." Shock still clutched at the young man. He had turned pale and his hands shook.
"He was your brother," Kate said, "but he was evil to the core. Think of what he wanted from you."
"Abigail!" Jesse looked up. The pallor vanished as his face flushed. Adrenaline pumped hard through his veins now. "Where is she?" He got to his feet, but Kate held him back.
"Be careful. Don't spook whoever's watching her."
"I'll—"
"Stay behind me." She grabbed a handful of his long john and pulled him around. He struggled, then settled down.
"I won't do anything dumb." He went to his brother's body and pried the six-shooter from the dead fingers. "I may not be as good a shot as you, but I know how to use a gun."
Kate took one last look at Ben Blackmun. The bullet hole between his eyes spoke to Jesse's skill. Or luck. Either way, she saw no reason not to let him keep his brother's pistol. She motioned him to silence, then set out toward the horses. She and J.D. had agreed a guard would be close to the remuda. Uly and one other remained of the gang, making the odds better now.
Waiting for J.D. to come down from the rocks needlessly endangered Abigail. Action now, waiting later. She set off, cautiously looking at every shadow for a hidden gunman. She quickly reached the horses, pressed her finger to her lips to keep Jesse quiet, then began working along the rope line to the tethered horses.
"Anything?" She whispered to Jesse, who shook his head. "Where's Abigail?"
He pointed. Again she pushed him back and went on in front of him. It took her less than a minute to see where Abigail was tied up and shoved into a rocky crevice. The man guarding her had positioned himself well so he could fire toward anyone approaching and still let him shoot the captive, if necessary.
Kate nudged Jesse and pantomimed that he should call out. She readied her six-shooter to cut down Abigail's captor.
"You up there, Uly? That you with your gun out, ready to shoot an innocent girl?"
"Jesse, come closer. Let me see you. Your brother'll be—"
"Ben's dead, Uly."
A long silence fell. Kate tried to figure out how to get a clean shot at the outlaw. He had been too clever in how he positioned himself.
"Who killed him? He was my partner, Jesse. We rode together the better part of three years. More than that, he was a friend."
"I pulled the trigger, Uly. I shot the son of a bitch down."
Kate tensed now, ready for a flurry of gunfire. Confessing to Ben Blackmun's killing wasn't a smart thing after Uly had declared how friendly they had been. He might take it into his head to get even by killing Abigail. The young woman struggled against her bonds, but whoever had tied her up had done a good job hogtying her. The ropes cut deeper into her flesh rather than loosening, the more she struggled. A gag in her mouth kept anything but soft moans from escaping her lips.
"He would have made me his slave. And think 'bout it, Uly. If I'd ridden with the gang, how long before you'd've been out as his most trusted partner?"
"Having you in the gang wouldn't have changed things, Jesse. Me and Ben, we were like family."
"I was family."
"What are you saying, Jesse?"
"You walk away, Uly. You just go, and we won't come after you. We won't set the law on your trail. But you can't hurt Abigail. You harm one hair on her head and I swear, I'll track you down wherever you run. You know how persistent Ben was? That's a Blackmun family trait. I'll find you wherever you run, no matter how long it takes, if you hurt her."
"How can I trust you?"
"You probably shouldn't, but I'm givin' you my word. I ain't got a beef with you, not if you don't harm Abigail."
Kate nodded that she agreed to let the outlaw ride off. She didn't have a quarrel with Uly, any more than she had with anyone set on breaking the law. Getting Abigail away unharmed mattered more than any moral duty to take Uly in to the marshal for crimes committed in Cheyenne.
"What do you say, Uly?"
"Me and Ready Guzman, we can both go?"
"You two can get your horses and ride away."
Kate assumed Ready Guzman was the only other survivor of the Blackmun gang.
"I'm standing up, Jesse. Don't shoot." A shadow detached itself from others. A man moved closer with his hands over his head. In his right hand he held a six-shooter.
"Get on outta here, Uly. I don't ever want to see or hear from you again."
"Ben's dead?"
Kate tensed. She got the outlaw in her sights, but she didn't draw back on the trigger.
"He is."
"No reason to stay here, then. I'm coming down."
Kate followed the outlaw as he wiggled free of his hiding place, then came to within a dozen feet of Jesse. They stared at each other, not saying a word, then Uly stepped off and headed for the horses. The instant he turned, Jesse lit out like a scalded dog for the crevice where Abigail still struggled against her ropes.
Kate let Jesse tend to the chore of freeing her. She stood her ground, six-gun aimed in the direction of the horses. She heard low voices, a bit of an argument with Uly cussing, then the sound of at least two horses leaving camp. If J.D. took them both out of the saddle as they left, she wouldn't lose any sleep. But instead she heard a soft step behind her.
"Well done," J.D. said.
"Ben's dead."
"I saw. It took you two shots to kill him."
Kate hugged J.D. It was over. The fight was over. She could explain everything later.
"Are we going to go after the two that escaped?"
Kate pushed away from J.D. and looked up into his eyes. He read the answer there.
"I didn't have any kind of shot," he explained. "When I did get down the hillside and into camp, you'd taken care of everything for me." He felt nothing but relief seeing Kate's smile as a touch of deviltry there. Everything was back to normal.
"You are such a cheapskate when it comes to buying ammunition. I wanted to save you a few rounds."
"The only reason I complain is that you can't buy just the ammo we need. That store in Kansas City? You went in and two hours later came out with everything but ammunition."
"That's because it was a clothing store. They don't sell ammo there."
"That's not what you told me."
"Perhaps I had a different kind of ammo in mind? You didn't complain that I bought the frilly—"
"We want to get on back to town," Jesse said. He came up with his arm around Abigail's shoulders.
"It's been quite a night," J.D. said. "Why don't you two go and get horses? Uly and his partner left a couple. They each took a spare mount so they could swap off and rest their first horse. Riding like that will get them out of the territory in a day or two."
"That's fine with me," Kate said. She started to go with Jesse and Abigail but J.D. held her back.
"I'll need some help. I already got one horse from the remuda."
"Isn't shooting him enough?"
"I want to be sure we get proper credit for
him."
They walked back to the campfire where Blackmun's body stretched out gathering flies. J.D. shooed them off as Kate led a horse over. She held the reins as he got his legs under him, heaved and draped Blackmun over his shoulder. Grunting with the exertion of lifting such dead weight, J.D. took a couple steps forward, twisted and heaved the outlaw's body belly down over the saddle. It took him a few more minutes to cut lengths of rope and tie the corpse down so it wouldn't slide off.
"I can't remember what the reward was on his head," J.D. said. "Did the marshal say a hundred dollars?"
"Might be it's not ours to claim." Kate explained how Blackmun had come by the bullet hole in his head.
"Seems a waste for us to go through all this misery and not get something for it. We haven't found any rustled cattle. It might be that the C-Bar-C is being robbed by another gang, so Lawrence won't give us the five hundred."
"Not every reward is monetary. There's satisfaction at seeing them together." Kate pointed to Jesse and Abigail. They rode together on a horse.
"Is the one gelding all there was left?" J.D. suspected Uly had taken more than one horse. Getting the outlaws out of his hair meant more than a horse or two, though Blackmun's stallion had been a fine piece of horseflesh. It pained him that they'd sacrificed it for a few minutes more of freedom. Still, without Blackmun and his men toiling at getting the rock moved, they would have faced the entire gang and Jesse would be riding with his brother and not his bride to be.
He and Kate mounted and led the horse carrying Blackmun. They let the two lovebirds ride ahead so they wouldn't be staring at the dead body, but when Jesse and Abigail rode slower and slower, J.D. had to ask what the problem was.
"Mr. Blaze, the horse's about ready to drop down dead under our combined weights. Abigail's not feelin' so good either, not after all that's happened to her. Would it be askin' too much if we found a place to camp for the night?"
J.D. looked at the crystal sky filled with a million stars. Not a trace of a new storm threatened. With the outlaws hightailing it out of the territory, he saw no reason not to agree. Truth was, he felt mighty tired himself and said so.
"Thanks, Mr. Blaze," Abigail said. "I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket."
"You're nothing of the sort, Abigail. J.D. wanted to stop, too, but was too proud to say so."
Before he could answer that, Kate went on. "I see a perfect place up ahead. A ways above the riverbank so we won't risk falling into a swollen stream. Trees, grass for the horses."
They rode in silence to the spot she had chosen.
"You picked good, Katie. The sound of the stream drowns out most noise, so anyone can sneak up on us. Any cougar can waltz right on into camp and eat us in our sleep because we—"
"J.D., shut up. Fix a fire for us. Anyone want to eat?"
It came as no surprise to J.D. that none of them felt the least bit hungry. After such a fight as they'd endured, it was common for minor things like hunger to get pushed aside. By the time they reached Wilderness, all of them would be ready to eat a buffalo, horns, hide and all. Each.
"Feels good to just settle down and not worry about getting shot at," Kate said. She moved a little closer to J.D. and laid her head on his chest. The fire crackled and popped at their feet. Finding dry wood had been more of a chore than he expected, though after the heavy rain he should have known that. It was another sign they all needed a rest, especially him.
"It's dangerous to let down your guard too much on the trail," he said.
"Just a little?" Her hand moved to stroke his face. His stubbly beard needed trimming.
He turned his face and kissed her hand, then froze. With a surge, he sat up and cocked his head to one side, listening hard.
"What is it?"
"Jesse and Abigail. They're not in camp." He started to get to his feet, but Kate pulled him back down. "I have to see if they're all right."
"Silly man, of course they're all right. They are more than all right. You didn't notice them sneaking off earlier, to go down by the river? There are some nice places there, all soft with grass and moss."
"But—"
"They were cheated out of their wedding night. Let them have this night."
He sank down flat on his back. Always keyed up and looking for trouble, he failed to recognize the times when there not only wasn't any danger but people were able to act normal.
"That's better. I would have suggested we go down to the river, but since they beat us to it, this is just fine." Kate's hand moved from his face to his throat, then pressed warmly into his chest.
J.D. turned slightly so he could run his finger around the woman's lips. They trembled at his touch. He replaced his finger with his own lips, giving her a deep, heartfelt kiss. They had been through hell together. And they had come out of it together. That was the only way he wanted it.
Together.
He flipped open one button after another on her shirt until her fine breasts spilled out. The half moon in the sky sent down night rays that turned her warm flesh into perfect mounds of silver. He kissed each breast as he had her lips, softly, warmly, giving just a bit of tongue to cause her to squirm about. Then he moved lower still, pulling open the band of her jeans and popping one button after another on the fly.
"Let me," she said. She pressed down with her shoulders and lifted her rear off the ground so she could skin out of the tight jeans. Then she kicked a couple times and got free of the unwanted clothing.
Before he could do anything more, she opened his fly and let his aching manhood out. A touch of cool night breeze threatened to rob him of his hardness, but she immediately circled his length with her hand and began squeezing rhythmically. He moaned softly when she bent over and laid a single kiss right on the tip.
"I'd do more, but I'm too horny. Getting shot at does that to me." She swung her leg up and over him, then settled down on his belly so she could ride him.
He felt the wetness oozing from her. Then the world spun in crazy directions as she reached between her legs, fumbled a moment and then found his hard shaft. She rose enough to position it under her, then relaxed. For a moment, the thick plum tip refused to enter. With another twitch of her hips, she sank down around him, taking him fully. He gasped out at the heated sheath clutching fiercely at him.
She leaned back so her hands rested on his thighs, rotated her hips, slowly at first and then with greater speed. She tossed her head like a frisky filly and then began lifting slowly. J.D. strained to keep from coming like a young buck. She squeezed down on him and turned him every way but loose. When only the tip of his manhood remained inside, she paused, moved to sit upright and then plunged downward. Again he sank fully into her.
This time she bent forward with her hands braced on his shoulders. Her hips flew like a shuttlecock, forcing him to action. He thrust upward as she came back, driving even deeper into her heated core. The sight of her moving above him thrilled him to the point of no return. He hung on as she slid back and forth until a huge earthquake seized her body. Then he loosed the fiery torrent that had built to the point of being painful. The sudden release caused him to cry out.
For a moment, they hung there together, merged as one, silent and reveling in the pleasure they had given each other. Then Kate moved her hips about a little and gave a sigh. J.D. slipped from her, spent.
She stretched out on top of him, her body warm and soft against his. He held her close as sleep crept up on him. He fell asleep with her breath gusting across his face, content and as sure as he had ever been that he had found the finest woman in the whole world.
Chapter 10
"That wasn't much breakfast and it didn't stay with me," J.D. said, rubbing his empty belly. Some oatmeal from the sparse supplies they had brought were all they had been able to whip up. None of them was satisfied but no one had been eager to hunt for game or forage for anything more. They all wanted to get off the trail as fast as possible. "We can get some proper vittles in town." He pointed ahead. A smal
l shimmer of heat marked Wilderness as the prairie began to heat up for the day. The cool mountains had been a relief from that heat, but he gladly exchanged that for not getting shot at.
And for killing a gang of outlaws.
He glanced over his shoulder. They had draped a duster over Ben Blackmun's body when it began to draw flies. The buzzing had died down only because the flies now crawled under the edges to get to the body. J.D. would be glad to turn it over to Marshal Nesbitt for whatever reward there might be.
"I can eat an entire cow," Kate said. "I'm not sure our lovebirds are interested in food at the moment."
Jesse and Abigail rode knee to knee, constantly whispering to each other. Now and then Abigail would giggle, blush and turn away. Whatever Jesse said pleased her and made him beam that he amused her.
"To be young again," J.D. said.
"You're not so old. You showed that last night."
"Only twice. It should have been more. That was our chance to celebrate." He wiped his lips after taking a drink from his canteen. "I bet they weren't content with only twice."
"Quality counts. You were good, J.D. Real good."
"I had plenty of inspiration." He reached out and touched her hand. "I always do."
"Looks like we've got company. A rider putting the spurs to his horse that much has something important to say." Kate drew away from him so she rode off to the left. If a gunfight ensued, they had a better chance of catching the rider in a crossfire with her off on one flank.
"It's the very man I want to see." J.D. took off his hat, slapped it against his thigh and produced a cloud of dust, then settled it back on his head so he would look more presentable to the marshal.
"I don't believe it," Nesbitt said, reining in between the Blazes. He stared at the duster-covered corpse. "You got him? You really got him? That's really Ben Blackmun?"
"It is," J.D. said. He came to a decision. "We weren't responsible for bringing him down, though. It was Jesse. Jesse Smith."
Kate opened her mouth, then thought better of it. He knew what ran through her mind. He had the same concern. Would Jesse want to be known as the man who killed such a wanted outlaw and all the time knowing he was the owlhoot's brother? Unless he told others in town, or if Abigail let it slip, no one would ever know he was a blood relation to such a notorious desperado.
Blaze! Western Series: Six Adult Western Novels Page 38