“Someone was aware of our plan and the diversion. The moment I left Dan, they pistol-whipped him and took the Spanish gold. They were also clever enough to drive the carriage north out of town, then leave it and escape.”
“What?!”
“You heard me, Victoria. Dan has a nasty bump on his head and the gold coins are all gone.”
“But who could have known about this other than the three of us?!”
“Your friend, Ann Reed.”
“I’ll forget you said that,” Victoria replied, face turning dark with anger. “Ann would never betray my trust.”
“Then she told someone else who took the information to Hank Bass,” Longarm said. “Because someone sure as hell had to make a slip of the tongue.”
Victoria expelled a deep breath. “I suppose that Ann could have had a slip of the tongue. She is so naive that she trusts everyone and has no secrets.”
“All right,” Longarm said, “let’s give Ann the benefit of the doubt and assume that she did make a slip of the tongue and it got back to Hank Bass, who saw his golden opportunity to grab our Spanish treasure. What is done is done and it can’t be helped. Tomorrow, I’d go after Bass, but I can’t really leave Dan here by himself.”
“Oh, sure you can!” the old preacher argued. “Marshal, I’ll be fine. But I’d be even finer if your pretty friend would stay here with me.”
“I can’t,” Victoria told him. “I’m going to help Custis find Hank Bass.”
“Oh, no!” Longarm objected.
“Oh, yes,” Victoria countered. “You need me.”
“Why?”
“Because, unlike yourself, I know almost everyone in this part of Arizona and I have enough money in my saddlebags to buy the information you’ll need to catch Bass.”
“Marshal,” Dan said, “those are pretty good reasons.”
“Yes,” Longarm had to agree, “they are. But, Victoria, things can go wrong. If you go with me, you could get shot, even killed.”
Victoria’s eyes flashed. “Hank Bass and his gang put me through hell and I’ll do anything and everything I can to see that he is brought to justice. You need MY help and it serves no good purpose to be stubborn.”
“All right,” Longarm agreed. “But only on the condition that you do exactly as I say.”
“I accept those terms,” Victoria said. “When can we start searching for Hank Bass?”
“We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
“Fine,” Victoria said, nodding her pretty head. “Now, why don’t we get some food cooking and enjoy a campfire before we turn in for the night.”
Longarm thought that an excellent idea. Victoria soon proved herself to be a good cook, and it didn’t hurt a bit that she had brought an apple pie out for dessert. Dan consumed most of that, and then, with a loud and satisfying belch, he fell asleep. Since the night was warm, Longarm moved his bedroll outside and stretched out underneath the starry desert sky.
“Good night, Victoria.”
She came over to lie beside him. “Do we have to just go to sleep?”
“Isn’t that what you’d like to do?”
Her reply was a passionate kiss. “Does that answer your question?”
“It does.” Longarm studied her in the moonlight. “I just thought that, after what happened with Bass and his gang, that you’d …”
“I’d hate all men?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“I hate men who act like animals,” Victoria said, unbuttoning Longarm’s shirt. “And after what happened to me, I want to thank you in the best way I know how. You really saved my life, you know.”
“I was acting in the line of duty, Victoria. You don’t owe me a thing.”
“Maybe not,” she said, beginning to work on his belt, “but I need to make love to a good and brave man like you. It would … cleanse me. Make me feel good again. Does that make any sense at all, Custis?”
“Yes, I suppose it does,” he replied, crushing her In his arms with his own passion rising to a fever.
Minutes later, they were making love, and Longarm found that he was not as tired or as battered as he’d thought. Victoria was passionate and more than eager to please. Longarm drove his rod into her and Victoria gasped with pleasure, then locked her lovely legs around his waist. After that, they both lost themselves in an intense pleasure that kept building and building until they were lunging and bucking and their passion was finally extinguished.
“You were even better than I thought you’d be,” Victoria later whispered in his ear.
“You should see what I can do when I’m rested.”
“I’m afraid that you’d quickly wear me out, Custis.”
“It would be fun to try.”
