The Hunter's Prey (5 page)

I started walking to Miss Jessie’s as soon as I got off the bus. Miss Jessie’s rules said boarders had to be back by six in the evening and I was in a hurry. Her place was just outside town and next to the highway. It was so near that folks passed it every Sunday on their way to church.
 

I stayed close to the buildings, trying to keep in the light from inside. I paused under an awning before crossing the street and three men came out of the saloon behind me: Mayor Jones, his crony Bixby, and a stranger.
 

The stranger was a short man but dressed beautifully in a linen suit, good boots, and a snappy Panama hat. He looked cool and calm as if he’d never raise a sweat, no matter what the weather or companion. He was handsome, with deep blue eyes, brown hair and clear skin, and appeared more of a gentleman than anyone I’d ever met. He seemed young too, perhaps twenty-five, until I saw his eyes. They were weary with a knowledge born of experience and grief. I wondered if he was a bootlegger who hoped to join one of the mayor’s rackets.
 

The mayor was a big man who liked to pretend that he still had the trim figure of forty years ago. He always dressed a little too well and sweated continuously in hot weather.
 

Bixby had followed Jones since grammar school. He stood taller than the mayor and was rail thin. But he was so mean and nasty that he never had to explain twice to anyone what the mayor had meant.
 

The mayor told the stranger, using some very impolite language, that the rocks could stay in the ground for another million years for all he cared. He’d take his money first, before signing permission to dig up those rocks.

The gentleman was unmoved by the mayor’s ranting and waited him out. He looked a bit regretful at the mayor’s language but not angry.

“You’ll give permission tonight, Mr. Jones, or you’ll regret it.” He had a lovely voice, with the slightest hint of France, that made me want to sit down and listen.
 

“What are you going to do to me? You’re just a fancy lawyer for the Santiago Trust with no say over what goes on here. This is my town and I say there’s no digging until I’m happy. You understand?”

“I understand that Susanville will have another mayor within a week.”

I shivered at his tone of voice. I’d heard threats before but only from drunkards and fools. His words were a promise that chilled the air.
 

The mayor was shocked for a moment and then he sneered. “Never happen, not in my town.”

The gentleman shrugged slightly. “We’ll see.”

“What’re you doing out this late, Annie?” Bixby smelled like cheap whisky as he leaned down to talk to me. I flinched, wishing I had kept going instead of looking at the stranger. Bixby was a regular at Miss Jessie’s and every girl tried to evade her time with him.
 

“Heading to work, Mr. Bixby.” I stayed put, knowing from hard experience just how much he liked women who ran.

“Well, now, isn’t that fine? I was just heading that way myself.”
 

I tried to think of something to say but my mind kept seeing me seated in a car next to Bixby. Then the stranger’s voice sliced into the silence.

“The lady is traveling with me.”

Bixby laughed as he spun to face the stranger but he fell silent under the stranger’s glare.
 

“If you wish to be useful, Bixby, you may put the lady’s suitcase into my car. After that, I’m sure that you and Mr. Jones have business elsewhere.”

My eyes widened as Bixby meekly took my suitcase and carried it to a beautiful Packard parked next to us. I couldn’t have said anything to save my life. The mayor snarled something that began with a string of unprintable syllables and the stranger spun on him.

“You will respect this lady’s presence, Mr. Jones, or you will be silent. Do you understand?”

Mayor Jones spat a string of tobacco juice and sneered. “You’re a fool for treating her like a lady when she’s available to any man who can find a chicken to pay with.”

He started to say more but suddenly stopped and clutched his throat. I stared at him and then at the stranger, who was studying the mayor regretfully, as if saddened by the mayor’s words.
 

“Since you have nothing of consequence to say, Mr. Jones, I will bid you farewell. I look forward to dealing with the next mayor about the excavation.”

“That’ll be twenty years from now,” Mayor Jones managed to choke out and the stranger laughed at him. I was very glad that he wasn’t laughing at me.
 

“Mademoiselle, will you do me the honor of accompanying me?” The stranger finished his words with a polite bow to me.
 

“My pleasure, sir.” I’d heard a girl say that in the movies and it seemed fitting for this gentleman. Then he smiled at me and offered me his arm. Suddenly the two nasty men and their mumbled curses fell away into nothingness. I was going for a drive with a fine man.

He seated me in the car with a flourish, waiting to be sure that I was comfortably seated and my dress tucked neatly inside. I wondered if he’d reach for me after we drove off but decided being groped would be a small payment for rescuing me from Bixby.
 

“Allow me to introduce myself, mademoiselle. My name is,” he finished with something French and complicated. I blinked, caught off guard by a formal introduction.

“Mr. Jim, Jimmy?” I tried, stumbling over the occasion and the foreign name.
 

He grinned at that. “Yes, please call me Jimmy. It will do very well.”

“Anne Smith,” I mumbled, flushing red over my clumsiness. I hadn’t thought that I could blush about anything after working at Miss Jessie’s.
 

“Where should I take you, Miss Smith?”

“Miss Jessie’s house. It’s right next to the bridge.” I was surprised at his ignorance. We drove in silence for the few minutes it took to cross the bridge and park in front of Miss Jessie’s.
 

That rundown collection of buildings had never looked more wretched than with that lovely car in front. The shabbiest building was the main house, with the rabbit’s warren of boarders’ rooms trailing behind it. A row of trees shaded the yard and shielded any cars parked there from notice. The trees also sheltered the household’s chickens, as was common back then.

Scamp, a big yellow mutt and the leader of Miss Jessie’s watchdogs, came rushing over to greet the car. I petted him and gave him the last scraps of my chicken sandwich.
 

Jimmy spoke quietly to Scamp and the other dogs when they investigated him. He squatted down on his heels and held out his hand, which Scamp sniffed warily before wagging his tail. Scamp’s enthusiasm built when Jimmy gave him an expert ear rub.
 

“Thank you for the ride, Jimmy. You don’t have to see me in. ”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right? Mr. Jones and his man aren’t the best men for a lady to spend time with.”

I nearly laughed at that. If the mayor and Bixby came by later in the evening, I’d spend time doing anything they wanted. Just like any other girl there would. They were the only exceptions to Miss Jessie’s rules and I know she hated them for that.

“I’ll be fine.”

Jimmy studied me then and I think he saw everything I wasn’t saying about those two. He gave me my suitcase only after he looked back down the road to town.
 

“I’ll be by later to see how you’re doing.” He touched his hat to me and waited to see me go in.
 

I spent the rest of the evening wondering if Jimmy would come by. All types of men came to Miss Jessie’s but I’d never seen him there. I didn’t think he’d need to pay a woman for the act but you could say that about many of Miss Jessie’s regulars. Still, Jimmy was a handsome man and he’d treated me very well. I kept imagining what he’d be like to spend fifteen minutes with.

The evening was a strange one. It saw very few clients, some spectacular lightning but no rain. We boarders spent our time waiting in the small sitting room, staring at the bell on the wall, which announced a client’s arrival, and jumping whenever a particularly loud thunderbolt hit.
 

By one o’clock, I was counting the minutes until three when Miss Jessie would close the door to new clients. Linda and Clare, two of the other boarders, were giggling and laughing in a corner. They were quieter about their love games in the sitting room than they were in their shared bedroom. I envied them their fun, while I wished I didn’t have the room next to them.
 

Jimmy came at two o’clock when I’d given up on seeing him. We filed into the main room and seated ourselves demurely on the straight back chairs lined up in a row. Another row of chairs faced ours for the clients to sit on, which made it easy for Miss Jessie to manage matters from her post at one end.
 

But Jimmy stood by the door next to Miss Jessie, calm and proud. He looked like a gentleman waiting for his guests to be seated, rather than the typical nervous client. Miss Jessie wasn’t quite frowning, which meant that she didn’t like his behavior but she couldn’t manage to change it.
 

A rustle ran through the boarders as they saw him. I was prepared for his good looks and fine clothes but they’d never seen the like before. Linda and Clare sat up straighter, openly preening, while some of the others twitched their clothes and struck poses. They only used attitudes permitted under Miss Jessie’s rules but they still tried to catch his attention.
 

Jimmy ignored them until Miss Jessie nodded at him. Then he strolled directly to me and held out his hand. I put mine into it and he lifted me to my feet, as easily as any Victorian gentleman at a dance. He tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and sauntered towards the door, which led to the boarders’ rooms. The other boarders murmured but didn’t say anything out loud. I was as surprised as they were by his behavior.

I led him down the long hallway until we reached my room, careful to slow down at every change of ceiling height or flooring. The hallway was at least straight but it showed all the signs of having been built as casually as the rooms it opened to.
 

“Would you care to sit down?” I invited, as soon as I closed the door behind us. I was pink with embarrassment at seeing him here but I wanted to touch him. I wanted to do things with him that I’d heard whispers of but never tried. I was sure that he knew activities that would scandalize Miss Jessie.
 

“If you will join me, Miss Smith.”

I nodded and perched on the edge of the bed. I was glad that he obviously hadn’t paid with a chicken, as most clients did. Those birds were messy and noisy, which would have ruined his elegant suit.
 

“Uh, the longest you can stay here is fifteen minutes,” I started with the last part of the standard speech. And stopped on that note when his eyebrows went up. It was the first time I’d seen him surprised.

“Fifteen minutes, my dear? Forgive me for asking this, but is fifteen minutes usually long enough for your satisfaction?”

I stared at him. When had my preferences started to matter?

Jimmy smiled at me, a very masculine look of knowledge and anticipation.

“We will share an hour together, Anne. Then you can tell me how much time you prefer a gentleman to spend on your pleasure.”

I blinked, considering how long it had taken on the few previous times when I’d really enjoyed matters. His arm slid around me and I leaned against him, quite happy that he’d moved to the bed and was taking charge. I did feel obliged to ask a question.

“But Miss Jessie’s rules say...” My voice trailed off when he kissed my hair, then lifted a strand and smelled it. I stared at him in the mirror, shocked, delighted at the gentleness. My senses started to consider him as being even more intriguing than my mind’s estimation of his manners.

“Relax, sweet Anne. I will deal with Miss Jessie.”

I nodded a little, afraid to break the connection with his hand. He played with my hair, seeming to enjoy its curls and the weight against his hand. I closed my eyes when he kissed my hand. He trailed kisses over every inch, then turned it over and nipped the mound at the base of my thumb. I gasped and jumped as a surge shot straight from his teeth into my body’s center. I moaned when he licked the drop of blood and kissed away the small hurt.
 

Jimmy spent a very long time on my hands before his mouth found my wrists. I stroked his head as he nuzzled and nipped each pulse point into life. I unbuttoned my dress and slid a sleeve down my shoulder, wordlessly encouraging him to continue further up that arm.
 

I think Miss Jessie knocked on the door while my dress was down to my waist. I’m not sure though because I wasn’t thinking very clearly by then. I didn’t hear her knock again but I think the Angel Gabriel could have sounded his horn without my hearing.
 

I do know that the feel of his hands and mouth on my breasts excited me like nothing I had ever felt before. He didn’t grab at them the way so many men did. Instead he traced every vein from my shoulders and ribs out til it ended. He stayed away from my aureoles until I was frankly begging him to continue. Then he suckled me in long steady pulls, bringing as much of my breast as he could into his mouth’s hot, wet warmth. He encouraged the other breast with those slender fingers until I was talking language that I’d never thought to say.