anyone in the saloon was paying the slightest bit of attention to him and his friends. He was surprised by that, but it did make him feel a bit less embarrassed.
Once he and Doney were in her room, Doney shut the door behind them, then lit a single candle. She turned and smiled at Jules as she began stripping off her clothes. Jules watched, spellbound, as the smooth skin of Doney’s shoulders was exposed. Then she turned so that he saw only her back as she removed the rest of her clothes. Calling on all the tricks of her professional experience, she used a shadow here, a soft light there, and a movement to hold her body just so. As if by magic, she seemed to lose so many years in age and gain so much in mystery that she became as sensual a creature as anyone who had ever appeared in Jules’s fantasies. Finally, raising the corner of the sheet, she managed to slip into bed using the shadows in such a way that he wasn’t sure whether he had seen anything or not.
She looked at Jules and laughed.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you just going to stand there like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like that?” Doney said. She pointed. “Honey, you still have your clothes on. Do you plan to keep your clothes on?”
“Oh,” Jules said.
Jules just stood there.
“Well?”
“Well what?”
Doney sighed. “Honey, are you going to undress or not?”
“Oh,” Jules said again. “Uh—Doney, would you mind if we…?”
Jules paused in mid-sentence.
“If we what?”
“If we—uh—didn’t really do anything? I mean, you can keep the money. It’s just that—well—I don’t think my ma would approve.”
Doney smiled and patted the bed. “Sit here beside me, honey,” she said.
Jules sat down.
“Unless I miss my guess, your friends are waiting just outside the door.”
“Waiting outside the door? Why would they be waiting outside the door?” Jules asked.
“To see if you really do anything,” Doney said. “If they don’t hear anything going on in here, they are going to tease you unmercifully.”
“Oh.”
Doney’s smile broadened. “I tell you what. Let’s give ’em a show.”
“What do you mean?”
“Start bouncing up and down on the bed,” Doney said.
Now, as he understood what Doney was suggesting, a broad smile spread across Jules’s face.
Outside the door, LeRoy, Andy, Mike, and the three women with them were straining to hear what was going on inside.
“How come there ain’t nothin’ happenin’?” LeRoy asked.
“Give ’em time, honey,” Tillie said. “The kid is green. Doney will have to work on him for a while.”
Suddenly, from the other side of the door, they heard the bed squeaking. LeRoy grinned broadly.
“There they go!” he said. “Hot damn, they are at it now.”
The squeaking of the bed became more pronounced; then the squeaking was joined by squeals and groans.
“Oh, honey, oh, honey!” Doney was saying. “Oh, honey, yes, you are wonderful! You are magnificent!”
“Damn!” Mike said. “What’s that boy doin’ that’s so great?”
“Honey, that’s not a boy,” Tillie said. “Sounds to me like he’s all man.”
Inside the room, Jules and Doney continued to bounce on the bed. Then, as she held up her hand as a signal, Doney’s squeal reached a climax.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” she shouted. With a cutting motion of her hand, she signaled for them to stop.
“Okay, honey,” she whispered. “Wait a minute, then go on out. I promise you, you won’t be teased.”
“Thanks,” Jules said.
“You’re a sweet boy,” Doney said. “Come back and see me in a couple of years.”
The sun was setting as the four young cowboys returned to the encampment.
“Well,” Smoke said. “All back in one piece, I see.”
“Yes, sir, Smoke. You said get back a’fore sundown and that’s just what we done,” LeRoy said.
“Did you have a good time?”
