by Jon Sharpe
A twinge of conscience compelled Fargo to move his hand down his leg to his boot. He was about to unsheathe the toothpick when he recollected how little fear Ruby had shown of Slits Throats, or anything else, for that matter. A suspicion came over him. “Apaches scare you, do they?”
“They scare anyone with half a brain,” Ruby said.
“Yet you were by your lonesome when I ran into you,” Fargo mentioned. Few men, let alone women, would wander alone in Apache territory.
“I was scared then, too.”
Fargo doubted it. He had a hunch she wasn’t above a little playacting.
“Stay close to me, would you?” Ruby said, placing her hands on his thigh.
Fargo humored her, and him, by putting his arm around her shoulders. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Thank you.” Scooting higher, Ruby pecked him on the cheek and nestled hers on his chest. “I feel safer already.”
“I feel something, too.”
“You do? What?”
Fargo reached down, took hold of her hands, and placed them between his legs.
19
“Oh my,” Ruby said. “We should do something about that.” She glanced at Geraldine. “As soon as you know who falls asleep.”
“Why wait?” Reaching up, he cupped one of her breasts. She had nothing on under the shirt, and he could feel the soft fullness of her globe and her taut nipple against his palm.
“Oh, you naughty man, you.”
Fargo lowered his lips to her neck. “You haven’t seen naughty yet.”
Squirming, Ruby grinned and stroked him, down low. “You want to do it right here where she can see?”
No, Fargo didn’t. Geraldine would likely throw a fit, and he could do without the aggravation. Rising, he pulled Ruby up, stuck a finger to his lips to caution silence, and moved quietly along the bottom of the bluff until they were out of the ring of firelight. Stopping, he pressed her against the rock wall. “Will this do?”
“Makes no never mind to me,” Ruby said. “You wouldn’t believe some of the places I’ve done it.” She wriggled her bound wrists. “But what about my hands?”
“What about them?”
“It’d be a lot more fun if they were free.”
Fargo shook his head. “Nice try.”
“What? You think I excited you to trick you into untying me? I wouldn’t do a thing like that.”
Fargo nuzzled her neck.
“You’re really not going to untie me, are you?”
Fargo ran the tip of his tongue from one side of her throat to the other.
“I give my word I won’t try anything.”
Fargo nipped her earlobe and felt her shiver.
“Don’t blame me if I can’t touch all the places you might want me to.”
“I won’t.” Fargo kneaded each breast through her shirt. Her nipples became tacks, and she ground her hips against his.
“Last chance. Free me and I’ll be a regular wildcat. You won’t regret it.”
“No.” Fargo peeled her buttons free while lightly kissing her chin and her cheek.
“Damn you.”
“We can go back if you want,” Fargo said. “I never force a lady if she’s not in the mood.” He tweaked a nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
“Oh, I want to, all right, sugar,” Ruby said, and melted into him.
Fargo pulled at her shirt, tugging it free of her pants. Sliding his hand underneath, he caressed her smooth belly, then roamed higher. Her breasts were swollen with desire. Cupping one, he elicited a moan.
“Lordy, you get me hot,” Ruby breathed in his ear. She raised her arms above their heads. “Do me, handsome. Do me like you’ve never done anyone.”
Fargo hoped she wasn’t a talker. One of his peeves was women who gabbed while making love. To shut her up he locked his mouth to hers. Her lips parted, and her tongue met his.
Fargo glanced toward the fire. Geraldine hadn’t moved. The rising and falling of her shoulder as she breathed suggested she was sound asleep. He was about to devote his entire attention to Ruby when the gleam of brass caused him to curse his stupidity. He’d left the Henry propped against the bluff.
All Geraldine had to do was roll over, scoot around the fire, and grab it. She wouldn’t be able to use it effectively with her wrists tied, but still. He considered going to get it, but just then Ruby ran her knee up and down his thighs.
“Did you change your mind? You’re not doing much.”
Fargo remedied that. He resumed kneading her breasts, turning slightly so he could see the Henry and Geraldine. He still had his Colt and could stop her if she tried for it.
“That’s better,” Ruby whispered.
The last button gave, and her shirt parted.
Fargo admired her mounds, then inhaled a nipple and sucked it as if it were a piece of hard molasses. Ruby, panting, dropped her arms around his head and neck.
“Oh, I like that. But don’t forget I have two.”
Fargo didn’t. He lathered one breast and then the other, his hands busy with her belt buckle. He got it undone and began to push her pants down, wondering what she might have on underneath. The answer: nothing.
“Getting right to it, are you?” Ruby said in his ear. “That’s all right. I like it quick. I like it slow. I like it any way at all.”
Fargo got her pants down around her knees. That would have to do. She couldn’t spread her legs and wrap them around him but she could part them wide enough for what came next.
“Touch me where I want it most,” Ruby breathlessly requested. “I want to feel you there.”
Fargo slid a finger between her legs. She was dripping wet and hot as a furnace.
“Ohhhh yesssss.”
Parting her nether lips, Fargo rubbed.
“Yes. Yes.” Gasping, Ruby arched her back. “Right there. That’s it.”
Fargo inserted a finger, and she thrust herself against him so hard, they both nearly lost their balance. At his first stroke she sank her teeth into his shoulder, and if not for his buckskins, she would have bitten deep enough to draw blood.
Raising her head, Ruby purred, “Do me. Do me hard.”
With his other hand, Fargo loosened his belt and lowered his pants. His manhood throbbed with his need. Spreading her legs as far as they would go, he pressed himself between her legs and rubbed the tip of his pole across her slit.
A hungry look came into her eyes. “I want you in me. I want you in me now.”
With a sharp thrust, Fargo buried himself in her yielding tunnel. Ruby threw back her head and for a few moments he thought she would cry out and wake Geraldine, but she only sucked in a long breath and shook from her hair to her toes.
“You feel so good.”
Covering a breast with his hand, Fargo bent his mouth to the other. At the same time he tucked at the knees and rammed up into her.
Just like that, Ruby spurted. She gripped his shoulders and humped fiercely, seeming surprised at her sudden release. She kept saying, “Oh! Oh! Oh!” the whole time.
Fargo let her grind herself out, and at length she sagged against him, her head on his shoulders.
“Whew. That took a lot out of me. I must have wanted it even more than I thought.”
Fargo went on stroking.
Ruby’s eyes widened slightly and she kissed the side of his neck. “You’re a damn stallion,” she breathed.
Placing his hands on the rock face behind her for leverage, Fargo pumped faster.
“What you do to me,” Ruby said.
Fargo wished she would shut up. He checked on Geraldine once more to be sure she was still asleep, and let himself go, ramming into Ruby again and again.
She closed her eyes and licked her lips and gyrated her hips with abandon.
Fargo
was on the cusp of exploding but she beat him to it with her second orgasm. Mewing like a kitten, she convulsed to an inner quake. It triggered his own release.
Eventually they coasted to a stop. Ruby grinned, kissed him on the lips, and said, “Not bad.”
Extricating himself, Fargo pulled himself together, adjusted his gun belt, and turned.
Geraldine was on an elbow, glaring in their direction. “What did I say? You’re like a bull in rut.”
“And proud of it,” Fargo said.
Ruby froze in the act of buttoning her shirt. “You were awake the whole time?”
“What if I was?” Geraldine said.
Fargo was glad she hadn’t gone for the Henry. She could have shot him. He wouldn’t have realized she had the rifle until it was too late.
“You can’t see us,” Ruby said. “The light doesn’t reach this far.”
“I could hear you,” Geraldine said “That was enough.”
Fargo strode to the fire and reclaimed the Henry. Sitting cross-legged, he put the rifle in his lap and refilled his tin cup.
“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in you,” Geraldine said.
“I can’t tell you how much I don’t give a damn.”
“I took you for a gentleman, like my Hank. I guess I was mistaken.”
“You can shut up now,” Fargo said.
Ruby came out of the dark tucking her shirt into her pants. It was awkward for her to do with her wrists bound but she managed. “I hope we gave you an earful, bitch.”
“Don’t you start, either,” Fargo said.
“The airs she puts on,” Ruby said. “Until she married her precious Hank, she was just another dove, like me.”
“I was never like you,” Geraldine said. “I had more class.”
Ruby snorted. “You wouldn’t know class if someone shoved it up your . . .”
“When I said enough,” Fargo curtly cut in, “I meant it.”
Shrugging, Ruby sat an arm’s length away and scraped at the dirt with a fingernail. “It’s hard for me to hold it in. She makes me so mad, looking down her nose at me like she does.”
Geraldine sneered at Fargo. “I can’t wait to tell the colonel about your dalliance.”
“As if he’d give a damn,” Fargo said.
“I don’t know every army rule and regulation but there has to be one against having sex with a prisoner.”
“How petty of you,” Ruby said, scraping the dirt harder.
“After all he’s put me through, any trouble I can get him in, I will.”
Ruby put her hands on the ground and leaned on them. To Fargo she said, “Are you as tired of hearing her flap her gums as I am?”
Fargo wearily sighed. “You have no idea.”
“Well, you won’t have to listen to her much longer, if all goes like I hope it will.”
“Oh?” Fargo said.
“Yes,” Ruby said, nodding. “As soon as I get free, I aim to kill her. Of course, first I have to kill you.” And with that, she threw the dirt she had scraped into his face.
20
Two handfuls caught Fargo full in the eyes. He instinctively recoiled. His vision blurring, he raised his hands to wipe the dirt away. He heard Geraldine yell for him to “Watch out!” and saw Ruby hurtling at him with her shoulder down. His chest exploded with pain, and he was smashed against the bluff.
Half blinded, desperate, Fargo clutched at the Henry and felt someone try to tug it out of his hand.
Ruby had hold of the stock.
Blinking furiously, Fargo tried to stand. He wasn’t prepared for the knee that caught him in the gut. Doubling over, he managed to hold on to the Henry. Another kick missed his knee but sent pain shooting up and down his leg.
“Let go, damn you!” Ruby snarled.
The venom in Ruby’s voice surprised Fargo as much as the dirt in his face. Not five minutes ago they’d made love, and here she was, trying to kill him. Belatedly, it dawned on him that she had let him have his way with her so she could take him unawares. She’d wanted him to think she could be trusted. And like a fool, he’d fallen for it.
Fargo’s vision cleared just as her foot swept at his crotch. He absorbed the blow on his hip but it still hurt. He made it to his feet, firmed his hold on the Henry, and pulled with all his might.
“No!” Ruby cried as she stumbled and almost lost her grip. “I won’t let you.”
Thrusting his boot out, Fargo yanked, trying to trip her. Ruby stumbled and fell to her knees. He wrenched on the Henry but all he succeeded in doing was lifting her partway off the ground.
Ruby’s face was close to his leg. Gaping her mouth wide, she bit him.
Fargo had been bitten before but never a bite that hurt as bad. He tried to jerk free and fell against the bluff.
Ruby ground her teeth like a wolf gnawing a bone.
Driving his knee into her temple, Fargo knocked her back. Taking advantage, he pulled on the Henry and lurched toward the fire. He expected her to cling to the rifle, and she did.
Ruby struggled mightily. She wasn’t about to give up, and didn’t realize what he was up to.
Fargo swung her into the fire.
In a panic, Ruby screamed.
Fargo had counted on it scaring her. He’d also counted on her doing what she did next—letting go of the Henry, she scrambled out of the fire to keep from being burned.
Fargo gripped the Henry like a club. He wasn’t feeling merciful. As she started to stand he struck her across the head and felled her in her tracks.
“Took you long enough,” Geraldine said.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Fargo growled. Every sinew hurting, he stepped to his saddle, and his rope.
“For a bit there I thought she had you.”
“What would you care?” Fargo retorted.
“About you? Not a lick. But if she’d gotten hold of your rifle, she’d have shot me after she shot you.”
“You’re welcome for saving your bacon.”
“Hell. You barely saved your own.”
Wrapping one end of the rope around Ruby’s ankles, Fargo ran coil after coil up the entire length of her long legs to her waist. Several knots ensured it wouldn’t come undone.
“Gag her while you’re at it,” Geraldine said. “I’m tired of listening to her voice.”
“I’m tired of listening to yours.”
“Why are you picking on me? I tried to warn you, didn’t I?”
“To save your own hide.”
Suddenly weary, Fargo reclaimed his seat by the bluff. His tin cup was in the dirt, and he had to wash it off before he could use it.
“At least now you know I’m not your real enemy,” Geraldine said. “The outlaws are.”
“The only friend I have is right there,” Fargo said, and pointed at the Ovaro.
“I’m not out to do you harm,” Geraldine insisted.
“Could have fooled me.”
“I was afraid you’d try to stop me, and I made a mistake. How many times must I say it?”
“You’re making another.”
“Oh?”
“If you don’t shut the hell up,” Fargo said, “I’ll do to you what I just did to her.”
Geraldine scowled and turned away.
Refilling his cup, Fargo gratefully swallowed. He had blood on his cheek from where Ruby had scratched him, and blood on his leg from where she’d bit him. His ribs ached, his hip hurt, and his head throbbed when he moved it. He decided to sit there a while and not do a thing except berate himself for being the biggest jackass west of the Mississippi River.
Ruby revived sooner than he reckoned. Muttering, she tried to sit up, discovered she was practically wrapped in rope from her waist to her toes, and swore. Looking over at him, she growled, “You son of a bitch.”
Wriggling furiously, Ruby swung herself around and flexed her legs as if she were contemplating trying to kick him.
“I’ll break both of them,” Fargo said.
Her mouth a slit, Ruby let her legs sink to the ground. “I almost had you. If I’d had a rock to bean you with instead of just dirt, your brains would be leaking out.”
“You had me fooled,” Fargo admitted.
“What did you expect? That I’d let you turn me over to the army? That I’d spend the rest of my life behind bars? Or, worse yet, end my days at the end of a rope?”
“I hope it’s that,” Fargo said.
“Of course you do. You’re a man, and men have it easy. You have no notion of how hard it’s been for me. How I’ve had to work twice as hard just to make ends meet.”
“Do I break out a violin now or later?”
“For once in my life I stand to get ahead. To have more money than I ever had scrimping and saving. Enough to last a lifetime.”
“You think it is.” Fargo’s personal experience had been that money was like water. It ran through his hands much too easily.
“Six thousand dollars,” Ruby said. “I’ll do anything to get it. Kill. Steal. Trick a stupid scout so I can bash in his skull.”
“That’s the Ruby I know and love.”
“Go to hell.”
Fargo wondered if the other outlaws were as fanatical about their share of the loot as she was. If so, it didn’t bode well.
“You’ve licked me but you won’t lick my friend. They’ll do to you as they did those blue coats. Just see if they don’t.”
“Lights out,” Fargo said.
“You’re putting out the fire?”
“It’s what they say at an army post when the soldiers in the barracks have to turn in,” Fargo explained.
“You’re saying you want me to shut up?”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Fargo patted the Henry. “I’d be glad to do it for you.”
Now Fargo had two sulking women on his hands. One motivated by revenge, the other by greed.
To him this was a job, nothing more. A job that became more and more complicated as time went on.
