Back aboard the now abandoned locomotive at the very bottom of the boiler rivets began blasting free as if fired from a Gatling gun, and a long seam opened up like the earth splitting apart in an earthquake. The split grew wider with each passing second as the escaping steam forced its way through the new-found exit. As the rift grew inside, it pushed and bent the walls of the mighty cylinder that made up the main part of the boiler outward.
A second before he guided the horse behind it, Lijuan looking back over her shoulder squinted her eyes shut as Grand Western Railroad’s Locomotive #729 disappeared in a flash of white light as the weakened steel of the boiler’s heavy iron casing having at last lost its fight to contain the devastating pressure within its walls.
Accompanied by a deafening roar, the multi-ton cylindrical boiler blew free from its carriage, shooting skyward despite tearing itself apart during its upward trajectory. It wasn’t alone, however, as rising towards the heavens as well was everything that had once been the proud engine. The coal tender had also been born aloft, soaring upward like a fiery comet as the cargo of coal ignited and burst into a ball of flame.
As gravity took command, the pieces of pipes, plate iron, countless rods, and levers began to shower down over a vast expanse of the wide-open desert. Burning chunks of coal began raining down like a man-made meteor shower Expanding out from the heart of the blast was the pressure wave in all directions. Any prairie dogs or other wildlife that had the misfortune of being near the epicenter of the explosion had been instantly vaporized. That included two cows that had failed to be contained when the herd had been blocked by the train and had made it this far only to be torn asunder in a spray of blood and viscera as the blast struck them.
Behind the tall bread-shaped piece of rock, Lijuan and Cauley huddled down with their backs pressed against the rock, having jammed their hands over their ears a moment before the blast. As Lijuan had ordered, Cauley had coaxed his horse to drop down to its knees. It had surely saved the mount's life, as the top of outcropping where the formation had narrowed was blown off in the blast and it would have taken the horse's head clean off its shoulders. Lijuan screamed and Cauley shouted as they were pelted by small rocks when the top was carried away.
Lijuan opened her eyes in awe when she looked back as the pressure wave swept back towards Stanton’s Gap. Every cactus, every tree that jutted out between their position and the town were either uprooted from the ground, limbs snapping off or pulverized by the wave. But mercifully, the wave was dissipating as it drew closer to the town. She was just about to let out a gasp of relief when not more than several yards in front of them the massive cowcatcher slammed into the ground like a meteor blasting a crater in the ground.
That was enough to spook Cauley’s horse back onto its feet, and despite being fatigued beyond all measure, the fear sent it bolting away from where they were hunkered down. Miraculously, debris that was still raining down, some of it weighing in at over several thousand pounds, missed the frightened animal.
It was then the burning coal began to hit everywhere around them. Lijuan and Cauley raised their forearms over their heads and balled themselves up rocking back and forth attempting to dodge the tiny fireballs. One bounced off the rock they were leaning on and grazed Lijuan's temple singeing several strands of her hair, but she was lucky not be seriously injured. Another dropped next to Cauley's leg igniting his chaps on fire, but he and Lijuan quickly beat it out.
Once more looking back towards the town, she gasped as the umbrella of lightweight pieces of flaming coal easily covered the mile distance Lijuan had managed to put between the engine and the town began falling there, too, just at the same moment, the evaporating pressure wave struck the town. The nearest buildings had many of their windows blown out giving rise to terrified screams.
Finally, the rumble of the concussive blast faded away across the land, and the Arizona countryside fell quiet. But the pair couldn't tell, as their ears still continued to ring from having been so close. That would fade and more important than anything they were still alive. Lijuan turned to him and gave him a crooked smile.
“You might be a bit of a screw up when it comes to being a foreman, but you sure make one hell of a knight in shining armor. I owe you.” She laid her hand on his rough cheek. “And I can guarantee you are going to like how I pay a debt!”
CHAPTER 16
* * *
NOW
In the rear seat of Honor’s carriage, Dutch sat with Bright Feather under his arm nuzzled close to him. The full weight of the weariness brought on by the hellish day settled over them.
Outside the carriage he watched as the mayor and other town officials gathered around his sisters, shaking each of their hands. With a small smile, he witnessed the man he knew to be Senator Bronson grudgingly come forward as well and shake Cassandra’s hand. He’d heard something from a shopkeeper as he stood side by side with the man fighting one of the small fires about the town ignited by the deluge of burning coal about her landing a haymaker across the man’s face. In light of their actions that managed to see the sun set without a single fatality, there had been absolutely no talk of any charges being filed.
His attention was drawn away as several wagons Pierce had rounded up passed by their carriage ferrying the passengers from the ill-fated train. The railroad official in the last wagon, with young Parker at his side. Tied behind the wagon was Lijuan’s horse Kong. Pierce asked the driver to halt by their carriage, and he called down to Dutch and Bright Feather.
“Captain Wilde, Miss Bright Feather, I speak for the Grand Western in saying the railroad will forever be in your debt for what you did today. But for all of you, the GWR would be responsible for untold deaths.”
Dutch merely nodded, but rather than accepting the praise he preferred to hear about Farnsworth’s condition. He was encouraged to learn that he was improving and that Doctor Keegan felt confident the man would make a full recovery. Seeing they were getting ready to continue on Dutch told Parker to take Lijuan’s horse to the hotel livery where she would be saying. The young man cheerfully agreed, apparently unfazed by the day’s events or perhaps at the thought of getting another glimpse of Lijuan Dutch considered.
As Pierce continued on his way to get the weary group of investors settled in for the night, Dutch murmured, “Given his role in this mess I think you are looking at a man who hasn’t much of a future with the Grand Western.”
Bright Feather squeezed his hand and whispered, “Perhaps, and perhaps not. I could never have got that switch working without him. Maybe they will take that into account.”
“Maybe. All I know for sure is I’ve had my fill of the Grand Western Railroad,” he said as the sound of Pierce’s moving wagon faded away. Unknown to Dutch, the very same railroad would soon loom large in the life of another Wilde man. That of his brother Blue River, when the young brave would be forced to deal with a disaster at the Devil’s Canyon project.
Now, however, he was greeted by Catalina's cheerful voice as she climbed into the front bench seat at the same moment Honor Elizabeth had taken her place on the driver's side.
Time to be gettin’ back to Cedar Ledge wouldn’t you say?”
“I most certainly would! After today’s exertions, I, for one, look forward to a nice relaxing bath, complete with candles and that special soap I had shipped from France,” Honor chirped as Cassandra, who was now mounted, rode up on her horse Lily next to the carriage.
“You know a lot of folks are happy with just plain old lye soap,” Cassandra laughed as she leaned forward in her saddle. Not to be shut down so easily Honor Elizabeth breezily answered, “And a lot of people are happy with their outhouses. Would you prefer I have Daddy remove the fancy indoor privy I had him build for us at the ranch?”
“Now I’d say that there round goes to Honor Elizabeth!” Cattie chuckled, and the others joined in except Dutch who glanced back up at the balcony of the hotel. The small figure was no longer there. His silence was not lost o
n Bright Feather.
“What’s wrong, my love?”
“I just wish she was coming back with us is all.”
“It was her decision to stay over, and you know your sister is going to do what she is going to do.”
Dutch couldn't deny it. All six siblings could be a headstrong lot, but Lijuan reigned supreme among them when it came to that. Still, he was bothered about her demeanor when Cauley had ridden back into the town with her. He and Bright Feather had been in the midst of working with Cassie and the local lawmen to organize fire brigades to deal with the fires before they got out of control. Seeing her, he dropped the buckets he was holding and raced over to her with Bright Feather on his heels. He had expected her to slide down off the horse so he could scoop her up into a bear hug, but she remained sitting behind Cauley. Momentarily taken aback, he told her how thankful she was that she was alive and that she had saved the town.
Lijuan had only shrugged her shoulders and with a distant look and had said, “We all did, David.” But he hadn’t any intentions of her dismissing her heroics so easily. “Maybe the first time, Beautiful and Graceful one, but that was you and you alone that put enough distance between that bomb on wheels and the town. Again, I’m just so glad you’re safe!”
She gave him a ghost of a smile and then pointed to Cauley to head over to where she intended to join a bucket brigade Catalina was working on. As they started to trot away, she said, “I’m safe because Jim saved me,” and as she looked back over her shoulder she flipped her hair. “I thought it would be you …” she said softly as the pair rode away leaving Dutch drowning in an ocean of guilt.
Now in the carriage, Bright Feather brought her lips close to his ear and whispered, “I know what’s really bothering you. It wasn’t fair of her earlier when she tried to make you feel guilty, and we both know she shouldn’t paint herself as … what is that saying you white men have? A … a … damsel in distress. She and your sisters are probably the toughest women in Arizona.”
“Honey, I had already let her down when I’d forgotten our trip to the claim, and yes, my sisters manage to pull off some amazing stuff, but this truly was one time when she needed saving, and I had to let someone else do it. What kind of big brother am I?”
Reminded of the early dynamics between the full-blooded brother and sister and their half-sister introduced to them out of the blue from a foreign land, she smiled and told him. “The kind that was always there for her from day one, even when her other sibling wanted nothing to do with her. She was lucky to have you then, and she is lucky to have you now. You would have pulled her from that locomotive if you could have. What were you supposed to do? Be gored by that bull?”
He looked into her deer-like eyes, wondering how he could possibly love this woman anymore. With smiling eyes, he moved in for a long kiss.
“You always know just what to say.”
In front of them, he heard Cattie call out, "Get this thing movin', Honor! We got us a two-hour ride standin' between you and that bath you were gushin' on about a minute ago!"
Underneath them, the wheels began turning and the carriage lurched forward. Tethered behind it Dutch and Bright Feather's horses began trotting along. While Bright Feather leaned forward to answer a laughing Catalina's question as to whether she had really shot an arrow through a gentleman's top hat, Dutch stole one last look back at the receding hotel and sincerely hoped Lijuan would put her disappointment in him behind her. Though he was now a seasoned officer in the United States Army and she was a tough as nails woman who could put down a man with that blacksmith's hammer she always kept at her side, he still saw her as the wide-eyed little sister who looked up to her big brother and her never wanted to let her down.
Pulling Bright Feather even closer to him, he listened as the throngs of people cheered on his family with deep gratitude for helping save their lives as the Wildes made their way out of town … save one.
***
In the hotel room, Lijuan landed atop Cauley straddling him and clasped her mouth over Jim's who instantly returned the gesture as though he had been waiting for it all of his life. She immediately felt Cauley's hands everywhere at once on her body as she tried to breathe. It was no use, it seemed everywhere Cauley touched on her was scalded with the print of his coarse cowboy hands and she had to admit she loved it.
“Yes, Jim. More!” she barked huskily as his hands found their way to her breasts and this time she let him roam free as she delighted as he leaned up to lick the hollow of her neck, his hot mouth against her skin sending ripples through her as his large hands continued cupping her breasts and tweaking her hard nipples. Lijuan was growing wetter with every flicker of his tongue against her skin leaving her to groan as his calloused hands traveled her body in calculated teasing.
When one of his hands had left her boob, and journeyed through her thick patch to cup her mound, Lijuan thought she might faint as he grazed over her clit.
His fingers proved more than adept as they probed finding her pleasure button which was throbbing and sensitive to his touch. Lijuan put her own fingers to work as her hand found his cock, feeling it throb in its fully erect state.
“You’re so god damn big and you’ll fuck me right now! Do you got that?!” she demanded through gritted teeth feeling as if she had the hunger of seven sexually starved women.
As his fingers pushed deeper inside of her, she felt her body growing weaker. All of her energy was being diverted to one cause. She had to come, needing to orgasm for him right now. As sweat began dripping down her forehead touching her eyes the momentary distraction allowing her to reassert herself.
"No!" she said, removing his hand. She wanted this to last. She wanted the release to be a blast. Lijuan wasn't going to allow that to happen so soon. No, Lijuan knew that wasn't what she wanted and she would get what she wanted…she was Lijuan Wilde after all. In a lightening move, she pulled away from Cauley and stood on the floor, staring at the fully erect cock gracing some of the largest pair of balls she's ever seen…and she had seen plenty. All the Wilde girls had.
"Come, Jim," she beckoned, a hand on her hip.
Cauley stepped closer obediently and she reached for him, taking his cock into her hands.
The ranching foreman was already starting to drip pre-cum by the time her fingers made contact with the long, thick shaft. Lijuan used the drips as lube and stroked his cock slowly with her hand. “Is that…is that something they teach you how to do in China?”
"I couldn't say, Jim. I was only there as an infant." She said shrugging. Old Mrs. Chow whom her father had hired to school her in her Chinese culture had surely not included any lessons on the pleasuring of men. She had learned that happily experimenting all on her own. Now her soft fingers tried to wrap completely around him, but couldn't. The parts that did make contact sent electricity through his veins. Jim groaned.
“Now that’s a good boy.” She cooed.
Without warning, Lijuan took his cock into her mouth and Jim clenched his hand into two large fists and began panting at the feel of her hot, wet mouth. His cock slipped between her lips with ease as she covered him with saliva. Lijuan closed her eyes as she sucked him deep into her mouth, but Cauley couldn't take his eyes away. The way the exotically gorgeous Asian woman's lips wrapped around him was entrancing as was the way she pulled him in ever so deeper
Cauley growled as she planted one hand on his chest with her fingers splayed over the hard muscles of his stomach. He had hair everywhere, even there and she loved it. It sent tingles through her to see her smooth skin contrasted to the rock solid, hairy body of the man she was pleasuring. With her other hand, Lijuan stroked him as she sucked, slowly at first. Her small fingers still unable to completely wrap around his girth worked in a clockwise motion covering every inch one way or another. She stared at him with dark eyes as though willing him to still know this was her own show.
She smiled when she saw his hands raised in what seemed akin to surrender. He brought his index
finger to her face and traced the edges of her left eye.
"Your eyes are the most beautiful shape. I saw the wives of some of those oriental fellows laying railroad track and I thought they was some of the most gorgeous women on God's green earth. Never dreamed I'd be laying with one. No, ma'am."
“Thank you...and believe it.” She murmured and went back to licking and sucking him with no inhibitions.
Seeing he was at his most primal, she suddenly pulled her mouth off and stepped back, the large cock making a smacking noise as it slapped against his stomach.
“Fuck me against that door.” She said, pointing to the wooden door of the hotel room. Obliging, Cauley walked to the wooden door of the hotel room and pulled Lijuan with him and quickly pinned her back against the heavy oak frame.
“Yes, Jim. That’s how I want it.” She said with desire.
Lijuan was still talking as his hands cupped her ass and he hoisted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her face was wet with tear streams, and her eyes wouldn’t focus giving her the look of a woman intoxicated. She wrapped her arms around his neck, but it was him holding her up that kept her steady. Cauley was so close to her wet pussy and could feel the heat jumping between them. He hadn’t entered her yet and she already looked gloriously spent.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Cauley asked in an unsteady voice. As hard a woman as she could be Lijuan found it endearing that he clearly didn’t want to stop, but he couldn’t go on if she wasn’t okay.
“Fuck No! Get on with it!” she panted.
He kissed her tenderly while using one hand to guide his cock into her body. Slowly, he pushed inside of her. Lijuan moaned as her tightness stretched to accommodate his impressive size. Her nails dug into his back and shoulders as she took more of him. Cauley still wasn’t completely inside and Lijuan was starting to tense. She inched up the heavy door, pulling off of him slightly.
Sing The Death Song: Dutch Wilde & Bright Feather Western Adventure (Half Breed Haven Book 6) Page 12
