Chapter 5
EVEN AFTER CONSCIOUSNESS LEFT HER, SHE continued to writhe and jerk without pattern, and so it was that Jeff was some time in realizing she had deserted reality. When he did, he stopped the action, straightened, and stood looking down at her still-quivering figure. Then he withdrew completely and folded her legs to the side on the rock to prevent her from falling into the water. For some time he continued to stand looking down at her, a hint of a smile lifting the corners of his wide mouth, before he turned and waded into deeper water to wash.
By the time he returned to the rock where she lay, she was regaining consciousness, and when she fully returned to the world of sight and sound the first thing she saw was his face. He was bending over her, very close.
"Oh, Jeffery," she sighed in a wan voice as she circled his neck with her arm. "Oh, Jeffery."
"Shall we return to the cabin now?" he asked quietly, stroking her cheek with a huge hand. "The moon is already far down and will be gone soon."
"I suppose we better-if I can walk."
He took both her hands in his and helped her as she got shakily to her feet. For a long moment she stood there beside him, a wondrous smile on her lovely face and stars in her eyes, and just before she stepped down into the water she said in a trembling voice: "I don't think I'll ever in my life be the same person again. You've ruined all other men for me."
He helped her from the water when she returned from her bath and the two of them, with him following closely and cautiously behind for her movements were still sluggish and unsure, made their way back to the cabin.
"Are you sleeping with me the rest of the night?" he asked her softly when they reached his bedroom.
"I am," she told him promptly, having recovered her strength completely. "I've never slept with a man before-and besides, there's no danger from Bully catching us. He sleeps so hard it takes me an hour to get him out of bed in the morning."
"Who cares if he does catch us?" Jeff said resolutely. "If he did and opened his mouth just once, I'd take him apart with my bare hands."
"But you are going to search for Bonnie O'Brian, aren't you Jeff?" They were lying close and side-by-side on the huge bed when she asked it.
"I suppose I must," he replied. "I've already taken Bully's money. I'll gad about the settlement for a while in the morning to see if I can find out anything. I still think someone here is hiding her just for spite." They were silent for a spell, then Susan stretched lazily and raised on an elbow to glance down toward the now relaxed invader.
"Poor Jeff," she said gently. "For me so many wonderful times and for you only once, here, before we went to the pool."
"This was your night," he told her. "We'll have other times."
"I know I will," she said with great resolve. "I've already decided on that." She reached down and began stroking the slumbering invader. At once it was awake and at full attention. "Boy-ee," she marveled. "You're ready again. But so am I, for that matter, I wish we could go to sleep playing-mama and papa."
"We can," Jeff said, and when he saw by her expression she did not understand he continued, "Turnover on your side with your back toward me and draw your knees up high, toward your chin."
After she did as he asked, he maneuvered himself into the proper position behind her. With delicate fingers he parted the dark shield of down and centered the shaft. Next he slid one hand under the hip of the side on which she was lying, then grasped the other with his free hand. When this was accomplished he commenced inching himself closer, the great shaft disappearing into her hot moistness as he did so.
"And that's all there is to it," he chuckled. "Now let's go to sleep."
"Well, I never!" Susan said, in mild surprise. "Just like a filly and a stud, only we're laying on our sides."
Just before he drifted off to dreamland, he was conscious of a great quivering seizing her, felt her clutching at him madly from deep 'within, heard her ecstatic whimperings.
Sometime just before full dawn, Jeff became suddenly wide awake and immediately aware of his surroundings. Susan lay as before and the shaft was still buried to the hilt. He had time only to withdraw a short distance once, then advance, before the visitation, chagrined at being held at bay, save once, during this night's session, crept in close and sledge-hammered him low in the belly; slugged him brutally, savagely, without mercy. It hit him with such power he was forced to grit his teeth to keep from crying out. Suddenly he was drenched with greatbeads of perspiration, his limbs stiffened and knots of muscle bunched along his jaw as he fought to retain consciousness. There seemed to be no end to the outpouring as he lay there gasping harshly for breath. Yet as all things must, the visitation finally faded, leaving him weak and shaken on the big bed.
If Susan Crowder was aware of the scalding torrents gushing into her defenseless body, she gave no sign whatsoever.
A few minutes later, Jeff once more drifted off to' sound, untroubled sleep. Outside the bedroom's big window, the wilderness was becoming more silent and still than ever, as if in anticipation of the coming dawn.
A slash of rays from the new sun across his eyes wakened Jeff two hours later. He was alone in the big bed, but the pillow on which she had lain still bore the indention from Susan's head. After a few minutes he stretched luxuriously, rolled to his feet and retrieved his fringed buckskins from across the room and dressed leisurely, slipped into his moccasins, collected his rifle, powder horn and shot pouch from beside the door before stepping outside and pulling it to behind him. Silently, as was his nature, he moved down the short hallway toward the stairs leading to the floor below. Halfway down these his nostrils were assailed by the tantalizing odor of frying ham mingled with the fragrant aroma of freshly brewed coffee. These started hunger pangs snarling in his stomach and until that moment he did not know, himself, just how hungry last night's bout had made him. Following Ms nose, he soon found the kitchen, whence came these delightful smells. As he neared, he heard Susan singing joyously as she prepared the morning meal.
"And how are you this fine day, Miss Crowder," he grinned from the doorway. He leaned his rifle against the wall and dropped the other gear beside it in time to catch her as she came flying into his waiting arms.
"I'm wonderful," she chortled gleefully, her arms tight around his middle and looking up into his face. Then her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm so sore I can hardly walk, but I'm wonderful. Did you sleep well?"
He nodded, holding her close. "What there was of it. And now, I'm starved." He glanced over his shoulder toward the ma'am part of the house. "Where's brother Bully?"
"Gone over to Sam Turner's to bargain for a seed bull. We're alone." She released him to step back, traveling her eyes from his moccasined feet to his head, her face glowing. "Mercy," she breathed, hugging herself deliciously, "what a man!" She handed him a clean towel from a sideboard. "The well is out back," she said. "I'll have your breakfast on the table by the time you wash up."
And she did. A platter of fried eggs, an even larger one of ham and sausage, steaming hot coffee, a pitcher of milk, wild honey, blackberry jelly, pear preserves, and a small crock of butter along with a plate of piping hot biscuits.
"Sheesh!"' he marveled as he took a seat at the table. "Had I known such a breakfast was waiting I wouldn't have gone to sleep at all." He attacked the food with gusto. "Why did you let me sleep so long?"
"I didn't," she said, seating herself opposite him and resting her chin in her palms. "The sun hasn't been up long. It's half an hour yet before school takes up."
"I almost forgot," he chuckled as he carved a thick slice of ham. "You are the settlement's schoolteacher, aren't you? But I thought it was already out for the summer."
"Huh-uh," she smiled, enjoying his ravenous appetite. "Today is the last day." She rose from the table quickly. "And I've got to hurry. Teacher can't be late on her last day." She paused in turning. "You don't mind, do you Jeff? Me rushing off like this, I mean."
He shook his head, his mouth full of food;
Susan ran up the stairs, to return a few minutes later wearing a long, black dress with a tight bodice and full, flaring skirt, the more or less accepted uniform for the women of the settlement, and carrying an armload of books. She came around the table to where he sat, kissed him quickly on the temple, then cupped his chin in her soft hand and turned his face up toward hers.
"When will I see you again, Jeffery?" she asked quietly.
"Soon," he told her, not rising. "And that's a promise."
Quickly she bent, pecked him on the mouth with her ripe lips and hurried out the door, saying over her shoulder, "Just leave the things on the table when you're finished-and, oh yes, I almost forgot. You might ask Charity Breeden if she knows where Bonnie O'Brian is. They are very good friends."
Well, Jeff thought to himself as he finished the meal some minutes later and started on his third cup of coffee, questioning Charity Breeden gives me a place to start, at least. Bully Crowder was convinced beyond reason that Bonnie had been stolen by Indians and Jeff was just as convinced that she hadn't. He had been good friends with Chief Wild Hawk for a long while now, and he knew beyond doubt the old warrior had not taken the girl. Nor had any of his men. But Bully thought the Indians had her. Let Bully think what he would. Jeff still wasn't sure he would return the girl, even if he located her. And that brought on more thought.
He had just finished his coffee and risen from the table when the light knocking came at the front door of . the cabin. When he opened it Prudence Goodbody stood on the porch.
She was dressed in much the same manner Susan had been when she left for school,, except for a large, checkered apron covering the front of her skirt. Prudence Goodbody was a dainty little person with midnight black hair coiled in a bun at the nape of her neck, coal-black eyes with long curved lashes and a complexion so clear, so pure, it gave the illusion of being translucent. Jeff had heard rumors that she was of Spanish descent, yet as far as he knew, they were only rumors.
"Good morning, Mrs. Goodbody," he said very formally, recalling that she was the biggest tease in the settlement. And this was no rumor. He knew this as fact. More than once she had talked to him with her eyes in a language wherein there could be no misunderstanding, though he had never once become entwined in her wiles, as Rafe Hampton had.
"Why, Mr. Hudson," she said, a pleased smile on her face and her dark eyes flashing impishly. "Fancy finding you here." Without being invited to do so, she stepped inside and looked quickly around. "Is either Mr. Crowder or Susan here?"
"No," Jeff told her, leaving the door open and returning to the table just to have something to do. He poured another cup of coffee and resumed his seat. "Bully is over at Sam Turner's and Miss Crowder has gone to the schoolhouse. I understand this is the last day of school."
"And what are you doing here, Mr. Hudson, if I may be so bold as to ask?" Her eyes had already taken in the remains of the meal on the table and his gear against the wall.
"Finishing breakfast," he told her casually. "Will you join me?" He spoke without looking at her, though he felt his insides move greasily with desire at her nearness.
"Oh, I couldn't do that," she said primly, seating herself on the very edge of the chair Susan had occupied so recently. She sat with her back straight and her hands in her lap. "I just stopped by to ask Susan if she was through with a dress pattern I loaned her last week." This would have appeared to conclude her reason for coming, since Susan was gone, yet she made no move to leave, but sat there with tiny devils dancing in the back of her eyes watching him sip a cup of coffee he didn't want. "Did you spend the night here?" she finally inquired prettily, her head canted slightly to one side and a knowing look on her face.
"That I did," Jeff said, remembering Susan had told him while they were in the pool last night that she intended to tell Prudence of their lovemaking. Why don't I tell her myself? he thought. Just to see if I can shake her up-maybe even beat her at her own game, somehow. Judging from the talk he had heard about her, he knew that if they remained talking long, she might invite him to a clandestine tryst. "Yes," he continued, sipping from his coffee again, "I spent the night here with Susan." He watched her closely over the rim of the coffee cup to see what it would tell him.
"And Bully-and Mr. Crowder too, of course," she smiled.
"Oh," Jeff said nonchalantly, "Bully was here, naturally, but he slept downstairs hi Ms room. Susan and I slept in the spare bedroom upstairs. What time we weren't swimming naked in the river, that is."
"That must have been fun!" she said automatically then, when the full, impact of his words registered her mouth dropped open and her eyes grew large. "Mis-Mis-Mister Hudson!" she gasped, a hand against her lips. "You mean-?"
"I sure do," he interrupted, enjoying the situation more with each passing second. "We played mama and papa all night long, both in bed and at the river. You should try it sometime in the water. Adds a certain zest you can't get anywhere else. I'm sure you'll like it."
"Well I never!" she said haughtily, springing to her feet. "Just you wait till I tell Susan of these lies! She'll-"
"Oh they're not lies, Mrs. Goodbody. Honest." He had to force himself to look solemn and sincere when he said it. "Susan is going to tell you herself. I just thought I'd tell you first, that's all."
"Mr. Hudson," she began, stamping one foot delicately, "if you think for a minute I'll stand here and listen to-"
"You know what?" he demanded, pointing a finger at her across the table. The words and the gesture so caught her by surprise she stopped cold and stared at him.
"What?" she asked in a small voice.
"Susan told me," he said with great seriousness, "that if it turns out she isn't enough woman for me, she's going to ask you to help her with the chore."
"With the chore?" Prudence fairly screamed, her small face a flaming red and her composure now completely shattered. "With the chore? Oh-Oh-" Again she stamped her foot, then turned and fled through the open doorway.