A Different Trade

by J. R. Roberts

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “For what?” Clint asked.

  “For taking so long to get to you. I guess I was just a bit scared.”

  Clint set his beer down and said, “I was just riled up when I asked you that. You came in at just the right time. That big ape needed to be knocked around a bit before he would go quietly. Any sooner and he would’ve had enough wind in his sails to make things a whole lot worse.”

  She smiled and nodded before extending a slender hand. “I’m Madeline.”

  When Clint shook her hand, he found out that she was even softer than she looked. “Clint Adams. Pleasure to meet you.”

  Madeline’s skin was pale and smooth. Her straight black hair fell down to well past her shoulders and was held back with a dark red ribbon. Up close, Clint could also see that the luscious red color of her lips wasn’t there because of any paint or cream.

  “Excuse me,” said a voice from over Clint’s shoulder, “but do I know you?”

  Clint turned to find the barkeep at his post, studying him with nervous eyes. “I just got to town,” Clint replied.

  “Yes, but it seemed like you knew me. You know . . . before when you asked if I was Leo Parker. Well . . . I am.”

  The sweet scent of Madeline’s hair had filled Clint’s nose as she’d leaned in to give him a grateful kiss on the cheek. He was somewhat distracted until she turned around and walked back to the stage, where the guitar player was already starting in on another song. He had to keep from watching the sway of Madeline’s hips before getting distracted all over again. “Right. We don’t know each other, but we do have a mutual acquaintance. A man from California by the name of Gregor Petrovich.”

  Leo’s eyes widened and he smiled broadly. “Ah yes! Gregor! Where is he?”

  “That’s just it. He couldn’t make it on account of a boat coming in from South America that he needs to meet personally. It got held up in a storm, but he wanted to make sure you got your delivery. Gregor’s a friend and I was headed this direction anyway so I brought the shipment on his behalf.”

  Gregor Petrovich was more of a friendly business associate than a friend. A hustler in the import and export trade, Gregor was the sort of man who was quick to buy someone a drink and offer them a way to make a few quick dollars. He was also the type to get himself into trouble after playing too many angles at once. Rather than owe a man like that a favor, Clint decided to square their account by taking a small package to Larga Noche.

  Obviously not interested on any of that, Leo asked, “Where is it?”

  “With my horse.”

  “You left it with your horse?”

  “Isn’t that what I just said?”

  Leo blinked and twitched as if he’d just been struck by lightning. Finally, he managed to ask, “Can you get it for me?”

  “Sure,” Clint replied. “That’s why I’m here.” He tipped back his beer mug and then set it down. “Have that filled when I get back.”

  “Of course!”

  Clint stepped outside, rummaged through his saddlebags, and retrieved a package that was wrapped in paper and tied up in twine. He tucked it under his arm and headed back into the saloon. A few strides short of the bar, Clint showed the package to Leo and then tossed it in a high, slow arc. “There you go.”

  The barkeep stretched out both hands and gasped to catch the package like it was a swaddled baby. “Be careful!”

  “I was. Those things are wrapped up tight enough to survive a tumble down a steep slope.”

  Just when it seemed Leo couldn’t look more panicked, he did. “Did you drop this down a slope?”

  As much as Clint wanted to say that he had, just to see how many more veins would stand out on Leo’s forehead, he took the higher road. “Of course I didn’t. I cared for that whatever-it-is like it was my firstborn.”

  “Good. After what I paid for it, that’s the least I’d expect.”

  Everyone in the saloon had gone back to what they’d been doing before Westin’s departure. Clint stood and watched as the barkeep lovingly tugged at the twine so he could unwrap his package. Before he could reveal what was inside, however, he turned his back to the rest of the room and huddled over it in privacy.

  “What is it?” Clint asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “The package. What’s inside?”

  At first, Leo didn’t seem ready to show what he was hiding. He then turned partway around and quickly put his back to Clint once again as he said, “You can find out when everyone else does.”

  “When’s that?” Clint asked.

  “In a day or two. Perhaps next week.”

  Clint let out a long sigh. “After I rode all the way from California with that thing, you won’t even let me get a look?”

  “Curious, Mr. Adams?”

  “Yes!”

  Clearly enjoying the anticipation he was building, Leo kept the package hidden from sight as he said, “I don’t know. Once word gets out about this, things will be plenty different around here.”

  Now Clint was even more curious. The fact that he was playing directly into Leo’s little display only made it worse. Finally, he said, “Just show me what it is before I find that Westin fellow and invite him to finish what he started.”

  Leo didn’t look as though he believed Clint’s threat, but he could tell his audience’s patience was wearing thin. Grudgingly, he stepped aside and gestured toward the three bottles of clear liquid that were standing amid the mess of snapped twine and ripped paper. “All right,” he said. “Take a look for yourself. Just don’t tell anyone else about it until I’m ready to do it up right.”

  Clint leaned forward and squinted at the bottles. “What else is there?”

  “Nothing. That’s it.”

  “That’s the precious merchandise I rode all the way out here to deliver in person?”

  Leo nodded. “I paid extra for it to be shipped with the most care possible.”

  “Just a couple of bottles?”

  “Three. That’s a few, not a couple.”

  “I can’t even read what’s on the labels.”

  “Give me a moment,” Leo said as he flipped through a few pieces of paper that had been wedged in between two bottles.

  Clint tossed a halfhearted wave and started walking toward the front door. “Forget it.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to put my horse up for the night.”

  “And that’s more interesting than this?” Leo asked.

  “Oh God, yes.”

  SEVEN

  When Clint led Eclipse back to the first stable in town he’d seen, Danielle walked outside to greet him. Her sleeves were rolled up and she peeled off a pair of gloves that were covered in loose hay. She gave him a wide smile and placed one hand on her hip while waiting for him to come to a stop.

  “That’s a handsome boy,” she said.

  “Why, thank you,” Clint replied. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  “I meant the horse. What’s his name?”

  “Eclipse.”

  Danielle reached out to pat the Darley Arabian’s nose, which was received very well. “I think he likes me.”

  “That’s why we came all the way back here for a stall.”

  “Is it?” she asked while glancing over to Clint.

  “Actually,” he said while hooking a thumb toward Eclipse, “that’s why he wanted to come back. I had other ideas.”

  “Did you, now? How about we start with the stall? Follow me.”

  Clint was more than happy to follow her since that meant getting a nice, lingering look at Danielle’s backside wrapped in muddy denim. Her brown hair was unruly after the hard work she’d been doing, which did nothing to take away from her appeal. In fact, the sweaty shirt and dirty jeans clung to her rounded curves in
a stunning way.

  The stable was a fairly good size. One wide path led from the front to the back of the barn-sized structure, which had three horse stalls on either side. The stall in the back corner was occupied by the horse that had broken loose earlier that day. Now it was calmly chewing on half an apple.

  “Let’s put Eclipse right here,” Danielle said as she pushed open the gate to the first stall. The Darley Arabian followed her in and immediately found a trough of water against the back wall. “As for you,” she said to Clint, “I think you should go right here.”

  Clint found himself being pushed against the nearest post. As soon as his shoulders bumped against the wooden support, Danielle was pressed against him. “What’s this now?”

  Reaching up to slide both hands around the back of his head, she whispered, “Can’t you tell?”

  Clint may have been taken slightly off guard, but he wasn’t about to push her away. He placed his hands upon her hips and savored the feel of her nicely rounded curves. “I was expecting to have to go through a little sweet talk before I got this close to you.”

  She shook her head. Since she was less than an inch away from him, her lips brushed against Clint’s mouth as she told him, “I don’t like that sort of nonsense. I saw something I wanted and now I’m taking it.” As she spoke, Danielle eased one hand between Clint’s legs.

  Moving both hands down, Clint cupped her buttocks in both hands and pulled her in close. The warmth of her body and the motion of her hand made his erection grow until it strained at his jeans. “Does the owner of this place know you force yourself on men this way?”

  “I am the owner.”

  “Oh. Well, in that case . . .” With that, Clint pulled her shirt open so he could massage her plump breasts. Danielle’s nipples were erect, and she let out a shuddering groan when he teased them between his fingers. “Is this what you were after?”

  “Almost,” she replied while rubbing his groin with added vigor.

  Their mouths came together for a long kiss. Somewhere along the line, Danielle ran her tongue along his lips, which sent a shiver down Clint’s spine. His hands wandered freely over her body from there, going wherever his instincts took them while roughly pulling the clothes off her body. Danielle responded in kind by unhitching Clint’s belt and pulling down his jeans before dropping to her knees in front of him.

  Clint looked down at her as she took his cock into her mouth and started bobbing her head back and forth. She devoured him hungrily while moaning with pleasure as he became even harder. Every so often, she would slide her tongue all the way down his length and stay there for an extra couple of seconds.

  When Clint caught his breath, he saw she was staring up at him with wide, expectant eyes. He brought her to her feet and turned her around. “What are you doing now?” she asked.

  “You want me to stop,” he said while bending her over and guiding himself between her thighs, “just say so.”

  Danielle grabbed the closest thing within her reach, which just happened to be a half-full barrel of oats. “Don’t you dare stop,” she said while leaning forward and taking a wider stance. When she felt Clint enter her from behind, she closed her eyes and tossed her hair back while letting out a deep moan.

  Her pussy was slick and warm. Clint eased into her slowly while holding her hips in his hands. As he started to move in and out of her, he savored the feel of her tight, muscular curves and the way she adjusted to the rhythm of his thrusts. When he sped up, she rocked back and forth along with him. And when he plunged all the way into her, she groaned loudly.

  Clint kept one hand on her hip and put the other on the small of her back. That way, he could feel every little shift of her backside as he pumped into her. She bent over a little more and gripped the barrel tightly so he could drive into her like a piston. Clint closed his eyes and fell into a steady motion. Her body was just the right size for him to reach forward to cup her breasts as he continued to thrust between her legs.

  “Keep it up,” she pleaded. “That’s the—” Suddenly, Danielle’s entire body tensed and she drew in a sharp breath. When she climaxed, Clint could feel her tightening around him and could hear the wood of the barrel creaking as she pressed herself against it even harder. He plunged into her once more as deep as he could, which was more than enough to send her over the edge.

  Seeing her positioned in front of him with her plump backside once again in his hands was almost enough to push Clint to the edge as well. She was still moaning as he started pounding into her. He gripped her hips tightly and let his instincts tell him what to do from there and how to do it. Those instincts had never led him astray before, and they sure didn’t now. Within a few more moments, he could feel his own pleasure building up inside.

  Clint leaned back and drove into her one last time. He climaxed hard enough to take his breath from his lungs. When he was able to draw another one, he realized he was gripping Danielle’s hips a lot harder than he’d intended. Relaxing his hands, he rubbed her bare skin and took a step back. “Sorry about that,” he said.

  She straightened up and turned around to face him, naked from the waist down while lazily buttoning her shirt. “You shouldn’t be. I had you pegged as a man that could curl my toes, but damn!”

  “Good,” Clint said. “Because I sure as hell am not sorry.”

  As she hiked up her jeans, Danielle wriggled her hips and smirked at him. “By the way, thanks for fetching my horse.”

  “And thank you for putting mine up free of charge.”

  “Free of charge?” As she walked past him, Danielle tapped Clint’s chest. “You’re gonna have to work for it, mister.”

  Suddenly, Clint wasn’t so opposed to spending some more time in Larga Noche.

  EIGHT

  The sun was barely making its presence known in the western horizon when Clint returned to the Dig Dog Saloon. Although Third Avenue and Sharp Bend were considerably busier than the last time he’d been there, Leo’s place had only a few more occupied tables than before. The most welcome change that Clint noticed was the stage show. A fiddler now sat beside the guitar player, and Madeline was strutting back and forth while singing a lively tune. When she saw Clint enter, she gave him a pretty smile and a nod. He acknowledged both with a tip of his hat.

  Leo was still behind the bar, and even though there were less than half a dozen men standing there drinking, he acted as if he was attempting to serve the entire town. Clint chose a spot at the end of the bar farthest from the door and waited for a drink. Eventually, Leo graced him with his presence.

  “I didn’t think you were coming back,” Leo said.

  “I did my job,” Clint replied.

  “Exactly. So why are you here?”

  “Because I only received partial payment. Gregor said you’d pay the rest upon delivery.”

  “Oh,” Leo said with a wince. “That’s right. I nearly forgot. Just a moment.”

  When Leo turned to head for the till, Clint said, “I’ll take another beer while you’re at it.”

  Leo removed some cash from his night’s receipts and filled a mug from the tap. Handing the money over, he nervously eyed the rest of the place as though he were handling a king’s ransom. Nobody else seemed to take notice, which didn’t make him feel any better.

  Since Clint hadn’t taken the job to get rich, there wasn’t much cash to count. There was enough to cover the rest of the fee he’d been promised, so he pocketed the bills and reached for the mug of beer.

  “That’ll be twenty-five cents,” Leo said.

  “What?”

  “For the beer. It’s twenty-five cents.”

  “But the first one was free,” Clint pointed out.

  “Right. As a thank-you for stepping in with Westin. I’m sure you’d like it if every drink was free here from now on, but that just wouldn’t be good business.”

 
“I suppose not.”

  “Still want that beer?”

  “Sure.”

  As the barkeep went about a few small chores, there was a certain hunch to his back and look in his eyes that made him seem like a man bearing an excessive weight on his shoulders. Clint knew that feeling all too well. “So,” he said after his next sip of beer, “what’s in the bottles?”

  One of Leo’s eyebrows perked up, and he glanced back at him with renewed interest. “You don’t really care about that.”

  “Sure I do.”

  “You stormed out of here the last time I tried to show you. Is this just your way of throwing a dog a bone?”

  “My curiosity is sparked,” Clint said. “I’m still here and I’d like to see what all of this effort was for, but I’m not about to beg for the privilege.”

  “All right. Fair enough.” Leo hurried over to the shelf behind the bar, which was prominently displayed at the center of the wooden counter and just high enough to avoid being blocked by Leo’s mess of red hair. He carefully took one of the bottles down and carried it over to where Clint was sitting. Lowering it behind the bar, he said, “I’m curious about something also.”

  “What’s that?”

  “When Westin was here, did you know what to expect?”

  “Nope. I just got into town and it took me a hell of a lot longer to find this place than I thought it would. I saw him pushing you around and thought I could step in.”

  “Actually, I meant when you jumped back here where I’m standing,” Leo said. “How’d you know I kept a shotgun back here?”

  Clint shrugged. “I’ve been to more saloons than I can count. If there wasn’t a shotgun somewhere back there to deal with rowdy customers, there was bound to be a club or some other such thing I could have put to use.”

  “Predictable, eh?”

  “Fortunately, for your sake,” Clint replied while lifting his glass, “yes.”

  “Why didn’t you just draw your pistol?”