Georgina Gentry - To Tease a Texan

by To Tease a Texan (lit)

  “All right. I’ll see you at the house by dark.”

  “We’ll leave before dawn when everyone else is asleep.”

  She nodded and watched him leave. She went to the window and watched him hobbling down the street, stray tumbleweeds blowing past his long legs. The town was mostly deserted with the men gone and the women and children disappearing inside and locking their doors. Lark had always fled when faced with difficult choices, but she was surprised at Larado. She’d begun to think of him as an ex–Texas Ranger, even though she knew it wasn’t true. Of course no one could blame him for running, certainly not her. He was walking with a crutch and he wasn’t a good shot, even wearing his spectacles. Snake would gun him down out there in the street, with Larado’s blood making dark puddles in the dirt.

  Larado hobbled down the deserted street. People were heeding the warning, all right. He sat in his office all afternoon, waiting for Bill to bring him a message from the Rangers, but none came. The town looked like a ghost town as sundown settled all red and gold across the plains. Finally, he locked up his office for the last time and started home.

  As he walked, Jimmy ran out from the hotel, looking up at him. “Sheriff, is it true? Is that outlaw comin’?”

  Larado looked down at the anxious, fearful child. “Don’t worry about it, Jimmy. You’ll be safe enough.”

  “Oh, I know that, Sheriff.” The scrawny child grinned up at him. He reminded Larado of the child he had once been, thin and undersized in a world of bullies. “I told Mrs. Bottoms that with you here, he ain’t gonna do anything but end up dead or in jail, right?”

  “Sure, Jimmy, sure.” He patted the boy’s thin shoulder, but he didn’t look into the dark eyes.

  Mrs. Bottoms waddled out of the hotel. “Jimmy, come in here, now,” she called. “Sheriff’s got plans to make, don’t need you worryin’ him.”

  “He ain’t worryin’ me,” Larado yelled back. “Now, Jimmy”—he lowered his voice—“you need to stay inside and look after Mrs. Bottoms and the maids, you hear?”

  The boy nodded. “I’d rather be out here in the street with you, shootin’ down the bad guys.”

  “I’ll handle this,” he assured the child. “Now you scoot and look after the ladies, okay?”

  The boy nodded and ran back to join the old lady. The two of them went into the hotel. Larado stared after them a long moment. Jimmy would be awfully disappointed when he woke up tomorrow and found the sheriff had fled like a scalded yellow hound. Hell, no one in town could blame him, with Snake’s deadly reputation. He hobbled to the house and went out back to check on the horses and feed them. Long before daylight, he and Lark would be safely on their way and out of Snake’s reach. The town was on its own.

  Lark came in soon enough. “Anything happening?”

  He sat down on the settee and shook his head. “Nothin’. I checked the buckboard and oiled the wheels. You pack us a few things, and we’ll be out of here before dawn.”

  “Okay.” She nodded and went into the kitchen. “I must admit I feel bad about leaving the town undefended.”

  “I know.” He rolled a cigarette, staring out the window. “But it’s suicide to stay and face him down, you know that.”

  “I saw little Jimmy stop you on the street,” she said, bustling about the kitchen. “What’d he want?”

  Larado sighed and stuck the smoke in his mouth. He felt a deep, nagging shame. “He’s certain I can handle the bad guys. He wants to help me.”

  “Well, he’s only a child, he’s too young to understand.”

  “Right.” Larado smoked and stared out the window. “I kinda had my heart set on that ranch, settlin’ down.”

  She paused, skillet in hand. “Now, Larado, you know that what we’re doing makes sense, right? We can’t stay here.”

  “I know, I know. Once a saddle tramp, always a saddle tramp, I reckon.”

  “Sometimes it only makes good sense to clear out. Who was it said ‘discretion is the better part of valor’?”

  “Whoever he was, he wasn’t a Texan.”

  “You gonna give me ‘Remember the Alamo’?” She began to fry a steak.

  “I reckon not. I’m too big a coward to have fought at the Alamo. I’d have been that one hombre who went over the wall and ran.”

  “At least he ended up alive,” she reminded him as she sliced potatoes.

  “Yeah, and I’ll bet he went around with his head down the rest of his miserable life.”

  “That’s loco talk,” she scolded. “We’ll be alive, and we’ll have each other. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

  “You matter to me.” He crushed out his cigarette in the ash tray, took his crutch, and hobbled over to her. He put his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck.

  She turned in his arms and put hers around him. “Oh, Larado, I’m so scared.” She kissed his check. “I know we’re doing the right thing. Snake might not even come here, and after all, didn’t you say Bill had wired for the Rangers? They’ll be here in a day or two and the town will be all right.”

  “I wish I could be sure of that.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

  She looked up at him anxiously, fear in her dark eyes. “I hope you’re not thinking of making some grand play. You aren’t Travis, or Crockett, or Bowie, you know.”

  “I know what I am—I’m a yellow-bellied coward.”

  “Don’t say that. You’re sensible, that’s all. What good would it do to get yourself killed? You haven’t got a chance against Snake, and you know it.”

  He went back to the table and sat down heavily. “What is it the Rangers say, ‘No one can stand up to a man who’s in the right and keeps right on comin’’?”

  “Yes, and how many Rangers get killed doing that? Just think about us, Larado. We’ll start a whole new life. I’ll make you glad you chose me over playing the hero.”

  He sighed and pulled his watch out of his vest, checking the time. “I reckon you’re right.” He began to whistle “The Streets of Laredo.”

  “Stop that,” she snapped. “Don’t you know other songs?”

  “Sorry, force of habit.” He shrugged. “You empty your cash register?”

  She nodded as she dished up the food. “Not much, but it’ll get us a ways down the road. Then we’ll figure out what to do next. I fed Magnolia and the horses. I’ll leave Jimmy a note so he’ll look after her. I hate that he never got his train ride. He’ll be disappointed.”

  “He’ll be more disappointed to find out I ran when the chips were down.” He grabbed a fork and dug into the sizzling steak and potatoes. If he hadn’t been so worried, it would have been delicious. Lark was learning to cook.

  “You know,” she mused, “we might just get on the train.”

  “What?” He paused and stared at her.

  “Well, maybe we can sneak onto the last car as Snake gets off, if he’s even on it. He needn’t know since it’s only in the station about ten minutes. We’ll be gone while he’s hunting around town for you.”

  “Runnin’ like scared rabbits,” he grumbled as he ate. Suddenly he had lost his appetite as he pictured the face of the small boy tomorrow afternoon. “You pack some stuff?”

  She finished eating, gathered up the plates, and took them to the sink. “Yes, I’ll pack us each one small bag. There’s no point in trying to take more.” She paused and looked around.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Oh, nothing.” She shook her head. “I’ve just gotten used to this little house, this town. That ranch you loved, I’d begun to dream of living out there.”

  He laughed. “Saddle tramps can’t have the luxury of dreams. I’d never be able to afford that place on my salary. I can’t even come up with the down payment.”

  “That’s okay,” she soothed, “we’ll start over. You’re doing the right thing, Larado, and you’ll have me.”

  He looked up at her, and the expression in his dark eyes told her everything she wanted to know. “If I’ve got you, Lark, tha
t’s all the world to me.”

  “I feel the same,” she said. “Now come on into the bedroom. I’ll pack and we’ll get some sleep so we can be out of here before dawn.”

  He nodded and followed her into the bedroom. He sat on the bed and watched her as she hurried about, packing. “I know you’re right,” he muttered, “but I feel like a rat.”

  She could not allow him to weaken. She finished up her packing and went to him. “Larado, I love you,” she whispered, “and I want you alive. Think of all the years we’ve got ahead of us.”

  She knelt before him, began to unbutton his shirt, her fingers trailing gently over his bare skin as she did so. She felt goose bumps rise on his flesh where her fingers touched. “I’m going to remind you why you want to stay alive,” she whispered, and she kissed his bare chest. She let her warm breath caress his muscular body as her lips moved slowly across his flesh. Then very deliberately, she touched him with the tip of her tongue, leaving a row of kisses over every inch of his chest until her mouth touched his nipple.

  He groaned aloud. “Oh, Lark, I’m powerless when you do that, you know that.” He pulled her up to him and kissed her, his warm mouth caressing her lips, her neck.

  She gasped at the sensation of his hands and mouth as his hands slipped inside her clothes. “Give me a chance to get undressed,” she gasped.

  “With my bum leg, you’ll have to do most of the work.” He didn’t stop kissing and caressing her.

  “I can do that,” she said, “oh, yes, I can do that!”

  She slid down to her knees and took off his boots, then shed her own clothes. She took them off very slowly, provocatively, knowing he was watching and savoring her every move. Now she stood naked in the golden glow of the lamp. She shook her hair loose and let it tumble down her shoulders and over her breasts.

  He took a deep breath and his hand trembled as he reached over to blow out the lamp. “You haven’t let me touch you since our wedding night.”

  “Just remember,” she breathed as she leaned forward so that her lips brushed along his collar bone, “this is only the first of many, many nights like this, if only….”

  He pulled her to him, kissed her breasts, his desire mounting. He wanted her more than anything in the world and he could have her…if he was willing to turn his back on this town. Lark against the needs of Rusty Spur.

  He lay back on the bed and let her amuse herself with him. Her wet tongue played across his nipples, and then she was sitting astride his hips and all he could think of was plunging into her. He looked up at her in the moonlight and he thought he had never seen such a beautiful woman, all naked and passionate. He reached up and caught her breasts, pulled her down to him. “You’ll have to do all the work,” he reminded her again.

  She smiled and leaned over him, her long hair brushing across him like strands of silk. It set his body tingling and he put his hands on her hips and lifted her. She came down, all wet and velvety on his hard, throbbing manhood.

  Lark came up on her knees, came down again on him deeply, thoroughly. This was a man; a stallion of a man. Even with a hurt leg, he could satisfy a woman better than most men and he was hers to enjoy. She began a slow rhythm of pleasure, rising up so that he was almost out of her and then coming down on him again so that he was in her to the hilt. She ground herself against him, pleasuring herself and him.

  He gasped under her, controlling himself so that it would last and last until she began to reach her pinnacle of pleasure. Lark threw back her head, crying out and at that, Larado grasped her small waist in his two big hands and increased the rhythm, bringing her down on him again and again in an ever increasing, hard driving action.

  Then as she gasped, “Larado! Now! Oh, yes, now!” he reached up and caught her breasts in his hands bringing her down so he could cover her face with kisses. As they locked in a hot, torrid embrace, they both reached ecstasy.

  To Lark, the pleasure seemed to last through a black velvet eternity and when she came to, she was lying on his muscular chest, cradled in his strong arms with him still deep within her. “Oh, Larado, I love you!” she whispered against his neck and he reached up and pulled her closer, gently stroking her hair. “We’ve got the rest of our lives to make love, all we have to do is leave in the morning while there’s still time.”

  “Sure, sweetie, sure.” He held her close and listened to her steady breathing as she dropped off to sleep. But he did not sleep. He had never known such joy with any other woman and he loved this one as he could never love another. Lark versus this town. It was no contest.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lark awoke in the darkness and stretched, smiling. Larado had proved he was still all man, even with a splint on his leg. Maybe last night’s love would result in a child. Larado would like to have a son—they’d even talked of adopting Jimmy. Reality came down on her like a stampeding herd as she remembered they were fleeing today. Well, of course the boy would be just as well off with Mrs. Bottoms as on the run with them.

  She realized suddenly that Larado was not in bed. Quickly, she grabbed a robe and got up, peering at the clock. It was a little before five. It would be light soon.

  She looked toward the kitchen. Larado sat at the table, smoking in silence. She could see his big silhouette and the tip of his glowing cigarette. The scent of tobacco floated on the hot summer air. He was already dressed. She lit a lamp and went into the kitchen. “Couldn’t sleep?”

  He shook his head and she turned up the lamp so that she could see him. He looked troubled.

  “Don’t worry,” she assured him as she bustled about, making coffee and stoking up the fire in the kitchen stove. “If Snake should ride in today, we’ll be long gone.”

  “I know,” he said, but he didn’t look at her.

  “Last night was wonderful, wasn’t it?” She turned from the stove, smiling at him.

  “Best I ever had,” he said, but he didn’t smile.

  “Just think of all the nights and months and years we’ll have like that,” Lark assured him and began to cook up bacon and make biscuits.

  “Uh-huh.” He was staring out the kitchen window, and there was something about him that made her nervous. She went ahead fixing breakfast. He did not move or speak.

  He needed cheering up, she thought as she put two heaping plates of food and a pot of strong coffee on the table. “It’s going to be fine,” she said. “After breakfast, we’ll just take the rig. You get the horse harnessed and I’ll leave a note for Jimmy about Magnolia. In an hour, we’ll be miles from here.”

  “And then what?” He ate without looking at her.

  “Well, I don’t know. We’ll find jobs in another town or something.”

  “And always on the run because there will always be bastards like Snake Hudson if someone doesn’t take a stand and stop them.” He sipped his coffee.

  “Land’s sake, we’ll just find a home some place else. Let someone else stop them.” She finished her food and carried the dishes to the sink. “I’ve got a few more things to pack. You finish your coffee and go harness the horse.”

  He didn’t answer, and she went into the bedroom to see if she’d forgotten anything. There was not much she could tuck in two bags. There were memories in this little house: the wedding gifts, the bed she and Larado had made love in, the dainty lace curtains she had made for the windows. Well, it couldn’t be helped. She made up the bed, which seemed like a futile gesture, but she didn’t want whoever moved in behind her to find things in a mess. She could see the first rays of light through the bedroom window.

  She grabbed her two bags and went back toward the kitchen. “Larado,” she called, “I may not have gotten everything you want to take. You better come tell me what—”

  “No.” He still sat at the breakfast table, staring out the window in the coming pale gray light.

  “What do you mean, no? You’d better hurry if we’re to be on our way before sunup.”

  He shook his head and looked at her. “Lark,
I want you to go, catch the noon train.”

  Her nerveless fingers dropped the valises, but she barely heard them hit the floor. “Without you?”

  He nodded. “Without me. I want you to be safe, but I can’t desert this town.”

  “What kind of fool are you?” Her voice rose in her terror. “You know you haven’t got a chance against Snake Hudson. It’s stupid to stay and get shot down out there on the street.”

  “Well, I might get him first.”

  She began to cry in her frustration. “We both know better than that. You haven’t got a change against a top gun like him. I love you, Larado, and I want you to live. Think about it! Think about last night. Don’t you want more of that? What kind of man are you to tell me you’d go and then change your mind?”

  “I’m a Texan, Lark.” He turned and looked at her. “If I run like a scared rabbit—like a shiftless saddle tramp—I’m less than a man.” He took his crutch, standing up with difficulty.

  She was both furious and scared. She ran at him, beating him on the chest. “You’re loco, that’s what you are. You’re gonna stay here and die when you could live. What good is that gonna do anyone? Suppose I’m expecting a child after last night? You gonna leave him orphaned?”

  He tried to catch her hands and hold on to her, but she was twisting and broke away. “You clear out, Lark. I want you to be safe. If I don’t make it, tell my son that I finally stopped running, like I’ve done all my life, and stood my ground like a man—like a Texan.”

  “Oh, you’re a damned fool, Larado,” she wept. “You’ve begun to believe that loco stuff about Texas heroes. I hate you for telling me you’d go and then changing your mind.”

  He swallowed hard. “You don’t mean that, sweet. Oh, you might be glad if I went with you today, but after you thought about it you’d despise me for being yellow, for not protectin’ this town.”

  “But you’re hobbling on a bad leg, and you can’t see—and even if you could, you’re not a good shot.”

  “That’s all true,” he said, “but I’ll do the best I can. That’s all any man can do.”