by Radclyffe
“You have the strength to make hard choices,” Vance said as they walked toward the house. She kept her hand on Mae’s back, in the hollow just above her hips, enjoying the way Mae’s body moved beneath her fingers. “And you take responsibility for those young girls, when no one else, not even their families, is willing to. That’s honorable.”
“Hush,” Mae whispered. “Your brain’s getting soft from lack of sleep.”
Vance laughed as she and Mae climbed up to the porch.
“Hello,” Kate called, pushing loose strands of hair back from her face. The kitchen was still warm from the baking she had done early that morning, and the breeze felt wonderful against her hot skin. She regarded Mae and Vance fondly, thinking that when Vance laughed, she looked far younger than Kate had suspected. “I’ve got coffee on, if you’d like some.”
“I’m afraid I can’t stay,” Vance said. “Mrs. Emerson sent word that all five of her children are complaining of stomachaches. And that’s just the first of a long list.” She smiled at Kate. “And before you ask, no, I’m not making any stops today on our expectant mothers. Plan on coming around with me again the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Kate replied eagerly. “I will.”
Mae touched Vance’s hand in a fleeting caress as Vance stepped away. “Be careful today.”
“I will. I’ll see you later.” She touched the brim of her black felt hat. “Kate.”
“Supper’s at six and I’m making chicken and biscuits.” Kate took Mae’s arm as she fixed Vance with a stern look. “And I expect you to be here to help eat it.”
“Then I certainly shall,” Vance said with a small bow.
Mae watched Vance walk down the porch, climb into the buggy, and drive away. “She looks tired,” she murmured anxiously.
“She looks happy,” Kate said softly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look that way before. It’s nice.”
“I suppose if she were made of straw she wouldn’t have come through all she has,” Mae said with a sigh. “Silly of me to worry.”
“Come inside and have something to drink. Jed’s asleep, so we don’t need to hurry.” As she led Mae through to the kitchen, she said gently, “And it’s natural to worry about someone you love.”
“Why, I never said—”
Laughing, Kate held out her hand. “Here, give me your things, then sit down and we’ll have some tea. And you didn’t need to say. You just have to look at her and it shows.”
“I’ll have to be more careful.”
“Why?” Kate sat down across from Mae and regarded her seriously. “You can’t think Vance would mind?”
“Maybe not, but I imagine there’s a fair number of people who would.”
Kate took Mae’s hand. “I know you could stand up to whatever might be said, and I’m sure Vance can. And if the look on Vance’s face this morning means anything, she needs you to keep looking at her just the way you do.”
“Lord, Kate. Feelings sure do complicate things.”
“They do. Especially when they’re wonderful.” She sat back and worried her lower lip with her teeth for a second. Then she said quietly, “Anyone who doesn’t know you as well as I do wouldn’t have noticed, but I can see that someone’s hurt you. What happened?”
Mae flushed for the second time in just a few minutes, this time with embarrassment. “Nothing to trouble yourself about.”
Kate’s dark eyes snapped. “Our friendship is very important to me. I’ll not have you minimize it by thinking I shouldn’t care about what happens to you.”
“I…” Mae took an unsteady breath and smiled wanly. “I’d almost forgotten how stubborn you are. I won’t even try to convince you it’s not something you need to know about.”
“Good. That’s showing sense.” Kate smiled tenderly. “Tell me.”
Mae relayed the essentials of the event while leaving out much of the horror. “He won’t catch me not paying attention again. And the next time, I won’t worry about who else might be coming along if something happens to him. I’ll just put a few holes where he’ll be sure to feel them.”
“Good.” Kate’s expression was grim. “I think it’s terrible that you should have to worry about someone like him hurting you or the girls.”
Mae studied her curiously. “But you don’t think it’s terrible that we’re whores?”
Kate looked surprised. “Terrible? Of course not.”
“How is it that a young girl from Boston has such a different way of looking at things than most folks do?”
“I think,” Kate said, “it’s because I’m different. Loving Jessie and knowing that some people would say I shouldn’t—that makes me look at what people call right a little more carefully.”
“Vance doesn’t seem to set a lot of store in what people say about her.”
“Well, it seems that you’re outnumbered, then.”
Mae laughed. “Seems so.”
“Does Vance know what happened?” Kate asked carefully.
“She knows, and it was all I could do to keep her from rushing off to settle scores.”
“I imagine.” Kate knew that Jessie would behave precisely the same. And if anyone raised a hand to Jessie, so would she.
“It’s a rare thing, being cared for that way.” Mae shook her head. “I thought I’d run out of that kind of luck.”
Kate smiled. “I’d say all four of us are lucky.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jessie pushed away from the table with a sigh. “Lord, Kate. I’m going to get spoiled eating your cooking. It will be a chore swallowing what passes for food out on the trail.”
Kate gave her a sharp look. “Is that going to be sometime soon?”
“I expect before long I’ll have to see where the herds have wandered off to after all this rain,” Jessie said vaguely.
“I thought you were going to wait for Jed to recover so he could go with you.”
“That will be some time yet, I imagine,” Jessie said. “What do you think, Vance?”
Vance, seated across the wide oak table, nodded as she looked from Kate to Mae, who sat beside her. “He’s doing very well, largely due to the fine care from you two these last few weeks. But he’s still a ways away from riding.”
Kate kept her gaze on Jessie. “Can it wait until then?”
“It depends on what the linemen have to say about the state of things. Charlie will be down from the high country in a day or two. I’ll know better then.” Jessie glanced at Vance. “I’ve got a good saddle horse out in the barn. With all the riding you’re doing, you might want to have a look at him.”
After a second’s hesitation, Vance stood. “You’re right. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I can’t keep using Caleb’s or paying the liveryman every time I need a mount.”
“Let’s take a walk and I’ll show him to you.”
Mae watched the two of them leave the room, Vance in her white shirt and trousers and Jessie in dusty denim and a sun-bleached blue cotton pullover. “I’m not so sure why I ever thought they were different. Times like this, I can’t tell them apart.”
“Yes,” Kate said thoughtfully. “What do you think they’re up to?”
Laughing, Mae shook her head. “Something too dangerous for us, I’ll wager.”
“Of course.” Kate smiled fondly. “I’ll torture it out of her later.”
“A wonderful idea.”
*
Kate snuggled up against Jessie, wrapping an arm and a leg around her body for comfort more than warmth. “Mmm, you smell like hay and sunshine.”
Jessie laughed. “I think you just said I resemble a barnyard. You want me to get a wash before we go to sleep?”
“You smell,” Kate said, kissing Jessie soundly for emphasis, “healthy and strong and I like it.”
“Lucky for me,” Jessie murmured, gently guiding Kate on top of her body. She kissed the tip of Kate’s chin, then her mouth, sliding both hands into Kate’s long dark hair. She sig
hed her appreciation as she nibbled at Kate’s lower lip.
Kate kissed her for as long as she dared, basking in the warmth of Jessie’s embrace and the tender, persistent demands of her hands and her mouth. She lifted her face away just short of the point where she would be helpless to stop, smiling at Jessie’s groan of protest. Her face felt hot and her body shimmered to the call of Jessie’s desire. “Did you and Vance settle on the price of a horse?”
“What?” Jessie asked, her voice and expression befuddled. She caught the ribbon at the neck of Kate’s nightgown in her fingers and tugged it loose. When she went to slide her hand beneath the soft cotton, to Kate’s softer breast, Kate laughed and twisted away. Jessie frowned. “Wha…what?”
“You remember. You and Vance and the trip to the barn.” Jessie looked so adorable in the glow of the firelight, edgy and confused and wanting, that Kate was fast losing her curiosity about Jessie and Vance’s conversation.
“Kate.” Jessie blinked. Her vision had already gone blurry the way it did when loving Kate got her insides all jittery and jumpy. She half sat up, holding Kate to her with one strong arm wrapped around her shoulders as she delved beneath her nightgown and lifted Kate’s breast into her palm. She rubbed her mouth over the swiftly tightening nipple. “I can’t make sense of anything right now.”
“Oh,” Kate sighed, cleaving to her, body to body, and went back to kissing Jessie where she had left off. When Jessie groaned and rolled her over, pinning her to the bed, Kate had already forgotten everything except Jessie’s touch. She wanted to close her eyes and drift on the warm cloud of pleasure that built as Jessie kissed and stroked her way from Kate’s throat to her breasts and lower, but she watched Jessie love her as long as she could. When Jessie murmured her name and took her with her mouth, Kate let passion steal the last of her reason.
When Jessie murmured her name again a few minutes later, her cheek pillowed on Kate’s stomach, Kate stroked her damp hair and face. Contentedly, she whispered, “You drive every thought from my head.”
“You were wanting to know something earlier,” Jessie said drowsily. Pleasing Kate always set her off, like putting a match to dry tinder. The very sound of Kate’s pleasure fired her own. Her head was still reeling and her legs felt heavy as iron. She didn’t think she could move just then if the house went up in flames.
“What?” Kate asked dreamily, sifting strands of golden hair between her fingers. “Oh. I was wondering what you and Vance had to say that required a trip to the barn after supper.”
Laughing softly, Jessie gathered all her willpower and managed to move a foot up the bed. She lay on her side and faced Kate. The firelight made her black hair shine and her skin rosy. “You look beautiful right after we’ve been loving.”
Kate smiled lazily. “I feel beautiful.”
Jessie rested her cheek in the bend of her arm and reveled in Kate’s happiness, trying to imagine what it would be like if somebody put bruises on Kate’s face the way they had done to Mae. Her stomach tightened until it ached, and her mind shied away from the image, but she forced herself to consider Mae’s pain and Vance’s helpless rage. “I love you.”
The fervor in her voice bordered on sorrow, and, alarmed, Kate stroked her face. “What is it, darling?”
“I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” Kate pulled Jessie’s head to her breast and held her fiercely. “What’s wrong?”
“You saw Mae’s face.”
Kate closed her eyes. “Yes.”
“Did she tell you about it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s ripping Vance up inside.” With a sigh, Jessie sat up with her back against the smooth plank headboard and pulled Kate into her arms, tucking Kate’s head beneath her chin. With her free hand she reached down and drew the covers over them both. The fire was waning, and a chill crept in from the edges of the room. “She asked me a few weeks back, right after it happened, if I knew who owned the Nugget.”
Kate’s hand tightened on Jessie’s shoulder. “She wants to punish whoever hurt Mae.”
“Of course.”
“Jessie,” Kate said urgently. “If you get mixed up in this, it could be dangerous.”
Jessie tilted her head back and looked down into Kate’s face. “It’s wrong, Kate.”
“Oh, I know. I know.” Kate struggled with the anxiety that rushed up into her throat, making her breath come fast and shallow. She would never get over watching Jessie almost die. She remembered the blood that covered the wagon bed, the deathly pallor of Jessie’s face, the stillness in her body as life had drained away. “I can’t have you getting hurt. I can’t.”
“We’re a pair,” Jessie murmured, kissing Kate’s forehead.
“You can’t take on men like that with force, Jessie.”
“We aren’t planning something like that, Kate. We aren’t planning anything at all.” Jessie rubbed her hand in steady circles over Kate’s back. “Vance just wants someone to talk to about it.”
“Don’t tell me that’s all she wants.”
Jessie shrugged. “She wants to know who’s accountable.”
“And what’s your part?”
“I just asked a few questions to see if anyone knew whose place it was, but when you put it right to folks, no one does.”
“And you think that will satisfy Vance?”
“Probably not.” Jessie chuckled. “I think she’s of a mind to watch the place at night, to see if she can find him.”
“Oh, she’ll be in trouble if Mae finds out,” Kate said vehemently.
“You’re not going to tell her, are you?”
“No, because you’re going to talk some sense into Vance.” Kate thumped Jessie’s chest for emphasis. “It won’t do Mae any good if Vance gets hurt.”
“I know.” Jessie shifted restlessly. “But damn, it doesn’t seem fair.”
“It isn’t. For either of them. And I do think we should try to find out who’s responsible.”
“We?”
“You don’t think I’m going to just stand by and watch, do you?” She sat up and held Jessie’s gaze for emphasis.
“Here I thought I was doing the right thing telling you what was going on, when I should’ve kept quiet.” Jessie pushed a hand through her hair in frustration.
Kate laughed quietly and caught Jessie’s hand. She rubbed Jessie’s knuckles against her cheek. “You did exactly the right thing. Trying to protect me by keeping things from me will only drive us apart.”
“I’m trying to work my way around to believing that.”
“I know you are.” Kate settled back down into Jessie’s arms. “And I know it isn’t easy for you.”
“I wouldn’t want something like my stubbornness to come between us.”
“No,” Kate said gently. “It’s not stubbornness. I love the way you love me, and I don’t ever want you to change. Just sometimes, you have to let me help you, too.”
“Don’t you know that you’re what gets me through every day?” Jessie asked incredulously. “Before you came along, I was starting to wonder what my life was really all about. Working, living, always doing, but at the end of the day, there was still something missing.” She eased down into the bed with a sigh of contentment. “Now there isn’t.”
Kate turned on her side and drew Jessie against her back, settling the arm that Jessie clasped around her middle between her breasts. She understood now the difference between existing and living. This connection they shared, unique beyond all others, was the essence of her life. As she lay waiting for sleep to come, satisfied in body and heart, she thought of Mae and Vance and what she might do to help them find the safety of one another’s arms.
*
Vance brought the buggy to a halt behind the Golden Nugget but made no move to get down. Instead, she turned on the seat and put her arm around Mae’s waist, drawing her close. It was well after dark, and in the shadows, no one would take them for any
thing other than a man and a woman stealing a few moments of passion. She kissed Mae, a slow lingering exploration that deepened and grew more desperate until Mae circled her shoulders and pulled Vance down nearly on top of her.
“Mae,” Vance warned, reluctantly pulling away when awareness finally penetrated the desire clouding her senses. “I’ve precious little control where you’re concerned as it is. You must help me maintain command of myself.”
Mae laughed, stroking Vance’s face with shaking fingers. “And all this time I’ve been trying to do just the opposite.”
“Ever since the night we lay together,” Vance said, straightening up but keeping her hold on Mae, “I can’t think of much else.”
“I thought I was long past hoping for anything but a few minutes of kindness in bed,” Mae murmured, sliding her hand inside Vance’s coat to rest on her stomach. “But lying next to you has made me want a lot more than that.”
Vince groaned softly and kissed Mae’s neck. Mae’s skin was cool beneath her fevered lips, and her belly tightened under Mae’s softly caressing fingers. “I never knew what to hope for. Now I do, and…sometimes when I’m out riding, and I’m so tired I fear I won’t make it to the next place on my list, I think of you. Then I forget about everything except how much I want you, and it carries me through.”
“Oh,” Mae gasped. “Come upstairs with me now.”
“I can’t. I expect there’ll be messages for me at the office. This stomach ailment that’s going around has half the town in bed,” Vance said in frustration. “I still have calls left over from today. I don’t think I’ll be done before morning.”
“I want you to come to me no matter the time,” Mae insisted.
“I suspect the sun will be up by then.” Vance laughed. “And I will be no more presentable than a barnyard rooster at that point. I think I had better wait for the laundry to open so that I can collect my clean clothes.”
Mae fondled the buttons on Vance’s shirt. “You need new clothes, not clean ones. It’s time to get you out of these borrowed clothes and into your own.”
