“Maybe we ought to look up Marshal Kane right now.”
“Uh-uh,” Longarm said, coming up behind her. “I think we need to take a bath together.”
Before Megan could respond, Longarm kissed her. For a moment she resisted, but only for a moment. The next thing he knew, she was hugging him tightly and almost cracking his neck. She was kissing him like crazy.
“Easy,” he said, pushing her away.
“What’s the matter! I thought that you wanted-“
“To take things slow and gentle, Megan. Slow, easy, and gentle. First champagne, then a bath, then the bed.
All right?”
“Aren’t we even going to eat?”
He laughed outright. “Megan, we can have food sent right up to the room, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
“How much money do you have?”
“I won three hundred dollars in a poker game the night before I was supposed to board that eastbound train. All of this is coming out of my winnings. Don’t worry if spending taxpayers’ money is bothering you.”
“It is, a little.”
“I get an expense account and it’s damned spartan. To supplement it, I’ve learned to play a pretty good hand of poker. That’s where the luxuries come from, Megan.
That’s what makes the difference between enjoying life and just getting along. Comprende?”
“Sure,” she said.
He went back down stairs and ordered champagne and a bath for two. “Then about nine o’clock, we’ll have dinner brought up to us on a silver platter,” he told the clerk.
“Of course, Mr. Jefferson,” the clerk said, looking extremely impressed. “Anything else?”
“A little brandy. But you can bring that up with the dinner and leave everything to be collected in the morning. I don’t want us to be disturbed until then.”
“Of course not,” the clerk said, bowing slightly. “And may I add that Mrs. Thomas Jefferson is stunning?”
“Of course you may!”
When Longarm went back up to his room, Megan took him by surprise. She was already undressed and in bed with the satin bedcover pulled up to her neck.
“Well now,” he said, “I guess if ever a man had to get his balls shot off, having a beautiful virgin like you for the night would be a fair price.”
She giggled a little, but it was forced and nervous. “I didn’t know if this was the thing to do or if I should wait for the bath.”
Longarm unbuckled his gunbelt, and then he went over to the porcelain washbasin and stared at himself in the mirror. “I’m going to shave first just for you, Megan,” he told her. “Because once we get started, if I didn’t shave I’d probably scratch your face.”
Megan gulped. “I know what is going to happen. I’ve seen a lot of mares bred. I’m a little scared, to be honest.”
“Nothing to be scared about,” he promised. “Not if we go slow, easy, and gentle.”
Megan sighed and closed her eyes. There was a knock at her door, and it startled her so badly that she sat up straight and the bedcover dropped so that Longarm could admire her lovely breasts in good light.
“Come in,” he called to the door, his voice already starting to get hoarse with desire. “Megan, better lie back down and cover up.”
She flopped back down and lay as still as death. There were two boys and each one had two pails of hot water.
When they saw Megan in bed they blushed, but were well enough trained that they didn’t stare. In fact, they dumped their water and practically bolted for the hallway, the last one out shouting, “We got two more trips to make in order to fill that tub, Mr. Jefferson!”
“Good,” he called.
“Mr. Thomas Jefferson!” Megan exclaimed, shaking her head. “You are such a liar.”
“Sometimes you have to be,” Longarm said, coming over to sit on the bed and kiss her lips.
Megan was already breathing fast. Longarm slipped his hand under the bedcovers and laid it on her warm, muscular thigh. Megan groaned, and Longarm felt himself stiffen. Two more trips he thought, wondering if he could wait so that he did not embarrass those boys anymore.
By the time the tub was filled, Longarm was shaved and the champagne was poured. They each drank, and then they avoided each other’s eyes as they quickly climbed into the hot water.
“Oh, dear heavens, this feels wonderful!” Megan squealed, sinking into the suds and closing her eyes.
Longarm slipped his legs around her legs, and then he reached for his champagne glass. “This is going to be a night that neither one of us is ever going to forget, Miss Megan Riley.”
“I’m sure that’s true for me,” she said, eyes popping open, “but I’m also sure that you’ve done this a thousand times with a thousand different women.”
