by Anna Murray
His dark eyes wore emotion that gave all and demanded equal in return. Slowly his hand strayed a path down her stomach and stroked her womanhood, staking his claim.
She gasped in anticipation. Curving his hand he fingered the wet, swollen flesh that eagerly, painfully beckoned.
An unending moan was lowing in Sarah's throat. She arched her back and pushed against his hand wantonly, panting, chest heaving, hands gripping tightly to his shoulders.
Cal suddenly stopped and lifted her. He curled her against his chest, and carried her to his bed, where he lowered her gently onto the sheets. He moved to cover her with his hardened body and wooed her with light kisses on eager lips.
Silently begging, Sarah brazenly took his hand and guided it to herself. She arched and moaned again as he straddled and stroked.
He probed his finger tentatively inside her, and shuddered when her tight, hot sheath closed around him. Perspiration dripped from his forehead. Suddenly she pushed violently up against him and repeatedly cried out his name. Her eyes filled with the shock and amazement he'd seen just once before and she surrendered in long gasping moans. The waves of pleasure rocked her, and passion's scorching heat spread lingering warmth over her body.
"That's good, that's very good honey," he breathed.
Sarah was yet recovering from her sweet release when Cal rose from the bed and pulled off his pants. Sarah openly stared at her naked man, hard and muscled and bronzed.
Cal boldly allowed Sarah to look her fill as he strode back the bed. "Oh darlin'," he whispered as he slid in beside her. "I need you now." He rolled into her heat, and possessively slid a muscled thigh across her middle and he slid his body completely across her. He was wildly desperate for her, and he pushed his hard sex into her hip and kissed her hard and deep. After a minute he groaned, pushed her thighs apart with his leg, and pulled himself up on his knees between her legs. He had a pained expression on his face.
"Sweetheart, I will make this good."
She smiled. "I know." She wanted to say far more powerful words but didn't know how. Please mate your body with mine; plant the seed of your child in my womb.
A man could only stand so much sweet agony. Sarah's welcoming words spun Cal out of control. He tried to enter her slowly, but his mind had abandoned him, leaving his body to command with throbbing need. She was hot and tight, and he pushed straight on into her. He felt resistance, and as he pushed through she cried out in pain.
He hadn't expected that. Cal brushed soft kisses on her cheek, and stilled himself inside her, fighting against nature to give her time to become accustomed to him.
Sarah also quieted, the pain subsided, and she looked into Cal's eyes, full of wonder and ease, and she gave in to the full of her desire.
Cal withdrew and slowly pushed inside her once more. Then he moved against her in an urgent rhythm that sent bolts of pleasure rocketing into the core of her being. She cried out in delight.
He shouted her name to the sky with his release.
Her cry met his and their voices were suspended in the night air like the howl of the lone coyote in the distance.
For long minutes they held each other, dazed and stunned as they recovered from the intensity of their lovemaking.
Cal waved a hand in the air above the blankets. "Sarah, it was like we were two lonely gusts of wind that were sweeping along and searching. Searching for each other. And finally we meet on this prairie." He kissed her brow. "Now we hold close and ride each other higher and faster to the sun," he murmured, accenting his words with tender kisses along the swell of her breasts.
The intimacy was so much more than Sarah had experienced in her dreams about Cal, where she had imagined a kind of union that felt warm and comfortable. But this was fire -- hot, raging, and uncontrollable.
He felt her pulse slowing his as he held her. After she'd quieted Cal rose from the bed and walked over to his wash table. He poured water into the bowl, grabbed a towel, and wiped himself. Then he took a damp washcloth back to the bed. "Did I hurt you?"
"Not too much." She flushed.
"Hush". He put a finger to her lips
Tears sprang to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Cal was gently soothing the place between her legs with the cool, wet cloth. Then he spread his hand over her abdomen and drew lazy circles with his fingers, thinking about how someday his child would grow there inside her.
A few minutes later he was working his way back to an excruciating state of arousal when Sarah bolted upright in the bed.
"Mama!" She gasped. "I need to check on her. Emily sleeps too soundly."
She leapt from the bed before he could stop her, and her naked form came skidding to an abrupt halt at the door.
"I'm unshucked." She looked glumly back at him.
Cal sighed. He knew he couldn't hold her. "Take my robe."
He slipped out of bed to find it for her. "I was hoping you'd stay, sleep with me the whole night." He briskly crossed the room.
She looked at him curiously, trying to focus on his face. "Oh. Maybe next time." Then she shrugged and averted her eyes to shield him from her disappointment. Sarah well knew this marked a beginning and an ending; there likely wouldn't be another time.
Now she had to take care of Mama, and what would Emily think if she woke up and Sarah wasn't there? If Emily were to discover she'd slept in Cal's room, Roy would know it, too. She wasn't ashamed of what they'd done, because she loved Cal, but they weren't married, and that made it sinful by most other folks reckoning.
Cal yanked his robe from a nail near the door. He wrapped the thick warmth around her and pulled her close to steal one last kiss. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she pulled away.
"Honest, I never thought . . . never thought I'd know a fine man," she choked. Then she hurried out the door, skipping down to the large room she shared with Mama and Emily.
Cal watched her disappear down the stairs, a lovely, slim softness floating through the darkness. His heart swelled. She was his, and this night had been a wonderful beginning. She was so beautiful, he thought, with her dark hair splayed across the pillow, flushed cheeks, soft skin that responded to his touch so freely, so innocently. He unabashedly admitted that he loved just about everything about her.
Now he'd ache to have her in his bed every night. Sarah deserved and needed the respectability of marriage, and he wanted desperately to give it to her. If Crane didn't show up soon he'd have to go looking for the cretin. His need for Sarah left him no other choice.
Chapter 24
Sarah was scraping eggs onto a plate when Cal sauntered into the kitchen. She turned to greet him and instantly fell into his intoxicating smile and warm embrace. Her face burned as she remembered the intimacy they'd enjoyed together the previous night.
"Morning, beautiful. You sore?" he murmured into her ear.
"A little," she whispered. "Good morning. Your mother is right behind us," she gently reminded.
He spun around and hailed Mama with a smile that lit his face more brightly than usual.
"Somehow I've worked up an appetite." Cal lifted the plate from the stove, along with another piled high with slices of toast. He sidled over to the table.
Sarah had fed Mama a thin porridge, and now she sat down to eat her own breakfast. Roy ambled in to join them. He cast an admiring glance at Sarah. Then he grinned like an idiot at Cal.
"Well, it was a fine social."
Cal nodded agreement as his hand headed for the butter. "Surely was."
Any hopes Sarah entertained for a quiet breakfast vanished when Emily appeared, sat down next to Roy, and launched enthusiastically into telling her account of the social to Mama. The girl had an amazing capacity for remembering details, right down to the color and placement of bric-a-brac on each woman's dress. After a couple minutes of chatter, Emily paused with her spoon midway between plate and mouth. She looked up at Sarah.
"I must have been asleep when you came in. How'd you get out of the fancy dress with al
l those buttons down the back?"
Roy sputtered and made a grab for his tin coffee cup. Cal smiled broadly.
A blush crept up Sarah's neck. "I, uh, managed."
Her flush deepened as she realized Roy must have heard them the previous night. After all, his room was right next to Cal's.
Cal stretched his arms high above his head and sighed. Sarah tried to kick him under the table, but instead she ended up kicking Roy, who couldn't contain his laughter any longer.
Sarah wailed. "Don't you men have work to do?"
Cal beamed and gently drawled. "Dang there's so many other things I'd rather be doing." He loved the fetching way she flushed and twisted her arms together at her waist, as if she couldn't decide whether to chastise him or haul him back upstairs.
The men took an agonizingly sweet time finishing their coffee.
When they rose from the table Roy was pleased to note a spring in Cal's step and litheness in his body, new energy that wasn't there the day before. Following Cal out the back door he headed for the corral, where some of the hands were rough breaking new horses brought in from the range.
* * *
Emily and Sarah passed the time after breakfast talking to Mama about the social. After Emily's well ran dry she excused herself to go feed Patches. Sarah continued to chat, spinning a list of all who were in attendance the previous evening. When she got around to mentioning Jack Dullen, her voice tightened. Mama blinked.
What happened?
"The man was ill-mannered." Sarah waved her hand dismissively. "But I don't put any stock in it. He wasn't about to ruin my evening." She carried the coffeepot to the stove, where she set it to warm.
As she turned back she caught Mama's rapid blinks. Sarah grabbed up paper and pencil to write the letters.
He killed my husband.
Sarah's eyes flew wide in disbelief. "Wh--?" Suddenly her knees were weak and somehow she knew it was true. She drifted down into a chair and stared, dumbfounded, at Mama.
Mama couldn't blink fast enough for Sarah's shaking hands as she spun out the story.
They said it was accident. Rockslide at Lazca. My John owned half the mine. Dullen wanted him gone to take it all. But my John was smart. He had a will and lawyer, left his stake to Cal and Roy. Dullen had to buy the boys share and I made them take the money. Didn't want them near that snake.
Sarah moaned and doubled over in her chair as she wrote out the words. "Oh no, oh no," she repeated over and over, sobs catching in her throat.
Mama finished her blinking, and heartbreaking silence filled the hollow between them. Sarah swallowed hard, twisted the pencil in her tight fingers, and rocked back in her seat. Nothing she could say would ease Mama's heartache, so she did the only things she could. She took Mama's hand and gently kissed her cheek.
The two victims of past evils sat quietly together for a long time, to the muted sounds of men yelling as they tried to bridle rough horses out at the corral.
Now Sarah knew the horror that lay between Jack Dullen and the Eastons. When she spoke she chose her words carefully. "Don't you worry, Mama. Cal and Roy are the strongest and bravest men I've ever known. They'll take care of things." She gazed into Mama's worried eyes and hoped she was right.
* * *
The sun was high in the sky when two men on horseback galloped into the yard.
Ned snapped to his feet, instantly recognizing them as the duo Cal had hired and stationed at the Copper Strike saloon. They swung down and strode purposefully toward him.
"Something up?" Ned drawled.
The older man, Benton, hired for Mineral Creek just the previous week, tipped back his hat and spat in the dirt.
"Yup. A man calling hisself "Crane" come into the Copper Strike a couple hours ago. Looked like a goat in a flock of sheep, and asking about Miss Sarah Anders." Benton cleared his throat and spat again.
"What'd you tell him?" Ned narrowed his eyes and a muscle along his jaw line tensed.
"Only that we heard she's somewhere hereabouts, don't know for sure."
Ned nodded. "Good. Who's keeping a lookout on him?"
"We put Whiskey Liz on it." Benton cleared his throat. "She'll entertain him upstairs a couple hours." The man rubbed the back of his hand across his chin and smiled. "Hope he can stay busy that long."
Ned sat back down on the porch step to rest his leg. "Good, good," he muttered.
After Lola's place burned, Whiskey Liz had moved on down to a room over the Copper Strike, and she'd earned her new name and reputation by plying men with amber liquid.
"Now what?" Benton shifted restlessly.
"Cal told me to call them in," replied Ned as he mentally ran through his list of instructions. He moved across the porch and rang the bell.
Faster than lightning Sarah and Emily came running out the door. The pair stood at attention like two soldiers falling out for marching drills.
"Ned, what's wrong?" Emily was breathless. They both stared, wide eyed, at the strange men standing next to Ned, waiting for explanation.
Ned bought time to think by rising slowly from his seated position.
"Oh . . . these here men need help straight away. They found fifty Mineral Creek head trapped in a canyon a few miles west of here. Those cattle are mighty weak. Yep," he nodded, " those cattle are in trouble and the boys have to go round them up."
The two men nodded politely to lend credibility to Ned's story.
"Oh." Sarah relaxed visibly. "Well, you might have told us before you rang the bell! You gave us quite a scare."
"Sorry, miss. I expect I wasn't thinking." Ned sheepishly doffed his hat with the apology and, in his most gentlemanly way, he introduced the hired men.
Within minutes Roy and Cal were seen speeding toward the house amid a cloud of gray dust. They reined their horses to a stop in front of the group assembled near the porch.
Because Emily and Sarah were still standing there Ned was forced to repeat his story about the missing cattle, which Cal and Roy instantly knew to be a lie, because there weren't any canyons a few miles west of the ranch. Canyons didn't exist within fifty miles of it. Cal looked at Sarah.
"Who's minding Mama?" he barked, knowing full well it would light a fire under her feet.
"Oh! We left her in the kitchen alone. Oh my!" Both girls went flying back into the house.
Cal's eyes narrowed and his gaze moved to Benton. "Where is the bastard?"
"At the Copper Strike. Whiskey Liz has him on his back."
Cal nodded thoughtfully and shifted in his saddle.
"OK, he's a gambling man so why don't we set up a game? Let's give the man a reason to draw on the cheating Eastons." Cal winked at Roy.
Roy wore an eager schoolboy expression as he swaggered into the house to find his deck of cards. Cal waved to a hand, ordered him to saddle fresh horses, including an extra one so Ned could ride along. It was a long time since he'd played at cards, but it was a lot like roping steers. Once you had some practice, you never really forgot how to do it.
Chapter 25
The rancher trio stomped into the dim saloon, a jangling spur chorus amidst raucous laughter. They ambled over the slanted graying wood floor, to a table at the cool far end of the narrow room, close to the back door.
A round of whiskeys was ordered, but not one of the men raised shot glass to lips. The blue-eyed young one produced a deck of cards. Each man reached into his pocket and laid a hefty wad of banknotes on the table.
It was late afternoon, early for most gamblers, but if other customers thought it odd they just glanced, shrugged, and turned back to stare into their drinks.
The young man shuffled and held the stack to his ear, rifling as if to count each card in the deck. The group loudly discussed a betting limit, and each man threw his ante down.
The sky-eyed devil dealt with blinding speed. Each card hit the table with a click as they were laid facedown in front of the other men. Silence reigned as they studied their cards and each other. If anyone ha
d watched them closely they might have seen the occasionally blinking of their eyes.
After a couple of hands Ansel Crane came weaving down the stairs, his thick fingers fumbling against the buttons of his pants. A sweaty shine crossed his brow and a flush rode across his ruddy cheeks.
Brassy-haired Liz stepped lightly behind him.
Crane was shorter than most, with bulldog features and graying hair, a protruding belly, and, when he opened his mouth to grin, dark spots that marked missing teeth. He moved toward the door, where Benton was standing with a glass in his hand.
"Can I buy you a drink mister? You look like you could use it," Benton said amicably.
Crane lifted his worn hat and scratched his head. "I 'pect I could."
Benton guided him up to the bar and waved the bartender over. "I ain't seen you around before today," he said to Crane.
"I ain't from around here." Crane planted his elbows on the bar. "I come to collect a debt. Won't be here long."
"If I collected what's owed me, why I'd join the ballyhoo yonder," Benton crowed. He waved his hand toward the back of the room.
Crane was roped on the first toss. "Don't say?"
Benton's eyes gleamed and he lowered his voice. "See the dark one? No, not the dealer -- the one sittin' on his right. He owns the biggest ranch these parts, the Mineral Creek. Got a heap of money, too. He comes in here pert near every day, and double damned if he don't always lose a chunk to some lucky bastard. Word is he lost his sweetheart, the love o' his life they say, and the poor sot don't care much about worldly things no mores." He drew a sidelong look at Crane. The man wobbled on his barstool. "Heck, I'd win a pretty piece, and I plan to, just as soon as I come into money." Benton sighed heavily and stared at a row of bottles behind the bar.
Crane stole a glance at the gamblers. He hadn't played since he'd left home, and he was itching with the fever.
Whiskey Liz and another gal hovered around the players. Crane stared at Liz, now standing behind the one Benton had identified as the "loser", while the younger cowboy shuffled the cards.