Abigail smiled up at him. Her hat was gone and her hair was mostly loose. Her buckskins were gone as well, leaving only a large towel wrapped around her body to cover her up. Although her skin was still a bit dusty, the warm air that flowed out from the room took away every last trace of the long trail she’d ridden.
“I was about to take a bath,” she said. “You got here a lot quicker than I thought you would.”
“I could always come back later.”
She shrugged and turned around to walk back into the room. Just then, it became obvious that the towel wasn’t wrapped around her, but was being held up to cover the front of her body. As soon as she turned her back to Clint, Abigail showed off the finely etched lines of her naked body. Her spine curved along the muscles of her back and led straight down to a firm pair of buttocks that swayed hypnotically as she moved. Abigail’s legs were muscled as well, but carried her across the room with a distinctly feminine grace.
Abigail’s hair was no longer braided, but hung down past her shoulders in two rows as if it were unaccustomed to being so free. The strands were crooked and a bit knotted, but still soft against the bare skin of her shoulders. After taking a few more steps, Abigail bent down to dip her hand into a bathtub that was filled with steaming hot water.
The towel fell away from her a little more, exposing the finely honed muscle in her hips and thigh. Abigail’s naked backside hitched to one side as she bent down further to swirl her hand within the water. As she moved her hand, she slowly moved her hips until the towel was only covering the spot where her other hand was pressing it against her chest.
Standing up to look over her shoulder, Abigail let the towel drop to show Clint the side of one pert breast capped by a pink nipple that was slightly smaller than a penny.
“Then again,” Clint said as he stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind him, “I could always stay here to keep you company.”
SIX
Clint stepped up behind Abigail as she remained with both hands upon the edge of the tub. Steam rose from the dented metal tub, making it look like a giant stewpot. Despite the poor condition of the tub, which had several slow leaks that contributed to one hell of a puddle on the floor, the scent of that steam was more than enough to make up for it. Soap mixed with a bit of lilac-scented salts to make the entire room smell like a freshly made bed.
But Clint didn’t even spare a glance toward the bed. He was doing just fine where he was and he wasn’t about to take his eyes off of Abigail’s smooth, naked body. He let his hands wander along the slope of her lower back and then down the curve of her hips. From there, he tightened his grip on her and pulled her close against him.
“Oh,” she said as she felt the bulge between Clint’s legs pressing against her backside. “Seems like someone’s getting some mighty big ideas.”
“Am I the only one with the ideas?” Clint asked. He reached around to run his hand along her belly and then down between her legs. “Let’s just see about that.”
Clint’s fingers slipped through the downy hair of her pussy and then slid along her moist lips. After a few gentle rubs, her subtle dampness grew wetter and wetter. “Seems like you’ve got a few notions of your own,” he whispered.
“That’s just from the bathwater,” Abigail replied as she gripped on to the edge of the tub with renewed strength.
“Really?” His fingers slid up and down over her pussy and then settled over her clitoris before making a few quick circles. Clint reached down a bit farther until the palm of his hand was rubbing against her inner thigh. He bent his knees to feel his way down her leg before straightening up and placing his hands back where they’d started. By the time his fingers slid into her, he felt Abigail pressing against him to rub her backside on his erection.
“Maybe I do have an idea or two,” she said.
Clint kept one hand between her legs and used the other to unbuckle his belt and ease his jeans down. “Let me guess,” he said as he used that hand to guide his cock into her from behind. “Is it anything like this?”
“Oh, yes,” Abigail moaned as she leaned forward to accept every inch of him inside her. “That was it, exactly.”
Clint took hold of her hips in both hands as he pumped slowly in and out of her. Whenever he buried himself all the way inside, Abigail let out a moan and grabbed on to the tub hard enough to shake the water inside. Soon she held on and tossed her head back to savor every thrust. The moment Clint stopped to catch his breath, she backed against him to pick up where he left off.
While he pulled off his shirt, all Clint had to do was stand still and enjoy the way Abigail rocked back and forth in front of him. She even threw in a few twitches of her hips for good mea sure. When Clint took a step back, he immediately heard her groan with disappointment.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I just need to get my boots off.”
Abigail spun around and locked eyes with him. “Be quick about it,” she growled as she sat with her backside against the edge of the tub. “You can’t keep me waiting after starting like that.”
The look on Abigail’s face was almost savage. She bared her teeth and spread her legs for him the moment Clint took half a step forward. When she reached out to pull him closer, Clint thought she might just sink a set of claws into him. Abigail pulled Clint by the arm and wrapped her leg around him. She was smiling now and let out a long, relieved sigh when he finally drove his cock into her. She leaned back to brace her hands against the other edge of the tub so her back was suspended above the oval opening.
“You’re going to fall in.” Clint chuckled.
She shook her head, smiled weakly, and replied, “Don’t worry about that. And don’t stop. Don’t you stop.”
Cupping her firm little backside in his hands, Clint held on to Abigail rather than have her perched in such a precarious spot. It also gave him a better angle to drive into her harder and harder as she begged for more. Before long, Clint was holding her completely over the tub as she held on to the edge with both hands behind her back. When he stopped again, Abigail’s eyes snapped open.
“What’s wrong?” she asked breathlessly.
Looking down at the tub, Clint replied, “I think we moved that thing halfway across the room.”
He might have stretched the truth a little, but the tub obviously wasn’t in the spot where it had started. Reluctantly, Abigail set her feet down and tried to lean forward. She had barely sat upright before Clint lifted her up and carried her to the bed. Abigail’s eyes were as wide as her smile by the time she was set down again.
“Sweeping a lady off her feet?” she mused.
Clint stood in front of the bed as she opened her legs and scooted even closer to the edge of the mattress. “I aim to please,” he said.
“Then get back over here and please me.”
Abigail wrapped her legs around Clint’s waist and locked her ankles behind him. She barely gave him enough time to guide himself into her before pulling him in closer and driving him deeper inside. She leaned back on the bed and stretched out her arms to grab hold of the blankets as Clint picked up his rhythm. The faster he pumped between her thighs, the louder she moaned.
As he thrust in and out of her, Clint reached down to rub a hand along the taut muscles of her thigh. Clint admired the way each inhale brought out the layers of muscle in her trim body and how every exhale set that body to quivering.
Soon Abigail clenched her eyes shut and ground her hips against him. Her climax was powerful enough for Clint to feel as it rippled through her body. While she was still riding that sensation, she looked at him and thrust her hips with a rhythm of her own as if she were the one riding him.
Needless to say, it was one hell of a ride.
SEVEN
Abigail lay in the bathtub with her arms draped along the sides and her head resting on the dented metal edge. Even though she was basically simmering in a giant stewpot, she couldn’t stop smiling. “This,” she sighed, “is the life.”
> Having pulled on his jeans, Clint sat on the edge of the bed. Just watching her, he couldn’t help smiling either. “It sure is. Now I don’t have to look at your dirty face anymore.”
Snapping her head around to glare at him, Abigail swatted her hand against the water to send a generous splash his way. “You could always leave, smartass!”
“Not now. After what we just did, you got me all dirty, too.”
“Funny, you didn’t seem to mind when it was happening.”
Walking over to the tub, Clint sat on the edge and looked down at her naked body in the water. “I sure didn’t and I don’t mind right now. I was just thinking our ride would be a lot easier if we were both clean.”
“Our ride?” Abigail asked. “You mean the both of us?”
“Sure. That is, unless you had better plans.”
She squinted and grabbed the soap that lay beside the tub. “I thought you were all wrapped up in your card game.”
Clint shrugged. “I’m ahead a bit, but a few heavy hitters came into town and are starting to clean up.”
“You sure they ain’t just cheating?”
“They could be,” Clint replied. “What ever they’re doing, they’re costing a lot of people a lot of money. I’m not overly fond of Colonel Farelli, but it sounds like he may have a genuine problem.”
“What do you have against the colonel?”
“I was doing a favor for a supply sergeant a few years ago. Everything from guns and ammunition to boots and coats were disappearing from a couple different Army posts and I was asked to track down the robbers. Let’s just say the robber I found wasn’t exactly what the supply sergeant was expecting.”
“Farelli?” Abigail asked.
“You got it.”
She chuckled and scrubbed at a stubborn spot on one of her forearms. “I bet his hide was tanned something awful.”
“Farelli wasn’t working alone and one of his partners was ranked high enough to get the matter handled pretty quietly. By the time I left, it looked like the robbers’ pay was going to be docked and their records would get a smudge, but that was about it.”
“Knowin’ them Army fellows, they probably swept it all under the rug because they were embarrassed.”
“Probably,” Clint said. “Either way, I know Farelli wasn’t too happy with me when we parted ways. Come to think of it, he’s not exactly my favorite person, either.”
“So why would he want to hire you for a job?”
“Because when I caught him red-handed stealing those supplies, he drew a gun on me,” Clint explained. “I drew mine faster. A lot faster.”
“Did you shoot him?”
After a pause, Clint shook his head. “No, but I could have. He knows it, too. Seeing as how he just got a stiff fine and a blemish on his ser vice record while still making it to colonel, I’d think he came out of it a lot better than if I’d have shot him.”
“So maybe the colonel’s trying to make up for what happened?”
“I doubt that,” Clint said. “This sounds like a dangerous job that could get someone hurt or worse. I’d bet on Farelli wanting to ask me to do it rather than risk his own men. If I come through, he looks like a good leader. If I get hurt…well…I doubt he’ll be heartbroken.”
Abigail let out a snorting laugh and said, “I don’t see why you’d want any part of a job like this.”
“I’ve heard about these Indian attacks,” Clint replied. “Soldiers and innocent folks are getting hurt. I know this is a real thing and Farelli and I both know I could do something to help. If I have to put up with a weasel like Farelli to save some lives down the stretch, I’m willing to grit my teeth and put up with him. If he’s trying to pull something else, I’ll deal with that, too. I sniffed him out once, and I can do it again. It’s not like he was a very good liar anyway.”
Nodding as she got back to scrubbing, Abigail said, “That’s all well and good, but what if he really is holding a grudge? What if he wants to hurt you for what happened the last time you crossed paths?” The more she thought about it, the more she shook her head. “If I were you, I wouldn’t trust a man like him.”
“I don’t trust him, Abigail. I trust my own eyes, though. I know there’s blood being spilled, and if he’s stationed at a fort anywhere near those attacks, he’d be the one to deal with them. From what I’ve seen, I know he’d need help with a job like that.”
“And if he’s after you?” Abigail asked.
Clint was quick with his reply. “If he’s after me, he’s got a regiment of fighting men and at least a few among them would follow his orders if he backed them up with enough pay. He’d be able to come after me no matter what I decide to do with this letter.”
Although Abigail nodded, she seemed more uncomfortable than agreeable. “Seems like you’re not too bothered by someone out to shoot ya.”
“Have you ever heard of me before we met?” Clint asked.
“I heard a few stories.”
“There you go. I’ve had men a lot nastier than Farelli coming after me.”
“Why do you want me to come along with you?”
“Because you’re the best one for the job.”
“How do you know that?” she asked suspiciously.
Clint blinked and replied, “Simple. You told me so.”
She shook her head and laughed under her breath. “I guess I did.”
“The fact of the matter is I’ve never been to Fort Winstead. All I’d need is a guide there. It would make things a lot easier.”
“Fine,” Abigail said with a smirk. “I was headed back that way anyhow. I just hope you can keep up with me.”
EIGHT
Clint spent the rest of that day wrapping up his business in town. Of course, since he was mainly in town for the game, that business included sitting in on a few more hands to add to his winnings. As it turned out, he lost more than he won. As the sun set and more new faces drifted into the Jackrabbit, the Evans game was taken to new heights. The few locals who still had money left were sitting at the same table with known professional gamblers. Later that night, more tables were added to the mix and the gamblers truly rolled up their sleeves.
The games that followed quickly turned into the poker equivalent of a bloodbath.
Eddie the barkeep shook his head and chuckled as Clint walked up to the bar and supported himself with both hands against the chipped wooden surface. “Not your night?”
Clint looked up and replied, “Let’s just say I’m happy to be leaving tomorrow.”
That washed away the bartender’s smirk real quick. “Tomorrow? What for?”
“Just moving on. By the looks of it, you won’t miss having me around.”
“It ain’t so much the business, but it’s dangerous out there. I heard there was another Injun attack.”
“What do you know about those?” Clint asked. “How bad was this one?”
“Pretty damn bad. Left four men dead and a few women.”
“Jesus.”
Eddie nodded solemnly. “A couple wagons headed north got set upon by them damn Navajo.”
“Hasn’t the Army done anything about it?”
“It won’t be long, I’m sure,” Eddie replied. “And whenever word gets out about them Injuns being shot down like mangy dogs, it won’t be soon enough. Anyways, you weren’t headed that way, were you?”
“I was thinking about it,” Clint replied. “Now I know for sure.”
“Just don’t be stupid and you’ll be fine. It’d be a shame for the Gunsmith to end his days before he could let everyone know where he played some of the best poker in his life.”
Clint rolled his eyes but knew better than to get too bent out of joint by Eddie’s request. After all, saloons didn’t become famous and poker games didn’t become events by printed advertisements. “I’ll see what I can do, but there’s really not much. You might not like the kind of men that would come running if they knew I might be in a particular saloon.”
“I�
�d be willing to take my chances!”
Rather than continue the debate, Clint paid off what he owed and waved good-bye. Eddie wasn’t the first to try and get Clint to draw people to one business or another. There was a fellow who owned a billiard hall in Albuquerque who offered to pay Clint a thousand dollars to talk the place up when he visited California. Then again, that man promptly went broke a few months later. Clint would never stop being surprised at the boneheaded ways some men would try to get rich without breaking a sweat.
After leaving the Jackrabbit, Clint walked over to the livery down the street. He walked straight back to the last stall on the right and found Eclipse, his black Darley Arabian stallion, waiting there patiently as if he’d been expecting the company. “You ready for a run, boy?” Clint asked as he patted the horse’s nose.
“He’d better be ready,” came a familiar voice from the stall behind him.
Clint jumped and reflexively reached for his gun as he turned around. His hand was still on the grip of the Colt when he said, “That’s a good way to get yourself hurt!”
Abigail held her hands up and kicked open the gate to the stall. “If you’ve got reflexes like that, I feel a lot better about taking this ride with you.”
“What in the hell were you doing in there?”
Looking over her shoulder as if she didn’t know what Clint could be referring to, she replied, “Checking my horse. I could’a asked who you were talking to, but I didn’t.”
Clint took a few more steps toward Abigail’s stall so he could get a better look inside. The horse in that stall was a white mustang with a few large brown spots on its flank. There was also a saddle buckled in place on its back. “Leaving so soon?” Clint asked.
Once more, Abigail looked around. This time, she didn’t pretend to wonder what Clint was talking about. “I just thought I could scout ahead to night to see if there were any Injun camps nearby. I got a nose for sniffing them out and it’d help us get a good start tomorrow.”
Straw Men Page 3