Arizona Ambushers (10 page)

They stopped for the night in chaparral country. A bluff offered shelter from the wind. There was no water other than the water in their canteens.

Geraldine was in a foul temper. When Fargo slid her off the sorrel, she tried to bash his face with her elbow. As he set her down, she kicked at his leg. He was tempted to slug her again but didn't. “Behave, damn it.”

“Do you have any idea what it was like, slung over that saddle all day? I'm chafed and sore and half sick.”

“You brought this on yourself,” Fargo said. She'd get no sympathy from him whatsoever.

“What if I promise to do whatever you tell me from here on out? Will you untie and let me ride tomorrow?”

“No.”

Geraldine's invective would make a river rat proud. She ended with, “Keep treating me like this and there will be hell to pay.”

As Fargo set to kindling a fire, Ruby turned to Geraldine and said, “You are one haughty bitch.”

“What do you know?” Geraldine shot back.

“I know you have only yourself to blame for everything that's happened to you,” Ruby said, “including the death of your husband.”

Geraldine's nostrils flared like a riled buffalo's. “If I had a gun, I'd shoot you. That's a despicable thing to say.”

“That's enough,” Fargo growled. He wasn't going to put up with them bickering all night.

“Fine by me, handsome,” Ruby said. “I'm not the one with a broom up her ass.”

“If it's the last thing I ever do, I'll kill you,” Geraldine vowed.

Fargo remembered her shoving that derringer in his face when they first met. He should have known then and there that she was about as levelheaded as a rabid she-wolf. “When will I learn?” he said to himself.

He set about putting coffee on, then rummaged in his saddlebags for a bundle of jerked venison. He gave several pieces to each of them.

Ruby thanked him.

Geraldine glared, but took them anyway.

Twilight descended. Fargo chewed on jerky and listened to the crackle of the fire and the distant lament of a coyote.

Ruby finished eating and asked for more. “I've never had this before. It's kind of tasty.”

“You've never had jerky?”

“I was raised a city gal. Jerky is for farmers and hunters and whoever.”

Fargo supposed it was.

Ruby bit into a new piece, her eyes twinkling. “You treated me decent today. I'm grateful.”

“You behaved,” Fargo said, and gave Geraldine a pointed look.

“I hope there're no hard feelings over my trying to shoot you. To be honest, my heart wasn't really in it.”

“You could have fooled me,” Fargo said.

“This outlaw business,” Ruby said. “I'm not really cut out for it. I like my comforts. A soft bed. A willing man. A night of lovemaking.” She grinned and winked.

“Yet here you are.”

“What can I say?” Ruby gazed wistfully into the fire. “I like money as much as the next person. My share of the payroll is six thousand dollars. That's more than I'd make in ten years of selling my body for pokes.”

A hoof thudded, and Fargo was on his feet in a twinkling, the Colt in his hand. But it was only Slits Throats, leading the bay by the reins.

“Good news or bad news?” Fargo asked.

“Four Chiricahuas make camp. They in no hurry. White women not get away.”

“What will those Apaches do?” Ruby anxiously asked. “Kill them outright?”

Slits Throats shrugged. “Not know. Maybe kill. Maybe take to wickiup.”

“A couple of those gals are good friends. I'd hate for them to come to harm.”

Slits Throats turned to Fargo. “How about I go . . . What is white word? Spy on them?”

“You're a busy bee,” Fargo said.

“Eh?”

“Spy to your heart's content.” Fargo had no objections. It would be nice to know what the warriors intended to do.

Without another word, Slits Throats climbed on the bay and rode off into the dark.

Fargo still didn't know what to make of how reasonable the breed was being. It was almost unnatural. He couldn't help wondering if there was more to it than Slits Throats let on.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Ruby said.

“You should get some rest. Both of you. We're heading out at first light and we'll be in the saddle all day.”

“I never have needed that much sleep,” Ruby said. “It's why I'm so frisky under the sheets.”

“Too bad we don't have a bed handy,” Fargo joked.

“Who needs one?”

Fargo imagined her without that bulky shirt and those britches, and felt a familiar urge.

Ruby bent toward him. “Did you hear me?”

Geraldine said in contempt, “Throw yourself at him, why don't you?”

“Stay out of this.”

Geraldine said to Fargo, “You can do better than a cheap tart like her.”

“I'll have you know I can get top dollar anytime, cow,” Ruby said.

“There's no accounting for taste.”

Fargo did as he'd done the night before and whacked the coffeepot with his almost empty cup. “You two are doing it again. Keep it up and I'll gag you.”

“So?” Geraldine said.

“With a dirty sock.”

Geraldine sniffed as if she could smell it. “Yes, I believe you would. You're not the gentleman I took you for. You're not like my poor Hank at all.”

“Never claimed to be.”

“That's telling her,” Ruby said, and laughed.

“It goes for you, too,” Fargo said.

“Well, hell,” Ruby said.

Fargo spent the next fifteen minutes hobbling the Ovaro and the sorrel and walking in a wide circle to look and listen. The night was deceptively still.

As he reclaimed his seat, he noticed Ruby studying him.

“Mind if I ask a question?”

“Not when you're polite about it.”

“What
do
you plan to do when you catch up to my friends? I won't stand by and let you gun them down.”

“I aim to take them back to Fort Bowie.”

“And if they won't go?”

“That's up to them.”

“In other words, you'll shoot them if you have to.”

“I sure as hell won't let them shoot me.”

“You could have killed me back when I ambushed you. But you didn't. How come?”

“You're complaining?”

Leaning back, Fargo let himself relax. Between the jerky and the warmth of the fire and the long day he'd had, he began to feel drowsy. Yawning, he shook himself.

“You're not going to fall asleep on me, are you?” Ruby teased.

“Ladies first.”

Geraldine muttered something and rolled over so her back was to them. “A bitch in heat and a bull in rut.”

Ruby colored and went to reply but Fargo wagged a finger and she clammed up.

Fargo did more yawning. He refused to sleep until both women had turned in.

Close by, an owl hooted.

Instantly alert, Fargo sat up. Sometimes an owl wasn't what it seemed. Apaches were masters at imitating bird calls. He listened, scarcely breathing, for more hoots.

“What's the matter?” Ruby whispered.

“We might have company.”

“Lord, no.” Ruby slid closer, pressing her side to his leg. “You can't keep me tied. I need to be able to defend myself.”

“I don't know as it's them yet.”

Ruby gripped his pants and glanced about them in fear.

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.

“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.