Longarm gave him an impatient look. “Todd, I thought you and I had a deal. We don’t talk about our business with anybody else. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Longarm asked, “Do you know which road?”
For a moment Todd appeared to think the question over, then slowly shook his head. “No, sir. You see, it’s mostly just gossip that gets to me. There ain’t all that many particulars to it. I just kind of heard it when I was out around the stables. Things like that get started at one end of this town, and they get all changed around by the time they get to the other. Do you know what I mean?”
Longarm said, “Yes, I do.” He gave Todd a silver dollar and then went back to his room, his mind turning the matter over and over. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. Now all he needed was a little leverage to get hold of the Castles by the short hairs. A handle, a come-along.
He would have it if his friend was able to get him the bench warrant from the federal judge. That would give him the authority to arrest the Castles, to search them, to search their premises, to scare the living hell out of them.
But all that could wait. For the moment, he could allow his mind the luxury of thinking about the evening ahead with Mabelle Russell. The widow Shirley Dunn had built a fire in him with her very unusual supper. The fire was still banked and only waiting for the slightest opportunity to ignite into full blaze.
He went to his rooms and immediately set about taking a bath and slicking himself up for the engagement that grew nearer by the moment. For the time being, the law business would wait.
Longarm almost dropped his fork when Mabelle Russell said almost casually halfway through supper, “When are you going to put on your badge, Marshal?”
He stared at her, trying to think of something to say. After a moment, he tried to put a lying face on. He said, “What are you talking about? Marshal? Badge? I am a gambler and a horse trader. What’s this marshal stuff?”
She laughed gaily. “Oh, for God’s sake, cut it out. I know who you are. When you were here three years ago you were spotted. Someone told me that you were passing yourself off then as a gambler, but you were actually the famous Marshal Custis Long, known far and wide as Longarm. I don’t see where you have the gall to travel around incognito as well known as you are.” He could do no more than stare at her. Finally he said, “Mabelle, does anybody else know about this?”
She shrugged. “I doubt it.”
“Then how come you know?”
She gave him a slight smile. “Don’t you think that I make it my business to know every man’s business who comes into my place? Do you think that I would last long in this business if I didn’t have a very inquiring nature? I don’t just let anybody come in here. They’ve got to have some sort of a recommendation. You take a small town and there will be two people that know everybody and what’s going on. One of them will be the madam of the local whorehouse.”
Longarm looked at her. “Who will the other one be?”
Mabelle laughed again. “Well, naturally it will be the one that the madam is paying to get her information.”
Longarm laughed ruefully. “I reckon that it makes a little sense. I’m going to ask you a favor. Do you think that you can keep this under your hat for a few days? Do you reckon that you can help me out a little bit there?”
She shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It makes no never mind to me, one way or the other, who’s killing those soldiers. In fact, I wish you would catch the sonofabitch. My trade has dropped off considerably. About half of that garrison is scared to come into town late at night. Sure, I’ll keep your secret. Keep that badge in your pocket as long as you want to.”
He thought about telling her of his plans for the Castles, but then kept quiet. It wasn’t necessary that she know everything just yet, but he did have some questions that he wanted to ask her about the family. He figured that she could give him more detailed information than anyone else, but right then he was concentrating on the best steak he had had in a long time and the several choices of desserts that would follow the meal.
There was no teasing, no coyness, no pretending reluctance that he might have encountered from a younger, less worldly woman. When the meal was finished and they had coffee and brandy, she simply took him by the hand and led him through a door into what obviously was her bedroom. It was very large, with one of the biggest beds that Longarm had ever seen, covered with a silk counterpane. The lighting was dim but adequate. She sat Longarm down on the bed and then standing right in front of him, slowly took her clothes off. She was wearing a frilly, lacy lavender gown that went well with her coloring. It was followed by several slips, until she was finally down to her camisole and the silk stockings that encased her legs.
It was done so unsexually that Longarm thought it was the most exciting, most sexual thing that he had ever seen. Her every movement was natural. She undressed as unconsciously and matter-of-factly as if she were in the room alone. He felt like she was giving him the chance to peek through her window late at night. Before she was half through, he found himself short of breath and his jeans uncomfortably tight. His neck was swelling and a coppery taste was coming into his mouth. As she finally slid the camisole over her breasts and then down over her long, sleek body, he thought that he was going to explode at the sight of her. Her skin was creamy and her breasts were large and plump, but yet she had a very slim belly with wide hips that tapered to straight rounded legs. The vee of her brush was starkly black against the soft mound that it grew on. She took a step toward him, and he leaned forward to kiss the smooth, soft, velvet skin of her belly. His lips moved up, seeking the nipples of her breasts. She bent slightly to accommodate him. His breathing was coming harder and harder. He slowly put his arms up and pulled her on the bed beside him. For a few moments they sat, he fully clothed, she naked. Their arms were around each other and they were kissing deeply and searchingly.
Almost as if they understood it to the second, he arose as she slowly began to push herself back up onto the bed. His undressing was not like hers. His was done in haste, as he ripped at the buttons of his shirt, yanked off his gunbelt, threw off his boots, and shrugged out of his jeans. In an instant, he was lying beside her on the soft silk of the counterpane that was almost as smooth and sleek as her skin. He started kissing her on the neck, letting his
