Slocum 421 (9 page)

Glenna leaned forward toward the fire and then straightened to stretch over her head. “I guess those boys left us so we could be alone?”

“They acted tired from wrestling that cow out of the mud. That's hard work.”

“I know. Jon and I have done that before.”

“Some folks think ranching is just riding around on horseback. You do lots of that, but you do lots of the other not so nice things, like saving bogged cows and pulling calves.”

She clapped him on the shoulder. “You know, don't you?”

He turned and looked at her. “I know you are a good-looking woman too.”

She wet her lips. “I don't know about that. I'm getting gray in my hair and nothing I can do about that.”

“Not to be nosey, but do you miss not having a husband?”

She closed her eyes. “There were times I could have killed him. He was so damn bullheaded. But then we'd have a session in bed and I'd think he was going to change. But he never did—rode off on that bronc horse I knew was going kill him, and it did.”

They both stood up, and he kissed her. Soft, tender lip contact—he could feel that she was still shaking from remembering her man's past ignorance. Then her arms went around his neck and they smooched some more.

Her eyes closed as she sought more from his mouth. Then, finally out of breath, she twisted her face away. “I feel like a silly teenage girl. He never kissed me like that, and I'll be honest, you have me shaking again.”

“If it bothers you, I'll quit.”

She shook her hair back. “No, I have an edge inside of me, to always get closer to a cliff and see over to the bottom. You are that cliff edge.”

“What next?”

“Well, it will be your choice. Go get your bedroll and put it on the floor. I can always say you slept on the floor.”

“Fine.”

“Meanwhile, I will get out of my clothes. Would you wear a dead man's nightshirt? That's a pretty strange question to ask, isn't it?” She laughed, but it was more of a strained laugh than anything funny.

He brought his bedroll inside, unstrapped it, and rolled it out in the fire's light on the floor. Then he saw the nightshirt on the back of the chair. She was serious. He unbuckled his gun belt, hung it on the chair, then removed his boots, and next his pants, and then his vest and shirt. His looming shadow from the fireplace's light on the room's wall was one of a giant getting into the nightshirt.

Where was she at? In the bedroom, off the kitchen, he guessed. The floor was smooth and clean under his bare soles. From the doorway he could see the metal four-poster bed frame, and he went to the right side, which was vacant, and pulled the cover back to crawl in. He noted the satin-covered down-filled comforter on top when he lay on his side and looked at the form of her back.

“Have you changed your mind?” he asked.

“No.”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“Because you're a beautiful woman and I want to have you.”

“I knew that. I read it in your eyes when I first saw you. I couldn't believe how restrained you were toward me all afternoon.”

“It had to be two-way street for me to participate.”

“Nice, but it put me on edge. Not that one but a nervous one.
Would I please him?
”

“Why wouldn't you?”

“You kissed me. Granger never did. He was the only man I have ever known as a mate. I must have pleased him, since he never complained about that part of our life, but he never said good, bad, or terrible when he was through. But you have drawn things in my mind that I never felt before. Oh, my first night with Granger I shook some, but when it was over I felt relaxed, and I looked forward to the end of the next time bringing me that settled feeling again. We did it a lot when we first were married, then it got to be routine and further apart. I expected to become pregnant, but in three years I never did. So I guessed it would not happen.”

“I have no idea how it will begin or end, but I hope we both enjoy it.”

She scooted closer. “I had to have these nightclothes to start. Forgive me?”

“I do,” he said and pulled her toward him to kiss. After a few minutes, he tugged on her nightgown bottom and she raised her butt for him to gather it up.

In minutes he was kissing her breasts, making her nipples rock-hard, and she moaned under his attention.

“Let me get out of this thing.” She huffed and sat up to tear it off over her head and toss it aside. Then she grabbed Slocum's nightshirt impatiently, as if she meant to rip it off of him.

“Easy now,” he said and eased her hand back. Then in one swift motion he lifted the shirt up over his head and off, and she fell back in his arms.

“Oh, I am enjoying your attention so much,” she said.

“So am I. So am I.”

His finger began to probe her gently, drawing the lubricant into her channel. When he thought she was ready, he moved between her knees and started inside her.

“He's big,” she whispered, but her passageway enlarged to fit him. Then he pushed through her ring and she gasped, hugging him. “Don't quit. I'm fine.”

Their actions were wild and the ropes creaked. Her bare heels beat on his legs, and they went on and on. When it was over, they fell asleep in each other's arms.

Sometime in the night they awoke and had another session, and then later she woke him in a state of alarm. “Go sleep in your bedroll. They will be here in a short while. I'll dress and help you.”

She quickly dressed and smoothed her clothes out. Then she brushed her hair fierce-like. “Do I show anywhere what we did?”

He laughed. “Did you relax any?”

“Oh my God. Did I ever relax. Oh—” She put her forearm to her forehead. “Yes, I really did relax.” Then she kissed him and hurried away.

He dressed in the front room after stoking the fireplace. More cold weather was on its way. His back felt stiff. Not from their efforts, but his back muscles contracted at the approach of a storm. Winter wasn't over yet.

“I have you a cup of coffee poured,” she said after he finished rolling up his bedroll.

“Coming.” He slipped onto a chair at the table. “Sleep all right?”

“Never any better, how about you?”

“After the first or second time?” he asked.

“Both.”

“Oh, I could do it again.”

“Well we will have to see about that, Mr. Slocum.”

The others were coming. He heard them on the porch shuffling in.

“You two sleep last night?” Jon asked.

“Sure. He slept on the floor in his bedroll and me in my own bed. Why?”

“Aw, we heard lots of screeching and yelling going on over here. Thought you two were fighting.”

Hands on her hips, she scowled at her brother. “Jon.”

“Aw, hell, I was just funning. I'm glad he came by, and he can sleep on your floor any night.”

“Slocum, do you see what I must put up with?” she asked him.

“I do.”

“Well what do we do today?” Jon asked

“We are making a dummy to hang and several chains of tin cans to tie on their horses' tails and getting otherwise ready to run that mouthy bunch out of Nebraska.”

“Amen,” Carter said. “I'm going to be a little mouse too and watch that come off.”

“Let's do it,” Glenna said and smiled at them, holding pancakes and fried eggs on platters.

“You bet,” Jon said. “Slocum, I have had a belly full of that Texas trash.”

“Better eat your breakfast, boys. You're going to be real busy today.”

Good
, Slocum thought as he passed the plate of eggs. He'd talk to Jon today about buying a horse too.

The stuffed dummy took shape easily. Glenna made a head and face on the pillowcase and they sewed an old hat on it. Carter built the hangman's noose and that was applied to the dummy's neck and stitched on too so it didn't pull the head off when they hung the whole thing up.

Slocum punched holes in rusty tin cans with a punch and hammer in the blacksmith shop they had. The others tied them on long strings, separated so they'd make lots of noise when the horses started off from the hitch rack. Each chain was placed in an individual gunnysack so they didn't get tangled up. Then Jon, Carter, and Slocum sharpened their jackknives so they would be sharp enough to cut through the cinches on the horses.

Before dark the three men rode into Buttercup and hitched their horses out back. It was no trouble staying hidden in the darkness out front of the noisy saloon.

Hitching the strings to the ponies' tails proved harder than expected, so they tied part of them to the back girths. But everything was finally set, and all they had to do was wait. Carter was posted between the saddle shop and the mercantile. Slocum and Jon were upstairs of what at one time had been the local cathouse, before the madam moved on to richer fields to plow with her girls. The place was now empty, and they had ringside seats at the open windows for the fandango they expected to happen about midnight. The weather still was mild. They talked in low voices, spending the time talking about some good horses they'd owned.

A drunk staggered out of the batwing doors. Slocum watched him close as he went to a Garvin horse, but he was too drunk to get on him. So he went back and lay down to sleep on the porch. With a shake of his head over how close they'd come to losing the trick, Slocum shared a look with Jon. Damn that had been close.

It was closing time and the ranch hands began to wander outside. A big man stretched. “Let's get home, guys. Toss Fenell over his horse. He's too drunk to ride.”

Two guys draped the drunk over his saddle and used his rope to tie him on. One guy got in his saddle. His cinch broke and turned him upside down. Another horse jerked and cans rattled. Cowboys cussed. Another bronc stuck his head to the ground and dumped the rider off. The cans had spooked all the horses, who climbed over one another trying to escape, clanging away, cinches breaking. Stomping on their boot soles and cussing, cowboys tried to separate the saddled horses from the saddle-less ones. Several mounts ran away from the town with tin cans chasing them.

Someone shouted, “If I ever catch the goddamn sumbitch did this to us, he's dead. I mean a dead ass.”

“Damn right, Logan. We'll help you kill him.”

“We better get to hiking, boys. We ain't got a damn horse left here to ride.”

“Ah, shit, who did this?”

“We'll find them. If it takes all I've got. We'll find them.”

“We've got us some real enemies, boys. Wait till the old man hears about it.”

The Garvin ranch hands started to walk home. Slocum shook Jon's hand, and they sat back to wait until the other men were well gone.

“By grab, that was the best show I ever watched,” Carter said when they mounted up to ride home. “That outfit should know now we mean business.”

“They'll learn,” Slocum agreed. “Dummy hangs next.”

“What then?” Jon asked.

“Use a candle deal and blow up the corral fencing and scatter their remuda all over hell.”

“We may have to wait until after the rain. I figure it's moving in,” Jon said, looking at the cloud cover dimming the night.

“No problem. They need to think about this past night. And then we get to remind them, again, that they need to leave.” Slocum was also busy figuring other things to spring on them.

“Do those cowboys sleep out much?” he asked.

“I guess,” Carter said.

“Then we need to slip notes in their bedrolls to get out.”

“That may be hard.”

“We'll see. We need to be ready for the chance.”

Both men agreed with him. They arrived back at the ranch, and Glenna got up to welcome them. “I have warm soup and fresh sourdough bread. Come in and eat. You all must be starved. I want to hear what happened.”

They trooped inside, dead tired, and sat at the table eating her food.

“How did it go?” she asked.

Carter looked up from a large spoonful of beef chunks that he was getting ready to put in his mouth. “Girl, it was wonderful. A dang drunk stumbled outside. I thought he'd ruin it all, but he went back when he couldn't get on his horse. When they all came out, they loaded him on his horse and tied him down. Then a horse spooked and dragged a chain of cans. More cans rattled, and so some of the horses bucked; cinches broke and cowboys were spilled all over the street. There was so much going on so fast you couldn't see it all happening.”

“Then they walked home,” Slocum added. “But they will be on their guard. And they were mad as hornets.”

“So are lots of us who have felt their edge. We got in a good jab. Go to sleep. It is Sunday and I am going to church today.” She gathered their bowls.

“I'll go with you,” Slocum said. “We have no idea how they will react to this treatment.”

“That's fine. But I can handle it myself.”

“I'll go with you.” He wasn't going to let her slough him off. There was no telling what the ranch hands' response to the past night would be, and he didn't want her hurt.

“All right, you can go with me. But you can't sleep in church.”

They all laughed. The other two men went to the bunkhouse. He started for his bedroll and she took him to her bed, pulled off his boots, and told him to get undressed and get some sleep.

He did not argue. She leaned over and kissed him. “Go to sleep.”

“Yes ma'am.” In minutes, he was sound asleep, and he only partially knew when she joined him, but he recalled that before falling off again, he smiled to himself, when she crowded up against his back and threw her arm over him.

 * * * 

He drove the buckboard and wore a white shirt that belonged to Jon. It was warm and cloudy. They took slickers, and Slocum put a Winchester in the scabbard on the dashboard.

Glenna wore a starched blue dress and a scarf over her head and shoulders. She looked very pretty, straight-backed seated beside him. The matched light team stepped out smartly. They made the trip quickly to the schoolhouse, and he helped her down then parked the team while she visited with friends in the bright sun. Jon's rain warning had evaporated, with a strong south wind no doubt pushing the clouds away.

He joined her and she introduced him as John Clark.

“Nice to meet you, John,” a gray-headed lady said.

He nodded, then they made their way inside. They sat on benches toward the back. Many families were there, and they sang hymns and prayed, and the minister read something from John and preached on the subject.

There was some social gathering outside after, and Slocum met other ranchers, who had a few curious questions to ask him.

“You know about Garvin's efforts to run us all off?” one man asked.

“Yes, Glenna told me all about it. You may need to organize and meet him head-on.”

“Aw, few of us are tough enough to meet them gunhands of his like that.”

“They force you far enough back, you may need to do that.”

“I sure dread the whole thing.”

Slocum agreed. Glenna nodded that she was ready to go, and she said good-bye to everyone. They walked to where the buckboard team was tied to a hitch post. He untied the horses, straightened the lines, and handed them to her before he climbed up and joined her.

“Thanks,” she said, squeezing his arm when he sat beside her.

“Clark?”

“I didn't want you exposed. All I could think of in such a short time.”

“No problem. Good thinking.” He clucked to the horses, and they swept away for the ranch.

They topped a rolling hill, and he saw half a dozen riders in the road. Two or three had their arms in slings or their heads bandaged.

He wanted to laugh, but instead he said, “Get the rifle out and then take the reins.”

She did. “That's Sears. Watch him.”

“I will.”

The horses sawed down to a walk, and he handed her the reins. He reached for and loaded the rifle with the lever, cocked it, and balanced the rifle butt on his knee.

“What do you think?” she asked under her breath when the riders held their place in the road.

“Stop the horses.”

“Who the hell are you?” the man she called Sears asked him from under his droopy-brim brown felt hat.

“The man that's going to blow your brains out if you don't get out of the road.”

Sears checked his horse. “You talk damn tough for a man outgunned here.”

“You won't know if I am or I'm not, because you'll die first.” Slocum rose and took aim at him.

“Someone messed with our horses last night in town. You know anything about it?”

“I know you're blocking a public road. Get the hell aside or you will die.” He held the gun pointed at the big man's heart.

“I asked you a question.”

“Move or die!”

“Hold it. We are going to find out who messed with our horses, and when we do, we'll hang them.”

The rifle still nested in his shoulder, Slocum motioned with the barrel for Sears to move aside. When he looked at the rest of the riders, Slocum saw that only a few of the enemy looked gun-ready enough to fight him.

Glenna drove the horses through them and they hurried for the ranch. He left the rifle on safety, and in the exchange with her, he took the reins and she put the gun away, looking back at their dust wake. “They aren't coming. My, my, you all sure battered them up. I had no idea they would be that broken up.”

“The plan worked much better than I'd even dreamed. Four of those guys couldn't use a gun, did you notice?”

“So you had only two shooters to face?”

When she squeezed his arm, he leaned over and smiled. “They are not in great shape. We need to close in on them.

“Back there you looked pretty gutsy to me for you to take a stand with a rifle against six men.”

“I wanted them to think they weren't in shape to run things. Next I want to scatter their remuda and make that tough on them.”

“You did have an upper hand looking at all those bandaged men he had to ride with him.”

“That's his foreman?”

“Yes, that's Sears. I am surprised the old man wasn't with them. Garvin's a tough old buzzard too.”

“What the hell was Sears looking for out here?” Slocum shook his head. “They might have split up hoping to find the villains who did that to them.”

She laughed. “Who would tell them anyway?”

“They felt after our attack caught them off guard, they needed to flex their muscles or lose their hold.”

“That battered up bunch couldn't whip much.” She shook her head and squeezed his arm.

“They still have to keep up their faces, but word will get out that someone outfoxed them and that they are in too poor a condition to enforce much right now.”

“I hope they all flee.” She leaned against his shoulder, then grinned.

 * * * 

That evening, after midnight, Slocum and Jon installed the dummy on the Garvin ranch crossbar. Jon stood on his saddle to tie it into place. Slocum felt wary the entire time, thinking that being only such a short distance from the ranch headquarters, they might be discovered. He held Jon's horse to steady him while Jon finished with the knots.

Finally, Jon dropped down into the saddle and took the reins up in the starlight. “He's secure. Let's go.”

“Right.”

“I wish I could see their faces when they find him tomorrow.”

Slocum agreed, then looked back at the dark buildings.
Well, Garvin, round two and we will win again.

On a grassy ridge under a sliver of a moon, they cut the gunnysacks off their horses' feet. The effort had been to make it harder to follow their tracks. They wadded up the gunnysacks, tied them on their saddles, so they left no evidence, and rode for home.

“When do we blow up the corrals?” Jon asked.

“Oh, in another week. By then they will have relaxed again, and will have started asking, ‘What else could they do to us?'”

“I savvy. Shame we couldn't watch them discover the dummy.”

“Ah, better yet for us to see their horses' butts go over the hill for Texas or some other parts.”

“I hope to see that too.”

“Yes. I'm taking Glenna to Buttercup for supplies today. We better get back so I can sleep a few hours.”

“I gotta hand it to you. She's a damn sight easier to live with since you came around,” Jon said and looked off into the night.

“What was he like?”

“Her husband was a tough guy. He'd been raised tough somewhere. He had little patience with anyone. He riled me up a time or two. We had a few fistfights, but we got to where we got along. Still, he was like a bulldog around her. He growled a lot and that made me mad, but she said she could defend herself.”

“You ever see him kiss her?”

“No, why?”

“She told me that and I could hardly believe her.”

Jon shook his head. “You never knew Russell.”

“I think I do now.”

“I felt the same way.” Talking about him was over.

They got back, put their horses up, and Slocum split with Jon and went into the dark house. Inside, she must have heard him, and she lit a lamp in the bedroom.

He stood in the doorway and admired her in the light and her nightgown. She fussed with her hair, coming across the room. His arms around her, he hugged and kissed her hard, and she sighed, “Whew.”

“The dummy's been hung.”

She pressed her belly harder to him. “Sounds wonderful.”