"Better tie my legs under me, Elias," Storm said around the pain shooting through him. "I'm not promising not to pass out."
As Elias complied, Jessica scattered the ashes of the small fire and poured the remaining water over the embers. Moments later, the trio made their way through the darkness in the direction of Baker's Valley.
Twice over the next hour and a half, Jessica had to call Elias back to Storm's side from where he rode ahead of them. Each time Storm would sway dangerously in the saddle, she would unthinkingly urge Cinnabar close to help him regain his balance. The paint stallion would lay his ears back and shy away from what it considered a challenge by the roan stud. However, the paint allowed Elias's mare close.
The second time, she asked Elias if perhaps she should ride behind Storm to steady him.
"Can't," Storm answered her through teeth gritted in agony. "Won't...won't carry double."
"Is there any whiskey left, Jessica?" Elias asked.
Jessica turned in her saddle and pulled the whiskey bottle out of the medicine pack to hand it to Elias. She watched Storm remove one hand from its death grip on his saddlehorn and take a long swallow from the bottle. Then another.
"Better go easy with that, my friend," Elias said dryly. "You'll be swaying in something other than pain."
Storm's paint threw its head up and Elias barely managed to catch the whiskey bottle when Storm dropped it to grab the saddlehorn again.
"Someone's coming," Jessica said, heart in her throat. Both men had made it extremely clear they wanted to encounter no one as they tried to get back to town before daybreak.
"Shhhh," Elias said. "Listen."
Jessica looked over Cinnabar's head, between the ears pointed alertly in the direction ahead of them. A faint jingle met her ears, then a creak of what could have been a wagon wheel in need of grease.
"Ned. Elias, it has to be Ned."
"Probably is," Elias agreed. "But you two stay here while I check."
As soon as Elias disappeared, Jessica saw Storm slump over the paint's neck. She gasped, then slid from Cinnabar's back and dropped his reins to ground tie him.
The paint had no qualms about the woman, standing patiently when she approached. Storm's head lay against the paint's black mane, his silky hairs intermingling with the coarser ones. She gently pushed back the locks hanging down over his face.
"Storm. Storm, it won't be long now. I'm sure that's Ned."
Storm opened his eyes and brought his arm up slowly to capture the back of her head. Whiskey fumes blew around Jessica's face when he spoke.
"Pretty lady. You know, I like that name for you almost as much as Jessica."
He hiccuped loudly and Jessica cut off the giggle in her throat abruptly.
"Shhhh. We have to stay quiet, just in case that isn't Ned."
Her hand caressed the silky locks under her palm. How could a man have such wondrously soft, thick hair? How would it feel under her fingers, thick with lather while she washed it?
Another loud hiccup gave Jessica a start.
"Storm. Shhhh. You've got to quit that."
"S'know how to do it," he said as he nodded his head against the paint's mane. "G...gotta hold s'your breath."
"Then hold it, Storm."
"Need some help." He pulled her head closer to him. "Help me, pretty lady."
Jessica had no doubt as to what he meant. Well, she did have to get him quiet, didn't she? She tilted her head back slightly and allowed his lips to cover hers.
He kissed her softly, gently, yearningly. Oh, so yearningly. She could sense the violent longing in him and it found an answer in her own mind. His hand caressed her sable curls and their lips clung, loosened slightly, clung fully once more.
No fiery passion sparked between them this time — only that tender longing. Jessica wanted to ease not only the pain from his wound, but also the deep shadows that sometimes turned his eyes such a dark ebony. At the same time, she surrendered to the ever-close-to-the-surface desire to touch him, stroking the stubble-covered cheek.
The sound of the approaching wagon broke into their drugged senses, but Storm pulled her back once more when she broke contact with him. He kissed her deeply again for a second, then his head fell limp against the paint's mane.
Jessica's eyes filled with worry and she shook his shoulder gently. "Storm. Storm!" She stepped back from the paint and called toward the wagon, "Hurry. Please hurry, Ned. He's passed out again."
They managed to settle Storm in the wagon bed finally — it took all three of them, the two slight men and one slight woman — and Jessica hitched Cinnabar to the back before she climbed in herself.
"Good idea, Jes," Ned said with a nod. "He might come to and need you. It's gonna be a jolting ride, 'cause the springs under this old thing ain't the best. I didn't have time to check anything out. I just grabbed the furthest one from the livery and snuck a couple horses out."
"Oh, Ned. What if they arrest you for horse theft when you bring them back?"
"I left a note and a five dollar gold piece on the desk, Jes, but I figure on gettin' back and retrieving it before they open. I don't want to have to explain why I needed this wagon in the dark. Never could tell, though. Something might break down and I didn't want them to think I stole it or the horses. I'll think of something, if we don't get back in time."
"Well, we better get moving." Jessica settled herself by Storm's head and drew it into her lap. "It's still a couple hours before daybreak, but you're right about the fact that something could still happen."
It didn't. The ride went as smoothly as possible. In the light from the full moon, Ned made his way around most of the holes in the trail. Elias rode ahead and pointed out the easiest traveling.
Both their eyes missed one hole, though, and Storm groaned and opened his eyes when the wagon jolted over it.
Jessica quickly felt the bandage on his shoulder, detecting no warmth from new blood seeping through it. She picked up the whiskey bottle Elias had placed by her side and held Storm's head up so he could swallow more of the pain-dulling medicine.
Then she wished she hadn't. He began singing to her — muttering almost unintelligibly, really, but with a musical lilt to the words. She made out something about Heaven, a pretty lady, a fireplace. Kids? Did he sing something about kids?
The wagon jerked to a stop and Jessica's head came up. She frowned as she looked around her. They were beside the rocky place in the trail where she had encountered the snake. Why had Ned stopped out here so far yet from town?
1
Chapter 12
Staggering under the weight of her corner of the makeshift litter, Jessica finally stumbled onto the last landing of the stairs. Even though she and Idalee carried the lighter end, they had been forced to stop several times as they negotiated the three flights of steps. Behind her, she could hear labored breathing as Elias and Ned struggled with the weight of Storm's much heavier, upper body. A blank wall stood in front of them now, and Jessica's eyes questioned Idalee when she looked across the litter.
"Elias, please raise the lantern a little higher," Idalee murmured around a gasping breath.
The light illuminated the wall and Idalee removed one hand from the litter to push against a panel. With a small click, the wall slid back quietly to reveal a large, candle lit room, filled with feminine furniture. Dark shades shuttered the windows to keep any light from penetrating to the outside.
Jessica moved forward with Idalee into the room. They carried Storm to the canopied bed and managed to roll him off the litter onto the rumbled sheets without waking him from his again unconscious state. She breathed a sigh of relief and massaged her aching arm for a second, then turned at Ned's touch.
"I gotta go, Jes. It's almost daylight. I'll leave our horses in the tunnel for now and just get the wagon back."
"Hurry, Ned," she said with a nod. She watched him take the lantern from Elias and reenter the opening on the wall, shaking her head now in wonder. What a convenient wa
y to slip in and out of town.
They'd had to leave the wagon outside the hidden entrance to the tunnel and heave Storm again onto the paint's back. The horses made their way single file down the length of the tunnel, with Elias showing them the way and Ned leading the paint. Jessica followed on foot with Cinnabar. It only took Elias a moment to climb the stairway and come back with a sleepy-eyed Idalee and a makeshift litter, but the trip back up the shadowed stairwell with Storm's unconscious body seemed to stretch on forever.
Jessica's instinctive sense of direction served her well as she stared at the now closed panel on the wall. Even if the presence of the woman behind her hadn't confirmed it, she would have known they were in Idalee's house. Set off by itself on the edge of town, it would be the only place in close proximity to the tunnel.
Storm groaned in pain behind her, and Jessica hurriedly turned to see Idalee and Elias removing the plaid shirt from his shoulders.
"Can I help?" she offered.
"Please, Jessica," Idalee said over her shoulder. "Elias needs to get Storm something to drink and maybe some warm soup from the kitchen. We have to get liquids into him to replace all the blood he's lost."
Elias stepped aside and Jessica automatically reached out to assist Idalee when she began unbuttoning Storm's denim jeans. She drew her hand back as though the metal buttons had grown teeth when her knuckles brushed the warm skin on Storm's taut stomach and pulled in a startled breath.
"Oh! I...I...."
Idalee tossed her an impatient glance. "Come on, Jessica. He's too heavy for me to do it alone and Elias is already gone."
The click of the door latch behind Jessica as Idalee spoke confirmed her words.
"Haven't you ever seen a naked man, Jessica?" Idalee asked in exasperation when Jessica still hesitated.
"N...no."
But she found herself longing to see this one. She unconsciously clenched and unclenched the hand that had touched him, then resolutely straightened her shoulders and reached for the jeans again.
Magnificent, Jessica breathed to herself a moment later as Idalee left her to go into a small room set off from the bedroom. She heard Idalee toss a couple pieces of wood into the fireplace as she passed by and realized Storm should be covered against the slight chill in the room. After she reached across him to pick up the comforter, Jessica hesitated, loath to drape it over him. She really should see if he had any more bruises they needed to attend to, shouldn't she?
Tight wrinkles of pain lined the face against the pillow, even in his unconscious state, and his suffering tugged at her. She smoothed his brow once and a satisfied smile quirked her lips as the full mouth softened. The white bandage stood out starkly against the dark tan of his shoulder. At least the bleeding was still holding off, despite all the far from tender handling he had undergone.
Her eyes traveled down the fading path of chest hair, to where it bushed out once more just below the trim waist. The essence of him lay curled in its kinky nest, slumbering now, but how quickly it could spring to alertness and send waves of pleasure through her.
The muscular thighs, somewhat of a lighter shade than the rest of his body, could cradle her smaller ones firmly. The soft, dark hair continued down his legs, ending at the ankles.
Jessica almost laughed aloud. Though the feet tapered nicely, the stark whiteness of them stood out incongruously against the rest of his body. She heard Idalee walking back across the room and draped the comforter across his body, snugging it around his neck, as though to hide his body for any eyes other than her own.
"Beautiful, isn't he?"
Jessica pinkened slightly when she realized Idalee had seen her studying Storm's body, but she nodded her agreement.
"I thought only women were referred to as beautiful," she said quietly. "But he's...he's magnificent."
"Always has been. My mother put a stop to us sneaking off to swim together on hot days when Storm was barely in his teens," Idalee said with a chuckle as she set a basin of water down on the small bedside table, her words sending a stab of jealousy through Jessica. "And you might as well pull that comforter back again. He'll rest easier if we get him cleaned up. Here."
Jessica's eyes widened as Idalee drew two washcloths from the basin and wrung them out before she handed one to Jessica.
"But I...I couldn't...."
Idalee ignored her protest and thrust the washcloth into Jessica's hand. She reached and tossed the comforter back again, then glanced at the fire.
"It's warm enough in here now," Idalee said. "Since you're on that end anyway, you take the bottom half. And don't linger too long. I don't want him to chill and it will go faster with both of us washing him."
She handed Jessica a cake of soap and reached to pick up another one for herself.
Jessica stared wide-eyed at Idalee for a second, but the other woman showed her intolerance of Jessica's modesty by ignoring her and bending to her own task. Jessica sighed and tentatively ran the bar of soap over the cloth, then reached to rub it across the trim waist.
"Why, you've got warm water here," she said as she realized the cloth in her hand held a measure of heat.
"Of course. Everybody civilized today has it."
"Not the hotel," Jessica denied as she moved the cloth lower. She only swiped it quickly around the nest of black curls, then down one thigh, across to the other one.
She turned around and dipped the cloth in the water again before she resoaped it. Lifting one corded thigh, she washed under it, then the other one, scrubbing harder for a second on a dark blemish, until she realized it was a heart-shaped birthmark, not dirt. After she did the same to the remaining length of his legs, even spending a few seconds making sure the spaces between each tapered toe were clean, she rinsed the soap from the cloth and prepared to start again.
"Make sure you get all of him, Jessica," Idalee said with a giggle beside her.
When Jessica's eyes flew to the other woman, Idalee busied herself removing the bandage from Storm's shoulder.
"This probably needs changed," Idalee said to herself.
Jessica sighed and picked up the soap again. She forced her hand back toward the springy curls and rubbed a lather of soap over them. Immediately she felt him stiffen under her fingers and gasped as she drew back her hand.
"Don't worry, Jessica," Idalee said over her shoulder. "He's still unconscious. It's just a natural, male reaction that happens to them sometimes even when they're asleep."
Her words barely penetrated Jessica's mind. She couldn't tear her eyes away from that part of him, now half hard and lying almost on his stomach. How could this send such waves of delight through her? What would it feel like if she could truly feel him inside her? Could there be even greater pleasure in store for the woman he joined himself to?
But, supposedly, that part of him had ravaged a woman. Prudence's face wavered before her eyes. Prudence. Prudence who denied that it had been Storm who hurt her. Prudence who loved this man. He belonged to Prudence and that part of him would be for her only.
Resolutely, Jessica finished her task and wiped the soap from the lower portion of his body. She blanked her mind out while she worked, not wanting to again experience the pain she felt as she thought of Prudence in Storm's arms.
"Jessica, I need your help up here now," Idalee said. "Get some fresh water from the washroom and help me take care of his wound."
When Idalee straightened up from leaning across Storm, Jessica looked at his face in time to see one fully lashed eyelid drop down in a wink when he caught her gaze on him. Blushing furiously, she grabbed for the washbasin.
"Well, I'm glad you're awake again, Storm," Idalee informed him lovingly. "Elias will be here with something for you to eat in a minute and I'd have had to wake you anyway."
"Thanks, Idy," Jessica heard Storm say as she hurried over to the adjoining washroom.
After dumping the dirty water out and refilling the basin from the hot water tap, she stood gathering her senses for a moment. How lo
ng had he been awake?
Long enough, her mind told her.
"Jessica, are you coming?" she heard Idalee call.
Giving a sigh filled with capitulation, Jessica picked up the washbasin and turned back into the room.
By the time they had the bandage changed — with Jessica determinedly keeping her eyes fixed anywhere except on Storm's face — Elias had returned with a tray for Storm. Jessica picked up the basin of reddish colored water so he could set the tray in its place. She couldn't quite hold back a tired sigh.
"Jessica, you've been up all night," Idalee said. "You must be exhausted. I'll feed him if you want to take a bath, and Elias can bring a cot in here for you to catch a nap on."
"Oh, but you've got several rooms here, don't you?" Jessica asked. "Isn't there another one where I can...?"
"No," Idalee firmly interrupted her. "At least, not right now. And one of us needs to stay with him, because there's still the danger of fever from the wound. Go on and draw your bath. I'll get you a gown to wear when you're done and see that your other things are washed and ironed before you need them again."
Idalee walked over to a closet door on the other side of the room and Elias followed her. They spoke in murmurs as Idalee opened the door, their voices too low to carry to Jessica.
Jessica stifled a huge yawn, then glanced down when she felt Storm take her other hand. The dark pools of his eyes beckoned her and she complied when he gently tugged at her hand to pull her down onto the bed. She tried to read his face while he carried her hand to his lips.
Could that be a little admiration there for her? Or maybe...something else lingered in the shadowed expression before he shuttered his eyes and kissed her hand. When he opened them again, the expression was gone.
"Thanks, pretty lady," he said as he gave back her hand.
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