Chris lit a cigarette. “You’ll learn. And out here it’s not so important. At any rate, this stuff needs pressing. We can have that taken care of whenever you’re ready to wear them. And you need hats. You will be beautiful in hats. We’ll shop for those in Chicago. You also need proper underwear for dresses like that. That was one thing I was not about to shop for. Besides, you need to try on things like that for yourself, although I wouldn’t mind watching.”
He smiled and winked as he drew on his cigarette.
Callie reddened and just shook her head. “I’m not sophisticated enough for dresses like this, Chris.”
“Quit worrying about it. Come and look at this other dress.”
She walked over to pick up the second dress, a lovely yellow gauzy cotton material with a ruffled bib.
“I figured both colors would look nice with your auburn hair,” he told her.
“Chris, this was so thoughtful!”
“Just wait till we get to Chicago. This is just the beginning.”
She laughed and laid the dress aside to look at the black leather dress boots, her eyes widening at their elegant style. The toe was narrow, and the heel was high. The high ankle part of the boot was made of black lace.
“Lordy, I’ve never worn anything like this. I’ll probably fall over in them and embarrass you half to death.”
Chris chuckled, tossing everything to the floor and pulling her farther onto the bed. “Stay right there.” He removed his boots and socks, then his vest and shirt. “I remembered the size boots you wear from when you bought an extra pair back in Lander,” he said as he continued to undress. “And by the way, I got you something else. I had to guess on it too, but I think I probably came pretty close.”
“What is it?” Callie could hardly stand the wondering. He finished undressing, and Callie found herself watching, drinking in his masculinity. The scar on his right thigh and the one on his left side where that bullet had exited reminded her of the dangerous life he’d been leading…and the dangers still ahead. He picked up his vest from the floor and reached into its pocket, taking out a small box. He sat down on the bed then, pulling a sheet over his bottom half as he held out the box.
“This.”
Callie eagerly took the box and opened it, losing her smile at what was inside, a beautiful gold wedding band, and another ring, one with…“Real diamonds?” she asked.
“Real diamonds. We are officially engaged, Callie Hobbs. You can wear the diamond ring, and once we’re married, I’ll put the wedding band on your finger and you will be my wife, if you’re willing.”
Her eyes teared. “If I’m willing? Oh, Chris, you know I am! I’ve never seen such a beautiful ring in my life!”
“I figured there had to be a goldsmith somewhere in this town. Took me a while to find him, but he had a pretty good display of rings. Probably needed plenty for all his wives.”
Callie laughed and handed him the box. “Put it on me!”
He removed the engagement ring. “I’ve had plenty of chances to figure the size of your ring finger when you slept,” he told her. “It’s just about the size of the tip of my little finger, actually a little smaller.”
The remark told Callie he’d been thinking about this quite a while. With his own strong hand he took hold of Callie’s hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. It fit well, and Callie wiggled her finger, watching the diamonds sparkle. “Oh, Chris, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. It’s all in your eyes.”
She sniffed, then leaned forward and threw her arms around his neck. “I love you so much! I want so much to make you happy forever.”
Chris gently pushed her back on the bed. “You will, Callie. I have no doubt about it.”
He met her mouth in a hungry kiss, moving a hand inside her robe and opening it, caressing her bare skin in gentle strokes that brought all her desires alive. “We’ll eat afterward,” he told her softly.
Callie had no objections. Fire rushed through her at the feel of his lips as they left her mouth. He kissed and licked his way over her throat, down to her breasts, relishing each one as though it were a succulent fruit, while his fingers explored secret places that belonged only to Christian Mercy. Callie was surprised at how easily she had come to be able to allow this, to share herself, body and soul, with a man. All inhibitions left her around Christian Mercy. Once he began working his magic, he became master of her entire being, and she was so full of love, she thought she might burst.
He moved down to kiss her belly, her thighs, and that part of her he owned now.
“Chris…” She curled up, and he moved his kisses back up her body to her neck, moving on top of her.
“There is plenty of time for you to learn all the ways there are to take pleasure in this,” he told her.
“Lordy, Chris, you mean there’s more?”
Chris chuckled softly, meeting her mouth again in a deep, hungry kiss. She felt as though she were melting into him, as she opened herself to him, aching to feel him inside her again. In the next moment, she languished in the glory of his rhythmic thrusts, ecstatic at being able to please him this way. He had a way of rubbing against her that brought forth a desire so intense that in moments she was groaning his name in an almost painful climax that left her breathless.
He moved his hands under her hips then, his kisses hot and searching as he thrust himself deeper, and in an even wilder rhythm. Callie still could hardly believe this was real, that Christian Mercy wanted her this way, that he’d just put an engagement ring on her finger. She dug her fingers into the hard muscle of his upper arms, when finally she felt his life surging into her, and, oh, how she prayed it would take hold! How she prayed she would give him a pretty little girl like Amanda.
He kissed her again, then kissed her eyes, back to her lips. “I love you, Callie.”
She kissed him back, studying the blue eyes, the handsome face. “I’ve never been so happy in my whole life.”
He smiled softly. “And, little lady, we are going to wash, eat, and do this again.” He kissed her softly. “And again.” He kissed her again. “I intend to get my fill of you before we leave here tomorrow. Making love on the hard ground isn’t quite this convenient.”
“I’d make love with you on a hard rock at the North Pole if that’s all we had,” she answered.
Chris pulled her close and laughed. “Now, that’s a picture!” He rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him, reaching up to caress her breasts. “And you’re a picture right now, a beautiful picture, perfect form, that pretty hair all tumbled over your shoulders.”
Callie stretched out on top of him, laying her head on his chest. “I wish tomorrow would never come,” she told him.
He gently stroked her hair. “We can’t stop it, Callie, and we can’t turn back, not just because this is something we have to do, but because those men are very likely to find out someday that we were looking for them. Word gets around among the outlaw world, and a good many of them know all about Christian Mercy the bounty hunter. Those men could decide to turn the tables and come looking for us. I don’t want to have to always worry about that.”
Callie had never thought of it that way. “Then I guess we don’t have a choice,” she answered.
He wrapped strong arms around her. “Let’s not talk about it anymore tonight.” He rolled her onto her back again. “And by the way, I’m not that hungry yet.”
Callie already felt the hardness returning to that part of him that was so gloriously pure man. “Neither am I.”
“It’s just sandwiches anyway,” he said. “They’ll keep.” He smothered her with yet another deep, ravishing kiss, and the sweet lovemaking started all over again.
Chapter Thirty-eight
A long day’s train ride through sprawling canyons and what seemed pure desolation, broken at times by spots of yellow aspen, brought Callie and Chris to Green River after dark. Callie kept having to take deep breaths to stay calm. Circumstances were s
o different now. When they first left Rawlins, Christian Mercy was just a hired bounty hunter, and her own heart was so lonely and so full of hate that she didn’t much care what happened to him or even to herself.
How long ago was that? A good six or eight weeks. It surely was at least July now. The burning hot weather told her so. Now the thought of Chris being hurt, maybe killed, made her feel downright sick. She wished they could have met some other way, or that she could talk him out of this. Finding those men wasn’t so important to her anymore, not if it meant losing Chris. But she knew he could not totally settle again until this hell was finished. Leaving those men alive and letting them get away with what they had done would always be at the backs of their minds, a little raw, gnawing thing that would keep them from the total peace and happiness they wanted together.
She helped Chris unload their things, leaving most of the supplies at the depot to be watched, then turning the travel-weary horses out in the railroad corral so they could stretch their legs. Breeze humored them by flopping down in the sand and wiggling on his back, kicking his legs and whinnying as though realizing he was finally off that railroad car for good, or at least for a while. He got back up and shook the dirt from his mane and body, then pranced around the corral as though eager to get going.
“We’ll be off soon enough, boy,” Chris said.
Too soon for me, Callie thought.
Chris picked up their bag. “We’ll get an early start tomorrow,” he told her. He put an arm around her. “I know the man who owns the livery here. Mind sleeping in a clean stall if he has one? It’s too late to try to get a room, and that way we can leave right at sunup.”
“Whatever you say,” Callie answered.
Chris led her along the boardwalk with his arm still around her. “Ol’ Pete will likely have something cooking on the stove in his shack behind the livery. And he has a pump where we can clean up a little in the morning and a privy farther out back. No comparison to the nice hotel we left this morning, but we don’t have time for those things now.”
Callie walked with him to the livery, and the man named Pete, a large-muscled man with a bald head and a rather intimidating appearance, was pleasant enough as he greeted Chris with a handshake.
“Well, I see you’re still alive,” he told Chris.
“I do my best to stay that way,” Chris answered. He introduced Callie. “She’s hired me for something,” he told Pete, “and we…uh…took a liking to each other, you might say. Soon as this is over, we’re getting married.”
Pete grinned and shook Chris’s hand again. “I’ll be damned! Christian Mercy getting married. If that don’t beat all! It’s about time you settled down, Chris.”
“That’s the way I see it.”
Pete shook Callie’s hand, and Callie feared he would break it, his hand was so huge and solid, his grip so tight. “Congratulations, little lady! You must be right something to land the likes of this guy. First time I’ve ever seen him come through here smiling.”
Callie moved an arm around Chris’s waist. “He needs to smile more.”
“I agree with that. Come on over here.”
They followed the man to a stall filled with fresh, untouched hay. “Cleaned out this one and another one just this morning,” Pete told them. “This ought to make a good bed for the night. Straw’s nice and thick. No worry about touching the actual floor of the stall.” He leaned close to Chris. “You…uh…sharing the stall?”
Chris laughed lightly. “Yes, we are.”
Pete chuckled, putting a finger to his lips. “Your secret. Say, I’ve got some damn good smoked pork ribs still hangin’ over an open fire out back, basted in the best tomato sauce you ever tasted. You two hungry? Sarah Jane brought me some homemade bread today, and real butter.”
“Sounds good,” Chris told him. “How is Sarah Jane doing?”
Pete rubbed his chin, hesitating as he glanced at Callie. “Well, good as ever—plenty busy, if you know what I mean, now that the railroad comes through here.”
Chris laughed, keeping his arm around Callie. “Got some clean blankets?”
“Sure do. I’ll get them and you two can fix yourselves up here, then come on out back and get somethin’ to eat. Got some good whiskey too.”
“Not too much for me,” Chris told him. “Like I said, we’re leaving out early. I don’t want to start the trip with a hangover.”
“Where you goin’?”
Chris sobered. “Hanksville.”
Pete rubbed the back of his neck. “Hell, Chris, that’s right through outlaw country.”
“I am well aware of that.”
“You think it’s safe for the little lady?”
“No. But we’ve already been through a lot, and believe me, she can handle herself. Frankly, I hope she never gets too pissed at me.”
Pete guffawed, slapping Chris on the shoulder. “I’ll get the blankets.” He walked out, and Callie looked up at Chris.
“Who is Sarah Jane?”
He gave her a teasing grin. “A very nice lady.” He turned to spread out the hay better in the stall.
“Oh? How nice?”
Chris chuckled. “Very nice.”
Callie put her hands on her hips. “You don’t think about ladies like that anymore, do you? I mean, seemed like you really liked that Lisa woman.”
Chris came back to her and pulled her close. “Quit calling her ‘that Lisa woman.’ Lisa would like you a lot. So would Sarah Jane. They would completely understand what you mean to me, and they wouldn’t even think of trying to interfere. And no, I don’t think about them…not in the way you mean. I think about them only as a concerned friend. Lisa is the one who helped me after that leg wound. I might have died if she hadn’t been there, so you have no need to hate her…and no need to worry that I would give a second thought to availing her or anyone like her of their…uh…services. I have you, Callie Hobbs. I don’t need anything more.”
“I’d clobber any woman who even thought about touching you.”
Chris hugged her tightly and whirled her around. “Callie, I have absolutely no doubt about that.” He laughed, kissing her as he set her on her feet. “The thought of it scares the hell out of me.”
Callie laughed at herself then. “You should be scared. You belong to me, Christian Mercy, and don’t you ever forget it.”
Pete brought the blankets then, and they hung them over the side of the stall, then left to eat some of Pete’s smoked ribs. Callie decided they were the best ribs she’d ever tasted. After Chris smoked and downed a shot of whiskey, they both returned to the stable and fell onto the blanket in the stall, rubbing at full stomachs.
“Oh, my gosh, I don’t think I could get back up if I had to,” Callie said, tossing her hat aside.
Chris literally groaned, rubbing his stomach. “You aren’t the only one. We’d better enjoy it. Starting tomorrow, we won’t be eating anything very fancy. Half the time we won’t even be able to cook because we won’t want a fire that might attract attention.”
Callie sighed deeply. “Do you have a plan, Chris? I don’t know what to expect when we get to Hanksville.”
“I’m afraid I don’t either. That’s the hell of it. All we can do is go there and see if Terrence Stowers and the other two are still there, then decide what the hell to do about it. I prefer to take them to Rawlins for hanging, for your sake. We might even be able to get them hanged right there in Hanksville, considering what they did. Even most outlaws won’t put up with something like that. You already learned that from the way Buck and his men behaved. They were decent enough, and if Stowers had been anyplace close, they would have gone to find him and would have done him in. The important thing is for you to follow my direction, just like you did before.”
They both lay on their backs, looking up at the wooden rafters of the stable. Callie grasped his hand. “It didn’t matter before, you know? Now it matters.”
He squeezed her hand. “I know. Whatever happens, I don’t want y
ou putting yourself in danger like you did to flush out those renegades. Understand?”
“I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect you.”
“It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“I don’t care. We’ll do this together, Christian Mercy. Promise me. Don’t do something stupid, like stepping in front of me to take a bullet or something.”
“Oh, I’m supposed to let you do that?”
She shrugged. “You know what I mean.”
He turned on his side, resting a hand on her stomach. “That’s the problem. I do know what you mean, and the last thing I need is to lose you now, Callie. That would be the end of me. Maybe I should leave you here and go on alone.”
Callie gasped and sat up. “Don’t you dare! Besides, I’m the only one who can identify them.”
“I have names now, remember? And I sure as hell have a pretty good idea what they look like. A scar like Stowers has can’t be hard to miss.”
“Chris Mercy, if you take off without me, I’ll follow you, and that means I would be out there in outlaw country alone, tracking you. Is that what you want?”
“No,” he sighed. “I just thought I’d take a chance on suggesting you stay here. I knew you would never stand for it, but I had to give it a try.”
“Well, you can just forget about it.” Callie pulled off her boots. “Now let’s get some sleep and let our stomachs settle.”
He laughed lightly and turned on his back again. “Yes, ma’am.”
They both lay there quietly for a few minutes.
“I can’t sleep,” Callie finally spoke up. “I’m too nervous.”
“We have to try,” Chris told her.
Callie closed her eyes, fighting images of Chris being shot down right in front of her. She decided to think about things that made her happy, and she concentrated on early last night, when Chris gave her the beautiful ring she wore now. It was all still so unreal.
When she finally heard Chris’s breathing turn to a rhythmic light snore, she turned on her side. God knew he’d need as much rest as he could get before they reached Hanksville. She finally dozed off herself, but somewhere deep in the night she felt herself being turned over, felt warm kisses, woke up to her denim pants and her drawers being pulled off. The lamp in the stable had gone out, and there was only dim moonlight that filtered in through an open stall next to them by which to see her handsome lover’s gentle blue eyes.
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