Each had the image of a beautiful young woman floating in his mind, too. In Matt’s case, a fiery, pistol-packing brunette; in Sam’s, a more demure but no less lovely blonde…
Matt wasn’t really aware of going to sleep, but he knew when he woke up because his senses alerted him that something was wrong. His eyes opened and his ears listened intently. Someone moved close by, the hay stirring faintly under the weight of someone’s feet. In absolute silence, Matt’s hand reached out and closed around the butt of one of his Colts, which rested near his head where he had coiled his shell belts. With a whisper of steel against leather, the revolver came out of its holster.
Then Matt exploded into action, lashing out with one leg and sweeping the legs of whoever was sneaking up on him out from under them. With a startled cry, the lurker fell into the hay next to him.
Like a flash, Matt was on top of the person, earing back the hammer of his gun and warning in a harsh whisper, “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”
That was when he realized that he was sprawled atop the undeniably shapely curves of a woman.
Chapter 14
Since there was only one gal on the Harlow place as far as Matt knew, he went on in a whisper. “Frankie?”
It was unmistakably her voice that answered, “Get off me, you damn oaf!” as she pushed at his chest.
Matt lifted himself onto his hands and knees and then sat beside her in the hay. “What’s goin’ on here?” he asked. “What are you doin’ out here, Frankie?”
“What do you reckon?” she whispered back. “Didn’t you ever wind up in a pile of hay with a girl before?”
“Well, uh, as a matter of fact…” The question embarrassed Matt a little, although he wasn’t sure why. He went on. “What I’ve done before in a pile of hay ain’t any of your business.”
Before Frankie could say anything else, Sam called from the other side of the barn, “Matt? Everything all right over there?”
“Yeah, sure,” Matt replied. “One of those, uh, cats that Harlow mentioned came nosin’ around and woke me up.”
He gritted his teeth to keep from yelling as Frankie reached out blindly in the dark, found his arm, and pinched it hard.
He jerked his arm away from her. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” he breathed as he leaned closer over her.
“A cat, am I? I know what you’re saying, you…you…”
“Well, you’re the one who snuck out here to throw yourself at me.”
Her hand came up and took hold of the back of his head. “Shut up,” she whispered as she pulled his mouth down to hers. “Don’t talk anymore.”
They didn’t talk for a few minutes. Kissing Frankie Harlow was a lot more pleasant way to use his mouth, Matt thought. But he fought down the impulse to take things any further than that.
“Listen,” he said when he broke the kiss. “What is it you want?”
“Are you gonna make me say it, Bodine?”
She tried to pull his head down again, but he wouldn’t let her. “I want to know if you think you can buy my help against the Kanes this way.”
“What if I do?”
Matt took Frankie’s arms from around his neck. “Then I’ll say no, thanks. I offered my help, free and clear. You don’t have to do this to seal the deal.”
“Yeah, well, Two Wolves said no.”
“Sam doesn’t speak for me.”
“Prove it.”
Again he felt a surge of irritation. He couldn’t understand why Frankie wasn’t prepared to just accept his help without either bribing or tricking him into it. She must not trust anybody, he thought. Her life must have been pretty rough to make her feel like that.
He sat up again. “Look, you’re a mighty pretty gal, Frankie,” he told her, “and I enjoy rollin’ around in some hay with a pretty gal as much as the next fella does. But when that happens, I like for it to be because the gal wants me…not my gun.”
She gasped softly. “Why, of all the arrogant…You want me to tell you that you’re so manly and handsome you make me go all weak in the knees, Bodine? Well, if that’s what you want, the hell with you!”
She rolled away from Matt and started to stand up. He found her arm in the darkness and wrapped his fingers around it, stopping her.
“Hold on,” he said. “Let’s get this settled. I’ll help you. Sam doesn’t have to go along with everything I do. Now that you know I’m on your side, maybe the two of us can get together some other time, when there won’t be any question about why we’re doin’ what we’re doin’.”
“You’re turning me down tonight?” She sounded like she couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so,” Matt replied, although it pained him a little to do so. He couldn’t hardly believe it, either.
“There may not be another time,” Frankie warned him.
